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The Obelisk Questionnaire: Johannes Stubenrauch (Helge) from Mindcrawler

Posted in Questionnaire on August 31st, 2022 by JJ Koczan

Johannes Stubenrauch (Helge) from Mindcrawler

The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.

Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.

Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.

The Obelisk Questionnaire: Johannes Stubenrauch (Helge) from Mindcrawler

How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?

I do not consider myself as a musician. Music for me is a relief and a road to escape the tunnel of analytics I face in my regular job that pays the rent, although I really like my profession.

I guess that is kind of true for the whole band.

We all share a true passion for music albeit coming from more or less different musical backgrounds and interests. However, none of us would consider making music for a living, although I am not sure what would happen if that was actually an option.

So in a nutshell, playing music and in a band for me is just another word for spending time with your friends, sharing the good and the bad moments in life with a group of people formed by a common love for a certain kind of sound, lifestyle and maybe mindset.

I have played music for the larger part of my life and a large part of that in turn was playing music together, not necessarily in a „band“. Playing electric guitar at home gets quite boring after a while. Playing in a band has always been a major goal in life for me so looking for one in my new hometown was a natural decision. I am quite lucky to be in a group with the best guys imaginable now.

Describe your first musical memory.

As many others I was prepared to learn the piano when I was at the age of five or six (with a quite fundamental lack of success) and play strange stuff, the kind one has to play when you’re able to perform better than „twinkle twinkle little star“ but too shabby to do some reasonable classical music.

I tortured myself for a while and somehow convinced my parents to get an acoustic guitar. Acoustic obviously, because I thought I was to learn the „basics first“ before I would get a real one.

Again I tortured myself a little more with some classical guitar (which I sucked at). When I got an electric guitar I then quickly realized that this is basically a different instrument.

Finally, I found out that there is a mighty thing called AC/DC (not talking electro-dynamics here) and down the heavy metal road I went.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

This is insanely hard to answer. When I was a teenager and into death metal, I went to my first real concert ever, i.e. not some local bands playing covers in a beer-tent (these kind of things where you would go to party at Oktoberfest). Where I grew up, this was basically the only place where live-music happened. For some reason, they do not play death metal songs at these happenings – haha.

Anyhow, when Eluveitie (a band I hyped a lot at the time) played „Inis Mona“ at this very concert it was a magical moment for me.

Same thing when I was at the Wacken Festival in Northern Germany for the first time: coming from a place with basically no rock music culture and suddenly there’s a full city of metal heads and music nerds sharing the same passion was a crazy scenario (as well as Iron Maiden live).

Seeing Baroness for the first time and after they had this terrible bus accident was crazy, too. They have been my favorite band for a long time now and I love John Dyer Baizley’s artworks with their strong black outlines and the bright colors.

Watching them perform live without any loss of energy, that was quite an inspiring moment.

When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?

When I had just started my studies, I was convinced all problems can be solved by logical reasoning and the proper idea. This seems to not be the case.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

I had a hard time trying to grasp the term „artistic progression“. Art is done by people. People change their attitudes, ideas, feelings and what else over the span of their lifetime. Art — for me — is just a reflection of the artist’s personality in the context of their information about their environment and life. Consequently, I think it is natural that an artist work changes. I never understood why sometimes people demand bands to remain constrained to a certain range of their possible portfolio. I get bored quickly if music sounds too familiar.

Coming back to the question: I think, artistic progression ultimately fully opens the window to the personality of the artist. Whether that is a good or a bad thing is up to the consumer, I guess.

How do you define success?

Enjoying what you do and having good time with your friends.

What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?

People you love having a serious disease or health issue. Maybe the newer Star Wars movies – haha.

Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.

Although it is probably quite „un-true“ to the stoner/doom genre, I’d like to setup a show which is planned and produced like for example a Rammstein show. Something where music and visual effects and this kind of stuff really interacts. Something with fire, laser and these LED spots you can grill a steak with. I’d skip the dancing, though.

What do you believe is the most essential function of art?

It should not be profit, that is for sure.

For the music I mostly listen to and the music I produce the function is quite simple. It is just a tool to provoke some good emotions like a good movie, a new album from one of your favorite bands or a cool painting from one of the artists from your neighborhood. I think they call that l’art pour l’art.

For me, art is the sugar in life so to say. An art student once told me that this was not art but craftsmanship. Not so sure about it; I think more important and interesting than the artwork itself is the emotion it provokes in the consumer.

Anyhow, I think the most essential function might be provocation and/or un-masking.

When I have read the question, the first things I thought of was this famous Banksy auction where the actual artwork was shredded, Rammstein’s videos or the stuff Brecht did in his „Epic Theater“ (if that is the proper translation, and yes, I am afraid I have mentioned Brecht and Rammstein in the same sentence).

All these things are provoking and unmasking up to a certain point. They depict things in a different way and I like the idea of art forcing people to change their point of view or at least make them start to think and reason. I think that is quite a hard thing to do nowadays and a form of art in its own right.

Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?

The next Band-BBQ.

http://www.facebook.com/Mindcrawler/
https://www.instagram.com/mindcrawler.band/
https://mindcrawler.bandcamp.com/

http://www.motljud.com/
https://www.soundeffect-records.gr/

Mindcrawler, Lost Orbiter (2020)

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Mindcrawler: Lost Orbiter Vinyl Due Nov. 6

Posted in Whathaveyou on September 29th, 2020 by JJ Koczan

Not really much of a surprise that someone picked up Mindcrawler‘s debut long-player, Lost Orbiter (review here), for release. Melodic, full-toned and ready for all the nodding-along you can handle and then some, the outing hit in February digitally, and that was just early enough to catch ears in and beyond the band’s native Germany before the entire year came crashing down. They were slated to appear at Keep it Low in their hometown of Munich next month, which of course would’ve opened doors at Sound of Liberation for them as they proceeded forward, but like everything else, their momentum in terms of live performances has been pushed back a year.

Still, the record rules, and Sound Effect Records in Greece makes a fitting home for the LP edition which is out Nov. 6. Preorders are up if that’s your thing, and there are two editions available. Not telling you how to spend your money, but I will casually advise you to — if you missed it earlier this year — to at least take a few minutes to dig into the stream of the album at the bottom of this post. Weaving into and out of instrumentalism, it’s one of my favorite debuts of 2020.

Info from the label:

mindcrawler lost orbiter

MINDCRAWLER – Lost Orbiter LP – Nov. 6

Preorder: https://www.soundeffect-records.gr/lost-orbiter

Past the Tannhäuser Gate, through the vortex of black holes and back to the dust of the Death Valley. Mindcrawler know the most remote places like the back of their hands. Since 2017 this space vehicle from the outskirts of Munich navigates the orbit of Bavaria’s Live Clubs and leaves only shattered stages behind wherever it goes. The four-piece band offers a mix of Space Rock, Stoner, Doom and Psych.

They pay tribute to the giants of Desert Rock while adding their own vision with transcendental meditation and riffs inspired by Punk and Metal. As of 2020 their transmission into the farthest regions of space and back has become even louder with the release of their highly acclaimed debut record “Lost Orbiter”.

This labor of love consists of six stunning tracks meticulously prepared to melt faces and start the engines for overdrive. As the current pandemic on planet Earth makes repeated listens within the confines of your own house all the more mandatory, Mindcrawler and Sound-Effect Records are proud to capture “Lost Orbiter” on mind boggling splatter-colored vinyl for the very first time. Fasten your seatbelts, dust off your moonboots and engage with one of this year’s biggest surprises within the realms of hard hitting Space infused Stoner Rock.

Lost Orbiter will be available through Soundeffect-Records with a limited run of 250 black vinyl and 150 limited splattered orange vinyl, each one will include a download code.

Mindcrawler are:
Joe – guitar|vocals
Helge – guitar
Tom – bass
Johannes – drums

http://www.facebook.com/Mindcrawler/
https://www.instagram.com/mindcrawler.band/
https://mindcrawler.bandcamp.com/
http://www.motljud.com/
https://www.soundeffect-records.gr/

Mindcrawler, Lost Orbiter (2020)

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Quarterly Review: Ocean Chief, Barnabus, Helen Money, Elder Druid, Mindcrawler, Temple of Void, Lunar Swamp, Huge Molasses Tank Explodes, Emile, Saturno Grooves

Posted in Reviews on March 27th, 2020 by JJ Koczan

quarterly review

I’m not saying I backloaded the Quarterly Review or anything — because I didn’t — but maybe subconsciously I wanted to throw in a few releases here I had a pretty good idea I was gonna dig beforehand. Pretty much all of them, as it turned out. Not a thing I regret happening, though, again, neither was it something I did purposefully. Anyone see A Serious Man? In this instance, I’m happy to “accept the mystery” and move on.

Before we dive into the last day, of course I want to say thank you for reading if you have been. If you’ve followed along all week or this is the only post you’ve seen or you’re just here because I tagged your band in the post on Thee Facebooks, whatever it is, it is appreciated. Thank you. Especially given the global pandemic, your time and attention is highly valued.

Quarterly Review #41-50:

Ocean Chief, Den Tredje Dagen

ocean chief den tredje dagen

The first Ocean Chief record in six years is nothing if not weighted enough to make up for anything like lost time. Also the long-running Swedish outfit’s debut on Argonauta Records, Den Tredje Dagen on CD/DL runs five songs and 59 minutes, and though it’s not without a sense of melody either instrumentally or vocally — certainly its guitars have plenty enough to evoke a sense of mournfulness at least — its primary impact still stems from the sheer heft of its tonality, and its tracks are of the sort that a given reviewer might be tempted to call “slabs.” They land accordingly, the longest of them positioned as the centerpiece “Dömd” seething with slower-Celtic Frost anxiety and the utter nastiness of its intent spread across 15-plus minutes of let-me-just-go-ahead-and-crush-that-for-you where “that” is everything and “no” isn’t taken for an answer. There’s respite in closer “Den Sista Resan” and the CD-bonus “Dimension 5,” but even these maintain an atmospheric severity consistent with what precedes them. One way or another, it is all fucking destroyed.

Ocean Chief on Thee Facebooks

Argonauta Records store

 

Barnabus, Beginning to Unwind

barnabus beginning to unwind

Come ye historians and classic heavy rockers. Come, reap what Rise Above Relics has sown. Though it’s hard sometimes not to think of the Rise Above Records imprint as label-honcho Lee Dorrian (ex-Cathedral, current With the Dead) picking out highlights from his own record collection — which is the stuff of legend — neither is that in any way a problem. Barnabus, who hailed and apparently on occasion still hail from the West Midlands in the UK, issued the Beginning to Unwind in 1972 as part of an original run that ended the next year. So it goes. Past its 10-minute jammy opener/longest track (immediate points) “America,” the new issue of Beginning to Unwind includes the LP, demos, live tracks, and no doubt assorted other odds and ends as well from Barnabus‘ brief time together. Songs like “The War Drags On” and “Resolute” are the stuff of ’70s-riff daydreams, while “Don’t Cry for Me My Lady” digs into proto-prog without losing its psych-folk inflection. I’m told the CD comes with a 44-page booklet, which only furthers the true archival standard of the release.

Barnabus on Thee Facebooks

Rise Above Relics store

 

Helen Money, Atomic

helen money atomic

To those for whom Helen Money is a familiar entity, the arrival of a new full-length release will no doubt only be greeted with joy. The ongoing project of experimental cellist Alison Chesley, though the work itself — issued through Thrill Jockey as a welcome follow-up to 2016’s Become Zero (review here) — is hardly joyful. Coping with the universality of grief and notions of grieving-together with family, Chesley brings forth minimalism and electronics-inclusive stylstic reach in kind across the pulsating “Nemesis,” the periodic distortion of her core instrument jarring when it hits. She takes on a harp for “Coppe” and the effect is cinematic in a way that seems to find answer on the later “One Year One Ring,” after which follows the has-drums “Marrow,” but wherever Chesley goes on Atomic‘s 47 minutes, the overlay of mourning is never far off.

Helen Money on Thee Facebooks

Thrill Jockey Records store

 

Elder Druid, Golgotha

elder druid golgotha

Belfast dual-guitar sludge five-piece Elder Druid return with seven tracks/39 minutes of ready punishment on their second album, Golgotha, answering the anger of 2017’s Carmina Satanae with densely-packed tones and grooves topped with near-universal harsh vocals (closer “Archmage” is the exception). What they’re playing doesn’t require an overdose of invention, with their focus is so much on hammering their riffs home, and certainly the interwoven leads of the title-track present some vision of intricacy for those who might demand it while also being punched in the face, and the transitional “Sentinel,” which follows,” brings some more doomly vibes ahead of “Vincere Vel Mori,” which revives the nod, “Dreadnought” has keys as well as a drum solo, and the penultimate “Paegan Dawn of Anubis” brings in an arrangement of backing vocals, so neither are they void of variety. At the feedback-soaked end of “Archmage,” Golgotha comes across genuine in its aggression and more sure of their approach than they were even just a couple years ago.

Elder Druid on Thee Facebooks

Elder Druid on Bandcamp

 

Mindcrawler, Lost Orbiter

mindcrawler lost orbiter

I know the whole world seems like it’s in chaos right now — mostly because it is — but go ahead and quote me on this: a band does not come along in 2020 and put out a record like Lost Orbiter and not get picked up by some label if they choose to be. Among 2020’s most promising debuts, it is progressive without pretense, tonally rich and melodically engaging, marked out by a poise of songcraft that speaks to forward potential whether it’s in the coursing leads of “Drake’s Equation” or the final slowdown/speedup of “Trappist-1” that smoothly shifts into the sample at the start of closer “Dead Space.” Mindcrawler‘s first album — self-recorded, no less — is modern cosmic-heavy brought to bear in a way that strikes such a balance between the grounded and the psychedelic that it should not be ignored, even in the massively crowded international underground from which they’re emerging. And the key point there is they are emerging, and that as thoughtfully composed as the six tracks/29 minutes of Lost Orbiter are, they only represent the beginning stages of what Mindcrawler might accomplish. If there is justice left, someone will release it on vinyl.

Mindcrawler on Thee Facebook

Mindcrawler on Bandcamp

 

Temple of Void, The World That Was

Temple of Void The World that Was

Michigan doom-death five-piece Temple of Void have pushed steadily toward the latter end of that equation over their now-three full-lengths, and though The World That Was (their second offering through Shadow Kingdom) is still prone to its slower tempos and is includes the classical-guitar interlude “A Single Obulus,” that stands right before “Leave the Light Behind,” which is most certainly death metal. Not arguing with it, as to do so would surely only invite punishment. The extremity only adds to the character of Temple of Void‘s work overall, and as “Casket of Shame” seems to be at war with itself, so too is it seemingly at war with whatever manner of flesh its working so diligently to separate from the bone. Across a still-brief 37 minutes, The World That Was — which caps with its most-excellently-decayed nine-minute title-track — harnesses and realizes this grim vision, and Temple of Void declare in no uncertain terms that no matter how they might choose to tip the scale on the balance of their sound, they are its master.

Temple of Void on Thee Facebooks

Shadow Kingdom Records store

 

Lunar Swamp, Shamanic Owl

Lunar Swamp Shamanic Owl

Lunar Swamp have spawned as a blusier-directed offshoot of Italian doomers Bretus of which vocalist Mark Wolf, guitarist/bassist Machen and drummer S.M. Ghoul are members, and sure enough, their debut single “Shamanic Owl,” fosters this approach. As the band aren’t strangers to each other, it isn’t such a surprise that they’d be able to decide on a sound and make it happen their first time out but the seven-minute roller — also the leadoff their first EP, UnderMudBlues, which is due on CD in June — also finds time to work in a nod to the central riff of Sleep‘s “Dragonaut” along with its pointed worship of Black Sabbath, so neither do they seems strictly adherent to a blues foundation, despite the slide guitar that works its way in at the finish. How the rest of the EP might play out need not be a mystery — it’s out digitally now — but as far as an introduction goes, “Shamanic Owl” will find welcome among those seeking comfort in the genre-familiar.

Lunar Swamp on Thee Facebooks

Lunar Swamp on Bandcamp

 

Huge Molasses Tank Explodes, II

Huge Molasses Tank Explodes II

The nine-track/42-minute second LP, II, from Milano post-this-or-that five-piece Huge Molasses Tank Explodes certainly finds the band earning bonus points based on their moniker alone, but more than that, it is a work of reach and intricacy alike, finding the moment where New Wave emerged from out of krautrock’s fascination with synthesizer music and bring to that a psychedelic shimmer that is too vintage-feeling to be anything other than modern. It is laid back enough in its overarching affect that “The Run” feels dreamy, most especially in its guitar lines, but never is it entirely at rest, and both the centerpiece “No One” and the later “So Much to Lose” help continue the momentum that “The Run” manages so fluidly to build in a manner one might liken to space rock were the implication of strict adherence to stylistic guidelines so implicit in that categorization. They present this nuance with a natural-seeming sense of craft and in “High or Low,” a fuzzy tone that feels like only a welcome windfall. Those who can get their head around it should seek to do so, and kudos to Huge Molasses Tank Explodes for being more than just a clever name.

Huge Molasses Tank Explodes on Thee Facebooks

Retro Vox Records on Bandcamp

 

Emile, The Black Spider/Det Kollektive Selvmord

Emile The Black Spider Det Kollektive Selvmord

Set to release through Heavy Psych Sounds on the same day as the new album from his main outfit The Sonic Dawn, The Black Spider/Det Kollective Selvmord is the debut solo album from Copenhagen-based singer-songwriter and guitarist Emile Bureau, who has adopted his first name as his moniker of choice. Fair enough for the naturalism and intended intimacy of the 11-track/39-minute outing, which indeed splits itself between portions in English and in Danish, sounding likewise able to bring together sweet melodies in both. Edges of distortion in “Bundlos” and some percussion in the second half’s title-track give a semblance of arrangement to the LP, but at the core is Emile himself, his vocals and guitar, and that’s clearly the purpose behind it. Where The Sonic Dawn often boast a celebratory feel, The Black Spider/Det Kollective Selvmord is almost entirely subdued, and its expressive sensibility comes through regardless of language.

Emile on Thee Facebooks

Heavy Psych Sounds store

 

Saturno Grooves, Cosmic Echoes

saturno grooves cosmic echoes

Sonic restlessness! “Fire Dome” begins with a riffy rush, “Forever Zero” vibes out on low end and classic swing, the title-track feels like an Endless Boogie jam got lost in the solar system, “Celestial Tunnel” is all-thrust until it isn’t at all, “Blind Faith” is an acoustic interlude, and “Dark Matter” is a punk song. Because god damn, of course it is. It is little short of a miracle Saturno Grooves make their second album, Cosmic Echoes as remarkably cohesive as it is, yet through it all they hold fast to class and purpose alike, and from its spacious outset to its bursting finish, there isn’t a minute of Cosmic Echoes that feels like happenstance, even though they’re obviously following one impulse after the next in terms of style. Heavy (mostly) instrumentalism that works actively not to be contained. Out among the echoes, Saturno Grooves might just be finding their own wavelength.

Saturno Groove on Thee Facebooks

LSDR Records store

 

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