Posted in Whathaveyou on July 28th, 2017 by JJ Koczan
Those who seek the maximum bizarro quotient in their doom likely don’t need me to tell them that the pairing of Italy’s Hands of Orlac and Finland’s The Wandering Midget — who haven’t had a release out in a what-happened-to-the-last five years, apparently — is good news. Cruz del Sur will boldly stand behind the two outfits as they join together for a new split out Sept. 8 that brings four cuts from the former and one extended piece from the wildly politically-incorrectly-monikered latter, and it’s sure to be a dark-hued freakout of a high order both in terms of quality and chemical ingestion. Both bands will be making their debut on the label with this release.
Gonna hope to have more to come on this one as we get closer to Sept. 8, but here’s cover art and the basic social medias announcement of its impending arrival. Hooray for getting weird:
HANDS OF ORLAC / THE WANDERING MIDGET Split Release out in September
The worlds of occult metal and colossal doom collide on the HANDS OF ORLAC and THE WANDERING MIDGET split, set for a September 8 release via Cruz Del Sur Music.
Featuring four contributions from Italian/Swedish occult metal troupe HANDS OF ORLAC and one 18-minute epic from Finnish doomsters THE WANDERING MIDGET, the split finds two disparate, unique bands offering a glimpse into their dark and mysterious worlds.
Formed in 2009, HANDS OF ORLAC has gradually evolved from its early doom forays into a horror soundtrack-infused outfit, heavily inspired by the works of BALLETTO DI BRONZO, GOBLIN, BIGLIETTO PER L’INFERNO and ALPHATAURUS. The band’s four offerings on the split were recorded by veteran producer Berno Paulsson at the renowned Berno Studio in Malmö, Sweden. With the mystical vocal and exotic flute work of G. leading the way, HANDS OF ORLAC offer up an invigorating take on occult metal, with both the progressive “Curse Of The Human Skull” and straightforward “From Beyond The Stars” displaying a degree of balance that is emblematic of a band capable of pushing boundaries without falling prey to genre clichés.
THE WANDERING MIDGET hail from Lappeenranta, Finland and were formed in 2005. The band’s 2008 “The Serpent Coven” and 2012 “From The Meadows Of Opium Dreams” LPs were riff-intense bodies of work, channeling the true spirit of doom forerunners BLACK SABBATH and CANDLEMASS. THE WANDERING MIDGET’s contribution to the split, “Where We March The Vultures Follow”, is their first sonic offering in over five years, and is a true stroke of monolithic doom, laced with anguished, slow-churned melodies and the animated vocals of Samuel Wormius.
The split is the first release on Cruz Del Sur Music for HANDS OF ORLAC and THE WANDERING MIDGET, representing the label’s continued focus on unearthing the underground’s most challenging bands. The sounds of occult metal and epic doom joined together have never sounded so foreboding.
Split track listing: 1. HANDS OF ORLAC – Curse Of The Human Skull 2. HANDS OF ORLAC – Per Aspera 3. HANDS OF ORLAC – From Beyond The Stars 4. HANDS OF ORLAC – Ad Astra 5. THE WANDERING MIDGET – Where We March The Vultures Follow
HANDS OF ORLAC line-up: G. – Vocals / Flute A. – Guitars F. – Bass J.– Drums
THE WANDERING MIDGET line-up: Samuel Wormius – Fire Lungs & Tornados Thomas Grenier – Storm of Locusts Jonathan Sprenger – Earthquake Sorcery
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 28th, 2017 by JJ Koczan
Flute-laden Dresden four-piece Wucan have spent the last couple years kicking around various Desertfests — they did London and Berlin in 2017, Belgium in 2015, and were at Up in Smoke last year — in support of their 2015 debut album, Sow the Wind. On Sept. 29, they’ll follow that outing with the similarly-titled Reap the Storm through MIG Music, leaving one to wonder what the relationship between the two records is, beyond the simple fact of the one preceding the other. Just curious. Maybe they’re working on a theme of harvesting weather. I don’t know.
No audio yet, but art and tracks and word from the band themselves, who indeed have a slew of live dates booked for this Fall. I haven’t seen their name in festival updates as yet, but that doesn’t mean it won’t wind up there over the next couple months. Still plenty of time, and when I hear whatever I hear, I’ll post. You know the drill.
Here’s what they had to say about Reap the Storm:
Wucan – ‘Reap The Storm’ Double LP out Sep 29th 2017
Dear Dopetrotters,
After we have spent months in the studios developing, recording and mixing the new record, we are beyond stoked to finally tell you that our 80 minutes Double LP ‘Reap The Storm’ will be out on Sep 29th 2017 via MIG music. Yup, it’s a lot of music we have coming up for you!
Francis: “With this record we took what musically developed and just became apparent on our first LP ‘Sow The Wind’ to the next level. ‘Reap The Storm’ is not just a snapshot of our own personal and emotional state at this point, but the logical follow up to all our previous work.”
And damn, we are excited for you to hear the outcome! This time we’ll have two German songs, one of them being an acoustic ballad, one a politically/ socially critical piece and two songs longer than 15 minutes, that’ll take you on an adventurous trip through the fields of Psychedelic and Progressive Rock. Plus the Heavy Flute Rock tunes that shaped our style in the past.
Title List:
Side A Wie Die Welt Sich Dreht Ebb And Flute/ The Eternal Groove Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind
Side B I’m Gonna Leave You The Rat Catcher Falkenlied
Side C Aging Ten Years in Two Seconds
Side D Cosmic Guilt
We truly hope you guys will enjoy the results of our and our team’s hard work! More details on pre-order etc. to come asap.
Yours truly, Wucan
Produced and Recorded by Nene “Porco Dio” Baratto Mixed by Charlie Paschen Mastered by Andreas “Lupo” Lubich Cover Art by Daniel Stolle Layout and Inner Design by Burning Moon Photo by Martin Becker
Wucan live: Sep 07 Zeche Bochum, Germany Sep 20 Reeperbahn Festival Hamburg, Germany Sep 21 Mephisto, Faust Hannover, Germany Sep 23 Scheune Kulturzentrum Dresden, Germany Oct 05 Das Bach Vienna, Austria Oct 14 Merleyn Nijmegen, Netherlands Oct 19 Das Bett Frankfurt, Germany Oct 28 Jovel Club Münster, Germany Nov 02 Club, Backstage Munich, Germany
It might take a second to seep in — it did for me, to be sure — but there is indeed a Metallica reference at root in the title of Bloodnut‘s second full-length, St. Ranga. It’s a slant-rhyme and almost the word backwards, but yeah, it’s there. The low-tuning Auckland, New Zealand-based trio are up to more than just that kind of mischief as well on the follow-up to their also-referentially dubbed 2016 debut, Blues from the Red Sons, which played off their status as a “band of gingers” for the fact that all three current members — bassist/vocalist Doug McFarlane, guitarist Doug Robertson and drummer Ty Boniface — have red hair. Songs like album opener “The Space Orangutan” — hence “ranga”; see also the cover art — and the closing “Song of Fire and Ice” ensure that stoner rock charm is alive and flourishing, and like the densely-packed portion of riffs in those songs and between them, ready to engage full-on nod of a traditional type no less long-standing.
I’m talking about groove, people. Bloodnut do it sludgy, raw at times on St. Ranga, but they do it all the same, taking burl and maybe a bit of speed from High on Fire — the 1:38 punker blast “That Fire Inside” being on its own wavelength, but still fast in following second cut “Mark of the Outcast” — and rolling out low-end plunder that stomps or gallops at will. “The Space Orangutan” is the longest cut at 8:45 (immediate points) and gradually picks up from its initial lumber, but a cut like “Burning Bush” — also spelled “Burning Boosh” in the tracklisting — chugs out mid-paced bass pulsations along with lyrics about, what else?, mismatched head and pubic hair colors. The important question, “What makes you think you have to lie and dye?” hits in the verse and the prepare-to-have-it-stuck-in-your-head shout-along hook, “You think you’re under cover/Me and your mother know the truth/When you get under the covers/Lo and behold, the burning boosh,” follows.
Of course it’s a gag, and St. Ranga is nothing without its winks and nods — the penultimate “Red Dead Riders,” for example, would seem to be about the hazards of being pale in bright sunlight — even in the more severely-themed “Mark of the Outcast,” but the 31-minute long-player offers substance in tone and songwriting as well as humor and its stylistic blend of sludge, heavy rock and punk, and Bloodnut prove themselves right to embrace a sonic persona that seems true to the jokes that might fly around their rehearsal room. It makes the whole album seem more honest.
St. Ranga sees its official release Aug. 1. Below, you can check out the premiere of a lyric video for “Burning Bush” and get some background courtesy of the band.
Bloodnut, “Burning Bush” lyric video
Doug McFarlane on “Burning Bush”:
Burning Bush is a little bit of tongue in cheek fun nestled in the middle of a relatively dark and doomy album by comparison. It is about women who choose to hide their fire under a bushel… or different hair colour to what they have naturally.
The rest of St. Ranga covers things like persecution, religion and Norse mythology, but this song is the one song about the opposite sex that every album requires.
The follow up to the 2016 album – Blues From the Red Sons, St.Ranga is raw, visceral and tuned even lower than their first offering. A sludge filled album that still has tongue in cheek elements, it endeavours to cover the darker side of what it means to be red of hair. With songs that cover religious persecution, the negative myths and history surrounding the 2% you might even get a bit of an education of what it’s like to be ginger.
Recorded in a garage session style by fellow ranga Elliot Lawless (of Greenfog) over one weekend and in a rare 4 piece variant of the band, St. Ranga is a clear evolution from their first offering and perhaps a reaction to the polished bit by bit style of recording utilised on Blues From the Red Sons.
Bloodnut on this album is: Doug McFarlane – Bass, Vox Nick Smith – Guitar Kyle Wetton – Guitar Ty Boniface – Drums
Tracklist: 1. The Space Orangutan 2. Mark Of The Outcast 3. That Fire Inside 4. Burning Bush 5. Red Dead Riders 6. A Song Of Fire And Ice
Recorded and engineered by Elliot Lawless. Mastered by Nich Cunningham.
Bloodnut is: Doug McFarlane – Bass/Vox Ty Boniface – Drums Doug Robertson – Guitar
As Riff Lodge Animation was making the first announcements about what its animated film, The Planet of Doom, would entail in the process of partnering different artists and bands with each other to tell an overarching narrative written by David Paul Seymour and animated/directed by Tim Granda, it was obvious it would be a significant undertaking. That has proven to be the case even when one factors in the successful Kickstarter campaign launched to fund the endeavor, and with no fewer than 17 bands and 12 graphic artists locked in to participate — plus more to be announced — it’s an achievement even in the making in terms of the logistics and coordination involved on the part of Seymour and Granda.
The Planet of Doom stands in the tradition of music-driven animated tales like Heavy Metal, telling a tale wound around warriors and revenge and motorcycles in space, and so on. With an accompanying soundtrack set to feature Wo Fat, Orchid, Cirith Ungol, Slomatics, Mos Generator, Elephant Tree, Slow Season, Phillip Cope (ex-Kylesa), Vokonis, Messa, Mother Crone, the just-confirmed Space Witch, as well as Destroyer of Light, Order of the Owl, Ironweed and Granda himself, one anticipates it will lack nothing for heft, and as both Granda and Seymour will design their own chapters along with Skinner, Adam Burke, Alexis Ziritt, Jason Cruz, Burney, Simon Berndt, Brian Profilio, Maarten Donders, Gorgeous George and Forrest Cavacco, there’s no less visual scope involved than audio. It’s a massive, comprehensive project.
Accordingly, it’s going to be a while before it comes together. Still, Granda was kind enough to take some time out recently to discuss where he and Seymour are in the film’s making, how the idea and screenplay came about, some of the details of the plot, what’s involved in bringing bands and artists together, music as a storytelling vehicle and more. You can find the complete Q&A, along with some screen grabs of the work in progress and a test animation of The Planet of Doom‘s opening, below.
Please enjoy the following Six Dumb Questions:
Six Dumb Questions with Tim Granda of Riff Lodge Animation & The Planet of Doom
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How did The Planet of Doom come about? What inspired you to take up a project of this magnitude? How much was Heavy Metal an inspiration?
When David Paul Seymour left his 9 to 5 job to strike out on his own, I half-jokingly mentioned to him that we now had time to make an animated movie. To my surprise, he was thrilled with the idea, and from there we had many conversations about what we’d like to do. David had written a story a while back that we thought would be perfect to build a film around, and after a few tweaks, like moving the location from Asia to Europe, we were off and running.
The film Heavy Metal was a big inspiration to us. We’ve been huge fans of both the film and magazine ever since we were kids. When the magazine shared the news of our Kickstarter last year we were beyond stoked.
In addition to Heavy Metal, there were a lot of films from that era that made an impression on us. Stuff like Fantastic Planet and Gandahar by René Laloux, and just about everything by Ralph Bakshi (Fritz the Cat, American Pop, Wizards). All of these films proved that animation can be more than just kids’ fare. Unfortunately, the medium has become soft and cute again, so it would be awesome if this film could help usher in a new wave of animation aimed at adults.
Tell me about the process of picking and coordinating with different artists to get them involved. Frankly, it sounds like a nightmare from a logistical standpoint. Do different bands require different styles of art?
When we we’re starting out, it was decided that David would come up with a list of bands to reach out to while I’d focus on the artists. There ended up being some crossover, but that’s the general approach we took. The majority of folks we reached out to jumped at the chance to come onboard, and we were thrilled at the level of enthusiasm we were seeing for the project. It all came together really fast, much quicker than David and I anticipated.
Initially, we’d let folks pick the chapter that interested them, but as time went on, we did some reshuffling with the matchups to bring folks together who’d really nail a specific section of the story. Grouping Maarten Donders with Messa was one of them, as was Gorgeous George and Slow Season. In the end, I think we struck a killer balance of calculated moves and “happy accidents,” where a band/artist combo came together by chance that was better than what we could’ve imagined.
Is there an overarching story to the film or is it vignettes? Can you talk about some of what we can expect in terms of plot?
The film is your classic revenge tale, in which our hero, Halvar, sets out to defeat the deadly beast Mördvél for the slaying of his bride. While the roots of this type of story go back to ancient myths and fables, we feel it’s the film’s presentation that will make it unique.
One of the things we loved about Heavy Metal was the format. We really dug how the style of art changed from one sequence to the next, as if you were reading an issue of their magazine. But rather than use a plot device like the “Loc-Nar” to tie a series of unrelated segments together, we wanted to stick to one story that’s split up into a series of chapters, with each being told by a different band and artist.
An idea I had from the start was not to use any dialogue, and instead let the bands tell the story through their lyrics, sharing the task of narrator, more or less. The process generally went like this: each band was given only a brief description of their chapter by David so they’d have the freedom to add to the story as they saw fit. From there, I’d expand upon the lyrics and David’s outline by writing lots of additional scenes in a detailed, shot-by-shot screenplay that’s timed to the music. This would then be passed along to the band’s artist to create a storyboard from.
What issues have you come up against in making the film? How have you dealt with setbacks or these challenges?
Though it’s been a year since the launch of our Kickstarter, we couldn’t start production until we knew we had the funds to pay everybody. After the Kickstarter was successful, bands were given the green light to start writing their original music. As you can imagine, that’s not something that happens overnight. Bands might be touring, or taking some time off, but ultimately, they would all need to find the time to get together and write then book a studio. We also had some bands and artists who bailed, and a few that we had to let go, so that slows down the process too. Ultimately, it all worked out for the best because we couldn’t be more stoked with the talent we have working on the film.
Fortunately, nearly all the music has now been turned in. Screenplays have gone out to their respective artists, and we’ve approved quite a few storyboards from them already. Right now I’m animating the chapter featuring musician Phillip Cope and artist Skinner, and after that I’ll be moving on to David’s and Mos Generator’s. Approved art is coming in all the time so I’ll be jumping from one spot in the film to the next as stuff comes in.
What’s the timeline on completion? How much is left to do?
I’m hoping to have the film done by the end of 2018, which is going to be quite an undertaking since I’m the only animator. The artists in the film are only supplying me with a stack of drawings; they won’t be the ones animating their work. It’s my job to cut up all the art into thousands of pieces and bring it all to life. The process is long and laborious, so while we’re shooting for 2018, it may come in later than that.
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 27th, 2017 by JJ Koczan
It’s always awesome to see an artist hit a real creative stride, and though Dee Calhoun‘s main band, Iron Man, aren’t doing much at the moment, the vocalist known for his Halfordian shriek is hardly letting that slow him down. 2015 saw the issue of his first book project in a collection of short stories, and on Aug. 9, he’ll follow that up with a new novella titled Jesus, Devil, Deed. This is taking place even as Calhoun also prepares for the Argonauta Records release of his second solo album, Go to the Devil, which is landing on a quick turnaround from his 2016 just-because-it’s-unplugged-don’t-mean-it-ain’t-metal debut, Rotgut (review here).
So yeah, nothing about this not to like, as far as I’m concerned. Creativity flourishes, abounds and whatnot. Info about the book follows, as posted by the author himself:
Argonauta Recording Artist Dee Calhoun (aka “Screaming Mad Dee”), the voice of doom metal legends IRON MAN, has announced the release of his novella JESUS, DEVIL, DEED.
This novella marks Dee’s second venture into fiction writing; his first book, a collection of short stories called TALES OF THE SCREAMING AND MAD, was released in late 2015.
JESUS, DEVIL, DEED is the story of a broken man who petitions Christ for the return of his once devoted soul, so that he may sell it to Satan. The story is an expansion of the tale told in Dee’s song “Jesus, the Devil, the Deed,” which will appear on his upcoming album GO TO THE DEVIL, due later this year from Argonauta Records.
“It’s a story of desperation, exasperation, and of where one should ultimately place one’s faith and dependence,” Dee said. “It began as a song, and the song only tells a very condensed, basic version of the story. It’s almost like a twisted, modern version of the Crossroads myth, and it was great fun to flesh the tale out to see how the events fully unfolded.”
JESUS, DEVIL, DEED continues what has been a very productive year creatively for the singer/songwriter from Frederick, MD. In addition to this novella and GO TO THE DEVIL, Dee has also narrated Bruce Moore’s upcoming Christian Metal documentary METAL MISSIONARIES (due September 1st), and is fronting new Maryland-based heavy rockers THEE IRON HAND.
JESUS, DEVIL, DEED will be available on Wednesday August 9, 2017 via Amazon.com, CreateSpace eStore, and other online retailers. Dee will also have copies available at his live shows.
News regarding this and other things Dee-related can be found on his website, www.screamingmaddee.com.
Primarily, Medicine feels like an exploration of depth. Not just in the sense of asking how low they can go in terms of tone, but what kind of distance can they set up between those lows and highs, how far can a song stretch from one end to the other before, like taffy, it is pulled apart. Excitingly, the cumbersomely-named Bees Made Honey in the Vein Tree (as opposed, one assumes, to doing so in the lion’s skull, à la Earth) never find out, and their five-song/46-minute first full-length stands among 2017’s strongest — and most weighted — heavy psychedelic releases as a result. The Stuttgart, Germany, four-piece recorded Medicine late in Fall 2016 at Milberg Studios and issued it themselves digitally and on CD in January, but a Pink Tank Records vinyl edition brings it to a well-deserved wider distribution and positions the work of guitarist/vocalist/cover artist Simon Weinreich, guitarist Lucas Dreher, bassist/graphic designer Christopher Popowitsch and drummer/vocalist Marc Dreher (relation to Lucas presumed) as particularly satisfying in its blend of extended, jammed-out instrumental sections and denser tonality.
Without losing sight of their core mission, Bees Made Honey in the Vein Tree proffer liquefied flow between and within their tracks, coming across as cohesive and patient as a cut like the 14-minute penultimate “Sail Away I” demonstrates in unfolding lines of intertwining guitar and bass held together by the underlying drums on a steady, immersive build that’s warm, headphone-ready, melodically rich and hypnotic without being meandering. Medicine works quickly in that song’s echoing spaces and those of the 10-minute opener “Every Night I Walk the Same Trail of Thought” to earn a place as one of the best debuts of the year.
One can hear the influence of Colour Haze in some of the more open stretches, and that never hurts, but even more than the Munich-based progenitors of the style, Medicine directly reminds of the 2010 debut from Dutch trio Sungrazer. That’s not a comparison I make lightly, and while some of the fuzz that coats the driving first crescendo (preceding the crashing second one) of “Sail Away I” might draw a sonic line in that direction, it’s one even more about the act of blending heavy rock and psych impulses in a specific way and with an overarching naturalism that becomes a righteously defining element. If I note that Medicine might be the most engaging heavy psych debut I’ve heard since Sungrazer‘s self-titled, it will invariably sound like hyperbole, but I’m hard pressed to think of more than a handful of first offerings that have brought forth the same clearheaded idea of what they wanted to do and realize it in the same way. If nothing else, it sets Bees Made Honey in the Vein Tree on a path of becoming a truly special kind of band, and one whose impact, in the tradition of Samsara Blues Experiment or Black Moon Circle or others building memorable songs out of jams, may resonate over a longer term.
Structurally, Medicinebenefits greatly from starting its two sides with the longer pieces. “Every Night I Walk the Same Trail of Thought” begins so quietly that at first one might be tempted to double-check that it’s actually playing, and while neither “Burn the Sun” (7:40) nor “Medicine” (6:38) slouches in terms of runtime, there’s a notable departure from the shimmering guitar that sounds the opener’s first notes toward crunchier-riffed push as “Burn the Sun” gets moving. There’s still space for space, to be sure, but even as the guitars air out leads late before turning to the heads-down riff that brings the song to its end, there’s an undercurrent of low-end heft behind them that makes for both counterpoint and complement. Likewise, the title-cut and centerpiece launches open and jammy to foreshadow some of the post-rock elements still to come in closer “Sail Away II” (6:54), but makes its way after the two-minute mark via feedback into a heavier plod that would seem to be the source of the band’s claim on an aspect of doom within their approach. It’s slow and heavy, anyhow. In context, the mood doesn’t necessarily feel down or dark in the way one might expect, but to quibble about self-imposed genre tags feels like missing the point. There’s a fluidity there. Better to go with it.
And Bees Made Honey in the Vein Tree make a convincing argument for doing so, which turns out to be one of Medicine‘s great strengths. Its tracks earn the listener’s trust such that following the band along the trail they’re walking becomes an absolute joy rather than something done tentatively, and the jammier vibe of “Sail Away I” and willful delve into post-rocking drift in “Sail Away II” gracefully expand on what side A accomplishes before them, “Sail Away I” resolving itself in blown-out echoing vocals and a nodding apex, and the finale holding to its peaceful guitar progression even as some of Medicine‘s heftiest lumbering plays out beneath. That last emphasis on the two sides meeting head on in Bees Made Honey in the Vein Tree‘s work serves to highlight the duality at work across the album’s entirety, but it’s not a staid thing by any means, and it wouldn’t work if it was.
The band are clearly comfortable in adjusting the balance to suit the needs of their material, and whether that’s done consciously in arranging parts and pieces or something that just comes out of different jams, it’s no less crucial to Medicine‘s ultimate success. There’s a telling moment after “Sail Away II” has blissed itself into final lines of fading guitar when we hear a chair creak and what sounds like drum sticks get laid down. It’s over. These quick, last few seconds are an effective acknowledgement thatMedicine is intended to convey a live experience — it may well have been recorded live, I don’t know — and Bees Made Honey in the Vein Tree, who’ve already proliferated such an organic chemistry, seem to hint that along with the exploration of spaciousness at work throughout their material, the corresponding message with that is that the direction in which they’re headed has been plotted naturally, i.e. in an unforced manner. One can only hope they continue to tread the path Medicine lays out before them.
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 27th, 2017 by JJ Koczan
Pittsburgh duo Zom, founded by members of Brimstone Coven and Monolith Wielder, have announced the title of their debut full-length as Nebulos. Slated for release presumably late in 2017 or early in 2018, the album will be released by Argonauta Records as part of that Italian label’s ever-expanding roster — which also includes the aforementioned Monolith Wielder, in which drummer Ben Zerbe plays as well — and will reportedly feature tracks from Zom‘s 2013 self-titled EP (review here), as well as brand new material.
Should be interesting to hear how the two mix together when the time comes, but details on Nebulos beyond the title and basic construction are sparse as yet, so I’m guessing it could be a while. Still, here’s the announcement from Argonauta, because, you know, it’s been a couple days since they signed a band, so they were due:
ZOM signed to ARGONAUTA Records; new single and video-clip running now
ARGONAUTA Records is excited to announce to have inked a deal with Pittsburgh based Heavy Rock trio ZOM.
ZOM is a monstrous force of heavy rock n’ roll full of stinky, stoner grooves and grab-you-by-the-throat hooks. ZOM goes straight to the gut and doesn’t hold back on its relentless attack on the senses.
“We are thrilled to join such an impressive roster at Argonauta Records! Argonauta gives us the opportunity to have ZOM reach the ears of people around the world. We put our heart and soul into this album and we’re emboldened by the confidence that Argonauta has in our unique style. We couldn’t be more proud of this record and it’s an honor to be on a strong label with so many great bands.” — Gero von Dehn
In 2014, experienced and multifaceted music vets Gero von Dehn (MONOLITH WIELDER) and Andrew D’Cagna (BRIMSTONE COVEN) joined forces for ZOM’s debut self titled EP limited to a release of under 100 copies.
Now in 2017, ZOM is back with newly recorded material as well as some additions. This new material will be released along with fully remastered versions of the original tracks from the self titled EP.
“The release of our full length NEBULOS via Argonauta Records is an exciting opportunity indeed. We’ve always felt these songs were special and strong, they just need to reach the right ears of the right audience at the right time. Thankfully that day has come to light!” — Andrew D’Cagna
With ZOM finally getting around to going out on the road some new members have been enlisted. Von Dehn is still on vocals and guitar, while D’Cagna remains on bass. Ben Zerbe (Monolith Wielder) is on drums for the new tracks and the rest of the touring band is being assembled.
“So glad to be releasing this album with Argonauta. It’s an honor to be asked by Gero and Andrew to join this powerful monster that they started a couple years ago. We’re excited for the release and the new markets that Argonauta will help us reach.” — Ben Zerbe
Phoenix, Arizona, bringers-of-fuzzy-shenanigans Stinkeye released their debut full-length, Llantera, last month, just prior to hitting the road on a tour along the Pacific Coast to support it. They’ve been selling CDs at shows, tapes can be preordered ahead of an Aug. 5 issue through Blade Records and one can purchase the album via iTunes — it’s not currently on their Bandcamp — but if it’s mainly at shows for now or the three-piece is working out something else for a vinyl release, then fair enough. I dug the hell out of their 2016 four-tracker, Llantera Demos (review here), and Llantera proper is a more than worthy follow-up — not just because it happens to work in all four of those songs, either.
I think you can both hear and see my reasoning in the video below for “No Spoon,” directed by Andrew Hosley. A young band comprised of Hosley on guitar/vocals, Harris Smull on bass and Anthony DeMuro on drums, Stinkeye effectively bring together elements of grunge, fuzz rock and heavy psych, and with a laid back garage-style roll, their vibe is languid and tripped out. The clip follows suit with a weirdo edge that feels like it was born in the ’90s much as the band themselves probably were. Maybe. In either case, whatever’s up with Llantera, officially it’s been put out once and I wouldn’t be surprised if it got nabbed somewhere along the line for vinyl issue by this or that label, since the trio groove so fluidly across its span and even in the sphere of West Coast heavy psych, what they’re doing stands out as being less ’70s derived and more about depth than the shuffle. It’s an easy one to dig.
And of course, I hope you do precisely that as regards the “No Spoon” clip, which you’ll find immediately following here:
Stinkeye, “No Spoon” official video
“time slips away, down the gutter, and into space”
Artist: Stinkeye Song: No Spoon Album: LLANTERA Label: Milwaukee Junction Records
Song Produced and Engineered by Dylan Thomas.
Video produced and edited by Andrew Hosley / Filmed by Bailey Price and Morgan Richmeier.
