The Fizz Fuzz Premiere “Statues”; Deserts, Mountains, Oceans out March 14

Posted in audiObelisk on March 3rd, 2023 by JJ Koczan

The Fizz Fuzz Deserts Mountains Oceans

You’re about to get hit with a lot of information, so buckle up. The Fizz Fuzz will release their second full-length, Deserts, Mountains, Oceans, on March 14 through Taxi Driver Records and Slush Fund Recordings. Last heard from not so terribly long ago with 2020’s debut album, Palmyra (review here), the Santa Rosa, California, outfit centers around the core duo of guitarist/vocalist Dawn Brown and vocalist, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Dandy Brown, the latter of whom, in addition to solo work under his own name, is a veteran of desert heavy outfits like the John Garcia-led Hermano, as well as Orquesta del Desierto — as much a dug-in weirdo myth as they ever were a band — Yawning Sons, and others.

Across the utterly manageable eight songs and 36 minutes of Deserts, Mountains, Oceans — recorded between Italy and Georgia, as one does — and in collaboration with drummer Steve Earle of Afghan Whigs (who wrote one song and co-wrote another as well), Isaak bassist Gabriele Carta, and with guest spots from Mike Reeder, Keith Murphy, and Mark Engel (also Orquesta del Desierto), the Browns offer an inviting take on desert blues, sweet punk and self-assured heavy rock, basking in tonal and melodic richness from the opening strums of “Statues” (premiering below) onward as Dawn and Dandy trade and share lead vocal duties. United by a universal lack of pretense, the material is classic in structure and neither playing to genre nor forgetting from whence the band comes in terms of style — and yes, there’s a good bit of fuzz throughout.

Some fizz as well, if by that we mean the vital electric undercurrent that allows “Statues” to begin a build of momentum that continues through the subsequent “Deaf and Dumb,” which feels brief and hooky at 4:06 with Dawn taking the fore vocally; since Dandy fronts “Statues,” that establishes the back and forth that bolsters the material throughout, and sets up the duet in “Disbelief” that’s no less satisfying because one sees it coming. Backed by organ work in a show of eternal cool, “Disbelief” finds Dandy crooning in a way that reminds of softer John Garcia while Dawn answers in the verse lines, moving toward and through a memorable chorus that’s laid back in terms of tempo and understated compared to the semi-angular starts and stops of “Deaf and Dumb,” but all the more resonant melodically and purposeful not to go too far over the top as it crescendos with a guitar solo and keys behind.

Capping side A, “I Suppose” goes back to ground with a fuzzy strum at its outset, continuing to play with the balance between the dual vocals as it builds into a shuffle that would signal a shift in focus toward rhythm were it not for lushness of the vocals overtop. There’s style in the production, the deceptive depth of the mix — even just between lines at 2:11-2:15 into “I Suppose,” there’s more going on for those who’d dig deeper into the flourish — and the mellow vocal delivery, as well as substance in the songwriting and the crafted feel of the verses, the smoothness of their transitions from one part to the next throughout, and the thoughtfulness of the arrangements around Dandy and Dawn, and progression in the performances of both as compared to Palmyra three years ago with an accordingly more solidified idea of what The Fizz Fuzz‘s project is as a group and an idea. It gives more than it takes, stays casual in its accomplishments and is listenable in that way older Masters of Reality always seems to be timeless for being out of its own time.

The Fizz Fuzz

The mix shifts on “Free for Sorry,” with Dawn forward in the duet, Dandy backing behind, and the introduction of drums is held back for more than a minute of the total 3:50 — not an insignificant amount of real estate, considering — with the effect of emphasizing the flow in the central riff. It’s a highlight performance from Dawn in answer to “Deaf and Dumb” earlier, and sways all the more fluidly with the ‘oooh’s backing her. “Craters,” meanwhile, taps a beefed-up Blind Melon vibe as the repeated line “time rolls on” is complemented by a groove that does much the same, snare drum punching through to punctuate a motion that’s not hurried but not staid, balanced just right for what it wants to be like so much of Deserts, Mountains, Oceans; pro-shop in sound and confident without arrogance, a work of artisans comfortable in their methods while pushing themselves forward. Placed ahead of the closer, “Mad Jimmy” comes across like it would work just as well as a fully unplugged folk song with its shared vocals and wistful guitar, but the full arrangement with drums and bass certainly doesn’t hurt.

It’s the shortest of the cuts at 3:43 (not by a ton) and leads into the longest, which is the 6:30 relative blowout of “Billion.” In genuinely classic fashion, The Fizz Fuzz offer a build into their version of a grand finale, tension mounting in the first two minutes before they reveal the catchy standout chorus and layer guitar lines with more decisively desert-rocking intent as they cycle through again en route to a victory lap reprise and ending around those guitars, residual melody fading as the record is brought to an appropriately classy conclusion, sweaty at the expulsion of energy but unruffled. They sound like they could keep going, like they have more to say, like they could just keep doing this forever, and maybe they will, but the achievement here in songwriting, in the varying arrangements and phrasings, in the richness of the total affect, isn’t to be understated. What Dawn Brown and Dandy Brown have built is an exercise in aural honesty. There’s no put-on happening here, nobody’s pretending to be anything they’re not, and the sincerity of expression throughout Deserts, Mountains, Oceans is palpable, drawing the listener closer to the songs and still, still, still poised and sympathetic in mood.

I’ll bottom line it: You like songs? The Fizz Fuzz‘ve got songs, and on Deserts, Mountains, Oceans they’re playing them just for you whether you hear them or not.

To that end, you’ll find the premiere of “Statues” below. Keep in mind that initial strum of guitar. The tone there is a clarion that extends across what follows on the record, and the groove that coincides likewise is a thread carried through the duration. I dig it. I think you’ll dig it too.

Under the player is copious PR wire info (still buckled?), but again, the release is March 14 digitally, with vinyl preorders opening the same day through Taxi Driver and Slush Fund. Beyond that, what you really need to know is in the audio, so please enjoy:

Dandy Brown on recording Deserts, Mountains, Oceans:

After releasing our first album, Palmyra, in 2020, we were set to embark on a series of tour dates throughout Europe and the United States, but, of course, those plans were interrupted by the pandemic. About a year and a half after we released the first album, we were finally able to do a couple of brief tours in Italy and the United States, but we spent most of the lockdown and ensuing travel restrictions water-shedding in our Northern California home writing the songs that would eventually end up appearing on Deserts, Mountains, Oceans.

While our first album was certainly a collaborative effort, most of the songs that appeared on our first collection were derived from parts and pieces each of us had constructed before we came together as a writing team, before we were husband and wife. Certainly, not many good things can be said about the years the world suffered through the virus, but for us it turned out to be an opportunity to explore our writing with a much more heightened sense of collaboration, which, of course, allowed us to push each other in new and exciting directions. Palmyra was a great achievement for us, but Deserts, Oceans, Mountains represents an evolution in both of our writing styles and a truer representation of the heart of where the Fizz Fuzz currently stands and the future directions we are heading.

We have been truly lucky to have such a great supporting cast with Steve Earle (Afghan Whigs) on drums and Gabriele Carta (ISAAK) on bass. They have not only enhanced the songs we have written for Deserts, Mountains, Oceans, but they contributed to the development of the songs on the album in unique and exciting ways. We were also tremendously excited to have Steve Earle contribute a song to the album and co-write another, adding an exciting dynamic to the material that has broadened the collection in a way that we are immensely grateful to share.

Thematically, Deserts, Mountains, Oceans represents our reflections upon some of the most traumatic episodes of our lives . . . messages of lost or damaged relationships, broken dreams and, unfortunately, the often merciless passage of time. We think, though, that within the representations of those darker themes each song has a way of commenting upon the ability to move past those unfortunate elements of life and to embrace the optimism that we all have the capacity to discover if we are willing to search for it. Essentially, while the title of the album reflects the physical geography where we have resided, the metaphors within those locations stand as testaments of the desolation that has impacted both of us, the climb to the place we are now, and the bliss we have found with and within each other.

THE FIZZ FUZZ – Deserts, Mountains, Oceans

DIGITAL DOWNLOAD AVAILABLE AND VINYL PRE-ORDERS BEGIN: MARCH 14, 2023

Coming together for the first time in the high desert of southern California during the fall of 2017, the FIZZ FUZZ are a blues-rock band from Santa Rosa.

Dandy Brown is a producer, singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist best known for his work with the bands Hermano, Orquesta del Desierto, John Garcia, Alice Tambourine Lover, Yawning Sons, and his solo releases. In addition to covering guitar and vocal duties with the band, Dawn Brown is a multi-media artist currently engaged with photo experiments and commissioned pieces throughout northern California.

Their debut album, Palmyra, was released in the spring of 2020 and features performances by David Angstrom (Hermano/Luna Sol), Steve Earle (Afghan Whigs), Mike Callahan (Hermano/Earshot), Alice Albertazzi and Gianfranco Romanelli (Alice Tambourine Lover), and Mark Engel (Orquesta del Desierto).

The Fizz Fuzz sophomore release, Deserts, Mountains, Oceans, is slated for release on March 14, 2023. Recorded at Oxygen Studios (Verzuolo, IT) and the Slush Fund facilities in Athens, GA, the new collection features Steve Earle and Gabriele Carta, and guest performances by Mike Reeder, Keith Murphy, and Mark Engel. They will be performing in the UK to support the new album in March, 2023.

The Fizz Fuzz live:
March 14: the Victoria, Swindon
March 16: the Glass House, Ashford
March 17: Liquid Light Brew Company, Nottingham
March 18: Percy’s Cafe Bar, Whitchurch

The Fizz Fuzz on Instagram

Dandy Brown / The Fizz Fuzz website

Taxi Driver Records on Facebook

Taxi Driver Records on Bandcamp

Slush Fund Recordings store

Slush Fund Recordings website

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The Fizz Fuzz Premiere “Hereby” Video from Debut Album Palmyra

Posted in Bootleg Theater on February 4th, 2020 by JJ Koczan

the fizz fuzz

The roots of The Fizz Fuzz are in the desert in terms of sound, but the collaboration of Dandy Brown and Dawn Brown (née Rich) stems of course from the fact that they’re married. One can hear in the lead single from their debut album, Palmyra, that the two-piece have a musical connection as well as the obvious interpersonal relationship. Dandy Brown is known for his work with John Garcia through various incarnations in Hermano and in the former Kyuss singer’s solo work — the track “Dark Horse II,” which appears on Palmyra, was recorded first by Garcia — but has never shied away from stepping up to the microphone himself, and joined in the endeavor by Dawn, the melodies only become that much richer. Likewise, their two guitars function together to bring a satisfying wash of fuzz to the Slush Fund Recordings/Taxi Driver Records release, lending elements of heavy post-rock to fluid pieces like “Collapse” and the mellower “Shame,” as well as a riffer like “Dear Old” and the penultimate “Loose Lips.”

As regards “Hereby,” it is arguably the most straightforward of the eight tracks on Palmyra, and one could debate how representative it therefore is overall of the larger work. Certainly by the the fizz fuzz palmyratime they get through “Collapse,” “Dark Horse II” and “Shame,” which appear in succession immediately following, the palette has broadened, and as they move toward the acoustic closer “Sunkissed,” The Fizz Fuzz only continue to push into different vibes, whether it’s the unabashed sweetness in the shimmering melody of “Conditional Love” or the more weighted tonal density of “Dear Old.” That said, one can hear Dawn‘s guitar playing off the central riff Dandy brings forth, and the catchiness of the hook is nothing if not a suitable introduction to the record as a whole, however more complex the proceedings might and do ultimately wind up.

The video is kind of a goof, but a fun one. They’re dancing with, of course, the kids as judges while the song plays. Parts of the clip would seem to come from a live performance video of “Hereby” Dandy and Dawn filmed and posted in April of last year. That’s obviously not the album version of the track — no drums, for one thing — but it’s another opportunity to hear how their guitars work together, and though “Hereby” doesn’t bring Dawn‘s vocals in nearly as much as, say, “Conditional Love,” on which she sings lead, there’s still plenty of the fuzz from which the project would seem to take its moniker and the spirit is nothing if not welcoming to the listener. They’re pretty much inviting you into their home. Wipe your feet before you go in, the place looks pretty nice.

Palmyra is out March 1 with preorders up now.

Video and more info follow. Please enjoy:

The Fizz Fuzz, “Hereby” official video premiere

Coming together for the first time in the high desert of southern California during the fall of 2017, the FIZZ FUZZ are a blues-rock band formed by Dandy and Dawn Brown.

Dandy Brown is a producer, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist best known for his work with the bands Hermano, Orquesta del Desierto, John Garcia, Alice Tambourine Lover, Yawning Sons, and his solo releases. Dawn Brown is a multi-media artist, guitarist and vocalist widely recognized as a member of the new generation of groundbreaking visual artists in the northern California Bay Area.

Relocating to northern California in the winter of 2017, the Browns immediately began to write a new collection of songs that they debuted during their first European tour in the spring of the following year. Recording and performing throughout 2018 and 2019, the FIZZ FUZZ have a new album that is set for release on Taxi Driver Records (Europe) and Slush Fund Records (worldwide) on March 1, 2020.

Titled Palmyra, the FIZZ FUZZ album features performances by David Angstrom (Hermano/Luna Sol), Steve Earle (Afghan Whigs), Mike Callahan (Hermano/Earshot), Alice Albertazzi and Gianfranco Romanelli (Alice Tambourine Lover), and Mark Engel (Orquesta del Desierto).

The Fizz Fuzz, “Hereby” live promo video

Dandy Brown on Thee Facebooks

Dandy Brown website

Slush Fund Recordings website

Taxi Driver Records on Thee Facebooks

Taxi Driver Records website

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Quarterly Review: Torche, Spillage, Pharlee, Dali’s Llama, Speedealer, Mt. Echo, Monocluster, Picaporters, Beaten by Hippies, Luna Sol

Posted in Reviews on July 3rd, 2019 by JJ Koczan

quarterly-review

We meet again. The Summer 2019 Quarterly Review. It’s four in the morning and I’m getting ready to start the day. I haven’t even managed to pour myself coffee yet, which even as I type it out feels like a crime against humanity, such as it is. I’ll get there though.

Wednesday in the Quarterly Review marks the halfway point of the week, and as we’ll hit 30 reviews at the end, it’s half of the total 60 as well, so yeah. Feeling alright so far. As always, good music helps. I’ve added a couple things for consideration to my ongoing best-of-the-year list for December, so that’s something. And I think I’ll probably be doing so again today, so let’s get to it.

Quarterly Review #21-30:

Torche, Admission

torche admission

15 years later and Torche‘s sound is still expanding. To that point, it’s never sounded quite as expansive as it does on Admission, their fifth album and second for Relapse behind 2015’s Restarter (review here). There are still plenty of straight-ahead heavy riffs on cuts like “Reminder” or “Slide” or the bomb-tone-laden “Infierno,” but in the title-track, in “Times Missing,” the closer “Changes Come,” “Slide” and even the 1:30-long “What Was,” there’s a sense of spaciousness and float to the guitars to contrast all that crunch, and it effectively takes the place of some of the manic feel of their earlier work. It’s consistent with the brightness of their melodies in songs like “Extremes of Consciousness” and the early pusher “Submission,” and it adds to their style rather than takes away, building on the mid-paced feel of the last album in such a way as to demonstrate the band’s continued growth long after they’d be well within their rights to rest on their laurels. Sharp, consistent in its level of songwriting, mature and engaging across its 36-minute entirety, Admission is everything one might ask of Torche‘s fifth album.

Torche on Thee Facebooks

Relapse Records website

 

Spillage, Blood of Angels

spillage blood of angels

If you, like me, believe doom to be the guardian style of classic heavy metal — you could also argue power metal there, but that’s why it’s an argument — Chicago’s Spillage might be the band to help make your case. With their own Ronnie James Dio in Elvin Rodriguez (not a comparison I make lightly) and a connection to the Trouble family tree via founding guitarist Tony Spillman, who also played in Earthen Grave, the band unfurl trad-metal poise throughout their 53-minute second album, Blood of Angels, hitting touchstones like Sabbath, Priest, and indeed Trouble on a chugger like “Free Man,” a liberal dose of organ on “Rough Grooved Surface” adding to the classic feel — Rainbow, maybe? — and even the grandiose ballad “Voice of Reason” that appears before the closing Sabbath cover “Dirty Women” staying loyal to the cause. I can’t and won’t fault them for that, as in both their originals and in the cover, their hearts are obviously in it all the way and the sound is right on, the sleek swing in the second half of “Evil Doers” punctuated by squealing guitar just as it should be. Mark it a win for the forces of metal, maybe less so for the angels.

Spillage on Thee Facebooks

Qumran Records on Thee Facebooks

 

Pharlee, Pharlee

pharlee pharlee

San Diego strikes again with Pharlee‘s self-titled debut on Tee Pee Records, a 29-minute boogie rock shove that’s marked out by the significant pipes of Macarena Rivera up front, the shuffling snare work of Zack Oakley (also guitar in JOY and Volcano) and the organ work of Garret Lekas throughout, winding around and accentuating the riffs of Justin “Figgy” Figueroa and the air-push bass of Dylan Donovan. It’s a proven formula by now, but Pharlee‘s Pharlee is like the band who comes on stage in the middle of the festival and surprises everyone and reminds them why they’re there in the first place. The energy of “Darkest Hour” is infectious, and the bluesier take on Freddie King‘s “Going Down” highlights a stoner shred in Figueroa‘s guitar that fits superbly ahead of the fuzz freakout, all-go closer “Sunward,” and whatever stylistic elements (and personnel, for that matter) might be consistent with their hometown’s well-populated underground, Pharlee take that radness and make it their own.

Pharlee on Thee Facebooks

Tee Pee Records website

 

Dali’s Llama, Mercury Sea

dalis llama mercury sea

Long-running desert rockers Dali’s Llama return with Mercury Sea, their first release since 2017’s The Blossom EP (review here) and their first full-length since 2016’s Dying in the Sun (review here), sounding reinvigorated in rockers like opener “Weary” and the subsequent grunge-vibing “Choking on the Same,” “When Ember Laughs” and the garage-style “She’s Not Here.” Persistently underappreciated, their albums always have a distinct feel, and Mercury Sea is no different, finding a place for itself between the laid-back desert blues and punkier fare on a cut like “Someday, Someday,” even delving into psychedelic folk for a while in the 6:54 longest track “Goblin Fruit,” and a bit of lead guitar scorch bringing it all together on closer “All My Fault,” highlighting the theme of love that’s been playing out all the while. The sincerity behind that and everything Dali’s Llama does is palpable as ever in these 11 tracks, an more than 25 years on from their inception, they continue to deliver memorable songs in wholly unpretentious fashion. That’s just what they do.

Dali’s Llama on Thee Facebooks

Dali’s Llama on Bandcamp

 

Speedealer, Blue Days Black Nights

speedealer blue days black nights

Speedealer ride again! And just about at top speed, too. The Dallas, Texas, outfit were last heard from circa 2003, and their turnabout is marked with the self-release of Blue Days Black Nights, a fury-driven 10-tracker that takes the best of their heavy-rock-via-punk delivery and beefs up tones to suit another decade and a half’s worth of hard living and accumulated disaffection. The Dallas four-piece blaze through songs like “Never Knew,” the hardcore-punk “Losing My Shit,” the more metallic “Nothing Left to Say,” and the careening aggro-swagger of “Rheumatism,” but there’s still some variety to be had throughout, as highlight “Sold Out,” “War Nicht Genung” and “Shut Up” find the band no less effective working at a somewhat scaled-back pace. However fast they’re going, though the attitude remains much the same, and it’s “fuck you fuck this” fuckall all the way. Those familiar with their past work would expect no less, and time has clearly not repaired the chip on Speedealer‘s shoulder. Their anger is our gain.

Speedealer on Thee Facebooks

Speedealer webstore

 

Mt. Echo, Cirrus

mt echo cirrus

Based in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, the instrumentalist four-piece Mt. Echo present a somewhat noisier take on Russian Circles-style heavy post-rock with their nine-song/46-minute debut, Cirrus. Not at all shy about incorporating a noise rock riff or a more weighted groove, the dual-guitar outfit nonetheless spend significant time patiently engaged in the work of atmosphere-building, so that their material develops a genuine ebb and flow as songs tie one into the next to give the entire affair a whole-album feel. It is their first outing, but all the more striking for that in terms of how much of a grip they seem to have on their approach and what they want to be doing in a song like “Lighthouse at the End of Time” with airy lead and chugging rhythm guitars intertwining and meeting head-on for post-YOB crashes and an eventual turn into a harder-pushing progression. Ambience comes (mostly) to the fore in the seven-minute “Monsters and the Men Who Made Them,” but wherever they go on Cirrus, Mt. Echo bring that atmospheric density along with them. The proverbial ‘band to watch.’

Mt. Echo on Thee Facebooks

Mt. Echo on Bandcamp

 

Monocluster, Ocean

Monocluster Ocean

Over the course of five longform tracks on Ocean, Germany’s Monocluster build fluidly on the accomplishments of their 2015 self-titled debut (review here), greatly expanding on the heft and general reach of their sound while, as opener “Ocean in Our Bones” demonstrates, still holding onto the ability to affect a killer hook when they need one. Ocean is not a minor undertaking at 56 minutes, but it dedicates its time to constructing a world in cuts like “Leviathan” and “A Place Beyond,” the giant wall of fuzzed low end becoming the backdrop for the three-part story being told that ends with the 11:43 “Home” standing alone, as graceful and progressive as it is brash and noisy — a mirror in that regard to the nine-minute centerpiece “Guns and Greed” and a fitting summation of Ocean‘s course. They keep this up for very long and people are going to start to notice. The album is a marked step forward from where Monocluster were a few years ago, and sets up the expectation of continued growth their next time out while keeping a focus on the essential elements of songwriting as well. If we’re looking for highlights, I’d pick “Leviathan,” but honestly, it’s anyone’s game.

Monocluster on Thee Facebooks

Monocluster on Bandcamp

 

Picaporters, XXIII

picaporters xxiii

The third full-length from Argentine trio Picaporters marks another level of achievement for them as a band. XXIII arrives three years after El Horror Oculto (review here) and is unquestionably their broadest-cast spectrum to-date. The album comes bookended by eight-minute opener “La Soga de los Muertos” and “M.I.,” an 18-minute finale jam that would give a Deep Purple live record reason to blush. Soulful guitar stretches out over a vast rhythmic landscape, and all this after “Jinetes del Universo” motorpunks out and “Vencida” pulls together Floydian melo-prog, “Numero 5” precedes the closer with acoustic interplay and the early “Despertar” offers a little bit of everything and a lot of what-the-hell-just-happened. These guys started out on solid footing with their 2013 debut, Elefantes (review here), but neither that nor El Horror Oculto really hinted at the scope they’d make sound so natural throughout XXIII, which is the kind of record that leaves you no choice but to call it progressive.

Picaporters on Thee Facebooks

Picaporters on Bandcamp

 

Beaten by Hippies, Beaten by Hippies

beaten by hippies beaten by hippies

As their moniker hints, there’s some edge of danger to Belgium’s Beaten by Hippies‘ self-titled debut (on Polderrecords), but the album ultimately resolves itself more toward songwriting and hooks in the spirit of a meaner-sounding Queens of the Stone Age in songs like “Space Tail” and “More is More,” finding common ground with the energy of Truckfighters though never quite delving so far into fuzzy tones. That’s not at all to the band’s detriment — rather, it helps the four-piece begin to cast their identity as they do in this material, whether that’s happening in the volatile sudden volume trades in “Dust” or the mission statement “Rock ‘n’ Roll,” which feels geared a bit to the anthemic but would probably work just as well in whatever pub they happen to be terrorizing on a given evening. Their delivery skirts the line between heavy and hard rock as only that vaguely commercially viable European-style can, but the songs are right there waiting to take the stage at whatever festival is this weekend and blow the roof — or the sky, I guess, if it’s outdoors — off the place.

Beaten by Hippies on Thee Facebooks

Polderrecords website

 

Luna Sol, Below the Deep

luna sol below the deep

Guitarist/vocalist Dave Angstrom may be best known in heavy rock circles for his work alongside John Garcia in Hermano, but in leading the four-piece Luna Sol through their 12-song/50-minute sophomore outing, Below the Deep (on Slush Fund Recordings), he proves a capable frontman as well as songwriter. Sharing vocal duties with bassist Shannon Fahnestock while David Burke handles guitar and Justin Baier drums, Angstrom is a steady presence at the fore through the well-constructed ’90s-flavored heavy rock of “Below the Deep” and “Along the Road” early, the later “Garden of the Gods” playing toward a more complex arrangement after the strutting “The Dying Conglomerate” paints a suitably grim State of the Union and ahead of the fuzz-rich ending in “Home,” which keeps its melodic purpose even as it crashes out to its languid finish. Whether it’s the charged “Man’s Worth Killin'” or the winding fuzz of “Mammoth Cave,” one can definitely hear some Hermano at work, but Luna Sol distinguish themselves just the same.

Luna Sol on Thee Facebooks

Slush Fund Recordings webstore

 

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Luna Sol Announce New Album Below the Deep out June 21

Posted in Whathaveyou on May 28th, 2019 by JJ Koczan

luna sol

From out of the mountains of Colorado come Luna Sol, who are set to issue their second album, Below the Deep, on June 21 through Slush Fund Recordings. Riff heads will note that the band features guitarist Dave Angstrom, whose songcraft is a long-since proven quantity owing to his time in Hermano and Supafuzz. Given that pedigree, it’s not entirely surprising to find some basic discussion of desert rock around the band — having John Garcia on the first record will inevitably help that too — but one would hardly consider them bound by ecosystem in their work. It’s like rock, but you know, heavy. They should really come up with a name for that.

Enjoy heavy rock:

luna sol below the deep

Luna Sol to Release New LP, ‘Below the Deep’, June 21

Denver Rock Group Featuring Former Hermano Guitarist Readies Electric Sophomore Album

Colorado heavy rock hypnotists Luna Sol, which features in its ranks guitarist / vocalist Dave Angstrom, formerly of Kyuss vocalist John Garcia’s early aughts band Hermano and Lexington, Kentucky’s Supafuzz, will release its new LP, ‘Below the Deep’, on June 21 via Slush Fund Recordings / Cargo Records.

Luna Sol (Latin for “moon soil”), plays self-described “high mountain rock”, delivering riff-centric music in the “desert rock” tradition while incorporating more variety. Deceptively tuneful, the band delivers an intoxicating collection of hazy, leaden R’N’R that blends volcanic riffage with an earthquaking crunch while crooning vocals float over the songs like ghostly echoes. Luna Sol’s robotic boogie is catchy in a way that doesn’t so much announce itself as creep up behind you. ‘Below the Deep’ is the follow-up to the group’s 2015 debut, ‘Blood Moon’, an album which featured guest spots from John Garcia, Guns N’ Roses’ Dizzy Reed and Nick Oliveri.

Ominous cover art by Amplified Design (Pallbearer, Brant Bjork) lends a foreboding visual air to the record, which Angstrom says was the plan all along. The clearly troubled personal lyrics of the album create a tension that we can all empathetically relate to. With messages of pain, praise, sorrow, death, rejoicing, revolution and honest apologies, ‘Below the Deep’ takes us on a fairground ride of riffs, hooks and emotions.

“We wanted ‘Below the Deep’ to look and feel like worn out Steven King novel, with artwork that will scare children,” he says. It might. A clothed young woman submerged in a lake at the foothills of the Colorado Mountains is creepy. But Angstrom thrives in the darkness. He was married at the Standley Hotel in Estes Park, the haunted mansion that inspired King’s classic “The Shining.”

“This may be the best record I’ve ever made,” says Angstrom. “Below the Deep is a lyrical confession, served with a fist. It’s a dark cohesive album. Hangings, suffering, pain, recovery, family, life; it all seems to make sense when I’m playing and singing about it. We had a goal to create a straight up, guitar oriented, fist-in-the-air classic rock record. I’m extremely proud of this one.”

Track listing:

1.) Black Cloud
2.) Below the Deep
3.) Along the Road
4.) Man’s Worth Killin’
5.) Sometimes We Get It Right
6.) The Dying Conglomerate
7.) Garden of the Gods
8.) Hallelujah
9.) Mammoth Cave
10.) Wait For It

Pre-order ‘Below the Deep’ at this location

In addition to Dave Angstrom, Luna Sol features David Burke (guitar), Shannon Fahnestock (bass, vocals) and Justin Baier (drums).

https://www.facebook.com/Lunasolmusic/
https://squareup.com/store/slush-fund/.

Luna Sol, Below the Deep album trailer

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