[Click play above to stream The Whims of the Great Magnet’s Good Vibes & High Tides in Full. Album is out Dec. 1 with preorders direct from the band.]

Founded seven years ago by Sander Haagmans in Maastricht, the Netherlands, The Whims of the Great Magnet returns with a second full-length album in the self-released Good Vibes & High Tides. The follow-up to early 2017’s The Purple & Yellow Album (discussed here), it would seem to be in conversation with Haagmans‘ work as bassist/vocalist for the much-missed Sungrazer, whose 2013 disbanding was followed in 2015 by the death of guitarist/vocalist Rutger Smeets, thereby obviating an eventual reunion. As willfully as The Purple & Yellow Album pushed in alternate directions away from what Sungrazer was, the 10-track/44-minute Good Vibes & High Tides embraces it without necessarily trying to recapture that sound and moment entirely. Haagmans instead hones across the new album’s span a kind of summery grunge fuzz, occasionally given to psychedelic shimmer — some added pedal steel on “Simple” courtesy of Ingo Jetten at Trashed Attic Audio doesn’t hurt — and holding onto the intimacy of solo songwriting while adopting a more full-band feel with drummer Iwan Wijnen, even unto capturing a fluid, at-least-part-improv guitar-led jam on 11-minute closer “Roerloze Beweger.”

That in itself is an impressive feat, even for Haagmans, who’s had plenty of time in the studio over the course of the last decade and seems at this point to do most of his recording at home, but as the title of the record puts it first, the focus here indeed is on the vibe, and the vibe is good. Good Vibes & High Tides is marked by a welcome sense of tonal warmth that lo-fi neopsych has replaced with naked shimmer, and the depth that’s been forsaken by so much jammy psych is evident right from the opening roll of “Lose My Head,” which counts in on the hi-hat and then is on its way like it was never off. Haagmans‘ vocals are laid back in the verse and layered in the chorus, the bass tone is an early highlight — as it would almost have to be — and immediately the spirit is melodic, welcoming and engaging, continuing onto “Here to Party” as if to underscore its intent. Through up and down verse lines that shift quickly into the chorus, the 3:40 “Here to Party” is marked by its abiding lack of pretense.

I wouldn’t call it a party song in the “party rock” sense — the hook lines, after all, are, “We are only here to party/We are only here” — but its straightforward presentation is a fitting summary of the perspective from which Good Vibes & High Tides seems to be working in general in balancing personal expression and a complete-group sound. Even shorter at 3:19, “Guess it’s True” follows in subtly more patient fashion, alternative rock and fuzz melding without argument beneath layers of sweet-toned post-Cobain vocals and a third-in-a-row memorable chorus. Three makes a salvo, and there’s still the title-track to round out the opening movement, which would seem to be delineated from the rest of the LP by the 40-second interlude “Hay.”

That’s just a riff and the word repeated a couple times — a lost art of sneaky listener-disorientation that any number of in-some-ways-more-loyal ’90s preservationists have neglected — over in flash and maybe a vinyl-flip to bring on “Oew,” with a vocal drawl and particularly Sungrazer-style chorus sort of bounding through a thick and immersive fuzz after more of a strummed verse. Though it has the briefest runtime of Good Vibes & High Tides‘ non-interlude tracks at 2:23, it nonetheless keeps the underlying structure as barebones as possible, cutting off at the end and refusing a jam that might otherwise have taken hold in spite of itself in Haagmans‘ one-time four-piece incarnation of the band. I don’t think it would be missing if it wasn’t there, but the presence of pedal steel doesn’t take anything away from “Simple,” certainly, and it plays up the pastoralia-memory of the verse ahead of the crunchier chorus, just a touch of Brant–Bjork-at-the-beach coming through but ultimately establishing its own personality ahead of “Cocaine & Yoga,” the verse of which seems to have derived part of its structure directly from Nirvana‘s “School.”

There’s some slide in the chorus (I don’t think it’s more pedal steel?), but the song itself is a high point — “What the hell is going on today?/Cocaine and yoga all the way” is a hook that deserves to be delivered from a stage — and the noisy transitional mess and quiet guitar line that picks up to end the song is a surprising and, frankly, delightfully honest, moment put to tape. By then he’s well into the depths of side B, but the closing duo of “Wei Wu Wijnen” (6:01) and “Roerloze Beweger” (11:41) are a movement unto themselves just the same, the former establishing itself quietly with fading-in drum swing and a guitar/bass bed for soft, bluesy melodic vocals.

This too would seem to come from a similar place as some of the more atmospheric stretches of Sungrazer‘s second long-player, 2011’s Mirador (review here), hypnotic guitar noodling leading the way out and directly into the righteous opening strum of “Roerloze Beweger.” A well-placed tambourine shake signals the launch of the groove and the finale is underway, uptempo and exciting if still overridingly mellow of vibe. The push settles down for the verses but plays well back and forth, and the song pays off the layered vocal melodies heard prior, the forwardness of the rhythm of Good Vibes & High Tides‘ most rocking moments, and its hinted-at sense of nod, arriving at the latter circa three minutes in and taking spot-on ownership of it. An instrumental jam ensues from then on, moving through a plotted progression into more improvised-sounding fare in the basslines standing out around five minutes in and the guitar that takes the reins after the final builds and crashes of Wijnen‘s drums, a meandering line that recedes to silence gently to end the album.

While there’s no doubt Good Vibes & High Tides both lives up to its title and the legacy of Haagmans‘ former three-piece, it does leave one wondering what his plans ultimately are for the project. To wit, this material is really, really engaging, and where The Purple & Yellow Album seemed almost to be an act of expression-as-exorcism — a release in the truest sense — Good Vibes & High Tides has more of an outreach kind of feel, connecting to the listener with outwardly catchy songs meant to do precisely that. Will Haagmans put together another full lineup? Will he continue down this sonic path, or is it a directional one-off en route to the next thing? Would he combine this with some of the more bedroom-acoustic material he’s done before? As much as Hunter S. Thompson advised following the Great Magnet’s directives, Haagmans seems to-date to be charting his own course with The Whims of the Great Magnet, and as to where that will take him (rumor has it a trio incarnation is to debut live next month), we’ll just have to wait and see. This record is nothing less than a gift as a part of that process.

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The Whims of the Great Magnet on Bandcamp

Long-since sold out, Freak Valley 2020 has made its second lineup announcement, and I know it pretty well because I wrote it. I like putting these things together. I’ve done various other fest writeups for years for different events — Roadburn, Desertfest, Psycho, etc. — but as far as I know, I’m the only one doing Freak Valley Festival lineup announcements, so I kind of feel like I’m responsible in part for creating the voice the fest uses to reach its audience. And since I think the thing is clearly driven by passion and a sense of being fans as well as presenters, I hope these posts convey that. I dig what Freak Valley do, and it will be nothing short of an honor for me to step foot in Siegen and witness it for myself next June.

Here’s the latest:

WITCHCRAFT | PELICAN | CAMERA | THE NEPTUNE POWER FEDERATION | WE HUNT BUFFALO confirmed for Freak Valley Festival 2020

Hails Freaks! It’s time to get down!

We’ve been looking forward to this announcement since, well, pretty much since the first one, but we think you’ll agree things are starting to take shape for Freak Valley Festival 2020.

Before we dive in, we here at FVF want to thank you all so much for the tremendous support and faith you’ve shown in us yet again by snagging tickets less than half an hour after they went on sale, so long before the bands are even done being revealed. It means more than we can say to have your trust year after year, and we promise you, we will never take it for granted and stop working to bring you the best and biggest Freak Valley yet!

That said, let’s do this thing. Five bands this time, and like we do, it’s no fillers, all killers:

Witchcraft

From their earliest days defining the course of vintage-style heavy rock and doom to the later modern clarity they’ve found as they’ve followed the increasingly nuanced and progressive path of Magnus Pelander’s songwriting, Witchcraft come to Freak Valley as utter legends, and not just because they pulled out a record called ‘Legend’ either. They’ve left a mark on the underground like few of their generation, and like even fewer, they still hold as much promise for the future as they do glories of the past. In short, Witchcraft are essential. We welcome them to our stage for the first time as fans as well as those working behind the scenes.

Pelican

If Pelican aren’t already on your must-see list for Freak Valley 2020 after just seeing the word above, take a second right now to make the addition. The Chicago natives are also first-timers at FVF, and we’re proud to host them as they celebrate their latest LP, ‘Nighttime Stories,’ which continues their distinguished progressive arc that has both inspired others in their wake on multiple continents and remained vital, as the record itself proves. This one feels overdue, and we can’t wait.

Camera

When we heard Camera’s 2018 album, ‘Emotional Detox,’ we knew it was only a matter of time before their spacey, krauty, gorgeous melodic psychedelia and progressive rock flourished on the Freak Valley stage. Moving past their ultra-krautrock beginnings to a richer form of prog, their work remains equal parts hypnotic and adventurous, and as it will have been two years since the release by the time they get here, we’re keeping our fingers crossed for some new material as well!

The Neptune Power Federation

It will truly be a valley of the freaks when The Neptune Power Federation come to our humble stage. We’ll be blessed to be in the presence of Screaming Loz Sutch herself as she fronts this Sydney, Australia-based troupe of ultra-weirdo freakout psych rockers. Now signed to Cruz Del Sur Music, they’ll hit Netphen-Deuz in support of 2019’s ‘Memoirs of a Rat Queen,’ and if you’re someone who thinks you’ve heard it all, it won’t be half a minute before this album proves how wrong you are. We mean it. Listen to that record. See this band. It is no coincidence that we’re brought them on board.

We Hunt Buffalo

As to what the mighty buffalo ever did to them, we can’t say, but We Hunt Buffalo are a trio from Canada who’ll celebrate a decade together in 2020. Their 2018 offering, ‘Head Smashed In,’ was way friendlier than its title made it sound — we promise — their fuzz rock remains second to none from the Great White North, as they’re more than happy to demonstrate to anyone fortunate enough to stand in front of the stage to see them. Guess what? We think that should include you. Expect a party with your new best B.C. buds when these Vancouver riffoliths bring their game to Freak Valley.

FREAK VALLEY 2020
No Fillers – Just Killers

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The Neptune Power Federation, Memoirs of a Rat Queen (2019)

A little bit more than halfway through the opening track on Pleasant Journey in Heavy Tunes is a kind of toss-off moment I’ve always found hilarious. The chorus of “Too Stoned,” which leads off the 2001 debut album from Copenhagen’s Gas Giant, is simple enough: “Too stoned/I’m too stoned/Too stoned again/Too stoned/Too stoned, baby/Too stoned again.” If nothing else, it gets the point across as vocalist Jesper Valentin delivers the lines atop a post-Monster Magnet space-psych-meets-heavy-rock swirl, honed by guitarist Stefan Krey and propelled by bassist Thomas Carstensen and drummer Pete Hell. But it also makes plain the ethic through which Gas Giant were working at the time. Though the definition of what the term meant was already expanding even then, it was stoner rock.

That expanding definition can be heard in Pleasant Journey in Heavy Tunes as well as concurrent offerings from further north in Europe like Dozer‘s In the Tail of a Comet, which came out the year before and arguably had an impact on the sound of “Super Sun Trigger” here — though of course the root influence is Kyuss either way — or Lowrider‘s Ode to Io, or even Colour Haze‘s Ewige Blumenkraft, the latter also from 2001, but it’s still there, and “Too Stoned” basically makes that inarguable at the record’s outset. From the rolling Acid–King-meets-slower-Atomic–Bitchwax nod of “Sit Down” and outright fuzz overload of “Down the Highway” early on to “Desert Call”‘s self-titled-era Queens of the Stone Age quirk and the odd reinvention of Rage Against the Machine‘s signature “Bulls on Parade” riff for the eight-minute album crescendo “Storm of My Enemies” ahead of one more bit of Wyndorfian good times in outer space on closer “Holy Walker,” Pleasant Journey in Heavy Tunes is a willfully bumpy ride, but it’s tied together through a spacious mix courtesy of the band and producer/engineer Ralph A. Rjeily (R.I.P. 2012), and the four-piece’s collective heart is never too far from the “rock” end of the equation. To say that it suits them throughout the nine-track/48-minute offering would be underselling it.

Whatever familiar elements went into the making of Pleasant Journey in Heavy Tunes — and there were plenty, as there were on a lot of records from the era when stoner rock was taking shape (1995-2002-ish) and as there are now more than a generation later — those shades of Nebula and Fu Manchu on “Down the Highway” and “All Creatures” came with more than just flashes of individualism that showed not just Gas Giant‘s real potential in moving forward from their roots, but also the foundation of songwriting that would let them do it. But though there are a lot of comparison-namedrops above, don’t take that to mean Gas Giant had nothing of their own to offer on their debut. In particular, the atmospheric flourish brought to the tracks via echoes and effects were pivotal in letting them establish an atmosphere beyond the sundry riffs and grooves on display, and though that’s something that would come more to fruition on 2003’s Mana, it’s there on Pleasant Journey in Heavy Tunes as well, and even 18 years later, its righteousness holds up. It’s there in the preach at the beginning of “All Creatures,” and in the low-end fuzz of “Desert Call” — the allure of those open spaces calling to northern Europe even long before Truckfighters would go cruising — and it’s there in the Stooges strum and strut of “Holy Walker” as the album rounds out. These sides come together to give Pleasant Journey in Heavy Tunes its personality, subtly varied as it is and almost deceptive in its complexity.

That is to say, in hindsight, it’s easy to stand back and pick out this or that genre element, because there’s been more than 15 years of genre built up since. At the time — not pre-internet, but well before the mobilization and full socialmediafication thereof — the context inherently would’ve been more modern, fresh and cutting edge. Think of all the “lost” records from the early part of the 1970s. Those heavy gems from ’71, ’72, of bands who put out one or two records and then disappeared, maybe with one person going off to do something else, maybe everybody just off to families, dayjobs or an eventual reunion. Gas Giant were similarly of their era and of the pastiche of sound that was happening at the time, but part of what stands them out even now is that they were doing it in Copenhagen.

Consider that Gas Giant‘s demo came out in 1999 after a 1998 EP released as Blind Man Buff and Pleasant Journey in Heavy Tunes came out in 2001. That’s the same year Baby Woodrose offered up their own first album, rising as they did from the proverbial ashes of On Trial. These were the roots of Copenhagen’s heavy scene, which continues to flourish today, and the almost tentative adventurousness shown in Pleasant Journey in Heavy Tunes and expanded on Mana continues to flourish in range of acts, whether it’s prog-fusion psychbringers Causa Sui, jammers like Papir or even a classic doom outfit like Demon Head. The point is that Denmark’s contributions to Europe’s greater heavy underground couldn’t have happened without bands like Gas Giant helping to pave the way. Whether you’re familiar with Pleasant Journey in Heavy Tunes or not — and they’re very much of that pre-Thee Facebooks lost era of heavy rock that I’ve spoken about on multiple occasions; swallowed into the vacuum that once was MySpace — I think that’s remarkable and worth highlighting.

Of course, I hope you agree.

Gas Giant had a split with WE also out in 2001, Mana in ’03 and a split with Colour Haze the year after that, but then that was it from them. The band went their separate ways and came back in 2015 to play Freak Valley Festival and more. They did those gigs and at some point last year made a page for Portals of Nothingness, a lost album from 1999, on Bandcamp that, as yet, has no audio on it, and not much has been heard from them since unless I’m missing something (always possible). One never knows what the future might hold, but Space Rock Productions reissued Pleasant Journey in Heavy Tunes in 2015 in three separate vinyl editions, so the record is out there for those who’d chase it down.

In any case, please enjoy it. Thanks for reading.

—

Let me tell you about the dinner I had last night.

We’re pretty deep into The Patient Mrs.’ semester at this point — just a couple weeks left before winter break — so I’m largely running point on dinners. I’m not much of a chef, so that kind of has come to involve cooking for the week, generally some variation on slow cooker chicken, vegetarian meat loaf, take out, etc. This week it’s been farm-raised chicken breast, thigh and wing meat that I cooked in the Crock Pot on Sunday. I seasoned it with paprika, garlic, onion powder, salt, pepper, chili powder, Italian-style this-and-that, and some Bell’s, because Bell’s. To go with it, I roasted three heads of cauliflower to a point of being well-done — not burnt, but not far off — and seasoned those similarly but with a little more chili powder to let them absorb a bit of depth. They came out nice.

All of this was tied together with a gigantic spaghetti squash — I mean huge; watermelon-sized — and a 20 oz. pack of Beyond Meat ground beef-style fake meat that I seasoned like hot Italian sausage, with fennel, garlic — always garlic — hot red pepper flakes, a cut whole chili, and so on, that I knew was going to be good because it took on a reddish tint when I was cooking it.

It all came together in our 12″ sauce pan with the high sides and was nearly overflowing when I added four containers of this pesto I drive half an hour to buy at the one fancy wine store down Rt. 24 that sells it. I buy in bulk. Mostly I also consume it in that fashion as well.

Top with fresh-grated parmesan. Dinner for the week.

Each evening I’d kind of add something different to it for myself — The Patient Mrs. is a little more orthodox, though I think if I’d shown up with ricotta or fresh mutz on any given night reheating, I’d only have been greeted as a liberator — and have it with a red bell pepper on the side. I’ve been obsessed with this garlic scape and hazelnut pesto that this one stand sells at the Denville Farmers Market on Sundays — what it lacks in being cheap it makes up for in owning my heart — so I’ve been adding that on top of everything else and very much enjoying it.

Last night was the final night of the run — Sunday to Thursday is pretty good; it was a very large spag squash — so I decided to go all out. I roasted three packs of pre-peeled garlic (maybe seven or eight cloves each?) in the oven and topped it with the pesto and had it with a pepper. It was decadent and marvelous. Everything was perfect. Maybe the best meal I’ve had in a year. And I recognize saying that about day-five leftovers is kind of wacky, but I tell you, this dinner was glorious. Most of the garlic simply melted but there was still some caramelized too, and the combination between that and the garlic scape and hazelnut pesto, the interaction there with that and the other pesto already in the root leftovers — holy shit. It was goddamned incredible.

I topped it off with a couple sugar-free Reese’s for dessert and went to bed fat and happy.

For all the issues I’ve had in my life and continue to have with food, every now and then it’s amazing to enjoy something like that.

Rough week, down week, another week full of days. Ended by getting dicked around on a track premiere. Low stakes bullshit. Doesn’t matter.

Next week, more days. Is one of them Thanksgiving? I think so. I’m doing a Scissorfight track premiere — for which I’ve been not at all dicked around — on Thanksgiving. Tune in to see if I can avoid saying I’m thankful they got back together.

Great and safe weekend. Have fun, eat a good meal, be kind. Make merry. Tomorrow we die.

FRM. Forum, Radio, Merch.

The Obelisk Forum

The Obelisk Radio

The Obelisk merch

Call it a win for social media advertising, I guess, but I was dicking around Thee Facebooks earlier this week and saw King Volume Records‘ sponsored post for the debut album from Floral Fauna releasing on Dec. 9 and decided to check it out based on nothing more than the imprint putting it out and the awesome-looking cover. Still value in catching the eye. Anyhow, fortunately, my click-twice efforts were rewarded with two streaming tracks from the impending Pink and Blue, the title-cut and the snarky “When You Smile,” as both dig into classic ’60s garage rock vibes and meld these together with neo-psychedelic reach and production value. The mood is liquid, if liquid is a mood — it is — and the expanse of reverb is subtle but definitely there for something that still might be called “garage.” I don’t know how many cars it holds, but it definitely holds a mighty pedalboard.

The central figure here is Chris Allison, whom you might recognize from his other band, Lord Loud, who released their debut LP, Passé Paranoia (review here), on King Volume in 2017. He’s joined by a range of guests as fleshed out in the album details below.

Streaming tracks follow as well. Enjoy:

Floral Fauna – Pink & Blue

Floral Fauna is a seed planted in fertile soil by Chris Allison. Following in the footsteps of psych contemporaries, Floral Fauna’s sound has retro sounding roots. But its vines are grasping out for new, sonic footing. Like leaves throughout the seasons, this debut album contains a plethora of colors and sounds.

It playfully skips around from lush organ/synth/string pads to crunchy and dead garage riffs. Guest musicians helped with the harvest; big names like Julian Porte (Levitation Room), Geoff Halliday (Hands), Julian Medina (Nadu), Emily Howard (Human Behavior) and even Michael Feld from his other heavy psych band Lord Loud. Floral Fauna couldn’t be more excited for this sunrise. It’s going to be a beautiful bloom!

Releases December 9, 2019.

Tracklisting:
1. Pink and Blue
2. Over and Over
3. Wah Hoo Hoo
4. Left Behind
5. Great White Silence
6. Pages of Time
7. When You Smile
8. Red Anxiety
9. Herds of Jellyfish
10. Awoke One Morning
11. Velvet and Jade

Floral Fauna is:
Geoff Halliday – drums (1-5, 7, 10)
Jim Wimberly – drums (9, 11)
Michael Feld – drums (6)
Julian Medina – drums (8)
Emily Howard – clarinet (9)
Noam Goldstein – flute (7)
Julian Moon – piano (6)
Chris Allison – other instrumentation, vocals

Mixed by Chris.
Mastered by Adam Boose at Cauliflower Audio.

https://www.facebook.com/floralfaunaband/
https://floralfauna.bandcamp.com/
http://www.facebook.com/kingvolumerecords
http://www.kingvolumerecords.bandcamp.com
http://www.kingvolumerecords.limitedrun.com

Floral Fauna, Pink & Blue (2019)

Oakland’s War Cloud released their second album, State of Shock (review here), earlier this year on Ripple Music, and as you might guess from the photo above, it was a ripper. The Bay Area four-piece tapped into harder-edged NWOBHM dual-axe chicanery and brought their sound to a new, tighter place than it was at even on their 2017 self-titled debut (review here), upping the irons and still holding enough underlying boogie-readiness so that the overall vibe was fun rather than overly stately. Nothing wrong with that if it’s your thing, but a bit of Oakland grit in their sound certainly feels genuine enough and is true to the history of where they’re coming from as well. It was, simply put, an easy record to dig. If you heard it, you already know this.

If you didn’t hear it — go ahead and slap the back your hand for me (not really; “we don’t hit,” as I constantly remind The Pecan) — it’s streaming in full at the bottom of this post. The band’s new video, however, is for the track “Giver,” and “Giver” isn’t on State of Shock. It’s on War Cloud. Might seem odd that they’d go back and make a clip for a song from the prior album, but consider it’s a new recording, and a live recording done on their European tour, and that the footage in the video also comes from that same tour — the recording was done in Germany, the video shot in Italy, so it’s a bit of multinational conglomerate — and it all starts to make a little more sense. By the time you actually get to watch the thing and witness the sheer righteousness on display, it seems downright logical.

Now then, I won’t keep you from it, except to say that when the band comments below about hearing the progression and shift in sound from the original version on the first record and this one, I tend to agree. They’re a meaner, sharper group on the whole, and clearly that suits their songs new and old. Makes a pretty good argument for showing up to catch them live. Go figure.

Enjoy:

War Cloud, “Giver” official video premiere:

War Cloud on “Giver” video:

It was recorded in a 300 year old barn about an hour outside Cologne, Germany. The recording is live so it only took time to set up, we ran through the song about three or four times. The stage footage was shot at Moto Guzzi Motoraduno in Lecco, Italy and Officine Sonore, in Vercelli, Italy.

We decided to revisit this song because it’s fun to play it faster than it was on the first album, my vocals are more developed and in line with the second album’s sound, the solos are different because we have a different guitarist and it’s a total crowd pleaser!

The new album was received with hails and horns! We only had 2 singles out while we were over there because the record didn’t drop until the last day of tour, but folks were still calling them out by name! We were playing lots of songs no one has ever heard before like “Tomahawk,” “White Lightning,” and “Means of Your Defeat,” and could instantly tell it would be a hit by the crowd’s response. Pits formed, beer was spilled, horns were raised. It was a blast and we can’t wait to get back to Europe!

WAR CLOUD:
Alex Wein – Vocals/Guitar
Nick Burks – Guitar
Joaquin Ridgell – Drums
Taylor Roach – Bass

War Cloud, State of Shock (2019)

War Cloud on Thee Facebooks

War Cloud on Bandcamp

War Cloud BigCartel store

Ripple Music on Thee Facebooks

Ripple Music on Bandcamp

Ripple Music website

Spaceslug, ‘Spacerunner’ official track premiere

[Click play above to stream ‘Spacerunner’ from Spaceslug’s Reign of the Orion. Album is out Dec. 6.]

Forward thinking atmospheric fuzz/psych rockers Spaceslug almost let 2019 get away without releasing an album. The Wroclaw-based three-piece have had at least one full-length out per year since the arrival in 2016 of their debut, Lemanis (review here). Time Travel Dilemma (review here) followed in 2017, along with an EP, Mountains and Reminiscence (review here), and in 2018 they marked a new stage of their progression with their third LP, Eye the Tide (review here), pushing themselves beyond the warm-toned bounds of heavy psychedelia to incorporate darker ambient shades and more extreme elements like screamed vocals and blackened squibblies on guitar and blastbeats to accompany.

Already this year, the trio of drummer/vocalist Kamil Ziólkowski, bassist/vocalist Jan Rutka and guitarist/backing vocalist Bartosz Janik took part in a four-way split with Polish countrymen Dopelord, Major Kong and Weedpecker (review here), so it’s not like the year would’ve gone completely unaccounted for (perish the thought), but the landing of five-tracker Reign of the Orion is nothing if not welcome. With it, Spaceslug mark another step in their sound and offer their most hypnotic work to-date, entrancing through breadth of tone and a flow that extends even to the aggressive moments in centerpiece “Half Moon Burns,” which never gets quite as charred as the last album did, but nonetheless features some more aggressive shouting.

In that song’s 8:45 run and in the massive surge of nine-minute closer/longest track “Beneath the Haze,” Spaceslug seem to conjure shifts in volume and tempo alike as they move with deceptive structural clarity through open-feeling verses and choruses, but even in the calmer spaciousness of the shorter “Trees of Gold” between those two, there’s a sense both of expanse in atmosphere and of the band creatively grasping toward new ground. Given their prolific nature, one can only surmise that the progression they’ve undertaken is willful — i.e., they want to try something new each time they set down to write — and while their sound remains identifiable in the lush low end of Rutka‘s bass and the slow-churning effects wash of Janik‘s guitar, as well as the blend of laid-back post-grunge vocals and sometimes crushing tonality as heard on opener “Down to the Sun,” the dividends paid by their efforts are considerable throughout Reign of the Orion, which would seem to assure that, if it’s ever coming, creative stagnation is a long way off.

That’s reassuring, but more so are the songs themselves, which bolster the statements Spaceslug have made to-date while continuing a push into headphone-ready wash, a soothing immersive sensibility that has become an essential facet of the band’s approach in what’s still a relatively brief amount of time for it to do so. If one expects anything of them at this point in their career, it’s that space and a feeling of presence within it will meet in their songs, and as Reign of the Orion moves back and forth between longer and shorter songs, with “Down to the Sun” at seven and a half minutes and the subsequent “Space Runner” at 6:40 ahead of the already-noted more stark time contrast between “Half Moon Burns,” “Trees of Gold” and “Beneath the Haze,” there’s an overarching linear flow that’s all the more highlighted for the changes from one to the next and the general outbound feel of the entirety.

That’s most emphasized on “Trees of Gold,” admittedly, which brings Spaceslug to a new place in terms of incorporating elements out of progressive rock and even pastoralist folk. A touch of Floyd vibe here and there doesn’t hurt either, but the drift on “Trees of Gold,” and especially the fact that the song doesn’t then depart to an earthmover riff feels significant. It adds to the context of Reign of the Orion as a whole, and while in itself it isn’t doing anything the band has never incorporated into its songs before, the shift in presentation still makes a difference.

Likewise the fact that that Reign of the Orion, at five songs and 36 minutes, is the shortest long-player Spaceslug have released. This could be a direct reaction to Eye the Tide, which was the longest at 54 minutes (the first two were in the circa-45 range), or it could be happenstance, or the result of a narrative intended to tie the songs together — though the attack-ships Blade Runner sample in “Half Moon Burns” and the prove-you-exist samples in “Beneath the Haze” would seem to contradict that notion — I don’t know. The effect it has, though, is to bring Reign of the Orion, both as a whole and in its individual component pieces, into clearer focus as a work. Whether it’s the linear front-to-back listening experience or a track-by-track journey through, the relative brevity here gives the listener more to grasp onto while maintaining the band’s signature elements and presenting them in next-stage-progression form.

It doesn’t hurt, is what I’m saying, and much to their credit as songwriters, it feels complete, as though to add more would only be superfluous, particularly given the manner in which “Beneath the Haze” builds to a nigh-on-overwhelming finish before dissipating in a consuming was of noise and residual effects leftovers, like the background radiation from the Big Bang echoing cosmic for as long as there’s a cosmos to echo in. That Spaceslug would set up and enact this fluidity with such obvious intent and pull it off sounding natural in a balance of highlight songs and overall movement speaks to the maturity that’s come about so quickly in their style.

In short, they’ve become one of Europe’s strongest progressive heavy psych bands, giving due acknowledgement of their roots in fuzz even as they take off toward broader reaches. New album in 2020? Given the timing of Reign of the Orion, that’s a maybe, but it seems likely we’ll hear from them one way or another, and given what they’ve done to this point in their career, that’s only something to anticipate. It was clear from the outset with Lemanis were onto something and could become a special band. As they continue to move forward at such a rapid pace, we’re seeing the realization of that potential in everything they do. If they can keep the momentum they have going now and stave off burnout, they’ll move into the vaunted realms of the influential.

Spaceslug on Thee Facebooks

Spaceslug on Bandcamp

Spaceslug on Instagram

Oak Island Records on Thee Facebooks

Oak Island Records at Kozmik Artifactz

BSFD Records on Thee Facebooks

BSFD Records website

Happy impending birthday to Sound of Liberation, and I say that with all sincerity. The European booking concern has helped to reshape Europe’s heavy underground particularly over the course of this decade with its involvement in fests like Up in Smoke, Keep it Low, and of course the Desertfest series in London, Berlin, Belgium and now New York, while also having a hand in putting together killer package tours on a one-after-the-next ongoing basis that’s as exhausting-looking as it is enviable, watching from a continent away as I am. They’ll celebrate 15 years in late-June 2020 with two shows featuring Fu Manchu (who themselves are celebrating 30 years), Sasquatch, The Atomic Bitchwax and more to be announced.

Frankly, with those three, I’m not sure they need anyone else, but the roster of Sound of Liberation continues to expand, moving into the Greek scene recently with Naxatras and Villagers of Ionnina City as choice pickups, so I’m also curious to see who gets invited to the party. The shows are in Wiesbaden and Munich and early-bird tickets are on sale now.

Info follows as posted on thee social medias:

We are super excited to announce the first acts for our 15 years Sound of Liberation birthday events!!

Sound of Liberation is honoured and proud to welcome one of the best live acts on this planet.

Ladies and gentlemen, fasten your seat belts because the mighty heavy rock riff legends, the Kings of the Road, Fu Manchu will push the gas pedal to the maximum! We’re super hyped that our birthday coincides with Fu Manchu’s, who will celebrate their 30 years of existence with a special anniversary tour!

Speaking of killer live acts…we have two more for you.

We are stoked to welcome back in Europe, after 2 long years, New Jersey´s riffdealers The Atomic Bitchwax, as well as L.A.´s powerhouse Sasquatch.

You all surely know their great and highly energetic live performances and we can´t wait to welcome them to our two huge birthday parties!

Dear fans and friends,
we are preparing for two special anniversary shows, in two excellent venues. Expect an outstanding line up with 8 to 10 bands, no overlappings in the timetable, indoor stage and outside area, beergarden and some more specials we are working on! ?

See you in Wiesbaden and Munich, June 26/27 in 2020! Join the fun:
– 15 years Sound of Liberation / Wiesbaden
– 15 years Sound of Liberation / München

King of the Road says you move too slow!
Get your tickets fast! Limited amount of early birds available here:
https://www.sol-tickets.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Soundofliberation/
https://www.instagram.com/soundofliberation/
https://www.soundofliberation.com/

Fu Manchu, “King of the Road” official video

Los Angeles atmospheric doom three-piece High Priestess toured Europe for most of May earlier this year supporting their 2018 self-titled debut (review here) on Ripple Music, making well-received stops at Desertfest London and elsewhere on the continent before seeming to have set about putting the finishing touches on material for their second long-player. That album is currently in progress according to a pair of thee social medias updates, one from the band and one from bassist/vocalist Mariana Fiel. They entered the studio this past Tuesday and plugged away at getting the instrumental tracks done ahead of returning for vocals, with guitarist/vocalist/organist Katie Gilchrest helming the proceedings.

As the trio of Fiel, Gilchrest and drummer Megan Mullins had one of the best debuts of the year last year, it should go without saying the follow-up is right up there with the slew of anticipated outings for 2020. Ripple will once again stand behind the work, and while there’s no targeted release date set and obviously it all depends on when they get in to finish the rest of making it, plus mixing, plus mastering, a Spring release doesn’t seem entirely unlikely. That would put them back on track for another trip abroad as well, were they inclined to travel.

I also asked the band if they had anything they wanted to add about the record to what was posted and they gave an awesome update. Here’s what they had to say:

High Priestess on new album recording:

We recorded the second album in our practice space where we did our first album. The room itself sounds great and there is something about playing in there closely together that conjures a special energy. Magic is created, from song creation to completion and we love setting mics up and capturing essentially a live performance. Katie owns Mythology Mastering, a music production company, and used her mobile recording setup to do the job.

Percussion, vocal, guitar and keyboard overdubs are following this week. We made sure to have a ritual beforehand with a High Priestess candle to set intentions for the recording and what follows. We channeled the balance of light and dark energies, creating heaviness while keeping it ethereal.

The album will begin with an eerie call of the elements in a ritualistic setting and from there, we slowly take you on a journey into the depths of an inferno with our most enchanting music yet. We can’t wait to unveil it to the universe!

– We started unloading around 11 AM, had mics set up around 1:45 PM, by 7:30 PM we opened up the bubbly to celebrate the recording of the instrumental parts of our new album, to be released in 2020 by Ripple Music.

– The only casualties today were while trying to tune back to E my tuning peg took a dump. Luckily there was an unused bass laying around *cough* thanks Josh *cough* to record the last song. Super stoked about today though, bass issues aside, it went seamlessly… the energy was perfect and I couldn’t be more grateful to have mega multitalented Katie not only laying down the heavy riffs and solos galore, but also setting and coordinating all the mics and making sure the sound was perfect and Megan laying down the thunder of doom on the drums.

High Priestess is:
Katie Gilchrest – guitars, vocals, organ
Mariana Fiel – bass, vocals
Megan Mullins – drums, percussion

https://www.facebook.com/highpriestessmusic/
https://www.instagram.com/highpriestessmusic/
https://highpriestessmusic.bandcamp.com/
http://www.ripple-music.com
https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/theripplemusic/

High Priestess, High Priestess (2018)