Rhun, France

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Rhun - Ih. 2012 private
Rhun - Fanfare du Chaos. 2013 AltRock (Italy CD); 2016 Soleil Zeuhl (LP)

Rhun are still active as of the summer of 2016.

----Fanfare du Chaos

Like Caillou, Rhun is a new French band that fits squarely into the Zeuhl tradition. While Caillou were looking outward to the jazz side of the medium, Rhun sits very comfortably with the master creator of the genre itself: Magma. There are both jazz and classical references presented on "Fanfare du Chaos", a new CD from AltRock that combines last year's EP (first 3 tracks) with a 2008 unreleased demo (last 3). The music is rough and tumble for the most part, with the expected operatic Kobaian used as the vehicular language. Soft flute and bassoon are often juxtaposed against a blitzkrieg of fuzz bass, electric guitar, pounding drums, and squealing sax. Hard to imagine fans of both "1001 Centigrades" and "Mekanik" era Magma - as well as the great Weidorje - not lapping this one up. It's a straight play for the hearts of traditional Zeuhl fans everywhere, of which I'm one. And they succeed for the most part. Rhun fortunately avoids the excess of modern bands such as early Koenji Hyakkei and second album Scherzoo, though I wouldn't mind if they traded a few of those pure noise improvisational parts (especially some of the atonal sax squonks) for actual songwriting. This is a band with tremendous potential. Let's see where they go next.

Last update: July 24, 2016

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Anglagard, Sweden

News: According to the band's website from October 8th: "The band has gone into songwriting mode after several concerts in North America (which happened to include full renditions of "Hybris"). In related news, Jonas, Johan and Erik have apparently started a side project with Thomas Johnson playing some sort of progressive jazz music. In terms of website news, the recent DVD releases have finally been added to the discography." Great - add a distraction there. These guys are hilarious. Probably by 2024 we can expect a new album then...

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Location: Stockholm

Overview: Probably the foremost contemporary post 1990 band to capture and recreate all that was great about the early 1970s original progressive rock movement.

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Quaterna Requiem, Brazil

News: Quaterna Réquiem are very active on the live front in their home country of Brazil. No word on a new album though.

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Location: Rio de Janeiro

Overview: Quaterna Réquiem were one of the first bands of the late 1980s/early 90s progressive rock renaissance to review the works of the Mediterranean bands such as Quella Vecchia Locanda and Gotic, rather than the standard English "Big 3" of Genesis, Yes, and ELP.

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Lumerians, USA

News: Lumerians are very active playing live and touring. There's talk of a new album, but nothing since Transmissions From Telos Vol III from 2014 (which came after IV...) - an album I haven't heard yet myself.
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Location: Oakland, California

Overview: Lumerians' rhythms are pure Krautrock motorik, straight from the Can and Neu! school. The dreamy vocals recall Barrett era Floyd, or perhaps more to the point, the early 90s neo psych of Sun Dial

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Astrakan, England

News: In 2016, Astrakan released their 3rd album Hidden Agenda. I haven't heard it to date. Otherwise not much to report here.

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Location: London

Overview: Astrakan are a fine band operating between Canterbury and jazzier forms of rock. Comets and Monsters adds an avant prog edge.

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The Cosmic Dead, Scotland

News: The Cosmic Dead are a very active band, playing live shows throughout 2016 and 2017. They also have numerous albums, their latest being Psych Is Dead from April of this year. I've only heard The Exalted King (2013) to date.

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Location: Glasgow

Overview: The Cosmic Dead are a Scottish quarter whose raison d'etre is improvised space rock

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Hidria Spacefolk, Finland

News: 2017 sees Hidria Spacefolk get back into action after taking some time off. They've played some live shows and seem to be blowing the cobwebs off. No word yet on a new album.

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Location: Lohja (west of Helsinki on the way to Turku)

Overview: Hidria Spacefolk are one of the very few bands to take the Ozric Tentacles space rock via Hillage formula, and actually take it further by adding more instrumentation, putting together more complex compositions and rocking harder than Ed Wynne and crew (that’s no small feat right there).

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El Circulo de Willis, Spain

News: El Circulo de Willis are active and playing live shows in their native Spain. No word on a new album. I've only heard the latest from 2015 called Retales, but I was mightily impressed with the music and will certainly explore their back catalog as opportunity affords.

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Location: Madrid

Overview: El Circulo de Willis play an exciting instrumental progressive music driven by flute and guitar, with some sax, synthesizer, and metal touches. Like a blend of Ozric Tentacles, Naikaku, and Dream Machine with a bit of Kong thrown in.

Ayahuasca Dark Trip, Peru

News: Ayahuasca Dark Trip have released their latest opus in September entitled Upaya. It's download only so far, but there's talk of a vinyl issue.

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Location: Lima

Overview: Ayahuasca Dark Trip are a psychedelic ambient band from Peru that use guitars and soft vocals to achieve a hypnotic affect.

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Scherzoo, France

News: According to a September post on Facebook: "Scherzoo was in the studio in August to record the eight titles of their 4th album, and everything went great! The album is currently in the mix." I never did hear the 3rd album, being somewhat spooked by the second one. Certainly a band I continue to follow however and welcome any chance I can to hear them.

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Location: Lyon

Overview: Scherzoo's sound is somewhere between avant prog and Zeuhl, whereas Thollot's solo works scratch the avant angle and add in some Heldon like electronic rock.

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Flor de Loto, Peru

News: Flor de Loto is a very active group in Peru. I've lost touch with them after Imperio de Cristal, but they've released 2 more studio and 1 live album since that time. It appears I have some catching up to do.

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Location: Lima

Overview: Flor de Loto are very much a modern band, but one with two feet in the past. One foot goes to the heady days of the early 1970s that produced the progressive rock scene. The other "feet" goes way back to the indigenous tribes, and their musical traditions and folklore. Recently (2017) I was in Lima for business, and Flor de Loto are a known group by folks I met at a craft beer tavern! In addition to that, the wall art is very similar to their album covers. I'm not sure if it's the same artist, or they follow a similar local style.

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