The Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus, England

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One of the real gems from the late 1980s, The Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus were like no other group before or after. They take a base of Popol Vuh styled Krautrock, and add elements of neo-folk, gothic, electronic, motorik, and even a few dance beats on La Liturgie... The reformation album came as a big surprise to everyone, as the band had been in mothballs for 20 years, and it's just as great as anything else the band has ever done. These guys are unreal. Don't miss an opportunity to hear any of their works, though I recommend starting with The Gift of Tears, which is a 5 star masterpiece in my book. I have all their recorded output, and will eventually enter them in here.

The Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus - The Gift of Tears. 1987 Probe Plus (LP); 2015 Feral Sounds (LP)
The Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus - The Gift of Tears + Le Liturgie Pour Le Fin Du Temp. 1993 Probe Plus (CD)
The Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus - Mirror. 1991 Probe Plus (CD)
The Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus - The Gift Of Tears / Mirror / La Liturgie Pour La Fin Du Temps. 1994 Apocalyptic Vision (Germany 2CD set)
The Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus - Paradis (EP). 1995 Apocalyptic Vision (Germany CD)
The Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus - Beauty Will Save the World. 2015 Occultation (CD; LP; LP+CD)

----Beauty Will Save the World

The Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus' debut Gift of Tears sounded like Popol Vuh and Emtidi met head on with Harmonia - with a big dose of intense spirituality a la Dead Can Dance. The EP Le Liturgie Pour le Fin du Temps sounded like a Krautrock Delerium. Other albums left a big WTF behind. And here we are with their first new album in 20 years. RYM gives it the genre of Avant Folk, the same as Moondog and Catherine Ribeiro (shakes head. Huh?). Anyway, forget it, the band defies categorization. Are they even from here? Earth, that is...

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spacefreakJuly 27, 2016 at 12:11 AM
Masterpiece my friend... masterpiece. Probably the most criminally overlooked band EVER. They should be mega in my ideal universe.
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Free System Projekt, Netherlands

News: Slipping completely (ahem) under the radar, Free System Projekt made a collaboration album with Norway's WintherStormer namesake. Thanks to Bas for the heads up!

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Location: Huizen (east of Amsterdam)

Overview: Of all the current bands playing in the retro Berlin School of sequencer based electronic music, Dutch ensemble Free System Projekt may be the closest in imitating the original pioneers. Especially the Tangerine Dream variant from 1974 to 1977.

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Ramp / ['ramp], Germany

News: We have news straight from Stephen Parsick (see comments). I will just paste it in here with embedded links. Thanks for kindly mentioning ['ramp]'s work here -- I'd like to point out, though, that ['ramp] celebrated the 20th anniversary of their very first live concert last year by releasing "synchronize or die" on CD "SoD" will be followed by a release on 2x12 in February 2018 (check Adasonia Records).['ramp]'s latest release "no sleep 'til wilmersdorf" is due for release in May 2018. Both albums are firmly rooted in Berlin School territory (or Bielefeld School, as I like to call it). (ed: LOL)

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Location: Bielefeld, Nordrhein-Westfalen

Overview: Ramp started out as pure play Berlin School electronic band, and one of the best at that. They later moved to a style they referred to as "doombient" (which apparently they have trademarked). I haven't heard these myself, but as you see in the comments,…

Kenso, Japan

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No new updates from Kenso since 2015.

Kenso - s/t. 1980 Pam (LP); 1995 Arcangelo (CD)
Kenso - II. 1982 Pam (LP); 1993 King (CD); 2002 Pathograph (CD papersleeve)
Kenso - s/t (aka III). 1985 Nexus (LP; CD); 2011 King (CD papersleeve)
Kenso - Sparta. 1989 Crime (CD); 2009 Pathograph as Sparta Naked (CD)
Kenso - Yume No Oka. 1991 King; 2011 Pathograph (CD papersleeve)
Kenso - Esoptron. 1999 King (CD); 1999 Musea (France CD)
Kenso - Ken-Son-Gu-Su. 2000 Pathograph (CD)
Kenso - Fabulis Mirabilibus De Bombycosi Scriptis. 2002 Nexus (CD); 2002 Vinyl Magic (Italy CD)
Kenso - Utsuroi Yuku Mono. 2006 King (CD)
Kenso - Uchi Naru Koe Ni Kaikiseyo. 2014 King (CD)

There are many other live and archival releases from the band, though I only own Ken-Son-Gu-Su. All the other entries above represent their studio albums. There's also a 14 CD box set on King that contains all their studio albums through 2012, as well as a handful of live recordings.

For a band with so many recordings, an…

Oresund Space Collective, Denmark-Sweden

News: Oresund Space Collective will release their 23rd proper album Chatoyant Breath. Release date is set for May 10.

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Location: Copenhagen / Malmo

Overview: Oresund Space Collective are what I'd call a "professional space rock band". They are probably the most accomplished space rock band going today. They certainly are the most prolific, with nearly two dozen albums, and tons more downloadable material. If you're looking to follow a band with a lot of product, then Oresund Space Collective are your band! One of the keys to OSC's success is the size of the group, which allows for many more ideas and possibilities. I also like that OSC is fond of editing and distilling long jams. While I can see a desire to release "whatever we record" (and they do just that for their downloads, which is an excellent compromise), I think it's best to focus on the parts that work. This is exactly what the 70s bands were forced to do in the LP er…

Forgas Band Phenomena, France

News: According to the latest Wayside flyer, Forgas Band Phenomena's 6th album will be coming soon. No other info has emerged.

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Cuprum, Czech Republic

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First published June 11, 2012 and moved forward to highlight their new album Brahma Višnu Šiva.

The band is still active as of the summer of 2016.

Cuprum - Musica Deposita. 2011 private (CD)
Cuprum - Brahma Višnu Šiva. 2014 private (CD)

----Musica Deposita

With Cuprum what you get is good old fashioned hard rock meets progressive with loads of fuzzy guitar, Hammond organ and a little flute. Sure, it's retro 1971 England or Germany, and a sound you've heard from other modern bands like Wicked Minds (Italy), Seid (Norway), Siena Root (Sweden), Blood Ceremony (Canada), Hypnos 69 (Belgium) and a few others. But the Czech Republic has no such tradition, and hearing this style performed with the Czech language is quite interesting indeed. About the only band from 1970's Czechoslovakia that even came close to this sound was Flamengo and maybe Modry Efekt - both groups only at their most hard rocking selves. The songs for the most part are quite co…

Il Bacio della Medusa, Italy

News: Il Bacio della Medusa have a new album, their 4th, called Seme*,and has just been released om AMS, who picked the band up in 2015 and reissued their back catalog. Label says: "Contrary to what often happens in the vast progressive rock panorama, crowded by many prolific artists, Il Bacio della Medusa has always taken their right time to release a new album: this time six years have in fact passed from the previous “Deus Lo Vult”. Nothing to complain, however, when the wait is rewarded by the high quality of the result.“Seme*” is no exception in this sense and, if the wind instruments played by Eva Morelli and Simone Cecchini’s voice represent elements of continuity with the past, everything else has been completely revolutionized. We are in fact facing the band’s most immediate and at the same time more varied record, a blend of hard, folk, jazz and classic rock, typical songwriter’s moments and even country and electronic music! If it’s true that ‘prog’ means also evolutio…

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