Friday Full-Length: Astrosoniq, Soundgrenade
Astrosoniq have always been willing to be just that little bit extra oddball, and in terms of their studio output, this is a thing to be celebrated. They haven’t done much since the aughts owing to health concerns and the other whathaveyou of life, but as record labels have started plunging into turn of the century heavy rock and roll for reissues from the pre-social-media-mobilization era, the ‘Wizards of Oss,’ the Netherlands, are for sure worth another look.
Begun as a project of guitarist Ron van Herpen and drummer/synthesist/producer Marcel van de Vondervoort, the latter of Torture Garden Studio, the band made their debut in 2000 with Son of A.P. Lady (discussed here; also here) through Freebird Records. At that point, Fred van Bergen and Erik de Vocht were listed as guest performers, but by the time Astrosoniq offered the follow-up, Soundgrenade, in 2002, de Vocht was in the now-four-piece on bass/vocals and van Bergen was the frontman. As if it could be otherwise.
Soundgrenade turns 20 this year, and in some ways it’s very much the successor from Son of A.P. Lady. It was tracked with Sylvia Vermeulen, who also worked on the first record, with van de Vondervoort helming the mix and additional recording, overdubs, etc., but true to the solidified lineup behind it, it’s also a correspondingly more cohesive approach they take. They align themselves to alternative culture immediately, telling you to get out your decoder ring that, one assumes, you ordered out the back of a grainy comic book, and their push into “Secret Passage/Soundgrenade” emphasizes their readiness to twist the tropes of what was then stoner rock to their progressive, semi-experimental will. Van Bergen‘s echoing voice before the last verse, or the way the drums hold back at the start; the willful wankery of the guitar — it’s all over the top in a way that is very much Astrosoniq‘s own. They know they’re being a bit ridiculous, and that’s why it’s fun.
Every song on Soundgrenade offers something to distinguish it from the others. “Astronomicon” has a dense thrust of low-end fuzz and rolls out like Kyuss from space but weirds out the guitar late and has layered vocal harmonies. At nearly 10 minutes long, “Aphrodite’s Child” may or may not be paying homage to the ’70s prog band of the same name, but it unfolds with added synth wash behind the repeated drums and is more languid as it moves through its galloping, percussion-laced freakout, an improv-sounding jam that would utterly derail many records but that makes a weird kind of sense in the context of the eight-song/50-minute offering from Astrosoniq, drawn together as it is by the band’s performances and tonal range, as well as seamless transitions like that which brings back the song’s chorus after that freakout.
“Evil Rules in Showbizzland” starts with a sample and a lazier rollout, almost lounge with
the vocals over it, but a play on goth that prescient of acts like Årabrot heavying up earlier Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds while still bringing more melodic complexity than it at first seems, and the subsequent “Hit and Run” has a sample as well but it’s hardly done before the all-go 3:24 shortest cut on the album begins its careening. The guitar and bass drop out for verse lines but pick up again in the chorus, catchy and quick enough to sound like a KISS LP played at 45RPM. Some of the burl of “Astronomicon” returns in the quadruply-exclamatory “Sod Off!!!!,” and if you ever wanted an argument for Ron Van Herpen as one of the most underrated guitarists of this era, the classy solo that unfolds in the second half there should do nicely.
Must be time to get really out there, and sure enough they do, with the record scratches, and throaty scat that send up nü-metal at the outset of the penultimate “So Be It,” with Eugène “U-Gene” Latumeten of Urban Dance Squad and an entire host of others stepping in on vocals and keys over a markedly funky movement, rolled out across almost five and a half minutes of soul and groove before its fadeout, which gives 11-minute closer “Daemonology” its own ground to begin from. The theme from the Addams Family tv show and a sample overtop begin, but they’re dug into a choice riff soon after, building tension over the next couple minutes with the riff and call and response vocals until after four minutes in, a stop brings transition to the nod that consumes the track until it’s time for takeoff.
And I mean that — it sounds like a rocket taking off, all howling noise and multifaceted chicanery. For sure, Astrosoniq would explore space-minded works further on future outings, but “Daemonology” answers the scope of “You Lose” from Son of A.P. Lady and the far-gone vibe of “Aphrodite’s Child” while being sonically distinguished from both. Further, rather than summarizing the songs across the record before it, “Daemonology” emphasizes one of the great strengths of Astrosoniq both on Soundgrenade and the rest of their studio work: They’re a band willing to take risks that other bands wouldn’t take. Whether that means playing loud or quiet in a given part, flirting with other genres, taking a song to place that’s unexpected or topping it all off with sometimes disturbing cover art, Astrosoniq are built for individualism and they always have been.
Their 2004 Made in Oss EP (discussed here) preceded 2006’s Speeder People (discussed here), and one might consider 2009’s expansive and still-plenty-experimental Quadrant (review here) as the final LP from this era of the band. It seemed like it might be their last until 2018’s Big Ideas Dare Imagination (review here) arrived in tribute to friend, collaborator and close associate Bidi van Drongelen, who passed away the year before. That last one was bittersweet, laced with guest appearances around a restored core duo of van Herpen and van de Vondervoort, but a reminder nonetheless of Astrosoniq‘s creativity and their readiness to find new ground for adventuring through and new ways to be thoroughly rock and roll while sounding like roughly none of its other many practitioners.
Maybe though, if there’s ever gonna be a reissue, a different cover? For some reason I find that face-shoulder thing really, like, viscerally discomforting. One assumes that’s the point, but still.
As always, I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading.
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We pushed The Pecan’s bedtime back by about 45 minutes this week, in hopes that he might sleep a corresponding 45 minutes later. After a crazy busy Tuesday, he slept until 6:10AM on Wednesday and it’s the latest he’s slept in more than a month. The latest in recent memory. By this morning? He came downstairs the first time at around 4:25AM — I had barely started writing this post; my coffee was still too hot to drink — and went to the bathroom, then I sent him back upstairs and that bought me another half-hour.
Half-hour isn’t nothing, but here’s a comparison. On Wednesday, I was able to write the entire My Sleeping Karma review all in one shot. There was no interruption to that process, nothing to pull me out of the groove, and — most importantly — it was fucking done when it was done and I didn’t have to think about it again. Les Nadie, by contrast, was the product of him getting up at 5AM yesterday, and I had to stop after about 400 words before picking up again hours later. This seems like a bullshit complaint but I can’t emphasize enough how much that undone-thing weighs on my mind, never mind not actually knowing when it’s going to be finished and having to improv my way through doing news posts and shit on my phone. That’s no way to go through life. Plus I’m pissed all morning at myself for not finishing and resentful of him for wanting to come down and watch the video for Red Fang’s “Wires” when it’s ‘my time’ to get work done.
Not that the “Wires” clip isn’t great, mind you. It is. It holds up over 500 viewings.
Anyways, finding time. Always a challenge. Never enough. He’s with the not-babysitter now as we approach 10AM, so yes, this sat for a few hours while I took him out for a long walk to one of the local playgrounds. He needs to move as much as possible throughout the day, or by the afternoon he’s just intolerable. Last winter was hard. This one will be too, I think. The next few until I can basically open the door, say, “Go!,” and feel reasonably confident he won’t immediately sprint in the direction of oncoming traffic. Much to be done in terms of building impulse control before we get there. “A Toyota!” Points. Runs. Splat.
He also runs away in parking lots, which even for a kid under five I have a hard time not being like, “What’re you, stupid?” which is exactly what my mother would have said to me. As Bluey teaches us, though, the ’80s are over. More in some ways than others, mind you. No, I have never called him stupid. Nor would I. The day will come, however, when I tell him with all love and sincerity that he’s a pain in my ass. The Patient Mrs. will no doubt follow-up with, “Being annoyed is one way Daddy shows love.” And that is true.
Next week? Uh… new Psychlona track on Tuesday. Gonna review the Nebula record if I can. Feels a bit neglectful to not have done that yet. Got a video for Echolot going up next Wednesday that’s gonna get like no play or likes or whatever but I’m doing it anyway because I dig it, and Thursday is a song from Gone Cosmic that I got pitched this morning, so that’ll be fun. My to-do list is pretty long at this point, and I’m behind on news and questionnaires too, perpetually, so yeah. Plenty of fodder to frustrate my shortened mornings.
Have a great and safe weekend. Hydrate as best you can, watch your head. Wear earplugs if you’re out. And thanks for reading.
FRM.
Tags: Astrosoniq, Astrosoniq Soundgrenade, Freebird Records, Oss, Soundgrenade, The Netherlands
