The Shark introduces artists whose prolificness, talent, creativity, and trajectory stand out among the rest, reason why he call them "Gods in Music."

This is a guide to the massive discography of The Legendary Pink Dots and his enigmatic founder Edward Ka-Spel, which spans for over 400+ recordings with a unique and distinctive dark and apocalyptic music style.

With Understanding Comes Appreciation To put it simple for those who are not familiar with the musician and his music, Miles Davis is a...

The Shark ranks the tip of the iceberg of his colossal library (100,00+ songs) while unveiling top-notch and under-the-radar recommendations.

With Understanding Comes Appreciation If you don't have this album/CD, get it. It could change your life. It is one of the best Jazz-Rock Fusion albums ever produced. You may have to give it time before you can hear all the nuances and understand the genius of this perfect music. I strongly suggest listening with headphones or in a quiet room. Jean-Luc Ponty is at his lyrical best as is Alan Holdsworth. The entire band manages to produce music that is incredibly high energy y

Starring Rossi is a clash of Space & Psychedelic influences and is one of the most accessible spaced-out recordings of all time. Featuring the original space-guitar compositions by Manuel Göttsching smothered in the female narration of some cosmic chick named Rosi. An excellent album from start to finish and IMO this could serve as an excellent entry to the music of Ash Ra Tempel —accessible yet complex.

With Understanding Comes Appreciation Somethin' Else is an anomaly in that Miles Davis actually chose to appear as a sideman on another leader's recording date, something he rarely did after the 1940s. No doubt he was trying to prop up his alto saxophonist, Julian Adderley, as a new leader in the world of jazz. He succeeded, but the success truly belongs to Cannonball. This is a stellar album with a one-of-a-kind sophisticated atmosphere, and contains one of my favorite take

With Understanding Comes Appreciation In the years following his death in 1945, Anton Webern’s works became the Rosetta Stone of post-war Serial composers. One of his big champions was conductor Robert Craft, under whose direction Columbia Masterworks recorded Webern’s complete works between 1954 and 1956. Marni Nixon of Hollywood “ghost singer” fame brings pinpointed agility and spot-on intonation to the songs, supported by Schoenberg scholar Leonard Stein’s brilliant handli

With Understanding Comes Appreciation For the sake of new comers, first things first. Of the many legendary artists to emerge from the Krautrock movement, few anticipated the rise of modern electronic music with the same prescience as Popol Vuh —they were the first German band to employ a Moog synthesizer and their work not only anticipated the emergence of ambient, but also proved pioneering in its absorption of worldbeat textures. At much the same time Popol Vuh was formed

With Understanding Comes Appreciation In many ways I equate Herbie Hancock with the legendary Bob Dylan as far as being an enormous influence on the evolution of modern music. Dylan courageously followed his personal muse wherever she led without question or resistance, oftentimes to the consternation of his legion of followers and, in the process, forced what seemed to be conflicting genres to not only cohabitate but to compliment each other. In the early 70s Herbie realized

With Understanding Comes Appreciation While the big bang of progressive rock was only a few years old, it is astonishing how so many bands diversified their sounds and perfected them in such a short span of time. While King Crimson went more in the direction of jazz influenced rock with avant-garde composing techniques, Pink Floyd went the space rock direction, Jethro Tull into the progressive arenas of folk and others like Genesis opting for a more vocally led theatrical sty

With Understanding Comes Appreciation Roxy Music debut with the eponymous album was epochal. There had never been any pop songs with such a rate of artistic sophistication. That was the trick that elevated Roxy Music from an art school project to the most adventurous rock band of the early '70s. Falling halfway between musical primitivism and art rock ambition, Roxy Music's eponymous debut remains a startling redefinition of rock's boundaries. Simultaneously embracing kitschy

With Understanding Comes Appreciation Once upon a time there was the story of the greatest irony of all-time in music, known as The Velvet Underground. A bohemian group of avant-garde artists and thinkers that no one calculated at the time, really no one. Over time, they went from being a group of enlightened artists to one of the most important and influential bands in the history of music, not by a simple change of heart or by a click, they always had it in them but nobody

With Understanding Comes Appreciation If you are into Krautrock or guitar driven space rock, I've got a record for you: Solar Music Live by Grobschnitt. There is fantastic music to be heard here, believe me! The music from this live album is extremely strong and if ever you tend to like crying guitars sustained by an exceptional drumming, a powerful bass playing, and lots of atmospheric keyboards parts, this album is tailor-made to your ears. All the elements that make a suc

With Understanding Comes Appreciation Composed for nine instruments (2x pianos, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, snare drum, triangle, tam-tam and xylophone), Béla Bartók’s Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion certainly packs a punch. Written in 1937 and premiered in 1938 by Bartók and his second wife Ditta on piano and percussionists Fritz Schiesser and Philipp Rühig, the sonata was received very well by critics and audiences. The piece received its US premiere in 1940, with Di

With Understanding Comes Appreciation In one million years from now, it would not surprise me in the slightest if Allan Holdsworth were regarded as the single best guitar player to ever walk the earth. The legendary jazz/fusion axe-slinger seamlessly avoided mainstream recognition for the entirety of his career, which spanned for over 40 years, thirteen studio and three live albums. Despite his underwhelming popularity among the masses, you’d be hard-pressed to find a single

With Understanding Comes Appreciation The reason why Banco del Mutuo Soccorso so much deserves their status as an epitome of the best Italian prog of all times is the fact that its first three efforts are highly remarkable masterpieces in which complexity and beauty are taken to their maximum levels. All three together follow a coherent line of artistic ambition and consistent recreation of sonic potential. Along with PFM and Le Orme, Banco del Mutuo Soccorso (Banco), make up

With Understanding Comes Appreciation 2112 achieved a triple feat: 1) it saved Rush's career. It was like Rush was at the plate with two out and two strikes on them and with 2112 they hit a homerun, and the rest is history, 2) it showed artistic integrity (after all it is a record that "doubles the bet" of its predecessor, incorporating even more elements of progressive rock) and 3) it was a major contribution to a sub-genre (that is, prog rock) that seemed to be in decline

With Understanding Comes Appreciation Modern Jazz-Rock/Fusion is the true progressive music movement of our time. It makes no compromises, leaves no stone unturned, and never panders to its audience. You're either in or you're out. As of this review's writing, that trend is showing no sign of letting up. If you want a good example of what real Prog is these days, pick up a Fusion record like this one. You'll laugh hysterically at how so many Dream Theater and Yes sound-alike

With Understanding Comes Appreciation As the 60s abruptly became the 70s, the psychedelia of the former era was transmogrifying into something more sophisticated. With the prog-rock explosive nature of 1969 occurring with bands like East Of Eden and King Crimson forever changing the rock history books, bands who came before who were more focused on the psychedelic pop aspects of the scene rather than the sophisticated compositions of what would develop suddenly found themselv