One of the first progressive bands from Brazil, O Terço (meaning rosary beads) first formed in 1968, but didn't hit its stride until the mid '70s. Personnel changes would become part of the bands dynamic, with Sergio Hinds assuming the role of band...

“After current Italian progrock sensations Andrea Orlando and DAAL here's another stunning new Italian progrock effort, named O.A.K. (Oscillazioni Alchemico Kreative). The prime mover, composer and musical brainchild is multi-instrumentalist Jerry Cutillo. In the early Seventies he witnessed Genesis, Gentle Giant, King Crimson, Yes and Frank Zappa in the legendary Roman venue PalaEUR, as a young adolescent. This inspired him to learn to play organ, acoustic guitar and flute, his first bands was Albergo...

“Pianist, composer, arranger, and bandleader Arturo O'Farrill hasn't cut a piano trio album since 2005's Live in Brooklyn. All told, he's released only two and the solo piano album The Noguchi Sessions in 2012. Writing, leading, and arranging for two big bands is not only time consuming, but for most, a musical mindset removed from the piano trio. O'Farrill will tell you he is a jazz pianist first, and everything else emerges from that. Legacies for Blue Note showcases his playing and interpretive skills...

“Shutting Down Here is a special work. Symbolically, it covers a period of thirty years, between two visits by Jim O'Rourke to the GRM, the first, as a young man fascinated by the institution and his repertoire, the second, as an accomplished musician, influential and imbued with an aura of mystery.
Shutting Down Here is a piece shaped like an universe, a heterogeneous world in which collides the multiple musical facets of Jim O'Rourke: instrumental writing, field recordings, electronic textures and..

Mélissa Acchiardi : drums and synthesizer played with drumsticks
Vincent Duchosal : prepared electric guitar

Another unusual and fun winnner from Dur et Doux; there’s a lot of music coming from just two people. File under African music + Vialka + improvisation + Ahleuchatistas (duo version). Recommended!

The sound of OASIS BOOM is very loosely inspired by Maloya and Mandinka music. The synthesiser is struck with drumsticks and metro tickets get stuck in the guitar strings as if...

Composer/keyboardist/vocalist MatsOberg (of Mats/Morgan) G.U.B.B. (the Gavlelborgs Youth Big Band) - a 21 piece band made up of young musicians aged 15-22. Pretty stupidly well played, considering the age of the musicians. The music sounds like Mats' m...

This is a solo piano album (recorded on a beautiful grand piano) by the fairly amazing keyboardist in the Mats/Morgan Band. His typical sense of melodies is showcased here and it definitely sounds like him, but the instrument gives it a softer edge and...

Gabriela Friedli: Piano / Co Streiff: Alt- & Soprano Saxophone / Jan Schlegel: E-Bass / Dieter Ulrich: Drums

Two women and two men form this quartet – all distinctive individualists, ranking among the most distinguished musicians on the Swis

"Space has no limit! Obskuria is hungry for the ultimate satisfaction and will hit you like an asteroid storm straight into the face. The international project started in 2006 with Tom Brehm, the legendary guitar player from the '60s U.S. group...

"L’ocelle Mare consists solely of Thomas Bonvalet, of Cheval de Frise fame. His compositions as L’ocelle Mare are just as, if not more, complicated than they were during the Cheval de Frise years. The main difference is the obvious lack of song...

"Founding member of the Rova Sax Quartet, Larry Ochs has worked with many of the greatest musicians in Creative Music—Steve Lacy, Fred Frith, Wadada Leo Smith, Terry Riley, George Lewis, John Zorn, Derek Bailey and countless others. His newest ensemble is an update on the classic New York Contemporary Five and features Larry’s Shepp-tinged tenor sax along with some of the best young players out of New York’s Downtown scene. Ochs is particularly excited by both the ensemble sound and the music here, a...

Larry Ochs: tenor and sopranino saxophones
Natsuki Tamura: trumpet
Satoko Fujii: piano, synthesizer
Scott Amendola: drums, percussion, electronics
Matthias Bossi: thunder drum, Chinese gongs, shaky flotsam, percussion
William Winant: timpani, roto-toms, percussion

"Despite a well-documented incident where Larry Ochs was legally challenged for inflicting psychological damage on a festival goer who’d been expecting “jazz” (it’s a great modern parable), he doesn’t have quite t

Larry Ochs: Tenor and Sopranino Saxophones
Joan Jeanrenaud: Cello
Miya Masaoka: Koto

"Three San Francisco Bay Area masters come together here to play music composed by Larry Ochs for the unusual trio of saxophone, cello, and Japanese..

"By most accounts, 1973 was not a good time for Phil Ochs; it had been three years since his last album arrived to indifferent reviews and dismal sales, and his drinking and creative lethargy took a heavy toll as the great protest singer of the '60s was trying to find a new voice in the '70s. But you wouldn't guess any of that to listen to this recording of Ochs playing a club date that year in the Midwest; Live Again! captures Ochs on a night when he was in good voice and good spirits, playing songs...

Ocrilim is the nom-de-plume of guitarist Mick Barr, who has performed mightily with Orthrelm and with the Flying Luttenbachers, among others.

"Mick Barr is described in Wikipedia as "an American avant-garde metal guitarist", which is probably...

As regular readers know, I really like this Spanish band and I was disappointed to read some comments of people whose opinions I trust saying that they didn't think it was a particularly great performance. Now that I've heard this (and also since I...

The third release from this Spanish 'modern R.I.O.' styled group and definitely their most assured so far. While most of the characters from their previous releases remain Angel Ontalva (guitar and compositions), Victor Rodriguez (keyboards and...

"The second album of German band Octopus. A strong prog rock album with long solos on keyboards and guitar. The Mediterranean lyrics make this CD almost a concept album. Originally released in 1978. Released on cd for the very first time."

“Early unreleased recordings of prog legends OCTOPUS released for the first time!
In mid-1972 Peter Hensel, Claus D. Kniemeyer, Dieter-Paul Becke and Jennifer Hensel founded the band Octopus. At this time, all members are studying or living in student residences at the University of Frankfurt am Main. Werner Littau responded to an advertisement on the bulletin board at the University of Frankfurt in autumn 1972 and became Octopus' keyboardist. "Time in my Hand" is determined by many rhythms and...

“A great return for the Italian prog band ODESSA, expected for thirteen years from the previous “The final day - Judgment day”, twenty-three years after the acclaimed “Getsemani Station”.
"The dawn of the civilization" brings into play all the best qualities already expressed by the Marches band: extraordinary versatility in its hard-progressive dynamics of Italian seventies matrix , forays into "purple" hues , jazz disgressions from the Area shore , romantic traits, but especially notable...

“Many moons ago, Heather Findlay & Angela Gordon met in their late teens as band mates in the up and coming progressive rock group Mostly Autumn.
Cutting their rock and roll teeth together, they toured the world and wrote songs that naturally featured parts for one another to play and sing, as each tune penned its way to life on the road the two women shared.
Lovingly crafting away behind dressing room doors, in hotel rooms, tour bus and airport lounges whilst they whiled away the spare hours...

“Alison O'Donnell is an Irish musician, singer and songwriter. At the age of 11 she co-founded the progressive folk rock band Mellow Candle with school friends Clodagh Simonds and Maria White. They released their first single, Feeling High in 1968 and lived and worked in Ireland and England between 1969 and 1973 releasing their first album, the highly acclaimed Swaddling Songs on Deram in 1972.
O'Donnell has released a number of albums over the years including The Virgin Prophet, an album of...

Odyssey by this time had turned into a progressive rock-styled band and broke up shortly after this performance, with some of the members going on to become Cathedral. The sound quality is quite bad. "A live recording that was never really meant to be,...