Prog genres that you dislike

BrufordFreak wrote: MikeEnRegalia wrote: Assigning a single genre to entire discographies is just not very useful. I agree! I like very much the way each individual album gets its own genre assignation on M@x's other website, JazzMusicArchives.com: this seems very respectful in acknowledging an artist's room and freedom to grow and try new things.

Yeah, this is a big problem with PA. If one day I release an album, I don't want my entire group to be labeled as that specific album genre.

Disconnect wrote: I'm not sure I actually 'dislike' any particular subgenre of prog. I think for me it is more of a case where I haven't been exposed to certain subgenres and I am simply unfamiliar. So I would say the subgenres I'm not up to speed on would be: Indo-Prog/Raga Krautrock Zeuhl I wouldn't even know what key albums would be good 'jumping off' points as an introduction to those subgenres.

I like this approach for the direction this thread could take: offering helpful "jumping off" albums for sub-genres with which people might not have had successful entry experiences.

I have had more than a few successful "access" experiences while using more modern albums attributed to the sub-genre: Jannick Top's Infernal Machina, Magma's K.A., or Guapo's Five Suns for Zeuhl;

both Electric Orange and Cosmic Ground helped me find an access point for the whole "Krautrock" sub-genre;

while Shakti had been my entryway to what I later came to know as "Indo-Prog/Raga" though André Fertier's acclaimed album Mixtus Orbus was also helpful.

^ Exactly. Unfortunately there are people who seem to be incapable of making that distinction. They'll give an unusually low rating to a release that is universally regarded as a masterpiece within a genre and then reveal in the review that the reason for their low rating is that they do not like the genre, or certain aspects of it.

siLLy puPPy wrote: As far as prog goes, love it all!

Really? Here's the last line you wrote for Pat Metheny Group - s/t album that you gave two stars... "Only the last track saves this from being a one star album for me."

wiz_d_kidd wrote: cstack3 wrote: Zeuhl is about the only sub-genre that I never warmed up to. I need to keep trying! I'm the same way, but I have learned to enjoy VAK and Universal Totem Orchestra. They're a little easier to digest (for me) than Magma.

If Charles has not listened to Universal Totem Orchestra, Mathematial Mother is one I would suggest to him based on what I think of his tastes.



Thought Charles might have appreciated Jannick Top and others bass-work. I got into many bands in Zeuhl before I got into Magma. Eskaton was one of the first I got into.

I love this kind of stuff:



I love Zeuhl, one of the most consistently good categories in PA to me, and so many monster bassists and drummers (often has great rhythm sections). Music to not just be experienced but felt. I like Magma a lot, and while K.A is not one of my particular favourites by Magma, that has pretty broad Prog appeal. Udu Wudu can too. For me the debut is awesome and was never bettered by Magma (bot I love music of all Magma albums (and like it or not, something like De Futura is a beast) .

Edited by Logan - May 26 2025 at 07:52

cstack3 wrote: Zeuhl is about the only sub-genre that I never warmed up to. I need to keep trying!

HI,

As much as I like MAGMA, I have found that a lot of stuff after it, is not satisfying as far as I feel about it ... maybe there is a soul missing behind it which you can enjoy and appreciate the minute you see the band in concert ... it really gets into you, and that would not happen if the music and work did not have some strong inner drive and fiber in it, which I think MAGMA does have.

If that is not enough, by the time you get that release a couple of years back of the work with an orchestra and Christian doing all the singing, you know immediately that this is special ... that album is astonishing, and in my book takes things into another dimension. It doesn't fit an area like this, sometimes, because it has something else in it, that this side can not break into, other than look at it as a bunch of songs, which I don't think is something that Christian Vander would be interested in as far as MAGMA is concerned, but might happen elsewhere though not as MAGMA.

The only thing that is scary for me, is folks thinking of the "evil" look and its dark/black image in pictures and albums ... which is not something I would criticize as some folks are color blind, and things would be light or dark for the most part (I think!!!)

I really do not dislike any genre of music. I have some that I might call "least favorite", but even in Country, Opera or probably even Euro Dance music I'll probably find some tracks that I like or at least appreciate as a decent effort.

Having said that, there's really bad music in every genre as well. So it's really not about genre, it's about quality.

Food for thought:

Today I improved the prog spectrum page at AP, it's much more accurate now (but there is of course still room for improvement).

Have a look if you're interested in a more flexible approach at categorizing prog and let me know what you think about it!

https://awesomeprog.com/prog-spectrum/psych

^ To me the whiny vocals are a defining element of neo-prog.

MortSahlFan wrote: I don't like Neo

What about Morpheus?