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[miko2]

Today's Song: Anesthetize by Porcupine Tree

Although I didn't run into Porcupine Tree until their release In Absentia, they'd been around for a long time before that, making interesting eletronica progressive rock and releasing many albums. In Absentia was a quantum leap forward for them, and garnered quite a bit of attention. People who discovered them with that cd and then went back through their catalogue were bound to be somewhat disappointed, because nothing previous was on the same level.

Porcupine Tree is a band similar to Ayreon. That is, they're generally considered a progressive rock band, and they originated as one man's solo project. Unlike Ayreon though, Porcupine Tree has grown into a full-fledged touring rock band, and their recent music has been more oriented to structured songs than to atmospheric soundscapes.

Deadwing, released in 2005, was every bit as good as In Absentia, perhaps even better. Still, when I saw their new cd Fear of a Blank Planet in Silver Platters two weeks ago, I wasn't sure what to expect. Noting that there were few songs, and that all of them were quite long, I wondered if it was another foray into spacey atmospheric rock, rather than the more song-oriented fare of their last two releases. Also it seemed like it hadn't been that long since Deadwing had come out. Was this really a full-fledged studio cd, a worthy follow up to Deadwing?

I didn't buy it that day, but when I found the cd used at Half Price Books a week later, I snatched it up. I really needn't have worried. Fear of a Blank Planet is indeed an atmospheric concept album of sorts, but it's also a brand new studio album that follows in the footsteps of their previous two releases. And, as berbalang said on Saturday, it's probably even better than In Absentia or Deadwing. It's impressive. Perhaps central to the cd is the seventeen-minute long Anesthetize, which is an amazing song. The music and chorus in the central portion of the song is somewhat reminiscent of Halo from Deadwing, but the whole song is one long musical journey, and is only a part of the journey that the whole album unfolds.

In a lot of ways, this isn't a really good song to reccoment as my song of the day. I can't point you to a link on the web where you can listen to the whole song, and a sample can't possibly do it justice. Also, if you like this stuff, you'd probably rather just own the whole cd. But in any case, there you are. Any fan of Pink Floyd or cool progressive rock should check this band out.

Porcupine Tree (myspace)

video for Fear of a Blank Planet