Hey, guys. I'm Joel

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Hello, everyone. My name is Joel. I live just outside of Bethlehem, PA, USA. I'm become quite a fan of progressive music over the few years I've been listening to it. I've been coming to this site to check out band info and reviews for a while and finally decided to join the forums. I figured this is a good way to discuss and share music with people who share my similar tastes.

In my music, I like a lot of various genres, but I favor the kind that is more intellectual, dynamic, dramatic, well-orchestrated/composed/arranged and intricate; so I can't say I get that stuff out of a casual listen to the radio. I grew up listening to a lot of film scores and classical pieces due to my mother being a pianist, and then moved on to jazz and stuff like that. All those sounds really grew on me at a very young age, and the aspects still reflect my taste today.

I think the first real rock band I listened to that contained any progressive aspects was Metallica. I really like the passages Metallica pulled off in their more lengthy songs. Their work made me want to pick up guitar playing and since then I've been studying my music theory and styles of guitar, which led to my discovery of artists like Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, John Petrucci, Paul Gilbert, Steve Morse, Pat Metheny, etc. and listened to a lot of Jazz Fusion.

In college, I then I stumbled across Dream Theater, which bridged the gap to a more unified form of progressive music. Their writing style fascinated me with the dazzling technicality. From there, I then began researching DT's influences and found Yes, Genesis, King Crimson, etc. and I really fell into that stuff. Those bands didn't just have fantastic writing, but immense subtleties that really crafted their sound (e.g. the use and harmonies of multiple guitars of early Genesis) and some of the greatest melodies and harmonies I've ever heard, which I then realized that I enjoy more. Eventually, I started enjoying select rock genres such as indie, alternative, post-rock, math rock, etc that I felt had some great orchestration and thought put into it.

Nowadays, lot of my rock artists I listen to (and often keep up with) are:
The Dear Hunter, Oceansize, Muse, Dredg, Frank Zappa, The Decemberists, Between the Buried and Me, Battles, The Mars Volta, Genesis, Yes, King Crimson, The Protomen (a Megaman rock-opera), Medeski Martin & Wood, John Zorn, The Gipsy Kings, Patrick Watson, Explosions in the Sky, Gifts from Enola, Mono, Animals as Leaders, Tool, Beardfish, Rush, and I guess I'll throw Yann Tiersen in there (a fantastic pianist).

Music is the world to me and has really kept me going, so I figured this is the right place for me to learn more about bands and hopefully trade insight and knowledge with others.

Thanks, guys

Joel