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BIZARRE: Kavus torabi - You Need To See This

"There's no denying that Gong has changed me." Kavus Torabi on the new adventures of psychedelic rock, jazz, space-rock and more collective Gong

Since being handed the role of Gong gatekeeper by late founder Daevid Allen, Kavus Torabi has guided the band through a trilogy of albums

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“I think we met with his approval. If I find him haunting me, I’ll know I did something wrong”: Tim Smith left an unfinished Cardiacs album when he died. Five years on, his bandmates released the finished version of LSD

A brother who took over the band, a singer who struggled to keep the secret and a determination to do exactly what their late leader would have wanted led to the end of an 18-year journey

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"Someone spat at our saxophone player, so Tim kicked this guy in the mouth – absolutely perfectly in time to the music": A brief history of Cardiacs, the UK's most adored detested band

Cardiacs defied classification for decades, but new album LSD – finished five years after the death of creative lynchpin Tim Smith – was widely hailed as one of the best albums of 2025

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“I say, not entirely jokingly, we’re mapping out the architecture of eternity”: Every year the most unlikely prog supergroup spend three days shaping weirdo music. Their third album proves it’s working for them

The trio have refined their approach to a project they only started for fun, admitting it’s exploded beyond any of their expectations and changed they way they look at their more usual activities

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Cosmic proggers Gong tease upcoming album with brand new single Stars In Heaven

Gong add more live dates in March and announce new album, Bright Spirit, will be released next year

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“There’s no such thing as coincidence. It’s about being in a flow state. Joining the band I tripped to as a teenager… it all makes sense”: Gong may have lost some humour and older songs, but Kavus Torabi says they’re still supernatural

Daevid Allen’s appointed replacement on keeping the spirituality alive without becoming overwhelmed, the respectful use of acid, and the late band leader’s similarity to Cardiacs’ Tim Smith

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"For a song about facing death it's remarkably joyous": Former world snooker champion and modular synth player Steve Davis picks 10 favourite experimental music songs

Snooker star, DJ, broadcaster and Utopia Strong musician Steve Davis picks 10 favourite pieces of music from his vast collection

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“When we get together it opens up a portal. It’s mapping out the architecture of another dimension!” Steve Davis staged a theft to help The Utopia Strong make second album International Treasure

Prog’s unlikeliest trio, featuring Kabus Torabi and Michael J York alongside the snooker star, raised their game with the 2022 release. By then they were certain more would follow, even though they couldn’t explain what they actually do

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"We are making psychedelic music or, if you will, head music." Steve Davis, Kavus Torabi and Mike York announce new The Utopia Strong album and share new track Harpies

Cosmic prog trio The Utopia Strong will release their third studio album, Doperider, in October

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“A work of towering vitality, a raised fist and even a raised finger”: Gong’s 10th anniversary edition of I See You casts Daevid Allen’s final work in a new light

Subtle touches mark the full-circle moment when Allen – who still had plenty to say – put his band in the hands of Kavus Torabi, and the wheel moved on

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“All the time he was ill, he had it in his head that he was going to finish it when he got home. He never made it home. I guess we owed it to him”: Tim Smith’s Cardiacs story will end with final album LSD

Members of the band who influenced Steven WIlson, Radiohead, Opeth, Andy Partridge and more explain what they did and why it mattered

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Daevid Allen's final album with Gong to be reissued

2014's I See You, Daevid Allen's swansong with Gong has been remixed and will be released in May

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“Gong’s appeal? Not becoming too commercially successful”: Daevid Allen bade a grateful farewell with I See You – but he still believed in the future

Months before his death from cancer, he encapsulated his unique vision in a forward-looking album, then left others to continue his work

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“The interesting thing about going mad is you don’t realise you are… I think I’d become unbearable to live with”: Kavus Torabi’s new solo album brought him back from insanity in an almost religious way

The Banishing is the triumphant result of Gong and Utopia Strong member’s mental battle, loss of his family, support from his friends and a “heroic dose of magic mushrooms”

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Pink Floyd legend David Gilmour is on the cover of the new issue of Prog, on sale now!

Plus Focus, Gryphon, Tim Bowness, Leprous, Yes, Saucerful Of Secrets, Jadis, ELO, Caligula's Horse, Azure and loads more...

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“I loved Yes – but for me every eight-minute Yes song could have been four two-minute singles!” It might have taken a while to admit it, but XTC know they were prog

Emerging in the punk era, they were described as “too clever, “too quirky” and even as “prunk,” but Andy Partridge’s account of the band’s inspiration and motivation makes the truth crystal clear

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“Surely it’s the greatest psychedelic rock song ever recorded… It makes the whole God thing seem plausible!” Kavus Torabi’s Guide To Cardiacs

Gong and Knifeworld guitarist recalls his time in Tim Smith’s band via five of their songs chosen by Prog

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“A plaintive joy throughout, informed by painful experiences… not an album that feels sorry for itself”: Kavus Torabi’s The Banishing

Psychedelic polymath draws a line under a recent difficult past with a personal form of ritual exorcism

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Kavus Torabi shares video for new single, the epic, trippy Heart The Same

Gongand Utopia Strong frontman Kavus Torabi will release autobiographical new solo album The Banishing in June

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"My idea of a pop tune!" Kavus Torabi launches new solo album with video for Snake Humanis

Gong/Knifeworld frontman Kavus Torabi will release autobiographical new solo album The Banishing in June

Louder

New prog music you have to hear from The Pineapple Thief, The Utopia Strong, The C Sides Project and more in Prog's Tracks Of The Week

Great new prog music to check out from North Sea Echoes, A Burial St Sea, 25 Yard Screamer, Sometime In February and more...

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“Daevid Allen was always throwing a grenade into situations… Tim Smith was quite benign, although very driven. They both had the same sort of presence:” Kavus Torabi compares his late Gong and Cardiacs bandmates

Briefed to keep Gong going after Allen’s death, the new leader pursues the same aim with a different vision. How have the fans reacted?

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“Not just an amorphous stream of swirly pothead trance rock… In fact, this album feels more focused than its predecessor:” Gong’s Unending Ascending

With the late Daevid Allen’s blessing, Kavus Torabi continues the 54-year-old band’s mission to music’s outer reaches

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“The universe and self and the inside of ourselves is all the same thing, depending on which end you look down the telescope”: Gong continue a “loose trilogy” with Unending Ascending

Kavus Torabi explains the themes behind the band’s third album after the death of Daevid Allen

Louder

Great new prog music you must hear from Gong, Tarja, Exploring Birdsong and more in Prog's Tracks Of The Week

The week's coolest new prog music to check out from Glass Hammer, Arabs In Aspic, Unprocessed and more...

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