Posted in Whathaveyou on February 11th, 2026 by JJ Koczan
Preorders for the new single from Germany’s Kant are up now through Sound of Liberation Records — the label wing of the European booking concern — and the track is streaming at the bottom of this post if you’ve two-plus minutes for a mood adjustment toward the positive. Not that “Qualm” doesn’t have its edge of severity, but the Aschaffenburg four-piece blow it out in the style of their garage rock forebears with a sound that is no less a shove than it is trippy. It doesn’t need to be one or the other, and if that’s a thing you’d appreciate a reminder of, I’d also recommend listening.
2024’s Paranoia Pilgrimage (review here) hinted toward metal in their sound, but “Qualm” seems to push back on that (and whatever else is in its path) with a proto-punkish by-the-time-you’re-hooked-it’s-ending shove. I could go on here but the bottom line is I’m posting it because I think it might make your day better. There. I said the thing.
From the PR wire:
Heavy Psych Rockers KANT Release New Single “QUALM”!
After more than a year on tour, German heavy psychedelic quartet KANT return with a new single titled “QUALM”, marking the first glimpse of their next creative chapter. The track is out now via Sound of Liberation Records.
While the vintage rock approach that dominated Paranoia Pilgrimage still lingers in the background, “QUALM” pushes the band into rougher, louder, and more restless territory. The atmosphere remains dark, but the edges feel sharper and more urgent, hinting at a band in motion rather than reflection.
The band comments: “Qualm is omnipresent. Whether on the street, in a bar, or in your head. It’s the love–hate relationship between yourself and the haze that not only surrounds you but consumes you. Because of this, Qualm works in both German and English. While the word is a synonym for ‘smoke’ in German, in English it translates to ‘doubt’ or ‘a bad feeling.’ That is precisely what the song is meant to convey sonically.”
This dual meaning is deeply embedded in the track’s sonic character, where swirling psychedelia, driving rhythms, and a sense of unease collide into a dense, intoxicating haze.
“QUALM” will be also released as a 7-inch vinyl single. On the B-side, listeners will find the track “Vicious Circle”, previously available only online, making this the first physical release to feature the band’s full catalogue to date.
KANT is a heavy psychedelic band hailing from the underground music scene of Aschaffenburg, Germany. Formed in 2020, the band has quickly established itself as a force to be reckoned with in the genre, known for their intense live performances and mind-bending soundscapes.
Drawing inspiration from the psychedelic alternative scene of the late 60s and 70s, as well as the heavy metal and doom of the 80s and 90s, KANT creates a unique sound that blends distorted guitars, pounding drums, and swirling melodies with haunting vocals and experimental noise. Highly recommended for fans of King Gizzard & The Wizard Lizard, Witchcraft, Pentagram, Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats, Kadavar or Hällas!
KANT live: 13.02.2026 (DE) Frankfurt – Engelsburg 14.02.2026 (DE) Bielefeld – Blues Bar
KANT is: Marius Seidel – Guitar, Vocals Nicolas Jordan – Guitar, Vocals Elena Strähle – Bass Bryan Göbel – Drums
Both Colour Haze and My Sleeping Karma were both featured on the bill of Desertfest Belgium 2025 this past weekend. Not their first time sharing space, by any means, but another example of the small world the underground becomes over time. That they’d tour together — also I think not their first time doing so — isn’t a huge surprise either. The relationship goes back to probably before My Sleeping Karma existed, and when My Sleeping Karma started out, their first albums were issued through Stefan Koglek of Colour Haze‘s now-mostly-inactive label, Elektrohasch Schallplatten. Meanwhile, Matte Vandeven of My Sleeping Karma happened to found a little booking company called Sound of Liberation, which of course has booked Colour Haze in Europe for 20 of that band’s total 30 years.
Colour Haze were out earlier this year celebrating passing that three-decade mark, and My Sleeping Karma have been taking stages all year across Europe as part of their return to the stage after losing drummer Steffen Weigand to cancer in 2023. This tour — which, your eyes don’t deceive you; it is co-presented by The Obelisk; can somebody save me a physical poster if any are printed? — will see them out for much of next April and into May, ahead of the Desertfests in Berlin, London and Oslo in which Sound of Liberation always plays a central role.
I was fortunate enough to see My Sleeping Karma for the first time (frickin’ finally) at Freak Valley Festival (review here) and if all goes according to my evil plans, I’ll see them again next summer in Croatia. It was spiritual and emotional, in addition to being sonically rad. I don’t believe in ‘blessed,’ but I do believe I’m blessed to have seen Colour Haze as much as I have over the years. Maybe I’ll get lucky again next year at some point, if not on this run. The two together on stage, however, is nothing short of magic in my mind.
Thanks to SOL and the bands for having me on board as a co-presenter. Here’s the poster and the tour announcement, to make it official:
⚡️MY SLEEPING KARMA + COLOUR HAZE ⚡️
Together, the two German psychedelic rock institutions MY SLEEPING KARMA and COLOUR HAZE celebrate 50 years of heavy underground road life.
To honor this special moment, both bands will play extended headline sets, performing brand new songs each night.
Tour Dates 2026: 17.04. Karlsruhe, Substage 18.04. Wien, Arena 19.04. Kraków, Hype Park 20.04 Warszawa, Hydrozagadka 21.04. Leipzig, Werk 2 22.04. Nijmegen, Doornroosje 23.04. Köln, Kantine 24.04. Hamburg, Markthalle 25.04. Berlin, Festsaal Kreuzberg 26.04. Bielefeld, Forum 27.04. Sint-Niklaas, De Casino 28.04. Paris, La Machine Du Moulin Rouge 29.04. Tübingen, Sudhaus 30.04. Aarau, Kiff 01.05. Milano, Circolo Magnolia 02.05. München, Backstage
Posted in Features on March 6th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
In my defense, there was a lot to talk about with Matte Vandeven. Between 2025 being the 20th anniversary of the booking agency he founded, Sound of Liberation, and the return to the stage of his band, My Sleeping Karma, after suffering the loss of drummer Steffen Weigand in 2023, the near-unmatched impact Vandeven has had on the European heavy underground particularly with the emergence of a heavyfest culture he’s helped foster over the last decade and a half through close involvement with events like Desertfest Berlin, Up in Smoke, Keep it Low (celebrating its 10th edition this year), Blue Moon Festival, Lazy Bones Festival, Desertfest Belgium and others, the growth in the last few years of Sound ofLiberation‘s label wing, SOL Records, and generally wanting to pick his brain about bands, what he listens for in a new artist, and so on? You can see why it might be a lengthy interview.
Vandeven was kind enough to indulge this interrogation, and that is appreciated. Later this month, Sound of Liberation will begin a series of all-dayer events — there are more to come — scattered throughout this year in Germany. The first two announced were the SOL Sonic Ride in Cologne, the SOL Psych Out in Karlsruhe, and for June, already a second Sonic Ride has been announced in Wiesbaden. The lineups of course pull from Sound of Liberation‘s roster of talent: Colour Haze, 1000mods, Slomosa, Greenleaf, Valley of the Sun, King Buffalo, Brant Bjork, Gnome, Daevar, Daily Thompson, Kant, Earth Tongue and Lucid Void spread across the three-so-far lineups. Posters are included along with the Q&A that follows here.
I guess there’s a fair amount of assumption here that you know who Matte is and what he does, but for over 20 years he’s played bass in My Sleeping Karma — and was in The Great Escape before that — and headed up one of underground Europe’s broadest-reaching and most-impactful booking concerns. He is, in short, a professional, and someone who has helped shape heavy rock and the various associated microgenres as they are today. We’ve spoken before, so I wouldn’t say I was nervous to talk to him, exactly — no more so than when talking to humans at all — but this is somebody whose work and passion I deeply respect. It was great to catch up with him.
Congrats to SOL on 20 years, I can’t friggin’ wait to see My Sleeping Karma at Freak Valley this June, thanks to Matte for taking the time and thanks to you for reading. Q&A has been edited for clarity. Please enjoy:
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Happy 20th! I know, of course, the 15th anniversary celebration was a giant wreck because covid, although eventually it all worked out right. But I assume you’re hoping for a much smoother go on the SOL Sonic Rides. Tell me about 20 years of Sound of Liberation, what that means for you.
First of all, JJ, thanks for your time. It’s a pleasure to meet you here, and hopefully, soon in person. 20 years of Sound of Liberation. What can I say? Like everybody said, like, “Whoops. That was 20 years ago already?” Time’s passing by so quickly. So yeah. Hey, you named it. We wanted to celebrate the 15th. It was crashed by the covid pandemic, and we are just being thankful we have the chance to hopefully celebrate throughout the year on all our events, and see all the lovely people again which supported us over the last 20 years. At the moment, it’s just a feeling of being thankful to still do what what we are doing. And continuing hopefully, another 20 years of doing what we love.
I think it says something that the way you’re celebrating your 20th anniversary is basically by making a bunch more work for yourself. You have the Sonic Rides in March and in June. Is there more coming?
Yeah. See, here’s the thing. We’re doing quite a bunch of events throughout the years, with Keep it Low Festival, and also there’s Desertfest Berlin, and Up in Smoke in Switzerland. But, it turns out that we still have 40-50 bands on our booking roster, and we are trying to get as many as possible of them invited to events, and it turned out that the March period was fine for a few bands which are touring like Greenleaf around.
And yeah, Cologne was the easy city to reach, and we got the chance to gather the first 10 bands there, and in the summer period the King Buffalo dudes are around. Brother Brant Bjork is around, and so on. So we we added just another one in a beautiful location.
And we are not planning another three or four more, because the fall season is already busy with almost a festival every October weekend. So yeah, I think that’s fine. But let’s see how it goes. You know, we are not always planning things from a very, very long stretch. Sometimes it turns out that you have a bunch of bands around on the same weekend or the same date because of touring, and if we can create a small event out of it, why not?
I imagine over the course of 20 years you’ve seen a lot of venues come and go, a lot of bands come and go, but I imagine between SOL staff, bands and venues, you’ve built significant relationships along the way. Can you talk to me about developing those relationships and how that has let you extend your reach with Sound of Liberation?
I mean in 20 years like you said so many paths are crossing again, and when I think really back to the pioneer pioneer days, or whatever you want to call it, I have to name Colour Haze from Munich because Stefan is, in let’s say this underground music niche stoner heavy rock for so long as well with his Elektrohasch label and Colour Haze celebrating 30 years this year. I think Stefan with his label, and also starting to do first let’s say heavy rock happenings, back then.
In the year 2000, Swamp Room Mania or whatever it was called back then in Munich, there was already built a strong relationship. I was able to book then the first Colour Haze tours, and they are still on our roster now, and they are hitting the road [this] Friday on a bigger European tour.
That was 20 years ago, when we started searching for places where small German underground bands could find a spot to rock, and sometimes it was in just in side rooms of of bars, and you needed to wait until the sports event on the TV is over and you have built and even brought your own P.A. in the in the van. And then there was like eight drunken people there and listening to music they didn’t understand, so no.
That’s why I want to name color is because among many other bands. It’s a close relationship with Stefan for many years and understood how difficult it was for him also to press vinyls and release music only a bunch of people seem interested in so.
So you go from putting Colour in the side room at the bar to, with the festivals you mentioned, having a bit of an empire going. As you said, it’s every October weekend there’s a SOL-affiliated festival.
It’s every weekend in October, because you have up and you have Up in Smoke. You have Keep it Low.
There’s Desertfest Belgium.
Lazy Bones in Hamburg. Yeah, to look it, it sounds like an empire and building up something big. But I really have to say, like, it came organically, if we wanna use that word, and it would have not been possible without a great team I have behind me, and also the partnerships we are in, because honestly, I was not running around and calling throughout Germany to see who was interested to do a stoner rock festival in their venues, it’s the venues we are working with.
Or it’s the promoters, like in Switzerland. They have been in the market for a long time, and they were interested. Once we came around with club shows, they said, “Wow, this was big fun. Can we have more of those, or is there not a chance to do a one-day event or something like this?” So it was not only pushed by Sound of Liberation, or by me saying “I have something, and let’s make something big out of it.” We started all these events super small. I think, on the first Up in Smoke Festivals, maybe 300, 400 people in that 1,000 people room.
Keep it Low was for many years in the beloved place of the Feierwerk in Munich, which is more, two rooms with 400-450 capacity. But it was growing in the last couple of years so much that we needed for production terms, also to use the bigger venue in Munich, so what I want to say is,
we started something small as a really, yeah, an event for us, without the meaning of a financial profit, or like a building up something super big. It was more like it came over the years. And all these events are now like 10 years old already. So it’s nice that people still coming and are interested in. And yeah.
For example, Lazy Bones is a nice thing, because we we started it right after the pandemic as a two-day event in the center of Hamburg in summertime. And we were thinking like, “Wow, for sure, after the pandemic everybody wants to see live concerts.” In the end we had a massive lineup really like with I don’t know, Witch and King Buffalo, and 1000mods and Colour Haze and My Sleeping Karma and and and… and I think we had one day 250, and one day 280 people only for a lineup, which would probably draw 1,000 people. The people who were there like they were saying, “We are ashamed for Hamburg, we don’t know what’s happened.” And we said, “Okay, let’s give it another try.” I mean, it’s Hamburg. It’s a great city. And a year later it was working out much better already.
In the last 20 years, internet word of mouth, and now algorithms, have changed the way people encounter new music. How has that affected what you do? So much of promotion happens online now.
Yeah, I mean, you know it, JJ, and the people listening to our words now, they know it as well how fast the wheel is turning nowadays, and I would be lying if I would say, we don’t push the social medias. Of course we need to push it, because yeah, it’s part of the business now, like on every other business as well. You need to have a social media presence to be noticed.
Maybe the good thing is, when we started there wasn’t so much chance of social media and we were used to like sending our own posters and sending our own flyers, and hanging the posters in our favorite bars and rock bars and venues, and spreading the flyers in the street. So we also understood how.
Let’s say, how is it called mouth to mouth propaganda works. And yeah. So I think that’s good and helps to still have this knowledge. And yeah, to have built up a scene already before all the say social media took it mostly over nowadays. But we are still getting normal emails.
So also, when you are standing at the merch booth and talk with fans, especially a bit older ones, they are saying, like, you know, “we don’t use the Instagram. Send us an email or a newsletter. We prefer that because we are not Instagramers, Facebookers, Tiktokers, or whatever.”
In general terms for Sound of Liberation, what are you looking for from a band? And I don’t necessarily mean something specific, sound-wise. But is there something in terms of attitude or work ethic, or even musically, that lets someone stand out?
That’s a good question. That’s the that’s the tricky one, I mean. There’s so much good music out there, for millions of fans. Only a few like getting the attention, and many more deserve the attention as well.
Sometimes it’s not only in the music. Sometimes it’s not only in the attitude of the band, it’s maybe a mix of both. But let’s take an example: Slomosa, which are pretty much kicking off worldwide in the heavy rock scene. We discovered the band on a Spotify playlist. We loved this, let’s say, ‘hit record’ debut record. And I think that’s maybe very first point, they had a strong, very first record, like, let’s say, with hits on it, or music that catches you right away where I think like, “oh, what is this band? Wow! That that song sticks in my head I have to check, is there more?” And then finding out that the band is willing to put a lot of effort in their music and also in touring. So we started to bring them on live concert, and they develop themselves from a very good live band already into a live machine like super-good, super-good live playing band. So all in all, the complete package worked pretty great — like the album was good, they were on the road when they were playing shows. It went very fast that they were able to take the next steps. Of course we could help with booking expertise and putting them maybe on the right spots on festivals or support tours.
But I just wanted to name Slomosa, because it was very quick and was a band which came out of nothing, so to say, so to sum it up, every band has the chance. There was no demo center on. There was no management which pushed, or music industry which pushed and said, “this is the next big thing.” There were some good songs on Spotify. Maybe on the right playlist. So I don’t know how that worked, and in the end it led to a very fast progression of the band.
Slomosa kind of came out of the gate ready though. With most bands, they gel over the first few records, depending on the band. Some get there, some don’t. What do you do with a band who destroys live and the record’s not there? How involved with your bands can you get? Or have you gotten?
It really depends from band to band. If we are asked for our opinion, we give the opinion, but we don’t point out and say like, “Hey, you should do this.” It’s art, and everybody has their own perspective on it. But now, in viewing it, sometimes we wish some bands would maybe ask a little bit more around what they could do better in terms of maybe songwriting or structures, getting some more advices, not from me, but maybe in general, before they put out a release to get the maximum out of it. But yeah, it really depends from band to band. I mean only a few bands in our genre are putting really all their efforts or dedicating their life just to this band, to reach the next steps very fast, to be maybe even be able to live from the music. That’s already difficult.
Let’s say we are working with a lot of semi-professional bands in our genre. The people have normal day jobs and have music as a hobby and the free time they have, they’re using it for touring or recording. And yeah. So the advice we could give is really individual to the artist, on the path they are choosing for their music. But If the right demo comes, and the right attitude is there and the band really wants it, I think, as a booking agency in our genre, of course, we are able to help and to get the band faster on some bigger stages, because that’s still the most important. The more people you can have in front of stage, and you can convince about your music, the better the chance to step up the ladder a bit a bit faster.
You mentioned King Buffalo before. That’s an established band you’re bringing in. Obviously, that’s a different process from plucking a new band starting out. What are some of the considerations there?
King Buffalo is also a good example. They are a super-hardworking band. It’s work like it’s really a machine, like so much output they had during the pandemic and after and all with great quality. And that’s what I meant before, like these are guys who, like dedicated their lives to their band and they love touring. And all the time you see the list of touring in the States over here in in Europe, you think like so wow! Are they having a home, or are they just on the road?
King Buffalo has reached let’s say, a certain level, where it’s easier for us to book, because they have proved they are super live band, and they have the great albums, and they have a good following. So they are getting the chance to go bigger and bigger in the in the venues. Now they can play some bigger club shows already in in bigger venues, which is very, very good for the time the band is around, because they are still a still a young band, and they have a lot more to come for them if they continue like that. I have no doubt on that.
Is it harder now for a US Band to go to Europe, or for a European band to go to the US?
I think it’s still more difficult for a European band to go to the US. With all the visas you need and a bit harder conditions than we have over here in Europe. I think it’s still easy to plan your European tour, and of course you need some paperwork, but not that much. And, as you know, JJ, we have a there’s a good infrastructure also out here with van rentals and backlines and the driving distances are shorter, maybe. The hospitality is a bit better. No offense.
I get it. You might get a meal or a place to stay in Europe. You probably don’t get a meal in the US. Yes.
It’s still easier for the bands from the US touring in Europe than vice versa.
No, my country totally hates culture. It’s an ironic part of our culture. To shift gears entirely, My Sleeping Karma in December came back to the stage for your first shows since Steffen passed, and I cannot imagine how emotional this was for you. This first gig in particular. Can you talk a little bit about bringing the band back and what that’s been like? You have a busy year coming up at this point, and I keep seeing more added.
My Sleeping Karma is also 20 years old, so it’s big part of our lives. Seppi, Norman, and me, who are still around and able to now continue again with My Sleeping Karma, which was a very tough and very emotional and very sensitive decision. We have been the same lineup for more than 20 years. The band is years 20 old, but we had other projects before we were playing together. And we were really questioning and doubting if if we can continue with Sleeping Karma or bring this back again with a with a live show.
It took a while, and at one point our light engineer, who was traveling with us for years, Andre came up and asked Seppi and me if it’s possible just to jam just for like the sake of a jam. And maybe he had the feeling these guys need to have guitars in the hand again, and need to just be together again, to be able to even think about continuing, because we had not met up for a year. Nobody wanted to go in in the rehearsal room. Nobody wanted to, I don’t know, even talk about the band and so we did this jam and it felt good. Maybe it just felt good to hear the sound again of our band, or feel the vibe of the of the band members like just doing their thing what we have started long time ago.
And so we left on these meetings a bit with an open end and said, “Hey, okay, if the time fits like we jam another time and a few months later there was the time again to meet up and to jam. And Andre came prepared like with five songs really he worked on. He didn’t really say anything about it and we played Sleeping Karma songs, and it sounded alright.
Over the next couple of weeks and months, it developed more and more the idea of like, “Hey! What do you think? Should we do it again? How is it feeling for you like a lot of forward and backward until we…” and I, I really have to say, the fans and friends, and also the families, were a big, big part of this, encouraging us saying, like, “Hey guys, please, life needs to go on. And you guys are there and don’t stop making music. Please go on with that band. It means a lot to us.” And we got so many messages and so much feedback and we decided to continue with Sleeping Karma.
And we really did not know until that first concert in Munich on Colour Haze’s 30th birthday, two days before our hometown show in Aschaffenburg, if it would work, how it would feel the first time on stage in front of people. And then also with bands we’ve known for a long time, it all felt super alright, I think. Very emotional concerts, but also with some magic in which I cannot describe.
Everybody who plays in bands and knows I’m not talking about the groove or the flow like it was more This grown energy, which was there again, and not just created by the moment but created from us the band members over years, and so half of our life and everything was somehow in, and it was somehow clear: We are doing the right thing. It was clear not because people gave a lot of applause or wanted encores. But it was there the full moment, the full thing, why we started the band. And yeah, I hope we have Steffen’s blessing for that to continue.
I would imagine so. I have never seen My Sleeping Karma, and I don’t know if you know this, but I’ve been a fan of your band since your first record. So 20 years.
Yeah, we never made it to the US.
No, no, it’s not on you. It’s on me. But I this year is the year I’m lined up to see the band. Freak Valley’s on the calendar. I have been looking forward to it since that announcement.
We’re looking forward to that show as well at Freak Valley Festival. It’s always also like a homecoming. Good people there and it will hopefully be a great night, another emotional one.
There will be more concerts before this. I don’t know the number, but it’s not really a lot. We are not able to go on bigger tours now, or we didn’t want them. It’s like more still, finding our place again.
One more topic jump. The label. You gotta tell me about SOL Records. I feel like, okay, SOL Records happens a few years ago. I get the email about it. My response was like, “Well, yeah, duh.”
In 2005 we started Sound of Liberation and a few months later I had also founded that record label but never had the time to take care of it. At that time I was the one man army and had too much going on with the booking agency.
But yeah SOL Records also grew organically. My beloved word, organically growing, haha. But it is really like that. And so pretty much what happened, the pandemic came — no more live music. Everything crashed down, no more touring. We were sitting on a bunch of merch like already produced for festivals, already produced for touring bands. A lot of leftover back then from years of music business. So we said, “Okay, only chance. We can still go on doing things we love. Let’s build up a webshop.” With the help of our former employee “Stef” we launched the shop and afterwards we were thinking , “Why are we not releasing at least music we like without a small without, like, you know, searching for the biggest bands right away, and starting just with people we know, and friends and underground music. Our employee, Jakob (26 years old) is taking care of the label now.
He was working in a record store, and he came to our team and he said, “Hey, I really I really love this all. I love the bands. I love the sound. If I would have the chance to work a few hours on the mail order, and maybe on the label at one day.” And so we said like, “Hey, so why not? If we have somebody who’s like really focused and dedicated on this. Who wants to do it.” More or less, it’s in Jakob’s hands.
So then one thing came to another, we had the chance to re-release Trails & Passes from Greenleaf. You know the rights were free, and they gave us the chance, and also Monkey3’s 39 Laps record. And then we did our own releases. And all of a sudden I don’t know what one and a half years we had six or seven releases. We didn’t understand how fast that goes. We were a bit lucky also with pressing plants, because, as you remember, in the pandemic it was a wreck. Six to nine months until you were able to get a pressing plant or the finished product. And we had good luck. We were able to get four releases or something right after the pandemic.
And now same here with the label. We are not pushing it hard heart and signing bands, and, you know, like releases releases releases. It’s more like, Hey, what do we have the capacity for? Which music fits us right? And yeah, then. So no big business plans behind. No, not the not going for the giant corporate. Just needed to be done.
My favorite thing about it is it’s young bands. You mentioned the reissues and stuff, too, but you’re signing new bands.
Like guys from Ruff Majik. You have heard their music, or maybe you’re familiar with the band from South Africa, loving totally what they are. Yeah, and those guys have so much energy and put so much effort in and reached out more or less for help. And we booked the tour. So we made a plan and said, like, “Hey, why aren’t we are not doing things the right way? Let’s have a release ready next time when you are touring.”
Because do you remember how often that goes like, hey, we go into album-release tour, and then all of a sudden, sorry, album is delayed for two or three months, so we are trying to avoid that a little bit with not a business plan, but with a better structure and long-term planning. And I think that also helps a lot.
I think that’s also super important for young bands to have a bit of a timeline. I know it’s super difficult to think “Oh, we are now in February, what are we doing [next] winter? But every bigger or known band already knows what they are doing [next] winter, either recording or touring. So that’s also a big part of the growing process of a band, having a good plan structure and a good timeline for themselves to understand, “these are our goals we want to reach,” and also transporting these ideas to their partners or business partners, like record labels and booking agencies in order to get the maximum out of it.
Because, how often has the promo for the record come after once the tour was done, band was back at home? “So, hey, I just discovered this band. Let’s see when they are coming on tour. Oh, shit! They were here two months ago.”
If we can help with that with our expertise, that also helps. But back to the point. Still, we love what we are doing, and we are still infected by sound. And the music is the most important. And if a demo hits us or a band hits us, and then we yeah, then it’s not easy to say, no, we want to help because we love the album so much, or like the band, so much. So. Yeah.
So we released the Ruff Majik record, and what I like about it is it was not no more the typical, let’s say, Black Sabbath stoner rock, like there was so much different kind of rock music in, and so much freshness in that record that we decided like, “Hey, we wanna we want to release that one.” Not only we want to help Johni [Holiday] because they were in the EU touring, and nobody gets rich selling vinyls or CDs.
And I guess the touring helps them a lot, you know, being around a lot seeing other bands sharing the stages. Playing a lot live is the most important. I know it’s a difficult thing, “How do we get on the stage?” It’s always the same thing. Do you have a good demo? But you have no chance to play live. Difficult. It stays difficult, but there’s a big chance out now with the social media and the web like to gain new fans, friends, clients, however, you want to call it like it was never, maybe never so hard, but also never so easy to be recognized like this.
My Sleeping Karma, “Ephedra” live at Colour Haze’s 30th Anniversary, Dec. 28, 2024
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 13th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
This news is following up on word that My Sleeping Karma put out at the end of September regarding the band continuing. There hadn’t been much word from them since the June 2023 passing of drummer Steffen Wiegand, and though there were rumors of their moving forward in a spirit of serving and honoring Wiegand‘s memory, nothing had been confirmed until about a month and a half ago when the band welcomed André to the fold.
The last thing they said in that announcement was that they’d be playing a show in December, and below are confirmed the gig details. It’s Dec. 30 — getting it in right before the end of the year — in the band’s hometown of Aschaffenburg, Germany, and they’ll be joined by SOL Records denizens Lucid Void for the occasion. My Sleeping Karma‘s music has never really wanted for resonance anyway, but I expect it will be a very emotional return to the stage for the group, who remain among the brightest and most distinctive of lights in European heavy psychedelia.
I should note that in the time since this show was posted, the first My Sleeping Karma live date of 2025 has been announced as taking place at Sound of Liberation‘s 20th anniversary party, dubbed the SOL Sonic Ride, in Cologne on March 29. No word on how much touring, if any, My Sleeping Karma will have coming up in the New Year as yet.
Here’s the info for the Dec. 30 show:
Dear friends,
Thank you so much from the bottom of our hearts for your amazing feedback on our return and your warm welcome to André.
We are overwhelmed and can’t wait to see you all again soon.
On December 30th we’re back on stage in our hometown Aschaffenburg. We’re happy to announce that our friends @lucidvoidband will join us on this very special day.
Make sure to get your tickets soon enough, there are only very few ones left.
More concert updates are coming soon.
Much Love, MSK
MY SLEEPING KARMA is: Matte – Bass Seppi – Guitar André – Drums Norman – Soundboard
Posted in Reviews on October 17th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Writing this intro from a bench near the playground at my daughter’s grade school. It was different equipment at the time — made of unrecycled tires, because it was the ’80s — but I used to play here when I was her age too. The Pecan’s day ended about 10 minutes ago and after-school go-time has become part of the routine when we don’t have to be elsewhere. It’s chilly today — I have my hat on for the first time since winter, but if I was more used to the cold, I wouldn’t need it. If it was April, I’d be in shorts celebrating the arrival of spring. All depends on which way the planet is tipped, I guess.
Pretty sure I mentioned this at some point, but in part because the Quarterly Review is going well, I’m adding an 11th day. That brings it up to 110 releases, which, frankly, is just stupid. I don’t really have a reason I’m doing any of it except that I am. I feel the same about a lot of this lately.
As happens with any decent QR more than a week long, I’m behind on news. I don’t really have anything to say about a new Dax Riggs song or an Acid Bath reunion without any context, and I’m not cool enough to be in the know on any of it, but Roadburn has done a lineup announcement that I’d like to post and Uncle Acid announced a US tour, so there’s stuff to catch up on. Tuesday and on, I suppose. Good thing the internet exists or disseminating any of this information might have any stakes to it whatsoever.
Quarterly Review #81-90:
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Castle, Evil Remains
Hammerheart Records steps forth to issue the masterful metallurgy of Castle‘s Evil Remains. The duo of bassist/vocalist Liz Blackwell and guitarist/vocalist Mat Davis work with drummer Mike Cotton on the 37-minute eight-tracker that’s the first new Castle LP since 2018’s Deal Thy Fate (review here), and their take on dark heavy rock meeting in a pocketknife alley with doom, thrash and classic metal continues to be utterly their own. “Queen of Death,” “Nosferatu Nights,” the swaggering “Evil Remains” itself, all the way down to the twisting leads, dual-vocals and hard-chug of “Cold Grave” — the message of the album is glaring across its span in how undervalued Castle are and have been over their 15 years, but even that can’t top the vibrancy of the songs themselves, which have long given up genre concerns in pursuit of the individualism they’ve found.
Clearly, Vancouver’s Waingro titled their new release Sports in honor of the 40th anniversary of the Huey Lewis album of the same name. It’s hard to find the influence of the 1980s pop superstar — who, with Sports, really came into his own, commercially and artistically, according to American Psycho — in the band’s ripper heavy hardcore punk, but they’ve got five tracks in 11 minutes, so there’s no risk of overstaying their welcome with the likes of the minute-long fuzz instrumental “Masonic Falls” or the apocalyptic post-hardcore of centerpiece “Brougham,” which follows the opening pair of “Fuel for Vomit” and “Sports,” which don’t seem to have been put together accidentally as the EP closes with its two shortest pieces in “Masonic Falls” and the subsequent “Pray for Blackout.” Both are under two minutes long, and while the former is something of a breather after the assault of “Brougham,” “Pray for Blackout” is vicious and pummeling, leaving on an intense, raw note in which Waingro bask.
15-minute opener “Dåderman Renoverar” jams its way into a sax-topped ’50 bop and swing, like you’re down at the soda shop getting a pull of root beer and here come these crazy Swedish psychedelic jammers to get the hula-hoops spinning, so yes, För Samtida Djur 2 is very much a Kungens Män release. As well it should be, following just months behind the preceding För Samtida Djur 1 (review here) with four more pieces piped in from the greater distances of Out There in improv rock-as-jazz psychedelic fashion. “Dåderman Renoverar” is leadoff and longest (immediate points), while “Väntar På Zonen” (8:28) is less of a build than a mellow dwell, “Skör Lugg” (11:43) hypnotizes with guitar before unfurling a pastoralism worthy of Sweden’s history of progressive psych-folk and “Gubbar Reser Sig” (8:36) ends with a bit of bounce and build amid brighter jangle that they let unwind at the finish, completing the cycle in duly eccentric fashion. This band is a treasure, make no mistake. Every time they step in a room, someone should be recording.
Maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise that Caffeine‘s The Threshold feels so tense and taut since it executes its eight songs in 29 minutes — 10 of which are dedicated to “Ghost Town” and “The Agency” on side B — but as its two sides play out, the Hanover, Germany-based trio of vocalist/bassist Denis Radoncic, guitarist Andre Werk and drummer/vocalist Enrico “Rocko” Winkler, plus Sebi on keys and guitar, find a progressive heavy thrust that’s informed by early Mastodon in its crunch and the rearing-up of riffs on “Last Train” and the twisting rhythms of the title-track, but from a post-hardcore rush in “The THreshold” to the humming tones of the penultimate interlude “Citadel” — which has a more percussive counterpart in side A’s “Rorschach’s Waltz” to the pro-shop heavy metal of “Dead End,” Caffeine‘s material sounds thoughtful in its construction without being a gimme in terms of influence or losing itself in the intensity as it unfolds. This is the band’s second record. It’s a fucking beast.
They’re delivered in a deathly rasp, as perhaps it would need to be, before the clean vocals arrive, but the lyrics in “Space is Now Tainted” from The Mountain King‘s 13th album in 10 years, Stoma, are among the most fitting encapsulations of life under apocalypse-capitalism that I’ve seen. The whole song is brilliant, and it’s one of eight on the 48-minute LP, so I’m not trying to neglect anything else, but when I see lines like, “And when the last tree is down/You will climb the bodies of the ones who didn’t drown,” it’s hard not to be taken aback. The later “Dripping Bats” offers thoughts and prayers for the death of god, so the righteousness is by no means isolated as The Mountain King find a version of doom metal the chug of which has learned at least as much from Carcass‘ Heartwork as anything Black Sabbath ever did, and pushes into avant miserablism in “Twomb” or the intermittently volatile/gorgeous “To the Caves!,” which would seem to be the end The Mountain King see for human decline. Back to the caves. At least the end of the world turned up some good art. I wish more bands would dare to have an opinion.
Time will tell how the balance of NWOBHM grandstanding and from-farther-back boogie shakes out in the sound of German newcomers Kant, but for now, it’s an intriguing blend on the Aschaffenburg-based four-piece’s debut album, Paranoia Pilgrimage, and with the backing of Sound of Liberation Records, one might take the cavernous vocals, cultish melodies and declarative guitar work as part of the needed injection of fresh perspectives that the European heavy underground has been receiving the last few years in generational turnover. That is to say, there’s potential in the nuance of a song like “Traitors Lair,” which injects from flute-prog into the proceedings, and even as Kant search for ‘their sound,’ what they’re finding is likewise varied and exciting, if not blindingly original. The sharper corners of “Dark Procession” and the atmospheric depth offered in opener “The Great Serpent” both find an underpinning of darker, more cultish sounds — unsurprisingly, “Occult Worship” bears that out as well — but when the lead cut launches into its solo late in its five-minute going, Kant revel in the freedom of that breakout. Wherever time and their exploration takes them, Paranoia Pilgrimage is the foundation on which they’ll build.
With a mix and master by Karl Daniel Lidén (Katatonia, Dozer, Greenleaf, Vaka, Demon Cleaner, etc.) building on the production helmed by guitarist/vocalist Luc Bourgeois and guitarist Shawn Rice, it’s little wonder Sandveiss‘ third full-length, Standing in the Fire, sounds as full and charged as it does, from the first tones of “I’ll Be Rising” through drummer Dominic Gaumond‘s clinic in “Bleed Me Dry.” Completed by bassist Maxime Moisan, who is the force behind the propulsive “Wait and See” and the later, more expansive “These Cold Hands,” Sandveiss present Standing in the Fire as a showcase of multifaceted songwriting intent. The title-track, opener “I’ll Be Rising,” and the careening “Fade (Into the Night)” are catchy uptempo fuzzers kin to the ethic of Valley of the Sun, but “No Love Here” and the ensuing huge roll of “Bleed Me Dry” bring a stately cast and highlight some of the variety of mood and purpose amid all the heft and professional-grade craft throughout.
If you like your sludge noisy — or your noise sludged — aggressive and pummeling, Plant signal from Madison, Wisconsin, with their first album, Cosmic Phytophthora, a gnashing and duly punishing 44-minute/six-song assault that hits a particularly escape-proof crescendo in side B’s “Envenoming the Carrion” (11:59) and “Skyburial” (11:04) before closing with the harsh tumult of “Wolf Plague.” Once upon a time bands like Axehandle and The Mighty Nimbus walked the earth. Plant would stand well alongside either, with leadoff “Until it Dies” cracking open a can — I’ll assume lime seltzer? — before the drums kick in on what’s basically a spoken-word-topped riff introducing the seethe and tones that define what’s to come, screaming by the time its three minutes are up. “Anthracnos Stalk Rot” and the outright brutality of “Root Worm” follow and underscore the impression of a horticultural thematic, but whether you’re digging on plant parts or reeling from the various punches the band throw along the way, it’s hard not to be moved by a debut that has such a clear idea of what it’s about. Make it loud, make it caustic, make it hurt. Riffs to break oneself upon.
Tommy and the Teleboys, Gods, Used, in Great Condition
There are threads of punk and classic rock running through Tommy and the Teleboys‘ dance-ready debut long-player, Gods, Used in Great Condition, but ultimately the album is neither of them. United under a scope that includes psychedelia, proggy-jazz and maybe a bit of heavy blues, the post-modern nine-song outing has a depth of mix all the more emphasized through the band’s stylistic range, but it’s a feeling of brashness that seems most to bring the songs together and the vital sense of command in the tracks themselves. Each follows its own plot, whether it’s the willfully off-kilter “Loverboy” or textured pieces like “Seninle” and “Srevokk” later on, but “Gib Mir” and “Jesus Crowd” at the start — shades of Bowie Ameriphobia in the latter — give Gods, Used in Great Condition quirk to coincide with all its hey-we’re-not-40-yet urgency, and while the band range hither and yon in terms of style, there’s nowhere the melodic wash of “Jeffrey 3000” or the otherworldly wistful strum of “Night at the Junkyard” go that feels out of place in the surrounding context, and Tommy and the Teleboys seem to be serving notice to anyone clued in of intention to disrupt. One hopes they do.
MEDB is a new solo-project by Rodger Boyle, who also runs Cursed Monk Records and features in bands like Noosed, ÚATH and Stonecarver, among others, and this first demo unveils four songs working under the stated concept of conveying the landscape/ambience of Boyle‘s home in Waterford, Ireland. Certainly the ambience of “Returning Home” is darker than the photos from the Port Láirge tourism committee, but while MEDB lays claim to a drumless drone on that nine-and-a-half-minute opener, “Glasha,” “Mahon Falls” and “The Wild Deer of Sillaheen” conjure a more full-band impression, plodding in “Glasha” before “Mahon Falls” digs into a more open and meditative feel in one guitar layer while lower distortion holds sway beneath, and “The Wild Deer of Sillaheen” earns its post-metallic antlers at the finish. So you’re saying there’s more than one thing going on in Waterford? Reasonable to expect for the oldest city in the Republic of Ireland, and all the better for inspiring future manifestation from MEDB, whatever form that might take. You could do worse than learning about a place through audio.
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 26th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
My Sleeping Karma are back. Last June, the band suffered the loss of drummer Steffen Weigand after a long battle with cancer, and at the time, the band made no comment about their future either way, but expressed what was very clearly a deep and personal grief. Some bands aren’t close as people; the German instrumentalists have always given the impression otherwise, and it’s telling in that regard as well that as they announce their first show with new drummer André Stein for this December in their hometown of Aschaffenburg, they specifically note that Stein is a member of tight knit “MSK-Family,” as they put it. Somehow this makes the most sense and feels like the appropriate way for them to move forward if they were going to at all. It never seemed like the kind of situation where they’d hold tryouts, is what I’m saying.
The band’s contributions to meditative heavy rock and instrumental psychedelia, their influence in those niches, aren’t to be understated. Their last release with Weigand, 2022’s Atma (review here), brought new adventures in arrangement expansion and song-building while keeping to their conceptual foundations in Buddhist philosophy and atmospheric evocations. There’s no word below of a follow-up — maybe we’ll let them do a gig first — but when and if they get there, even the possibility that they might, is a spiritual boost. The world is a better place with this band in it.
Their announcement from social media follows here:
Dear brothers and sisters,
they say time is a healer, but some wounds never seem to heal at all.
After the tragic loss of our musical soulmate Steffen, we felt desperate and had absolutely no clue how to deal with the situation and how to go along with My Sleeping Karma as a band.
We are still so grateful for the fund raise that so many of you supported and for the enormous amount of requests to keep our music and Steffen’s spirit alive.
After long and intense discussions, we finally came to the conclusion that it is our duty to proceed with My Sleeping Karma.
To proceed for you, the people, to proceed for Steffen.
Today it is our pleasure to introduce to you our new drummer André.
He has been a member of the MSK-Family for such a long time and was our light and video engineer in the past.
André is switching positions now and we are in serious rehearsals before hitting the stage again.
Some personal words from André will follow in the next days.
Much Love, the Karma guys
P.s. There have been rumours about a first concert at our hometown club Colos-Saal in Aschaffenburg on Dec 30th. That’s correct and tickets will be on sale soon.
MY SLEEPING KARMA is: Matte – Bass Seppi – Guitar André – Drums Norman – Soundboard
Posted in Features on June 13th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Sad news today from the camp of mostly-German instrumentalist meditative psych innovators My Sleeping Karma, who have announced the passing of drummer Steffen Weigand. The four-piece, of which Weigand was a founding member, put word out on social media as follows:
Dear MSK Family,
We are devastated to inform you that our brother Steffen has passed away this morning surrounded by his loved ones.
Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with his family.
We are heartbroken and have no more words right now.
Weigand’s death comes after a battle with a rare kind of cancer that consumed the final three-plus years of his life. In Dec. 2022, a GoFundMe was launched that exceeded its 50,000 Euro goal with the aim of supporting Weigand and his family as well as helping to pay for medical and other costs. His passing leaves an uncertain future for My Sleeping Karma, who have limited their live activity in the last year-plus as he struggled against the disease.
As a member of My Sleeping Karma alongside guitarist Seppi, soundboardist Norman Mehren and bassist Matte Vandeven, Weigand was an essential component in one of the last generation of heavy psychedelia’s most crucial and influential progressions. The shape of the genre would not be what it is today without their, and his, contributions to it, and his progressive style of drumming remained part of what allowed the band to remain consistently exploratory the time of their 2006 self-titled debut through their 2022 album, Atma.
Working with Elektrohasch Schallplatten, the Munich-based label run by Colour Haze guitarist/vocalist Stefan Koglek, My Sleeping Karma’s first three albums — the self-titled, 2008’s Satya and 2010’s Tri — found the band discovering the smoothness of sound and the spiritual themes that would guide them thereafter, honing an individualism of style and production that allowed for a heavy impact and a distinct, thoughtful resonance in melody complemented as always by rhythmic flow. As the drummer, Weigand was often the ground over which their guitar and keyboard, even bass, melodies floated, but his creativity in that was more than complement to the music. It was the heart, beating.
In 2012, My Sleeping Karma left Elektrohasch to release their fourth album, Soma, through Napalm Records via an imprint called Spinning Goblin Productions. That album would become a defining effort from the band as they toured and became regulars at festivals like Desertfest and Stoned From the Underground, Freak Valley and so on, and their influence spread accordingly to a new generation beginning to embrace both heavy psych rock and an instrumental approach for which My Sleeping Karma (not alone, but prominently) provided a ready guidepost. By the time Moksha arrived in 2015, My Sleeping Karma was signed to Napalm proper, and considered among Europe’s finest in the style. Their maturity was manifest throughout the album in a serene sound so much like water in its movement, and again, Weigand provided the undercurrent that carried the listener through.
The band’s only live album, Mela Ananda (Live), was issued in 2017, and for those like myself who were never fortunate enough to see My Sleeping Karma play, it reaffirmed just how much we were missing. The dynamic and chemistry between the band — who, remember, were more than a decade removed from their debut at the time — was on ready display, and new and old material was presented with vitality and palpable, infectious joy. The ‘show’ ended and one could only smile. By the time Atma arrived, Weigand’s illness was public, and the spirit of the music had grown melancholy and perhaps challenged by the pandemic, but still they harnessed the special musical conversation that has typified all their work and found a way to see light where many could find none. It was a beautiful album, and as Weigand’s last, it will remain a bittersweet landmark in their catalog.
On behalf of myself and this site, I offer sincere condolences to the remaining members of My Sleeping Karma, as well as Weigand’s family, friends and others who were touched by his work. I count myself in that number, and I am that much sadder for never having watched him play on stage. It is known that My Sleeping Karma began every set with a hug shared at centerstage by all four members of the band. To think of that embrace missing one of the four hurts in a way that tells you the magnitude of the loss. My Sleeping Karma were, are, a family, and they very much presented themselves in that light. That family has lost a loved one.
Rest in peace, Steffen Weigand, and thank you for the work you did. It is a thing to be all the more treasured, and a reminder to share your love with the world around you, as Weigand so clearly did.
[Click play above to stream My Sleeping Karma’s Atma in full. Album is out tomorrow on Napalm Records and available here: lnk.to/MSK-Atma/napalmrecords.]
If you believe in a soul, the music of My Sleeping Karma could hardly come from anywhere else. The German instrumentalists have gone to lengths to position Atma — the title derived is Sanskrit, translated roughly as the non-physical totality of a universal self in Hinduism; recall the YOB album of the same name in 2011 — as their most emotive offering to-date, which in the 16 years since their self-titled debut (discussed here) and the works they’ve released in the interim is saying something. Atma collects six tracks that break evenly across two vinyl sides, marked by the smoothness of groove and production that has in no small part defined their work and their distinctive approach to progressive heavy psychedelia, post-rock and weighted density of fuzz, and repositions the band from where they left off with 2015’s Moksha (review here), their most recent studio LP, which they followed with Mela Ananda — Live (review here) celebration of their 10th anniversary in 2017.
The four-piece of guitarist Seppi, bassist Matte Vandeven, drummer Steffen Weigand and synthesist Norman Mehren (credited, as always, with “soundboard”), pull back on some of the fleshed-out arrangements of the last album — so far as I can tell there are no horns on Atma — in favor of a more direct approach. And while the narrative — blessings and peace upon it — is about the emotionality of the material and that one way or the other the band has put five years of work into making this record, the truth about My Sleeping Karma‘s music is that it’s evocative and resonant enough that if they put the power of suggestion into telling you it was a story about flying to Saturn, there would be no choice to believe it; like all of their output, Atma is at very least a journey somewhere.
But in the context of the outbreak of war in Europe (which happened after the record was done, but still serves as an example), the pandemic era, a rise of political extremism, climate crisis, and health and other personal concerns within the band, and perhaps even just the apparent slog of building these tracks themselves over such a stretch of time, a wistful sensibility is easily read as the nine-minute opener “Maya Shakti” quickly nestles into its volume trade patterns over its first two minutes, and that aspect holds true across the song and record that follows.
All of which is to say, as My Sleeping Karma are out there saying Atma is driven by emotion, the music backs that up.
“Maya Shakti” takes place over three movements, the last of which is one of the album’s most expansive stretches, the melody of the guitar, bass and keys pushed forward by Weigand‘s drumming, his snare cutting through the mix in a way that will sound high enough to stand out as jarring by the time the subsequent “Prema” hits into its more swinging second half — though I’m not sure that’s not on purpose; aural punctuation as grounding effect amid so much float, perhaps, or even a spiritual wake-up call — but ultimately finding a balance with the other elements at work as “Mukti” unfolds soft and ethereal, its memorable keyboard line set to a backdrop of hypnotic guitar and breadth of atmosphere.
The Sanskrit title, as the band has said, refers to the notion of letting go and finding peace in all things. Maybe that’s what’s happening with the krautrocking synth before the more driving finish of the track, and if it’s some semblance of existential freedom being obtained as the heavier thrust to the end — that snare again marking the path — then fair enough. As ever, they make it difficult to argue.
Side B’s “Avatara” is a mirror to “Maya Shakti,” stretching over nine minutes long and setting the ambience of the two songs that follow. There’s a tension in the line of organ, drums and bass in the song’s middle-third, and that does pay off after the quiet break in the ending, but true to Atmaas a whole, “Avatara” is more about the act of going than getting there, though they do dare a bit of prog-as-funk in the guitar late and that is especially satisfying on a record that’s so weighted in mood. With purposeful drift at its finish and what seems to be a gong, they stick-click into “Pralaya” and pointedly leave behind the quiet introductions that each of the four songs before and closer “Ananda” still to come have proffered in favor of a more immediate takeoff.
There are two subsequent comedowns and launches, and taken together they highlight the dynamic of My Sleeping Karma and their interaction with various post-heavy genres as well as the individualized take on sonic meditation that has made the band so influential in their time. If an understated one compared to some of what surrounds, it’s reasonable to call “Pralaya” a highlight, and its last crash and thud seems specifically meant for a live stage.
So be it. One wonders if the denser riffing that emerges early in the eight-minute “Ananda” is intended as an answer to that as well, as it feels imbued with a similar energy, but Atma‘s finisher ultimately has different plans, pulling back to quiet synth and guitar right around three minutes in to establish the bed for the album’s last build.
And it is a build, where much of Atma has been about the band lulling their audience into a trance and then snapping them out of it either by the sudden entrance of a sweeping volume surge or some other twist, the progression of “Ananda” — keyboard notes like water drops throughout — is a more even flow, still dynamic and quite heavy by the time another three and a half minutes have passed, but seeming to find resolution and catharsis in its last wash, letting the album go on a quick fade, reminding of the impermanence of all things, including ourselves.
I will not pretend to know the totality of what My Sleeping Karma have been through over the last seven years since Moksha was released. True to the storyline, Atma is sad, longing almost for a better world, but by no means void of hope, and if the band are laying themselves bare musically, they’ve captured the expressive beauty that’s always been at the heart of their craft. That combined exclamation of soul. It is easy to feel powerless, overwhelmed, to wake up every day and know that defeat is coming to such a degree that it’s already there. It’s harder to turn that into something that speaks to a possibility for more, and that is precisely what makes this return from My Sleeping Karma so vital. Someday I’ll see this band live.
