Progress (latin progressus originating from word ‘progedi’- “to proceed”): advancement, development. Moving forward. A change towards improvement, perfection.

Why have I decided to write about progressive as a music style? There are numerous reasons, which I’m going to bring up right now. First of all I’ve been tracking discussion forums in Poland and across the World for some time. Each of them has at least one thread trying to define ‘progressive’. Usually those attempts end up on getting nothing though. People are quoting djs and producers, but mostly the cases in which the interviewed persons see progressive as a movement in music, not as an independent style. That doesn’t surprise me, because after all it’s much easier to say that it’s a kind of consciousness or attitude, then to describe the sounds, mood, tempo and so on. Why? Because it doesn’t close the doors for evolution nor submit anybody to a critical examination. Some think that the attempt to define progressive is like chasing your own tail, others say that it’s not a style in music while others disagree with such statement, but don’t want to define it, saying it’s evolving too fast. According to me it’s the other way around! In the space of the last few years progressive has stopped changing itself rapidly. New sounds arrive, as well as new technologies, but the composition of the tracks still fits specific frames. More about that in a moment… It’s worth attempting to create a definition of this kind of music. Many of you may not agree with the statements below, but I also hope to find some understanding and support among the readers.
Both sides are welcomed to discuss.

Revolution took place in the early 90s. Many artists like Luke from Brancaccio And Aisher, Innate or Paul from Staircase think that we owe everything to a non-existing British label called Guerilla. Duncan Forbes & Charlie May released the first progressive sounds under its wings as Spooky. Their album “Gargantuan” seen by the music world as cult is set to be re-released in next two years as Forbes announces. Maybe this fact constitutes a proof that the 10 year history of progressive is coming round a full circle.

The new trend was a deliberate escape from short loops and unsophisticated house vocals, simple melodies known from trance and killing tempo of techno. Initially ‘progressive’ was nothing more than a prefix of ‘house’. It distinguished the luscious, dance compositions from the new ones, more minimal in expression. There was no place here for two layered vocal samples repeated through the entire song over & over again. The era of unending build-ups, which were leading the kids into a state of trance in the discos has also been finished. The search for roots was started and electronic music was led in another direction.