| # | Artist | Song (click to play) | Album | Year | CD label | My Gnosis Rating |
| 1 | Heru Avenger | Neteru 2000 | New Aeon | 1998 | Initiates International | 11 |
| Heru Avenger is John Basil on guitars, bass, and electronics, with Craig Teigen on drums. The music could be described as a modern krautrock with jamming instrumentals with a steady drum beat, guitar rave-ups and a heavy dose of analog synthesizer coloring. | ||||||
| 2 | Big Swifty (Shri Swifty & the Mandali of Mantra) | Queen of Atlantis | The Canals of the Atlantean Plain | 1999 | Cherry Smash Records | 10 |
|
On this album, Big Swifty plays a mellow ambient drone played on such
instruments as violin, electric church organ, xylophone, fretless guitar,
tibetan bells and theremin.
Cherry Smash Home Page | ||||||
| 3 | Volare | Memoirs of a Misshapen Man | Memoirs | 2000 (original cassette 1996) | Pleasant Green Records | 12 |
| Memoirs is CD reissue of Volare's first cassette-only release. Several live tracks and a newly recorded re-union track is added. Volare's sound and style hearkens back to prime 70's era of Canterbury-stlyed progressive fusion in the mold of National Health & Gilgamesh. Both this and their debut CD "The Uncertainty Principle" are essential pieces of American progressive music, as well as for those looking to hear newer Canterbury influenced progressive music. Volare's Home Page | ||||||
| 4 | Medusa Cyclone | Beyond Earth | Mr. Devil | 1998 | Third Gear Records | 7 |
| Medusa Cyclone, from Detroit, play a neo-psychedelic space-rock. Like a lot of space rock, I find it a wee bit too repititious and a tad boring. | ||||||
| 5 | Michael Manring | Snakes Got Legs | Thonk | 1994 | High Street Records | 11 |
|
Michael Manring is a virtuosic bass-player with a long recording pedigree.
Most of his early career is documented on dozens of Windham Hill
recordings with Will Ackerman, Michael Hedges and others. On this
instrumental fusion album, I am reminded mostly of Stu Hamm's first
2 solo albums, with the bass guitar taking a center stage in the
mix of the songs. Guests musicians include guitarists Steve Morse,
Alex Skolnick, and drummer Steve Smith. Manring & Skolnick have
also collaborated on many other projects including Attention
Deficit Disorder & Skol-Patrol.
Michael Manring Online @ The Enormous Room | ||||||
| 6 | Chris Opperman | Sophia's Dream (vs. Reality) | Oppy Music Vol. 1 | 1998 | Purple Cow Records | 10 |
|
Chris Opperman's first solo album is a mixture of many different
styles and approaches to songwriting that have not quite coalesced
in my brain, yet. This first song from the album is a nice piece of
complex and enraging progressive rock that reminds a lot of Mike
Keneally's solo work (who also happens to appear on this album
as well as producing). or Frank Zappa. Other parts of the album
verge on silliness, as Keneally, Steve Vai & Zappa often do.
Some very interesting music to explore. Chris also has an
album or 2 of solo piano work.
Chris Opperman: Composer and Pianist | ||||||