Art of Noise to prog electr.

Art of Noise avid fan here.

I do think Art of Noise are a progressive music group. The progression they represent is a departure from that of 70s prog and is more about crossing the boundaries of genre and experimenting with technology, production and instrumentation. It could be arguable that Art of Noise invented or brought revolution into several genres, most notably trip hop and hip hop production, however is AoN a progressive band?

By the standard definition of progressive music, I'd say so. I could name many tracks that could be defined progressive but, instead, I'll name a single album: The Seduction of Claude Debussy. It's a narrative concept album, it mixes elements from several genres that go from opera to drum'n bass and again from classical to funk and with interludes very reminiscent of symphonic prog.

Sample track:


But their earlier releases are as progressive, if not more. One example is Below the Waste, an album that makes extensive use of polyrhythms and does certainly sound weird, even to most AoN fans. Here's the most accessible song from the album:



If King Crimson released this song in the 80s and it used Tony Levin's chapman stick instead of a synth, you would all be calling it prog.

Backbeat is a perfect example of progressive electronic music:



And here is another:



And finally, Trevor Horn has once been a member of Yes, and I guess that makes them prog-related at least. I know Horn's contributions aren't among the most progressive Yes tunes (he also contributed to Owner of a Lonely Heart), however Drama was a progressive rock album and it wasn't even a bad one, it's obvious that progressive rock definitely had an influence on AoN, aside form the usual influences by bands like Kraftwerk and avant-garde music in general.

I honestly don't care if AoN is called progressive or not but I think many prog listeners would definitely like them.


Edited by Doniphon - January 18 2011 at 03:45

Thanks for the samples Karl. Based on them I can't really see the logic of the suggestion. Progressive? 

^ Steve Howe, David Sylvian, Trevor Horn, and Ian Mosley guest on Propaganda's 'a secret wish'. That propaganda album has some experiment to it as well. The perfect soundtrack to the expressionist movies of Robert Wiene or Fritz Lang.

This is the only other track I remember from them

harmonium.ro wrote: Need links!

Need Lynx too.

YEAH!!!


Hum, I mean: to consider.
A lot of their songs are rather "rhythmic" and tend to a dance music direction.

Okay, a weird kind of dance music.