silence before the storm?
guess it'll change when we get more news about the new album!
for now, I'm busy with my exams!
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Let's discuss Swedish prog in the meanwhile!
Nowadays I'm in the middle of the process of converting all my friends to Mats & Morganism.
Mats & Morgan are absolutely amazing and mindblowing, should appeal to fellow Beardfish nerds Mats Öberg, the keyboard/synth/buttons, is blind since birth and has played with Morgan Ågren for 30 years. Morgan Ågren is probably my all-time favorite drummer, very mathish and complex prog, and Mats is probably my favorite keyboardist somewhere together with Rikard. On their team they often have Morgan's brother Jimmy Ågren on guitar, and some lads from Meshuggah (think the ex-bassist?), Fredrik Thordendal on a few songs.
Recommend everyone to find Mats/Morgan on youtube.
I'll help you out http://www.youtube.com/wa....re=related
(They have played with Zappa!)
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Well, I wrote this article: http://prog-sphere.blogsp....es-on.html the blog Astrallis and I started a few weeks ago (and have linked far too many times on this forum already). It mentions Bo Hansson and a bunch of other bands/artists you have have heard of, or you may not have heard of. I recommend Klotet, even though they have their own forum on this domain, so you've probably at least heard of them through there. We also have an interview with Klotet's guitarist/drummer on the site if you care
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If we're going to discuss Swedish Prog in general, I think this thread will be moved to the appropriate forum.
But.. if we discuss the same Swedish music in relation to Beardfish AND at least mention Beardfish acouple of times in every post, it wouldn't
So, which Swedish bands/ artist do you think have had a great influence on Beardfish?
Let's start with the obvious : Bosse Hansson
Rikard said in April, after Bo Hansson's death:
"I'm a big fan of Bo Hansson's work and he's one of the reasons I started playing organ in the first place (together with Jon Lord actually)."
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Hugo F. wrote:
If we're going to discuss Swedish Prog in general, I think this thread will be moved to the appropriate forum.
You are so wrong, yet so right.
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Oooh, your article just made me order 2 of Bo Hansson's albums, it sounds interesting after hearing one song, and I'm a big LOTR fan on top of that. (Also ordered Destined Solitaire which has been missing from my CD collection and some Mats/Morgan stuff)
Just heard a bit Klotet, sounds interesting indeed!
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If we can extend this thread into Norway, I would like to make mention of a recent discovery of mine: Jaga Jazzist. They're an incredibly melodic jazz band from Norway with electronic elements. Lots of different insruments too. But anyway I would definitely recommend Klotet for any fan of Beardfish. As far as I'm concerned there's absolutely no reason a fan of Beardfish would not love Klotet (or vice versa) unless the only think they like in Beardfish is Rikard's vocals/lyrics. Not to say they aren't worth obsessing over, but there's plenty of Beardfish to love other than those elements
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As for Mats Morgan. I've tried them out, and I can't get passed the annoying vocals that pop up on a lot of the songs. The music is nice when those vocals aren't there, but for some reason I haven't heard anything as good as that video you linked. Good job on picking up Destined Solitaire though, that's my favorite BF album by far!
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I'll check out Jaga Jazzist, I've heard whispers of the name myself...
Only a few Mats/Morgan songs have vocals compared to what they've made. I think it should be pretty hard to find vocals by them on youtube, and in albums like Thanks For Flying With Us, live albums, The Music or the Money there should be no/exceptionally little vocals. If you somehow manage to find a song called Jigsaw Variations, it's one of the songs that kinda blew me a bit away, together with (can be found on youtube -->) Ta ned Trasan, Baader Puff, Proppellerhäst and the rest there. The band must be one of the very most bizarrely amazing jazzy proggy guys I've heard and, virtually, seen. Just started checking out The Tangent (and have been checking out Gentle Giant, The Flower Kings, Karmakanic, some Spock's Beard lately) as well, which I'm very happy about so far. Oh, my life is wonderful with all of these wacky proggers
Beardfish, beardfish, beardfish.
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Heh, I personally don't care for TFK or Spock's Beard very much, but The Tangent, Beardfish, and Gentle Giant are three of my favorites. I also recommend Van Der Graaf Generator if you think you can handle Hammill!
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Ok so the albums I had gotten before were Trends and Other Diseases (which I disliked) and Thank You For Flying With Us, which I just listened to after you suggested it and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I'll get The Music or the Money and the live albums you mentioned. I can't get enough of this keyboard-driven Swedish jazz-prog!
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Heheh, about The music or the money, it's one of those things that make "normal people" leave the room with raised eyebrows or trying to convince you that you're on LSD for listening to it, as well as the musicians playing it. I love it though. Some vocals here and there, but it works for me, adds to the feeling of randomness followed by classic sega game level-up sounds and what not
Van Der Graaf Generator, interesting! After hearing "Theme One" (youtube) I got Mars Volta vibes in the end of it, but listening to some other songs, that isn't the case. Nice Will place this on my checkout-list!
About Spock's Beard, I agree, a lot of it seems to be not so quite amazing, but I'm sure I've heard one thing or two a long time ago that sounded very cool.. if I can just find it again Now that we've both mentioned the non-swedish Spock's Beard and Jaga Jazzist, I just have to say Camel and the album Mirage. Not that crazy, but both beautiful, proggy and lotta great intense instrumental keyboard parts/guitar solos. For people who haven't heard it, "Lady Fantasy" should be a good start.
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