'Gravity Tree' - experimental prog from California

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What? - 'Gravity' as part of the band name again? From another old and unanswered thread in 'suggest new bands and artists' forum - this one as long ago as 1st May 2007:  http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=37467. This topic is now closed, so I've had to start a new one. 
From the Boost Independent Music website (where you can also stream 12 tracks by the band): 
http://www.boostindependentmusic.com/artist/GravityTree,

About Gravity Tree
"...a duo who definitely punches a hole through the more
established forms of Prog and creates their own sound." (a quote from USA Progressive Music)

Creating their
own sound has been the driving force in Gravity Tree, an experimental,
progressive rock duo hailing from the San Francisco Bay Area of California.
Gravity Tree influences fall all over the musical map: rock bands of the '60's
and '70's, film soundtrack composers, performance artists, game music (which
drummer/keyboardist Alan Nu also writes), and the "classics". The music Gravity
Tree plays is sometimes referred to as Art Rock or Prog Rock, but other genre
titles also fall on the group: Avant-Prog, Math Rock, Experimental - even Fusion
or Alternative.

Alan and Linc had become friends during session work and
live support for other bands and artists. The two had discussions about the
instrumentation of a band, and how full arrangements of songs could be performed
between two musicians. Out of this, Gravity Tree was formed. With few
exceptions, all the instruments heard in the music are played between the two of
them. They perform live as a two-piece, but the show is anything but
'unplugged'. This both challenges and liberates them, in search of a unique
sound and style.

After an early vinyl release (and a number of live shows
to prove it could be done), they put forth their first CD, "Life or Dessert?".
This was followed up by appearances on several compilation CDs (including the
Bay Prog Compilation disc), and more recently their album "Ultimate
Backward".

In addition to critical praise, the band held the number 1 and
2 spots on the Progressive chart on NumberOneMusic for more than a year, with
more than a million plays on their site page to date. 

Exposé Magazine
has said: "Gravity Tree is one of the more interesting progressive bands
around... their material bears a stamp of currency, yet also features the
conceptual ideals of classic progressive rock."
Although Gravity Tree is a duo, each member plays two instruments at the same time and they claim that they do not use any studio trickery and instead they have custom-combined instruments. As far as I understand, the guitarist, Linc, plays two guitars, a 6-stringed and a 7-stringed, and the guitars have bass and guitar strings on them so that he can play bass and guitar at once. Same goes for the drummer, Alan, who has combined his drum kit to a set of keyboards.

http://www.gravitytree.com/

http://www.facebook.com/gravitytree

http://www.myspace.com/gravitytree

Albums:

Gravity Tree - "Life or Dessert?" (2000)
Guitar drenched, 21st century progressive rock

1 Tender Shoot (1:09)
2 People Don't Know (4:42) 
3 Forget You (4:55) 
4 Almost (1:01) 
5 Everything (4:13)
6 Minnie's Tree (3:31) 
7 Falling In 3's (3:02) 
8 Harmonic Indulgence (5:06) 
9 Where You Are (3:25) 
10 No Rest (1:21) 
11 Life or Dessert? (6:07) 
12 Three's Too (2:44) 

Total Time 41:16

Gravity Tree - "Ultimate Backward" (2006)
Experimental progressive rock; one foot firmly placed in a modern guitar theme park, the other floating in the 8th dimension. Some would call it music...

1 No Rest Part III (6:36) 
2 Wind (1:42) 
3 Aim to Please (5:33) 
4 Interference (8:43) 
5 Conversing with the Dead (5:58) 
6 In (1:37) 
7 Can (4:31) 
8 Wait (3:19) 
9 Go Away (6:11) 
10 Motion Sickness (5:55)

Total Time 50:05 

You can hear some of their their music at: http://www.reverbnation.com/gravitytree and http://new.music.yahoo.com/gravity-tree/tracks/ (only if you're in the USA though, because it uses a Rhapsody powered widget...). The best place to hear their stuff, however, is at these two myspace pages, one for each album, where all tracks are available: 

http://www.myspace.com/gravitytree/music/albums/life-or-dessert-17139985 

and 

http://www.myspace.com/gravitytree/music/albums/ultimate-backward-17139998

I guess you'd call it avant prog - it's certainly different...

Edited by yam yam - November 01 2011 at 05:44