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LITTLE ATLAS

Neo-Prog • United States


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Little Atlas biography
Founded in Miami, USA in 1994 - Hiatus between 2008-2013 - Still active as of 2018

LITTLE ATLAS is a Miami-based, original progressive rock band. The band is steeped in the traditions of modern progressive rock layered within strong songwriting. They successfully include the drive and energy of newer rock music with beautiful analog keyboard sounds. Their style unleashes an extraordinarily wide range of musical experimentation among genres such as Progressive Rock, Hard Rock, Symphonic Rock, and Classic Rock.

"Neverworldly" is a remarkable blend of styles, textures, ideas, and stories. Prominent are the unique melody lines and lyrics which are embedded within rich three-part harmonies.
"Surface Serene" is an engaging musical journey that will take you back to those "classic" progressive songs of your youth, but with lots new twists and energy. Overall this a great album with a breath of fresh air. So if you're looking for new exciting music to add to your prog collection, search no more, If you like to listen bands as: "GENESIS" and "YES", of course LITTLE ATLAS is one of the best choice. Excellent and indispensable work. Highly recommendable!

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LITTLE ATLAS discography


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LITTLE ATLAS top albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

2.33 | 15 ratings
Neverwordly
1998
3.56 | 53 ratings
Surface Serene
2003
3.88 | 93 ratings
Wanderlust
2005
3.71 | 77 ratings
Hollow
2007
3.87 | 101 ratings
Automatic Day
2013

LITTLE ATLAS Live Albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

LITTLE ATLAS Videos (DVD, Blu-ray, VHS etc)

4.50 | 4 ratings
Live in Louisville
2012

LITTLE ATLAS Boxset & Compilations (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

LITTLE ATLAS Official Singles, EPs, Fan Club & Promo (CD, EP/LP, MC, Digital Media Download)

LITTLE ATLAS Reviews


Showing last 10 reviews only
 Automatic Day by LITTLE ATLAS album cover Studio Album, 2013
3.87 | 101 ratings

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Automatic Day
Little Atlas Neo-Prog

Review by tszirmay
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

4 stars Having voraciously devoured the surprising Roy Strattman debut solo album, the cleverly titled "The Lie of the Beholder " and given it a spirited and enthusiastic review, I now have been given the opportunity to see what the issuing band Little Atlas had to offer on their most recent 2013 release "Automatic Day". I am elated to report that there are familiar strengths that both enjoy, namely stellar bass playing from Rik Bigai and Roy Strattman's effusive guitar stylings being foremost, as well as some obvious differences. Keyboardist Steve Katsikas is more front and center here, not only with his arsenal of ivories but he also handles most of the lead vocals. While very proficient, I actually prefer Strattman's voice on his solo venture, but that is just my taste. The other major difference, with all due respect to excellent Little Atlas drummer Mark Whobrey, is having the now legendary Nick D'Virgilio blow the lid off the tracks with his booming style. That is just not fair! All of this being said, the music should be taken for what it is and it has only a passing resemblance to the Strattman work. Its way more diverse and offers up a wide palette of unexpected traits that will undoubtedly catch more than a few off guard.

"Oort" has an asymmetrical acoustic/electric guitar intro, with Bigai's slippery bass slithering nicely through the sonic openings but the true revelation is Katsikas' swirling mellotron blasts that color the symphonics, a sudden e-piano cameo and a lead vocal that hints at Echolyn. This is the proper way to get into the material that will flow onward.

For a second I thought I was listening to a lost Landberk piece, "Apathy" is a highlight track that scours the horizon with winds of contrast, the vocals highly reminiscent of Patrick Helje of the Swedish legends, whist the chorus and arrangement provide a density that is hugely appealing. Fab track!

Little Atlas can be a different kettle of fish, Roy preferring a more angular approach to his rhythm guitar riffing, a trait that has a strong Robert Fripp flavoring, utterly obvious on the mathematically precise "Twin of Ares" . Now I am not a fan of this KC period (Three of a Perfect Pair), nor do I really enjoy Echolyn's style. It's all a little too Cartesian for me but I do enjoy Bigai's furrowing method, nevertheless.

Another successful track, "Emily True" is a quirky affair with a wall of brooding synths egging the passionate but slightly deranged lead vocals. The mood starts out contemplative and then just explodes into a mellotron ?hard guitar bulldozer, insistent, manic and tortured. Rick Bigai shows of some scintillating runs and the whole thing just hammers away, relentlessly.

Fabulous track number two is named "At the End of the Day", a prog-rock ballad that owns a melody that is immediate and ravishing, traits that seriously tend to seduce me rather easily, armed with a glorious lead vocal full of bravado and passion. Expertly crafted, well expressed lyrically and sophisticated in its instrumental delivery (that darn Fender Rhodes!), this can be listened to repeatedly without any ennui. Roy tortures his guitar with conviction, propelling the pleasure into a paroxysm of delight.

The lengthiest piece is "Illusion of Control", a title that evokes a theme I particularly enjoy discussing in my social life when waxing philosophy (I do own a degree, after all). A subject matter that deals with illusions of freedom and yet underlines the total dependence the human imposes on himself masochistically to govern himself according to some "power to be". Don't get me started, so let's talk music. A 10 minute + ride through dark and sunny, up and down the roller coaster of modern living, pleasure and pain, sadness and elation, misery and ecstasy. A frozen Beatles-like middle section of acoustic guitar and voice instills a sense of foreboding and dreamy disinterest that really hits the mark, swerving synth/mellotron patterns in collusion with a rambunctious bass and a breezy disdain for any form of regulation. Slowly the mood reverts to a bolder reality, a sensational piece of modern prog.

Boy, did I ever get a giggle out of "Darvocet Eyes", a drug anthem that would have pleased Waters or Wilson, directly into abject addiction. A now FDA banned drug from the 50s (how quaint is that?) that had more side effects that Sid Barrett had personalities (ouch!), a pain killer that kills the patient in order to kill the pain, talk about Illusion of Control! Needless to state the obvious, the arrangement is bathing in opiate symphonics, cottony pools of piano droplets, oozing and seeping vocals and a true sense of Pink Floydian dysfunction (this song could have been on "the Wall" album) with carousel-like dizziness and a sudden marmalade death. Total winner again.

After all this woozy head, upset stomach and bitter taste in the mouth triumvirate, how about a nice little pop song, eh? It will get us listeners to the end without any withdrawal symptoms! "We All Remember Truth" sounds almost like a long Lost Todd Rundgren tune, short, sweet and airwave friendly.

The title track is another oddball, slightly dissonant rocker, featuring a pungent bass and raw guitars, tied with a surly attitude that keeps the blood boiling and the feet tapping. Once again, Roy's acoustic picking enters the fray, with Bigai moving in with authority from the right and chiseling together a booming and explosive slow-burner that takes no prisoners. There is a slight Blue Oyster Cult tinge that is quite apparent to the studious listener.

"Escape Velocity" is a perfect send-off, another up-beat, organ fueled progressive song that barely reaches 3 minutes, a cool, funky electric piano-led enjoyable ditty that has closer ties to the Cars than anything epic, and certainly far from Floydian. Major barrage of clapping androids.

In all honesty, I enjoyed this album quite a bit, surprised by the quality of the playing and the maturity of the material. But Strattman's aggressive and perhaps more linear style on "the Lie of the Beholder" just blew me sideways, one of the finest US releases in a long time.

4 robotic times

 Surface Serene by LITTLE ATLAS album cover Studio Album, 2003
3.56 | 53 ratings

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Surface Serene
Little Atlas Neo-Prog

Review by apps79
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

3 stars The hard years had yet to come for Little Atlas.David McKean left the band to continue his studies and Dan Katsikas quit, as he became a parent and moved 40 miles away from the band's basis.Scott Fansler and Tom Vazquez were their replacements, while a more progressive side was in the development, but soon the band would face another hard situation.Scott had to move to Denver and Aaron Whitman joined an unknown Pop Rock outfit.With the help of his wife Joanna, Steve Katsikas revived a fading act with a fresh line-up through ads and auditions.Drummer Diego Pocovi (in the place of the departing Tom Vazquez), bassist Rik Bigai and guitarist Roy Strattman joined the Katsikas' pair and the new formation recorded ''Surface serene'', released in 2003 on ProgRock Records.

Five years after their weak debut, Little Atlas had become a full-blown Prog band with only flashes from their past and a brand new style, delivering strong 70's influences coming from the US Prog scene.With a sound comparable to KANSAS, ETHOS and PENTWATER and resembling to the apprroach of ECHOLYN and AKACIA, ''Surface serene'' is a great step forward for the Americans, consisting of symphonic orientations, Neo Prog showering and some harder, mainly guitar-fronted ideas, always structured in complex and refreshing tracks, even if this work lacks any attempt on an epic composition.The basic components of Little Atlas' music are now the attacking synthesizers, the retro-inspired keyboard moves, the power of the electric guitars and the interesting bass work, thrown in a package of pieces, which also feature some piano-driven Classical sauce and intense, lyrical moments.Great melodies, quirky executions and tight arrangements guarantee a nice listening experience.They saw full respect to the 70's with a very vintage aura surrounding all pieces, mainly due to the abscence of the fear for producing dense and complicated music and the similarities with the old bands.The tricky organ parts and the very YES-like bass lines are another reason for the nostalgic influences.Eventually their ideas could produce a fine contrast between rich, instrumental orchestrations and smoother, electric textures, always supported by the harmony of the vocals and the good sense of melody.

US Prog is back.Interesting material with an evident balance between the modern and the old days, led by emphatic, convincing arrangements.Recommended.

 Automatic Day by LITTLE ATLAS album cover Studio Album, 2013
3.87 | 101 ratings

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Automatic Day
Little Atlas Neo-Prog

Review by ingmin68

5 stars Little Atlas - Automatic Day Rating: 9,5/10 A further effort and improvement from the already excellent previous release "Hollow", this band's really progressing! Anyway it took 6 years from Hollow, the time span was worth the wait. Only 2 reviews for this?? Let me help! This one is an absolute go-get-it! What can you find in "Automatic Day"? No really groundbreaking new music style; no highly technical passages and virtuosity in playing; no self-showing of musicians. But, indeed, you will be presented the fine work of excellent craftsmen in musical writing and construction, that produces a highly, highly enjoyable prog rock record. 10 pieces extremely varied (the first 7 are all on the range of 7-10 minutes in length, and most engaging, while the last 3 are shorter and "lighter" in feel...), from melodic to darker moments (sometimes, it reminds Steven Wilson latest work...), never in excess. Lyrics are always interesting, where the inner conscious of man is the main subject. "Oort" immediately set the environment...in space, where darkness really is. But also the light of Little Atlas' music. "Apathy" starts with the beautiful (almost a signature) delicate arpeggios and a mesmerizing melody, in my opinion where the bands really outshines. Then change starts with a tighter and slightly harder part: the song continues to evolve, with a magic finale, it sticks to your mind. "Twin of Ares" is the weirdest , or weakest one, with a central to final part that is not probably very well developed in the melody, and is difficult to retain. "Emily True" begins with a haunting sinthesizer, and stay on the gloomy mood, when hard guitars come in and excellent drumming, staying on the same bars for a few lines, than at min.3:09 hard rock riff and mellotron breaks in with a menacing tune. Even this song continue to move and doesn't stay "quiet". Another very good. "At the end of the day" sees the return of the delicate starts, with immediately catchy tune...theat is building up when gentle drumming come in. Steve Katsikas sings very passionately, with melody and sense. Another gem of the album, building greatly all the way to the end in volume and band full display. "Illusion of control" is the longest piece, and back in the dark side, with pulsating rythm at the start...and a great alternation of harsh and bright rock passages...seems to vanish at 6:12, but than gentle guitar picking is back again, and keyboards reprise with gentle uplifting melody: a fantastic music ride until the end., that seems just an illusion to control. Then, what? Then, it's "Darvocet Eyes": I dare say, this is the best of the bunch. So passionate from note 2, with electric piano, a delicate ballad that blooms on an orchid, that's almost tearjerking, when bass and piano plays together at minute 3:00...then starts more complex with guitar and drums. Super, really, with the last 2 minutes returning on the initial theme, and bursting in music and singing for the great finale, with horns-like small section that reminds of "Atom heart mother" After these 7 "long" and immersive songs...by mild contrast "We all remember truth" is a lighter, shorter, more simple but great tune...and is so exhilaratingly catchy that is quite a surprise. "Autimat Day" returns back in the territory of heavy and gloom...in Little Atlas terms, before "Escape velocity" closes the work with a lighter exit tune and good electric piano playing...great way to conclude such an immersive and enchanting listening. All in all: 1/2 point less for missing originality (whatever it is...), but for all the rest, Little Atlas worked with great dedication and passion, and can be proud of the result:I'm returning to this Automatic Day almost every day, almost automatically.

Thank you, Little Atlas: One of my Top-3 albums of 2013 (Steven Wilson and Ayreon, as fellows)

 Automatic Day by LITTLE ATLAS album cover Studio Album, 2013
3.87 | 101 ratings

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Automatic Day
Little Atlas Neo-Prog

Review by agla

4 stars the group 's keyboardist and vocalist Steve Katsikas back after a break of six years: in 2007 the third album " Hollow " confirmed the blend of art-rock and power- ballads , "Automatic Day" follows the trail without misgivings. The quartet of Miami has clear ideas and shows no hesitation : " Oort ", " Apathy " and the metallic " Illusion of control" are the episodes most resolute of the CD - to "take it or leave it" , which admits of no exceptions to the rule of melodic prog hyper arranged . The drummer Mark Whobrey contributes to the most dynamic part of the operation, the frequent switch between acoustic and electric guitar by Roy Strattman guarantees airiness and hooks radio ( also in crimson style " Twin of Ares " ) , the pieces do not exceed the long durations , sometimes steered in the direction of Porcupine Tree but tend to be static and wordy .

As similar to the three predecessors, "Automatic Day" is probably the best work of the Little Atlas : discounted , predictable and conventional , but in their field faulted!!

 Automatic Day by LITTLE ATLAS album cover Studio Album, 2013
3.87 | 101 ratings

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Automatic Day
Little Atlas Neo-Prog

Review by Windhawk
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

4 stars US band LITTLE ATLAS has been around since the late 90's, and rose to some prominence with the release of three successive albums over a period of five years, the most recent of these "Hollow" from 2007. Since then news about the band have been fairly quiet, but in 2013 they returned as recording artists with their fifth studio album "Automatic Day", released through the US label 10t Records.

Little Atlas comes across as a well developed and fairly ambitious band on their fifth studio production "Automatic Day", a production that contains brooding dark atmospheres and harder edged gritty arrangements side by side with inserts, sequences and occasional full length songs of a gentler and more frail, light toned nature. Menacing themes and melancholic flurries, with occasional lapses into purebred neo progressive territories to boot. Personally I suspect that this latter defined audience will be the main one for Little Atlas, with fans of bands like IQ and Galahad an audience I suspect will find plenty to enjoy on this album.

 Neverwordly by LITTLE ATLAS album cover Studio Album, 1998
2.33 | 15 ratings

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Neverwordly
Little Atlas Neo-Prog

Review by apps79
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

2 stars US act Little Atlas emerged from the ashes of sextet Waxing Poetic around 1994 in Miami.Four out of the six members made it the new act, these were singer/multi-instrumentalist Steve Katsikas, his brother Dan on drums, his wife Joanna on vocals and bassist David McKean.Guitarist Aaron Whitman was destined to join the group and several rehearsals would follow, leading silently to the first gigs.In 1998 the group recorded its debut over a period of six months, released under the title ''Neverworldly''.

Around the time Little Atlas had very few progressive influences and their debut sounds more like a melodic Hard/straight Rock album than a Prog Rock one.The sound and vocals are typical of an American band with lots of grooves and plenty of guitar solos, while the tracks are short, containing little to no surprises.Parts of the album remind of SALEM HILL'S early and rather uninspired material, blended with a bit of commercial-days KANSAS and typical 70's US Hard Rock flourishes.In fact everything on this album sounds mediocre.Average songwriting with more forgettable than memorable stuff included, a bit of flat vocal lines and even more uninteresting multi-vocal parts, featuring Joana's presence, and cliche scratching guitar riffs and solos, definitely played in the past in a better and more recommended way.The few keyboards appearing in the album, mostly synths and Hammond organ, try to add some depth to the sound, but they are quite buried to offer any interesting dimension.Regarding the style Little Atlas seem to be decent enough, but the similarity between the tracks and the rather standard Hard Rock style of the album leave little to imagination.

Apparently the group had yet to come in touch with the complexity and pomposity of 70's Prog, thus this release sounds today more than a documental effort than the true first step of the group into a succesful direction.Only recommended to fans of groovy US-styled Classic/Hard Rock.

 Hollow by LITTLE ATLAS album cover Studio Album, 2007
3.71 | 77 ratings

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Hollow
Little Atlas Neo-Prog

Review by Warthur
Prog Reviewer

3 stars Hollow, the latest album by Little Atlas, is another neo-prog piece showing a strong Genesis and Marillion influence. Nothing particularly special about that in concept - lots of bands try for a similar sound - but I think the band are trying to go for something a little bit more imaginative here. I say "I think" because, unfortunately, the album suffers a little from a rather poor mixing job; the instruments all tend to blend together, and whilst there's something to be said for trying out alternatives to the modern production aesthetic of having all the different instruments be clearly separated in the mix in this case the whole thing ends up sounding like a muddle; the vocals, for instance, are often indistinct because they get swallowed up in the mix. It's an interesting album but, to my ears, it could have been a lot better had more care been taken in the production department.
 Wanderlust by LITTLE ATLAS album cover Studio Album, 2005
3.88 | 93 ratings

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Wanderlust
Little Atlas Neo-Prog

Review by Warthur
Prog Reviewer

3 stars On Wanderlust Little Atlas offer the listener a textbook run-through of the neo-prog playbook without much in the way of surprises. It's a fun enough album if you are passionately devoted to this style, though at the same time I can't put my finger on anything which would really make me compelled to listen to Little Atlas as opposed to any other band ploughing this particular well-ploughed furrow. On the whole, I think if you are really passionately devoted to this style of album and want as many examples of the same thing as possible, you should go for it, but otherwise there's better examples of precisely this sort of thing to be had.
 Wanderlust by LITTLE ATLAS album cover Studio Album, 2005
3.88 | 93 ratings

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Wanderlust
Little Atlas Neo-Prog

Review by progrules
Prog Reviewer

4 stars I can still remember the time I checked out lots of neobands at the same time listening to PA's streamtracks just to find out what were the better bands of those I didn't know yet. And this very band Little Atlas came out as one of the very best. And that's pretty surprising since I'm an "old school" neofan so with lots of guitar- and keyboardsolo's (like Pendragon and Clepsydra for instance) and I can tell you Little Atlas is nothing like that at all. It's even a boarderline neo case leaning towards eclectic prog. This was very notable on their successor Hollow, my first experience with this American band. Let's say Little Atlas is 70% neo and 30% eclectic prog, so slightly less accessible than most neoprog and a bit more profound.

I even feel Little Atlas has resemblance to Echolyn, another band that's leaning towards the eclectic prog subgenre. But on the other hand LA also has obvious neo characteristics like highly melodic instrumental contributions even though they are not really extended. In the end I like this style pretty much but I also believe this predecessor of Hollow is really the better album of the two and probably Wanderlust is the best of all four releases looking at the ratings. All songs on here are great and several even excellent.

So where I had almost a headache making up the rating for Hollow and decided for the three stars ultimately, this time the choice for the rating is not hard at all. This is a full blooded 4 star case and highly recommended for almost all progfans. Mainly the fans of Echolyn could have another fine discovery with Wanderlust (or Little Atlas in general).

 Wanderlust by LITTLE ATLAS album cover Studio Album, 2005
3.88 | 93 ratings

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Wanderlust
Little Atlas Neo-Prog

Review by maryes

5 stars Without a trace of doubt, the Nort-American band LITLLE ATLAS is one of the bands from the late 90's, which better get a balanced fusion to Classic and Neo school of progressive music. Showing a cleary influence by the monsters of prog of the 70's like YES, GENESIS, RUSH, etc... in addition to the new icons of neo-prog like SPOCK'S BEARD, IZZ, THE FLOWER KINGS, etc..., whitout plagiarize, the band makes a brilliant encounter to very bucolic themes guided by acoustic guitars (or eletric guitars without distortions) and piano, whit a fantastic heavy and intricate passages with great riffs and furious guitar solos and eletronic keyboards. In help to emphasize this drastic changes the band count with the iincredible and dramatic interpretation of Steve Katsikas on the vocals, which cross from the almost meditative and whispering to a appealing and agressive form. The highest points of "Wanderlust" are the tracks 1,2,4 and 6, however the other tracks are very recommendable. My rate is 5 stars !!!
Thanks to Ivan_Melgar_M for the artist addition. and to Quinino for the last updates

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