Steven Wilson v. To. The. Bone.

[Zantera]

Yeah definitely an EP IMO. I guess we have seen albums of leftover songs before but what seals the deal IMO is Don't Hate Me being on it, in a new/live version.

[ErHaO]

Oh boy. If DT drops in January as rumored, it's gotta suck that their new ambitious double concept album will be overshadowed quality-wise by an EP of leftover songs from SW.

I don't think the albums are going to feature music that is even remotely similar (aside from proggyness). Especially this time around from the looks of it. And I think nobody in DT, nor the fans, are going to care either way.

That said, I will see both artists in Feb and it is highly likely I will have two great albums to spin in Jan

[Sacul]

Hey people, if you're interested, I'll soon start the Mega Steven Wilson Survivor, in which we'll decide the best song of his overall discography. Should be fun  .

Edit: So now both Insurgentes and Blackfield's debut are up for voting!

[Evermind]

From Steven's FB:

Some more details about my forthcoming European tour, which starts in mid January: The show will be divided into 2 halves with an interval. The first half will be a complete performance of Hand. Cannot. Erase. (including Transience which has not been played live before), and the second half will be based on music from the forthcoming album 4 ½ and older repertoire, some of which we played at the recent Royal Albert Hall shows but have not yet toured.

Those that attended the RAH shows won't have forgotten Ninet Tayeb's incredible performance, so I'm happy to announce that she is able to join me at some of the shows to sing Routine, Don't Hate Me, and perhaps something else too. Ninet will be with us for the following dates: January 12 - Stuttgart, 13 - Munich and 14 - Bochum, 18 - Berlin, 19 - Frankfurt, 20 - Leipzig, 21 - Hannover, 25 - Brighton, 26 - Bristol, 27 - London, February 1 - Paris.

Well, seems like no Ninet in Moscow, but I can't wait to see HCE (with Transience, no less!) in full anyway. This sounds too good to be true even.

[Zantera]

Sounds kinda meh tbh, we already got HCE live (apart from Transcience) on the last tour so doing it again but also playing songs from the upcoming EP, it doesn't feel THAT exciting. He's not playing in my city, but if he did, I would probably go because he always delivers, but I thought the setlist on the HCE tour was the weakest one out of his last 3 album tours, and doing most of that again, but with a few new songs just seems rather safe.

[Evermind]

You Europeans may have already got HCE live, but we didn't. I'm extremely glad I've got this opportinuty to see this great album performed in full.

It would've made sense if, for example, he'd switch the setlist for the cities he already played HCE on the previous tour, but I guess you can't have everything.

[Zantera]

Pfft Russia is part of Europe! Nice that it helps some I guess. It was a similar experience for me on the GFD-tour. He didn't play near me on the original GFD-tour, but then he did the second tour (when he also added Luminol to the set) and I was lucky enough to get to see him on that tour instead. So there is some validity to doing it that way.

[Evermind]

Pfft Russia is part of Europe! Nice that it helps some I guess. It was a similar experience for me on the GFD-tour. He didn't play near me on the original GFD-tour, but then he did the second tour (when he also added Luminol to the set) and I was lucky enough to get to see him on that tour instead. So there is some validity to doing it that way.

Not for the touring bands it isn't. Russia is almost never included in so-called European tours, but then the bands fix the Russian dates with promoters and end up calling it "Russian tour". In the end, the tour shirts at merch stand are featuring the proud "Russian BandName Tour 2015" on the back with two dates included - Moscow and St. Petersburg - and a whole lot of blank space under these two dates. Most anticlimactic thing ever.

Still, I'm grateful the bands are coming over here.

[mike099]

Yea, SW will probably go to Siberia before he comes to the Southeast US.

Same thing for Dream Theater

FYI:  I am not bitter.

[?]

I was hoping for a more varied setlist, but HCE is such a fantastic album that I don't mind hearing it from start to finish, and I'm seeing SW in a different city this time, so it's gonna be a different experience anyway. Hopefully Dark Matter will be kept in rotation - I'd imagine there's room for at least one more PT song in the second half besides Don't Hate Me.

[FlyingBIZKIT]

Yea, SW will probably go to Siberia before he comes to the Southeast US.

Same thing for Dream Theater

FYI:  I am not bitter.

Yup. An hour south of Atlanta for me.

[MajorBoobage]

[KevShmev]

 

[bout to crash]

 

So true.

[Lowdz]

So you've probably already discussed this in the previous 58 pages but bloody hell, just played First Regret / Three Years Older when it came up on YouTube.

That's a bit cheeky. Rush called and want their riff back. 

Was this a deliberate homage?

[?]

So you've probably already discussed this in the previous 58 pages but bloody hell, just played First Regret / Three Years Older when it came up on YouTube.

That's a bit cheeky. Rush called and want their riff back. 

Was this a deliberate homage?

That riff reminded me of Xanadu on first listen already, but SW himself said it was a Pete Townshend influence and the song's working title was "The Who": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozuCWbZScoI#t=5m46s

[Zantera]

One does not simply listen to SW without hearing what artists he took inspiration from. Whether it's Pink Floyd in the earlier days of PT, King Crimson on Grace For Drowning or Boards of Canada on Perfect Life, he really pulls a lot of stuff from the music he listens to, but so does a lot of musicians. The Rush in Three Years Older is no worse than any of his other "loans".

[jammindude]

The first time I heard that opening riff, The Who was the first thing that came to my mind...and I didn't even know.

But ya.  SW does wear his influences on his sleeve.    But then again, as with anything, there is no individual piece of the puzzle that is truly original.  Nothing anyone does is absolutely "original".    It is only the new mosaic you create from existing things which then becomes an entirely original piece of art.

[bout to crash]

Yep. It reminds me of both The Who and Rush, actually.

[Zantera]

I think there is original music still being made, but the progressive rock/metal genre has been pretty stagnant for a decade now. Not to say there's not good music being made, but it's usually the package we already know and like, and nothing groundbreaking. I guess the new thing with many of the "original" bands is mixing genres that haven't really been mixed before in unique ways, and with progressive rock, since back in the 70s it has pretty much always been a "everything is possible" genre, so it's kinda hard to do something different with it. You can definitely count a few fairly modern albums in the genre that defined and changed the scene, whether it's Images & Words or Blackwater Park, but even those albums are getting kinda old now. I don't think SW will be remembered as much for originality or making a game-changing album, but rather consistency. And that's no shame. Some bands put out one game-changing album and everything else is underwhelming. SW on the other hand has a great track record of putting out great & consistent albums. It's really incredible how many great albums he has made in his different projects, in different styles, and in terms of overall discography consistency, few measure up to him.

[m0hawk]

Zantera, I feel that post-rock has been the next evolutionary step for prog in the last 10 years. Sure, it is different enough that it has its own genre, but it still is a form of prog-rock at the end of the day.

[Coolcat]

Who's this Steven Wilson guy? He's seems really mean 

[Sacul]

Sure, it is different enough that it has its own genre, but it still is a form of prog-rock at the end of the day.

Not really, post-rock comes from math rock, and experimental bands like Slint, Talk Talk, Tortoise, Mogwai, etc. and have little to do with prog.

Who's this Steven Wilson guy? He's seems really mean 

Just because he likes to destroy iPods? 

[Illegalastronaught]

Just because he likes to destroy iPods? 

 

[Sacul]

Just because he likes to destroy iPods? 

 

I'm not even kidding 

[Crow]

yeah i've never liked SW as a person and i find a lot of FOABP to be groan-worthy lyric-wise

[bout to crash]

Bad opinion zone, indeed 

[bout to crash]

Any of you get the Index book? I'm debating asking for it for Christmas, since I normally would not spend $60 of my own money on something like that but it looks cool...

[seasonsinthesky]

Sure, it is different enough that it has its own genre, but it still is a form of prog-rock at the end of the day.

Not really, post-rock comes from math rock, and experimental bands like Slint, Talk Talk, Tortoise, Mogwai, etc. and have little to do with prog.

There's no foundation of post-rock in math rock. Its progenitors are the bands you mentioned in addition to the shoegaze movement, Krautrock/space rock, and Neurosis post-hardcore, as well as contemporary classical.

And it's quite mistaken to think post-rock (and post-hardcore) are unrelated to prog. The bands obviously don't group in the same 'scene' as people like SW, but the musical lineage is incredibly clear. The legacies of prog acts like King Crimson carry directly through post-rock, to the point where Dream Theater even used it (the end of "Repetence"). One is the stone hitting the pond, the other a set of ripples resulting.

Not to mention anything avant-garde can automatically be considered progressive. The two are intimately linked.

[jammindude]

Hawkwind

[Sacul]

Sure, it is different enough that it has its own genre, but it still is a form of prog-rock at the end of the day.

Not really, post-rock comes from math rock, and experimental bands like Slint, Talk Talk, Tortoise, Mogwai, etc. and have little to do with prog.

There's no foundation of post-rock in math rock. Its progenitors are the bands you mentioned in addition to the shoegaze movement, Krautrock/space rock, and Neurosis post-hardcore, as well as contemporary classical.

Dude, Slint are math rock as fuck, and one of the biggest influences on the post-rock movement, as well as Don Caballero, therefore stating that genre has nothing to do with post-rock is quite wrong imo. Post-rock as we know it (second wave bands like GYBE!, Sigur Ros, etc. and beyond) may not really sound math-y, but it also sounds different from the movements you cited, which can be considered as part of the first wave. All those influenced converged into a unique genre, that it's more or less defined.

And it's quite mistaken to think post-rock (and post-hardcore) are unrelated to prog. The bands obviously don't group in the same 'scene' as people like SW, but the musical lineage is incredibly clear. The legacies of prog acts like King Crimson carry directly through post-rock, to the point where Dream Theater even used it (the end of "Repentance"). One is the stone hitting the pond, the other a set of ripples resulting.

I don't really see (or hear, actually) how progressive acts like KC may have had an influence on post-rock other than inspiring the musicians to expand the limits of what can be conceived musically - you're talking about a philosophy, the one of progressive rock, I'm refering to the "prog sound". Just because two genres follow the same train of thought, it doesn't mean they're really connected at all.

Dunno what Repentance has of post-rock - the layered voices and/or the extended ending? Can't see what you mean there 

Not to mention anything avant-garde can automatically be considered progressive. The two are intimately linked.

Not really, since avant-garde is more of an ideology and not a musical movement per se.

[jammindude]

Frank Zappa

[Crow]

it's a shame I don't like Slint and don't really like Don Caballero either

[Zantera]

You're just on fire with the bad opinions lately aren't you? 

[darkshade]

I never heard that song Routine before, and I just watched the video for the first time, and I was already tearing up before we find out what happened to the woman's family. Quite a beautiful piece of music there. That end part is pretty emotional, too. A slice of optimism, but I find that part even sadder.

I can't take music like this very often, especially when I feel bad for animated characters.