Friday13th: Prog On Discovery M1

Friday13th 05.14.19	Voting ends next Tuesday. May the most sauer of the krauts win!
bgillesp 05.14.19	Link 3 has a noisy side 2. Links 1 and 2 I have not heard.
TheNotrap 05.14.19	Let’s dive into this
Papa Universe 05.14.19	Father Universe approves of this pairing.
Jethro42 05.14.19	Barbie vs grand ma :)
Friday13th 05.14.19	^ lol we got women for all tastes
Papa Universe 05.14.19	you don't know a lot about women, if you think that that's all
Jethro42 05.14.19	Vocal lines were welcome for 1
Divaman 05.14.19	Yeah, Papa Universe vs. Mother Universe. Should be apocalyptic!
wham49 05.14.19	Sweeeet
TwigTW 05.14.19	It begins!
manosg 05.14.19	Nice. Will try and check as many as I can.
TwigTW 05.14.19	Thrice Mice sounds good.
Zig 05.14.19	Let’s do this !!
TheNotrap 05.14.19	Thrice Mice's opener has a nice vibe, this main chord progression was widely used in the 1960s
TheNotrap 05.14.19	Wallenstein's opener sometimes reminds me of Bowie
TwigTW 05.14.19	^I was thinking the same thing.
Jethro42 05.14.19	i've only heard Thrice Mice up to now. Pretty good stuff... A mixt of rock n roll and jazz. Reminds me of Road House Blues by The Doors at a place. The beginning with those horns puzzled me at first, but now everything is at the right place. Band might be one of the krautrok precursors, I presume. Might be influential. And like Notrap said, they also sound like the psych 60s.
TheNotrap 05.14.19	“The beginning with those horns puzzled me at first” The delay should have been a big thing at the time, and they explored that fx
Jethro42 05.14.19	Pardon me Notrap, I'm not sure to understand...
TheNotrap 05.14.19	The delay effect in the beginning of Thrice Mice‘s opener, wasn’t that what you were referring to?
Jethro42 05.14.19	Yes, but I only thought it was too much all over the place. I haven't talked about the delay effects ;)
SharkTooth 05.14.19	1 took a while to get going, but now that it has, it's p groovy
Jethro42 05.14.19	By 'puzzled me'', I mostly meant ''left me cold'', that's where things got confuzed ;)
SharkTooth 05.14.19	Ooh the vocals are really good on Thrice Mice really complement the sax
SharkTooth 05.14.19	thoroughly enjoyed that first track except for the first 2 minutes that into dragged too much
Jethro42 05.14.19	Agree hard he doesnt need to scream though
Jethro42 05.14.19	Also agree about that intro :/
SharkTooth 05.14.19	second track is already an improvement by sheer merit of not having a shitty into section
Friday13th 05.15.19	Glad you all are enjoying. I'm about to give Thrice Mice a whirl.
SharkTooth 05.15.19	Third track on thrice mice sucks Just drags too long On 4th track
SharkTooth 05.15.19	Just finished 1 Really cool record but could've used a trim in certain places
Papa Universe 05.15.19	you could say that about a lot of people in the 70s. whoo
SharkTooth 05.15.19	Owned lol
bgillesp 05.15.19	I’ll check both again tomorrow, but I could very easily end up voting against myself in this one
SharkTooth 05.15.19	I'm feeling 2 personally Not too much into 1 Great album, but 2s got consistency
Jethro42 05.15.19	Lots of movements and nuances per song for Wallenstein. There's a lot going on.
Divaman 05.15.19	Hmm. After the first listen, I have a slight preference, but I can see this is going to need several listens apiece until I know for sure.
Scheumke 05.15.19	Ah nice we've started! On Thrice Mice right now. At the second song and I'm already liking this quite a lot. I like that this contest is actually quite a deep-dive instead of listening with half an ear once and voting.
e210013 05.15.19	Ok, my friends. Let's begin. As you know, I live in Europe and the time difference for America is 5 to 6 hours, at least. So, I'm only going to start right now. Nice choice Friday. I never heard anything about these albums but it seams to me a very interesting confrontation. Let's open the "hostilities" and good luck to all.
Scheumke 05.15.19	I have the same e210013. I can mostly listen during work so its a good thing we have a couple of days per round, because in the weekends I have little time to listen to new things. @Friday: Just out of curiosity; Do you pair these randomly or do you pick the pairs?
e210013 05.15.19	Yes, it's the same with me. My weekends are dedicated to my family. So, I don't have time to chech all these albums. About your question, I think Friday try to pick the pairs, according with the styles, the nationalities, the influences, and so on.
e210013 05.15.19	After a first listen to "Mother Universe", I must say that I really enjoyed the album. I agree with Notrap, the vocals sometimes remind me of Bowie. Nice choice bgillesp. Now, I'll check "Trice Mice!"
Zig 05.15.19	Finished listening to both. 1 is definitely more loose and production wise weaker; 2 has more diversity and structure and its jams don't drag like 1's final two tracks. So, I'll have to go with 2, enjoyed it more than 1.
e210013 05.15.19	After a first listen to "Thrice Mice!", I really think we have here great stuff. Like Jethro I also felt here the presence of the sound of The Doors, at times, and the psyco sound too. You know, the sound of the 60's. And also like him I was a bit wary with the sound of the horns in the beggining. But that feeling passed right after. Nice choice too, Papa. You seams to have the true spirit of prog. The spirit of adventure that brings to us some true obscure things. Nice. So, after my first listenings it seams to me that this will be a tough fight. Both albums have great potential. I need much more listenings to take a decision. One is more adventurous, underground jazz-progressive rock and sounds more to the end of the 60's. The other one sounds more to the classic symphonis prog era. I like both. So, I'll see it.
e210013 05.15.19	So early Zig, without exitations? It seems you're a man of convictions and fast decisions. Lol. Nice. Um abraço meu amigo. Pela a minha parte ainda não estou pronto para a minha.
Scheumke 05.15.19	Aight, thanks for clearing that up!
Friday13th 05.15.19	I do choose the pairings. I try to match the albums up by the descriptions, year of release, etc.
Friday13th 05.15.19	oops, looks like my comment got reposted. Anyways, I've heard both and have a pretty clear preference, but I'll give each another spin before deciding.
Jethro42 05.15.19	^yeah, that's pretty weird...Your comment is now right after Scheumke's...
e210013 05.15.19	Ha, ha. Very funny. How was it possible? Very strange indeed.
Jethro42 05.15.19	Finally, none of them albums have replay value for me, but i'm juggling with both for now. Thrice Mice reminds me of Roxy Music here and there, and it's a good thing. On Mother Universe, the guitarist has the same playing as Phish's guitarist, and it's a good thing. Phish came after yeah... Will be decided tonight.
Friday13th 05.15.19	I was driving out in the country with my fam trying to post on my phone with a bad signal lol
Divaman 05.15.19	These tournaments fascinate me, so I'll be reporting on them on my music blog as we go along. If you feel like reading along, you'll find it at longislandmusicguy.blogspot.com.
Jethro42 05.15.19	it's always a pleasure to read your blogs, Divaman. You're really talented for the writing. And when it's too long, I'm using google traduction to translate in my native French speaking, and it works very well.
Divaman 05.15.19	Thank you sir.
Divaman 05.15.19	Yeah, I hear the "Roadhouse Blues" thing in Thrice Mice. There's also a slow classical piece that I recognize but can't remember what it is. On the Wallenstein, that last song sounds very Jethro Tull to me, albeit with a very different kind of vocalist than Ian Anderson. At one point, it also plays around with Pachelbel's Canon.
Jethro42 05.16.19	The best ideas and pretense of creation go to Thrice Mice, even if their songs are overlong, but the best song of both albums is ''Mother Universe'' imo. I always think that Brian Ferry of Roxy Music knows Thrice Mice, and was inspired by it. In the songwriting department, both bands are rather weak, but I barely prefer to listen to Mother Universe. Good guitar playing all the way, and I tend to like the keys playing too. Most of the vocals remind me of the ones of Peter Sinfield, the King Crimson, ElP and PFM lyricist (See his solo album Still). @Divaman, I can see where you're coming from. My vote goes to Mother Universe cos it still has the potential to grow on me a bit, but Thrice is stagnant in this department.
Jethro42 05.16.19	Sorry, my paragraphs were destroyed because of some editings.
e210013 05.16.19	I changed my initial opinion about both albums. I'm still thinking that both albums have some great moments, but after a third audition of both albums I have clearly a favourite. But I'll reserve my decision and opinion to later.
Scheumke 05.16.19	Listened twice now to both. I think both have great moments, but they also both have entire songs that are directionless and could use a lot of trimming. Its not my final vote, but I'm nudging slightly toward Trice Mice, mostly because of the opening song which is really great and because of the better vocals (when they are applied).
Friday13th 05.16.19	So far it's 0-2 counting Zig and Jethro
Divaman 05.16.19	OK, I'm going in for one more listen. Cover me!
Divaman 05.16.19	Does anyone know the name of that classical music piece that Thrice Mice is playing around with on that last track? It's normally a very slow and solemn composition. I know it from a film soundtrack, but I can't for the life of me place it, and it's driving me crazy. (I feel like the film might have been a period piece, something to do with kings and coronations, but I could be wrong about that. In fact, I probably am. I don't watch a lot of those kinds of films.)
Divaman 05.16.19	Alright, I'm ready to vote. I liked both albums, but mildly. They both had their plusses and minuses. For Thrice Mice, I liked that '60s psychedelic vibe they occasionally displayed. I also liked their vocalist, even though there were huge portions of the album where he didn't have anything to do. In a way, this made him more effective. I particularly liked the first and the last tracks. I HATED that sax intro (and outro) on the first song, though, even though I get the sense that they were playing around with their listeners and trying to be funny. But the other aspects of the album overcame it. There was a lot of jazz to the album, which isn't usually my thing, but it didn't really bother me here. A lot of the music was hot -- energetic and very enthusiastic. The Wallenstein LP was cooler, more laid back and subtle. Their vocalist had some moments, but for the most part, I didn't really like him. His voice was so-so, and his diction was often kind of annoying. I liked the last track the best -- this was their most energetic track, the one where I felt that I heard those Jethro Tull tendencies. Most of the other songs didn't do much for me as songs. Normally, I prefer Wallenstein's overall style of music to Thrice Mice's. But in this case, I enjoyed the Thrice Mice album a little more. Therefore, I vote for Thrice Mice.
Papa Universe 05.16.19	whoo
Jethro42 05.16.19	Man, for Wallenstein, when the vocal lines enter with organ in Dedicated To The Mystery Land, it sounds SO much like some great Van Der Graaf Generator. @Divaman, I agree with the awkward diction of the vocalist(s) - they are two distinct vocalists - but they remind me so much of Peter Sinfield vocal's at places that I forgive them. ''Relics Of The Past '' is now the only song that leaves me cold with maybe ''Braintrain''s hard rock debut. The last one a la Jethro Tull like you said, is too much tango-like for my taste, but it's surely not bad. So yes, album has grown on me.
bgillesp 05.16.19	If I get my life together enough I’ll get this done tomorrow and saturday
Scheumke 05.17.19	Diva, I completely agree with your assessment. I've had pretty much the exact same. The moments where Thrice Mice shine (first and last song), they shine brighter, but the middle two songs are worse and a little boring to me. Still, overall I enjoyed them more, so my vote goes to Trice Mice as well.
Friday13th 05.17.19	2-2
Sabrutin 05.17.19	Cool to see Mother Universe in the first round, I was curious about it. I checked it out and it's a nice fillerless album
bgillesp 05.17.19	Here I go. Prolly gonna dig thrice mice pretty good based on this intro
e210013 05.17.19	After 4 auditions of both albums here is my veredict: Thrice Mice - Thrice Mice!: I never heard nothing about this album or this band before. And I'm not a specialist in krautrock either. So, it was a shot in the dark. Still, I love the album. It seems to me a typical underground German prog jazz-rock album. This is a very singular album, a typical example of the early krautrock. It brings to us the echoes of the typical psychedelic sound of the 60's. So, it isn't strange that it reminds us, sometimes the sound of The Doors. The production isn't great and so the quality of its sound lose a little, with that. Anyway the quality of its music get over it, indeed. Nice discover. Wallenstein - Mother Universe: I was very curious about this album and this band. I had heard of this band but I had never checked it before. And I confess that I was pleasantly surprised. This is an excellent symphonic prog album, I think an underrated piece, even in their discography. This is an album without weak points (maybe "Relics Of Past" is a bit different but I like it), and the keytboard work is excellent. The man is trully a very gifted keyboardist. And contrary to some of you and others on other sites I can't see any problem with the vocals. We mustn't forget that there are two lead singers and this is the reason why we can hear different vocals, one of them that reminds us Bowie. Despite "Thrice Mice!" be a very good album, and as happened with Jethro, the album is stagnant for me too, while "Mother Universe" continued growing on me with the auditions. So, I decided to rate "Thrice Mice!" with 3.5 and "Mother Universe" with 4.0. So, my vote goes to "Mother Universe".
Sabrutin 05.17.19	I heard them both, I found Mother Universe's melodic textures more compelling than Thrice Mice's wandering nature. I did suffer a bit because of a couple of fade outs though. I'm probably going to vote for 2.
SharkTooth 05.18.19	my vote goes for 2, e210013 put it really well
Friday13th 05.18.19	2-5
Snowdog808 05.18.19	If I may cast a vote still at this point, I would definitely vote for Wallenstein's album. For the most part I was a lot more invested with where they were taking the tracks, whether in a more subdued folk-rock direction, or in the highly energetic tracks, at least one of which definitely reminded me of some of my favorite moments of the original Kansas record. Their guitarist and keyboardists alike definitely have as much talent as they do range, and I would be unsurprised if some of the more rapid guitar work was running through Steve Harris' head back when he wrote some of the material for Iron Maiden's Clive Burr period. Whether they win this round or not, I am definitely thankful to have been exposed to such an insanely overlooked treat of a band!
bgillesp 05.18.19	Really liking Thrice Mice 2 listens in. Probably about a 4.1-4.2 for me atm. I’ll jam mine again before voting, but I remember mine around 4.0-4.1, so it’ll be very close
SharkTooth 05.18.19	it's a shame Thrice Mice only put out one album, if they tightened up their playing and didn't meander so much they could've put out something amazing
Sabrutin 05.18.19	I don't think these albums are that different quality-wise, but I stand by my last comment and vote for Wallenstein.
Jethro42 05.18.19	i'm now liking the hard rock segment of Braintrain (a la Kansas like Snowdog said) as much as its softer part. ''Relics Of The Past'' also clicked with me. It wouldn't be out of place into From the Witchwood by Strawbs. It seems that when we can identify a song having similarities with another one, it brings the initial song to another level. Might bump the album up to a 4.
TheNotrap 05.18.19	I'll listen to the 2 albums more closely now
TheNotrap 05.18.19	Wallenstein The band has an interesting sound, I like the hard rock approach in some songs and its contrast with the typical baroque style of the 70s prog rock. Favorite song: the Purple-esque “Brainstrain” Rating after 2 spins (home and office): 3.5/5 Thrice Mice More groovy and jazzy than Wallenstein, but also less appealing and original, the collage to The Doors in "Torakov" seemed to me too evident. Favorite song: “Jo Joe” Rating after 2 spins (home): 3/5 My vote goes to Wallenstein’s Mother Universe
Jethro42 05.19.19	It's more quiet than usually on here.
SharkTooth 05.19.19	Not sure what to add to this discussion, I'm just waiting for the next matchup
Jethro42 05.19.19	:]
e210013 05.19.19	Yeah, I agree. Too much quiet. Maybe the weekend effect. I hope that in Monday it will be a bit more warm. Lol.
TheNotrap 05.19.19	The prog lads are resting and waiting impatiently for the Game of Thrones finale
Divaman 05.19.19	I've been entertaining myself by working my way through the contestants from Friday's first prog tournament in 2013. Some pretty impressive albums were entered that year.
SharkTooth 05.19.19	I hate that I can't access Friday's first prog tournament I wanted to check those albums out ;_;
Papa Universe 05.19.19	Sputnik's system is a little broken, but you actually can see those threads.
Papa Universe 05.19.19	instructions how to do so: 1. press the "More »" button. 2. in the URL that comes out of that find the ending "&start=36" and change that number to the number of the list you want to see. the list grid will then show you all lists previous to that. problem is you can't really know which list is which number.
Jethro42 05.19.19	https://www.sputnikmusic.com/list.php?listid=142431&memberid=732569 i have access by clicking Univers Zero - Heresy. Just check out the lists from there.
Divaman 05.19.19	Yep. Here's the link to the list of entrants for the first one: https://www.sputnikmusic.com/list.php?listid=142431&memberid=732569 The trick is find a band who was involved in the contest, go to their band page, and look on the left side of the page for their "related lists". So if you go to Los Jaivas, who won that first contest, it shows you every list Los Jaivas had been named on, including the list for each round of that prog contest.
SharkTooth 05.19.19	Well that's great to know
MrSirLordGentleman 05.19.19	I don't know which one to vote for yet I love Thrice Mice's energetic sound and the sax is really great on it. But Wallenstein sound's more pleasing and varied. I'll have to listen to them a few more times to decide
Friday13th 05.19.19	2-7
bgillesp 05.20.19	While it is very close for me, I will have to vote for Thrice Mice because I think it’s variety is better for this tournament. Both are in he 4.1-4.2 range for me
bgillesp 05.20.19	Also to view old lists you can go to one of his lists and alter the number in the url like Papi described. Also I will include my annual rant about how Papi should vote in matchups that include his albums
Friday13th 05.20.19	3-7
Divaman 05.20.19	Who knows, bgillesp. Maybe this will be the year.
Friday13th 05.20.19	I'm going to have to vote for Wallenstein. I especially like the first song, but overall it had some great melodically pleasing parts and keyboard playing. I didn't like Thrice Mice's dated organ sound, but the last track was exceptionally good. When the band fused jazz and less Doorsy psych then they sounded great. 3-8
TwigTW 05.20.19	I've listened to both a few times now, and I think they are excellent finds. As others said earlier, they remind me of Bowie and Roxie Music. I don't know why that surprises me. They claimed Krautrock as an influence. Still, I don't think I've ever heard the connection this clearly before... I can see how the saxophone on Thrice Mice! is a make-it or break-it element. I really like it. I think it elevates the album from something average to special. The Wallenstein is very good too. After three listens, it's still growing on me. I haven't fully digested it yet, but every listen is enjoyable. Right now I couldn't tell you who gets my vote. I will listen again today and hopefully one will pull into the lead.
hansoloshotfirst 05.20.19	My final verdict for this round: Thrice Mice: liked the overall feeling of it, the last track is their best one, found it as a whole quite uneven...oh and the Doors homage in Tokarov was pretty off-putting to my ears. All in all a nice album but nothing outstanding. Wallenstein: much more engaging than Thrice Mice and more well-rounded. excellent keys and guitar playing, the whole album has a great flow to it. Feels much more "confident" than Thrice Mice.( To put it a bit more cryptic Wallenstein knew themselves unlike Thrice Mice, who were still searching/ trying etc.) My vote goes to Wallenstein
wham49 05.20.19	Thrice Mice is more my style so going with it
Friday13th 05.20.19	4-9
MrSirLordGentleman 05.20.19	I like both equally tbh. Both have a great sound yet remain rather inconsistent I'll go with Thrice Mice just to make the competition more spicy
Friday13th 05.20.19	5-9
Jethro42 05.20.19	Friday, I noticed something: you don't write the votes with the nicknames as they come anymore...i guess it represents lots of work already...
TwigTW 05.20.19	I'm gonna vote for Thrice Mice, even though it looks like Wallenstein has it sown up.
Papa Universe 05.20.19	I will not vote against my bb bgillesp.
Papa Universe 05.20.19	but Wallenstein is a 4 fo sho
bgillesp 05.21.19	I voted against myself. Either way your vote helps me
Friday13th 05.21.19	6-9 @Jethro I know I got lazy lol We only have Casavir (and Papa) left to vote, so I'll give it a little longer. If Snowdog (welcome, my man!) is the only one to jump in, then looks like Wallenstein has it in the bag.
Papa Universe 05.21.19	not voting on this one
Casavir 05.21.19	I'll go with Wallenstein for this one.
Friday13th 05.21.19	6-10 VOTING ENDS! Wallenstein made it through. Give me a few minutes and I'll have the new one up.