User:Snapper Music/Kscope

Kscope is a new post-progressive label from the home of Peaceville Records.

In recent years, a growing movement of bands has started to reclaim and reinvent aspects of the progressive genre, stripping it of its excess and clichés. Bands have been re-establishing the movement’s original desire to experiment with eclectic musical sources and sonic possibilities in order to produce something meaningful in the here and now.

The scene has divided into a variety of sub-genres, with acts including Porcupine Tree, Radiohead, Amplifier and Oceansize being deemed nu-prog, Muse, Opeth and Mars Volta spearheading the hugely popular prog-metal movement, Rain Tree Crow, No-Man and Air developing ambient prog, and Neon Neon and Dalek establishing the prog-hop genre. Added to the cinematic post-rock of Sigur Ros, Godspeed You Black Emperor and Tortoise, and the soul prog of Lewis Taylor, strands of Progressive influence have been instrumental in creating some of the most vital and exciting new music of the last two decades.

In establishing a dedicated post-progressive label, Kscope will provide a home for this evolving, flexible and adventurous style of music without boundaries. A division of Snapper Music, the home of Peaceville Records (Opeth, Katatonia, Gallhammer, and My Dying Bride), Kscope launched in May 2008 with new albums from its first signings The Pineapple Thief and No-Man.

The Pineapple Thief are an acclaimed four-piece from Somerset fronted by songwriter Bruce Soord. The band’s powerful new album, Tightly Unwound, looks set to elevate the band to a new level, and build on the success of their previous independently issued albums.

No-Man is Tim Bowness and Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree). The duo return on May 12th with their sixth studio album Schoolyard Ghosts (the first since 2003’s Together We’re Stranger). The album sees the band expand its sonic palette by collaborating with the likes of ex-American Music Club pedal steel ace Bruce Kaphan, King Crimson’s drumming powerhouse Pat Mastelotto, Porcupine Tree’s Colin Edwin and Gavin Harrison, and the London Session Orchestra (arranged by Dave Stewart). Already blessed with a sizeable cult following, the band’s striking and emotional debut on Kscope is likely to bring No-Man to an even wider audience.

The legendary Porcupine Tree will be reissuing various back catalogue items through Kscope over the coming year.

With a combination of exciting new and established talent, Kscope hopes to provide a focused and creative nurturing point for the continually growing and diverse post-progressive scene.

Kscope site

I, Snapper Music, am the author of this article, (Kscope press release), and I release its content under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 and later.