I like it when, after they tear into “Viva Zapata,” you can audibly hear a dude go “holy shit!” It’s right there, can’t miss it. I’ve been that dude before, and it’s only earned on the part of Totimoshi, who by the time that happens are just barely halfway through their first public set in more than a decade, which took place on May 28 at Caterwaul Fest in Minneapolis. They were, of course, filling in on the bill for themselves, as guitarist/vocalist Antonio Aguilar and bassist/backing vocalist Meg Castellanos were first asked to perform with their newer outfit, All Souls — it’s been about three minutes, I know, but just hang on; I’ll get back to drooling over their work at the next available opportunity, rest assured — but the other half of that four-piece had prior commitments, so all of a sudden, a Totimoshi reunion went from a vague someday-maybe possibility to booked, and even better, then it actually happened. Like, on this planet! Pretty killer, right?
I’ll confess my ignorance as to who Ryan Sutherby — who filmed the video below that captures the full ‘reunion’ set in its entirety — is, and he’s probably not Mr. Holyshit, but golly gosh I sure am glad he showed up to Caterwaul. The clip is a single camera, true bootleg-style audio, but you can hear the telltale crunch in Aguilar‘s guitar that reminds you they were a noise rock band at their root and in their earliest going, with flashes of the melody that has come so much more to prominence in All Souls amid the punker push given force by Chris Fugitt‘s drums and the more aggressive spirit of Totimoshi‘s music when taken on average. And I hedged that statement purposefully with “on average” because in highlight ‘newer’ Totimoshi songs as well as the earlier reaches of their turn-of-the-century-era catalog, they had some pretty raw stuff in there, but were always growing as a band, and that’s showcased in this set as well.
And hell yes I’m posting it. What, you thought after putting up the announcement that it was happening, doing another video premiere, and interviewing Castellanos and Aguilar about getting the band started again, I would let it go? Not a chance. From “Dance of Snakes” and “Avenger” to “The Whisper” and “Seeing Eye,” I’m in. In fact, I don’t usually do this, but I’m actually casting the set on my tv right now as I write this, because I happen to have the house to myself for the next half-hour or so and it would take me longer than that to try to think of a better way to spend the time than watching them play. It’s been 12 years since I last saw them. It was a long time ago. I don’t think Aguilar even owned that hat yet, but looking back at the pictures, Fugitt might actually be wearing the same shirt.
It’s a short set, just 37 minutes, and it ends with another “holy shit!” from what’s clearly the same dude. You certainly won’t hear me argue.
Enjoy:
Totimoshi, Live at Caterwaul 2023
Totimoshi Live at Caterwaul on 5-28-23. First show in 12 years!
This was an interesting conversation. Yeah, I’m a dork for these two generally and this isn’t the first time they’ve been interviewed in this fashion, but that was for a whole other band. This is Totimoshi gearing up to play their first show in more than a decade, and while I’m not going to be in Minneapolis this coming weekend to see them at Caterwaul Fest, I still think it’s exciting on the off chance someone will have their phone out taking video that they post later.
The last time I saw Totimoshi was Aug. 20, 2011, at a then-newly-opened Saint Vitus Bar in Brooklyn (review here). They were touring to support that year’s Avenger (review here), which was their second record to see release through Volcom Entertainment and their sixth overall, their self-titled debut having arrived in 1999. And among the subset of turn-of-the-century heavy rockers, Totimoshi were always distinct. Born out of punk and guitarist/vocalist Antonio Aguilar and bassist Meg Castellanos‘ respective experiences growing up Chicano and Cuban in that scene, Totimoshi were always a band in-between styles, never easily pegged stylistically. Individual. They were never purposely weird in the sense of banging on trash cans or whathaveyou, but their style was their own and it remains vital, even amid the more melodic explorations of songwriting Castellanos and Aguilar have been doing for the last five-plus years in All Souls.
And yeah, All Souls put out Ghosts Among Us (review here) last year — I got to stream and review it on my birthday, so that was a fun little present to myself — and that was brilliant and I wanted to talk about that too, but as you dig into the interview below, it goes fairly deep into especially Aguilar‘s experience, his coming to terms with new aspects of his lineage, realizing himself as both colonized and colonizer, how the band’s not-white identity affected their initial run, and what if anything the future might hold for Totimoshi. More shows? New music? Maybe a bit of each as we move forward. They’re not talking about a new full-length yet, just new songs, but talking about new songs is a step, and this reunion between Aguilar, Castellanos and drummer Chris Fugitt is barely getting started, if it’s going to ‘start’ at all beyond hitting Caterwaul.
We’ll see where it goes. Either way, I was glad to speak to Castellanos and Aguilar again about old times and new times, things past and things maybe to come.
I hope you enjoy and thanks for reading and watching:
Totimoshi, Interview with Meg Castellanos & Antonio Aguilar, May 12, 2023
I had a pretty interesting conversation with Meg Castellanos and Antonio Aguilar of Totimoshi last week that’ll be posted around here in the next couple weeks as a video interview. The occasion is the first show for the trio — Chris Fugitt rounds out on drums — in about nine years that will take place later this month, specifically May 28 at Caterwaul Fest in Minneapolis. You might recognize the pair from the work they’ve done over the last half-decade in All Souls across three-to-date full-lengths the latest of which was last year’s Ghosts Among Us (review here). Totimoshi was founded before the turn of the century and self-released their first album in 1999 before going on to work with labels like Crucial Blast, This Dark Reign, Volcom Entertainment and At a Loss Recordings, the latter of which issued 2011’s Avenger (review here), their final full-length to-date.
Among the topics covered in the chat was how Totimoshi were never — they’re still not — a band that fits neatly in genre. Aguilar linked this to his own roots and those of Californian punk rock in Chicano culture and history, and went back through his family line to some surprising places as a part of that, reckoning with colonialism and racism from across the subject/object divide. Keep an eye out for the interview, which I’ll post as soon as I find a day for it before Caterwaul. In the meantime, Castellanos has put together a video for “The Whisper,” which comes from the band’s 2008 LP, Milagrosa, released by Volcom and produced by Helmet frontman Page Hamilton and engineered by Toshi Kasai, that you can see below. Totimoshi toured with Helmet at this point and was closely linked with the Melvins for a while, but “The Whisper” is a showcase of dynamic as well as Totimoshi‘s songcraft more generally, less aggro in its shove than some of their work was even as they grew increasingly melodic throughout their (original) tenure, but still keeping some snarl to coincide with the harder-landing edge of their tonality and Fugitt‘s steady crash.
There’s some nostalgia in the video, as I imagine there is in bringing back a band you used to play in after about a decade, and that’s reasonable enough. Maybe in looking back as well, Milagrosa was a special moment for the band, short of burning out, touring hard, righteously undervalued as they’d be for the duration but dug into their own style and consistently progression in their approach. It wasn’t their final statement — again, to-date; they have a couple new songs in the works but said in that interview they don’t want to do another full-length at this point — but “The Whisper” emphasizes the gentleness as well as the force of their output and reminds just how encompassing their material could be when met on its own level, genre-based expectations put to the side if only for a little while.
If you’re going to watch the video, give that a shot, especially if you aren’t already familiar with who Totimoshi were or what they did during their time together. Take a breath and let it be its own thing, because that’s what it is anyhow. In any case, I hope you enjoy:
Totimoshi, “The Whisper” video premiere
Official music video for The Whisper by Meg Castellanos. From the album Milagrosa, produced by Page Hamilton, engineered and mixed by Toshi Kasai.
Totimoshi are: Guitar and vocals, Antonio Aguilar Bass, Meg Castellanos Drums, Chris Fugitt
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 16th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
So is it a reunion? Los Angeles heavy noise-plus rockers Totimoshi released their last album, Avenger (review here), in 2011, and they haven’t played a show since then. Guitarist/vocalist Antonio Aguilar and bassist/vocalist Meg Castellanos have spent the intervening 12 years in a couple different projects, perhaps most notably All Souls with Tony Tornay of Fatso Jetson and, more recently, Alice Austin of Black Sabbitch — the band’s third album, Ghosts Among Us (review here), came out last year, and that band generally has kind of been the outlet for that side of Aguilar and Castellanos‘ craft, growing the melody that was increasingly present in Totimoshi‘s work across their six records issued between 1999 and the arrival of Avenger.
I was a sucker for Totimoshi (and I’m a sucker for All Souls, too), but from where I sit they went out on their best record and left more to say. I don’t know if Castellanos and Aguilar rejoining forces with Chris Fuggitt for one gig in Minneapolis is the beginning of a longer-term reunion of the band, if they’re going to do anything else let alone tour or write new songs or whatnot, but as they announce their upcoming appearance at Caterwaul in Minneapolis on May 28, it’s a welcome return whether it leads to anything else or not. You might recall Totimoshi last year unearthed the lost recording “Reasons Why” (posted here), and, you know, if they had six or seven other previously unreleased tracks laying around and wanted to dub some tapes or something, shit, I’d buy one if I managed to scrounge the Paypal together before they were gone.
What I like most about this, though, is that there’s no wrong answer. If Totimoshi are going to be a thing again, great. If their playing out might happen every now and again when All Souls can’t do something that Totimoshi can, great. If it happens once and Aguilar and Castellanos are back to All Souls after, great. Both? Certainly great, and it would be fascinating to see how one became distinguished from the other over time. But for now, it’s one show, so let’s start with that:
The return of Totimoshi!
Our first show in 12 years! See you in Minneapolis May 28th.
Totimoshi started in 1999 in the SF Bay Area, released several albums and videos, and toured like crazy. 2 US tours a year plus 3 European tours opening for Mastodon, Helmet, and Eyehategod. We went through too many drummers – it was not an easy lifestyle to hop in a van for 4-6 weeks at a time with 2 big dogs, as we were known to do… but it was a great run filled with many insane road stories and accomplishments.
All Souls was asked to play the Caterwaul Fest on Memorial Day Weekend in Minneapolis but Tony Tornay and Alice Austin were not available. Both will be in Europe with their other bands at that time. So instead of wasting an opportunity, we asked Chris Fugitt, our last drummer if he would be interested in resurrecting Totimoshi for this festival. Chris lives in Kansas City now and is still playing music. He was up for it and we are all excited to revisit this music that meant so much to us.
On our recent trip to Mexico City, we noticed that we had fans there that were excited to talk about our old band. Some fans and promoters on recent tours have been asking for a Totimoshi reunion. We hadn’t really considered it until now.
Totimoshi: Antonio Aguilar – guitar/vocals Meg Castellanos – bass/vocals Chris Fuggitt – drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on April 18th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
I’ll spare you the diatribe about how Los Angeles aughts-era heavy rockers Totimoshi — before the social-media-everything cultural takeover — have been unjustly forgotten and lost to time. The truth is that the only reason I haven’t written more about them is that their earlier records aren’t streaming. Their last album was 2011’s Avenger (review here) and I was crazy fortunate to see them live as they toured to support it, and I’ve been glad to follow guitarist/vocalist Antonio Aguilar and bassist Meg Castellanos as they’ve pushed forward with All Souls, initially as four-piece and subsequently returned to a trio format as Totimoshi was, at least temporarily.
But Totimoshi were killer, in any case, and if you’re not yet on board with All Souls, I’ve included below the stream of their 2020 sophomore album, Songs for the End of the World (review here) — still their latest release — for you to get introduced even as I enjoy digging back and hearing an extra-raw Totimoshi dive into “Reasons Why” as a lost artifact of their tenure. It’s a short track, kind of a footnote that former drummer Donny Newenhouse apparently stumbled upon, but as a nerd for the band that was and the band that is, I’ll take it and enjoy hearing the differences between Totimoshi‘s half-punk take on heavy and All Souls‘ more melodic reach and complex songcraft.
And maybe if we all listen they’ll put 2003’s Monolí up on Bandcamp and I can finally do a Friday Full-Length for it.
From the PR wire:
https://totimoshi.bandcamp.com/track/reasons-why
Our old drummer Donny Newenhouse recently unearthed the tune while transferring DAT’s to digital from his storage space. He came across an unlabeled DAT tape. No notes – not even a date, name of song, etc. At the time of the recording, Donny lived above the music venue Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco. We tracked this song in his apartment – drums were set up in the kitchen, bass in the living room and guitar above the stairs in the hallway.
Donny also played guitar and wrote music. He is also a really amazing recording engineer. He would go on to engineer Monolí along with our friend Lars Savage (RIP Lars, we all miss you).
When we heard this track for the first time this week, Antonio was reminded of the inspiration to write the riff to this song:
I’d been an AC/DC fan since I was a kid but had never seen them live. I finally got the chance to see them at the Oakland Colosseum.
in the fall of 2000. At that time it had been a while since I had had a real rock and roll experience. By this, I mean losing myself at a show; that feeling of being in a time warp and nothing exists except for what is going on at the moment because it is so so good.
Those experiences were the reason I devoted my life to playing the guitar. I spent 6 hours a day playing scales and positioning chords and dreaming of playing on a massive stage someday. Sep. 20th, 2000 I had that rock n’ roll experience.
Meg and I went from being slightly bored watching Slash’s Snake Pit open the show to being up on our feet at the first loud bell of “Hell’s Bells” to screaming every lyric at the top of our lungs for the rest of the set. We could not believe what we were witnessing. The sheer might and volume that is AC Fucking DC, and Angus running back and forth the whole entire time… it was mind blowing.
That show really effected me. This initial riff was probably written around the time of the AC/DC experience.
Why I never did second guitar parts and put a solo over the overtone solo I will never know – but in a way it preserved that AC/DC rawness of this song.
I must admit, it is weird to hear this song. I had forgotten about it. I was a completely different person then.
Here we are, 20 years later, and we are all still playing music.
Meg and I got to play the Apollo in Glasgow where AC/DC filmed “If You Want Blood, You Got It”.
While Totimoshi played, I couldn’t stop thinking about Angus and Malcolm.
Totimoshi on “Reasons Why”: Antonio Aguilar – guitar, vocals Meg Castellanos – bass Donny Newenhouse – drums, engineer
There is an entire league of brutally underrated crafters of heavy rock and roll whose greatest misfortune, perhaps, was being active before the ascendancy of social media made ‘word of mouth’ as simple as cutting and pasting a link to a news feed, and it is to this number that Tony Aguilar belongs. Together with Meg Castellanos, Aguilar stood at the helm of the raw, bold and deeply individualized outfit Totimoshi for more than a decade before their 2011 outing, Avenger (review here), served as their final triumph and swansong, and after a few years of exploring flamenco and folk influences together in Alma Sangre as well as tour managing for the likes of Sleep and the Melvins, the urge to reestablish a footing in heavy music asserted itself, and All Souls began to take shape.
Of course, no story is ever quite that simple, but as All Souls issued their self-titled debut (review here) on Feb. 9 through Sunyata Records and quickly took off on a UK tour alongside Fatso Jetson, that footing sure seems to have been found. Comprised of Aguilar on guitar/vocals, Castellanos on bass/vocals, Erik Trammell of Black Elk on guitar and backing vocals, and Tony Tornay, also of Fatso Jetson, on drums, All Souls offer nine songs of varied moods but universal impact on the self-titled, reminding of the strength that was in Aguilar and Castellanos‘ songwriting process during the Totimoshi days but building outward as well and covering new ground thanks to the contributions of Trammell and Tornay to the mix. A production job by Toshi Kasai blends weighted crunch with fluid layering on songs like “Money Man” and “Sadist/Servant,” the latter of which trades between open stretches of melancholia and some of the record’s most forceful percussive impact, making the entire experience more engaging, cohesive and sincere.
I’ve already reviewed the album, so I’ll spare you any further blah blah blah about how I think it’s worth your time and the effort of an active listen and just get to the interview. As All Souls just wrapped that tour with Fatso Jetson — Tornay pulling double-duty at his kit — it seemed like the perfect opportunity to get the story behind the band’s origins, how they came together after the slow dissolution of Totimoshi, and where they might be headed after this initial collection. Fresh from the road, Aguilar was kind enough to accommodate.
Please enjoy the following Six Dumb Questions:
Six Dumb Questions with All Souls
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Tell me about getting All Souls together. How did Erik Trammell and Tony Tornay get involved? Was there a specific impetus behind forming a new rock-style project, and when it came to it, what was behind the decision to not simply bring back Totimoshi? What are the differences between the two bands for you?
The rock music community is a small world, especially if you’re in a touring band. All the members of All Souls have been friends for years. Before the forming of our band, Meg and I had known Erik Trammell and Tony Tornay for probably 20 years. We met Erik back in the ’90s when he was in the band Wadsworth. Later his band Black Elk used to play shows with Totimoshi. Meg and I met Tony Tornay back in the ’90s as well when Fatso Jetson opened for Kyuss at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco.
When Meg and I moved to L.A., I got a job working for the Melvins, which turned into working for Neurosis and Sleep, which led to me being on road for nine months out of the year. I really believe that cost me Totimoshi. Being absent is not good for a band. Eventually, Chris Fugitt, the drummer in Totimoshi ended up moving back to Kansas City because of a job offer. Totimoshi tried to continue with new drummers but it just didn’t feel right. After Totimoshi ended, Meg and I started an acoustic band called Alma Sangre that incorporates Spanish guitar with flamenco dance. It was sort of a venture into a completely different type of songwriting and singing (I sing in Spanish with sort of a Chavela Vargas-type of delivery).
As that went on I got the itch to be in a rock band again, which eventually led me to starting a band called Last Days of Ancient Sunlight with my friend Ferdie [Cudia] from the band 400 Blows. We were a band for about a year and a half — even recorded a full length that never came out because of in-fighting. All this time, Tony Tornay and I would see each other occasionally and throw around the idea of starting a band. We even jammed a few times. About the time Last Days broke up Erik Trammell moved back to Los Angeles from Austin. I had set Erik up with a friend of mine that rented a room to him. Erik and I talked one day and the idea of writing together came up. Which is how All Souls basically started. Erik Trammell and I sitting in my spare room — him playing guitar and me mostly singing. Over the course of a few weeks we came up with the bare structure for three songs which I sent to Tony Tornay. Tony liked it; then Tornay, Erik and I talked and decided on Meg for bass because we liked her playing and felt a female vocal would add something special. That’s how All Souls was born.
Personally, the difference between All Souls and Totimoshi is All Souls is way more developed. It’s 10 times the visual, 10 times the feel and strength of Totimoshi. It’s literally the band I always dreamed of being in. It is also more art by committee that Totimoshi ever was. I tended to be a bit of a dictator in Totimoshi. With All Souls, the I has turned into we. We all write, we all write well, we all trust. All Souls involved.
When were the songs for the self-titled written, and were they written with any specific goals in mind? Was there something in particular you wanted the album to express?
Before the band ever played together we sat at a table and discussed how we were going to proceed. This was Tony Tornay‘s idea and I still think back with fondness to that evening. We drank wine and discussed music… more importantly we discussed what we wanted All Souls to be. From what I remember we wanted female/male energy (no overly macho bullshit). We wanted the songs to decide the length of the song — not some ridiculous formula. We wanted dark music that illuminates, and we wanted deep complex melody. We talked about bands that we loved, but that’s a secret. Over the course of about a year we made this all come to fruition.
Tell me about being back in the studio with Toshi Kasai. How long were you there? What was the recording process like? You worked with him of course with Totimoshi, but how was it different this time and what did he bring to the table as a producer? What was it about him that let you know he was the guy for the job?
Meg, Erik, and myself had all worked with Toshi Kasai prior to All Souls. Tony Tornay listened to his work and agreed that Toshi was the guy. We are all friends with him, know and love him and respect his vision as a producer. Toshi has a very specific way of recording and mixing that we love. Personally, I feel that because we have worked so much together — we understand and trust each other. We recorded with Toshi in three different sessions. The goal was to write three songs, rehearse the shit out of the three songs, record the three songs, then move on to the next three. Over the course of about a year all nine songs were recorded at Toshi‘s Sound of Sirens Studio.
Is it any different working with Meg in All Souls as opposed to Totimoshi or in Alma Sangre? Not looking to pry, but how do you view the interaction between the personal relationship and the creative one? How interrelated are they?
Meg and I have been in a relationship for 27 years. That is 27 years of dreaming, writing, traveling and working together, and I don’t see us slowing down. We understand each other very well as people and as artists. That dynamic plays very similarly in each artistic endeavor that we have been a part of but I do feel that All Souls is our first real and true collaboration with other people. I feel like for the most part Totimoshi and Alma Sangre was basically Meg and I doing most of the major work and allowing input from other people that were involved. All Souls is a real and true circle of collaboration. Not only do we all write, but we all work on the forward movement of the band. I’ve never really been in a band until now that literally has every member of the band networking, setting up shows, tours, and dealing with PR. Namely, the business side of things. Before All Souls it seemed that it was always up to Meg and myself. It is truly a great thing to see, but I’m not surprised — we all sat at the table and drew this thing up. That is the strength of this project.
How was touring the UK with Fatso Jetson? How did Tony handle pulling double-duty on drums, and how much road Eme do you ulEmately think All Souls will do in the US and abroad?
The tour was amazing. There is nothing like playing and touring with not only friends but a band you consider a true inspiration. Tony Tornay was powerhouse on this tour — and he did it while fighting the flu!! He’s part man, part machine. We were well received everywhere we went, we got to see some incredible towns and meet some great people. One of the most amazing things we saw was people traveling from great distances to come see the show, some flying in from other countries. Some fans came to multiple shows. I think I can speak for all the members when I say we are hoping to tour as much as humanly possible. What better thing is there in life?
Any other plans or closing words you want to mention?
Our first album is done and we are already writing for the next. All Souls forever!
[Click play above to stream All Souls’ All Souls in its entirety. Album is out Feb. 9 on Sunyata Records.]
Momentum is quickly on the side of the self-titled debut from Los Angeles heavy rockers All Souls, as the result of a resounding opening salvo of uptempo hooks released like years of pent-up tension. And they just might be. The four-piece trace their roots back to a brutally underappreciated outfit called Totimoshi, from whence guitarist/vocalist Tony Aguilar and bassist/vocalist Meg Castellanos both come, and here joined with guitarist/backing vocalist Erik Trammell of Black Elk and drummer Tony Tornay of Fatso Jetson, the couple/core duo in some ways pick up where their prior band left off — that is to say, driving riffs with roots in punk, grunge and heavy rock, emotive melodies and memorable songcraft brought to bear with a boldness of naturalism through a Toshi Kasai production that would scare most groups away even in concept.
Issued through Sunyata Records, which is owned by Barrett Martin of Screaming Trees and Mad Season (speaking of emotive melody), All Souls‘ All Souls comprises nine tracks and runs an efficient but not bare 46 minutes, and whether it’s the blend of howling electrics and acoustic strum of “Sadist/Servant” later in the record — on which, by the way, Tool‘s Danny Carey puts in a guest appearance on drums — or the earlier circular chorus bludgeon of “Never Know,” it is a record varied of approach but unflinching in its expressive purposes. It builds unrepentantly on the past experience of the band’s members but finds them unwilling to give up exploring new ground in favor of simply retreading old paths, and particularly as side A moves into side B around centerpiece “Rename the Room,” grows into a listening experience that only becomes richer in repetition.
But those hooks. Those hooks — a one-two-three punch of upbeat rush that carries through opener “Party Night,” the aforementioned “Never Know” and the start-stop verse into stomping chorus launch of “Money Man” — set the course for All Souls, and it’s a 14-minute push that speaks to the high level of craft all throughout. Aguilar and Trammell weave complementary guitar lines fluidly from the outset — as in, immediately on “Party Night” — as Castellanos adds low-end tension to the Songs for the Deaf-style careen of the opener and Tornay finds his builds and crashing payoffs handed down alongside handclaps during the bridge. Leads, rhythms, acoustics, vocal harmonies, percussive presence and a residual tonal crunch permeate, but All Souls are firmly in control of “Party Night,” and they’ll remain so as “Never Know” — one of three inclusions here over six minutes long; the others being “Rename the Room” and closer “Time Bomb” — spins heads with its manically repeated title lyric.
Because Aguilar has such a distinct vocal delivery, because he’s often on his own during the verses, and because of the balance in the mix the inclusion of backing vocals from Castellanos and Trammell comes across as subtle, but it’s another aspect that, be it in “Never Know” or “Money Man” or the no-less-sing-along-ready “Silence,” which follows, adds a sense of cohesion to the tracks. And as to why “Silence” isn’t included in that opening salvo — because really there’s no dip in quality there or anywhere after — it’s a matter of vibe and tempo. “Silence” pulls back some on the accelerator from “Money Man” and introduces a more spacious sensibility especially in its echo-laden second half that “Rename the Room” continues to build upon, thereby serving as a transitional moment in the overarching flow rather than a furthering of the record’s initial argument in its own favor. That argument, in other words, is simply entering its next phase.
“Rename the Room” might be the emotional crux of All Souls‘ All Souls. Atop flourish of reverb guitar, Aguilar blends indie and grunge-style melodic sweetness in a serene, contemplative and still of-the-desert vibe as Tornay punctuates, and a break to minimalist quiet leads excitingly to a choice and unabashedly rocking groove in the second half, “cool” in the classic sense of sunglasses at night and a backdrop for a wailing solo, cyclical toms and an ambient feel that remains steady despite the uptick in activity, drawing the two sides of the track together, and really, doing the same for the album as a whole. It ends quiet and “The Ghost is Flying Home” stomps in quickly with a more foreboding mood before turning from the earlier-established structures to break into thirds with verses and choruses bookending an exploratory midsection that in addition to some highlight vocal interplay from Castellanos and Aguilar works to build to a driving thrust of a fuzz and payoff, leading to the quiet start of the emergently-percussive “Sadist/Servant.” I’m not sure if Tornay plays alongside Carey, but if you told me there were two drummers on the track, I’d believe it. Nonetheless, its primary impression comes through the woven guitars and melodies and the balance of rhythm and melody, rather than a showy or overly progressive spirit shoehorned into a record otherwise so brimming with humanity.
A galloping, squealing finish comes to a head and cuts out cold to set the stage for the mid-paced tension of the penultimate “Reveille,” which takes a more winding approach and winds up somewhat hypnotic for it despite a thud of toms two minutes in and resonant crescendo marked by thicker tones at the cymbal-wash finish. The varied course of “The Ghost is Flying Home,” “Sadist/Servant” and “Reveille,” in comparison to “Party Night,” “Never Know” and “Money Man” at the outset, does much to flesh out All Souls‘ aesthetic reach overall, and the finale/summary in the 6:51 of “Time Bomb” only underscores the achievement made in terms of dynamic and chemistry between players. Around yet another memorable chorus, All Souls swirl and churn and keep a forward trajectory even as they seem to willfully meander, pursuing sandy expanses one more time before pulling together and heading toward a last push, Tornay saving highlight snare work to cut through the echoing guitars before the whole thing seems to break apart amid residual tones and the album’s final notes.
It’s been seven years since Totimoshi released their last album, Avenger (review here), and nearly two decades since they made their self-titled debut in 1999. If All Souls, who’ve been together since 2015/2016, is to be a redirection of the work that Aguilar and Castellanos did in that outfit, then it’s a relief much of what made that band so underrated in terms of craft and performance and personality remains intact in this material. At the same time, it’s exciting to hear desert rock so readily engaged on the group’s own terms rather than those of the style itself, and used as part of a broad pastiche that one hopes continues to expand as they move forward. While it’s almost unfair to consider it a debut, for the excitement factor in the actual hearing, the songwriting on display and the potential in the already-so-prevalent chemistry among all four players, there’s no doubt All Souls‘ All Soulswill stand among 2018’s best.
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 3rd, 2017 by JJ Koczan
Oh I am very, very much looking forward to this one. I was always a big fan of Tony Aguilar and Meg Castellanos‘ work in the vastly underrated Totimoshi, who released their last album, Avenger (review here), in 2011, so to find them once again embracing a more heavy rock-style form in All Souls is only awesome news as far as I’m concerned. They’ve spent some time exploring textures of folk guitar and dance in Alma Sangre as well, but with Erik Trammel of Black Elk on second guitar and Fatso Jetson‘s own Tony Tornay on drums, All Souls take straight-ahead heavy rock to exciting and intricate places on tracks like “Silence,” “The Ghost is Flying Home” and “Party Night,” all of which are streaming now on their Bandcamp page.
The album, self-titled, was produced by Toshi Kasai and is set to release on Feb. 9 via Sunyata Records. I will very much hope to have more on it before then. Can’t wait to hear the full thing from the tracks posted so far.
From the PR wire:
ALL SOULS (TOTIMOSHI, DESERT SESSIONS) RELEASE SELF-TITLED DEBUT ALBUM ON FEB. 9 VIA SUNYATA RECORDS
All Souls, the Los Angeles-based band featuring former members of Totimoshi (Meg Castellanos and Tony Aguilar) and The Desert Sessions (Tony Tornay), release their self-titled debut album on Feb. 9.
The band is streaming their new song, “Never Know” as an instant download with All Souls pre-orders, which are available now (https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/all-souls/id1301659862). All Souls, who formed in 2015 and have since toured with friends and colleagues in Red Fang, The Sword, Kvelertak, Torche and more, release the 9-track album via Barrett Martin’s (Screaming Trees, Mad Season) Sunyata Records.
“We had been wanting to be in another rock band,” explains Aguilar. “All Souls also reunited us with Toshi Kasai who produced three of our Totimoshi records. He has his own approach. It’s almost like you enter into a different world with his production. Each song becomes like a journey, and nobody curtailed that. We were all on the same page.”
All Souls was recorded at Sounds of Sirens Studio. Tool drummer Danny Carey guests on “Sadist/Servant.”
All Souls tracklist:
Party Night Never Know Money Man Silence Rename The Room The Ghost is Flying Home Sadist/Servant Reveille Time Bomb
All Souls is Tony Aguilar (Totimoshi), Meg Castellanos (Totimoshi), Tony Tornay (The Desert Sessions, Fatso Jetson) and Erik Trammel (Black Elk).
