Posted in Whathaveyou on October 26th, 2009 by H.P. Taskmaster
Between the prior-posted streaming track, live review and interview, it ought to be pretty clear that Brooklyn trio Naam‘s self-titled debut is alright by me. Hence no disc review. I know it’s the intertubes, but there’s still such a thing as overkill (they’re from Jersey and they have 15 albums). Nonetheless, using the magic of streaming, Revolver has made available the song “Black Ice” from Naam, which I here present for your listening pleasure. Naam‘s self-titled debut is available now on Tee Pee Records.
Posted in Reviews on October 13th, 2009 by H.P. Taskmaster
A short while after his set was over, I found Six Organs of Admittance?s Ben Chasny at the bar sitting next to the figure announced to the crowd as Andrew when he had taken the stage. ?This is my friend Andrew,? Chasny had said. Fair enough.
I had spent the better part of the Six Organs set cursing out, both inwardly and outwardly, the crowd surrounding, whose rude, self-important chatter had ruined the whole thing. Fucking hipsters. When I ran into Chasny at the bar — I?d gone looking for another beer — I told him how fucking ridiculous the asshole factor had been and how I?d seen his Roadburn set and basically that Brooklyn could suck my balls. Already well liquored up, I?ve no delusions that it was received as eloquent.
Prior, about five minutes into the show, I had sent a text message to The Patient Mrs., who was having a sandwich and watching the playoffs at another bar down the street, that said I might have no recourse but to get plastered, such was the level of recession-proof pose out beardo hipster douchery surrounding. I?d arrived at Europa about 30 seconds into the recently interviewed Naam?s first song, and the crowd only got worse as the night wore on. Nothing to do but get drunk.
?Please don?t. We?re broke.? was the message I got back. Sorry baby.
Posted in Features on October 9th, 2009 by H.P. Taskmaster
Since I was fortunate enough earlier this year to experience the sprawl of Brooklyn heavy psych rockers Naam in the form of their Kingdom EP (Tee Pee Records), I’ve been looking forward to the prospect of a full-length outing. Manifesting in the form of Naam (also Tee Pee), the first LP effort from the trio takes the aesthetic presented on the EP and expands it in nearly every way except song length.
The tracks that comprise it, cut with periodic interludes, may not be as long — the reworked version of Kingdom‘s title track that opens the record notwithstanding — but Naam call upon a broad psych spectrum for their sound and make themselves at home with a vast, reaching, engulfing sound. With layer upon layer of extra aural attractions, they craft a filling sonic brew that, if you close your eyes at just the right moment, it’s possible to entirely lose yourself within.
To make the album, guitarist/vocalist Ryan Lugar, bassist/vocalist John Bundy and drummer Eli Pizzuto (who, believe it or not, with that name is not originally from Brooklyn) holed up in a cabin in the Catskills for 12 days and separated themselves from their urban environs and any external influences that might otherwise cause them to lose focus. In the phone interview after the jump, Pizzuto discusses the process and what it was like to get away from it all and have his concentration geared entirely on making Naam. Enjoy.
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 10th, 2009 by H.P. Taskmaster
The Voice yesterday — specifically the Yes in My Backyard blog — put up the song “Skyling Slip” and also offered an exclusive glimpse of the cover to Brooklyn-based Naam‘s self-titled full-length debut, which is due out Oct. 20 on Tee Pee Records. And because it’s the internet, and just about everything on it is based on ripping off content one way or another, here are both. Caution, the song kind of rules:
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 21st, 2009 by H.P. Taskmaster
Congratulations to Brooklyn‘s Naam, who according to the PR wire, have just finished their self-titled full-length debut. Here’s the story, complete with enough adjectival phrases to last you a week:
Brooklyn, NY, heavy psych rock band Naam has completed work on its debut album. The fast-rising buzz band will drop the self-titled Naam on October 20, 2009 via NYC?s Tee Pee Records.
The follow up to the group?s three-song mega-EP Kingdom, Naam was recorded on an abandoned dairy farm inNew York‘s Catskill Mountains and delivers pitch-dark, utterly hypnotic songs that resurrect the concept of space-rock for a new era. Naam?s raw, feedback-powered sound pools densely distorted riff-o-rama with throbbing bass lines and echoey, buzzy vocals that seem to hang in the open spaces in between. Calling for comparison to The Stooges, MC5, Can, Loop and Hawkwind, the music of Naam conjures both post-apocalyptic dazzle and unsettling feeling via punishing, deeply penetrating repetition and twisted vapor trails of guitar. Naam pounds giant riffs into submission resulting in downered sub-blues melancholia that sounds like the soundtrack to a missing hallucination scene from Easy Rider. Naam?s high-voltage power and addictive sonance has found favor with both metalheads and psychedelic rock fans alike, all of whom have talked up the group?s thundering musical muscle.
The final track listing for Naam is as follows: 1.) Kingdom 2.) Stone Ton 3.) Skyling Slip 4.) Fever if Fire 5.) Tidal Barrens 6.) Icy Row 7.) Westered Wash 8.) Frosted Tread 9.) Windy Gates 10.) Black Ice
Naam features Ryan Lugar (guitars, vocals), John Bundy (bass, vocals) and Eli Pizzuto (drums, percussion).
Posted in Reviews on May 12th, 2009 by H.P. Taskmaster
Blown out psych rock trio Naam are a solid fit for the younger end of the Tee Pee Records roster — a lineup perhaps spearheaded by Earthless and fortified by the likes of Weird Owl, Ancestors and The Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound. On their label debut EP, Kingdom (available this spring as a limited edition vinyl and digital release), they present three echoing tracks of blissful sub-retro fuzz, taking a semi-hipster aesthetic — one imagines a given show in their native borough of Brooklyn to have ridiculously priced drinks — and opening the airlock to launch it into the reaches of uncharted space. At about 11 minutes per side, it’s an EP in the grand tradition of not giving too much away, but it still provides a solid understanding of what the band, to date, are all about.
Aside from being ordered shortest to longest, “Skyling Slip,” “Fever if Fire” and the closing title track each present varying degrees of the same mentality. “Skyling Slip” is faster, riffier and the most heavily reverbed of the three, sounding like a faster cut on the first Witch record or something undiscovered from 1973 not yet given in to tape decay. On the other hand, “Fever if Fire” begins at such a pace that, in listening for the first time, I thought Naam might just call the whole thing off and go get a snack. Fortunately for the rest of Kingdom, they didn’t.
Posted in Whathaveyou on April 14th, 2009 by H.P. Taskmaster
Congratulations to Brooklyn psych rockers Naam for signing with Tee Pee Records. Dig this PR news from the label:
We are pleased to announce that Brooklyn, NY heavy psych trio Naam have signed with Tee Pee Records and will release their debut album with the label this Fall.
In advance of the full length release Naam will be releasing the Kingdom EP this Spring available digitally and on limited edition vinyl.
Between the prior-posted streaming track, live review and interview, it ought to be pretty clear that Brooklyn trio Naam‘s self-titled debut is alright by me. Hence no disc review. I know it’s the intertubes, but there’s still such a thing as overkill (they’re from Jersey and they have 15 albums). Nonetheless, using the magic of streaming, Revolver has made available the song “Black Ice” from Naam, which I here present for your listening pleasure. Naam‘s self-titled debut is available now on Tee Pee Records.
