Posted in Radio on September 30th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
As will happen during a Quarterly Review, I’ve sort of found myself thinking there’s a ton of stuff that I don’t want to see get lost in the shuffle, and I’ve decided to focus this episode of The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal on making sure that doesn’t happen.
‘Selections from the QR’ may be the theme here, but what it rounds out to is a cool mix of mostly new music either way. Goes without saying that with 100 releases covered, there was plenty to choose from, and indeed I might end up doing a second of these — it was a two-week Quarterly Review after all, ending today — but if you’ve kept up with that or not, this is a summary of some of what was included. Like the Quarterly Review itself, it’s pretty heavy on vibe and atmosphere, but there are a couple bangers in there too that, along with the rest, I most certainly hope you enjoy.
Thanks if you listen and thanks for reading.
The Obelisk Show airs 5PM Eastern today on the Gimme app or at: http://gimmemetal.com.
Full playlist:
The Obelisk Show – 09.30.22 (VT = voice track)
Mezzoa
Moya
Dunes of Mars
Lightrain
Hyd
AER
Spirit Adrift
Mass Formation Psychosis
20 Centuries Gone
VT
Cachemira
Ambos Mundos
Ambos Mundos
Goatriders
The Garden
Traveler
Garden of Worm
In the Absence of Memory
Endless Garden
Church of the Cosmic Skull
Now’s the Time
There is No Time
Voidward
Chemicals
Voidward
Early Moods
Curse the Light
Early Moods
Maunra
Lightbreather
Monarch
Obiat
Ulysses
Indian Ocean
Reverend Mother
Locomotive
Damned Blessing
Deer Creek
A Dark, Heartless Machine
Menticide
Trillion Ton Beryllium Ships
Mystical Consumer
Consensus Trance
Blacklab
Abyss Woods
In a Bizarre Dream
VT
The Gray Goo
Bicycle Day
1943
Les Lekin
Ascent
Limbus
The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is Oct. 14 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.
Posted in Reviews on September 21st, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Day three, passing the quarter mark of the Quarterly Review, halfway through the week. This is usually the point where my brain locks itself into this mode and I find that even in any other posts where I’m doing actual writing I need to think about I default to this kind of trying-to-encapsulate-a-thing-in-not-a-million-words mindset, for better or worse. Usually a bit of both, I guess. Today’s also all over the place, so if you’re feeling brave, today’s the day to really dig in. As always, I hope you enjoy. If not, more coming tomorrow. And the day after. And then again on Monday. And so on.
Quarterly Review #21-30:
Nadja, Labyrinthine
The second full-length of 2022 from the now-Berlin-based experimental two-piece Nadja — as ever, Leah Buckareff and Aidan Baker — is a four-song collaborative work on which each piece features a different vocalist. In guesting roles are Alan Dubin, formerly of Khantate/currently of Gnaw, Esben and the Witch‘s Rachel Davies, Lane Shi Otayonii of Elizabeth Colour Wheel and Full of Hell‘s Dylan Walker. Given these players and their respective pedigrees, it should not be hard to guess that Labyrinthine begins and ends ferocious, but Nadja by no means reserve the harshness of noise solely for the dudely contingent. The 17-minute “Blurred,” with Otayonii crooning overtop, unfurls a consuming wash of noise that, true, eventually fades toward a more definitive droner of a riff, but sure enough returns as a crescendo later on. Dubin is unmistakable on the opening title-track, and while Davies‘ “Rue” runs only 12 minutes and is the most conventionally listenable of the inclusions on the whole, even its ending section is a voluminous blowout of abrasive speaker destruction. Hey, you get what you get. As for Nadja, they should get one of those genius grants I keep hearing so much about.
El Paraiso Records alert! London Odense Ensemble features Jonas Munk (guitar, production), Jakob Skøtt (drums, art) and Martin Rude (sometimes bass) of Danish psych masters Causa Sui — they’re the Odense part — and London-based saxophonist/flutist Tamar Osborn and keyboardist/synthesist Al MacSween, and if they ever do a follow-up to Jaiyede Sessions Vol. 1, humanity will have to mark itself lucky, because the psych-jazz explorations here are something truly special. On side A they present the two-part “Jaiyede Suite” with lush krautrock rising to the level of improv-sounding astro-freakout before the ambient-but-still-active “Sojourner” swells and recedes gracefully, and side B brings the 15-minute “Enter Momentum,” which is as locked in as the title might lead one to believe and then some and twice as free, guitar and sax conversing fluidly throughout the second half, and the concluding “Celestial Navigation,” opening like a sunrise and unfolding with a playful balance of sax and guitar and synth over the drums, the players trusting each other to ultimately hold it all together as of course they do. Not for everybody, but peaceful even in its most active moments, Jaiyede Sessions Vol. 1 is yet another instrumental triumph for the El Paraiso camp. Thankfully, they haven’t gotten bored of them yet.
True, most of these songs have been around for a few years. All eight of the tracks on Omen Stones‘ 33-minute self-titled full-length save for “Skin” featured on the band’s 2019 untitled outing (an incomplete version of which was reviewed here in 2018), but they’re freshly recorded, and the message of Omen Stones being intended as a debut album comes through clearly in the production and the presentation of the material generally, and from ragers like “Fertile Blight” and the aforementioned “Skin,” which is particularly High on Fire-esque, to the brash distorted punk (until it isn’t) of “Fresh Hell” and the culminating nod and melody dare of “Black Cloud,” the key is movement. The three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Tommy Hamilton (Druglord), bassist Ed Fierro (Tel) and drummer Erik Larson (Avail, Alabama Thunderpussy, etc. ad infinitum) are somewhere between riff-based rock and metal, but carry more than an edge of sludge-nasty in their tones and Hamilton‘s sometimes sneering vocals such that Omen Stones ends up like the hardest-hitting, stoner-metal-informed grunge record that ever got lost from 1994. Then you get into “Secrete,” and have to throw the word ‘Southern’ into the mix because of that guitar lick, and, well, maybe it’s better to put stylistic designations to the side for the time being. A ripper with pedigree is a ripper nonetheless.
Proggy, synth-driven instrumentalist space rock is the core of what Italy’s Jalayan bring forward on the 45-minute Floating Islands, with guitar periodically veering into metallic-style riffing but ultimately pushed down in the mix to let the keyboard work of band founder Alessio Malatesta (who also recorded) breathe as it does. That balance is malleable throughout, as the band shows early between “Tilmun” and “Nemesis,” and if you’re still on board the ship by the time you get to the outer reaches of “Stars Stair” — still side A, mind you — then the second full-length from the Lesmo outfit will continue to offer thrills as “Fire of Lanka” twists and runs ambience and intensity side by side and “Colliding Orbits” dabbles in space-jazz with New Age’d keyboards, answering some of what featured earlier on “Edination.” The penultimate “Narayanastra” has a steadier rock beat behind it and so feels more straightforward, but don’t be fooled, and at just under seven minutes, “Shem Temple” closes the proceedings with a clear underscoring the dug-in prog vibe, similar spacey meeting with keys-as-sitar in the intro as the band finds a middle ground between spirit and space. There are worlds being made here, as Malatesta leads the band through these composed, considered-feeling pieces united by an overarching cosmic impulse.
Following 12 years on the heels and hells of 2010’s Dusk (review here), San Antonio, Texas, doomers Las Cruces return with the classic-style doom metal of Cosmic Tears, and if you think a hour-long album is unmanageable in the day and age of 35-minute-range vinyl attention spans, you’re right, but that’s not the vibe Las Cruces are playing to, and it’s been over a decade, so calm down. Founding guitarist George Trevino marks the final recorded performance of drummer Paul DeLeon, who passed away last year, and welcomes vocalist Jason Kane to the fold with a showcase worthy of comparison to Tony Martin on songs like “Stay” and the lumbering “Holy Hell,” with Mando Tovar‘s guitar and Jimmy Bell‘s bass resulting in riffs that much thicker. Peer to acts like Penance and others working in the post-Hellhound Records sphere, Las Cruces are more grounded than Candlemass but reach similar heights on “Relentless” and “Egyptian Winter,” with classic metal as the thread that runs throughout the whole offering. A welcome return.
Kind of a sneaky album. Like, shh, don’t tell anybody. As I understand it, the bulk of The Freeks‘ nine-tracker Miles of Blues is collected odds and ends — the first four songs reportedly going to be used for a split at some point — and the two-minute riff-and-synth funk-jam “Maybe It’s Time” bears that out in feeling somewhat like half a song, but with the barroom-brawler-gone-to-space “Jaqueline,” the willfully kosmiche “Wag the Fuzz,” which does what “Maybe It’s Time” does, but feels more complete in it, and the 11-minute interstellar grandiosity of “Star Stream,” the 41-minute release sure sounds like a full-length to me. Ruben Romano (formerly Nebula and Fu Manchu) and Ed Mundell (ex-Monster Magnet) are headlining names, but at this point The Freeks have established a particular brand of bluesy desert psych weirdness, and that’s all over “Real Gone” — which, yes, goes — and the rougher garage push of “Played for Keeps,” which should offer thrills to anyone who got down with Josiah‘s latest. Self-released, pressed to CD, probably not a ton made, Miles of Blues is there waiting for you now so that you don’t regret missing it later. So don’t miss it, whether it’s an album or not.
South Africa-based self-recording folk guitarist Duncan Park answers his earlier-2022 release, Invoking the Flood (review here), with the four pieces of In the Floodplain of Dreams, bringing together textures of experimentalist guitar with a foundation of hillside acoustic on opener and longest track (immediate points) “In the Mountains of Sour Grass,” calling to mind some of Six Organs of Admittance‘s exploratory layering, while “Howling at the Moon” boasts more discernable vocals (thankfully not howls) and “Ballad for the Soft Green Moss” highlights the self-awareness of the evocations throughout — it is green, organic, understated, flowing — and the closing title-track reminisces about that time Alice in Chains put out “Don’t Follow” and runs a current of drone behind its central guitar figure to effectively flesh out the this-world-as-otherworld vibe, devolving into (first) shred and (then) noise as the titular dream seems to give way to a harsher reality. So be it. Honestly, if Park wants to go ahead and put out a collection like this every six months or so into perpetuity, that’d be just fine. The vocals here are a natural development from the prior release, and an element that one hopes continue to manifest on the next one.
Crushing and atmospheric in kind, Poland’s MuN released Presomnia through Piranha Music in 2020 as their third full-length. I’m not entirely sure why it’s here, but it’s in my notes and the album’s heavy like Eastern European sadness, so screw it. Comprised of seven songs running 43 minutes, it centers around that place between waking and sleep, where all the fun lucid dreaming happens and you can fly and screw and do whatever else you want in your own brain, all expressed through post-metallic lumber and volume trades, shifting and building in tension as it goes, vocals trading between cleaner sung stretches and gut-punch growls. The layered guitar solo on “Arthur” sounds straight out of the Tool playbook, but near everything else around is otherwise directed and decidedly more pummeling. At least when it wants to be. Not a complaint, either way. The heft of chug in “Deceit” is of a rare caliber, and the culmination in the 13-minute “Decree” seems to use every bit of space the record has made prior in order to flesh out its melancholic, contemplative course. Much to their credit, after destroying in the midsection of that extended piece, MuN make you think they’re bringing it back around again at the end, and then don’t. Because up yours for expecting things. Still the “Stones From the Sky” riff as they come out of that midsection, though. Guess you could do that two years ago.
I’ve never had the fortune of seeing long-running Dallas trio Elliott’s Keep live, but if ever I did and if at least one of the members of the band — bassist/vocalist Kenneth Greene, guitarist Jonathan Bates, drummer Joel Bates — wasn’t wearing a studded armband, I think I might be a little disappointed. They know their metal and they play their metal, exclusively. Comprised of seven songs, Vulnerant Omnes is purposefully dark, able to shift smoothly between doom and straight-up classic heavy metal, and continuing a number of ongoing themes for the band: it’s produced by J.T. Longoria, titled in Latin (true now of all five of their LPs), and made in homage to Glenn Riley Elliott, who passed away in 2004 but features here on the closer “White Wolf,” a cover of the members’ former outfit, Marauder, that thrashes righteously before dooming out as though they knew someday they’d need it to tie together an entire album for a future band. Elsewhere, “Laughter of the Gods” and the Candlemassian “Every Hour” bleed their doom like they’ve cut their hand to swear an oath of fealty, and the pre-closer two-parter “Omnis Pretium (Fortress I)” and “Et Sanguinum (Fortress II)” speaks to an age when heavy metal was for fantasy-obsessed miscreants and perceived devil worshipers. May we all live long enough to see that particular sun rise again. Until then, an eternal “fucking a” to Elliott’s Keep.
Sometime between their 2017 debut, Jungla (review here), and the all-fire-even-the-slow-parts boogie and comprises the eight-song/35-minute follow-up Ambos Mundos, Barcelona trio Cachemira parted ways with bassist Pol Ventura and brought in Claudia González Díaz of The Mothercrow to handle low end and lead vocals alongside guitarist/now-backing vocalist Gaston Lainé (Brain Pyramid) and drummer Alejandro Carmona Blanco (Prisma Circus), reaffirming the band’s status as a legit powerhouse while also being something of a reinvention. Joined by guest organist Camille Goellaen on a bunch of the songs and others on guitar, Spanish guitar and congas, Ambos Mundos scorches softshoe and ’70s vibes with a modern confidence and thickness of tone that put to use amid the melodies of “Dirty Roads” are sweeping and pulse-raising all at once. The name of the record translates to ‘both worlds,’ and the closing title-track indeed brings together heavy fuzz shuffle and handclap-laced Spanish folk (and guitar) that is like pulling back the curtain on what’s been making you dance this whole time. It soars and spins heads until everybody falls down dizzy. If they were faking, it’d fall flat. It doesn’t. At all. More please.
Posted in Whathaveyou on April 25th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Pretty sure my timing on this one is terrible. You see the part down below where it says the presale and first track premiere are April 27? Well that’s what, two days from now? Yeah, I should probably just wait until there’s any details about the new Cachemira album — their first since 2017’s Jungla (review here), which was also on Heavy Psych Sounds — to post about it. But here we are, and at least this way I’m not biting off someone else’s premiere. The yet-untitled (give it a couple days) full-length will be the first since the band, who broke up following that debut LP, reunited during the pandemic era (that’s over, right?) with a revamped one-third of the power trio, bassist/vocalist Claudia González Diaz joining drummer Alejandro Carmona Blanco and Gastón Lainé in the new Mk. II lineup.
If I’m lucky, I’ll have more on this ahead of the release. If not, I’ll do my best anyway. I’m only one person, and barely that.
From the PR wire:
Heavy Psych Sounds Records & Booking is really proud to present a new band signing
*** CACHEMIRA ***
Heavy psych blues rock from Catalonia – Spain
We are so stoked to announce that the heavy psych blues rock band CACHEMIRA has signed a worldwide deal with Heavy Psych Sounds for their new album !!!
PRESALE + first track premiere: APRIL 27th
SAYS THE BAND:
“We’re super excited and proud to be part of Heavy Psych Sounds family and for everything that is to come from the new record!”
BIOGRAPHY
Cachemira was born in Barcelona after many nights of jams during summer of 2015, originally composed of Alejandro Carmona on Drums & Gaston Lainé on Guitar, later joined by Pol Ventura on Bass, releasing their first title ‘’Jungla’’ 2 years later, they played across Europe before they split up in summer 2018.
When Covid hit the band got back together with Claudia González on Bass and Vocals giving a new powerful voice and sound to the band.
Cachemira is a heavy psych trio influenced by the heavy 60’s and 70’s music from all across the world.
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 31st, 2017 by JJ Koczan
I hope you’ll pardon me if I step back from the precipice of yet another here’s-me-daydreaming-about-being-independently-wealthy-and-spending-my-days-countryhopping-from-one-awesome-European-fest-to-the-next post — I don’t even know how many there have been at this point; frickin’ countless; this isn’t even the first one today — to note instead that along with the more familiar names included in the lineup for Barcelona’s Cheapstock Vol. 4 like Libido Fuzz, Belzebong, Blaak Heat, Cachemira, Lewis and the Strange Magics, Abrahma and Witchthroat Serpent, there are a slew of others with whom I at least am less introduced. Eve, Udol, Paz, Mad Macius, Kamadeva, and so on — most of the bottom half of the bill is new to me, and I think that’s awesome. It’s my favorite kind of homework. More music to explore. Whether or not you can make it to the fest, I hope you’ll likewise take advantage of the checklist below.
Cheapstock Vol. 4 — including a bong giveaway and a Kyuss tribute for the aftershow — is put on by Solo Bongs Records and takes place Sept. 9 and 10 at Pineda de Mar in Barcelona, Spain. Doesn’t that sound nice? I think so.
Here’s all the info, including directions how to get there:
We are glad to announce the fourth edition of the Cheapstock festival, Cheapstock Vol4 is an outdoor festival for lovers of cosmic environments, heavy riffs and loud sounds. As new this year the festival will last two days and will feature camping for the 2-day pass.
We repeat site, in the football field of the foundation, this is the LINE UP for Cheapsock vol4:
Belzebong (Stoner, doom), first time in Spain! Only show! BLAAK HEAT (Psych, Progressive, Stoner) Witchthroat Serpent (DOOM) Libido Fuzz (Heavy Psych/ Stoner) ABRAHMA (Psychedelic/Atmospheric Heavy Doom Rock) Cachemira (70’S Retro Rock / heavy psych) MadMacius (Garage Punk) Lewis and the Strange Magics (Heavy Psych Occult) Nerobambola (experimental Jazz, math psychedellic duo) EVE (Progressive, psych-doom, Rapsodia) Electric Valley (Stoner) Kamadeva (Heavy Psych, Stoner) UDOL (Psych, Doom, Sludge) Paz (Doom)
Afterparty BASTARDS OF KYUSS (Kyuss Tribute)
Stands: Branca Studio Doom in aeternum Anskar Tattoo&Piercing +Tbc
Foodtrucks: El alma-zen de los montaditos. + TBC
Cheapstock does not disgust anyone or anything, so you will be able to attend being under age or accompanied with your pet (or with your faithful bong). As it’s tradition, we’ll giveaway a fucking bong!! Courtesy of maxupixu smokers.
Arrival: By Train, R1 Pineda de Mar, there will be a carrilet at the station that will take you directly to the festival compound and back. By Car, by c32 exit 122, until we reach nii and continue direction girona until the exit of the motorway By Bus, Pineda de mar train station and carrilet to the venue. For the most adventurous to say that there are about 25 minutes walking from the pineda de Mar station. BUS NIT: To get back to bcn at night you need to take the n82 by Solo Bongs Collaborate jäger music
Yes! A new podcast! Are you stoked? I’m stoked. If you’re not, you will be when you look at the list of bands included. In any case, let’s be stoked together, because rock and roll, and heavy psych and good music and, well, yeah. That’s pretty much stuff to be stoked about. It’s been absurdly long since the last time we did one of these. Too long. I don’t really have an excuse other than… gainful employment? Don’t worry, though. That’ll be over soon enough. Then it’ll be podcasts out the ass.
There’s some killer goods here though. Yeah, I decided to do a “Yeti” double-shot with Green Yeti into Telekinetic Yeti. That’s my version of me being clever. But both bands are righteous, and if you haven’t heard the Savanah record, or that new Tia Carrera jam, or the Cachemira or Big Kizz or Yagow or Vokonis or the Elder — oh hell, frickin’ all of it — it’s worth your time. That Emil Amos track just premiered the other day and I think will surprise a lot of people, and I liked the way it paired with the dark neofolk of Hermitess. And of course we get trippy in the second hour, as is the custom around here. But first a moment of prog clarity from the aforementioned Elder. That’s a good time as well.
As always, I hope you enjoy.
Track details follow:
First Hour:
0:00:00 Vokonis, “The Sunken Djinn” from The Sunken Djinn
0:06:47 Tia Carrera, “Laid Back (Frontside Rock ‘n’ Roll)” from Laid Back (Frontside Rock ‘n’ Roll)
0:16:33 Supersonic Blues, “Supersonic Blues Theme” from Supersonic Blues Theme / Curses on My Soul
0:19:28 Emil Amos, “Elements Cycling” from Filmmusik
0:22:28 Hermitess, “Blood Moon” from Hermitess
0:26:24 Savanah, “Mind” from The Healer
0:34:22 Yagow, “Non-Contractual” from Yagow
0:42:35 Big Kizz, “Eye on You” from Eye on You
0:45:53 Cachemira, “Jungla” from Jungla
0:52:05 Green Yeti, “Black Planets (Part 2)” from Desert Show
0:58:02 Telekinetic Yeti, “Stoned and Feathered” from Abominable
Second Hour:
1:02:10 Elder, “The Falling Veil” from Reflections of a Floating World
1:13:20 Riff Fist, “King Tide” from King Tide
1:24:15 Cavra, “Montaña” from Cavra
1:39:18 Causa Sui, “A Love Supreme” from Live in Copenhagen
[Click play above to stream Cachemira’s Jungla in full. Album is out today, May 12, on Heavy Psych Sounds.]
More than most records, let alone most debuts, Cachemira‘s first offering, Jungla, gives the front-to-back impression of a live set. With “Ouverture” — French for “opening” — the Barcelona three-piece gradually bring the Heavy Psych Sounds release to life over the course of its first four minutes, and from there, it’s all about the naturalist chemistry that emerges as one song feeds into the next over the course of four pieces on two vinyl sides. When taken together, those two sides, “Ouverture” included, comprise a tight 30-minute set that showcases the band’s personality in what is apparently their formative stage. That is, while Cachemira may not sound like it as they round the hairpin turns of eight-minute tracklist centerpiece and side A closer “Goddess,” which follows “Sail Away” after “Ouverture,” they’re are a pretty new group.
The lineup has some measure of pedigree, as guitarist/vocalist Gaston Lainé has played in Brain Pyramid, bassist Pol Ventura in 1886 and drummer Alejandro Carmona in Prisma Circus, but Jungla is their debut outing together following a recorded early version of the album’s instrumental title-track and a posted leak of “Goddess,” which when taken together here comprise the whole of side B. I suppose one could call it boogie rock with all the scorching guitar-led shuffle in “Goddess” or “Jungla” itself, but the classic-rocking sensibility Cachemira elicit owes more to the likes of Radio Moscow than to Graveyard, and among the most appealing aspects of Jungla is its unpretentious, organic vibe.
Most especially for the heavy rock converted, it’s an easy listen that asks little of its audience other than they tag along for a slew of guitar solos and jam-based songcraft. Anyone who’s heard Prisma Circus can tell you Carmona is a monster shuffle-drummer, and he showcases some of that here, finding complement in the warm low tone of Ventura‘s bass as the band works in classic power trio construction — Carmona and Ventura the powerhouse rhythms section to Lainé‘s frontman presence. As recorded by Lainé‘s Brain Pyramid bandmate, Baptiste Gautier-Lorenzo, the spirit in “Ouverture” is immediately warm with a subtle underscoring of organ for the sweet guitar tone, and as they build toward “Sail Away,” transitioning via that same organ line, the groove that takes hold remains informed by the relatively patient start they give the album.
In terms of the basic elements at play, Jungla works in familiar terrain — guitar, bass, drums, vocals, some flourish of keys — but it’s really about what these players bring to it and how well they work together that lets Jungla impress in the way it does. The band has said outright that this is the product of their beginnings, some of their earliest work from about a year ago, and that may well be the case, but that also shows clearly that what they have most going for them at this point is the fluidity of the instrumental conversation between Lainé, Carmona and Ventura, as the smoothness of their delivery throughout becomes enough to even out the purposeful choppiness and bounce of their writing style such that even the more raucous back half of “Goddess” — drum solo and all — holds firm to its overarching languid mood. Even when they’re in a rush, they don’t sound like they’re in any rush whatsoever.
That’s not to say they don’t build some significant momentum throughout Jungla, because they most certainly do. Even as “Goddess” breaks before the side flip brings on the closing duo of “Jungla” and “Overpopulation,” the sense of motion to the songs is clear, and whether they’re running in circles as “Jungla” builds to a head in its second half, underscored by persistent, insistent crash from Carmona on drums and a steady throb from Ventura on bass, almost jazzy by the finish after a wah-soaked, forward-driven start, or squealing through the starts and stops and winding progression of the finale, that motion is as varied and multidirectional as it ultimately is maintained. If Jungla is to represent Cachemira‘s beginnings, then their beginnings find them not at all afraid of flying off the handle as they twist around complex rhythm structures, and proven that they’re right not to be.
Whether it’s from their collective experience in other outfits or just happenstance that they work so well together — or, I suppose, some combination of the two — the basic fact of the matter is Cachemira‘s debut offers explosive moments amid a liquid, welcoming, almost understated presentation for what they’re actually doing, and in addition to its own accomplishments, it sets them up to move forward and develop along the course they’re setting here. Primarily, though, it speaks to what would seem to be their force as a stage act, and though it’s a short set, there’s no question they leave their audience wanting more. One suspects it won’t be all that long until we get it, but until then, Jungla‘s balance between the head-spinning and the molten makes their first album a significant preach well worth engaging. It would be a hell of a live show.
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 16th, 2017 by JJ Koczan
The label compilation is kind of a lost art in this age of digital whathaveyou. Used to be imprints put together comps on the regular. Some had rough mixes, some had exclusive tracks or things that wound up getting dropped off albums, and they kind of became a place where you might find something special once and then not run into it again. Italy’s Heavy Psych Sounds, with an ever-expanding roster and an already-full slate of releases as a result, seems intent on reviving the tradition. In addition to the label, booking agency, four-way split series and now two organized festivals under its belt, last year saw the release of Heavy Psych Sounds Volume I, and it seems that, indeed, it was the beginning of a series.
Heavy Psych Sounds Volume II will feature exclusive tracks from Black Rainbows and Killer Boogie and will be released on March 24. The same day, Black Rainbows will release their “The Red Sky Above” as a digital single following-up on last year’s Stellar Prophecy (review here) and leading to speculation of a sixth long-player in the works from them.
From the PR wire:
Heavy Psych Sounds Records presents: HPS CD SAMPLER VOL II (2017)
HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS Records & Booking is stoked to announce: The HPS Records Sampler Vol 2
Europe’s ever-growing riff powerhouse HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS is set to release the second chapter of its “Heavy Psych Sounds Sampler”, featuring 15 bands of the roster among which two exclusive new songs!
This new compilation features 15 tracks taken off the label’s most recent releases (Fatso Jetson, Nick Oliveri, The Freeks…) as well as a nice preview of some upcoming gems from The Sonic Dawn, Farflung, Duel or Cachemira. As an icing on this rifftastic cake, “Heavy Psych Sounds Sampler Vol. 2” offers two exclusive new singles from the mighty Black Rainbows and Killer Boogie.
HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS VOLUME II TRACK LISTING: Black Rainbows “The Red Sky Above” (exclusive track!) Cachemira “Overpopulation” Doctor Cyclops “Lonely Devil” Duel “Witchbanger” Farflung “You Will Kill For Me” Fatso Jetson “Wire Wheels And Robots” Giöbia “This World Was Being Watched Closely” Glitter Wizard-Mycelia Killer Boogie “Eight Ball” (exclusive track!) Mothership “Crown Of Lies” Nick Oliveri “Anything And Everything” The Clamps “Must Destroy” The Golden Grass “Flashing Out Of Sight” The Freeks “Uncle Jack’s Truck” The Sonic Dawn “Summer Voyage”
Heavy Psych Sounds Sampler Vol. 2 Out March 24th on Heavy Psych Sounds
Black Rainbows, “The Red Sky Above”
Unreleased dope track for the Italian fuzzsters, 6 minutes of Doomy, Stoner, Sabbathty groove stuff, recorded specifically for the new HPS Sampler. Recorded during their last tour in a cool studio surrounded by white snow mountains in the north of Italy last January 2017. You can taste the change of direction for the band with a monolithic style, more dark, more heavy, more straight in your face!
HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS is an ever-growing European record label and booking agency specialized in stoner, hard, psychedelic, fuzzy, doomy rock and more largely, all kinds of blazing retro riffage. Since its creation in Roma in 2007, HPS has released projects for Black Rainbows, Nick Oliveri, Karma To Burn, Naam, White Hills, Farflung, Fatso Jetson, Deville, Hot Lunch, Killer Boogie, Mos Generator, Isaak, The Sonic Dawn, Mothership and many more.
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 10th, 2017 by JJ Koczan
So you’re telling me you’ve got a new band with dudes culled from the ranks of Prisma Circus, Brain Pyramid and 1886? Somehow I don’t think I’m gonna have much trouble getting on board with this one, and listening to the instrumental boogie in the “lo-fi take” of “Jungla” — which seems likely to be the title-track of Cachemira‘s forthcoming debut album, and which you can stream at the bottom of this post — the appeal that drove Heavy Psych Sounds to pick the trio up feels pretty obvious. Fiery classic shuffle finds a good home amid a killer label’s unfettered expansion. Who doesn’t like that story?
The version of “Jungla” below, which appeared on a Red Sun Records compilation, is my introduction to the Barcelona-based outfit, but it’s only got me intrigued to dig further. The Italian imprint doesn’t half-ass it either when it comes to promoting its bands, so expect to hear more about Cachemira leading up to the release. For now, here’s the announcement that was posted about the signing:
Cachemira, Jungla – Heavy Psych Sounds
HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS Records & Booking is proud to announce the signing of a new awesome band!! Welcome on board to CACHEMIRA!!
Cachemira was born in the summer of 2015 in Barcelona, the band started as a duo composed of drummer Alejandro Carmona of Prisma Circus and guitar player Gaston Laine of Brain Pyramid (that had recently moved to Spain), after some intense nights of jams they were finally joined by bass player Pol Ventura (1886) to complete the actual line-up.
All three members meet during shows with their respective bands and decided to gather forces to develop each others compositions. Until early 2016 they kept composing in the search of their old school psych rock dynamic.
From January 2016 with a brand new set, the band started to play as much shows as possible to try out their sound. Through a bit more than half of the year they played various cities through Spain, Portugal, France and Germany, sharing the stage with some international bands from the Psych Rock, Stoner scene.
Recording of the first record started in June 2016 and was finished in August right after they were back from a short summer tour where they played in Sonic Blast Moledo, the band has since then matured its sound and keeps on with composition and shows, developing a genuine heavy psych blues experience!
THE DEBUT ALBUM FOR THIS INCREDIBLE 70’s, Heavy Psych, Bluesy Rock band WILL BE OUT THIS SPRING ON HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS RECORDS!
More details about the album will be announced soon …so stay tuned!
