Posted in Whathaveyou on March 6th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Over the last several weeks, the inaugural Desertfest Oslo has piece-by-piece announced the remainder of the lineup for May 10 and 11, and the list is substantial. Wolves in the Throne Room, Weedpecker, Kadabra, Steak, Crippled Black Phoenix, Earth Tongue, Apostle of Solitude, Orsak:Oslo, Margarita Witch Cult, REZN, Bongzilla and Slomosa joined the bill one at a time, broadening the scope exponentially in terms of style from searing black metal thrust to sad post-goth to stoner rock of progressive and willfully unprogressive strains and outright ambience, older and newer bands, and geographical range. It’s kind of stunning how commonplace this standard has become for the Desertfest brand over the last decade-plus.
Tickets for each day are also on sale now — in case, what you want to see Acid King and not REZN? it’s okay, I’m not judging; I know people have lives and things to do — but it’s pretty clear looking at the full roster of who’ll play that Desertfest Oslo 2024 is all-in on the thing. And with Kadavar, Monolord, Crippled Black Phoenix and Eyehategod headlining, they’ll rely on a multifaceted draw from the top down through the entire lineup. This feels both like a festival brand reaching into new territory and new collaborations — which it is, absolutely — and a righteous start to what could become a staple of the Spring touring circuit. Do I really need to go on about Norway’s underground boom? Probably not when a hand-picked selection of those responsible are present below to remind you.
Bottom line here is I look forward to seeing how this unfolds even from a distance, but whatever Desertfest Oslo does in the longer term, this is a monster. Behold:
Finally the day splits are here!
As well as day splits we’ve also made single day tickets available from february 29th.
Friday: KADAVAR Monolord Wolves In The Throne Room Acid King Slomosa Weedpecker Håndgemeng Orsak:Oslo Kadabra Earth Tongue Bismarck Karavan Superlynx
Saturday: CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX Brant Bjork EYEHATEGOD REZN The Devil And The Almighty Blues Bongzilla Full Earth Margarita Witch Cult Steak Agabas Saint Karloff Apostle of Solitude Suncraft
Got back to the hotel in Siegen last night around two, I think. The question was whether to shower before collapsing into bed. I did, and it was the right call. The smell of cigarette smoke, sweat, and humanity was powerful motivation. And when I did conk out, I slept harder than I have in some time. Maybe about a year?
It’s hot today and soon to start. Bit of breeze in the shade is a big yes. In the interest of honesty I tell you I’m beat and a little nervous for what the day might bring, but ready for it. Took all the allergy medicine, have sunglasses, my silly hat, earplugs. Water. So much water. Gonna go grab some more now, in fact. All the water.
Sorry for the typos today as well, but thanks for reading if you are/do. Here’s the day:
Orsak:Oslo
The Norwegian/Swedish instrumental four-piece remind me of last year’s fest, which had a whole bunch of meditative psych/post-heavy with which they would fit well. Their new album, In Irons (discussed here), came out in April on Vinter Records, and they harnessed that fluidity live, or maybe that’s the other way around, I’d have to see them a few more times to properly judge. But the bit of krautrock they worked in was met with some dancing from the crowd, and while I think many of those in the audience today are definitely feeling the edge of the late finish last night — I know I am — Orsak:Oslo were a way of easing into a day that’s even longer and has more to see. For sure a different vibe than Tuskar, who were first yesterday, but their flow and comparatively mellow but still lucid psych seemed to hypnotize just right. I was glad to see them again after seeing them briefly in Norway in 2019 (review here), and their set was a stirring reminder to get my ass in gear on reviewing that record. Message received. Obviously they didn’t have the biggest crowd of the day, playing at 1:30 some 10 hours before the headliner, but there were people out front, more by the end, and they were dancing.
—
Earth Ship
I was very curious to see Earth Ship, because as regards projects from the Berlin-based Jan Oberg and Sabine Oberg — the others are Grin and the pandemic-born Slowshine — Earth Ship are kind of the middle ground. They rock more than Grin, whose sludge is pointedly aggro, and they’re more grounded than the psych-tinged Slowshine, and not only do I appreciate how their bands are organized — I like a bit of this goes here, this goes here, this goes here — but Earth Ship’s riffs are a hook of their own. And they’re more even more rock live than on record, though Jan’s vocals are still largely barks, but watching them for the first time, it’s easy to see they’re having fun and love what they do. They weren’t thrashing around or anything, but there was passion behind their delivery and stage energy, and it was infectious. Inviting, in a way. “You dig this. We do too. Let’s get loud.” Unfortunately this utopian vision doesn’t apply to everyone everywhere all the time, because it’s a big planet, but I’m glad to have had a sampling of what they do and hope it’s not the last time our paths cross, in whatever incarnation.
—
Kamchatka
Heavy blues promised, heavy blues delivered. Nothing there to argue with even if you wanted to. In the heat of the afternoon, Sweden’s Kamchatka brought a little bit of a breeze that, in combination with the sprinklers strewn about the festival grounds being frequented by adults and children alike, was some measure of relief. No doubt the wind was conjured by the air being pushed through the amps and the swing of drummer Tobias Strandvik, who was comfortable in the pocket as the trio — completed by guitarist Thomas “Juneor” Andersson and bassist Per Wiberg (yes, the same one who’s played with Opeth, Candlemass, Spiritual Beggars, on and on, mostly on keys; he’s also got a few solo releases; must like music or something) were classically dynamic, varied of tempo and mood, and they had a couple sleek jams worked in with the bouts of uptempo shove, mellow groove, all that stuff, definitely heavy ’70s informed but modern in their presentation. I wandered a bit, trying not to be just in one place all day — the quest for shade is part of that, to be sure — but my own restlessness was duly counteracted by the solid, unpretentious grooves coming from the stage, and as one will on such an occasion, I found myself feeling like I need to listen to this band more. A lesson learned, maybe.
—
Steak
So somewhere in the long-long ago, I saw a band in London called Crystal Head who blew me away and left me wondering what the hell the deal was that they weren’t huge. Seeing that band’s former guitarist/vocalist, Tom Cameron, joining his ex-and-again bandmate Dean Deal (drums), as part of an upgraded five-piece Steak lineup, again on guitar and adding his vocals to those of frontman Chris “Kippa” Haley — they even covered that band’s likewise memorable “Perfect Weirdo” before playing a new song called “2×2” — was a thrill. Haley sharing vocal duties is a shift in the dynamic, but in line with 2022’s righteous Acute Mania (review here) — if you heard the record you might say their realizing their potential to such a degree was “a long time coming” — they’re a deeper band for being able to bring their arrangements to life with another player on board. I haven’t been to a show in London in half a decade, but I hope Steak are playing the next one I hit. I was prepared for a more mature act by seeing them in 2019 at Desertfest New York (review here), but between the lineup, the record and the performance, they’ve truly put it all together. Change is the nature of the universe. Sometimes it even works out.
—
Pontiak
Well, that’s my new working definition of underrated. Based in Virginia, the brotherly trio Pontiak were the perfect blend for the moment. They were heavy enough to follow Steak so that there wasn’t a loss of aural push on the day, but with each of member of the Carney family with a mic, yeah. Just, yeah. I’ve written about them intermittently over the years, never really with any depth, and I’m sorry that it’s only now I understand the error in that neglect. The noisier, punkier, more aggro impulse is still there in the guitar, but the atmosphere is so reconciled to it, so right in being what it is, that the melodies seemed that much richer for the underlying tension. Sitting at stage right, I turned my head and saw a small pocket of maybe four dudes being led in a yoga class and hell fucking yes I joined (asked first). Happy to report that yoga and Pontiak went together extremely well, and the stretch and the focus on calm movement, purposeful movement, that slowdown was incredible. Doing cat-cows while the band locked in a half-time nod that reminded me of the time they toured with Sleep. Planks and down-dogs and pigeon and all that. I said yesterday that I could feel myself being too tight. I’m not sure my back will thank me this evening for the cobras, but screw it, sometimes the riffs are right and the thing is happening and you need to go with it. I have absolutely no regrets. I hope it happens again tomorrow. And if Pontiak wanted to do a hang out and do a second show, that’d be rad too.
—
Seedy Jeezus
Would be an odd way to start a conversation, but if you asked me how many times in my life I was going to see Melbourne, Australia’s Seedy Jeezus, my honest answer would’ve been zero to one. Thus I consider watching them play a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and with their The Hollow Earth live 2LP (discussed here) fresh in mind — they played the title-track, and no, that wasn’t all — I tried my best to soak in every minute of their heavy psych-blues jams and the scorching guitar work of Lex Waterreus, who put his soul into every note in a way that was palpable, but that didn’t lose the audience along the way. I’d say he was all heart if he wasn’t also so clearly technique. They were Hendrixian even before they threw in the cover of “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” that also appears on that live record, but certainly that would seal the deal in that regard. The last time they were here, in 2015, they put out a live album after. If they did ‘Live at Freak Valley Again’ they’d be well within their rights. Actually, maybe they should just record all their shows. Worked for the Dead. Easy, organic flow, jammy but headed somewhere, joy to follow. They’re not a band I ever thought I would experience live. And I met Lex and drummer Mark Sibson — the band is very much completed by Paul Crick on bass — and they seem like nice sorts. Lex teared up thanking the crowd — he also shouted out the much-missed Stoned Jesus, who would be here but for war — and then the whole band proceeded to tear into another ace jam of the kind you get to witness, well, let’s just say not very often. Having now done so once, that’s a record I’d be happy to break.
—
King Buffalo
What a charmed fucking existence I lead. King Buffalo are the first band this weekend whose set I was so wrapped up in that I forgot to write. Sometimes you just leave time. It hasn’t been that long since I last encountered the Rochester, New York, three-piece, less than a year — though as history has shown, that’s long enough for one or two landmark LPs from them — but they were a pleasure as always. Dan Reynolds, man. Taking that bassline in “Silverfish” for walks both literal and figurative. They’ve been on tour for somewhere around three weeks now, have somewhere around a week to go, and are duly sharp onstage. I could go on and on about their pandemic trilogy of LPs, regale you with hyperbole and superlatives about the depth of their sound, the emotional undercurrent to their melodies, the sheer growth they’ve undergone in the last nine years, but I’ve said it all before. And being me, I’ll probably say it all again. I could have put in the review links, but fuck it. Watching them, it wasn’t time for that. It was time to be in that moment. That particular almost gone right very now. Dudes in the crowd throwing love hearts at each other. It was a beautiful moment to be alive. I can take out my phone and finish the god damned sentence later. I don’t know about you, but I would have had a much harder time the last three years of my life without this band. And I don’t think they’ve yet done their best work. I hope they never do. Would be a shame to think of them not chasing that thing. Not gonna take away from anyone else on this bill or the decades of work Earthless and the Melvins have put in, but this was my headliner set for the night. And it wasn’t even dark.
—
Earthless
I was in front of the stage at the time, but I have to think that wherever you were on the festival grounds, you knew Earthless as about to go on when Isaiah Mitchell started warming up on guitar. Little shred here, little shred there. Mario Rubalcaba back there thump thump, Mike Eginton rumble rumble. And that’s Earthless. You take shred shred, thump thump, rumble rumble, make sure everyone is unrealistically talented, and you let it become epic as it inevitably will. Serve hot, like scorching. The most-of-the-time instrumental trio came to Freak Valley to play their latest album, Night Parade of One Hundred Demons (review here), in its entirety. That album came out in January and in following 2018’s Black Heaven (review here), found the band reclaiming their longform sans-vocal approach after the last record’s partial foray into more traditional rock songwriting. Of course they ripped it up, they’re frickin’ Earthless. Gradual start, bit of a raga wakeup at the beginning of the record, then all of a sudden except not really sudden it’s been happening the whole time you just didn’t realize it because see “unrealistically talented” above, and they were fully immersed. And so was the crowd. It was after 10PM but still just barely nighttime — Earthless at sundown; I dare you to ask for more — and I guess I didn’t realize it at the time, but it turns out that whole record was meant to be played live. And that’s something they can actually do because the parts are plotted. They’re songwriting, just on their own level, which incidentally is how they do everything. The world is in no small part because of Earthless not at all short on instrumental heavy psych rock — more bands seem to form every time they play, and they play a fair amount; someone tell Bandcamp they’re gonna need more servers — but still, one Earthless. They were entrancing.
—
Melvins
I would never dare call myself a Melvins fan, especially in the presence of so many who obviously are, but it’s common knowledge they destroy live and their current incarnation absolutely slayed. I don’t know if I’m going to go dig into the probably 15 or so records they’ve done in the last decade-plus to catch up, but I definitely don’t regret watching them cover “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” and they played a tune or two I recognized from the days when they and Big Business were a thing — fortunately Dale Crover didn’t seem to have much trouble doing the work of two drummers — and that song from Stoner Witch or whichever of those Atlantic-era records it was. Imagine a major label signing a band like this now. Ha. But these Melvins have been at it — hard — for the last 40 years and they’re still punk rock no matter how thick their riffs are. Goes without saying this was my first time seeing them with Steven Shane McDonald and he was a perfect fit. That’s the guy to keep up with Crover and King Buzzo, as much as anyone could hope to do so. He was a blast, they were a blast, and they came out to “Take on Me” by A-ha, which in the world of weird coincidences, I’ve run into three times in the last month. Great song, doesn’t matter. The important thing is the Melvins let Freak Valley know why they are who they are and sat on top of this bill because it would’ve been silly for another band to try to follow them. King Buzzo echoing into the finally-night sky. Total blowout.
—
Okay that’s enough. Day three tomorrow. Thanks for reading. More pics after the jump. Good night.
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 15th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Not much you can really debate about Freak Valley Festival 2023 in either concept or execution. The headliners — Clutch, the Melvins and Orange Goblin playing Time Travelling Blues in its entirety — are long-established bill-toppers, and backed by the likes of Earthless, King Buffalo and Stoned Jesus even before you get to Slift and The Obsessed and Astroqueen and Hypnos69 and Gaupa and on and on and on and fucking Seedy Jeezus is gonna be there — you’ve got Seedy Jeezus and Stoned Jesus in the same place on the same weekend! — it’s all the more apparent just how called-for making this trip actually is. So I’m going.
As with last year, I’ll be doing my best to cover as much of Freak Valley 2023 as possible with photos and writeups, and whether it’s bands I’ve seen or bands I’ve never seen, I know enough now to know that it’s not just about watching bands, but about watching them there, in that place between those hills, the joy that radiates through the hopefully cooperative weather and everybody in attendance. It’s gonna be a blast, and I’ll at last get to see Slift in a setting that I feel like is worthy of the occasion. Mark it a win even before I get on the plane. Speaking of, better book that flight.
Here’s the final lineup, newly announced:
Hails Freaks!
Time for the final lineup announcement. We hope your 2023 is off to a great start. Either way, it’s about to get better.
Please welcome:
EARTHLESS – SLIFT – HÄLLAS – ALEX HENRY FOSTER – STONED JESUS – TABERNACLE – EL PERRO – STEAK – GAUPA – REVEREND BEAT-MAN – THE MAD HATTER
Full Line-up:
CLUTCH MELVINS ORANGE GOBLIN “Time Travelling Freak Valley Blues Show” EARTHLESS “Night Parade of 1000 Demons” in full! KING BUFFALO STONED JESUS SLIFT HÄLLAS THE OBSESSED PONTIAK ALEX HENRY FOSTER SEEDY JEEZUS HYPNOS69 EL PERRO STEAK KAMCHATKA EARTH SHIP ASTROQUEEN TUSKAR TABERNACLE KOMODOR BESVÄRJELSEN GAUPA RITUAL KING PSYENCE REVEREND BEAT-MAN THE MAD HATTER
We’re done – hope you love the lineup as much as we do!
FREAK VALLEY FESTIVAL 2023 IS SOLD OUT.
Thank all of you so much for your support, this year and every year.
Freak Valley Festival // No Fillers – Just Killers June 8-10, 2023
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 17th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
With the caveat that promoter John Gist of Vegas Rock Revolution says there might be a second show added for those looking to make a weekend of it, John Garcia, Steak and Formula 400 are playing together in Las Vegas on Jan. 20. Aside from being notable like pretty much every time John Garcia and his band (Of Gold) do a thing, this one gets the eyebrows up because Steak will be making the trip from London to play.
That’s not insignificant. I don’t know what their plans are, if they’ll be doing a full West Coast run or if they’re just coming across on the QT for a single date, but it feels worth noting that Steak have prior experience in the desert portion of the US, having recorded there before, so it’s certainly possible they’ve got as-yet-secret doings in the works in that regard. Seems entirely likely we’ll find out — nobody really records in secret these days; too much opportunity for social media engagement to squander, and Steak are rebuilding after a hack, so it seems even less likely they’d disengage, even if Facebook is only a dumping ground for Instagram posts — before January, but it’s fun to speculate anyhow. Steak‘s 2022 album, Acute Mania (review here), is the best work they’ve ever done.
Formula 400 are the crucial third rounding out at least one rocking evening — I hear at least one more band might be added if not another day — and you’ll find comment from all involved parties as well as the event page for the gig below, courtesy of VRR.
Dig:
Vegas Rock Revolution Presents: John Garcia, Steak & Formula 400
Friday, Jan. 20, 2023, Count’s Vamp’d in Las Vegas
“I am always honored to have John Garcia as part of a Vegas Rock Revolution Show,” says John Gist of VRR. “We aim to make this super cool night with hand picked unique bands to play with John on this bill. To have Steak coming from London to play is just amazing. Danny + Korie Koker’s Count’s Vamp’d has been such an amazing venue to work with to host such kickass event is humbling. And hey if things make sense we just might add a Saturday of shows in Vegas so people coming into town have a cool 2nd show to hit!”
“We are extremely stoked to be doing this show at Count’s Vamp’d, especially with Steak. This show is going to be something special and I would like to thank Vegas Rock Revolution for making this happen. If you’re looking for a reason to come to Vegas, here it is.” – John Garcia
Says Steak: We are so excited to be supporting the legend John Garcia in Las Vegas. We last toured with him in Europe in 2014 and are honoured to be playing with him in his own back yard. Supporting John Garcia in Vegas? Fuck yeah, Steak are coming for Sin City and I’m not sure we will get out alive!”
“Formula 400 is always pumped to play a Vegas Rock Revolution Presents show at Count’s Vamp’d and to have the honor to share the stage with the legend John Garcia from Kyuss really gets our engines revving! Plus with Steak coming from London this is going to be cool night!” – Formula 400
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 28th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
The lineup for Desertfest Belgium 2022 in Ghent on Oct. 30 is starting to get awfully full for a one day festival. And weird, which of course is a good thing. Desertfest‘s second Belgian edition welcomes cult legends Coven here, most notably — and it’s interesting to note that Jinx Dawson has a “fresh new band” behind her — as well as Steak, Tau and the Drones of Praise, Celeste, Ggu:ll and The Devil’s Trade, so yeah, you could say that the bill is starting to get a little out there. So much the better. You’ve got Elder and Pallbearer up at the top — though I wonder if either is headlining — and Monolord to keep things grounded. Might as well indulge a freaky side too.
If you go, I bet this’ll be a trip. Would love to hear about it sometime:
DF 2022 GHENT: NEW NAMES! COVEN, CELESTE, AND MORE!
After last week’s name dropping avalanche for DF Antwerp, it was high time for us to deliver the goods for the Ghent edition, wouldn’t you agree? So here are some sweet additions to the 30/10 line-up.
COVEN is one of the most revered names in Occult Metal lore. After years of cult status, their legacy finally got the acknowledgement it deserves. Now backed with a fresh new band, legendary singer Jinx Dawson has taken Coven back on the road, and we’re excited to see them play Desertfest Ghent.
Also on the bill will be French post-metal sensation CELESTE, who certainly need no further introduction. Their extreme crushing power is known, loved and feared in equal measure. To further thicken the oppressive atmosphere at De Vooruit venue, we have engaged Dutch doomsters GGU:LL who will present their first new material in 6 years (out later this year on the Ghent label Consouling Sounds). And how about THE DEVIL’S TRADE, aka Hungarian singer-songwriter Dávid Makó and his very personal take on doom folk and Eastern European folklore?
We further welcome London-based rockers STEAK who have certainly turned heads with their adventurous new album ‘Acute Mania’. We’re very excited to see them bring this Floydian opus to our stage. And finally, Shaun Mulrooney’s musical spaceship TAU will be here, along with the mysterious DRONES OF PRAISE who will join him in his neo-folk psychedelic jam-outs.
You know where to find the tickets, and be aware you can get a reduced combi deal for the Antwerp & Ghent festivals combined. Day tickets for Antwerp have also been on sale since last week – so there’s plenty of opportunity to mix and match the festival days to your liking!
There are a few things happening with Steak on Acute Mania. The London-based band’s third full-length and second for Ripple Music behind 2017’s No God to Save (review here), it marks a decade since the four-piece issued their 2012 debut EP, Disastronaught (review here) — which was soon followed by 2013’s Corned Beef Colossus EP (review here) — and set in motion a comic storyline that has continued throughout their sundry adventures in the years since. Comic-style art is a big part of Acute Mania as well, as the special edition vinyl of the eight-song/47-minute outing includes the graphic novel Mad Lord, written by Steak guitarist Reece Tee with Rhys Wooton — who also did the cover art for the album with Schoph Schofield and has worked with the band before — and Samuel Smith. That in itself would be enough, but there’s also a film called Mad Lord: Samurai of 1,000 Deaths — Tee has an Executive Producer credit on that, while Smith wrote and directed — that ties into the story as well.
That too would be enough, but it’s also Steak‘s first record with drummer Dean Deal (formerly of Crystal Head and Magna Saga) in the lineup alongside Tee, bassist James “Cam” Cameron and vocalist Chris “Kippa” Haley, and that’s a dynamic shift that can be heard from opener “Wolves” onward, and it sees them bringing in guest vocalists Tom Cameron (also formerly Crystal Head, may or may not be related to James, I honestly don’t know) on side B’s “System” and Chantal Brown of Vodun and many, many other guest spots throughout London heavy on the album finale “Mono.” Further, in performance and construction, Acute Mania is the richest offering Steak have yet made, and as they ascend into veteran status within one of Planet Earth’s most vibrant and populated creative undergrounds, they absolutely own every moment of the album. That is to say, each song on Acute Mania has its purpose serving the greater whole, and the entirety of the release shows Steak as heavier, more realized, more melodic and more mindful in their arrangements than they’ve ever been.
If nothing else, the very least one might say of Acute Mania is that the band found the right producer in JB Pilon at Buffalo Studio, who also mixed with Simone Lomardi while the esteemed Karl Daniel Lidén (Katatonia, Greenleaf, so many others) at Tri-Lamb Studios in Sweden mastered. The sound of the record is spacious when it needs to be in pieces like “Ancestors” with its memorable, vocal-highlight hook in its second half, “Wolves” — speaking of Greenleaf, the atmospheric beginning of Acute Mania calls to mind how Greenleaf‘s 2021 LP, Echoes From a Mass, also worked in defiance of rockers-up-front expectation in favor of something more gradually unfolding — or the mellow, All Them Witches-style psych-blues in the early going of “Last Days,” with Haley channeling Nick Cave in Grinderman with his intonations that “It’s getting too late…” (thinking “Kitchenette” from the second album; willing to accept it as sonic coincidence but that’s where my head goes anyhow), or the drifting psychedelia that begins the subsequent “Frequencies,” with the guitar far back in that deep mix and thus landing that much harder when the riff kicks in for real, backed by a fervent nodding groove in the bass and drums and verse vocals with just the right edge of distortion on them. Again, the right producer, in terms both of capturing that performance and knowing how to treat it.
With Tom Cameron stepping in for “System” between, that is all before the penultimate “Papas Special Custard” (premiered here) establishes itself as one of the most ambitious single tracks the band has ever done, building on the volume trades of “Frequencies,” but less beholden to one-or-the-other-ism, arriving at layered-solo apex that’s worthy of its placement as the crescendo of Acute Mania before the even more pointedly atmospheric “Mono” closes out, Chantal Brown‘s arrival in choral fashion and playing off the melody of the guitar at about 3:32 into the 5:05 not to be understated as a peak of its own. Even the manner in which “Wolves” sets up the brash three-minute run of second cut “Dead Meat” — which has guitar acting like backing vocals, maybe a theremin, before shredding its final measure to bits and feeding directly into “Ancestors” — feels conceived and executed with a level of care emblematic of a band seeing the broader scope of their whole work.
Almost none of this should come as a surprise to those who’ve followed Steak at any point over the last 10 years. They’ve always rocked with a bit of edge and a chip on their collective shoulder, perhaps feeling like there’s something to prove, but with both time and their creative development up to now behind them, Acute Mania leaves no real questions to ask except perhaps whether it will be another five years before their next LP surfaces — and hopefully not. As much as the focus throughout is on mood, almost in defiance of the title, “Wolves,” “Dead Meat,” “Last Days,” the more aggro moments of “Frequencies” and the pull-it-all-together-and-pay-it-off “Papas Special Custard” want nothing either for tonal presence or weighted push, even if on average the tempo throughout Acute Mania might be slower than one would expect.
But if the story of No God to Save — the real-world story, not the album’s actual narrative — was of a band finding their place within a style, Acute Mania is a logical, sizeable next forward step in manifesting their persona in that place. On a level of craft, these are the most complex songs Steak have written, and serve well across repeat listens to satisfy with detail and nuance and more to find the more one hears them. Tom Cameron‘s guest spot on “System” and Deal‘s drumming throughout serves as a reminder of how undervalued Crystal Head were in their time, and Chantal Brown is a force to behold, but Acute Mania is Steak grabbing hold of a pivotal moment for themselves and every bit living up to its demand. Whether it’s the balance of heft and flourish, the carefully wrought turns in atmosphere or the stretches of all-go urgency that still feel essential to who they are, Steak handle it all with professional-style grace while coming across as sincere and vital. And even before you account for the comic, film or any of the other not-directly musical aspects surrounding it, the result is the kind of record that not every band gets to make.
I hadn’t necessarily planned on doing a tribute to Desertfest London 2022. Not that it doesn’t deserve it, just that it didn’t occur to me until last week’s lineup announcement happened to hit at the right moment for my brain to connect the two things: the show and the fest. Sometimes you get these impulses and it’s a good idea to follow.
In the voice tracks here I mumble a couple times about doing a second installment because this is so packed and there’s still so much more that got left out because the show is only two hours long. I may get around to doing a second one, or I might do a Berlin one, a New York one, or a Freak Valley one, Krach am Bach, Stoned From the Underground, etc. There are many, many options, and that’s not to mention Roadburn, which is also happening in two weeks.
But god damn the lineup for Desertfest London 2022 is sick, and I’m happy to report that the playlist below follows suit accordingly.
Thanks if you listen, thanks if you’re reading. Thanks in general.
The Obelisk Show airs 5PM Eastern today on the Gimme app or at: http://gimmemetal.com.
Full playlist:
The Obelisk Show – 04.01.22
Witchcraft
No Angel or Demon
Witchcraft
Electric Wizard
The Chosen Few
Witchcult Today
Greenleaf
On Wings of Gold
Echoes From a Mass
Josiah
Malpaso
Josiah
VT
Elephant Tree
Sails
Habits
Steak
Papas Special Custard
Acute Mania
YOB
Quantum Mystic
The Unreal Never Lived
Conan
Eye to Eye to Eye
Existential Void Guardian
King Witch
Under the Mountain
Under the Mountain
VT
Earthless
Gifted by the Wind
Black Heaven
Green Lung
Reaper’s Scythe
Black Harvest
MaidaVale
Another Dimension
Madness is Too Pure
Bongzilla
Free the Weed
Weedsconsin
VT
Old Horn Tooth
True Death
True Death
1782
Bloodline
From the Graveyard
Lowrider
Sernanders Krog
Refractions
The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is April 15 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.
Posted in Radio on February 18th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
This was fun. I asked the other day on the ol’ social medias for requests and wound up getting a whole playlist’s worth. It was a genuine surprise, but hell’s bells, there’s some good stuff here, and as I’m normally so focused on trying to fit as much new music as humanly possible into the two hours, the chance to revisit some oldies but goodies from Saint Vitus, Sleep, Mos Generator, and Throttlerod was great, not to mention the chance to shine light on new stuff from Steak, Weedevil, Kurokuma and Lark’s Tongue, the latter of which, I admit, was my own request.
I included the names in the playlist so I could do oldschool radio-style shout-outs, which was fun in the voice breaks, and I appreciated the chance to hear stuff I wouldn’t have otherwise, like Wallowing or Buñuel, the latter whose new album is out today on Profound Lore and is pretty wild heavy stuff. Maybe I’ll do this kind of thing from time to time. Next show I might just load up on psych tunes and let it ride. Ha.
If you listen, or you see these words, thanks.
The Obelisk Show airs 5PM Eastern today on the Gimme app or at: http://gimmemetal.com.
The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is March 4 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.
