STEVEN WILSON

This is the first official solo album by SW, althought he has already released numerous records under other pseudonyms or in other projects like Blackfield, No-man, Bass Communion and I.E.M. This one however is different, and significantly better (imo) than any of the other SW solo projects.

I actually bought this album just beacuse it's Steve Wilson, and I had heard the single Harmony Korine. It sounded like pretty standard SW, so I thought that the whole album would be just PT songs that never appeared on PT albums. How incredibly wrong that was. Already by the second track, Abandoner, I realized something completely else was going on. The music here is still clearly SW (dark, melancholic, etc), but it's like a fusion of everything he likes and has been doing over the past two decades. The most prominent inluences are ambient music, drone and noise, and post-punk.

While SW plays almost all instruments on the record there are many guests. Some notable of them are Gavin Harrison, Jordan Rudess and Tony Levin.

Nothing probably need to be said about the production, that is fantastic as usual. The 5.1 mix really adds some more depth to the album. The packaging also cotains a booklet with nice photos by Lasse Hoile, who apparently is working on a film project related somehow to this album. Interesting.

It's nice to see that actually an artists solo album is better than his main act, but I suppose that happes too. Nice to see a completely new side of SW, and hope he will be doing more solo albums. Album of the year (at least top 3), 5 very strong stars.

What does Steven Wilson's 'Insurgentes' and a turkey dinner have in common?

They both put you to sleep.

Don't fool yourself; this is definately not a Porcupine Tree album under a different name. Steven Wilson has used this solo record to explore all of the facets of his music, not just the typical style that is heard in much of the Porcupine Tree material. There are a few songs a la Porcupine to entice listeners, but there is also stuff that resonates his other projects, particularly his drone project 'Bass Communion.' All of these styles are melded into something that is mellow and noisy.

The first few times I listened to this album, I literally fell asleep. Not to discredit the album, but it is very quiet for the most part, and it risks slipping into the realm of background music. Some of the stuff sounds like something that you could expect from Steven Wilson typically (the soaring 'Harmony Korine'), other material sounds almost exactly like The Mars Volta ('No Twilight In The Courts Of The Sun.')

The album's production is generally very thoughtful (as is most of Wilson's material) except a few moments where either by fault or intent, the mixing suddenly goes out of whack and certain tracks become twice as loud. The best example of this is in the 'climax' of 'No Twilight.' Hurts my ears every time.

The album doesn't work out to be one of the brightest moments in Steven Wilson's career, but it is interesting to see the man work without the parameters expected of Porcupine Tree. Highlights include the first track, 'Harmony Korine' (which has a mind blowing video courtesy of Lasse Hoile,) the title closing track, and 'Venero A Las Hadas' which at first passed me as being excessively boring and mellow, but it took me a few listens to see how aesthetically beautiful it sounds. Very dreamlike and lucid.

All fans of Porcupine Tree should at least check out the album, because it is really good. I cannot expect this sort of varied, calm music to be everyone's thing, however.

Do not expect a Porcupine Tree record with this one!

OK, let's assume that most of people will get/buy/lend this album, because of Steven Wilson's fame from Porcupine Tree. That's my case also. And I still remember my first listen of Insurgentes, I heard PT all over the place (album), couldn't get from my mind that it's just another album of theirs. Indeed, that's probably normal, Steven is one of the most active musicians here (I wonder why he wasn't included in Transatlantic, he wouldn't do shame here with his history) and also one of those, whose voice is simply, unforgettable. I also heard few groups, where when listening vocals, I realized: "Hey, it sounds like Steven Wilson.", simply influential he is.

And after all, it's not bade to take this as another of SW works. And I like, admire and respect the way, how he can handle all this mood changing. From heavy guitars to soft, slowly sung lyrics, from ethereal sounds like from mist, where you just barely know what it means combined with dreamy piano and not so less dreamy Wilson's voice. Somebody simply has this gift. When comparing it to for example "Lightbulb Sun", there are tracks like "Russia on Ice" and second half forms songs like "Four Chords that Make a Million".

And I'm also going to point out some negatives. Boring album full of nothing, long passages of boredom, that's difficult thing. Because it's matter of point of view. I enjoy them when certain conditions are fulfilled, for example they shouldn't be boring, they should be managed well to be interesting and when talking about being interesting, they have to offer something unique and special. Post-anything solo in beginning of No Twilight Within the Courts of the Sun with jazzy background is it for example. It's like studying bacterias, you have to use microscope and concentrate, see the small things that can cause a lot of troubles. Same (even opposite) thing here, you have to listen closely, watch for these elements, little parts of greater puzzle, because they're here and will reward you with one, important thing. You will like this album.

4(+), because after long string of PT albums, I see a lot of original thoughts, new ideas and opposite of boredom. But it depends maybe too much on noise and silence, more than would be appropriate.

The remixed versions of Steven Wilson's first "proper" solo album are, at the time of this writing, online as free streaming tracks; that's good, because there was no way in the world I was going to shell out so much as a dime for this. Why the original album is highly regarded is, to be honest, beyond me, but I realize people esteem things for different reasons. I also balk at the sheer number of editions: Limited deluxe edition, retail editions (digipak and super jewel case versions), Japanese edition, limited vinyl edition, the single "Harmony Korine," a film, and then this compilation of remixes. Such extravagance is an exercise in marketing overkill, akin to how if something exists, there is a Monopoly board game for it. Rather than a dozen different versions full of the same generally boring and noisy stuff, there should have been a single version consisting of remarkable music. To make matters even more laughable, "Abandoner" is featured twice! The exception here is Pat Mastelotto's remix of "Salvaging," which took a dull work and made it a fair bit better. As this is merely the remix of five tracks from an album I have already reviewed, I will forgo a track by track description. Just take what I've already said in my initial review and add the phrases "electronic beats," "more noises," "additional effects," and "still stinks."

Straight to the point: this is not the kind of album that I can sincerely recommend you to buy or enjoy through lending the CD from your friend. Am I too extreme to say that it's gonna be a waste of time listening to this album. While for my case, I purchased this CD through amazon with one major assumption (that turned out to be a great fallacy) that Steven Wilson is a pretty BIG name behind the masterpiece 'Fear of A Blank Planet' album of Porcupine Tree. Not only that, look at the supporting musicians with great names from progressive scene like Tony Levin, Jordan Rudess, Theo Travis and Wilson's Porcupine Tree mate Gavin Harrison. Those factors had successfully built a very solid rationale for me not think twice to click the item from a series of amazon recommendations for me. What happened then? It's a completely a waste of time! It did not take me enough spirit to have a second spin after I listened to the full album with great patience due to the pretty slow and intensely dark nuance the album tried to deliver. I then skipped the album by spinning other albums like Saga, Simon Says and couple of prog albums that I had at that time. I tried to spin again this album, occasionally, with my concerted effort to understand the subtleties of soundscapes where Mr Wilson had built his expertise in this arena. But still .. I could not lie to myself ?that this album is completely nothing in it! Soooo ...booooooring my friend ....

Do you still say that I have been generous in giving rating?

Let me tell you straight, The reason why I have been holding my thoughts about this album for more than three months .... it's because of Steven Wilson name! I pushed my boundaries very hard trying to understand what he means with this album but .. I am so sorry, I don't get it Mr Wilson. I was well intimidated by the fact that some of my colleague collaborators had put relatively good to excellent (in fact masterpiece!) ratings of this album. What's wrong with me then? Am I nut if I can not still understand the music? I have been struggling these days....should I give it a one star rating or two? What about three? No? definitely it's not a three star! So ..it's in between 1 to 2 stars, really. Am I mentally ready to say it as one star album? It's a thought provoking for

Well, ...as Fish did say in 'The Web' that ....'the decision has to be made', I have to take my standpoint as well....

Let me start with good things because you have been hearing bad things through the above phrases, haven't you? The soundscapes production of this album is excellent especially if you are audiophile, you will enjoy the mastery of Mr Wilson experimenting his sound thoughts through this album. There are interesting sound effects produced here in there throughout the songs delivered here. I also enjoy this because I feel like I am in the music room when I listen to the soundscapes. If you are familiar with Porcupine Tree, I think the root of this album is coming from Porcupine Tree style, it's 90% similar to any Porcupine Tree album with exception of 'In Absentia'. The rest, you can guess what it sounds like.

The bad things are on the composition which, in my humblest opinion, is very poor. It seems like Mr. Wilson had never thought it very hard on how creating such a robust composition. Well, when I say composition it's about the combination of multi dimensions like melody line, harmonies, complexity, change of style, and structural integrity. This album scores very low on complexity, change of style and melody. All tracks presented in this album are basically very simple and majority of them are repeats of chords that have made me feeling 'bored' with the music being played. I do not demand that complexity must be high, at least being moderate. Why? It's a prog music man .. if there is nothing as being complex, you must categorize it as pop music and nothing wrong with it. On change of style, this album has nothing in it. For each track there is no change of style or maybe very minimum. The way to understand this is that you can guess how the song will finish by knowing the intro because it's basically many repeats. On melody, actually it's not fair to say that there is no melody here with this album. Yes, there is, for example on the opening track 'Harmonie Korine'. But?it's not a solid melody. I especially feel depressed and pathetic listening to the concluding track that is the title track 'Insurgentes'. What Mr Wilson is trying to do anyhow?

In Conclusion...

I appreciate Mr Wilson's rebel to challenge the music industry codes nowadays as he meant with the word 'insurgentes' which is a Spannish word meaning 'rebellion'. If that is his true intention, I see this album as a composition with no direction and it sounds like a jamming of his own one-man band even though he has recruited big names in prog music like Tony Levin and the rest. He has failed to capitalize the full potentials of great prog musicians right here in this album. He can play the whole album without the help of those musicians. What for he was hiring Jordan Rudess playing such simple piano work? I don not understand. Is it for marketing gimmick? Let me tell you, Mr Wilson, at the end of the day, the music itself that counts!

And if this is the kind of rebel he has been trying to do in prog music, I am so sorry that I make my stand clearly here that I am NOT going to follow his direction. Full stop. I'd rather keep on proggin' with the like of The Tangent, The Flower Kings, Simon Says, Pain of Salvation and many great names in prog music.

Please do not feel offended as I express my honest opinion. Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

From the man that never sleeps. The album of the year!

Insurgentes finds Wilson in a boundless creative mood, stretching his legs in jazzy, trip, ambient and more then once also in new wave territories. The format is much loser and freer then it has been on recent Porcupine Tree albums and reaches far beyond normal prog territory.

Of course it's recognizably Wilson. I mean, you should not expect the man has suddenly developed a deep baritone or made a reggae album. But the music is very different from Porcupine Tree's recent prog approach. So I'm hardly surprised the album doesn't click well with all prog purists. In fact, this album had better been promoted to an entirely different target audience instead. (Hmm, can you notice I had a meeting with marketing this morning?) Anyway, I'm sure this album could have reached many of the open-minded Cure, Depeche Mode or Portishead fans out there that have been hiding out in their caves for the last 20 years deploring the downfall of good dark music.

Yes dark and gloomy it is. And because every track is so excellent I'll even kick my lazy bum into action and do some kind of song by song overview! 'Harmony Korine' is our link with Porcupine Tree. It's a pop-sensible take on Fear of A Dark Planet with an absolutely gorgeous chorus, easily obliterating all things Muse in its course. 'Abandoner' finds Portishead veering off into pure white noise directions. 'Salvaging' is a very gothic track with an entrancing bass line that reminds me of something 80's but I can't put my finger on it. I'll let you know if I ever find out. 'Veneno Para Las Hadas' is one of the brilliant ballads on the album. It uses the same slide guitar loop that Wilson used on his recent revision of The Sky Moves Sideways. 'No Twilight' is the odd proggy beast of the album. Starting with a strong free-jazz guitar solo that fades away into a dark minimalist middle part. Wilson is really at his balladry best on Insurgentes. 'Significant Other' is another winner that stays far away from the cheap melodrama that Lazarus fell blindly into. With the dazzling chorus it sits right next to Heartattack in a Layby. Next comes '17 Seconds'. Or no ? 'Only Child' it is called here! The closing 3 pieces are just some more proof of Wilson's rule in creating stunning ambient ballads.

As if all that wasn't enough yet, there's some extra tracks for special edition owners. Of particular interest are 'Collecting Space', the superb Depeche Mode/Nine Inch Nails study 'Untitled' and 'A Forest'. Oh no wrong again. 'Puncture Wound' it is called I believe. The sneaky Cure-thief!

Hot on the Heels of the prog masterpiece that was Fear of a Blank Planet, Wilson is back with this more introvert but equally appeasing masterpiece of new dark experimental prog wave. Yes, I like genres that feature only one album in their ranks. So, needless to say it's the best album in its genre :-)

Insurgentes is the debut solo album by progressive rock artist Steven Wilson. Mostly known in progressive rock circles as being the frontman and guitarist in Porcupine Tree, Steven Wilson has also participated in a long list of projects in addition to his work with that band. Acts such as Blackfield, No- man, Bass Communion and I.E.M. Insurgentes is the first full- length album release in his own name though.

The music on the album is unmistakably Steven Wilson. Dark and melancholic progressive pop/ rock. The music differs just enough from the music of Porcupine Tree to justify calling it a solo effort but there are many similarities between Insurgentes and latter day Porcupine Tree. In addition to Steven Wilson on vocals, guitars and keyboards there are a couple of rather prominant guests on the album. Porcupine Tree drummer Gavin Harrison plays the drums on the album, Tony Levin lays down a couple of bass tracks and Jordan Rudess plays piano on a couple of songs. Other than Gavin Harrison´s contributions on the drums, most guest appearances on the album works as spice though and not as fundamental parts of the compositions. This is Steven Wilson´s album.

There are 10 tracks on the album and if you have the limited edition ( limited to 3000 copies) there is a bonus CD with 5 extra tracks in addition to the original album. A 4 x 10 inch vinyl version ( limited to 1000 copies) is also available.

There are several excellent songs on Insurgentes but I actually think it´s the kind of album that deserves to be listened to as a whole. That´s the way an ambient track like Twilight Coda works the best IMO. While there are some heavier rock parts on the album, the music is predominantly ambient and emotional and it´s probably the fans of Steven Wilson´s most ambient material that will enjoy this album the most. Insurgentes is a pretty diverse album though. Just take a listen to how a song like Get All You Deserve evolves from a quiet and melancholic Radiohead like beginning to a massive wall of noise towards the end, the beautiful title track, the changing directions of Salvaging, the radiofriendly Harmony Korine or the great No Twilight Within the Courts of the Sun with an almost 4 minute long guitar solo intro, an ambient vocal middle part and the beautiful piano ending. While there are great variation on the album it´s certainly consistent when you view it as a whole and the dark and melancholic atmosphere which is dominant throughout the album really helps to keep things together. The original album is excellent but if you get the chance be sure to get the limited edition because the bonus tracks are well worth getting the limited release for.

The production needs a special mention because it´s pretty fantastic to say the least. A very well produced album which focuses on both clean sounds and warm emotions.

Insurgentes is an excellent album by Steven Wilson and I´m happy that he has opted to keep his experimentation on an acceptable and enjoyable level. It´s always a danger when people make solo albums that they cross that line between succesful experimentation and dispensable avant garde. Or if their solo efforts simply can´t live up to the quality level of their main act(s). As mentioned above that´s definitely not the case here and Insurgentes fully deserves a 4 star rating. So sit back, relax and disappear into the dream ( well sometimes it sounds like a nightmare albeit in a positive way). A highly recommendable album.

This album is definitely a Steven Wilson album. It sounds like a Steven Wilson album: the song structure and style is very reminiscent of his work in Porcupine Tree and Blackfield (unfortunately my knowledge of Wilson's work dries up after those two projects), and it sounds like him when he sings (although he sings the chorus of Harmony Korine worryingly high). Gavin Harrison's characteristic drumming is also on display throughout the album. But at the same time, it doesn't sound like a Porcupine Tree album, or a Blackfield album.

The similarities more-or-less end there. The atmospheres which help to characterise the "Porcupine Tree sound" are absent, probably because Richard Barbieri was out of the picture on this album. I read in (another) interview that Wilson considers himself to be as much of a pianist/keyboardist as a guitarist on this album. Fair enough, except there really isn't that much keyboard or piano on this album. At all. Sure, there's the mostly-piano Get All You Deserve and Insurgentes, and Jordan Rudess does some piano stuff on Twilight Coda, but that's about it. Oh no, wait! There was a bit of piano on Veneno Para Las Hadas. And a teeny bit on No Twilight Within the Courts of the Sun? That's about it, though.

The large absence of keyboards doesn't mean that this album isn't atmospheric. In (yet another) interview, Wilson commented on how the lack of a full-time keyboardist working on the album mean that he could experiment. Which is totally awesome. Few things are more fun than playing around with effects pedals, something Wilson must have done a lot of. And it works: the album has a very spooky, overpowering (I think that's the word I want?) feel. Porcupine Tree isn't exactly cheerful, but this album is friggin' DARK. And Wilson is as cheerful as ever on this album (that is, not at all). I have an Insurgentes desktop background on my laptop: it's a picture of Wilson standing in some desolate place (he seems to like those) looking decidedly miserable. Cheer up, Stevie! Making music is fun, right?

On a (sort of) tangent: Video games geeks who know anything about linear story-driven action will tell you that Half-Life 2 is one of the best out there. It succeeds not just by having some of the best weapons, level design and AI every, but also by its story and setting. It's set in a future where aliens have invaded Earth and taken it over and humans are oppressed in a bleak, Orwellian world (in what looks like East Europe). To give this paragraph some point: Insurgentes (the album, not the track) would have by far been the most appropriate score the game could have.

Okay, so that's probably enough talk about how atmospheric and not-like-Porcupine-Tree-but-still-like-Porcupine-Tree Insurgentes is. But atmosphere doesn't automatically make music awesome (as many Vangelis albums will show you) - so is it put in a solid context? If you've read this far then you probably know the rating I've given this album, so the answer must be yes.

First listen through this album, and it sounded good to me, but not amazing. Once I'd listened to this album a few more times it gave me a "PHWOAR" feeling. Avant-friggin'-gard, man! Art rock all the way! (As a side note, this album is very arty and very ambitious and avant-garde, but doesn't contain many of the hallmarks which would give it the "prog" sound.) It's ambitious and experimental nature means that by definition it's not going to be an album that grabs you after one listen.

Let's lump the tracks together by what they sound like. The "normal" (by WIlson's standards) tracks are Harmony Korine, Veneno Para Las Hadas, Only Child, Twilight Coda (the only instrumental on the main disc) and Insurgentes. Okay, I say they're normal but they're actually all completely different. There's the straightforward Harmony Korine and Only Child, two guitar-driven tracks oozing with crazy guitar distortion. The other three tracks mentioned are more laid-back: Veneno is slow, and melancholic, Twilight is a slow, eerie instrumental and Insurgentes is a simple piano ballad with added Koto. Because, y'know, Kotos are awesome.

Then there are the "not-so-normal", or "experimental", or "jeez-Louise what's he doing to my ears?" tracks. Abandoner, Salvaging, No Twilight Within the Courts of the Sun, Significant Other and Get all you Deserve. Most of these tracks are actually fairly normal (by which I mean, on a par with the other tracks), but include noise or drone-stuff or something to make you jump. Get all you Deserve starts as a fairly pedestrian piano piece not dissimilar to Insurgentes, but gradually ends in a wall of noise. Salvaging is similar, a very tense piece which fades away to be replaced by a crazy orchestra noise thing. No Twilight has some incredulously weird vocals and some great basswork (thanks to Mr Levin). Oh, and do NOT listen to that track whilst driving. The really big, scary jump may make listening to that track the last thing you do.

So the music on the album is really very, very diverse. Whats unites it is the dark, heavy atmosphere and the vocals and lyrics (which, according to ANOTHER interview were mostly improvised - the common theme they share is randomness). My personal favourites are Salvaging, Insurgentes and Veneno Para Las Hadas (in that order).

Is it all awesome? No. It's not a flawless album. Indeed, it's diverse nature means that it's unlikely to please everyone on every track. My bugbears? Significant Other doesn't really do anything for me. It reminds me of that tune they used on the old British Airways ads (Aria by Yanni, I think?), but with extra noise. Twilight Coda seems a bit unfocused and aimless. Get All You Deserve gets great towards the end, but takes too long to get there. The beats from Abandoner will almost certainly put a lot of people off (it's not one of my favourite tracks but I still enjoy it) and some people will hate the whole album because of the noise-ness.

2008 felt like a slow year for music. Pendragon's Pure was a pretty good album and the Ayreon album wasn't bad, but otherwise nothing exciting happened. APART FROM THIS ALBUM. Unless you're going to be a prick and categorise it as a 2009 release (which so far has been a much better year, with the OSI, Heaven & Hell and Dream Theater albums to name but a few); even then, it still ranks very highly with its contemporaries.

Highly recommended for anyone searching for some ambitious rock.

An excellent and diverse album from Porcupine Tree's frontman and sound engineer.

This album is not a natural progression from Porcupine Tree's "Fear of a Blank Planet". Fortunately, he decided to experiment and try doing different things. However, this is Wilson we are talking about and you will expect many Porcupine Tree influences despite the experimentation within this album. You can also notice the always excellent sound engineering, but I believe that it is better than ever in "Insurgentes".

The first difference between this album and a modern Porcupine Tree album is the abundance of average-lengthed tracks. Another difference is that it completely avoids using the heavy metal passages that were present since the "In Absencia" album.

While the diverse nature of the album might make you think that this album plays incoherently track thru track, it does not flow badly at all. I believe it flows better than in their concept album "Fear of a Blank Planet".

The first track, which is not only the single but also the song shown in this website, is not very representative of the album. It is a stereotypical mid-tempo Porcupine Tree song that could fit in their "Deadwing" album. It works pretty well, but that feeling of "been there, done that" hurts its impact.

"Abandoner" is much different, using a bit of electronica, psychedelic acoustic guitars and an overwhelming passage that experiments with guitar drones. I believe it is excellent and is used in a different way in the heavier and more progressive "Salvaging" and it borders on white noise at the end of the "Get All You Deserve" track. "Get All You Deserve" is one of the most memorable moments of the album, with piano and fragile falsetto vocals build up to carefully constructed noise until it is very suffocating.

You also got another highlight with the "No Twilight" song. It is a King Crimson influenced tune with a heavy emphasis on an oddly-timed bass line by Tony Levin that sometimes is played by the electric guitar instead. Soloing is an important aspect of the song and you will be surprised that Jordan Rudess is the one playing the piano.

On the other hand, you have the melodic side with the great half-ballad "Significant Other" or the piano-driven title track. You also have more restrained, atmospheric and ambient songs like the Sky Moves Sideways-influenced "Veneno Para Las Hadas" and "Twilight Coda". To make the album even more varied, "Only Child" is an alternative rock song with grunge elements.

Overall, this album exceeded my expectations. The sound engineering is some of the best I have ever heard, the songwriting is inspired, the musicianship is excellent, and the music is quite emotional and moody. Frankly, it is better than the average Porcupine Tree album.

An overall beautiful collection of remixed already excellent Steven Wilson music. The remix of Harmony Korine is contrasted with the original as it is given a hip-hop feel by T.V. on the Radio's David A. Silek. I've never been a fan of track by track analysis. but the overall impression of this collection of remixes is a must have for any fan of Steven Wilson. If you have Insurgentes and enjoyed it, then it's safe to say you will thoroughly this collection of remixes. My personal favorite is track 5, the Lukasz Langa remix of Abandoner. This mix gives the song a distant worldly feel that would make the song at home in a dramatic independent film about long lost friends regaining friendship only to quickly lose it again. I've only just received this collection and have already listened to this mix 3 times, and I dare say I like it a tiny bit more than the original. Electronic fuzz ix replaced with a more prominent piano that tugs at your heart and leaves you wanting more. 4 stars. Recommended.