The Art Of Sysyphus Vol. 111

26. October 2020

CD-Sampler

1.WOBBLER - Five Rooms (8:24)
Album: Dwellers Of The Deep (2020)
Label/Distribution: Karisma/Soulfood
www.wobblerofficial.com

WOBBLER continue to wave the colorful flag of 70s prog. No one captures the vibes of that time as creatively and unerringly without seeming stale as these Norwegians. How deep the old waters really were and that they harbor life unknown to this day is proven by their fifth opus. And this song.

2.MARATHON - Amelia (Radio edit) (4:34)
Album: Mark Kelly's Marathon (2020)
Label/Distribution: earMusic/Edel
www.marathonsounds.com

It was about time that Marillion's keyboardist finally came out solo. The theme of the MARATHON album is communication with what may be "out there" in space. Musically you get atmospheric to anthemic prog, not too far away from Marillion, quite catchy like on "Amelia"

3.LUNATIC SOUL - The Passage (8:57)
Album: Through Shaded Woods (2020)
Label/Distribution: Kscope/Edel
www.lunaticsoul.com

Like modern "Songs From The Wood"! LUNATIC SOUL aka Mariusz Duda has reinvented himself: instead of electronics rustic folkprog charm and slightly metallic pagan touches (like on "The Passage"). A lot of guitar, perfect for the campfire at the medieval market. Also for the dance with the damsel is provided

4.LYKANTROPI - Tales To Be Told (4:56)
Album: Tales To Be Told (2020)
Label/Distribution: Despotz/Rough Trade
lykantropi.bandcamp.com

On their third album "Tales To Be Told" the Swedish band LYKANTROPI once again serves atmospheric retro rock with female vocals and flute, whereby progressive time changes also creep in. The group was inspired by Jim Jarmusch's vampire movie "Only Lovers Left Alive" for the snappy title track

5.JOHNNY BOB - Peter Pan Awakes (7:53)
Album: Egbert's Barber Shop (2020)
Label/Distribution: Kombüse/Broken Silence
www.johnnybob.de

Murky sound, murky rhythms, murky vocals. JOHNNY BOB start cautiously on "Peter Pan Awakes", but quickly pick up speed. Drums and bass drive insistently, the mellotron almost rolls over. Somewhere between Genesis and the Pink Floyd of the mid-seventies.

6.BLANK MANUSKRIPT - Celestial Spheres (4:27)
Album: Ascension (2020)
Label/Distribution: Blank Manuscript/Just For Kicks
www.blankmanuskript.at

Salzburg Festival with a difference! What a wild ride! Dante's "Divine Comedy", set to music by the crazy BLANK MANUSKRIPT from said metropolis. Here, symphonic retroprog, psychedelic to psychotic Canterbury curiosities and morsels of abstruse humor creatively crash into each other. A discovery!

7.SUNTRIGGER - Crossing The Horizon (7:48)
Album: Liquid Time (2020)
Label/Distribution: Timezone
www.suntrigger.de

The Münster-based instrumental rockers SUNTRIGGER deal with the size and diversity of the universe on their second album "Liquid Time". "Crossing The Horizon" runs through various moods and is based on the question of what efforts are involved in overcoming cosmological boundaries

8.TOEHIDER - He's There...And He Does THAT (6:05)
Album: I LIKE IT! (2020)
Label/Distribution: Bird's Robe
toehider.bandcamp.com

In sports you would call this freestyle, what the Australian band TOEHIDER offers on their new album. Once again Michael Mills & Co. prove a gigantic bandwidth, for which "He's There...And He Does THAT" stands exemplary. This is how boundary-pushing rock sounds without the famous scissors in the head.

9.GONG WAH - Let's Get Lost (4:14)
Album: Gong Wah (2020)
Label/Distribution: Tonzonen/Soulfood
gongwah.bandcamp.com

GONG WAH offer a rough and gruff mix of shoegaze-independent and psych-garage on their debut album. The two guitarists do a great job with their riffs and licks. Catchy melodies from singer Inga Nelke and hooklines in the guitars that always catch the ear are the strengths of the album.

10.TUNNG - Three Birds (4:00)
Album: Dead Club (2020)
Label/Distribution: Full Time Hobby/Rough Trade
www.tunng.co.uk

Max Porter's novel "Mourning is the Book with Feathers" provided the inspiration for the eighth TUNNG ALBUM, on which the British indie/folk-tronica band deals with the themes of death and mourning. On "Three Birds", the nursery rhyme-like melody is embedded in an autumnal, melancholic arrangement.