Posted in Whathaveyou on August 31st, 2022 by JJ Koczan
I’ve had the good fortune to see Texas trio Mothership four or five times now — most recently at Psycho Las Vegas about two weeks ago and at Desertfest New York in May — and they never seem to disappoint. The Juett Brothers — Kelley and Kyle or Kyle and Kelley, depending on whether you start at stage left or right — and drummer Judge Smith haven’t put out an album since 2016’s High Strangeness (review here), but they’ve been on the road consistently and as much as possible in the years since, and they’ve taken part in numerous tribute compilations and other sorts of outings.
They could probably stand to put out another live record, but to be honest with you, I’m not sure I’d mess with what they’ve got going as it is. They’re a dynamic, hard-rocking, classic-style-but-not-actively-retreading-old-ideas power trio with stage presence that goes even beyond Kelley Juett‘s guitar-face. Not that what I have to say about it matters in the slightest, but as far as I’m concerned, they can do whatever the hell they want.
They’ll be out headlining in November. They announced the announcement, as one will in the Algorithmic Age, and then announced the dates, and whatever comes or doesn’t from them studio-wise, if you make it out to one of their shows, you probably already know you’re getting a rock gig par excellence and sans bullshit. If you didn’t know, well, show up and find out for yourself.
Dates follow, as per socials:
Stoked to be back on the road this November!
We’ve got some headlining dates as well as a couple of killer festivals on this run.
See you on board (#128760#) #tripontheship
11/03 – Blue Note – Oklahoma City, OK 11/04 – 1867 Bar – Lincoln, NE 11/05 – High Noon Saloon – Madison, WI (Doomed & Stoned Festival) 11/06 – Reggie’s – Chicago, IL 11/07 – The Sanctuary – Hamtramck, MI 11/08 – Westside Bowl – Youngstown, OH 11/09 – Ace of Cups – Columbus, OH w/ The Obsessed 11/10 – fifteenTWELVE – Louisville, KY 11/11 – The Basement – Nashville, TN 11/12 – The Masquerade (Heaven) – Atlanta, GA (Snowblind Festival) 11/13 – Santos Bar – New Orleans, LA
Mothership is: Kelley Juett – Guitars/Vox Kyle Juett – Bass/Vox Judge Smith – Drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 31st, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Yo, not for nothing, but you could go see Incantation and Bongripper and Naxatras on the same lineup if you go to Antwerp. Or how about Alunah, Gozu and Suma? Cities of Mars and Stygian Bough? Slomatics and Somali Yacht Club and Polymoon? Sasquatch and Weedpecker? God damn.
If I had cash and time, I — well, I’d do a lot of things — but I’d be at this one. I know sometimes in the grand scheme of things looking at a bunch of names on a poster your eyes can glaze over, but if you can stop that from happening here, it’s worth looking at the stylistic sprawl that’ll take place over the course of the weekend. It is far more in terms of aural landscaping than simply desert, which has been true of the various Desertfest-branded events over the last, I don’t know, six years-plus, but is only emphasized here.
Plus, just about anytime Slomatics do anything it makes me happy. Those guys are great.
From the PR wire:
DF 2022 ANTWERP: WEEDPECKER, WUCAN, SLOMATICS, AND MORE!
This is the final batch of names that completes the DF Antwerp line-up, and we’ve definitely saved up some fine morsels for last. All sizes and shapes is the name of the game, so get hyped and dig in.
For those of you who like their stoner music to truly widen the senses, WEEDPECKER and SOMALI YACHT CLUB definitely fit the bill. Both incorporate many psychedelic influences in their jams, taking you on a killer trip.
On the more brutal side of things, we welcome New York’s death metal pioneers INCANTATION who come to celebrate their ‘Tricennial of Blasphemy’. With SLOMATICS, we present you with the heaviest of heavy in sludge doom. No messing about – just pummelling wall-to-wall riffage.
WUCAN and ROSY FINCH enrich our line-up with two kick-ass women that deal in idiosyncratic and highly original rock. Wucan’s Francis Tobolsky still rocks a flute like nobody’s business, and speaking of unconventional instruments in stoner bands: meet MY DILIGENCE who traded their bass player for a Moog keyboard!
As an unfortunate side-note: we have been mercifully spared of cancellations this year.. until now. We are sad to let you know that MOTHERSHIP will not be appearing at this year’s Desertfest Belgium. Their slot has already been filled in above, but still… it’s a bummer.
But hey! We’re still looking at one seriously sumofagun line-up for three days of delicious fuzztastic wreckage… So if it wasn’t before NOW is the time to secure your tickets. Especially because those Reduced Price Combi Tickets are going fast and be gone before you know it.. Don’t let it happen! Don’t do it! By which we mean: do it!
Posted in Reviews on August 31st, 2022 by JJ Koczan
It seems unlikely that, if you went back seven years and asked the jazzy instrumentalist three-piece CB3 releasing the self-titled Charlotta’s Burnin’ Trio full-length what they’d sound like by the time they got to their third record, neither guitarist Charlotta Andersson nor drummer Natanael Solmonsson would be able to predict the turn wrought on Exploration. Even if you go back to 2018’s From Nothing to Eternity EP (discussed here), when the Malmö, Sweden-based outfit brought in bassist Pelle Lindsjö, it seems unlikely.
Thus it would seem that Exploration — the follow-up to 2020’s Aeons (review here) and 2021’s companion Aeons Live Session (review here), as well as the group’s first offering through Majestic Mountain Records — is a genuine manifestation of its title.
With a recording helmed by Joakim Lindberg (Malsten, Hater, Octopus Ride, etc.) and splatter-painted art by Robin Gnista, the five-song/45-minute Exploration arrives led by its longest track (immediate points) in the 11-minute “Daydreams,” and almost immediately pushes against expectation in replacing the band’s heretofore instrumental jams with vocal-topped cosmic dream grunge, Andersson‘s own voice coming to the fore to add melody and structure to the procession. It is as if CB3, having explored their way outward through increasingly psychedelic terrain over the course of their first two albums and handful of other live outings and EPs, have brought a new meaning for themselves to the titular ideal here presented. It’s almost playful. They’ve done an awful lot of exploration to this point in their tenure, but never like this.
To say the stylistic shift suits them is playing it diplomatic. Exploration holds firm to the immersive instrumental depths CB3 fostered on Aeons and its subsequent live incarnation, and brings them to someplace new and expressive. Andersson‘s voice is coated in echo and reverb, spacious and delivered languid in the tradition of some of Acid King‘s more floating stretches, and from the quick drum-fill-into-riff beginning of “Daydreams,” there’s a sense of immediacy that comes through despite the smoothness of the rolling grooves that ensue. It is a delicate balance skillfully attained, and since three of Exploration‘s inclusions top 10 minutes — that’s “Daydreams” (11:07) and the side-B-consuming closing duo “In a Rainbow with Friends” (10:42) and “Through Space and Time” (10:33) — it’s hardly as though Andersson as a songwriter has abandoned the prior spaciousness.
The embrace of structure has added to their sound overall rather than detracted from it, and “Daydreams” demonstrates this as it moves from its verse into a bassier jam/solo section, the guitar ringing out over an ever-more-solid rhythmic foundation, brightly toned and heavy in kind, accomplished enough in the playing to be prog but more interested in texture than technique, at least there, and leading into a break of standalone guitar and vocals, vague chime percussion, sitar-ish drone and a hypnotic, swelling build.
This triumph they reinforce with less than 30 seconds to go, bringing back the more grounded central riff just before ending and giving way to “To Space and Away” (8:05), the hook of which is a landmark for the album and the band in kind, picking up the grunge cues from the buzz-tone guitar in “Daydreams” and setting them into a righteously mellow tempo with repetitions about melting away into space and away and away into space and away into space and so on into another ethereal lead, build back to the verse, more melting. Some Zeppelin-ish touches emerge in the midsection jam amid a more fervent moment of chug, but by the time the song reaches its midpoint, they’ve broken it all the way down with Solmonsson‘s drums holding it together as the guitar and bass both, indeed, seem to have melted.
Just before 5:40 into the eight-minute “To Space and Away,” the guitar effects fade into the background and Andersson‘s circular lyric returns, fading in over a light strum to reignite the zero-gravity hook, full fuzz thrust, bass rumbling and drums back on board providing the push to the suitably ethereal, long-fade finish. Wrapping side A, “Going to the Horizon” (5:26) is even more straightforward, beginning with sharp start-stop hits and diving into its verse — “Going to the horizon/I see colors all around…”; the title repeats but the other lines change — to show CB3 having discovered solid ground for all their psychedelic adventures.
As with “Daydreams” and “To Space and Away,” there’s a shift into an instrumental section, as if to remind of the jammed-out underpinnings from which these songs are built — could even be the vocals were added after the fact, but the way it flows and all fits together hints otherwise — and they once again come back to the verse to round out, emphasizing the meta-exploration taking place, CB3 trying what’s for them a genuinely new approach and succeeding outright in manifesting a new stage of the band. They haven’t quite reinvented themselves on Exploration, but they’ve harnessed a vibe across the span of the album that feels very much like a payoff moment for the work they’ve done to this point.
That holds true as “In a Rainbow with Friends” moves from its post-rock bliss into a long stretch of drumless swirling drone, a solo and a gradual build, not quite so predictable as to be wholly linear, but able to provide a blueprint of structure anyway, even without the vocals. One might be tempted to call it side B branching out if it weren’t a central component of CB3‘s approach all along. “Through Space and Time” finishes by bringing together the instrumental reach with a more daring, more confident vocal — one wonders if it wasn’t the last to be recorded as well — that nonetheless summarizes the amalgam of exospheric jamming and more direct heavy rock, Andersson‘s guitar tapping through swirls as the bass and drums keep step, smoothly redirecting from the verse into a slowdown/crashout before the vocals once again step into a forward position in driving the material and shaping the impact of the finale that follows in the second half of the song, still slow, but marked by a vitality that is further representative of Exploration as a whole. They leave no doubt as to their capacity to pull this off live, which, if past is prologue, they might just choose to do on a subsequent release. If such a thing were to occur, in the parlance of our times, I’m here for it.
What Exploration makes even truer, though, is that it has become harder to predict where CB3 might go next. If one takes their progression album by album, from the standup-bass-inclusive Charlotta’s Burnin’ Trio through the psychedelic flourish of Aeons and now Exploration, they’d be believable as three separate bands despite just one lineup change with Lindsjö taking over for Jonas Nilsson on bass, and while one certainly wouldn’t mind if they followed this path forward through blending open jams and structured craft with the consistent aura of live performance as they do here, perhaps toying with the balance of one to the other as they seem to in formative fashion between the likes of “Going to the Horizon” and “In a Rainbow with Friends,” they give no indication that their whims won’t take them someplace else entirely next time. As much as the resonance of “To Space and Away,” “Daydreams” and “Through Space and Time” seems to ooze itself like so much nebular gas, CB3 are all the more exciting for wondering what might still follow. If this is them exploring — and clearly it is — then may they continue to explore.
Posted in Questionnaire on August 31st, 2022 by JJ Koczan
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: Johannes Stubenrauch (Helge) from Mindcrawler
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I do not consider myself as a musician. Music for me is a relief and a road to escape the tunnel of analytics I face in my regular job that pays the rent, although I really like my profession.
I guess that is kind of true for the whole band.
We all share a true passion for music albeit coming from more or less different musical backgrounds and interests. However, none of us would consider making music for a living, although I am not sure what would happen if that was actually an option.
So in a nutshell, playing music and in a band for me is just another word for spending time with your friends, sharing the good and the bad moments in life with a group of people formed by a common love for a certain kind of sound, lifestyle and maybe mindset.
I have played music for the larger part of my life and a large part of that in turn was playing music together, not necessarily in a „band“. Playing electric guitar at home gets quite boring after a while. Playing in a band has always been a major goal in life for me so looking for one in my new hometown was a natural decision. I am quite lucky to be in a group with the best guys imaginable now.
Describe your first musical memory.
As many others I was prepared to learn the piano when I was at the age of five or six (with a quite fundamental lack of success) and play strange stuff, the kind one has to play when you’re able to perform better than „twinkle twinkle little star“ but too shabby to do some reasonable classical music.
I tortured myself for a while and somehow convinced my parents to get an acoustic guitar. Acoustic obviously, because I thought I was to learn the „basics first“ before I would get a real one.
Again I tortured myself a little more with some classical guitar (which I sucked at). When I got an electric guitar I then quickly realized that this is basically a different instrument.
Finally, I found out that there is a mighty thing called AC/DC (not talking electro-dynamics here) and down the heavy metal road I went.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
This is insanely hard to answer. When I was a teenager and into death metal, I went to my first real concert ever, i.e. not some local bands playing covers in a beer-tent (these kind of things where you would go to party at Oktoberfest). Where I grew up, this was basically the only place where live-music happened. For some reason, they do not play death metal songs at these happenings – haha.
Anyhow, when Eluveitie (a band I hyped a lot at the time) played „Inis Mona“ at this very concert it was a magical moment for me.
Same thing when I was at the Wacken Festival in Northern Germany for the first time: coming from a place with basically no rock music culture and suddenly there’s a full city of metal heads and music nerds sharing the same passion was a crazy scenario (as well as Iron Maiden live).
Seeing Baroness for the first time and after they had this terrible bus accident was crazy, too. They have been my favorite band for a long time now and I love John Dyer Baizley’s artworks with their strong black outlines and the bright colors.
Watching them perform live without any loss of energy, that was quite an inspiring moment.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
When I had just started my studies, I was convinced all problems can be solved by logical reasoning and the proper idea. This seems to not be the case.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
I had a hard time trying to grasp the term „artistic progression“. Art is done by people. People change their attitudes, ideas, feelings and what else over the span of their lifetime. Art — for me — is just a reflection of the artist’s personality in the context of their information about their environment and life. Consequently, I think it is natural that an artist work changes. I never understood why sometimes people demand bands to remain constrained to a certain range of their possible portfolio. I get bored quickly if music sounds too familiar.
Coming back to the question: I think, artistic progression ultimately fully opens the window to the personality of the artist. Whether that is a good or a bad thing is up to the consumer, I guess.
How do you define success?
Enjoying what you do and having good time with your friends.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
People you love having a serious disease or health issue. Maybe the newer Star Wars movies – haha.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
Although it is probably quite „un-true“ to the stoner/doom genre, I’d like to setup a show which is planned and produced like for example a Rammstein show. Something where music and visual effects and this kind of stuff really interacts. Something with fire, laser and these LED spots you can grill a steak with. I’d skip the dancing, though.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
It should not be profit, that is for sure.
For the music I mostly listen to and the music I produce the function is quite simple. It is just a tool to provoke some good emotions like a good movie, a new album from one of your favorite bands or a cool painting from one of the artists from your neighborhood. I think they call that l’art pour l’art.
For me, art is the sugar in life so to say. An art student once told me that this was not art but craftsmanship. Not so sure about it; I think more important and interesting than the artwork itself is the emotion it provokes in the consumer.
Anyhow, I think the most essential function might be provocation and/or un-masking.
When I have read the question, the first things I thought of was this famous Banksy auction where the actual artwork was shredded, Rammstein’s videos or the stuff Brecht did in his „Epic Theater“ (if that is the proper translation, and yes, I am afraid I have mentioned Brecht and Rammstein in the same sentence).
All these things are provoking and unmasking up to a certain point. They depict things in a different way and I like the idea of art forcing people to change their point of view or at least make them start to think and reason. I think that is quite a hard thing to do nowadays and a form of art in its own right.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 30th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Approach Vitskär Süden‘s new streaming single with a bit of patience and you won’t regret it. “The Broken Crown” is the closer — leading with the finale!; much respect — from the Los-Angeles-not-Sweden-based atmospheric heavy rockers’ upcoming second album, The Faceless King, which they’ll release on Nov. 4 through Ripple Music, and its eight-minute course is rife with underlying neo-folk influence, but presents this alongside a psychedelic post-rock drift of guitar, drums that are hard-hit, but pushed further back in the mix so that they’re just on the other side of the hill you’re climbing, and a lyrical narrative that delivers the record’s title line and balances fluidly between storytelling and songwriting. Though honestly, given the instrumental contemplations surrounding, flow wouldn’t be an issue either way.
This news came in toward the end of last week and I wanted to sit with the song since this is my first exposure to the band — throw another one on the list of records I missed in 2020; yes, there is an actual list — and I feel justified in letting it percolate a while. If you’ve got headphones, you won’t regret that either.
From the PR wire:
L.A. dark psych-prog goldsmiths VITSKÄR SÜDEN sign to Ripple Music and unveil new album details; stream new single “The Broken Crown”.
Los Angeles dark psych and prog rockers Vitskär Süden sign to Ripple Music for the release of their sophomore album “The Faceless King” on November 4th. Their towering and hypnotic first single “The Broken Crown” is available now on all streaming platforms!
The captivating Californian foursome returns after their acclaimed 2020 self-titled debut with their brand new full-length “The Faceless King”, a fascinating 7-track collection of mystique-laden rock spells, the soundtrack of a not-so-distant future when the sun rises no more. Weaving progressive rock, heavy psychedelic and gothic folk into towering and intensely beautiful soundscapes enhanced by Martin Garner’s deep-toned commanding vocals, Vitskär Süden explores the eerie fringes of the rock world, meeting at the crossroads of Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Wovenhand, Lord Vicar and Jaye Jayle.
Get compelled by Vitskär Süden’s new single “The Broken Crown.”
Says Vitskär Süden bassist and vocalist Martin Garner about this new song: “‘The Broken Crown’ was one of the first tracks we developed for the album and it guided us toward the understanding that we had a dark fantasy concept album on our hands. The album tells the story of the rise, fall and return of a vile king, and I was drawn to the idea of crafting a record around the mythological beginnings of a true antihero — subverting the classic ‘hero’s journey’. I’ve always loved concept albums and the epic rock opera-ness of them all. ‘The Faceless King’ allowed me to take my childhood love of albums like KISS’s ‘The Elder’ or Maiden’s ‘Seventh Son of a Seventh Son’ and run them through the very different sonic circuitry of Vitskär Süden. We get to bring the vastly varied influences of my bandmates into play and I think it’s resulted in something uniquely our own.”
Their new album “The Faceless King” was recorded and produced by Vitskär Süden and Don Cento at Studio 64 in Los Angeles, mixed by Don Cento at CenTones, Austin, TX, and mastered by James Driscoll. The artwork was created by Samuel Araya. It will be released on November 4th, 2022 on various vinyl formats, CD, and digital through Ripple Music, with preorders coming soon.
Vitskär Süden “The Faceless King” Out November 4th on Ripple Music
TRACKLIST: 1. The Way (Part I) 2. The Way (Part II) 3. Archdiocese Of Worms 4. Voices From Beyond The Wall 5. Shepherds On The Roadside 6. Bonedust And Dark 7. The Broken Crown
It’s clear that Los Angeles-based quartet Vitskär Süden operates from a shared musical consciousness. Having previously played together over the course of two decades, bassist/vocalist Martin Garner and drummer Christopher Martin unite effortlessly for a no-discussion-required, half-time-heavy rhythm section approach. Guitarists Julian Goldberger and TJ Webber bring their own distinctive influences, touching on both the ambient and melodic but unified in an appreciation of layered sonic texture. Their 2020 self-titled debut drew on elements of psych and prog rock, as well as “weird fiction” lit inspired by the likes of Robert W. Chambers and Laird Barron — a quality equally embodied in the album’s cover art by Samuel Araya (Elvenking). Tracks like “Dawn of the Monolith” and album opener “War Machine Crimson” nod directly to that melting pot of fantasy, science fiction and horror; evoking imagery of malevolent forces at play in our universe, while “Painted Faces” and “Ice & Haze” offer glimpses of light in the darkness.
Vitskär Süden is now ready to embrace its destiny, as the foursome recently signed to Californian powerhouse Ripple Music for the release of their anticipated sophomore album “The Faceless King”, due out on November 4th, 2022.
Vitskär Süden is: Martin Garner – Bass/Vocals Julian Goldberger – Guitar/Synths Christopher Martin – Drums TJ Webber – Guitar
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 30th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
I can’t quite make up my mind on this band. Their name is kicked around a lot on the socials, people’s jaws being duly dropped by what seem to be righteous live performances — hype generated the hard way — and their studio output. They groove, they move, all that stuff. Fine. On the other hand, they’re called Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol, their logo is a hamburger with boobs, and their new album is called Doom Wop, which I feel like kind of skirts a line between cute and cheeky and just dumb. Also, who’s Rickshaw Billie?
Well established by now that I’m no fun — even less fun as time goes on, and I already started out not fun — so I’m not going to take away from the buzz the Austin, Texas, trio have built, or the legit hard work they’re about to put in on tour, or the fact that they’re obviously looking to push their band to that next level. Six years after they got started, they by no means need me on board, but I do kind of feel like I’m not yet convinced. But they’re out there breaking their collective ass, so posting the tour dates and the single doesn’t seem like too far to go.
Accordingly, from the PR wire:
Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol share first single from forthcoming Doom Wop album
Austin trio touring with King Buffalo in Sept, headlining in October
Austin trio Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol share the first single from their forthcoming album Doom Wop. Hear and share “Shoo In” HERE. (Direct Bandcamp.)
RBBP kick off tour dates supporting King Buffalo in late September, followed by headlining shows across the US in October. Please see current dates below.
With their 5th studio release, Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol is putting a name to the style of fuzzed out, overdriven, melodic, groovy music they have been making since 2016. In 9 concise, no bullshit songs, RBBP demonstrates their ability to blend the merciless low end of Leo Lydon’s 8-String guitar, Aaron Metzdorf’s masterful chordwork on the bass, and Sean St.Germain’s driving drumwork. Lydon and Metzdorf’s vocal melodies cut through the high frequencies to deliver fresh layers to the hooks that RBBP fans have come to love.
As the name implies, “Doom Wop” is a heavy, melody-driven, party metal album. With riffs as big and dumb as ever, and lyrics that stab at the worst members of society and ourselves (while keeping tongue firmly in cheek), listeners will find all the elements that make up the soul of RBBP on this record. “Doom Wop” will be available everywhere September 23rd.
Doom Wop will be available on CD and download on September 23rd, 2022. Vinyl LP release date TBD. Pre-orders are available HERE: https://rickshawbilliesburgerpatrol.bandcamp.com/album/doom-wop
RBBP LIVE 2022: 09/22 Dallas, TX – Club Dada* 09/23 Austin, TX – Antone’s* 09/24 Houston, TX – White Oak* 09/25 New Orleans, LA – Gasa Gasa* 09/26 Mobile, AL – Alabama Music Hall 09/27 Atlanta, GA – Masquerafe* 09/28 Athens, GA – The Lab @ Cine 09/29 Charlotte, NC – Tommy’s 09/30 Raleigh, NC – TBA 10/01 Washington, DC – Slash Run 10/02 Philadelphia, PA – Ortlieb’s 10/03 Saratoga Springs, NY – Desperate Annie’s 10/04 New York, NY – Our Wicked Lady 10/06 Providence, RI – AS22 10/07 Boston, MA – Zuzu 10/09 Pittsburgh, PA – Squirrel Hill 10/12 Nashville, TN – The 5 Spot 10/13 Little Rock, AR – Vino’s 10/14 Dallas, TX – 3 Links 10/15 Austin, TX – Valhalla * w/ King Buffalo
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 30th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Also known for his work in Rat King, Indianapolis-based Bram the Bard would steps forth with the self-titled debut EP from Wizard Tattoo, which, yes, is about a wizard tattoo. An apparently evil one at that. Bolstered by the jazzy flourish of “A Wizard’s Lie,” the four-tracker offers gritty fuzz and melodic experimentation in the sense of seeming to feel out where it wants to go while relying on an underlying foundation of songwriting and narrative.
It’s been out since last Friday, so yes, the internet has already foisted heaps of hyperbole at its feet, but that will happen. Constantly. As you approach, think of Wizard Tattoo as an initial salvo more than a fully-developed end product and you might be able to get more of a sense of where Mr. The Bard might ultimately take the project, laying claim as the songs do to garage doom, a bit of more extreme sludge rock on the righteously titled “Wizard Knife Fight (At a Bar)” (where else?) and atmospheric organ cinematography on the closer “No Return.”
If Bram is in it for a longer haul, there’s at very least no shortage of directions laid out here along which the band might move forward.
That’s the deal, here’s the art, info, links and audio via the PR wire:
Wizard Tattoo Unleash Enchanting Self-Titled EP
Wizard Tattoo is an Indianapolis based rock band by multi-instrumentalist Bram the Bard that summons catchy riffs with progressive and heavy elements. Wizard Tattoo is the self-titled debut concept EP which tells the story of a man who starts hearing a dark voice shortly after getting a tattoo. Throughout the four tracks, listen to his musical journey of delusion. Is he really becoming a wizard or is he just going mad?
“Wizard Tattoo is a culmination of influences from classic rock to doom metal. It takes two played-out concepts “tattoos of wizards” and bands with the name “Wizard” in their name and mashes them together. It’s meant to be tongue-in-cheek but came about from a midlife crisis that I went through during the pandemic. I think everyone gets to a certain point in their life where they evaluate their accomplishments, choices, and their very existence. Some people push through and keep going, and others end up self-destructing. Unfortunately, our protagonist in the EP chooses the latter and goes off the deep end. It’s a journey, and I hope everyone comes along for the ride!”
Conjuring up a storm, the title track delivers a captivating heavy doom sound with distorted guitars and groove rhythms. Transitioning into a spellbinding progressive bridge of orchestration and electronics, the narrative of Wizard Tattoo emerges through the eerie atmosphere. ‘A Wizard’s Lie’ ventures into realms of jazz influences with non-standard time signatures and intricate guitar leads, interspersed with necromantic manifestations of heavy fuzz. Bringing a touch of magic to the barroom brawl, ‘Wizard Knife Fight’ explores in greater detail the actions of the protagonist with a touch of humour and epic guitar riffs. Accompanied by the soft patter of rainfall, a bewitching acoustic guitar and folk harmonies divines a serene but sombre mood.
Wizard Tattoo is not your conventional fairy tale. See what happens when ink goes wrong in this not-so-enchanting story of dark sorcery, told through dynamic guitars, ghostly vocals and genre-crossing instrumentation.
Credits:
All music by Bram the Bard Mixed and Mastered at Garage Fire Recordings, Indianapolis, IN Album artwork by Zi F. Tam
Track-list:
1. Wizard Tattoo 2. A Wizard’s Lie 3. Wizard Knife Fight (At a Bar) 4. No Return
Posted in Questionnaire on August 30th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
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: Friedo aka Sven Müller of Dead Myrick and ElbSludgeBooking
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I am a drummer with Dead Myrick and a promoter with ElbSludgeBooking in Dresden.
I liked rock music since I was a kid and always had a talent for drumming. So I started playing drums and joined a band afterwards. My later habits made me really dive into Kyuss and Fu Manchu and the whole Stoner Rock thing which to this day is a HUGE part of my life. The promoter thing on the other hand was sheer coincidence. A friend got asked by Gabriele Fiori of HPS records if he could set up a show in Dresden for Ape machine. I joined this operation and from that we just kept going.
Describe your first musical memory.
Drumming with two sticks on a pillow to “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” by the Rolling Stones.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
Impossible to answer. I go to concerts since the mid-90s and I had almost biblical revelations on several occasions. Off the top of my head I’d say one of the first was Neil Young & Crazy Horse playing “Like a hurricane” in Leipzig in 1996. My first real rock show was Green Jelly in 1993 though which was also hysterical! The last one was last weekend when I played on the same night on 2 festivals that were 150 km apart.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
I can’t think of any real beliefs I hold. All I know is that every rule has an exception so I am always prepared to see that something I expect is not going to happen. Wait… is that a belief?
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
To excitement and then short-lived satisfaction. Then you carry on to feel it again.
How do you define success?
The word alone makes me feel uncomfortable. It is connected to money in my brain and I detest that. But I guess success just means to achieve something you wanted and had to invest some time to achieve it. One of those things to me is preparing a dough for pizza and later have this crunchy, but not dry pizza. To me that’s success and a bit of magic which makes me very happy. (no joke)
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
Peter Griffin making Stewie suck on his boob. And seeing Gunter Gabriel, a formerly well-known singer, change his clothes in his tiny car so I could see his white ass in white underpants through the window.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
I want to rent a place that can hold rehearsal rooms, an office, a screenprint area and a small area for setting up small gigs and parties. Like a community centre that is all about hanging with the right people and work there.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
Being exposed to something that makes you forget that you are surrounded by evil monkeys.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
My son starting school and me quitting my Covid-induced, regular job to be a stage-tech again. F*ck office life!
