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Quarterly Review: Fu Manchu, Valborg, Sons of Arrakis, Voidward, Indus Valley Kings, Randy Holden, The Gray Goo, Acid Rooster, BongBongBeerWizards, Mosara

Posted in Reviews on September 20th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

THE-OBELISK-FALL-2020-QUARTERLY-REVIEW

Day two of the Fall 2022 Quarterly Review brings a fresh batch of 10 releases en route to the total 100 by next Friday. Some of this is brand new, some of it is older, some of it is doom, some is rock, some is BongBongBeerWizards, and so on. Sometimes these things get weird, and I guess that’s where it’s at for me these days, but you’re going to find plenty of ground to latch onto despite that. Wherever you end up, I hope you’re digging this so far half as much as I am. Much love as always as we dive back in.

Quarterly Review #11-20:

Fu Manchu, Fu30 Pt. 2

Fu Manchu Fu 30 part 2

Like everyone’s everything in the era, Fu Manchu‘s 30th anniversary celebration didn’t go as planned, but with their Fu30 Pt. 2 three-songer, they give 2020’s Fu30 Pt. 1 EP (posted here) the sequel its title implied and present two originals and one cover in keeping with that prior release’s format. Tracked in 2021, “Strange Plan” and the start-stop-riffed “Low Road” are quintessential works of Fu fuzz, so SoCal they’re practically in Baja, and bolstered by the kinds of grooves that have held the band in good stead with listeners throughout these three-plus decades. “Strange Plan” is more aggressive in its shove, but perhaps not so confrontational as the cover of Surf Punks‘ 1980 B-side “My Wave,” a quaint bit of surferly gatekeeping with the lines, “Go back to the Valley/And don’t come back,” in its chorus. As they will with their covers, the four-piece from San Clemente bring the song into their own sound rather than chase down trying to sound like Reagan-era punk, and that too is a method well proven on the part of the band. If you ever believed heavy rock and roll could be classic, Fu Manchu are that, and for experienced heads who’ve heard them through the years as they’ve tried different production styles, Fu30 Pt. 2 finds an effective middle ground between impact and mellow groove.

Fu Manchu on Facebook

At the Dojo Records website

 

Valborg, Der Alte

Valborg Der Alte

Not so much a pendulum as a giant slaughterhouse blade swinging from one side to the other like some kind of horrific grandfather clock, Valborg pull out all the industrial/keyboard elements from their sound and strip down their songwriting about as far as it will go on Der Alte, the 13-track follow-up to 2019’s Zentrum (review here) and their eighth album overall since 2009. Accordingly, the bone-cruncher pummel in cuts like “Kommando aus der Zukunft” and the shout-punky centerpiece “Hektor” is furious and raw. I’m not going to say I hope they never bring back the other aspects of their sound, but it’s hard not to appreciate the directness of the approach on Der Alte, on which only the title-track crosses the four-minute mark in runtime (it has a 30 second intro; such self-indulgence!), and their sound is still resoundingly their own in tone and the throaty harsh vocals on “Saturn Eros Xenomorph” and “Hoehle Hoelle” and the rest across the album’s intense, largely-furious-but-still-not-lacking-atmosphere span. If it was another band, you might call it death metal. As it stands, Der Alte is just Valborg, distilled to their purest and meanest form.

Valborg on Facebook

Prophecy Productions webstore

 

Sons of Arrakis, Volume I

Sons of Arrakis Volume I

2022 is probably a good year to put out a record based around Frank Herbert’s Dune universe (the Duniverse?), what with the gargantuan feature film last year and another one coming at some point as blah blah franchise everything, but Montreal four-piece Sons of Arrakis have had at least some of the songs on Volume I in the works for the better part of four years, guitarists Frédéric Couture (also vocals) and Francis Duchesne (also keys) handling recording for the eight-song/30-minute outing with Vick Trigger on bass and Eliot Landry on drums locking in tight grooves pushing all that sci-fi and fuzz along at a pace that one only wishes the movie had shared. I’ve never read Dune, which is only relevant information here because Volume I doesn’t leave me feeling out of the loop as “Temple of the Desert” locks in quintessential stoner rock janga-janga shuffle and “Lonesome Preacher” culminates in twisty fuzz that should well please fans of Valley of the Sun before bleeding directly and smoothly into the melodic highlight “Abomination” in a way that, to me at least, bodes better for their longer term potential than whatever happenstance novelty of subject matter surrounds. There’s plenty of Dune out there if they want to stick to the theme, but songwriting like this could be about brushing your teeth and it’d still work.

Sons of Arrakis on Facebook

Sons of Arrakis on Instagram

 

Voidward, Voidward

voidward voidward

Voidward‘s self-titled full-length debut lands some nine years after the Durham, North Carolina, trio’s 2013 Knives EP, and accordingly features nearly a decade’s worth of difference in sound, casting off longer-form post-black metal duggery in favor of more riff-based explorations. Still at least partially metallic in its roots, as opener “Apologize” makes plain and the immediate nodder roll of “Wolves” backs up, the eight-song/47-minute outing is distinguished by the clean, floating vocal approach of guitarist Greg Sheriff, who almost reminds of Dave Heumann from Arbouretum, though no doubt other listeners will hear other influences, and yes that’s a compliment. Joined by bassist/backing vocalist Alec Ferrell — harmonies persist on “Wolves” and elsewhere — and drummer Noah Kessler, Sheriff brings just a hint of char to the tone of “Oblivion,” but the blend of classic heavy rock and metal throughout points Voidward to someplace semi-psychedelic but nonetheless richly ambient, and even the most straightforward inclusion, arguably “Chemicals” though closer “Cobalt” has plenty of punch as well, is rich in its execution. They even thrash a bit on “Horses,” so as long as it’s not another nine years before they do anything else, they sound like they can go wherever they want. Rare for a debut.

Voidward on Facebook

Clearly Records on Bandcamp

 

Indus Valley Kings, Origin

Indus Valley Kings Origin

The second long-player from Long Island, New York’s Indus Valley Kings, Origin brings together nine songs across an expansive 55 minutes, and sees the trio working from a relatively straightforward heavy rock foundation toward more complex purposes, whether that’s the spacious guitar stretch-out of “A Cold Wind” or the tell-tale chug in the second half of centerpiece “Dark Side of the Sun.” They effectively shift back and forth between lengthier guitar-led jams and more straight-up verses and choruses, but structure is never left too far behind to pick up again as need be, and the confidence behind their play comes through amid a relatively barebones production style, the rush of the penultimate “Drowned” providing a later surge in answer to the more breadth-minded unfurling of “Demon Beast” and the bluesy “Mohenjo Daro.” So maybe they’re not actually from the Indus Valley. Fine. I’ll take the Ripple-esque have-riffs-have-shred-ready-to-roll “Hell to Pay” wherever it’s coming from, and the swing of the earlier “…And the Dead Shall Rise” doesn’t so much dogwhistle its penchant for classic heavy as serve it to the listener on a platter. If we’re picking favorites, I might take “A Cold Wind,” but there’s plenty to dig on one way or the other, and Origin issues invitations early and often for listeners to get on board.

Indus Valley Kings on Facebook

Indus Valley Kings on Bandcamp

 

Randy Holden, Population III

randy holden population iii

Clearly whoever said there were no second chances in rock and roll just hadn’t lived long enough. After reissuing one-upon-a-time Blue Cheer guitarist Randy Holden‘s largely-lost classic Population II (discussed here) for its 50th anniversary in 2020, RidingEasy Records offers Holden‘s sequel in Population III. And is it the work for which Holden will be remembered? No. But it is six songs and 57 minutes of Holden‘s craft, guitar playing, vocals and groove, and, well, that feels like something worth treasuring. Holden was in his 60s when he and Randy Pratt (also of Cactus) began to put together Population III, and for the 21-minute “Land of the Sun” alone, the album’s release a decade later is more than welcome both from an archival standpoint and in the actual listening experience, and as “Swamp Stomp” reminds how much of the ‘Comedown Era’s birth of heavy rock was born of blues influence, “Money’s Talkin'” tears into its solo with a genuine sense of catharsis. Holden may never get his due among the various ‘guitar gods’ of lore, but if Population III exposes more ears to his work and legacy, so much the better.

Randy Holden on Facebook

RidingEasy Records store

 

The Gray Goo, 1943

The Gray Goo 1943

Gleefully oddball Montana three-piece The Gray Goo remind my East Coast ears a bit of one-time Brooklynites Eggnogg for their ability to bring together funk and heavy/sometimes-psychedelic rock, but that’s not by any means the extent of what they offer with their debut album, 1943, which given the level of shenanigans in 10-minute opener and longest track (immediate points) “Bicycle Day” alone, I’m going to guess is named after the NES game. In any case, from “Bicycle Day” on down through the closing “Cop Punk,” the pandemic-born outfit find escape in right-right-right-on nods and bass tone, partially stonerized but casting off expectation with an aplomb that manifests in the maybe-throwing-an-elbow noise of “Problem Child,” and the somehow-sleek rehearsal-space funk of “Launch” and “The Comedown,” which arrives ahead of “Shakes and Spins” — a love song, of sorts, with fluid tempo changes and a Primus influence buried in there somewhere — and pulls itself out of the ultra-’90s jam just in time for a last plodding hook. Wrapping with the 1:31 noise interlude “Goo” and the aforementioned “Cop Punk,” which gets the prize lyrically even with the competition surrounding, 1943 is going right on my list of 2022’s best debut albums with a hope for more mischief to come.

The Gray Goo on Facebook

The Gray Goo on Bandcamp

 

Acid Rooster, Ad Astra

acid rooster ad astra

Oh, sweet serenity. Maybe if we all had been in that German garden on the day in summer 2020 when Acid Rooster reportedly performed the two extended jams that comprise Ad Astra — “Zu den Sternen” (22:28) and “Phasenschieber” (23:12) — at least some of us might’ve gotten the message and the assurance so desperately needed at the time that things were going to be okay. And that would’ve been nice even if not necessarily the truth. But as it stands, Ad Astra documents that secret outdoor showcase on the part of the band, unfolding with improvised grace across its longform pieces, hopeful in spirit and plenty loud by the time they get there but never fully departing from a hopeful sensibility, some vague notion of a better day to come. Even in the wholesale drone immersion of “Phasenschieber,” with the drums of “Zu den Sternen” seemingly disappeared into that lush ether, I want to close my eyes and be in that place and time, to have lived this moment. Impossible, right? Couldn’t have happened. And yet some were there, or so I’m told. The rest of us have the LP, and that’s not nothing considering how evocative this music is, but the sheer aural therapy of that moment must have been a powerful experience indeed. Hard not to feel lucky even getting a glimpse.

Acid Rooster on Facebook

Sunhair Music store

Cardinal Fuzz store

Little Cloud Records store

 

BongBongBeerWizards, Ampire

BongBongBeerWizards Ampire

A sophomore full-length from the Dortmund trio of guitarist/synthesist Bong Travolta, bassist/vocalist Reib Asnah and (introducing) drummer/vocalist Chill Collins — collectively operating as BongBongBeerWizardsAmpire is a call to worship for Weed and Loud alike, made up of three tracks arranged longest to shortest (immediate points) and lit by sacred rumble of spacious stoner doom. Plod as god. Tonal tectonics. This is not about innovation, but celebrating noise and lumber for the catharsis they can be when so summoned. Willfully repetitive, primitive and uncooperative, there’s some debt of mindset to the likes of Poland’s Belzebong or the largesse of half-speed Slomatics/Conan/Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard, but again, if you come into the 23-minute leadoff “Choirs and Masses” expecting genre-shaping originality, you’ve already fucked up. Get crushed instead. Put it on loud and be consumed. It won’t work for everybody, but it’s not supposed to. But if you’re the sort of head crusty enough to appreciate the synth-laced hypnotic finish of “Unison” or the destructive mastery of “Slumber,” you’re gonna shit a brick when the riffs come around. They’re not the only church in town, but it’s just the right kind of fun for melting your brains with volume.

BongBongBeerWizards on Facebook

BongBongBeerWizards on Bandcamp

 

Mosara, Only the Dead Know Our Secrets

Mosara Only the Dead Know Our Secrets

Any way you want to cut it with Mosara‘s second album, Only the Dead Know Our Secrets, the root word you’re looking for is “heavy.” You’d say, “Oh, well ‘Magissa’ has elements of early-to-mid-aughts sludge and doom at work with a raw presentation in its cymbal splash and shouted vocals.” Or you’d say, “‘The Permanence of Isolation’ arrives at a chugging resolution after a deceptively intricate intro,” or “the acoustic beginning of ‘Zion’s Eyes’ leads to a massive, engaging nod that shows thoughtfulness of construction in its later intertwining of lead guitar lines.” Or that the closing title-track flips the structure to end quiet after an especially tortured stretch of nonetheless-ambient sludge. All that’s true, but you know what it rounds out to when you take away the blah blah blah? It’s fucking heavy. Whatever angle you’re approaching from — mood, tone, songwriting, performance — it’s fucking heavy. Sometimes there’s just no other way, no better way, to say it. Mosara‘s 2021 self-titled debut (review here) was too. It’s just how it is. I bet their next one will be as well, or at very least I hope so. If you’re old enough to recall Twingiant, there’s members of that band here, but even if not, what you need to know is that Only the Dead Know Our Secrets is fucking heavy. So there.

Mosara on Facebook

Mosara on Bandcamp

 

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Rocky Mtn Roller Premiere “Hoodwinked Again” Video From Haywire; Live Dates Upcoming

Posted in audiObelisk, Reviews on July 19th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

Rocky Mtn Roller

North Carolina fine purveyors of scuzz ‘n’ buzz Rocky Mtn Roller will make their full-length debut on Sept. 12 with Haywire on Who Can You Trust? Records. And yeah, it’s a beer-cans-on-lawn rager, no doubt about it. Eight classic sounding tracks that spell bologna ‘baloney’ and go where the riffs take them. But — and it’s a sizable but — if all you hear in “Hoodwinked Again” (video premiering below) is raw-recorded chicanery and a hook, my sincere suggestion as your friend is that you listen again. In four minutes flat, the four/five-piece come peeled out on biker riff glory, and almost right away, a tense current of guitar or keys coincides, tapping out the meter. It’s there under the verse, and departs from the chorus (I think), letting the wah guitar add likewise subtle psychedelic flourish in a seeming answer back to opener “Automatons in the Sky” before that tap-tap-tap returns. Oh, and there’s shred. Like, everywhere.

Those nifty cosmic/weird touches persist. The later “Part Time Rocker” stomps out a ’70s vibe that sees the guitars of Zachariah Blackwell and Ruby Roberts aligning for solos and departing each other’s company again only to pair up again for the rolling riff. Is there a layer of acoustic guitar on “Automatons in the Sky?” That would go well with the oh-by-the-way-we-like-Hawkwind multi-layered delivery of the title-line, or the proto-NWOBHM reinvention of the subsequent “Haywire” (premiered here), that title-track sounding rushed in precisely all the right ways. Later on, “Protocol” busts out some of the most urgent crotchal thrust I’ve heard since Death Alley made their debut nine years ago, delivering metal-via-rock grit while still keeping the party of “Hoodwinked Again” and side A closer “Human Tumbleweed” here, that latter cut offering a bounce that reminds of Thin Lizzy and suits the critique of lifestyle in the lyrics — which, interestingly, kind of follows the opposite perspective of “Part Time Rocker.” Clearly the answer is to rock all the time, with purpose. So they do.

Rocky Mtn Roller HaywireA holdover from their March 2020 self-titled debut EP (review here), “Monster” begins with a quick flash of lysergic synth and fulfills that promise with a steady current of wah and later shove, and as they careen through “Part Time Rocker” and “Protocol” toward “Sun Setting Pink” — the closer and longest song at 6:35 — the payoff is there in the energy of their delivery as well as the manifestation of the underlying breadth of craft. That is to say, they at last reveal they’ve known all along what they’re doing and declare themselves ready to ride twyn Skynyrd leads into the song’s titular sunset, which they do until the last shimmering guitars are gone behind whatever the name of that hill is over there. And that final minute’s stretch, following head-spinning drum fills from Alex Cabrera and the must-you-go-so-soon momentary departure of bassist Luke Whitlatch (who also did the album cover), reinforces the message way back in “Automatons in the Sky” that Rocky Mtn Roller are nowhere near as simple in terms of overarching style as they might at first appear, and that as raw as this first LP is, and as focused as the band are on harnessing forward momentum in propelling you from one end to the other, they do so not without being mindful of atmosphere and with an inventive conversation between the guitars, bass, drums, vocals, and sometimes keys.

This is something to keep in mind as you take on “Hoodwinked Again” and its VHS-grainy, lots o’ fun video below. It speaks for the entirety of Haywire in its tonality and the barebones feel of the recording — very much an aesthetic choice and one that ends up suiting them well — and offers hints of the individual take that feels emergent in their sound. To bottom-line it, there is a ton of potential for exploration in what they’re doing here, and enough elements that they could spend the rest of however long they’re together — months, years, decades — tipping the balance back and forth, and probably having at least some amount of a good time doing it. And at that point, why not?

Preorder links and whatnot follow.

Please enjoy:

Rocky Mtn Roller, “Hoodwinked Again” video premiere

PRE-ORDER ‘HAYWIRE’ HERE: http://whocanyoutrustrec.bigcartel.com/product/rocky-mtn-roller-haywire-lp

PRE-ORDER THE LIMITED ALTERNATE COVER VERSION HERE: http://whocanyoutrustrec.bigcartel.com/product/rocky-mtn-roller-haywire-lp-alternate-version

Recorded and mixed Jan – Mar 2021 at Shangri Nah Studios (Urbana, IL) by Matt Wenzel. Drums and bass at Boombox Studios (Mahomet, IL) by Caleb Means. Mastered at Louder Studios by Tim Green.

Cover art by Luke Whitlatch. Band logo by Infected Arts. Photo by Jordan Whitten.

The LP is released in an edition of 300 copies on black vinyl.
An alternate cover version with screen printed sleeve is available in an edition of 30 copies.

July 31 – Asheville, NC at Fleetwoods w Thelma And The Sleaze and Forteza
Aug 4 – Pittsburgh, PA at Rock Room w Mower *
Aug 5 – Brooklyn, NY at Our Wicked Lady w CT Hu$tle and the Mu$cle, and Mick’s Jaguar *
Aug 6 – Philadelphia, PA at Kung Fu Necktie w Purling Hiss *
Aug 7 – Richmond, VA at Cobra Cabana w Sinister Haze and Wetwork *
* w Limousine Beach

Rocky Mtn Roller:
Zachariah Blackwell – Guitar and Vocals
Ruby Roberts – Guitar and Vocals
Luke Whitlatch – Bass
Alex Cabrera – Drums
Mad Dog Wenzlo – Synths

Rocky Mtn Roller Haywire vinyl

Rocky Mtn Roller on Facebook

Rocky Mtn Roller on Instagram

Rocky Mtn Roller on Bandcamp

Who Can You Trust? Records store

Who Can You Trust? Records on Bandcamp

Who Can You Trust? Records on Facebook

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Quarterly Review: MWWB, Righteous Fool, Seven Nines and Tens, T.G. Olson, Freebase Hyperspace, Melt Motif, Tenebra, Doom Lab, White Fuzzy Bloodbath, Secret Iris

Posted in Reviews on July 6th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

THE-OBELISK-FALL-2020-QUARTERLY-REVIEW

I don’t know what day it is. The holiday here in the States has me all screwed up. I know it’s not the weekend anymore because I’m posting today, but really, if this is for Tuesday or Wednesday, I’m kind of at a loss. What I do know is that it’s 10 more records, and some quick math at the “71-80” below — which, yes, I put there ahead of time when I set up the back end of these posts so hopefully I don’t screw it up; it’s a whole fucking process; never ask me about it unless you want to be so bored at by the telling that your eyeballs explode — tells me today Wednesday, so I guess I figured it out. Hoo-ray.

Three quarters of the way through, which feels reasonably fancy. And today’s a good one, too. I hope as always that you find something you dig. Now that I know what day it is, I’m ready to start.

Quarterly Review #71-80:

MWWB, The Harvest

MWWB The Harvest

It’s difficult to separate MWWB‘s The Harvest from the fact that it might be the Welsh act’s final release, as frontwoman Jessica Ball explained here. Their synth-laced cosmic doom certainly deserves to keep going if it can, but on the chance not, The Harvest suitably reaps the fruit of the progression the band began to undertake with 2015’s Nachthexen (review here), their songs spacious despite the weight of their tones and atmospheric even at their most dense. Proggy instrumental explorations like “Let’s Send These Bastards Whence They Came” and “Interstellar Wrecking” and the semi-industrial, vocals-also-part-of-the-ambience “Betrayal” surround the largesse of the title-track, “Logic Bomb,” the especially lumbering “Strontium,” and so on, and “Moon Rise” caps with four and a half minutes of voice-over-guitar-and-keys atmospherics, managing to be heavy even without any of the usual trappings thereof. If this is it, what a run they had, both when they were Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard and with this as their potential swansong.

MWWB on Facebook

New Heavy Sounds website

 

Righteous Fool, Righteous Fool

Righteous Fool Righteous Fool

Look. Maybe it’s a fan-piece, but screw it, I’m a fan. And as someone who liked the second run of Corrosion of Conformity‘s Animosity-era lineup, this previously-unreleased LP from the three-piece that included C.O.C. bassist/vocalist Mike Dean and drummer/vocalist Reed Mullin (R.I.P.), as well as guitarist/vocalist Jason Browning, is only welcome. I remember when they put out the single on Southern Lord in 2010, you couldn’t really get a sense of what the band was about, but there’s so much groove in these songs — I’m looking right at you, “Hard Time Killing Floor” — that it’s that much more of a bummer the three-piece didn’t do anything else. Of course, Mullin rejoining Dean in C.O.C. wasn’t a hardship either, but especially in the aftermath of his death last year, it’s bittersweet to hear his performances on these songs and a collection of tracks that have lost none of their edge for the decade-plus they’ve sat on a shelf or hard drive somewhere. Call it a footnote if you want, but the songs stand on their own merits, and if you’re going to tell me you’ve never wanted to hear Dean sing “The Green Manalishi (With the Two-Pronged Crown),” then I think you and I are just done speaking for right now.

Righteous Fool on Facebook

Ripple Music website

 

Seven Nines and Tens, Over Opiated in a Forest of Whispering Speakers

seven nines and tens over opiated in a forest of whispering speakers

I agree, it’s a very long album title. And the band name is kind of opaque in a kind of opaque way. Double-O-paque. And the art by Ahmed Emad Eldin (Pink Floyd, etc.) is weird. All of this is true. But I’m going to step outside the usual review language here, and instead of talking about how Vancouver post-noise rock trio Seven Nines and Tens explore new melodic and atmospheric reaches while still crushing your rib cage on their first record for the e’er tastemaking Willowtip label, I’m just going to tell you listen. Really. That’s it. If you consider yourself someone with an open mind for music that is progressive in its artistic substance without conforming necessarily to genre, or if you’re somebody who feels like heavy music is tired and can’t connect to the figurative soul, just press play on the Bandcamp embed and see where you end up on the other side of Over Opiated in a Forest of Whispering Speakers‘ 37 minutes. Even if it doesn’t change your life, shaking you to your very core and giving you a new appreciation for what can be done on a level of craft in music that’s still somehow extreme, just let it run and then take a breath afterward, maybe get a drink of water, and take a minute to process. I wrote some more about the album here if you want the flowery whathaveyou, but really, don’t bother clicking that link. Just listen to the music. That’s all you need.

Seven Nines & Tens on Facebook

Willowtip Records website

 

T.G. Olson, II

TG Olson II

In March 2021, T.G. Olson, best known as the founding guitarist/vocalist for Across Tundras, released a self-titled solo album (review here). He’s had a slew of offerings out since — as he will; Olson is impossible to keep up with but one does one’s best — but II would seem to be a direct follow-up to that full-length’s declarative purpose, continuing and refining the sometimes-experimentalist, sometimes purposefully traditional folk songwriting and self-recording exploration Olson began (publicly, at least) a decade ago. Several of II‘s cuts feature contributions from Caleb R.K. Williams, but Olson‘s ability to build a depth of mix — consider the far-back harmonica in “Twice Gone” and any number of other flourishes throughout — is there regardless, and his voice is as definitively human as ever, wrought with a spirit of Americana and a wistfulness for a West that was wild not for its guns but the buffalo herds you could see from space and an emotionalism that makes the lyrics of “Saddled” seem all the more personal, whether or not they are, or the lines in “Enough Rope” that go, “Always been a bit of a misanthrope/Never had a healthy way to cope,” and don’t seem to realize that the song itself is the coping.

Electric Relics Records on Bandcamp

 

Freebase Hyperspace, Planet High

Freebase Hyperspace Planet High

Issued on limited blue vinyl through StoneFly Records, Freebase Hyperspace‘s first full-length, Planet High, is much more clearheaded in its delivery than the band would seem to want you to think. Sure, it’s got its cosmic echo in the guitar and the vocals and so on, but beneath that are solidified grooves shuffling, boogieing and underscoring even the solo-fueled jam-outs on “Golden Path” and “Introversion” with a thick, don’t-worry-we-got-this vibe. The band is comprised of vocalist Ayrian Quick, guitarist Justin Acevedo, bassist Stephen Moore and drummer Peter Hurd, and they answer 2018’s Activation Immediate not quite immediately but with fervent hooks and a resonant sense of motion. It’s from Portland, and it’s a party, but Planet High upends expectation in its bluesy vocals, in its moments of drift and in the fact that “Cat Dabs” — whatever that means, I don’t even want to look it up — is an actual song rather than a mess of cult stoner idolatries, emphasizing the niche being explored. And just because it bears mentioning, heavy rock is really, really white. More BIPOC and diversity across the board only makes the genre richer. But even those more general concerns aside, this one’s a stomper.

Freebase Hyperspace on Facebook

StoneFly Records store

 

Melt Motif, A White Horse Will Take You Home

Melt Motif A White Horse Will Take You Home

Not calling out other reviews (they exist; I haven’t read any), but any writeup about Melt Motif‘s debut album, A White Horse Will Take You Home, that doesn’t include the word “sultry” is missing something. Deeply moody on “Sleep” and the experimental-sounding “Black Hole” and occasionally delving into that highly-processed ’90s guitar sound that’s still got people working off inspiration from Nine Inch NailsThe Downward Spiral even if they don’t know it — see the chugs of “Mine” and “Andalusian Dog” for clear examples — the nine-track/37-minute LP nonetheless oozes sex across its span, such that even the sci-fi finale “Random Access Memory” holds to the theme. The band span’s from São Paulo, Brazil, to Bergen, Norway, and is driven by Rakel‘s vocals, Kenneth Rasmus Greve‘s guitar, synth and programming, and Joe Irente‘s bass, guitar, more synth and more programming. Together, they are modern industrial/electrionica in scope, the record almost goth in its theatrical pruning, and there’s some of the focus on tonal heft that one finds in others of the trio’s ilk, but Melt Motif use slower pacing and harder impacts as just more toys to be played with, and thus the album is deeply, repeatedly listenable, the clever pop structures and the clarity of the production working as the bed on which the entirety lays in waiting repose for those who’d take it on.

Melt Motif on Facebook

Apollon Records on Bandcamp

 

Tenebra, Moongazer

tenebra moongazer

Moongazer is the second full-length from Bologna, Italy-based heavy psychedelic blues rockers Tenebra, and a strong current of vintage heavy rock runs through it that’s met head-on by the fullness of the production, by which I mean that “Cracked Path” both reminds of Rainbow — yeah that’s right — and doesn’t sound like it’s pretending it’s 1973. Or 1993, for that matter. Brash and raucous on its face, the nine-song outing proves schooled in both current and classic heavy, and though “Winds of Change” isn’t a Scorpions cover, its quieter take still offers a chance for the band to showcase the voice of Silvia, whose throaty, push-it-out delivery becomes a central focus of the songs, be it the Iommic roll of “Black Lace” or the shuffling closer “Moon Maiden,” which boasts a guest appearance from Screaming TreesGary Lee Conner, or the prior “Dark and Distant Sky,” which indeed brings the dark up front and the distance in its second, more psych-leaning second half. All of this rounds out to a sound more geared toward groove than innovation, but which satisfies in that regard from the opening guitar figure of “Heavy Crusher” onward, a quick nod to desert rock there en route to broader landscapes.

Tenebra on Facebook

New Heavy Sounds website

Seeing Red Records website

 

Doom Lab, IV: Ever Think You’re Smart​.​.​. And Then Find Out That You Aren’t?

doom lab iv

With a drum machine backing, Doom Lab strums out riffs over the 16 mostly instrumental tracks of the project’s fourth demo since February of this year, Doom Lab IV: Ever Think You’re Smart​.​.​. And Then Find Out That You Aren’t?, a raw, sometimes-overmodulated crunch of tone lending a garage vibe to the entire procession. On some planet this might be punk rock, and maybe tucked away up in Anchorage, Alaska, it’s not surprising that Doom Lab would have a strange edge to their craft. Which they definitely do. “Clockwork Home II (Double-Thick Big Bottom End Dub)” layers in bass beneath a droning guitar, and “Diabolical Strike (w/ False Start)” is a bonus track (with vocals) that’s got the line, “You’ll think that everything is cool but then I’ll crush your motherfucking soul,” so, you know, it’s like that. Some pieces are more developed than others, as “Deity Skin II” has some nuanced layering of instrumentation, but in the harsh high end of “Spiral Strum to Heaven II” and the mostly-soloing “Infernal Intellect II,” Doom Lab pair weirdo-individualism with an obvious creative will. Approach with caution, because some of Doom Lab‘s work is really strange, but that’s clearly the intention from the start.

Doom Lab on Bandcamp

 

White Fuzzy Bloodbath, Medicine

White Fuzzy Bloodbath Medicine

What you see is what you get in the sometimes manic, sometimes blissed-out, sometimes punk, sometimes fluid, always rocking Medicine by White Fuzzy Bloodbath, which hearkens to a day when the universe wasn’t defined by internet-ready subgenre designations and a band like this San Jose three-piece had a chance to be signed to Atlantic, tour the universe, and eventually influence other outcasts in their wake. Alas, props to White Fuzzy Bloodbath‘s Elise Tarens — joined in the band by Alex Bruno and Jeff Hurley — for the “Interlude” shout, “We’re White Fuzzy Bloodbath and the world has no fucking idea!” before the band launch into the duly raw “Chaos Creator.” Songs like “Monster,” “Beep-Bop Lives” and “Still” play fast and loose with deceptively technical angular heavy rock, and even the eight-minute title-track that rounds out before the cover of Beastie Boys‘ “Sabotage” refuses to give in and be just one thing. And about that cover? Well, not every experiment is going to lead to gold, but it’s representative on the whole of the band’s bravery to take on an iconic track like that and make their own. Not nearly everybody would be so bold.

White Fuzzy Bloodbath on Facebook

White Fuzzy Bloodbath on Bandcamp

 

Secret Iris, What Are You Waiting For

secret iris what are you waiting for

With the vocal melody in its resonant hook, the lead guitar line that runs alongside and the thickened verse progression that complements, Secret Iris almost touch on Euro-style melancholic doom with the title-track of their debut 7″, What Are You Waiting For, but the Phoenix, Arizona, three-piece are up to different shenanigans entirely on the subsequent “Extrasensory Rejection (Winter Sanctuary),” which is faster, more punk, and decisively places them in a sphere of heavy grunge. Both guitarist Jeffrey Owens (ex-Goya) and bassist Tanner Grace (Sorxe) contribute vocals, while drummer Matt Arrebollo (Gatecreeper) is additionally credited with “counseling,” and the nine-minutes of the mini-platter first digitally issued in 2021 beef up a hodgepodge of ’90s and ’00s rock and punk, from Nirvana grunge to Foo Fighters accessibility, Bad Religion‘s punk and rock and a slowdown march after the break in the midsection that, if these guys were from the Northeast, I’d shout as a Life of Agony influence. Either way, it moves, it’s heavy, it’s catchy, and just the same, it manages not to make a caricature of its downer lyrics. The word I’m looking for is “intriguing,” and the potential for further intrigue is high.

Secret Iris on Facebook

Crisis Tree Records store

 

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Rocky Mtn Roller Announce Haywire LP out Sept. 12; Premiere Title-Track

Posted in audiObelisk, Whathaveyou on June 14th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

Rocky Mtn Roller

Haywire is an apt name for the debut album from North Carolinian classic heavy rockers Rocky Mtn Roller. Set to release Sept. 12 through the e’er-reliable Who Can You Trust? Records in a first edition of 300 LPs, the album runs a raucous seven songs and 37 minutes as a hazy-eyed follow-up to the band’s 2020 self-titled demo/EP (review here), which came out as a split with Dallas’ Temptress and resounded like a clarion to scuzzer heads looking for boogie rock delivered with a metaller’s edge.

The impending Haywire follows suit, tapping NWOBHM dual-guitar action in service to a style that’s not about either its own indulgence or chestbeating. My friends, what you have here is primo rock shenanigans. Chicanery, even! I tell you they’re up to some nonsense here, and surely any and all squares who bear witness will do so with clutched pearls and raised eyebrows.

The PR wire references Thin Lizzy below among influences, and you’re going to hear that in “Haywire” from Haywire for sure, before and after the slowdown in the second half sets the stage for intertwining leads. The title-track of the album is premiering below to mark the opening of preorders ahead of Sept. 12, and while elsewhere they might rock like Nebula lost in the woods — that’s a compliment — the first audio to come from the LP represents it exceedingly well.

Rocky Mtn Roller have a long weekender coming up in August that will take them to Pittsburgh, New York, Philadelphia and Richmond, VA — with Adam Kriney (The Golden Grass, La Otracina, the tour poster, etc.) filling in on drums — and more info on those shows follows as well, along with more info and album preorder links:

Rocky Mtn Roller Haywire

ROCKY MTN ROLLER – Haywire LP

(Out September 12th 2022)

Appropriately named after a make shift rat trap used in the backcountry cabins of the Rocky Mountains; RMR is grimey vibes, soaring guitar with gutteral vocals. Influences like Alice Cooper, The Stooges, Thin Lizzy, and Blue Oyster Cult can be heard. Including past members of Danava and Lecherous Gaze.

Recorded and mixed Jan – Mar 2021 at Shangri Nah Studios (Urbana, IL) by Matt Wenzel. Drums and bass at Boombox Studios (Mahomet, IL) by Caleb Means. Mastered at Louder Studios by Tim Green.

Cover art by Luke Whitlatch. Band logo by Infected Arts. Photo by Jordan Whitten.

The LP is released in an edition of 300 copies on black vinyl.
An alternate cover version with screen printed sleeve is available in an edition of 30 copies.

PRE-ORDER YOUR COPY HERE: http://whocanyoutrustrec.bigcartel.com/product/rocky-mtn-roller-haywire-lp

PRE-ORDER THE LIMITED ALTERNATE COVER VERSION HERE: http://whocanyoutrustrec.bigcartel.com/product/rocky-mtn-roller-haywire-lp-alternate-version

Rocky Mtn Roller touringRocky Mtn Roller live:
July 31 – Asheville, NC at Fleetwoods w Thelma And The Sleaze and Forteza
Aug 4 – Pittsburgh, PA at Rock Room w Mower *
Aug 5 – Brooklyn, NY at Our Wicked Lady w CT Hu$tle and the Mu$cle, and Mick’s Jaguar *
Aug 6 – Philadelphia, PA at Kung Fu Necktie w Purling Hiss *
Aug 7 – Richmond, VA at Cobra Cabana w Sinister Haze and Wetwork *
* w Limousine Beach

Rocky Mtn Roller:
Zachariah Blackwell – Guitar and Vocals
Ruby Roberts – Guitar and Vocals
Luke Whitlatch – Bass
Alex Cabrera – Drums
Mad Dog Wenzlo – Synths

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

http://whocanyoutrustrec.bigcartel.com/
https://whocanyoutrustrec.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Who-Can-You-Trust-Records-187406787966906/

Rocky Mtn Roller, Rocky Mtn Roller (2020)

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Friday Full-Length: Caltrop, Ten Million Years and Eight Minutes

Posted in Bootleg Theater on June 3rd, 2022 by JJ Koczan

I shudder to think what Caltrop would’ve been able to do with a third full-length. It’s been 10 years (and about a month) since the Chapel Hill, North Carolina, four-piece released their sophomore LP, Ten Million Years and Eight Minutes (review here), and it continues to amaze me just how vivid of a mental impression it makes. Sometimes when a song gets stuck in your head, it’s like a vague impression or you only hear one piece. With this record, the tone and the production stay with you, so you don’t just hear a riff or a melody in your head, you hear it as it actually sounds. The shared vocals of guitarist Sam Taylor and bassist Murat Dirlik continue to be a defining feature, as well as the dizzying chemistry between them, guitarist Adam Nolton and drummer John Crouch. I never got to see this band live. I very much wish I had.

Ten Million Years and Eight Minutes was produced by Nick Peterson, and oh my it does jam. Consider “Light Does Not Get Old,” which picks up in pastoral-but-progressive fashion from “Ancient” immediately preceding and the opener “Birdsong.” The one-two at the outset is a boon to the listening experience on the whole, and I can’t sit here and take away from the memorability of those two tracks, and “Light Does Not Get Hold” both intends to and does switch up the vibe, but the album isn’t so much ‘front-loaded’ as ‘loaded,’ with the likes of the fuzz-noisy “Shadows and Substance” — some good old Southern-style West Coast noise rock — and the 13-minute focal point “Perihelion,” “Form and Abandon” returning to ground somewhat before falling apart and leaving quiet sparse guitar at the end, “Blessed” foreshadowing a subsequent decade of heavy psychedelic blues rock, or “Zelma” wrapping up with a humming drone running underneath wistful post-rock instrumentalism as though something just had to dirty it up.

Or maybe dirtying it is the wrong idea, but at very least something to make it grounded, because as progressive as Caltrop get in these eight tracks and 53 minutes — the vinyl is three sides on a 2LP — they never lose their organic feel. Some of that is the vocals of Dirlik and Taylor. You can hear voices push themselves and crack throughout, and it makes “Ancient” all the more of a standout. It happens later in “Light Does Not Get Old” as well, as the precursor to a fuzzed-out freaked-up psychedelic lead because fucking obviously. Caltrop aren’t the only band ever to smash different parts together and make it work, but there are moments on this record that sound like they were just trying to have fun playing opposites. I interviewed Taylor at the time and he talked about the differing songwriters and how everyone had a hand in putting the album together. I had asked how soon after their 2008 debut, World Class, they started writing new songs:

We wrote way back, in the last couple years, “Ancient,” “Light Does Not Get Old,” we wrote “Perihelion” and we wrote ”Blessed.” Those were really three pieces of material that we’d written and recorded as early as 2010. We recorded some of thosecaltrop ten million years and eight minutes three songs, a very rough version of them, and we were listening to those recordings, we just got together with Nick Peterson, who did the record, and we just set up and did two days – didn’t even try all that super hard to get the takes right – and we listened through those as a rough version of what we were going to do to record, and then we came back and re-recorded all of them at that warehouse in a serious recording session, and got them all done and mixed. We decided it was a 12-minute thing, a 13-minute thing and an eight-minute thing. Although it was great, we decided it needed more material to offset the longer, dense stuff.

We decided to write four things that we each brought. We normally are real egalitarian and all operate within the writing process. This time, we put these four things, and everybody brought something. Everybody brought an idea and we turned that into a song. We tried to limit them to five minutes. We wrote four five-minute things to offset the more dense, longer material that we’d already written, and we recorded those in a separate [session]. We wrote those within probably eight months and recorded them in a separate session. To answer your question, this has been kind of ready to go, because we ended up not getting Holidays for Quince to agree to do it until… We wanted it out last summer or fall, honestly. Then they wanted to have a finished product for a few months, so it ended up getting basically put off until this spring, because there’s no point in putting a record out in January. That’s what happened there.

It’s almost quaint now to think of an album only being delayed by a couple months, but that aside, it’s the structure of the thing I want to point out and the idea that, okay, they needed more songs so everybody got to put together a piece. That’s “Birdsong,” “Shadow and Substance,” “Form and Abandon” and “Zelma.” And it works. You would think it should sound disjointed? Well it does. And guess what? It doesn’t fucking matter. Ten Million Years and Eight Minutes, 10 years later, still bounces from one idea to the next, one song to the next, in a way that feels completely free and completely its own.

I guess in the end that’s what I’m trying to hone in on here. It’s not that Caltrop didn’t give a shit. Far from it. You don’t write songs this complex if you don’t care. But they took a live, spontaneous approach to their recording, they let themselves show a little personality, they broke a few of the “rules” of what making a heavy record should be, and though I never. got. to. see. them. live., having Ten Million Years and Eight Minutes as a document of what made them such a special band to start with isn’t to be undervalued.

These guys were friggin’ great in the right way at the wrong time. A summer album. I wish they’d done another record and I wish they’d gotten their due on this one.

As always, I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading.

So the site passed 15,000 posts this morning. The Sasquatch review was number 15,000 published. I guess that’s not nothing. I’m not sure what it is. Thanks though, you know, for reading.

Negative headspace this week despite spending pretty much the whole thing writing about good music. Food issues. Nervous about the prospect of flying to Germany and being away for longer than I have been in about three years. Nervous that I’m continuing to fuck up as a parent, as a husband. All of it, really. This too.

Also tired of being sick. Still with the head cold, allergies, whatever it is post-covid. I’m glad to say that while the whole house has been sick, everyone seems to be on the mend. The Patient Mrs. is currently dying The Pecan’s hair purple for wacky hair day at preschool. Gonna have some eggs in a bit. So could be worse, certainly. Yesterday was rough. Today we’ll see.

The good news is my mother is coming for dinner, and it’s been about four weeks since that happened since her house had an outbreak right around the same time we did here, the two thankfully unrelated. But everybody’s well enough now that interaction can happen, so that’ll be good. And tomorrow we head north to CT to see The Patient Mrs.’ mother and sister as well. Leaving the house, changing things up. Good things.

Couple premieres next week, some cool stuff. I’m gonna stream the Foot record on Wednesday. In my head though I’m already starting to get ready for Freak Valley. I’ve never been before, so that should be an interesting experience. Been a long time since I was outside my comfort zone like that. I hope I remember how much I love it.

Great and safe weekend. Watch your head, wear your mask, don’t forget to hydrate. Thanks again for reading.

FRM.

The Obelisk Forum

The Obelisk Radio

The Obelisk merch

 

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Weedeater Announce US Tour Dates

Posted in Whathaveyou on March 10th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

There aren’t many places Weedeater haven’t been and much they haven’t done, but they keep breaking out the riffs and rolling them from town to town, now more than 20 years on from their debut album. They’ve got shows lined up in the Southeast for April, and that run will take them into the Midwest before they turn back toward home in North Carolina, from where they’ll pick up again in May and head west to make it to the Heavy Psych Sounds festivals in San Francisco and Los Angeles. After that, it’s back east again on the quick to make it to Arkansas for Mutants of the Monster on June 3. That’s gonna be a long bit of driving for whoever’s behind the wheel, but at least there’s a day off between Phoenix and Oklahoma City. Woof.

Weedeater‘s most recent album was 2015’s Goliathan (review here), and they’ve basically been on tour ever since, plague notwithstanding. Seems to me that if there’s a band on the planet who should probably put out a live record or 10, it’s these guys, but I’ve heard no such murmurings in that regard. Alas, you gotta show up if you want the experience, and Weedeater live is most certainly that.

Hope gas gets cheaper:

weedeater tour square

WEEDEATER Announces Headlining Spring U.S. Tour

Cape Fear metal legends WEEDEATER have announced an extensive headlining U.S. tour! The trek will kick off on April 7 in Charleston, SC and will conclude on June 3 in Little Rock, AR. The band will be supported by REBELMATIC and ADAM FAUCETT from April 7- April 24 and then will be supported by HTSOB & JD PINKUS from May 17 until June 3. The full run of dates can be found below while tickets are now available at THIS LOCATION: https://tourlink.to/weedeater2022tour

WEEDEATER U.S. Tour Dates:
04/07: Charleston, SC @ Trolley Bar
04/08: Gainesville, FL @ Loosey’s
04/09: Melbourne, FL @ Iron Oak
04/10: Cape Coral, FL @ Nice Guys
04/12: New Orleans, LA @ Poor Boys
04/13: Nashville, TN @ Springwater
04/14: Indianapolis, IN @ Black Circle Brewing
04/15: Chicago, IL @ Chop Shop
04/16: Columbus, OH @ Ace of Cups
04/17: Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Smalls Funhouse
04/18: Youngstown, OH @ Westside Bowl
04/19: Detroit, MI @ Sanctuary
04/20: Morgantown, WV @ 123 Pleasant St
04/21: Charlottesville, VA @ Champion Brewing
04/24: Raleigh, NC @ Pour House
05/17: Charlotte, NC @ Snug Harbor
05/18: Knoxville, TN @ Brickyard
05/19: Newport, KY @ Southgate House
05/20: Green Bay, WI @ Lyric Room
05/21: Davenport, IA @ Racoon Motel
05/23: Denver, CO @ Hi Dive
05/25: Portland, OR @ Bossanova Ballroom
05/26: Seattle, WA @ El Corazon
05/28: San Francisco, CA @ Heavy Psych Sounds Fest
05/29: Los Angeles, CA @ Heavy Psych Sounds Fest
05/30: San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar
05/31: Phoenix, AZ @ Nile Theatre
06/02: Oklahoma City, OK @ 89th Street
06/03: Little Rock, AR @ Mutants of the Monster Fest

All of WEEDEATER’s albums are now available at fine record stores nationwide and online at the WEEDEATER Bandcamp page: https://weedeater.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/weedmetal/
https://weedeater.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/seasonofmistofficial
http://www.season-of-mist.com/

Weedeater, Goliathan (2015)

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Quarterly Review: Zack Oakley, Vøuhl, White Manna, Daily Thompson, Headless Monarch, Some Pills for Ayala, Il Mostro, Carmen Sea, Trip Hill, Yanomamo & Slomatics

Posted in Reviews on January 17th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

THE-OBELISK-FALL-2020-QUARTERLY-REVIEW

Somehow it feels longer than it’s actually been. Yeah, a year’s changed over, but it’s really only been about a month since the last Quarterly Review installment, which I said at the time was only half of the full proceedings. I’ve started the count over at 1-50, but in my head, this is really a continuation of that five-day stretch more than something separate. It’s been booked out I think since before the last round of 50 was done, if that tells you anything. Should tell you 2021 was a busy year and 2022 looks like it’ll be more of the same in that regard. Also a few other regards, but let’s keep it optimistic, hmm?

We start today fresh with a wide swath of stuff for digging and, well, I hope you dig it. Let’s go.

Quarterly Review #1-10:

Zack Oakley, Badlands

Zack Oakley Badlands

Apparently I’ve been spelling Zack Oakley‘s name wrong for the better part of a decade. Zack with a ‘k’ instead of an ‘h’ at the end. I feel like a jerk. By any spelling, dude both shreds and can write a song. Known for his work in Joy, Pharlee, Volcano, etc., he brings vibrant classic heavy to the fore on his solo debut, Badlands, sounding like a one-man San Diego scene on “I’m the One” only after declaring his own genre in opener “Freedom Rock.” “Mexico” vibes on harmonica-laced heavy blues and the acoustic-led “Looking High Searching Low” follows suit with slide, but there’s tinge of psych on the catchy “Desert Shack,” and “Fever” stomps out in pure Hendrix style without sounding ridiculous, which is not an achievement to be understated. Closing duo “Acid Rain” and “Badlands” meet at the place where the ’60s ended and the ’70s started, swaggering through time with more hooks and a sound that might be garage if your garage had a really nice studio in it. I’ll take more of this anytime Mr. Oakley wants to belt it out.

Zack Oakley website

Kommune Records on Bandcamp

 

Vøuhl, Vøuhl

Vøuhl Vøuhl

Issued by Shawn Pelata — also known as Pælãtä Shåvvn, with an apparent thing for accent marks — the self-titled debut from Vøuhl mixes industrial-style experimentalism, dark ambience and a strong cinematic current across a still-relatively-unassuming five-songs and 23 minutes, hitting a resonant minimalism at the ending of “Evvûl” while building to a fuller-sounding progression on the subsequent “Välle.” Drones, echoing, looped beats and thoughtfully executed synth let Pelata construct each atmosphere as an individual piece, but with the attention obviously paid to the presentation of the whole, there’s nothing that keeps one piece from tying into the next either, so whether one approaches Vøuhl‘s Vøuhl as an EP or a short album, the impression of a deep-running soundscape is made one way or the other. What seems to be speech samples in “Aurô” and noise-laced closer “ßlasste” — thoroughly manipulated — may hint at things to come, but I hope not entirely at the expense of the percussive urgency of opener “Dùste” here.

Vøuhl on Facebook

Stone Groove Records website

 

White Manna, First Welcome

White Manna First Welcome

At first you’re all like, “yeah this is right on I can handle it” and then all of a sudden White Manna are about four minutes into the freakery of “Light Cones” opening up their latest opus First Welcome and you’re starting to panic because you took too much and you’re couchlocked. The heretofore undervalued Calipsych weirdos are out-out-out on their new eight-songer, done in an LP-ready 39 minutes but drippy droppy through an interdimensional swap-meet of renegade noises and melted-down aesthetics. Maybe you heard 2020’s ARC (review here) and thereby got on board, or maybe you don’t know them at all. Doesn’t matter. The thing is they’re already in your brain and by the time you’re done with the triumph-boogie of “Lions of Fire” you realize you’re one with the vibrating universe and only then are you ready to meet the “Monogamous Cassanova” in krautrock purgatory before the swirling “Milk Symposium” spreads itself out like a blanket over the sun. Too trippy for everything, and so just. fucking. right. If you can hang with this, I wanna be friends.

White Manna on Facebook

Cardinal Fuzz webstore

Centripetal Force Records website

 

Daily Thompson, God of Spinoza

God Of Spinoza by Daily Thompson

In 2022, German heavy rockers Daily Thompson mark a decade since their founding. God of Spinoza is their fifth full-length, and in songs like “Cantaloupe Melon,” “Golden Desert Child,” and “Muaratic Acid,” the reliability one has come to expect from them is only reinforced. Their sound hinges on psychedelia, but complements that with an abiding sense of grunge and a patience in songwriting. They’ve done heavy blues and straight-up rock in the past, so neither is out of the trio’s wheelhouse — the penultimate “Midnight Soldier” is a breakout here — but the title-track’s drawn-out “yeah”s and slacker-nod rhythm seem to draw more directly from the Alice in Chains school of making material sound slow without actually having it crawl or sacrifice accessibility. I’d give them points regardless for calling a song “I Saw Jesus in a Taco Bell,” but the closer is a genuine highlight on God of Spinoza turning a long stretch of disaffection to immersive fuzz with a deftness befitting a band on their fifth record who know precisely who they are. Like I said, reliable.

Daily Thompson on Facebook

Noisolution website

 

Headless Monarch, Titan Slug

Headless Monarch Titan Slug

Founded by guitarist/bassist Collin Green, Headless Monarch released their first demo in 2013 and their most recent EP, Nothing on the Horizon, in 2016. Five years later, Green and drummer Brandon Zackey offer the late-2021 debut full-length, Titan Slug, working in collaboration for the first time with vocalist and producer Otu Suurmunne of Moonic Productions — who mostly goes by Otu — across a richly executed collection of six tracks, three new, three from prior outings. Not sure if Otu is a hired gun as a singer working alongside the other two, but there’s little arguing with the results they glean as a trio across a song like “Fever Dream” or “Sleeper Now Rise,” the latter taken from Headless Monarch‘s 2015 two-songer and positioned in a more aggressive stance overall. The newer songs come across as more fleshed out, but even “Eight Minutes of Light” from the first demo has atmospheric reach to go with its clarity of focus and noteworthy heft. One only hopes the collaboration continues and inspires further work along these lines.

Headless Monarch on Instagram

Headless Monarch on Bandcamp

 

Some Pills for Ayala, Space Octopus

Some Pills for Ayala Space Octopus

Technically speaking, you had me at Space Octopus. After releasing a self-titled EP under the somewhat-troubling moniker (one hopes it’s not too many) Some Pills for Ayala, multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and producer Néstor Ayala Cortés of At Devil Dirt returns with this two-songer, comprised of its 11-minute title-cut and the shorter “It’s Been a Long Trip.” The lead track is duly dream-drifty in its procession, a subtle build underway across its span but pushing more for hypnosis than impact and getting there to be sure, even as the second half grows thicker in tone. At 3:48, “It’s Been a Long Trip” comes across more as an experiment in technique captured and used as the foundation for Cortés‘ soft, wide echoing vocals. Lysergic and adventurous in kind, the 15-minute EP is nonetheless serene in its presence and soothing overall. Could be that Cortés might push deeper into folk as he goes forward, but the acidy foundation he’s working from will only add to that.

Some Pills for Ayala on Instagram

Some Pills for Ayala on Bandcamp

 

Il Mostro, Occult Practices

Il Mostro Occult Practices

It’s a quick in-out from Boston heavy punkers Il Mostro on the Occult Practices EP. Four songs, the last of which is a cover of T.S.O.L.‘s “Black Magic,” nothing over three minutes long, all fits neatly on a 7″. For what they’re doing, that makes sense, taking the high-velocity ethic of Motörhead or Peter Pan Speedrock (if you need a second plays-fast-punk-derived-and-rocks band) and delivering with an appropriately straightforward thrust. Opener “Firewitch” ends with giggling, and that’s fair enough to convey the overarching lack of pretense throughout, but they do well with the cover and have a righteous balance between control and chaos in the relatively-mid-paced “Trial” and the sprinter “Faith in Ghosts,” which follows. Is cult punk a thing? I guess you could ask the Misfits that question, but Il Mostro mostly avoid sounding like that Jersey band, and it’s easy enough to imagine them bashing walls at any number of Beantown havens or bathed under the telltale red lights of O’Brien’s as they tear into a set. So be it, punkers.

Il Mostro on Facebook

Il Mostro on Bandcamp

 

Carmen Sea, Hiss

Carmen Sea Hiss

Should it come as a surprise that an EP of violin-laced/led instrumentalist progressive post-rock, willfully working against genre convention in order to cross between metal, rock and more atmospheric fare includes an element of self-indulgence? Nope. How could it be otherwise? The five-track Hiss from Parisian four-piece Carmen Sea is a heady outing indeed, but at just 29 minutes, the band doesn’t actually lose themselves in what they’re doing, and the surprises they offer along the way like the electronic turns in “Black Echoes” or the quiet drone stretch in the first half of 11-minute closer “Glow in Space” — which gets plenty tense soon enough — provide welcome defiance of expectation. That is to say, whatever else they are, Carmen Sea are not predictable, and that serves them well here and will continue to. “Frames” begins jarring and strutting, but finds its strength in its more floating movement, though the later bridge of classical and weighted musics feels like the realization that might’ve led to creating the band in the first place. There’s potential in toying with that balance.

Carmen Sea on Facebook

Carmen Sea Distrokid

 

Trip Hill, Ain’t Trip Ceremony

Trip Hill Aint Trip Ceremony

Florence’s Fabrizio Cecchi has vibe to spare with his solo-project Trip Hill, and Denmark’s Bad Afro Records has stepped forward to issue the 2020 offering, Ain’t Trip Ceremony, toward broader consciousness. The eight-song/39-minute long-player is duly dug-in, and its psychedelic reach comes with a humility of craft that makes the songs likewise peaceful and exploratory and entrancing. Repetition is key for the latter, but Cecchi also manages to keep things moving across the album, with a fuzzy cut like “Spam Mind” seeming to build on top of loops and shifting into a not-overblown space rock, hardly mellow, but more acknowledging the vastness of the cosmos than one might expect. The more densely-fuzzed “Ralph’s Heart Attack” leads into the guitar-focused “Pan” ahead of the finale “What Happened to Will,” but that’s after “Tame Ùkhan” has gone a-wandering and decided to stay that way and the seven-minute “Trái tim Thán Yêu” has singlehandedly justified the vinyl release in its blend of percussive urgency and psychedelic shimmer. Go in with an open mind and you won’t go wrong.

Trip Hill on Facebook

Bad Afro Records on Bandcamp

 

Yanomamo & Slomatics, Split 7″

Yanomamo & Slomatics Split

Yanomamo begin their Iommium Records two-song split 7″ with Slomatics by harshly delivering a deceptively positive message: “If you’re going to seek revenge/Might as well dig two graves/He who holds resentment is already digging his own.” Fair enough. The Sydney, Australia, and Belfast, Northern Ireland, outfits offer about 10 and a half minutes of material between them, but complement each other well, with the thickness of the latter building off the raw presentation of the former, Yanomamo‘s guttural portrayal of bitterness offered in scream-topped sludge crash on “Dig Two Graves” that builds in momentum toward the end while Slomatics‘ “Griefhound” offers the futurist tonal density and expanse of vocal echo typifying their latter-day work and turns a quiet, chugging bridge into a consciousness-slamming payoff. Neither act is really out of their comfort zone, but established listeners will revel in the chance to hear them alongside each other, and if you hear complaints about either of these cuts, they won’t be from me.

Yanomamo on Facebook

Slomatics on Facebook

Iommium Records on Bandcamp

 

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The Obelisk Questionnaire: Brenna Leath of Crystal Spiders & Lightning Born

Posted in Questionnaire on January 4th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

brenna leath crystal spiders (Photo by Jay Beadnell)

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: Brenna Leath of Crystal Spiders & Lightning Born

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

These days, I sing and play the bass. I try to make music that some people want to listen to. But mostly I just make it because it’s like a pressure valve; if I wasn’t making something, I’d explode. I don’t think I really came to do it as much as it was just instinct. I have been singing and writing as long as I can remember. Most of my desire to play instruments comes from a need to force out the noise my brain is always generating. It’s how I imagine children must feel about adopting a language – it’s less about being interested in language, and more being desperate to figure out how to express all your thoughts so that you can just… get them out. And ideally, someone listens and responds. The quote “ideas are like slippery fish” has always stuck with me, because that’s how I feel about the way songs present themselves – like they emerge from some murky depth, thrash around near the surface for a few minutes, and I just desperately try to catch them before they escape and I never see them again. I assume it’s the whole id, ego, super-ego, iceberg kind of thing at work. Maybe it’s a creative urge that comes from an inner self entity coming out. Or maybe not. Anyway…

Describe your first musical memory.

My mom was always listening to “oldies” in the car (the irony being that “oldies” when I was little in the 1990s were not what are defined as “oldies” now). Stuff like Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, The Supremes, Smokey Robinson. We spent a ton of time in the car; my parents were divorced and usually lived a couple of hours away from each other, so road trips were like an every weekend thing. I remember singing in the car and my mom being surprised that I had a knack for remembering the lyrics to a lot of the songs and being able to pitch match them. I also specifically remember I used to think those were the only songs that existed (besides Christmas songs and Happy Birthday) because the station she set the radio to would just play the same songs over and over in the same rotation. Not that the current radio situation is much different, sadly. At least there’s the internet!

Describe your best musical memory to date.

I have a handful of highlights; when The Hell No got to open for Ace Frehley and when Lightning Born was invited by Dennis McNett to play House of Vans Chicago for his HalloWolfBat show are two of the most notable ones. While I love to play festivals, I also have a fantastic time just going as a spectator – I’ve made some of my very best friends and memories watching bands and goofing off at music festivals. Motörhead’s Motörboat was one of my all-time favorite musical experiences, but I’ve also had some amazing times at Muddy Roots, Maryland Doom Fest, 70,000 Tons of Metal, Roadburn, Psycho Las Vegas, and Maryland Death Fest. I have a lot of other fests on my bucket list that I hope to attend (and play!)

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

At first read, I thought this was a difficult question and couldn’t think of an answer, but actually, I feel like my beliefs get tested all the time. I used to think that just because you had musical chemistry with someone, that meant you’d make good bandmates – or vice versa; if you had good interpersonal chemistry with someone and were both good musicians, that you could make good music together. But sometimes, the music is right and the relationship is wrong, or the relationship is right but the music is wrong, or maybe both things are right, but the timing is what kills it. Turns out, it’s pretty tough to find bandmates that you click with on a creative level and can also click on everything else (scheduling, priorities, goals, and the methods to achieve those goals). Making good music with other people takes team building, communication, dedication, commitment, practice, and more. I have heard a lot of analogies over the years – a band is like a gang, a band is like a marriage, a band is like a tribe. I think it boils down to while sometimes you catch lightning in a bottle, sometimes you gotta spend a lot of time together and agree on a lot of different elements to truly hone the kind of music and the kind of performance you want to evoke.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

I think my goal has always been “make the thing that comes out sound like the thing I heard in my head.” I get insanely frustrated when I can’t translate my vision into what I can actually emit… that’s when art is not fun, since usually, I feel like it’s because I’m just not good enough and I suck at art. Realistically, I know that it just takes a ton of time and practice to get synergy between the idea and the reality of the art… which gets back to what I was saying in my previous answer – art has to take enough priority (which means, hours and hours of time) to get there, which are hours and hours you’re taking away from something else… usually sleep, family, or friends, since I still gotta work to pay the bills. Someday I’d like to put out an album where I write and play everything myself, and when I listen at the end, I think to myself “yes – that sounds like exactly what I wanted to say.” It’d be cool to make that magnum opus artists chase. Sometimes I think I am getting closer; over the pandemic, I spent more time learning how to self record and self mix demos in Ableton at the house. But, I need to put a lot of time in (Hours!! Weeks!! Months!! Years!!) if I want to make something like that.

How do you define success?

That’s been a moving goalpost over the years. That said, I think if you’re setting goals and achieving them, you’re successful. Or if you just eschew goals altogether and find perfect peace and contentment… that’s pretty successful. If you can do that, teach me how. Or maybe that’s what Office Space was about. Clearly, I learned nothing.

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

People being ugly to other people based on stupid bullshit. I see way too much of that and really wish I didn’t. I could dwell on some negative memories and spell out some sad stories… but don’t we see too much of that? I’d rather answer something like “what is the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen” but that’d probably get too many American Beauty plastic bag jokes.

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

I want to make a darkwave record one of these days. Or maybe an extremely depressing country record. Whatever I make will probably end up in the “sad girl folk doom” category but I’m gonna try to keep it edgy and un-cliché. Keyword… try.

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

Gosh, that’s a tough one. My first instinctual answer was “escapism” but I think some of the best art forces the audience to confront some difficult truths about themselves, human nature, and society, and that’s probably more essential. I guess I’d probably try an umbrella answer like “taking the audience one step closer to levity or enlightenment, whichever the artist intends.” Is that a cop-out?

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

The end of the pandemic? Ha, but really. My grandmother (who is 92 in January – Happy Birthday, Queen Josephine!!!) has this awesome habit of saying “This is the best ___ I’ve ever had!” – and, insert whatever she’s having – lunch, dinner, etc. She has a very cute British accent, which really makes it pop (think Mary Poppins). Just this week she came over, had a glass of Prosecco, and said “What brand is this? This is the best Prosecco I’ve ever had!” She paused, thought for a second, and followed that up with, “Then again, every drink is the best drink I’ve ever had.” And you know what… I said, “If every drink and every meal is the best one you’ve ever had, then life is pretty (insert expletive I wouldn’t have said in front of my grandma) awesome.” So I’m trying to take a lesson from that. I’m looking forward to literally everything being the best thing I’ve ever had or the best thing I’ve ever done. I’m gonna live like it’s just getting better all the time.

[Photo above by Jay Beadnell]

facebook.com/crystalspidersinmymind
https://www.instagram.com/crystalspiders_/
crystalspiders.bandcamp.com

https://www.facebook.com/wearelightningborn/
https://www.instagram.com/wearelightningborn/
https://lightningborn.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/theripplemusic/
https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/
http://www.ripple-music.com/

Crystal Spiders, Morieris (2021)

Lightning Born, Lightning Born (2019)

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