A new editorial week closes at Progressive Rock Journal (PRJ) with a selection that moves from the Math/Post-Rock corridors of Newcastle to the Symphonic heaviness of a Canadian duo writing their own chapter of the genre’s history, from the timeless conflict between light and darkness in the tradition of Rock Progressivo Italiano to a Canterbury-rooted album that carries the last studio performance of Phil Miller embedded within its final track. Two archival recoveries — one a rare German Krautrock single from 1970, the other the debut of a new Ambient/Experimental label born from the creative alliance between a former Tangerine Dream composer and a founding member of Lightwave — sit alongside the sixtieth entry in our Hidden Rarities series, this time turning the lens on the most fragile gem of the Symphonic Folk Québécois tradition. A new PRJ Spotify playlist, the nineteenth volume of our ongoing Compilation series, and two rare archival uploads on the PRJ YouTube channel close out a week built for deep listening.
— REVIEWS —
Dutch Elm – Dutch Elm (Ripcord Records, 2026)
Newcastle-based instrumental four-piece Dutch Elm — Matthew Mckenna, Lewis Hickey, Callum Bell, and Liam Bird — present their self-titled debut album, set for release on June 5, 2026 via Ripcord Records on CD and digital. A sound built at the intersection of the cinematic sweep of Post-Rock and the technical precision of Math-Rock, the record opens with “Transmitter” — a web of interlocking guitar arpeggios, shifting time signatures, and a crescendo that introduces heavier tonalities without losing structural cohesion. “Sitting There Thinking” tips the balance toward Math-Rock through tighter arrangements and an aggressive second half; “Cats and That” expands into more ambient, soundscape-oriented territory before the rhythm section returns to drive the melodic development outward. “You’re Not Invited To That Riff” announces itself with a technically arresting bass line and shifting time signatures that demand close attention; “Tell Him Not To Bother” alternates between high tension and refined metric transitions, landing as one of the most dynamically charged moments on the record. The album closes with “Soledad Brother” — the only vocal track in the set — which reveals genuine warmth in the delivery, broadens the emotional scope of the record through choral passages, and opens a door to new sonic directions for what comes next. A convincing debut from a band that has found its own point of intersection between two demanding forms. [Read here]
Crown Lands – Apocalypse (InsideOut Music, 2026)
With “Apocalypse,” released May 15, 2026 via InsideOut Music, Crown Lands — guitarist/bassist/keyboardist Kevin Comeau and drummer-vocalist Cody Bowles — deliver their third full-length, and their most focused work to date. Following their JUNO Award-winning debut, “Fearless” (2023), and the JUNO-nominated instrumental diptych “Ritual I” and “Ritual II” (2025), this record was recorded largely in their own studio and shaped entirely on their own terms, with targeted production contributions from Nick Raskulinecz and David Bottrill. Designed to be heard in sequence, the album follows a classic side-format structure and sits within a broader narrative arc — “Ritual” as peacetime, “Fearless” as the future endpoint, “Apocalypse” as the events between. The first side moves through an overture (“Proclamation I“), a direct and propulsive Heavy Prog statement (“Foot Soldier of the Syndicate“), a carefully paced crescendo of genuine emotional weight (“Through the Looking Glass“), the most anthemically direct track on the record (“Blackstar“), and an extended guitar solo sequence that represents one of Comeau‘s most expressive moments on record (“The Fall“). Side two opens with Bowles‘ ney flute on the structurally essential “The Revenants I” before the album arrives at its reason for existing: the nineteen-minute title suite “Apocalypse.” The suite moves through its movements with the internal logic of the best long-form Progressive compositions of the 1970s, while sounding like no one other than Crown Lands. Comeau‘s keyboard work — Minimoog, Oberheim OB6, Mellotron, Taurus Pedals — is the most varied and demanding he has put on record; Bowles drives the suite rhythmically with odd time signatures that feel earned rather than imposed. The suite earns every one of its nineteen minutes. Crown Lands are not paying tribute to Progressive Rock. They are writing their own chapter of it. [Read here]
— INTERVIEWS —
[Exclusive Interview] Hunka Munka — Return with Demoni e Dei: A Bilingual Conversation Across Rock Progressivo Italiano
With “Demoni e Dei,” Hunka Munka — Roberto Carlotto and Joey Mauro — continue an artistic journey that bridges the origins of Rock Progressivo Italiano with a contemporary creative vision. The album revolves around the timeless conflict between good and evil, light and darkness; more direct and, at times, more aggressive than its predecessor “Foreste Interstellari,” it channels that tension in a more visceral and immediate form. The interview covers the reworkings of compositions originally linked to “Dedicato a Giovanna G.” and to Carlotto‘s period with Dik Dik — including tracks written with Ivan Graziani and the circumstances that led to complex authorship attributions — alongside the creative role of the Minimoog Model D, the original Hammond C3, the sound world shaped at Dr. Phibes Studio and mixed and mastered by Alessandro Del Vecchio, the hand-painted artwork by Carmine De Marco, and the decades-long creative partnership between two musicians united by a shared passion for vintage instruments and Italian melody. A conversation that moves freely between Italian and English, between past and present, between history and intent. [Read here]
[Exclusive Interview] Marc Hadley: How to Cut Water and the Canterbury Scene That Never Runs Dry
Marc Hadley has spent decades at the intersection of Jazz discipline and Canterbury instinct — trained on Bebop at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, rooted in ethnomusicology, shaped by years inside the London Jazz and World Music circuit. “How to Cut Water,” out June 07, 2026, is the heir to “Virtually” (2013) and something considerably more: an album of instrumentals and extended songs recorded largely in Cornwall, featuring a cast that reads like a roll call of the scene’s living and departed — Richard Sinclair on vocals, Pete Lemer, Fred T Baker, and — in the album’s most poignant moment — Phil Miller, whose playing on the hidden track “Fat Cats” inside the closing “Amazonia” stands as his last studio recording before his death in October 2017. This interview, conducted ahead of the release, covers the entire arc: from the initial encounter with Jack Monck to the formation of The Relatives, from the geography of West Cornwall as a compositional influence to the diverse vocal cast that includes Billie Bottle and Angeline Morrison, from the deliberate sequencing influenced by the first Hatfield and the North album to the question of whether the Canterbury scene has a genuine present tense beyond nostalgia — and the answer, in the music and in the conversation, is yes. [Read here]
— NEWS —
Orange Peel — Bacillus Records Unearth “I Got No Time / Searching For A Place To Hide” Digital Version
Bacillus Records have expanded their ongoing archival campaign with the digital release of “I Got No Time / Searching For A Place To Hide,” the long-obscured 1970 single by Orange Peel, now available via Bandcamp as of May 15, 2026. Issued originally on Admiral Records, the single captures the band during a transitional phase shortly before the recording of their sole studio album, featuring Michael Winzkowski — previously of Frankfurt band Nosferatu — on vocals, with Curt Cress on drums, H. Leslie Link on guitar, and Heini Mohn on bass. Both tracks document the band’s movement from late-1960s Psychedelic Rock toward heavier, organ-driven Progressive structures — compact and direct, yet already pointing toward the sound that would define their cult LP. “I Got No Time” achieved unexpected chart success in France; Winzkowski would subsequently go on to found Epsilon. Today, the single stands as an important early document of the German underground at the moment Psychedelic Rock evolved into the heavier forms that would define Krautrock and early proto-Progressive. [Read here]
Paul Haslinger & Christian Wittman Launch noion Label — Announce Two Releases: Mallarmé and Borges
Austrian composer Paul Haslinger (former member of Tangerine Dream) and French composer Christian Wittman (founding member of Lightwave) have announced the launch of noion, a new record label dedicated to Atmospheric Minimalism, Experimental sound design, and genre-defying works spanning Ambient, Drone, and Contemporary Classical Music. The label’s inaugural releases — “Mallarmé” and “Borges” — are both set for release on July 10, establishing a conceptual framework that merges literature and sound art into a cohesive aesthetic vision. “Mallarmé” is inspired by Stéphane Mallarmé’s 1897 poem “Un coup de dés jamais n’abolira le hasard” and unfolds across three movements exploring temporal elasticity, minimalism, and impressionistic abstraction — recorded at Nina Studio (Paris) and Large Array (Los Angeles). “Borges,” inspired by Jorge Luis Borges‘ explorations of infinity, memory, and illusion, constructs immersive soundscapes that unfold like labyrinths — layered, intricate, and resonant with a sense of timelessness. Both records are already available for pre-order on Bandcamp. [Read here]
— HIDDEN RARITIES —
[Hidden Rarities #60] Demi-Heure — The Last Breath of Symphonic Folk Québécois
Québec, 1978. An independent private pressing on Les Productions Demi-Heure (catalogue DH-1011), a seven-member ensemble from the Québec City region — André Ringuet (woodwinds, strings), Jacques Roy (vocals, guitar), Hélène Parent (vocals), François Tachereau (keyboards), Christine Fortin (oboe, flute), Richard LaRue (bass), and Claude Lépine (drums) — and a sole self-titled album that arrived at the precise moment when the scene that produced it was already beginning to recede. Rooted in the tradition shaped by Harmonium, Beau Dommage, and the more eclectic formations of the Québécois underground — Sloche, Maneige, Contraction — Demi-Heure captured the meeting point between melodic simplicity and complex arrangements with an orchestral fullness that set them apart from any compromise with sonic minimalism. Across ten tracks, from the dreamlike opening of “Clochers Et Maisons” to the nearly seven-minute “Retrouvailles” — the album’s most structurally complex and Progressive centrepiece — to the quiet melancholy of the closing “Demi-jour,” the record preserves a form of music that would not be made again in quite the same way. Very few original copies circulated at the time; a limited CD reissue by South Korean label Media Arte in 2010 offered a new generation access to these textures. The original vinyl remains among the most sought-after trophies in the Canadian collecting circuit. [Read here]
— SPOTIFY PLAYLIST —
PRJ Spotify Playlist: Avant-Garde/Experimental/Post-Rock — May 2026
The May 2026 edition of the PRJ Avant-Garde/Experimental/Post-Rock playlist spans three continents and ten selections: El Altar Del Holocausto returning from silence with “ECOS” (a record inspired by the migratory cycle of birds), Dutch Elm‘s debut, Rostro Del Sol‘s live session from Mexico City’s Sala Colima, the disorienting microtonal architecture of Parisian duo Angine De Poitrine, Parisian Avant-Garde outfit XCIII‘s first preview of their forthcoming album, Swedish Post-Rock duo Oh Hiroshima‘s slow-burning pre-release track “Exit Cloud,” Denver Post-Metal quartet Only Echoes, the comeback of Polish band By Million Wires after a fourteen-year silence, French Atmospheric Post-Metal duo Cløudy Skies, and Detroit’s Man Mountain announcing their first full-length in six years. Stream and follow below. [Read here]
Stream on Spotify:
— COMPILATION —
PRJ Compilation Vol. XIX — Cartography of Wounds
The nineteenth volume of the PRJ Compilation series gathers five artists from five countries — Three Wise Monkeys (Australia), Dmytro Radzetskyi Band (Ukraine), Maksymilian Marzec (Poland), Atrial Flutter (UK), and Melting Brain Club (Norway) — each exploring a personal emotional and sonic landscape through approaches that range from free improvisation and Jazz-Rock Fusion to Depressive Progressive Rock and Heavy Prog. United by a shared willingness to turn inward and render that inward journey audible, the compilation takes its title from what the music maps: shame, loss, self-hatred, the quiet unravelling of certainties. All five artists are supported via direct Bandcamp links. Stream in full via the PRJ YouTube Channel. [Read here]
Stream the compilation via the YouTube player below:
— PRJ YOUTUBE CHANNEL —
Desiderium – Demo 1999 [1999, Full Demo]
Stream via the PRJ YouTube Channel:
Payne’s Grey – Infinity [1991, Full Demo]
Stream via the PRJ YouTube Channel:
As always, Editor’s Pick is a curatorial compass — not a list, but a guided entry point into PRJ‘s week. Read what catches you, follow the links, and come back next Sunday. — Jacopo // PRJ Webzine