Excentrica

Prog rock is a genre that is more accurately defined by its length than the words “progressive,” and “rock” which combined to form the genre title. Artists that were instrumental in defining what we now know as progressive rock include Yes, and Rush. Despite their short names, their musical body of work couldn’t be more rich and vibrant.

What makes this Rock so Progressive?

It is hard to say what exactly makes this type of music progressive. It doesn’t sound much different than the other rock music going on at the time, other than that it is longer. The average rock song is anywhere from 3 to 4 minutes whereas the average prog rock song can go from between 8 to 12 minutes, and in some cases much longer. Some artists have been known to release albums that have one song taking up the entirety of a 60 minute album, though those are obviously in the minority. Extended solos, and what has sometimes been colloquially dubbed as “guitar wanking” are the chief elements that make up the genre.

Songs can go on and on forever having huge dips and amazingly extended crescendos. What really sets this genre apart from rock that just happens to be long though, is the fact that the musicians are usually more technically gifted. A typical prog rock show is just as much an entertaining musical event as it is a showcase of the skill of a musician. Though the musical quality is important in prog as it is with every other genre, prog is specifically well known for artists being more concerned with showing off their virtuosity at their instrument than they are at making a concise song, which is what can often lead to the extended song length in most cases.

Krautrock is a musical genre that is marred with difficulty. It is difficult in the sense that it is a sort of meaningless genre tag. To understand why the term exists though, it would be best to go back to the 1960’s when it was coined.

Where did the term Krautrock come from?

Krautrock bears the same complications as the term indie because the set of terms that define the actual music are so vague in both cases, that once a list is created of all of the artists belonging to the genre, the artists in this list share very little in common with one another musically. This makes the existence of the term at all fairly pointless.

It was originally coined by magazines as a humorous aside, taking the ethnic slur “kraut” and applying it to the music that was being made by German bands at the time. This is also one of the few musical genres that is specific to a certain area. Even if an artist conforms to all the things that define krautrock, unless they are also German, it is likely they will be categorized as something else related to it, like ambient or Fusion.

Thus, because the term was more ethnically based originally (simply meaning rock that is made by Germans, and in this context, even the use of the word rock is debatable) it is hard to describe what krautrock actually sounds like. Most critics seem to agree that krautrock is not overtly rock music, and that it seems to possess elements of jazz and jazz fusion, experimental music, and is heavily influenced by ambient music as well. It may be hard to define, but the influence of the artists that are said to belong to this genre is heavily respected.

Always an area of controversy, free jazz has been both critically lauded and ridiculed since its inception as a legitimate genre sometime in the mid 1950’s. The odd thing though is that the people that dislike it happen to criticize the same issues that many others happen to remark on favorably, which is atypical for any other genre of music in the collective gamut.

“Free,” not Experimental

A standard record from the rock genre might have a positive review saying that the use of guitar layering created an unparalleled sonic experience and a negative review saying that though the guitars carried the listener through a unique plane of sound the record was marred by muddy, poorly executed bass riffs. However, a Miles Davis records would have both reviewers remarking on the same things such as the sporadic key changes and lack of melody, but the only difference in the reviews would be whether the reviewer find that to be bad or good. Critics all seem to agree that the music has few elements that we generally attribute to the form of art that we call “music,” a hard thing to admit, but the fact that they can agree on this at all opens up so many more avenues for discussion. The conversation goes from whether something is bad or good, to why something is bad or good, which is revolutionary in the world of musical criticism.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about free jazz though is its name. The musicians from this genre certainly experiment, so why is it not called “experimental” like the efforts of bands in any other genre that try to break out of mainstream classifications. They all have the same idea, and yet we don’t have “free rock” or “free electronic.” Jazz seems to have reached some emotionally transcendental level. The musicians aren’t just experimenting, they’re freeing themselves of all limitations.

If a person was born in the last 30 years they would probably say that acoustic music is a stripped down form of the raw energy that music of today possesses. However, someone a little older than that, that can remember artists like Johnny Cash, and what music was like before electronic amplification might have something else to say about it.

The Death and Revival of Acoustics

During the 50’s, acoustic was the most prevalent form of music, but as amplified music became more popular, people started throwing away their acoustic guitars and banjos and moving on to electronic instruments. The advent of the Punk genre had a lot to do with this movement away from acoustic. Rock bands like Led Zeppelin, and the even earlier Jimi Hendrix Experience helped to usher in the new era of rock, but punk was the straw that finally severed the cord entirely because it was a genre of music that simply couldn’t exist without amplifiers and plugs of all kinds. It needed to be sloppy and juvenile and so loud it would break your eardrums. Something as simple as that needed a full on onslaught, and once this genre became fully popularized by groups like the Ramones and the Sex Pistols, acoustics became a thing of the past.

Recently though, there has been a revival of interest in acoustic music. Once punk faded out of the scene, and the softer lighter genre that we refer to as indie became the cool thing, a new attitude toward acoustic started to emerge as well as a new interest. People saw acoustic music as being more heartfelt and more down to earth. It was generally well received when a group did an entire acoustic set of their normally amplified music at concerts. As of 2011, audiences appreciate acoustic music more than ever before thanks to this renewed interest.