I love the story of Mathias Schneeberger telling Brant Bjork to re-record Ché‘s Sounds of Liberation (discussed here) because, “the music is great but the recording is shit.” Saying that kind of thing to somebody can end a friendship, and the level of trust that it won’t is hard to come by, whether we’re talking artist egos or pretty much anybody’s anything. You could say to someone their cooking tastes like crap go back and make it again and lose a spouse. I don’t know if that’s the verbatim quote, but even paraphrased that’s a hell of an impression to make.

Some historical reorganizing here. I remember seeing Brant Bjork and the Bros. touring to support Saved by Magic, and I dug that 2CD outing a lot but would definitely be interested to hear it divided between its two component sessions, one solo, one with the full band, split up as sans and avec-Bros. offerings billed as Saved by Magic Again. The coming of that and a reissue for Ché are part of an ongoing series of catalog reissues from Bjork through Heavy Psych Sounds. I don’t know how much is left, but the good thing about there being a bunch of Brant Bjork records is you can probably circle back to do a new edition of Jalamanta by the time you finish with the rest.

You like records, right? Here’s some records:

Heavy Psych Sounds to announce BRANT BJORK – Saved By Magic + BRANT BJORK & THE BROS – Saved By Magic + CHE – Sounds of Liberation – presale starts TODAY !!!

Today we are stoked to start the presale of 3 REMASTERED ALBUMS !!!

BRANT BJORK – Saved By Magic Again

BRANT BJORK & THE BROS – Saved By Magic Again

CHE – Sounds Of Liberation

RELEASE DATE: SEPTEMBER 22nd

ALBUMs PRESALE: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/

USA PRESALE: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop-usa.htm

HPS278 *** BRANT BJORK – Saved By Magic Again ***

– REMASTERED REISSUE of Brant Bjork’s legendary album in brand new coloured vinyls and artwork –

RELEASED IN
15 ULTRA LTD TEST PRESS VINYL
200 ULTRA LTD SIDE A – SIDE B GREEN/YELLOW/PURPLE VINYL
600 LTD ORANGE SOLID VINYL
BLACK VINYL
DIGIPAK
DIGITAL

TRACKLIST
Magic Vs. Technology
Get Into It
Kiss Away
Sweet Maria’s Dreams
Sunshine Of Your Love
Freak Levels
Let The Truth Be Known
Avenida De La Revolución
Arcade Eyes
2000 Man

New album cover by Maarten Donders.

Remastered by John McBain !!

______________________________________

HPS279 *** BRANT BJORK & THE BROS – Saved By Magic Again ***

– REMASTERED REISSUE of Brant Bjork’s & The Bros legendary album in brand new coloured vinyls and artwork –

RELEASED IN
15 ULTRA LTD TEST PRESS VINYL
200 ULTRA LTD TRANSP. BACK. COLOR IN COLOR RED/SPLATTER BLUE VINYL
600 LTD GOLD NUGGET VINYL
BLACK VINYL
DIGIPAK
DIGITAL

TRACKLIST
’73
Lil’ Bro
Dr. Aura
Inside Of You
Paradise On Earth
Gonna Make The Pony Trot
The Messengers
Dylan’s Fantasy
Moda
Cool Abdul

ALBUM DESCRIPTION

“I had just got off the road and went right into the studio out in the desert at Rancho de La Luna. I was living in the house just behind at the time making sessions super convenient. I was set to record with my band the Bros in a couple weeks but I decided to go into the Rancho early and get some sounds. Tony and I ended up recording a bunch of songs that I was writing on the fly. A week later the Bros showed up and we recorded another batch of songs with the band playing live in the front room. After we wrapped I combined both my solo session and the Bros session and released in as one record called Saved By Magic on my label Duna records. That was 2005.

Now I’m rereleasing this record on HPS and I’ve decided to separate the two sessions into their original bodies of work. My solo session and the Bros session. I mostly did this because I feel the Bros deserve to have something of their own as they were a magical band. I also just thought it would be cool. I call both records Saved By Magic Again.” Brant Bjork

New album cover by Maarten Donders.

Remastered by John McBain !!

___________________________________

HPS261 *** CHE – Sounds Of Liberation ***

– REMASTERED REISSUE of the legendary super-band debut album in brand new coloured vinyls and artwork –

RELEASED IN
15 ULTRA LTD TEST PRESS VINYL
100 ULTRA LTD TRANSPARENT SPLATTER RED/BLACK/WHITE VINYL
400 LTD HALF HALF WHITE/RED VINYL
BLACK VINYL
DIGIPAK
DIGITAL

TRACKLIST
Hydraulicks 04:23
The Knife 03:39
Pray For Rock 05:16
Sounds Of Liberation 06:11
Adelante 05:13
Blue Demon 06:13
The Day The Pirate Retired 04:39

ALBUM DESCRIPTION

“It was late 1999. I was living in Palm Desert with Dave Dinsmore. Dave had just left Unida and Alfredo Hernandez was in town and had just left Queens of the Stone Age. I had a rare bit of downtime from touring with Fu Manchu. The three of us started jamming at the house. I had just got over a bad relationship and songs were pouring out of me. Frank Kozik heard about us jamming and called me up and said he wanted to put out whatever we come up with. Within two weeks we were already recording on an 8 track reel to reel. I took the recording to brother Schneebie to mix in LA. He said the music is great but the recording is shit. He asked to re-record it. I asked when? He said now. We re recorded right there on the spot and finished everything in 2 days. We decided on the name CHE and called the record Sounds of Liberation. ” – Brant Bjork

Artwork made by Maarten Donders.

https://www.facebook.com/BrantBjorkOfficial
https://www.instagram.com/brant_bjork
http://www.brantbjork.com

https://www.facebook.com/HEAVYPSYCHSOUNDS
http://www.heavypsychsounds.com
https://heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com

Brant Bjork & the Bros., Saved by Magic (2005)

Ché, Sounds of Liberation (2000)

[Click play above to stream Yawning Man’s Long Walk of the Navajo in full. It’s out Friday on Heavy Psych Sounds and available to preorder here (US) and here (EU).]

A true headphone album. A record you can put on, close your eyes, and drift away with, the sounds floating and swirling and changing shape like passing clouds over a sun-beat landscape, old rocks telling stories about time no one can hear in rusts and beiges and greens and browns. A record with which to wander. And maybe that’s what Yawning Man wanted. Long Walk of the Navajo references in its title the Civil War-era forced migration of Navajo peoples from the territory of what is now Arizona, part of the larger genocide of indigenous Americans that continued well into and through the 20th Century, wherein the US military marched members of the tribe some 300 miles to New Mexico. Hundreds died or had their lives uprooted, some were captured along the way and put into slavery, and many were just outright murdered in yet another example of the brutality of colonialism and the foundation of blood and exploitation upon which the United States was constructed, white European people enacting violence on brown American peoples with the specific goal of destroying their way of life. It is one of many such tales out of American history, and by no means a story that is over. It is a living narrative.

As regards album themes, one might engage Long Walk of the Navajo in a spirit of melancholy or mourning as a result of this context, and I won’t say that’s wrong or counter to the Yawning Man‘s intention. The long-running desert rock progenitors are as ever led by guitarist Gary Arce in their instrumentalism, and in addition to the title they note a desert storm during the recording that fostered a contemplative mood, but if they’re evoking a sense of physical movement from one place to another, specifically of forced displacement, then that movement is presented with due spaciousness, respect and emotionality. Long Walk of the Navajo is offered as three extended tracks running longest to shortest: opener/longest track (immediate points) “Long Walk of the Navajo” (15:09), “Respiratory Pause” (13;25) and “Blood Sand” (8:58), running a total of 37 minutes across two vinyl sides that together serve as the band’s sixth long-player in a 35-plus-year history, though, admittedly it wasn’t until 2005 that their first album, Rock Formations (discussed here), actually surfaced.

These songs, then, are part of the thread of the most flourishing period of Yawning Man‘s entire arc, their last studio records having been 2018’s The Revolt Against Tired Noises (review here) and 2019’s Macedonian Lines (review here), which they followed with 2020’s Live at Giant Rock (discussed here) and a series of catalog reissues through Heavy Psych Sounds that included their demo, The Birth of Sol (discussed here), as well as 2013’s Historical Graffiti (review here) and 2010’s Nomadic Pursuits (review here), and the aforementioned Rock Formations. What having this material readily available has done is to increase awareness of who Yawning Man are and what they’ve contributed to the sphere of desert rock, and in that, Long Walk of the Navajo is a reinforcement of their root approach.

The title-track, recorded by Steve Kille of Dead Meadow in Oct. 2022, is listed as being completely improvised. It begins with Bill Stinson‘s drums establishing a pattern on toms and introducing Arce‘s guitar and Billy Cordell‘s bass on the crash cymbal. The vibe is immediate, unrushed, warm, and yes, somewhat foreboding in the declining notes and the underlying subtle sprawl of the held-out bass notes. It should go without saying that Yawning Man are no strangers to jamming, but there do seem to be layers of guitar working across two channels, whether that was overdubbed or looped I couldn’t and wouldn’t guess. They are nonetheless organic in their sound as they cast breadth over the backbeat, guitars again intertwining after the change four minutes in that cuts back the wash only to rebuild it in a repeating pattern of melody that becomes a kind of central hook that comes and goes, allowing for the quintessential noodling near the song’s midpoint, the languid unfurling of drift in the back half, and the meditation on time and space both there and in the fade, the song going without fanfare to end side A, not without joy in its exploration, but subdued enough to fit the notion of getting to a place and now what.

In dynamic, “Long Walk of the Navajo” is a summary of the chemistry central to Yawning Man in any lineup incarnation. Cordell, who played on the band’s Pot Head EP in 2005 comes back to Yawning Man in place of Mario Lalli (also Fatso Jetson, The Rubber Snake Charmers, etc.), and fits easily alongside Arce and Stinson, the latter having also taken part in Arce-led side-projects like Zun, Ten East and Dark Tooth Encounter. On paper, they are a classic power trio on “Long Walk of the Navajo,” with the rhythm section acting as fluid support behind the vast reaches of Arce‘s guitar, the tone of which is a signature element of Yawning Man‘s work as well as nearly any other project in which Arce participates. For more than three and a half decades, he has brought together surf reverb, goth atmosphere and land-born scope to create a sound that is distinctive even among the hordes working under its direct influence. That sound, and the entrancing manner in which it covers so much of the mix, seeming to ring out into open air even when piped directly to one’s eardrum, is the defining feature of the band. It makes and has made them who they are. It is only right and consistent that Arce should lead here as he does.

Recorded in the early going of 2023 by Dan Joeright of Gatos Trail Recording Studio — one might recall he helmed the Live in the Mojave Desert series of streams/live albums (review here), as well as the upcoming Yawning Man/partial-Fu Manchu collaboration, Yawning Balch — “Respiratory Pause” and “Blood Sand” are then distinguished by their freshness as the most recent Yawning Man material put to tape. Cordell does a bit of wandering around the guitar line around six minutes in to “Respiratory Pause” that adds to the procession without taking away from the layers of guitar flowing above, but with Stinson holding steady on the ground, there’s little danger of the piece being any more carried into the ether than it wants to be. Like much of Yawning Man‘s current-era output, it is lush and unrepentantly gorgeous without coming across as overwrought or hackneyed, naturally immersive, consistent in character with the title-track preceding but with a gentle physicality of its own. It fades smoothly into the feedback-ghosts that accompany the launch of “Blood Sand,” a howl underscored by low-end resonance from Cordell as the bass flowers after two minutes in, complementing the guitar in the sense of adding to it, bolstering the impression of the whole.

By this time in the listening, the method is well confirmed, but the shorter closing track is still able to resolve Long Walk of the Navajo in satisfying fashion precisely because of the aural conversation happening between Arce, Cordell and Stinson. They cap with a particularly fervent wash, and, as with the two prior pieces, end in a fade, highlighting the sense of these songs as samples carved from even broader sonic expeditions. This is one of the most interesting features of Long Walk of the Navajo, since while Yawning Man have worked in long-ish forms on studio LPs before — both Macedonian Lines and The Revolt Against Tired Noises had songs over seven minutes — they’ve never gone so far as to present their audience with 15- and 13-minute long tracks, and even “Blood Sand” nearly hitting nine would otherwise be their longest studio cut to-date.

Whether this is a sign of things to come or a one-off born out of an especially productive session, I can’t and won’t speculate. The overriding message, though, is that as they approach their 40th year of existence in one form or another, Yawning Man are still finding new paths to follow. It is not every band and not every player willing to try new things on their sixth (maybe seventh?) album, and their commitment to exploration as demonstrated here is no less essential to who they are than Arce‘s echoing lead guitar melodies. Because of the longer songs, Long Walk of the Navajo would seem like it might intimidate some listeners or those taking on Yawning Man for the first time, but the reality is that their sound is all the more welcoming for its ability to reside in a part before moving onto the next. They sound vital in a ‘live’ sense, and deliver here with raw class and poise as only masters could, reconfirming their place as one of the California desert’s most crucial acts and reminding the listener why and how their influence has spread to such a degree over the last few decades. And true to form, the next one is reportedly already in the works.

Yawning Man on Facebook

Yawning Man on Instagram

Yawning Man on Bandcamp

Yawning Man website

Heavy Psych Sounds on Facebook

Heavy Psych Sounds on Instagram

Heavy Psych Sounds on Bandcamp

Heavy Psych Sounds website

Looks like Yawning Man will be hitting the road pretty hard in support of their upcoming album, The Long Walk of the Navajo, which is being released Friday through Heavy Psych Sounds and which I’ll be streaming in full on Thursday. Stoked for that? I most definitely am.

These tour dates follow an announcement that they’ll return to Australia in August, and more dates in various parts of the US and beyond are expected. They were previously confirmed for Høstsabbat, Desertfest Belgium, Into the Void, Up in Smoke and Tabernas Desert Rock, so that they’d make a full tour of it is no surprise — they already had, just with the fest dates. Still, I hear club shows are a thing that exist and I’m glad to post the list of shows not just because I’ll be able to link back to it next time they announce a tour — though that is fun — or because I got to plug the stream above, but also because they’re a legit legendary band that people should see in whatever context that might happen. I’m saying go to the show. Buy a shirt or a record or some such. Life is short.

This showed up on socials as posted by the band and Sound of Liberation, which booked the tour:

YAWNING MAN „LONG WALK OF EUROPE“ TOUR 2023

We’re super happy to announce that Yawning Man will hit the european roads this Fall!(#128293#)

Check out the tour dates below, grab your tickets and join the madness!(#128640#)

Says the band: “Hello Everyone!!! We can not wait to see you all Sept-Oct. We return to Europe starting Sept 27th. Get your tickets and check out our new album out on HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS June 16th!”

27.09.2023 (DE) Oldenburg, Cadillac
28.09.2023 (BE) Eeklo, N9
29.09.2023 (NL) Utrecht, DB’s
30.09.2023 (NL) Leuwwarden, Into The Void Festival
01.10.2023 (CH) Pratteln, Up in Smoke Festival
02.10.2023 (DE) Erfurt, Bandhaus
04.10.2023 (ES) Donostia-San Sebastian, Dabadaba
05.10.2023 (ES) Barcelona, Upload
06.10.2023 (ES) Tabernas, Desert Rock Festival
07.10.2023 (ES) Madrid, Rockville
08.10.2023 (PT) Porto, Hard Club (w/ The Atomic Bitchwax)
09.10.2023 TBA
10.10.2023 TBA
11.10.2023 (FR) Marseille, Le Molotov
12.10.2023 (IT) Torino, Blah Blah
13.10.2023 (IT) Cervia, Red Velvet Corazon
14.10.2023 (CH) Luzern, Musikzentrum Sedel
15.10.2023 (IT) Erba, Centrale Rock
16.10.2023 (DE) Munich, Backstage
17.10.2023 (SI) Ljubljana, Channel Zero
18.10.2023 (HR) Zagreb, Vintage Industrial Bar
19.10.2023 (AT) Vienna, Viper Room
20.10.2023 (AT) Wolfsberg, Kultur Zentrum Wolfsberg
21.10.2023 TBA [DE, Frankfurt, Zoom]
22.10.2023 (BE) Antwerp, Desertfest Belgium
23.10.2023 TBA
24.10.2023 TBA
25.10.2023 (NO) Arendal, Rock Klubb
26.10.2023 (NO) Kristiansand, Vaktbua
27.10.2023 (NO) Oslo, Hostsabbbat
28.10.2023 (SE) Göteborg, The Abyss

Long Walk of the Navajo preorders:

EU PRESALE: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop.htm#HPS204

USA PRESALE: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop-usa.htm

YAWNING MAN on ‘Long Walk of the Navajo’:
Gary Arce – guitars
Billy Cordell – bass
Bill Stinson – drums

YAWNING MAN touring lineup:
Gary Arce – guitars
Billy Cordell – bass
Greg Saenz – drums

https://www.facebook.com/yawningmanofficial/
https://yawningman.bandcamp.com
http://www.yawningman.com/

https://www.facebook.com/HEAVYPSYCHSOUNDS
http://www.heavypsychsounds.com
https://heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com

Yawning Man, “Blood Sand”

So if you’ve been keeping up — and if not, I ain’t judging; not trying to be a jerk or at least not that kind of one — then the only news here is the Australian tour that will be undertaken by the long-running instrumental trio Yawning Man, led as ever by founding guitarist and tonal godsend Gary Arce. If you’ve missed the last couple updates from the desert rock progenitors, well, first, they’ve got a new record coming. It’s called Long Walk of the Navajo, it’s out June 16, and the US and EU preorder links are pasted below. Due diligence done.

Also noteworthy is that Greg Saenz, who’s been in the band before, is handling drums for this tour and the European tour they’ll do after it this Fall, already confirmed as they are for Up in Smoke and Desertfest Belgium with more no doubt to follow. I don’t know if that’s a permanent lineup shift or not, but it’s relevant as Bill Stinson had been in Yawning Man for a while, taking over the throne however many years ago from Alfredo Hernandez, currently in Avon.

There. If you weren’t up to date I’m pretty sure you are now. Also I’m streaming the record the week of release. Honored to do it, in fact.

From the band’s socials:

We’re coming back after 3 years, Yawning Man will make their way back to Australia in August 2023 to showcase their latest album “Long Walk of the Navajo”!

(#128293#) The trio will bring their timeless melodies and blissful vibrations to following towns and dates below:

▪️FRI 18/8 The Lady Hampshire, Sydney
▪️SAT 19/8 King Lear’s Throne, Brisbane
▪️SUN 20/8 Bootlegger Bar, Katoomba
▪️WED 23/8 La La La’s, Wollongong
▪️THURS 24/8 Pot Belly Bar, Canberra
▪️FRI 25/8 Medusa Bar, Geelong
▪️SAT 26/8 Evelyn Hotel, Melbourne

(#127903#) TICKETS HERE https://linktr.ee/yourmatebookings

Long Walk of the Navajo preorders:

EU PRESALE: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop.htm#HPS204

USA PRESALE: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop-usa.htm

YAWNING MAN on ‘Long Walk of the Navajo’:
Gary Arce – guitars
Billy Cordell – bass
Bill Stinson – drums

YAWNING MAN touring lineup:
Gary Arce – guitars
Billy Cordell – bass
Greg Saenz – drums

https://www.facebook.com/yawningmanofficial/
https://yawningman.bandcamp.com
http://www.yawningman.com/

https://www.facebook.com/HEAVYPSYCHSOUNDS
http://www.heavypsychsounds.com
https://heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com

Yawning Man, “Blood Sand”

Live dates are cool and whatnot, and in addition to the gigs in their native California, The Brant Bjork Trio will feature at Burque Rock City Fest, Desertfest New York and Ripplefest Texas, but the real story here is the existence of the band in the first place, or at least the incarnation. Having appeared at Heavy Psych Sounds Fest CA in March, the lineup of guitarist/vocalist Brant Bjork, bassist Mario Lalli and drummer Ryan Güt played under the banner of Bjork‘s name, but expanding from that now, The Brant Bjork Trio follows on from other Bjork-centered collaborations like Brant Bjork and the Operators — of which Lalli was part; he also sang on Jalamanta and has generally been around since the outset — Brant Bjork and the Bros., and most recently the trio Stöner, whose advent coincided with continued solo work.

Güt having participated in both that solo work — 2022’s Bougainvillea Suite (review here) was all the more a highlight for his contributions on organ as well as drums — and in Stöner since that trio’s pandemic-era advent, his presence here is no surprise. And certainly Lalli has been around that orbit as well. His Rubber Snake Charmers project toured last year with Stöner (live review here) and even as his main outfit Fatso Jetson is about to embark on an extended summer run through Europe with High Desert Queen, his collaborating with Bjork is hardly new, as noted above. With Stöner bassist/vocalist Nick Oliveri out doing his own solo stuff, Lalli is a natural fit for the third in the trio even aside from being one of the founding principals of Californian desert rock. Band’s kind of a no-brainer to be right on.

Given that, the question is whether or not they’ll record. Brant Bjork always seems to have songs in ready supply, and certainly Heavy Psych Sounds has shown its willingness to follow where his journey leads, whether that’s a record like 2019’s extra-funk-leaning Jacoozzi (review here), catalog reissues, or Stöner‘s live album, two studio full-lengths and EP to-date. I have no info on that, but am glad to have the occasion to hope they might, and I’ll look forward to seeing them at Desertfest when the time comes. Always killer to catch a glimpse of the real deal in action, and these dudes are most definitely that.

The poster was put up on social media. I added the fest dates and typed out the list, so if something’s screwy, that’s probably on me. Still, here goes:

West coast dates are coming together!
More shows announcing soon !!!

The Brant Bjork Trio live:

July 8 Transplants Brewing Co. Palmdale CA
Aug. 5-6 Burque Rock City Fest Albuquerque NM
Sept. 7 Wayfarer Costa Mesa CA
Sept. 8 Knitting Factory North Hollywood CA
Sept. 9 Benders Bar San Francisco CA
Sept. 14-16 Desertfest New York NY
Sept. 21-24 RippleFest Texas Sagebrush TX
Sat Sept. 30 Casbah San Diego CA

The Brant Bjork Trio:
Brant Bjork – guitar/vocals
Mario Lalli – bass 
Ryan Güt – drums

https://www.facebook.com/BrantBjorkOfficial
https://www.instagram.com/brant_bjork
http://www.brantbjork.com

While the loss of an all-William rhythm section is something to be considered, I have little trouble trusting founding guitarist Gary Arce isn’t about to start bringing clowns into Yawning Man nearly 40 years after the band got their start. And Greg Saenz, who featured in John Garcia and the Band of Gold as well as You Know Who, The Dwarves and others, isn’t exactly an unproven commodity.

I’m not sure what happened with Bill Stinson, but with the desert rock progenitor trio looking to return to Europe this Fall to support their new album, Long Walk of the Navajo, which is out June 16 on Heavy Psych Sounds (info here), it makes sense they want to be able to get out as much as possible, which this change presumably will allow them to do. Worth noting they’re already confirmed for Høstsabbat, Up in Smoke 2023, Desertfest Belgium 2023 in Antwerp, and Into the Void in Leeuwarden, with more presumably to come.

Of course, Stinson still plays on Long Walk of the Navajo, as well as the also-impending Yawning Balch collaborative release (info here), which is set to arrive on July 7 through the same label, but Yawning Man are no strangers to various comings and goings either. What’s also notable is that it’s not Saenz‘s first tour of this particular duty. And they’re already working on new material, which is a win. One end to the other has been a trip for them before though, but moving forward is always good.

From socials:

Big Announcement!! Gary and Billy are stoked to welcome Greg Saenz (The Dwarves, Excel, and John Garcia Band of Gold) to drumming duties and are now working on new music for a double LP release next year. They’ll bring new music to their 2023 European Tour starting Sept 27th at The Cadillac in Oldenburg, Germany. Full tour schedule will be released soon. Greg is no stranger to Yawning Man touring and they are excited to share new sounds with you all.

Photo by @555promotions Scott McManaman.

Long Walk of the Navajo preorders:

EU PRESALE: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop.htm#HPS204

USA PRESALE: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop-usa.htm

YAWNING MAN on ‘Long Walk of the Navajo’:
Gary Arce – guitars
Billy Cordell – bass
Bill Stinson – drums

YAWNING MAN touring lineup:
Gary Arce – guitars
Billy Cordell – bass
Greg Saenz – drums

https://www.facebook.com/yawningmanofficial/
https://yawningman.bandcamp.com
http://www.yawningman.com/

https://www.facebook.com/HEAVYPSYCHSOUNDS
http://www.heavypsychsounds.com
https://heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com

Yawning Man, “Blood Sand”

I was actually pretty glad to see the announcement of this announcement last week, because while I didn’t get that posted — they were confirmed for Høstsabbat on Friday so that let me post about it; there’s another confirmation coming tomorrow — and those put together mean Yawning Man will be touring Europe for about a full month in support of this new record. That’s not out of character, necessarily, but neither something that happens every year.

Pushing into the band’s improv roots, the new album, Long Walk of the Navajo is comprised of three songs, the last and shortest of which, “Blood Sand” (8:58) is streaming now in all its lush, ambient gorgeousness. You’ll note Billy Cordell back on bass in place of Mario Lalli, who’s been going hard between Fatso Jetson and his Rubber Snake Charmers project, and that the recording was helmed by Steve Kille of Dead Meadow. And as ever, you’ll also note the tone of founding guitarist Gary Arce, because golly that’s lovely.

The album takes its title from the 1864 forced relocation of the Navajo tribe by the US government from Arizona to the east of New Mexico, during which a minimum of 200 people died. That’s after the Trail of Tears, which was between 1830-1850, but of course all part of the same (ongoing) genocide of Native American peoples.

One of my most anticipated records for the rest of 2023, and “Blood Sand” only makes that feeling stronger. From the PR wire:

Heavy Psych Sounds to announce YAWNING MAN new album LONG WALK OF THE NAVAJO – presale starts TODAY !!!

Today we are stoked to start the presale of the desert rock legends YAWNING MAN new album LONG WALK OF THE NAVAJO !!!

RELEASE DATE: JUNE 16th

ALBUM PRESALE: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop.htm#HPS204

USA PRESALE: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop-usa.htm

SAYS THE BAND:

“Blood Sand was recorded at Gary’s house by Steve Kille of Dead Meadow in Oct of 2022. It was a complete improvisation. Hope you’ll enjoy it !”

RELEASED IN
10 TEST PRESS VINYL
100 ULTRA LTD SIDE A – SIDE B RED/YELLOW/PINK VINYL
500 LTD GOLD VINYL
BLACK VINYL
DIGIPAK
DIGITAL

TRACKLIST
Side A
1. “Long Walk of the Navajo” 15:08
Side B
1. “Respiratory Pause” 13:25
2. “Blood Sand” 08:58

ALBUM DESCRIPTION

Long walk of the Navajo features Gary Arce (Guitar), Bill Stinson (Drums), and the return of Billy Cordell (Bass). The Long Walk Sessions were inspired by a desert storm that hit the Joshua tree landscape that created a dark and gloomy backdrop for the bands creativity and improvisations. Blood Sand was recorded at Gary’s house by Steve Kille of Dead Meadow in Oct of 2022. It was a complete improvisation. Long Walk of the Navajo and Respiratory Pause were recorded at Gatos Trail Recording Studio by Dan Joeright in January of 2023. All songs mixed and mastered by Steve Kille.

YAWNING MAN is:
Gary Arce – guitars
Billy Cordell – bass
Bill Stinson – drums

https://www.facebook.com/yawningmanofficial/
https://yawningman.bandcamp.com
http://www.yawningman.com/

https://www.facebook.com/HEAVYPSYCHSOUNDS
http://www.heavypsychsounds.com
https://heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com

Yawning Man, “Blood Sand”

Of all of Yawning Man‘s releases — which go back the better part of 40 years if you count the demo collection The Birth of Sol (discussed here) — I’m not sure I’ve ever heard their tones sound as warm as they do on Live at Giant Rock (interview here). That’s true of Gary Arce‘s guitar as it floats in signature style over Mario Lalli‘s bass in near-15-minute set opener “Tumbleweeds in the Snow,” and it might even be truer of the bass than the guitar, but it extends to Bill Stinson‘s drums as well. It’s like they recorded the sunshine they were playing in, and even if you’ve never seen the video of Arce, Lalli and Stinson jamming in the Mojave Desert at… wait for it… Giant Rock, the audio experience is as immersive as any of their work on ‘not live’ studio LPs.

It’s like the Platonic ideal of Yawning Man. It maintains a heavy underpinning in Lalli‘s bass and is ultra-fluid in its instrumentalist groove, searching and if not improvised then working more from a blueprint than a strict sense of structure. The CD edition of Live at Giant Rock runs 47 minutes — the video and download are five minutes longer, the vinyl shorter without the bonus track “Space Finger” — but there’s really no wrong answer when it comes to hearing it. “The Last Summer Eve” howls out its guitar over a steady, terrestrial roll, guitar and bass each moving their own way but complementary, not playing two separate songs but not playing the same thing the same way either and both feature in the mix while the drums round out and punctuate. Recorded by Johnathan Weber with a mix by Mathias Schneeberger, there’s more dimension to Live at Giant Rock than most live albums. If they had released it as ‘Giant Rock Session’ or just called it ‘Giant Rock’ and pitched it as a regular old full-length, I’m not sure I’d be able to argue. It blurs that line in sound, which isn’t really anything new for Yawning Man, I suppose.

The recording was filmed on May 18, 2020, by Sam Grant and released that October through Heavy Psych Sounds, and its poignancy as a document of a time when live music culture was swept out from under the feet of the audience and artists alike isn’t to be lost, and certainly “Nazi Synthesizer” as a wordplay is maybe even more relevant now than it was shortly before the 2020 US presidential election — though it was definitely relevant then as well, what with all those fascists around; the difference is now they’re in Congress — and while I’m pretty sure there’s no actual synth on it, just effects, the song’s balance between more intense moments of wash and atmospheric spaciousness is emblematic of exactly how Yawning Man helped found the style of desert rock. Add punk to “Nazi Synthesizer” and you pretty much have it.

But although Live at Giant Rock was made and issued as a result of the fact that live shows couldn’t happen, serving also as a precursor for the streaming series Live in the Mojave Desert, which featured Earthless, Nebula, Stöner, Spirit Mother and Mountain Tamer, its resonance goes beyond that, and while I won’t discount the plague or the generational trauma it caused and continues to cause on humanity in general though on a lesser scale and definitely less present in the news cycle, what Yawning Man accomplish here is outside of time. Just past its midsection, “Blowhole Sunrise” seems to grow even broader in Arce‘s guitar. Stinson and Lalli are right there, the structure, a foundation, and then the drums drop out for a moment and the guitar seems to fly away, its ringing lines like the waves that would turn the Cali desert into the seabed it once was. It’s hypnotic, but the real trick is that it never quite stops moving as much as it seems to, and even as one measure is echoing out, the next is happening, so that Yawning Man always feel like they’re a little ahead of you, which, well, also nothing new. Fair enough.

And of course the band’s tie to the desert, to the legacy of generator parties out in the wild or at some abandoned skatepark, whatever it was, is a presence here. That context is useful to appreciate what they’re doing, I guess, but if you didn’t have it, I’m not sure it would do anything to detract from the languid motion of “Space Finger,” the way the bass goes down and the guitar goes up and the drums hold the two together — the essential dynamic of Yawning Man‘s style and the very balance they most toy with throughout Live at Giant Rock — or the fact that this is a band playing at their best in a rare situation and setting. Like all of the live records that came out when shows weren’t happening — and there was a pointed, delightfully contradictory abundance of them — it’s pandemic-era in terms of timeline, but there’s so much more to it as a piece and declaration of who Yawning Man are as a band, the impact and influence they’ve had and continue to have on the shape of a genre in which they only ever partially reside. “Space Finger” hums to an unpretentious finish and is gone like the moment itself. Even good shows end.

Yawning Man reportedly have a new record in the works to follow 2019’s Macedonian Lines (review here), and in the meantime, Lalli has been out with Mario Lalli and the Rubber Snake Charmers touring far and wide, and Arce has been collaborating with Bob Balch of Fu Manchu and others in Big Scenic Nowhere and the forthcoming Yawning Balch, so there’s never really any lack of activity even if Yawning Man aren’t always in full-time all the time, go-go-go momentum. Wouldn’t really suit them if they were, anyway. They are and remain a treasure held by desert rock itself maybe too much an underground secret, but all the more valued for that by those who appreciate them. I’ll put Live at Giant Rock up there with their best work, gladly. It’s in good company.

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

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Kid coming downstairs as I typed that last sentence above. That’s a 5:45AM wakeup. I got up at 4, as usual. Tomorrow I might sleep late, which means I’d get up whenever he does.

I know everyone is tight on money, but if you bought any of the new Obelisk merch this week, thank you. That support goes a long way. It’s linked below and is at: http://mibk.bigcartel.com/products

While I’m plugging and dropping links: New episode of The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs at 5PM Eastern today on the Gimme app or at http://gimmemetal.com. I’d recommend the app, but however you get there, thanks if you do.

Kind of a blur of a week, but the writing was easy enough. I’m behind on news stuff already for Monday and have more to do for today as I write this, but so it goes. At some point this morning — or what I hope will be this morning — Hippie Death Cult will announce their next tour with their new drummer who they announced yesterday. In the meantime, I have other stuff waiting to go up.

Later now. Went swimming, showered, had a egg-on-chaffles sandwich. The primary update here is much the same as last week. Broke, overwhelmed. I know I’m not alone in that. It’s everybody who isn’t already super-rich. And kind of amazing that how isolated we all are and have been since the plague — it occurred to me that I used to just go out and do stuff sometimes — actually serves the purposes of the people who are ripping us off on everything. If everyone is at home staring at their phone, no one is in the streets demanding debt relief or subsidies to get by, or god forbid, that the artificially inflated costs of living and basic necessities are actually brought down. Why is it that prices only ever go up?

So yeah, thanks for buying merch.

Have a great and safe weekend. Have fun, watch your head, hydrate. Stay warm or cool depending on your geography and preference. I’ll be back on Monday with that review no one’s gonna give a crap about and a bunch more.

FRM.

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