https://www.progforums.com/punforum Prog-Sphere forums en http://backend.userland.com/rss https://www.progforums.com/punforum/viewtopic.php?pid=14031#p14031 14031@https://www.progforums.com/punforum Topic: SoundCloud, Bandcamp, ReverbNation & YouTube Recommendations #Svetonio Message: AISLES Irrationally (neo-prog, full-length, released October 1, 2026, Chile)BandcampFavourite track: Irrationally Sat, 03 Oct 2026 02:54:53 +0100 https://www.progforums.com/punforum/viewtopic.php?pid=14030#p14030 14030@https://www.progforums.com/punforum Topic: Your favourite progressive rock song today? Message: Facelift (live 2003) by Soft WorksBandcamp Sat, 03 Oct 2026 02:50:56 +0100 https://www.progforums.com/punforum/viewtopic.php?pid=14029#p14029 14029@https://www.progforums.com/punforum Topic: SoundCloud, Bandcamp, ReverbNation & YouTube Recommendations #Svetonio Message: Cenusa Soarelui s/t (progressive metal, full-length, released October 1, 2026, Cluj Napoca, Romania)BandcampFavourite track: Marcus Fri, 02 Oct 2026 08:09:56 +0100 https://www.progforums.com/punforum/viewtopic.php?pid=14028#p14028 14028@https://www.progforums.com/punforum Topic: SoundCloud, Bandcamp, ReverbNation & YouTube Recommendations #Svetonio Message: platypus Origin of Species (post-progressive, 4-track EP, released October 1, 2026, Perth, Australia)BandcampFavourite track: Prehistoric Fri, 02 Oct 2026 04:06:50 +0100 https://www.progforums.com/punforum/viewtopic.php?pid=14027#p14027 14027@https://www.progforums.com/punforum Topic: Your favourite progressive rock song today? Message: Inęs (2026) by Vasco Ribeiro MoraisBandcamp Fri, 02 Oct 2026 04:02:54 +0100 https://www.progforums.com/punforum/viewtopic.php?pid=14026#p14026 14026@https://www.progforums.com/punforum Topic: SoundCloud, Bandcamp, ReverbNation & YouTube Recommendations #Svetonio Message: Nico Vasquez RYZE ‘N SHYNE (jazz-fusion, 4-track EP, released October 1, 2026, California)BandcampFavourite track: RYZE ‘N SHYNE Fri, 02 Oct 2026 03:59:25 +0100 https://www.progforums.com/punforum/viewtopic.php?pid=14025#p14025 14025@https://www.progforums.com/punforum Topic: SoundCloud, Bandcamp, ReverbNation & YouTube Recommendations #Svetonio Message: Larry Stabbins And the birds sang... duets with Keith Tippett and Louis Moholo-Moholo (archival release, progressive jazz, full-length, physical CD available, released July 31, 2026, Holmfirth, UK)BandcampFavourite track: Clay Thu, 01 Oct 2026 07:19:49 +0100 https://www.progforums.com/punforum/viewtopic.php?pid=14024#p14024 14024@https://www.progforums.com/punforum Topic: SoundCloud, Bandcamp, ReverbNation & YouTube Recommendations #Svetonio Message: vasco ribeiro morais Inęs (rock-in-opposition, full-length, released September 21, 2026, Sintra, Portugal)BandcampFavourite track: Inęs Thu, 01 Oct 2026 02:50:05 +0100 https://www.progforums.com/punforum/viewtopic.php?pid=14023#p14023 14023@https://www.progforums.com/punforum Topic: Your favourite progressive rock song today? Message: For Four (live at RoSfest) (2026) by MirthrandirBandcamp Thu, 01 Oct 2026 02:36:59 +0100 https://www.progforums.com/punforum/viewtopic.php?pid=14022#p14022 14022@https://www.progforums.com/punforum Topic: SoundCloud, Bandcamp, ReverbNation & YouTube Recommendations #Svetonio Message: Noëtra Noëtra dans la grange (compilation) (ambient rock, full-length, physical CD available, released March 21, 2026, Limoges, France)BandcampFavourite track: Transparences Wed, 30 Sep 2026 09:54:25 +0100 https://www.progforums.com/punforum/viewtopic.php?pid=14021#p14021 14021@https://www.progforums.com/punforum Topic: SoundCloud, Bandcamp, ReverbNation & YouTube Recommendations #Svetonio Message: Daniel PEROINE Renovatio (instrumental heavy-prog, full-length, released September 25, 2026, Nancy, France)BandcampFavourite track: Chapitre XX Wed, 30 Sep 2026 09:45:20 +0100 https://www.progforums.com/punforum/viewtopic.php?pid=14020#p14020 14020@https://www.progforums.com/punforum Topic: SoundCloud, Bandcamp, ReverbNation & YouTube Recommendations #Svetonio Message: Mirthrandir Live at RoSfest (sympho-rock, full-length, releases October 2, 2026, New Jersey)BandcampFavourite track: For Four Wed, 30 Sep 2026 01:00:06 +0100 https://www.progforums.com/punforum/viewtopic.php?pid=14019#p14019 14019@https://www.progforums.com/punforum Topic: SoundCloud, Bandcamp, ReverbNation & YouTube Recommendations #Svetonio Message: Anfiteatro Antinferno Uomo di campagna (rock progressivo italiano, full-length, released June 28, 2024, Catania, Italy)BandcampFavourite track: Disincanto Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:55:13 +0100 https://www.progforums.com/punforum/viewtopic.php?pid=14018#p14018 14018@https://www.progforums.com/punforum Topic: Your favourite progressive rock song today? Message: l'estuaire (I. entre deux courants, II. trop beau pour ętre vrai, III. sosiroma, IV. un pays ŕ reprendre) (2026) by béatitudeBandcamp Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:51:35 +0100 https://www.progforums.com/punforum/viewtopic.php?pid=14017#p14017 14017@https://www.progforums.com/punforum Topic: What's Prog? Message: When Rock Dissolved into the Ether – The Story of Ambient RockWhen one thinks of prog, one usually associates it with intricacy. One associates it with the keyboard wiz, the extended melodic excursions, and the twenty-minute symphonic excursions. It is a very multifaceted meta-genre, but there is another branch of it, equally deserving of attention, that took the basic tenets of progressive music and turned it on its head. Ambient rock.While sympho-rock seeks to recreate the towering Gothic cathedral of sound, ambient rock is all about the landscape beyond the cathedral. It is about taking away the pressures of time and allowing one's music-making abilities to flow freely. It is a different kind of experimentation, which poses a different question to its listeners. Ambient rock is about using the instruments of progressive rock in new ways to accentuate different virtues within this grand form.German Visionaries - Popol VuhTo examine where this particular blend of rock and atmosphere takes its roots, let us go to the early seventies German scene. While some were busy following the motorik school of thought, Florian Fricke and his band of merry men, Popol Vuh, were going the other way. They were pioneers of the Moog synthesiser, but they quickly outgrew its limitations and began searching for a more humanistic sound. Albums such as Hosianna Mantra (1972) or soundtracks created for director Werner Herzog saw Fricke and co. combining acoustic guitars, oboe, piano, sitar, you name it, into a unique blend of ethereal sounds. It was the first time the rock idiom had been utilised in such a free, unhinged way, using instruments that did not conform to the rigid verse-chorus-verse structure. A holy atmosphere, both ancient and simultaneously modern, was created by this band, proving that progressive music was not only about the ability to dazzle the listener with a one-minute guitar solo, but it could be deep, meaningful, and profoundly spiritual.Popol Vuh Kyrie (German TV, 1973)The Symphonic Landscape: Mike Oldfield's Pastoral DronesAt the same time in England, a nineteen-year-old prodigy was already experimenting with the means of studio technology to generate expansive soundscapes. While Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells (1973) could be seen as the most obvious example of his work, his contributions to the development of ambient rock are found in the deeply textured B-sides of his early works, as well as the following compositions Hergest Ridge (1974) and Ommadawn (1975).Oldfield made extensive and innovative use of the studio as a place to layer multiple guitar tracks, glockenspiels, and organs on top of one another in order to achieve a certain effect. Instead of using standard rock instrumentation and arranging it into rhythmic patterns, the musician relied on drones, and slow swelling and fading tones that evoke an English countryside landscape. Oldfield’s compositions create a cyclic structure, which makes them similar to symphonic music. However, instead of being tied to a strict rhythmic pattern, they produce an effect akin to weather conditions – rolling waves of sound that engulf the listener in their depth.Mike Oldfield Ommadawn (the 7-inch single version, 1975)The Cinematic Horizon - Vangelis and EarthAt around the same time, a Greek keyboardist situated in Paris, before becoming the go-to man for movie soundtracks (most notably Blade Runner), Vangelis Papathanassiou was a part of the progressive rock band Aphrodite's Child, and his solo work Earth (1973) is a landmark in the history of ambient rock. It is a strange, very eclectic album, which sees Vangelis utilising symphonic synthesiser patches, tribal drums, various acoustic instruments and some very atmospheric drones as sonic building blocks. There is a sense of space and vastness in the track listing, and Vangelis manages to invoke the image of a primordial landscape, with his music serving as its soundtrack. It is a strange way to approach the progressive rock ethos, but this is exactly the kind of innovation that progressive music is all about.Vangelis Let It Happen (from Earth, 1973)The Architecture of Sound - Brian Eno's Another Green WorldAcross the channel, meanwhile, a self-proclaimed non-musician was busy revolutionising the way the English approached their musical output. Having forsaken his tenure as a member of Roxy Music, Brian Eno took to the streets, armed with a healthy budget and a set of ideas that would see the light of day in the most influential solo work of his career, the landmark Another Green World (1975). Rock music was entering a new phase in its evolution, and the closest thing this school of thought had to a manifesto was the work of Brian Eno. Collaborators such as Robert Fripp (King Crimson) and Phil Collins (Genesis) helped him realise his ideas on how rock music should be made, using the studio as an instrument and expanding the palette of what was considered the sonic possibilities of the rock arrangement. Listen to the title track, or In Dark Trees, from Another Green World, and marvel at the sheer audacity and ambition of this endeavour. It is a highly accessible type of prog, one that sought to balance the very sophisticated nature of what it did with a certain degree of restraint. Eno was a visionary who needed to get his ideas out there, and the rest of the progressive music world would follow his lead.Brian Eno In Dark Trees (from Another Green World, 1975)So, why is this post all about ambient rock? Why it fits into "What's Prog" thread? BecauseIt took the sonic experimentation, the innovation, and the daring spirit of the 1970s progressive rock movement and applied them to the concept of space. Ambient rock introduced a whole new universe of possibilities to an awed young musician, one who was eager to break free from the shackles of standard rock and power-chord progressions. Without this particular branch of the progressive music tree, we would not have the benefit of the rich, expansive soundscapes crafted by modern-day ambient rock artists such as Daniel Land in the UK, Numün in the US, or Stefano Panunzi in Italy that are, on their Bandcamp pages and among other tags, all tagged as ambient rock. It is the kind of music that makes one feel more connected to the universe, and that kind of music is as prog as it gets.Daniel Land & The Modern Painters Lighting Out for the Territories (from Love Songs for the Chemical Generation, 2009)BandcampNumün Tranquility Base (from Voyage au soleil, 2020)BandcampStefano Panunzi Stepping out of Your Dream (from Caravaggio, 2026)Bandcamp Tue, 29 Sep 2026 12:19:23 +0100