"Progressive Rock"

[Progression Is Now]

I know that many bands hate to be categorized into one genre, but it's something that my organizational mind just likes to do.

Dredg is a full-on prog band. But the beauty of their sound is that not only can it be considered prog, but it could be just basic alt-rock as well. That's why they draw in so many diverse fans, and why I think they'll still yet get bigger and more popular than they are.

To be honest, when I first heard the band, it was various things that drew me in ( the melodies, the catchiness, the vocals ), but I'm known to be a hardcore prog freak, and so it was interesting and ironic to later hear others label them as "prog." Then I listened to Leitmotif and El Cielo and I understood a bit more...the quasi-concept albums, the extended pieces of music, the short musical interludes based around a theme.

The cool thing about the label "Progressive Rock" is that, at its very essence, it doesn't just include "classic" prog bands like Genesis, Yes, King Crimson, Pink Floyd and Rush...but really describes any music that is trying something new and pulling in countless influences. That can mean anything from the Beatles, to Radiohead, to Dream Theater, to Faith No More, to Marillion, to Tool, and so on...

Catch Without Arms is even reviewed on a full-on prog site...www.DPRP.net ( Someone should get the band's management/label to send review copies of the first two albums... )

Prog has had a mainstream resurgence in the last three years or so with, most notably, The Mars Volta, Secret Machines, and Coheed & Cambria. I'd put dredg at the forefront of that wave too.

Thoughts?

[BentTwig]

Ummm ya. dredg is progressive, but I wouldn't say their full on prog rock. (I hate genres as well and typically like to label bands in as general manner as possible). This site describes them as "Audio Scenery". I think that fits them the best. Progressive rock tends to start out in one key/time signature and then evolve into something completely different. dredg does that sometimes, but not a lot. They are a progressive band in my mind, but not proggressive rock. And I kindof fail to see how dredg has had a mainstream resurgence, and are the forefront of it. They are growing, but very few people still don't know about them. Coheed is wayyyy more popular, and I also dont really think their progressive.

I hate genres, just a label so people can understand what they don't know. Genres are evil in my mind, and I hate how people say they are Emo or punk, It just limits them and how people view them

[Eagle Morph]

I think dredg is more progressive than Coheed...I find Coheed to be fairly uninventive and unimaginative, but that's just me. But Twig is right...dredg isn't at the forefront of the movement if only because their fanbase is considerably smaller than that of Coheed, etc.

I do agree with the notion that the best description for dredg is "audio scenery." I don't think they can be described any better than that.

[Progression Is Now]

BentTwig : This site describes them as "Audio Scenery". I think that fits them the best.

I also think that is a good description, but it could also describe any band, at least in my opinion. On a core level, I don't like labels either, but their only "bad" if you want them to be.

If we didn't have prerequisite words to describe music genres, I have to admit, I would be hard-pressed to describe dredg's sound to somebody.

And I kindof fail to see how dredg has had a mainstream resurgence, and are the forefront of it.

Dredg hasn't. Prog has. Just the fact that dredg could get on the radio or TV in the last year or so is a testament to how prog is actually becoming respected and not uncool, as it has been for about the past thirty years. All I'm saying is that dredg isn't afraid to show their influences, and prog is definetly bigger now than it was ten years ago. I've heard Gavin say in interviews how he really likes Peter Gabriel -- certainly one of the most-respected of songwriters within the genre of Progressive Rock.

Coheed is wayyyy more popular, and I also dont really think their progressive.

Songs based on fictional characters, all interconnected? Complex time-signatures and fantasy-based lyrics? They're very, very prog, in the classic sense of the word. They just came about the genre in a roundabout way, starting on the punk/emo path, much like The Mars Volta.

[Molitoth]

re: "Progressive Rock"

I find Coheed to be fairly uninventive and unimaginative,

WOW, you idiots amaze me sometimes, get the fuck over Claudio's voice and listen to the other stuff, study the lyrics and the concept and tell me again they are uninventive and unimaginative.

[Eagle Morph]

Re: re: "Progressive Rock"

WOW, you idiots amaze me sometimes, get the fuck over Claudio's voice and listen to the other stuff, study the lyrics and the concept and tell me again they are uninventive and unimaginative.

Well, excuse me your highness, I'm sorry to have offended your musical taste buds. First off, that's mighty presumptuous of you to believe that I have issues with Claudio's voice. Considering I never made a comment about it, I don't see where the hell you came up with that. Second, it's an opinion. Obviously you disagree with it. Fine. But I don't find anything terrific about Coheed and Cambria. I've tried their past couple of albums, couldn't get into it, and I listened as much as I could after The Blood Brothers nearly destroyed my eardrums during the dredg/mewithoutyou/BloodBrothers/Coheed tour, and I just didn't jump on the gravy train.

Perhaps next time I'll remember next time to be a condescending jackass like you anytime I present my opinion.

[And we'll just put a happy little bush over here.]

I agree with you Eagle. I am by no means a Coheed and Cambria fan; I just could not get into them. I do not know what it is about them, but I tried to give them the benefit of the doubt as I have an eclectic taste in music. Yet, with Coheed I found myself desiring for time to speed up so that the song would end.

I however did not have the will to stick around for BB and then CC during that tour and found myself to be a little relieaved that I did not have to sit through either band in order to hear Dredg.



Then again, I like mewithoutyou.

[BentTwig]

Coheed has talent, but they aren't groundbraking. Definately one of the better popular bands out there, but I don't really like their music too much, its just been done before in different styles to many times to me.

I would somewhat have to agree with progression reamerging though. Just listen to American Idiot, whether you hate green day or the album, just listen to songs like jesus of suburbia and st. jimmy and you'll notice that for a pop punk album, it is pretty progressive, and it sold gajillions of records. I'm not a big fan of the album, but it is pretty progressive.

[Eagle Morph]

I however did not have the will to stick around for BB and then CC during that tour and found myself to be a little relieaved that I did not have to sit through either band in order to hear Dredg.

Then again, I like mewithoutyou.

I haven't been able to get into mewithoutyou. The venue I saw all four bands play was rather lousy, so I tried listening to their album cuts, and it just doesn't do enough for me.

The Blood Brothers were simply awful at the show...they took well over a half hour for sound check and it simply consisted of the singers screaming like rhesus monkeys. I walked out for most of their performance, came back in for Coheed, and left before the end of their set.

And BentTwig, I agree with you about Green Day's "American Idiot." It's still pretty simplistic, but there are quite a few progressive elements to it. I'm not a fan of a lot of their earlier music, but I do like "American Idiot" more than the others.

[kata rokkar]

queens
of
the
mother fuckin'
stone
age

[TheRuleofThree]

re: "Progressive Rock"

A few things...

I find there to be some contradictions in the original argument, because you're stating that progressive music is somehow struggling to be heard or starting to get popular.

Just remember how popular "Dark Side of the Moon" is. The most weeks spent on the Billboard 200, if I remember correctly.

There are many other examples, but this is my point. Music is music. Labels are for labels, you know what I mean? Genres are categories for albums meant to assist the consumer if finding a product they'll enjoy. It's important for us as a community to move away from classification because it really limits what is possible. Green Day has a nine minute song they released to radio. As popular as it is to hate them, I enjoy their new album and respect it, and could care less if people call it "pop punk" or "pickle juice." It's an album. Listen to it.

The same goes for the rest of the argument. As much as I understand that certain types of music have certain discernable features that allow us to group them together, I think the term "progressive" is just a lazy term for the one thing that all the bands labeled as such have in common: a refusal to conform to a certain sound, a resistance to single-genre conformity. In this sense, a lot of bands out today are truly "progressive."

And for the record, in my personal opinion, Coheed and Cambria are a sort of acquired taste, but I love the immense amount of time and work they put into every album, from a (literal) artistic sense to an all-around sound sense. And mewithoutyou, for what it's worth, astounds me every time I listen to them.

[BuddyGoodness]

Re: re: "Progressive Rock"

I find Coheed to be fairly uninventive and unimaginative,

WOW, you idiots amaze me sometimes, get the fuck over Claudio's voice and listen to the other stuff, study the lyrics and the concept and tell me again they are uninventive and unimaginative.

Hahahaha. Way to jump in out of the blue and bitchslap some people. I for one have trouble getting past Claudio's voice. Kind of like Cradle of Filth, they might have good music but the vocals just kill it for me. Coheed sound kinda like iron maiden to me.

[the mad hatter]

well i'd have to agree that they are a progressive rock band.. but CWA sounds a bit more.. hmm.. how do i say.. poppy.. is that the right word to use? I dont want that to sound wrong.. I mean its still prog. but CWA is just a bit more catchy and upbeat (not saying its bad, i love the cd as well as the rest). But i think thats why its so hard to stick dredg in a category. Because leitmotif is heavy progressive and el cielo is more experimental progressive and then CWA is like poppy progressive.. but then again they all have the word "progressive" after them.. so i guess it would make sense to categorize them like that..
*shrugs shoulders*