Issue 2025-013

Doka — Cycli

Sergey Nikulichev

Stepping with debut EP Cycli, Doka from Arnhem, Neterlands, are a fresh instrumental project to shine coolly on the Dutch musical firmament. The (supposedly) sole member and mastermind claims the music to be “inspired by the feeling of freedom you get when alone on a long stretch of asphalt under a night sky”. And, indeed, as soon as the music hits, it engulfs its listener in a cozy amalgam of guitar phrases (somewhere between clean and flangered sound) joined by stubborn bass and drums rhythm.

Quite something one can listen with hands on the steering wheel, that's true. There's even a certain post-rock feel to the sound, but not in the sense of projects like Explosions In The Sky or Long Distance Calling. What comes to my memory are earlier, more natural genre representatives like 90s Mogwai or the unfairly forgotten Hood. What sets Doka apart from post-rock is the constant chugging of rhythm section, leaning towards space rock forefathers and the psychedelic krautrock throng. While guitar tends to drift away and do the jam (especially after the first couple of minutes of each track), a lot of melody is left on the firm shoulders of bass. That's what Doka sounds like, in a nutshell. Maybe not quite accurate, but my subconscious insists on describing the music as “post-surf”.

While the sound itself is quite nice and could be developed further, unfortunately, the creative charge of Cycli is barely enough to hold a listener's attention for less than half-an-hour of music. The problem seems to have a name — “ill-conceived compositions”. Most tracks follow the same pattern, and these very simple jam phrases on guitar, played using the same “cocktail” of presets, don't seem to actually reach anywhere, either being abruptly cut or sometimes ending on harmonically “weak” notes. What seemed pleasant on the first track gets quite tiresome on the last couple of them. But again, this is only a debut EP, so with some skill and development the project might establish itself in a niche on the crossroad between indie and psychedelic music.

Ferret — For The Love Of Pizza

Jerry van Kooten

A band from Malta! Not sure if that is a first in almost 30 years of DPRP, but it cannot have been many. I was expecting a bit more punk based on the cover, but was surprised to get an EP of instrumental modern prog fusion by a trio of guitars, bass, and drums.

It's a little more than that, though, as the fusion bubbles into jazz, then into metal, and also into bluesy rock. Not a complete onslaught on your aural senses, the tracks show diversity in a prog rock way. A lot of chug-chug riffing, from easily digestible to hard, but several melodic lines and solos as well. It leaves space for the bass playing to take up space, and when not distorted during the heavy sections, the bass actually takes a lead in the melodies here and there, which is excellent.

The sound of the drums are a bit limited, they sound a lot the same, but this is easily made up for by the drumming itself. Inventive, intricate, in sync. The band is a tight unit and are probably a big success live.

Galactose Intolerant sounds the most improvised track, and I assume the band love jamming. This is my favourite track, as it takes a litle longer before we cut to the next break. That's my symphonic prog brain talking, of course.

The cover might not look like they are taking things seriously but the music definitely is. A little Aristocrats, Liquid Tension Experiment, King Crimson, and a heavy Dixie Dregs.

Jupiter Fungus — Garden Electric

Owen Davies

If you like flute in prog rock, then much of Garden Electric will appeal. If you appreciate the music of bands like Jethro Tull and Pink Floyd then much of Garden Electric will appeal. If you prefer lengthy compositions with rich layers of instrumentation and a changing and evolving tapestry of musical textures then much of Garden Electric will appeal.

The album contains four extended compositions. This enables the music to evolve and stretch out. Stylistically, it draws upon progressive rock of the 1970s. It's blend of intoxicating retro prog tinged with folk rock passages coupled with occasional touches of atmospheric psychedelia is very enjoyable.

The album has some vocals, but it is largely instrumental. The flute is predominant; trilling melodies and breathy silver tube soloing embellish an assortment of keyboard passages, swirling synths, and flowing guitar parts.

Circles is particularly enjoyable; its flute and keyboard melodies evolve and travel through several tempo changes on route towards a magnificent crescendo. Past Ground has several wonderful riff-based flute sections. It also contains a slow-tempo dream like mid-section, which for some reason reminded me of Jade Warrior. Later the piece gathers pace once again. Effect laden, textured vocals and a memorable flute refrain ensure that the piece is not easily forgotten.

Thoughts of Revenge draws upon elements of classic rock and contains other passages that are reminiscent of Pink Floyd. The expressive guitar tones which offer a abundance of delightful aural colours, bring to mind the type of approach that David Gilmour often employs.

There is much to admire about Garden Electric and little to criticize. It's a great stylistic throwback to the prog of the seventies, but the album contains more than enough contemporary aspects to keep things fresh and interesting. The production is excellent and the performance of the players is equally impressive. Jupiter Fungus memorable debut album hits all the right spots. They are undoubtedly a band with a bright future.

Julius Lind — Lights

Jerry van Kooten

The headers in the press kit mentioned "psychedelic/kraut", which piqued my interests, but the small-print also added "drones", which lowered my excitement. That is a personal thing of course, I just prefer psychedelic music to be either heavier or hippier.

Lind mixes 1960s psych pop songs with a few boosts of kraut here and there. The happy psychedelic pop is shown in mainly the feel of playing and singing. Not a lot of hippy melodies, but darker, more repetitive, some slightly distorted sections, some drone, and a few heavier bits.

The heavier kraut sections I like. It just takes a long time to get there. The tempo never really changes and is often quite slow. It feels like a lot of intro that do not get to the main point.

Of course this could just be more your cup of tea than mine.

I like it a lot when the bass is less distorted (drone-y) and the playing is melodic. The guitar playing is effective. But overall, the ingredients are a bit sparse. The clear(er) guitar plays nice melodies. The droning is used in a lot of places, even where it is disturbing the lighter psychedelic feel. The singing is light, dreamy, drowsy, fitting the music, but it's the same for all songs.

I like several of the ideas and melodies but the arrangements needs a bit more variety to work.

LummeN — Infinite Circles

Owen Davies

The opening piece of LummeN's latest album Infinite Circles sets the bar high as it moves through a series of moods, tempos, and themes. Sweet lyrical flute lines clasp and join hands with beautiful violin embellishments. The title track is equally impressive and its dual use of violin and flute to carry the tunes initial melody works well. Nonetheless, the sweet toned blowing of the flute probably leaves the greatest impression.

Marco Aurêh's lyrical playing is at the heart of everything. Whilst he frequently uses a breathy style that is reminiscent of Ian Anderson, he predominantly uses a pure tone. Consequently, his playing is perhaps more akin to the style of Thijs Van Leer.

Indeed, the overall feel of the album is more like Focus, than anything that might be associated with Jethro Tull. Although, the frequent use of violin ensures that it has its own identifiable sound.

At times, I felt the tunes were a little overlong and on occasions might have benefited from a twist or change of direction here and there. This is simply a minor observation though, as I thoroughly enjoyed what the album offers. Cycles has some delightful moments and has some lovely melodic hooks and at its conclusion guff guitar tones give it a bit of bite. As might be expected from its title, For Cabral And Focus is a tribute to Focus containing a few different Focus-inspired themes.

Sunday is a laid-back piece featuring violin and acoustic guitar. It provides a refreshing bridge between For Cabral And Focus and Looping. There, the flute, guitar, and violin interact by repeating melodic phrases in turn. The sort of looping effect that is induced by the repetitive use of these three lead instruments is quite hypnotic, if not perhaps a little self-limiting.

If you like enjoy the flowing sounds of the silver tube, wrapped up alongside the violin and displayed in a variety of tones and moods, then Infinite Circles may well appeal. If you appreciate the overall feel of the music of Focus, then I am reasonably confident that you will find LummeN's latest album, thoroughly enchanting.

Red Sky — Future Metal

Calum Gibson

Red Sky is described as the only solo metal project with lyrics in both Italian and Japanese. Taken from their site, it is also described as being inspired by Bruce Lee (“Using no way as a way, having no limitation as limitation”) and blending rap, electronic and Asian influences. Over the course of 13 years, he has released a total of 15 albums, with the most recent being this one: Future Metal.

The album is as stated, a blend of rap, electronic, metal and Asian influences. Electronics provide a lot of texture to the tracks, while the standard instruments provide the main body as autotune creeps in at points for added effects. Unfortunately though, the auto-tune sounds at a half-way between “trying to cover up” and “using it as a specific sound” which sadly detracts from the music and is a bit jarring. The overall sound is similar to the mid 00s nu metal, with its blend of simplistic riffs, heavy guitars and raps mixed with some harsher vocals. There is little in the realms of prog sensibilities here. Instead, we have quiet-loud-quiet type patterns, harmonised (well, auto-tuned) vocals and some copy/paste guitar chugs mixed with the occasional harsher vocal set.

The skits as well are short interludes of repetitive electronics, minimalism and voice-overs, that don't add too much to the album other than 6 or 7 minutes of padding.

Musically, the album breaks no new ground. It is well produced, with everything being crisp and clear, the songs flow and are generally “inoffensive and listenable”. They generally go where you expect them to, and sadly have a fairly similar sound and pattern to them. The result being that individually and taken by themselves, tracks like Future Metal and Live By The Sword, Die By The Sword are very good, but get lost among the similarities through the other tracks. And as a result, the album is honestly forgettable.

Fans of nu metal, or maybe electronic influenced rock like modern Bring Me The Horizon or Sleep Token might enjoy this.