Avant-progressive rock

Avant-progressive rock is a style of rock music that explores unconventional territory, often incorporating non-standard chord progressions, tempo changes within a piece, odd time signatures, avant garde passages and complex horn and orchestral arrangements. It generally relates to experimental bands and musicians influenced by 20th century avant garde, classical, jazz, folk and other music, and who stretch the boundaries of the rock form in both the compositional and improvisational arenas.

Often the only similarities between groups creating avant-progressive rock music is their complete lack of conformity to convention.

History

In the late 1970s a group of European "progressive" bands joined forces under the banner of Rock in Opposition or RIO to unite against the music industry that refused to let their music be heard. While RIO was originally a collective of bands with the same political agenda, the term is now often used to identify the "collective style of music" of the original RIO bands. This "collective style of music" later became known as "avant-progressive rock".

Avant-progressive rock music has since grown beyond Rock in Opposition and now encompasses a far greater body of music than the original "collective music" of RIO.

Avant-progressive rock bands

The original Rock in Opposition bands were:

• Aqsak Maboul
• Art Bears
• Art Zoyd
• Etron Fou Leloublan
• Henry Cow
• Samla Mammas Manna
• Stormy Six
• Univers Zero

Other bands in this category include (but are by no means limited to):

• 5uus
• Biota
• Blast
• Bondage Fruit
• Debile Menthol
• Deus ex Machina
• Doctor Nerve
• Happy Family
• Idiot Flesh
• Magma
• Massacre
• Motor Totemist Guild
• Naked City
• National Health
• News From Babel
• Nimal
• Soft Machine
• The Muffins
• The Work
• Thinking Plague
• This Heat
• Tipographica
• Volapuk
• Von Zamla

See also

• Rock in Opposition

External links

• Gibraltar Encyclopedia of Progressive Rock. The Guide to Progressive Rock Genres.
• Yahoo groups. avant-progressive.