18400 TL (21.Peron, 1975)

First of all, 1975 can be only considered as an approximate recording year for this track. 21.Peron were no doubt one of the best Turkish rock bands of their era, but they never released an official album during their active years, so that their 1975-77 songs were only made available on a physical support in 2003. This song is simply perfect to me: sweet and melodic, but also experimental and acid.... that's what I call prog rock!

 

Arkaplan label released this compitation including 12 songs.

 

The bass lines are the unifying frame of "18400 TL" (by the way, TL stands for Türk Lirası, the national currency unit), but I higly recommend Andreas Wildermann's organ too, so warm and so... Seventies! Here and there you'll recognize Turkish folk elements (mainly provided by Alp Gültekin's viola), bluesy measures, heavy rock riffs and psychedelic memories, but the whole pattern is solidly symphonic. When I listen to such short lived bands, I wonder how many good albums never saw the  light...

Journey of The Shaman Part 1 (Nemrud, 2010)

This is the first part and opening track of the concept "Journey of The Shaman", released by Turkish band Nemrud. It is both part of a longest suite and a suite itself, divided into four parts (In The World of Dreams, Beginning of Divine Inspiration, Revival and A Stone in The Ocean). I actually like the crossover approach to prog these musicians show and develop with keen coherence. Heavy guitars, floydian atmospheres, changing rythms and moods, experimental passages and psychedelic riffs... everything here is suspended between tradition and innovation.

The musical coherence of this album is surprising for a debut work.

The creative ratio of such a track is important and the listener will be susrpised at each turn of the musical corner, so that the mythical, almost religious concept is never too aethereal or merely spiritual. There are flesh and bones here, a solid ground on which the inspiration of Nemrud builds up a fantastic castle. Beautiful, that's the simplest word for it.

Esinti (Gevende, 2011)

What an original, even weird music this Turkish band builds up! It seems to me there's a bit of King Crimson and VDGG inside, but all here is actually  unpredictable and modern. This "Esinti" (meaning "Breeze"), taken from the album "Sen balık değilsin ki", is a collection of evanescent emotions, pulsing soundscapes and changing moods. Serkan Emre Çiftçi's trumpet is the trademark of the band, but the rythmic background and the delicate guitar are excellent too. The first section of the song is a dreamy water colour leading to an almost spoken sung performance.

This is the second studio album by Gevende.

The change around minute 4:10 is stunning: we fly from a Crimsonian atmosphere to a Mid-Eastern sung section, ruled by a viola, starting with a pizzicato and soon going into an experimental but never unpleasant melody. And when the main theme comes back, it's via a tough wall of sound including follk and rock instruments. Really, if prog rock means trying new ways, well, this is the proggest thing I can figure out.