Cul de Sac

This is a group that I first heard yesterday and wished I had known of them before. The song I liked was Nico's Dream.
Below is some info about them...


One of the leading groups of instrumental neo-prog came out of Boston: Cul De Sac.


Their most innovative work, China Gate (1996), increased the doses of jazz and world-music, thus achieving both a convoluted and a hypnotic state of mind.

.... a slick texture that enhanced the melodic center of mass, and even lent the music a spiritual overtone, halfway between trance and fairy tale.

Formed in Boston from the ashes of countless glories of the local underground, Cul De Sac's first line-up consisted of Robin Amos on synthesizer, Chris Fujiwara on bass, Chris Guttmacher (ex Bullet La Volta) on drums and Glenn Jones on guitar.

Jones, a close acquaintance of John Fahey, came with a background of country, rockabilly and surf, playing a lap-steel guitar "prepared" in the tradition of avantgarde composer John Cage.

Guttmacher was a fan of avant-jazz composers such as Cecil Taylor and Sun Ra.

Amos was knowledgeable of American and European underground rock, and his synthesizer was perhaps the first to evoke the memory of Allen Ravenstine (Pere Ubu).