Todd Rundgren’s Utopia – Live At The Chicago Theatre (Purple Pyramid, 2019) Multifaceted musician and singer Todd Rundgren is known for crossing over into various musical genres. His acclaimed band Utopia was a formidable progressive rock act, although later it morphed into a power pop band. Rundgren brought back Utopia for a tour in 2018 and this double album was recorded live during one of the gigs. Todd Rundgren’s Utopia – Live At The Chicago Theatre The album contains a mix of progressive rock, classic rock and pop tracks. The most memorable are the progressive rock songs featu ..read more

Todd Rundgren Todd Rundgren was born June 22, 1948 in Philadelphia, USA. He began playing guitar as a teenager, going on to found and lead Nazz, a 1960’s psychedelic group. In 1969, he left the band to pursue a solo career, recording his debut album, Runt. In 1972 he released a superb album titled Something/Anything? on which he played all the instruments, sang all the vocal parts, and acted as his own producer. This propelled Todd to superstar status. It was followed by essential LPs such as “A Wizard, A True Star” and “The Hermit of Mink Hollow,” as well as singles “I Saw The Ligh ..read more

Moon Letters – Until They Feel the Sun Moon Letters is a Seattle, Washington based progressive rock band. I found the band and previewed their new album, Until They Feel the Sun, on the Seattle Progressive Rock Festival’s website: http://seaprogfest.org/artist/index/2019.html. The band just completed their show at the SeaProg Festival, on the Columbia Theater Main Stage; opening day 2, of the festival at 7pm, on June 8th of 2019. Until They Feel the Sun was released on the same day. The band also played Seaprog in 2017. This band had a wonderful time at SeaProg and played their new a ..read more

IZZ – Don’t Panic (Doone Records, 2019) American progressive rock band IZZ has released one of its finest albums in recent years. Don’t Panic makes multiple references to science in its lyrics and the album cover. IZZ has the best female vocals in the American progressive scene. Don’t Panic contains superb choruses, hooks and interactions that skillfully bring together the female and male vocalists (4 in total). Undoubtedly, the best lead vocals on Don’t Panic are provided by Annmarie Byrnes and Laura Meade. On the instrumental side, IZZ is a powerhouse as well, featuring outstanding ..read more

Norwegian progressive rock band Jordsjø has released one of the finest albums so far this year. Nattfiolen is progressive symphonic rock at its best. Although there are Anglagard influences, the music is not as gloomy. Additionally, Jordsjø takes the music forward with electronic music influences. Jordsjø – Nattfiolen Progressive Rock Central talked to multi-instrumentalist and band leader Håkon Oftung. What are your fondest musical memories? Probably when I played in a band for the first time, jamming out, having fun, fighting and playing weird gigs. Did you have any formal ..read more

Alameda Andalusian rock band Alameda was born in Seville. The group fused flamenco and progressive rock, featuring two keyboardists, the Marinelli brothers. The lineup included Rafael Marinelli on keyboards, Manuel Marinelli on keyboards, Manuel Rosa on bass, José (Pepe) Roca on guitar and vocals, and Luis Moreno on percussion. Alameda released 4 albums during its first phase: Alameda (1979), Misterioso manantial (1980), Aire cálido de abril (1981), and Noche andaluza (1983). The group disbanded after Noche andaluza and re-formed in 1992 for a concert that took place during the ..read more

Lunar Cape band – Lunar Folk Tales (ArtBeat Music, 2019) Russian act Lunar Cape band has released a beautifully-packaged album titled “Lunar Folk Tales.” The music defies boundaries. In some cases Lunar Cape is described as a progressive rock band even though this recording contains deep folk music influences. The group clarifies that it doesn’t associate its music with any style or subculture and identifies itself as “popular instrumental music”. The album is a series of fairy tales inspired by the moon, Russian and English traditions. The LP-sized set contains three discs: a Russ ..read more

Guadalquivir The seeds of Guadalquivir emerged from the idea of ​​Seville guitarists Andrés Olaegui and Luis Cobo “Manglis.” The two musicians coincided while serving together in the Spanish military as conscripts in Cerro Muriano (Córdoba).  While at basic camp in Cerro Muriano, they listened to Miles Davis, the Mahavishnu Orchestra and other cutting edge jazz fusion acts. In their spare time they started to exchange their ideas, experimenting with American blues and emergent jazz-rock. Later, the two friends were transferred to the 14th Artillery Regiment based in Seville, assigned to ..read more

Hoia – Scavenger (Prateek Rajagopal, 2019) Scavenger is the debut album of talented Indian multi-instrumentalist Prateek Rajagopal under the name Hoia. Although Prateek is known for his work for prog metal band Gutslit, Hoia is way more interesting than the tired metal riffs. It’s truly a forward thinking album, bringing together progressive rock, dreamy electronic atmospheres, spellbinding psychedelia, haunting vocals and remarkable guitar and keyboards experimentation. Hoia – Scavenger ‘Scavenger’ revolves around human feelings such as nostalgia, departure, anxiety and the nee ..read more

I have been a friend of Mark Trueack’s online since I first heard Unitopia’s The Garden album. He and the band created a world of new progressive music that I think shook up the neo-prog that was dominant at the time, with that album. Trueack has moved on now beyond Unitopia to assemble the United Progressive Fraternity. A group of musicians that love making progressive rock music, but also love the cause of preventing climate change and alerting the world to the damage we as humans are doing to our Earth. They have already released their debut album, Fall in Love with the World, in ..read more