https://www.high-endrolex.com/18

Kungens Män Premiere “För Samtida Djur” Video; För Samtida Djur 1 Due in February

Posted in Bootleg Theater, Reviews on January 18th, 2024 by JJ Koczan

Kungens Män

Next month, Swedish exploratory jammers Kungens Män make their debut on Majestic Mountain Records with the first of at least two full-lengths they’ll release this year. Titled För Samtida Djur 1, the 45-minute eight-songer marks a turn for the instrumentalist unit, whose common modus finds them with longer pieces generally, but is of course only half the story the band will have told by the end of 2024, as both För Samtida Djur 1 and För Samtida Djur 2 — the latter of which will be out in May, last I heard, but I don’t think I’ve come across a solid date for it yet — capture different sides of the Stockholm-based six-piece. A duology!

Ideally, I would stream all the audio. Both records, right now. Does that make any sense when we’re just at the opening of preorders for the first of two records? No, and Majestic Mountain knows that which is why it’s not happening. But this is going to sound obvious and stupid but it’s something anyone who critiques anything will rarely admit: the best way to get immersed in the work of Kungens Män is just to do it. The first single from För Samtida Djur 1 is the drum-machined and titular “För Samtida Djur” — video premiering below; it’s more properly written in Swedish as “För samtida djur” — which sets the tone for the purposefully meandering experiments, psychedelic fluidity and wonko-jazz prog to follow as shimmering guitar at the start of “Tycka Rakt” brings pastoralia to the proceedings. You’ll note in their upcoming live shows below a slot alongside legendary-if-you-know Kungens Män För Samtida Djur 1proggers Träd, Gräs och Stenar, who feel like a touchstone for parts of För Samtida Djur 1, though even that’s just a part of the scope for the eight-song/45-minute outing.

As they make their way through with a casual, organic production that gives the loose and improv-sounding landings of “Motarbetaren” an in-the-room feel after “Grovmotorik” — the title telling you where it’s coming from stylistically — positions its steady cosmic flow outside most boxes. The experimental feel of “För Samtida Djur” at the outset is mirrored throughout, with “Virvelresan” resulting in a mellow jam more dug into guitar than the sax-led “Bra Moln,” which follows immediately and sees the two instruments find a middle-ground in the renewed space rock-derived semi-push of “Tyska Ninjor,” which manages to stuff a freakout into its four minutes — Hawkwind, maybe even Stooges in the strum — before “Nu Eller Aldrig” commences its drone-jazz comedown for a finish that resonates as surprisingly dark. Could be that’s Kungens Män setting up a transition into För Samtida Djur 2, or could just be how that came out and they thought it sounded cool. You don’t always get to know those things. And it’s fine when the music works, which it does here.

The reported difference between För Samtida Djur 1 and its also-upcoming sequel is that För Samtida Djur 2 is focuses more on the longform jams for which Kungens Män have become known, which makes this first part not just a departure from that, but a chance for the band to encapsulate at least part of what they do in a way that might catch ears being introduced for the first time and draw an audience toward digging deeper. Certainly there’s a catalog there. And if direct-engagement is a piece of the goal, the video for “För Samtida Djur” should be weird enough to do the trick. Coming off the paintings and stuff at the beginning is cool and all, but it’s the awkward dancing for the win. No doubter.

Melody and expanse, adventure and dynamic. If you’ve got chemistry, you can go just about anywhere you want if you have the will to do it. I look forward to hearing where För Samtida Djur 2 takes them.

Until then, then:

Kungens Män, “För Samtida djur” video premiere

Preorder link: http://majesticmountainrecords.bigcartel.com/product/kungens-man-for-samtida-djur-1-pre-order

Imagine for a moment if you will, a lush and verdant world where the senses are completely enraptured by vibrations of melody reverberating through the psyche with jubilant, electric pulsation and entrancing bliss uninhibited. A complete soul rapture in the form of literal, rhythmic poetry, a full sonic immersion, exploration and expression of life itself via organic, symphonic, orchestral mastery.

Well Majestic people, we’re about to take you there. It has always been the goal of MMR to release music that has an “otherness” about it, a quality of inimitable magic, sometimes not tangibly quantifiable but instead, felt in the gut; ultimately pulling at the heart. This signing is exactly that philosophy in its essence. For a very long time we have been ecstatically awaiting the time when we could make today’s announcement and that time has finally arrived.

Please ready yourselves for transportation to a completely different star system with Kungens Män joining the Majestic Mountain Records constellation for an incredible release in two parts.

“För samtida djur” (For Contemporary Animals) will come in two lush editions with a limited press of 250 each.

“In February 2024, the first part of “För samtida djur” (For contemporary animals) will be released. It consists of eight songs of Kungens Män in their most condensed form, yet with a great degree of variation and some soundscapes previously unheard in our improvised world. The second part which comes out in May, is a more classic Kungens Män collection, with long, sprawling songs that are invitations to inner and outer space. The music has been recorded over the last two years in between tours of Europe and UK. These twin albums also mark our first cooperation with a Swedish label, Majestic Mountain Records. A label built on love for the music and a supplier of high quality vinyl with an emphasis on psych, doom and stoner.”

Kungens Män have previously released albums on Riot Season, Cardinal Fuzz, Adansonia Records and their own label Kungens Ljud & Bild and Majestic Mountain Records is not only delighted but honored to be bringing you the next chapter in the evolution of their legendarily groovy, deeply trippy and fiercely funky, free form psychedelia.

Please give them a follow if you are not already and do keep an eye out for more regarding these monumental explorations into the art of sound.

The quote from the band:
“After more than a decade in constant motion, Kungens Män are now ready to unleash one of their most ambitious project thus far. In February 2024, the first part of “För samtida djur” (For Contemporary Animals) will be released. It consists of eight songs with Kungens Män in their most condensed form, at the same time with a great degree of variation and some soundscapes previously unheard in the improvised world of the adventurous Swedes. The second part which comes out in May is a more classic Kungens Män collection, with long, sprawling songs that are invitations to inner and outer space. The music has been recorded over the last two years in between tours of Europe and UK.

These twin albums also mark the band’s first cooperation with a Swedish label, Majestic Mountain Records. A label built on love for the music and a supplier of high quality vinyl with an emphasis on psych, doom and stoner, the label has asked about the possibility of releasing Kungens Män for several years. And now the time is right!”

kugens man tour

Kungens Män live:
2024-02-09 Hus 7/Slaktkyrkan, Stockholm (SE) w/ Träd Gräs och Stenar.
2024-02-21 Inkonst, Malmö (SE) w/ VED
2024-02-22 Lygtens Kro, Copenhagen (DK)
2024-02-23 BLO-Ateliers, Berlin (DE)
2024-02-24 KOHI-Kulturraum, Karlsruhe (DE)
2024-02-25 De Onderbroek, Nijmegen (NL)
2024-02-26 TBA
2024-02-27 C.Keller & Galerie Markt 21 e. V., Weimar (DE)
2024-02-28 KuBa, Jena (DE)
2024-02-29 TANKSTATION, Enschede (NL)
2024-03-01 Terminus Saarbrücken, Saarbrücken (DE)
2024-03-02 TBA (Hamburg area?)

Kungens Män on Facebook

Kungens Män on Instagram

Kungens Män on Bandcamp

Majestic Mountain Records on Instagram

Majestic Mountain Records on Facebook

Majestic Mountain Records store

Tags: , , , , , ,

Void Commander Premiere New Single “The Night Took My Name”

Posted in audiObelisk, Whathaveyou on January 4th, 2024 by JJ Koczan

void commander

Starting last May, Swedish jam-prone classic heavy rockers Void Commander began to trickle out singles ahead of their fourth full-length and first for Majestic Mountain Records. Marking their 10th anniversary in 2024, the three-piece will issue their yet-untitled next LP in the months to come through Majestic Mountain and Interstellar Smoke Records, and “The Night Took My Name” follows behind “Dyke Blues” and “Bloodred Knight Alright” in representing the band’s covers-all-bases sound, bringing a doomier roll to the beginning and an open-feeling swing later, broad but still rhythmically centered, and with plenty of room for a jam as it pushes toward six minutes.

The record is like that. The harmonica-laced blues of “Sweet Depression” and “Alien Queen,” the latter of which brings together Sabbath‘s “War Pigs” and “The Wizard” and complements with a massive slowdown at the finish, and the ultra-flowing “Jam in C,” which hypnotizes in such a way as to make “The Night Took My Name” feel all the more like an outward launch. They lean into grittier rock at what I’ll neither confirm nor deny is the outset with “To the Grave” — one is reminded of the bombast of a song like “Fucked Up” from 2021’s River Lord (discussed here) — but run a gamut across heavy subgenres, tipping into hugely fuzzed lumber from the Sleepy intro to “Bloodred Knight Alright” in such a way as to tie together the improv-minded with the structures of thevoid commander the night took my name pieces that (more often than not, at least going by the tracklisting) are evolved from the root jams, shifting as it does into a bassy boogie strut near the finish that just kind of works because it does and the context allows for it; riffs pieced together creatively enough that as “Jam in C” meanders into a lyrical pattern, it feels like it’s happening if not in realtime then close enough to it that it doesn’t matter if it isn’t.

In terms of vibe, Void Commander make striking a difficult balance sound easy, and their sound on the whole reminds of some of the older-school Northern European troupes of the turn of the century, and no, I’m not just talking about Dozer, but bands like older Mustasch or Abramis Brama, maybe even Dead Man at least in terms of range, who brought together sounds from the ’70s and ’90s and helped shape heavy rock as we know it. That work has already been done, of course, but Void Commander are playing in that sandbox of decades of heavy rock influences, and whether it’s “The Night Took My Name” with a push that would be more straightforward from a lot of bands than it is here — and that’s a compliment — to the catchy stops of “Alien Wizard” (who presumably serves at the behest of the “Alien Queen”), Void Commander present a cohesive and individualized take on heavy tenets with a punker’s lack of pretense and an underlying groove that is welcoming even at its most dug-in.

I don’t have a release date for the album, and I don’t know if this will be the last advance track released as a standalone single from it, but it exists somewhere and between “Bloodred Knight Alright,” “Dyke Blues” and now “The Night Took My Name,” you’ve got three of the seven or eight tracks that will end up on the finished product, and that’s pretty good to go on. The other two, as well as the aforementioned River Lord, stream below, because MAXIMALISM.

Have fun, because you just might:

Void Commander, “The Night Took My Name” visualizer premiere


Vinyl will be a co-release with Majestic Mountain Records & Interstellar Smoke Records.

“- Another handful of stoner metal from the southern forests of the cold north arrives in the form of “The night took my name ”. A story of endless wake and sleep, a thin line between sleeping and being dead, The night took my name.” – Lee Noose, Void Commander

Void Commander was formed in 2014 by Bobbie (Vocals, Guitar) and Jimmy (Drums). After a long search and using many bass players, Linus (Bass) joined the band in 2016.

Void Commander, “Bloodred Knight Alright”

Void Commander, “Dyke Blues”

Void Commander, River Lord (2021)

Void Commander on Instagram

Void Commander on Facebook

Void Commander on Bandcamp

Majestic Mountain Records on Instagram

Majestic Mountain Records on Facebook

Majestic Mountain Records store

Tags: , , , , ,

Djefvul Premiere “Into the Water” Feat. Lea Amling of Besvärjelsen

Posted in audiObelisk on December 21st, 2023 by JJ Koczan

djefvul into the water

Tomorrow, Dec. 22, Swedish atmospheric heavy newcomers Djefvul will release their first single, “Into the Water,” through Majestic Mountain Records. At core in the project — and if the name Djefvul has you thinking ‘devil,’ you’re right; it’s old Swedish — is Patrik “Putte” Lidfors, known for his work in the crunchier-sounding Grandier, and sitting in on vocals for the track is Lea Amling, lead vocalist of Besvärjelsen. The band actually started in 2016, but has taken on new focus with the end of Lidfors‘ prior outfit.

Which is pretty fresh, mind you, at least as regards being made public. Earlier in 2023, Grandier released the single “No Name Sky” following on from 2022’s debut LP, The Scorn and Grace of Crows (review here), which was also issued by Majestic Mountain. That standalone track also featured Amling singing, and if you’re up for it, going from one to the next between Grandier‘s “No Name Sky” and Djefvul‘s “Into the Water” demonstrates clearly the aesthetic pivot being made. “Into the Water” feels more suited in its tempo to Amling‘s languid delivery, which will be readily identifiable to those familiar with her work in Besvärjelsen (if that’s not you, don’t be afraid to get on board anyway), and as the tones grow lower and more concrete in the chorus, Lidfors contributes backing vocals for a moment worthy of the dead stop that follows. A quick and well justified breath before diving into the second verse.

There’s a sense of drone behind the second chorus, but “Into the Water” is a gradual urge, not an insistence — an emphatic invitation — and at just over four minutes, it ends up balanced between its catchy hook reaching out, “Come take a trip into the water,” and the surrounding slow-burner atmosphere conjured by Lidfors on bass and guitar and captured by his production, set to the roll of Hampus Landin‘s drums and finished with a master by the esteemed Esben Willems, the track is broad but working on solid ground, giving an open impression through tempo and tone without actually departing from structure.

But to return to an earlier point, Grandier‘s hiatus, or “pause” as they put it — maybe they’re done and maybe not — came just last month as Lidfors announced he was moving forward with the new name and new intentions. “Into the Water,” then, is the moment of that transition from one unit to the next, and it’s given rare fluidity by the appearance of Amling on both Djefvul‘s first output and Grandier‘s (potentially) last. I wouldn’t be surprised if by the time Djefvul are making their full-length debut, “No Name Sky” doesn’t end up featured on it, perhaps with some reworking, but “Into the Water” represents well the sonic shift and the consistency of songwriting and melodic focus shared between the two bands, and is exciting in the direction it seems to be headed.

So, of course, we end by looking forward. I don’t know when/if a Djefvul album will show up in 2024 or some point thereafter, but in terms of serving notice of their existence and modus, “Into the Water” resonates in groove and melody and hopefully is a herald of more to come. And just in case you want to do your own side-by-side, the Grandier track is at the bottom of this post, courtesy of their Bandcamp.

Please enjoy:

Djefvul, “Into the Water” premiere

Lea Amling on “Into the Water”:

“‘Into the Water’ is a song about letting go and diving into the unknown. About finding hope in the new and unknown and gaining courage to release the things that are holding you back.”

From the ashes of Grandier, Djefvul has risen.

Music by Patrik Lidfors (ex-Grandier), Lyrics by Lea Amling (Besvärjelsen)
Lead vocals Lea Amling
Choirs, Bass and Guitars Patrik Lidfors
Drums by Hampus Landin, recorded at Gramtone Studio, retrigged and mixed at Heathen Studio Norrköping
All other instruments and Vocals recorded at Heathen Studio Norrkoping

Cover Artist Thomas Moe Elfserud, Hypnotist Design Norway
Arranged, Produced and Mixed by Patrik Lidfors at Heathen Studio Norrköping
Mastered by Esben Willems at Berserk Studio Gothenburg

Grandier, “No Name Sky” (2023)

Djefvul on Facebook

Djefvul on Instagram

Djefvul on Bandcamp

Majestic Mountain Records store

Majestic Mountain Records on Instagram

Majestic Mountain Records on Facebook

Tags: , , , ,

Quarterly Review: Tortuga, Spidergawd, Morag Tong, Conny Ochs, Ritual King, Oldest Sea, Dim Electrics, Mountain of Misery, Aawks, Kaliyuga Express

Posted in Reviews on November 30th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

The-Obelisk-Quarterly-Review

Generally I think of Thursday as the penultimate day of a given Quarterly Review. This one I was thinking of adding more days to get more stuff in ahead of year-end coverage coming up in December. I don’t know what that would do to my weekend — actually, yes I do — but sometimes it’s worth it. I’m yet undecided. Will let you know tomorrow, or perhaps not. Dork of mystery, I am.

Today is PACKED with cool sounds. If you haven’t found something yet that’s really hit you, it might be your day.

Quarterly Review #31-40:

Tortuga, Iterations

TORTUGA Iterations

From traditionalist proto-doom and keyboard-inflected prog to psychedelic jamming and the Mountain-style start-stop riff on “Lilith,” Poznań, Poland’s Tortuga follow 2020’s Deities (discussed here) with seven tracks and 45 minutes that come across as simple and barebones in the distortion of the guitar and the light reverb on the vocals, but the doom rock doesn’t carry from “Lilith” into “Laspes,” which has more of a ’60s psych crux, a mellow but not unjoyful meander in its first half turning to a massive lumber in the second, all the more elephantine with a solo overtop. They continue throughout to cross the lines between niches — “Quaus” has some dungeon growls, “Epitaph” slogs emotive like Pallbearer, etc. — and offer finely detailed performances in a sound malleable to suit the purposes of their songs. Polish heavy doesn’t screw around. Well, at least not any more than it wants to. Tortuga‘s creative reach becomes part of the character of the album.

Tortuga on Facebook

Napalm Records website

Spidergawd, VII

spidergawd vii

I’m sorry, I gotta ask: What’s the point of anything when Spidergawd can put out a record like VII and it’s business as usual? Like, the world doesn’t stop for a collective “holy shit” moment. Even in the heavy underground, never mind general population. These are the kinds of songs that could save lives if properly employed to do so, and for the Norwegian outfit, it’s just what they do. The careening hooks of “Sands of Time” and “The Tower” at the start, the melodies across the span. The energy. I guess this is dad rock? Shit man, I’m a dad. I’m not this cool. Spidergawd have seven records out and I feel like Metallica should’ve been opening for them at stadiums this past summer, but they remain criminally underrated and perhaps use that as flexibility around their pop-heavy foundation to explore new ideas. The last three songs on VII — “Afterburner,” “Your Heritage” and “…And Nothing But the Truth” — are among the strongest and broadest Spidergawd have ever done, and “Dinosaur” and the classic-metal ripper “Bored to Death” give them due preface. One of the best active heavy rock bands, living up to and surpassing their own high standards.

Spidergawd on Facebook

Stickman Records website

Crispin Glover Records website

Morag Tong, Grieve

Morag Tong Grieve

Rumbling low end and spacious guitar, slow flowing drums and contemplative vocals, and some charred sludge for good measure, mark out the procession of “At First Light” on Morag Tong‘s third album and first for Majestic Mountain Records, the four-song Grieve. Moving from that initial encapsulation through the raw-throat sludge thud of most of “Passages,” they crash out and give over to quiet guitar at about four minutes in and set up the transition to the low-end groove-cool of “A Stem’s Embrace,” a sleepy fluidity hitting its full voluminous crux after three minutes in, crushing from there en route to its noisy finish at just over nine minutes long. That would be the epic finisher of most records, but Morag Tong‘s grievances extend to the 20-minute “No Sun, No Moon,” which at 20 minutes is a full-length’s progression on its own. At very least the entirety of side B, but more than the actual runtime is the theoretical amount of space covered as the four-piece shift from ambient drone through huge plod and resolve the skyless closer with a crushing delve into post-sludge atmospherics. That’s as fitting an end as one could ask for an offering that so brazenly refuses to follow impulses other than its own.

Morag Tong on Facebook

Majestic Mountain Records store

Conny Ochs, Wahn Und Sinn

Conny Ochs Wahn Und Sinn

The nine-song Wahn Und Sinn carries the distinction of being the first full-length from German singer-songwriter Conny Ochs — also known for his work in Ananda Mida and his collaboration with Wino — to be sung in his own language. As a non-German speaker, I won’t pretend that doesn’t change the listening experience, but that’s the idea. Words and melodies in different languages take on corresponding differences in character, and so in addition to appreciating the strings, pianos, acoustic and electric guitars, and, in the case of “Welle,” a bit of static noise in a relatively brief electronic soundscape, hearing Ochs‘ delivery no less emotive for switching languages on the cinematic “Grimassen,” or the lounge drama of “Ding” earlier on, it’s a new side from a veteran figure whose “experimentalism” — and no, I’m not talking about singing in your own language as experimental, I’m talking about Trialogos there — is backburnered in favor of more traditional, still rampantly melancholy pop arrangements. It sounds like someone who’s decided they can do whatever the hell they feel like their songs should making that a reality. Only an asshole would hold not speaking the language against that.

Conny Ochs on Facebook

Exile on Mainstream website/a>

Ritual King, The Infinite Mirror

ritual king the infinite mirror

I’m going to write this review as though I’m speaking directly to Ritual King because, well, I am. Hey guys. Congrats on the record. I can hear a ton going on with it. Some of Elder‘s bright atmospherics and rhythmic twists, some more familiar stoner riffage repurposed to suit a song like “Worlds Divide” after “Flow State” calls Truckfighters to mind, the songs progressive and melodic. The way you keep that nod in reserve for “Landmass?” That’s what I’m talking about. Here’s some advice you didn’t ask for: Keep going. I’m sure you have big plans for next year, and that’s great, and one thing leads to the next. You’re gonna have people for the next however long telling you what you need to do. Do what feels right to you, and keep in mind the decisions that led you to where you are, because you’re right there, headed to the heart of this thing you’re discovering. Two records deep there’s still a lot of potential in your sound, but I think you know a track like “Tethered” is a victory on its own, and that as big as “The Infinite Mirror” gets at the end, the real chance it takes is in the earlier vocal melody. You’re a better band than people know. Just keep going. Thanks.

Ritual King on Facebook

Ripple Music website

Oldest Sea, A Birdsong, A Ghost

oldest sea a birdsong a ghost cropped

Inhabiting the sort of alternately engulfing and minimal spaces generally occupied by the likes of Bell Witch, New Jersey’s Oldest Sea make their full-length debut with A Birdsong, A Ghost and realize a bleakness of mood that is affecting even in its tempo, seeming to slow the world around it to its own crawl. The duo of Samantha Marandola and Andrew Marandola, who brought forth their Strange and Eternal EP (review here) in 2022, find emotive resonance in a death-doom build through the later reaches of “Untracing,” but the subsequent three-minute-piece-for-chorus-and-distorted-drone “Astronomical Twilight” and the similarly barely-there-until-it-very-much-is closer “Metamorphose” mark out either end of the extremes while “The Machines That Made Us Old” echoes Godflesh in its later riffing as Samantha‘s voice works through screams en route to a daringly hopeful drone. Volatile but controlled, it is a debut of note for its patience and vulnerability as well as its deep-impact crash and consuming tone.

Oldest Sea on Facebook

Darkest Records on Bandcamp

Dim Electrics, Dim Electrics

dim electrics dim electrics

Each track on Dim Electrics‘ self-titled five-songer LP becomes a place to rest for a while. No individual piece is lacking activity, but each cut has room for the listener to get inside and either follow the interweaving aural patterns or zone out as they will. Founded by Mahk Rumbae, the Vienna-based project is meditative in the sense of basking in repetition, but flashes like the organ in the middle of “Saint” or the shimmy that takes hold in 18-minute closer “Dream Reaction” assure it doesn’t reside in one place for too much actual realtime, of which it’s easy to lose track when so much krautgazey flow is at hand. Beginning with ambience, “Ways of Seeing” leads the listener deeper into the aural chasm it seems to have opened, and the swirling echoes around take on a life of their own in the ecosystem of some vision of space rock that’s also happening under the ground — past and future merging as in the mellotron techno of “Memory Cage” — which any fool can tell you is where the good mushrooms grow. Dug-in, immersive, engaging if you let it be; Dim Electrics feels somewhat insular in its mind-expansion, but there’s plenty to go around if you can put yourself in the direction it’s headed.

Dim Electrics on Facebook

Sulatron Records webstore

Mountain of Misery, In Roundness

Mountain of Misery In Roundness

A newcomer project from Kamil Ziółkowski, also known for his contributions as part of Polish heavy forerunners Spaceslug, the tone-forward approach of Mountain of Misery might be said to be informed by Ziółkowski‘s other project in opener “Not Away” or the penultimate “Climb by the Sundown,” with their languid vocals and slow-rolling tsunami fuzz in the spirit of heavy psych purveyors Colour Haze and even more to the point Sungrazer, but the howling guitar in the crescendo of closer “The Misery” and the all-out assault of “Hang So Low” distinguish the band all around. “The Rain is My Love” sways in the album’s middle, but it’s in “Circle in Roundness” that the 36-minute LP has its most subdued stretch, letting the spaces filled with fuzz elsewhere remain open as the verse builds atop the for-now-drumless expanse. Whatever familiar aspects persist, Mountain of Misery is its own band, and In Roundness is the exciting beginning of a new creative evolution.

Mountain of Misery on Facebook

Electric Witch Mountain Recordings on Facebook

Aawks, Luna

aawks luna

The featured new single, “The Figure,” finds Barrie, Ontario’s Aawks somewhere between Canadian tonal lords Sons of Otis and the dense heavy psych riffing and melodic vocals of an act like Snail, and if you think I’m about to complain about that, you’ve very clearly never been to this site before. So hi, and welcome. The four-song Luna EP is Aawks‘ second short release of 2023 behind a split with Aiwass (review here), and the trio take on Flock of Seagulls and Pink Floyd for covers of the new wave radio hit “I Ran” and the psychedelic ur-classic “Julia Dream” before a live track, “All is Fine,” rounds out. As someone who’s never seen the band live, the additional crunch falls organic, and brings into relief the diversity Aawks show in and between these four songs, each of which inhabits a place in the emerging whole of the band’s persona. I don’t know if we’ll get there, but sign me up for the Canadian heavy revolution if this is the form it’s going to take.

Aawks on Facebook

Black Throne Productions website

Kaliyuga Express, Warriors & Masters

Kaliyuga Express Warriors and Masters

The collaborative oeuvre of UK doomsperimental guitarist Mike Vest (Bong, Blown Out, Ozo, 11Paranoias, etc.) grows richer as he joins forces with Finnish trio Nolla to produce Kaliyuga ExpressWarriors & Masters, which results in three tracks across two sides of far-out cosmic fuzz, shades of classic kraut and space rocks are wrought with jammy intention; the goal seeming to be the going more than the being gone as Vest and company burn through “Nightmare Dimensions” and the shoegazing “Behind the Veil” — the presence of vocals throughout is a distinguishing feature — hums in high and low frequencies in a repetitive inhale of stellar gases on side A while the 18:58 side B showdown “Endless Black Space” misdirects with a minute of cosmic background noise before unfurling itself across an exoplanet’s vision of cool and returning, wait for it, back to the drone from whence it came. Did you know stars are recycled all the time? Did you know that if you drop acid and peel your face off there’s another face underneath? Your third eye is googly. You can hear voices in the drones. Let me know what they tell you.

Kaliyuga Express on Facebook

Riot Season Records store

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Kungens Män Sign to Majestic Mountain Records

Posted in Whathaveyou on October 16th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

Just good news here. I haven’t been so stoked on Majestic Mountain Records picking up a Swedish jam-based heavy psychedelic rock band since… well, probably since they signed CB3 last year. So not all that long, but still. If you’ve kept up on the languid, sometimes-crab-inspired organic psych proffered by Kungens Män, most recently as part of Worst Bassist RecordsInternational Space Station Vol. I (review here) four-way split last Fall, you don’t need me to justify the ‘good news’ designation above. And yes, I hear that in Prof. Farnsworth’s voice. Of course.

I’ll look forward to both parts of För samtida djur The first piece of which will arrive in February, the second in May. Tight schedule. If it’s February and September, I’ll still take it. Time matters way less if the jams are right.

From the label via the PR wire:

Kungens Män

Kungens Män signs to Majestic Mountain

Imagine for a moment if you will, a lush and verdant world where the senses are completely captivated by vibrations of melody. Reverberating through the psyche with intoxicatingly jubilant, electric pulsation and entrancing bliss uninhibited, a complete soul rapture in the form of literal, rhythmic poetry. Well, Majestic people, we’re about to take you there.

It has always been the goal of MMR to release music that has an “otherness” about it, a quality of inimitable magic, sometimes not tangibly quantifiable but instead, felt in the gut; ultimately pulling at the heart. This signing is exactly that philosophy in its essence. For a very long time we have been ecstatically awaiting the time when we could make today’s announcement and that time has finally arrived.

Please ready yourselves for transportation to a completely different star system with Kungens Män joining the Majestic Mountain Records constellation for an incredible release in two parts. A full sonic immersion, exploration, and expression of life itself via organically explorative mastery ✨(#129680#)

“In February 2024, the first part of “För samtida djur” (For Contemporary Animals) will be released. The album consists of eight songs of Kungens Män in our most condensed form, yet with a great degree of variation and some soundscapes previously unheard in our improvised world. The second part which comes out in May, is a more classic Kungens Män collection, with long, sprawling songs that are invitations to inner and outer space. The music has been recorded over the last two years in between tours of Europe and UK. These twin albums also mark our first cooperation with Swedish label, Majestic Mountain Records. A label built on love for the music and a supplier of high-quality vinyl with an emphasis on psych, doom, and stoner.”

Majestic Mountain Records is not only delighted but hounroued to be bringing you the next chapter in the evolution of the Kungens Män saga and their legendarily groovy, deeply trippy, and funky, free-form psychedelia.

Please give them a follow if you are not already. More information will follow soon so keep an eye out regarding these monumental explorations into the art of sound.

kungensman.bandcamp.com
facebook.com/bandetkungensman
instagram.com/kungensmanband
kungensman.tumblr.com

http://majesticmountainrecords.bigcartel.com
http://facebook.com/majesticmountainrecords
http://instagram.com/majesticmountainrecords

Kungens Män, “Keeper of the One Key”

Tags: , , , ,

Vokonis Interview & Track Premiere: Simona Ohlsson on Exist Within Light and Much More

Posted in audiObelisk, Bootleg Theater, Features on September 27th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

Vokonis

Swedish progressive riffers Vokonis will release their new EP, Exist Within Light, through Majestic Mountain Records on Oct. 27. Premiering below, “Houndstooth” is the lead cut from the outing — one of three, it’s joined by “Revengeful” and the title-track — which is intended as a precursor to the band’s already-done fifth full-length, which will be out next year. Three songs to chew on, then. Those who heard the then-trio/now-four-piece’s last album, 2019’s Odyssey (review here) will likely thrill at the Mastodonnery in the midsection of “Revengeful” before the sprint starts anew, or the harsher vocals in the back half of “Houndstooth” — the bite, presumably — and with the breadth of “Exist Within Light” itself, Vokonis assure the creative pursuit that’s led them from their demo days in the middle of the last decade to the realized and expansive unit they are continues unabated.

Guitarist/vocalist Simona Ohlsson hit me up a couple weeks back with word about the releases upcoming, and said she wanted to do an interview.Vokonis Exist Within Light I get asked to do a fair amount of interviews for somebody who’s not that good at it. Nonetheless, the concern was that Ohlsson‘s being trans was something of a delicate discussion, and I guess I’ve posted enough sociopolitical commentary for her to feel confident I’m at very least going to make an effort not to be an asshole. I took it as a compliment that she asked, actually, and so of course said yes. We talked for a while on camera and off about her experiences with her family and friends (positive, mostly) and the heavy underground at large (mixed) and of what got her to a point of understanding that this very fundamental thing she knew about herself for her whole life was wrong, and killing her. Ohlsson speaks frankly in the video about suicidal ideation. If that’s a trigger for you, heads up.

Because these things are impressively coordinated, you’ll note that Oct. 27 is one month from today. Additionally, “Houndstooth” was the first song written as part of this cycle, so we begin at the beginning, and maybe a bit at a new beginning for the band. Their changed configuration as a four-piece, coupled with a new and hard-won perspective from Ohlsson about the possibility of actually existing in light — and not only doing it, but doing it in defiance of dickheads the world over; making a point of doing it — come coupled with familiar crush and, in the case of “Houndstooth,” a consuming pummel that’s wielded with care and grace as it comes charging for your sternum. With the intensity of “Revengeful” in the middle and the still-heavy stretchout with vibes from New Wave and progadelia in “Exist Within Light,” Vokonis are forward-looking as ever musically.

And you know what? While we’re here, let’s just say that goes for the album too. I’m not gonna lie to you and say I haven’t heard it when I have. It’s killer, and aside from the general universe’s need of more visibly queer heavy music — not being sarcastic; I’m tired of pictures of four coded straight white dudes standing in front of a thing — it is most essentially Vokonis‘ own in sound and style. In that, Exist Within Light is an only fitting preface. The interaction between music and Ohlsson‘s experience transitioning are an essential part of the narrative here, to be sure, but if you hear “Houndstooth” below and it doesn’t land, first, try again, and second, maybe check out some of the interview (it’s not short and I don’t care; I’m doing this for posterity not to go viral) and get a sense of where Ohlsson and Vokonis circa ’23 are coming from. By the time you’re done, probably with the sub-five-minute single, you’ll be good to go.

So by all means, get to it. The band posted the single pre-save link and all that futuristic whatnot on socials. Text follows the players with song and interview, respectively.

Enjoy:

Vokonis, “Houndstooth” track premiere

Vokonis Interview with Simona Ohlsson, Sept. 21, 2023

This coming Friday the 29th of September, we will be releasing a new single entitled “Houndstooth”.

Part of our forthcoming three-track EP “Exist Within Light”, which releases October 27th. You’ll be able to have a sneak peek this Wednesday with a premiere thanks to The Obelisk.

You can pre-save the single for Spotify here: https://recordu.lnk.to/Houndstooth

You can also pre-order the EP which will be released in digital format only for now, on Bandcamp here: https://vokonis.bandcamp.com/album/exist-within-light

We have partnered with Majestic Mountain Records for this EP and our upcoming album which will be released in 2024, more information on that to come. MMR shares our ambition for opulence, quality, and unwavering support of the queerness so we are very excited for our collaboration with them.

The new album has already been recorded, mixed, and mastered and we cannot wait for Wednesday’s premiere ahead of Friday’s release of our single “Houndstooth” to begin the journey to new Vokonis material for you all.

 

vokonis houndstoothExist Within Light tracklisting:
1. Houndstooth
2. Revengeful
3. Exist Within Light

Written by
Simona Ohlsson
Jonte Johansson
Sven Lindsten
Oscar Johannesson

Recorded by
Simona Ohlsson
Sven Lindsten
Oscar Johannesson

Recorded 2023 in Studio Soundport, produced and mixed by Mikael Andersson. Mastered by Magnus Lindberg. Art by Kyrre Bjurling. Houndstooth pattern by Zenkaro on DeviantArt.

Vokonis are:
Simona Ohlsson – guitar/vocals
Hedvig Modig – noise/guitar/backing vocals
Jonte Johansson – bass/backing vocals
Sven Lindsten – drums

Vokonis on Facebook

Vokonis on Instagram

Vokonis on Bandcamp

Majestic Mountain Records store

Majestic Mountain Records on Instagram

Majestic Mountain Records on Facebook

Tags: , , , , ,

Kal-El Premiere “Universe” Video From Moon People

Posted in Bootleg Theater on September 20th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

kal-el

This week marks the release of Kal-El‘s new two-songer EP, Moon People, on Majestic Mountain Records, and for those who would chase a trail of fuzzy riffs across this or that infinite expanse, the track “Universe” offers due opportunity. There is simply no arguing with this band. Based in Stavanger, Norway, the double-guitar five-piece fronted by Ståle “The Captain” Rodvelt are now five albums deep into a tenure that spans a decade-plus, and they have remained loyal to the riffs, the fuzz, the sliding nod and push that defines heavy rock, but have brought an expansive breadth that is their own. “Universe” accompanies the title-track of Moon People. Both are seven-minute groovers based around that core blend of heft and float, and unlike some very grand number of other acts, Kal-El do not feel the need to separate the two. They can make the heft float, and they do in each of these two pieces in a different way.

Hooky A-side “Moon People” (video near the bottom of the post) wakes itself up as a fuzzy underlying progression seems to be encouraging the rest of the band to get on board. kal-el moon peopleSoon enough they do, and Kal-El unfurl the hairy tonality that typifies the lead cut. It is the stuff of blown speakers at proper volumes, much as Kal-El‘s style lends itself to grandiose superlatives. The guitars make room for vocals in the verse, open and melodic, and “Universe” will do the same shortly with a denser buzz behind, and as they work their way through the hook and back around, then head outbound on an extended solo jam, the B-side is allowed its opportunity for contrast. Because while united in tone and aesthetic, “Moon People” and “Universe” want to and do accomplish different ends.

In “Universe,” it’s the structure that shifts. The shove is more immediate with the toms circling around making their way toward a ’90s-style space-grunge verse, and they complement that intensity with a chorus boogie riff that’s so heartfelt in its Sabbathian blues that it reminds of Church of Misery. Of course, they end in a big wash of fuzz and the hook and psychedelic flourish around hard-landing nod delivered with expert pacing and the sense of craft one has come to expect from Kal-El, but it’s the path they take getting there that makes that culmination so satisfying, the fact that they were willing to change it up from one track to the next reminds of the attention to detail that made their 2021 fifth LP, Dark Majesty (review here) so easy to follow on its solar trajectory.

The thing’s out Friday, so there’s no time to waste. “Universe” premieres below and “Moon People” is down near the links. 14 and a half minutes of the biggest riffs you’ll hear today. No arguing.

Enjoy:

Kal-El, “Universe” video premiere

This big unknown, cold, black vacuum, surrounding us with mysteries, danger, and marvels, has intrigued the earthlings since the dawn of man. Trapped on this one rock out of billions upon billions, we look for answers. Who is out there, what is out there, who are we? But we are not alone, and ultimately we are all, we are one, we are life, we are family – we are the Universe.

Enjoy, and may the fuzz be with you!

The second track and video from the Moon People EP.

Written and performed by Kal-El
Recorded at Lydplaneten
Engineered by Tory Raugstad
Produced by Kal-El
Mixed and mastered by Ruben Willem
Copyright to Darkspace Music

The stellar video by @prettynoose888 !

Kal-El, “Moon People” official video

Kal-El on Facebook

Kal-El on Instagram

Kal-El on Bandcamp

Kal-El website

Majestic Mountain Records store

Majestic Mountain Records on Instagram

Majestic Mountain Records on Facebook

Tags: , , , , ,

I Am Low Premiere “Ruins”; Úma Out Sept. 29

Posted in audiObelisk, Reviews on September 13th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

I Am Low Uma

Swedish psych-leaning heavy grunge rockers I Am Low will release their fourth long-player, Úma, through Majestic Mountain Records on Sept. 29. Recorded in late 2022 and early 2023, it is the trio’s first album for the label, and it offers a look at the largely-ungoogleable outfit’s songwriting process in a mature but actively exploring state. I’ll say outright that Úma is my first experience with the band — guitarist/vocalist Kristoffer Norgren, bassist Anton Höög and drummer/backing vocalist Oskar Melander — and from the flowing chorus of opener “Gunman” onward, which is just the title repeated, they update ’90s grunge and alt rocks with heavy purpose and trippier flashes and entrancing repetition.

Above everything else — the guitar tone, the groove, the odd sample here and there, the focus on vocal melody that becomes such a defining feature — is songwriting. I Am Low aren’t shy about varying tempo, as one can hear in how the speedy “Ruins” careens after second cut “Dead Space” unveils the mellower side of the three-piece, but one way or the other, the structures beneath the Alice in Chains-esque bottom-of-mouth delivery from Norgren backed in harmony by Melander (unless that’s layering, which is always possible) are strong enough to convey a plan at work throughout the most languid of moments. For example, “Dead Space” is a slower, more open-feeling track than “Gunman” or “Ruins” or even side A’s “Wake,” which lets the bass be its anchor as it shows something of a more patient side in redirecting after the thrust of “Ruins.” But in the underlying structure it’s not so dissimilar from “Gunman” or the Helmet-y riffer “Pigs,” which follows the centerpiece title-track and is enough to make me believe that at one point or another, somebody in the band listened to or played a fair amount of noise rock.

I Am LowNonetheless, that influence is worked fluidly into the mix of grunge, heavy rock and lightly-added psych that’s no less at home igniting with the punkish basis of “Ruins” than the “Planet Caravan”-esque guitar meander and hand percussion of the penultimate “Void,” and I Am Low are consistent through these turns. In sound, in melody, in groove. Listening through from “Gunman” to “Release,” the prevailing impression from Úma is of the band sculpting the material in the studio, finding the place they wanted each song to occupy — positioning “Úma” in the middle speaks to this as well, but it’s more about what they’re actually doing in the songs — and letting it dwell there. “Gunman” works at the outset to start off with gentle taps on the ride cymbal, easing the listener into a build-up in progress. “Dead Space” seems to commune with “13 Angels”-C.O.C. similar to “Void”‘s Sabbathian basis, and the not-to-be-discounted momentum they subtly build through the “Tell me…” repetitions of the title-track, the way “Wake” highlights that bass as “Time” brings the guitar forward in a guitar solo seeming to communicate the drawl in the lyrics repeating the line “Time keeps on slipping.” I recall hearing something about that somewhere.

All of this rounds out to “Release” working back up the energy that “Void” traded out for trance — not complaining — holding its tension in the low end and loosing its forward build at about two minutes in before the solo marks the apex., as fitting and unpretentious a finish as I Am Low might conjure in light of Úma‘s abiding lack of fancy tricks in its component tracks. This isn’t effects-wash. It’s not improv jams. These songs are flowing, but grounded, conscious, and while it might be my first time hearing them, it’s very, very obviously not their first time honing a studio sound. They make resounding labelmates for the recently-reviewed Masheena in their ’90s elements (not so much the ’70s) and marked quality of craft, while remaining less outwardly pop-minded and moodier in tone, able to immerse their audience and create an atmosphere without losing their intended direction in the process. It should go without saying that this is mastery in action.

“Ruins” premieres below, followed by some comment from the band and more from the PR wire.

Please enjoy:

I Am Low, “Ruins” track premiere

I Am Low on “Ruins”:

“‘Ruins’ is the second single from our upcoming album, to be released on Majestic Mountain Records. Hard, fast and to the point (celebrating the fuck ups of the world) ‘Ruins’ is in quite bright contrast to some of the other tracks on the new album. However it still stays true to the sounds that formed this band, a healthy mix between grunge and stoner rock! Enjoy!”

Majestic Mountain Records is proud to [work with] Swedish, Umeå-based stoner rock trio I AM LOW for the release of the band’s fourth album “Úma”, due out on September 29th.

Ten years, three albums, two EPs and one line up change, Swedish stoner rock trio I AM LOW comprised of guitarist and vocalist Kristoffer Norgren, bassist Anton Höög and drummer and backing vocalist Oskar Melander are now ready to release their fourth, and hopefully their best and brightest album yet, perhaps heavier and slightly more psychedelic than before.

Tracklisting:
1. Gunman
2. Dead Space
3. Ruins
4. Wake
5. Úma
6. Pigs
7. Time
8. Void
9. Release

I AM LOW are:
Kristoffer Norgren: guitar/vocals
Anton Höög: bass
Oskar Melander: drums/backing vocals

I Am Low on Facebook

I Am Low on Instagram

I Am Low on YouTube

I Am Low on Bandcamp

Majestic Mountain Records store

Majestic Mountain Records on Instagram

Majestic Mountain Records on Facebook

Tags: , , , , ,