Welcome to Prog's brand Tracks Of The Week, Six brand new and diverse slices of progressive music for you to enjoy.
A hearty well done to Norwegian prog metaller Ihsahn whose dramatic The Distance Between Us took the honours in last week's TOTW, with melodic UK prog rockers High Spy close behind in second place and UK post-proggers Final Coil in a very respectable third.
The premise for Tracks Of The Week is simple - we've collated a batch of new releases by bands falling under the progressive umbrella, and collated them together in one post for you - makes it so much easier than having to dip in and out of various individual posts, doesn't it?
The premise for Tracks Of The Week is simple - we've collated a batch of new releases by bands falling under the progressive umbrella, and collated them together in one post for you - makes it so much easier than having to dip in and out of various individual posts, doesn't it?
The idea is to watch the videos (or listen if it's a stream), enjoy (or not) and also to vote for your favourite in the voting form at the bottom of this post. Couldn't be easier could it?
We'll be bringing you Tracks Of The Week, as the title implies, each week. Next week we'll update you with this week's winner, and present a host of new prog music for you to enjoy.
If you're a band and you want to be featured in Prog's Tracks Of The Week, send your video (as a YouTube link) or track embed, band photo and biog to us here.
So get watching. And get voting at the bottom of the page.
SLEEPMAKESWAVES - SUPER REALM PARK
Australian instrumental post-rockers sleepmakeswaves recently annouced that they would release a brand new studio album, It’s Here But I Have No Names For It, through Bird’s Robe/MGM and Dunk Records on April 12. Brand new single Super Realm Park is their first new music in trhee years and a welcome sound at that, featuring blistering guitar breaks and the band's trademark lush atmospherics. It bodes well for the new album.
"Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s the new single from sleepmakeswaves," the band laugh. "The main riff and synth on this track was inspired by F-Zero, the old school Nintendo 64 game. We developed and refined the concept into the first half of the track to bring in some late 90s influences. We hit a few walls with how to close the track, until one afternoon in 2020 at an apartment in Erskineville, we suddenly realised it needed a slow, crushing, hypnotic wall of noise. We can't wait to play it live."
NO-MAN - LIFE IS ELSEWHERE
UK art rockers No-Man have their early years celebrated with a brand new five disc box set Housekeeping: The OLI Years, 1990-1994 which will be released through their original label One Little Independent Records on January 26. Both Bowness and Wilson have taken time out of their acclaimed The Album Years podcasts to work on some promio videos, this one for the quite delightful Life Is Elsewhere, which originally featured on the band's 1989 Swagger demo tape, released prior to the OLI deal and which features as a companion release to Housekeeping...
"Life Is Elsewhere (also known as Never Needing) was a song I wrote with Brian Hulse for Plenty in 1988," explains Bowness. "When Plenty split, No-Man continued to play it live (alongside another Plenty track, Forest Almost Burning). When No-Man were signed in the early 1990s, Life Is Elsewhere was one of the pieces the labels were most smitten by (Days In The Trees and Colours were the others). This version comes from the Swagger demo tape (1989). It’s entirely fitting that the sensitive video has been created by Plenty bass player, David K Jones."
EXIST IMMORTAL - PLAY PRETEND
UK prog metal quintet Exist Immortal will release six standalone singles throughout 2024, the first of which is Play Pretend, a song that marries the band's hard-htting prog metal with melodic hooks that display engaging, pop-like pretensions. The South East England band released their self-titled debut album in 2022.
“The main idea going into writing this specific track was to create the juxtaposition between something really heavy and dark sounding to something really pretty sounding and catchy," explains snger Meyrick de la Fuente. "There was definitely a lot more space to create freely and without boundaries in this new set of material and that definitely shines through in the songs. The lyrics are about overcoming internal and external constraints and the journey towards self-realization. They underscore the importance of pushing through life's challenges and the role of belief and imagination in transcending our everyday realities.
"The plan for 2024 is to drop a whole bunch of huge singles, all with really cool videos and keep everyone suitably plied with riffs all year long. Our time in Japan supporting the legendary Cynic last month was literally a dream come true. We had the greatest time playing some of the best shows we have ever had the opportunity to be a part of! It truly is an incredible country and we barely even scratched the surface. We really want to smash some new markets too, as our recent tours of Mexico and Japan this past year have definitely have us poised to go international in a big way.
SLOWSHIFT - HURTS
Norwegian art rockers slowshift have pediigree, The band feature Kristoffer Lo (ex-Highasakite, Trondheim Jazz Orchestra), Brynjar Leifsson (Of Monsters and Men), Tomas Järmyr (ex-Motorpsycho, Årabrot), alongside Norway’s phenomenal 16-piece string olrchetsra TrondheimSoloists. The band's sound is a stunning melange of cinematic, evocative and ultimately cathartic elements, and they release their debut album world going away through Amuse Records. The gently elegiac HurtS features on the debut.
"HurtS is a mixture of major and minor," comments Kristoffer Lo, the track’s composer and creator behind slowshift. "A mix of sadness and hopefulness. It is, in a way, a song to show that you never know what’s behind the next turn, and that the best you can do is to be here and be present."
I HÄXA - UNDERWORLD
i Häxa are the brand new project from songwriter and visual artist Rebecca Need-Menear (of electronic alt-rock duo Anavae) and forward-thinking producer Peter Miles (Architects, Dodie, Fizz) and Underworld is taken from Part 1, a hauntingly atmospheric sound of unsettling electronica. The duo will be using the seasonal solstices of 2024 as waypoints to unveil three further collections of songs and cinematics ahead of a vinyl box-set combining all four Parts and a full-length album, set for release in November via Berlin's esteemed label, Pelagic Records.
"Part 1 takes the form of four post-apocalyptic pieces steeped in alt-folk and harsh electronics that come together to score an unsettling visual journey," the band state. "A nameless, wraith-like woman wakes to an ever-shifting fever dream of eerily familiar faces, nameless places and unbridled, impassioned impulse."
TEMIC - FALLING AWAY
Modern-day prog supergroup Temic have shared an acoustic live take on their track Falling Away, a ballad from the band's debut album Terror Management Theory which they released through Season Of Mist last year. Temic are, of course, feature former Haken keyboard player Diego Tejeida, Neal Morse band guitarist Eric Gillette, Mararton 22 singer Fredrik Bergersen and Shining drummer Simen Sandnes. This new live version. was recorded live at Stora Teatern in Gothenburg, Sweden. The theatre is just a floor up from the studio where Sandnes recorded the drums for the band's debut.
"Falling Away is one of our favourite tracks from our debut album" says Temic, "not only due to the musical elements present on the album version but because of its lyrics and vocal melodies. That is why Eric and Fredrik decided to grace us with this heartfelt, stripped-down acoustic version that focuses the spotlight on these core elements. Enjoy!"
THE BARDIC DEPTHS - WHAT WE REALLY LIKE IN STORIES
You'll recognise the voice behind UK prog rock quartet The Bardic Depths for it belongs to the ubiquitous Peter Jones, also of Cyan, Camel and of course, Tiger Moth Tales. Jones' cultured tones lead the title track from the new Bardic Depths album What We Really Like In Stories, which will be released on March 8 via Gravity Dream. The new single tells of a conversation held in 1936 between C.S. Lewis and Tolkien: “There is too little of what we really like in stories. I am afraid we shall have to try and write some ourselves.”
"The track is the follow-up to the albums's first single, You've Written Poetry, My Boy," says the Depths' Gareth Cole. "It explores the friendly rivalry between the two authors, who agreed that Lewis’s stories would deal with space travel while Tolkien’s would deal with time travel. It should be remembered that the term “science fiction” did not yet exist in the 1930s.
"Peter Jones takes the lead vocal on this track, and the addition of Gareth’s driving 12-string guitar and a string arrangement by Dave Bandana take the group's sound in a new direction. The band is incredibly excited ahead of the album release, which marks yet another step up for the band."
