Honourable mention: Darkroom (Michael Bearpark & Andrew Ostler)

I bet most readers here never heard of this band. The music this band makes isn’t something you would call ‘Prog’, but why should it be? How many people like music because it is categorized as ‘Prog’, and would not take any effort to listen to it when it’s not labelled ‘Prog’?

Let set some things straight. Even though most of the music I love can be categorized under ‘Prog’ rock, I still prefer a lot of other musical genres. There’s also a lot of ‘Prog’ rock out there I don’t like/prefer to listen to. Sadly, I still get pigeonholed by people. Even record labels and artists/bands do that. “You’re a Prog fan/reviewer/reporter! How come you don’t like band X or artist Y? They’re Prog!”. It’s also a matter of taste, and I’m glad everyone has his/her own taste.
Even my guest reviewer John Thelin still doesn’t believe me when I say to him that he can review any album he likes to review for my website, doesn’t matter if it’s ‘Prog’ or not!

One of my favourite bands I listen regularly to is no-man. Is that something you would call ‘Prog’? I like a lot of projects where Tim Bowness is involved with, and I adore his latest solo albums… But are those albums ‘Prog’? I bet the term ‘Prog’ is not what it used to be… At least, for me. But before I’m going to wander off, let’s go back to the subject I actually want to talk about.

Michael Bearpark is probably not a well-known musician, but he did (and still does) work a lot with the band and artist I just mentioned earlier (no-man and Tim). Michael has a duo project with Andrew Ostler, named Darkroom. The gentlemen started back in the nineties and released quite a lot of albums over the years.

Their music is a mixture of (eclectic) electronic music, (dark) ambient, soundscapes, and even some (heavy) industrial tones. Michael is using guitars, pedals, certain effects and loops. Andrew uses synthesizers, computers, and woodwind instruments. It is certainly ‘progressive’ in many sort of ways. I wonder how they would sound like live, so I really hope I will see them perform someday!

Please, check out their music and let me know what you think!

You can buy their music here:

http://darkroomtheband.bandcamp.com/

https://www.burningshed.com/store/darkroom/

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