most bands labeled "prog" or "progressive" I honestly don't care for so much for to me, they often sound like they have a cooking recipe for music. And/or overt borrowing (copying) of other bands/artists style, or a at least 1 specific sound from another band.
I find bands who I hear more emphasis on songwriting, melody, song arrangement, or that have an appealing/surprising/unusual element (non-traditional instruments, use of vocal arrangements and styles, using field recordings, etc) are more my taste.
I agree with this. I've been disappointed by most of the prog/progressive rock/metal bands and I've found them to be mostly regressive than anything. A lot of them sound like bland DT/Rush/Genesis/Tool/Opeth/Symphony X/Meshuggah/Porcupine Tree clones without any real individual voice or sense of "progress".
That said, some bands I'm kinda passionate about:
Metal:
Ne Obliviscaris (Progressive Death Metal/Melodic Death Metal)
Diablo Swing Orchestra (Avant-Garde Metal: combines metal with more traditional jazz genres like Samba, Swing, and classical)
Dream Theater (duh)
Dir en Grey (Avant-Garde Metal: uses the visual kei style and takes the possibilities of metal vocals (clean and otherwise) to the utmost extreme)
Haken (Progressive Metal: takes more influence from more "untapped wells" in progressive metal music like Gentle Giant, glitchop, dubstep, etc.)
Ayreon (Progressive Metal: still one of the most interesting artists out there I think, AAL is a certified musical genius)
Gojira (idk, Groove Metal? has a unique sense of rhythm)
Meshuggah (Djent: even with all the new stuff coming out, they are still the most unique sounding)
Rock:
The Dear Hunter (Progressive Symphonic Rock: a totally unique band. Combines showtunes and film music/modern VGM-esque elements with indie rock)
iamthemorning (Chamber Prog: Honestly, closer to classical music than to rock. Fantastic, one of the best bands out there)
Muse (Alternative Rock: one of the few big modern rock bands that have maintained a hard experimental edge. The 2nd Law and Simulation Theory are extremely diverse and original sounding)
Older artists include Incubus, Pink Floyd, and Yes.
Electronic:
Juno Reactor (Psytrance/Goa Trance: total wildcards. They're mostly Psy/Goa Trance, but they bring in a lot of elements of film scores, indian classical, and spaghetti westerns, among other things)
Infected Mushroom ("Psytrance": mostly their own thing. Definitely electronic, but with a lot of metal influences. Doesn't sound like anything else out there atm)
Submotion Orchestra (Downtempo/Soul/Dubstep/Noir Jazz: I'm not sure what genre these guys are. They are fantastic)
Pop:
Billie Eilish (the style of her production is totally unique, with original bass sounds, arrangements, and vocal production. Also just a good songwriter)
Carly Rae Jepsen (the DARLING of the pop scene atm; has used the sense of nostalgia to actually reflect upon and enhance the meaning of her songs. Buy E-MO-TION on iTunes)
Lorde (another indie pop darling, revolutionized the pop industry a few years ago with Pure Heroine. Melodrama was a great successor and featured many unique combinations of more acoustic instrumentation and trap pop elements)
I'm also love Taylor Swift's music to death, but she's mostly passed on the mantle of progressive sound to other artists imo. Even so, ...ready for it? is surprisingly aggressive for a pop song. CHVRCHES is the same situation. As far as older artists go, I'm gonna include ABBA too.
Rap:
Kendrick Lamar (honestly, have you HEARD To Pimp a Butterfly? No? Go listen to it)
Chance the Rapper (has an innovative incorporation of gospel music into rap)
Jazz:
Snarky Puppy (Jazz Fusion; A really unique sounding fusion of big band jazz, funk, gospel, math rock, and pop)
Classical:
Honestly most of the music I've heard in modern Classical has not been that interesting.
Other:
Moulettes (A Folk band from the UK; brings in more progressive rock and chamber elements. Very unique sounding)
Heilung (Some weird pagan thing, honestly pretty awesome)