Prog Rock Bands Are Changing How We Listen to Music

I’ ve already proclaimed we are now in Progressive music’s Renaissance Era.  (Perhaps I should amend that to the Prog-Ren Era.)  New Prog Rock bands are changing the way music is delivered and they are asking we listen to their music as a whole- not song by song.

One band I am currently reviewing is The Institute of Modern Love.  They challenge their listeners to experience their new EP release (1st in a trilogy of EP’s) as one entire composition.  They have declared that those who listen to their EP song by song are COWARDS!  But hey, emusic.com wouldn’t let me download one 30 minute song, guys!    And TIoML are kind of..well,  strange.  I need to visit their institute and rest my weary bones, read a little, and allow that lovely young woman to assist me in my recovery.  She demands it.

Another band is Baltimore’s own Vestascension who have been releasing one song per month this entire year.  Listen to this excellent band on the video below.  Downloads are free from their bandcamp site!

Wishes In Awakenings from Vestascension on Vimeo.

And then there is a grueling, never-say-die effort by an Ontario progressive rock band named Falling Edge to complete a project that began in 2004.  Every time a member of the band quit, they moved on- even starting over with that instrument. But they never quit and their vision is now a reality worthy of their efforts.

Their song Social Engineering is every bit an engineered experiment, at 14:53 running almost as  long as an A side of a vinyl album.  This leaves us wondering how long they intend to make their current recording  I,Awake. Will that be the entire B side?  Also, how long will it take to record?  I can offer them some advice I once received from a music producer.  If the first album takes ten years, the second album will take ten months.  

There are bands releasing videos, encouraging fan videos, and creating amazing music that would have never seen the light of day under the old conventions of corporate radio.  Did you know that there are now over 500 original Progressive Rock songs on Soundcloud?  I spent an entire evening on just 6 pages.

The internet allows bloggers to get inside the band  websites, reverbnation sites, bandcamp sites, facebook pages, twitter, and more where we can find pictures, videos, audio clips and post them for your discovery and enjoyment.

The Prog-Ren Era is truly here. Click on the above links and go explore!

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