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Well the thing you've got to understand about progressive is that it's not what a song sounds like that makes it progressive, it's what it sounds like relative to everything else. Confused?
Just because a tune is deep and dubby it doesn't mean it's progressive (though that is the predominant sound within the genre), and, similarly, just because a tune is prgressive, it doesn't man that it has to be deep and dubby. Progressive is simply about going beyond all other existing genres of music, and as such the sound keeps on changing. What was progressive by the standards 5 years ago probably wouldn't be considered progressive today. Take Sasha's GU 13: most of the material on that, if released today, would probably be considered trance, as, in this day and age, both trance music and progressive music have become more subtle and understated. The goal-posts have shifted, the sound continues to evolve.
Also, quite apart from the fact that it is constantly evolving, progressive music incorporates a wide variety of sounds, from a wide variety of genres, which makes it even harder to pin progressive music down into one particular sound. For instance, the following tracks, each with an entirely unique sound from artists with unique backgrounds (their usual genres are placed in the brackets):
Adam Beyer - Remainings III (Techno)
Pete Heller - Stylus Trouble (Tech-House)
Harry 'Choo Choo' Romero - Suck My Clock (House)
Peace Division - On The Bandwagon (Tribal)
Max Graham - Airtight (Uplifting)
Plus, then there are tunes and artists that can only be called "progressive" because they redefine pre-existing boundaries (although, again, the sound of each artist is entirely unique):
Chab
Lexicon Avenue
Moshic
Steve Porter
Satoshi Tomiie
Bill Hamel
James Holden
Dj Remy
And I could go on and on.....
Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that progressive music incorporates a wide variety of sounds and influences, and cannot be pinned down to one particular sound (though, as someone pointed out before, the majority of progressive music can be described as layered and refined - the listener has to put some effort into the listening to appreciate it properly). Progressive music is all about breaking down genre boundries, not erecting new ones.
Oh, and a quick list of artists that are often labelled progressive by people on this board, but who aren't actually progressive at all (I think most fellow-minded prog fans would agree with me):
Push/M.I.K.E.
Marco V
Paul Van Dyk
Tiesto
And so on. Playing (or producing) beatsy, repetitive tracks doesn't make you a progressive DJ (or artist).
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just playin with ya.
