Suggests Some RIO! And some Neo Prog

So in an attempt to once again take broaden my tastes I'd like people to offer me artists from two very different sides of the prog spectrum: RIO (or in this case all avant garde music) and Neo Prog. Now I'm a pretty big avant head as it is- Frith, UZ, Miriodor, well all of them honestly I love most of them (of course Cardiacs included). So any RIO recommendations are appreciated. Now for the tricky bit- from the Neo-Prog I've been exposed to I'm still to be enlightened- so I would truly appreciate all and any suggestions for me to check out- it would help if they have some sort of sonic connection possibly just possibly to avant music. I know the big names of Neo-Prog, so you probably shouldn't bother with suggesting Marillion or Frost* or Pallas or that jazz. 

You probably already know Art Zoyd if you're already big on RIO, but every album of theirs up to and including Berlin, as well as Haxan and Faust are terrific, I think.  I guess I might recommend Generation Sans Futur to start with, or Les Espaces Inquiets.  Another fave album of mine that is not really well known in the "avant" camp is Geinoh Yamashirogumi's Osorezan. And I guess you know The Residents. And cause it's so good, I want to mention Igor Wakhevitch's Docteur Faust which is avant oriented.

^ Nope it's not a joke! I'm 100% pure cereal! Just trying to see if Neo Prog has something in there to manage to touch my heart and bring a tear to my eye and my ear wiggle. Thanks for all the recs so far, I'll try IQ soon I thinks, maybe they'll manage to grab me. As for the RIO recommendations of course I've heard of most of them (you're dealing with a master hipster- I'm a fan of the obscure). I'll make sure to check out Yamashirogumi as I've been meaning to Czech (ha!) it out for some time.

^ Checked them already, but neither have really grabbed me yet, I should probably just listen to them even more.

^^^

Subsignal - Beautiful and Monstrous Abel Ganz (at least Shooting Albatross) equally as good, don't ask me about RIO though.

Edited by Oliverum - August 26 2011 at 14:33

try Enchant and It Bites they are Neo Prog, and nice souning 

Some good RIO bands:

frippism wrote: So in an attempt to once again take broaden my tastes I'd like people to offer me artists from two very different sides of the prog spectrum: RIO (or in this case all avant garde music) and Neo Prog. Now I'm a pretty big avant head as it is- Frith, UZ, Miriodor, well all of them honestly I love most of them (of course Cardiacs included). So any RIO recommendations are appreciated. Now for the tricky bit- from the Neo-Prog I've been exposed to I'm still to be enlightened- so I would truly appreciate all and any suggestions for me to check out- it would help if they have some sort of sonic connection possibly just possibly to avant music. I know the big names of Neo-Prog, so you probably shouldn't bother with suggesting Marillion or Frost* or Pallas or that jazz.  But yes! Thank You! For any! Help! Which you might! Give me!

RIO/Avant

Thinking Plague  In Extremis
The major U.S. "RIO" band, with some occasional Frippish guitar.  Vocals are sung (usually by a female singer; or Bob Drake who sounds like a female singer.  ) in a very, ummm, non-standard manner that takes a bit of getting used to.  "Jagged" is the word I'd use.  Pretty out there stuff.

5uu's  Hunger's Teeth
Features sometime Thinking Plague members Dave Kerman and Bob Drake, as well as Susanne Lewis on two tracks.  Drake has somewhat of a Jon Anderson sound, but the music is nothing like Yes (well, maybe "Truth, Justice, and the American Way" slightly).  The music?  Weird, for sure.  Not really sure how to describe it, other than definitely being in the RIO/Avant mode.

Birdsongs of the Mesozoic  Petrophonics
Wonderful, slightly jazzy stuff, lead by piano and sax/flute.  Beautiful!

Doctor Nerve  Skin
Wow.  Bizarre is one word.  Heavy on woodwinds (trumpet, sax, clarinet) with some fairly outrageous guitar.  Some songs composed by computer program?  Or something like that!  Got to be in the right mood, but very unique.  (I can't believe no one has written a review for this!)

French TV 6 The Violence of Amateurs
A little bit of everything.  Very eclectic; no two songs sound the same.  Often hard to tell it's the same band!  Sometimes jazzy, sometimes symphonic, often quite humorous.  Has a cover of "Joosan Lost/The Fate" by Zamla Mammas Manna.  I've actually never heard the original, but this version is quite wonderful.

Hamster Theatre  Carnival Detournement
I call it "acid polka" for its heavy reliance on accordian.  Also trombone, and a lot of rather unusual instruments.  Fun, funny stuff.  Features three members of Thinking Plague.

Sleepytime Gorilla Museum  Grand Opening and Closing
Often heavy (metallish at times, but don't let that scare you off), always bizarre.  Sometimes similar to Thinking Plague.  Some wonderful female vocals (and violin!!), and some male vocals that can be beautiful, and also violent (death-metalish, but again don't dismiss it on this point!).

Il Berlione  Il Berlione
Not listed as RIO/Avant, but I think has some similarities.  And I was just listening to this today and continue to love it.  Kind of a "heavy jazz" vibe (lots of saxophone), with heavy guitar and wonderful percussion.  And keyboards.  A couple cool "traditional Japanese folk" (I assume!) sounding songs.
Again, I'm shocked this has not been reviewed here.  Not even a rating, actually.  Wut up wit dat!!

Neo-Prog

Every Waking Hour  Writing on the Wall
Local Denver band with just this one album (so far!).  Very melodic; accessible, but not poppy (at least IMHO).  Total opposite of RIO/Avant, though, as they omit what they call the "angular dissonance of many bands in the genre that often make prog inaccessible to casual listeners".  Very fine guitar and keyboard, neither of which dominates the other.


I'm rather surprised I could not find more Neo-prog to recommend, other than the "usual suspects".  Two others on my list were possibilities, Ad Infinitum and Iluvatar, but honestly I don't like them enough to recommend.  I'll be interested to hear what others recommend!

Frank