Sonar (Switzerland) for Avant-Prog

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   Hi guys!

I want to suggest this new and very interesting band. It is an instrumental group and they shows a plenty of incredible guitar playing. Their music is slow, but with many dark feelings. I hear it as a  Avant-Prog, but there are also some jazz-rock and post-rock elements, so it is quite difficult to classified them. Their second album Static Motion was released on Cuneiform Records in 2014.
Stephen Thelen - Guitar
Bernhard Wagner - Guitar
Christian Kuntner - Bass
Manuel Pasquinelli - Drums
http://www.cuneiformrecords.com/bandshtml/sonar.html
http://www.sonar-band.ch/
http://sonar-band.bandcamp.com/

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alienshore Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: March 03 2013 Location: Slovakia Status: Offline Points: 141	Topic: Sonar (Switzerland) for Avant-Prog Posted: February 03 2014 at 13:25
	Hi guys! I want to suggest this new and very interesting band. It is an instrumental group and they shows a plenty of incredible guitar playing. Their music is slow, but with many dark feelings. I hear it as a Avant-Prog, but there are also some jazz-rock and post-rock elements, so it is quite difficult to classified them. Their second album Static Motion was released on Cuneiform Records in 2014. Stephen Thelen - Guitar Bernhard Wagner - Guitar Christian Kuntner - Bass Manuel Pasquinelli - Drums http://www.cuneiformrecords.com/bandshtml/sonar.html http://www.sonar-band.ch/ http://sonar-band.bandcamp.com/

Nogbad_The_Bad Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum & Site Admin Group RIO/Avant/Zeuhl & Eclectic Team Joined: March 16 2007 Location: Boston Status: Online Points: 21653	Posted: February 03 2014 at 14:57
	Great band, I've become addicted to them since Udi Koomran recommended them to me. They played The Orion in Baltimore recently with Zevious & got rave reviews. Kind of like Nik Bartsch Ronin or Brandt Brauer Frick in a more Rock setting.
	Ian Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on Progrock.com https://podcasts.progrock.com/post-avant-jazzcore-happy-hour/

HolyMoly Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Retired Admin Joined: April 01 2009 Location: Atlanta Status: Offline Points: 26138	Posted: February 03 2014 at 15:13
	Been meaning to check these guys out. I thought at first that they were already on PA because there's a Hungarian band in the archives with the same name. Thanks for the suggestion, and we'll have a listen!
	My other avatar is a Porsche It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle if it is lightly greased. -Kehlog Albran

Nogbad_The_Bad Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum & Site Admin Group RIO/Avant/Zeuhl & Eclectic Team Joined: March 16 2007 Location: Boston Status: Online Points: 21653	Posted: March 23 2014 at 08:28
	Good review posted by John Kelman at AllAboutJazz that pretty much sums up how I feel about the band. http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=46904 At a time when more recordings are released than ever before, it's rare to find a group that not just the changes way music is made, but the way it's defined. That description could easily fit Swiss pianist?% Nik Bartsch and his longstanding group Ronin, its Ritual Groove Music jettisoning overt virtuosity and conventional form for ultra-disciplined structural constructs and a deeper kind of interaction amongst its members. The same can be said, however, for Sonar, whose A Flaw of Nature was, not coincidentally, released on Bärtsch's Ronin Rhythm record label. That 2012 debut garnered the Swiss quartet some serious critical attention; with the broader exposure possible from alignment with the intrepid Cuneiform label, Static Motion is sure to garner even more. It would be a mistake to dismiss Sonar as a guitar-centric version of Bärtsch's Zen Funk, even though the same kind of deep determinacy and avoidance of virtuosity are clear connecting points. No, Sonar has its own language, based on tritone harmonics, poly- and isorhythms, and Stephan Thelen and Bernhard Wagner's interlocking guitars. Two guitarists is usually a recipe for chops- and effects-heavy playing; Sonar's six-stringers not only eschew typical guitar gymnastics but, for the most part, the plethora of electronics so often used today—opting, instead, for relatively clean tones and natural methods to introduce tonal variety. There's no looping and minimal post-production editing; instead, just four players interacting and, indeed, improvising with faultless accuracy on three sets of three compositions—a triptych of triptychs—that are hypnotically trance-inducing while, at the same time, absolutely commanding of conscious attention.
	Ian Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on Progrock.com https://podcasts.progrock.com/post-avant-jazzcore-happy-hour/

alienshore Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: March 03 2013 Location: Slovakia Status: Offline Points: 141	Posted: March 29 2014 at 11:38
	Sonar is rejected for Avant-Prog ???

octopus-4 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator RIO/Avant/Zeuhl,Neo & Post/Math Teams Joined: October 31 2006 Location: Italy Status: Offline Points: 14930	Posted: March 30 2014 at 14:34
	It's "moved". More than Avant we have felt them more suitable for JR/F. Prog enough to be on this site but not in Avant.
	I stand with Roger Waters, I stand with Joan Baez, I stand with Victor Jara, I stand with Woody Guthrie. Music is revolution

HolyMoly Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Retired Admin Joined: April 01 2009 Location: Atlanta Status: Offline Points: 26138	Posted: May 09 2014 at 07:05
	Added to RIO/Avant. Wasn't a good fit for Math so we decided to take em back. http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=8861
	My other avatar is a Porsche It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle if it is lightly greased. -Kehlog Albran