Hello from a prog, jazz, math rock fan

Hello all, my name's Chase. I joined this forum for the simple reason that I am fascinated, intrigued, and kept alive by Jazz, Prog, Fusion, Avant Garde, Math Rock, Space Rock and really any music that raises the bar of talent and creativity. I listen to and appreciate ALL types of music! I play guitar and have been playing for about 10 years now. I compose and play lead in a high energy prog-rock band called Did You See Those Bats? based out of Austin, TX. We divide our time into writing, recording, and playing one to two gigs a month.

Currently, my favorite players/groups are:
Kurt Rosenwinkel
Mahavishnu Orchestra
King Crimson
John Scofield
Soft Machine
Bygones
Frank Zappa
Larry Coryell and the Eleventh House
White Denim
Zach Hill and Peer Pressure
Aquaserge
Henry Cow
Steely Dan
Ornette Coleman

Welcome to the site, Chase!  I see some Henry Cow there in your favorite groups, always a great thing.  Same goes for Zappa, Soft Machine and Ornette Coleman.  Long live avant-garde (rock, jazz, classical, take your pick, they're all good)!

Thanks, Holland is definitely a great bassist.

Henry Cow's vocal works have taken a while longer to grow on me, but over the past several months they've finally gotten a good grasp on me.  Have you, by chance, heard the box set?  I'd recommend it especially to a fan of improv, a good percentage of the box is improvised concerts, both with and without vocals.

To SaltyJon, I've heard most of Legend, some stuff from Unrest, and a lot from Western Culture; the latter being my favorite so far. It's been difficult to find their music, as all of the record stores around here never carry their LPs and no one I know has any inkling as to who they are. I've been limited to singles I can find online, tracks on YouTube, Last.fm, Pandora, and things of the like. The box set is a little pricey (amazon). Besides the ones I've listed, which albums would you recommend individually?

To Harmonium, We came up with the name from a local tourist attraction here in Austin, TX. At dusk, if you're anywhere near Congress bridge downtown, you'll see thousands of bats fly out from under the bridge in huge, undulating waves of blackness. Hundreds of people are usually lined up on the bridge to check it out, so I guess the thought was that we'd capitalize on the idea in our hometown. The Fear and Loathing reference was an afterthought, albeit a welcome afterthought. I totally dug that movie.

I used to be a CD person when I drove a car that had a CD player and a real nice Bose stereo system. Now I drive a POS Corolla with no CD player and awful speakers. And I love vinyl because you get big artwork and a physical, stylus in groove, presence that really fills the room when a records on. Thanks for the recommendations! I'll definitely have to check out Unrest in it's entirety.