It’s a pretty rare album that sounds better a decade after the fact. Don’t get me wrong, I liked the self-titled debut (review here) from Boston duo Olde Growth when I first heard it, and don’t get me wrong, it’s pretty raw either way, but even if you factor in that the two-piece were probably three or four years ahead of their time in sound and configuration, that’s still an admirable stretch for their first and, sad to say, only LP to have not only held up, but flourished in its earthy, sludgy way.

Initially self-released in 2010, the seven-song/46-minute offering was picked up in 2011 by MeteorCity for a CD release. Comprised of bassist/vocalist Stephen LoVerme (who also handled the artwork) and drummer Ryan Berry, they were arguably the last new-band release from the pivotal imprint, which had changed hands a year prior after being purchased by Dan “El Danno” Beland and Melanie “Hellmistress” Streko and tied in with the fate of the then-active stonerrock.com outlet and forum. Then married, the two had gone on a tear of adding label roster additions in in 2009-2010, and that saw releases from Freedom Hawk, New Keepers of the Water Towers, Snail, Flood, Ararat, Egypt, Whitebuzz, SardoniS, Valkyrie — some you still hear about today, some you don’t — and Olde Growth were at the tail end of that bunch. Even the cardboard digipak, which the band still has available, was forward thinking, printed on recycled paper with soy ink used. The stamp-looking artwork and hand-scribbled fonts gave it a DIY look that suited the organic nature of the band’s sound and, well, moniker.

LoVerme and Berry were young at the time, and recorded in 2009 with guitarist AJ Peters of the band that was then called Riff Cannon and would soon become Summoner — a bit of irony there for a band without a guitarist making their album with one at the helm. Perhaps what’s most continually resonant about Olde Growth, however, is the sense of space in the tracks. As a unit, Olde Growth were maximally flexible, by which I mean they were able to make a song like the lead cut “The Grand Illusion” charge ahead with a gallop that sounded haphazard without actually being so, pulling influence maybe from what High on Fire had done circa Blessed Black Wings but owning each progression as their own, much aided in that regard by LoVerme‘s malleable vocal approach, sludgy, shouted verse coursing into a more melodic chorus. Not by any means anything new for heavy music — such duality drove a surge of metalcore based in New England at the turn of the century — but few and far between were those who could pull it off 10-12 years later without sounding hackneyed, fewer still were those doing so in a heavy/stoner context, and I can’t think of another outfit who did it in a duo configuration. If I’m wrong about that, it doesn’t matter anyway. The point of rarity stands.

And as Olde Growth shoves through “The Grand Illusion,” it meets with the breadth and heft of “Life in the Present.” The tinny sound of Berry‘s snare, the wash of cymbals, the low-end effects as the song nears its melodic stretch in the midsection, it’s all a shift in structure that builds on the opener, so that as they turn it around into punker thrash it’s not a huge surprise, but ties together smoothly — or as smoothly as they want it to, anyhow — with a return to the lumbering (get it?) march at the end likewise setting up  the grimmer launch of the three-part “Cry of the Nazgul/The Second Darkness/To the Black Gate,” a Lord of the Rings-based lyric that saves Aragorn’s triumph for a layered-vocal in its third part, surprisingly soulful given the trudge through Middle Earth mud in most of the first five minutes. Some growls right at the end bring it together, and offer a resolution that, unlike the book or movies, didn’t require a slew of appendices or two hours of comedown epilogue.

“Sequoia,” however, might be called a comedown in itself. It is the slowest of pieces on Olde Growth at its outset, but nestles subtly into movement as it unveils a hook worthy of “The Grand Illusion,” and from there continues to add speed before cutting back again. The riff, low, slow, is rootsy stoner sludge idolatry, but well done with Berry‘s hi-hat keeping the nod punctuated as they cycle through the next verse, ahead of the ending slowdown and shouts, which end with amp hum and let the effects of minute-long interlude “Red Dwarf” arrive naturally and transition accordingly into the also-instrumental “Everything Dies,” which though it’s not as long or broad as the three-parter or the 10-minute finale “Awake” that follows is no less epic in its build, perhaps more so for the relative efficiency with which it’s brought to bear.

The closer opens righteously mellow following the intensity at the end of “Everything Dies,” and explodes with a snare hit for warning shortly before it’s four minutes deep. Yeah, there’s a ripper part in the middle and second half, and they plod to a finish with a lead line over top, but if you want to hear underscored just how much potential Olde Growth had, it’s in the methodical way they end the record. They could be brash, they could punk out, play fast, play slow, etc., but hearing “Awake” start out with such barely-there hypnotic minimalism while keeping that surge in its pocket is emblematic of what the two-piece might have accomplished going forward. Seems hard now to overstate the potential, in aesthetic, songwriting or performance.

So it goes. Olde Growth released the self-titled in 2012 on vinyl through the also-ahead-of-its-time Hydro-Phonic Records (that version had “Red Dwarf” and “Everything Dies” combined, which is fair), and would go on to play shows, tour a bit, and offer the Owl EP (review here) in 2012. Last I got to see them was in Boston in 2013, and they still made it worth the drive to the city. If you’ve never been to Boston, that is a significant compliment.

Also known for his video work with Treebeard Media and the Somerville, MA, venue ONCE Ballroom, LoVerme would reemerge circa 2014 as part of the more stylistically diverse SEA, and has recently been involved with the more extreme-minded Lunar Ark, who as it happened played a live show last week. How about that. What times we live in.

Nonetheless, this album could stand a reissue.

As always, I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading.

—

I woke up this morning at 4:10AM. My program of training my body to get up earlier has resulted in the increase of productivity I sought. Not a magic bullet to get everything done in a day that I want to — it’s only an hour and 20 minutes different from my luxurious 5:30 days — but it helps. I’ll hope to have it to 4AM by Monday. I remember clearly now putting my head down at the kitchen table in Massachusetts and falling asleep at the keyboard.

Of course, the tradeoff is fatigue, decrease in patience with myself and others, a brutally long-feeling day, and things like not being able to find the new toothbrush I left right frickin’ there on the table for myself this morning when I got up. Coffee, as ever, provides the single set of footprints in the sand while carrying me.

I’d be further remiss if I didn’t again note the blow that was the death of Eric Wagner at the week’s outset. The Skull and Trouble have both since commented on his passing, but the level of shock through the heavy underground is a testament to the career and life he led. Why he didn’t get a vaccine before going on tour, I don’t know. Could’ve been politics, could’ve been additional health risks. It doesn’t matter now.

This morning I also found a message on Facebook from July from a kid I went to middle school with that one of our classmates apparently died in 2019 and I never knew. Seems like maybe he killed himself. We didn’t keep in touch or anything after going to different high schools, but he was a nice enough kid at that age. Troubled. Loved golf, which was odd in an eighth grader. But yeah. I’m not sure I’d be justified in grieving the loss since it happened two years ago and I hadn’t spoken to him in about two and a half decades, but it was a bookend to the week that I hadn’t expected. I didn’t really know Eric Wagner either, though we spoke a few times.

That brings to mind how Chris Peters from Fuzz Sagrado/Samsara Blues Experiment wrapped up that interview that went up yesterday. I don’t know that anybody will watch that in its 80-minute entirety (maybe I should learn video editing, but that just seems like something that would take away from time I’d otherwise want to spend writing), but in the last couple minutes, he encouraged anyone watching to speak to more people, to reach out, because it’s so amazing to interact with others. I admit that’s not the kind of advice I’m likely to take. I will rarely initiate conversation with someone I don’t already know. Introverted is a grown-up way of saying shy, but either way. The truth of the matter is that I have always believed that when someone meets me who might not’ve known before, they’ll either be put off by my physical appearance or something I say. It is better, then, to not engage.

Obviously I have never had many friends. Further, among the oh-let’s-say-a-few challenges of parenting is encouraging my son to be outgoing or teaching him how handle simple social interactions to when my own impulses and unconsciously-demonstrated behaviors are so contrary to that. It is not a thing I’m good at.

We’ll throw it on the list that hopefully I’m the only one keeping.

I need to turn in the playlist for the next Gimme Metal show. It’ll be all Eric Wagner. More on that next week, and stay tuned as well for premieres from Old Man Wizard, Embr, Lurcher, Wang Wen and an interview with Sons of Alpha Centauri, whose new LP is out today on Exile on Mainstream.

Today is The Pecan’s last day of summer daycamp. He had a good time. Next week he’s home with me, which is a thing that I’m sorry to say I’ve been dreading in terms of getting work done, but will probably be fine. It’s been 12 and a half years and I haven’t lost the thread yet, so seven business days with the kid won’t kill me, even with The Patient Mrs. back at her office for most of the week as her semester has also started. If I need to work before bed, I can. That would mean less tweeting about Star Trek, but we all have to make sacrifices sometimes.

Whatever your next week brings, I hope you have a great and safe weekend. Hydrate. Have fun. Watch your head. Hug someone who has consented to be hugged. Buy an Obelisk t-shirt. Life is short.

FRM.

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It’s all fun and games until the hypnotized backyard-pool baptism turns sinister. So it goes in the new Rebreather video for the atmospheric and heavy “Drown,” a first single from the band’s first full-length since 2008’s Sunflower. They’ve come a long way in that time, and following the 2018 self-titled EP (discussed here) that marked the Youngstown, Ohio, trio’s return to activity and their earlier-2021 covers two-songer (review here), the cumbersomely titled The Line, its Width and the War Drone will see release on Dec. 3 through Aqualamb in the imprint’s established art-book format. Sign me up.

“Drown” brings a collaboration with Frayle, who are also signed to Aqualamb, and whose Gwyn Strang drowns Rebreather in the aforementioned video. I guess there are worse ways to go? Either way, the track unfolds over seven minutes with an impact-minded chorus and a patience in craft and melody prefaced by the prior covers (one of which is included on the LP as well) that makes me all the more curious to hear what they’ve come up with elsewhere on the release. A December arrival puts The Line, its Width and the War Drone just a month shy of the 2022, which will be the 20th anniversary of Rebreather‘s 2002 debut, Need Another Seven Astronauts, which one continues to remember fondly.

The years pass.

Video and song are awesome and at the bottom of the post. Looking forward to the album. Here’s details from the PR wire:

Rebreather to Release New LP, ‘The Line, Its Width, and the War Drone’, December 3

Ohio Noise Rock Trio Teams Up with Labelmates Frayle on Stunning New Song/Video “Drown”

Youngstown, Ohio noise rock / sludge metal band Rebreather creates punishing, tenacious, and metallic music that seethes and breathes. More than a barrage of stark noise and earthen sludge, Rebreather creates songs; glorious, winding songs that allow dissonant, harmonic guitar/bass tones to soothe before they strike, drumming that builds and then batters, and vocals that display a powerful, shimmering vulnerability. On December 3, Rebreather will release its fifth full-length LP, ‘The Line, Its Width, and the War Drone’, via Aqualamb Records. Pre-orders are live at Aqualamb.org.

Produced by Rebreather and mastered by Carl Saff (John Carpenter, Bongzilla, Elder), ‘The Line, Its Width, and the War Drone’ takes trickles from both the band’s past releases and 20 years experience and coalesces the trio’s “cave pop” into a roaring river of soaring sound. Flush with oddly accessible, dazzlingly tight metalcraft, ominous, propulsive basslines, and a rampaging rhythmic verve, the record’s widescreen sheen gleams with a mercurial mystique befitting of only the most tight-knit, veteran units. Today, Rebreather releases a video for the new song, “Drown”, which is a true collaboration with fellow Ohioans and Aqualamb lablemates Frayle.

“We finished recording “Drown” and got through the overdubs, but there was a sense that it felt like just a little something was missing,” says Rebreather guitarist/vocalist Barley Rantilla. “We ended up shooting what we had finished over to our friends Sean and Gwyn to see if they were interested in adding some of their “Frayle” magic to it. When they sent back the demo of what they wanted to add, we were blown away. This was not only “our” song anymore…it was totally possessed by Frayle. Gwyn’s vocals added such a great dark melody and Sean’s guitar layers pushed everything into the right space. A couple weeks later, Sean hit us up with an idea to film a video for the song. Shooting was cool. We definitely inhaled more than enough water being drowned by Gwyn, but we all survived in the end.”

Frayle vocalist Gwyn Strang adds, “We were excited when Rebreather asked us to collaborate with them on their song, “Drown”. Adding our layers of vocals and guitars over another band’s song was a new experience for us. It was interesting to combine our approach to sounds and songwriting with Rebreather’s aggressive and stripped-down composition.”

Rebreather’s new LP, ‘The Line, Its Width, and the War Drone’, will be released on December 3 via Aqualamb Records.

‘The Line, Its Width, and the War Drone’ track listing:

1.) Sicksicksick
2.) It Comes In Three’s
3.) Silent H
4.) Choke On It
5.) Residual Madness
6.) Drown
7.) Pets (Porno for Pyros cover)

This Friday, August 27, Rebreather and Frayle will share the stage at the Westside Bowl in Youngstown, Ohio for a celebration of the bands’ collaboration. Noted Brewery, Noble Creature, who brew small batch Wild Ales & Lagers in a former church in Youngstown, has brewed a special limited-edition beer — also named Drown — in honor of the release of the new song and video.

Rebreather tour dates:

August 27 Youngstown, OH Westside Bowl (w/ Frayle)
August 28 Cleveland, OH Grog Shop
September 3 Akron, OH Musica
September 4 Columbus, OH Spacebar

Rebreather is:
Barley Rantilla – Guitars and Vocals
Steven Gardner – Drums
Steve Wishnewski – Bass

https://www.facebook.com/rebreather-372407815879/
https://www.instagram.com/rebreather_band/
https://rebreather-ohio.bandcamp.com/
http://www.stevewishnewski.com/rebreather
http://www.aqualamb.org
http://www.aqualamb.bandcamp.com
http://www.facebook.com/aqualambrecords

Rebreather w/ Frayle, “Drown” official video

Rebreather, “Pets” official video

Never too late to bring that fuzz, as Fargo, North Dakota instrumentalists El Supremo proved with 2019’s Clarity Through Distortion (review here), an 11-years-later follow-up to the band’s 2008 demo. That record, which saw Chad Heille — also formerly of Egypt — expand from a solo-project to a full outfit including fellow Egyptian Neal Stein on guitar, will get a sophomore answer sometime next year as the four-piece incarnation of El Supremo have now signed to Argonauta Records.

I promise you I didn’t know this was happening when I closed out last week with the Wo Fat and Egypt split. Just a bit of happenstance timing, I guess. Still, the news is welcome, even if we would seem to be a ways off from a release date or album details. The PR wire has the impending as their third LP, where I was thinking of it as the second, but one way or the other, it’s new tunes and that’ll be just fine, thanks.

Here’s the signing announcement:

Fargo Fuzz Rockers El Supremo Sign With Argonauta Records! New album coming in early 2022!

Fargo, ND, based instrumental rockers EL SUPREMO have inked a worldwide deal with Argonauta Records, who will release the band’s third album in early 2022.

EL SUPREMO was originally formed as a one-man project with Chad Heille playing all the instruments and handling recording/production. A self-titled full-length demo was released in 2008, with Tom Canning and Neal Stein contributing guitar solos. Their most recent album, Clarity Through Distortion, was released in 2019 and features Chad Heille on drums and bass, Neal Stein on guitar and Chris Gould on organ/keys. Influenced by classic and stoner rock, blues and old-school metal, the band‘s vibrant sound ranges from psychedelic and melodic to heavy and doomy.

Chad and Neal went on to play in the band Egypt from 2012 to 2018. During that time, they released three full-length records, a split LP, made numerous compilation appearances, reissued their first demo and toured 16 different countries playing several notable festivals. After Egypt split, they decided to revive the EL SUPREMO name and now backed by Cameron Dewald on bass, they are currently working on their new album for a 2022 release through Argonauta Records.

Says the band: “El Supremo is stoked to be teaming up with Argonauta Records. The last year was a bit of a trial but, we are primed and ready to deliver our best record yet!”

EL SUPREMO is:
Chad Heille – Drums
Neal Stein – Guitar
Cameron Dewald – Bass
Chris Gould – Organ/Keys

www.facebook.com/elsupremofuzz
www.elsupremo.bandcamp.com
www.argonautarecords.com
www.facebook.com/ArgonautaRecords

El Supremo, Clarity Through Distortion (2019)

Floored Faces release Kool Hangs on Nov. 12. So can you hang with it? Are you kool? Yeah, probably. The Seattle-based trio are hardly barring entry when it comes to the flowing, nine-song/34-minute offering that is their second long-player in two years’ time, comprised of catchy — sometimes angular like opener “Shoot the Ground” (premiering below), sometimes aggressive like “Upended,” sometimes desert-hooky like “Now You See It” and sometimes very much of their geography like “I’d Be Broke” and “Out of the Ground” — tracks likewise warm in tone and melody. There’s a linear course, and a narrative underpinning to boot, but even if you just put the record on and let it roll out, it’s ready and willing to carry you along its utterly manageable course. So yeah, you can hang. How do you feel about the ’90s?

For those already down, who might’ve tapped into their earlier EPs or March 2020’s Escapism Prism — prescient of title and limited of vinyl — the songs of Kool Hangs feel somewhat less raw, tighter in their production and structure, but as “Shoot the Ground” demonstrates at the outset, that doesn’t necessarily mean a sacrifice of edge. “All Around You” foreshadows the Monster Magnetism of closer “Bash Machine,” which serves as a near-hopeful conclusion to the post-apocalyptic theme after the noisy “Out of the Ground” and more intense shove of “Head First.” These songs are united in their spaciousness and unflinching in their sense of craft, which is to say, guitarist/vocalist Joe Syverson, bassist Erik Cargill and drummer/synthesist Colin English sound like they’ve taken the time they reportedly did in order to think through and hammer this material into the shape it’s taken — the last year and a half has been good for that and precious little nothing else — and Floored Faces have effectively found a balance between pop efficiency and heavier breadth.

This is to their advantage wherever they want to take an individual track, with centerpiece “Into the Ground” — not to insinuate that anybody was contemplating death while writing about civilization collapse during an actual plague and sundry personal trials, but three songs of the nine here have the word “ground” in the name — building on the momentum of the prior, earliest-Queens of the Stone Age careening vibe of “Now You See It” with a shove the three-piece continue in the nigh-on-motorpunk “Upended.” There’s sonic as well as narrative progression in the interaction between individual pieces, each offering a standout element here or there brought together into the context of the entirety through Syverson‘s vocals, the steady class of the rhythm section’s reinforcement of the riffs, and the subtlety of play that adds value to repeat listens even as the choruses implant themselves on your brain.

Shit, if you can write songs like this, I can’t think of a reason why you shouldn’t. You wanna hang with Kool Hangs? Do it. As my introduction to the band, I find it’s only more encouraging to do exactly that the more I hear it, and with the pattern of quick turnarounds from one release to the next, I can’t help but think Floored Faces might already have the inevitable “next thing” already in the works. They seem like the types to plan ahead to one degree or another.

“Shoot the Ground” is on the player below. Album info for Kool Hangs follows, courtesy of the PR wire:

Floored Faces are the latest to emerge from Seattle’s stoner-psych scene, drawing influence from Northwest greats like the Melvins, Tad and the Sonics. Their new album ‘Kool Hangs’ will be self-released on November 12, 2021.

In early-2020, with the world on hold, FLOORED FACES had time to reflect on their first three years of explosive throughput, and ponder what it is that fuels the band’s creative spark and drive to produce: lifechanging experiences, finding resilience in the face of adversity and hardship, serve as a major influence in their productivity and desire to feed their passions, knowing first-hand that life is short and can change when you least expect it. This is not emotional fluff we’re talking about, recognizing the band has found unbelievable influence from collectively enduring the hardship of nearly losing one of its members to a heart condition, a partner to gun violence, and coming to terms with the reality of managing the mental health of loved ones.

Their new album ‘Kool Hangs’ explores the absurd yet tangible fantasy of an apocalyptic world where the only personal belongings that remain are a motocross bike and a cassette copy of Monster Magnet’s ‘Dopes to Infinity’, and a shotgun. But there’s more than that. “Shoot the Ground” begins this fantasy journey as the main character scavenges for food and other people; strapped with a shotgun he vents his frustration of hours, days and weeks of loneliness. “I’d Be Broke” is about time slipping away from the main character of this fantasy as “Now You See It” explores mentally going against the norm, and the heartbreak of going insane. Kool Hangs is pure fantasy staring down the band’s collective, real-life trauma. It’s genuine, sincere and has no pretense, a Holy Diver meets Bleach mind-melter of an album that the band cannot wait for the world to hear.

Tracklisting:
1. Shoot the Ground
2. All Around You
3. I’d Be Broke
4. Now You See It
5. Into the Ground
6. Upended
7. Out of the Ground
8. Head First
9. Bash Machine

Floored Faces are:
Colin English – Drums, Synths
Erik Cargill – Bass
Joe Syverson – Guitars and Vocals

Floored Faces on Facebook

Floored Faces on Instagram

Floored Faces on Bandcamp

Floored Faces on Spotify

Boise-based mostly-solo outfit Sawtooth Monk — aka Travis X. Abbott, also of Ealdor Bealu — released the full-length Peregrination earlier this year and has set Sept. 10 as the release date for an instrumental companion-piece titled Goddess Empress derived of material from the same recording period. It is led off by “Goddess” and closes with “Empress,” so not much mystery perhaps as to from whence the title derives, but having dug Peregrination, I saw the Bandcamp update about the new offering, checked out the track that’s streaming — that would be “Goddess,” find it below, right on top of Peregrination in its entirety — and, well, dug that too. Sharing the release info seemed like a pretty straightforward proposition in my mind, and so here we are.

Interesting to see Abbott draw together different projects under the Sawtooth Monk moniker. I can’t help but wonder if he’s thinking of doing more in this kind of instrumental mode from here, or already has a backlog to work from. Either way, really, bringing it all together makes a lot of sense. We live in the age of branding, after all. Also plague. But even that has a brand name.

Release info follows:

Sawtooth Monk – Goddess Empress – Sept. 10

GODDESS EMPRESS is a collection of additional/leftover instrumental tracks from the Peregrination Sessions recorded between April 2020 & July 2021.

Originally, I had the idea of releasing this music under the name of an old, mostly-instrumental project called ‘Obscured By The Sun’ (obscuredbythesun.bandcamp.com). But after much consideration, I determined that it was best to leave this project in the past, regardless of how much I wanted to shed light on the music (along with the help I received on a few albums from the incredibly talented bassist Jacob Fredrickson). I did not think that these songs would fit in with what Sawtooth Monk is supposed to be at first, but I now realize that’s it’s all just part of the same game. Sawtooth Monk is just the name I have for the music I create mostly by myself.

– t

Releases September 10, 2021.

All instruments & music written, performed, recorded, mixed and mastered by Travis X. Abbott at The Hawk’s Nest, Boise, ID

Tracklisting:
1. Goddess
2. Ormr
3. Sacred Ecology
4. Multiplicity
5. Miles
6. Signs of Ragnarok
7. Empress

https://www.facebook.com/sawtoothmonk
https://www.instagram.com/sawtooth_monk/
https://sawtoothmonk.bandcamp.com/

Sawtooth Monk, Goddess Empress (2021)

Sawtooth Monk, Peregrination (2021)

The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.

Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.

Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.

The Obelisk Questionnaire: Ben Chapman-Smith, Cameron Legge & Adam Young of Slowpoke

—

How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?

We play kickass, original stomping heavy music. We got there by absorbing a lot of music, practicing and writing and editing.

Describe your first musical memory.

Ben: Attending music class in kindergarten / elementary school.

Cam: Dancing around the house to my Dad’s cassettes while strumming a toy guitar.

Adam: I remember my dad had an acoustic guitar and I wanted so badly to be able to play it, but I couldn’t. That was the beginning of my infatuation with music.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

Ben: This might not be the favourite but it’s near the top. When this girl in high school gave me Appetite for Destruction for the first time. I was immediately obsessed with GNR

Cam: The first punk show that I seen in my hometown of Marystown. Made me realize what I want to do with my life.

Adam: Writing music with my really good friends.

When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?

Ben: When I left Toronto to pursue music as a career in St. John’s. It tested my belief in whether or not I could actually accomplish this.

Cam:

Adam:

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

Ben: The shorter answer is artistic competency. I guess it depends on how fast you are progressing and what’s driving you. It can be incredibly liberating but can also force you into inhospitable territory. It depends on how you define artistic progression.

Cam: It really depends on what progression is referring to. In a true artistic sense, I think it’s being able to capture human experiences and emotions and putting them into a digestible context that people can relate to. I think the best artists have a way of tapping into us emotionally on a universal level.

Adam: Inward.

How do you define success?

Ben: For me, musically, success is a cross-section of financial sustainability and contributing interesting and genuine ideas.

Cam: Contributing something that didn’t exist before, while sustaining yourself financially.

Adam: Being happy doing what you’re doing.

What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?

Ben: I once seen a guy taking a dump in a New York subway.

Cam: A coked out guy tried to get in my car while I was parked in a parking garage.

Adam: I saw some pretty awful animal abuse when I was young.

Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.

Ben: A performance art/free form improvised doom metal odyssey inspired by traditional function of music in a ceremonial context.

Cam: I have always had an interest in film. I would love to be able to totally go out of my comfort zone and attempt to write a script for a horror film.

Adam: I’m with Ben.

What do you believe is the most essential function of art?

Ben: To genuinely offer a perspective or to share a specific feeling.

Cam: “To disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed” – Cesar A Cruz.

Adam: To hold a mirror up to ourselves.

Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?

Ben: Getting a new car, no real plans for it but I’m looking forward to it.

Cam: Figuring out the chaos that is my 20s.

Adam: Does building my recording studio count?

https://www.slowpokeband.com/music
https://www.facebook.com/slowpoketheband/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4rTzZYhVbVE03MUgsgyLKg
https://www.slowpokenl.bandcamp.com/

Slowpoke, Slowpoke (2021)

This January, Berlin-based heavy psychedelic rockers Samsara Blues Experiment capped a run that began in 2008 with End of Forever (review here), their fifth album. In between its recording during summer 2020 and the release, guitarist, vocalist, occasional-sitarist and principal songwriter Christian Peters had relocated from Germany to Brazil for — what else? — love. Now married and living in a rural area about six hours from Sao Paulo, Peters has unveiled Fuzz Sagrado, a new solo-project the follows years of making largely synth-based explorations on his own under the moniker Surya Kris Peters.

While not necessarily lacking any synthesizer or keyboard elements in themselves — Peters handles drum programming (though the EP credits Slater on drums), Minimoog, Mellotron, Hammond, etc. — the three songs on Fuzz Sagrado‘s Fuzz Sagrado are enough of a departure to warrant being listed as a new outfit, especially since they boast so much more of a traditional ‘rock band’ style, Peters brings bass and guitar forward and, though these songs are instrumental, he’s begun working on vocal melodies and lyrics for subsequent offerings. Rock songs.

The motivation for the shift is relatively simple: he’s rediscovered his love of rock and roll, and maybe stepping away from the business side of Samsara Blues Experiment, as well as the big move, has facilitated this. In the extended interview that follows, Peters talks about the end of Samsara Blues Experiment and the beginning of Fuzz Sagrado. He talks about the relationships with his former bandmates bassist/backing vocalist Hans Eiselt and drummer Thomas Vedder — both of whom also have other groups going as well — and how it felt to realize that a band who had toured on four continents and been together for 12 years was coming to an end.

He’s still processing it. It’s still pretty immediate. But it should be noted outright that when Samsara Blues Experiment called it quits they called it an “indefinite hiatus” and Peters‘ attitude is very much never-say-never. End of Forever will see a new pressing early next year, with plans reportedly for a 2LP edition of the band’s 2009 debut, Long-Distance Trip (review here), sometime thereafter. He jokes at one point in the interview about doing a reunion at Roadburn as old men. I would hope to be there for it, provided they let me out of the aged-blogger rest home for the day.

As to future plans, there’s “30 or 40” Fuzz Sagrado songs in one stage or another of recording and you can actually watch the inner debate play out as he thinks about whether or not he’s ready to make an album with the new project. If you want a spoiler, I think it might be another EP or two before we get there.

This interview was an utter pleasure for me. I hope you also enjoy:

Interview w/ Chris Peters of Fuzz Sagrado & Samsara Blues Experiment, Aug. 24, 2021

Fuzz Sagrado‘s self-titled debut EP is on Bandcamp now. Samsara Blues Experiment‘s repress of End of Forever is due early 2022. More info at the links.

Fuzz Sagrado, Fuzz Sagrado (2021)

Samsara Blues Experiment, End of Forever (2021)

Fuzz Sagrado on Facebook

Fuzz Sagrado on Instagram

Fuzz Sagrado on Spotify

Fuzz Sagrado website

Electric Magic Records on Facebook

Electric Magic Records on Bandcamp

One would expect no less of ¡Pendejo! that if they were going to do a thing at all, they would go big. Covers? Why not? How about Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath? Yeah, that’ll do nicely. Today marks the release date of Toma, a kind of double-EP released with four covers — including “Wrathchild” and “The Wizard” by the legends noted above, as well as the theme from the tv show Narcos, which I’ve never seen I think mostly because it’s not Star Trek and a take on ’70s pop star Mari Trini for good measure — and four live tracks on a 12″ that was met with the ubiquitous vinyl delays. They note a six-month push in the press release below. I’m hearing it’s up to eight now. If anybody wants to open a pressing plant just for independent releases and labels, hit me up.

¡Pendejo! have live dates in September, though I’m not sure what the Euro lockdown situation will be by then, considering that’s all of a week away and too far in the future to predict, but you can stream Toma below and it’s available physically now, the band having already put in the wait.

Dig:

¡PENDEJO! releases Toma on August 26th

Dutch rockers ¡Pendejo! launch Toma, an album featuring four covers: Iron Maiden’s Wrathchild, The Wizard from Black Sabbath, Narcos theme Tuyo, and Mari Trini’s hit from the seventies, Déjame. The original plan was to release an EP with just covers, but the band decided to add four live songs, recorded previously. Frontman El Pastuso explains:

“We wanted to do a covers-only EP with six songs, but in the end we thought only four were good enough. And an EP with only four covers on it just seamed a bit meager to us, especially if you want to put it on vinyl too. We remembered having those live recordings from our album release party of Sin Vergüenza, which we never gave much attention until then. Anyway, we thought it would be cool to add one or two live tracks, but ended up choosing four. So yeah, what to call Toma? It wasn’t meant as a full length album, and it isn’t. I guess it ended up being a EP-plus or something like that.”

The band already released three covers from Toma digitally in 2020, but couldn’t launch the album sooner than now as a result of long waiting lines at all vinyl production factories.

“Production times are crazy now. Sixteen weeks, twenty weeks, some even make you wait half a year for your vinyls. I heard one of the only two remaining lacquer plants bunt down, causing all the delay. Or maybe everyone got creative during lock-down? I don’t know, but in the end the timing isn’t that bad, just in time before we hit the road again with some really cool shows in Holland in September.”

Toma will be available from August 26th on CD and on a limited edition of black and of transparent vinyl.

Tracklisting:
1. Wrathchild
2. Tuyo
3. El Mago
4. Déjame
5. Flotadores (en vivo)
6. Dos (en vivo)
7. Bulla (en vivo)
8. Hacia La Luz (en vivo)

https://www.facebook.com/pendejoband/
https://www.instagram.com/pendejoband
https://pendejoband.bandcamp.com/
http://www.pendejoband.com/

¡Pendejo!, Toma (2021)

¡Pendejo!, “Don Gernán” official video