Music Street Journal - Music News & Reviews

Progressive Rock CD Reviews

H+ Hidden Dimensions Review by Gary Hill H+ is actually a guy named Malcolm Brian Swan. This new release has some intriguing sounds. I've landed it under prog rock, but it's not progressive rock. It is, however, progressive music. This is mostly instrumental, but a handful of tracks have vocals. It is at its core electronic, but there is a lot of jazz here along with other interesting element. Whatever you call this, though, it's a unique and intriguing set. This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2018 Volume 2 at garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2018.

Track by Track Review

Everytime Piano starts this. The cut works out with an intriguing electronic pop type of sound. This is quite art-based. It works out after a time to a cool trip-hop kind of section. I love the percussive element of that section. There are some symphonic things going on in this cut, too. It alternates between those two contrasting sections for the duration.

Planck Dimensions There are some little chirps and blips lending a very machine-like sound to this instrumental cut. It has a real electronic music meets jazz vibe and is quite cool. It drops down to just the rhythm section as it approaches the two minute mark, but works its way back upward from there.

Patterns The female vocals on this number bring a bit of soulful vibe. The cut is quite percussive in nature and has a great groove.

Anomalies There is a cool bass sound amidst a lot of electronic beeps and blips on this piece. While this instrumental is somewhat minimalist, it's also freeform and makes me think of that you have gotten if an electronic artist had been involved in the Rock In Opposition movement.

Error in the Standard Model Another instrumental, this has a great groove. It does an excellent job of merging weird electronic music with a jazzy texture. There are also some space elements in the mix at times.

Dimensiones Ocultas There are some female vocals on this, but more as non-lyrical instrumentation. This has a bit of an Island vibe in some ways. Spacey electronic music merges with jazz and more here.

Hidden Dimensions The title track starts with a bit of that Island vibe on the rhythmic elements. The cut has a lot more of the freaky instrumental bleeps and blips. It's another instrumental that's not a big change.

Inter Dimensional Portal I dig the echoey keyboard textures that start this. The cut gets more of the pure electronic sound as it moves forward. A cool rhythm section also emerges bringing some jazzy elements. This is another that has a lot of the spirit of freeform RIO at its heart.

Parallel Universe The bass line on this is cool. The cut has the same kind of trippy space music vibe, but there is a lot more of a retro jazz groove to it, too.

Idiots This is mostly percussive with a processed voice that definitely earns a parental advisory. It has a cool trippy electronic vibe and some cool bits of melody.

More CD Reviews

Metal/Prog Metal

Non-Prog

Progressive Rock

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
© 2024 Music Street Journal Site design and programming by Studio Fyra, Inc./Beetcafe.com