The Melvins, Lysol (1992)

Would you believe I’ve never closed out a week with the Melvins? Granted, I’m not the hugest fan of the band in the world, but you’d think it would’ve happened one way or another at some point anyhow, two or three times over, just through the sheer process of elimination. After all, they’re the frickin’ Melvins. If heavy rock and roll has a given, a constant presence, a relentless influence under which it works, it’s theirs. Consider this post correcting an oversight on my part.

In picking one of their 250-or-thereabouts studio offerings to actually feature, I decided to not go the obvious route, which would’ve been 1993’s Stoner Witch, 1994’s Houdini or 1996’s Stag — the three landmark albums they released on Atlantic Records — but instead dig a little deeper. Not much deeper, admittedly. It’s not like I went for Colossus of Destiny or anything, but 1992’s Lysol, with its Flipper and Alice Cooper covers, its drawling riffing from a group who were just about to set the patterns they’d continue to follow for the next 20 years and counting, and its unmistakably off-the-rails songwriting, makes a good fit without necessarily being so totally obvious as to be a Melvins cliché. Or not as much of one anyway. Whatever. You know what I mean. Maybe I just felt like hearing them do “The Ballad of Dwight Fry” and Joe Preston‘s bass on “Sacrifice,” all the songs lumped together as one CD track, apparently for the hell of it because it was a relatively new format then and that was a thing people did as a reaction to track-by-track listening.

Anyhoo, there are way worse manners in which to dispose of half an hour. Boner Records, which originally released Lysol, oversaw a vinyl reissue that came out Jan. 20 that couples the album with 1991’s Eggnog — they have one for Ozma and Bullhead as well — so I guess this wound up being a topical choice without my even realizing it. Whatever your preferred format, hope you dig it and have a good time listening. That’s the whole idea.

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The power stayed on during the blizzard earlier this week, for which I’m thankful. You never really know when you’re in a new place until it either does or doesn’t happen, and I could probably buy 15 houses before I’d think to ask, “So hey, does every wind over five miles an hour knock out the electricity?” We had some good gusts to go with the circa-two-feet of snow that came down — a little more earlier today, and more to come on Monday just in case I missed my shot to put on sad-era Anathema or that brilliant Sólstafir record from last year; I didn’t — and still, the lights persisted. I’ll take that. If you have to be snowed in, having a working charger for the laptop helps.

My big news this week, in case you missed it: I’m going back to Roadburn in April, and this site is six years old. Thanks to you for reading, because that’s the only reason either happened.

I had wanted to review Black Moon Circle‘s Andromeda LP this afternoon, but after doing the Radio adds, I’m good and burnt out and the record deserves better than to have me search Dict.org for synonyms for the word “lysergic.” Should be able to pick up with that on Monday, and next week also look out for reviews of Killer Boogie and Abbot. Elder is next after that, but I’m not sure I’ll get there by next Friday. We’ll see how it goes. Also trying to set up a premiere of one sort or another for that Garden of Worm record that was reviewed today, because it hit me hard enough that I think it’s worth featuring again. I’ll keep you posted. A Lords of Beacon House video premiere is set for next Friday, too.

I also spoke to Mario Lalli of Fatso Jetson and Yawning Man yesterday and I’m going to try really, really hard to have that posted by the end of next week as those bands head over to Europe soon to tour and I don’t want to miss my chance. Currently seeking an intern to transcribe interviews if anyone’s in need of some college credit. Yes, I’m serious, and yes, you can work remotely.

The Patient Mrs. promised sushi takeout to celebrate the site’s anniversary, so I’ll be taking her up on that and clearing out my overtaxed sinuses with wasabi. Stoked.

Whatever you might be up to, I hope you have a great and safe weekend. Please check out the forum and radio stream.

The Obelisk Forum

The Obelisk Radio

Yeah, it’s been a couple weeks since I added records to The Obelisk Radio playlist, mostly because these posts are a pain to set up, but once again, I’ve been keeping track of stuff to go up and this time around we’ve got 24 new albums joining the ranks. Some of it is stuff recently covered — 35007, Ice Dragon, Truckfighters — and some has yet to be — Nick Oliveri, Brant Bjork — but as ever, it’s a lot of good stuff, so if you get the chance to hit up the playlist and updates page, you should find plenty there for your perusal, in addition to the running tab of the playlist, which from where I sit puts the whole stream in a different league of enjoyable. Hope you agree.

A lot to cover, so let’s get to it.

The Obelisk Radio Adds for Oct. 3, 2014:

The Melvins, Hold it In

Sometimes I have to wonder how it is that for a band who are so off the wall and experimental one can still basically approach any Melvins record no matter who’s involved in making it and have a decent idea of what to expect. Yeah, guitarist/vocalist King Buzzo and drummer Dale Crover have hooked up with JD Pinkus and Paul Leary of Butthole Surfers, and yeah, “You Can Make Me Wait” sounds like it would play over alternate universe credits to The Breakfast Club, but a lot of Hold it In (released by Ipecac) — “Bride of Crankenstein,” “Onions Make the Milk Taste Bad,” “Sesame Street Meat,” “Nine Yards” — is pretty much in the Melvins wheelhouse. It’s in moments like the jangly “Eyes on You,” trucker rocking “Piss Pisstoferson,” spacious seven-minute jammer “The Bunk Up” and sprawling noise finish “House of Gasoline” that Hold it In really distinguishes itself, but there are stretches even in those where the Melvins just continue to sound like the Melvins. I know they’ve got a fanbase that will eagerly snap up everything they do, and after 30 years of busting their collective ass on tour and in the studio without major commercial success, I’ll far from begrudge them their following, it just seems like for as much praise is heaped in the direction of every new Melvins release, there’s not nearly as much genuinely new ground being broken as time goes on and that even the gleefully weird territory Hold it In covers is starting to feel an awful lot like a comfort zone. The Melvins on Thee Facebooks, Ipecac Recordings.

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Slow Season, Mountains

Whichever of Cali four-piece Slow Season‘s parents introduced them to Led Zeppelin, thanks. The Visalia outfit will release their second album, Mountains, this November on RidingEasy Records, following-up a 2012 self-titled, and by way of advance notice, the thing’s a ripper, echoing out Plant-style vocals and Bonham stomp with an underlying skater-rock groove that fits well with the label’s output in bands like The Well, Electric Citizen, and so on. Of course, there’s more than that at play — second cut “Synanon” reminds of some of The Flying Eyes‘ heavy psych rollout — but from the oohing and ahhing that cap “Damo’s Days” to the bombast that comes to the fore in “Wasted Years,” Zeppelin are a central influence, bolstered throughout by touches of early Soundgarden and forays into mega-swagger for “King City” and acoustic psychedelia in “Apparition.” Mountains‘ bread and butter, though, is the meaty riffer fare of “Shake” and closer “The Defector,” the sheer arrogance of which impresses, let alone the fluidity of the riff or the obvious aesthetic drive of the production. Slow Season on Thee Facebooks, RidingEasy Records.

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Beak, Let Time Begin

Not to be confused with Beak>, who are a different band entirely, post-metal four-piece Beak are based in Chicago and Let Time Begin (released by Someoddpilot Records) is their chugging, growling, atmospherically ranging debut full-length. Chicago has proven a hotbed for the genre, and Beak seem well aware of the tenets, trading off crushing riffs for atmospheric post-rock airiness, the lineup of Chris Eichenseer, Jason Goldberg, Andy Bosnak and Jon Slusher taking an Isis influence to unexpected synthy weirdness on “The Breath of Universe” — a vocoder early bringing to mind some of Cynic‘s post-reunion proggism — after the lumbering of “Light Outside.” Longer songs like “Into the Light” and “Carry a Fire” flow well, incorporating some blackened guitar squibblies and echoing screams between them, and the penultimate “Over the Shelter, the Morning” moves from abrasive feedback to contemplative ambience ahead of “Fiery They Rose,” which meters out weighty pummel but ultimately caps Let Time Begin on a subdued note that’s both satisfying and emblematic of a burgeoning will toward individuality. Beak on Thee Facebooks, Someoddpilot Records.

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GravelRoad, El Scuerpo

Seattle blues rockers GravelRoad get the vibe just right on “Waiting for Nothing,” which opens their fifth album, El Scuerpo (Knick Knack Records), rocking out quiet, unpostured blues to lead the way into the record’s varied takes, from the boogie-woogie shuffle of “40 Miles” to the psychedelic fluidity of “Green Grass,” straight-up heavy rock of “DD Amin,” languid roll of “Asteroid” and upbeat finish of “Flesh and Bone,” which is among the happiest songs I’ve ever heard about cannibalism. My chief issue with some of their past work has been a tendency toward disjointedness and a modern blues production style that hones in on clarity and the brightness of the guitar and gives up some of the malevolence of the low end — something more related to my own perspective listening than the actual mission of the band — but El Scuerpo flows well and a mix by Jack “Yes, That Jack Endino” Endino treats eight-minute heavy jam rocker “Asteroid” with its due reverence, and the more I hear it, the more I want to hear it. GravelRoad on Thee Facebooks, Knick Knack Records.

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Lords of Beacon House, Lords of Beacon House

Los Angeles heavy rockers Lords of Beacon House serve notice of their arrival this fall via a three-song EP on Homhomhom that takes loose, Graveyard-style ’70s worship and adds a touch of Western flair in the snare march of “Seven Days” and Sabbathian string pull on “Cool Water Blues.” The EP (they call it an album, it’s really more of a demo, but whatever you want to call it) runs shortest to longest, and opener “Distant Thunder” is the most straightforward of the bunch accordingly, but even in its 8-track chug, Lords of Beacon House showcase natural tones and a penchant for writing strong hooks that continues right through until the last repeat of the line “I asked for water/She gave me gasoline” in “Cool Water Blues,” which rounds out with familiar if welcome nod. They’re a new band and so far as I can tell, this self-titled is the first audio they’ve made public, but they seem to have a handle on what they want to do, and that’s never a bad place to start working from. More to come, I’m sure, and thanks to Bill Goodman for steering me their way. Lords of Beacon House on Thee Facebooks, Homhomhom.

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As noted, this is just a fraction of the stuff that joined the playlist today, so if you get a second, check out the rest at The Obelisk Radio updates and playlist page.

Thanks for reading and listening.
 

Click Here to Download

[mp3player width=480 height=150 config=fmp_jw_widget_config.xml playlist=aot40.xml]

This one’s beamed in from a universe of all good times. I don’t want to walk around tooting my own horn like I actually did anything, but you’ll pardon me if I say that once you get on board here, you might not want to jump back off. The flow is up and down, alternately drawn out and rushing, and right up to the last song which is a bit of a return to earth, the second hour is the most spaced out it’s ever been around these parts. I’m way into it. I hope you’re way into it.

Like last time, I tried to get a mix of excellent stuff upcoming with other recent items you might’ve missed. One of these days I’m gonna do another one of these where I talk, but this is straight-up track into track the whole way through and I think it moves really well that way. Please feel free to grab a download or hit the stream and dig in and enjoy.

First Hour:
The Melvins, “Sesame Street Meat” from Hold it In (2014)
Fever Dog, “One Thousand Centuries” from Second Wind (2014)
Lo-Pan, “Eastern Seas” from Colossus (2014)
Witchrider, “Black” from Unmountable Stairs (2014)
Alunah, “Awakening the Forest” from Awakening the Forest (2014)
Craang, “Magnolia” from To the Estimated Size of the Universe (2014)
Slow Season, “Shake” from Mountains (2014)
Lucifer in the Sky with Diamonds, “Guillotine” from The Shining One (2014)
The Proselyte, “Irish Goodbye” from Our Vessel’s in Need (2014)
Flood, “Lake Nyos” from Oak (2014)
Lord, “Golgotha” from Alive in Golgotha (2014)

Second Hour:
My Brother the Wind, “Garden of Delights” from Once There was a Time When Time and Space were One (2014)
Spidergawd, “Empty Rooms” from Spidergawd (2014)
The Myrrors, “Whirling Mountain Blues” from Solar Collector (2014)
Witch Mountain, “Your Corrupt Ways (Sour the Hymn)” from Mobile of Angels (2014)

Total running time: 1:54:28

Thank you for listening.

Download audiObelisk Transmission 040

And in other news, the Melvins continue to release Melvins albums. But wait, there’s a twist! They’ve traded out the Big Business cats for Paul Leary and JD Pinkus of Butthole Surfers (the latter also of Honky), dropping from two drummers to one — no problem there, Dale Crover can hold his own — but going to two, maybe three, guitars along the way. Oh, those wacky Melvins. You never know quite what’s coming next. It’s a wonder they manage to so consistently sound like the Melvins.

Buzz Osborne is currently on tour supporting his 2014 solo debut, This Machine Kills Artists (review here), but it’s never long before the next Melvins whathaveyou is on the way, and Hold it In is set for an October release through Ipecac. Of course, the PR wire has tour dates corresponding as well.

Here they go:

THE MELVINS RELEASE HOLD IT IN ON OCT. 14 VIA IPECAC RECORDINGS

U.S. TOUR KICKS OFF OCT. 15

The Melvins return with Hold It In, their first studio album as a quartet since 2010’s The Bride Screams Murder, on Oct. 14.

Joining Buzz Osborne and Dale Crover for the 12-song outing are Butthole Surfers’ guitar player Paul Leary and bass player JD Pinkus. Hold It In was recorded in both Los Angeles and Austin earlier this year.

“Hold It In is a refreshing piece of fiction in a boring world of fact and bullsh*t,” said Osborne. “Paul is one of the best guitar players I have ever heard and Pinkus has an outside the box type of approach to both guitar and bass that you just have to let it ride. I can’t believe this actually happened. I’m thrilled.”

“It’s very rare you get a chance to work with three folks from the ‘Break A Wish’ foundation, all at the same time,” said Pinkus. “I believe they’ll remember their experience with me forever (or until they finally all lose their fight with S.I.D.S).”

The Melvins kick off a round of U.S. tour dates on Oct. 15 in Sacramento at Assembly, which also includes a performance at this year’s Voodoo Experience in New Orleans. Osborne, Crover and Pinkus will be the touring roster for this run of dates.

Tour dates:
October 15 Sacramento, CA Assembly
October 17 Bellingham, WA Wild Buffalo House of Music
October 18 Seattle, WA The Showbox
October 19 Portland, OR Roseland Theater
October 21 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall
October 22 San Luis Obispo, CA SLO Brewing
October 23 Los Angeles, CA The Troubadour
October 24 San Diego, CA The Casbah
October 25 Phoenix, AZ The Crescent Ballroom
October 26 Albuquerque, NM The Launchpad
October 28 Dallas, TX Trees
October 29 Austin, TX Mohawk
October 30 Houston, TX Warehouse Live – Studio
October 31 New Orleans, LA Voodoo Fest
November 1 Pensacola, FL Vinyl Music Hall
November 2 Gainesville, FL The Wooly
November 3 Jacksonville, FL Jack Rabbit’s
November 4 Orlando, FL The Social
November 5 Ft. Lauderdale, FL The Culture Room
November 6 Tampa, FL Orpheum Theater
November 8 Atlanta, GA The Loft at Center Stage
November 9 Birmingham, AL Zydeco

Tickets are on sale this Friday, Aug. 1 at 10 am local time.

Osborne is currently touring in support of his debut acoustic album, This Machine Kills Artists, performing shows this week in Tucson (July 30 at Club Congress) and Palm Springs (July 31 at Pappy & Harriet’s) before heading to Australia and Europe for an additional six weeks of dates. Crover temporarily joins OFF! for the band’s August tour.

www.facebook.com/melvinsarmy
www.twitter.com/melvinsdotcom

Buzz Osborne, Live in Nashville, TN, March 18, 2014

True to form of his main outfit, the Melvins, guitarist/vocalist Buzz Osborne has announced that he’ll be supporting his forthcoming solo debut, This Machine Kills Artists — out June 3 on Ipecac — with an extensive, 38-show coast-to-coast, north-south-and-in-between tour. It’s an intimidating list of gigs, and it starts out May 17 at the Scion Rock Fest before launching in full on June 10. If he’s not a singer-songwriter yet, chances are he will be by the time this run is finished.

I defer to the PR wire:

THE MELVINS’ BUZZ OSBORNE ANNOUNCES EXTENSIVE THIS MACHINE KILLS ARTISTS SUMMER TOUR

THIS MACHINE KILLS ARTISTS SET FOR JUNE 3 RELEASE

Melvins’ front man Buzz Osborne has confirmed a seven-week U.S. tour, which kicks off June 10 at The Casbah in San Diego.

Osborne previously announced the release of his first solo, acoustic release, This Machine Kills Artists, which is set for a June 3 release via Ipecac Recordings. Rolling Stone recently premiered the song “Dark Brown Teeth”, describing the track as “doomy, ill-angled” and with the “Beefheartian edge his band is renown for.”

Osborne will document the solo outing through an ongoing travelogue on Noisey.com.

May 17 Pomona, CA Scion Rock Fest

June 10 San Diego, CA The Casbah
June 11 Echo Park, CA The Echo
June 12 Santa Ana, CA The Observatory
June 13 Fresno, CA Strummer’s
June 14 Sacramento, CA Assembly
June 15 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall
June 17 Eugene, OR Wow Hall
June 18 Portland, OR Hawthorne Theatre
June 20 Seattle, WA Neumo’s
June 21 Bellingham, WA The Shakedown
June 22 Spokane, WA The Hop
June 23 Missoula, MT The Palace
June 24 Billings, MT The Railyard
June 26 Fargo, ND The Aquarium
June 27 Minneapolis, MN Grumpy’s
June 28 Milwaukee, WI Shank Hall
June 30 Grand Rapids, MI The Pyramid Scheme

July 1 Columbus, OH A&R Music Bar
July 2 Detroit, MI Small’s
July 3 Cleveland, OH The Grog Shop
July 6 South Burlington, VT Higher Ground
July 7 Portland, ME Portland City Music Hall
July 10 Allston, MA Brighton Music Hall
July 12 Hamden, CT The Ballroom at The Outerspace
July 13 New York, NY Santos Party House
July 14 Brooklyn, NY The Wick
July 15 Philadelphia, PA Underground Arts
July 17 Baltimore, MD Ottobar
July 18 Charlottesville, VA The Southern
July 20 Carrboro, NC Cat’s Cradle
July 22 Atlanta, GA The Basement
July 23 Birmingham, AL The Bottle Tree
July 25 New Orleans, LA One Eyed Jack’s
July 26 Houston, TX Warehouse Live
July 27 Austin, TX Red 7
July 28 Sam Antonio, TX Limelight
July 30 Tucson, AZ Club Congress
July 31 Pioneertown, CA Pappy and Harriet’s

Tickets will be available this Friday, April 4.

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www.themelvins.net

Buzz Osborne, “Dark Brown Teeth”

This week marks the digital release of Mark Deutrom‘s fifth solo album, Brief Sensuality and Western Violence. Its title is a self-aware warning — one almost imagines the former Melvins bassist got it from a movie rating — that hints at some of what the full-length has on offer, as Deutrom embarks on wandering progressions of spaciously concocted jazzy, minimalist guitar and complements with a soft vocal delivery only to hit striking contrast with bouts of fuller distorted buzz or tonal crush, whether it’s the 20-minute opener (immediate points) “Dick Cheney,” which unfolds in movements of varied spirit, or “Venerate the Relic,” which seems to encapsulate the somewhat bipolar feel in its two evenly split halves. Elsewhere, Deutrom, who’s joined on drums and a variety of other noisemaking apparatuses by Aaron Lack and who recorded Brief Sensuality and Western Violence in Austin, Texas, with Chico Jones at Ohm Recording Facility, is more driven not to separate, but bring the two seemingly at odds ideas together.

“Sky Full of Witches” has fuzz enough to make the Tee Pee Records roster blush, while the two-part “Temple Smasher/Other Gods” recalls some of the weirdo crunch of records like Stoner Witch and Stag — both of which Deutrom played on — before moving into one of the album’s most open and gleefully bizarre ambient stretches, the vocals keeping it somewhat grounded amid subtle oompah and amplified construction. Where the earlier “Winter Haystacks at Twilight” backed straightforward singer-songwriter peacefulness with progressively echoing leads (you can think Damnation-era Opeth for a frame of reference, but I doubt they’re an influence here), and closer “Turn Toward the Sun” provides fittingly hopeful canyon-icana, it’s ultimately “A Shaky Rabbit” that most coalesces the demon jazz and creeping intricacy that Deutrom has on offer. Like several of the other pieces, it’s split in half, but there’s a cohesion in theme and a steadiness of atmosphere that speaks to Deutrom‘s mastery of the form.

Cryptically, he describes the track thusly:

The world is really really scary for a scared rabbit, and then a wizard makes it even more more scary
with a funk swamp.

Fair enough. Brief Sensuality and Western Violence is available to download now ahead of a vinyl release early next year. There are a couple tracks streaming on Deutrom‘s Bandcamp page, but the chance to highlight “A Shaky Rabbit” wasn’t something I was going to pass up.

Check it out on the player below and please enjoy:

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Mark Deutrom‘s Brief Sensuality and Western Violence is available now on CD Baby, Bandcamp and iTunes.

That the Melvins are touring is no big surprise. That’s kind of their thing. What’s different this time is that they’re taking the format of their recent Los Angeles residency shows on the road hitting a couple of the major markets, playing albums like Houdini and Stoner Witch in their entirety. That’s the new part, and good news all around, since at this point those records are classics.

No stopping that PR wire:

The Melvins, who recently completed a sold-out residency at Los Angeles‘ Spaceland, are taking the idea mobile with two-night stints in six US cities this May.

The upcoming performances will feature the same setlist in each city with the first night kicking off with the band performing songs from Lysol and Egg Nog followed by a second set of music from Houdini. The second night in each mini-residency will be Bullhead for the first set and Stoner Witch for the second. There will be no opening artists for this tour.

The Melvins‘ next release is Sugar Daddy Live, a 13-track live recording set for release on May 31 via Ipecac Recordings.

The dates are:
05/13 Seattle, WA The Crocodile
05/14 Seattle, WA The Crocodile
05/16 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall
05/17 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall
05/27 Austin, TX Mohawk
05/28 Austin, TX Mohawk
05/31 Chicago, IL Double Door
06/01 Chicago, IL Double Door
06/03 Boston, MA Paradise Rock Club
06/04 Boston, MA Paradise Rock Club
06/06 Brooklyn, NY Music Hall of Williamsburg
06/07 Brooklyn, NY Music Hall of Williamsburg