Ahead of releasing their all-caps third long-player, KODOK, UK mostly-instrumentalist post-metal trio The Grey have put up the accordingly mostly-instrumental all-caps nine-minute single “CHVRCH,” which so far as I can tell is not in any way about the defunct Californian band who went by that moniker. Duly crushing in tone, spacious in atmosphere and pro-shop in overall sound, the single went up this past weekend on however-many digital outlets, and coincided with the news of the band’s inking to Majestic Mountain Records to issue the forthcoming album this Fall. There are a couple guest vocalists listed below who appear on the record, but I’m not sure who’s responsible for the later shouts emerging from the consuming nod of “CHVRCH.” If it’s you, nice job.

And yeah, if I’m being glib, it’s just to cover for missing the signing announcement last week. I don’t think I’m the first person ever to use humor to cover for insecurity, but everybody’s gotta have a talent, right? Either way, the stylistic territory The Grey are in might be familiar, but their exploration thereof and the flow of their transitions between the movements of “CHVRCH,” as well as the sheer weight of the single’s heaviest stretches, should be more than enough to pique your interest if you’re still reading.

Oh, and since the band are new to me as of, like 40 minutes ago, I included the stream of their second album, 2019’s Dead Fire, as well, to facilitate further digging in. From social media:

Majestic Mountain Records has always been a label that marches to its own beat with bands we truly love and are inspired by. The “Majestic magic” is less of a formula, more a display of a certain “otherness” which cannot fully be explained, but felt in the listener’s gut in addition to being able to elicit genuine emotion to and from the audience and connection to their community with a deep respect for and dedication to their craft.

Today we are proud to bring you news of Majestic’s latest signing, a band that embody all the above and more in spades.

Please join us in welcoming The Grey to the MMR crew.

To celebrate, they also have a new track “CHVRCH” which hits the streets this coming Saturday the 4th of May, ahead of a beastly full length album on the way this fall! We’re extremely proud of the album they’ve created for you and psyched to be able to present it to our incredible community with the Majestic treatment you’ve all come to know and love.

Cambridge post-metallers The Grey, craft (largely instrumental) music that brings with it an intense and crushing weight like few others – marrying the pummeling feel of a band like Neurosis, Karma To Burn or Domkraft to expansive themes and heavy soundscapes full of striking nuance and awash with brilliantly beautiful sonic colour.

This hard working and dedicated band have shared stages across the UK and Europe with such heavyweights as Palm Reader, Conjurer, Tuskar, Boss Keloid, Hundred Year Old Man, Abigail Williams, KAL-EL, and Asunojokei clocking in over 150 shows in 2023 alone, including performances at the infamous Bloodstock Festival and Uprising Festival and finished off the year with a 2 week Euro tour along side Sacramento heavy hitters Will Haven with whom US dates are planned.

The band share their thoughts on the single coming this Saturday as well as joining the Majestic Mountain Records roster:

“We are extremely proud to be joining the Majestic family. Not only have they consistently put out incredible records but the level of collaboration has been brilliant from day one & the mutual excitement infectious. We very much look forward to what the future holds together. Our forthcoming third album “KODOK “will be released this autumn with Majestic – vinyl preorder & more details to follow. The first single; “CHVRCH,” will be released and available for digital purchase on Saturday May 4th and has taken on a life & meaning of its own; a coda to grief & loss – a celebration of unity & hope – a moment to lose yourself – smile or cry; you decide. We hope you enjoy as we celebrate this new chapter of the band.”

The band explains that they “Carefully took our time crafting “KODOK,” with the incredibly talented Matty Moon at the helm, to create a true journey for the listener from start to finish. Heaviness & melody, darkness & beauty – it’s all there, alongside collaborations with some of our dearest friends & musical heroes.”

The album features the following collaborations;
Guest vocals by Grady Avenell ( Will Haven ) – Sharpen The Knife. Guest vocals by Ricky Warwick ( The Almighty, Black Star Riders & Thin Lizzy fame ) – Don’t say Goodbye.
Music collaboration with Ace – Skunk Anansie & bass from Chris ‘Fatty’ Hargreaves ( Pengshui / Submotion Orchestra ) – AFG.

The Grey are:
Steve Moore – Drums
Andy Price – Bass
Charlie Gration – Guitars

https://www.facebook.com/TheGreyUK/
https://www.instagram.com/thegreyband/
https://thegrey2.bandcamp.com/music

http://majesticmountainrecords.bigcartel.com
http://facebook.com/majesticmountainrecords
http://instagram.com/majesticmountainrecords

The Grey, “CHVRCH”

The Grey, Dead Fire (2019)

What’re you gonna do, not take fewer than three minutes out of your busy day to watch Stinking Lizaveta‘s new video for “Serpent Underfoot?” Would be highly inadvisable. The Philly doomjazz-forebear instrumentalists and perennial weirdoheroes head abroad next week to begin a stint of UK shows in the likewise-expanded-of-mind two-piece Darsombra, and after that, they’ll hit the continent-proper for a handful of German stops, including — wait for it — Freak Valley Festival, where I’m pleased the trio’s path and my own will cross again. In addition to that, though, they’ve got a date in Jena, a stop at Sankt Pieschen in Dresden and two shows in Berlin, the second of which will put them in the company of Acid Mothers Temple. If you’re gonna go, make it count.

Video info and live dates (which I know were also posted here) follow, along with the stream of Stinking Lizaveta‘s 2023 LP, Anthems and Phantoms (review here), which you’re probably going to want after that “Serpent Underfoot” clip. Enjoy:

STINKING LIZAVETA – SERPENT UNDERFOOT – From our album ANTHEMS AND PHANTOMS.

The audio is from the album, the video was taken from several live performances during the 2023 tour. Don’t forget to like, comment and subscribe to stay up-to-date on new releases.

“Serpent Underfoot” on all streaming services:

• Stinking Lizaveta – Serpent Underfoot

Order “Anthems and Phantoms”:
https://srarecords.com/shop/sra/stinking-lizaveta-anthems-and-phantoms/

Music by: Stinking Lizaveta
Video compilation by: Peter Wilder
Footage is from the Stinking Lizaveta 2023 Summer tour

Stinking Lizaveta live:
14 MAY – Bristol ENGLAND @ The Gryphon *
16 MAY – Sowerby Bridge ENGLAND @ Puzzle Hall Inn *
17 MAY – Cardigan WALES @ The Cellar *
19 MAY – London ENGLAND @ Desertfest London *
22 MAY – Newcastle ENGLAND @ The Lubber Fiend *
23 MAY – Glasgow SCOTLAND @ Bloc *
24 MAY – Edinburgh SCOTLAND @ St. Vincent’s Chapel *
25 MAY – Inverness SCOTLAND @ Tooth & Claw *
27 MAY – Jena GERMANY @ Cafe Wagner
28 MAY – Berlin GERMANY @ Schokoladen
31 MAY – Netphen GERMANY @ Freak Valley Festival
1 JUNE – Dresden GERMANY @ Sankt Pieschen Festival
4 JUNE – Berlin GERMANY @ Neue Zukunft w/ Acid Mothers Temple
* w/ Darsombra

Stinking Lizaveta is Yanni Papadopoulos on guitar, Alexi Papadopoulos on upright electric bass, and Cheshire Agusta on drums.

https://www.facebook.com/Stinking-Lizaveta-175571942466657/
http://www.stinkinglizaveta.com/
https://stinkinglizaveta.bandcamp.com

https://www.facebook.com/SRArecords
https://www.instagram.com/srarecords/
https://srarecords.bandcamp.com/
https://srarecords.com/

Stinking Lizaveta, “Serpent Underfoot” official video

Stinking Lizaveta, Anthems and Phantoms (2023)

I know the various eras of Monster Magnet have their fans, but what to me undebatable about the long-running New Jersey-based heavy rock progenitors is the impact they’ve had across the span of their career. Whichever of their records is your favorite — their most recent outing, 2022’s demo-comp Test Patterns: Vol. 1, rawly highlighted the unhinged early cosmic weirdness of “TAB” in the band’s formative state as the trio of Dave Wyndorf, Tim Cronin and John McBain — you would have a hard time overstating their contribution to rock and roll, period, broadening the scope of post-grunge commercialism with hard riffs and due sneer in the later-’90s after emerging from the roots presented on Test Patterns to cast a singular mold of heavy space and psychedelic rock earlier in that decade.

Through the tumult of lineup changes, addiction, a couple ultimately-middling-but-still-smarter-than-everybody LPs and more besides in the ’00s, and a 2010s that included some of their most accomplished work in bringing together the styles explored in disparate succession prior, Wyndorf has steered Monster Magnet to grandmaster status. As they celebrate the 35th anniversary of the band later this year with a European tour built around previously-announced headliner slots at Madrid, Spain’s Kristonfest, Up in Smoke in Switzerland and Desertfest Belgium in Antwerp, I find myself most of all hoping that the 1989-2024 logo featured on the poster below ends up on a t-shirt at some non-bootleg merch outlet. And as I was lucky enough to see what I think is still the current incarnation of the band — Wyndorf on vocals/guitar alongside six-stringers Phil Caivano and Garrett Sweeney, Bob Pantella on drums, Alec Morton on bass — last year headlining Desertfest New York (review here), I can only advise catching them when and if you can whether you’ve seen them before or not. At some point, Dave Wyndorf is gonna get sick of this shit. Clearly he’s not there yet, but it could happen.

Dates are on the poster (in the old days, you used to get a press release about this kind of thing, but don’t let me complain) below, along with the note about tickets going on sale this Friday.

Right on:

Announcing – Monster Magnet 35th Anniversary Tour: 1989-2024
Tickets On-sale: Fri 10 May 2024 (10am CEST / 9am BST).

http://zodiaclung.com
https://www.facebook.com/monstermagnet/
https://www.instagram.com/monstermagnetofficial/

Monster Magnet, Test Patterns: Vol. 1 (2022)

Duna Jam — the permanently-small, willfully-unadvertised, not-quite-a-secret-but-not-far-off week-long festival held on I don’t even know what beach in Sardinia each year — remains the ultimate daydream. I’ve never been, and I’ll never be cool enough to go. Ever. But man, imagine watching the sun go down and some band is just up there jamming and the ocean is the vibe and the vibe is the ocean and then I guess you just party all night because you’re at fucking Duna Jam and you can sleep next week anyhow. Ananda Mida got to go.

And, clever psychedelic rocking sorts that they are, they recorded the set they performed in that most idyllic of contexts, and they’re soon to release it through Heavy Psych Sounds. Yeah, a little odd for it to not be on Go Down Records given the band’s association with that label through drummer Max Ear (also OJM), but I’ve got nothing bad to say about a bit of scene unity between Italian labels, bands, etc. Keeps the world afloat, that kind of thing.

Info and a video for “The Future” — which, oddly, I don’t see in the tracklisting but I assume is part of that whole “Doom and the Medicine Man” sequence — follow below, courtesy of the PR wire:

Psychedelic blues rockers ANANDA MIDA to release “Live at Duna Jam” album on Heavy Psych Sounds; first video “The Future” streaming!

Heavy 70’s blues collective ANANDA MIDA (with vocalist Conny Ochs) announce the release of the “Live at Duna Jam” album this July 12th on Heavy Psych Sounds, and premiere the video for “The Future.”

Ananda Mida is a stoner and psychedelic rock music collective led by Max Ear (OJM’s drummer and Go Down Records’ Art Director) and Matteo Pablo Scolaro. From the very beginning of the project, graphic imagery has been given a crucial role thanks to the precious collaboration with the visual artist Eeviac. Since 2015, they have been performing with different lineups, from three to six members, either as an instrumental outfit or featuring singers such as Conny Ochs. Their sound is inspired by seventies rock, mixed with desert and psychedelic grooves.

About the live album, the band comments: “On Tuesday, June 20, 2023, we had the privilege of performing live for the Duna Jam audience as the sun set over the beach and heat waves, along with sandstorms, rose from the Sahara to the west. It was an unforgettable concert that left a profound emotional impact on us as the entire scene and atmosphere seemed to “crystallize” in its own unique space-time, so to speak.”

ANANDA MIDA “Live at Duna Jam”
Out July 12th on Heavy Psych Sounds (LP/CD/digital)
Bandcamp preorder: https://heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com/album/ananda-mida-live-at-duna-jam
Shop preorder: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop.htm#HPS312

TRACKLIST:
1. Swamp Thing
2. Blank Stare
3. Doom And The Medicine Man (Pt V)
4. Doom And The Medicine Man (Pt Vi-Vii-Viii)
5. Doom And The Medicine Man (Pt Iv)
6. Lunia (Ear, Scolaro, Leonardi)

ANANDA MIDA is
Davide Bressan: bass guitar
Max Ear: drums
Conny Ochs: vocals, percussion
Matteo Pablo Scolaro: electric guitars
Alessandro Tedesco: electric guitars

https://www.facebook.com/anandamidaband/
https://www.instagram.com/anandamidaband/
https://anandamidaband.bandcamp.com/

heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com
www.heavypsychsounds.com
https://www.facebook.com/HEAVYPSYCHSOUNDS/
https://www.instagram.com/heavypsychsounds_records/

Ananda Mida, “The Future” live at Duna Jam

Los Tayos are a recent formation in the expansion-prone ouevre of Páty, Hungary’s Psychedelic Source Records. And true to that label/collective’s vadmadar ethos, their debut release is actually two releases, the six-song/45-minute Los Tayos and Los Tayos II, the four songs of which play out across another 48-ish minutes. They were recorded in the same session, in the same day, by the four-piece assemblage of vocalist/keyboardist Krisztina Benus (also Nepaal, River Flows Reverse, Lemurian Folk Songs), guitarist/keyboardist Bence Ambrus (also production/mix/master, outreach for Psychedelic Source and numerous other projects and solo experiments), bassist Attila Nemesházi (who also aided in the production process, has been in Lemurian Folk Songs, etc.), and drummer/percussionist András Halmos, who has never appeared on a Psychedelic Source release to my knowledge, but has a long pedigree in jazz, folk and other styles, all of which come into play across Los Tayos and the even-jammier stretches of “Golden Grail” and the pairing “Inhale” and “Exhale” Los Tayos II.

If you read the info in blue text from Psychedelic Source about the project — with Los Tayos framed as a collective within a collective — you’ll see that over 100 minutes of material was recorded during that one-day delve, and that two full-length releases (to be issued across 3LPs) with somewhere in the neighborhood of 94 minutes’ worth of songs came out of it makes it feel like a pretty productive afternoon. But it becomes clear in listening that more effort has been put in than that.

With an acid folk spirit conveyed through Benus‘ vocals and the softer twists of guitar in “End of Illumination” or “Exhale” — on which Halmos offers a correspondingly gentle shuffle on the ride cymbal — Los Tayos weave their way through subtle thematic variations from the bluesier outset of “Bright Sorrow” and the wah-and-reverb excursion that follows accompanied by Spanish lyrics in “Sombre del Diablo” before the instrumental “Valle Gran Rey” redirects from the second track’s wash ending into a more classically progressive vibe. The underlying message is less about the stylistic variations — not that the nuances don’t matter; they just matter less than the flow that spans the entire offering — than about the fact of the songs themselves.

By which I mean they are songs. Even as “Valle Gran Rey” moves toward its percussion-laced midsection jam with a bit of a pickup in energy, the sense of a plan at work is palpable. In that particular case, the piece is given its shape in no small part thanks to Nemesházi‘s bass and Halmos‘ drums, but Ambrus‘ guitar follows a distinct pattern at least until it doesn’t (ha) and the movement into a more improv-sounding lead shimmer in the second half still holds its rhythmic foundation, while also leaning a bit on the right-into-the-verse beginning of “End of Illumination” for structural reinforcement.

That transition from “Valle Gran Rey” is gorgeous and strikes as purposeful in that, and as “End of Illumination” is the shortest single piece in Los Tayos and Los Tayos II, layered in its vocals and harnessing additional breadth with an almost Tuareg flair in the guitar, it brings into focus the manner in which the material on Los Tayos‘ first LPs seems to have been sculpted from what was captured at that original session. The inevitable editing, the laying out of vocal melodies and patterns, and the diverse but fluid shifts undertaken between and within the component tracks — which surely meld together even more on vinyl, despite the platter-flip interruptions — all of these aspects become an essential part of the listening experience, as well as part of the creativity behind it in the first place.

The self-titled portion caps by pairing the post-rock-ish liquefaction of “Closed Eyes” with the eponymous “Los Tayos,” the latter of which answers back to the grounded feel of “Bright Sorrow” in the guitar-forward balance of its mix but has its own physical motion as well, pulling together smooth turns and highlighting the conversation happening between strings and drums. These two at the end, as well as the percussive, eight-minute “Alma Ruida” that gives open-air-whispers ethereality to the start of Los Tayos II, make it worth noting just how amorphous the shapes given to the songs can be.

It might not be a surprise that an extended cut like “Golden Grail” works in some rather vast spaces of drone, float and subsurface groove, but the humanizing and persona-setting contribution of Benus‘ folkish declarations shouldn’t be underestimated, either on “Golden Grail,” “Bright Sorrow” or anywhere else in Los Tayos and Los Tayos II. A soothing organ drone emerges to give the course of “Inhale” not so much to anchor the drifting-away guitar lines as to give a tether to let them return as they will or won’t, and “Exhale” sees mouth harp added to the progression in its first half before the delay effects really take over in the midsection and carry the finale to its ending, an organic coming-apart over the last minute-plus that brings the shimmer up and then fades it out, as if to emphasize the message of Los Tayos‘ instrumental capstone salvo.

Expansive as it is, there’s no guarantee Los Tayos — as a project — will ever happen again, or if does, what form it might take. There are defined bands as part of Psychedelic Source Records, to be sure, but the fact is that any given Saturday might result in a new release as a result of some reorganization of players or maybe just whoever checked their texts that morning. I don’t know, is the bottom line. But, true to an ethic one finds in some of the most engaging heavy psychedelia, period, Los Tayos‘ duly-outside-the-box double-feature debut retains the soul and vitality of its root explorations while offering a deeper experience through applied craft.

Considering how much each player brings to Los Tayos and Los Tayos II, one hopes Benus, Ambrus, Nemesházi and Halmos can do more at some point in the vast unknowable future, but even if not, these songs and the open atmosphere they present stand ready to welcome any and all adventurous enough to take them on.

If that’s you, please enjoy:

Los Tayos, Los Tayos album premiere

Los Tayos, Los Tayos II album premiere

https://psychedelicsourcerecords.bandcamp.com/album/los-tayos
https://psychedelicsourcerecords.bandcamp.com/album/los-tayos-ii

The first idea of this collective came up about a year ago in the heads of András and Bence. Finally when we got together, we recorded more than a hundred minute-long session during one day. Later, we did a few vocal and percussion overdubs to complete, then selected the best picks for the 3LP-long set.

One part of this supergroup came from the middle-early Lemurian Folk Songs, as Attila, Krisztina and Bence did that before. András, who is one of the Hungary’s best professionally recognized multi-drummers, brought a totally different feel in the music.

Miklós Kerner (Misu Magos, trumpeter of Microdosemike) – cover art.
Ákos Karancz – band photo.
Recorded, mixed, mastered by Attila & Bence.

‘Los Tayos’ tracklisting:
1. Bright Sorrow (9:02)
2. Sombre del Diablo (6:11)
3. Valle Gran Rey (8:11)
4. End of Illumination (4:52)
5. Closed Eyes (10:22)
6. Los Tayos (7:09)

‘Los Tayos II’ tracklisting:
1. Alma Ruida (8:00)
2. Golden Grail (16:12)
3. Inhale (10:59)
4. Exhale (13:23)

Los Tayos:
András Halmos – drums, percussion
Attila Nemesházi – bass
Krisztina Benus – vocal, keys
Bence Ambrus – guitar, producing, lyrics

Psychedelic Source Records on Facebook

Psychedelic Source Records on Bandcamp

While by no means the longest stretch of touring London’s Elephant Tree have ever done, it is noteworthy in the context of the “return to the stage” mentioned below. That return, which took place at Masters of the Riff III in London in early March, follows a mostly quiet stretch as guitarist/vocalist Jack Townley has been embroiled in an ongoing, months-if-not-years-long recovery from a cycling accident that nearly ended his life. Seriously. I’ve heard the list of bones broken and innards damaged. It is extensive.

So while you’d look at a weekender in September, a stop at Riffolution Festival in Manchester and two nights at London’s famed The Black Heart from a lot of acts and think it’s not the hugest amount of activity ever, that Elephant Tree are “getting back” at all is a reason to rejoice.

They have releases upcoming as well, which I know because I have two ongoing liner-notes projects for the band. One is the split LP with Lowrider that will be out as part of Blues Funeral Recordings‘ PostWax series. The other one I haven’t seen announced as yet — if you’re thinking it might be album-three, it’s not — so I will hold off talking about to be on the safe side, but suffice it to say I’ve been digging back into their catalog of late and as they’re on my mind anyhow, I’m happy to see something like this take shape and the fact that they’ve got a booking agency again speaks of more to come, if not this Fall, then after. I hope that’s how it pans out.

From socials:

Following on from our surprisingly smooth return to the stage earlier this year, we thought we’d team up with Atonal once again to go on a little jolly this September and December. It gets awful stuffy in them recording rooms and we need a rest from reviewing artwork…

Catch us live at:
13.09.2024 – The Corporation, Sheffield
14.09.2024 – Abyssal Festival, Southampton
15.09.2024 – The Exchange, Bristol
29.09.2024 – Riffolution Festival, Manchester
19.12.2024 – The Black Heart, London
20.12.2024 – The Black Heart, London

Tickets on sale now: https://www.atonal.agency/tickets

Elephant Tree are:
Jack Townley – guitar/vocals
Peter Holland – bass/vocals
Sam Hart – drums
John Slattery – guitar/keys

https://www.facebook.com/elephanttreeband
http://instagram.com/elephant_tree_band
https://elephanttree.band

Elephant Tree, Habits (2019)

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: inserirefloppino and m tabe of San Leo

—

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

We play intense, immersive music. Sometimes it’s minimal, a lot of the times it’s pretty dense and packed with sounds. It’s been this way since our first attempts in 2013. Starting with a simple guitar-drums setup, in the last few years we’ve added a few more sound sources (sampler, keyboard/synth, vocals). We try to keep it exciting and share our vision.

Describe your first musical memory.

inserirefloppino (drums): Sneaking into my parents’ car to listen to ‘Yellow Submarine’ on cassette.

m tabe (guitar): A brass/drums marching band somewhere, it was loud and chaotic.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

inserirefloppino: The first time I sat on a drum kit.

m tabe: Can’t think of THE best, but Phil Elverum’s first distorted bass attack during The Microphones’s live performance at LeGuessWho in 2021 was pretty cool.

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

Every time we walk on stage we test our principles and convictions. Sometimes it all works out fine and we feel like we’re in the right direction, other times we need to take a step back, get our shit together and try again.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

Hopefully a deeper understanding of oneself, and in general a perpetual search for clearer, sharper expression. It probably never ends.

How do you define success?

On one side, managing to communicate what you are in a way that’s relevant to other people. On a more intimate, inner level, success would be staying curious, always finding new ideas to be passionate about and/or obsessed with.

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

Television (the thing, not the band) and social networks.

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

If we could define this idea in our head clearly enough to describe it in a few words we might as well start working on it right now! But just for fun, it would be cool someday to collaborate with other media artists, film/video makers, performers, lighting technicians, set designers… Who knows.

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

To let us peek into a different interpretation of reality, a vision stripped of conventions and re-shaped into some new kind of Truth.

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

We might want to check the new Anish Kapoor exhibition in Florence – the last one in Venice was pretty good, his work is always inspiring.

https://www.facebook.com/sssanleooo
https://www.instagram.com/san_leo_mantra
https://sanleo.bandcamp.com

https://www.facebook.com/bronsonrecordings/
http://instagram.com/bronsonproduzioni/
https://bronsonrecordings.com/

San Leo, Aves Raras (2023)

[Click play above to stream Maragda’s second album, Tyrants in full. It’s out tomorrow through Spinda Records. Preorders available here.]

In the parlance of our times, Tyrants might be Maragda entering the chat. And in this case, the “chat” in question is the broader European heavy psychedelic underground with which the eight tracks and 43 minutes  so vividly engage, from the bass-underscored shuffle and chorus burst of the opening title-track (premiered here) through the expansive spacier jamming of “Godspeed,” and well beyond. For the Barcelona-based three-piece of bassist/vocalist/synthesist Marçal Itarte, guitarist/vocalist/synthesist Guillem Tora and drummer/vocalist Xavi Pasqual (who would probably play synth too if his hands weren’t already busy), Tyrants is the follow-up to 2021’s impressive full-length debut (review here), and it takes on modern cosmic prog, psych and space rocks from a variety of angles in the songwriting, with varied arrangements, howling solos, and memorable hooks in cuts like “Tyrants,” “Endless,” and “The Singing Mountain,” among others spread throughout that aren’t necessarily just catchy choruses. A keyboard line, a standout lyric (as with the debut, the lyrics are in English), the freneticism in the build of “Sunset Room,” on and on. It’s all fair game in imprinting itself on the mind of the listener, and moreover, it feels intentional in that.

A roiling dynamic is able to account for the wah-drenched rush in the second half of “Skirmish,” the righteous fuzz of “My Only Link,” the mellotron that sneaks into “Endless,” all the ensuing melodic and rhythmic turns and an overarching progression which, for the many pivots between and sometimes within the songs themselves, flows with a sense of purpose. Stylistically, Tyrants touches on classics from The Beatles to Hawkwind (thinking the jangly strums and vocal pattern of “My Only Link” for the latter, the later guitar solo in the same song for the former) while remaining aware of modern forerunners like Elder, King Gizzard or Slift, and has enough range so that when the twisting leads of closer “Loose” bring a particularly flamenco-rooted feel, rather than come across as out of place, it enriches the fleetfooted rhythm of “The Singing Mountain” and “Godspeed” just prior, adding to the context of the front-to-back listening experience. Especially when one factors in the production helmed by the much-respected Richard Behrens at Big Snuff Studio (Elder, front-of-house for Kadavar, much etc.) in Berlin, Germany, to which the band traveled from Spain to record, and the subsequent master by Peter Deimel at Black Box Studios — who also finalized the self-titled — Maragda seem to be upfront in their outreach to the Eurozone underground scene. They sound like they want to play all the festivals, in all the countries. Yes, that includes yours.

Yet, they’re not cloying in that. The howling scorch that begins “Skirmish” and the vocal layering of the verse that follow are an earnest clarion. Following the digging-in as represented by the verses and the way the chorus takes flight from there, those early moments of “Skirmish” make a bold callout to the converted — perhaps most of all to the heads who think they’ve heard it all before — but Tyrants goes deeper than superficially highlighting aspects of current-day psych-prog in this material, and it does not sacrifice the folkier aspects that have long typified Spanish psychedelia in order to fit with some idea of whatever a phrase like “current-day psych-prog” might evoke for a different listener.

They are themselves in it, however far outside Iberia their influences might reach stylistically or geographically, and even as Tyrants sends out dogwhistles in working with Behrens, putting the words in English, the lush vocal melodicism before “The Sleeping Mountain” gives over to its no-less-lush instrumental ending, and so on, the needs of the song are never measured as less than the message being sent by the album as a whole. As a collection, Tyrants ends up nowhere that Maragda don’t want it to go, and whether you have a background in Spain’s history in folk, psych or rock more generally — to be clear, I don’t — the songs are likewise accessible and encompassing.

If that makes Tyrants sound like it’s somehow educational, that’s part of it, at least on the hearing end. Even in the reverbed boogie of “Tyrants,” Maragda‘s efforts could be read as having an ambassadorial side, and I don’t think that’s a detriment. But, say you’re the type of listener who might just want to put a record on and enjoy it without delving into the social and aesthetic backdrop against which it arrives (madness, I say, but not unheard of), the energetic spirit captured in the recording, the chemistry shared between Pasqual, Tora and Itarte on the live-feeling performances branched in three dimensions to make the final versions of the songs, and the varying shapes that vitality takes are an accomplishment of craft ready to stand on their own. In the physical motion of the leadoff, the heft unveiled in “Skirmish” and the intricacies of tone and groove beneath the chorus in “Endless,” Maragda launch side A with an enticing salvo that holds the momentum amassed through shifts between longer and shorter runtimes and trades in volume, pace and tone, and a resounding sense of joy in both the build of tension and the freedom inherent in its release. And as much as Tyrants can be defined by its ambitious scope, that applies as much to the interplay of drift and push in “Sunset Room” as it does to the bridges it constructs between often-disparate interpretations of style, and the heart put into its execution cannot and should not be ignored.

Rather, the passion that comes through is pivotal to every level on which Tyrants meets what feel like its goals — and to that, it’s not as though Maragda have said they’re trying to give the countries east of their home peninsula a piece of what they’ve been missing; that’s what I hear happening in the songs separate from the lyrical storyline and at an ocean’s distance and I’m not putting words in anyone’s mouth — and while not without its indulgent side as “Loose” reaches toward seven minutes in capping with revitalized mellow-heavy fluidity, Tyrants is nonetheless clearheaded and lets its movement or procession handle its own declarations.

In this, it remains about presence over pretense. Adding to rather than taking from. It is optimistic and forward-looking. What Maragda do on Tyrants expands the palette for themselves first and genre second, and whatever the future will bring for them, whatever they might do next, wherever they might tour, whatever whatever whatever comes of the potential this sophomore LP carries, it is a significant achievement by itself that distinguishes the band from the pigeonholes in which they might otherwise be placed. If they’re entering the chat, they’ve brought plenty to say.

Maragda, “Tyrants” Live at Siete Barbas Studios video

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