Chrome Hoof's Book of Prog

Don’t know your Bartok chamber prog from a creepy Italian horror score? Let <b>Leo Smee</b> of progressive 'disco metal' orchestra <b>Chrome Hoof</b> shine a light

Feature by Leo Smee | 02 Jul 2010

When I see articles in magazines about progressive bands, they always mention the likes of Dream Theatre, Porcupine Tree or Mars Volta of the current time (yawn) – or Yes, Genesis and Pink Floyd from back then. All fine, but if you dig a bit deeper there's some golden nuggets to be had.

During the period from 1968 to 1975 you'd already had genres such as blues, pop, soul, jitterbug, psych, classical etc; with these ingredients all you could do is embrace and start bolting together. Throw in some synthesizers, unusual instruments and a pinch of experimental freedom and voila – exciting, original times.

So this is where to start, in no particular order…

Magma – Udu Wudu (1976)
The French really know how to deliver when it comes to Progressive music, especially in the 60s, 70s and for a petite time in the 80s. Drummer and visionary Christian Vander's imagination created a band with the help of Jannik Top (bassist) where the rhythm section’s motorik drive and inventiveness, layered with angular choral melodies and bent out synths created a truly original feast. They also sing in their own made up language, 'Kobaian'. These guys take you from ethereal beauty to dark trance-like grooves. Udu Wudu has a real uplifting, summoning feel at the start – breaking out into dark Egyptian slabs of polymorphic freak out funk and nut, nut time signatures. They end it all with the epic seventeen minute track De Futura. A must! They’re still going strong, but check some of the side projects spawned by Magma.

King Crimson – Larks Tongues in Aspic (1973)
When I first heard this it made me feel on edge. Not just because of the amazing musicianship, out of the box textual layering, heavy metal or sinister string arrangements, more because I’d found something new that excited me about the sheer brilliance of how music can be brought forth.. Up until then I thought I couldn’t write songs or get a hold on verse-chorus-verse type arrangements. When I came up with songs, a lot of the time band members said ‘Leo that's too weird’, or ‘How can you put that together with that?’ This album relinquished all my phobias about writing music and gave me a lot of confidence in my imagination.

T2 – It’ll All Work Out in Boomland (1970)
Early 70s English trio. T2's three track album of epic blues, jazz, psych mash has a quality like a great novel – great start, middle and ending. They must have been a killer live band. I also like the fact the drummer was the singer with a real soothing melancholic tone, whilst still beating the shit out of the drums.

Birth Control – Plastic People (1975)
A reason I got into 'prog' was because of the artwork. When you look through records at markets or charity shops those prog albums just want to be seen – I purchased Plastic People for 50 pence at a market in Brixton for that very reason. It helped that there's tons of interesting instruments on there – some of the riffs are really goofy, in a fun way, with a nice kraut element. They have a bunch of other albums, but for me this is their best work.

Earth and Fire – Song Of The Marching Children (1971)
A Dutch band that formed in 68, they even had a couple of pop singles in the 60s. This album is another great 'journey' album (note: not the band 'Journey'). With beautiful female vocals that sound a bit Susie Sioux and Kate Bush, majestic mellotrons and inventive arrangements take you far far away. I heard the singer is now a judge on Holland’s Got Talent?

Aphrodite’s Child – 666 (1972)
The legendary Demis Roussos and Vangelis based this concept album on the Book of Revelations. This is a real cult album in the history of music, full stop. First time I heard it was when I was about 14, bunking off school around one of the older boy’s houses. After a couple of ‘hot knifes’, he put on 666. It’s a long, amazingly crafted double album with narration based on religious mythology – a mix of pop, rock, psychedelia, symphonic passages and cult voodooism. Perfect!

Os Mundi – Latin Mass (1970)
This band doesn’t sound all that German, owing to the vocals being in Latin. The album sounds more like the music to a 70s Italian horror movie. Demonic riffs, a lot of studio splicing, experimenting, reversing and elongated swinging psych jams – still sounds well fresh!

Univers Zero – Heresie (1979)
Belgian band formed in 1974. Stephen O'Malley [of Sunn 0)))] hooked me up with these pioneers of dark, dark, atmospheric, Bartok chamber prog. Mostly an instrumental soundscape of marching drones and overlapping time signatures, it’s an eerie journey led by sinister bassoons and strings – but uplifting at the same time.

Goblin – Suspiria (1977)
A big Chrome Hoof influence, this Italian band are probably known best for their soundtracks to 70s and 80s films, but this is a soundtrack for all occasions. We love their use of synthesizers – synth arpeggios based around the drums and bass and plodding disco. Exciting stuff. Tenebre is another must have album from these guys, if only for the first track.

Egg – The Polite Force (1971)
This album is muso, not in the cheesy six string fretless bass way, but in a real endearing, challenging, angular, classical, earthy and fun way – with a sense of humour. One of my favourite bands from the Canterbury scene, I got this tape stuck in the cassette player of my old car (VW Polo) for two years. It’s a bit challenging at first but after 567 listens you can tell they’re having a lot of fun. And that's what music's all about, right? 

Crush Depth by Chrome Hoof is out now on Southern Records.

http://www.myspace.com/chromehoof