It’s not an easy record. And you should know that the version above isn’t the whole thing. We Here Now‘s The Chikipunk Years (discussed here), issued in 2019 through Elektrohasch Schallplatten and Homemade Gifts Music runs 10 tracks on its physical editions; LP, CD, tape. The digital version, which I bought from Bandcamp ahead of writing this with Obelisk merch money — thank you for your support — has seven tracks, leaving out “Angelus Novus,” “Parambulation” and “Clearings.” The stream from the same page is only four songs, and I’m pretty sure that’s the version on YouTube you’ll find that only runs 10 minutes as opposed to the complete album’s 32 minutes. It’s a problem I solved by going upstairs and getting the CD, but if you listen above, know you’re getting a sampler rather than the entirety. ‘Friday Full-Length’ indeed.

The Chikipunk Years came up this week as Elektrohasch — the long-running imprint helmed by Colour Haze guitarist/vocalist Stefan Koglek — announced it was basically shutting down for everything other than that band’s own releases and reissues of past work. A genuine bummer, but well within Koglek‘s rights. What was We Here Now‘s debut and seems like it probably won’t get a follow-up anytime soon (I wouldn’t mind being wrong) was mentioned specifically as an example of an outing the label thought was great that didn’t meet with customers’ desires: “With my last new artists – We Here Now, Public Animal, Carpet, Saturnia… – my taste apparently didn‘t meet yours. That especially such a great, stylistically independent album like We Here Now, The Chikipunk Years — a group apart from the usual European/North American origin — was sold just 60 times made me think.”

That number 60 made me think too, honestly, and it seemed like a fitting occasion to revisit The Chikipunk Years and find out what happened. In terms of sales, well, the band operated under the group moniker of Un Chiquitino, which is another word for ‘Chikipunk,’ which itself is slang for Latin and South American kids trying to sell gum to rich gringo tourists. A pretty obscure reference, maybe, and the gap-toothed smiling kid on the front cover is adorable, but god damn teeth are gross. There’s that little flap of the top gums sticking out there and even looking at it makes my skin crawl. Nothing against the kid, of course, just my own hangup, but still. I feel like I’m about to fall into that space and be lost forever.

Even if that’s not a barrier to entry, the music itself across the 10 tracks is wildly dense. Also just wild. And it’s easy to get the appeal that hooked Koglek on it to start with, since the songs take fuzz and psychedelic rocks and blends it with West African and South American rhythms, dub sampling and cumbia-style psych, classic rock — “Planes of Inmanence” near the record’s middle sounds like if The Beatles made Revolver in the Andes; not a complaint — and more besides. You could sit and pick apart the snare shuffle alone in post-intro leadoff “Gathering and Separation” for a month, let alone the intended-to-move percussion that surrounds, and one song later, “Angelus Novus” arrives a completely drumless stretch of mellow guitar and keys.

We Here Now was an almost maddeningly inventive outfit. Comprised of Pedro “Sozinho” Salvador from Brazil’s Necro, Queen Elephantine‘s Indrayudh Shome who I believe was operating out of the Northeast US at the time (don’t quote me on that; dude gets around), and Peruvian drummer Panchito Fr. Sofista, whose mere association with Montibus Communitas makes him the stuff of legend in my mind, they were perhaps ahead of their time in functioning remotely, but in the reality of bands promoting their own work on social media, ‘It’s been two weeks since we released this album what’s your favorite song?’ etc.-style engagement, there was none of that. Not every act does that, and not every act needs to or wants to pander, which I can understand, but some definitely do, and I doubt it would happen if it didn’t at least push some sales.

The record is also a lot of fun, mind you. That sample about perfection in “Gathering and Separation” right before the solo is humorous and perfectly timed. The insistent fuzz shuffle of “Frontiers and Determinations” on side B, the dizzying for-a-walkness of the penultimate “Parambulation” and the subsequent, also-instrumental closer “Clearings” are both impressive in the doing on the part of the band and engaging in their intricacy. The Chikipunk Years challenges the listener to keep up with it, but makes that process a joy from the 95-second “Sojourns” onward. It is entirely cohesive within itself and yet a song like “Dukkha” knows no real microgenre boundaries, drawing from across a multifaceted sonic experientialism and creating something new from it.

Isn’t that the ideal? So, 60 copies? Maybe some records are destined to be cult favorites, and for being clean in its tone and delivery, clear in its exploratory purpose and progressive and thoughtful in its construction, The Chikipunk Years is nonetheless a head-spinner, and that doesn’t necessarily make it more accessible to a mass listenership. It’s also worth noting that in 2019, the similarly-named Los Angeles-based troupe Here Lies Man had released two albums, and worked in a more grounded aesthetic pursuing Afrobeat and heavy vibes in a way that some of We Here Now‘s material also seemed to do, with more promotion and touring behind them. So maybe We Here Now just kind of got lost in the shuffle.

The makings of a future classic? The kind of album that’ll be reissued in another 20 years and leave its audience scratching its collective head as to why it wasn’t huge at the time? Maybe. Who knows? It may go down as the last non-Colour Haze record on Elektrohasch — I don’t know that either, mind you —  and that alone is a legacy worthy of the kind of trivia contest that happens basically nowhere, but given that The Chikipunk Years is so much in its own sphere aesthetically and so dug into its intent, it’s a process of meeting the band where they are rather than the kind of situation where they come to you. That’s the challenge. The thing that apparently remains undiscovered about We Here Now‘s lone offering to-date is how much it’s completely worth that effort.

—

It’s 5:23AM. I just put up the first post of the day, which this will follow in a few hours, and the kid’s been down here since 4:55AM. The Patient Mrs. has been away since Wednesday at a conference and will be back I think tomorrow night after he goes to bed. He misses her and was expressing it yesterday after school by being a complete asshole. Can’t imagine where he possibly ever learned to do that.

Ups and downs, then. Big fucking change.

I found out this week that Creem Magazine is cutting out digital columns as part of a ‘restructuring’ happening apparently across the board. That’s a bit of money I’ll miss. Since the piece I turned in about King Buffalo didn’t make it into the print issue either, I’m kind of assuming that means my association with whatever Creem becomes is over. Nice while it lasted, but I’ve been a part of magazine rollouts and refreshes before and that’s how it goes. Everybody’s very excited at the start and then the reality becomes something different. I’m sure the t-shirts are selling well though. Anyway, I’ve got one more Creem column and that’s it. Back to my corner of the internet I go, grateful for the opportunity I had and probably blew.

I guess that sucks. I could go on but frankly see no point in it. All the best to Creem and sincere thanks to Fred Pessaro for bringing me on board.

Still got the Gimme show though. That’s 5PM Eastern today: http://gimmemetal.com. Thanks if you listen.

Burnt out, tired of bullshit. So perfect time for a Quarterly Review, right? That starts next week. 100 records again. Could easily be 150, but won’t be.

Alright, that’s my last plug. I’ll actually get started on that QR today and over the weekend in the maybe-an-hour-if-I’m-lucky that wakong up at 4AM buys me before the kid is awake, so will be around. I hope you have a great and safe weekend.

Thanks for reading. FRM.

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I wish I could say this was a particular surprise. As far back as Fall 2019, Colour Haze guitarist/vocalist and Elektrohasch Schallplatten label head Stefan Koglek was talking about shifting focus with the long-running imprint to focus less on other groups’ output and more on his own. The announcement below, which makes the release yesterday of the new Colour Haze album, Sacred (review here), somewhat bittersweet, seems like not much more than a re-confirming of the same.

And the last few years have borne it out as well. Perhaps somewhat obscured by the pandemic, the turn on Elektrohasch‘s part to centering Colour Haze was already underway by the time lockdowns started. The label’s last new release for another band was We Here Now‘s 2019 outing, The Chikipunk Years (discussed here), which as a multinational experimentalist conglomerate and a record with “punk” in the title that wasn’t at all punk, was always going to be a hard sell. Apparently it turned out to be exactly that.

But if this is an official “the end” for Elektrohasch as a label that might dig a band and put out their record, the legacy and catalog left behind are remarkable. Significant. Consider it was Elektrohasch who either first picked up and/or offered releases from My Sleeping Karma, Josiah, The Machine, Hypnos 69, Cherry Choke, The Kings of Frog Island, Sungrazer, Rotor, All Them Witches, Saturnia, Been Obscene, Causa Sui, Sgt. Sunshine, Gas Giant, Phased, UGH! and a slew of others. In addition to Colour Haze‘s landmark catalog, many of these artists continue to have an effect on the scope and direction of heavy psych and heavy rock, especially in Europe but by no means limited to those borders or any others.

I’ll miss trusting Koglek‘s taste while approaching a new Elektrohasch release, knowing that the label’s logo on back meant that wherever the record in question actually went, it would be a work of substance meant to last longer in the mind and heart of the listener than that first playthrough on the turntable.

And in committing to use Elektrohasch as an outlet for Colour Haze and related projects, Koglek essentially leaves the door open to reigniting the label at some future date for other bands as well. Hard to imagine someone getting that email from Koglek with an offer to release their album and saying no. You know, unless their head is up their ass or something. I guess that happens sometimes.

But this struck me as a moment worth marking since the announcement came through in a newsletter that also welcomed Sacred and plugged Colour Haze‘s upcoming Fall tour dates. They’re doing festivals and more. So, things move forward. And if you need me, I’ll be checking out the discounted CD catalog.

Here goes:

Elektrohasch Label

With my last new artists – We Here Now, Public Animal, Carpet, Saturnia… – my taste aparently didn‘t meet yours. That especially such a great, stylisticaly independent album like We Here Now – The Chikipunk Years – a group apart from the usual European/North American origin was sold just 60 times made me think.

I stopped signing new bands therefore since quite a while – also because I didn‘t got too much interesting offered recently (well for my taste…).

My initial plan was to concentrate on my own band but keep your favorite Elektrohasch-classics in stock – such as My Sleeping Karma, Rotor, Sungrazer, The Machine or Hypnos 69 , etc…

Unfortunately pressing vinyl is such a pain in the ass these days and furthermore became so exspensive I simply can‘t afford anymore to repress and store 500 copies of records which will sell slowly over coming years.

Well – there is a time for everything.

I want to thank all artists, record enthusiasts, customers, retailers, friends for the trust and the interest in Elektrohasch the last 19 years! Thank you very much!

For farewell I‘ll release a remastered reprint of the Sungrazer LP.

Otherwise I will sell off my stock.

Many CDs are in the webshop for sell-out prices now! Have a look! What you don‘t want to have will go in recycling one day…

Elektrohasch will stay in business! –
but in the future only as a label for Colour Haze (and matching bandmember projects like Marios endless A Great River In The Sky)

I think I made a small contribution to music-culture with Elektrohasch – but I‘m also exhausted from all the work.

I want to use all my energy entirely for my own music now – especially as with Mario and Jan we gained fresh power and new possibilities. Sacred is a first result. And we have a lot of plans…

Liebe Grüße & Best Wishes

Stefan Koglek

www.elektrohasch.de
https://www.facebook.com/elektrohasch

We Here Now, The Chikipunk Years (2019)

[Click play above to stream Colour Haze’s premiere of ‘Goldmine.’ Sacred is out soon digitally on Elektrohasch Schallplatten with vinyl to follow.]

Even before listening to Colour Haze‘s Sacred, let us assume that there are more than a few things a band has figured out by the time they get around to issuing their 14th full-length. And as regards their sound, what makes Colour Haze who they are as a band, they have. But they’ve also never stopped exploring. Since 1995, each of the Munich-based troupe’s albums has offered a personality of its own, and over time, there has grown to be consistency within that. One expects a certain amount of tonal warmth from founding guitarist/vocalist Stefan Koglek and a low-key clinic put on by not-quite-founding-but-it’s-been-almost-25-years-so-close-enough drummer Manfred Merwald, an edge held over in the songwriting from the jams that bore the songs, and so on.

Since 2017’s In Her Garden (review here), longtime collaborator Jan Faszbender has played more of a role on keys and synth — he ‘officially joined’ in 2018 — and that continues in the seven songs and 41 minutes of Sacred, but for the first time since 1998, the band have a new bassist. Mario Oberpucher, who’s also done front-of-house sound and recording for Colour Haze in the past, makes his first studio appearance here in place of Philipp Rasthofer, who left in 2020. That invariably has an effect on the dynamic of the group as a whole, but as noted, every Colour Haze record offers something different. Sacred — basic tracks recorded live by Willi Dammeier at Clouds Hill in Hamburg; overdubbing, mixing, and mastering by Koglek at his Colour Haze Studio — is more of the same in that particular regard.

In some ways, Sacred might be defined by the directness of some of its songs. Following up on 2019’s We Are (review here), the only single track here that tops seven minutes is “Ideologigi” at 8:59, where on the last album, four of seven did. That doesn’t necessarily make the rest of what surrounds that extended side A stretch more straightforward, just relatively concise. Structures vary throughout as the instrumental “Turquoise” (6:09) leads off with a sunrise unfurling over its first two minutes graceful enough to remind you who Colour Haze are, and a smooth, for-a-walk progression that might just have gotten its name in reference to the title-track of 2006’s Tempel (discussed here), the cover art for which was blue. Faszbender‘s keys add a melody to flesh out around the guitar, and shifts into a spacier synth in the second half of the song even as Oberpucher‘s bass comes forward in the two understated payoffs.

“Goldmine” — which follows and actually is more straightforward — works into its verse quickly and leaves the jam for after, surprising almost with a twist back to the verse later on as the bouncing and careening riff works its way toward the end; Colour Haze are no strangers to songwriting, of course, it’s just a balance adjusted in “Goldmine” toward structure carved around the riffs. The aforementioned “Ideologigi” offers ready contrast of purpose, beginning with a dreamy ambient intro in apparent answer to “Turquoise” just a short time ago and the triumph of a lead that emerges in the song’s first half , and moving into the lyrics that answer the heavy-hippie, anti-materialist viewpoint of “Goldmine,” Koglek dipping perhaps into “Lord of This World”-style Sabbathism as he delivers the lines, “Whatever tale you may call your bible/Even enforce by rifles/Life ignores your rules.”

The entire second half of “Ideologigi” is instrumental and wraps side A, but is not to be discounted as Merwald plays it like low-key Buddy Rich, Koglek tears into an improv-sounding solo, Faszbender casts the awe in organ lines and Oberpucher is tasked and succeeds in holding it all together; take that, new guy. They circle around a build at about two minutes in, cut to another, cut to another, then twist and crash and tease falling apart until swapping out realities at four minutes in and locking around a final cycle through the verse riff to let you know they’ve been in control all the while.

Side B leadoff “Avatar,” with its once-again headphone-ready subdued beginning, finds Koglek entering early with quiet and melodic vocal layers before the signature-style shuffling riff — if a guitar lick could also be a whistle, “Avatar” might be one — casually saunters toward a break and return to the not-quite-standalone vocals before its rousing finish. At 3:38, the instrumental “1.5 Degrees” — a climate change policy target/environmental tipping point — is the shortest inclusion, starting out with acoustic guitar, backwards whatnot surrounding, some noise, but gets its point across with what sounds like a metronome in place of an existentialist ticking clock, and the surge of low fuzz that’s maybe the heaviest-sounding tonality Colour Haze have put to tape assures the message of threat isn’t lost.

That part doesn’t last, but it’s clearly meant to grab attention and it does. Where “Avatar” commented on social media lyrically — and that kind of opining on an issue isn’t new for Colour Haze, but the lyrics do seem to be especially pointed this time out — “See the Fools” picks up from “1.5 Degrees” and speaks to divisions between ideologies more generally: “Turn all upside down by lies and made up truths doesn’t cure no pain,” each word almost in a race with the others to be heard first. “See the Fools” (6:54) and “In All You Are” (6:58) are the two longest pieces on Sacred, and both offer fluidity to match the seemingly intended listener immersion. Faszbender weaves synth or mellotron into the crescendo of “See the Fools” around the wistful but somehow hopeful warmth of Koglek‘s guitar, and “In All You Are” brings a joy of a chorus also bolstered by the organ — bolstered by everyone, really; just generally bolstered — and guest vocals by Julia Rutigliano, who brings emphasis to the delivery of the album’s title-line, directed at the listener.

And if that last message, “My dear/You are beloved/You are the love/You are sacred,” is to be the final impression left by the record, it is an in-character sentiment for Colour Haze, but again, distinct in its expression. It has been an eventful few years, and Sacred was obviously not written in a vacuum. It is, however, invariably put through the filter of the group’s and Koglek‘s craft, organically recorded, and presented with love as the believable foundation.

Even as they partially remake their dynamic — I won’t downplay either the change in having Oberpucher on bass or his performance on these tracks — there is much about Sacred that finds Colour Haze playing to their strengths as a rock band, but whether it’s the moments of minimalist ambience leading into or out of songs, the fluidity of their jams, or the apparently willful defiance of where one expects a given song to go, they continue to delight in finding new ways and new ideas to expand the definition of what they do as a unit.

I’m a fan, and I’ve no doubt said as much before, but Colour Haze are a once-in-a-generation band. There is not another out there who does what they do at their level, who has had their influence, or can claim the same kind of commitment to the creativity as an act of searching. It is right that “In All You Are” caps with a sentiment so beautiful since beauty is a thing wholly embraced throughout. As an entirety, is not coincidentally titled.

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What a moment this was for these bands. Consider that in 2013 when this split full-length (review here) was released, Netherlands-based heavy psych rockers The Machine and Sungrazer were both signed to Elektrohasch Schallplatten, and were the spearheads of what seemed to be the next generation of European heavy rock, both working off influences from weighted fuzz and trippy jams while offering a personality of their own in that. Neither sounded precisely like the other, despite shared elements and basic construction — both were guitar-led three-pieces with an affinity for tonal warmth and mellow-psych exploration — but they were both young, exciting bands who took the work of those who came before them like their label head in Colour Haze and pushed it to places it hadn’t yet been.

By 2013, Sungrazer‘s 2010 self-titled (review here) and 2011’s Mirador (review here) — the only two albums they’d ever make — had established them as a significant presence in the European heavy underground. Supported on club tours and throughout the then-emergent Euro heavyfest scene, the band’s melodic approach, penchant for drift, and sheer tonal depth made them a standout. The Machine were the longer-standing band, having debuted in 2007 with Shadow of the Machine and issued Solar Corona (discussed here) through Nasoni Records in 2009, been picked up by Elektrohasch for 2011’s Drie (review here) and 2012’s Calmer Than You Are (review here). The worlds of each of these trios seemed to draw them together — they toured in 2013 around this release as well — and though then-Sungrazer bassist Sander Haagmans (also The Whims of the Great Magnet) would eventually join The Machine for a brief period, this split was nonetheless the payoff for the toward-each-other momentum they had to that point built.

The Machine — led by guitarist David Eering, with Hans Van Heemst on bass and drummer Davy Boogaard — would take side A and earn it almost immediately. If “Awe” wasn’t named after the effect produced by its central riff, then it should’ve been. Pure worship. They knew it, you certainly still feel it while listening, and they ride that groove from the moment the “the eagle has landed” sample ends well past the 10-minute mark in a glorious celebration of rhythm, vibe and repetition. If this release had nothing else in its favor, you would nine years later listen to the entire thing and call it stunning for that lone riff, and they give it its due space as part of a three-song showcase of who The Machine were at that point and who they were en route to becoming, with the subsequent hooky “Not Only” cutting to (less than) a quarter of the runtime a two and a half minutes of punkish burst.

Careening in a way that was prescient of where they’d head on 2015’s Offblast! (review here) and 2018’s Faceshift (review here) — the latter issued through the band’s own imprint uncoincidentally called Awe Records — “Not Only” perfectly cleaned the slate before the also-north-of-10-minutes “Slipface” took over with its early fuzz twist and going-and-not-coming-back jam later, a final two minutes of residual drone and drift, organ or effects hum and swirl wrapping up because what is their possibly left to say? They took about 23 minutes to showcase who they are, where they’d already been on their first four records, and where they were headed on the ones to come. One doesn’t like to throw around words like ‘perfect,’ but certainly their efficiency and the sureness with which they executed these three songs is to be lauded, all the more in hindsight.

If The Machine presented a challenge in not delving into hyperbole, certainly that’s another shared aspect with Sungrazer. This would be the swansong for the three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Rutger Smeets, drummer Hans Mulders and the aforementioned Haagmans on bass, as they broke up at the end of 2013, thereby denying their audience a third full-length and leaving a hole that even now feels unfilled. Their ability to take massive fuzz and roll it out with a touch that could feel both heavy and delicate was something that no one else had yet brought to heavy psych, different from just melody, jazzy in a way but more open than pretentious. They began their stretch with “Dopo,” meeting the nod of The Machine‘s “Awe” head-on with a landmark riff of their own while saving a crescendo melody for the song’s second half.

Sungrazer‘s three inclusions, “Dopo,” “Yo La Tengo” and “Flow Through a Good Story,” all sat comfortably around seven or eight minutes, and demonstrated precisely how welcoming their craft was at its best while “Yo La Tengo” offered hints of their maybe pushing the balance more into the psychedelic and “Flow Through a Good Story” took what would’ve been a hodgepodge in less capable hands and turned it into what the title promised: a sonic narrative of their growth and being able to run fluidity across bumpy shifts and rougher feeling terrain. They were a band who could’ve gone anywhere after this and simply didn’t.

Nine years after the fact — not an eternity but certainly long enough for a revisit — and amid so much vibrant creativity from both these bands, that remains sad. Smeets and Mulders joined the more folkish Cigale and would release a self-titled (review here) in 2015 before the former passed away that October. That tragic ending to one of heavy psychedelia’s brightest lights.

That’s it. That may be half a sentence but that’s the sentence. That’s exactly how it felt when Smeets died. Like a story left unfinished. So there. Cigale never did a second record, no Sungrazer reunion, which would’ve been otherwise inevitable. Done.

In that context, this split, yes, has a surrounding bittersweet aura. I’d encourage you to listen to it in the spirit not just of what could’ve been but also what might still be. The Machine have a new album in the works, and I’m not going to say too much about it, but those who found themselves engaged by this era should perk ears to what they’re up to these days. And Haagmans and Mulders both remain active to some degree, but this split represents exactly what I said at the outset: a moment in time for both of these acts. Along the myriad paths heavy psychedelia has taken in the ensuing years, including among these players, this was when theirs came together at just the right time, right place, right sound. However long or short, in music or out, not every life is gifted such a moment.

As always, I hope you enjoy. Thank you for reading.

—

Up and down week, but busy. Head-spinning, still recovering from Psycho Las Vegas last weekend and a tumultuous return trip that had me home at 3:30 in the morning on Monday/Tuesday. Not the best way to start out, and I basically lost all of Tuesday working as a result. That sucked; I don’t have another way of saying it. Frustrating end to a trip that I still feel like I’m processing on a few different levels: emotional, physical, ethical, and so on.

The Pecan starts school week after next. The Patient Mrs. started her new semester yesterday, which he’s old enough now to know means she won’t be around. He and I are pretty tight. We have a solid relationship, and markedly more so now that he’s potty trained. But as with pretty much everything else about my relationship with my wife, I am the second. She is the star of the show, and legitimately so. He fucking loves her. And I get it. It’s not like I’m out here arguing against. I have spent the last 25 years rightly worshiping the ground she walks on, so yeah. I understand. She’s incredible. But that does make it harder when all of a sudden she’s not upstairs on her laptop anymore, she’s out teaching class. Next week will be difficult.

He was bummed yesterday when she left, but we got down to work cleaning the house, played the arcade for a while, ran errands, talked a lot about music and construction vehicles and space and generally had a good time. He’ll fight you, though. He’ll push, and push, and push. If there’s a line, he’s crossing it. He’s not yet five. Every day he says, “I hate being told what to do.” Fucking hell, kid, who doesn’t? Welcome to existence. Sorry about that.

He has openly admitted (which is saying something as regards him and emotions generally; they are mostly denied verbally and expressed via physicality) to being nervous about starting school again. I feel for him. And if he can’t find a balance between knowing when to break rules and climb fences and when to sit down, shut up, do your work and then screw off and do whatever you want, he’s going to have a much, much harder time. Maybe “first this, then that” is the frame. I don’t know. I’ll try it. Thanks for talking it out with me. Starfleet method. Brainstorm AF.

It’s 5:50 and he just opened his door to come downstairs, so I’m out. Have a great and safe weekend. Thanks for reading. Hydrate, enjoy your waning summer if it’s summer where you are, watch your head, all that. Good stuff next week.

Here we go.

FRM.

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Let’s take a minute and talk about a new Colour Haze record. I feel as certain as ever that this can be acknowledged as a universal good, by which I mean that Colour Haze‘s music — in a way that is very much their own, despite their influence — makes the world a better place in which to live. So ‘the more the merrier’ is the logic I’m following.

Some interesting things to note, though. Sacred, which follows behind the long-running German heavy psych rock forebears’ 2019 long-player, We Are (review here), will be the band’s first with Mario Oberpucher on bass. Oberpucher was confirmed last year as Colour Haze‘s full-time replacement for Philip Rasthofer, who had joined in 1998, and on Sacred, he joins drummer Manfred Merwald, organist/synthesist Jan Faszbender and guitarist/vocalist Stefan Koglek.

I emailed the latter to see if there were details on the release — let alone hearing it for review — to put out, but haven’t heard back yet. Fair enough. The prospect of a new Colour Haze is enticing as there are few if any other acts in the world able to be both so consistent and so forward-reaching. I would imagine that someone unfamiliar might look at their long stretch of years and be intimidated by the question of where to start.

In the past, I’ve suggested 2006’s Tempel (discussed here) before for that role, but the beautiful truth is that from about the turn of the century onward, there’s no wrong way to go. The best suggestion I can make, maybe ever, is for you to listen to Colour Haze. Whether that’s the more stoner rocking stuff circa 1999-2001 or the groundbreaking heavy progressive psychedelic rock they’ve developed since, jammy here, proggier there, still plenty rocking all the while, I’m content to leave those details in your capable hands.

No new music yet, but if we’re lucky that too will be soon along with the Sacred album release, which looks like digital first before vinyl. Fair.

This came from social media instead of an email newsletter, which is a notable change:

The new album “Sacred” is coming out very soon…!

Here is a preview of the wonderful cover art.

(by Sara Koncilja / Yagasara on Instagram)

Some news about the upcoming album:

Stefan is finished with mixing, mastering is happening right now and the songs will be send to the pressing plant next week!

The vinyl release is scheduled for October, CDs are planned as well.

You can preorder in about two to three weeks on Elektrohasch.

HQ digital download will be released sooner (very soon!) and will also be available there – we will keep you posted!

https://www.facebook.com/COLOURHAZE.official/
http://colourhaze.de/

www.elektrohasch.de

https://www.facebook.com/theripplemusic/
ripplemusic.bandcamp.com
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Colour Haze, Live at Lazy Bones Festival, July 31, 2022

Big update from Munich heavy psychedelic forebears Colour Haze, marked by the upcoming release of a new live album recorded by the band as a four-piece in the studio show-style. with no overdubs or whathaveyou. Elektrohasch Schallplatten, the imprint run by founding Colour Haze guitarist/vocalist Stefan Koglek, has been quiet in terms of issuing the work of other groups, but has steadily served as an outlet for the band’s own work in the last few years, and as they move beyond 2020’s We Are (review here), it seems like they’re trying to give that album the due it might otherwise have received on tour.

Fair enough. If you’ve read this site for more than five or six seconds ever, you probably know I’ll take new Colour Haze as it comes. I’m not saying I bought a bootleg of the audio from the livestream below just to own it, but maybe that happened and I’ll still be happy to add Live Vol. 3 – 2020 to the catalog. Note the lack of CDs being pressed. Vinyl has long been the priority for Colour Haze, so it makes sense given delays and funding and the ubiquitous nature of digitalia anyway. I get it. I still also like those little plastic discs.

If you’re not signed up for the band’s newsletter, Koglek sent this along with all the latest whathaveyou:

Dear friends,

All shows until spring are cancelled or postponed – but we‘ll be back : )

Already confirmed live date: Friday, 20. May 2022 @ Scala Kultur, Ludwigsburg (GER)

So many difficulties the past two years…. But things got sorted and sometimes even improved. Some of you could already see on last years shows Mario is doing really good on bass.

We finally found a new home for rehearsing. Thanks to Lee Harvey & The Oswalds! And thanks as well to Godsground who helped us out in between! We recorded new songs for a new album last October and will carry on with a second live-recording session in April.

With Steffen Wünscher I found a new competent and reliable webmaster. For technical reasons we had to install a new website pretty short-term in December. Which we improved now : )

Not to forget I had to change the pressing factory for vinyl. As it turns out now the former manufacturer didn‘t take good care of my tools so new ones have to be made for most records. But I want to make an opportunity of this let down, making use of the studio-possibilities I have today to improve the sound quality of old masters.

And with this we get to the new…

…Releases

Elektrohasch 001-2 Colour Haze – Los Sounds De Krauts DLP

The LPs are scheduled to leave the factory on February 2nd. I will immediately start with shipping. The limited edition is sold out by preorders from my side but I‘m sure you can purchase it at the one or other retailer still.

Elektrohasch 062 – Colour Haze – Live Vol. 3 – 2020 LP / Download

The lockdown year and no rehearsal room. But we wanted to play – of course! So we moved into the Panorama Studio, Pfaffenhofen a.d.Ilm for a while. Well – and we couldn‘t leave the possibilities of a studio aside. So Stephan Ebertshauser recorded on two evenings the set of the cancelled „We Are“-Tour – live and without overdubs. The best of these recordings – a great new arrangement of „Moon“, „Überall“ in the powerful new version with Jan and „Freude III“ are on the A-side of this LP. On the B-side is the great „Transformation“-version of the Freak Valley Festival streaming concert which didn‘t come quite off in the original stream – digital restaurated and now mixed properly. The last record with Philipp Rasthofer…

The LP will be delivered in April. There is also a handnumbered limited 500 copies edition on red vinyl. I won‘t release a CD for now.

Elektrohasch 003-3 Colour Haze – s/t remaster LP / Download

As first remaster “Colour Haze” will be delivered from the factory in May. It took many hours to transfer the music from the unfortunately damaged original tapes. With care and attention I remastered them all analogue and I think it turned out quite well : )

The plain Download-Version comes in the package of „Colour Haze“ and „2004 Extended Play“ for the single price.

Elektrohasch 004 Colour Haze – 2004 Extended Play LP / Download

Foremost because of limited playing time „Mountain“ and „Flowers“ so far only have been an „extra“ on the „Colour Haze“ CD. On vinyl these songs have only been released on the long sold out split 7“ with Gas Giant and the split 10“ with Hypnos 69.Along with „Amo Te“, so far only released on mentioned 10“ and „Raumschiffkommandant“ – a track made for „The Psychedelic Avengers“ – soundtrack of an imaginarySci-Fi-B-Movie – all these recordings from 2004 are now remastered on this new EP (which has about 35 minutes playing time)The delivery of the LP is scheduled by the factory for June. There is also a handnumbered limited 500 copies edition on colored vinyl. I won‘t release a CD for now.

The plain Download-Version comes in the package of „Colour Haze“ and „2004 Extended Play“for the single price .

Elektrohasch 005-2 Colour Haze – Tempel – remaster LP

The delivery is scheduled for July by the pressing factory.

All The Best
Stefan Koglek

https://www.facebook.com/COLOURHAZE.official/
http://colourhaze.de/
www.elektrohasch.de
https://www.facebook.com/theripplemusic/
ripplemusic.bandcamp.com
http://www.ripple-music.com/

Colour Haze, Live 2020 at sunset

Strictly speaking, Carpet‘s new video isn’t exactly new. Fine. It’s newly posted, however, and it rules, so whatever. In 2018, the German heavy progressive rockers posted a live take on the track “Selene” from their 2018 album, About Rooms and Elephants (review here), and though it’s taken from a different in-studio performance, the clip below for “Shouting Florence” would seem to operate in the same spirit. The inclusion Colour Haze‘s Stefan Koglek on guitar is, frankly, its own excuse for being.

One might recall Koglek‘s label, Elektrohasch Schallplatten, released Carpet‘s 2017 album, Secret Box (review here), and since it’s from that record that “Shouting Florence” comes, it’s only fitting that he should show up here. Compared to the studio version, this live take emphasizes the rhythm a bit in its starts and stops — there isn’t quite the same prominence of cymbal wash as on the original, but the melody is right on in any case and I’m not about to argue with the melody as presented or the languid semi-desert vibe that emerges as the keys and guitar work together in a way that manages to still be progressive without actively working toward ‘prog’ as a goal.

And of course, when the solo hits after the three-minute mark, that guitar tone is nothing if not recognizable, video or no. Newness notwithstanding, it’s four minutes out of your day from an underrated band that you won’t regret spending. If you need it to be sold to you, that should do it.

Side note, Florence was grandmother’s name. Lady indeed might yell at your ass.

Enjoy the clip:

Carpet, “Shouting Florence” official live video

Recorded live at Albert Matong Atelier für Musik Augsburg, 2018.

Filmed by Bruno Tenschert & Flo Laske
Edited by Jakob Mader
Mixing by Maximilian Wörle
Mastering by Dimi Conidas

Guitar and vocals: Maximilian Stephan
Drums: Jakob Mader
Bass: Hubert Steiner
Rhodes: Sigmund Perner
Lead guitar: Stefan Koglek

Carpet, About Rooms and Elephants (2018)

Carpet on Facebook

Carpet on Instagram

Carpet on Twitter

Carpet on Bandcamp

Carpet website

The idea here is that Colour Haze never got to tour to support the release of 2020’s We Are (review here), so they’re heading out now to do so. Worth noting that it’s a different band hitting the road than the one that made the album, though, with Mario Oberpucher taking over on bass and organist/synthesist Jan Faszbender seeming to have departed as well. Fair enough. The fact that Colour Haze are getting out to do shows at all is, of course, welcome, though the band has had a number of projects underway recently, including a remix/remaster of Los Sounds de Krauts (review here), writing for another new album and putting together a live record from odds and ends they managed to get out in 2020.

Looking forward to all, of course.

Sound of Liberation sent over the following:

Colour Haze 2021 TOUR

Dare we say that… we announce… a tour?!

‘We Are’ was released back in late 2019. Seems like ages ago (and it actually is), but Colour Haze have never been able to tour their latest music since then for reasons we all know.

So we guess it’s about time.

Sound of Liberation + Elektrohasch Records proudly present:
Colour Haze
ALBUM RELEASE TOUR 2021

18.09.21 – Graz | p.p.c.
19.09.21 – Salzburg | Rockhouse Salzburg
20.09.21 – Wien | ARENA WIEN
21.09.21 – Leipzig | WERK2-Kulturfabrik
22.09.21 – Dortmund | Musiktheater Piano
23.09.21 – Dortmund | Musiktheater Piano
04.10.21 – Würzburg | Posthalle Würzburg
05.10.21 – Wiesbaden | Schlachthof Wiesbaden
06.10.21 – Berlin | Festsaal Kreuzberg
07.10.21 – Dresden | Beatpol

If you still hold a ticket from any previously postponed Colour Haze show, please check with your ticket provider if it’s still valid automatically or if there are any actions needed from your side.

We’ll see you on the road

Cheers,
Your SOL Crew

PS: New Colour Haze T-Shirts, tons of Vinyls & CDs are available via SOL Records: https://sol-records.com/collections/colour-haze

COLOUR HAZE is
Stefan Koglek – guitar & vocals
Mario Oberpucher – live sound, sitar, bass
Manfred Merwald – drums

https://www.facebook.com/COLOURHAZE.official/
http://colourhaze.de/
www.elektrohasch.de
https://www.facebook.com/theripplemusic/
ripplemusic.bandcamp.com
http://www.ripple-music.com/

Colour Haze, Live 2020 at sunset