Posted in Questionnaire on February 27th, 2023 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: Dave “Sula Bassana” Schmidt
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I’m Dave and I make music (play several instruments, do the recordings and mixing). And I run a record label and online shop. I started making cosmic sounds at age 10 with a trashy organ and started again when I was 15 or so when I got my first crappy Synthesizer. I played my first gig when I was 18, in 1986, with a electronic duo (Solaris). Played electronic music in several projects and played a dozen live concerts. Later I started playing bass in psychedelic rock bands (we founded my first real band Liquid Visions in 1994). I started my label in 2004 and I still run it. This and playing in bands is my life. Btw: I play in Zone Six, Interkosmos, Die Raumpatrouille, other jam projects, and my main project is Sula Bassana, which started as my solo-project in 2002 and I have a live band now for my songs and our first concert is in March. And many more to come. ;-)
Describe your first musical memory.
To be shocked as a child when my parents took me into a classic opera. Hahahhaa, not the best start. But luckily I discovered electronic music some years after this. But to be honest, I still like to listen to classical music as Bach, Händel, Grieg, Holst and more. But that’s NOT opera! :-D
Describe your best musical memory to date.
UH! There are so many, much too many to pick out just one. But playing live and creating a improvised track with a psychedelic feel and some wall of sound always makes me happy. Last weekend we played two shows with Zone Six and it was super-nice. Brings tons of positive vibes and feelings!
One of the highlights was for sure our week at a residency in Tunisia, where we went with Electric Moon. Met amazing people, made a lot of music, played on a two-day festival and became friends with so many wonderful people!
Or my first concert in a Planetary (at Insulaner, Berlin) in 1990, with my friend Peter Dembour, playing two sold out shows with our Berlin school like electronic music. Sadly Peter passed away some years ago. A big loss….
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
Always, when I read the news about the unbelievable madness of war, corruption and destruction of nature. I was born in Berlin in the Cold War era. And now we are back in war… so sad.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
Freedom and happiness.
How do you define success?
I’m still happy to make a living as a label owner and musician. Dreamed of it my whole life, and you can imagine how poor the first years were (almost 20 years ago), from economical view. But I arranged myself with a simple but free life. :-)
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
I leave the very sad moments untold here. Sorry!
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
Cosmic music with a full orchestra and electronics and a full band. :-)
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
Connecting people. And to open minds of people. And bringing peace. And letting the inner child live on!
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
Peace on this planet. And in general more respect to nature and animals!
I went back into the archives and looked, and I’ve been writing about Argonauta Records fare for more than a decade now, and I remain an admirer of the way in which Gero as the founding principal and the imprint as an entity conduct themselves with little regard for trend or anything so much as what speaks to his/its/their own passion. I was asked last month to be a part of ‘presenting’ this compilation, and to be perfectly honest with you, I was likewise honored and confused as to why, since the thing was (nearly) done by then and it’s not like I had much more to offer than some text and that circle logo to digitally-stamp on the cover.
But hey, I’ll take it. It’s nice to be thought of, nice to be asked, and I’m happy to be a small part of it however I can. In addition to having great respect for what Argonauta has accomplished in its time and for the way in which Gero has grown the label over the last 11 years, I also did a lot of the music that comes out under the label’s banner.
Some of this stuff has been released before, some of it hasn’t, but after what one imagines was a not-insignificant logistical challenge in putting it together, the 19-track Magick Sun & Mystic Moon — not to be confused with Barcelona psych outfit Magick Brother & Mystic Sister — emerges as both a good time listening experience and a celebration of the stylistic range that typifies Argonauta‘s roster, the totality of which goes even farther than this. And, of course, one of the most essential facets of what Argonauta does is that it continues to grow and seek new creative voices to support, so I wouldn’t be surprised if this isn’t the last time they do a project like this either. Just a heads up, I guess.
I wrote the text below to coincide with the stream of Drive by Wire‘s cover of The Smiths hitting Bandcamp, and it’s got a little more background on what inspired the compilation, etc., put in PR wire blue for form’s sake. Before I turn you over to it, I’d like to say a direct thanks to Gero for having me on board.
Argonauta Records presents the covers compilation ‘Magick Sun & Mystic Moon,’ featuring 18 acts from the long-running Italian label’s roster, diverse in sound and celebrating influences both glaringly obvious and wholly unexpected. From The Doors and Stooges and KISS to Billy Joel (?!), Darkthrone, The Smiths and Candlemass, artists from a wide swath of styles and legacies are honored by denizens of one of the heavy underground’s most vibrant imprints.
Partnering with respected heavy blog The Obelisk, Argonauta brings forth new and unreleased tracks from the likes of Ancient VVisdom’s Nathan Opposition, who bookends the release in the opening and closing spots, as well as Drive by Wire from the Netherlands, Temple of Deimos, Blues Weiser, Autumnblaze, Mos Generator, Hebi Katana and Mitochondrial Sun, and rare and previously-issued works from Snail, Shadow Witch, Indigo Raven, When the Deadbolt Breaks, Dee Calhoun (ex-Iron Man, current Spiral Grave frontman), Deep Space Mask, Buzzard Canyon, Mourn the Light, The Black Legacy and Sator.
In being utterly packed with righteous executions and aesthetic breadth, ‘Magick Sun & Mystic Moon’ is nothing if not representative in its entirety of Argonauta’s ethic of supporting artists and groups united by passion and quality more than aural homogeny. But if it’s raw heavy you seek, there’s plenty to go around.
“18 Artists from our stellar roster joined forces to give life to a wonderful compilation made of a wide range tunes and bands being honored,” says Argonauta boss Gerolamo Lucisano. “As the label, we are extremely proud of their top quality songs and effort, especially as the project was started and assembled during the difficult times of the pandemic era.”
Begun in 2012, Argonauta Records approaches its 11th year of existence having already contributed significantly to the sphere of underground rock and metal. A somewhat light-hearted concept to contrast with difficult times, ‘Magick Sun & Mystic Moon’ reminds listeners as well as the parties involved in making it that it’s both okay and necessary to step outside one’s normal methods and expressive ideologies, to challenge convention inside and out, and at the most basic level, to have fun doing it.
That spirit is palpable here, and we hope you experience it as well in listening. Thank you for your support.
Tracklisting: 1. NATHAN OPPOSITION (Ancient VVisdom) – The River of Dreams [Billy Joel]* 03:26 2. DRIVE BY WIRE – How Soon Is Now [The Smiths]* 05:23 3. TEMPLE OF DEIMOS – Dancing Days [Led Zeppelin]* 03:41 4. BLUES WEISER – Rags to Rags [Eels]* 04:07 5. AUTUMNBLAZE – Transilvanian Hunger [Darkthrone]* 03:44 6. MOS GENERATOR – She [Kiss]* 06:05 7. HEBI KATANA – Money [The Beatles]* 03:06 8. SNAIL – Fearless [Pink Floyd] 05:06 9. MITOCHONDRIAL SUN (Niklas Sundin) – Neverending Story [Limahl]* 03:44 10. INDIGO RAVEN – Push the Sky Away [Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds] 04:10 11. WHEN THE DEADBOLT BREAKS – Not to Touch the Earth [The Doors] 04:01 12. DEE CALHOUN – The Knoxville Girl [The Louvin Brothers] 04:11 13. DEEP SPACE MASK – Strange Ways [Kiss] 03:49 14. BUZZARD CANYON – Where Eagles Dare [Misfits] 02:20 15. MOURN THE LIGHT – Bewitched [Candlemass] 06:45 16. SHADOW WITCH – I Wanna Be Your Dog [The Stooges] 03:47 17. THE BLACK LEGACY – Been Down So Long [The Doors] 04:28 18. SATOR – A Forest [The Cure] 09:54 19. NATHAN OPPOSITION (Ancient VVisdom) – The End of the World [Skeeter Davis]* 02:24 *previously unreleased
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 24th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Just what do Slomosa have up their sleeves for a second album, I wonder. Their self-titled debut (review here) came out in 2020 on Apollon Records and made a splash and basically as soon as they could be they were on the road for it. I think they played every European festival last year except the three I was lucky enough to go to — which has had the sad effect of making me probably even more eager to see them live — and that album continues to spread via word of mouth even as the Bergen, Norway, four-piece are confirmed for more gigs. And now they’ve signed to Stickman Records; a home for heavy that matters.
So what’s it gonna be with Slomosa? Are they the forerunners of a new generation of heavy rock? Are they the vanguard? I don’t know, but I think the next album is going to tell us an awful lot one way or the other. And I think this signing is big enough news that I’m posting about it on Friday even after I already closed out the week. So yeah, I’m at least open to the idea that they’re the real deal and are going to be leaders of that next-gen of heavy that’s so badly needed, make an impact and be influential. That potential is there. It’s exciting to think it could happen.
This is why you sign up for record label newsletters:
SLOMOSA Sophomore LP to be released on Stickman – new single coming soon
We are proud to announce that SLOMOSA and Stickman are joining forces for the band’s upcoming second full-length, which they recently recorded at Polyfon Studio in their hometown of Bergen, Norway. A single from the album will be released in the coming months, so stay tuned!
Since their sudden appearance on the scene with the self-titled debut album “Slomosa” in 2020, the band has hit the ground running with relentless tours alongside bands such as Orange Goblin, Sasquatch and Stöner.
Singer/guitarist Benjamin Berdous says of the upcoming record:
“The feel good vibes of our first album were apparent in the music, even though the lyrical themes were more serious and angry, but also in some sense comforting for me personally. Since then more of life has happened and things have gotten more serious, and as always this reflects on the music. It’s still important to me that we continue to offer something fresh in an at times homogeneous genre. Catchy vocal hooks and heavy guitar riffs is our recipe, and we don’t plan to mix up our diets!”
Posted in Bootleg Theater on February 24th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Recorded over the course of two days in Oct. 2015 and released in Feb. 2016, the seven-song/43-minute debut album from Wrocław, Poland, heavy psych rockers Spaceslug, dubbed Lemanis (review here), is an album that still feels new in my mind. The trio of guitarist/vocalist Bartosz Janik, bassist/vocalist Jan Rutka and drummer/vocalist Kamil Ziółkowski offered it through Oak Island/Kozmik Artifactz on vinyl, BSFD Records on CD and Southcave Records on tape, and it almost immediately put them at the forefront of their country’s heavy underground for the richness of its tone, the languid nature of its groove and the flowing, laid back delivery of its vocal melodies that corresponded.
With headphone-ready depth in their mix — handled by the band with Jacek Maciołek, who also helmed the recording — and no wrong answer to either way of hearing them, Spaceslug‘s songs could either be experienced with glossed-over eyes or mined for details like the dual layers of feedback ringing out circa 4:30 into “Grand Orbiter” (with its sample of American president JFK at the start talking about going to the moon), 0r the particularly Sleepy riff that pays off the aptly-titled eight-minute side A capper “Supermassive,” slowing with classic stoner rock righteousness into a churn like the black holes at the center of the galaxies slowly sucking the cosmos into oblivion. By no means is that the only in-genre dogwhistle on Lemanis, either, but the fact that Spaceslug were conscious of what tropes they wanted to celebrate in their work — and which ones they didn’t — was a part of what made the songs feel so aesthetically complete.
Take the manner in which opener “Proton Lander” — one of the longer cuts at 7:45, with just “Supermassive” and the album-closing instrumental title-track (9:17) surpassing — comes apart at the finish. By the time the three-piece get there, they’ve built the song up from nothing, an initial hum fading gently in over some ambient noise, bass and guitar seeming to yawn themselves awake before the drums — who’ve already been up for a while and seem to have had their first cup of coffee — join in the procession. By the one-minute mark, they’re already rolling, but the abiding vibe is warm, cozy and easy to engage, and that remains true as they as volume and meter, shift into through verses, grow bigger in sound and seem to find multiple next-levels of density to their rich, lush fuzz. But after the six-minute mark, “Proton Lander” takes kind of a meandering turn, and rather than fading out the comedown, they jam through it and present the full ending of the song. They’re letting the listener in the room with them until there’s nothing but some noodling guitar left and the track ends organically, fluidly, decisively small after having been so grand and consuming only a few minutes before.
This is emblematic of what Lemanis accomplished across its whole span in terms of bringing to life a genuine sense of mellow-heavy. Spaceslug were by no means static in tempo either within or between their tracks, but even as “Hypermountain” picks up from that ending of “Proton Lander” and invigorates with a more directly forward movement, or as “Grand Orbiter” pushes through its open, half-time drum hook and surrounding effects swirl on vocals and guitar alike, the band remains steady in their presence. The vocals — the arrangements of which would flesh out and broaden in scope over the next several years with more aggressive takes sneaking in gradually and naturally — are never too far forward in the mix as to dominate the tones surrounding, and their placement is key and perfectly suited to the wall-o’-fuzz largesse being conveyed.
As the mostly-instrumental “Galectelion” (just a spoken part in the midsection) follows “Supermassive” as the centerpiece of the record and the start of side B — again carrying echoes of Sleep‘s riff worship but set to the band’s own earthier psychedelic intention, moving at a decent clip but consistent with the flow of its surrounding cuts — the affect is hypnotic in highlighting their jammier side, expanding on that impression at the end of “Proton Lander,” fleshing out the vibe on the whole in a way that makes the more lumbering bass and guitar effects barrage in the hooky “Grand Orbiter” stand out that much more. The 1:36 penultimate interlude “Quintessence” works in not entirely dissimilar fashion, picking up from the cold-cut feedback of “Grand Orbiter” with guitar floating in space before “Lemanis” announces its arrival with a distinct and welcome initial thud.
About that thud. While a large part of the impression Lemanis made and still makes seven years later comes from the mellow-heavy mood, the tones of the guitar and bass, and the laid back delivery of the vocals, even Ziółkowski‘s kick drum is worth mentioning in so clearly serving their purpose. It has a kind of muffled tone, the edges of the hammer’s impact rounded off and smooth in the recording, and where there’s a risk that the drums on the whole could detract from the liquidity of the material, they instead become the calming pulse at the core of it, definitely there but somehow gentle in how they punctuate the songs; one more aspect of craft that makes Spaceslug‘s debut such a standout even as they cap with the further trance induction of “Lemanis” itself, summarizing the abiding roll that has carried them and their audience through a deceptively cohesive breadth of turns and volume dynamics.
Spaceslug quickly affirmed the strengths of Lemanis with 2017’s sophomore LP, Time Travel Dilemma (review here), and set themselves on a course of progression across EPs and LPs that continues today — 2021’s Memorial (review here) was their fifth full-length and crowning achievement to-date; they’ll play Desertfest London this Spring and Høstsabbat in October, perhaps by then supporting or heralding a new release — and while they’ve added new elements to their style, they’ve never quite let go of the soothing nod of Lemanis. At the time, I couldn’t get away from a Sungrazer comparison, and I can still hear what in the songs put me in that place — worth noting that Spaceslug brought in former Sungrazer bassist for a guest spot on Time Travel Dilemma, so there’s some acknowledgement of the influence there — but listening to Lemanis seven years after the fact, it’s plain to hear even more just how much this record is the beginning of the band searching out their identity as a group, finding the niche they’d occupy and from which they’d grow and flourish as, fortunately, they have in the years since.
This is a pretty special record, and maybe that’s part of why it still feels new, because even looking back at it in hindsight, it’s so easy to lose oneself in the potential for expansion in its songs. As far as I’m concerned, that they’ve brought and are still bringing that potential to realization only makes it more of a landmark.
If you’ve been paying attention the last few weeks — and if you haven’t, it’s okay — I’ve been doing kind of an unofficial miniseries in these posts of Polish bands, with Sunnata last week, Elvis Deluxe the week before, Dopelord before that, and Tortuga starting off. Over a decade ago, I did a similar look at a few Polish acts in a category of posts called ‘On the Radar’ that I don’t really do anymore, and this has been a follow-up to that at least for me if not anyone else, and it’s been interesting to hear the various paths that these groups have taken, those who’ve come and gone, etc. Whether you’ve followed along or not, I hope you’ve enjoyed hearing Lemanis again, and I thank you as always for reading.
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The Pecan opened his door at 4:30AM, and while I love him dearly, my heart sank thinking of the morning’s productivity evaporating in the face of demands for yogurt and more Sesame Street. I put him back to bed before he even started down the stairs, and he was willing to go, with was something of a surprise. It’s 5:57 now and that’s already later than he’s slept all week.
I’ve been having trouble sleeping as well. Wednesday was probably as bad as it’s gotten; I woke up at 1AM and never really fell back out, got up and decided to get to work at about 2:30. Yesterday was 3:30-ish, which felt like a gift as I also wasn’t really up overnight rolling over or needing to go to the bathroom like the old man I am. Today was 3AM. Generally speaking, my days don’t really need to be longer than they already are when the alarm goes off at 4. I’ve been pretty wrecked by the time the kid goes to bed around 7:30PM, and even last night was nodding off watching Star Trek: Picard bring back Worf in violent fashion. Ups and downs.
Ups and downs to everything, I guess. Yesterday started out awesome as I had a total blast writing that Enslaved review — so, so much fun; I don’t usually get much of a response when I write about that band, but I always enjoy doing so and that makes it worth it — and went swimming and that felt good in my body and the kid and I had a decent morning without really butting heads on random bullshit as we so often do. But then the driver and aide on his morning bus let me know he’s been yelling and generally being a jerk on the ride to school, which is kind of part of broader ongoing behavioral concerns — transitions, always a challenge, probably always will be to some yet-unsettled extent — and it just flattened the whole day.
By the time The Patient Mrs. got back from getting her haircut, which of course looks lovely, I was in a hole compared to where I’d started out. It sucked, in short. And the day never really found that groove again. He came home from school and was difficult, and I got mad, and The Patient Mrs. tried to be a go-between, and it’s just a shitty dynamic that doesn’t really make anyone feel good and I don’t know what to do about any of it. I ate a gummy and got stoned and at least that helped calm me down, but golly, it would be nice to get through a day without feeling like an absolute garbage parent. Hasn’t happened yet, but I’ll keep you in the loop if I ever get there.
He starts kindergarten in the Fall, which will be a sea change as the first time he’ll be out of the house on more of a full-time basis. The beginning of a new era of school, basically. I’ve been considering trying to find part-time work outside the house (or in it, remotely) when he goes. Not that I can’t busy myself with domestic concerns or more writing — there’s never enough time for either — but I can’t help but wonder if after nearly six years of being completely out of the labor force, some part of me isn’t missing feeling like I’m contributing to something beyond poisoning my family by being a miserable piece of shit.
I’ve never enjoyed jobs, but money’s been tighter than tight, and even if it’s just money for music and/or weed that I don’t have to take out of the familial coffers, that’s not nothing. I don’t know, but I’m thinking about it. I won’t pretend to have any clue what I need or want. I open my mouth and hear my father’s voice, which crushes me. I look in the mirror and see his stiff lumbering. I have felt a bit haunted, perhaps, by vague and unresolved trauma from that relationship, and I am in terror of paying forward the shitty emotional abuse to which I was treated as a child to my own kid. Already it is glaringly obvious to me that I am the problem. I would not mind dying in my sleep and thereby removing that problem.
6:22 and he’s up and down the stairs on the quick, crying that it’s starting to get light. I tell him it’s part of the coming Spring, that the sun is coming up earlier. I’m fucking trying. Every day, I’m fucking trying. Moments of okay amid continual failure are godsends. I need to buy yogurt today.
Next week is full streams of REZN, Sandrider and Stoned Jesus — three of the best records I’ve heard so far in 2023.
Thanks for reading and I hope you have a great and safe weekend. Have fun, watch your head, hydrate, all that stuff. Monday is a Desert Storm video premiere and it’s a banger so keep an eye out.
Posted in Questionnaire on February 24th, 2023 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: Jason Hartley of Black Acid Prophecy & Jason Hartley Art
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
To me, what I do, is a sort of therapy or a type of escape. For both my artwork and music. When drawing or playing, I’m just somewhere else.
For the artwork, I can’t recall ever not doing it. Some of my earliest memories are of me tracing my Mother’s drawings of Disney characters from her high-school sketch pad and receiving art supplies for birthdays and Christmas. But I never really took it too seriously until I was around 19. I got a job as a “desk guy” at a tattoo shop. The owner of the shop was a portrait guy. One day I decided to give it a go(on paper, not skin). My first attempt was Christopher Lee as Dracula. And surprisingly it came out great. So I just kept at it. After a few years of pencil work, I switched to Sharpies. Dabbled with different sorts of brush pens and other “drawing pens”. A few years back I got an iPad and had a whole new world of drawing and creating open up for me. After some pestering, I was finally convinced by friends and family to start up an art page. And that has given the opportunity to do some really fun and cool artwork for a few bands that I really dig.
As for the music, I never had any instruments when I was a kid. But I would mess around with friends’ keyboards from time to time. Maybe one of my Dad’s friends would have an acoustic laying around that they would let me pluck away at. But I could never really play anything. When I was around 16-17, a buddy mentioned something about some kids he knew who were in a band that had just lost their singer. Without any experience, I told him I could do it. I just wanted to be in a band. That lasted a little while. We weren’t great, but I was having a blast. After that fell apart, I met a guy who could kinda-sorta play guitar. I would play an old Yamaha drum machine through house speakers while he played through a tiny Gorilla amp. One day he tells me that someone he knows mentioned that their dad has a cheap kit he was selling for $125. And he would take payments. Figured it couldn’t hurt so I bought it. We jammed together for years and years. Learning off of each other. Just the two of us. In 2005 I went in to the Tattoo shop I used to work at to visit the guys while in town(I had moved away), I spotted someone in the waiting area wearing a High on Fire shirt. Struck up a conversation and discover she played guitar and was looking for a band. We joined up with her and that was the beginning of being in a real band and playing shows.
Describe your first musical memory.
99 percent of my early music memories involve my Dad. He always had music on. Always. Classic rock, of course. He was always saying “Good tune! Listen to this one!” And he would crank it up. I remember specifically Pink Floyd’s “Have A Cigar”. That part at the end where it phases and gets all distant like it’s coming through an old telephone. I thought something happened to his speakers. That’s when he told me about studio tricks and production. He had a cousin who was also his best friend, who was an amazing musician. Played a lot. Recorded a lot. So my Dad knew a lot about the processes but could never actually play anything. My Mother also listened to a lot of music. But it was more R&B, adult contemporary stuff like Whitney Houston and Lionel Ritchie. And I loved all of that music as well. I absorbed it all. But her and I never connected through tunes like I did with the Old Man. He still rocks out and comes to my gigs. He actually met Wino when we played with The Obsessed recently. He was stoked!
Describe your best musical memory to date.
The first time me and my old jamming buddy wrote a full song. When we nailed all the changes perfectly. I didn’t play anything too slow or too fast. We sat there listening to the tape with smiles on our faces. It felt so great.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
Like a lot of folks, I’ve always believed that family is family. No matter what. But as I get older, I pick up on more things about family members that I never noticed growing up. And on top of that, I’ve got social media showing me the sides of family members that I never knew existed. Some of them are just toxic, narcissistic shitty people. Not something anyone needs in their life. So I’ve tossed that “no matter what” belief out the window.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
Artistic progression leads wherever you let it lead to. Nothing in art should be forced. Progression should be a natural thing. But not a necessary thing. Sometimes what you have going on is perfect the way it is. If it changes and progresses, then so be it. Let it. Clearly that’s what it’s supposed to do. When you start intentionally holding back or trying too hard to change and progress, then you lose something special.
How do you define success?
Obviously, recognition and some monetary gain always helps. But ultimately, for me, it’s being proud of what I put out there. Standing behind your work. Hell, I still listen to a few tunes I recorded with an old band. I love them. I think I did a great job. But almost no one else even knows we existed. It was a successful run at writing a few good tunes that I’m still enjoying almost 20 years later.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
My Grandmother a few days before she moved on. She hadn’t been doing well for some time. In hospice. Most of the family had been visiting her regularly. But I had a vision of her in my head that I wanted to keep. I didn’t want to see my sick, dying grandmother. But she asked for me. I had no choice but to go. I sat outside of her room for a while. Just listening to other people in there with her. If this was something I was gonna do, I didn’t want to do it with an audience. Room cleared out and I went it. My Grandmother always had her hair permed. She had a round face with a great smile. Big, wide eyes. What I saw laying in that bed what not my grandmother. This is nothing I would ever joke about and I mean this in the most terrifying way. She looked like the Crypt Keeper. Gaunt. Sunken eyes. Extremely thin, stringy white hair. I can only see the other version of her if I look at a picture. I can no longer remember it in my head.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
I’d like to write and record a truly full-length album. For one reason or another, every project I’ve been a part of has only done EP’s, demos or a single here and there.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
Connection.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
Just life, man. Growing up wasn’t fun. After all these years, I’m finally in a place where I’m comfortable. I’m happy. Finally able to do things that I would’ve never done a few years back. Like this questionnaire. I don’t put myself out there. It’s taken a lot of encouragement from my wife and a few folks who truly care to convince me to create my art page. I didn’t want to at all. Attention has always been a strange feeling for me. Especially positive attention. I saw your post and thought it seemed like a good chance to do something a bit uncomfortable and at the same time, positive and therapeutic.
Posted in Reviews on February 24th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
It is difficult to convey just how singular Enslaved are. For over 30 years, they have continually refined their sound, moved ever forward and refused stagnation. That’s impressive enough when you have four albums, let alone 16, and their commitment to exploration, to developing new ideas and to pushing themselves and the styles they’ve helped shape to new places has led them to a place where the unknown has become part of their mastery. Their latest full-length and, yes, their 16th, is Heimdal, a title that translates to English as ‘home valley,’ and throughout the included seven tracks, from the kraturocky keyboard jabs in the first couple minutes of opener “Behind the Mirror” to the let-it-all-loose shred Arve “Ice Dale” Isdal unleashes for “Caravans to the Outer Worlds” — also the title-track of a 2021 stopgap EP (review here) — to the final harmony-topped prog-rock shove of the ending title-track, they are indeed at home in this next step of their ongoing, as yet unceasing evolution.
They are second to none in scope, and in the galloping triumph of “Congelia” — a shivers-up-the-spine riff-rooted life-burst that starts at 5:21 and consumes the rest of the song’s eight minutes; kin to standout Enslaved moments like “Fusion of Sense and Earth” from 2006’s Ruun (discussed here) and “The Watcher” from 2008’s Vertebrae and “Roots of the Mountain” from 2012’s Riitiir (review here), but even more gorgeously crafted now than it could have been then — and the depth of layering in guitar, keys and vocals of centerpiece “Kingdom,” and just about everywhere else, they remind that scope is an essential facet of who they are. And so is change. Progress. Movement.
Heimdal is not a record Enslaved could have made even five years ago. It follows a busy few pandemic years of livestreams and live albums after 2020’s studio LP Utgard (review here), and it is very much a sophomore release from the incarnation of the band featuring drummer and producer Iver Sandøy. Alongside founding members Grutle Kjellson (bass, vocals), whose signature rasp saves its most vicious gnash for the djent-doom initial unfolding of the title-track — a fitting way to let listeners know they’ve arrived at the end of all things — but who also works in some spoken narration for “Caravans to the Outer Worlds” and clean singing elsewhere, and guitarist/backing vocalist/keyboardist/etc.-ist Ivar Bjørnson, whose creative drive as main songwriter is the epicenter of the band’s own, as well as the undervalued metallurgy of Isdal and the synth/keys and soaring melodic voice of Håkon Vinje, who joined the band in 2017 and has only added to their reach in the time since, Sandøy contributes in multiple regards to the spiritual and aural force of Heimdal.
As a drummer, he is propulsive beneath the keyboard-led middle of “Forest Dweller,” which begins with acoustic-inclusive layered sweep and ends in a dream-drift exhale after the tension has broke, and no less able to hold the more open groove of “The Eternal Sea” either in its harmonized early moments, the stretch outright charred extremity that follows or the all-in engrossing melodic payoff that follows with his vocals as a crucial element of the whole. Also one of Heimdal‘s principal producers at Solslottet Studios (Vegard Lemme also assisted with engineering), where the basic tracks were recorded — Isdal did the leads/solos at his Earshot & Conclave Studios and additional recording was done at ‘the Overlook Hotel,’ where all work and no play reportedly makes Jack a dull boy — Sandøy is all the more integrated into the five-piece band across Heimdal, and his voice when added especially to that of Vinje, but also the rougher deliveries of Kjellson (mostly) and Bjørnson, results in arrangements that are nothing short of majestic.
Of all the places Heimdal goes in its 49 minutes — including home, apparently — across the material that’s perhaps more expansive than Utgard as an added benefit of the additional years of working with this lineup, Sandøy is able to function at both the core and the forefront of the going. He is there at the payoff of the introductory tour de force that is “Behind the Mirror,” alongside Vinje in a melodic-singing duo that pushes the entirety of Heimdal to a higher level of execution. That’s true even in the darkest corners of the material. The clenched-jaw raging intensity of “Caravans to the Outer Worlds” that reminds of the band’s madly careening earlier days, and the head-spinning, sharp-turning precision of “Kingdom,” the way in which the lumbering doom at the outset of “The Eternal Sea” presents the crashing of waves — all of these moments and so many others are able to be realized because on every level Enslaved can’t not challenge each other to surpass what they’ve done before.
Introducing Vinje with 2017’s E (review here) was a beginning point, and Utgard can now be seen as the start of a new era of progressive manifestations because of the affirmations wrought throughout Heimdal, and both the blinding luminosity and the severity of their material — on the most basic level, the things they can and will do — are harnessed with poise and purpose alike. Longer on average than they were last time out, the songs on Heimdal maintain urgency and atmosphere alike, and whether it’s the open-space first verses of “Forest Dweller,” crooning clean vocals over swirling synth drones before the drums fade in and Kjellson treats his vocal cords to another round of punishment, or the break in the middle of the title-track, a few spoken lines in Norwegian before the drums launch and punctuate the somewhat angular and still melodically stunning keystone ending — not a blowout, but a thoughtful, completing moment that gives over to residual synth to end; a universe’s answer back to the rowing oars and sounding horn at the start of Heimdal about 45 minutes and lightyears before — the band never lose their sense of direction despite what seems at times like a wildly spinning compass.
But that is who they are. Enslaved burn even the loftiest expectations in the fires of accomplishment and give credence to heavy metal as a form of high art. On the front cover, as ever by Tor Ola Svennevig (maybe based on landscape photography by Kjellson and Mirjam Orman Vikingstad?), there are three distinct representations of the past, present and the future, respectively, as water, earth and sky. In the water, we see the past as a reflection of the present and the future; subtly notable for the hillside object that might be a banner, speaking to a history of Norwegian peoples and places that is very much a part of Enslaved‘s thematic explorations. In the sky is the future, foreboding and bright in kind, unknowable. The proverbial limit. And where the logo and title are placed is on the level of the land, the present; somehow all we’re given between the two surrounding temporal infinities. It is a reminder not only that time is fleeting as the idiom says, but that none of those three stages can exist without the other. The present is our own home valley, and as Enslaved continue to chase and seek new realms of sound and presence in that unknown future, they are no less grounded in right now for the multidimensional, ever-blossoming nature of their calling.
Enslaved, Heimdal (2023)
Enslaved, “Congelia” official video
Enslaved, “Forest Dweller” official video
Enslaved, “Caravans to the Outer Worlds” official video
Posted in Bootleg Theater on February 24th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
El Paraiso Records posted the above image the other day on the ol’ social medias, and heck if it wasn’t an effective teaser. Sure, any El Paraiso release is going to be something at the very least worth checking out — and that is a layer of anticipation inherently — but those rich tones of the cover art, add intrigue as well.
A couple days later, the news is good as Edena Gardens — the Danish instrumental three-piece comprised of Jakob Skøtt and Martin Rude of Causa Sui and Nicklas Sørensen of Papir — unveil a video for the new song “Sombra Del Mar” and announce that their second full-length, Agar, will be released April 7 on El Paraiso. Oh, and there’s a live album coming too, as if to get the “hey we’re an actual band” point across that much clearer.
I don’t think anyone would’ve been surprised or even held it against them if it was a while before they followed up last year’s stunning self-titled debut (review here), but you won’t hear me complain about the quick turnaround either. “Sombra Del Mar” is a dream, perhaps given to some of the stoner folk vibes discussed in the announcement copy below but sweetly melodic and boasting some fascinating intricacy between the guitar and lower end (may be baritone guitar, I don’t know) progression. Easy vibe to get into, and I have a hard time imagining you won’t if you do.
So hey, here’s something awesome that I didn’t know existed yesterday. And I’m glad they turned out to be a real band — their record was pretty well received, which is always nice — and are doing cool stuff like playing Esbjerg Fuzztival in May and putting out new albums. That’s pretty right on.
Enjoy:
Edena Gardens, “Sombra Del Mar” official video
First single off their 2nd album, Agar, out on El Paraiso Records April 7th, 2023.
On their 2nd album, Edena Gardens manifests itself as a permanent fixture in the El Paraiso catalogue.
Edena Gardens could have flickered and disappeared in true El Paraiso fashion with a single session album, but the trio emerges with both a new studio album as well as a live album (Live Momentum). It’s part of the band’s DNA: it contains multitudes. There’s always a variation or open path, shifting with ease from heady cosmic stoner folk-vibes, to the scorched earth of 12-minute centrepiece The Veil. Halcyon Days opens up a panoramic interlude of beautiful analogue warmth, while closer Crescent Helix opens in full free-jazz mode, only to travel into an endless crescendo of alt. rock proportions rarely found on this side of the 90’s.
Somehow, Edena Gardens combines the sum of its multifaceted parts in a unified way, Perhaps due to Causa Sui drummer Jakob Skøtt’s transparent edits and layered treatments. Or perhaps the trio’s level of experience and joy of playing simply connects whatever direction they pursue – Nicklas Sørensen of Papir’s glistering guitar lines, backed up by Martin Rude’s rumbling Baritone guitar strums or solid basslines. It’s an album that showcases not only the spontaneous paths taken but also the vast well of ideas or sounds only implied or briefly touched upon, creating an aggregation of sounds just out of reach.
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 24th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Oh what fun this will be. I was fortunate enough to be in Oslo when London melodic heavy rockers Elephant Tree played Høstsabbat in 2018 (review here), and in addition to being the proverbial ‘buncha nice guys,’ they absolutely brought the house down starting off a day on the main altar stage of the Kulturkirken Jacob that also included Electric Moon and Asteroid before culminating with Amenra. Their being added to the 2023 edition of the festival, alongside Spaceslug and Black Rainbows, Bongripper and The Chronicles of Father Robin, reveals more of the character of the 10th anniversary edition of Høstsabbat, and as Elephant Tree are heading toward the release of a split with Lowrider as part of Blues Funeral Recordings‘ PostWax subscription series — for which, full disclosure, I do the liner notes; no, I haven’t heard the split yet and I’m not even sure it’s recorded — it’s all the more exciting to see them return here and imagine them back on that stage filling the tall cathedral ceiling with their particular take on laid back, increasingly progressive heavy. As Bender tells us: “it’s gonna be fun on a bun.”
That Elephant Tree have emerged as one of the foremost purveyors in one of the foremost regional heavy undergrounds in the world (i.e. the UK) is nice too, but I look forward to seeing them in-person, hope to get the chance to catch up and have a couple laughs like actual human beings as well before being subsumed in their breadth and fuzz. Høstsabbat doesn’t owe me any favors — I feel perpetually indebted, actually — but I kind of feel like I’ve just been done one all the same.
The fest posted the following on socials a bit ago, as is their Friday wont:
HØSTSABBAT 2023 – ELEPHANT TREE
Finally Friday!
The best day of the week. Announcement day!
As our anniversary approaches, you will notice some familiar names on the lineup. The occasion itself gives us the opportunity to reminisce in some of the moments we think stood out the most over the years. What a joy!
The first flashback comes from the British shores. If anyone recalls the marvelous appearance from Elephant Tree back in 2018, we surely hope you agree with us, in inviting the lads back.
They gave us something special: a strong feeling of unity in riffs, rhythms and goosebumps. They blew us away basically.
Elephant Tree operates in galaxy far far away from the average stoner/doom band. They have a special way around their arrangements.
Their shimmering yet laidback output is both intriguing and soothing at the same time. Their subtle heaviness combined with their beautiful harmonies might draw comparison to the grunge legends in Alice in Chains even.
