How Progressive Rock Saved Me During Coronavirus

Buenos dias, 

I've recently started listening to a ton of progressive rock. It's saved me during this quarantine. If you haven't already read my post about how the Beatles saved me during quarantine, check it out here.

For those of you who don't know, progressive rock was a more technical, magical, and showy form of rock and roll that appeared after the Beatles, after Cream, after the Hendrix, arguably the three most important rock bands in my eyes. It reached its zenith in the middle or end of the 70s, and was most popular and more well done in England in the richer country areas. So these guys came from wealth unlike those four raggedy Andy dolls from Liverpool. They had college degrees, education, any perhaps money.

Now that you know the background of progressive rock let's talk about the actual style. The style is well, kind of all over the place. Every progressive band sounds different. The biggest prog bands were King Crimson, Yes, Genesis, and Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, and Pink Floyd [they had their prog moments like the Meddle album and Atom Heart Mother, even the first album]. They all sound totally different and you could never confuse them. 

The style incorporates changing time signatures. The time signature is the beat or rhythm of the music. Most basic blues and rock is in 4/4 time, meaning you count each beat: 1, 2, 3, 4, however, in progressive rock the time signature could change to literally anything: something simple would be a changing time signature of 3/4 to 2/4, meaning you would count the beat like 1, 2, 3-1, 2, and so on. 

The music that goes over these widely varied beats is loud guitars, keyboards, synthesizers like the Mellotron, drums, bass, vocals, and sometimes even a saxophone in King Crimson's case. Sometimes the guitar parts are super soft, other times they're like deafening death metal before death metal even existed. King Crimson goes super hard with their drumming and guitar playing. Yes goes super soft with their beautiful singing. Emerson, Lake, and Palmer makes the keyboard as heavy as a guitar. Genesis is like the perfect arranger's band where the band plays their parts and are well rehearsed. Some bands are like a jazz band and they don't even have to speak to each other about what they did in the band. Others are more tight like an orchestra.

Progressive rock died at the end of the 70s when the youth in England got fed up with pompous grandiose rock stars. So they created their own genre based on three chords and angst. It became punk rock. The most famous band from England being the Sex Pistols with their one and only album, Never Mind The Bullocks, Here's The Sex Pistols. 

Progressive rock has saved me during coronavirus. I've been so bored. Going through all these old bands has recharged my spirit. I go through lots of phases in music. I've been in nearly every music phase since 7th grade, that's how I know so much about music. Almost everything I know from music I learned from YouTube. It's all free! 

There's just something so exciting about revisiting all these bands. It really puts things in perspective. I've heard all these songs ten years ago and ten years after all the music, all of it, sounds so much more refreshing, exciting, and invigorating. I can see why all these bands pushed me so hard to practice guitar as a kid. 

I've had really good memories of listening to progressive music. Some of my prog CD's got damaged because they've had so much greenery spread over them in my youth. If you want to smoke out to some exciting music, this is the style for you. 

I don't think any of the musicians in the genre realized how powerful they were as musicians and just how influential they would be on the world of music. And to think none of this would have even been a twinkle in the eye if it weren't for the Beatles. The Beatles were progressive because they did things like a concept album like Sergeant Pepper. Every progressive guitarist I like: Steve Howe, Robert Fripp, Steven Hackett, Michael Rutherford, Chris Squire, Roger Waters, and David Gilmour all brought something different to the table and inspire me to this day to rock out hard. 

I'll leave you with some lyrics from my favorite Yes song at the moment. The song is called Seen All Good People. 

Take a straight and stronger course
To the corner of your life
Make the white queen run so fast
She hasn't got time to make you a wife

 

Don't surround yourself with yourself
Move on back two squares
Send an instant karma to me
Initial it with loving care (Don't surround yourself with yourself)

King Crimson

Today was an interesting morning. As soon as I woke up I kept thinking about a certain King Crimson song. The song was Lament from their album Starless and Bible Black. It's a terrific record, as most of their early records and late records are. What makes that song in particular so interesting that I was reciting them in my head upon wake up?

Well, the song is, well, a lament of sorts. The song features some interesting lines. Here are some:

I guess I tried to show you how
I'd take the crowd with my guitar
And business men would clap their hands
And clip another fat cigar

 

But now it seems the bubble's burst
Although you know there was a time
When love songs gathered in my head
With poetry in every line

 

I like the way you look at me
You're laughing too down there inside
I took my chance and you took yours
You crewed my ship, we missed the tide

 

And strong men strove to hold the doors
While with my friends I passed the age
When people stomped on dirty floors
Before I trod the rock'n'roll stage

 

Those are all pretty damn good lines for vocals. Even in the 70s. And the music was topnotch art-rock with heavy feedback guitar and mellotron [a synth].  

So yeah those lines in particular really stood out to me. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I can't escape the influence of King Crimson on my life. When I was 19 years old I would sit in the freezing basement in Wisconsin. I would invite my friend David over and we would smoke a lot of weed and blast progressive rock. But it was always King Crimson that was our favorite progressive band from England. 

 

There's something about King Crimson that makes them stand out apart from the other English art-rock bands from the 1970s. Robert Fripp's guitar playing and lead role in forming and keeping the band going through many permutations made them a much better band than say, ELP, Genesis, and even Yes. Fripp was a art-rock guitar god. He knew how to play any chord for any feeling. He was like a jazz guitarist in a rock band. He knew many great 'noise chords,' as I would call it, but he could always mellow out and play something that a nice jazz guitarist could play. I credit him for this day for helping me develop my guitar sound. 

 

 

What's also interesting is the fact that when my friend and I were listening to King Crimson stoned all those years ago is that we are both black kids. I know this might be kind of arrogant to think, [but I definitely believe this is true] but I actually believe that David and I were probably the only black kids [or at least part of a very select few] in America in the mid 2000s that listened to and loved King Crimson. That's actually truly remarkable. 

 

King Crimson is one of my favorite bands. I listened to them more than any other band from England, including those four lads from Liverpool [who they were inspired by of course]. Their legacy lives on. Fripp was and still is a monster and I credit him [and countless others] for inspiring me to make noise on the guitar. The art-rock thing died but its influence will live forever through indie rock and its noise variants.

 

As Pete Townsend [the guitarist from The Who] said about the first album, the critically acclaimed In the Court of the Crimson King, "an uncanny masterpiece."

Band Practice Going Good

So I had a rehearsal last night with my band that I haven't played with for the last two weeks because I was in Chicago. It turned out really well. It actually turned out to be our best rehearsal we've ever had. I'm starting to understand the capabilities of the guys in the band.

Me and Martin, the drummer usually play together every week at local bar's jam night so we're constantly improving and evolving our rhythmic dynamics. At first we were having a super hard time locking in with each other but now I'm listening a lot more and using his timing as an anchor. Sometimes he still makes mistakes, especially after trying a technical fill but I know how to anchor the chords down to speed up or slow down accordingly perfectly now and even making it sound musical in the process. Sure he needs work but right now keeping time and locking in with the chords is the most important thing. I gave him some advice last night after practice. I told him he should practice all the rudiments and learn to read drum music. If he does this his "rolls" as he calls them (I call them fills) will start to sound much better and he'll always get back to the music in time as opposed to falling behind the beat and stuff. Important stuff to know. I hope he takes the advice to heart and starts shedding more. As of right now me and him are probably the most important pieces to the band. We now know five songs together that we can play pretty well and because our timing is locking in so well it sounds really good. Rock and roll, metal, with hints of jazz in my harmonies.

Our friend Dmitri actually started off playing bass for the first couple rehearsals. The first rehearsal he played guitar but it was so out of tune (both him and myself, we've since resorted to using the famous Snark tuner) that it was mostly a progressive art rock kind of improvisation. Our timing was so off but the improv was unique. After that first initial jam he started bringing his bass along to our practices and we thought he was going to play bass. The problem is that he isn't a disciplined bass player meaning he lacks the focus to play the same things twice for the song. We aren't playing jazz so its important for the bass to stick to the same harmonies all the time. So before practice I texted him to leave the bass and bring his guitar just to see how it sounds. It ended up sounding really great and its the way we're going to move forward as a band. We'll play without bass. The timing with my guitar and the drums is so good I feel like we don't need bass. Plus the extra harmonies and doubling of the guitar gives the music a stronger and more melodic sound, even if its just Sunshine of Your Love. The way I see Dmitri's purpose in the band is that he's adding colour around what me and Martin are playing. As long as me and Martin sound good anything Dmitri plays sounds good. He's not the best musician either but his guitar playing is much better than his bass playing. Bass takes a lot of timing and not all guitarists can do it very well. However, his guitar playing is quite evolved compared to his bass playing. I noticed he understands harmonies and hears the sounds I'm going for although he's usually always using more of a distorted guitar tone. At first we were practicing with him doing vocals and I would do some too but now I've come to the realization that it sounds better if we go on with myself on vocals. It's just a more rounder voice and tone, even if its rock and metal. More musical. 

And of course I see my role in the band as a songwriter, time keeper, singer, and soloist. If I keep all these things in check it will sound good. I'm really happy that the band is evolving and becoming better. If we really need bass I could always record bass and we could play with a bass track live or something. That actually sounds like a great idea because right now I really love the idea of a three piece with two guitars and drums. I stole the idea from Animals As Leaders but of course because our music isn't as technical or complex we can really steer the music in various directions without getting lost too easily. It's nice.

Pretty soon we'll be ready to gig. Sounds exciting.
Picture is Animals as Leaders, really inspiring band

Animals as Leaders, The Madness of Many

I finally listened to some heavy rock and roll music after about a week of nonstop classical music. A new co-worker told me that the new Animals as Leaders was out and sure enough it's on YouTube. The Madness of Many is AAL's fourth record, released in November 2016. The album features Tosin Abasi on guitars, Javier Reyes on guitars and bass, and Matt Garstka on drums. This is the longest and most stable lineup for the band and they've been going strong for years. The album reached number ten on some New Zealand chart and 56 on the US Billboard 200.

I can tell you right now that from hearing the first couple tracks on this album that this is the best AAL album they've done thus far. You can tell that they worked together on every detail of the songs and music. In their past records we can clearly see where this is a Tosin song, that's a Reyes song, or that's a Garstka song. They've finally achieved democratic band mode where they give it their all while working together and the end result is bloody brill.

What can I say about the music? This music sounds like Meshuggah (Swedes have a monopoly on metal) had a black jazz baby that grew up to become a rocket scientist that works at Nasa. This is like space age progressive metal riffery at its finest. It djents (djent, new style of metal based around chugging in odd meters on bass strings) like all hell but it swings hard like jazz fusion (jazz-rock) does all the while maintaining an originality to it that is exclusively Animals as Leaders. They've developed a style and they've honed that style and made it better and better over the years performing and recording together.

Although this album has some complicated meters (rhythms) it never becomes too intelligent to the point where it would bore the non-musical listener who doesn't know what a 32nd or 64th note is or sounds like. While it is complicated music it somehow has a natural feel to it as well. It's hard to explain but the fact that they've achieved this on record is amazing. I don't think they could've done it without working together on every aspect because on previous albums the music gets lost awash in complicated musical ideas that ultimately sound exciting as a guitar player but might bore the average non-musical listener.

Another thing to note about this album is that because I've listened to all their previous albums there are moments on this album that sounds like previous songs. Bands tend to do this. It sounds great hearing familiar riffs and territory ventured once again.
They go through all kinds of complicated jazz changes, metal riffs, and drum beats but it all sounds like some natural planned out jam. It's pretty impressive. Tosin and Reyes' guitar playing is through the roof and Matt's drumming keeps everything tied down through tribal-like shamanistic beats. It's almost metaphysical. If this is the direction that metal is going I would like to see it continue to move forward in this manner. Metal music is so stale and bland these days that I almost can't stand it. There are many times when my friends turn on some metal music and I just want to leave the room. The last couple metal bands I was into weren't really metal in the traditional sense but were still really heavy bands. The idea of having heavy moments in between other styles is really cool and should definitely be explored more.

Metal needs to progress in order to keep from getting stale. This metal band has ascended above and beyond the average musical abilities of most metal groups. They're like jazz musicians at this point. Very cool to see great young players creating great inspiring music and catching the progressive metal zeitgeist at the same time.

The album obviously has a point to make with the album cover of the man going up a flight of stairs inside a human head. They're trying to make some sort of social or mental commentary but honestly I think it would go above most peoples' heads because this is an instrumental record with no vocals. However, you can make stories through instrumental songs. Although AAL is a great band I don't think they've achieved that level of artistic mastery yet. 

This is what intelligent metal sounds like. Not all of us headbang so hard that we hurt our necks.

What's In Your Ipod?

Lately I've been listening to a lot of music on my laptop and Ipod. A lot of stuff..

First off, I've been listening to the new Megadeth record Dystopia. This album is really kick ass and brings Megadeth back to their headbanging metal roots. Dystopia features a new lead guitarist named Kiko Louriea, from Brazil who was previously in Brazillian metal band Angra. The album just has a great feel to it. The riffs are great, the solos are great, but the lyrics are a bit cheesy. However, MegaDave's voice has aged so his vocals do sound a bit more gnarly-for better or for worse. Anyways, its a great record and you should check it out if your into metal.

I've also been listening to a lot of jazz-the usual suspects. Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Eric Dolphy, and Ornette Coleman. I have them on my Ipod when I'm on lunch at work. I've been listening to my Ipod quite a bit lately-which is great! Good to get some use of it. It's full of stuff from my CD collection. Things like Megadeth, Slayer, King Crimson, Yes, Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, Malmsteen, Opeth, Mastodon, Marty Friedman, Paul Gilbert, Ben Folds, and much more. Hearing the same tunes after a while is actually pretty fun. I could change the tunes around more on Itunes but I've grown fond of certain tunes.

For instance, I really dig Megadeth's Wake Up Dead, Malmsteen's Far Beyond the Sun,Yes' Roundabout, King Crimson's 21st Century Schizoid Man, and Ben Folds' Get Your Hands Off My Woman. The tunes start to get super catchy and sometimes get stuck in your head. The guitar riff to Wake Up Dead is so catchy that sometimes I find myself humming the riff from time to time.

My friends recommend me cool new music all the time. I was even at the 2016 Warped Tour in Pomona a few weeks ago, I've been thinking about going to more shows sometime soon. There's always great new music to play and to listen to.

I've also been playing a lot of guitar as well. I've gotten a lot faster and more proficient as well as learning jazz standards and playing them from memory instead of the sheet music. What's in your Ipod?

Dream Theater Images and Words

      This isn't a jazz album or something that I listen to all the time. In fact, I haven't been listening to any rock or metal music lately at all, preferring to listen to jazz-free jazz mostly. But this album is so good! Within the last two days I've listened to it twice. The highlight of the album for me is the very beginning, a song called Pull Me Under. This song is so heavy and so catchy at the same time. Its like a progressive metal Beatles band. They're all so skilled as musicians that they're almost as talented musically as jazz musicians. The guitar and keyboards really stand out the most. John Petrucci (guitar) is known to all guitarists and has such a mastery of the instrument. Being a guitar player myself, I see how great of a musician he is. His guitar playing really puts a stamp on the band and I can tell that he's one of main composers for the band. He's a complete shredder with these insane solos but his rhythm is really good too.
     There are a lot of rock ballads on this album. I see it as a good thing though because if everything was just super fast and technical all the time it would get old fast. Even though this album was made in 1992 it has all the rock music cliches that the 80s had, especially with the harmonic vocabulary from the band. They were probably reaching out to a bigger audience at that stage in their career. They were a super young band at that time and  this was the first album made with singer James La Brie. I can tell how great a singer LeBrie was when he was a young man as opposed to being an old man now. The more recent Dream Theater still has plenty of musical theatrics from the singing just isn't so great. From what I've heard of the band this was their most commercial album thus being their best selling album.
     I just thought I'd mention this album because its getting me back into listening to rock again. I'm a big jazz guy but before I was a jazzer I was a rocker. I've kind of come to not see rock music as being all that great but when I see great musicians like Dream Theater I can see the greatness in rock. If you've never heard of Dream Theater you should definitely listen to this album first. It's a great opening to their vast output. I have their most recent album but I wasn't really too thrilled with what I heard. But this album is great! Give it a listen and see for yourself.