Bus Premiere Title-Track Video From We Are the Night LP

Posted in Bootleg Theater, Reviews on May 2nd, 2024 by JJ Koczan

bus

Athens classic-heavy purveyors Bus — aka Bus The Unknown Secretary — move deeper into the metallic with their third full-length, We Are the Night. Set to release June 21 as their first offering through Sound Effect Records and the follow-up to 2019’s Never Decide (review here), the tight-knit 33-minute eight-songer LP manifests influences that have been at work in their sound since their 2016 debut, The Unknown Secretary (review here), but it is as refined in its focus as it is brazen in the proto-thrash shove of “Amass Empathy” or the Judas Priest-style careening chug of “Somebody Spits on You,” so perhaps it’s fair to say they’re leaning into the harder, rawer, and less boogie-prone side of their collective persona.

They do so with immediacy resultant in part from a generally stripped-down feel in the material. It’s not all as outwardly speedy as the opening title-track (video premiering below) and initial single and album-closer “Under My Skin” — to wit, the penultimate “Rise of the Fallen” pulls back on the throttle to give its lead guitar all the more space to establish a sinister atmosphere leading into the finale, with organ melody adding some light to its own crescendo — but the forward charge is nonetheless definitive, and bolstered by the divergence into garage-doom lumbering of “Rumours” and the returning production work of John Vulgaris keyed for warmth as well as clarity enough to let the changes shine through.

But it also helps that Bus aren’t trying to hide where they’re coming from or play coy in stylistic terms. Whether it’s “I’ll Be Dead for You” with a riff so ’80s that even Mötley Crüe’s AI bus we are the nightwould be impressed, or the way “Nevermind/Realise” complements its twisting guitar leads with a cyclical rhythm on drums and extra punch in the bass, the four-piece hold fast to the classic-metal foundations driving them. They don’t dwell too long in any single movement, but each piece adds something to the overarching flow and contextual dynamic, as when “Rumours” redirects the momentum after the speedier “Somebody Spits on You” or “Amass Empathy” kicks off side B with such pointed intensity. We Are the Night isn’t as broad in its reach as some of what Bus have done in the past, but in trade, its specific focus becomes a strength that makes it hit that much harder.

With “Rumours” and the chunkier riffing of “Rise of the Fallen” offsetting the sheer thrust that surrounds and “Under My Skin” capping with not-the-record’s-first nod to the NWOBHM in the guitar and a bookend to the title-cut, We Are the Night isn’t hyper-simplified or just a half-hour-plus of Bus doing the same thing eight times over. Instead, they bring pretense-free homage to the metal of eld and present songs varied in character but united in purpose, efficient in craft and rife with aesthetic intent. That’s not the most “get those horns up!” sentence I’ve ever written, for sure, but amid all the brash riffing and hairpin turns they pull off, they’re making a declaration of who they are and what they want to do at this stage in their tenure.

Will it be the same going forward? Hell if I know. But if you’ve followed Bus at all to this point or if they’re completely new to you, the vitality with which they execute We Are the Night invites you to be in the moment with it, and maybe let later worry about later later. Garage metal? Freedom metal? Trad metal? Call it whatever you want, it’s no less exciting to take on front to back.

Enjoy the video for “We Are the Night” below, followed by more from the PR wire:

Bus, “We Are the Night” video premiere

Doomed by the cruelty of the new world, we’re once again ready to smash the bridge of the imperial vision, right here – right now! A truly independent and irreverent album has landed! “WE ARE THE NIGHT” came to seal the extraordinary music attitude of the extreme classic rock quartet from Athens. Through the difficulties of the recent years BUS got more motivated and the result is a true solid rock/metal album. Compact! Powerful! All killer, no filler! Just bangers such as the self-titled song “We Are the Night”, “Somebody Spits on You”, ‘I’ll be Dead for You” and “Under My Skin”.

The album was recorded live in three days at Electric Highway Studios in Athens, engineered once again by John Vulgaris. It’s the second time the band trusts John Vulgaris for his creativity and input in the creative process, like singing and playing various instruments. So, let’s find the reason for tonight and bang our heads with heavy metal, sex and rock n roll.

“We Are the Night” is due out on June 21st on vinyl and CD! Pre-sale shall be announced soon.

Tracklisting:
1. We Are the Night (5:14)
2. Somebody Spits on You (2:36)
3. Rumours (4:46)
4. I’ll Be Dead for You (3:53)
5. Amass Empathy (3:14)
6. Nevermind/Realise (3:02)
7. Rise of the Fallen (5:39)
8. Under My Skin (5:03)

First single “Under My Skin” streaming now on youtube and bandcamp: https://bustheunknownsecretary.bandcamp.com/album/under-my-skin

Bus, “Under My Skin”

Bus on Facebook

Bus on Instagram

Bus on Bandcamp

Sound Effect Records on Facebook

Sound Effect Records store

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Bus to Release We Are the Night June 21; “Under My Skin” Streaming Now

Posted in Whathaveyou on April 29th, 2024 by JJ Koczan

Greek traditionalist heavy outfit Bus — aka Bus the Unknown Secretary — have signed to Sound Effect Records for the June 21 release of their third full-length, We Are the Night. It’s the band’s first LP since 2019’s Never Decide (review here), which came out through RidingEasy, and while it keeps the semi-retro spirit that the band have proffered since their 2016 Twin Earth debut, The Unknown Secretary (review here), lead single “Under My Skin” pulls back on the boogie and garage aspect of that in favor of a rawer, more Motörheaded charge.

If you found yourself swept up in the fist-in-the-air NWOBHM-gone-raw force of Danava‘s Nothing but Nothing in 2023, “Under My Skin” should have little trouble getting where the title says it’s headed. With punches of bass behind its proto-thrash solo, a hooky chorus and infectious physical shove, it accounts for some of the darker mood Bus presented on their 2022 EP, Black Magic Bus, and couples that with an urgency that speaks to its having been recorded live in the studio.

As to whether or not “Under My Skin” represents everything Bus are doing on We Are the Night, I’d suspect not based on their past work, but frankly, the lead single already indicates a clear pivot from that foundation, so the door is open wide enough that it’s not worth speculating. It is worth looking forward to finding out, though, so I’m rolling with that.

Sound Effect sent the following down the PR wire:

bus under my skin

BUS – “We Are the Night”

Bus the Unknown Secretary, collectively known as BUS, sign with Sound Effect Records and announce third album “We Are the Night”! Recorded live in the studio in just 3 days, “We Are the Night” is a solid rock/metal album, an “all killer, no filler” proposition and a must for all metal devotees across the globe. “We Are the Night” is due out on June 21st on vinyl and CD! Pre-sale shall be announced soon.

First single “Under My Skin” streaming now on youtube and bandcamp: https://bustheunknownsecretary.bandcamp.com/album/under-my-skin

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

http://www.facebook.com/SoundEffectRecords
https://soundeffectrecords.bandcamp.com
https://www.soundeffect-records.gr/

Bus, “Under My Skin”

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Under the Sun Premiere “The Shot” Video; The Bell of Doom Out April 5

Posted in Bootleg Theater, Reviews on March 26th, 2024 by JJ Koczan

under the sun the bell of doom

Athens-based five-piece Under the Sun are set to issue their debut LP, The Bell of Doom, on April 5 through the e’er-reliable Sound Effect Records. And man, some albums just manage to sound loud no matter at what volume you’re actually playing them. Starting with a hearty “Oh yeah!” and diving almost immediately into a celebration of riff and drive with “Smoking Angels,” the shove is inviting through the slowdown and into the dual guitars assuring no dip in the heavy as they shred the solo into the fade. The initial impression is a party and they back that for sure in the burly swagger of “Cry Out,” the more rolling “One Reason” and side B’s pairing of “The Shot” (video premiering below) and “Pony Ride,” with classic-style hooks and careening riffs offered with no pretense in their impulse toward audience engagement. Sounds like a good time? Hell yes it does.

But if you’re looking at the cover art with its graveyard and kraken-church, red sky and vertigo-style swirl, dark hues and creeper logo treatments wondering if I’ve posted the wrong image or some such based on the above description, there’s another side to Under the Sun that manifests throughout the eight-song/38-minute LP. In the video for “The Shot,” they’re getting ready for the show, getting to the show, playing the show, and that focus on on-stage energy is an obvious priority. If they showed up at your front door and started rocking out (after knocking politely, of course), they could hardly make it easier to get on board with the groove. What’s not accounted for in that are cuts like the title-track, which trades “Oh yeah!” for a tolling bell ahead of its crashes and redirects the momentum built across “Smoking Angels” and “Cry Out” toward a post-Cathedral lurch that even when they seem to break out of their own trance later on with a last-minute tempo kick, continues to define “The Bell of Doom” as a marked turn fromunder the sun whence they set forth minutes earlier.

Side B leadoff “Going Down” subs in Sabbathian swing for its own second-half pickup, and they find some middle ground in brash closer “My Name” — which is the longest inclusion at 6:34 but departs to a residual drone around the 4:45 mark — but in that finale the vibe likewise feels grimmer. The vocals are throatier, and the on-beat forwardness that brought the double-time hi-hat, strutting riff and Southern-style soloing of “Pony Ride” has shifted its urgency to act as a setup for the quick drop to bass that precedes a markedly sludged-out nod, which serves as their mostly-instrumental outro before the aforementioned drone takes hold, pausing again to get even slower before it’s through and thereby hammering its teardown all the more into your brain. This dual-faceted ethic isn’t always so stark in presentation, which “One Reason” also demonstrates in sticking to its bigger-feeling lumber, and one has to acknowledge that the lines being drawn are between microniches under the umbrella of ‘heavy.’

It’s the sense of purpose with which Under the Sun toll their bell — aesthetically and literally speaking — when they do that is striking, ultimately, and it may be that as they press forward from The Bell of Doom, they’ll draw the various sides of their persona closer together and end up somewhere in the middle. The opposite feels no less likely; that the lines between their rocker and doomer sides will become more prevalent. As their first record, The Bell of Doom sets out on a path that’s unknowable as yet — though it’s almost always fun to guess, even when I say it isn’t — but what allows it to do so is a strength of performance and songwriting that communes with genre and audience even as the band begin to search for their place, their sound. Or maybe I should take a cue from “The Shot” below, let tomorrow worry about tomorrow, and bask in the revelry of the moment captured and offered, whatever form it might take.

Yeah, let’s roll with it.

Enjoy the video. PR wire info and links of course follow after:

Under the Sun, “The Shot” video premiere

Under the Sun, one of Athens, Greece’s best-kept secrets, announce their debut album “The Bell of Doom”, due out on vinyl and CD on April 5, 2024 on Sound Effect Records. A thunderous stoner-sludge album shaking the foundations of all-things-heavy with its combination of amp-splitting power and red-eyed psychedelics.

Under The Sun is a sludgerotic stoner band that emerged from the depths of heavy riffing and jamming, back in 2015. Inspired by historic ’70s bands like Black Sabbath and embracing the sound of newer bands, like Orange Goblin, Kyuss, and C.O.C., Under the Sun forge their own sound that appeals to both fans of 70s heavy rock and stoner / doom music lovers.

Passionate about creating music driven by fuzz-drenched guitars and groovy bass lines, Under the Sun operate on the event horizon between heavy-doom and sunbaked stoner-rock. Armed with tough riffing, powerful vocals and traveling drums, Under the Sun merge a punk-attitude (the album was recorded live and required a maximum of two takes for each song) with the “sweet surrender” of their more laid-back, psych-blues escapism, resulting in a classic r’n’r record!

From the pure r’n’r of “Smoking Angels” to the seemingly-occult aura of “The Bell of Doom” (in essence an allegorical song about the distortion of human relationships), Under the Sun revisit their childhood dreams (“Shot”), or embark on some… psychedelic ones (“Pony Ride”), pay tribute to choices turned sour and wrong paths (“One Reason”, “Going Down”), though, after all, they do not forget to praise Friday night in the city (“Looking for some dirt, 20 euros in my pocket, welcome to my world”, from “Know My Name”), or make a tender gesture to all those who have a hard time and need to take life in their own hands (“Cry Out”)…cause, as the band insists on, we are all equal under the sun.

Video credits:
Artist: Under The Sun
Song Title: The Shot
Album: The Bell Of Doom
Label: Sound Effect Records (www.soundeffect-records.gr)
Director: Spyros Kourkoulas

Tracklisting:
1. Smoking Angels
2. Cry Out
3. The Bell of Doom
4. One Reason
5. Going Down
6. The Shot
7. Pony Ride
8. My Name

Album credits:
Recorded at Unreal Studios
Engineered by Nick Dimitrakakos
Mixed and mastered by Alex Ketenjian
Artwork by CLLK

Under the Sun, The Bell of Doom (2024)

Under the Sun on Facebook

Under the Sun on Instagram

Under the Sun on Bandcamp

Sound Effect Records on Facebook

Sound Effect Records on Bandcamp

Sound Effect Records website

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Iron Blanket to Release Astral Wanderer April 5 on Sound Effect & Copper Feast Records

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

iron blanket

The occasion bringing together Copper Feast Records in the UK and Sound Effect Records in Greece to collaborate for the first time is the April 5 release of Iron Blanket‘s debut full-length, Astral Wanderer. And fair enough for the charged heavy psychedelia thus far on display in the album’s three streaming tracks, the opening duo “Evil Mind” and “Mystic Goddess” portraying a style of grounded riffing that kicks-in-the-ass some of Uncle Acid‘s garage groove while vocalist Johann Ingemar reimagines Sabbath-era Ozzy reach through a delivery that you could just as easily say comes from folk as prog and which is likened in the release info to Mars Volta. So yes, vibrato.

A later but still side A cut, “Kookaburra Nightmare” is more relaxed in tempo and broader in its soundscaping, taking some of the dreamy impulses hinted at in “Evil Mind” and “Mystic Goddess” and shifting the balance between elements in the crafting. Much of the info below came from Copper Feast‘s Bandcamp, but some I took from the social media announcement as well and kind of repositioned it to make sense all as one thing. The bottom line remains the same: something new for you to dig if you can dig it, and here’s hoping.

Preorders start Feb. 23, which is apparently today because it’s no longer July 2005 for some silly reason.

Info:

iron blanket astral wanderer

Iron Blanket – Astral Wanderer – Sound Effect & Copper Feast Records

Blending 70’s inspired psychedelic grooviness with unmistakable driving stoner rock riffs and Mars Volta-esque vocals, Sydney’s Iron Blanket are a band like no other right now.

Their much heralded live show that has drawn them new fans at every venue they’ve played down under is now translated to their debut LP, Astral Wanderer.

Released through UK-based Copper Feast Records and legendary Athens’ label Sound Effect Records, Astral Wanderer is slated for full release on 5th April.

Says Copper Feast: “Please join me in welcoming one of Sydney’s worst kept secrets Iron Blanket to Copper Feast Records! We’ve got the pleasure to be co-releasing this unmissable slab of wax alongside legendary Athens-based label Sound Effect Records. We’ll be dropping presales this Friday, February 23rd, for the two limited edition variants.”

The inaugural co-release between these much loved labels will also bring two limited edition vinyl editions, one on classic black and the other on blood red vinyl. Numbers as follows:

Classic Black – 250 worldwide
Blood Red – 150 worldwide

Tracklisting:
1. Evil Mind
2. Mystic Goddess
3. Witch’s Kiss
4. Kookaburra Nightmare
5. Astral Wanderer
6. Iron Blanket
7. Visions of the End
8. Tongue of Time

releases April 5, 2024

All songs written and performed by Iron Blanket
Recorded and mixed by Phan Sharif at Parliament Studios
Mastered by Darren Ziesing

Iron Blanket is:
Mark Lonsdale – Guitar
Nick Matthews – Drums
Tom Withford – Guitar
Charles Eggleston – Bass
Johann Ingemar – Vocals

https://www.facebook.com/Ironblanket
https://www.instagram.com/iron_blanket/
https://ironblanket.bandcamp.com/

http://www.facebook.com/SoundEffectRecords
https://soundeffectrecords.bandcamp.com
https://www.soundeffect-records.gr/

http://facebook.com/copperfeastrecords
http://instagram.com/copperfeastrecords
https://copperfeastrecords.bandcamp.com/
http://www.copperfeastrecords.com/

Iron Blanket, Astral Wanderer (2024)

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Album Review: Lamp of the Universe, Kaleidoscope Mind

Posted in Reviews on December 4th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

Lamp of the Universe Kaleidoscope Mind

Lamp of the Universe‘s Kaleidoscope Mind is the second full-length of 2023 from Hamilton, New Zealand’s Craig Williamson. Delivered through Sound Effect Records, it bookends the year with The Eightfold Path (review here), the debut from Williamson‘s Dead Shrine project, which is the rock-psych to Lamp of the Universe‘s psych-rock as lines that used to be more stark blur with time. Williamson late in 2022 also oversaw a reissue through Sound Effect of Lamp of the Universe‘s 2001 debut, The Cosmic Union (review here; discussed here), that followed the early-2022 LP, The Akashic Field (review here). These, together with the seven-song/40-minute Kaleidoscope Mind, are the latest manifestations of a creative progression that’s been under way for over 20 years, before Williamson even began the one-man psych-folk outfit that’s grown so cosmically expansive in the years since, weaving through bands like Arc of Ascent and Dead Shrine with an inescapable love of heavy riffing while keeping the e’er molten Lamp of the Universe separate, distinct, in its own special place.

And keeping it his own. Williamson — who sounds like he’s having fun drumming on “Ritual of Innerlight” and in the funky “Codex Moon” — plays all the instruments, as always, for Lamp of the Universe. Synth to sitar, flutes and chimes, guitar, bass, the aforementioned drums that a couple records ago were unheard of from this band, vocals, probably this or that vintage keyboard, all written, arranged, performed and recorded DIY — it is the very definition of ‘dug in.’ At nine-plus minutes, “Ritual of Innerlight” is both opener and longest track (immediate points) on Kaleidoscope Mind, and it welcomes returning and new listeners alike with a hypnotic backing drone and swirling, ethereal verses. Grounded by the drums in a way that the additional hand percussion bolsters rather than detracts from, the songs that follow the extended leadoff are by and large shorter, with the let’s-make-feedback-sexy “Codex Moon” and the righteously organ-happy, blown-out-the-drums finisher “Transfiguration,” the central riff remains extrapolated from Sleep, however far that extrapolation has taken it.

But, much like the 60-ish-year history of psychedelic rock music, Williamson has no trouble bringing these ideas into his own aural context. At the same time, it has to be pointed out that after two decades, Lamp of the Universe‘s continuing evolution is something unto itself in underground acid psych, prog, space rock, cosmic folk or whatever other genre you want either to name or make up. Kaleidoscope Mind might be the 14th full-length under the Lamp of the Universe moniker — that doesn’t include splits, etc. — and it is both in line with the trajectory of everything that’s come before it and a realization unlike anything else in the band’s catalog for the places it goes in terms of songwriting. As second cut “Golden Dawn” backs up “Ritual of Innerlight,” there’s a discernible pivot toward more straightforward structures. The song moves smoothly and fluidly over its drumbeat with a pulsing kick, and the vocals are still mellow and softly delivered, but harmonized layers are used to emphasize the chorus, and when the electric guitar sweeps in for a solo before the three-minute mark, it becomes clear that Lamp of the Universe might just be writing rock tunes this time out.

Craig Williamson of Lamp of the Universe

This is not a thing about which one might complain. At all. With the penultimate “Immortal Rites” notwithstanding, as that 4:42 piece is laden with sitar and acoustic guitar, very much to the roots of Lamp of the Universe on records like the aforementioned The Cosmic Union. But even that is catchier and more forward structurally. And before it, the centerpiece “Procession” anchors itself to its Mellotron line and complements it with organ and delay in low guitar notes so that even as it fades out, the presence and atmosphere remain, and the subsequent “Live of the Severing” is perhaps the most blatant hook I’ve ever heard from Lamp of the Universe, and it works. A wah solo follows the chorus and bridges to the verse, but the next chorus isn’t far off, and Williamson has organ, guitar, massive drums and a general impression of breadth in four and a half minutes. This is a project that in the past has had songs longer than 20 minutes, and whose work has in the past been expansive meditations on spirit and the universe. Four of the seven cuts here don’t hit five minutes.

Clearly some shift in methodology has taken place, but the truth is that, as noted above, Lamp of the Universe has never really been about doing the same thing over and over. Williamson‘s style is highly identifiable and characteristic — you know it when you hear him sing, and that’s true here or in Dead Shrine — and often in Lamp of the Universe is used to enhance the fluidity or the melody of the arrangements surrounding. That’s happening on Kaleidoscope Mind, but to hear Williamson bringing together ideas from the more rock-aligned side of his craft into Lamp of the Universe is satisfying, and frankly, there’s more of it. Tracks on The Akashic Field were shorter than on some other Lamp records too, and Kaleidoscope Mind is a another progressive step in that direction. But what has to be emphasized is that it’s another progressive step — on the 14th album! It’s the 14th progressive step (unless I have my numbers wrong). Williamson has been exploring just what the hell a Lamp of the Universe might be for the last 22-plus years and he’s still finding out.

That journey, and this record’s place in it, is singular. It is Williamson‘s own, and if one is a longtime fan — as I’ll profess to being, not so much as a brag as an admission of dorkdom — then Kaleidoscope Mind, with its wide open third eye and expanded definitions of heavy, is a pun-totally-intended no-brainer. That the album has “Ritual of Innerlight,” “Codex Moon,” and “Transfiguration” only makes it multifaceted and all the more a demonstration of the various places Lamp of the Universe can and does go, in this dimension and otherwise.

Lamp of the Universe, Kaleidoscope Mind (2023)

Lamp of the Universe on Facebook

Lamp of the Universe on Instagram

Lamp of the Universe on Bandcamp

Sound Effect Records on Facebook

Sound Effect Records website

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Diesel Cindy Premiere “Spill the Dirt” Video; Debut LP Out Now

Posted in Bootleg Theater, Reviews on November 24th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

diesel cindy spill the dirt

Athens heavy rock and rollers Diesel Cindy released their debut album, Spill the Dirt, last week through Sound Effect Records. If you’re in the Northern Hemisphere and don’t yet miss the summer, it might do the trick. Comprised of eight tracks running an unassuming 33-minutes, the record breaks into four tracks across two sides and is a smooth amalgam of desert-imported tones offered with a careening groove born out of garage rock, vocal melody over top in opener “Sons of Nothing” from guitarist Lee hinting toward Queens of the Stone Age but without much of the caricature that many Homme-style vocals end up portraying and a loosened swing and push that in “Angels” comes with a Mediterranean-folk-ish stretch filtered through scorching lead guitar — also a heaping dose of noise; two guitars between Lee and Red, while Gabriel R. holds down bass and Fivos Flat pounds away behind on drums — and a burst of a chorus near its culmination. What one learns early in Spill the Dirt is that Diesel Cindy are able to affect a change of mood in the span of three minutes without losing the listener.

It’s not the last time that message is delivered. “Seeds” opens up a bit in its verse and is casually psychedelic in the bridge with the martial undertones of space rock in the vocal cadence but a mellower crux overall at least for the most part. At 5:41, it is the longest piece on Spill the Dirt, but not by much and the ‘extra’ time compared to cuts like “Sons of Nothing” or “Angels” before it isn’t some shoehorned-in jam or radical departure from the established structure. It gets raucous enough by its Diesel Cindyfinish to justify the shouts, but its more methodical tempo makes the subsequent side A capper “Bazooka Witch” feel that much more like a ’60s boogie biker party right up to its finish in psych drone and feedback. By then, both momentum and songwriting are on their side, so there’s really no stopping them as “No Truth No End” picks up at the outset of side B with a verse held back an extra measure or two and declarations of truth and lies set against more burner lead work and a subtly insistent backing strum.

Generally when one thinks of ‘headphone records’ it’s something expansive in breadth or minute in its sonic detailing. A lot of really trippy prog, etc. Diesel Cindy don’t necessarily fit with what I would usually say works well listening that way, but it does. The character in the drums and bass comes through as a backdrop for the guitars, the vocals malleable in their position in the mix, the tension in “Chieftains” at once like Talking Heads and synth-affected cosmic post-punk on its steady, rhythmically centered foundation. Tied with “Sons of Nothing” for the shortest track at 3:20, “Spill the Dirt” is the most resonant hook on the record sharing its title, as well as the full reveal of the Stooges influence that’s been a driving factor all along. It’s also something of the finale, since “The Walk” pivots to piano and turns heavy into creepy malevolent blues to round out, but fair enough for the last-minute switcheroo toward the unexpected. I don’t know that you’d say it fits, but it’s not supposed to.

And hell’s bells, I’m not about to hold a band laying claim to atmospheric territory on their first album against them, since in addition to being a kind of cool vibe in itself in a Velvet Underground-y kind of way, who knows to what it might lead. So mark it a win all around, but in terms of representing the record, the title-track appears below in a new video following up on the release date. I’m happy to be able to premiere it and I very much hope you enjoy. PR wire info follows, as you’d expect.

Have fun:

Diesel Cindy, “Spill the Dirt” video premiere

Diesel Cindy is a band of friends from Athens Greece. Them people share a common passion for a wide spectrum of fuzz sounds blended with a dry bass and old school drum sound. This sound, together with the distinctive voice of a tall angry shadow, deliver melodies inspired from favorite garage bands, mostly from the 60’s till the 90’s in a contemporary form of expression, revealing stories from the past, and whispering true tales from the present and future.

The friends, being members of other bands in the past such as One Man Drop, Vibratore Bizarro, Delightful, The Same River, Headquake, have been part of the Athenian underground scene in Greece for many years and have toured around the country several times. However, this time, they share a common project all together. The result is Diesel Cindy’s debut LP titled “Spill the Dirt”.

about the album:

recorded at AUX ‘studio’ Athens / Greece
produced by Diesel Cindy – Yiotis Paraskevaidis – Kimonas Vlachakis
engineered by Kimonas Vlachakis & Yotis Paraskevaidis
mastering at ‘Vu Productions Mastering Studio’ Piraeus / Greece by Nasos Nomikos
graphic design, coordination, photography by Peg Leg Green
front cover illustration by Dekel Hevroni

track list :
side A
1. Sons of nothing
2. Angels
3. Seeds
4. Bazooka Witch
side B
1. No truth no end
2. Chieftains
3. Spill the dirt
4. The walk

DIESEL CINDY
Members:
Lee – vocals, guitar
Red – guitar
Gabriel R – bass
Fivos Flat – drums, percussions

Diesel Cindy, Spill the Dirt (2023)

Diesel Cindy on Facebook

Diesel Cindy on Instagram

Diesel Cindy on Bandcamp

Sound Effect Records on Facebook

Sound Effect Records on Bandcamp

Sound Effect Records website

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Review & Album Stream: Apollo80 & Dimartis, Reverberations Vol. 1 – Tales of Dust and Winds Split LP

Posted in audiObelisk, Reviews on November 14th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

Apollo80 Dimartis Reverberations Vol 1 Tales of Dust and Wings

Australian jammers Apollo80 and Argentinian desert explorers Dimartis are launching a new split series for Sound Effect Records. Titled simply ‘Reverberations,’ with its first installment titled less simply, Reverberations Vol. 1 – Tales of Dust and Winds, the 38-minute long-player lays out the message of geography’s irrelevance when it comes to the heavy. Everywhere might have its own take — informed by local folk traditions or very actively not, depending on the band and situation — but if you’re on Planet Earth, heavy music is just about everywhere. In celebrating this, Sound Effect Records offer a timely reminder that human beings are the same — well timed with now two wars hot in Europe — and that creative expression and the language of music through which it’s happening here know neither gods nor borders nor walls. Whatever shape is ultimately taken, they are free-flowing. They belong to everyone.

As an art form, the split LP is very much not broken. And of all the ways one might find out about a band, it’s among the most personal of endorsements. I’ve never heard Dimartis, but I’m familiar with Apollo80. With the added apollo80 boost of curation on the part of Sound Effect Records — though Ripple Music and Heavy Psych Sounds also run split series — the two bands are essentially championing each other’s work. Some splits are done for a tour; two bands getting together on a 7″ for the merch table. Some are on a theme. Sides A and B here are so dug into the spirit of the jam that the revelry itself seems to be the driving purpose. Each complements the other, and as Apollo80 set out with the multi-movement single piece “Null Arbor” (19:54) and Dimartis follow with three songs arranged together across 18:47 in “Los Altares,” “Circulos” and “Humo,” the procession is immersive and easy to lose oneself within, “Null Arbor” building to a cosmic apex over its first seven minutes or so before resolving in a big and not completely un-tense chill, gradually swelling in volume again as it moves through its midpoint and into heavier riffing after 10 minutes in.

They’re not shy about the cacophony once they get there, and Apollo80 continue to ride that crescendo for the next minute-plus before starting the comedown process that, with the guitar in the lead spot, unfolds languidly but not lazily or any more meandering than it wants to be. Just past 15 minutes in, they nestle into a swirl of wah that creates a steady current of noise to go with the heavier repetitions that finish in the fadeout, and with a side flip, Dimartis answer patience with patience in the gradual rollout of “Los Altares,” which like “Humo” to come touches on heavy post-rock, but is coming from a place more akin to desert psychedelia, as they show in each of their three inclusions at some point or other, whether it’s the instrumentalist takeoff in “Los Altares,” the heady, kind of downer roll in “Circulos” becoming a march after its midsection and a meditative heavy that echoes My Sleeping Karma at their weightiest, with just the barest edge of post-hardcore dramaturge in the riff for good measure.

“Circulos” crashes and moves into a more subdued fluidity, ending after 13:20 with silence for space between it and the closer “Humo,” which caps Reverberations Vol. 1 – Tales of Dust and Winds with shimmer and float at its beginning. Soon enough, the heavier riff enters and Dimartis carry it through to a last-minute tempo kick that’s part desert but especially emerging from the movement it does is weirder and broader than one thinks of the style’s post-Kyuss flourishing, well placed to meet the end of the record, but not necessarily a huge blowout finish so much as where they decided it was time to leave the journey in progress. You know that math theory that says every time you draw a line, that line is infinite and it just keeps going forever, even if you only drew just a teeny-tiny bit? Reverberations Vol. 1 – Tales of Dust and Winds feels like it’s still playing somewhere when it’s over, even if I can’t hear. To me, that speaks to the idea of resonance and evocation in psychedelic music, but that’s only part of the appeal here alongside the bare heft and flashes of cosmic pulse.

How well these two might’ve known each other prior to sharing space on this platter, I don’t know, but around basic commonalities of form, Dimartis and Apollo80 present individual approaches to adventurous heavy psych, each outfit with a chemistry of their own that makes the other stronger. If that’s not the ideal, I don’t know what is, and in a universe with myriad ways in which one might discover music, from social media word-of-mouth to shitheel blogs like this one to algorithmic suggestions on endless playlists, the split retains a singular presence in the spectrum of releases. I’m glad as hell I got to hear this one.

You might be too. It premieres in full on the player below. Please enjoy.

Sound Effect Records presents the release of REVERBERATIONS, a new split series with the intention of delivering bands across the planet sonically united by a musical common ground.

The first instalment, called TALES OF DUST AND WINDS sees the Western Australians APOLLO80 joining forces with the Argentinian-Patagonians DIMARTIS to take us on a trip through desertic landscapes made of winds, cold sunsets and naked rocks.

The Australians, now at the third chapter with Sound Effect Records, offer a 20-min long desert/ kosmische one-riffer cavalcade in pure Can / Neu tradition but with a heavy twist that will please the lovers of long instrumental trips. Turn the LP and you’ll find Dimartis (10 years on the scene and surprisingly at their debut on vinyl) with three tracks beautifully arranged balancing silences and reverbs that evoke the milestones of desert rock.

Really an excellent concept aiming to take us travelling through the Australian bush and the Patagonian flats with two bands that squeezed all their local authenticity in every groove.

The LP release is planned for November 10th, on classic black and limited sea blue vinyl.

Apollo80 is:
Luke – guitar/throat/synth
Brano – bass/voice
Shane – drums

Dimartis es :
Chino Velazquez : Bateria
Luciano Pucheta : Bajo/Recs
Nazareno Ferro : Guitarra/Drones

Apollo80 on Facebook

Apollo80 on Bandcamp

Dimartis on Facebook

Dimartis on Bandcamp

Sound Effect Records on Facebook

Sound Effect Records on Bandcamp

Sound Effect Records website

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Apollo80 & Dimartis to Release Reverberations Vol. 1 – Tales of Dust and Wings Split LP Nov. 10

Posted in Whathaveyou on October 18th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

Pairing Australia’s Apollo80 with Argentina’s Dimartis, Greek imprint Sound Effect Records is looking to begin a series of split LP releases called Reverberations. The two-track/38-minute full-length brings “Null Arbor” (19:54) from Apollo80 as they straddle the border between heavy psych and post-rock, then sort of decide to say screw it and rumble-jam through the spaces of their own making, and the multi-part “Los Altares/Circulos/Humo” (18:47) from Dimartis, working through a long ambient midsection bookended on either side by raw but still full-sounding riffery.

If it seems like a random pairing — it might be; would it matter, I wonder? — there are plenty of commonalities between the two acts in their respective abilities to conjure fluidity in heavy contexts, moving into and out of atmospheric stretches without giving up the aural heft or the abiding sense of exploration. I don’t know what’s on tap for the series, and most split series need three or four releases before you really get what they’re about, but there’s sprawl here and that’s a fine place to begin. Get yourself a sample with the teaser at the bottom of the post.

From the PR wire:

Apollo80 Dimartis Reverberations Vol 1 Tales of Dust and Wings

Sound Effect PRESENTS: Apollo80 / Dimartis: Reverberations Vol.1 – Tales of Dust and Wings

Sound Effect Records presents the release of REVERBERATIONS, a new split series with the intention of delivering bands across the planet sonically united by a musical common ground.

The first instalment, called TALES OF DUST AND WINDS sees the Western Australians APOLLO80 joining forces with the Argentinian-Patagonians DIMARTIS to take us on a trip through desertic landscapes made of winds, cold sunsets and naked rocks.

The Australians, now at the third chapter with Sound Effect Records, offer a 20-min long desert/ kosmische one-riffer cavalcade in pure Can / Neu tradition but with a heavy twist that will please the lovers of long instrumental trips. Turn the LP and you’ll find Dimartis (10 years on the scene and surprisingly at their debut on vinyl) with three tracks beautifully arranged balancing silences and reverbs that evoke the milestones of desert rock.

Really an excellent concept aiming to take us travelling through the Australian bush and the Patagonian flats with two bands that squeezed all their local authenticity in every groove.

The LP release is planned for November 10th, on classic black and limited sea blue vinyl.

Apollo80 is:
Luke – guitar/throat/synth
Brano – bass/voice
Shane – drums

Dimartis es :
Chino Velazquez : Bateria
Morgan Highstar : Guitarra/Teclas
Luciano Pucheta : Bajo/Recs
Nazareno Ferro : Guitarra/Drones

https://www.facebook.com/apollo80rocks/
https://apollo80.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100092551886450
https://dimartis.bandcamp.com/

http://www.facebook.com/SoundEffectRecords
https://soundeffectrecords.bandcamp.com
https://www.soundeffect-records.gr/

Apollo80 & Dimartis, Reverberations Vol.1 – Tales of Dust and Wings teaser

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