Posted in Whathaveyou on August 30th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
There are two horn-throwing emojis below as Norwegian three-piece Saint Karloff confirm a completed recording process for their third, yet-untitled full-length, and though I usually remove such things as a part of my general no-fun-all-misery policy, I’m leaving them in, because the sentiment feels well earned on their part.
This will be the first Saint Karloff studio LP since the passing of bassist Ole Sletner last year, and as they look to follow-up 2020’s massive Interstellar Voodoo (review here), expectations and anticipation are likewise high to find out what exactly they’ve come up with this time around. Certainly given the tragic loss of Sletner, two years between albums is still a fast turnaround, but as you can see below, some of this material has been in the works since even before the second record arrived.
And if you don’t know Iver Sandøy in Bergen, he’s come to prominence the last few years as drummer/sometimes-singer for Enslaved, but is an engineer whose pedigree includes Orkan, Audrey Horne, Enslaved (duh), Sahg, Wardruna and a few dozen others. One more reason to look forward to this one whenever it might arrive through Majestic Mountain Records, presumably sometime on the earlier end of next year.
Commented the label: “The long wait has come to an end with news of Saint Karloff having completed production of album three… To say that MMR is psyched to bring you this amazing news and get this into your ears is an understatement, stay tuned for more.”
So yeah, I guess I’ll be doing that.
From socials, whichever one you want to cite. They’ll all owned by the same four white male billionaire pieces of shit anyway.
Album three, done (#129304#)
After being more or less in hibernation-mode the last two years, we decided to finish the songwriting for our third album which started back in 2019 with Ole onboard.
This time we traveled over and beyond the Mountains of Loudness to record in Duper Studio A/S / Solslottet Studio in Bergen with the help from sound wizard Iver Sandøy. And it sounds killer! Can’t wait to share it with you all (#129304#)
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 29th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Is this just an excuse to write more about Fatso Jetson? Yeah, it is. And no, this is not the grandest tour I’ve posted about this year or probably even this week, but hell, anytime Fatso Jetson blink, I pretty much want to put fingers to keyboard about it. The long-running desert rock co-progenitors are headed out for five shows alongside All Souls — with whom they not only share drummer Tony Tornay but also the recent live split LP Live From Total Annihilation (review here) — and High Desert Queen wedged in the middle there.
It’s essentially a long-weekender, and that’s just fine. Fatso Jetson‘s Dino Von Lalli will follow suit from Tornay and pull double-duty for the final night of the tour at Transplants Brewery, playing in his other band, BigPig as well. That’s right, double-double-duty. It’s that kind of thing. Meanwhile, All Souls continue to herald their upcoming album, Ghosts Among Us, in addition to the live split, and Austin-based rockers High Desert Queen — whose Ryan Garney may or may not have booked the tour, as he will do for his own band as well as others and RippleFest Texas, which All Souls and High Desert Queen both played this year — spread the good word of their Ripple-issued 2021 debut album, Secrets of the Black Moon (review here), while making one look forward to what’s invariably next.
So there you have it. Cool bands doing stuff together. Could hardly be more straightforward than that. And if it’s not 30 shows on back to back nights and blah blah blah? Fine.
From social media:
FATSO JETSON – Oct. Cali Shows
So Cal October Rock Safari!!
We’ll be out playing some fun shows with our friends High Desert Queen, All Souls and the mighty BigPig… go forth and nightclub
Wed 10/19: Costa Mesa- Wayfarer Thur 10/20: Highland Park Bowl Fri 10/21: Sky Valley Eric’s Ranch Sat 10/22: Old Town Pub Pasadena Sun 10/23: Palmdale CA- Transplants
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 29th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
The remaining members of post-metal progenitors Neurosis have responded to guitarist/vocalist Scott Kelly’s admission of years of familial abuse and domestic violence. Guess they more or less had to.
They leave it open as to what they may or may not do as a band, and yeah, Neurosis as you knew it before this weekend is probably done. And the band says so, Kelly said so in his widely-regarded-as-manipulative-bullshit statement this weekend, and I agree that this is bigger than a band. But also, Neurosis, this group of people, have influenced quite literally thousands of other artists. The ripple effect will be significant, aesthetically, economically, and within this particular creative niche, culturally.
The betrayal here is multi-tiered and visceral. As a fan, someone who supported Neurosis fiscally and promoted their work to others, I feel angry and, to the use the band’s word, disgusted, and I don’t know what to say about the statement below, about the timing on who knew what when and all that. They’re quick to distance themselves from Kelly, of course, but things are rarely ever so cut and dry, and the trust that was there, that what you were hearing on a Neurosis album was the truest representation of these artists as people is simply gone.
I would like to tell you I’ll never talk about this again, fuck this guy, he’s done, move on, but that seems optimistic.
Here’s what the band had to say:
A STATEMENT FROM NEUROSIS
We cannot overstate the level of disgust and disappointment we feel for a man who we once called Brother.
As a band, we parted ways with Scott Kelly at the end of 2019 after learning about severe acts of abuse he committed towards his family over the previous years. In the past, Scott had disclosed his marital difficulties and acts of verbal abuse, as well as his intention to get help and change his behaviors. The information we learned in 2019 made it clear Scott had crossed a line and there was no way back. We did not share this information out of respect for his wife’s direct request for privacy, and to honor the family’s wish not to let their experience become gossip in a music magazine. With Scott’s Facebook post of August 27, 2022 disclosing much of this information publicly, we can finally say what we believe needs to be said.
For the last twenty years we have lived far apart from one another and only saw Scott when meeting up to work on music or play shows. We had no idea what the reality was for his family when we were not around. By Scott’s own admission, his abuse was intentional, targeted, and a closely guarded secret – even from those of us closest to him.
Once we learned of his abuse it was difficult to reconcile the horrible information with the person we thought we knew. It’s not surprising he hid the abuse for so long because it is a betrayal of our ethics as bandmates, partners, parents, and human beings.
Since 2019, we have made numerous attempts to contact Scott. We wanted to have an honest talk about the status of the band and find out how he and his family were doing, but he has refused to speak with us for three years. And, in what we now see clearly to be a pattern, Scott refused to take responsibility for his actions. Having been through so much with someone for more than 35 years, one would expect some amount of closure, or at the very least a response.
Now, without returning any of the calls, texts, or e-mails of his bandmates and friends, Scott has made a public post about the situation. To us, this decision seems like another attempt at manipulation, another opportunity for his narcissism to control the narrative. Don’t allow Scott to make this about himself, it’s about the abuse his family has suffered.
Usually, we would view public openness and honesty about mental illness as brave and even productive. We just don’t believe that is the case here.
There is nothing brave about systematically abusing your wife and children.
There is nothing brave about confessing wrongdoing when you have not done the work to change your behavior.
There is nothing brave about refusing to speak honestly, or speak at all, with one’s closest friends and bandmates, people who have supported you and stuck by you for most of your life.
Compared to the impact of Scott’s actions on his family, the impact on our band pales in significance. Nevertheless, with the heartbreak and horror we also grieve for the loss of our life’s work and a legacy that was sacred to us.
Again, our primary concern is for the safety and well-being of Scott’s wife and children, as well as anyone else in a similar situation. If someone you know is experiencing domestic violence or abuse, please reach out to one of the many local or national resources available. One national resource is:
National Domestic Violence Hotline 1-800-799-7233 www.thehotline.org
If you or someone you know is suffering from mental health issues that could make you a danger to yourself or others, please get help before you hurt yourself or the people you love. One resource for that is: www.988lifeline.org
This is the only statement we plan to make about this issue. In due course, when it’s appropriate, we will provide more information about our future musical endeavors, but that time is not now.
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 29th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
No doubt you’ve seen this album announcement by now, as I’m perfectly willing to admit the unveiling of cover art, details, etc. happened a couple weeks ago for Forlesen‘s second album, Black Terrain. The streaming track “Strega,” however, is newer. it would seem to be one of three inclusions on the follow-up to 2020’s legitimately-ballyhooed Hierophant Violent (review here), and it brings the band with members of Lotus Thief, Botanist and Kayo Dot further toward the outer charted limits of what constitutes progressive doom, black metal and so on, beginning with a note of glockenspiel before a sense of mounting horror noisy fade-in leads to a massive, doomed roll, lush melodies, volume trades, an arrangement as deep as you want to plunge, and later, throwing it all down to build up from minimalist maybe-guitar to a consuming and urgent but still slow finish.
If you heard the first record and dug it, you’re either already listening to the song at the bottom of this post or you already caught wind of it when it premiered elsewhere late last week, so either way, I hope you’re digging it. For anyone experiencing the band for the first time now, just open your mind and let yourself follow where the band lead and know that you won’t regret it.
Breathe in, and…:
FORLESEN – Black Terrain – Oct. 28
FORLESEN have offered up the first taste of their upcoming album with new their new single “Strega”. Taken from their upcoming album, Black Terrain, out on October 28th via I, Voidhanger Records, the band draws from dark ambient, epic doom, black metal and slowcore, subverting traditional songwriting.
FORLESEN formed in San Francisco at the end of 2016 and released their debut, Hierophant Violent, in 2020. Comprised of two side-length tracks, it soon found a cult following. Now based in Portland, OR, FORLESEN continues their compositional evolution with Black Terrain, expanding into previously untapped musical realms.
As with their debut, Black Terrain’s monolithic songs, at times approaching twenty minutes in length, fully immerse the listener in a contrast of the serene and cacophonous. “Strega” begins shrouded in eerie atmosphere before embarking on a journey from vulnerable ballad to hymnal dirge. The ferocity of “Harrowed Earth” thrusts the album into the realm of black and doom metal. In the aftermath, “Saturnine” brings the album full circle, culminating in an ethereal mantra.
Black Terrain evokes a sense of the grand, but also the intimate. Each instrument and voice is carefully placed and each musical transition seamless to prevent the mesmerizing spell from being broken. FORLESEN have crafted a stunning cinematic masterpiece.
FORLESEN is:
Ascalaphus (ex-BOTANIST) – Vocals, guitars, synth, harmonium, bass Bezaelith (LOTUS THIEF) – Vocals, bass, guitars, synth Petit Albert (LOTUS THIEF) – Guitars, synth, Hammond B3 organ, backing vocals Maleus (ex-KAYO DOT, ex-MAUDLIN OF THE WELL) – Drums
Credits:
Glockenspiel and trumpet performed by Leila Abdul-Rauf. Music and lyrics by Ascalaphus except lyrics on Black Terrain by Bezaelith. All music arranged by Forlesen. Drums and Hammond B3 recorded by Justin Phelps at the Hallowed Halls, Portland, OR. All other recording done in various home studios between 2018 and 2021. Mixed by Jack Shirley at the Atomic Garden, Oakland, CA. Mastered by Garrett Haines at Treelady Studios, Pittsburgh, PA. Artwork by Benjamin A. Vierling
Posted in Reviews on August 29th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Rest assured, Conan will put down their double-sided battle axe when you come and take it from their cold, dead hands, and that’s going to be hard to do since, as the first track of their fifth album, Evidence of Immortality, asserts, “A Cleaved Head No Longer Plots.” In continued association with Napalm Records, the boots-covered-in-red-mud UK three-piece of founding guitarist/vocalist Jon Davis, bassist/vocalist/producer Chris Fielding and drummer Johnny King return from the field with six tracks for a 50-minute double-LP that reassert the band’s sheer aural dominance.
It’s been a long, insane four years since the trio unveiled 2018’s Existential Void Guardian (review here), and Conan are past 15 years as a band but show little interest in settling into a comfortable veteran status. True, they know who they are as a band and Davis has driven a consistent vision for what he wants that to mean since before their landmark 2010 EP, Horseback Battle Hammer (discussed here; review here), with a sound based on unmatched riff largesse, minimalist lyrical narratives — often just words used as evocations; I’m actually a big proponent of Conan‘s lyrics as an undervalued aspect of their work, and not even just for the efficiency — turned in this case to a world where ideas like “Levitation Hoax” can be taken from real life and turned to the band’s bludgeoning purposes, Davis‘ shouts and Fielding‘s growls rising up from amid King‘s blasting drums and their own furious assault of groove in that single following the aforementioned 10-minute opener.
That lead song stakes its riff like a flag in the ground, not so much to question what’s real, but working to turn the confusion of our age into an aural metaphor of its own ridiculousness. Plus to destroy. These things Conan do with grim determination, cheeky revelry, and a craft recognizable from miles away. They are inimitable and influential in kind, and whether it’s the lumbering force of “A Cleaved Head No Longer Plots” or the build of intensity from “Levitation Hoax” into the galloping of “Ritual of Anonymity,” their pattern of holding to their central stylistic purpose while offering instances of forward progression holds plain across the span. “A Cleaved Head No Longer Plots” takes about two and a half minutes to settle into its rolling-over-your-skull central/verse riff, and by that point, Evidence of Immortality has already let the audience know it is in the hands of masters.
Circa 2022, Conan are nothing if not that, from Davis‘ riffs and shouts to Fielding‘s production and backing barks — the call and response in the first half of “Levitation Hoax” is a particular joy — to King matching his cymbal crashes to the guitar’s chug later in “A Cleaved Head No Longer Plots.” But there are instances of reach too. The band’s underlying influence of ’90s crunch metal and noise rock comes through, and the sheer amount of feedback on Evidence of Immortality isn’t necessarily anything new from them, but it is prevalent. After the shove shove shove that culminates in “Ritual of Anonymity,” side B brings “Equilibrium of Mankind” and “Righteous Alliance,” both eight-minute crushers that reinforce the central message of Conan‘s return after the longest break between albums of their career (the extenuating circumstances go without saying): if you counted them out, those’ll be your limbs on the floor. You’ll probably want help picking them back up for reattachment.
The construction of Evidenceof Immortalityis further proof of Conan‘s intention. The three songs on the first side clearly fit together toward a united purpose. Same is true of the lurching, deathly shout-along in “Equilibrium of Mankind” and its companion, the we-took-a-doom-riff-and-made-it-kill “Righteous Alliance,” which drops out to feedback and cymbal wash at about 5:20 into its total 8:35 to dedicate the remainder of its time to a glorious, marching celebration of slog. Slog worship. And a fitting lead-in for 14-minute instrumental closer “Grief Sequence,” which is easily, hands-down the most atmospheric work Conan have ever done, unfolding a five-minute mire before lumbering through the next five minutes until a John Carpenter-style keyboard line — it’s actually former bassist David Perry (now of Dead Void in Denmark) — picking up from the ambient organ-style sounds that have run alongside the guitar, bass and drums to that point.
If you’re looking for firsts on a band’s fifth record, that’s a first. Though Davis has delved into synthesized sounds in other projects, working that into Conan both feels and is new. And if you’re listening digitally — as likely most will — it is a hypnotic finish to a collection that has found Conan playing to what have always been the band’s strengths while branching outward from there. On vinyl, it’s somewhat different, since the limitations of the format mean “Grief Sequence” appears standalone on side C with an etching on side D. This leaves one to wonder how many will, having heard and processed “Grief Sequence” as it is in relation to the rest of what’s come before it, swap out an entire LP just for that rather than simply go back to “A Cleaved Head No Longer Plots” after “Righteous Alliance.” Depends on the listener, obviously, and with digital as the main means by which Evidence of Immortality will be consumed — or through which it will consume — it’s a non-issue. Still, vinyl being what it is leaves “Grief Sequence” a bit out in the cold.
Given the song’s experimental feel, that’s all the more something to watch out for as a listener, because its further establishing of Conan as a forward-thinking veteran act isn’t to be discounted. I have to think that if they didn’t want it to be there, it wouldn’t be. That is, if Evidence of Immortality ended after “Righteous Alliance,” they could’ve easily written a shorter interlude or something like that to fill it out past a 36-minute runtime. “Grief Sequence,” on practical and aesthetic terms, is much more than that. More than a decade and a half on from Davis‘ starting the band, Conan are willing to take risks as well as to sound the familiar war horns of devastating tonal heft, higher-in-the-throat/lower-in-the-gut shouted vocals, and a general aura of violent threat. If that isn’t commendable, nothing is.
I guess this is where I’m supposed to wrap up by calling them immortal or making some clever-but-still-cliché remark about their work living forever. Well fuck that. Everything fucking dies. Everything decays. Everything ends. Evidence of Immortality isn’t asserting otherwise so much as pointing out the folly of believing the plainly stupid. In other words, watch your fucking head.
Posted in Questionnaire on August 29th, 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: Giuseppe Guarini of King Potenaz
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I play guitar and vocals in King Potenaz and I think it’s the most satisfying thing ever. I started as a kid as a self-taught and I played and sang in different bands in high school… then unfortunately I left everything for many years until 2019 when I was overwhelmed by the desire to compose original songs and in the end here I am.
Describe your first musical memory.
A cassette donated by a musician friend who had Iron Maiden’s The Number of The Beast on side A and Nirvana’s Nevermind on side B.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
A Black Mountain concert a few years ago… I remember being completely kidnapped by the performance and psychedelia of the songs and having goosebumps for the entire duration of the concert… it was a mystical experience.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
When I took covid after taking the third dose of vaccine… the world collapsed on me not so much because I was sick but because I was I firmly believed I was immune.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
I believe that it leads to a greater understanding of yourself… art must bring to light what we have inside and carry into music the feelings, thoughts and dreams (whether positive or negative) of the man behind the artist.
How do you define success?
Success is having the opportunity to share your idea of music but above all being able to be satisfied with what you have created.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
I saw a loved one who was a second father to me suddenly die and it is something I will never forget.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
I’d like to create a concept album set in space… doom and overly psychedelic.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
Art is the expression of the innermost self.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 28th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
This, obviously, is bigger than music. This is a human being and their family. Given the circumstances, it doesn’t feel right to speculate what might happen with Neurosis or any of his other projects in the longer term, so I’ll just say that if this was the situation, he’s probably right to step back. We all know that ‘permanent’ is a fluid idea when it comes to things like band breakups and retirements, so if you’re down about the prospect of no more music from Kelly, first, maybe you’ve missed the point a little and want to look at that, and second, never say never. But again, there are larger concerns at play here.
Best to Scott Kelly’s family on behalf of this site and myself, and hope for healing all around.
If you or someone you know is suffering under domestic violence, the National Domestic Violence Hotline is 800-799-7233. And no, a hotline isn’t enough and one can feel trapped, paralyzed, terrorized. It happens every day. But if that’s you, know that you’re not alone no matter how much you’ve been made to feel you are.
From social media:
Scott Kelly on abusing family and retiring from music:
Due to recent events, I feel that I clearly need to address some rumors and set the record straight. For the past several years I have engaged in the emotional, financial, verbal and physical abuse of my wife and younger children. When I became paranoid that people were going to find out, I found ways to keep my wife and kids from work and school and created divisions with friends and family members. I became obsessed with control and used threats, manipulation, threats of self-harm and suicide, inflicted physical damage on people and their reputations all to keep that control. When I knew my wife was going to leave I tried to convince her and others that I was crazy, and seeing things, and that I did not know what I was doing. She tried to help me with therapy and psychiatrists. My lies and deceptions fell apart in front of the professionals. When my wife finally tried to leave, I stalked and harassed her day and night and caused her and our youngest to live in a constant state of fear. I have lied or told half truths to so many people about so much of this that I can’t keep track of them. I don’t want to lie about any of this anymore. I love my wife to no end. She is the best person that I know. She is intensely honest, loving and good to her core. This letter is massive simplification of the irreparable damage I have caused and the unforgivable things that I’ve done to her and our kids. To say more in this public forum would not help anyone. As the truth has started to leak out there have been people who have tried to blame my wife for my abuse to give me an out and people who have spread ridiculous and damaging rumors about her. This is fucked. She deserves so much better. If you are adopting this mentality or spreading these rumors you need to fucking stop. I have some serious issues that I am dealing with and I have separated myself from anyone who is connected with my public life so that I can focus on my own toxic shit. When my wife has been kind enough to answer questions about my absence, she has faced crazy accusations. There was a recent situation that was so fucked up that it necessitated immediate action on my part to set the record straight. My wife absolutely speaks for me in my absence and I have already said she is intensely honest. If you don’t want the truth definitely don’t ask her questions. Additionally it is never appropriate to approach or question our children.
I know now that choosing to live a public life and be onstage was the worst decision that I could have made given the way that I am. I have hidden behind the attention and unfounded respect and adulation. I used my social position to directly and indirectly manipulate all of you and to hide the abuse of my family. I got satisfaction from my deception and perceived control of everyone involved. I am 100% permanently retired from being a professional musician. Some people can be in a scene like this where there is no accountability and maintain their integrity. I cannot. My sole focus for the rest of my life is on taking care of my family, allowing them safe space to heal and rebuilding their trust. I hope putting this out there will protect my wife from further attacks and finally allow my family some peace.
What a moment this was for these bands. Consider that in 2013 when this split full-length (review here) was released, Netherlands-based heavy psych rockers The Machine and Sungrazer were both signed to Elektrohasch Schallplatten, and were the spearheads of what seemed to be the next generation of European heavy rock, both working off influences from weighted fuzz and trippy jams while offering a personality of their own in that. Neither sounded precisely like the other, despite shared elements and basic construction — both were guitar-led three-pieces with an affinity for tonal warmth and mellow-psych exploration — but they were both young, exciting bands who took the work of those who came before them like their label head in Colour Haze and pushed it to places it hadn’t yet been.
By 2013, Sungrazer‘s 2010 self-titled (review here) and 2011’s Mirador (review here) — the only two albums they’d ever make — had established them as a significant presence in the European heavy underground. Supported on club tours and throughout the then-emergent Euro heavyfest scene, the band’s melodic approach, penchant for drift, and sheer tonal depth made them a standout. The Machine were the longer-standing band, having debuted in 2007 with Shadow of the Machine and issued Solar Corona (discussed here) through Nasoni Records in 2009, been picked up by Elektrohasch for 2011’s Drie (review here) and 2012’s Calmer Than You Are (review here). The worlds of each of these trios seemed to draw them together — they toured in 2013 around this release as well — and though then-Sungrazer bassist Sander Haagmans (also The Whims of the Great Magnet) would eventually join The Machine for a brief period, this split was nonetheless the payoff for the toward-each-other momentum they had to that point built.
TheMachine — led by guitarist David Eering, with Hans Van Heemst on bass and drummer Davy Boogaard — would take side A and earn it almost immediately. If “Awe” wasn’t named after the effect produced by its central riff, then it should’ve been. Pure worship. They knew it, you certainly still feel it while listening, and they ride that groove from the moment the “the eagle has landed” sample ends well past the 10-minute mark in a glorious celebration of rhythm, vibe and repetition. If this release had nothing else in its favor, you would nine years later listen to the entire thing and call it stunning for that lone riff, and they give it its due space as part of a three-song showcase of who The Machine were at that point and who they were en route to becoming, with the subsequent hooky “Not Only” cutting to (less than) a quarter of the runtime a two and a half minutes of punkish burst.
Careening in a way that was prescient of where they’d head on 2015’s Offblast! (review here) and 2018’s Faceshift (review here) — the latter issued through the band’s own imprint uncoincidentally called Awe Records — “Not Only” perfectly cleaned the slate before the also-north-of-10-minutes “Slipface” took over with its early fuzz twist and going-and-not-coming-back jam later, a final two minutes of residual drone and drift, organ or effects hum and swirl wrapping up because what is their possibly left to say? They took about 23 minutes to showcase who they are, where they’d already been on their first four records, and where they were headed on the ones to come. One doesn’t like to throw around words like ‘perfect,’ but certainly their efficiency and the sureness with which they executed these three songs is to be lauded, all the more in hindsight.
If The Machine presented a challenge in not delving into hyperbole, certainly that’s another shared aspect with Sungrazer. This would be the swansong for the three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Rutger Smeets, drummer Hans Mulders and the aforementioned Haagmans on bass, as they broke up at the end of 2013, thereby denying their audience a third full-length and leaving a hole that even now feels unfilled. Their ability to take massive fuzz and roll it out with a touch that could feel both heavy and delicate was something that no one else had yet brought to heavy psych, different from just melody, jazzy in a way but more open than pretentious. They began their stretch with “Dopo,” meeting the nod of The Machine‘s “Awe” head-on with a landmark riff of their own while saving a crescendo melody for the song’s second half.
Sungrazer‘s three inclusions, “Dopo,” “Yo La Tengo” and “Flow Through a Good Story,” all sat comfortably around seven or eight minutes, and demonstrated precisely how welcoming their craft was at its best while “Yo La Tengo” offered hints of their maybe pushing the balance more into the psychedelic and “Flow Through a Good Story” took what would’ve been a hodgepodge in less capable hands and turned it into what the title promised: a sonic narrative of their growth and being able to run fluidity across bumpy shifts and rougher feeling terrain. They were a band who could’ve gone anywhere after this and simply didn’t.
Nine years after the fact — not an eternity but certainly long enough for a revisit — and amid so much vibrant creativity from both these bands, that remains sad. Smeets and Mulders joined the more folkish Cigale and would release a self-titled (review here) in 2015 before the former passed away that October. That tragic ending to one of heavy psychedelia’s brightest lights.
That’s it. That may be half a sentence but that’s the sentence. That’s exactly how it felt when Smeets died. Like a story left unfinished. So there. Cigale never did a second record, no Sungrazer reunion, which would’ve been otherwise inevitable. Done.
In that context, this split, yes, has a surrounding bittersweet aura. I’d encourage you to listen to it in the spirit not just of what could’ve been but also what might still be. The Machine have a new album in the works, and I’m not going to say too much about it, but those who found themselves engaged by this era should perk ears to what they’re up to these days. And Haagmans and Mulders both remain active to some degree, but this split represents exactly what I said at the outset: a moment in time for both of these acts. Along the myriad paths heavy psychedelia has taken in the ensuing years, including among these players, this was when theirs came together at just the right time, right place, right sound. However long or short, in music or out, not every life is gifted such a moment.
As always, I hope you enjoy. Thank you for reading.
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Up and down week, but busy. Head-spinning, still recovering from Psycho Las Vegas last weekend and a tumultuous return trip that had me home at 3:30 in the morning on Monday/Tuesday. Not the best way to start out, and I basically lost all of Tuesday working as a result. That sucked; I don’t have another way of saying it. Frustrating end to a trip that I still feel like I’m processing on a few different levels: emotional, physical, ethical, and so on.
The Pecan starts school week after next. The Patient Mrs. started her new semester yesterday, which he’s old enough now to know means she won’t be around. He and I are pretty tight. We have a solid relationship, and markedly more so now that he’s potty trained. But as with pretty much everything else about my relationship with my wife, I am the second. She is the star of the show, and legitimately so. He fucking loves her. And I get it. It’s not like I’m out here arguing against. I have spent the last 25 years rightly worshiping the ground she walks on, so yeah. I understand. She’s incredible. But that does make it harder when all of a sudden she’s not upstairs on her laptop anymore, she’s out teaching class. Next week will be difficult.
He was bummed yesterday when she left, but we got down to work cleaning the house, played the arcade for a while, ran errands, talked a lot about music and construction vehicles and space and generally had a good time. He’ll fight you, though. He’ll push, and push, and push. If there’s a line, he’s crossing it. He’s not yet five. Every day he says, “I hate being told what to do.” Fucking hell, kid, who doesn’t? Welcome to existence. Sorry about that.
He has openly admitted (which is saying something as regards him and emotions generally; they are mostly denied verbally and expressed via physicality) to being nervous about starting school again. I feel for him. And if he can’t find a balance between knowing when to break rules and climb fences and when to sit down, shut up, do your work and then screw off and do whatever you want, he’s going to have a much, much harder time. Maybe “first this, then that” is the frame. I don’t know. I’ll try it. Thanks for talking it out with me. Starfleet method. Brainstorm AF.
It’s 5:50 and he just opened his door to come downstairs, so I’m out. Have a great and safe weekend. Thanks for reading. Hydrate, enjoy your waning summer if it’s summer where you are, watch your head, all that. Good stuff next week.
