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: Justin Pinkerton of Glass Parallels & Futuropaco

—

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

I just make music/sounds that I like. I definitely draw heavily from older genres when I’m writing stuff. I try to learn to play as many instruments I can along the way. I started with saxophone, went to guitar, bass, drums, piano, picked up saxophone again, and now I’ve started playing the flute. I even dabbled with turntable scratching for a while but don’t really keep up on that. I can play things well enough to make records with them. As much as I love playing with and collaborating with other musicians I also enjoy making music on my own. Therefore, I’ve had to learn everything that I need to be able to do that with, including recording and mixing. But I’d still like to learn more instruments and I’m constantly trying to improved my engineering abilities. It’s also helpful with my work, making music for ads, to be able to cover as much ground on my own as possible.

Describe your first musical memory.

Probably just the weekends at my house growing up. Friday – Sunday nights were when my parents would listen to music. Classic rock/pop/yacht rock/jazz, etc. Basically music from the ’50s – ’70s.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

Maybe playing Roadburn? That was the last show of Golden Void’s first Euro tour and it was just super fun. I believe you were there? [Edit: I was indeed.]

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

Pretty much every time I work on music for an advertisement for an evil corporation (which is most of them), it’s very tough. Unfortunately, it’s my job. I’m not much of a touring musician, I’ve got kids, so making music for a living by doing ads means working for some terrible people. At least I don’t deal with them directly. But, it still bums me out on a regular basis. I do my best to just focus on the music. Which can also be tough since I’m often composing music that isn’t something I would do I my own.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

Frustration. But I mean that in a good way. Pushing yourself to not just recreate something you’ve already done. Moving forward and not just getting comfortable in one spot. Sometimes that comes easily, other times it’s a mental exercise in patience and and exploration.

How do you define success?

Being happy with what you’ve created, whether other people like it or not.

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

Donald Trump as president.

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

A film score for an actual film. The Futuropaco record and my synth record were made with sort of imaginary films in mind but I’d like to actually score a film.

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

Mental therapy. I believe art is, or should be purely self indulgent, but not in an egotistical sort of way. People make art to satisfy themselves, even if they’re trying to convey something to someone else. If other people like it then great. But there are tons of artists out there that we’ll probably never hear about, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t still creating art. Art is subjective. Just because someone else has an opinion on it doesn’t change the fact that it was the result of creative expression. The odd balance is between making art, and make a living off of using your skills that you use to make your art, to make “art” to sell to someone else. I’m referring to people to make music for ads, like me, or people who make visual art to sell for advertising, etc. It’s a fine, weird, uncomfortable line.

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

The next time I make coffee.

http://www.facebook.com/glassparallels
https://soundcloud.com/glass-parallels
https://glassparallels.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/futuropaco/
https://elparaisorecords.com/artists/futuropaco

Glass Parallels, Aisle of Light (2020)

Now a five-piece, Brazilian riffers Weedevil will debut their new lineup on their first full-length, The Return. Set to release later this year on vinyl through DHU Records, the release will be the follow-up to last year’s two-songer The Death is Coming (review here) and will be preceded by a first single “Underwater” — which also happens to be the opening track of the LP — to see release this Friday. If you do the Spotify/DSP thing, then you can pre-save the track now. I will not pretend to know how that works. The digital release of the album is in April through Abraxas, and the DHU LP follows when it follows. Because it’s 2022 and that’s the world we live in. If I could change any number of things about it, I’d line up release dates across formats, but I don’t think that’s what I’d change first.

First I’d make a three-day work week, universal basic income, and $35 an hour minimum wage. Then healthcare. Then maybe the release date thing. It’s on the list.

Info came down the PR wire:

Weedevil new single “Underwater” out in February, 4; pre-save available!

Pre-save “Underwater”:
https://onerpm.link/Weedevil_Underwater

Marking a new and even more promising moment of the band ( in course of release their first full album titled “The Return”, debuting the new lineup) the single Underwater will be released on digital platforms on February 4th through Abraxas Records. Dense, dark and with a touch of tragedy the track got in its essence a charge of twist, guided by the Stoner and Doom Metal strands.

Underwater sing about the turbulent story of a woman through mysterious and dangerous waters surrounded by menacing sea creatures that want to drag her to the bottom of the sea. The song inspires agony and danger, but also presents in its climax a positive twist with the woman finally revealing her power and becoming an entity that vanquishes her abusers before finding the void.

According to vocalist Lo Scar, author of the lyrics, the song helps to compose a panel that developed in a time physically and emotionally troubled with the first rehearsal of the new lineup having taken place while she was injured, as well as what has developed since so until your recovery.

Underwater is the first chapter of The Return, highly emotionally charged conceptual material based on Stoner/Doom Metal sonority and scheduled for release on streaming in April and with a Vinyl version already confirmed together with the Dutch label DHU RECORDS.

Weedevil
lo scar – vocal
Paulo Ueno – guitar, theremin, fx
Bodão – guitar
Dani Plothow – bass
Flavio Cavichioli – drums

https://www.facebook.com/weedevildoom
https://instagram.com/weedevildoom
https://weedevil.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/DHURecords/
https://www.instagram.com/dhu_records/
https://darkhedonisticunionrecords.bandcamp.com/
darkhedonisticunionrecords.bigcartel.com/
https://www.facebook.com/abraxasevents/
https://www.instagram.com/abraxasfm/

Weedevil, The Death is Coming (2021)

This week, Michael Rudolph Cummings releases his new recorded-live-to-two-track EP, mRc, and begins a weekender of shows in Los Angeles, which is not a minor trip for someone based in Pennsylvania. The new release is, well, not really new. It was recorded 10 years ago by Cummings on an old tape machine and it’s been mastered and all that happy whatnot, but you can still hear the songs are plenty raw. It sounds like, oh, say, a guy recording onto a tape machine he found at somebody’s garage sale.

That barebones-ness gives a sense of intimacy to a track like “1993” or the twang-grunge of “The Meaning Of” (premiering below) and as with Cummings‘ more recent work in the trio Boozewa alongside fellow former members of Backwoods Payback, the lo-fi aspect across mRc becomes a crucial part of the aesthetic. For about 15 minutes, then it’s done. It’s a very quick release.

As to what else Cummings might have in store for the year, I don’t know, but he’s dropping hints of more to come, so who knows what else may be in the proverbial vault, which one imagines as actually a disorganized closet or one of those plastic bins you get at the Costco. At least that’s how I’m living these days.

Cummings is playing with Bob Wayne, IV and the Strange Band (which is Hank Williams III‘s kid? fuck I’m old) and Desert Danish and Sammy Ruiz. Looks like a cool couple of shows. And the EP’s right on. I guess that’s the depth of insight I have to offer here. Dude does cool shit. I should rewrite the headline.

Audio and info and dates and so on:

These two LA shows will mark my first time playing on the west coast in close to a decade. To say I’m excited for them is the understatement of the year (it’s still early!).

Add in the release of this new/old long lost ep and it’s safe to say 2022 is already shaping up to be quite productive…and it’s only getting started.”

some info on the ep:

It was recorded sometime in 2012 (I think?) here at the compound in an old 2 track tape machine I bought at a yard sale. It had one reel of tape with it and I recorded the songs live. It was then mastered by Mike Bardzik at Noisy Little Critter and given back to me on a master CD. The CD was lost in the shuffle of tours and bands and vans up until the lockdown of 2020 when it found its way back to me. Now it’s out, 10 or so years after it was intended, but it feels good to share it finally.

Michael Rudolph Cummings “mRc”
Release date: Feb 1 2022

1. Beltdrive
2. 1993
3. Healer
4. The Meaning Of
5. Hurdles

SHOWS
Feb 4th Bourbon Room Hollywood CA w/ Desert Danish, Sammy Ruiz
Feb 6th Alex’s Bar Long Beach CA 2pm MATINEE w/ Bob Wayne, IV & The Strange Band

http://www.boozewa.com/
http://twitter.com/bckwoodspayback
http://instagram.com/backwoodspayback
https://michaelrudolphcummings.bandcamp.com/

Michael Rudolph Cummings, mRc (2022)

This was foreseeable, but confirmation is welcome, and in keeping with the established pattern of Heavy Psych Sounds teasing announcements with announcements — you do what you gotta do, and if you want to question their methods, well, fine, but they’re arguably the most important heavy rock label in the world right now, so whatever they’re doing it’s clearly working for them — the PR wire sends word that Stöner, with Brant Bjork, Nick Oliveri and drummer/secret weapon Ryan Güt, have re-signed to the imprint for the follow-up to their 2021 debut, Stoners Rule (review here).

When I interviewed Brant Bjork last year, he noted the goal was to turn around another release before the end of 2022, and with a slew of tour dates lined up on the West Coast and in Europe, it seems reasonable to think that a three-month promo push ahead of the outing will put the eventual release date sometime in April. Their Euro/UK run starts on April 22, which is a Friday. Galway sounds like a cool spot for a release show to me, but of course that’s just speculation at this point.

We’ll find out more next week when the preorders start and the album details and first single are unveiled.

Until then:

HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS signed the desert rock legends for the sophomore album – presale + first track premiere February 8th!!!

We are so stoked to announce that the desert legends STÖNER feat. Brant Bjork and Nick Oliveri has signed a worldwide deal with Heavy Psych Sounds for their sophomore album !!!

PRESALE + first track premiere: FEBRUARY 8th

Rad stays rad. A few ideas are timeless. Stöner is Brant Bjork (guitar/vocals), Nick Oliveri (bass/vocals) and Ryan Güt (drums), and from flowing jams to all-out punker blasts, they know what they’re doing. It ain’t anybody’s first time at the dance, and you don’t call your band Stöner if you’ve never heard the word before. Stöner, however straight-ahead their moniker, encompass varied styles and the songwriting of Bjork and Oliveri – both founders of Kyuss, also Mondo Generator, Ché, Fu Manchu, Bloodcot, and more between them. Atop the classic-style swing and flow from Güt (also of Bjork’s solo band), Stöner keep it casual and wear the name as only those who helped create the sound could.

After the debut album Stoners Rule out in 2021, the band will release the sophomore album in 2022 via Heavy Psych Sounds !!!

STÖNER – WEST NORTH WEST TOUR 2022:
02.23 Costa Mesa CA The Wayfarer*
02.24 Santa Cruz CA Urbani’s Cellar*
02.25 Albany CA The Ivy Room*
02.26 Eugene OR The Big Dirty Live*
02.27 Portland OR Star Theater*
03.01 Seattle WA El Corazon*
03.02 Vancouver BC Rickshaw*
03.03 TBC BC*
03.04 Edmonton AB Starlite Room*
03.05 Calgary AB Palomino*
03.06 Missoula MT Badlander
03.08 Boise ID Neurolux
03.09 Salt Lake City UT Aces High
03.10 Las Vegas NV Soulbelly BBQ
03.11 Tempe AZ Pub Rock
03.12 Oceanside CA Pour House

STÖNER – APRIL & MAY 2022 UK & IRELAND TOUR :
Fri 22 Apr : Monroes Live, Galway, Ire
Sat 23 Apr : Dolan’s Warehouse, Limerick, Ire
Sun 24 Apr : Cyprus Avenue, Cork, Ire
Mon 25 Apr : Limelight 2, Belfast, UK
Tue 26 Apr : Opium, Dublin, Ire
Thu 28 Apr : The Garage, Glasgow, UK
Fri 29 Apr : The Warehouse, Leeds, UK
Mon 02 May : Academy 3, Manchester, UK
Tue 03 May : The Mill, Birmingham, UK
Wed 04 May : Thekla, Bristol, UK

STÖNER + support SLOMOSA Europe 2022
06.05.22 – TBA
07.05.22 – TBA
08.05.22 – Aachen / Musikbunker Aachen
09.05.22 – Hamburg / Knust Hamburg
10.05.22 – Luxemburg / Kulturfabrik Esch-sur-Alzette
11.05.22 – Belfort / La Poudrière – Belfort
12.05.22 – Paris / Nouveau Casino
13.05.22 – Toulouse / Connexion Live
14.05.22 – TBA
15.05.22 – Barcelona / Wolf Barcelona
17.05.22 – Duedingen / Bad Bonn
18.05.22 – Winterthur / Gaswerk
19.05.22 – Wien / ARENA WIEN
20.05.22 – Graz / p.p.c.
21.05.22 – Salzburg / Rockhouse Salzburg
22.05.22 – Aschaffenburg / Colos-Saal Aschaffenburg
23.05.22 – Munich / Feierwerk
24.05.22 – Erlangen / Kulturzentrum E-Werk
25.05.22 – Dortmund / Musiktheater Piano
26.05.22 – Marburg / Kulturzentrum KFZ Marburg
27.05.22 – Dresden / Beatpol
29.05.22 – Berlin / Desertfest Berlin

STÖNER is:
Brant Bjork – Guitars/Vocals
Nick Oliveri – Bass
Ryan Güt – Drums

https://www.stonerband.com/
https://www.facebook.com/StonerBandOfficial/
https://www.instagram.com/stoner.band/
heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com
www.heavypsychsounds.com
https://www.facebook.com/HEAVYPSYCHSOUNDS/
https://www.facebook.com/Soundofliberation/
https://www.instagram.com/soundofliberation/
https://www.soundofliberation.com/

Stöner, Stoners Rule (2021)

Thank you.

Might as well say what I want to say first and in bold. That’s what it boils down to, really. Thank you.

It was 13 years ago this past weekend (I always celebrate the last weekend in January) that the esteemed Slevin, a good person and friend of long-standing even then, laid out the back end of this site in WordPress, installed the theme, registered the domain and all that. Left to my own devices, The Obelisk probably never would’ve happened. I get a lot of ideas. Very few of them ever come to fruition. Let me tell you about wanting to sell homemade specialty nut butters at the Denville Farm Market. Anyhow, 13 years after the fact, I still consider The Obelisk a work in progress, but it’s humbling to think of all it’s brought into my life. Music, people, experience.

The Obelisk colors everything I do. It’s a part of me. If I write a review and I don’t feel like I said what I wanted to say, or if there’s something I need to get caught up on, I’m intolerable. Just ask The Patient Mrs., who has watched over the last 13 years as this thing has become such a monumental piece of my everyday. I get out of bed for it. I did this morning. Even beat the alarm. It’s not always easy, and it’s not always fun — what is? — but the satisfaction I get from it is existential. I need it.

Thank you for reading. I promise you that without your support I’d probably have dropped the thread a long time ago, whereas last month I felt pretty guilty not getting posts up for a couple days before Xmas while I was doing my year-end coverage behind the scenes (gotta remember to put up a placeholder post if the same thing happens this year; a couple people mentioned the post-less days). Seeing folks on social media wearing Obelisk merch, or just liking posts and commenting, commenting here — there are comments here, you know! — sharing stuff, talking about music in the FB group, all of it is astounding. I break my ass working on it, but a lot of people work hard for a lot of things. I recognize that I am deeply, deeply fortunate to have the community support I do. It means everything.

This is important to me. If it’s important to you too, even a little as a part of your day of thumbing through the internet, or if you stumbled on it because of a track premiere at some point, or whatever, any of it, thank you. It’s a small thing — a niche within a niche within a niche; a microgenre of music that just happens to also be a microcosm of sounds — but it’s become my own place where I go as much as I can, and honestly, if I told you how much time of the day I spend thinking about The Obelisk, you’d laugh.

I’ll stop soon, but bottom line is the same as the top one. Thank you.

Behrang, Slevin, Wendy, Pamela, Joseph, Suze, Cate, Vadim, all the labels and PR and everyone who sees these words. Please know your time is much appreciated.

More to come.

Love,
JJ Koczan

Someone posted this record the other day in the Obelisk group on Facebook — thanks, Ted Parsons — and I’ve been glad ever since that they did. Release through the venerable 20 Buck Spin in 2012, Samothrace‘s second full-length, Reverence to Stone (review here), is a lesson that one can bludgeon and offer breadth at the same time. Tracked by Brandon Fitzsimons of Black Queen and Wormwood (among others), the 34-minute long-player from the Seattle-by-way-of-Lawrence-Kansas was not the first offering even from the West Coast to bring together such elements — nor was it claiming to be — but it made the point beautifully across its crawling reaches and in its most dug-in moments of sweep alike, manifesting an post-Earth heavy Americana from the outset of “When We Emerged” (14:21) in a manner that’s droning and impossibly weighted, the screams and growls of guitarist Bryan Spinks completely indecipherable as they join in the initial lurch built up from its softer foundation. There’s something happening there but you don’t know what it is yet. This is how they welcome you to the proceedings. Like Kids in the Hall: “I’m crushing your head.”

Spinks is joined in this incarnation of Samothrace by fellow founders Renata Castagna (who sat in for Chris Fielding of Conan after the two bands toured together in 2015) on guitar and Dylan Desmond (now more known for his work in Bell Witch) on bass, as well as Joe Axler (Theories, Book of Black Earth, etc.) on drums, and the four-piece work quickly and smoothly to demonstrate one of the great strengths of Reverence to Stone. As the lead cut continues to unfold, it reveals itself to be a massive thing, and the dragging tempo would be excruciating were it not for the exacting work on the part of the band tonally. It is the depth of tone that comes through in the recording — there’s just a hint of shimmer on the high end that had me looking back at pictures from seeing the band in 2014 (review here) to see what amps they were using; Oranges, Marshalls, etc. — that gives the listener so much room to get lost. They’re about one-tenth of the way through what’s still a pretty short album release, and they’ve already managed to build much of the world they’ll inhabit for the duration.

“When We Emerged” crashes and drones and seems to sway in the breeze of tis own making, but the (relative) speed kicks in just before the six-minute mark, and it becomes not only a sweep of momentum, but seemingly also the emergence hinted at in the title. A pattern of setting lead guitar soaring over the riffs is already established and put to good use, soon joined by Desmond‘s bass in a singularly righteous stretch. At their loudest, most forceful, the vocals return and are cavernous in the midst of that apex, a storm brought to bear that they start to draw down at around eight and a half minutes, making their way into a chasm of noise and feedback. There’s still a rhythm to it, but honestly, it’s hard to know where the wash ends and the undulations begin, and that’s the point.

A few patterns have been set. The separation of instruments is huge, particularly so in the overarching affect the space between them has on the listener. As the more extended “A Horse of Our Own” (20:29) launches and solely comprises side B, one guitar holds down the riff with the bass and drums, another shreds, and then by the time the second cut is into minute four, Samothrace have shifted into a section of quiet, intertwining guitar lines, far-back drum march and spacious, empty prairie tension. This is hypnotic, and that’s a strength into itself, but it is the smoothness with which they execute that transition and others to follow that helps make the song so undeniably immersive. “A Horse of Our Own” picks up shortly before 7:30 and unfurls not so much in a snap to reality as an organic surge, the land making waves around deceptively angular riffing before the next lead takes hold with a more fervent chug behind it.

Again, the tone. Even that guitar solo feels dense, and not just because of the bass and other guitar behind it or the shove of drums. Its fuzz is headphone-ready in its detail but still carries over as a wash and can move; it is the best of all worlds, and though it’s relatively brief and Samothrace are back to quiet again for an even-more-minimalist ambient stretch that takes them further into the track’s second half, they again make those details count. The march resumes as it inevitably would, but suddenly we’re back on familiar ground, reviving the riff and rhythm of the earliest minutes of the song as a bed for more roaring verses and a long stretch of deconstructing drone, the song spreading itself so wide ultimately that it disintegrates to a conclusion of residual noise. The final impression when one is oozed out the other side of all this morass might be “holy shit that was heavy” — and that’s not wrong, mind you — but part of the reason the weight is so present is because of the dynamic changes that bring it about. Even the final howls near the end of “A Horse of Our Own” have purpose as a part of that. Inhuman and inhumane as they might feel, they are a part of the land and reverence seemingly being depicted.

There was talk of a third Samothrace LP in the works circa late-2017/2018 — about a decade after their 2008 debut, Life’s Trade — but Reverence to Stone still stands as the to-date-latest studio release, followed by Live at Roadburn, which came out the next year and captured the above-linked set with Dorando Hodous (Fungal Abyss, ex-Lesbian) on bass. With all the upheaval and creative reshuffling of priorities of the last few years, it would make a weird kind of sense for another record to show up, but as to who would be in the band with Spinks and Axler and what on earth such a thing might sound like, I won’t speculate. I wouldn’t mind finding out, though.

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

—

Hi, I can’t keep up with email. If I owe you an email back or a Facebook message or whatever and you’re seeing this, I’m sorry. It’s a lot. I don’t have a lot of time and I need to write. Yesterday I had like two hours plus whatever I could sneak in my phone throughout the day. I’m doing my best.

I’m thinking about going to see the Atomic Bitchwax next week with Mirror Queen and Sun Voyager. It’s in Brooklyn at the Knitting Factory. Maybe I’ll go, maybe I won’t, but I’m thinking about it. It’d be nice to see a real show again. Swallow the Sun were killer, but somehow I feel like going to New York is a different animal. But I want to see Uncle Acid and King Buffalo in a couple weeks, so this feels like a decent precursor to that. We’ll see if either happens. Sad.

The kid’s in school right now. His bus is for shit. It’s snowing and maybe we’re supposed to get a bunch more this weekend and maybe we’re not — nobody really knows — but I’ve got two nephews with birthdays this weekend, so I’m not sure what’s going on. My family is coming for dinner tonight and I’m going to make chaffles before they get here so that when everyone comes in they can be immediately be handed cheese and that can help stem the hanger that might otherwise define the evening while we wait for takeout.

Life.

I need to shower, so I’m going to cut out early and hope to finish doing that before the for-shit bus brings The Pecan home and it’s lunchtime and blah blah blah.

I hope you have a great and safe weekend. Have fun, watch your head, hydrate. I’ve got a gallon of water on one side of me and a cup of ice on the other. You do what you gotta do, damn it.

Thanks for reading.

FRM.

The Obelisk Forum

The Obelisk Radio

The Obelisk merch

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: Nina Saeidi of Lowen

—

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

I am the front-person and manager of the Middle Eastern prog doom band Lowen. I sing in Farsi, Sumerian, Akkadian and English using traditional Iranian techniques and instruments amidst crushing guitars and bass.

The band started when I met our now-guitarist in the front row of an Akercocke show in London and told him I’d always wanted to make heavy music that was rooted in the eastern music I grew up hearing. Nine months later we found that we had written our debut album A Crypt in the Stars.

Describe your first musical memory.

I was three years old and my chubby legs were dangling off a piano stool as a teacher splayed my awkward child-hands out across the keys. I was overwhelmed by the size and distance of everything about the piano and the way the stool engulfed me in the plain white practise room above a music shop that smelled like rosin and fresh instrument cases.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

I simply can’t pick a single moment that stands out as I have so many incredible memories. All of them share a single theme of feeling immense connection with others, be they other musicians or people who I have met at shows. The uniting force of music is something for which I am incredibly grateful.

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

I never believed someone like me could be in a heavy metal band. I didn’t think anyone would care about Middle Eastern prog doom. My belief in that has been fully tested and flipped around, and I am so glad for it.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

Hopefully it leads to more art.

How do you define success?

In the context of music I would define it as having the means to produce your work with less financial and psychological stress and resistance.

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

People defending racism in music.

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

I would love to make an extended music video that functions as a short film in the style of Jodorowsky.

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

Alain de Botton describes art as advertising for what we really need, for the most important ideas in the world. I think his definition is the closest to the truth of what it is and how it functions.

I believe that art is expression captured and then distorted through the interpretation of an audience. The essential function of this is the creation of connection. All communication contains distortion through some loss of intended meaning, yet art is the purest attempt to do so. It can supercharge empathy, compassion, healing and understanding. Essentially this can change the mind and change the world.

The most important function of art is to communicate the essence of what it is to be human, as well as what it is to be a better human.

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

I absolutely cannot wait for the new Wheel of Time series and the next instalment of the Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson! It has been such a great year for fantasy and science fiction. With the next Dune film coming out in 2023 it feels good to know that there are a lot of great things coming to keep us enthralled until then.

https://www.facebook.com/Lowenband/
https://www.instagram.com/lowen_band/
https://www.lowen.bandcamp.com

Lowen, Unceasing Lamentations (2021)

Nashville’s All Them Witches return to their heavy blues roots on their new song “Blacksnake Blues,” part of a single-per-month project that’s been dubbed Baker’s Dozen and will feature — you guessed it — a song for each month in 2022 and one to grow on. The band last year announced they’d been rejoined by multi-instrumentalist/organist Allan Van Cleave, and though tour plans for 2020 and 2021 were largely scuttled, the four-piece apparently weren’t sitting still. “Blacksnake Blues” is the first new offering with Van Cleave alongside bassist/vocalist Charles Michael Parks, Jr., guitarist Ben McLeod and drummer/visual artist Robbie Staebler since 2017’s Sleeping Through the War (review here), and its 11-minute run demonstrates the spaciousness his work brought to the band in the first place, allowing the jam into fluid reaches it might not otherwise be able to find in quite the same way.

Van Cleave and McLeod both shine here, and Staebler‘s gentle shove of momentum is no less signature All Them Witches than Parks‘ willing-to-be-soulful-but-not-just-aping-a-blues-delivery verses. They proceed through the verses with due swagger for a veteran band doing what they do, but nothing here is overwrought, even as the jam takes hold and they make their way out, not to return. I don’t know if “Blacksnake Blues” is an indicator as to the mood or vibe of the rest of what will feature in Baker’s Dozen — given everything the band have done to-date in any incarnation, ever, I suspect not — but as a surprise and a heads up that there’s plenty more to come amid the long swath of tour dates they’ve announced for much of 2022, well, the news is welcome and I’ll take it as it comes. There are a lot of fans of earlier All Them Witches who are going to be very, very much on board with this.

And if it gets on Bandcamp, remember to grab it while you can because their digital stuff doesn’t always stay forever. Just saying.

Enjoy:

All Them Witches, “Blacksnake Blues”

All Them Witches – Blacksnake Blues
https://allthemwitches.lnk.to/blacksnake

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Blacksnake Blues is the first song from ATW’s upcoming project, “Baker’s Dozen.” Baker’s Dozen will feature 13 songs, one each month in 2022 plus an extra track.

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