Discovered Porcupine Tree. Who else should I listen to?

[bif]

Thanks to a post last week, I looked into Porcupine Tree and really like this group. What other bands should I check out?

[Brucey]

1. ummm

subgenius, ok go, ladytron, interpol, new pornographers, spoons, shins, tracy and the plastics, yeah yeah yeahs, hives, and pulp.

Spock's Beard, Glass Hammer, Transatlantic too.

[bbernardini]

2. Here's some, and what else do you like?

I could narrow things down some more if I know your usual listening habits. I'm a recent Porcupine Tree convert myself, and I'm having trouble not listening to anything else. They're my new favorite band. (I'm working on getting all the recordings, and I have 15-20 live shows.)

Anyway, here's some other artists that you might enjoy if you like PTree:

-Mike Keneally (www.keneally.com) (Former Zappa and Vai guitarist...a genius in his own right, and a hell of a nice guy)

-The Flower Kings (I can never remember the address for their website)

Probably more, but I can't think of them at the moment.

[bif]

3. I'm a big jazz fan

And am recently getting back into rock. I enjoy Guster quite a bit and Interpol, the Jayhawks, and Grandaddy. I also like Sigur Ros and Mogwai. I don't like heavy metal. I like well written rock tunes with good hooks and good vocals. Jonatha Brooke is another favorite of mine.

[bbernardini]

4. In that case, Kevin Gilbert

Kevin Gilbert, god among men. If you don't know him, you should. He did a lot of work with Jonatha, and was the master of intelligent pop songs with good hooks and good vocals.

[bif]

5. Thanks much.

You are a fountain of information. How do you dind out about these groups?

[bbernardini]

6. A few ways...

I discovered Mike Keneally because of his association with Zappa. He was friends with Kevin Gilbert, and Keneally fans always spoke highly of him. Somebody I occasionally trade Todd Rundgren material with sent me a CD full of Gilbert mp3s, and I was hooked. I went out and bought every available Gilbert release (take that, RIAA).

As for the others...I'm on quite a few Yahoogroups for trading live material by "progressive" rock groups (both classic and new). They were always talking about Porcupine Tree (especially after they opened for Yes), so I downloaded a few shows. That was it. The songwriting...the harmonies...I found a new favorite band.

Flower Kings came about the same way. Heard about them on the lists, downloaded a show, loved it.

[bif]

7. Ever check out allmusic.com?

good bios on groups. And the similar artists section is pretty cool. Also, have you visited this site? http://www.gnod.net/

[txprog]

8. Check out Nightwish

If you like strong hooks and strong vocals with an ear for prog, these guys and gal might do it for you. They are from Finland, and feature operatic female vocals (though on the latest record she does not sing in the operatic style) powerful melodies, and a symphonic metal sound.

They just made their US debut at the ProgPower festival in Atlanta and were just great live. They are very popular in Europe and played to sell outs in New York and Montreal over the weekend and have one more sold out show to play in Mexico City before heading back to Europe.

I found them totally by chance and am really, really enjoying their music. A couple of their songs are among the very best things I have ever heard. Check 'em out at

[Squeech]

9. To me Porcupine Tree resembles

Pink Floyd circa Meddle, crossed with Radio Gnome Invisible-era Gong.

Presumably you already know Pink Floyd, but if you're unfamiliar with Gong, you might well dig them. The Radio Gnome Invisible material is a trilogy, recorded between 1973 and 1975, that tells this peculiar story of a character named Zero the Hero who astral-travels to this planet called Gong in search of cosmic wisdom-- very hippie-new-age, but with a lot of surprises and humor, and much substantive music. The titles of the individual albums are: Flying Teapot, Angel's Egg, and You.

And if you like them, you might also like Ozric Tentacles, a kind of space music/world beat jam band.

[bif]

10. Thanks.

I was fortunate enough to see Gong live in england in the mid 70s. What a cool band--I have just about all their LPs. Thanks for all the suggestions.