Posted in Whathaveyou on March 13th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
A little bittersweet, to be honest. Roadburn 2022 was the first one to be held since 2009 that I didn’t attend, and among the great swath of performances I missed out on that weekend was that of Italy’s Messa, who were there supporting their 2022 release, Close (review here), which by all accounts was a breakthrough for the band. I’m glad they’re releasing the set, and anytime I get to write about something Marcel Van de Vondervoort (also of Astrosoniq) recorded, I’m happy to do so, but yeah, thinking about not being in Tilburg last year, thinking about not being there again this year, maybe never getting to go back, is pretty sad for me. That was a big part of my life for a long time, a rejuvenation, a home I returned to each April. Things change, and I know that. I change. The festival certainly has changed. But there’s a place in my heart that might always pang for that experience. If that’s nostalgia or just missing friends, fine.
Live atRoadburnis out April 28. Perhaps if you, like me, have never had the chance to see the band live, it will give some sense of what they do on stage. Context. I haven’t heard it yet so can’t really say, but preorders are up as the PR wire informs:
MESSA to Release New Album ‘Messa – Live at Roadburn’ Out April 28th
Italian Doom trailblazers, MESSA captured live at the Roadburn Festival 2022 with a special extended lineup, have been immortalized on LP, CD and digital via Svart Records with their new Album, ‘Messa – Live at Roadburn’.
Relive MESSA’s main-stage Roadburn Festival triumph, featuring songs from album ‘CLOSE’, and joined by a unique constellation of musicians and instruments that give their massive new album its distinctive sound.
This stunning new live album presents select cuts from the band’s critically acclaimed album ‘CLOSE.’ MESSA’s packed out Roadburn set was one of the most talked about of the 2022 edition, and left the audience gob-smacked in their wake.
‘Messa: Live at Roadburn’ CD/LP/Digital 1. Suspended 2. Orphalese 3. 0=2 4. Pilgrim
Of their Roadburn set MESSA said:
“Our appearance at Roadburn 2022 saw us performing a specially dedicated and one of a kind set. We played songs from our new record ‘CLOSE’ with a unique line-up that included other fellow musicians within our project. We involved Giorgio Trombino (Oud, Duduk, Saxophone), Alex Fernet (Mandolin, Acoustic Guitar) and Blak Saagan (Synthesizers) to recreate the sounds of ‘CLOSE’ in their true form.Our aim with MESSA’s performance was to embrace a musical wandering that could allow all of us – on and off stage – to drift away into another place. We couldn’t wait to be on Roadburn’s stage again and we were very excited to be part of the 2022 edition.”
Seeming to both embrace and defy everything it means to be a metal band, MESSA mesh Mediterranean sounds with crushing doom riffs, with an emphasis on atmosphere and unusual use of instrumentation. MESSA are one of the leading lights in the heavy underground, and this performance at Roadburn saw the band shine forth with a brilliant and dominating presence. Get closer than ‘CLOSE’ and witness for yourself what the bottled magic of MESSA’s live alchemy can bring. ‘Messa – Live at Roadburn’ is out on April 28th via Svart Records.
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 3rd, 2023 by JJ Koczan
It’s been over 10 years since Chicago’s Yakuza released Beyul (review here), and though the experimental troupe led by saxophonist/vocalist Bruce Lamont have done fest appearances and so on since then, if they were ever going to do another record, it’s probably time.
So, business: Svart is putting out Sutra on May 19. Preorders are up. There you go.
The news isn’t entirely unexpected if you follow them on social media — they dropped a teaser of the new single “Alice” last week and announced the announcement, as one will — and I haven’t even had the chance to really dive into the song yet this morning — a first run through bears out the twisted metal and ambient consumption one would hope for — but my expectation of Sutra is for scope and for the band to continue to be the challenge to genre confines that they’ve always been, born out of Chicago post-metal but with on-their-own-wavelength as a defining factor. To date, their records have always been a heady experience, and have both demanded and warranted attention more than most acts, which has made them likewise revered critically and undervalued in terms of general listenership. And as per a recent discussion here in comments, some folks just don’t like sax in their rock and roll, for whatever reason. These things can’t be helped sometimes.
Looking forward to hearing more here and doing my damnedest to keep up with Yakuza once again when it comes time for a review. For now, this from the PR wire:
The Chicago based heavy hybridizers YAKUZA announce new album “Sutra”
Svart Records unveils “Sutra”, the new album from grand master avant-garde overlords Yakuza. An genre crushing album of forward thinking metal for the modern age, “Sutra” is a powerhouse of unlimited expression and molten riffs. Formed in 1999, Chicago based heavy hybridizers Yakuza, are in a genre all of their own, which Pitchfork describe as a “a specialized and strange alloy”. So eclectic and hard to pigeon-hole, their music has been described over the years as everything from avant-garde metal, progressive metal, alternative metal to experimental rock, jazz metal, art metal and post-metal. Incorporating psychedelic rock jams that sprawl into heavy, sludging Doom with jazz influences, while also incorporating breakneck grind riffs and grooves, makes Yakuza’s new album “Sutra” a long awaited and insanely enjoyable feast of frequencies.
From their break-out debut album “Amount to Nothing” in 2000, which was met with critical acclaim, Yakuza have been a phenomenon in the world of heavy music, hot on the tongues of those who know. Their second album “Way of the Dead” in 2002 landed Yakuza a deal with Century Media and worldwide notoriety, securing them live slots with like-minded progressive heavyweights like Candira, Opeth, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Lacuna Coil and Mastodon. Several albums of top tier eccentric metal followed with “Samsara” in 2006 which was recorded by Matt Bayles (Isis, Botch, Pearl Jam) and featured Sanford Parker, and Mastodon’s Troy Sanders, the jazzier and spaced-out “Transmutations” in 2007, and “Of Seismic Consequence” in 2010 and “Beyul” in 2012 respectively released on cult underground label Profound Lore.
With a diamond back-catalogue of flawless genre breaking metal, having no stylistic constraints, Yakuza are maestros of highly creative, extreme music, ever ahead of the game. Over 10 years after their last release, Yakuza have returned with “Sutra” losing none of their expansive and wildly artistic approach to pushing the boundaries of heavy music. “Sutra” leans in on redefining the limits of heavy and eclectic metal, with songs like “Echoes From The Sky’s” epic sung vocals and zig zagging slabs of juggernaut riffing, all sewn together with Voivod chords and King Crimson structures, never coming apart but embracing the delightfully chaotic. New songs like “Alice” with its surge like quality, never heard before in Yakuza’s music, and “Psychic Malaise” with an exciting new vocal approach, drive through a feeling of a band not only in their prime but with many new sides of their sound story to express.
Like John Coltrane jamming with Napalm Death, Bruce Lamont (saxophone, vocals) has discussed an appreciation for Pink Floyd, Huun Huur Tu, Peter Brötzmann, Battles, Enslaved, Brighter Death Now, George Orwell, Ethiopian music, and Blut Aus Nord, perfectly picking up on the multifaceted angles that Yukuza exhibits. Standing in a world utterly of their own making, Yakuza’s unique mind-melting post-rock has never felt more ripe and fitting for the current state of the planet. Singer Bruce Lamont opts for letting Yakuza’s music do the magic, explaining that “Experience is subjective, and we hope each listener can come away with their own interpretation. We hope you go into this listening experience with an open mind and heart”. If ever there was a metal album where approaching with an open mind will reap rich rewards, then Yakuza’s “Sutra” is it. A thinking person’s extreme and inventive metal band, check out first single * to have your expectations and understanding of heavy music turned upside down and inside out.
“Sutra” will be out on Svart Records on May 19th 2023.
1. 2Is1 2. Alice 3. Echoes from the Sky 4. Capricorn Rising 5. Embers 6. Burn Before Reading 7. Walking God 8. Into Forever 9. Psychic Malaise 10. Never The Less
Yakuza is: James Staffel-Drums and percussion Matt McClelland -guitar/ backing vocals Jerome Marshall- bass Bruce Lamont- vocals and saxophone
Posted in Reviews on January 3rd, 2023 by JJ Koczan
We roll on in this new-year-smelling 2023 with day two of the Quarterly Review. Yesterday was pretty easy, but the first day almost always is. Usually by Thursday I’m feeling it. Or the second Tuesday. It varies. In any case, as you know, this QR is a double, which means it’s going to include 100 albums total, written about between yesterday and next Friday. Ton of stuff, and most of it is 2022, but generally later in the year, so at least I’m only a couple months behind your no doubt on-the-ball listening schedule.
Look. I can’t pretend to keep up with a Spotify algorithm, I’m sorry. I do my best, but that’s essentially a program to throw bands in your face (while selling your data and not paying artists). My hope is that being able to offer a bit of context when I throw 100 bands in your face is enough of a difference to help you find something you dig. Some semblance of curation. Maybe I’m flattering myself. I’m pretty sure Spotify can inflate its own ego now too.
Winter 2023 Quarterly Review #11-20:
Antimatter, A Profusion of Thought
Project founder, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Mick Moss isn’t through opener “No Contact” — one of the 10 inclusions on Antimatter‘s 54-minute eighth LP, A Profusion of Thought — before he readily demonstrates he can carry the entire album himself if need be. Irish Cuyos offers vocals on the subsequent “Paranoid Carbon” and Liam Edwards plays live drums where applicable, but with a realigned focus on programmed elements, his own voice the constant that surrounds various changes in mood and purpose, and stretches of insularity even on the full-band-sounding “Fools Gold” later on, the self-released outing comes across as more inward than the bulk of 2018’s Black Market Enlightenment, though elements like the acoustic-led approach of “Breaking the Machine,” well-produced flourishes of layering and an almost progressive-goth (proggoth?) atmosphere carry over. “Redshift” balances these sides well, as does fold before it, and “Templates” before that, and “Fools Gold” after, as Antimatter thankfully continues to exist in a place of its own between melancholic heavy, synthesized singer-songwriterism and darker, doom-born-but-not-doom metal, all of which seem to be summarized in the closing salvo of “Entheogen,” “Breaking the Machine” and “Kick the Dog.” Moss is a master of his craft long-established, and a period of isolation has perhaps led to some of the shifting balance here, but neither the album nor its songs are done a disservice by that.
There was a point, maybe 15 years ago now give or take, when at least Manhattan and Brooklyn in New York City were awash in semi-retro, jangly-but-rough-edged-to-varying-degrees rock and roll bands. Some sounded like Joan Jett, some sounded like the Ramones, or The Strokes or whoever. On Salvation, their second LP, Mick’s Jaguar bring some chunky Judas Priest riffing, no shortage of attitude, and as the five-piece — they were six on 2018’s Fame and Fortune (review here) — rip into a proto-shredder like “Speed Dealer,” worship Thin Lizzy open string riffing on “Nothing to Lose” or bask in what would be sleaze were it not for the pandemic making any “Skin Contact” at all a serotonin spike, they effectively hop onto either side of the line where rock meets heavy. Also the longest track at 4:54, “Molotov Children” is a ’70s-burly highlight, and “Handshake Deals” is an early-arriving hook that seems to make everything after it all the more welcome. “Man Down” and “Free on the Street” likewise push their choruses toward anthemic barroom sing-alongs, and while I’m not sure those bars haven’t been priced out of the market and turned into unoccupied investment luxury condos by now, rock and roll’s been declared dead in New York at least 100,000 times and it obviously isn’t, so there.
Long live Finnish weird. More vintage in their mindset than overall presentation, Sammal return via the ever-reliable Svart Records with Aika Laulaa, the follow-up to 2018’s Suuliekki (review here) and their fourth album total, with eight songs and 43 minutes that swap languages lyrically between Finnish, Swedish and English as fluidly as they take progressive retroism and proto-metal to a place of their own that is neither, both, and more. From the languid lead guitar in “Returning Rivers” to the extended side-enders “On Aika Laulaa” with its pastoralized textures and “Katse Vuotaa” with its heavy blues foundation, willfully brash surge, and long fade, the band gracefully skip rocks across aesthetic waters, opening playful and Scandi-folk-derived on “På knivan” before going full fuzz in “Sehr Kryptisch,” turning the three-minute meander of “Jos ei pelaa” into a tonal highlight and resolving the instrumental “(Lamda)” (sorry, the character won’t show up) with a jammy soundscape that at least sounds like it’s filled out by organ if it isn’t. A band who can go wherever they want and just might actually dare to do so, Sammal reinforce the notion of their perpetual growth and Aika laulaa is a win on paper for that almost as much as for the piano notes cutting through the distortion on “Grym maskin.” Almost.
Former Hades guitarist Dan Lorenzo continues a personal riffy renaissance with Cassius King‘s Dread the Dawn, one of several current outlets among Vessel of Light and Patriarchs in Black. On Dread the Dawn, the New Jersey-based Lorenzo, bassist Jimmy Schulman (ex-Attacker) and drummer Ron Lipnicki (ex-Overkill) — the rhythm section also carried over from Vessel of Light — and vocalist Jason McMaster offer 11 songs and 49 minutes of resoundingly oldschool heavy, Dio Sabbath-doomed rock. Individual tracks vary in intent, but some of the faster moments on “Royal Blooded” or even the galloping opener “Abandon Paradise” remind of Candlemass tonally and even rockers like “How the West Was Won,” “Bad Man Down” and “Back From the Dead” hold an undercurrent of classic metal, never mind the creeper riff of the title-track or its eight-minute companion-piece, the suitably swinging “Doomsday.” Capping with a bonus take on Judas Priest‘s “Troubleshooter,” Dread the Dawn has long since by then gotten its point across but never failed to deliver in either songwriting or performance. They strut, and earn it.
Issued on tape through UK imprint Dub Cthonic, the four-extended-tracker Way of the Pilgrim is the second 2022 full-length from South African solo folk experimentalist Seven Rivers of Fire — aka William Randles — behind September’s Sanctuary (review here) and March’s Star Rise, and its mostly acoustic-based explorations are as immersive and hypnotic as ever as the journey from movement to movement in “They are Calling // Exodus” (11:16) sets up processions through the drone-minded “Awaken // The Passenger” (11:58), “From the Depths // Into the Woods” (12:00) and “Ascend // The Fall” (11:56), Randles continuing to dig into his own particular wavelength and daring to include some chanting and other vocalizations in the opener and “From the Depths // Into the Woods” and the piano-laced finale. Each piece has an aural theme of its own and sets out from there, feeling its way forward with what feels like a genuinely unplanned course. Way of the Pilgrim isn’t going to be for everybody, as with all of Seven Rivers of Fire‘s output, but those who can tune to its frequencies are going to find its resonance continual.
Leeds-based psychedelic doomers Amon Acid channel the grimmer reaches of the cosmic — and a bit of Cathedral in “Hyperion” — on their fifth full-length in four years, second of 2022, Cosmogony. The core duo of guitarist/vocalist/synthesist Sarantis Charvas and bassist/cellist Briony Charvas — joined on this nine-tracker by the singly-named Smith on drums — harness stately space presence and meditative vibes on “Death on the Altar,” the guitar ringing out vague Easternisms while the salvo that started with “Parallel Realm” seems only to plunge further and further into the lysergic unknown. Following the consuming culmination of “Demolition Wave” and the dissipation of the residual swirl there, the band embark on a series of shorter cuts with “Nag Hammandi,” the riff-roller “Mandragoras,” the gloriously-weird-but-still-somehow-accessible “Demon Rider” and the this-is-our-religion “Ethereal Mother” before the massive buildup of “The Purifier” begins, running 11 minutes, which isn’t that much longer than the likes of “Parallel Realm” or “Death on the Altar,” but rounds out the 63-minute procession with due galaxial churn just the same. Plodding and spacious, I can’t help but feel like if Amon Acid had a purposefully-dumber name they’d be more popular, but in the far, far out where they reside, these things matter less when there are dimensions to be warped.
The original plan from Germany’s Iron & Stone was that the four-song Mountains and Waters was going to be the first in a sequence of three EP releases. As it was recorded in Fall 2020 — a time, if you’ll recall, when any number of plans were shot to hell — and only released this past June, I don’t know if the band are still planning to follow it with another two short offerings or not, but for the bass in “Loose the Day” alone, never mind the well-crafted heavy fuzz rock that surrounds on all sides, I’m glad they finally got this one out. Opener “Cosmic Eye” is catchy and comfortable in its tempo, and “Loose the Day” answers with fuzz a-plenty while “Vultures” metes out swing and chug en route to an airy final wash that immediately bleeds into “Unbroken,” which is somewhat more raucous and urgent of riff, but still has room for a break before its and the EP’s final push. Iron & Stone are proven in my mind when it comes to heavy rock songwriting, and they seem to prefer short releases to full-lengths — arguments to be made on either side, as ever — but whether or not it’s the beginning of a series, Mountains and Waters reaffirms the band’s strengths, pushes their craft to the forefront, and celebrates genre even as it inhabits it. There’s nothing more one might ask.
To be sure, there shades of are discernible influences in DRÖÖG‘s self-titled Majestic Mountain Records first long-player, from fellow Swedes Graveyard, Greenleaf, maybe even some of earlier Abramis Brama‘s ’70s vibes, but these are only shades. Thus it is immediately refreshing how unwilling the self-recording core duo of Magnus Vestling and Daniel Engberg are to follow the rules of style, pushing the drums far back into the mix and giving the entire recording a kind of far-off feel, their classic and almost hypnotic, quintessentially Swedish (and in Swedish, lyrically-speaking) heavy blues offered with hints of psychedelic flourish and ready emergence. The way “Stormhatt” seems to rise in the space of its own making. The fuller fuzz of “Blodörn.” The subtle tension of the riff in the second half of “Nattfjärilar.” In songs mostly between six and about eight minutes long, DRÖÖG distinguish themselves in tone — bass and hard-strummed guitar out front in “Hamnskiftaren” along with the vocals — and melody, creating an earthy atmosphere that has elements of svensk folkmusik without sounding like a caricature of that or anything else. They’ve got me rewriting my list of 2022’s best debut albums, and already looking forward to how they grow this sound going on from here.
Rare is a record so thoroughly screamed that is also so enhanced by its lyrics. Hello, Remember the Earth but Never Come Back. Based in Montreal — home to any number of disaffected sludgy noisemakers — Grales turn apocalyptic dystopian visions into poetry on the likes of “All Things are Temporary,” and anti-capitalist screed on “From Sea to Empty Sea” and “Wretched and Low,” tying together anthropocene planet death with the drive of human greed in concise, sharp, and duly harsh fashion. Laced with noise, sludged to the gills it’s fortunate enough to have so it can breathe in the rising ocean waters, and pointed in its lurch, the five-song/43-minute outing takes the directionless fuckall of so many practitioners of its genre and sets itself apart by knowing and naming exactly what it’s mad about. It’s mad about wage theft, climate change, the hopelessness that surrounds most while a miserly few continue to rape and pillage what should belong to everybody. The question asked in “Agony” answers itself: “What is the world without our misery? We’ll never know.” With this perspective in mind and a hint of melody in the finale “Sic Transit Mundus,” Grales offer a two-sided tape through From the Urn Records that is gripping in its onslaught and stirring despite its outward misanthropy. It’s not that they don’t care; it’s that they want you to pick up a molotov cocktail and toss it at your nearest corporate headquarters. Call it relatable.
Energetic in its delivery and semi-progressive in its intentions, Half Gramme of Soma‘s second album, Slip Through the Cracks, arrives with the backing of Sound of Liberation Records, the label wing of one of Europe’s lead booking agencies for heavy rock. Not a minor endorsement, but it’s plain to hear in the eight-song/42-minute course the individualism and solidified craft that prompted the pickup: Half Gramme of Soma know what they’re doing, period. Working with producer George Leodis (1000mods, Godsleep, Last Rizla, etc.) in their native Athens, they’ve honed a sound that reaches deeper than the deceptively short runtimes of tracks like “Voyager” and “Sirens” or “Wounds” might lead you to believe, and the blend of patience and intensity on finale-and-longest-song “22:22” (actually 7:36) highlights their potential in both its languid overarching groove and the later guitar solos that cut through it en route to that long fade, without sacrificing the present for the sake of the future. That is, whatever Half Gramme of Soma might do on their third record, Slip Through the Cracks shouldn’t. Even in fest-ready riffers “High Heels” and “Mind Game,” they bleed personality and purpose.
Posted in Questionnaire on December 29th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.
Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.
Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.
The Obelisk Questionnaire: Nathan Carson of Witch Mountain & Nanotear Booking
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
In the broad sense, I’m a creator, a producer, a communicator, and a connector. How did I become a booking agent, internationally touring drummer, FM radio DJ, music journalist, and published author? Baby steps. Thousands of them.
Describe your first musical memory.
In the mid-seventies, my aunt Vicky was the 17-year old bombshell lead singer of a regionally successful Midwest rock group called The Hot Ice Band. They sounded a bit like Jefferson Airplane, and had a development deal with a big label that put out their single “Fly Away.” My parents took me to see them in concert at a college show with a couple thousand people in attendance when I was three years old. All I remember is that it was very loud, and I hated it. But I kept the 7” and have always enjoyed that.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
I have enough of those to fill a book, and I plan to. Honestly, though, Witch Mountain played two shows last weekend, and the chemistry and communication we have developed over the years is exactly what I would hope for. It feels amazing to play with my friends in front of an audience who appreciate what we do.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
There have been a few times when I upheld an obligation to a friend or client, even though a better opportunity had come along for me. In the moment, I didn’t question it. I just stuck with the plan because I didn’t want to back out on anyone who might be relying on me. In the long run, I’ve come to regret a few of those, because some of those opportunities didn’t come again. I’m not saying I would ever leave someone in the lurch, but I think there could have been a graceful way to have my cake without burning anyone in the process. Live and learn.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
From what I’ve seen, it’s an infinite road that only ends with death. Very few creators retire from making art. They might retire from the cumbersome commercial aspects, but I can’t think of anyone who made great art and then just decided to watch bad TV for the rest of their life.
How do you define success?
I grew up in a mobile home in the backwoods of rural Oregon. My parents impressed on us from a young age that all that matters is being happy, without fucking anyone else over. I feel incredibly successful simply because I spend the majority of my time on the things I care about and want to work on. Sure, I am driven by praise and accomplishment and I do enjoy any recognition. But I’ve already met or exceeded most of my life goals, which were not terribly unrealistic to start with.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
Korn opening for Ozzy in ’95.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
I have started my novel. It’s not done yet. And it’s taking longer than I’d hoped. But I aim to make it good.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
Inspiration. For the creator, and the recipient.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
I’ve got five good friends coming over tomorrow to play a long afternoon game of vintage 2nd Edition Talisman Fantasy Board Game (with all the expansion sets). We’ll see who truly wields the Crown Of Command this time!
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 6th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
It has not been that long since Italian genrespanners Messa, whose 2022 album, Close (review here), has been another enthusiastically-received notch in their collective belt, were in a van wreck on tour in Europe. That was early October and in addition to needing a new conveyance to get from one show to the next, members of the band required surgery to recover. A not-insignificant event in the life of a band, and something that obviously one hopes any band never has to deal with.
Toward the end of last week, they announced their first time getting back out on the road to continue to support Close in a stream of live dates happening across Jan., Feb. and March. The earliest shows will be in Greece, followed by a run through Germany, France, the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands and (more) Germany. Goes without saying but I’ll say it anyway, best wishes to Messa as they head out again after suffering a genuine trauma. I hope that the crash becomes subsumed by killer memories of the tour to come, and that sooner or later they make their way to American shores. Hard to imagine they haven’t come to the attention of Psycho Las Vegas, if not others besides. We’ll see.
Dates and links and audio follow, as seen on socials:
We’re very happy to announce we’ll be touring Europe again in almost three months!
We will be sharing the stage with opening act @julinko.imago
Below the tour dates. We can’t wait to see you again!
Thu 26.01 GR Athens, Kyttaro Live * Fri 27.01 GR Thessaloniki, Eightball Club * Thu 16.02 DE Karlsruhe, P8 Fri 17.02 DE Berlin, Urban Spree Sat 18.02 DE Bochum, Die Trompete Sun 19.02 FR Paris, Le Petit Bain Tue 21.02 UK London, The Black Heart Wed 22.02 UK Manchester, White Hotel Thu 23.02 UK Preston, The Continental Fri 24.02 UK Liverpool, Quarry Sat 25.02 UK Sheffield, Record Junkee Tue 27.02 BE Antwerp, Kavka Wed 28.02 NL Nijmegen, Merleyn Thu 01.03 NL Utrecht, DB’s Fri 02.03 DE Hannover, Cafè Glocksee Sat 03.03 DE Dresden, Chemiefabrik Sun 04.03 DE Regensburg, Alte Mälzerei
Posted in Questionnaire on October 28th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.
Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.
Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.
The Obelisk Questionnaire: Jaani Peuhu of Ianai
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I make art.
It includes producing albums, songwriting for my albums and for other artists as well, being a singer/frontman, a touring musician as a keyboardist, and a bass player.
I also love the visual side, and in IANAI, I have had more opportunities to go deeper with the visual side than in any other project.
Describe your first musical memory.
It could be the guitar I made from some box and my mom’s painting supplies or the space sounds from my dad’s Roland JX-3P synth.
My first c-cassette was Paul Young: No Parlez. I still listen to that beautifully mellow album sometimes.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
I have never actually learned to be happy with the albums I have made or my live performances. The best feelings are those short moments on stage when you feel connected or understood by somebody in the audience and especially when I see tears in their eyes. That moment, you truly feel that you are doing something that touches the soul.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
I am testing my beliefs all the time and tuning and changing them while learning more about life. One thing I have learned is that I don’t know anything, so my beliefs are like sketches these days, and I know that the painting will never be finished.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
Into new adventures. I love to explore new musical genres and let destiny do its job with my career. I am open to anything.
How do you define success?
When your art has had the chance to be seen and felt by many. However, it is most definitely not measured by money, fame or good reviews.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
This first thing I can think of right now is the violence I have seen against animals, nature and humans, but then I know we all share this feeling. As an artist, I find it heartbreaking to often see talent go to waste because of attitude and ego problems.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
A Symphony. I have started with it twice already, but the time wasn’t right yet. I am also working with an IANAI book, and I would love to create my own tarot deck one day.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
Being an outlet for emotions that could be hurtful when creative people bottle them up. Also, it can also serve as a powerful support and comfort for the ones in need of it.
While there are great pieces of art made, it still does not mean anything to me if it does not resonate with me on any deeper level.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
My next match with my new football (soccer) teams!
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 6th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Finnish progressive psych rockers Sammal, now a trio, release their new album Aika Laulaa on Nov. 18 through Svart Records. And I’m going to guess that the first streaming single, the sub-3:30 “På knivan,” isn’t entirely representative of the record as an entirety, since among the change-ups promised throughout album are, as the PR wire notes below, swaps between vocals in Finnish, Swedish and English, but golly it’s awesome. Like a pagan shrine built to ’70s prog somewhere out in a field with mushroomy flourish imported direct from 1967. Dig that “la-la-la,” man. You can’t fake that.
Flux in lineup is what it is. Happens to most bands even without the existential and economic upheaval wrought by a global pandemic and, this year, war in Europe, but clearly Sammal pulled through with a vital sensibility at least here. I’ll look forward to finding out what else the album holds in store. If nothing else, Svart Records are among the most reliable labels out there. There’s just about nothing they put out that isn’t at least interesting.
Info from the PR wire [EDIT: After this post went up, the band responded with this FYI: “…Just to set the record straight, we are a three piece, but have a wonderful bassist named Ami Kajan playing on the record and hopefully at most of the upcoming shows too.”]:
Finnish prog-psych quintet Sammal sheds skin and changes into a power trio, new album announced
Sammal have since their 2013 debut cemented their reputation as one of the leaders of the Fenno-Ugrian neoprogressive and psychedelic scene and also raised some waves internationally, performing at the well-respected Roadburn Festival in 2015 and garnering a series of raving reviews around the world of psychedelia and progressive rock fandom, such as “Truly amazing and otherworldy music” or “Earnest, vibrant music specked with impressive nuance”. A few years have passed since the successful Suuliekki album, and since then two of their five members have left the fold. Guitarist and songwriter Jura Salmi decided, however, that Sammal must continue in some form or another.
“During the spring of 2020 I would spend time alone recording new demos with the guitar. The remaining three Sammal members had already decided that if the band was to continue, we would not seek another keyboard player. I had bought a guitar pedal that can simulate keyboard sounds and it opened a new world to me. I realized we can perform fine as a power trio without a bass or a keyboard player”, comments Jura Salmi.
“Sammal has always been a melting pot of all music we like. If in the past we used to be heavily into bands like Camel, Dungen and Opeth, when working on this album we’d liste to everything from Bo Hansson and Iron Butterfly to Type O Negative and Whitesnake”, laughs Salmi and continues, “We’d also pick the language of a song’s lyrics based on what we felt would fit the mood of the song. This album has songs in Finnish, Swedish and English.”
Sammal’s unexpected prog-psych-boogie epic Aika laulaa will be released on November 18th on all platforms as well as on CD and LP. Check out band’s new single Sehr kryptisch.
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 3rd, 2022 by JJ Koczan
The good news is everyone came out of it alive. The bad news is that Italian genre-melding rockers Messa were in what looks to have been a pretty serious van crash while on their way home from tour, and members have had to be hospitalized with surgery ordered. Earlier this year, the band released their 2LP third album, Close (review here), through Svart Records to a wash of praise, and they’ve set to work supporting it live ever since.
I don’t know what healthcare is like in Italy, but I assume that like almost everywhere, it’s better than in the US in terms of the financial burden put on the patient. Still, the costs incurred will be significant, from things like physical therapies to Ace bandages — plus from the look of things they’re going to need a new van — so yes, give them your monies. Hell, even if it’s just to lift spirits, a little bit won’t kill you. Once they get over the shock of the thing, they’re going to need all the support they can get.
Their post:
Trigger warning: accident
Yesterday night after the last show of our tour we got in a car crash.
Another driver coming from the opposite direction went straight at us on our lane and impacted with us frontally.
The whole crew is alive, the van is destroyed and some of us will have to undergo surgery. We are okay, but it will take us some months to recover fully. More updates will come soon.
If you want to support us during these hard times, you can buy our records via Bandcamp or donate here to help for everything we’ll have to go through:
We probably won’t be able to answer all of you, but we do appreciate and cherish each and every thought for us.
The relief of hearing the live voices of us all, checking on each other’s state while in the van right after the accident, is something that will not fade away easily.
Much love to you all. To better days, Messa, Otto, Matteo
