Astrosoniq have always been willing to be just that little bit extra oddball, and in terms of their studio output, this is a thing to be celebrated. They haven’t done much since the aughts owing to health concerns and the other whathaveyou of life, but as record labels have started plunging into turn of the century heavy rock and roll for reissues from the pre-social-media-mobilization era, the ‘Wizards of Oss,’ the Netherlands, are for sure worth another look.

Begun as a project of guitarist Ron van Herpen and drummer/synthesist/producer Marcel van de Vondervoort, the latter of Torture Garden Studio, the band made their debut in 2000 with Son of A.P. Lady (discussed here; also here) through Freebird Records. At that point, Fred van Bergen and Erik de Vocht were listed as guest performers, but by the time Astrosoniq offered the follow-up, Soundgrenade, in 2002, de Vocht was in the now-four-piece on bass/vocals and van Bergen was the frontman. As if it could be otherwise.

Soundgrenade turns 20 this year, and in some ways it’s very much the successor from Son of A.P. Lady. It was tracked with Sylvia Vermeulen, who also worked on the first record, with van de Vondervoort helming the mix and additional recording, overdubs, etc., but true to the solidified lineup behind it, it’s also a correspondingly more cohesive approach they take. They align themselves to alternative culture immediately, telling you to get out your decoder ring that, one assumes, you ordered out the back of a grainy comic book, and their push into “Secret Passage/Soundgrenade” emphasizes their readiness to twist the tropes of what was then stoner rock to their progressive, semi-experimental will. Van Bergen‘s echoing voice before the last verse, or the way the drums hold back at the start; the willful wankery of the guitar — it’s all over the top in a way that is very much Astrosoniq‘s own. They know they’re being a bit ridiculous, and that’s why it’s fun.

Every song on Soundgrenade offers something to distinguish it from the others. “Astronomicon” has a dense thrust of low-end fuzz and rolls out like Kyuss from space but weirds out the guitar late and has layered vocal harmonies. At nearly 10 minutes long, “Aphrodite’s Child” may or may not be paying homage to the ’70s prog band of the same name, but it unfolds with added synth wash behind the repeated drums and is more languid as it moves through its galloping, percussion-laced freakout, an improv-sounding jam that would utterly derail many records but that makes a weird kind of sense in the context of the eight-song/50-minute offering from Astrosoniq, drawn together as it is by the band’s performances and tonal range, as well as seamless transitions like that which brings back the song’s chorus after that freakout.

“Evil Rules in Showbizzland” starts with a sample and a lazier rollout, almost lounge with the vocals over it, but a play on goth that prescient of acts like Årabrot heavying up earlier Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds while still bringing more melodic complexity than it at first seems, and the subsequent “Hit and Run” has a sample as well but it’s hardly done before the all-go 3:24 shortest cut on the album begins its careening. The guitar and bass drop out for verse lines but pick up again in the chorus, catchy and quick enough to sound like a KISS LP played at 45RPM. Some of the burl of “Astronomicon” returns in the quadruply-exclamatory “Sod Off!!!!,” and if you ever wanted an argument for Ron Van Herpen as one of the most underrated guitarists of this era, the classy solo that unfolds in the second half there should do nicely.

Must be time to get really out there, and sure enough they do, with the record scratches, and throaty scat that send up nü-metal at the outset of the penultimate “So Be It,” with Eugène “U-Gene” Latumeten of Urban Dance Squad and an entire host of others stepping in on vocals and keys over a markedly funky movement, rolled out across almost five and a half minutes of soul and groove before its fadeout, which gives 11-minute closer “Daemonology” its own ground to begin from. The theme from the Addams Family tv show and a sample overtop begin, but they’re dug into a choice riff soon after, building tension over the next couple minutes with the riff and call and response vocals until after four minutes in, a stop brings transition to the nod that consumes the track until it’s time for takeoff.

And I mean that — it sounds like a rocket taking off, all howling noise and multifaceted chicanery. For sure, Astrosoniq would explore space-minded works further on future outings, but “Daemonology” answers the scope of “You Lose” from Son of A.P. Lady and the far-gone vibe of “Aphrodite’s Child” while being sonically distinguished from both. Further, rather than summarizing the songs across the record before it, “Daemonology” emphasizes one of the great strengths of Astrosoniq both on Soundgrenade and the rest of their studio work: They’re a band willing to take risks that other bands wouldn’t take. Whether that means playing loud or quiet in a given part, flirting with other genres, taking a song to place that’s unexpected or topping it all off with sometimes disturbing cover art, Astrosoniq are built for individualism and they always have been.

Their 2004 Made in Oss EP (discussed here) preceded 2006’s Speeder People (discussed here), and one might consider 2009’s expansive and still-plenty-experimental Quadrant (review here) as the final LP from this era of the band. It seemed like it might be their last until 2018’s Big Ideas Dare Imagination (review here) arrived in tribute to friend, collaborator and close associate Bidi van Drongelen, who passed away the year before. That last one was bittersweet, laced with guest appearances around a restored core duo of van Herpen and van de Vondervoort, but a reminder nonetheless of Astrosoniq‘s creativity and their readiness to find new ground for adventuring through and new ways to be thoroughly rock and roll while sounding like roughly none of its other many practitioners.

Maybe though, if there’s ever gonna be a reissue, a different cover? For some reason I find that face-shoulder thing really, like, viscerally discomforting. One assumes that’s the point, but still.

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

—

We pushed The Pecan’s bedtime back by about 45 minutes this week, in hopes that he might sleep a corresponding 45 minutes later. After a crazy busy Tuesday, he slept until 6:10AM on Wednesday and it’s the latest he’s slept in more than a month. The latest in recent memory. By this morning? He came downstairs the first time at around 4:25AM — I had barely started writing this post; my coffee was still too hot to drink — and went to the bathroom, then I sent him back upstairs and that bought me another half-hour.

Half-hour isn’t nothing, but here’s a comparison. On Wednesday, I was able to write the entire My Sleeping Karma review all in one shot. There was no interruption to that process, nothing to pull me out of the groove, and — most importantly — it was fucking done when it was done and I didn’t have to think about it again. Les Nadie, by contrast, was the product of him getting up at 5AM yesterday, and I had to stop after about 400 words before picking up again hours later. This seems like a bullshit complaint but I can’t emphasize enough how much that undone-thing weighs on my mind, never mind not actually knowing when it’s going to be finished and having to improv my way through doing news posts and shit on my phone. That’s no way to go through life. Plus I’m pissed all morning at myself for not finishing and resentful of him for wanting to come down and watch the video for Red Fang’s “Wires” when it’s ‘my time’ to get work done.

Not that the “Wires” clip isn’t great, mind you. It is. It holds up over 500 viewings.

Anyways, finding time. Always a challenge. Never enough. He’s with the not-babysitter now as we approach 10AM, so yes, this sat for a few hours while I took him out for a long walk to one of the local playgrounds. He needs to move as much as possible throughout the day, or by the afternoon he’s just intolerable. Last winter was hard. This one will be too, I think. The next few until I can basically open the door, say, “Go!,” and feel reasonably confident he won’t immediately sprint in the direction of oncoming traffic. Much to be done in terms of building impulse control before we get there. “A Toyota!” Points. Runs. Splat.

He also runs away in parking lots, which even for a kid under five I have a hard time not being like, “What’re you, stupid?” which is exactly what my mother would have said to me. As Bluey teaches us, though, the ’80s are over. More in some ways than others, mind you. No, I have never called him stupid. Nor would I. The day will come, however, when I tell him with all love and sincerity that he’s a pain in my ass. The Patient Mrs. will no doubt follow-up with, “Being annoyed is one way Daddy shows love.” And that is true.

Next week? Uh… new Psychlona track on Tuesday. Gonna review the Nebula record if I can. Feels a bit neglectful to not have done that yet. Got a video for Echolot going up next Wednesday that’s gonna get like no play or likes or whatever but I’m doing it anyway because I dig it, and Thursday is a song from Gone Cosmic that I got pitched this morning, so that’ll be fun. My to-do list is pretty long at this point, and I’m behind on news and questionnaires too, perpetually, so yeah. Plenty of fodder to frustrate my shortened mornings.

Have a great and safe weekend. Hydrate as best you can, watch your head. Wear earplugs if you’re out. And thanks for reading.

FRM.

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Astrosoniq, Son of A.P. Lady (2000)

Vastly underrated album from a wildly underrated band. First released in 2000 via Freebird Records, the quizzically-titled Son of A.P. Lady would mark the full-length debut from Netherlands heavy rockers Astrosoniq, and the band, who’d come eventually to be known as the “Wizards of Oss,” could hardly have made a more powerful opening statement. Son of A.P Lady (previously discussed here) bears some of the hallmarks of its era, with a CD-minded 50-minute runtime and its use of samples as a means of transitioning between its eight component tracks, but it’s also got classic-style drive and groove and an underlying progressivism that not only shows itself as much in the funkified “Earthquake” as in the bounding weirdness of “Afterlife Rulers” and the self-aware post-Motörhead charge of “Godly Pace.” It’s a record that brims with personality to a righteously arrogant degree, seeming to borrow some of its hell-fucking-yes-we’re-about-to-do-this snottiness from punk rock at its finest, but never failing to live up to the significant ambitions it sets forward for itself, whether questioning if it’s possible to make a record without selling your soul before even beginning opener “Fistkick” or bassist Erik de Vocht taking the fore vocally to reimagine Ronnie James Dio as a stoner rock singer on the party-time blowout “Ego Booster” later on.

That cut is one of several genuine getdowns Astrosoniq throw on Son of A.P. Lady. Already noted was “Earthquake,” which not only bounces and swings accordingly, but behind a mess of feedback and noise in its midsection actually goes so far as to sample what would seem to be Funkentelechy-era P-Funk with a speech making references to “Flash Light,” Free Your Mind… and Your Ass will Follow, Chocolate City, “Bop Gun” and so on (though I’ll admit I haven’t put on Funkentelechy in a while, so it could be from another source), and even the speedier penultimate “Doomrider,” something of a complement to “Godly Pace” earlier in the tracklisting, doesn’t lose sight of the fact that the band are and are supposed to be having fun. Van Bergen, guitarist Ron van Herpen, drummer/producer Marcel van de Vondervoort, de Vocht on bass (since replaced by Robert-Jan Gruijthuijzen) and keyboardist Willum Geerts, no matter where they were headed on a given track, be it the snarling attitude and nod of 13-minute closer “You Loose” (actually “You Lose,” and complete with Willy Wonka samples and the most expansive jam on Son of A.P. Lady) or the proggy and percussive swirl of “Pegasus,” it turns out to be their willingness to do whatever they want that most unites the material together across the album, creating a flow out of a consistent-sounding tonality in the recording itself and the wide-open vibe that lets Astrosoniq explore. There are moments of Son of A.P. Lady one would be tempted to relate to grunge, or to the post-Kyuss sphere of heavy/stoner rock — certainly that was booming throughout Europe circa 2000, as Freebird Records could well attest — but the edge of complexity Astrosoniq bring to “Ego Booster,” “Afterlife Rulers,” “Fistkick,” etc., makes them as much kin to the latter work of countrymen 35007 as to Swedish outfits like Dozer or Lowrider, the latter of whom made their debut the same year.

It feels almost impossible to overstate the level of achievement Son of A.P. Lady presents, especially as Astrosoniq‘s first album. Formed by van Herpen and van de Vondervoort in the wake of their prior outfit, A.P. Lady, they’d follow the 2000 Astrosoniq outing with 2002’s Soundgrenade (discussed here), the 2005 Made in Oss EP (discussed here), and 2006’s Speeder People (discussed here) before releasing their latest full-length to-date, Quadrant (review here), in 2010. Each of those releases — and let me just say that the bevvy of links there stems from a willful exploration I did their discography in 2010/2011; one of the most satisfying and least-regretted projects I’ve taken on in the eight-plus years I’ve run this site — continued to build on what Son of A.P. Lady set forth as the tenets of who Astrosoniq were as a group, and not a single one of them failed to add new elements or take a step forward from where they’d been previously. Whether you know their material or not, this is a special, special, band. 17 years later, Son of A.P. Lady still proves that was true at the outset.

Respected purveyor Ván Records did a vinyl reissue of Son of A.P. Lady last year as a deluxe boxed-set 2LP that’s gorgeous enough to say it’s the record getting its due, and though health issues have largely sidelined the band over the 2010s, I was fortunate enough to see them play at Roadburn last year (review here), where they were nothing short of jaw-dropping. I keep my fingers crossed for a new album — long said to be in the works — but the band also recently suffered the loss of manager/programmer Bidi van Drongelen, and though they paid him homage at memorial concert in June, that loss no doubt cast a pall over future plans as well. Still, one can hope.

And along those lines, I hope you listen to, absorb, and come to love Son of A.P. Lady if you already don’t. Thanks for reading.

—

Little bit after 5AM as I pour my first cup of coffee and get ready to close out the week. The sun isn’t up yet but it’s starting to get lighter out. I’ve been up since about four — alarm was set for 4:45, but I rolled over and was awake — but it’s taken me a while to really get myself going. Last night for dinner I overdosed on #garlicworship and made myself kind of sick. Gonna have to lay off for a week or two, maybe.

What did it, you ask? Well, the homemade pesto I was having with cloud bread was thoroughly-enough garlicked, but then I took an entire bulb and roasted it in the oven for an hour. Then I took another half-bulb of raw garlic, and another pack of store-bought roasted garlic from the salad bar at the Whole Foods down the way and I put all that in the food processor with some salt, pepper and olive oil. Blamo: garlic paste. It actually hurt to eat, but that didn’t stop me from spreading it on the bread in combination with the pesto or licking the spoon when I was done. It was awesome, and my thought at the time was if that’s how I’m going to die, at least I’m enjoying it.

Likelihood of my survival is yet to be determined. In the meantime, I have a well-earned stomach ache and garlic coming out of my pores. As I said to The Patient Mrs. when the meal was done, I’m the garlickiest garlicky who ever garlickied. She could do nothing but agree.

Needless to say, today’s a protein shake day. Going to take it easy. Have to.

On a completely different note unrelated to gastrointestinal distress, as of this week, for the first time in more than a year, I’m completely caught up on the mail. Not email (that I’ll never catch up on), but physical mail. Fun fact: I log every CD, LP, 7″, tape, etc., that comes in for this site. All of it. And I throw away nothing. The note a band sends with a disc that says, “Thanks for checking out our stuff?” Yup, I keep it. I’ve got a drawer full of press releases and notes like that — some are just post-its, some are on the backs of stickers or show flyers — going back a decade at this point.

And all the discs and so on themselves get logged in an Excel file, to keep track of what came in, when, what format it was in and from whom it came if that info is available. Sorting through everything is a time-consuming process and though I kept up as best I could with actually writing about the releases that were being sent, it had been since 2016 that the log was completely up to date. Now it is. I got four pieces of mail yesterday and logged them immediately. The box that was holding stuff is empty upstairs, just sitting there in the corner as my quiet victory. I could tell you how stoked I was to get through it all, but you likely wouldn’t believe it anyway.

To my silly, feeble and garlic-addled brain, that counts as part of baby prep, so I’ll say that’s proceeding well, despite the basket of laundry upstairs that still needs to be folded. The Patient Mrs. is tired but doing great because she’s amazing so of course she’s doing great. She’s been tired a lot, but The Pecan is getting bigger and so has all the more feet with which to be kicking her ass, so yeah, fatigue isn’t necessarily unexpected at this stage. By the end of next week we’ll be about two months away. Staggering.

I don’t usually do this, but I want to point something out before we look ahead to next week’s reviews and such. Let me put it in bold so it stands out to anyone skimming: I featured some seriously fucking awesome music this week. Seriously. I know it wasn’t all super-high-profile releases, but from the Radio Adds on Monday onward, it was excellent stuff all the way. Here are links because I think they deserve reiteration:

The Obelisk Radio Adds: Boris, Sólstafir, Desert Suns & Chiefs, Elara, Fungus Hill

Review & Lyric Video Premiere: Eternal Black, Bleed the Days

Review & Track Premiere: Papir, V

Review & Track Premiere: Howling Giant, Black Hole Space Wizard: Part 2

Review: Zone Six, Live Spring 2017

Put those in combination with stuff like the Beastmaker Six Dumb Questions on Wednesday and yesterday’s Sergio Ch. video premiere and the Astrosoniq record above and you have the makings of one very kickass week. I don’t know how much of it you got to check out, but if the answer to that is “any,” you were only doing yourself a favor.

Next week is shaping up to be pretty choice too. Here’s what’s in the notes, subject to change as always:

Mon.: Pagan Altar track premiere/review; Argus lyric video.
Tue.: Six Dumb Questions with Demon Eye; Dead Heavens video.
Wed.: Six Dumb Questions/track premiere with The Quill; Blaak Heat track premiere.
Thu.: Paradise Lost review.
Fri.: Mindkult review.

I expect some of that will shift, but yeah, more righteousness there. I put in a request to do a track premiere for the Mindkult record and wasn’t cool enough, but whatever. The whole thing’s streaming now anyway and it’s good, so I still want to get it featured. The Paradise Lost is right on too. Hell, all of it is. I don’t cover bullshit. Not enough time.

Speaking of time, I’ve taken up more than enough of yours. As I sit here and sip my coffee and continue to burp garlic, I wish you a great and safe weekend with just the right amount of moderation in whatever you do so that you don’t make yourself ill. I may be another day in recovering, but I think I’ll make it.

Thanks for reading and please check out the forum and radio stream.

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Solace & Solarized, Jersey Devils Split (1999)

Hit the right store on the right day and you might still run into a copy of the 1999 Jersey Devils split between Solarized and Solace. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen one around somewhere in the last year, anyhow, and it’s one that if, you run into it, it’s well worth taking note. Both bands wreck it. Like they got invited to a fancy dinner party and smashed the china, cracked the stemware and made off with the good silver so they could pawn it and buy more amps to blow out. Like something out of an ’80s metal video except played by punk rockers who decided at some point to get heavy. Released through Freebird Records and MeteorCity, Jersey Devils combined an EP from each outfit — both based in my beloved Garden State — into one eight-track/45-minute CD, and managed to document a particular moment in the scene around the Central Jersey Shore area, from Asbury Park to Long Branch.

The same region, small, densely-packed, crowded in summer, intense in the peculiar way of the Northeastern US, but still very much a “beach town” atmosphere, had already launched the likes of Core, Monster Magnet and The Atomic Bitchwax, and unsurprisingly, the members of Solarized and Solace were a part of that sphere as well. Though their roots, as noted, came from punk, Solace guitarist Tommy Southard and bassist Rob Hultz (now also of Trouble) played in the prior outfit Godspeed in the mid-’90s — also in a ton of other bands — and Solarized followed a similar path, with guitarist Jim Hogan playing in Dirge before establishing himself in Daisycutter and, with drummer Reg Hogan as the second in a core duo surrounded by a revolving cast of bassists and guitarists including Lou Gorra of Halfway to Gone, eventually landing in the fuzzier aesthetic of later-’90s stoner rock.

Timing-wise, Jersey Devils could hardly have hit at a better moment. Both bands were still a bit off from making their full-length debut, so the split was as much an introduction as it was a showcase, and taking the first turn, Solarized brought out the four tracks of what they called the Eight Ways to Sunday EP, a sub-15-minute work on the rawer end of heavy rock and roll, fueled by a propulsive straightforwardness that spoke to Hogan‘s sonic origins despite its thicker tones. Song titles “Slide,” “Drifter,” “Crucible” and “Sugar Bag” likewise served notice of a lack of a sans-frills approach, more concerned with momentum and attitude in the immediate start of “Slide” and post-grunge thrust on “Drifter” than with fleshing these pieces out as much as even Solace would do during their portion of this release. It was a mean sound, but not without its groove or play on tempo, as “Slide” and “Crucible” took on a more mid-paced push and “Drifter” and the quick-turning 2:45 instrumental “Sugar Bag” offered a belted-out summary of where they came from and where they were headed, and the predilection for winding rhythms — something they held in common with The Atomic Bitchwax, whose first album also surfaced around this time — that would continue as they careened into their Neanderthal Speedway long-player on Frank Kozik‘s Man’s Ruin Records, which like many titles on that long-defunct imprint, remains woefully in need of a reissue.

As regards Solace, here’s some quick math: If Jersey Devils is 45 minutes long — and it is; 45 minutes flat — and Solarized take just less than 15 of those 45 for their four inclusions, that leaves Solace with more than two-thirds of the release for their own material. Balance? Fuck it. Not when you can include a live cover of James Gang‘s “Funk #49” at the end after three originals, the first two of which are longer than what the band before has done. Solace basically ate Jersey Devils alive, is what I’m trying to say. And in so doing, they characterized the brazenness that would become an essential facet of their personality as a group and gave a preview of both of their first two albums, with “Heavy Birth/2-Fisted” going on to appear as the finale of 2000’s Further and “Try” showing up again on 2003’s 13 (discussed here). I’ll never try to feign impartiality when it comes to their work — because make no mistake, I’m a fan — but through “Heavy Birth/2-Fisted,” “Dirt,” “Try” and the aforementioned “Funk #49,” Solace tore ass and had a party doing it. Even the quiet stretch of guitar led by Southard‘s psychedelic jamminess at the start of “Dirt” seemed like a precursor to a riot, and sure enough, it was. Vocalist Jason was on fire and drummer Kenny Lund (or is it Bill “Bixby” Belford here?) no less adaptable building the tension in the midsection of “Heavy Birth/2-Fisted” than to holding the ground beneath the solo at the end of “Dirt” or the all-out intensity of “Try”‘s explosive payoff.

Neither group would ultimately be defined as a whole by the work they did on Jersey Devils, but the split was pivotal in setting the course of both. Solarized would release Neanderthal Speedway also in ’99, roughly concurrent, and follow-up with their second record, Driven, in 2001 — their swansong to-date. They’d continue to play local shows for years and rotate their lineup around Jim and Reg to one degree or another, and the pair can now be found in the hardcore-punk-tinged Defiance Engine, whose latest single, “Capitol Hell,” came out in 2014. Solace, in the meantime, stomped through Further and 13 and a handful of shorter offerings before their 2010 masterstroke, A.D. (review here), preceded a period of hiatus. In 2015, they returned with drummer Tim Schoenleber and vocalist Justin Goins joining Southard, Hultz and guitarist Justin Daniels, and earlier this year they released the cassingle Bird of Ill-Omen (review here) and were confirmed to take part in Magnetic Eye Records‘ Pink Floyd tribute compilation (info here), as well as Pittsburgh’s inaugural Descendants of Crom fest in September (info here) — all hopefully as a precursor to a new full-length somewhere down the line.

I’m not saying hold your breath, but hey, it could happen.

As always, I hope you enjoy.

—

After spending all of last week on the road — to Maryland, North Carolina, Maryland, New Jersey and Connecticut; East Coast tour! — The Patient Mrs., the impending Pecan, the Little Dog Dio and I got back home to Massachusetts this past Tuesday. We brought my mother north with us from NJ last Saturday and she’s been staying here since, helping us get ready for the baby in October. It’s been fantastic having her around, and we’re kind of laid back, which I think she’s appreciated at least in a nice-place-to-visit-but-if-I-lived-here-I’d-be-bored-out-of-my-fucking-mind kind of way, which is fair. Anyway, we rarely get quiet time together, so I’ve really enjoyed it. Got a lot done for the Pecan — changing table and pack and play (mostly) accomplished — so all the better. Tuesday I made a taco-flavored ground-chicken meatloaf as well, and that ruled.

Today — probably around the time this post goes live, actually — we’ll head back south to Connecticut again. My mother will likely be picked up by my sister and go home either tomorrow or Sunday, but The Patient Mrs. and I will stay at the beach probably at least until the middle of next week. I’ve packed enough underwear to get through Wednesday. After that, I either need to come home, do laundry, or buy more boxers. It being between semesters and my being unemployed, there isn’t really any call to be anywhere at any given moment, and for now, that’s been nice.

That trip south was harrowing at times, and I’ve been I think justifiably beat as a result, but a couple days back up here at home have been restorative. Watched some Star Trek: The Next Generation, tried a new-to-me local health food store that was pretty good, wrote, and, again, got a lot done for the Pecan. You should’ve seen me take the dresser out of The Patient Mrs. car by myself yesterday. Looked like a damned fool.

With all the back and forth though, I’ve decided to push the Quarterly Review back another week. That gives me next week to prepare and it’ll start on Monday, July 10. Do you care? Probably not. We’ll get there. My desktop is too crowded not to do it, so it’ll happen. In the meantime though, next week has filled up well, especially considering the holiday.

Here’s what’s in the notes, subject to change without notice:

Mon.: The Midnight Ghost Train review/lyric video premiere; video premiere from Hypertonus; new track from Thee Iron Hand.
Tue.: Radio Adds (for America!); Blackout video.
Wed.: Venomous Maximus review/track premiere; maybe a video premiere from Salem’s Bend.
Thu.: Six Dumb Questions with Demon Head; The Great Beyond video.
Fri.: Lowrider Ode to Io vinyl reissue review with a premiere of an exclusive side-by-side comparison mix to the original version (it’s gonna be cool).

Like I said, busy week. There’s news and such and sundry as well. It’ll be good. Stick around. It’ll be good.

Please have a great and safe weekend. If you’re in the US and celebrating the July 4 holiday next Tuesday, don’t blow off your hand with fireworks. If you imbibe alcohol or anything else, do so carefully. Have fun. Have all the fun. But no casualties, please.

Thanks for reading, and don’t forget the forum and radio stream.

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Toner Low, Toner Low (2005)

This month marks a decade since Netherlands-based ultrastoner trio Toner Low released their self-titled debut on Freebird Records. It followed a number of shorter offerings and demos and had been issued by the band’s own Roadkill Rekordz. It’s since been reissued a few times, its striking orange cover changed in this way or that, but whichever pressing it happens to be at any given moment, the album’s mammoth riffing, sludgy vibe and, yes, tone continues to stagger even a full 10 years after the fact, if not moreso for the context of the shape of heavy since. Toner Low got their start in 1998, roughly concurrent to the beginnings of Ufomammut in Italy, and as YOB were making their way toward their initial demo. By the time Toner Low‘s Toner Low actually materialized, its six-track/46-minute chug and push amp wall might not have been the first time a blend of cosmic psychedelia and crushing fuzz heft were paired with each other, but there’s no denying that Toner Low brought something of their own to the style that no one else did, a more direct inheritance from the riff worship of Sleep than most who would try could claim even now.

Plus, from the machine sounds within the trench-cut depths of “Devilbot” on through the stonedrone supremacy of “Sunn Of,” Toner Low maintains an experimental flair that sets the band apart not only from those who might be their multinational contemporaries, but from underground heavy in general. The “Dopesmoker”-style opening of “Grass” still nods better than most current practitioners, and the multi-stage righteousness of 14-minute closer “Nymrod” is an album unto itself — the hypnosis of “Sunn Of” before it setting up its explosion with hypnotic noisemaking — finishing out Toner Low‘s first long-player with eternal swing and a guitar and bass so dense that you could stand on them. The core is instrumental exploration, sound worship, but when there are vocals, they’re so blown out as to become part of the space rock affect, blurring the line between voice and instrument — something “Devilbot” does particularly well — except for the post-“Interlude” spoken word of “Murphy,” which recounts some obscure limbs-a-flying horror that may or may not have happened in orbit. All the while, Toner Low retain a sense of sonic will, a purpose that’s there even if you can’t be sure what it is, and that makes the record a mystery on some level to this day.

Of course, Toner Low are still going. They released their second album, II (discussed here), in 2008 and their third, III (review here), arrived in 2013 and has a vinyl reissue due next month through the band’s webstore. Their sound has progressed but remained unifyingly stoned out according to the tenets that the self-titled makes plain. They’re not really due for a follow-up yet, but if one was on the way, I wouldn’t fight it.

As always, I hope you enjoy.

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I’ve been feeling big riffs this week, so there you go. Hard to go further in terms of largesse-of-riff.

I said a lot in the anniversary post, so I’ll keep this short and sweet, but thanks again for reading if you got to check in at all this week. There was a lot — and next week has a lot too — but I still feel like we got back to some semblance of normalcy after the anticipated-albums list went up on Monday. I had to get that one out. Next year, I think I’ll try to organize it differently though. Seemed like it was too much. Felt that way writing it, but I think even for people navigating through. Eh, you learn from it, change it around next year. Still pretty pleased with the response it got.

Did I mention next week is really busy? Good. Monday, look out for an Albino Rhinö track premiere that’s a 20-minute long jam. Still only half the song, of course, but it should be plenty. Tuesday, a track from Salt Lake City’s Making Fuck, who have ties to SubRosa and Dwellers. Wednesday, a video premiere from Devil to Pay. Thursday, a review and full stream for Mountain Tamer. And Friday, come hell or high water, I’m going to review Hexvessel. It should be well enough for the week.

Should do a new podcast at some point too. Might have to kiss up January and pick back up in February with the next one. Been a crazy, fast month. In the meantime though, I have a Borderland Fuzz Fiesta mixtape coming together next week that will feature tracks from the fest at the end of February which I’ll be covering in Arizona. Looking forward to that one for sure.

That’s going to have to do it for me. I hope you have a great and safe weekend. Please check out the forum and the radio stream, which I’m happy to say is back up and running at its full capacity after being on the backup for most of last week.

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My buying power took a hit over the holidays (that’ll happen), but I did manage to put in an order for recommended Dutch rockers Astrosoniq‘s first full-length before the New Year hit. I’ve decided to make it a Buried Treasure series as I work my way through their releases — you can find their newest album, Quadrant, reviewed here and a post about 2002’s Soundgrenade here — since the one record that actually got recommended to me was 2006’s Speeder People and I haven’t gotten there yet. Kind of taking the scenic route.

I found Son of A.P. Lady — released on Freebird Records in 2000 — after an exhausting search. The usual haunts were a no-dice; All That is Heavy, eBay and Amazon, Gemm, Alone Records, Kozmik Artifactz and a few others all coming up empty. I finally found it on the Amazon UK site for about $20 from a user named USAcid King. It was about $20 with shipping and the exchange rate, but made all the more worth it by the foil gatefold digipak the CD comes in. Not to mention no one else in the world seemed to have it, so my options were limited.

Son of A.P. Lady confirms what I found out listening to Soundgrenade, namely that the genre-defying quirkiness of Quadrant wasn’t just a fluke or sudden shift in sound. That adventurous spirit was nascent in the band on Soundgrenade, and this being an even earlier record, it definitely is here too, but with the outright funk of “Earthquake,” the reveling doom of “Afterlife Rulers” and the buzzsaw stoner groove of “Doomrider,” there’s no question it’s been in Astrosoniq from the start. More than ever, I feel like I’m late to the party.

They’ve made Son of A.P. Lady available for free download on their website, so I guess on some level my buying it was pointless, but screw it, the artwork is awesome and the album rules. Hooked in the gruff vocals and nod-worthy riff of “You Loose,” I can’t say I wasted my money, and with 2004’s Made in Oss and Speeder People still to go, I feel like I’ve got a better understanding of how Astrosoniq grew into their asskickery.

Okay, so I kind of screwed this one up. Last month, when I went on (at length, as I will) about the genre-defying amazingness of Dutch rockers Astrosoniq‘s fourth album, Quadrant, reader Mathieu left a comment recommending I pick up 2006’s Speeder People, which he thought was better.

The thing is, I do most of my online CD shopping these days while intoxicated. As such, when I placed my most recent order at the All That is Heavy webstore, I selected 2002’s Soundgrenade instead. Whoops. Hey, at least I tried, and it’s not like the album I came out of it with is terrible. But when I listened through it for the first time, I said to myself, “Wow, these guys really made a jump from their third album to their fourth,” not realizing that in fact there were seven years, another album and an EP between Soundgrenade and Quadrant.

You can hear some of the stylistic bravery that shows up on Astrosoniq‘s latest, though. They bring in a little of that playful country sound on “Evil Rules in Showbizzland,”  and the disco rock of “So be It” could certainly be a precursor to the techno excursion that crops up on the latter half of “As Soon as They Got Airborne,” but one album is hardly an answer to the other. Rather, Soundgrenade shows Astrosoniq at an earlier stage in their development. The vocals remind more of John Garcia, and the album as a whole is a lot closer to stoner rock than Quadrant really got. I guess they grew up at some point between the two.

What point that might have been, however, I don’t yet know. This calls for further investigation! Nonetheless, even though I was too much of a dope to get it right when it came down to actually ordering the disc, thanks to Mathieu for the recommendation. Maybe when I finally get Speeder People I’ll post a “Recommended Buried Treasure Pt. 6-2” and go all Final Fantasy X on your asses. I’ll allow a moment for that reference to sink in…

Sometimes I run into bands I don’t want to check out just because they’re so highly recommended they can’t possibly live up to the hype. Case in point: Toner Low from The Netherlands. Everything I’d ever heard about them rounded out to, “Oh my god this is the best shit ever you need to hear it right now why are you still standing here go listen to it it’s as good as Sleep,” with emphasis on that last part. As good as Sleep? Come on, man. Your name better be John Garcia if you’re gonna talk that kind of crap.

But, because it was bound to happen eventually, I recently snagged a copy of Toner Low‘s aptly-named second full-length, II, from a certain interwebby shop I probably don’t even need to name at this point (hint: it was All that is Heavy). Even after it came, I sat and stared at it for a long while before putting it on. “Oh yeah, think you’re so good?” Holding the hype against the band when the band had literally nothing to do with the hype isn’t exactly fair, but neither is life, so screw it. Alright, Toner Low. Bring it on.

And they did. For a solid hour of Sunn and Orange-amped stonerly psych drone doom with, yes, a Sleep influence, but stretched into four Goastsnake-thick numbers-only tracks all over 13 minutes long. Parts reminded me of Ufomammut‘s take on heavy and sprawling psychedelia, but II was less outwardly experimental and more bent on riff worship and dooming out. I’ll say this for it: it was fucking s l o w — and yes, that is absolutely meant as a compliment. So many bands out there think they’re playing slow just because they’re not Slayer-speed thrash. No dice. Toner Low is the slow’s slow. They’re slow like continental shifts. Slower than those days at school where the clock moves backwards. Really, really slow.

And they’re slow too.

As it happened at the time I was listening, I needed a good dose of slow, so it was perfect. I don’t know if it’s as good as Sleep, since that’s like saying Sleep is as good as Sabbath, but I’ve no doubt II is in line for many return trips. Now just to track down a copy of their 2005 self-titled and I’ll be good to go for Toner Low. Obscure European distros here I come.

Though the DVD side of Holland power trio 3Speed Automatic‘s dual disc (that’s CD on one side, DVD on the other), Villa Rocka (Freebird Records) is set up for 5.1 Surround and my television is wired for numbers nowhere near that high, I still got down with the live video for “Do it Again,” which is the only song included in any form on the DVD for which the audio can’t be found on the opposite side of the disc. Those who’d track down audio of that song need to look up 3SA‘s 2006 demo. Or their MySpace page. Whatever’s easier.

As regards the songs on the CD side of Villa Rocka, the disc starts out like sitar-infused Queens of the Stone Age circa Songs for the Deaf, which is not necessarily a bad thing. And though the story of how this album came to be is kind of confusing, I think I’ve just about nailed it down.

No Man’s Land was self-released by the band in 2004. An outlet for that which generally qualifies for psychedelic and awesome, Nasoni Records signed on to put it out on vinyl that same year. Now, apart from the aforementioned demo in 2006, 3Speed Automatic haven’t been up to much, recording-wise, in the meantime. What we have with Villa Rocka is a CD reissue of No Man’s Land accompanied (on the same disc) by a bonus DVD featuring a video of the cumbersomely and referentially titled “Who Knows What Evil Lurks in the Hearts of Men…the Shadow Knows,” that live clip, the 5.1 mix of the record and a still-photo slideshow from a run through Europe the band did at some point along the line. Villa Rocka is No Man’s Land-plus.

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