Last-modified: Thu Jan 10 23:09:06 2008
Summary: Information regarding the resources concerning progressive and experimental music on the net. Includes Web page URLs, mailing lists and the like.
The most recent ascii versions of these FAQs are available at
The Web versions are available at:
All mail addresses have been anti-spammed by replacing "@" with " AT ". Please put the "@" back in order to use the email addresses. This is necessary, unfortunately, since I know that my spam levels have rocketed since spamming started in earnest. Newsgroup names should be news: URLs so you can read any newsgroup mentioned here by clicking them (again, providing your browser supports them). Also, some names are links to the Web pages of individuals.
This file may be freely distributed as long as it is not modified in any way and contains this notice.
Please Note: All ftp, and web addresses are given in standard URL format. If you are not familiar with this then read this short explanation. Simple URL format looks like this:
A URL as given above can be entered as it is into any Web browser. If you intend to use standard ftp, the boldface part should be used as the address of the machine to which you should connect and the immediately following section as the directory to look in when you are connected. The part preceding the boldface can be ignored in this case.
The following people have contributed to making this file what it is:
Malcolm Humes (mal AT emf.net)
Mike J. Brown (mjbrown AT magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu)
Craig Shipley (craigs AT pyramid.com)
Mike Borella (cathmike AT xnet.com)
Phil Kime (Philip AT kime.org.uk)
A mailing list is a group of users with a special interest topic that unites them via email. Any mail sent to the list address is "exploded" by being sent to everyone on the subscription list. The lists can reach up to hundreds or thousands of people with mutual interests. Lists are generally available as normal (separate mail for each post) or digest format.
Some lists are moderated: the moderator may request that a post be edited or may refuse to post it if the content considered off the topic of the list or possibly even offensive. This may sound restrictive, but in reality there are few situations where post content is censored or edited. One example is a list where discussion of trading bootlegs is forbidden by the management of the site that "owns" the mailing list. There is no guarantee of "free speech" on computer networks as there also is the implicit assumption that anything you email or post may be read by many people. Most people are not very concerned about this, but public discussions of potentially illegal actions such as trading tapes, bootlegs or otherwise is at your own risk and should probably be undertaken with some discretion. In theory, mailing lists can reach a lot of people who have email but cannot get Internet news. Mailing lists tend to have less usless posts and flames because of a smaller, more focused audience.
For solo and related acts, discussions might take place on related lists (for example, Fish might be discussed on the Marillion list, and Brand X on the Genesis list, Bruford, Levin and Belew on the King Crimson list, Bruford on the Yes list, in fact Bruford on just about any list: there is a theory, "The Bruford Connectivity Hypothesis", that Bill Bruford can be connected to anybody in the music business by no more than two steps, where a step is defined as "having worked with". There is a stronger hypothesis "The Special Bruford Connectivity Hypothesis" that extends this by saying that the connection can be made to anyone on the planet in no more than three steps. Ergo, Bill Bruford is the social epicentre of the human race. Quite frightening really.
Most mailing lists have a "-request" or administrative address for subscriptions and unsubscriptions. Save the introduction to any list to which you subscribe or keep track of the administration address when you want to unsubscribe. Many people post subscribe and unsubscribe messages to the list mailer addresses, unwittingly sending them to up to hundreds of other subscribers. Some list administrators do not regularly read the mailing list posts or have automated the subscription process, so use the administration address for the appropriate requests. Listserv or Bitnet mailing lists typically have a listserv@ address you should use instead of a "-request" format address. Some of the smaller, digested lists use no administrative address and all mail is sent to one address.
There is no guarantee that these addresses are correct. What you see below is, to the best of my knowledge, the most recent address of the mailing list. If the address is incorrect, please let me know. If you are a moderator of a prog mailing list, please contact me with updates if and when your address changes.
This daily digest was developed as a result of the interest in Dream Theater by musicians subscribed to the Ytsejam digest. Our goal is to network the musicians across the world who are interested in Progressive rock and metal music. We believe by doing this we can share ideas, experiences and plans for our individual efforts and thereby make it more accessible to a mainstream audience. This music deserves to be heard by more people AND better promoted by the industry. We hope that through our collective efforts this will eventually happen. THE WHOLE IS GREATER THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS!
The progmaestros mailing list can be joined by doing the following:
Send the following e-mail to progmaestros-request AT arastar.com
Subject should be "asdf". Text should read exactly:
subscribe progmaestros firstname lastname
(replace the names with your own.) You will be added automatically!
The Colorado Art Rock Society (C.A.R.S.) holds monthly meetings of Progressive Rock fans. We meet fellow fans, listen to GREAT music, swap CD's, eat, mingle and just relax. We meet the last Saturday evening of each month. CD player is provided. We meet the last Saturday of each month at 6:00pm
Meetings take place upstairs at:
Margarita Bay Club
1301 South Pearl Street
(at Louisiana)
Denver, Colorado 80210
(303) 871-0603
Take I-25 to Washington/Emerson Exit (exit 205B) Coming from the North - Right on Washington, Right on Louisiana (Club is on the left) Coming from the South - Left on Louisiana (Club os on the left) We meet in the UPSTAIRS meeting room. For more detailed directions check out the web site.
The Colorado Art Rock Society (C.A.R.S.) also has a mailing list set up. This list will be used to send out reminders for our monthly meetings at the Margarita Bay Club (last Saturday of each month at 6:00 pm) in Denver. It will also be used for announcements of Progressive music, gigs and events in the Colorado area. We also have an archive section which includes files and web page bookmarks. To subscribe:
The only Frenchspeaking mailing list about Progressive Rock! If you want to discuss about Progressive Rock in french, then visit our web site for more informations and for subscription. It's free !!!
Ytsejam, the Dream Theater mailing list concerns itself with Dream Theater past, present, and future. To subscribe make this the body of your mail:
subscribe ytsejam "Your Name"
Bob Parker runs the Gentle Giant mailing (On Reflection) list.
To receive list mail at the address from which you're sending your mail, send a message to majordomo AT lists.uoregon.edu with the words:
subscribe on-reflection
in the message body (no subject is necessary).
The ph7 mailing list concerns itself with the music and writings of Peter Hammill and related bands such as Van Der Graaf Generator. Recent discussions have included comments on Random Hold, Fripp, The Long Goodbye and Peter Hammill's two books of lyrics, poems, and short stories. To subscribe, send a mail body of:
subscribe ph7 "Your Name"
The freaks mailing list is the oldest of the arastar.com: progressive rock mailing lists. It deals with Marillion, Fish, and other related bands. To subscribe, send mail body of:
subscribe freaks "Your Name"
To subscribe send
subscribe amarok-daily
in the body of a message to the admin address
Web site at
http://www.frisbee.net.au/amarok/
ftp archive at
Basic info is at http://www.meddle.org
To subscribe send mail to the server (echoserv AT meddle.org) with
Subscription: add echoes or Subscription: add-digest echoes
You can mail to echoes-request AT meddle.org to susbcribe manually.
Archive server has lists of rare releases, huge FAQ, interviews etc. You can get info on how to use the server to retrieve files, reviews of rarities discs and interviews and other info by sending mail to the echoserv address with the text body:
help
quit
Send "subscribe post-classical" in the *body* of the mail or "subscribe post-classical-digest" for the digest format. From the admin information regarding which bands might typicallybe discussed on the list:
Shinjuku Thief, In The Nursery, Art Zoyd, Univers Zero, Daniel Denis, Pete Namlook, Peter Frohmader, Graeme Revell, Laibach, Autopsia, Mynox Layh, Frame/Cut/Frame, Edgar Varese, John Cage, Karlheinz Stockhousen, Michael Nyman, Steve Reich, Harry Partch, Morton Feldman, Mossolov and Iannis Xenakis.
Yes and Anderson-Bruford-Wakeman-Howe related. Newsletter: `Notes From The Edge'.
NFTE Server (lyrics, backissues, discography, rarities, surveys, GIFs): Automated. For help send mail with subject line "send main help" to yes-archive AT meiko.com
The primary FTP site for progressive music related information is:
http://www.progrock.net/pub/music/prog/
The directories include: articles, concert reviews, discographies, interviews, Gibraltar backissues, album reviews, and much more, including the latest version of these FAQs.
The administrator of the site is Adam Levin and you can reach him at alevin AT ari.net if you have comments, questions, or submissions. Note that this is a moderated site - you cannot just put files there.
Most of the musical discographies, lyrics, interviews and other information can be found at:
This site also has a number of mailing list archives and other information but is not devoted to progressive music and has little information about more obscure artists.
There also is an ftp site dedicated to ambient and related musics at:
It is a repository of information about all types of ambient music, from Eno's "pure" form to droning guitar/psych rock. It also has a gopher server.
There are Usenet groups solely dedicated to particular progressive bands. Below is a selection to give you an idea of the naming conventions.
Dream Theater (alt.music.dream-theater)
Bela Fleck (alt.music.bela-fleck)
Peter Gabriel (alt.music.peter-gabriel)
Peter Hammill (alt.fan.peter.hammill)
Jethro Tull (alt.music.jethro-tull)
Marillion (alt.music.marillion)
Moody Blues (alt.music.moody-blues)
Phish (rec.music.phish)
Pink Floyd (alt.music.pink-floyd)
Todd Rundgren (alt.music.todd-rundgren)
Rush (alt.music.rush)
Yes (alt.music.yes)
While mentioning these bands in r.m.p is fine, long, drawn-out discussions of their music should be kept to the appropriate newsgroup.
Some sites have no ftp access, or have ftp access that is limited to local or regional sites. Fortunately, you can access many FTP sites via email.
If you ca not FTP from your site, use one of the following ftp-by-mail servers:
ftpmail AT decwrl.dec.com
ftpmail AT src.doc.ic.ac.uk
ftpmail AT cs.uow.edu.au
ftpmail AT grasp.insa-lyon.fr
For complete instructions, send a message reading "help" to the server. Note that the word "help" must appear in the body of the message, not just on the subject line.
This section merely provides pointers to central repositories of information wherin you will find endless numbers of other links. Keeping lists of all relevant links is simply not possible in a finite FAQ.
The GEPR (see FAQ 4 and FAQ 7) is now properly on-line at its new home in the US. There are currently two mirrors, one in Europe and another in the US. Choose the site nearest to you for the fastest access.
Adam Levin also currently runs the progressive music home page that contains a lot of interesting information including links to other places. This can be reached at:
This site also maintains a page of links to Web pages detailing many (some quite obscure) progressive artists. You can even access music of various lesser known bands. Rather than duplicate all the links here, you can find them on these pages.
The premier progressive music mailing list, Gibraltar now has a Web page:
http://www.museum.tulane.edu/pub/gibraltar/gibraltar.html
Also, perhaps you would like to look at the Triad Radio Web pages at URL:
http://ripco.com:8080/~saxmania/triad.html
"Triad was a progressive, free-form, innovative radio program that aired in Chicago on WXFM-FM between 1969 and 1977. There was a lot of interesting music that went out over the air-waves of Triad on WXFM-FM 105.9 in the early 70's." (from the Triad Web page).
Henry Potts now maintains the alt.music.yesFAQs online at
http://www.bondegezou.demon.co.uk/amy_faq.htm
iRock is probably the most exciting prog site on the net for new progressive music. There are two new iRock shows a week that are listenable via audio streaming technology from VocalTec. With their new player client, Internet Wave, one can hear excellent progressive rock directly off the net if you have a 28.8 connection and TCP/IP. iRock is now the first Internet Music Radio Station licensed to play copyright music on the net by ASCAP and BMI. Take a look and listen to iRock at: