DUNDDW & Dr. Space Premiere Live @ Club Void Effenaar 23-03-23 in Full; Out Today

Posted in audiObelisk on February 23rd, 2024 by JJ Koczan

dunddw and dr. space live at the effenaar 2023

It doesn’t take long on Live @ Club Void Effenaar 23-3-23 before you’re in the room. You can hear voices in the crowd as Dutch instrumental improvisationalists DUNDDW begin to unfold their set, soon enough to be joined by Scott “Dr. Space” Heller (Øresund Space Collective, Doctors of Space, Black Moon Circle, solo work, etc.) expanding the trio as a four-piece with a guest spot on synth after about 12 minutes in, some comment and a chuckle as things mellow and space way, way out thereafter in the jam’s dreamier midsection, and so on.

The LP-length single-song set is out today as an independent release from DUNDDW, for whom it follows a 2023 split with Kombynat Robotron (review here) and their 2022 debut, Flux (review here), and the occasion that brought Heller from Portugal to the Netherlands was Black Moon Circle touring to support their 2023 LP, the expansive Leave the Ghost Behind (review here). Held weekly in the smaller room at the legendary Effenaar in Eindhoven (and no, it’s not just legendary because I saw Motorpsycho there one time, though that’d be enough in my head), ‘Club Void’ is a series of shows put together by the venue’s Robert Schaeffer as well as Paul van Berlo of the Into the Void Festival (also Loud Noise Booking) and Peter van Elderen, formerly the vocalist of Peter Pan Speedrock. All of these are endorsements that, existentially speaking, are good to have.

But DUNDDW have been pretty well encouraged since their outset bringing bassist Huibert der Weduwen and drummer Peter Dragt of Bismut together with Mt. Echo‘s Gerben Elburg on guitar for pointedly exploratory purposes, and the flow they conjure throughout Live @ Club Void Effenaar 23-3-23 presents a vivid picture of why for listeners who haven’t had the chance to actually see them. The cosmic adventure is mellow in spirit on the whole, but communal in a way that feels active, and inviting in tone and groove. Dropping nearly to silence at times, it represents well the conversation happening on stage as the sounds were being made, while allowing the audience and the LP-listener space to put themselves in the moment. In the initial build-up, DUNDDW work their way into a voluminous build, guitar signaling volume changes as they ooze past nine minutes, and when Dr. Space hops on board after (or maybe during) the ensuing wash a short time later, the proceedings get duly hyperspatial.

They drift and reorient, finding a new path with the four of them on the stage, and gradually the float becomes more driving, pushing into intense space rock before noising out behind the waves of Heller‘s synth with Dragt‘s crash and tom fills marking the end of that movement circa 26:30 and the beginning of the final cycle of ebbs and flows, more solidified in their purpose than they were only minutes before, but clearly having learned from the second part of the jam. Keep an ear out for bells, which you might just hear in that last stretch if they, it, or anything actually exists, and know that DUNDDW save their most fervent push for the crescendo, and that the experience of getting there is as much the point as the big finish and ringout itself.

Live @ Club Void Effenaar 23-3-23 isn’t intended to be some grand statement. At its heart, it’s a bootleg-style outing that captures one night among many DUNDDW went on stage and did what they do. This, coupled with the Heller collaboration that stands it out among other gigs, is the appeal. It would be ridiculous if DUNDDW did some hyper-produced live record. They might as well go to a studio and jam out an new LP if they’re going to spend the time and money. But here, they express the sense of journey from one end of this massive piece to the other, while also conveying their root ethic of commitment to organically capturing the creative moment as it happens. For that, Live @ Club Void Effenaar 23-3-23 offers resonance even beyond that of its echoing final tones.

Again, it’s out today, so by all means, dig in below and enjoy. Some PR wire-type info follows:

Friday, February 23rd, we (Dutch improv instrumental spacerock band DUNDDW) will digitally release a 40 minute jam we played last year at Club Void in The Netherlands. Around 17 minutes in Dr. Space – aka Scott Heller from Øresund Space Collective, Black Moon Circle a.o. – joins in on the jam.

Order link: https://dunddw.bandcamp.com/album/dunddw-dr-space-live-club-void-effenaar-23-03-2023

Says DUNDDW: ” We really felt the flow during this jam. It builds up in three waves, with Dr. Space joining in about halfway through with some great synths, bells and spacy genius.”

Says Dr. Space: “I’ve been friends with the guys in Bismut, and DUNDDW invited me to jam with them and it was fun. Sure we will do it again. Great guys.”

DUNDDW is a 100% improvising, instrumental spacerock/krautrock trio from The Netherlands, with members from Bismut and Mt. Echo. Their first full length album Flux was released in November 2022. In June 2023 they released a split vinyl LP with German krautrock band Kombynat Robotron. February 2024 marks the release of a live jam they played in 2023, with Dr. Space joining in.

DUNDDW =
Peter Dragt – Drums
Huibert der Weduwen – Bass
Gerben Elburg – Guitars

DUNDDW on Facebook

DUNDDW on Instagram

DUNDDW on Bandcamp

Øresund Space Collective website

Øresund Space Collective on Bandcamp

Tags: , , , , , ,

Full Album Premiere & Review: Bismut, Ausdauer

Posted in audiObelisk, Reviews on October 18th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

Bismut_Ausdauer front DEF

This Friday, Oct. 20, marks the release of the third Bismut album, Ausdauer (premiere streaming above). A five-tracker being issued through Lay Bare Recordings in the band’s native Netherlands and Spinda Records in Spain, its title translates as ‘endurance’ and in that could be speaking to any number of subjects, from the instrumentalist trio of guitarist Nik Linders, bassist Huibert der Weduwen and drummer Peter Dragt having done the recordings themselves, live, which surely requires more than a bit of stamina, to processing the years since 2020’s Retrocausality (review here), to the war in Europe, now spread to Israel and Palestine. Surely there are no shortage of hardships and tasks and slogs to endure, but from the slow swing in the finishing moments of “Mendalir” through the shoving insistence of closer “Euphoria,” Bismut find places for themselves between ideas of structured heavy rock and more open, at least partially improvised rock-as-jazz jamming, between crunch and stretch, atmosphere and impact.

Retrocausality and their 2018 debut, Schwerpunkt (review here), functioned along similar lines, and a return from esteemed engineer Pieter Kloos (7Zuma735007The Devil’s Blood, so many more) on mixing and mastering further assures sonic consistency, but while Bismut highlight a sun-reflecting shimmer in the early soloing of “Mendalir” — the first of many of Linders‘ leads that feels exploratory on solid footing — something they’ve never done is to forget about their audience. The live experience — sorry to say I haven’t seen the band — may be central to what Bismut do generally, not the least since they record that way, but they’re still writing songs. Ausdauer isn’t a collection of jams. “Mendalir” coalesces around a riff out of progressive metal delivered with all due force, and moves fleetly through its turn-laced midsection into its final roll and comedown with a sense of plot that makes it that much easier to follow, the opening of “Fuan” — also the shortest cut at 5:55 — sounding like a raw noise rock riff from 1994, because of course.

There are some spacey effects worked in, but “Fuan” builds itself around a grounded-feeling procession that comes to a maddeningly tense head at about the halfway mark before unfolding itself again ahead of a dreamier-echoing solo and a clear turn to improv and percussion from which they make a smooth return a short while later. Effects top a chugging finish like something later Karma to Burn might’ve called an indulgence (it’s not, really) and momentum carries into centerpiece “Despotisme” with a swagger that seems to know what’s coming when the full tonality of the riff kicks in, which is a for-the-stage bounce soon met by an adventure into solo-topped tripping, chug and build and shred and go all sort of slamming together and the math somehow working. Again, the shift from structure to not is discernible — or at least one can be interpreted — but it’s the later ambience/drone of “Despotisme” complementing that relative rush that is affecting, a final note held out perhaps in consideration for the liberal order as the band reinforce the atmospheric thread that’s been subtly woven through Ausdauer from the progressively brooding opening moments of “Mendalir” onward.

bismut

Its last echoes fading, “Despotisme” gives over to Dragt‘s drums to start “Mašta,” cycling through a riff with off-the-cuff-sounding flourish before winding through a tense ‘verse’ that even when the guitar disappears holds its anxiety in the low end before they dig into head-down jazzy runs, never actually holding still or even coming close to it, but bringing the song down to near-silence before they gradually raise the volume, coming back up at around six minutes in and hitting decisively into a heavier thrust of riff with the snare punctuating, bass rumbling and guitar spacious in the lead as the bass does some of the melodic work in its place. Stylistically, “Mašta” might be post-post-rock because it’s actually willing to have fun, but its psychedelia is earthly however broad the guitar tone might be, and between that and the organic chemistry of the rhythm section — der Weduwen and Dragt also double in DUNDDW; and indeed, if you had a heavy instrumental psych band, you might want them in it as well — Bismut set up their bookending finale to burst to life over the end of “”Mašta,” an immediate mathiness twisting about 45 seconds in to denser riffing recalling earlier Karma to Burn-ism without actually beings so religiously straightforward.

To wit, “Euphoria” funks out at around 1:30 before returning to its bouncing starts and stops, then moves into a wash of noise before a grand mellowing moves past the halfway mark with quiet brooding in the bass and sparse guitar. You know they’re going to bring it back around. Bismut know they’re going to bring it around. But before they do, the band put themselves in conversation with the likes of early ’00s European instrumentalists and adventurers, Dutch outfits like the already-noted (if parenthetically) 35007 or Astrosoniq, or even Monkey3 from Switzerland; bands whose tenures are marked by a distinctive growth along a charted course. With the caveat of living in a universe of infinite possibility, one would not expect Bismut after Ausdauer to go thrash metal after Ausdauer, but where they reside between heavy rock, jamming, heavy psych and prog, there is plenty of room for them to continue to grow and explore as they’re plainly committed to doing or they wouldn’t improvise at all, let alone on the finished product of an album.

After twisting itself in various sailing knots for the better part of its nine minutes — “Mendalir” (8:59) and “Euphoria” (9:09) bookend as the two longest songs — “Euphoria” caps with a predictable-but-satisfying stop that feels like it’s underlining the purpose behind so much of the material before it, emphasizing the natural meld between songwriting and instrumentalist conversation in their sound and the way Bismut are able to pull the different sides together in a malleable, engaging blend. Whether one might lose oneself in the fluidity of their play, nod to the riffs as they roll by, dwell in its open spaces or grit teeth in its builds, Ausdauer accounts for a range of experiences and, in part through its scope, serves as a defining effort on the part of Bismut to-date. They don’t sound like they’re done finding new reaches and/or refining their approach, but in terms of methodology, they have very obviously learned from their first two LPs and put those lessons to use here.

Bismut, “Fuan” official video

Bismut on Facebook

Bismut on Instagram

Bismut on Bandcamp

Bismut website

Lay Bare Recordings website

Lay Bare Recordings on Facebook

Lay Bare Recordings on Instagram

Lay Bare Recordings on Bandcamp

Spinda Records on Facebook

Spinda Records on Instagram

Spinda Records on Bandcamp

Spinda Records website

Tags: , , , , , ,

Bismut to Release New Album Oct. 20

Posted in Whathaveyou on August 25th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

Believe me, I understand that Europe is not exactly lacking in instrumental psych bands. Free-range and free-jazz trios roam in the wilds Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, the UK even, Italy, Scandinavia, on and on. We know this. What I’m saying is that Nijmegen’s Bismut are on something of a different trip. Yeah, when you read about it, you’re going to hear ‘instrumental psych’ and think, “okay, this is one of those post-Earthless or maybe post-Colour Haze jam bands” and know what you’re getting. And by the way, if that was what Bismut were doing, fine. I love that shit.

But Bismut are more progressive in their sound on their third LP behind 2020’s Retrocausality (review here) and their 2018 debut, Schwerpunkt (review here). I can hear Tool and Karma to Burn both in opening track “Mendalir” and the subsequent “Faun” backs that up with surprisingly earthy riffing. However much Bismut‘s beginnings may have been in improv, these are composed pieces. There’s genuine crunch in the tone on “Despotisme” and the closer “Euphoria,” and “Masta” spaces out a bit, but as much as a band without vocals could, Bismut sound like they’re trying to capture an audience. A live crowd. And these songs sound like they were written for the stage, which they may well have been.

So yeah, I’ve heard it and it’s not worth pretending otherwise. I’m currently slated to stream [title redacted] on Oct. 18 ahead of its Oct. 20 release (don’t tell the internet, but the day between is my birthday). Mark your calendars for that. It feels far in the future with September between here and there, but it’ll come eventually.

The PR wire sent words. I made theM blue and put them here because it is important to see the narrative an artist/band/anybody is telling you about their own work:

bismut

BISMUT – NEW LP – RELEASE DATE 20th OCTOBER 2023

Hailing from the city of Nijmegen in the Netherlands, Bismut is a dynamic heavy psych trio that has been carving their unique path since forming in 2016. Drawing influences from an eclectic blend of genres including progressive rock, doom, metal, stoner, heavy psych, and classic hard rock, their music is an intense and mesmerizing fusion that transcends traditional boundaries. Their distinctive sound has earned them a dedicated fanbase, and their performances on stages across Europe have solidified their reputation as a force to be reckoned with.

New album [title redacted] marks the triumphant return of the band, following the success of their sold-out (on vinyl) previous releases, Schwerpunkt in 2018, and Retrocausality in 2020, released via Lay Bare Recordings. This album promises to be a sonic journey that delves even deeper into the band’s diverse influences while pushing their sound to new heights. From thunderous, doom-laden riffs to mind-bending psychedelic explorations, the album seamlessly weaves together a tapestry of textures that will resonate with long-time fans and newcomers alike.

[Title redacted] is a joint effort between the band’s current Dutch label Lay Bare Recordings and the Spanish label Spinda Records. This collaboration brings together a diverse range of expertise, amplifying the album’s potential for international recognition and success. The partnership aims to introduce the band’s electrifying sound to a wider global audience, leveraging the strengths of both labels in their respective regions.

Track Listing:
1. Mendalir
2. 不安 (Fuan)
3. Despotisme
4. Mašta
5. Euphoria

Line Up:
Peter Dragt – drums
Huibert der Weduwen – bass
Nik Linders – guitar

https://www.facebook.com/bismutband/
https://instagram.com/bismutband
https://bismut.band/
https://bismut.bandcamp.com/

https://laybarerecordings.com/
https://www.facebook.com/laybarerecordings/
https://www.instagram.com/laybarerecordings/
https://laybarerecordings.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/SpindaRecords
https://www.instagram.com/spindarecords
https://spindarecords.bandcamp.com/
https://www.spindarecords.com/

Bismut, Retrocausality (2020)

Tags: , , , , , ,

Review: Kombynat Robotron & DUNDDW, Split LP

Posted in Reviews on July 11th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

Kombynat Robotron DUNDDW Split LP

Two bands, two sides, three jams. Kombynat Robotron and DUNDDW, from Germany and the Netherlands, respectively, offer their 37-minute/three-song split LP through Spinda Records (SP), Sunhair Music (DE), Echodelick Records (US) and Weird Beard Records (UK), and not to dwell so much on numbers, but yes, that is more record labels involved than there are songs on the release. As regards a title, I don’t know if it’s official, but the cover says Split LP, and that’s good enough as far as I’m concerned, and it’s fitting enough since, yes, that’s what it is, and being instrumental, both bands seem content enough to leave words at a minimum.

Kiel-based four-piece Kombynat Robotron — also stylized with Cyrillic letters: КОМВУИАТ ЯОВОТЯОИ — have been on a heavy psychedelic spree since their first outings (note the plural) in 2018, and they take side A with “Gamma” (7:34) and “Delta” (7:31), while side B goes to Nijmegen trio DUNDDW, with members of Bismut and Mt. Echo. The latter are closer to their origin point, having issued their first full-length in late-2022’s Flux (review here), but in addition to a shared aversion toward singers at least in the context of their own projects, the two acts share the improvisational ethic, and as DUNDDW unfold “VIII” (21:59) across side B, the unifying goal of Split LP is palpable as one of exploration.

There’s a bit of freakout here and there in “Gamma” and in the earlier going of “VIII,” DUNDDW‘s Peter Dragt just kind of starts to go nuts on drums and that energy becomes a build by itself until after the halfway point when they bring it back down, but serenity abounds otherwise; both bands foster an active forward reach amid miraculously unpretentious cosmic drift, harnessing the creativity of a fleeting moment and capturing it as it happened.

The tagline for the split is ‘100% improvised psych-kraut music from Germany and The Netherlands,’ and that may or may not be true — not sure why anyone would lie about that, but it’s happened before — the sounds fostered speak to the intention anyhow. I’m not arguing, in other words. Kombynat Robotron fade in on a cymbal wash for “Gamma,” but soon the guitar establishes the sunshiny central figure of the piece and they’re underway in a somewhat surprisingly song-ish manner. Mellow grunge in space? Post-whatever whatever?

Such interstellar krautrock pastoralia is set to a steady roller of a groove, and fluidity holds as they turn about a minute in — there must have been a head signal there or some such — to a more upbeat section. Guitarists James Ihnen and Richard Schröder, bassist Claas Ogorek and drummer Thomas Handschick are locked in from the outset, and whether they had some idea of what they wanted to do, or “Gamma” is cut out of a longer jam or what, the conversation happening between the members of the band, instrumentally speaking, is sharp. If they’re keeping it loose in any way, it’s conceptually, but there’s a linear build happening in “Gamma” that peaks just after six minutes in, and from there they noodle out on a long fade, and that hints at the very least toward a sense of direction rather than just showing up, plugging in and hitting it.

Not a complaint. Their “Delta” begins more subdued but has the same shimmer in the lower-mixed guitar and shifts after laying down that initial fuzzy breadth to a not-quite-motorik bit of push, fostering classic space rock vibes in its build en route to bringing that same lead guitar forward in the still-shimmying crescendo. They sound like they could keep going into perpetuity, but balance and the limitations of physical media require otherwise, so Kombynat Robotron fade to let DUNDDW start “VIII” with bass and drums.

dunddw

kombynat robotron

Is it the eighth recording the band has done? Possible. On Flux, the three-piece featured the 22-minute “VI” and had two parts of the at-least-four-part “VII,” so “VIII” would be next in that succession, and it’s not unreasonable to think that guitarist Gerben Elburg, bassist Huibert der Weduwen and drummer Peter Dragt either recorded “VIII” then or are simply following the Karma to Burn example of numerical (if Roman numerals) ordering their songs. Ups and downs to that approach, as with anything, but most importantly, the chemistry that DUNDDW so readily displayed on Flux is to be found on the Split LP as well, whether it’s the proggy bassline and jazz-style business of the drumming or the way the guitar seems to inhabit a space of its own, weaving along with the rhythm as it grows more intense early on but keeping an overarching calmness via its tonality.

Dragt is on the toms by the time they’re four minutes in, and part of the journey becomes the bumps and jabs of the bass and the steady punctuation of the snare and the guitar moves closer to a wash as they approach the six-minute mark. It’s like you can hear them digging in. Elburg doesn’t miss the opportunity to freak out, and soon enough, Dragt is following suit on cymbals, resolving in a gallop that der Weduwen seems only too happy to complement. They draw it back down somewhat after seven minutes, but they’re nowhere near finished as they push farther and farther into improvised space ambience.

The hi-hat is still tense keeping time for a while after everything else calms and the guitar goes to sparse melodic hum — by then it’s the snare shuffling underneath — but the movement is never completely gone, so as they grow subtly more energetic, it’s easy to follow along. At 14:45, they begin in earnest the build back to full-volume, and the swirl, the push and the wash all come together in righteous cacophony for a crescendo before the inevitable denouement.

DUNDDW end on a fade, but “VIII” is basically done anyhow, with some studio noise underscoring the in-the-room-as-it-happened feel of the Split LP as a whole. I don’t know whose idea it was to put these two acts together, but cheers. That Kombynat Robotron and DUNDDW could have so much in common on paper and still be so distinct in their respective takes results in a split that emphasizes how identifiable each of their styles is. Their unity of purpose is enhanced, not contrasted, by their similarities as well as the differences between them.

Kombynat Robotron & DUNDDW, Split LP (2023)

DUNDDW on Facebook

DUNDDW on Instagram

DUNDDW on Bandcamp

Kombynat Robotron on Facebook

Kombynat Robotron on Instagram

Kombynat Robotron on Bandcamp

Spinda Records on Facebook

Spinda Records on Instagram

Spinda Records on Bandcamp

Spinda Records website

Sunhair Music website

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Kobynat Robotron and DUNDDW Sign to Spinda Records and Sunhair Music; New Split Coming Soon

Posted in Whathaveyou on March 9th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

Spinda Records made three signing announcements today. That’s not a minor day in the life of a record label. In addition to picking up Loma Baja in conjunction with Lay BareEchodelick and Clostridium, the Spanish imprint sent word individually of having picked up Germany’s Kombynat Robotron and the Netherlands’ DUNDDW — both specialists in exploratory and improvisational psych, the latter a newer act — who’ll release a split LP through Spinda and Sunhair Music.

I could go on about Spinda‘s expanding reach, the flexibility that collaboration provides on all levels, and how that and the vitality in the respective approaches of Kombynat Robotron of DUNDDW are metaphors for each other — oh what we can accomplish when we open our minds, etc. — but you know all that and the bottom line is the same as ever in that it’s more cool tunes incoming. I’ll note as well that there was a press quote in the info below, from me, but I edited it out. If you’re reading this sentence right now you’ve already seen enough of my blabbing for one day.

Again, this was too separate announcements that I’ve mashed together since they’re sharing the release, but here it is off the PR wire:

dunddw

kombynat robotron

SPINDA RECORDS – NEW BAND ANNOUNCEMENTS – DUNDDW & KOMBYNAT ROBOTRON

We’re so happy to share with y’all some exciting news: German psych-kraut-rockers Kombynat Robotron are joining our roster to put out their new album at some point before the Summer. So far we only can tell you that this album will be shared with another band that we’ll be announcing a bit later today; and it will be released through Spinda Records (Spain) and Sunhair Music (Germany).

Currently formed by Jannes (guitars, synths, vocals), Claas (bass) and Tommy (drums, percussion), the band started jamming in 2018 and since then they stuck to it as their way of creating music, so it feels as unique as their live shows. The robotronic music is based on repetitive patterns, but featuring a wide range of influences, such as krautrock, space rock and psychedelia.

Our catalogue reference SDR18101 had to be some special and therefore we embraced this project with two completely different ways of understanding improvised psychedelia. We hope you enjoy it!

Today’s a non-stop when it comes to announcements… If a bit less than one hour ago we told you about one of the two bands sharing our catalogue reference SDR10101, here’s the second one: DUNDDW, from The Netherlands.

Featuring Peter Dragt and Huibert der Weduwen from Bismut on drum and bass and Gerben Elburg from MT Echo on guitars, this power trio is a 100% improvising and instrumental band moving somewhere in between space rock and kraut-rock.

Remember that this split album will be out at some point before the Summer through a collaboration (another one) between Sunhair Music (Germany) and Spinda Records (Spain).

Please join us welcoming DUNDDW to the Spinda Records family.

http://www.facebook.com/DUNDDW
https://www.instagram.com/dunddw/
https://dunddw.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/KombynatRobotron
https://www.instagram.com/kombynat_robotron/
https://kombynatrobotron.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/SpindaRecords
https://www.instagram.com/spindarecords
https://spindarecords.bandcamp.com/
https://www.spindarecords.com/

http://sunhair-music.de/

DUNDDW, Flux (2022)

Kombynat Robotron, Dickfehler Studio Treffen 2 (2022)

Tags: , , , , , ,

Sonic Whip 2023 Completes Lineup; Shaman Elephant, Samavayo, Vinnum Sabbathi & The Psychotic Monks Added

Posted in Whathaveyou on February 22nd, 2023 by JJ Koczan

Don’t mind me, just over here daydreaming about this one. Yeah, maybe I’ll always be something of a sucker for The Netherlands in Springtime, but even taking that into account, the lineup for Sonic Whip 2023 in Nijmegen speaks for itself top to bottom in terms of the bill. There’s a couple bands I don’t know — including The Psychotic Monks, who were just added, and Shaman Elephant, who were the other band that took part in Enslaved‘s big-band collab — but for familiar names and faces and acts I’ve never seen like Stoned JesusCausa SuiSomali Yacht ClubSamavayoVinnum SabbathiSlift, and so on, I feel like this is two days I very much wouldn’t mind living through.

I feel that way about a lot of European fests these days, and maybe that in itself is worth examining — if perhaps we’re in something of a golden age (a loaded phrase for the Dutch) of smaller-scale festivals across the continent. I see nothing but arguments in favor of that proposition here, and post-covid, the explosion of events both new and returning is only welcome as far as I’m concerned. I haven’t been invited, won’t get over for it, but it’s a good one, and if you’re headed out to it, I tip my hat in your general direction. Or at least I will next time I have a hat on.

Final announcement follows. Tickets are on sale:

sonic whip 2023 full lineup

LINE-UP SONIC WHIP 2023 COMPLETE

5 & 6 MAY Doornroosje, Nijmegen, Netherlands

Sonic Whip, the multi-headed rock monster that combines ripping guitars with steaming bass lines, pounding drums and other sonic, psychedelic excesses. The 2023 edition will happen on May 5 & 6 in Doornroosje, Nijmegen.

With the addition of The Psychotic Monks (fra), Samavayo (ger), Shaman Elephant (no) and Vinnum Sabbathi (mex) the line-up for Sonic Whip is complete! We’re looking forward to welcome all these fantastic artists and are convinced this is going to be a rad psychedelic sonic party. We hope you will join us on 5 & 6 May in Doornroosje.

FULL LINEUP:
King Buffalo, SLIFT, Stoned Jesus, Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, Causa Sui, Lowrider, Somali Yacht Club, Les Big Byrd, GNOD, The Psychotic Monks, Radar Men From The Moon, Samavayo, Ecstatic Vision, Iron Jinn, USA Nails, The Gluts, Deathchant, Dommengang, Shaman Elephant, Psychlona, Vinnum Sabbathi and Madmess.

Get your tickets here: https://bit.ly/SonicWhip2023

Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/530494448958919

https://www.facebook.com/Sonicwhipfestival
https://www.instagram.com/sonic_whip/
https://www.doornroosje.nl/festival/sonic-whip/

Vinnum Sabbathi, Live at Channel 66 (2022)

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

Bismut Sign to Spinda Records; Third Album Coming Soon

Posted in Whathaveyou on February 2nd, 2023 by JJ Koczan

This is badass both for band and label, and here’s why. For Bismut, the Nijmegen-based far-far out explorers whose latest LP, Retrocausality (review here), was released in 2020, they get another spot for their third record without having to give up the prior working relationship with Lay Bare Recordings, based in the band’s home country of The Netherlands. Automatic win. For Spinda, it might be even better, because it finds the label, who’ve been so dug into the Spanish heavy underground specifically, branches beyond Iberia in reach for the first time signing a band. And better, it’s a good band. And they’re a good fit on that increasingly diverse label roster. Nobody here loses. Even Lay Bare gets another hand in promotion out of it. Another voice shouting into the void wash of releases isn’t nothing. Hell’s bells, why doesn’t this happen more often???

Alright then:

Bismut Spinda Records

BISMUT joins Spinda Records!

We are so excited to share with you all that Dutch rockers Bismut are joining the Spinda Records family to put out (together with Lay Bare Recordings) their long-awaited third studio album this Autumn.

Back in October 2022 whilst we were at Tabernas Desert Rock Fest in Almería (Spain), Roberto Lucas of DenpaFuzz told us not to miss a Dutch band called Bismut. We had no idea who the hell they were, but we trusted him. And these guys did something pretty simple: they played the best gig we’ve seen in many years. And we fell in love immediately! Right away after the concert, we went to merchandise stand, picked up their second studio album ‘Retrocasusality‘ on vinyl (what a beauty released by our friends atd Lay Bare Recordings) and the chatting for a couple of hours while we were watching some gigs – there was a connection! Over the following weeks, we bought the last copy on vinyl of their debut album ‘Schwerpunkt‘ (again released by this amazing Dutch DIY label) and we introduced them to some Spinda Records “mandanga” like Moura, Viaje a 800, Híbrido, Gambardella and a few others. We felt comfortable so at some point we started talking about the possibility of working together with Lay Bare Recordings for their third studio album and here we are…

Stay tuned if you like prog rock, doom, metal, stoner, jazz, heavy psych and hard rock. What these guys from Nijmegen (The Netherlands) do is a mix of all the above and it’s awesome! They’ve played in many different venues as Into The Void, Zwarte Cross, Sonic Whip, Stonerfall, Yellowstock, Desert Fest Antwerp, Alterna Sounds Fest, Krach am Bach, Dunajam, Tabernas Desert Rock Fest or Psychedelic Network Festival.

https://www.facebook.com/bismutband/
https://instagram.com/bismutband
https://bismut.band/
https://bismut.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/SpindaRecords
https://www.instagram.com/spindarecords
https://spindarecords.bandcamp.com/
https://www.spindarecords.com/

https://laybarerecordings.com/
https://www.facebook.com/laybarerecordings/
https://www.instagram.com/laybarerecordings/
https://laybarerecordings.bandcamp.com/

Bismut, Retrocausality (2020)

Tags: , , , ,

Album Review: DUNDDW, Flux

Posted in Reviews on December 28th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

dunddw flux

Given that all-caps, all-improv jammers DUNDDW went so far as to create an entire-album visualizer of manipulated psychedelic mirror-screen colorizations peppered throughout with (parts of) philosophical quotes, it seems fair to say that the actual audio of Flux — the debut full-length from the Nijmegen, the Netherlands-based trio — is only part of the point. The three-piece comprised of bassist Huibert der Weduwen (also in Bismut and part of the arts duo PhosPhor, responsible for the aforementioned video and live visuals), guitarist Gerben Elburg (also of Mt. Echo) and drummer Peter Dragt (also in Bismut) present three longform, improvised pieces across the 44 minutes of Flux, recorded at Studio 888 and mastered by the esteemed Pieter Kloos at The Void Studio, it is an immersive and purposeful glimpse at the band’s beginnings.

Which is to say, another part of the point that goes beyond the audio itself when it comes to Flux is that it is formative. Across opener “VII – Part 4” (11:21), centerpiece “VI – Part 1” (22:26) and closer “VII – Part 2” (10:16) — and I’ll just go ahead now and wish you the best of luck keeping those titles straight — DUNDDW take a relatively raw-sounding approach to their style. Not that they don’t trip out, as toward the later reaches of the finale, or offer any semblance of drift, as in the swirling middle build of the leadoff cut, but all of this is offered with a clear mindset intent on remaining as organic as possible. There might be some layered overdubs, but if there are, it isn’t much, and nobody in the band is going back to touch up parts. The idea here is that DUNDDW are chasing an ideal of sonic and creative purity — the inspiration of the moment, at the moment it happens, recorded directly as it happened and offered in the most honest terms possible.

It’s true they’re not the first to do this, but they acquit themselves well across Flux with these extended snippets presumably cut from more extended jams. And that’s a kind of shaping of a release too, right? There’s an editorial decision being made there in carving out ‘part two’ of a thing instead of including the whole thing itself, but listening to the way “VII – Part 4” comes down with its drawling lead guitar over residual swirling effects and are-we-finished inquisitive toms, it legitimately feels like the last piece of whatever jam led them to the bassy start of the beginning of its fourth part. Does that make sense? Probably not.

Think of it this way: Flux is not completely untouched by human hands. You might say human hands made it. It is raw, but it is not just a rehearsal-room-on-iPhone recording, and as much as DUNDDW are setting their course for the heart of the jam, letting each piece find its path in ultra-organic fashion relying on what’s already a marked and palpable chemistry between the three of them — it better be, because they’re pretty light on fancy tricks otherwise at this point — they’re not at all un-mindful about what they’re doing. Even at their farthest-out points, they remain conscious, aware.

dunddw

Should they continue to pursue such ethereal ends, working to capture the flash of a creative spark, that consciousness will serve them well if ultimately lead to some kind of direction, but part of the appeal of Flux as a debut album is that they aren’t there yet, and part of the reason it works — part of the point, if you want to go back to the start — is that they’re feeling their way through this material as it happens, not unlike the listener taking them on for the first time, someone maybe who has heard Mt. Echo or Bismut or who hasn’t and is just lumping around Bandcamp and stumbles onto them accordingly.

This mirrored exploration, the shared joy of not knowing what’s coming next, is central to the understanding of Flux, and even after one has been through the vastness of “VI – Part 1” multiple times, from its relatively quick emergence with the drums setting the pattern behind guitar effects intro, the bass joining, the guitar coming back around next over the funky progression that, suddenly, is underway, to its more thudding, more low-end pushing second-half roundabouts, resolving in a last stretch of chug before swirl eats it whole, they still surprise. Flux almost dares you to read it closely, to sit with each measure and movement DUNDDW make, to fully engage. Different audiences will, of course, have varied experiences.

Hearing again the sort of moaning soloing that tops “VII – Part 2” in its early going, I can’t help but wonder what role live performance will have for DUNDDW as they move forward; if they’ll be a band who records and releases every show they play à la Øresund Space Collective and others of an improvisational ilk, how they’ll work to bridge their multimedia impulses over time, and so on, but again, this too is part of what makes Flux so enjoyable — wondering, not knowing. For a record that sounds so open, it shows the band’s future to be much the same in that they very purposely set themselves to the task of conveying complete aural freedom.

That is not nearly as easy as it sounds, and DUNDDW do not seem to be thinking of it as a one-and-done kind of project — that is, just going by the sound here, how they progress over time will be part of their appeal in the longer term — but admirably, they do not sound cowed by such considerations, and the most resonant impression that comes out of Flux is the joyfulness behind its making. While not necessarily blinding in its shimmer (or trying to be), Flux is by no means dark or lacking in color even before one takes on its visual incarnation; its deep, earth-toned hues like hippie dyes made from berries found in the woods. A somewhat low-key celebration, maybe, but a celebration just the same, it is Elburgder Weduwen and Dragt bidding welcome to those willing to take this voyage with them, and only the first chapter hinting toward a much longer tale. Here’s looking forward.

DUNDDW, Flux visual album

DUNDDW, Flux (2022)

DUNDDW on Facebook

DUNDDW on Instagram

DUNDDW on Bandcamp

Tags: , , , , ,