Posted in Whathaveyou on April 16th, 2018 by JJ Koczan
In less than a month’s time, All Them Witches will head out on their summer tour supporting Primus and Mastodon. The time crunch would seem to be on for the Nashville four-piece to put the finishing touches on their next album for New West Records by then — you know, little things like mixing and mastering, etc. — but the band has announced that they’ve completed the basic tracking process for the record, which is untitled as of now, and moved on at least to the mixing stage. I don’t know the timing on the release, so whether it gets out around September or sometime early next year, I suppose it could go either way, but after last year’s spectacular Sleeping Through the War (review here), you can bet I’m keeping an eye out.
That said, one never really knows what to expect from All Them Witches, and if you heard Sleeping Through the War and the preceding 2015 LP, Dying Surfer Meets His Maker (review here), back to back, I’m sure you know what I mean. So while I wouldn’t try to predict what’s coming in terms of sound or vibe, the fact that All Them Witches are coming up on their fifth full-length and the fact that no matter what they’ve done so far they haven’t delivered a clunker yet makes me inclined to believe the band when they say, “Have a feeling you guys will like this one” in their brief announcement that the recording is complete.
Find that below, followed by the upcoming tour dates, because one likes to be thorough:
new album is tracked and headed to mixing! Have a feeling you guys will like this one…stand by
ALL THEM WITCHES Tour Dates: MAY 3 • Rose Music Hall • COLUMBIA, MO MAY 4 • Slowdown • OMAHA, NE MAY 6 • Red Rocks Amphitheater • MORRISON, CO ^ MAY 8 • The Criterion • OKLAHOMA CITY, OK ^ MAY 10 • South Side Ballroom • DALLAS, TX ^ MAY 11 • Austin 360 Amphitheatre • DEL VALLE, TX ^ MAY 12 • Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion • ROGERS, AR ^ MAY 14 • BJCC Concert Hall • BIRMINGHAM, AL ^ MAY 15 • Nashville Municipal Auditorium • NASHVILLE, TN ^ MAY 16 • Fox Theatre • ATLANTA, GA ^ MAY 18 • Portsmouth Pavilion • PORTSMOUTH, VA ^ MAY 19 • Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheater • CHARLOTTE, NC ^ MAY 20 • Red Hat Amphitheater • RALEIGH, NC ^ MAY 22 • Diamond Credit Union Theatre • READING, PA ^ MAY 23 • Artpark Amphitheater • LEWISTON, NY ^ MAY 25 • Cool Insuring Arena • GLENS FALLS, NY ^ MAY 26 • Bold Point Park • EAST PROVIDENCE, RI ^ MAY 27 • Maine State Pier • PORTLAND, ME ^ MAY 29 • Blue Hills Bank Pavilion • BOSTON, MA ^ MAY 30 • Penn’s Landing – Festival Pier • PHILADELPHIA, PA ^ JUN 1 • Stone Pony Summerstage • ASBURY PARK, NJ ^ JUN 2 • Pier Six Pavilion • BALTIMORE, MD ^ JUN 3 • Ford Amphitheater at Coney Island Boardwalk • BROOKLYN, NY ^ ^ w/ Primus and Mastodon
All Them Witches is: Charles Michael Parks, Jr. – Vocals, Bass, Guitar, Mellotron, Percussion Ben McLeod – Guitar, Bass, Mellotron, Percussion Robby Staebler – Drums, Percussion Allan Van Cleave – Rhodes, Organ, Piano, Mellotron
Posted in Whathaveyou on April 12th, 2018 by JJ Koczan
As they prepare to take the stage this August at Psycho Las Vegas, Nashville progressive heavy rockers Howling Giant have announced a round of tour dates for May supporting their 2017 release, Black Hole Space Wizard: Part 2 (review here). What was, of course, a sequel to 2016’s Black Hole Space Wizard: Part 1 (review here) and also followed 2015 self-titled helped the trio further their case for a more expansive sound. Still reveling in the occasional forward groove and off-kilter moment, the songs showed a growing sense of sonic persona that, contrary to what one might expect, did not make the sequel seem weak in comparison to the original.
Will there be a third installment of Black Hole Space Wizard, and if so, when? How the hell should I know. Why don’t you go to one of these gigs and ask the band yourself? Sheesh.
Tour details from the PR wire:
HOWLING GIANT Hit the Road
Nashville riff-psych trio take their DIY sci-fi heaviness on northeast US tour in May, debut new Pink Floyd homage in advance of release alongside Melvins, Pallbearer, ASG, Mark Lanegan.
This May, Howling Giant heads back on tour in support of their latest self-released record, Black Hole Space Wizard Part 2 (August 2017), with stops throughout the northeast and a coveted slot at Psycho Las Vegas to close out the summer.
To launch this run of dates with due fanfare, Howling Giant will preview their futuristic update of early Pink Floyd obscurity Matilda Mother, which Magnetic Eye Records will include as part of its colossal The Wall [Redux] / Best of Pink Floyd release extravaganza that has been building in scope and anticipation since early 2017 and features a range of new scenesters and established heavyweights.
Formed by three self-proclaimed nerds, Howling Giant is a perfect marriage between pulpy sci-fi themes and blistering riff-prog. Fans of Mastodon’s Crack the Skye, early Baroness and Summoner will immediately latch on to Howling Giant’s spaced-out, cosmically-informed songcraft, with lyrics spanning sea voyages to space flight, not to mention androids with a bloodlust for camels (because, again, why not?).
Howling Giant on tour in May:
5.10 – Chicago IL @ Reggies 5.11 – Cincinnati OH @ Cameleon Pizza 5.12 – Pittsburgh PA @ Howler’s 5.13 – Buffalo NY @ Mohawk Place 5.14 – Off 5.15 – TBA 5.16 – Easthampton MA @The Ohm 5.17 – TBA 5.18 – Philadelphia PA @ Kung Fu Necktie 5.19 – York PA @ The Depot 5.20 – Frederick MD @ Guido’s 5.21 – Off 5.22 – Baltimore @ The Depot 5.23 – Washington DC @ Atlas Brew Works 5.24 – Raleigh NC @ Slim’s 5.25 – Wilmington VA @Reggies 42nd Street Tavern 5.26 – Asheville NC @ Sly Grog August 17-19 – Psycho Last Vegas
Well, we’ve reached the end of the week if not the end of the Quarterly Review itself. That’s right: after hemming and hawing all week and going back and forth in my silly little brain, I’ve decided to extend this edition to a sixth day, which will be Monday. That means 60 reviews in six days, not 50 in five. Honestly, I could probably keep going for three or four more beyond that if I had the time or inclination, and I may get there someday, but I’m definitely not there now.
But hey, there have been a couple comments left along the way, so thanks for that. I appreciate you taking the time to read if you have. Here’s the last for the week and we’ll pick back up on Monday.
Quarterly Review #41-50:
All Them Witches, Lost and Found EP
If Nashville four-piece All Them Witches put together the free-download Lost and Found EP simply as a means of getting their take on the folk song “Hares on the Mountain” out there, it was worth it. In the hands of vocalist/bassist Michael Parks, Jr., guitarist Ben McLeod, Rhodes specialist/violinist Allan Van Cleave and drummer Robby Staebler, the traditional tune becomes a wide open dronescape, bristling and vague like memory itself. It’s beautiful and a little confusing in just the right way, and it comes accompanied on the short release by the Fleetwood Mac cover “Before the Beginning,” an even-more-subdued take on “Call Me Star” from 2015’s New West Records debut, Dying Surfer Meets His Maker (review here), and a dub redux of “Open Passageways” – called, of course, “Dub Passageways” – from the same album. Might be a stopgap between full-lengths, but still, at 18 minutes, it’d make a more than worthy 10” release if they were looking for something new for the merch table.
Next time you feel like, “Hey man, I’m so freaked out and weird and wow man whatever blah blah,” just take a second to remember you live in a dimension where dudes from The Heads have side-projects. Paul Allen and Anthroprophh – his trio with Gareth Turner and Jesse Webb, otherwise known as the duo Big Naturals – are a freaked out freakout’s freakout. The stuff of psychedelic mania. And that’s only on the first disc of the 2CD Omegavlle (Rocket Recordings). By the time they get around to the three-song second disc and dig into extended trips like “Omegaille/THOTHB” (14:48) and the subsequent finale, “Journey out of Omegaville and into the…” (20:57), they’re so far gone into noise and captured, manipulated audio that who the hell knows where we’ve ended up? At 88 minutes, the limits of manageability are long left behind, but to get some of the Velvet Underground-in-space vibes of “Maschine” in trade for undertaking the undertaking it’s well worth letting go of the rigidity of things like time, place, etc.
I’m pretty sure Orphan Gears used the Super Mario Bros. font for their logo on the cover of their latest EP, Rat Race, and for that, they should be saluted. The gritty-riffing semi-punker London four-piece offer five tracks and 20 minutes of workaday, boozy grooves, blowing off steam after putting in a shift at this or that crappy job. They are null as regards pretense, and ask little more of their audience than perhaps a beer from the stage or whatever else might be on the menu that night. They share initials, but unlike much of the London underground, they share little ultimately with Orange Goblin in terms of style, despite the shuffle of “Tough Luck, BJ” or the harmonica at the end of “Bitch-Slapped Blues,” and by the time they get to the classic strut of the title-track, they seem to be dug into AC/DC-style groove in the verse while blending in modern heavy rock impulses around it. They clearly save their best for last.
An immediately cogent, professional debut full-length is about what you’d expect from The Watchers, the San Francisco four-piece with members of SpiralArms, Orchid and Black Gates in their ranks, particularly after their prior EP, Sabbath Highway (review here), but that doesn’t stop the songwriting from impressing across the eight-song long-player, Black Abyss (on Ripple Music). The band’s presentation is crisp and pro-shop all the way through, from the soloing on “Oklahoma Black Magic” to the keyboard-laced Tony–Martin-era-Sabbathism-meets-tambourine of “Suffer Fool” later on, and with the opening salvo of the title-track and “Alien Lust” right behind it, The Watchers set a quick expectation for hooks and a high standard of delivery that, thankfully, they show no hesitation in living up to for the duration, the chug-and-roll finale “Seven Tenets” satisfies in mood and efficiency, departing into airy guitar meditation and making its way back for a suitably rocking sendoff. Dudes know what they’re doing, where they’re headed and how they want to get there. All the listener needs to do is sit back and enjoy the ride.
A sequel to their 2015 full-length, Slowgod II (on Underground Legends Records, Spinda Records and DHU Records), sees Córdoba-based four-piece Grajo dug into a deep-toned psychedelic doom. There are flashes of Eastern influence on “Malmuerta,” with frontwoman Liz crooning over the minor-key guitar noodling of Josef, the forward motion in Félix’s drums and the heft of Pistolo’s bass. That dynamic works across Slowgod II, from opener and longest track (immediate points) “Altares” through its closing eight-minute counterpart “Malstrom,” which moves from early crunch through spacious volume swells in its middle only to regain composure and offer a heavy post-rock payoff that, somehow, still isn’t that atmospherically removed from the swinging “Horror and Pleasure” right before it or the similarly speedier “Queen Cobra” that follows “Altares” at the outset. Definitely one for the converted, Grajo deliver tones thick enough to stand on and engaging melodicism without falling into any real traps of sonic redundancy, varying their pace effectively and conjuring consuming plod on “ER” while still holding to that notion of breadth that seems to unite all their material here.
It just so happens this is exactly what the fuck I’m talking about. After releasing their Land Between Rivers (review here) LP through El Paraiso Records last year, the Copenhagen four-piece of Emil Thorenfeldt, Frederik Denning, Kasper Andersen and Rasmus “Cleaver” Christensen, collectively known as Mythic Sunship, return with four more slabs of exploratory bliss on Upheaval. Either completely or partially improvised, “Tectonic Beach” (12:42), “Aether Flux” (10:55), “Cosmic Rupture” (6:44) and “Into Oblivion” (13:56) flow together like the work of masters, and with shades of patient space rock at their core, the tracks are infused with life even beyond the spontaneity of their creation. Heavy jams. Heavy, spacy jams. Molten. Swirling. Badass. Even the shorter and more forward “Cosmic Rupture” is headed out of the atmosphere, and when they come around to the noisy payoff deep in “Into Oblivion,” it’s abundantly clear they’re not joking around when it comes to the title. You can get onboard with Mythic Sunship, or you can miss out. Bands like this separate the hip from the squares.
Those who miss the days when Mastodon or Baroness howled their shouts into a landscape of crunching tonal largesse might do well to dig into what Vancouver, British Columbia’s Empress have to offer on their late-2017 debut EP, Reminiscence. The 27-minute five-tracker isn’t without its sense of melody – there’s plenty of room in eight-minute second cut “Immer” – but guitarist/vocalist Peter Sacco, bassist Brenden Gunn and drummer Chris Doyle make their primary impression via the impact of their material, and as they swap back and forth between shorter tracks and longer ones, a sense of structural playfulness results that moves through the bass openings of “Baptizer” (2:50) and “They Speak Like Trees” (9:27) into the ambient guitar finisher “Dawn,” and the feeling is that, like their stylistic forebears in at the time what was thought of as a new take on sludge metal, Empress will only grow more progressive as they move forward from this first outing. One hopes they hold firm to the tectonic weight they present here that so many others seem to have given up along the way.
Released some six years after Monads’ 2011 debut, Intellectus Iudicat Veritatem, the Aesthetic Death Records-issued IVIIV was, according to the Belgian five-piece’s own accounting, in the works for most of that time in one way or another. One might say, therefore, that its creation does justice to the glacial pace of some of its slowest moments, the crawling death-doom extremity of pieces like “To a Bloodstained Shore,” or the lurch before the gallop takes hold in “Your Wounds Were My Temple.” At four songs and 50 minutes, IVIIV is indicative enough of the style, but Monads legitimately showcase a persona of their own in and out of those genre confines, the melancholic atmosphere and expanded arrangement elements (piano, etc.) of 15-minute closer “The Despair of an Aeon” creatively used if familiar, and the smoothness of the transitions in opener “Leviathan as My Lament” setting a tone of scope as well as downward emotional trajectory. Not sure I’d count on a quick turnaround for a follow-up, but if half a decade from now a new Monads record surfaces, it’ll be worth keeping an eye out for.
Rolling from its untitled intro through its untitled outro through a barrage of charred-black, bludgeoning sludge extremity, the debut album from Lexington, Kentucky’s Nest, Metempsychosis (on Sludgelord Records), refers in its title to a transmigration of the soul, an inheritance almost as much as reincarnation. The band may be talking about themselves or they may be working on a theme throughout the record’s seven proper tracks, I don’t know, but if the idea is destruction and rebirth, they certainly sound more interested in the former. Songs like “Heretic” seethe and scour, while the lumbering and spacious closer “Life’s Grief,” capping with abrasive noise, would seem to be a mission statement in itself. Individual pieces like “Jewel of Iniquity” and the preceding atmosphere-into-mega-crush “Diving into the Entrails of Sheep” – of course the centerpiece of the tracklisting – are shorter unto themselves, but like everything else that surrounds, they feed into an overarching ambience of disgust and chaos.
There are some issues as regards the balance of the mix pushing the vocals forward ahead of the guitar to work out, but Moscow’s Redneck Spaceship impress all the same with the intent and execution of their late-2017 self-released debut, Grand Marshal Ape. In riffs and songcraft, their influences stem from the classic days of stoner rock, but from opener “The Sands of Dakar” and the later “That Sounds Nuts,” one gets a vibe of underlying punk influence, while the twang in harmonized highlight “On the Roadside” and slide guitar of “Maverick” lends a Southern, bluesy swing that the penultimate “Enchained” answers back later ahead of the sample-laden psychedelic jam-out closer, “Antariksh,” which strikes as a far cry from the ultra-straightforward presentation earlier on “Empty Pockets,” but speaks to an immediate scope in Redneck Spaceship’s sound. One hopes they continue to meld elements as they progress beyond Grand Marshal Ape and bridge the gap between one side of their moniker and the other.
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 26th, 2018 by JJ Koczan
Nashville’s All Them Witches have released a new free download digital EP and announced they’ll record their next full-length in April. As far as good news goes, it’s hard to fuck with that. Of course, the heavy psych/blues rockers have a long track record of dropping digital outings with little warning — hell, before they signed to New West ahead of 2015’s Dying Surfer Meets His Maker (review here), it was their primary method of release — and over the years, they’ve kept in steady touch with their audience via outings like A Sweet Release (review here), the “George ‘Dubya’ Kush” single (discussed here), their cover of “Born Under a Bad Sign” (discussed here), the Effervescent EP (review here) that later wound up on vinyl, and numerous other live outings and one-offs.
The aspect all these releases share in common? Eventually they go away. That means that if you want the just-released four-tracker Lost and Found — which sees the foursome revisit a couple of the tracks from Dying Surfer Meets His Maker with an alternate version of that album’s opener “Call Me Star” and a dub redux of “Open Passageways,” as well as covering Fleetwood Mac with “Before the Beginning” and putting their stamp on the traditional folk song “Hares on the Mountain” — then you want it now. Because if you wait, it might not be there the next time you look.
After All Them Witches are done in the studio this April, they’ll hit the road in May to tour with Primus and Mastodon. You’ll find those dates below along with their announcement of the new release, the recording info, and of course the thing itself, which you can download right from the Bandcamp player here if you’re so inclined.
And you should be so inclined.
Dig:
Suprise, Suprise! It has been a year since we have released anything. Stoked on this. Enjoy these tunes for FREE.
ATW update, we are hitting the studio in April to record a new full length. Hope this EP holds you over till then.
Thank you for listening and please share. Produced By Ben McLeod. Mixed by Ben McLeod. “Dub Passageways” dubbed by Grant Husselman. Mastered by Mikey Allred at Dark Art Audio. Album art/layout: Robby Staebler. Courtesy of New West Records
Released February 26, 2018.
Tracklisting: 1. Hares On The Mountain 05:46 2. Before The Beginning (Fleetwood Mac) 03:42 3. Call Me Star 04:12 4. Dub Passageways 04:21
ALL THEM WITCHES Tour Dates: MAY 3 • Rose Music Hall • COLUMBIA, MO MAY 4 • Slowdown • OMAHA, NE MAY 6 • Red Rocks Amphitheater • MORRISON, CO ^ MAY 8 • The Criterion • OKLAHOMA CITY, OK ^ MAY 10 • South Side Ballroom • DALLAS, TX ^ MAY 11 • Austin 360 Amphitheatre • DEL VALLE, TX ^ MAY 12 • Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion • ROGERS, AR ^ MAY 14 • BJCC Concert Hall • BIRMINGHAM, AL ^ MAY 15 • Nashville Municipal Auditorium • NASHVILLE, TN ^ MAY 16 • Fox Theatre • ATLANTA, GA ^ MAY 18 • Portsmouth Pavilion • PORTSMOUTH, VA ^ MAY 19 • Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheater • CHARLOTTE, NC ^ MAY 20 • Red Hat Amphitheater • RALEIGH, NC ^ MAY 22 • Diamond Credit Union Theatre • READING, PA ^ MAY 23 • Artpark Amphitheater • LEWISTON, NY ^ MAY 25 • Cool Insuring Arena • GLENS FALLS, NY ^ MAY 26 • Bold Point Park • EAST PROVIDENCE, RI ^ MAY 27 • Maine State Pier • PORTLAND, ME ^ MAY 29 • Blue Hills Bank Pavilion • BOSTON, MA ^ MAY 30 • Penn’s Landing – Festival Pier • PHILADELPHIA, PA ^ JUN 1 • Stone Pony Summerstage • ASBURY PARK, NJ ^ JUN 2 • Pier Six Pavilion • BALTIMORE, MD ^ JUN 3 • Ford Amphitheater at Coney Island Boardwalk • BROOKLYN, NY ^ ^ w/ Primus and Mastodon
All Them Witches is: Charles Michael Parks, Jr. – Vocals, Bass, Guitar, Mellotron, Percussion Ben McLeod – Guitar, Bass, Mellotron, Percussion Robby Staebler – Drums, Percussion Allan Van Cleave – Rhodes, Organ, Piano, Mellotron
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 5th, 2018 by JJ Koczan
As Joe Biden once leaned over on mic and told Barack Obama: This is a big fucking deal.
Continuing to support what was my pick for 2017 album of the year in Sleeping Through the War (review here) on New West Records, Nashville four-piece All Them Witches head out beginning May 3 to pick up a few nights later and serve as the support slot for no less than Primus and Mastodon. Let’s be honest, this is a fucking incredible gig to get, and All Them Witches have been putting in their time the last couple years touring at home and abroad and releasing killer records all the while to make it happen, so all the best and nothing less to them. There isn’t a doubt in my mind they’ll absolutely kill it on this tour and turn a lot of heads among those who show up early to see either of the two acts above them on the bill, appealingly individualized and still heavy as their style is.
Yeah, I’m sorry. There’s just no way this doesn’t rule. I doubt they’ll see this but on the off-chance they do: congrats guys. Hope to catch you in Providence, Boston or NJ. Or, you know, maybe all three. Ha.
News came through the PR wire:
ALL THEM WITCHES – Primus and Mastodon Tour Announced
We are going on tour with Primus AND Mastodon May 6th – June 3rd! Tickets are on sale now.
Upcoming Tour Dates: MAY 3 • Rose Music Hall • COLUMBIA, MO MAY 4 • Slowdown • OMAHA, NE MAY 6 • Red Rocks Amphitheater • MORRISON, CO ^ MAY 8 • The Criterion • OKLAHOMA CITY, OK ^ MAY 10 • South Side Ballroom • DALLAS, TX ^ MAY 11 • Austin 360 Amphitheatre • DEL VALLE, TX ^ MAY 12 • Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion • ROGERS, AR ^ MAY 14 • BJCC Concert Hall • BIRMINGHAM, AL ^ MAY 15 • Nashville Municipal Auditorium • NASHVILLE, TN ^ MAY 16 • Fox Theatre • ATLANTA, GA ^ MAY 18 • Portsmouth Pavilion • PORTSMOUTH, VA ^ MAY 19 • Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheater • CHARLOTTE, NC ^ MAY 20 • Red Hat Amphitheater • RALEIGH, NC ^ MAY 22 • Diamond Credit Union Theatre • READING, PA ^ MAY 23 • Artpark Amphitheater • LEWISTON, NY ^ MAY 25 • Cool Insuring Arena • GLENS FALLS, NY ^ MAY 26 • Bold Point Park • EAST PROVIDENCE, RI ^ MAY 27 • Maine State Pier • PORTLAND, ME ^ MAY 29 • Blue Hills Bank Pavilion • BOSTON, MA ^ MAY 30 • Penn’s Landing – Festival Pier • PHILADELPHIA, PA ^ JUN 1 • Stone Pony Summerstage • ASBURY PARK, NJ ^ JUN 2 • Pier Six Pavilion • BALTIMORE, MD ^ JUN 3 • Ford Amphitheater at Coney Island Boardwalk • BROOKLYN, NY ^
^ w/ Primus and Mastodon
All Them Witches is: Charles Michael Parks, Jr. – Vocals, Bass, Guitar, Mellotron, Percussion Ben McLeod – Guitar, Bass, Mellotron, Percussion Robby Staebler – Drums, Percussion Allan Van Cleave – Rhodes, Organ, Piano, Mellotron
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 14th, 2017 by JJ Koczan
Clearly, guitarist Ben McLeod has a will to explore varying textures with his instrument. Anyone who’s listened to any of the four full-lengths he’s put out with his main project, Nashville’s All Them Witches — up to and including this year’s Sleeping Through the War (review here) — can confirm this, but it very obviously goes beyond that as well. A year ago, McLeod debuted his instrumental solo-project, Woodsplitter, with a full-length titled Inflamed (review here), and surprised with a stark departure from the psych-blues fare of All Them Witches toward sharp-edged and progressive metal, angular and precise in a way that the jammy rockers have never shown the slightest interest of being.
May all Your Post Rock Dreams Come True follows behind two subsequent 2017 long-players, April’s Egyptian Overload and June’s Journey into Krautrock, and like those, it clues into its self-awareness via the title. McLeod echoes out spacious lines of guitar and even finds room for a Mogwai cover as the album’s centerpiece, as if to underscore the point. Elsewhere, “MAYPRDCT” offers minimalist impulses a chance to highlight technical nuance and a bit of corresponding soul, while opener “World Series” culls a sample of the Blue Jays taking home the trophy in 1993. One wonders at the significance of that moment, but hey, maybe McLeod is just a fan and it’s an early baseball memory. Weirder things have happened.
It’s an outfit of few — mostly no — words, so the announcement that follows isn’t even really so much of an announcement as the info from the Woodsplitter Bandcamp page cut and pasted with the artwork and the streaming player. You work with what you got sometimes.
Either way, what matters is that you enjoy. So do that:
Woodsplitter – May All Your Post Rock Dreams Come True
My name is Ben McLeod and this is my instrumental project.
Tracklisting: 1. World Series 04:38 2. Siamese 06:34 3. Heart Of It All 04:47 4. Rano Pano (Mogwai Cover) 07:04 5. MAYPRDCT 06:26 6. Deaf 05:37 7. Spillover 06:05
Produced, Recorded, Mixed and Mastered by Ben McLeod
[Click play above to stream ‘Circle of Druids’ from Howling Giant’s Black Hole Space Wizard: Part 2. EP is out Aug. 25 and available to preorder on Bandcamp.]
At very least, we can be sure that by the time Nashville progressive metal/heavy rockers Howling Giant finish telling the story that thus far spans their second and third EPs, they will have long since outgrown the goofball title they’ve given the series. In truth, the complexity and scope of Black Hole Space Wizard: Part 2 might be a little undercut by the stoner-is-as-stoner-does banner it seems to fly, if only because someone who didn’t hear either the trio’s 2015 self-titled or last year’s Black Hole Space Wizard: Part 1 (review here) could potentially too easily write it off based on superficialities and miss out on what’s actually a marked depth and individual purpose of craft.
Released almost precisely a year after its predecessor, its six tracks/31 minutes bring the self-releasing trio of guitarist/vocalist Tom Polzine, bassist/vocalist Roger Marks and drummer/vocalist Zach Wheeler to new levels of execution in their material, rife with wonderfully realized vocal harmonies, epic-feeling crescendos, and a still-weighted tonality that they seem to be able to move and shift according to whatever whim drives a given piece, whether it’s the introductory “Henry Tate” with its spoken-word vocals and the first of many guest key/synth contributions throughout from Drew Harakal beneath the first of many swirling, character-laden solos from Polzine, or the galloping apex that leads into a wide-breadth wash at the end of “Visions,” layers of effects swirl — and again, keyboard/synth from Harakal — coming to the forefront of the longest inclusion here at 7:39. Flirting with long-player flow in its front-to-back delivery and the fact that it’s 10 minutes longer than the installment prior, Black Hole Space Wizard: Part 2 establishes Howling Giant‘s underlying commitment to developing their approach and benefits from a quickly and righteously burgeoning stylistic reach.
Because it’s a chapter in a (presumably ongoing) series, one looks for consistencies with what’s come before as well as the growth so plain to hear in the material. And it’s there in the overall sonic take and in some of the intensity of the prog-metal cascade in “The Pioneer” or the penultimate highlight “Circle of Druids,” as well as in the sung harmonies, but there isn’t an element present that doesn’t seem to have moved willfully forward from where the band was a year ago. While they may be working in the same narrative, based around the end of civilization and the adventures of the last remaining human (dubbed “The Pioneer”) among future-mystical presences — last time the Space Wizard, this time the Earth Wizard, as manifest in the closer of the same name — even down to its basic structure as mirrored sides A and B each with an introductory piece, shorter middle cut and longer finale, Black Hole Space Wizard: Part 2 simply has more to offer than what was already an impressive display in songwriting.
Arrangement flourish brings a complementary baritone sax guest appearance from Kim Wheeler on the interlude/side B intro “The Forest Speaks” that picks up alongside acoustic pluck and leads gently into “Circle of Druids,” and as much momentum as Polzine, Marks, Wheeler and Harakal — the latter of whom apparently recorded in Texas but might need to relocate and actually join this band given what the organ and synth add to the tracks here — build throughout “Henry Tate,” the low-end fuzz roll of the early verses and ending of “The Pioneer” and the precise, all-class linearity of “Visions,” they remain likewise committed to broadening the palette of their aesthetic and if one thinks of Black Hole Space Wizard: Part 2 as an EP and thus a showcase of where Howling Giant are in the inevitable march toward a first full-length, one would be remiss to think of them as anything but ready for that crucial next step.
Whether or not that’s actually where Howling Giant are directly headed — that is, if they’ll do an LP next or follow this Part 2 with a Part 3 EP — I don’t know, but on a creative level, they bring a vibrant persona to these tracks enough to give the impression that their evolution will continue in either context. Beginning with a quick spoken intro, “Circle of Druids” launches from out of “The Forest Speaks” and unfolds to an especially satisfying blend of chugging riffery and a wide-open payoff hook, underscored by Wheeler‘s double-kick and given/needing few frills around its basic structure. Like some of Black Hole Space Wizard: Part 1, it reminds a bit of Devin Townsend‘s heavier progressive metallurgy, but ultimately proves more distinct, and “Earth Wizard” effectively follows in dropping the tempo to hit a balance like a more straightforward vision of what Ancestors brought to their 2012 triumph, In Dreams and Time.
This initial patience gradually shifts into a fuller charge in “Earth Wizard”‘s back half, which feels somewhat inevitable, but the finale is both earned and once more plays to the notion of Black Hole Space Wizard: Part 2 as a kind of proto-full-length in its overarching fluidity. As the last vestiges of guitar and synth fade out to bring the EP to its end, the sense is still one of being a shorter release, but if that means Howling Giant are leaving their audience wanting more of the arc coming to life in their tracks, then that only bodes well for a next outing, whatever form it might take. Likewise, one has to acknowledge that while the title might just as likely turn a given listener off as on when it comes to taking up Black Hole Space Wizard: Part 2, its goofballery also stands as a signal of an abiding lack of pretense that extends to the songwriting as well. That is, while their arrangements are thought out, their performances clear-headed and impeccably mixed, the corresponding quotient of self-indulgence is remarkably low for something so progressive. If the tradeoff for that is a silly name, it’s a small price to pay — sometimes it’s fun to have fun — and for those who do decide to dig into Howling Giant‘s third EP, the rewards are no less expansive than the band’s sound itself.
Howling Giant, Black Hole Space Wizard: Part 2 (2017)
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 26th, 2017 by JJ Koczan
Already at this point All Them Witches have spent a significant portion of 2017 on the road supporting Sleeping Through the War (review here), which came out in February via New West Records. They toured before it hit, they toured in Spring. They did shows in June and just this week wrapped a July run that found them in Israel, Germany, Belgium and Switzerland before finally settling in for shows in the UK. They’ll be back in Europe come Sept./Oct. as well, and were previously confirmed for Desertfest Belgium 2017 (though I don’t see it listed below), and they’ve just added more dates for after they return to the US in November.
Not only are they in full go-go-go mode in spreading the word on the album, but they’ve also got a brand new video for “Bulls” as well. Directed by drummer Robby Staebler, it captures the awesomely atmospheric opening track in such a way that immediately makes me want to put on the rest of the record and dig into it all over again, though that’s kind of my general headspace in terms of Sleeping Through the War anyhow. Some albums never let you wander too far before they pull you back.
Tour dates from the PR wire:
ALL THEM WITCHES – MORE TOUR DATES ANNOUNCED
New U.S. dates have been added.
All Them Witches will be on tour throughout the East Coast and Midwest in November. Reserve your tickets now. For a full list of tour dates, head over to AllThemWitches.org
The new album SLEEPING THROUGH THE WAR is available now.
EUROPEAN DATES SEP 18 • Heimathafen • BERLIN, GERMANY SEP 19 • Backstage Werk • MUNCHEN, GERMANY SEP 20 • Arena • VIENNA, AUSTRIA SEP 22 • Reeperbahn • HAMBURG, GERMANY SEP 24 • Debaser Strand • STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN SEP 25 • Revolver • OSLO, NORWAY SEP 26 • Pumpehuset • COPENHAGEN, DENMARK SEP 28 • The Sugarfactory • AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS SEP 29 • Trabendo • PARIS, FRANCE SEP 30 • O2 Institute Birmingham • BIRMINGHAM, UNITED KINGDOM OCT 1 • Sound Control • MANCHESTER, UNITED KINGDOM OCT 2 • Whelans • DUBLIN, IRELAND OCT 3 • King Tuts • GLASGOW, UNITED KINGDOM OCT 4 • Wardrobe • LEEDS, UNITED KINGDOM OCT 5 • Koko • LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM OCT 7 • Bierkeller • BRISTOL, UNITED KINGDOM OCT 8 • Rescue Rooms • NOTTINGHAM, UNITED KINGDOM OCT 10 • Les Docks • LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND OCT 11 • Gloria • COLOGNE, GERMANY OCT 12 • Das Bett • FRANKFURT, GERMANY OCT 14 • Gagarin • ATHENS, GREECE
U.S. DATES NOV 3 • Cat’s Cradle • CARBORRO, NC NOV 4 • The Southern Cafe and Music Hall • CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA NOV 5 • Rock & Roll Hotel • WASHINGTON, DC NOV 7 • The Foundry at The Fillmore • PHILADELPHIA, PA NOV 8 • Music Hall of Williamsburg • BROOKLYN, NY NOV 9 • High Ground • SOUTH BURLINGTON, VT NOV 10 • Fairmount Theatre • MONTREAL, CANADA NOV 11 • Lee’s Palace • TORONTO, CANADA NOV 12 • The Bug Jar • ROCHESTER, NY NOV 14 • Ace of Cups • COLUMBUS, OH NOV 15 • Hi-Fi • INDIANAPOLIS, IN NOV 16 • The Mill • IOWA CITY, IA NOV 17 • Turf Club • ST. PAUL, MN NOV 18 • The Back Room at Colectivo Coffee • MILWAUKEE, WI
All Them Witches is: Charles Michael Parks, Jr. – Vocals, Bass, Guitar, Mellotron, Percussion Ben McLeod – Guitar, Bass, Mellotron, Percussion Robby Staebler – Drums, Percussion Allan Van Cleave – Rhodes, Organ, Piano, Mellotron
