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Stephan Thelen - 2026 - Fractal Guitar 4

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(62:36; Moonjune Records) ‘Fractal Guitar 4’ is the fourth instalment in the ‘Fractal Guitar’ series which Swiss composer and guitarist Stephan Thelen initiated in 2015, with the last chapter being released in 2022. This is not the only series he has been working on and along with separate projects this is his 13th release since the first, which in itself was his 12th solo album outside of his work with Sonar. On this he again has multiple guests, many of whom he has worked with before, with only Norwegian guitarist Eivind Aarset playing on every track alongside Thelen, with the others contributing here and there. These include American guitarist Jon Durant, Israeli drummer Yogev Gabay, Markus Reuter from Germany (touch guitar), Fabio Anile from Italy (electric piano), Stefan Huth from Germany (touch bass guitar), Giri Subramaniam from India (tabla) and Andi Pupato from Switzerland (percussion), so a truly international line-up. When I started listening to this the first person I thoug...
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Space Debris - 2026 - Sighting

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(144:36; Fruits de Mer) This compilation is designed to provide an overview of Space Debris, a still active Krautrock band from Germany. Three of the nine tracks on the triple vinyl set from FdeM, which is already sold out by the way, are more than 20 minutes long while the set is more than two hours in length. If you can find a copy it also comes with a 24 pp A4 booklet, although you may find it easier to search out the digital version which also has two additional numbers. Formed in 2002 by two friends, Tommy Gorny (guitar) and Christian Jäger (drums), to play improvised music inspired by the Seventies’ Krautrock and Psychedelic bands, they were joined by keyboard player Winnie Rimbach-Sator in 2008 and have had a few bassists, although Vroni Frisch has been there for the last decade. However, this material predates her arrival, stretching all the way back to 2005, with “Villamountain” hailing from 2012 and is the only previously unreleased material. I had not heard of this band prio...
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Siiilk - 2026 - Live at Nuits de Fourviere

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(26:54; Siiilk) It has been quite a while since I last heard from French band Siiilk, but I was a huge fan of their 2017 album ‘Endless Mysteries’ and this four-track set was recorded just two years later at Les Nuits de Fourvière on July 21st, 2019, when they were the opening act for Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets. Given they were the opening act I presume this is the complete set, so we have four songs, with three from the 2012 debut and only one from the previous album. The line-up has been stable with Richard Pick (lead vocals, acoustic guitar), Catherine Pick (vocals, Indian harmonium), Gilbert Gandil (electric guitar), Jacques Roman (keyboards) and Guillaume Antoncelli (bass guitar) still there and the only change being the introduction of a new drummer, Clément Vullion. In some ways this material is quite reminiscent of Hackett, but there are undoubtedly also elements of Pink Floyd, Seventies Barclay James Harvest, Camel, Caravan, and so much more. There are times when it...
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Saris - 2026 - Project: Off World

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(73:00; Progressive Promotion Records) Formed in the early 80’s by keyboard player Derk Akkermann, Saris have had different line-ups over the years combined with periods of inactivity. I enjoyed their last album, 2020’s ‘Beyond The Rainbow’, but said there needed to be quite a few changes to be able to move ahead although I never thought they would have a total rethink of approach and alter the line-up but that is what has happened. Henrik Wager (lead & backing vocals) and Lutz Günther (bass) are also still there, but they have now been joined by veteran proggers Jimmy Keegan (drums, percussion), Marek Arnold (saxophone) and Martin Schnella (guitars), which has changed their music in multiple ways, all for the better. More of a thematic album than a concept, it has been influenced by the state of the world, the power, the politics, the paranoia, religion and revenge, technology and temptation, corruption and contradiction. There is a need to save ourselves from others and sometime ...
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Rory Ridley-Duff - 2026 - Balustrania

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(42:06; Rory Ridley-Duff) This is Rory’s fourth solo album, released at the beginning of this year, which he describes as a mix of progressive/symphonic rock music with splashes of cool jazz. I noticed that the album available on Bandcamp has seven tracks, while my version has eight, and then I realised the last song on my set is actually the promo for this release, which is also available on Bandcamp. At eight minutes long it contains 30 second snippets of each piece, with Rory explaining what each song represents, and I don’t think I have come across anything quite like this before, and there is no doubt it aided with my understanding of the album as a whole and really works. It is certainly a great way of discovering Rory’s music (and is “name your price” so what do you have to lose?). There are no guests on this release and Rory proudly states that AI was not used at any point and that he plays everything himself, which is great to know. AI is supposed to take the drudgery out of w...
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Rory Ridley-Duff - 2025 - Come Dance with Me

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(41:53; Rory Ridley-Duff) Here we have the third solo album from Protos co-founder Rory Ridley-Duff which contains six new songs and a re-recording of a Protos number to honour Stevie Anscombe who had passed away. If one goes to Rory’s Bandcamp page, he provides details of what each song represents which is good to see as when one is faced with an instrumental keyboard album it may not always be possible to understand the artist’s intentions. For the most part this is quite a reflective album, with multi-layers of keyboards and there are times when there is a clear Wakeman influence on the melody and keyboard sound choices, and he can also shift tempo such as on “The Fugitive” which is bright and dynamic with good use of drums. This is definitely the standout track for me and is also the longest at more than 9 minutes, but it never drags and continues to morph throughout. I confess I do have an issue with “Ghost Rap”, which is pretty much as one might expect from the title, and is the ...
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Rob Harrison - 2024 - Explode My Head

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(45:06; Rob Harrison) Having only recently come across Rob with his excellent ‘Overflow’ release it seemed fitting to go back a few years and investigate his 2024 debut, ‘Explode My Head’. At the time of this release he was playing in both Mascot Moth and The Felix Subway Band, had co-founded Z Machine with Owen Rosser and Gareth Piper, and had been under the wing of Ian East (Gong) for four years to improve his sax playing. On this release Rob provides all guitars, saxophone, bass, vocals & sfx, but he has also brought in a few guests to make this much more of a band release as opposed to a one-man project, including the aforementioned Mr. East who contributes both flute and bass clarinet. The excellent drummer Eliseo Salverri is utilised on most tracks, and it is no surprise that Rob also used his talents on his second album. Rob is very much influenced by British progressive bands who are more experimental than many, with Cardiacs and pronk being very much the major style combin...
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