To me, the most innovative material since 1990 is the King Crimson projekcts that were done in the interim of 'official' KC material c. 1997-1999.
There were 4 variations of the band.
The
ProjeKct One disc is probably the closest to standard jazz fusion, mostly due to the acoustic drums (all the other sets feature electronic drums and samples). Still, anyone at the Jazz Cafe who was expecting standard jazz must have been in for a bit of a shock. The Stick and touch guitar are often used to pound out some pretty hectic rhythms (check out track two), while in other places the guitars create laid-back, atmospheric soundscapes. Sometimes both things happen together. Given that this disc features the line-up that's closest to 80s King Crimson, and the most familiar instrumentation, I expected it to be my favorite of the set. Instead, it turns out that I like the other three discs more.
ProjeKct Two's disc contained some familiar material. A few tracks are live interpretations of pieces from
Space Groove, and the disc concludes with a short, instrumental version of "21st Century Schizoid Man" (sounding like it was played by the Cantina band from Star Wars). There is also a lot of improv and new material, including "The Deception of the Thrush" - a mellow but menacing song with a slow, insistent rhythm section. The
ProjeKct Four disc also contains a (much different) version of this song. At the end of the
P2 disc, after a long stretch of silence, we get about eight minutes of audience reaction to Fripp walking off the stage because someone took a flash photo of him. It's left as an exercise for the reader to decide if this makes Fripp a hero or a jerk.
The
ProjeKct Three disc isn't quite like the others. The source material for it came mainly from live improv performances, but then the music was edited with bits and pieces moved here and there to "make a better flow and cover a few, but not all, brown spots" (according to the liner notes). The result is a disc that sounds more "studio" than the others, but still retains the energy and experimentation of the live shows. This disc is probably the hardest to get a grip on - after several listens, I still haven't fully formed an opinion on it yet. As with disc two (and four), this one contains a silent section near the end, followed by a short flurry of notes. Personally, I think this little trick is getting old (since it seems that most Crimson-related discs released in recent years have something like this), and it actually goes against the liner notes - they suggest you play the disc "in random mode to continue the improvisation". Good idea, but having that blank spot show up in the middle somewhere really wrecks the flow of the music.
ProjeKct Four sounds to me like "
Ozric Tentacles meets Soundscapes". The
OT feeling comes from electronic "twiddly bits" that help to propel the rhythm section. I personally really like this effect, so the beginning of disc four is one of my favorite parts of the boxed set. Like disc two, this one seems more composed than other parts of the set. And like disc two, this one also features song titles.
West Coast Live opens with a song in four sections (with the sections sounding like four different performances spliced together) called "Ghost (part 1)". As mentioned above, the disc also includes a version of "Deception of the Thrush", this time with a booming, pounding rhythm section. "Hindu Fizz" and "ProjeKction" follow, and finally the disc ends with the five-track song, "Ghost (part 2)". This last song begins with Fripp and Levin trading scratchy low notes and getting some laughs from the audience.
more.....
http://www.progreviews.com/reviews/d...hp?rev=kc-proj
My favorite was Projekct 3, called Masque.
Besides this variation of King Crimson, the next type of innovation I've enjoyed was the trancing of Hip Hop. TripHop like Portishead, Massive Attack and even Sneaker Pimps.