Posted in Whathaveyou on March 15th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Greek heavy rock four-piece Honeybadger will return in the coming months with their second full-length and the follow-up to 2020’s Pleasure Delayer (review here), the title of which has yet to be announced. The first single from the impending sophomore LP is “Diamonds,” and if you get the impression in listening that they’re picking up where they left off in terms of approach, the fact that they namedrop the name of the first record in the lyrics here would seem to speak to that intent too. Also? It’s a rocker. That’s definitely where they left it last time too.
Part of the intrigue here is to find outbjust how Honeybadger have progressed over the last three years, though I’ll admit I don’t know when the new stuff was recorded and these days it could be anytime before or after the first record came out. But the sound in “Diamonds” is confident in its delivery, which hints toward a more recent timing, and the song’s verse/chorus structure is consistent with Pleasure Delayer and comfortable in its presentation without giving up the energy at their foundation. The song makes me look forward to hearing more, so as regards first singles, I guess it’s doing its job.
“Inspired by the continuous battle to survive and thrive through the difficult moments of life as a perception. What do ashes and diamonds have in common? Both share the same elemental structure.
“First single from our upcoming sophomore album. Inspired by the continuous battle to survive and thrive through the difficult moments of life as a perception.
“Facing hard times can be devastating and inspiring at the same time. It will always be a challenge to turn trouble into birth and creation, like ashes and mud, into Diamonds.”
Video clip coming 15/03
Credits: Produced by Alex Bolpasis and Honeybadger Recorded and Mixed by Alex Bolpasis at Suono Studio Drums Recorded by Jacopo Fokas at Villa Giuseppe Recordings Mastering by Nick Townsend at Infrasonic Sound http://infrasonicsound.com/
Video clip credits: Created and Directed by Mike Marzz DOP: Mike Marzz Set Director: Mike Marzz & Mary Tsagarouli Production Assistants: Giannis Zygouros & Xristos Koryllos Actors: Eva Anastasiadou, Despoina Liakopoulou, Philippos Louvaris, Gerasimos Konstantoudakis Location Manager: Dimitris Polyxronou Props: Stelios Iordanou, Thanasis Anestos
Posted in Questionnaire on August 16th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.
Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.
Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.
The Obelisk Questionnaire: Vagg Oikonomou of Honeybadger
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
Channeling my inner fears, feelings, and energy into music through the communication with three other people, combining their ideas and forming them into something special (I hope so).
As for how I came to do it, well I had to find a way to stop banging tables, my feet, other’s feet, and everything that had a drum sound in my ears, just to stay concentrated…
Describe your first musical memory.
I remember my mother arguing with my older brother about the cover of Iron Maiden’s “Live after Death”, that she didn’t want that monster in our house. That’s when I thought I must listen to this music. I did some favors to my brother and voila, my first Cassette and Walkman, and a blown mind!
Describe your best musical memory to date.
I remember hours and hours recording vinyl to cassettes, then blasting my Walkman up to 11 so the music would bleed through the old headset (the one with the metal thing and the spongy speakers), just to impress the girls… Metallica wasn’t a good choice then, but Offspring did the work.
I really miss this process of listening to music, to listen to the whole album with no distractions, as a part of a “Litany”.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
When my father had a heart attack. The image of a powerful figure collapsed.
Then he told me the story of how he ended up in hospital: He felt chest pain, took the car, drove to the hospital, and with a cigarette in his mouth, said to the guy at the gate: “I’m having a heart attack, let me in.”
That’s when I believed that he is just NUTS!
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
Simplicity, I guess. Can I answer again in 30 years?
How do you define success?
Success is when your music has an impact on another person. If it creates a memory, a crack in his timeline and gets entombed in their heart, their soul.
Oh, and sold-out shows, definitely!
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
That’s a difficult question for me, because as a person I always try to extract the positive essence of an experience. Seeing something bad makes me appreciate something else.
Every experience is a “train station,” I guess. In some you stay longer than another.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
A stand-up show.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
Thanks for this question, it really had me digging.
The personal function of art is vague and that is what makes it so interesting. Everyone experiences art differently. The artist speaks a language, and the “receiver” understands something completely different, maybe the same or something in between. Is that bad? I guess not, because it all comes down to the subject’s perception. No one can control the use of an artistic piece.
Lyrics and poetry in general, are a great example. And classical music. I remember my first music teacher had us listen to Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons”, close our eyes, and write down what pictures the music produced. Everyone had a different experience!
By the way, if a kid paints the sky purple is it wrong? Is it Art? (Maybe it is young “Prince”)
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 7th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Bringing together players from Germany, the Netherlands, France, the UK, Austria, Northern Ireland, Italy, Greece, Sweden, the US and Brazil, the Stoner Rock Worldwide Community Album 2021 boasts seven tracks of remote compositions and recordings, with the songs emerging from members having participated in a call to arms during the pandemic. It’s a hugely ambitious project. In regular circumstances, it would be impressive enough to curate a series of bands and players coming together on a new anything. To sort various parties across international borders into working units even in the age of social media, and then to have them work together creatively, is an oh-hell-no kind of job. Kudos to Felix Melchhardt on making it happen.
Pretty astounding stuff. Vinyl’s in the works as we speak, and the stream went live this past Friday. You’ll find it at the bottom of this post, and considering the amount of effort that seems to have gone into every level of making it, the download is dirt-frickin’-cheap.
More info:
Stoner Rock World Wide Community Album Digital Release out now! 35+ Musicians, Remotely composed and recorded.
Remotely composed, recorded and finally pressed on vinyl together as a worldwide community of heavy rock lovers – The Stoner Rock World Wide Community Album.
26. May 2020: “What if we release an album remotely composed, recorded and finally pressed on vinyl together as a worldwide community of heavy rock lovers? Musicians world wide writing an album for our lovely world wide community, that’s the deal and we think we could make this happen.” – And we did so.
Key Facts – 7 Tracks – Remotely composed, recorded and mixed by more than 35 musicians spread over the globe. Magic definitely happened, friendships were made. – Mastered by Niklas Källgren (Truckfighters). – Once pressed, worldwide distribution via various heavy rock labels. – Special guests: Bob Balch (Fu Manchu), Papanikolaou Babis (Planet of Zeus), Tolis Motsios (Nightstalker). – People participating in the project did not know each other before. Only the love for heavy rock connects them. They were brought together by an open call-out to the community by SRWW 2 years ago. – Groups were brought together via Facebook. They internally organized themselves on how to approach the songwriting process, exchanged ideas and finally put together 7 unique songs. – Anything that could go wrong, went wrong (really) – but we made it. **ck COVID. – Pressed on vinyl right now. – Bandcamp digital release co-finances the master, distribution and further costs. – Endurance was key. Shoutout to all the people involved. – Coordinated by Felix Melchhardt in the name of SRWW. (Cone (Band), Blackdoor Music Festival, SRWW)
Personnel: Track 1 – Dreams of Space Francesco Bonardi – Guitar (Hackberry, Netherlands) Eric Frantzen – Bass (Mantra Machine, Netherlands) Drev – Vocals (Descarado, Sweden) Miguel Pereira – Guitar (Bushfire, Germany) Sascha Holz – Drums (Bushfire, Germany)
Track 2 – Remain Martin Frank – Bass / Vocals (White Noise Generator, Germany) Thomas Berger – Drums (Timestone, Austria) Tony Hochhuber – Guitars (Germany)
Track 3 – The All Seeing Sun Diamond Pr – Guitar / Vocals (The Same River, Greece) Oscar Flanagan – Guitar (Insonika, Sweden) Armin Lehner – Keys (Ozymandias, Austria) Brien Gillen – Drums (Elder Druid, Northern Ireland) Rafael Denardi – Bass (Rafael Denardi, Brazil) Special Guest: Papanikolaou Babis (Planet of Zeus, Greece)
Track 4 – Raw Luke Taylor – Drums (White Noise Generator, Germany) Derek Fisher – Guitar (Moth66, USA) Niels van Eldijk – Bass (Ramkoers, Netherlands) Ben Plochowietz – Guitar / Vocals (Scorched Oak, Germany) Christoph W. – Vocals (Ozymandias, Austria) Special Guests: Tolis Motsios Nightstalker (Greece)
Track 5 – Calypso Tom Maene – Guitar (Motsus, Belgium) Jeroen Schippers – Drums (Mantra Machine, Netherlands) Linda Hackmann – Bass / Vocals (Scorched Oak, Germany) Dimitris Vardoulakis – Vocals (Honeybadger, Greece) Jonas Hartmann – Keys (Willow Child, Germany) Special Guest: Bob Balch (Fu Manchu, US)
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 30th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
The sadly-usual caveats that apply to everything circa 2021 — announcements, life, etc. — are of course in play here. Is DoomFarmFest 2021 going to happen? Well, I’m no viral expert — and that should probably be the end of the sentence, but it’s not — but it seems to me the fact that it’s in a barn, which is presumably a pretty well ventilated area, plus the fact that it’s in a kind of remote locale, means that you’ve got a likelier chance than something in a major urban center that’s perhaps about to come under lockdown scrutiny again. That doesn’t mean DoomFarmFest will, or can, or should be anything less than diligent in observing any and all local, national, international and — let’s face it — reasonable restrictions, I’m just saying we don’t know what those might be by the time the end of next month comes. Or next week, for that matter.
And anyway, if you’re getting either your information or your opinions on such things from my ass, shame on you.
But as I’ve said once or twice at this point, I’m choosing to err on the side of positivity. If that makes dumb in the face of cynicism-as-intelligence, then fine. I’ll be dumb.
2 days packed with concerts from dusk till dawn. Come join the harvest of the DOOMFARM in the wastelands of Brandenburg. The stage is in a huge barn on a ancient farm outside of Putlitz, Brandenburg.
After a season of enjoying riffs with our online eventson DoomFarmTV, the time of harvest has come to the farm of doom. 12 bands bringing you doom, psychedelic, black metal funeral doom, post-metal, stoner, sludge, bloodthirsty metal, dope doom bong metal, that will be a feast to your ears.
Fuzzy fields and distorted cows roam stoned through the meadows. After months of silence, our Post quarantined needy ears will rejoice to the drone of heavy riffs and growls through the night.
Free camping & shower. Food and bar will be there! We will be following all current and local hygiene requirements. To ensure the health of our crew and guests Everyone MUST bring a Negative test result or proof of vaccination, or convalescence. Stay doomed! Stay healthy!
Posted in Reviews on December 28th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
New week, same Quarterly Review. Today is the next-to-last round for this time, though once again, I look at the folders of albums on my desktop and the CDs and LPs that have come in and I realize it could easily go longer. I never really caught up from the last QR. I guess it’s been that kind of year. In any case, more good stuff today, so sit tight and enjoy. If you didn’t find anything last week that stuck out to you, maybe today’s your day.
Quarterly Review #51-60:
Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou, May Our Chambers Be Full
Sure, there’s poise and plunder amid torrents of emotion and weighted tonality, but what’s really astonishing about May Our Chambers Be Full, the first collaboration between Louisville’s Emma Ruth Rundle (Red Sparowes‘ third LP, the Nocturnes, Marriages, etc.) and New Orleans’ sludgers Thou is that it feels so much more substantial than its 36 minutes. That’s not to say it drags, though it does when it wants to in terms of tempo, but just that its impact both in songs where Rundle and Thou‘s Bryan Funck trade off like “Ancestral Recall” or when they come together as on opener “Killing Floor” is such that it feels longer. Atmosphere is certainly a factor, but May Our Chambers Be Full is so striking because of its blend of extremity and melody, emotion and sheer catharsis, and the breadth that seems to accompany its consuming crush. In a couple years, there are going to be an awful lot of bands putting out debut albums that sound very much like this. Follow-up EP out soon.
Produced by the band and Piotr Grzegorowski — who also guests on synth and guitar — during the plague-addled Spring of 2020, Spaceslug‘s Leftovers EP represents a branching out in terms of style to incorporate a sense of melancholy alongside their established sprawling psychedelics. The 21-minute five-tracker is less a follow-up to 2019’s Reign of the Orion (review here) than a standalone sidestep, but in the acoustic/synth rollout of “From Behind the Glass” and in the especially-stripped-down-feeling centerpiece “The Birds are Loudest in May” it lives up to the challenge of blending an organic atmosphere with the otherworldly sensibilities Spaceslug have honed so well throughout their tenure. Having started with its longest and synthiest track in “Wasted Illusion,” Leftovers caps with the shorter and more active “Place to Turn” and its title-track, which adds a spindly layer of electric guitar (or something that sounds like it) for an experimentalist vibe. Very 2020, but no less welcome for that. The question is whether these impulses show up in Spaceslug‘s work from here on out, and if so, how.
Malmö-based four-piece Malsten make their full-length debut on Interstellar Smoke Records with the four-song/44-minute The Haunting of Silvåkra Mill, and in so doing show an immediate command of post-Pallbearer spaciousness and melodic-doom traditionalism. Their lumber is prevalent and engrossing tonally on opener “Torsion” (10:36), uses silence effectively on “Immolation” (10:24), and seems to find a place between Warning and Lord Vicar on “Grinder” (9:02) ahead of the epic-on-top-of-epics summary in closer “Compunction” (13:54), which finds Malsten having reserved another level of heavy to keep as their final statement. So be it. Very heavy and worthy of as much volume as you can give it, The Haunting of Silvåkra Mill is an accomplished beginning and heralds significant potential on the part of what’s to come from Malsten. I’d watch this band do a live stream playing this record front-to-back. Just saying.
A significant undertaking of progressive heavy and noise rock, Sun Crow‘s Quest for Oblivion is among the most ambitious debut albums I’ve heard in 2020, but there’s nothing it sets for itself in terms of goals that it doesn’t accomplish, as vocalist Charles Wilson flips between clean melodies and effective screams atop the riffs of guitarist Ben Nechanicky, the bass of Brian Steel and Keith Hastreiter‘s drums. Somebody’s gonna sign these guys. Even at 70 minutes, Quest for Oblivion, from its post-apocalyptic standpoint, aesthetic cohesion, fluid songcraft and accomplished performance, is simply too good to leave without a proper 2LP release. Individualized in atmosphere though working with familiar-enough elements, it is an album that makes it joyously difficult to pick apart influences, unleashing an initial burst of four longer tracks before giving way (albeit momentarily) to “Fear” and the outlying, brazenly Motörheady “Nothing Behind” before returning to cosmic heavy in “Hypersonic” and the 11-minute “Titans,” which uses its time just as well as everything else that surrounds. Ironic that a record that seems to be about a wasteland should bring so much hope for the future.
It doesn’t take Honeybadger long to land their first effective punch on their debut LP, Pleasure Delayer, as the hook of opener/longest track (immediate points) “The Wolf” hits square on the jaw and precedes an atmospheric guitar outro that leads into the rest of the album as a closer might otherwise lead the way out. A product of Athens’ heavy rock boom, the four-piece distinguish themselves in fuzzy tones and an approach that comes right to the edge of burl and doesn’t quite tip over, thankfully and gracefully staving off chestbeating in favor of quality songcraft on “The Well” and the engagingly bass-led “Crazy Ride,” from which the initially slower, bluesier “Good for Nothing” picks up with some Truckfighters, some 1000mods and a whole lot of fun. Side B’s hooks are no less satisfyingly straightforward. “That Feel” feels born for the stage, while “Laura Palmer” makes a memorable chorus out of that Twin Peaks character’s slaying, the penultimate “Holler” feels indeed like the work of a band trying to stand themselves out from a crowded pack and “Truth in the Lie” caps mirroring the energy of “Good for Nothing” but resounding in a cold finish. Efficient, hooky, smoothly executed. There’s nothing one might reasonably ask of Pleasure Delayer that it doesn’t deliver.
Released name-your-price as a benefit for the venue The Lost Well in Monte Luna‘s hometown of Austin and derived from a CvltNation-sponsored livestream, the three-song Mind Control Broadcast follows 2019’s Drowners’ Wives (review here) and is intended as a glimpse at their impending third LP, likely due in 2021. That record will be one to look forward to, but it’ll be hard to trade out the raw bludgeon of “Blackstar” — the leadoff here — for another, maybe-not-live-recorded version. True, the setting doesn’t necessarily allow for the band to bring in guests like they did last time around or to flesh out melodies in the same way, but the sound is brash and thrilling and lets “Rust Goliath” live up to its name in largesse, while saving its nastiest for last in “Fear the Sun,” the glorious bassline of which it feels like a spoiler even mentioning for someone who hasn’t heard it yet. 22 of the sludgiest minutes you’re likely to spend today.
As satisfying as the laid-back-heavy desert rock flow of “Rolito” is, and as well done as what surrounds on Hombrehumano‘s 2019 debut album, Crepuscular, turns out to be in its 53-minute run, it’s in the longer pieces like the Western “Puerto Gris” or the post-Brant Bjork “Metamorfosis” that they really shine. That’s not to take away from the opening instrumental “Nomada” that establishes the tones and sets the atmosphere in which the rest of the record takes place, or the nod of “Primaveras de Olvido,” and certainly the fuzz-boogie and percussion of “Ouroboro” shine in a manner worthy of being depicted on the cover, but the Argentinian four-piece do well with the extra time to flesh out their material. But, either way you go, you go. Hombrehumano craft sweet fuzz and spaciousness on “Puerto Gris” and answer it back later in “Zombakice” and add twists of percussion and acoustics and vocal effects — never mind the birdsong — on closer “Del Ensueño.” Es un ejemplo más de lo que le falta a la cultura gringo al no adorar fuertemente a los sudamericanos.
Even my non-Spanish-speaking ass can translate Viva el Diablo, the title of Mexican instrumentalist three-piece Veljet‘s debut album. Initially released by the band in March 2020, it was subsequently reissued for physical pressing with a seventh track, “Leviatan,” added, bringing the runtime to a vinyl-ready 37 minutes. The apparently-devil-worshiping title-cut is still the longest at a doomly eight minutes, but though the production is fairly raw, Veljet‘s material taps into a few different impulses within the heavy rock sphere, offsetting willfully repetitive riffing in “El Día de las Manos” with scorching solo work while “Jay Adams” — presumably named in homage to the Dogtown skater — pulls some trad-metal riffing into its second half. “Cutlass” is short at 2:36, but makes the record as a whole feel less predictable for that, and the add-on “Leviatan” embodies its great sea beast with a nod up front that opens to later cacophony. The vibe throughout is you’re-in-the-room live jams, and Veljet have well enough chemistry to carry the songs across in that setting.
Smoothly produced and executed, not lacking energy but produced for a very studio-style fullness, Witchrider‘s second LP arrives via Fuzzorama Records in answer to 2014’s Unmountable Stairs with a pro-shop feel for its 50-minute duration. Songs are sharply hooked and energetic, beefing up Queens of the Stone Age-style desert rock early on “Shadows” and “You Lied” before the guitars introduce a broader palette with the title-track. The chorus of “Mess Creator” and the big finish in closer “The Weatherman” are highlights, but songs like “Keep Me out of It” and “Come Back” feel built for a commercial infrastructure that — at least in radio-free America — doesn’t exist anymore. I’m not sure what it takes to attract the attention of picky algorithms, but if it’s grounded songwriting, varied material and crisp performance like it was when there was a cable channel playing music videos, then Witchrider are ready to roll. As it stands, the Austrian outfit seem underserved by the inability to even get on a festival stage and play this material live to win converts in that manner. They’re hardly alone in that, but with material that seems so poised specifically toward audience engagement, it comes through all the more, which of course is a testament to the quality of the work itself.
Opening with its longest track (immediate points) in the 10-minute “Silver Dagger” and presented with the burning red eyes of Christopher Lee’s Dracula on the front, the 33-minute 3 tape from Seattle’s Devil Worshipper maintains the weirdo-experimental spirit of the outfit’s 2015 self-titled debut (review here), finding a kind of Butthole Surfers-into-a-cassette-recorder, anything-goes-until-it-sucks, dark ’90s psychedelia they call “garage metal.” Fair enough. Apparently more efficient than anything I can come up with for it, though what doesn’t necessarily account for is the way the 3 challenges the listener, the remastered versions of “Into Radiation Wave” and “Chem Rails” from the first album, or the horror atmospherics of “Drinking Blood.” It’s like it’s too weird for this planet so it finally made one for itself. Well earned.
I frontloaded this one with heavy. Heavy heavy heavy heavy. Heavy enough across the first three that by the time you get to Wren having already made it through Jupiterian, Hymn and Primitive Man, their crushing post-metal feels like a break. I felt in putting the playlist together like I wanted to kind of wash away the last two weeks. “Sonic catharsis” is how I put it in the voice track I recorded the other day. That’s still as good as anything else I can come up with to explain it.
From there, we rock and trip out a bit, going from Athens-based Honeybadger into Nashevillian psych rockers Oginalii ahead of the hypnotic riffs of Slow Green Thing and Black Helium and the ever-moody experimental neo-folk of Neurosis‘ own Steve Von Till, whose new record, unsurprisingly, is gorgeous. The show closes with AXIOM9, a newer Madrid-based psych-jam outfit I got put onto last week and have been digging. That’s a 45-minute sample-laced ride right there, but no regrets for including it. Sometimes I like weirding out the Gimme listenership. People are usually pretty open-minded about it.
This is the 40th episode of The Obelisk Show, so let me give my heartfelt appreciation to Gimme Metal/Gimme Radio for continuing to give me time on their bandwidth to do this silly thing. And of course, thank you for listening if you can.
The Obelisk Show airs 5PM Eastern today on the Gimme app or at http://gimmeradio.com
Full playlist:
The Obelisk Show – 08.21.20
Jupiterian
Mere Humans
Protosapien*
Hymn
Exit Through Fire
Breach Us*
Primitive Man
Consumption
Immersion*
Wren
Chromed
Groundswells*
VT
Honeybadger
The Wolf
Pleasure Delayer*
Oginalii
Scapegoat
Pendulum*
Slow Green Thing
Dreamland
Amygdala*
Black Helium
Death Station of the Goddess
The Wholly Other*
Steve Von Till
Shadows on the Run
No Wilderness Deep Enough*
VT
AXIOM9
The Space Bong Witch
The Acid Wizard and the Space Bong Witch*
The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is Sept. 4 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.
