Despite it’s title, This is NOT the end, is, indeed, the final release by the legendary Rock In Opposition band Present, as founder and composer Roger Trigaux died during its recording. Present's music is a striking blend of heavy rock with classical and zeuhl influences. The compositions, all penned by Trigaux, utilize repetition, complex counterpoint, intricate interplay between the instruments, rapidly shifting time signatures, and a strong instrumental attack. The final result is blindingly precise works of syncopated instruments, all seemingly coming from different angles but ultimately working together as a cohesive whole.

Debut for a band whose members are well-known on the avant-prog and RIO music scene in France and abroad. Volapük and Metamorphosis are the projects from which come Takumi Fukushima (violin, vocals), Guillaume Saurel (cello, vocals), Christoph Pajer (violin, vocals), Jan Kavan (cello), Richard Deutsch (guitar, vocals, mixing), Martin Alacam (guitar) and Guigou Chenevier (drums). Chenevier was founder not only of Volapük but also of Etron Fou Leloublan and Les Batterries. The "General Dream" including through 2 violins, 2 guitars and 2 cellos opens onto vast and uncharted musical horizons, ranging from chamber-rock to Rock In Opposition. In September 2015, Reve General's debut album was released by the Milano (IT) based label Altrock. The album was recorded live on stage during a 3-day residency at Le Brise Glace in Annecy. Each member delivered at least one composition for the current repertoire presented on the album.

French TV's newest CD, A Ghastly State Of Affairs is their 15th in their long history. It is also their first album not to be self-released. Headed up by charter member bassist/composer Mike Sary, he is joined again by guitarist Kasumi Yoneda (also from the Japanese band TEE), keyboardist Patrick Strawser (best known for his work in the 90's band Volare), and now by the original drummer from FTV's first three abums, Fenner Castner.

Spanish composer and musician Ángel Ontalva is perhaps best known as a central member of the Spanish band October Equus, but he has been involved in multiple side projects and collaborative productions in the last few years as well, in addition to establishing a solo career. Land of Rain and Steel is a solo guitar album recorded by Angel Ontalva in 2007 during the recording sessions for the album 'Charybdis' October Equus. These improvisations in real time, without overdubs or editing of any kind: what you hear is what was recorded at the time, with the exception of rhythmic loop at the end of The Border, which itself was published in the mix.

Spanning over a period of about 10 years (2013-2023), this collection of short pieces started as sketches, demos, ideas recorded for later. Some of them were presented to Miriodor (the band I’m a member/founder of), but did not develop.

NeBeLNeST were one of the most adventurous and energetic young bands to emerge on the international post-rock / avant-progressive scene in the late 90s. The young French band was noted for its dark symphonic rock music influenced by King Crimson, Shylock and Univers Zero/Present, laced with psychedelia and improvisation, and played with a riveting level of energy and intensity derived from the hardcore and noise scenes. In the words of the Chicago Tribune: “these French sound sculptors chisel out large-scale instrumentals that pair up the weird sonics and improvisational bent of mid-period King Crimson with a Gong-like space fusion ambience…[They] borrow bits and pieces of old school art rock and arrange them into a singular sound awash in dissonance and strangely mutated guitar/keyboard tones.”

Asceta is a modern music ensemble, created in Santiago, Chile, in 2020 by the musician and composer Rodrigo Maccioni. The musical aesthetic can be classified as chamber-rock or RIO, acoustic chamber sound stands out. The result is music with a dramatic character, very eclectic and diverse, with dark and hypnotic atmospheres, even landscapes of simplicity and beauty.

Rhun are a French sextet playing zeuhl and avant progressive-influenced music. Their first album came out a decade ago on AltrOck and they’ve just resurfaced with their excellent second album here.

According to the globe-trotting musicians of Balungan, however, the train à grande vitesse is already at the station. The 13-member band kicks off its debut, Kudu Bisa Kudu, with the nostalgic steam whistle and intentionally garbled boarding call of “Javanese TGV”, but as soon as Franck Testut’s driving bassline gears ups, it’s clear that we’re riding a 21st-century conveyance. Gang vocals, hairpin-curve guitars, and accelerating arpeggios played on tuned percussion also announce that this is a multicultural journey—and in fact the group is made up of seven of Java’s most open-minded gamelan virtuosos, plus six equally adventurous rock musicians from the south of France.

Corima is a new Zeuhl/R.I.O. band based out of Texas very influenced by Magma, Koenjihyakkei, and Present at times. Formed in the year 2005, they started out with 4 musicians: Sergio Sanchez on drums, Juan Tarin on bass, Jaime Silva on guitar and Erik Martinez on guitar as well. They started out playing music very influenced by King Crimson and ELP. About a year later Francisco Casanova joined the band in keyboards. They remained together for about a year and a half and after that Erik Martinez was forced to leave the band for personal reasons and soon after Jaime Silva left the band as well. It was during this period that Corima found out about the Zeuhl and R.I.O. genre and fell completely in love with it.

Though it contains material from as early as 1990, In Extremis mostly consists of recordings from 1996 to 1998. The music skirts the more challenging end of avant-prog, with good contributions from drummer David Kerman and vocalist Deborah Perry. Thinking Plague is a United States avant-garde progressive rock group founded in 1982 by guitarist/composer, Mike Johnson, and bass guitarist/drummer, Bob Drake. Based in Denver, Colorado, the band has been active off and on since 1982, taking on a number of musicians over the years. They have made six studio albums between 1984 and 2012, and released one live album recorded at NEARfest in 2000.

Albert Marcœur is a French composer, singer and songwriter. He began his career in the early 1970s. His body of work mixes melodic, rhythmic and sonic experimentations with fancy nursery rhymes, humorous and offbeat lyrics. In France he has been called "the French Frank Zappa". Albert Marcœur, French multi-instrumentalist/composer, was born on December 12 1947, in Dijon, France. During his formal education of clarinet at the National Academy of Music and Dance of Dijon, Marcoeur actively participated in many straightforward college rock 'n roll bands. Closing an end to his formal training Marcoeur's musical visions had gravitated towards the experimental facets of music, wishing "to do nothing else but make my own music".

A great surprise to discover the work of this Mexican musician, who somehow managed to invite for this album some of the best musicians of the genre, from representative and even legendary bands. The music is difficult to categorize in a few words, as it is full of changes not only in time but also in style, genre or mood. We can find Zeuhl, Math, RIO, Jazz, Symphonic or Rock riffs. Influences from names like Zappa, Present, Magma, etc. To stop to analyze each track would be a crazy task, because the ideas come and go in a frenetic way, leaving barely space to breathe to the listener. One of those albums that we are thankful for because they never stop trying to surprise us at every second. And for glorious moments it really succeeds.

The album Il Misantropo Felice was written mainly between 1999 and 2000 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. The first theme of music was composed in 1997 and it was used as main pattern for other sections. A very small part was written in 2001 as well. The orchestration has undergone a number of changes, the last of which between 2009 and 2010, and this was used for the current recording. Without being too descriptive, the composition, consisting of eight parts, talks about the short and hypertrophic afternoon dream of a man, from the moment he falls asleep up to his cathartic awakening. It is a Traumarbeit where the sounds perceived from the external world are mingled with private memories, and whose contents become a dreamlike journey, at the end of which the reconciliation with the world is accomplished.

No Secrets in the Family were a Swiss avant-prog band active during the late 1980's and early 1990's. They were heavily influenced by many of the RIO-related bands, in particular the more song-orientated groups like Art Bears, Slapp Happy, Etron Fou Leloublan and News From Babel. The result, as fans of these bands might expect, is playful, quirky art rock which balances discordant elements with melodic touches and places an emphasis on theatrical vocals and complex instrumental interplay. The core group consisted of Annette and Markus Schönholzer who played keys and guitar respectively and shared the main vocal duties, Christian Strässle on violin and saxophone, Daniel Meisenberger on bass and Martin Gantenbein on drums and flute.