The Kscope label was founded as a means of providing a platform for a growing number of artists that had started to reclaim and reinvent aspects of the Progressive genre. In order to produce something that resonated in the 21st Century, these artists had stripped the music of its perceived excess and clichés, and subtly re-established the movement’s original impulses, experimenting with eclectic m
usical sources and contemporary sonic possibilities. Spearheaded by the ambitious likes of Porcupine Tree, Radiohead and Elbow on one side, and Muse, Opeth and Mars Volta on the other (the lynchpins of the hugely popular Prog-Metal movement), this new wave of Progressive expression also incorporated the atmospheric offerings of Air, Talk Talk and Royskopp, and the cinematic Post-Rock vistas of Sigur Ros, Godspeed You Black Emperor and Tortoise. All represented strands of traditional Progressive ideas influencing vital and exciting modern music. If Post-Rock was a means of creating a music that contained the thrill and transcendent power of Rock music without resorting to its age-old reliance on riffs and Blues-based solos, Post-Progressive was a means of taking Rock music forward without regurgitating the baroque nature and occasionally stifling virtuosity of some of the original Progressive icons. Alongside inspiration from more recognised 1960s/1970s pioneers, Post-Progressive contained aspects of the technological innovations and primal energy of other forward-thinking genres such as Krautrock, Trip-Hop, Electronica and Post-Punk. The first dedicated Post-Progressive label, Kscope launched in May 2008 (with new albums from its first signings The Pineapple Thief and No-Man, and reissues from genre leaders, Porcupine Tree). An artistically focussed and sympathetic home for an evolving, flexible and adventurous style of music without boundaries, (as with its spiritual forebears 4AD, Factory, Vertigo and Harvest) Kscope is as concerned with packaging and artwork as it is with music and has established a distinctive visual, as well as musical, identity. By continuing to utilise a combination of both new and established talent, Kscope offers a creative nurturing point for like-minded artists. The label has given a springboard for previous unknowns such as The Anchoress, Iamthemorning, Nosound and Lunatic Soul, greater exposure for the likes of The Pineapple Thief, TesseracT, Gazpacho, Jon Gomm and No-Man, and achieved significant chart success for Steven Wilson, Paul Draper, Anathema & Tangerine Dream.
