The Ultimate Champions League, pt. 3; compositions

When doing polls like this one should stick to the rule "only one album per artist". My vote went to MDK.

Upbeat Tango Monday wrote: Most advanced, complex and innovative ? Close to the Edge by far.

CTTE

Tool, although I love the Faith No More and Mastodon albums as well.

addictedtoprog wrote: Upbeat Tango Monday wrote: micky wrote: nice choice of albums.. voting for the 2nd most original and innovative album, ITCOTCK, since you didn't include the single most original, innovative, and if time proves me right.. most influential prog album. The question is... Self titled or Tarkus? Micky is talking about TFTO.

no no no...  one thing than can be said for me. I never mistake perference for quality. Something Genesis fan could stand to learn.

TFTO.. great album. zero innovation and how could that album ever be influential much less for future generations as I intimated. Only Yes could have pulled off an album like that and make it work.

the album I was referring too... it has to really be something to be considered even more innovative and perhaps more influential than King Crimson's first. In short.. it had to completely reinvent prog rock for the 21st century.. and if I am right... this one did. Though it might not be recognized as such until the last of the nostalgia fans and bands die off..

don't believe me.. here are what everyone says about it.

Mirrored (Warp, 2007) single-handedly reinvented post-rock for the 21st century. It appropriated dance rhythms, jazz improvisation and digital editing to craft erudite and intricate compositions that harked back to the Canterbury school of progressive-rock of the 1970s. '

'This is not just an album that can be appreciated by fans of the avant-garde, pop and rock alike but a genuine f**k you to the people claiming modern music has nowhere left to go. '

'It's official: in 2007, it's all come full circle. Prog rock has made its way into the indie scene..... constructed an album that combines the best of Van Der Graaf Generator, Magma, Krautrock, and math rock, while coming up with something that stands so far out on the fringe that it is in a league of its own'

'Battles may be the first band to really play with the way that 21st century software can extend and distend the sound of a rock band in real time....... Battles may not be the world's first bionic rock group, but they've done more to extend the idea of a flesh-and-blood band enhanced by computer technology than anyone since the late, lamented Disco Inferno. Mirrored is a breathtaking aesthetic left-turn that sounds less like rock circa 2007 than rock circa 2097, a world where Marshall stacks and micro-processing go hand in hand.'

'Mirrored’ is the sort of album that the sharp rock kids will be citing as an inspiration.It’s a glimpse through a prism into a myriad of rock futures, and all of them look like a blast. '

'Battles' early work was distinctively math rock which is apparently something they decided they would shake off with "Mirrored", which shows the band drawing from basically everything. Prog, rock, pop, polka; if it exists I'm sure one of the members of Battles consumes it and adds it in some subtle way to the band's music.......one aspect of Mirrored that can't be disputed is that it is a unique album with little to no similar peers.'

'After a slew of EPs, their debut is a chugging beast, turning avant-garde noise on its head, throwing tribal rhythms, heavy metal riffs, indie-pop licks, and non-sensical vocals into a refreshing aural masterpiece.'

've been trying to write this review for weeks, rolling around on the floor of my house in a mindless fog, and the only purpose I can discern for writing WORDS about SOUNDS is that one or two unsuspecting music-lovers may discover THE BEST BAND ON EARTH TODAY.

Battles are an idea of a band, a bizzare dream that Steve Reich had one night after munching a bit too much Roquefort while watching Yes: Live From The House Of Blues. They are an unsolicited gift; a weird rupture in the fabric of everything. Music this experimental shouldn't be fun. Music this cool shouldn't be joyful. Music this weird should not be danceable. Music as unclassifiable, bafflingly complex and structural as this should not be so popular and inclusive.'

'Remember “shock and awe”? On their debut album, Battles bring that brutal, futuristic precision to the art-rock avant-garde. Featuring keyboardist/guitarist Ian Williams of math rockers Don Caballero and drummer John Stanier of post-hardcore virtuosos Helmet, this New York-based group layers sound manipulator Tyondai Braxton’s alien vocals over muscular, off-kilter grooves. Think Captain Beefheart, if he’d been a fan of kraut rock and Animal Collective — or, on the deep, martial drums of single “Atlas,” Marilyn Manson. For rock that’s both fist-pumping and forward-looking, this album suggests that Battleshave few peers.'

Red