Posted in Whathaveyou on December 31st, 2019 by JJ Koczan
With two 2018 EPs under their collective belt and a debut album titled Earthsong of Silence set to release on the vernal equinox, Brighton, UK, psychedelic whathaveyouists Wax Machine have inked a deal with Beyond Beyond is Beyond, whose sense of curation is, as ever, on the proverbial money. The now-UK-based outfit’s little-of-this-little-of-that sound suits them well on their past work, and the fact that they recorded their first record with Go Kurosawa from Kikagaku Moyo is bound not to hurt their cause. There’s no audio from the record yet, but the signing is still pretty newly announced and preorders start early January — I’m expecting next Monday to bring an everybody’s-back-to-work flood of press releases — so maybe at that point a song will leak out.
A recent live jam is streaming now to tide one over, and of course the two aforementioned EPs are up on Bandcamp for your casual perusal.
From the PR wire:
Introducing…Wax Machine!
Wax Machine’s debut LP “Earthsong of Silence” coming out March 20, 2020 (the vernal equinox) on Beyond Beyond is Beyond! Tunes coming soons…
Brighton’s Wax Machine are a band so steeped in the kernel of psychedelic seep that there’s every indication they may have slipped through a side door in space-time and sprouted anew a few years back on the UK coast. However, for all intents and purposes it’s best to believe that they truly sprang from the fertile mind of Brazilian-born, Italian/English-raised Lau Ro (Guitar/Vocals). Lau’s international upbringing served as the wellspring for some of the eclectic taste that informs the core of Wax Machine’s sound. On Earthsong of Silence (March 20th), that eclecticism incorporates Spiritual Jazz, Pop, Krautrock and Tropicália while filtering them all through a psychedelic lens.
On his journey Lau met up with fellow Brighton musicians and birthed Wax Machine with Isobel Jones, who adds soaring vocals and provides Wax Machine’s entrancing flute work alongside Toma Sapir who locks down a groove on the kit that keeps Earthsong of Silence from floating into the ether.
The flutes, wandering guitars, and jazz touches come rising through the mists with a guiding hand from Kikagaku Moyo’s Go Kurosawa behind the boards. With Earthsong, they add a new dimension to their sound, further exploring both their English psych-folk roots and mining a deeper appreciation for a West Coast sound dipped in sun, peace and GROOVE.
First single & pre-order coming early January. For now…
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 31st, 2019 by JJ Koczan
What hidden psychedelic treasures will a new full-length from The Sonic Dawn unearth? Remains to be seen, but they’re dropping a good-sized hint in the unveiling the organ-laced lead track “Young Love, Old Hate” from the forthcoming Heavy Psych Sounds release, which has been given the title Enter the Mirage and a March 27 release date. First of all, it’s short, in the ’60s psych-pop tradition to which the trio have remained loyal, and second it’s catchy. Third, and most important, it’s deceptively intricate. The vocal arrangements, the key arrangement, the guitar tones — nothing there is haphazard or by mistake. It’s all according to the band’s framework. I don’t imagine Enter the Mirage will lack its moments of spontaneity or energy — it’s The Sonic Dawn‘s fourth record, and they’ve long-enough-since known what’s up in terms of their studio work — but the clarity of their intent is striking, even as the album’s title invokes visions of something not really there.
The Sonic Dawn‘s Emil Bureau also has a solo record coming out early next year, so keep an eye out for more on that, but here’s the info and preorder link for Enter the Mirage, courtesy, of course, of the PR wire:
Danish psych rockers THE SONIC DAWN unveil details for new album ‘Enter the Mirage’ on Heavy Psych Sounds; stream new single now!
Copenhagen’s psychedelic trio THE SONIC DAWN announce the release of their fourth studio album ‘Enter The Mirage’ this March 27th on Heavy Psych Sounds Records. The band share first groovy single “Young Love, Old Hate” today
“Young Love, Old Hate” is the opening track of THE SONIC DAWN’s new album ‘Enter The Mirage’. On this soulful and stirring single, they not only lead us through the darkness but also into the orange sunshine. It is a journey full of psychedelic mystery with a clear message: “Only love is true, don’t let hatred get the best of you”. “Enter The Mirage” is arguably the most blazing and powerful album yet by the Copenhagen trio. It has an unusual live feel for a studio album, packing much of the raw energy and electricity that has made their psychedelic shows famous in the rock underground.
Turn the volume up and experience “Young Love, Old Hate”
Frontman Emil Bureau explains about the album’s inception: “First I lost my father, then I lost my job and finally I lost my will to be a servant of anything that isn’t peace, love and freedom. It should be simple, but in this world it isn’t. Instead of getting back on the so-called career path, which is generally a dead end, I took a leap of faith, with the band’s support.”
‘Enter The Mirage’ overall theme is freedom, and visions that may seem too distant to be real, but only those who take the trip will ever really find out. Bureau spent half a year in a songwriting frenzy, spawning for The Sonic Dawn and also for his solo folk album (available soon on Heavy Psych Sounds). To give form to these song ideas, the band rented a space in the gloomiest part of Copenhagen, set up a studio there and rocked out for two months. The roughness of the place translates the determination from a tightly knit band. At the end of their long and laborious creative process, the band was completely broke. Fortunately, friend and former producer Thomas Vang (Roger Waters) allowed them to mix the album in The Village Recording at night, after his own sessions. Thanks to this and a skillful mastering by Hans Olsson Brookes (Graveyard), “Enter the Mirage” puts the high back in high fidelity.
THE SONIC DAWN New album ‘Enter The Mirage’ Out March 27th on Heavy Psych Sounds Preorder now
TRACK LISTING 1. Young Love, Old Hate 2. Hits of Acid 3. Loose Ends 4. Children of the Night 5. Shape Shifter 6. Enter The Mirage 7. Soul Sacrifice 8. Join the Dead 9. Sun Drifter 10. UFO
THE SONIC DAWN is Emil Bureau – Guitar, vocals Jonas Waaben – Drums Neil Bird – Bass
Posted in Reviews on December 31st, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Saw a high-speed chase between a sedan of some sort and a NJ State Trooper on my way to the show, and the guy actually got away, so it seemed fated that Clutch would play “Crucial Velocity.” Clutch are, of course, an institution. Clutch at Starland Ballroom, likewise, and that’s actually an institution that pre-dates the Sayreville venue itself, going back to the Birch Hill Night Club in Old Bridge. I suspect I wasn’t the only one thinking of those days last night as the Maryland groove overlords broke out “Passive Restraints” at the start of their set and followed up later with other nods to their pre-turn-of-the-century catalog in “A Shogun Named Marcus” from 1993’s debut album, Transnational Speedway League: Anthems, Anecdotes and Undeniable Truths, “Escape From the Prison Planet,” “Spacegrass” and “Texan Book of the Dead” from their landmark 1995 self-titled, and the title-track and “The Soapmakers” from 1998’s third LP, The Elephant Riders.
Spliced in among these and the aforementioned “Crucial Velocity,” from the more recent Earth Rocker (review here), were “The Wolfman Kindly Requests” and “Earth Rocker” from that same 2013 album — which I think it’s fair to say at this point defined their sound for this decade — and “X-Ray Visions,” “Firebirds,” “A Quick Death in Texas” from its 2015 follow-up, Psychic Warfare (review here), “Willie Nelson,” which appeared on 2003’s Slow Hole to China, “Burning Beard” from 2005’s Robot Hive/Exodus (reissue review here), the just-about-have-to-play-at-every-show “Electric Worry” from 2007’s From Beale Street to Oblivion (reissue review here). The older material was welcome, and the crowd, likewise older, was certainly able to keep up as drummer Jean-Paul Gaster, bassist “Crucial” Dan Maines (who doesn’t actually have that nickname, but nonetheless deserves it), guitarist Tim Sult and vocalist Neil Fallon bounced around their discography. But 2018’s Book of Bad Decisions (review here) was given some representation as well in “H.B. is in Control,” though perhaps that full-length was edged out in favor of 2019 singles “Evil” and “Fortunate Son” — covers of Willie Dixon and Creedence Clearwater Revival, respectively — the latter of which finished the set after “Electric Worry” in the encore and was listed as “John Fogerty’s Mosh Pit,” because, well, you’re in Central Jersey. That’s gonna happen.
The room was filled with familiar faces, from the Clutch crew to the longtime denizens in the crowd, and even the bright-eyed kids from WSOU — still too young and perennially bright-eyed to sue their dogshit host university for decades of discrimination and mismanagement — knew that they were in for a good night, whether it was their first experience seeing the band or not. As regards rock shows, you’re going to have a hard time getting better than Clutch, in any case, and the traditional holiday tour, which wraps tonight in Philly for New Year’s Eve, was given a special subsection this year called ‘ClutchMas.’ Three shows in Washington, D.C., New Jersey and Philadelphia, with three sets and no repeat songs between them — with the presumed exception of “Electric Worry,” which, again, they play at just about every gig. With a backlog of records as deep as Clutch have amassed over the better part of the last 30 years, I have a hard time imagining it was even really a challenge for them to put three such setlists together for 54 total songs, but a holiday celebration is a holiday celebration. You go and you celebrate. If you’re feeling saucy, as I was, you buy the t-shirt with the crab on it.
It was something of a long haul to get to the point where Clutch actually took the stage, with local openers Bound Alive, who played a style I can best describe as “Jersey metal,” followed by Damon Johnson, who under the stage lights kind of looked like an alternate reality healthy-living version of Matt Pike and went out of his way on stage to explain that he toured with Clutch as a part of Thin Lizzy and, in addition to his solo work, was in Brother Cane in the long, long ago. Those two were followed by Nashville’s The Steel Woods, whose twangy country rock stylings made their Allman Bros. cover — was it “Whipping Post?” well of course it was — seem somewhat inevitable. A smorgasbord of not-my-thing, and I was reminded that last year at this time, Clutch were touring with The Obsessed and Devin Townsend. My fault for moving back to New Jersey too late to take advantage of that, but I’ll take what I can get.
And the goal of the night was seeing Clutch, so you know, worthy cause and whatnot. There was a bit of a stumble as “Firebirds” got going, but they smoothed it out, and though I’m always a little surprised at how fast they play “Spacegrass” on the occasions they do it live, I’m also always surprised when I listen to the self-titled and it’s more uptempo than when I hear it in my head. I have a tendency to slow things down. I chalk it up to being old and more than a bit slow myself. But I recall the last time I was at a Clutch holiday show at Starland was maybe 2008, and it was a much different vibe than that, the band having morphed out of their organ-laced blues-heavy leanings in favor of a more pointed and rocking approach on the whole — more a balance shifted than the abandonment of the blues altogether, certainly — and they simply dig what they do, which is offer an utterly essential vision of what heavy rock and roll can and should be on a professional level, marked by classic songcraft and righteous performances that, in terms of playing the game they play, there isn’t another act out there to match them. Clutch do their own thing, on their own terms, and their accomplishments over the course of their career speak for themselves. All you have to do is show up to listen to them do that.
I left Starland fat and happy as one should be after a good holiday meal and made my way back north on wet roads that before climate change would’ve probably been frozen, “The Soapmakers” still reeling on the mental jukebox. Especially for a Monday night, they made it a party, and there was never a doubt it would be anything but. It’s Clutch, being Clutch. I dare you to find me a better way to cap a year than that.
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 31st, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Let’s just say outright that if you want to get people to notice, releasing a debut album the week between Xmas and New Year’s is probably not the best marketing decision one might undertake. I’m glad to learn, therefore, that Stones of Babylon‘s debut offering, Hanging Gardens — an instrumentalist five-songer working on that Babylonian theme from its opening sample onward through the Eastern-inflected guitar tones — will see a wider release in 2020 through Raging Planet. I don’t have an exact release date for it, but figure if it’s anything other than New Year’s Day, it’ll probably catch more ears than otherwise. The CD is available or preorder or order now from Bandcamp, but the release show is Jan. 10 in Lisboa at the Sabotage Rock and Roll Club. Event page for that is here, should you happen to be in town.
Here’s the album info and the stream though:
Stones Of Babylon: Hanging Gardens
In this era of total globalization, under the sign of music, two Portuguese and one Polish allied in the 21st century Lisbon, an eternal city, historical and open to the world.
Thus were born the Stones Of Babylon that began their path in the last quarter of 2017, and from these initial stones were carved the first EP / Demo of 2018 “In Portuguese We Say Padrada”.
Pawel on guitar, Branco on drums and Medeiros on bass continued to refine their musicality and this sonic mass culminated in a second work recorded during the year 2019 and will appear on the dawn of 2020 in the form of this debut LP “Hanging Gardens” under the auspices of Raging Planet Records.
As a result of a line-up change due to personal circumstances, Pawel has since been replaced by Rui Belchior on guitar, but the concept and ideas remain unchanged just like the Babylonian stones that have managed to remain “alive” to this day with so much to tell us still.
With references to the distant past, among what lasted on the sands of time, the stones of memory and the imagination of what could have been, the Stones Of Babylon presents in their first LP five new instrumental sculptures, between sandy, atmospheric textures, in a surrounding of sonic mantras that invoke melodies from the near east with influences from heavier psychedelism and western doom, where their own originality merges with the inevitable influences of musical megaliths such as Black Sabbath, OM, Sleep, among others.
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 31st, 2019 by JJ Koczan
The festival artwork hasn’t even been posted yet, as evidenced by the letters-floating-on-black placeholder above, but the eighth Up in Smoke Festival set for Oct. 2 and 3, 2020, in Pratteln, Switzerland, has already unveiled its first three confirmations. The announcement sneaked out just before the holiday, but it’s already bringing together a couple native Swiss acts with a killer band from beyond the borders. That latter is Somali Yacht Club, and they’re joined by Unhold and Echolot on the Sound of Liberation-presented bill.
Of course, this is the time of year when rampant speculation about new releases is most fun, so I’m wondering if Somali Yacht Club might be touring Europe in Fall to herald a follow-up to early 2018’s The Sea (review here), but it was four years between their debut and that sophomore outing, so that would be cutting that time-split significantly. We’ll see. They’re a cool band either way and bring an atmospheric edge to their heavy that makes an encouraging leadoff to Up in Smoke 2020’s first announcement.
Which, as it happens, follows here:
SOMALI YACHT CLUB, UNHOLD & ECHOLOT are the first names for Up in Smoke 2020
We are stoked to welcome Somali Yacht Club from Lviv, Ukraine. The band creates their very very own sound by mixing psych and stoner with elements of shoegazing and post-metal in their music.
The Swiss formation Unhold has been an active band for over 25 years, fusing together a unique mix of sludge, doom, post metal and noise rock. We are happy to finally welcome the extreme and hard hitting institution at UP in SMOKE festival at Z7.
ECHOLOT from Basel City are delivering an ocean of sound, fresh and psychedelic jams that drive you from the depths of doom into cosmic lightness.
We are back in January with the next band announcement, the artwork, festival passes, sleepover Tickets and additional info.
We wish you all some merry X mas days and a happy new year!!!
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 30th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
If I needed to tell you to listen to Blackwater Holylight before — and nope, I didn’t — I definitely don’t now, as you no doubt made your way out to see them on their Fall tour alongside Monolord. Or, perhaps you were fortunate enough to catch one of their nights with YOB and Earthless earlier this month. One way or the other, you probably picked up however many vinyl editions of their second album, Veils of Winter (review here), were at the merch table, and I’m sure by now you’ll agree it’s one of 2019’s best records. I think it’s nice to be so on the same page. Synergy and so forth.
Turns out Blackwater Holylight aren’t at all done supporting said record, and really, neither should they be, what with all the ass its eight tracks streaming at the bottom of this post so mightily kick. They were in Europe last Spring, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they made a return trip sometime in 2020, depending on how quickly they want to get to work on their third album — their second came on a quick turnaround from their 2018 self-titled debut (review here) — but before that either does or doesn’t happen, they’ll do a West Coast headlining run that, if I’m not mistaken, will be their first time at the top of the bill in the US. If I’m right about that, it’s a significant forward step, even though the tour set for March is nowhere near as long as the stint with Monolord, and one hopes that it will only add to the momentum already so much on the band’s side.
Shows are presented by Nanotear, who posted the dates thusly:
Blackwater Holylight – West Coast Tour Dates
Happy new year: Blackwater Holylight will be doing a West Coast tour this upcoming March.
03/04 Seattle WA Substation 03/05 Vancouver BC Astoria 03/06 Portland OR Mississippi Studios 03/07 Eugene OR Old Nick’s 03/08 Sacramento CA Starlet 03/10 San Diego CA Soda Bar 03/11 Los Angeles CA Lodge Room 03/12 Palm Springs CA Ace Hotel 03/13 Santa Cruz CA Felton Music Hall 03/14 Oakland CA Eli’s Mile High
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 30th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
A wintry companion to each autumn’s Shadow Woods fest, the inaugural Shadow Frost Music & Arts Festival is set to take place not in the forest — probably a practical choice, given, you know, winter and all — but at the Clarion Inn Frederick Event Center in Frederick, Maryland, on Feb. 21 and 22. And let’s be honest, that’s not as romantic or as kvlt an idea as having a party out in the woods in the waning days of summer, but from where I sit, it’s also kind of awesome. Think of it this way: Here’s an all-ages festival infiltrating an otherwise normal, unassuming space that, instead of a campground, gives you on-site hotel amenities. Of all the fests you’ve ever been to, how many have listed “free breakfast” and “Saturday morning yoga” — which I’m going to assume will be led by Darsombra, who are also playing, and if that’s not true I don’t want to know — among its resources? Imagine going for a swim before you see some “pizza-themed punk/grind.” This could be your life.
Like Shadow Woods, the lineup for Shadow Frost 2020 carries a rich and admirable sense of curation, loyal to its Chesapeake home, but unafraid as well to branch out in multiple directions, as festival director Mary Spiro continues to proliferate her vision of an underground that transcends genre barriers and unites communities who probably have more in common than they think.
Awesome project, especially for a first run. I hope it goes off without a hitch:
SHADOW FROST MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL: Frederick, Maryland’s Exclusive Indoor Winter Gathering Announces Updated Lineup + Merch Presales
SHADOW FROST MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL, Frederick, Maryland’s exclusive indoor winter gathering, will take place February 21st and 22nd, 2020.
Produced by Shadow Woods Productions, LLC, this inaugural, hotel-based gala will feature Oakland’s crushing Vastum with a special set from their guitarist/ambient industrialist Leila Abdul-Rauf. The lineup rounds out with East Coast cult thrashers Deceased, Vermont’s thunderous Barishi, Boston traditional metallers Magic Circle, and Houston’s Doomstress. Also performing are heavy psych throwbacks Alms and the otherworldly Darsombra (both from Baltimore), Detroit black metalists Fell Ruin, and up-and-coming doom maestros from Maryland’s Eastern Shore, Yatra. Tickets and the full daily lineups can be found here at THIS LOCATION.
Exclusive SHADOW FROST merch has also been released for presale until February 1st. Designed by Legerdemain’s Brian Sheehan, Wailing Wizard’s Rebecca Magar, and Art Noir’s Yuriy Seroff, these phenomenal creations all evoke the chilling winter months. Merch can be found HERE.
SHADOW FROST is heavily focused on Maryland-based artists including Alms, Darsombra, Spiral Grave, Radamanthys, and Yatra and is geared toward those who want to step outside their comfort zone and explore. “There is so much great music being created that totally flies under the radar in the music scene, even among people who seem to know a lot about music trends,” said SHADOW FROST producer M A Spiro. “I am not trying to host bands that you can see at a lot of other festivals, but I want to showcase a few of the best that that underground music has to offer. That has been my philosophy with every event I have done, and I don’t plan to change that.”
While previous Shadow Woods fests have been outdoors, the hotel setting provides attendees with unique opportunities to mingle. Hotel amenities include an indoor pool and game room, tavern serving traditional pub fare, and free breakfast every morning. Festivities will occur in the ballroom and pre-function area of the event center, which is attached via an indoor corridor to the hotel. No need to step outside in the cold! SHADOW FROST will also host arts and music vendors, workshops, Saturday morning yoga, table games, and other fun activities. The fest will have the feel of an event such as a horror or comic convention.
Friday – February 21st: Barishi — Vermont prog-psych rock Leila Abdul-Rauf — Oakland dark ambient multi-instrumentalist Doomstress — Texas heavy rock Alms — Baltimore proto-metal Fell Ruin — Detroit blackened sludge Capitalist — New Jersey crust grind Infinite Pizza — Baltimore pizza-themed punk/grind
Saturday – February 22nd: Vastum — Oakland death metal Deceased — East Coast death metal legends Darsombra — Baltimore trans-apocalyptic galaxy rock Arsantiqva — New York black metal Magic Circle — Boston traditional heavy metal Frost Giant — Philadelphia viking metal Volur — Toronto ambient doom Spiral Grave — Maryland/Virginia heavy metal Witching — Philadelphia blackened sludge Yatra — Maryland death doom Mo’ynoq — Raleigh DSBM Polemicist — Philadelphia blackened death Radamanthys — Maryland tech death
SHADOW FROST is an all ages event, however, children’s tickets (ages 5-17) will be available at the door with a PAID parent or guardian on-premises. Children under 5 get in for FREE with a paid parent or guardian.
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 30th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Philly post-metallurgists Rosetta self-issued their new three-songer EP, Terra Sola, through their Bandcamp page, which is a pretty similar treatment to how they did their last full-length, which was 2017’s Utopioid. Like that album, which was also followed by the experimentalist offering Sower of Wind (review here) earlier this year, Terra Sola will see subsequent release through that celebrator of that which is aggroprog, Pelagic Records. Feb. 14 would seem to be the date in question, and since it’s been available name-your-price style since October, of course it’s available now to stream and download. I even put it at the bottom of this post in case you don’t want to leave the comforts of my decade-old blog theme.
I know that grey on black is like a warm blanket. It’s okay. It is for me too.
From the PR wire:
ROSETTA: Philadelphia Based Post-Metal/Sludge Outfit To Release New EP “Terra Sola” Through PELAGIC RECORDS in February
On the heels of an incredible 2-year, 36 country, 200-show touring cycle supporting Utopioid, ROSETTA returns with new EP Terra Sola. Conceived on tour and breathing more freely outside the structure of a formal album, the title track layers a multitude of moods, its cinematic sweep hearkening back to ROSETTA deep cuts like “TMA-3” and “So Warm a Solitude”. At the same time, it explores new textures and new conceptual ground, connecting the human themes of Utopioid with questions about the future of the planet and our people on it.
Terra Sola also features two brand-new B-side tracks, connected in concept but showcasing the quieter sonic incarnation of Rosetta. “57844” mines the harmonic structures of Utopioid’s “54543” for new sounds and new meanings, while the instrumental “Where Is Hope” merges gentle acoustic guitar and lo-fi electronica, rare sounds in the ROSETTA catalog. Formed in Philadelphia in 2003 as a four-piece, ROSETTA’s first two albums pulled together elements from 90s hardcore, drone, doom, and atmospheric sludge metal. Informed as much by the minimal soundscapes of STARS OF THE LID as by the pulverizing weight of GODFLESH, the band’s compositions had a spaced-out, exploratory feel, appropriately dubbed “metal for astronauts.” 2010’s A Determinism of Morality moved on from celestial themes, focusing on increased melodic sophistication while honing a confrontational urgency.
In 2013, ROSETTA embraced their newfound independence with the self-funded, pay-as-you-wish album The Anaesthete, which marked their greatest success so far, recouping costs in 24 hours and remaining the top-selling release on Bandcamp for nearly a month. 2015’s Quintessential Ephemera, ROSETTA’s first effort as a five-piece, received widespread critical and audience acclaim. The band returned in 2017 with Utopioid, their sixth full-length album and most concept-driven work to date, an intersection of heaviness and beauty.
TRACKLIST: Side A: 1. Terra Sola Side B: 2. 57844 3. Where is Hope?
Rosetta lineup: Mike Armine – vocals, sampling Eric Jernigan – electric & acoustic guitars, vocals B.J. McMurtrie – drums, vocals Matt Weed – guitar, bass, piano
