Alongside fusion music, the 1960s and 1970s saw the birth of another musical genre, progressive rock. However, besides coming about in the same decade or so, do these two musical genres have anything in common? Some will argue that progressive rock is actually fusion music with vocals. Others will argue that progressive rock has nothing todo with jazz or fusion, and that it is just a more complex subgenre of rock and roll. Despite deferring opinions, there is currently a group out there who is succeeding in bringing these two genres closer together than they have ever been before. Formed in 2006, Muskox is a Toronto based instrumental group led by composer and multi-instrumentalist Mike Smith. Today, we will be discussing their most recent release, "Invocation / Transformations", whose personel include Smith, Ali Berkok, Pete Johnston, Jeremy Strachan, and Jake Oelrichs. Some songs to note on the album are "Generic Organs", "Gelding", and "Fever Dream III". In addition, Smith describes this release as the soundtrack of his youth, as each song takes the listener through the worlds of sci-fi and fantasy that characterized his childhood. Like their previous recordings, "Invocation / Transformations" features Smith's unique banjo "mathematics", and a minimalist sound. Though, as previously stated, through "Invocation / Transformations", Smith succeeds in pushing the experimental boundaries to finally provide an answer to the "fusion - prog rock" question. Curious to know if he succeeds? Take a listen bellow.
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