Posted in Whathaveyou on May 25th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
True, a goodly portion of these dates has already been posted. With the same picture of the band, no less. In my defense, Austin heavy party doomers Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol have added dates to their West Coast run in the interim, and announced that on June 4 in Austin they’ll host the inaugural Big Dumb Fest, playing alongside Eagle Claw, the always-delightful Tia Carrera and a host of others as they continue to support 2022’s Doom-Wop (review here) with steady live work. In addition, that album’s vinyl release is coming up in June, and that’s like next week, so there’s relevant info here regardless of the repeated data/photography. I sincerely doubt that, had I not mentioned it already, anyone else would. Alas.
I’ve yet to see this band live — and I’ve spoken before about how I haven’t really formed an opinion on them yet in part because of that; again, nobody cares, I know — but they’re touring with Crobot, and they play Crobot at my gym, so that would seem to hint that they’re looking to find a broader audience than one might encounter on strictly underground heavy tours, even as they step into headlining on the upcoming West Coast run. As to how that will all shake out, it’ll probably be two more album cycles before it’s determined either way, but one cannot accuse them of not putting in the work. They already came East to herald Doom-Wop and I wouldn’t be surprised if they did so again before Europe inevitably beckons with its promises of stuff like food backstage and maybe a place to sleep, unheard of as those generally are in the States.
The PR wire has it like this:
Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol to tour with Crobot in July, headlining Western US tour begins June 4th
Austin trio Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol just completed the first leg of their summer U.S. tour dates and today added July shows with Crobot. Before that, the band headlines the West Coast in June following the first-ever RBBP Big Dumb Fest event in their hometown on June 4th. Please see all dates below. Ticket links HERE:https://taplink.cc/rickshawbillie
Rickshaw Billie’s Big Dumb Fest features 7 bands and 4 food vendors for the ultimate meeting of the ears, eyes and taste buds! Sunday, June 4th, 2023 – at Mohawk Austin – 4pm
Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol w/ Eagle Claw, Tia Carrera, Billy Glitter, Gus Baldwin & The Sketch, Buzz Electro, Pinko Eats by: Chilly’s Philly’s, Bad Larry Burger Club, Jim Jam’s Biscuits, Chef’s Kiss
With their 5th studio release, Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol is putting a name to the style of fuzzed out, overdriven, melodic, groovy music they have been making since 2016. In 9 concise, no bullshit songs, RBBP demonstrates their ability to blend the merciless low end of Leo Lydon’s 8-String guitar, Aaron Metzdorf’s masterful chordwork on the bass, and Sean St.Germain’s driving drumwork. Lydon and Metzdorf’s vocal melodies cut through the high frequencies to deliver fresh layers to the hooks that RBBP fans have come to love.
As the name implies, Doom Wop is a heavy, melody-driven, party metal album. With riffs as big and dumb as ever, and lyrics that stab at the worst members of society and ourselves (while keeping tongue firmly in cheek), listeners will find all the elements that make up the soul of RBBP on this record.
Doom Wop is available on CD and download, released on September 23rd, 2022. Vinyl LP coming in June.
RBBP LIVE 2023: 06/04 Austin, TX – Mohawk Austin – BIG DUMB FEST 06/05 Marfa, TX – Bad Larry 06/06 El Paso, TX – 101 06/08 Tempe, AZ – The Beast 06/09 Los Angeles, CA – Permanent Records Roadhouse 06/10 San Francisco, CA – The Kilowatt 06/11 Sacramento, CA – Old Ironsides 06/13 Seattle, WA – Substation 06/14 Portland, OR – High Water Mark 06/15 Boise, ID – CRLB 06/16 Salt Lake City, UT – Aces High Saloon 06/17 Denver, CO – Hi-Dive 06/19 Tulsa, OK – Soundpony 07/22 Lititz, PA – Micket’s Black Box * 07/25 Greensboro, NC – Hangar 1819 * 07/26 Greenville, SC – Radio Room * 07/27 Summerville, SC – Trolly Pub * 07/28 Ft Myers, FL – Buddha Live * 07/29 Orlando, FL – Conduit * 07/30 Tampa, FL – Orpheum * 08/01 Atlanta, GA – Masquerade * 08/03 Corpus Christi, TX – Mesquite Street South * 08/04 Houston, TX – Scout Bar * * w/ Crobot
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 24th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
In between the last time I posted about a Cortége tour and this time, the Austin trio updated their lineup, not in terms of the personnel, but who’s doing what, and if you need an example of the consistently evolving creativity of the band, there you go. Sure, they’ve got their thing, nestled into the heavy Western style as they are, but I by no means expect that the EP they’ve got up next will be a carbon copy of what they did on Legends of the Desert Vol. 2 (review here), issued in 2021 through Desert Records and that’s more than just in arrangement.
No release date on the EP, and I’m not sure if a four-part EP means it’s four songs being released one at a time that will be compiled as an EP, or four EPs are themselves staggered, or what. Four seven-inches sold in a box? Hell if I know, but it’ll be fun to find out.
Until then, here’s the tour dates, courtesy of I think the PR wire:
Experience The Magic of CORTÉGE’s Summer Tour 2023: Get Ready to be Transported!
Post-Western, bootgaze trio Cortége are hitting the trails for the summer touring season with dates throughout the West Coast and Southwest! Fresh off recording a four-part EP to be released this year, as well as a Nathan Carson/Billy Anderson co-produced full-length album slated for 2024, Cortége is set to deliver another series of transportive musical experiences!
Dates for Summer Tour 2023 are as follows: 6/28 Tulsa, OK @ The Whittier 6/29 Wichita, KS @ Nortons Brewing Company 6/30 Omaha, NE @ Reverb Lounge 7/1 Denver, CO @ Squire Lounge 7/2 Fort Collins, CO @ Carnage V Fest 7/5 Boise, ID @ Neurolux 7/6 Spokane, WA @ Lucky You Lounge 7/7 Bellingham, WA @ The Shakedown 7/8 Tacoma, WA @ The Plaid Pig 7/9 Seattle, WA @ Substation 7/11 Portland, OR @ The Six Below Midnight 7/12 Portland, OR @ Bridge City Sessions 7/13 Eugene, OR @ John Henry’s 7/14 Pacifica, CA @ Winters Tavern 7/15 Lancaster, CA @ The Britisher 7/16 San Diego, CA @ The Bancroft 7/18 Las Vegas, NV @ The Griffin 7/19 Tucson, AZ @ Subspace 7/20 Albuquerque, NM @ Sister Bar 7/21 Juarez, MX @ Anexo Centenario 7/22 San Antonio, TX @ Faust Tavern 7/23 Austin, TX @ High Noon
The Austin, Texas-based ensemble. consisting of bass VI, trumpet, drums, tubular bells and lots of synthesizers, put out two twang drenched, chrome plated offerings on the independent Desert Records in 2022. Combining elements of drone, progressive rock and old school Western film score music, the band’s unique take on what could be considered the soundtrack to a high stakes shoot out on an otherworldly desert planet is not to be missed.
Desert Records released Cortége EP Chasing Daylight EP in early 2021. Legends of the Desert: Volume 2, a split release with The Penitent Man, hit the streets in June of 2021.
Cortége is: Mike Swarbrick: Bass VI, Moog, Mellotron, Tubular Bells Adrian Voorhies: Drums April Schupmann: Trumpet, Percussion
[Click play above to stream High Desert Queen and Blue Heron’s Turned to Stone Ch. 8: The Wake split LP in full. Album is out Friday on Ripple Music and available to preorder here for the US, here for Europe, and here on Bandcamp.]
It’s a quick listen to be sure at just 28 minutes, but Turned to Stone Chapter 8: The Wake, which follows a lineage of Ripple Music splits that goes back eight years to the beginning of a series called The Second Coming of Heavy that focused on then-up-and-coming acts like Geezer and Borracho, Red Mesa, Kingnomad, and so on. That series boasted 10 releases and Turned to Stone began in earliest 2020 with Mr. Bison and Spacetrucker (review here) and has continued to roll out two or three split LPs per year since, the latest bringing together Albuquerque desert grunge sludgers Blue Heron and Austin, Texas, purveyors of plus-sized riffs and melody High Desert Queen.
The reason the lineage is relevant — yea, one split begat another split and that split begat another split, on into biblical perpetuity — is that Turned to Stone Chapter 8: The Wake reminds distinctly of the prior series’ specific intent to bolster newer bands; a mission that it directly inherited. Both High Desert Queen (side A) and Blue Heron (side B) present three songs that arrive subsequent to their debut full-lengths, Blue Heron having released Ephemeral (review here) a year ago this week through Seeing Red Records and Kozmik Artifactz and High Desert Queen having made a justified splash on Ripple (pun absolutely intended) with late 2021’s Secrets of the Black Moon (review here), the recording sessions of which birthed the three songs included here.
Cohesion between the two bands in terms of sound isn’t hard to come by. Both are straightforward in their arrangements, putting weighted fuzz out front in their mix and backing it with mostly mid-tempo grooves, more nod than shove, and both have frontmen involved behind-the-scenes in the heavy underground, whether it’s Blue Heron‘s Jadd Shickler serving as a label manager for Ripple as well as Magnetic Eye Records (also under the SPKR Media umbrella, along with labels like Prophecy Productions, Testimony Records and others) and Blues Funeral Recordings (responsible for the PostWax series and releases this year alone from Dozer and Acid King, among others) or High Desert Queen‘s Ryan Garney heading the booking concern Lick of My Spoon Productions, putting on RippleFest Texas and slating shows and tours for his own band and others.
The fourth-wall-breaking, multi-tiered ‘scene’ contributions of Shickler and Garney give another dimension to Turned to Stone Chapter 8: The Wake — emblematic of the DIY manner in which heavy rock and roll has become what it is today; a worldwide subcultural phenomenon most people know nothing about — but none of it would matter as regards this split LP if the songs weren’t there. I’ll confess there was part of me hoping the High Desert Queen tracks — the mega-hooky “Black Moon,” the shorter, floating-but-not-an-interlude “Drift Into the Sun” and the telltale stoner boogie “Roll the Dice” — would be newer recordings, but one takes what one can get, and having “Black Moon” as a late-arriving semi-title-track from that album is welcome, the song fading in on feedback before its forward roll begins in earnest, a somewhat foreboding groove that turns out to be thick enough for everyone to ride opening up in the verse before the layered melody of the chorus.
Like the album from which they (didn’t) come, “Black Moon” and “Roll the Dice” — the lyrics in the latter seem to be the band asking themselves ‘should we go for it?,’ which is laughable with the hindsight of the two years they’ve spent mostly on tour in the US and Europe, where they’re touring even as this split is released — aren’t trying to play coy in their appeal. They make a space and fill it. “Roll the Dice” has an edge of metal in its post-solo finish, but never crosses over to outright aggression, and is much more a standout single in its impression than a leftover. “Black Moon,” with an even stronger hook at the outset, functions similarly, while “Drift Into the Sun” connects the two to create a sense of fluidity between them, strengthening and broadening the whole as a mini-EP on one side. Don’t be surprised when they show up as bonus tracks on the 10th anniversary reissue of Secrets of the Black Moon eight years from now.
Answering back with “Able Baker” (a Richard Scarry reference?), “Day of the Comet” and “Superposition,” Blue Heron run a thread between first-record-era Queens of the Stone Age in tone and oldschool sludge rock burl as guitarist Mike Chavez (who, like Shickler, was also in Spiritu), bassist Steve Schmidlapp and drummer Ricardo Sanchez smoothly establish themselves on side B. Immersion and atmosphere are prevalent as “Able Baker” runs through its five minutes, with a tonal-highlight of a solo in its second half answering the leads in its first, and melody met with due rhythmic force. “Day of the Comet” is deceptive in feeling looser but maintaining the strong grip on structure, and like High Desert Queen before them, Blue Heron cap with the speedier nod of “Superposition,” a righteous showcase that transposes Facelift-era Alice in Chains onto a foundation of modern heavy.
High Desert Queen and Blue Heron offer further complement to each other in the depth and apparent reach of their mix. Both bands sound big without being overblown or sacrificing craft to studio-born largesse. For committed heavy rockers or those who’ve followed along with the series, Turned to Stone Chapter 8: The Wake is a no-brainer. The kind of release you can pick up and see where it takes you. To those who are unfamiliar or have seen the names around but have yet to check out the songs, the sampler-style encapsulation of what they do is likewise convenient and actually-good. While they’re coming off their respective debuts, as noted, Blue Heron and High Desert Queen share a knowledge of what they want to accomplish in songwriting and performance, and that sense of control makes it that much easier as a listener to roll along to where the riffs are leading.
That destination might be the desert, if we want to talk about aesthetic, but the direction is forward, as both clearly have more to say than has been said here or on their respective first LPs. Ultimately stronger for its relative brevity, Turned to Stone Chapter 8: The Wake leaves the audience wanting more from one band and then the other, engaging with new takes on classic methods with a realized intent toward quality and fullness of sound. The only way to lose is by missing it.
Quotes from the bands, PR wire info, preorder and social links, etc., follow in blue:
—
Ryan Garney on Turned to Stone Ch. 8: The Wake:
“It’s an honor to share a split with Blue Heron. From the first time we saw this band play live we were immediately happy to do anything with these musical juggernauts. Incredible musicians and even better people. It’s also great to be able resurrect three songs from the dead. These 3 tracks didn’t make our debut record and we are happy they get to see the light of day in conjunction with three powerful songs from Blue Heron.”
Jadd Shickler on Turned to Stone Ch. 8: The Wake:
“Split releases work best when there’s a reason for them to exist. It’s easy to slap two bands on a record to fill up the album sides, but when there’s something to connect them, that’s when a split makes sense. Blue Heron and High Desert Queen are both from the Southwest, we’ve both got a shared love of massive desert rock and, whether we intend it or not, a lot of grunge influences. We also dig them as people and as musicians. We welcomed them for their first out-of-state show at our 7-inch release gig in 2021, and they hosted us at Ripplefest Texas last year. We respect the hell out of their ambition, their musicality, and their dedication to huge riffs, so it’s a real pleasure to share this record with them. As for the songs, we put a bit of pressure on ourselves. Our debut album came out just a year ago, and we wanted to follow that with a batch of new tunes that are compact and fairly straightforward, but still show our love for starting a song in one place and ending up somewhere radically different.”
Pairing up two highly esteemed bands of the Southwest underground scene, “Turned To Stone Chapter 8” is a gigantic masterclass of heavy rock, with six tracks that will take you on a riff-fueled journey with no further ado! Between HIGH DESERT QUEEN’s versatile and massive-sounding heavy and BLUE HERON’s raucous and desert-shaped songcraft, it is no understatement to say that we are in presence of true forces of nature, an alliance between two up-and-coming greats of the US stoner and desert rock scene.
“Turned To Stone Chapter 8” will be available on May 26th in various vinyl formats as well as digitally, with preorders available now on Ripple Music. The artwork was created by award-winning comic and poster artist Johnny Dombrowski.
TRACKLIST: 1. High Desert Queen – Black Moon 2. High Desert Queen – Drift Into The Sun 3. High Desert Queen – Roll The Dice 4. Blue Heron – Able Baker 5. Blue Heron – Day Of The Comet 6. Blue Heron – Superposition
High Desert Queen: Morgan Miller – Bass Phil Hook – Drums Ryan Garney – Vocals Rusty Miller – Guitar
Blue Heron: Mike Chavez – Guitar Ricardo Sanchez – Drums Steve Schmidlapp – Bass Jadd Shickler – Vocals
Austin’s Bridge Farmers have climbed the mountain of madness. They’ve ridden the road to oblivion. They’ve eaten the proverbial brown acid, with Cthulhu, in the eye of a hurricane. And, presumably a few days later, the psych-sludge rockers from the Lone Star State decided to document their experiences in the form of their second full-length, Cosmic Trigger, released through Olde Magick Records. It’s been some five years since their 2018 self-titled (discussed here), and some of the shifts in approach that the six songs/44 minutes of this follow-up long-player presents can be accounted for in adding guitarist Pete Brown to the band alongside guitarist/vocalist Tyler Hautala, bassist Garrett Carr and drummer Kyle Rice — I’m not certain how permanent that addition is, but what is permanence anyway when you’re melting the universe to so much transdimensional goo? — but not all of them.
The churning and psychedelic boogie of the nonetheless-noise-drenched, maybe-theremin-inclusive “Temple of Eris I” and the scorching and expansive space rock jam that ensues on “Temple of Eris II” can’t really be written off as just the difference having two guitars makes. Given the sound, it’s more likely the stratospheric drive came first and then the advent of Brown on guitar, but whatever did it, Bridge Farmers are a weirder band than they were half a decade ago — for what it’s worth, it was eight years from their 2010 debut, Din of Celestial Birds, to Bridge Farmers, so five years isn’t their longest divide, and they had other offerings in between — and that weirdness suits them delightfully.
The way Cosmic Trigger is structured is important to the fluidity within and between the six inclusions, which are set up in a pattern of three pairs of shorter and longer songs. To wit, the tracklisting, with runtimes:
1. Frater Achad (5:16)
2. Street Needles (10:06)
3. Temple of Eris I (4:28)
4. Temple of Eris II (8:10)
5. Dark Star (3:20)
6. Lynx (12:40)
From this we can see that Bridge Farmers — who produced Cosmic Trigger themselves with Daniel McNeill engineering and Tad Doyle (TAD, HogMolly, Brothers of the Sonic Cloth) mastering at Witch Ape Studios — approach their third album with a marked sense of purpose, and neither the pairings nor their succession one to the next feels haphazard. Blowing itself quickly out the airlock, the album launches with what might be its oldest song, as “Frater Achad” bass-lumbers into its noisy, vocal-echo-stretching procession, atmospherically vast and unrepentantly stoned in tone. That the song moves at all feels like a collective feat of strength for an early Festivus, but as gravitationally dense as it is, Hautala‘s shouts are loose, almost bluesy in their more melodic moments, and feel born out of some of the same impulse as earliest Monster Magnet, or a less-manic Ecstatic Vision, if you’d like a more modern example, and underneath part of the solo in the second half of “Frater Achad” there seems to be a layer of guitar that’s (maybe) just a pick hitting a string.
I don’t know if that’s actually part of the lead track or a complementary noise — there’s a drone like a mouth harp as well for a while and cacophony is the general idea so it’s hard to tell exactly — but it’s emblematic of the will to experiment, the manner in which the songs have been built up, and the open-mindedness/expanded-consciousness of the band generally. It’s like sludge rock macrodosing ketamine, numbing thought with an onslaught of swing ‘n’ swirl, and that’s before “Street Needles” takes hold to spend 10 minutes pondering what might’ve been if Electric Wizard and Unsane were the same band and they dropped a gallon of acid and rewrote Black Sabbath‘s “Black Sabbath” after jamming out its ultra-recognizable central riff for, I don’t know, six hours?
An almost-Looney Tunes wakeup guitar stretch starts “Temple of Eris I,” and the only direct two-parter on Cosmic Trigger proceeds to build itself up from there until at 1:45 into its 4:28 it can’t take it anymore and begins its outbound launch. Wah guitar, howls of something or other, a steady, righteous air push of bass, and a whole lot of acid wash takes hold and that is the course of the song right into its fade out, which is a surprise until “Temple of Eris II” walks that fade back up slowly, false ending-style. I think it’s guitar, but if you told me it was keys or actual sax, I’d believe you, but either way, it’s a lead where Hawkwind would’ve put the saxophone and it serves just as well in the early going, eventually becoming part of the overarching push, which turns past three and a half minutes in into comedown tom thud and circular trails of guitar.
But wait! As they head toward minute five, they start to give the impression they’re not done and with crash cymbal counting in, they start the thrusters anew and are off to interstellar glory once again, pushing past spiral galaxies left spinning like so many pinwheels in their wonderfully make-believe wake. “Dark Star” follows and regrounds immediately with thick but punkish bass, echoing shouts that could just as easily have been on a Ministry record in the ’90s and an entirely different kind of shove that slams into a wall before its first minute is done, staggers for a moment, then surges again, staggers again, and surges again, a last few lyrics arriving to check if you’re dizzy enough.
That leaves “Lynx” at the finish; the longest track and maybe also the farthest reaching, cosmic and mellow at first, with calmed vocals and an eventual tsunami wall of fuzz that swallows everything. From there the pace picks up to a dense-in-the-low-end, echo-shout-topped boogie, evens out to a desert rock riff with what sounds like a siren blaring from one channel to another, and a where-did-that-come-from revitalization of the space rock tap-tap-tap behind the riff. They resolve it in heavy psychedelic fashion, daring a bit of melody in the layering of guitar and maybe keys while remaining superficially furious until the tape runs out and they’re done for real.
They’ve reportedly got a fourth full-length currently at some stage of progress or other, so it may or may not be another five years before Bridge Farmers are next heard from. I won’t claim to know anything there or to have a guess at where they’re going sound-wise after sitting Cosmic Trigger next to Bridge Farmers and experiencing the acid noise of these tracks, but whether another long-player manifests this year, next year, or in 2028, or never, that does nothing to undercut either the redirect Bridge Farmers have undertaken stylistically or the multifaceted take that’s resulted from it.
In being sort of all-over-the-place while making sense in its own context, “Lynx” is a fitting capper for the album as a whole; it may not encapsulate the full range of ground they trod, but it’s got a goodly portion of it, and in the sure-footed manner of its going it is analogous to the record itself. Even if you emerge from Cosmic Trigger wondering what the hell just happened, rest assured, you’re doing it right. So are they. Just go back, listen again, and let the math work itself out.
Posted in Reviews on April 10th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Welcome to the Spring 2023 Quarterly Review. Between today and next Tuesday, a total of 70 records will be covered with a follow-up week slated for May bringing that to 120. Rest assured, it’ll be plenty. If you’re reading this, I feel safe assuming you know the deal: 10 albums per day from front to back, ranging in style, geography, type of release — album, EP, singles even, etc. — and the level of hype and profile surrounding. The Quarterly Review is always a massive undertaking, but I’ve never done one and regretted it later, and looking at what’s coming up across the next seven days, there are more than few records featured that are already on my ongoing best of 2023 list. So please, keep an eye and ear out, and hopefully you’ll also find something new that speaks to you.
We begin.
Quarterly Review #1-10:
ISAAK, Hey
Last heard from as regards LPs with 2015’s Serominize (review here) and marking 10 years since their 2013 debut under the name, The Longer the Beard the Harder the Sound (review here), Genoa-based heavy rockers ISAAK return with the simply-titled Hey and encapsulate the heads-up fuzz energy that’s always been at the core of their approach. Vocalist Giacomo H. Boeddu has hints of Danzig in “OBG” and the swing-shoving “Sleepwalker” later on, but whether it’s the centerpiece Wipers cover “Over the Edge,” the rolling “Dormhouse” that follows, or the melodic highlight “Rotten” that precedes, the entire band feel cohesive and mature in their purposeful songwriting. They’re labelmates and sonic kin to Texas’ Duel, but less bombastic, with a knife infomercial opening their awaited third record before the title-track and “OBG” begin to build the momentum that carries the band through their varied material, spacious on “Except,” consuming in the apex of “Fake it Till You Make It,” but engaging throughout in groove and structure.
With doom in their collective heart and riffs to spare, UK doom metal traditionalists Iron Void roll out a weighted 44 minutes across the nine songs of their fourth full-length, IV, seeming to rail against pandemic-era restrictions in “Grave Dance” and tech culture in “Slave One” while “Pandora’s Box” rocks out Sabbathian amid the sundry anxieties of our age. Iron Void have been around for 25 years as of 2023 — like a British Orodruin or trad-doom more generally, they’ve been undervalued for most of that time — and their songwriting earns the judgmental crankiness of its perspective, but each half of the LP gets a rousing closer in “Blind Dead” and “Last Rites,” and Iron Void doom out like there’s no tomorrow even on the airier “She” because, as we’ve seen in the varying apocalypses since the band put out 2018’s Excalibur (review here), there might not be. So much the better to dive into the hook of “Living on the Earth” or the grittier “Lords of the Wasteland,” the metal-of-yore sensibility tapping into early NWOBHM without going full-Maiden. Kind of a mixed bag, it might take a few listens to sink in, but IV shows the enduring strengths of Iron Void and is clearly meant more for those repeat visits than some kind of cloying immediacy. An album to be lived with and doomed with.
An offering of thickened, massive lava-flow sludge, plodding doom and atmospheric severity, Dread Witch‘s self-released (not for long, one suspects) first long-player, Tower of the Severed Serpent, announces a significant arrival on the part of the onslaught-prone Danish outfit, who recorded as a trio, play live as a five-piece and likely need at least that many people to convey the density of a song like the opener/longest track (immediate points) “The Tower,” the eight minutes of which are emblematic of the force of execution with which the band delivers the rest of what follows, runtimes situated longest to shortest across the near-caustic chug of “Serpent God,” the Celtic Frost-y declarations and mega-riff ethos of “Leech,” the play between key-led minimalism and all-out stomp on “Wormtongue” and the earlier-feeling noise intensity of “Into the Crypt” before the more purely ambient but still heavy instrumental “Severed” wraps, conveying weight of emotion to complement the tonal tectonics prior. Bordering on the extreme and clearly enjoying the crush that doing so affords them, Dread Witch make more of a crater than an impression and would be outright barbaric were their sound not so methodical in immersing the audience. Pro sound, loaded with potential, heavy as shit; these are the makings of a welcome debut.
Next-generation heavy fuzz purveyed with particular glee, Tidal Wave seem to explore the very reaches they conjure through verses and choruses on their eight-song Ripple Music label debut (second LP overall behind 2019’s Blueberry Muffin), The Lord Knows, and they make the going fun throughout the 41-minute outing, finding the shuffle in the shove of “Robbero Bobbero” while honing classic desert idolatry on “Lizard King” and “End of the Line” at the outset. What a relief it is to know that heavy rock and roll won’t die with the aging-out of so many of its Gen-X and Millennial purveyors, and as Tidal Wave step forward with the low-end semi-metal roll of “Pentagram” and the grander spaces of “By Order of the King” before “Purple Bird” returns to the sands and “Thorsakir” meets that on an open field of battle, it seems the last word has not been said on Tidal Wave in terms of aesthetic. They’ve got time to continue to push deeper into their craft — and maybe that will or won’t result in their settling on one path or another — but the range of moods on The Lord Knows suits them well, and without pretense or overblown ceremony the Sundsvall four-piece bring together elements of classic heavy rock and metal while claiming a persona that can move back and forth between them. Kind of the ideal for a younger band.
Persistently weird in the mold of Arthur Brown with unpredictability as a defining feature, Guided Meditation Doomjazz may mostly be a cathartic salve for founding bassist, vocalist, experimentalist, etc.-ist Blaise the Seeker, but that hardly makes the expression any less valid. Expect arrives as a five-song EP, ready to meander in the take-the-moniker-literally “Collapse in Dignity” and the fuzz-drenched slow-plod finisher “Sit in Surrender” — watery psychedelic guitar weaving overhead like a cloud you can reshape with your mind — that devolves into drone and noise, but not unstructured and not without intention behind even its most out-there moments. The bluesy sway of “The Mind is Divided” follows the howling scene-setting of the titular opener, while “Stream of Crystal Water” narrates its verse over crunchier riffing before the sung chorus-of-sorts, the overarching dug-in sensibility conveying some essence of what seems despite a prolific spate of releases to be an experience intended for a live setting, with all the one-on-one mind-expansion and arthouse performance that inevitably coincides with it. Still, with a rough-feeling production, Expect carries a breadth that makes communing with it that much easier. Go on, dare to get lost for a little while. See where you end up.
II is the vocalized follow-up to Cancervo‘s 2021 debut, 1 (review here), and finds the formerly-instrumental Lombardy, Italy, three-piece delving further into the doomed aspects of the initial offering with a greater clarity on “Arera,” “Herdsman of Grem” and “The Cult of Armentarga,” letting some of the psychedelia of the first record go while maintaining enough of an atmosphere to be hypnotic as the vocals follow the marching rhythm as the latter track moves into its midsection or the rhythmic chains in the subsequent “Devil’s Coffin” (an instrumental) lock step with the snare in a floating, loosely-Eastern-scaled break before the bigger-sounding end. Between “Devil’s Coffin” and the feedback-prone also-instrumental “Zambla” ahead of 8:43 closer “Zambel’s Goat” — on which the vocals return in a first-half of subdued guitar-led doomjamming prior to the burst moment at 4:49 — II goes deeper as it plays through and is made whole by its meditative feel, some semblance of head-trip cult doom running alongside, but if it’s a cult it’s one with its own mythology. Not where one expected them to go after 1, but that’s what makes it exciting, and that they lay claim to arrangement flourish, chanting vocals and slogging tempos as they do bodes well for future exploration.
So heavy it crashed my laptop. Twice. The second full-length from Mumbai post-metallers Dirge is a self-titled four-songer that culls psychedelia from tonal tectonics, not contrasting the two but finding depth in the ways they can interact. Mixed by Sanford Parker, the longer-form pieces comprise a single entirety without seeming to have been written as one long track, the harsh vocals of Tabish Khidir adding urgency to the guitar work of Ashish Dharkar and Varun Patil (the latter also backing vocals) as bassist Harshad Bhagwat and drummer Aryaman Chatterji underscore and punctuate the chugging procession of opener “Condemned” that’s offset if not countermanded by its quieter stretch. If you’re looking for your “Stones From the Sky”-moment as regards riffing, it’s in the 12-minute second cut, “Malignant,” the bleak triumph of which spills over in scream-topped angularity into “Grief” (despite a stop) while the latter feels all the more massive for its comedown moments. In another context, closer “Hollow” might be funeral doom, but it’s gorgeous either way, and it fits with the other three tracks in terms of its interior claustrophobia and thoughtful aggression. They’re largely playing toward genre tenets, but Dirge‘s gravity in doing so is undeniable, and the space they create is likewise dark and inviting, if not for my own tech.
Witch Ripper‘s sophomore LP and Magnetic Eye label-debut, The Flight After the Fall, touches on anthemic prog rock and metal with heavy-toned flourish and plenty of righteous burl in cuts like “Madness and Ritual Solitude” and the early verses of “The Obsidian Forge,” though the can-sing vocals of guitarists Chad Fox and Curtis Parker and bassist Brian Kim — drummer Joe Eck doesn’t get a mic but has plenty to do anyhow — are able to push that centerpiece and the rest of what surrounds over into the epic at a measure’s notice. Or not, which only makes Witch Ripper more dynamic en route to the 16:45 sprawling finish of “Everlasting in Retrograde Parts 1 and 2,” picking up from the lyrics of the leadoff “Enter the Loop” to put emphasis on the considered nature of the release as a whole, which is a showcase of ambition in songwriting as much as performance of said songs, conceptual reach and moments of sheer pummel. It’s been well hyped, and by the time “Icarus Equation” soars into its last chorus without its wings melting, it’s easy to hear why in the fullness of its progressive heft and melodic theatricality. It’s not a minor undertaking at 47 minutes, but it wouldn’t be a minor undertaking if it was half that, given the vastness of Witch Ripper‘s sound. Be ready to travel with it.
In stated narrative conversation with the Arabic influence on Spanish and greater Western European (read: white) culture, specifically in this case as regards the work of Persian philosopher Ibn Sina, Parisian self-releasing three-piece Pelegrin follow-up 2019’s Al-Mahruqa (review here) with the expansive six songs of Ways of Avicenna, with guitarist/vocalist François Roze de Gracia, bassist/backing vocalist Jason Recoing and drummer/percussionist Antoine Ebel working decisively to create a feeling of space not so much in terms of the actual band in the room, but of an ancient night sky on songs like “Madrassa” and the rolling heavy prog solo drama of the later “Mystical Appear,” shades of doom and psychedelia pervasive around the central riff-led constructions, the folkish middles of “Thunderstorm” and “Reach for the Sun” and the acoustic two-minute “Disgrace” a preface to the patient manner in which the trio feel their way into the final build of closer “Forsaken Land.” I’m neither a historical scholar nor a philosopher, and thankfully the album doesn’t require you to be, but Pelegrin could so easily tip over into the kind of cartoonish cultural appropriation that one finds among certain other sects of European psychedelia, and they simply don’t. Whether the music speaks to you or not, appreciate that.
Lush but not overblown, Argentinian instrumentalists Black Sky Giant fluidly and gorgeously bring together psychedelia and post-rock on their third album, Primigenian, distinguishing their six-song/31-minute brevity with an overarching progressive style that brings an evocative feel whether it’s to the guitar solos in “At the Gates” or the subsequent kick propulsion of “Stardust” — which does seem to have singing, though one can barely make out what if anything is actually being said — as from the denser tonality of the opening title-track, they go on to unfurl the spiritual-uplift of “The Great Hall,” fading into a cosmic boogie on the relatively brief “Sonic Thoughts” as they, like so many, would seem to have encountered SLIFT‘s Ummon sometime in the last two years. Doesn’t matter; it’s just a piece of the puzzle here and the shortest track, sitting as it does on the precipice of capper “The Foundational Found Tapes,” which plays out like amalgamated parts of what might’ve been other works, intermittently drummed and universally ambient, as though to point out the inherently incomplete nature of human-written histories. They fade out that last piece after seeming to put said tapes into a player of some sort (vague samples surrounding) and ending with an especially dream-toned movement. I wouldn’t dare speculate what it all means, but I think we might be the ancient progenitors in question. Fair enough. If this is what’s found by whatever species is next dominant on this planet — I hope they do better at it than humans have — we could do far worse for representation.
Posted in Whathaveyou on April 3rd, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Austin, Texas, heavy psych rockers Bridge Farmers release their second album, Cosmic Trigger, May 19 on Olde Magick Records. The three-piece signed to the label early in February and have been dropping hints for a while on a follow-up to their 2018 self-titled debut (discussed here), which was brought to my attention last December in righteous check-this-out-you-dope fashion. Thankfully, I’ll add. But the unveiling of a solid release date is new, and one assumes that at some point between now and then, either they or Olde Magick or both will have preorders up and maybe even a song or two — should I ask to do a stream? probably — and so on with all that putting-out-a-record stuff.
But they posted the photo below of the record in-hand — an exciting mail day in the life of any band — and noted that although it’s been half a decade since their first full-length, they’re currently working on a third in the studio. Presumably that will be released sometime before 2028, but if you’d seek hints at what’s to come with Cosmic Trigger, look no further than 2020’s Live at the Electric Church (recall Duel also did a live record from the same venue), which captures their sound in raw but expansive fashion. That live outing was also recorded in 2018, so I don’t think any of the songs will be on the new record — all but “Frater Achad” appeared on Bridge Farmers, and that was released as part of a two-songer in 2016 — but it’s still an opportunity to dig deeper should you wish to do so ahead of Cosmic Trigger‘s arrival next month.
Here’s that post, dutifully hoisted from social media:
Whilst recording our 3rd album at the Cornpound in San Antone we got our grubby little fingers on our 2nd album ‘Cosmic Trigger,’ to be released on May 19th.
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 22nd, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol are headed out on tour once again starting next month in their native Texas and hitting up the East and West Coasts in succession. I gotta be honest with you, I’m still not really sure how I feel about this band. They released their sophomore album, Doom-Wop (review here), this past Fall to the usual swell of social media hyperbole (that’s nothing to hold against the band or anyone else, mind you; it’s fun to be excited about music and you might say that’s why I do this), building on their 2020 debut LP, Burger Babes… From Outer Space! — likewise fortunate in riffs and unfortunate in cover art — and I dug the crap out of it.
Really, no complaints. I’ll save you the trouble of (not) reading that review: Heavy tones, quirk, fun vibes with tight songwriting and performance to back it up. Reminded me of early-Floor/Torche in a positive way and had its own persona to reside in a post-Red Fang universe of good-time groove. Eight-string guitar and so forth. And they’re a DIY band who tour hard, put in the time, effort and cash to do the thing they believe in doing. If you can’t respect that, well then what the hell do you believe in?
So what’s the missing piece for me jumping on the bandwagon? I’ve given it actual-thought, like, in real life, and I think it’s just that I haven’t seen them live yet. I don’t know that I’ll get to rectify that on this tour — Brooklyn seems to be getting farther and farther away these days; to think I used to complain about having to drive to The Continental — but I hope at some point this year to catch them if I can and while we’re being honest, I’m fairly certain that if/when I do get the on-stage experience, all the cartoon-hamburger-ladies in the world won’t be able to stop me from singing their praises, so covering them until I eventually, hopefully, get there I guess is a way covering my bases. So after the fact I can look back on a post like this and tell myself, “see, I knew they’d be awesome.”
I’ve included the stream of Doom-Wop and the trio’s Katie McDowell-directed video for the ultra-catchy “Heel” here, in case you’d also like to dig in, and of course the dates for their newly announced tours come courtesy of the PR wire:
Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol announce US headlining tour, including Shaky Knees & Thin Line Festivals
Austin trio Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol announce summer U.S. tour dates, including Shaky Knees Festival in Atlanta and Thin Line Festival in Denton. Please see all dates below.
RBBP released their latest album Doom Wop in September 2022. Hear Doom Wop on your favorite streaming service HERE:https://ampl.ink/2YGEb
With their 5th studio release, Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol is putting a name to the style of fuzzed out, overdriven, melodic, groovy music they have been making since 2016. In 9 concise, no bullshit songs, RBBP demonstrates their ability to blend the merciless low end of Leo Lydon’s 8-String guitar, Aaron Metzdorf’s masterful chordwork on the bass, and Sean St.Germain’s driving drumwork. Lydon and Metzdorf’s vocal melodies cut through the high frequencies to deliver fresh layers to the hooks that RBBP fans have come to love.
As the name implies, Doom Wop is a heavy, melody-driven, party metal album. With riffs as big and dumb as ever, and lyrics that stab at the worst members of society and ourselves (while keeping tongue firmly in cheek), listeners will find all the elements that make up the soul of RBBP on this record.
Doom Wop is available on CD and download, released on September 23rd, 2022. Vinyl LP coming in May 2023.
RBBP LIVE 2023: 04/21 Houston, TX – Black Magic Social Club 04/22 San Antonio, TX – Paper Tiger 04/29 Denton, TX – Thin Line Fest 05/06 Atlanta, GA – Shaky Knees Festival 05/07 Nashville, TN – The 5 Spot 05/09 Charlotte, NC – Snug Harbor 05/10 Washington, DC – Quarry House Tavern 05/11 Cambridge, MA – Middle East Upstairs 05/12 Brooklyn, NY – Saint Vitus 05/13 Philadelphia, PA: Kung Fu Necktie 05/14 Pittsburgh, PA – The Funhouse at Mr. Small’s 05/15 Chicago, IL – The Empty Bottle 05/17 Oklahoma City, OK – The Blue Note 06/09 Los Angeles, CA – Permanent Records Roadhouse 06/10 San Francisco, CA – The Kilowatt 06/13 Seattle, WA – Substation 06/14 Portland, OR – High Water Mark 06/16 Salt Lake City, UT – Aces High Saloon 06/17 Denver, CO: Hi-Dive
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 21st, 2023 by JJ Koczan
If you’re unfamiliar — and if you are, that’s fine; I’m not trying to be out here keeping a gate or some bullshit — Ripple Music‘s Turned to Stone split series began after the success of the Cali label’s The Second Coming of Heavy 10-parter and has featured more than a few killers in its time, usually working on a loose theme either curated by Ripple itself or some underground denizen close to their heart. This time around, the two bands are Austin rockers High Desert Queen — about whom I’ve ended up writing pretty much daily for one reason or another the last couple weeks — and Albuquerque’s Blue Heron, who are fronted by Jadd Shickler of Magnetic Eye Records and Blues Funeral Recordings (he also co-founded MeteorCity and the All That is Heavy store before the century turned).
Both bands are awesome, so you’ll pardon if I treat this one as a total no-brainer. May 26 release. Preorders up. Fine. Blue Heron get first-single honors, and you can hear their “Able Baker” (is that you, Richard Scarry?) at the bottom of this post as a herald of more to come. I’ve done a few premieres for the last editions of Turned to Stone, and this press release just came in, so I haven’t made a request yet, but I think that might be where I head after I finish up here, which as it turns out, I just did.
From the PR wire:
US stoner rock units HIGH DESERT QUEEN and BLUE HERON to release ‘Turned To Stone Chapter 8’ split album on Ripple Music this May!
Ripple Music announces the release of “Turned To Stone Chapter 8: The Wake”, the new split record featuring Southwestern heavy and stoner rock merchants HIGH DESERT QUEEN and BLUE HERON, to be issued on May 26th, 2023. Listen to Blue Heron’s debut single “Able Baker” now!
About joining forces with High Desert Queen, Blue Heron frontman Jadd Shickler says: “We dig High Desert Queen as musicians and as people. We invited them to Albuquerque to play the release party for our first single, which I think was their first-ever out-of-town gig. They returned the favor by having us play with them at Ripplefest Texas last summer, and I think all of us in Blue Heron are pretty impressed by their go-getter attitude. Along with all that, several of us are actual friends outside of band stuff, so it just felt like a natural pairing that Todd at Ripple was on board with. We’re stoked that it worked out, and with luck, we’ll be playing some shows with them to promote the record later this year!”
Pairing up two highly esteemed bands of the Southwest underground scene, “Turned To Stone Chapter 8” is a gigantic masterclass of heavy rock, with six tracks that will take you on a riff-fueled journey with no further ado! Between HIGH DESERT QUEEN’s versatile and massive-sounding heavy and BLUE HERON’s raucous and desert-shaped songcraft, it is no understatement to say that we are in presence of true forces of nature, an alliance between two up-and-coming greats of the US stoner and desert rock scene.
“Turned To Stone Chapter 8” will be available on May 26th in various vinyl formats as well as digitally, with preorders available now on Ripple Music. The artwork was created by award-winning comic and poster artist Johnny Dombrowski.
TRACKLIST: 1. High Desert Queen – Black Moon 2. High Desert Queen – Drift Into The Sun 3. High Desert Queen – Roll The Dice 4. Blue Heron – Able Baker 5. Blue Heron – Day Of The Comet 6. Blue Heron – Superposition
