Posted in Whathaveyou on October 12th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Yes, this is the announcement of the announcement. Oh, you’re wondering about the announcement? That’ll be next week. But honestly, I thought the news that Denver’s Love Gang have signed to Heavy Psych Sounds to release their next album was exciting enough on its own that I decided to just roll with it, even without the promised new song, preorders and presumably the accompanying album details that will show up on the 19th. I’ll take what I can get.
Nice work on the part of Love Gang, and a good get for Heavy Psych Sounds. The sometimes-flute-prone heavy progressive rockers released their debut full-length, Dead Man’s Game (review here; title-track video premiere here), and it was one of those records that left me scratching my head why more people weren’t losing their shit over it. I would not be surprised if Heavy Psych Sounds gave it a reissue in addition to putting out Love Gang‘s follow-up, but that’s speculation at this point since, as noted, this is really just a heads up that a thing is happening later. When? Later. But it’s happening.
I guess that’s righteous enough for today. The Dead Man’s Game Bandcamp stream is below if you’d care to dig in, though I know you heard it because you’re cooler than I am. You don’t have to remind me.
From the PR wire:
HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS signed the heavy rock’n’rollerz LOVE GANG for their new album // presale + first track premiere October 19th !!!
Heavy Psych Sounds Records&Booking is really proud to present a new band signing *** LOVE GANG ***
– heavy rock’n’roll from Colorado –
We are so stoked to announce that the heavy rock’n’rollerz LOVE GANG has signed a worldwide deal with Heavy Psych Sounds for their new album !!!
PRESALE + first track premiere: OCTOBER 19th
SAYS THE BAND:
“Love Gang is very excited to be a part of the HPS roster and to release these songs that we’ve been working on for the last couple of years. Love Gang’s newest album was recorded in Austin, TX by Gian Ortiz at his home studio. The recordings were done full analog to tape and capture a pure raw sound. Hard, fast rock ’n roll.”
BIOGRAPHY
Love Gang is a rock ’n roll band based out of Denver, Colorado. Formed in 2015, Love Gang is a throwback to the golden days of rock ’n roll when the amps were loud, the hair was long and the drugs were cheap. Influenced by the obscure and underground rock of the 70s, they manage to keep their sound classic and true while also creating original, compelling songs that don’t grow tired or sound as if you’ve heard it all before. Love Gang likes to play fast, high energy songs full of driving blues boogie, wailing psychedelic guitar solos and crunchy hammond organ.
LOVE GANG is Kam Wentworth Leo Muñoz Grady O’Donnell Shaun Goodwin
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 21st, 2022 by JJ Koczan
They say there’s more to come and given the scope of past editions of Monolith on the Mesa, one expects that’s the truth. It’s a different universe since the last time the El Prado, New Mexico-based festival was held, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t note — as you can read below — that this is the first Monolith on the Mesa to be held without co-founder Dano Sanchez, who passed away last Fall. Fellow founder Roman Barham, along with Ashley Sanchez and the Taos Mesa Brewing director Jayson Wylie have continued forward in collaboration, and the first lineup announcement is a celebration of the underground deep and high. Mars Red Sky, WarHorse, The Obsessed, The Otolith, Duel, Love Gang, and Red Mesa are the initial cohort, and that’s an admirable grouping on the levels of style and geography alike, representing West Coast, East Coast, in between and Europe in the span of seven bands. Right on.
I’m glad this festival is moving forward with Monolith on the Mesa 2022, and I’ve no doubt it’ll be a party.
To wit:
MARS RED SKY, THE OBSESSED, WARHORSE, THE OTOLITH, DUEL, RED MESA, LOVE GANG, AND MORE SET TO PLAY MONOLITH ON THE MESA: MUSIC AND ART FESTIVAL IN TAOS, NEW MEXICO
SEPTEMBER 16-17-18, 2022
located at Taos Mesa Brewing The Mothership the festival is open air
Monolith on the Mesa takes the cosmic opportunity of the vernal equinox to announce its return to Taos Mesa Brewing The Mothership, after the forced two year hiatus due to the global pandemic. Dates are set for September 16th, 17th, 18th, 2022. The festival is proud to share part of the line-up today including Mars Red Sky, The Obsessed, Warhorse, The Otolith, Duel, Love Gang, Red Mesa and visual magicians: Mad Alchemy Liquid Light Show.
The line-up remains “true to concept” and will focus on heavy riff-rock acts from across multiple sub-genres including stoner rock, heavy psych, doom metal, sludge, drone, and retro rock. The festival will once again be billed as “a truly singular and mystical experience. A weekend of live music heaviness blasting onto the high desert mesa in full view of the Sangre de Christo mountains.”
This past September the festival lost visionary co-founder, Dano Sanchez. In a statement Monolith on the Mesa producers Ashley Sanchez and Roman Barham, together with brewery director Jayson Wylie, say: “the festival experience is dedicated to our dearly beloved, fallen brother, and co-founder Dano Sanchez. Dano’s contribution has influenced only great times, as summed up in his signature phrase: “Hey bud, let’s party!” We’ll honor Dano by putting on an amazing festival featuring specialty crafted beers from Taos Mesa Brewery (served in reusable cups to reduce single use plastic), interactive art installations in conjunction with Revolt Gallery, and some of the best bands from around the world.”
This year the festival will be open air and focused around the “earthship” amphitheatre which holds 1,500 people. Upcoming festival announcements will detail efforts to make the event more eco-friendly, with less single use plastic and other disposables.
DATES AND TIMES: September 16th, 17th, 18th, 2022 Doors at 12:00 pm. Bands start at 1:00 pm.
VENUE: Taos Mesa Brewing The Mothership 20 ABC Mesa Rd, El Prado, NM, 87529 https://www.taosmesabrewing.com/mothership
TICKET INFORMATION: Monolith on the Mesa will honor tickets and other arrangements purchased in 2020 and 2021. Tickets will be rolled over to this year’s Will Call list.
Single Day Pass $60 ticket link: https://holdmyticket.com/event/preview/event/be9b80e802fe934571af2d383f254a67
Two Day Pass $100 ticket link: https://holdmyticket.com/event/preview/event/a2d1bf3d2a361e7df590738ee74e72c4
Three Day Pass $150 ticket link: https://holdmyticket.com/event/preview/event/79c197fd39ff30a21f68fc545f003cb1
Posted in Bootleg Theater on October 30th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
Well, the poker game doesn’t work out all that well for Love Gang, but the cliffside flute is pretty ace. The video for the opening title-track of the Denver four-piece’s debut album, Dead Man’s Game (review here), has a visual grit to match the classic crunch in its guitar and organ, and somewhere between Motörhead‘s surge, Radio Moscow‘s blues, Deep Purple‘s winding proto-prog and Tull‘s embrace of the woodwind section, you get four minutes of brash heavy gallop, propulsive, catchy and freewheeling in the sense of having a badass van with curtains and magic sunglasses that make them see everything in shades of orange and brown.
I gotta give respect to Love Gang for lugging their gear up what looks like the hillside where Kirk fought the Gorn (it’s not; that was Vasquez Rocks in CA, duh), and particularly in that regard to Leo Muñoz, who not only takes that flute solo, but brought his organ along as well and jams out with the rest of the band, guitarist/vocalist Kameron Wentworth, bassist Grady O’Donnell and drummer Shaun Goodwin. Dead Man’s Game took a more forward, proto-metallic charge than the band’s 2016 self-titled EP (review here), but those elements were still there in songs like “Don’t Trust a Snake” and the jammy closer “Endless Road,” while early cut “Heavy Metal Thunder” backed “Dead Man’s Game” and preceded “Wasted Again” as an electric and scene-setting opening salvo.
Oh yeah, and between those two ends there’s a bunch of asskickery too. Love Gang will reportedly hit the studio early next year, which tells me they’ve got a bunch of new material close to if not ready to roll out. Given the force with which Dead Man’s Game — and indeed, the song “Dead Man’s Game” — is delivered, I wonder how not being able to play live for the bulk of 2020 will affect those songs, as well as how they might expand on the rather significant aesthetic statement they made with the debut. Something to look forward to, basically.
And in the meantime, the stream of Dead Man’s Game is that the bottom of this post and you can check out the premiere of the “Dead Man’s Game” video below, which rules. It just rules. You’re not going to regret spending four minutes watching it.
Enjoy:
Love Gang, “Dead Man’s Game” official video premiere
“Dead Man’s Game” was filmed in Southern Colorado by Javier Armendariz and looks like something out of a western B-movie with all the classic tropes of gunslingers, saloons, whiskey and poker games gone awry. The video was edited by Cristian Vega and harkens back to old Beat-Club videos with plenty of psychedelic imagery flashing behind as the band rips along at full tilt.
THE BAND: Love Gang is a 4-piece heavy rock n’ roll group from Denver, Colorado, USA. Their sound is rock ‘n roll at its’ core with bits of psychedelia thrown in for good measure. Propelled by wailing guitars and overdriven organ, Love Gang holds nothing back, each song going full-speed ahead full of blues boogie and hard-hitting rock ‘n roll. The band was formed in late 2015 with Kam Wentworth on guitar/vocals, Grady O’Donnell on bass guitar, Leo Muñoz on organ/flute, and Shaun Goodwin on drums. Following a 10-show tour supporting Wolfmother in 2018, Love Gang self-released their debut LP ‘Dead Man’s Game’ in October 2019 under the moniker Colfax Records. They will be recording their second full-length album in early 2021.
Love Gang are: Kam Wentworth – Guitar, Vocals Leo Muñoz – Organ, Flute, Saxophone Grady O’Donnell – Bass Guitar Shaun Goodwin – Drums
Posted in Reviews on January 7th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
We begin Day Two of the Winter 2020 Quarterly Review. Snow on the ground fell overnight and the day ahead looks as busy as ever. There’s barely time to stop for sips of coffee between records, but some allowances must be made. It’s Tuesday after all. There’s still a lot of week left. And if we can’t be kind to ourselves in the post-holiday comedown of wintry gray, when can we?
So yes, pause, sip — glug, more likely — then proceed.
I don’t usually play favorites with these things, but I think today’s might have worked out to be my favorite batch of the bunch. As always, I hope you find something that speaks to you.
Quarterly Review #11-20:
Dommengang, No Keys
Driving heavy psych and rock meet with spacious Americana and a suburbanite dreaminess in Dommengang‘s No Keys, the now-L.A. trio’s follow-up to 2018’s Love Jail (review here). It is a melting pot of sound, with emphasis on melting, but vocal harmonies and consistently righteous basslines like that in “Stir the Sea” act to tie the nine component tracks together, making Dommengang‘s various washes of tone ultimately the creation of a welcoming space. Early cut “Earth Blues” follows opener “Sunny Day Flooding” with a mindful far-outbound resonance, and the later “Arcularius – Burke” finds itself in a linear building pattern ahead of “Jerusalem Cricket,” which reimagines ’70s country rock as something less about nostalgia than forward possibility. Having come far on their apparently keyboard-less journey, from the breadth-casting verses of “Stir the Sea” to the doomy interlude “Blues Rot,” they end with “Happy Death (Her Blues II)” which sure as hell sounds like it has some organ on it. Either way, whether they live up to the standard of the title or not is secondary to the album’s actual achievements, which are significant, and distinguish Dommengang from would-be peers in atmosphere, craft and melody.
Though they don’t do it nearly as often as they did between 2012 and 2015, every now and then Boston’s Ice Dragon manage to sneak out a new release. Over the last few years, that’s been a succession of singles, but Passage of Mind is their first LP since 2015’s A Beacon on the Barrow (review here), and though they’ll always in some part be thought of as a doom band, the unassuming organic psychedelia of “Don’t Know Much but the Road” reminds more of Chris Goss‘ work with Masters of Reality in its acoustic/fuzz blend and melody. The experimentalism-prone outfit have been down this avenue before as well, and it suits them, even as members have moved on to other projects (Brass Hearse among them), with the seven-minute “One of These Days” basing itself around willfully simplistic-sounding intertwining lines of higher and lower fuzz. There are moments of serenity, like closer “Dream About You” and “Sun in My Eyes,” but “The Sound the Rain Makes” is more of a blowout, and even the darker vibe of “Delirium’s Tears” holds hits melody as top priority. Hey guess what? Here’s an Ice Dragon album that deserves more attention than it’s gotten. I think it’s the 12th one.
Oslo’s Saint Karloff squash the high standard they set for themselves on their 2018 debut, All Heed the Black God (review here), with the 41-minute single-song long-player Interstellar Voodoo, basking in bluesy Sabbathian grandeur and keeping a spirit of progressive adventuring beneath without giving over entirely to self-indulgent impulses any more than one could as they careen from one movement to the next in the multi-stage work. With vinyl through Majestic Mountain Records, tape on Stoner Witch Records and CD through Ozium Records, they’re nothing if not well represented, and rightly so, as they veer in and out of psychedelic terrain in exciting and periodically elephantine fashion, still making room for classic Scandi-folk boogie on side A before the second half of the track stomps all over everything that’s come before it en route to its own organ-laced jammy meandering, Iommi shuffle and circa-’74 howl. As a new generation of doom rock begins to take shape, Saint Karloff position themselves well as earlier pursuers of an individualist spirit while still drawing of course on classic sources of inspiration. The first record was encouraging. The second is more so. The third will be the real tell of who they are as a band.
The jangling guitar strum in centerpiece “Lucid” on Witch Trail‘s The Sun Has Left the Hill (Consouling Sounds) has the indelible mark of classic rock and roll freedom to it. One wonders if Pete Townshend would recognize it, or if it’s too far blasted into oblivion by the Belgian trio’s aesthetic treatment across The Sun Has Left the Hill‘s convention-challenging 29-minute span, comprising seven tracks that bring together a heavy alternative rock and post-black metal vision marked by spacious echoes and cavern screams that are likewise tortured and self-assured. That is to say, there’s no mistaking the intent here. In the early intensity of “Watcher” or the shimmering and more patiently unfolding “Silent Running,” the Ghent three-piece mark out their stylistic terrain between bursts of noisy chaotic wash and clearheaded execution. The six-minute “Afloat” hisses like a lost demo that would’ve rewritten genre history some 25 years ago, and even in closer “Residue,” one can’t help but feel like Witch Trail are indeed looking to leave some lasting effect behind them with such forward-thinking craft. Sure to be a shock for those who take it on with no idea of what to expect.
Shortly before Love Gang are halfway through the opening title-track of their debut album, Dead Man’s Game, just when you think you might have their blend of organ-laced Radio Moscow and Motörhead figured out, that’s when Leo Muñoz breaks out the flute and the whole thing takes a turn for the unexpected. Surprises abound from the Denver foursome of Muñoz (who also handles organ and sax), guitarist/vocalist Kam Wentworth, bassist Grady O’Donnell and drummer Shaun Goodwin, who find room for psychedelic airiness amidst the gallop of “Addiction,” which doesn’t seem coincidentally paired with “Break Free,” though the two don’t run together. Love Gang‘s 2016 self-titled EP (review here) had a cleaner production and less aggro throb, and there’s some of that on Dead Man’s Game in the peaceful melody of “Interlude,” but even seven-minute closer “Endless Road” makes a point of finishing at a rush, and that’s ultimately what defines the album. No complaints. Love Gang wield momentum as another element of inventive arrangement on this encouraging first long-player.
‘Tis the stuff of battle axes and severed limbs, but it’s worth noting that three of the six inclusions on Firebreather‘s second LP and first for RidingEasy Records, Under a Blood Moon, have some reference to fire in their title. The follow-up to their brazen 2017 self-titled debut (review here) starts with its longest track (immediate points) in the nine-minute “Dancing Flames,” then follows immediately with “Our Souls, They Burn” and launches side B with the eponymous “Firebreather,” as the Gothenburg trio of Mattias Nööjd, Kyle Pitcher and Axel Wittbeck launch their riffy, destructive assault with urgency that earns all that scarred land left in its wake. The High on Fire comparison remains inevitable, perhaps most of all on “Firebreather” itself, but Firebreather have grown thicker in tone, meaner in approach and do nothing to shy away from the largesse that such a sound might let them convey, as “Our Souls, They Burn” and in the volume surges of closer “The Siren.” Under a Blood Moon is a definite forward step from the first LP, showing an evolving sound and burgeoning individuality that one hopes Firebreather continue to hunt down with such vigilance.
Presented through Stolen Body Records, the debut long-player from French trio Karkara purports to be “Oriental psych rock,” which accounts for an Eastern influence in the overall sound of its seven-track/41-minute run, but there are perhaps some geographical questions to be undertaken there, as “Camel Rider” and others show a distinctive Mideastern flair. Whatever works, I guess. At its core, Crystal Gazer is a work of psychedelic space rock, brought to bear with a duly open sensibility by guitarist/vocalist Karim Rihani (also didgeridoo), bassist Hugo Olive and drummer/vocalist Maxime Marouani as seemingly the beginning stages of a broader sonic adventure. That is to say, the stylistic aspects at play here — and they are very much “at play” — feel purposefully used, but like the foundation of what will be future growth on the part of Karkara as a unit. Will they progress along a more patient and meditative path, as “The Way” hints in some of its early roll, or will the frenetic winding of closer “Jedid” set their course for subsequent freakouts? I don’t know, but Karkara strike as a band who won’t see any point to standing still creatively any more than they do to doing so rhythmically.
Information is limited on Circle of Sighs, and by that I primarily mean I don’t have any. They list their point of origin as Los Angeles, so there’s that, but as to the whos and whats, wheres and so on, it’s a mystery. Something tells me that suits the band, whose four-track debut EP, Desolate, gracefully executes a blend of melodic downerism with more extreme elements at play, melodic vocal arrangements offset by screams in the closing title-track after the prior rolling groove of “Burden of the Flesh” offered a progressive and synth-laden take on Pallbearer-style emotive doom. Acoustics, keyboard, and a clear use of multiple singers give Circle of Sighs‘ first outing a kitchen-sink feel, but one can only admire them for trying something new at their (presumed) outset, and the catchy chug of “Hold Me, Lucifer” speaks to more complex aesthetic origins than the simplistic subject matter might lead one to believe. The outlier is the penultimate nine-minute cut “Kukeri,” which broods across its first three minutes in a manner that would make Patrick Walker proud before unfolding the breadth of its lumber and arrangement, harmonies and screams and the first real showcase of more extreme impulses taking hold in its second half — plus strings, maybe — which “Desolate” itself will build upon after a bookending acoustic close. There’s some sorting out to do in terms of sound, but already they show a readiness to push in their own direction, and that’s more than it would seem reasonable to ask.
Way out west, Chris Allison of the band Lord Loud is taking on psychedelic shimmer under the ostensible solo moniker of Floral Fauna, but the situation of the project’s 11-tracker debut LP, Pink and Blue is more complicated in personnel and style than that, melding fuzzy presence, classic ’60s surf-tone, rampant hooky melody and ready-to-go-anywhere-as-long-as-it-works pop experimentalism together in a steaming lysergic cauldron of neo-yourface-ism that’s ether blissed enough to tie funk and ancient R&B to cosmic flow together in a manner that feels like an utter tossoff, like, hey, yeah man, this kind of thing just happens all the time here. You know, no big deal on this wavelength. Mellow dreams in “Great White Silence,” a spacey ramble in “Velvet and Jade” and the echoing leadwork of “Red Anxiety” continue the color theme from the opening title-track, and the record caps with “Herds of Jellyfish,” which at last brings forward the vocal harmony that the whole album seems to have been begging for. Cool debut? Shit, man. It’s 36 minutes of straight-up psych joy just waiting to bring you on board. Legal psilocybin now.
There are a couple things you can figure on in this wacky universe, and one of them is that German imprint World in Sound knows what it’s doing when it picks up a classic heavy rock band. Silhouettes is the second long-player the label has released from woefully-monikered Aschaffenburg-based four-piece Vvlva, and indeed in the upfront boogie of “Cosmic Pilgrim” or the more progressive unfolding of pieces like “Tales Told by a Gray Man,” the centerpiece “Gomorrah,” or the longer “Night by Night/The Choir” and “Dance of the Heathens,” which seem to bring the two sides together, there’s enough vintage influence to make the case once again. Like the more forward thinking of their contemporaries, Vvlva have brought this modus into the present when it comes to production value and clarity, and rather than sound like it’s 1973, they would seem to be making 1973 sound like them. Whether one dives in for the early hooks in “Cosmic Pilgrim” or “What Do I Stand For?” or the fuzzy interplay between the solo and organ in the maddeningly bouncing “Hobos,” there’s plenty in Silhouettes to demonstrate the vitality and continued evolution of the style.
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 2nd, 2020 by JJ Koczan
I’ll be 100 percent honest with you and say I don’t know how recent the lineup additions are here, but I’m trying basically to keep up with Monolith on the Mesa 2020 and there are names listed below that weren’t included in the last lineup update I got from the PR wire, so if I’m a month behind, I’m sorry. It’s been a busy month. Some of those additions are significant as well, from Warhorse, Heavy Temple and Yatra making the trek from the East Coast to Mondo Drag coming from San Diego, Khemmis from Denver and Distances from the relatively nearby Albuquerque. All these and the others listed below will convene at the Taos Mesa Brewing Mothership for what’s the second Monolith on the Mesa Festival, which I have very little doubt is precisely the kind of party it looks like on paper. To wit, it looks like quite a party.
I went to the fest’s website and cut and pasted the lineup. That’s what I did. Swiped the logo while I was there too. Full confession.
With dreams of the desert in Springtime:
Monolith on the Mesa 2020
May 28-30, 2020 at Taos Mesa Brewing
Monolith on the Mesa, a “High” Desert Experience, is an independent three-day festival entering its second year in 2020. The festival takes place at the Taos Mesa Brewing Mothership, and on the grounds of Hotel Luna Mystica, just outside of Taos, New Mexico. The festival is focused on heavy riff-rock acts from across multiple sub-genres including stoner rock, heavy psych, doom metal, sludge, drone, and retro rock. The festival includes interactive art installations and visual projections throughout the grounds to compliment the mind bending sounds of the bands. Festival capacity is limited to 1,500 to provide an intimate experience. Bands perform on the club-style indoor stage, and the scenic “earthship” outdoor amphitheater stage.
Bands Playing at Monolith on the Mesa: Black Maria Destroyer of Light distances Duel Earthride Fatso Jetson Great Electric Quest Heavy Temple Khemmis Love Gang Magic Castles Mark Deutrom Mars Red Sky Mondo Drag Mondo Generator Mountain of Smoke Nebula Prism Bitch Ruby the Hatchet Sons of Otis Sun Dog Warhorse Wo Fat Yatra Yawning Man Year of the Cobra
DATES AND TIMES: Box office opens at 9 a.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday. May 28th doors at 4 pm til 1:30 am May 29th doors at 12 noon; outside stage til midnight; indoor stage til 1:30 am May 30th doors at 12 noon; outdoor stage til midnight; indoor stage til 1:30 am
VENUE INFORMATION: Taos Mesa Brewing: The Mothership 20 ABC Mesa Rd. El Prado, New Mexico 89529 https://www.taosmesabrewing.com/
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 30th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Monolith on the Mesa, which kind of came out of the gate in full-fledged upstart fashion this year and put Taos, New Mexico, on the map as a destination for heavyheads from all over, continues to announce acts for its follow-up edition in 2020. The fest is set for May 28-30 at Taos Mesa Brewing, same spot it was held this Spring, and is $99 for the weekend, which doesn’t sound cheap, but uh, is, considering what you get. Not exactly slumming it as regards the whole experience of the thing. To wit, the photo below looks like something I would most definitely shell out a hundred bucks to stand in front of for three days and have my ass handed to me by awesome bands. If you disagree, I suggest you take the next few months to reassess your priorities.
But speaking of awesome bands, a bunch more have just joined the lineup, including Maryland’s favorite sons Earthride. They’ll make the trip west and give a bit of East Coast representation out in the desert that I can only imagine will go over like groove-rolling gangbusters. That alone would be worth the $99 in my book, let alone the likes of Yawning Man (always great) and Fatso Jetson (always great) and Wo Fat (always great), who, for those of you who don’t read parentheticals (why not?) are always great, as well as Magic Castles and Great Electric Quest, whom I’ve not yet seen, but whose sounds are most certainly readily diggable.
Cool fest, man. These guys got something going out there in the desert.
From the PR wire:
Monolith On The Mesa prepares for second year bands include Yawning Man, Fatso Jetson, Earthride, Sons of Otis, Ruby the Hatchet, Mondo Generator, Year of the Cobra and more
MONOLITH ON THE MESA OFFERS A “HIGH” DESERT EXPERIENCE THAT DRAWS ROCK FANS FROM ACROSS THE NATION
THE MUSIC FESTIVAL PREPARES FOR ITS SECOND YEAR AND ANNOUNCES SIX MORE BANDS IN THE LINE-UP: Yawning Man, Fatso Jetson, Earthride, Wo Fat, Magic Castles, Great Electric Quest
300 early bird tickets on sale now through Black Friday
May 28-30, 2020 at Taos Mesa Brewing
Monolith on the Mesa, a “High” Desert Experience, is an independent three-day festival entering its second year in 2020. The festival takes place at the Taos Mesa Brewing Mothership, and on the grounds of Hotel Luna Mystica, just outside of Taos, New Mexico. The festival is focused on heavy riff-rock acts from across multiple sub-genres including stoner rock, heavy psych, doom metal, sludge, drone, and retro rock. The festival includes interactive art installations and visual projections throughout the grounds to compliment the mind bending sounds of the bands. Festival capacity is limited to 1,500 to provide an intimate experience. Bands perform on the club-style indoor stage, and the scenic “earthship” outdoor amphitheater stage.
A total of 35 bands will play over three days from May 28-30, 2020. Festival promoters Dano Sanchez and Roman Barham are excited to reveal the names of five more bands today including Yawning Man; Fatso Jetson; Earthride; Wo Fat; Magic Castles; Great Electric Quest. The thirteen bands already made public online include: Sons of Otis; Ruby the Hatchet; Mondo Generator; Duel; Mark Deutrom; Year of the Cobra; Mountain of Smoke; Destroyer of Light; Love Gang; Black Maria; Prism Bitch and Sun Dog. Tickets cost $150 for three-day passes. A limited release of 300 early bird tickets for $99.99 are on sale now through Black Friday (midnight on November 29, 2019).
Dano Sanchez says “We are inspired to continue on our path with Monolith II. We want fans to come to Taos and let go of technology and constraints of urban living for three days. Let your soul breathe! What we offer is unique but still linked musically to festivals like Psycho Las Vegas, Levitation and Stoned and Dusted. We think festival goers will appreciate what we are doing here.”
Monolith on the Mesa is produced as a “destination” festival offering attendees music as well as the unique and mystical Taos experience which includes crisp, clean air on the high desert mesa, surrounded by unobstructed views of the Sangre de Christo Mountains. The festival is located adjacent to the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument. This enables festival goers to enjoy activities such as hiking, river rafting, bike trails, natural and resort hot springs — all making for an immersive experience unlike any other music festival.
DATES AND TIMES: Box office opens at 9 a.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday. May 28th doors at 4 pm til 1:30 am May 29th doors at 12 noon; outside stage til midnight; indoor stage til 1:30 am May 30th doors at 12 noon; outdoor stage til midnight; indoor stage til 1:30 am
VENUE INFORMATION: Taos Mesa Brewing: The Mothership 20 ABC Mesa Rd. El Prado, New Mexico 89529 https://www.taosmesabrewing.com/
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 13th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Working with such classic themes as getting wasted and playing metal, Love Gang‘s first album, Dead Man’s Game, is out today through the band’s own Colfax Records imprint. and it’s a banger in the classic tradition thereof. Actually, it’s kind of a lot of things in the classic tradition. The flute shows up — whew — early and often, and does so amid killer riffs, gravel-throat vocals and an abiding sense that these dudes recorded in between getting off one stage and getting on another, which is just how it should be. Comprised of nine tracks with names like “Addiction” and “Heavy Metal Thunder” and “The Nightwalker,” it’s next-generation metallic rock that wants to be the kind of album you tell your friends about. So friends, I’m telling you. It’s out today.
They’re touring out west next month, including dates with Mothership, which I think once you listen to the record you’ll agree is a sick-ass pairing.
Have at you:
Love Gang debut LP release
Love Gang self-release our debut LP ‘Dead Man’s Game’ Friday 9/13 via Colfax Records on all streaming platforms, and there will be 300 caramel vinyl. Vinyl sales start 9/13 and all order will ship by early October. Recorded by Ben Thompson, mastered by Dennis Pleckham (Comatose Studios, Bongripper).
Formed in 2015, Love Gang is a high-energy rock ‘n roll band based out of Denver, Colorado. Influenced by the obscure and underground rock of the 70s, Love Gang is a throwback to the golden days of rock when amps were loud, hair was long, and the drugs were cheap.
Focusing on concise songwriting and an energetic live show, Love Gang is a rock ‘n roll band at its’ core with bits of psychedelia thrown in for good measure. Propelled by wailing guitars and overdriven organ, Love Gang holds nothing back, each song going full-speed ahead full of blues boogie and hard-hitting rock ‘n roll.
Love Gang toured with Wolfmother as direct support on their most recent US dates last fall and have an upcoming tour, half of which will be supporting Mothership:
Love Gang tour dates: 10/09 Albany, CA @ Ivy Room 10/10 Santa Cruz, CA @ Poet and Patriot Irish Pub 10/11 Oceanside, CA @ Black Plague Brewery 10/12 Los Angeles, CA @ The Monty 10/13 Las Vegas, NV @ Bunkhouse Saloon* 10/14 Mesa, AZ @ Club Red* 10/16 Colorado Springs, CO @ Black Sheep* 10/17 Denver, CO @ Streets of London* *w/ Mothership
Love Gang is: Kameron Wentworth: guitar, vox Leo Muñoz: organ, flute, saxophone Grady O’Donnell: bass guitar Shaun Goodwin: drums
Posted in Reviews on March 21st, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Day four of the six-dayer. Head’s a little reeling, but I’m not sure any more so than, say, last week at this time. I’d be more specific about that, but oddly enough, I don’t hook my brain up to medical scanners while doing reviews. Seems like an oversight on my part, now that I think about it. Ten years later and still learning something new! How about that internet, huh?
Since I don’t think I’ve said it in a couple days, I’ll remind you that the hope here is you find something you dig. There’s a lot of cool stuff in this batch, so that should at least make skimming through it fun if you go that route. Either way, thanks for reading if you do.
Quarterly Review #31-40:
Electric Octopus, Smile
It’s been about two months since Electric Octopus posted Smile, so they’re about due for their next release. So, quick! Before this 82-minute collection of insta-chill jams is out of date, there’s still time to consider it their latest offering. Working as the four-piece of Tyrell Black and Dale Hughes — both of whom share bass and guitar duties — drummer Guy Hetherington and synthesist Stevie Lennox, the Belfast improv jammers rightfully commence with the 25-minute longest track (immediate points) “Abberation” (sic), which evolves and devolves along its course and winds up turning from a percussive jam to a guitar-led build up that still stays gloriously mellow even as it works its way out. You can almost hear the band moving from instrument to instrument, and that’s the point. The much shorter “Spiral,” “Dinner at Sea, for One” and closer “Mouseangelo” bring in a welcome bit of funk, “Moth Dust” explores minimalist reaches of guitar and ambient drumming, and “Hyperloop” digs into fuzz-soaked swirl before cleaning up its act in the last couple minutes. These cats j-a-m. May they do so into perpetuity.
Onto the best-albums-of-2019 list go San Marcos, Texas, trio Crypt Trip, who, sonically speaking, are way more Beto O’Rourke than Ted Cruz. The three-piece have way-way-upped the production value and general breadth from their 2018 Heavy Psych Sounds debut, Rootstock, and the clarity of purpose more than suits them as they touch on ’70s country jams and hard boogie and find a new melodic vocal confidence that speaks to guitarist Ryan Lee as a burgeoning frontman as well as the shredder panning channels in “To Be Whole.” Fortunately, he’s backed by bassist Sam Bryant and drummer Cameron Martin in the endeavor, and as ever, it’s the rhythm section that gives the “power trio” its power. Centerpiece “Free Rain” is a highlight, but so is the pedal steel of intro “Forward” and the later “Pastures” that precedes six-minute closer “Gotta Get Away,” which makes its transport by means of a hypnotic drum solo from Martin. Mark it a win and go to the show. That’s all you can do. Haze County is a blueprint for America’s answer to Europe’s classic heavy rock movement.
A bit of Tull as Love Gang‘s flute-inclusive opener “Can’t Seem to Win” skirts the line of the proggier end of ’70s worship. The Denver outfit and Dallas’ Smokey Mirror both present three tracks on Glory or Death Records‘ Split Double EP, and Love Gang back the leadoff with “Break Free” and “Lonely Man,” reveling in wall-o’-fuzz chicanery and organ-laced push between them, making their already unpredictable style less predictable, while Smokey Mirror kick off side B in particularly righteous fashion via the nine-minute “Sword and Scepter,” which steps forth to take ultra-Sabbathian ownership of the release even as the filthy tone of “Sucio y Desprolijo” and the loose-swinging Amplified Heat-style megashuffle of “A Thousand Days in the Desert” follow. Two bands in the process of finding their sound coming together to serve notice of ass-kickery present and future. If you can complain about that, you’re wrong.
Very much a solid first album, Heavy Feather‘s 11-song Débris & Rubble lands at a run via The Sign Records and finds the Stockholm-based classic heavy blues rockers comporting with modern Euro retroism in grand fashion. At 41 minutes, it’s a little long for a classic-style LP if one measures by the eight-track/38-minute standard, but the four-piece fill that time with a varied take that basks in sing-along-ready hooks like those of post-intro opener “Where Did We Go,” the Rolling Stones-style strutter “Waited All My Life,” and the later “I Spend My Money Wrong,” which features not the first interplay of harmonica and lead guitar amid its insistent groove. Elsewhere, more mellow cuts like “Dreams,” or the slide-infused “Tell Me Your Tale” and the closing duo of the Zeppelinian “Please Don’t Leave” and the melancholy finisher “Whispering Things” assure Débris & Rubble never stays in one place too long, though one could say the same of the softshoe-ready boogie in “Hey There Mama” as well. On the one hand, they’re figuring it out. On the other, they’re figuring it out.
Five full-lengths deep into a tenure spanning a decade thus far, Faith in Jane have officially entered the running to be one of the best kept secrets of Maryland heavy. Their late-2018 live-recorded studio offering, Countryside, clocks in at just under an hour of organic tonality and performance, bringing a sharp presentation to the chemistry that’s taken hold among the three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Dan Mize, bassist Brendan Winston and drummer Alex Llewellyn, with Mize taking extended solos on the Wino model throughout early cuts “All is All” and “Mountain Lore” while the trio adds Appalachian grunge push to the Chesapeake’s flowing groove while building “Blues for Owsley” from acoustic strum to scorching cacophonous wash and rolling out the 9:48 “Hippy Nihilism” like the masters of the form they’re becoming. It’s not a minor undertaking in terms of runtime, but for those in on what these cats have been up to all the while, hard to imagine Countryside is seen as anything other than hospitable.
Lafayette, Indiana’s The Mound Builders last year offered a redux of their 2014 album, Wabash War Machine (review here), but that was their last proper full-length. Their self-titled arrives as eight bruiser slabs of weighted sludge/groove metal, launching with its longest track (immediate points) in the 7:30 “Torchbearer,” before shifting into the outright screams-forward pummel of “Hair of the Dogma” and the likewise dry-throated “Separated from Youth.” By the time they get to the hardcore-punk-via-sludge of “Acid Slugs,” it’s not a little heavy. It’s a lot heavy. And it stays that way through the thrashing “Star City Massacre” and “Regolith,” hitting the brakes on “Broken Pillars” only to slam headfirst into closer “Vanished Frontier.” Five years later and they’re still way pissed off. So be it. The four-formerly-five-piece were never really all that gone, but they still seem to have packed an extended absence’s worth of aggro into their self-titled LP.
It’s a fluid balance between heavy rock and progressive metal Terras Paralelas make in the six inclusions on their debut full-length, Entre Dois Mundos. The Brazilian instrumentalist trio keep a foundation of metallic kickdrumming beneath “Do Abismo ao Triunfo,” and even the chugging in “Espirais e Labirintos” calls to mind some background in harder-hitting fare, but it’s set against a will toward semi-psychedelic exploration, making the giving the album a sense of refusing to play exclusively to one impulse. This proves a strength in the lengthier pieces that follow “Infinito Cósmico” and “Do Abismo ao Triunfo” at the outset, and as Terras Paralelas move from the mellower “Bom Presságio” and “Espirais e Labirintos” into the more spaciously post-rocking “Nossa Jornada Interior” and the nine-minute-plus prog-out title-track that closes by summarizing as much as pushing further outward, one is left wondering why such distinctions might matter in the first place. Kudos to the band for making them not.
The Black Heart Death Cult, The Black Heart Death Cult
Though one wouldn’t accuse The Black Heart Death Cult of being the first cumbersomely-named psych-rocking band in the current wave originating in Melbourne, Australia, their self-titled debut is nonetheless a gorgeous shimmer of classic psychedelia, given tonal presence through guitar and bass, but conjuring an ethereal sensibility through the keys and far-back vocals like “She’s a Believer,” tapping alt-reality 1967 vibes there while fostering what I hear is called neo-psych but is really just kinda psych throughout the nodding meander of “Black Rainbow,” giving even the more weighted fuzz of “Aloha From Hell” and the distortion flood of “Davidian Dream Beam” a happier context. They cap with the marshmallowtron hallucinations of “We Love You” and thereby depart even the ground stepped on earlier in the sitar-laced “The Magic Lamp,” finding and losing and losing themselves in the drifting ether probably not to return until, you know, the next record. When it shows up, it will be greeted as a liberator.
I’m pretty sure the Sami who plays drums in Orbiter is the same dude playing bass in Roadog, but I could easily be wrong about that. Either way, the two Finnish cohort units make a fitting complement to each other on their two-songer 7″ single, which presents Orbiter‘s six-minute “Anthropocene” with the hard-driving title-track of Roadog‘s 2018 full-length, Reinventing the Wheels. The two tracks have a certain amount in common, mostly in the use of fuzz and some underlying desert influence, but it’s what they do with that that makes all the difference between them. Orbiter‘s track is spacier and echoing, where “Reinventing the Wheels” lands more straightforward in its three minutes, its motoring riff filled out by some effects but essentially manifest in dead-ahead push and lyrics about a motorcycle. They don’t reinvent the wheel, as it happens, and neither do Orbiter, but neither seems to want to do so either, and both bands are very clearly having a blast, so I’m not inclined to argue. Good fun and not a second of pretense on either side.
Space is the place where you’ll find Boston improvisationalists Hhoogg, who extend their fun penchant for adding double letters to the leadoff “Ccoossmmooss” of their exclamatory second self-released full-length, Earthling, Go Home!, which brings forth seven tracks in a vinyl-ready 37 minutes and uses that opener also as its longest track (immediate points) to set a molten tone to the proceedings while subsequent vibes in “Rustic Alien Living” and the later, bass-heavy “Recalled to the Pyramids” range from the Hendrixian to the funkadelicness he helped inspire. With a centerpiece in “Star Wizard, Headless and Awake,” a relatively straightforward three-minute noodler, the four-piece choose to cap with “Infinitely Gone,” which feels as much like a statement of purpose and an aesthetic designation as a descriptor for what’s contained within. In truth, it’s a little under six minutes gone, but jams like these tend to beg for repeat listens anyway. There’s some growing to do, but the melding of their essential chemistry is in progress, and that’s what matters most. The rest is exploration, and they sound well up for it.
