Help, I'm Stuck on Kobaia
Printed From: Progarchives.com
Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Prog Music Lounge
Forum Description: General progressive music discussions
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=125983
Printed Date: July 19 2025 at 05:53
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Topic: Help, I'm Stuck on Kobaia
Posted By: bartymj
Subject: Help, I'm Stuck on Kobaia
Date Posted: April 07 2021 at 02:00
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With my dad being a big Pink Floyd / Jethro Tull and now Porcupine Tree fan, I eventually ended up leaning towards prog in my music tastes, although for many years I only really scratched the surface, sticking with the biggest albums from the titans of prog. At the height of coronavirus, working from home with very little human contact I decided I needed a musical journey to keep me occupied while staring at spreadsheets, and at the age of 28 I finally discovered the existence of ProgArchives and the thousands of new artists and albums. So, thank you everyone who's contributed to putting this site together and sending me into a spiral of mellotron and weird time signatures. Here's the "problem". For the first time, I discovered the curiosity of Zeuhl. On first listens, i decided it was awful. Sharing with a friend, we concluded that the only way to describe the sample we were listening to, was it was like listening to Meatloaf being violently assaulted by a church choir. But then something strange happened. My curiosity kept getting the better of me, and I would regularly try another Magma album, or one of the newer artists. Slowly I grew to love it and now its a wonderfully curious corner of the world of prog. Now I've been digging deeper into the history of Zeuhl, I've listened to and reviewed several albums from the early days, and if I live to the age of 200 I will review the entire genre. It's become a fixation. Christian Vander's drumming now plays in my head regularly without me expecting it. My Theusz Hamtaahk is over. I'm suddenly determined to become a Zeuhl expert even if half of what I've listened to I don't actually like. Help - the Kobaians have brainwashed me.
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Replies:
Posted By: Rivertree
Date Posted: April 07 2021 at 02:45
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I definitely can sense it, you've entered a new level  ------------- https://awesomeprog.com/users/Rivertree" rel="nofollow">  |
Posted By: octopus-4
Date Posted: April 07 2021 at 02:47
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I strangely happened to know about the existence of Kobaia on a SciFi magazine. That pulp was used to publish an article in the last ppages, and that one was about SciFi and music. After many years (about 20) I decided to try Magma and bought Kohntarkosz. Just to say that I know how you feel. (P.S. - Try Universal Totem Orchestra) ------------- I stand with Roger Waters, I stand with Joan Baez, I stand with Victor Jara, I stand with Woody Guthrie. Music is revolution |
Posted By: bartymj
Date Posted: April 07 2021 at 04:13
| Have to admit, U.T.O.'s Mathematical Mother I think is my favourite album in the genre thus far, even ahead of anything Magma. The Magus equally good but there's something about the track Codice Y16 that keeps me coming back to it. If you've not heard it already I was also a big fan of Dai Kaht's album (Dai Kaht II) released last year. A "happy" Zeuhl album. |
Posted By: Cristi
Date Posted: April 07 2021 at 04:16
I visit Kobaia every once in a while, haven't got lost or stuck yet 
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Posted By: octopus-4
Date Posted: April 07 2021 at 04:18
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But I sometimes pay a visit to Planet Gong, too. ------------- I stand with Roger Waters, I stand with Joan Baez, I stand with Victor Jara, I stand with Woody Guthrie. Music is revolution |
Posted By: bartymj
Date Posted: April 07 2021 at 04:34
| I sense a poll - prog's greatest planets... |
Posted By: Guldbamsen
Date Posted: April 07 2021 at 04:54
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I go through heavy bursts of zeuhl attacks but during recent years I’ve come to crave the more “chill” albums the genre has to offer. That certainly doesn’t mean I don’t frolick in the more zany quarters from time to time though. But yeah stuff like Setna’s Guérison and Laurent Thibault’s Mais On Ne Peut... has been getting a lot of playtime as well as Fractale’s Live Suranné. ------------- “The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.” - Douglas Adams |
Posted By: nick_h_nz
Date Posted: April 07 2021 at 04:55
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Dai Kaht and UTO have already been mentioned, but I would add to that Koenji Hyakkei! 🤗🥰 ------------- https://tinyurl.com/nickhnz-tpa" rel="nofollow - Reviewer for The Progressive Aspect |
Posted By: octopus-4
Date Posted: April 07 2021 at 05:15
Nice to see that you like Fractale, by my pen friend Julian Julien. As you mentioned Setna, let me add their spin-off Xing Sa. One of my favorite zeuhl albums. ------------- I stand with Roger Waters, I stand with Joan Baez, I stand with Victor Jara, I stand with Woody Guthrie. Music is revolution |
Guldbamsen wrote:Posted By: octopus-4
Date Posted: April 07 2021 at 05:17
Felona and Sorona (Le Orme). Two more planets. ------------- I stand with Roger Waters, I stand with Joan Baez, I stand with Victor Jara, I stand with Woody Guthrie. Music is revolution |
Posted By: omphaloskepsis
Date Posted: April 07 2021 at 06:25
Mathematical Mother is must for anyone into Zeuhl.
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Posted By: Artik
Date Posted: April 07 2021 at 07:32
| I won't help You, Kobaians will only do you good :) |
Posted By: geekfreak
Date Posted: April 07 2021 at 09:02
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Kobaia or Planet Gong ------------- Friedrich Nietzsche: "Without music, life would be a mistake." Music Is Live Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. Keep Calm And Listen To The Music… < |
Posted By: BrufordFreak
Date Posted: April 07 2021 at 12:29
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Such a great sub-genre of prog! And one that fulfills the promise to be truly progressive. I LOVE all the suggestions above, but don't forget Jannick Top's amazing 2009 release Infernal Machina, VAK's 2018 release Budo, Eskaton's 1981 release 4 Visions, and the albums of Bondage Fruit--especially their debut and their amazing 2002 release Skin as well as the 2006 sleeper EP by Magister Dixit, Cellule de crise and Chicago's own Ga'an. Such great music! ------------- Drew Fisher https://progisaliveandwell.blogspot.com/ |
Posted By: rushfan4
Date Posted: April 07 2021 at 12:43
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I am stuck on Planet Kobaia, but I am trying to get off. The Magma albums have come up on my alphabetical rotation, but they are a hard listen for me. Would be much better as instrumentals in my opinion? Still find the made-up language cheesy and mostly unlistenable. ------------- 
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Posted By: Catcher10
Date Posted: April 07 2021 at 12:47
I've tried also.....Too much other stuff to listen to. -------------   
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Posted By: Hiram
Date Posted: April 07 2021 at 13:59
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If you're into darker side of zeuhl, I'd recommend Guapo's "Black Oni" album. It's been ages since I've heard their other albums and they're filed under RIO/avant here, so I'm not sure about them, but this one comes very close to Magma in their more sinister moments.
edit: also, it's instrumental so if you find typical zeuhl vocals tough to digest you might want to give it a try
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Posted By: Manuel
Date Posted: April 07 2021 at 16:02
| I've never been stuck on someting, really. I've always appreaciated all kinds of bands, genres, sounds, etc. But I can see how somebody can experience something like that, when it really gets to you. |
Posted By: friso
Date Posted: April 08 2021 at 02:44
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Yeah Magma is that type of band that allows for obsession :) ------------- I'm guitarist and songwriter for the prog-related band Mother Bass. Find us at http://www.motherbass.com. I also enter stages throughout the Netherlands performing my poetry. |
Posted By: Guldbamsen
Date Posted: April 08 2021 at 02:48
Hi Luca  I wrote with Julian back when he released the live Fractale album..which also serves as his debut I believe. I really dig that album..more than what came after. Rather reminds me of the vibe I get from the Finnish big-band Astro Can Caravan: big jazzy gestures via horns and so forth but mixed with a rhythmic driving force often found in Zeuhl-like bands. I also really enjoy the Xing Sa album. Nice pick. ------------- “The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.” - Douglas Adams |
Posted By: BrufordFreak
Date Posted: April 08 2021 at 06:57
I'm the opposite: the ecstatic near-operatic vocals are what suck me in; with each album I listen to I feel as if I've been through a religious experience--like a Roman Catholic high mass or a Southern Baptist service or a whirling dervish or a performance of Beethoven's 9th. I guess it helps that I don't "hear" words, just sound--every foreign language is just another way of expressing one's self . . . here, in song, musically?  ------------- Drew Fisher https://progisaliveandwell.blogspot.com/ |