Icons of Industry – Eloquence
Similar artists: Kansas, Queen
Genre: Progressive Rock
Getting good at anything of real importance takes a good amount of time and a great amount of dedication. Most people simply can’t find it. And many of the ones that can muster up the energy for this tend to forget the reason they have begun in the first place. After all, starting a gigantic campaign and not knowing where you’re going is as bad as not starting it all.
At the end of the day, progressive rock, a musical discipline that requires plenty of study and dedication, can be used to achieve two things. The first, the more obvious, involves showing off. The second, the more subtle, involves rebuilding the world not as it is or should be but as it could be. The latter task is even harder to pull off than practising your instrument day after day for years.
Icons of Industry’s “Eloquence” is not only inspired by prog-rock bands once capable of getting their colossal compositions onto the radio. They’re seeking to occupy the same kind of stage of the theatre of the mind that those bands did. Sure, the band’s technical abilities are impressive, and they may even over-rely on them from time to time. But, what they are really doing here is trying to soundtrack a dream and get everyone to dream it simultaneously. Now, that’s a trick worth years of work in.
O KANENAS – Explode
Genre: Classic Rock, Alternative Rock
Most people dream about getting a bit of adventure in their lives. Who could blame them? It’s a change from the usual pace of living. It’s a chance to find yourself, to feel excited about life and possibly, to have the world reveal some of its secrets to you. But it won’t be easy. The things worth adventuring toward are either high up a mountain or down at the bottom of a lake. They’re never easy to find.
What’s worse, people tend to overrate their ability for adventure. It’s not unusual. The vast majority of us have been born and raised in busy cities. How many of us really possess the skills required to deal with tough situations when the adventure doesn’t go our way? How many of us can read the signs and get ready for where the adventure may take us? Most of us are better off adventuring from the comfort of our homes.
We’ll need a soundtrack, however. O KANENAS’ “Explode” is music dedicated to wandering the world in search of mysteries and clues that will solve them. The Grek artist brings a considerable progressive-rock approach to these music-making efforts. The song is in 9/8, and O KANENAS’ lyrics often elude to mythology. But “Explode” also has a grungey edge to it, a directness that cannot be ignored. And while it may be a soundtrack to adventures many of us will not get to ourselves, the stories can still play inside of our minds when we hear the music.
