Porcupine Tree

仅管通常划分于Brit-Pop阵营的Radiohead与Mansun等团几度也让世人见识了他们张扬的另一面，Porcupine Tree无疑才真是此派的领导者之一。主唱兼吉他手Steven Wilson曾宣称他简直是一大票二流Genesis赝品乐队中，Prog-Rock孤独的救世者，其使命就是要将70年代的Prog-Rock重新带回当今流行主力。口气虽然狂妄，但回顾整个90年代，出身英伦独立圈的他们的确成就了英国与欧陆乐迷的狂热追随。
93年的“Up the Downstair”被当时的Melody Maker誉为迷幻经典、NME读者票选年度最佳榜首；而99年的“Stupid Dream”里，来自前Japan 键盘手Richard Barbieri的表现，更被形容为‘Pink Floyd与The Orb相遇在月尘里’。混融着太空迷幻与电气环境、既当代且深遂的声响风景，的确将他们自复古Prog-Rock运动中脱俗而出，自成一家之言。
by Ned Raggett
Though he initially came to wider attention (at least in the U.K.) with No-Man, his long-running collaboration with Tim Bowness, throughout the 1990s singer/guitarist Steven Wilson gained as much of a reputation for Porcupine Tree. Embracing and exploring prog rock inspirations while always keeping an ear out for newer musical connections, thus sidestepping the pointless revivalism of many of the bands peers, Porcupine Tree has created some noteworthy albums and songs over the years, continuing full strength into the new millennium.
The group itself was just Wilson at the start; born in London in 1967, he was too young to participate in the first full flush of psychedelic and experimental rock music, but swiftly made up for lost time, turning out to be a talented musical prodigy. Having learned guitar and keyboards at a young age, he contributed to work by underground prog outfits of the early 80s such as Altamont and Karma while continuing his own musical growth and exploration. 1987 saw the founding of both No-Man and Porcupine Tree, the latter actually starting as a joke between Wilson and a friend about a legendary lost 70s group. Elaborate discographies and other material were created à la Spinal Tap, while Wilson himself created a slew of music meant to be the bands lost recordings. In a humorous twist of fate, two tapes of this material ended up in the hands of other folks interested in hearing more from Wilson, who ended up collating the best tracks for Porcupine Trees real debut album on Delerium Records, On the Sunday of Life, in 1992. Those songs having been something of a nostalgia exercise, Wilson aimed for a more contemporary approach on his follow-up release — the extended single Voyage 34, with a clear debt to ambient techno jokesters the Orb.