Posted in Whathaveyou on March 18th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Set for the weekend of Oct. 18-20 and (I think?) celebrating the 10th anniversary of the first Desertfest Belgium, which was held in 2014, the 2024 edition of the Antwerp-based Desertfest has made its first lineup announcement, anchored by Fu Manchu and Russian Circles and featuring a host of others ranging in both geography and style. From the fluid textures of REZN and classic melodic prog rock of Mondo Drag to the reunited Scorpion Child, Bongzilla‘s singularly stoned crust and the expansive riffery of Stoned Jesus, whose Mother Dark complement to early-2023’s Father Light (review here) is awaited, it’s a well-rounded bill even before you account for heavy psych rockers Seedy Jeezus and bluesy ’70s traditionalists Child making the trip from Australia, the latter on the heels of Heavy Psych Sounds reissuing their catalog, the expansive sounds of Messa, and so on.
That it looks like a cool time isn’t really a surprise. Desertfest Belgium has developed a character of its own as the flagship Fall Desertfest in Europe, and while I’ve never been, I always look forward to seeing what it brings to the seasonal cohort of heavy festivals. Already we know REZN will be on tour with Russian Circles, as that was announced last week too, but it’s likely more tours will come from Mondo Drag, Ritual King and others below that haven’t been revealed yet if they’re even at this point finalized. In addition to the usual daydreaming-about-travel, I find thinking about these things and imagining tours and who might have new records out by the time October gets here to be a particular kind of nerdy joy.
The announcement, as per social media:
It’s that time of year again! It’s with great pride and excitement that we announce the first names for DF24! 👁️
Confirmed for Desertfest ANTWERP are: Fu Manchu Russian Circles Stoned Jesus Bongzilla Scorpion Child MESSA Wolvennest Mondo Drag Seedy Jeezus CHILD REZN Ritual King The Abbey Lethvm RRRags Crouch Kara Delik
Three days of delirium and heavy delight are surely awaiting us all in Antwerp!
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 22nd, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Some new names from Belgium’s Down the Hill Festival for the 2024 edition, bringing familiar parties like UK psychedelic novamakers Gnod and Mojo and the Kitchen Brothers, who you might remember were picked up last year by Lay Bare Recordings ahead of releasing their Mojo’s Heavy Cream LP this past Fall. The latter outfit — the one with the longer name, just to be clear — are making a return appearance after kicking things off in 2023, and Dutch heavy psych/classic rockers Rrrags are back for a second time as well, supporting their 2023 album, Mundi, also as it happens on Lay Bare.
Joining them and rounding out the list of five in this announcement — with seven names still to be unveiled as you can see on the poster below — are Desmond Dandies and Large Plants. The former are Belgian-based heavy garage-psych rockers with a strong current of later-’60s classicism running through last year’s 57 Heaven made modern through its still-organic production, and the latter is the acid-folk/neofolk-informed solo-project of UK songwriter Jack Sharp, formerly of Wolf People.
I’ll tell you honestly I hadn’t heard either Desmond Dandies or Large Plants before seeing their names here, and although when I started this post I intended just to put the Gnod stream at the bottom, I ended up with a player for each band because once I actually listened to them I couldn’t leave anybody out. That speaks to me of a lack of filler, which is something further to be appreciated about Down the Hill. Headliner still TBA. I wonder if it’ll be High on Fire, maybe Brant Bjork? This summer is packed front to back with tours in Europe, so the possibilities are vast, though if it had been Greenleaf or Rotor, I’d still think it was awesome.
The following was posted on socials:
It’s time for the weekend, so let’s add 5 more bands to next summer’s edition.
With GNOD you will dive head and body first into a powerfully new psychedelic maelstrom full of possibilities, we don’t think they need further introduction.
Large Plants started as a solo recording project for Jack Sharp, the singer and guitarist for Wolf People, characterized as psych rock, with a folkier, proggier and more fantastic feeling.
2nd time RRRags at Down The Hill, influences come from the heavy and psychedelic seventies with bands such as Grand Funk Railroad, Stooges, Pink Floyd and Hawkwind. This band also performs live with a blend of long, instrumental jams and heavy, catchy songs. In short, a party not to be missed for the true psych head!
Desmond Dandies, heavily inspired by the sound of the 60’s and all its side streams, they instinctively reproduce a genre that can’t be put into boxes. Live sets vary every show, pushing their musical limits, but always characterized by solid harmonized vocals, tight guitar riffs, and energetic rhythm section.
Mojo & The Kitchen Brothers, also the 2nd time playing DTH, last edition they opened the fest, now we give them a later spot, their catchy tunes, proggy riffs, deafening drums, roaring basslines and spacy, triple-guitar jams take the listener on a Janus-faced journey through the limbo between past and present.
Line up so far: Greenleaf, Rotor, GNOD, Zone Six, B R I Q U E V I L L E, Large Plants, Full Earth, Vandal X, Doodseskader, Fuzzy Grass, RRRags, TAKH, Kozmotron, Desmond Dandies, Cuberdon, Mojo and The Kitchen Brothers and CRANC
And of course our DJ’s Cosmic Masseur, 7” of Riffs and Coconaut.
Tickets are selling fast!
Write it down into your agenda… the end of August, awesome party in Rillaar, aka Down The Hill.
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 27th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Belgian festival Down the Hill has begun to unveil its lineup for Aug. 30-31, 2024, with Rotor at the top of a bill that, as the fill-in-the-blank-style poster (which I dig) underscores the point there’s more to come. Not that Rotor couldn’t headline, but yeah. They’re joined in this announcement by Full Earth, the Kanaan offshoot who don’t have a record yet but are popping up on bills up, down, here and there, Fuzzy Grass, Briqueville, Vandal X, Kozmotron and Cuberdon, which is less than half of the total number of acts who will play. There are 17 TBAs on the poster below. Yes, I counted before I saw the number in the festival’s post.
I’ve been writing about Down the Hill for a few years now, and I’ve never been or anything like that, but all accounts I’ve seen and heard tell me that it’s a laid back, vibe-centered time, and in theory and practice I think that’s a thing worth supporting. August is a while off, so I don’t know when the next reveal will be made, but tickets are on sale as of Dec. 27, which might be today by the time this gets posted — it’s 4AM Xmas Eve as I write; I have no answer for why I’m awake but at least I’m getting shit done — and if you’d like to keep up also, the fest’s Facebook and site are linked below.
To wit:
Down the Hill 2024
Here they are, the first small load of bands for Down The Hill 2024
Posted in Questionnaire on November 14th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.
Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.
Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.
The Obelisk Questionnaire: Rob Zim of Rrrags
—
How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I play the bass. As a teenager the only videotape I had was the Who’s Tommy (apart from some porn of course). I must have seen it at least 100 times. Entwistle’s enchantingly playful and creative bass lines made me play the bass. I remember every single note, I wish I had half his talent.
Ron from Rrrags has been a long time friend and I played in several bands with him before. We always went to the Roadburn Festival and stayed over at our friend Bidi, who is unfortunately not with us anymore, through whom we met Rob Martin. We decided to jam together and the satisfying outcome was the base for Rrrags. It is fun to play with Rrrags since there is a lot of space for improvisation and every concert is an adventure.
Describe your first musical memory.
Roger Glover’s ‘All you Need is Love and Understanding’ was, I believe, the first animated videoclip in the early/mid seventies when I was about three years old. When it was on television I pushed my face to the screen and immersed in the music and visuals. There was a singing frog, I loved it so much. Only 30 years later I found out the singer was Ronnie James Dio, which was also the first metal concert I went to as a teenager. That was weird.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
As a musician, playing Hellfest for 10.000 people was cool. But playing an improvised 75 minute Kraut/jazz/psychedelic jam session for a few hundred people on the Roadburn 2022 festival with my friend Ron from Rrrags and Ingvald and Ask from Kanaan was a highlight in my career. We had played two nights with Rrrags already and I was already home and all my gear loaded out when they phoned me to come back and do the gig. The audience was pretty baked from three days Roadburn and it went down very well, a full house was really digging what we did. Of course we did not record it, even though we were prompted by Roadburn’s house recording technician Marcel van der Vondervoort. We still forgot and maybe it is better like this, probably in the memory it’s better than the reality haha.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
I have hardly any principles and and can relativize almost anything but my belief in evolving intelligence is tested on a daily basis.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
I don’t think art progresses to a higher level. Rather it meanders parallel to life and changes and reshapes accordingly. I have the feeling that art is quite immersed in daily life at the moment. Advertisement videos are weirder than video art 30 years ago and a lot of street art is more exiting than modern art in galleries. It is easy to express yourself, due to software like GarageBand and photoshop/illustrator and AI filters and apps on the smartphone. Art is utilitarian and not idealistic. It doesn’t lead to a better life or something.
How do you define success?
I think to be successful is to get recognition, for being good at doing what you are passionate about. This can start already on a tiny scale, with few people.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
Anything of U2. I have an allergy.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
I explored all of the arts I am interested in quite extensively already and kind of did what I wanted to do. That is quite a relaxing situation to be in. No Ambition, No Frustration is my motto. I just want to make and play music but that is nothing I did not do yet.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
For me the Only function of art is to levitate one’s mind somewhere where there is no troubles and challenges, only ecstasy. Art does that, it can make you forget about all your problems. Especially music since it hits you unconditionally, it needs no explanation or context. For me music is the highest form of art.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
I look forward to my next voyage. Don’t know yet whereto it will be but I love travelling.
Posted in Questionnaire on September 29th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.
Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.
Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.
The Obelisk Questionnaire: Mathijs Van Meensel from Mojo and the Kitchen Brothers
—
How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
First and foremost, we make music and have a good time. It doesn’t really have to get any more complex than that, but there are two interconnected factors that explain why we make the type of music that we make, and why we have such a good time. Quite simply, we make the music we want to hear with the people we want to hear and play it with. As for how we came to it, the answer can be found along that exact vein. Our drummer, the founder of the band, realized that the type of music he loved wasn’t being played much in Belgium, so he contacted a few of his friends and that was that. From the very first rehearsals it became obvious that we shared some special connection, which shines through in our creative process, musical chemistry and onstage energy, but perhaps most clearly in our backstage banter.
Describe your first musical memory.
I distinctly remember chugging beers and rocking out to Black Sabbath’s Paranoid in my mother’s womb, she fucking loved that tune.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
I don’t think I have any musical memories I would call the absolute best, but I suppose the musical memories that have had the most influence on me must be my earliest run-ins with Pink Floyd, especially Dark Side of the Moon. I remember sitting in front of my computer at about 14-15 years old just listening to them and being transported to another realm. I know that by now it’s a huge cliché to say Pink Floyd changed me not only as a music fan but as a person as well, but nonetheless I feel like things mostly become clichés for a reason, and seeing as so many people share that same experience with the Floyd, there must be something to it.
Another great memory is finally getting to see Acid Mothers Temple live in Liège, we were there with most of the members of the band and it was absolutely amazing. Somewhat strangely I’ve known them for a really long time now. About 10 years ago the Youtube algorithm decided to introduce me to this bunch of spaced-out Japanese rockers and I’ve loved them dearly ever since, so finally getting to see them in the flesh was mindblowing.
I had to ask the band if they had any other memories because it’s such a personal question, and some other good ones came out. For example, one of our guitar players remembers listening to Maggot Brain during his first experience with space-cake, he told me “[his] bed turned into a spaceship man”, and I can totally see that happening. Another one of our guitarists mentioned the time we went to France as a first band teambuilding trip. While we were there, we jointly listened to Matthew Halsall’s beautiful minimalist jazz tune “Only You” and just all fell silent and enjoyed. That song holds a special place in the band’s shared heart for sure.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
I try not to hold on to any beliefs too firmly, I prefer to remain mentally malleable. The beliefs I do hold onto firmly though, like equality and ecology, are not likely to be tested by anyone.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
It is unclear to me what exactly you mean by “artistic progression”.
Artistic progression can be viewed as a broad historical phenomenon, or as something personal to the individual artist. In the first case, I would disagree with the term “progression”, as I do not believe art progresses in the same way as for instance medicine or technology. The history of art is not a progression, but rather the assimilation of a tradition of tastes and impressions hailing from the human experience. This assimilation, in turn, leads without end to a more and more expansive library of the artistic tradition.
As for the more personal interpretation of artistic progression, I would like to divide the response into two sections: first, the progression of any individual work of art; and second, the progression of the artist as an artist.
The progression of any individual work of art leads to a cut-off point. At a certain point in time, the artist must say enough is enough and determine the work of art ready for publication, which is of course much more easily said than done.
The progression of the artist as an artist leads, preferably, to a purification and as such an intensification of their personal aesthetics.
How do you define success?
I’ve never thought about defining success, I’ll know when I get there. For now though, small victories will do nicely.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
I once saw a whole chicken coming out of a can from a dollar store and let me tell you, it did not look like chicken.
Btw, if you’d like to see what I’m talking about, here’s a link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/nrcgTp0SChU
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
Anything but whole-canned chicken-soup.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
To me, the most essential function of art is its non-functionality, its ability to exist without any clear purpose and to create in the face of nothingness. Uselessness is what makes art so special and powerful. To view art as necessarily connected to a utilitarian value, is to diminish its potential. If it is created impulsively and without any clear function, art manages to escape from the everyday drag of late-capitalism where the cadence is determined by the dictum “time is money” and any time-consuming move needs to be justified. A good analogy would be a jam-session. When you’re deep into a half-hour musical freakout, with all the musicians on fire and creating on the spot, something unique and undefined happens. It is exactly in this undefined happening that a true and unfiltered artistic spirit reigns supreme, and at such a time, everybody, artist and audience alike, is connected in a distinct and ephemeral moment that will never be replicated.
This is not to say that art cannot have certain functions. For instance, art can make people happy, it can make them sad, and if used correctly, it can humanize. However, I am firmly against the idea that clearly defined functions can or should be essential to any art form.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
[Click play above to stream Fire Down Below’s Low Desert Surf Club in its entirety. Album is out tomorrow, Sept. 8, on Ripple Music.]
Immediate cowbell. On a song called “Cocaine Hippo,” no less. If you’re looking for a way to convey energy, movement, motivation for the listener to get of their ass, that’s a fitting way to go, and indeed how Ghent, Belgium’s Fire Down Below lead off their third album, with an intro that communes directly with Queens of the Stone Age‘s “Millionaire” and a hook that backs it with a rhythmic push that would make Fu Manchu smile. Along with that cowbell, then, is the immediacy of communion with California desert/heavy rock, and particularly that of the 1990s and the turn of the century, circa 2000-’03.
Comprised of guitarists Kevin Gernaey (lead) and Jeroen Van Troyen (also vocals), bassist Bert Wynsberghe and drummer Sam Nuytens, the band offer nine songs across 57 minutes of material, and even that feels like a reference to the CD era, and it’s nearly 15 minutes longer than was 2018’s Hymn of the Cosmic Man (review here), much of which can be accounted for in the 16:06 closer “Mantra.”
That’s the longest song the band have ever made — though both Hymn of the Cosmic Man and their 2017 debut, Viper Vixen Goddess Saint, passed 11 minutes in their respective finales — and in seven-minute cuts “Surf Queen” and the catchy-as-all-get-out “Here Comes the Flood,” and the six-minute heavy psych lean of “Hazy Snake” with some Elderian shimmer in its lead guitar that feels well placed since Nick DiSalvo (guitar/vocals in Elder, Delving, drums in Weite, etc.) produced with engineering by Richard Behrens (he’s the guy in Berlin; front-of-house for Kadavar, was in Samsara Blues Experiment, has recorded tons of bands, on and on), they explore outer reaches around the perimeter of the straightforward heavy rock and roll of songs like “Cocaine Hippo,” “California” and “Airwolf” in the initial salvo or “Dune Buggy” and “The Last Cowboy, which are positioned to offset the longer pieces.
All of this — the titular delve into surf for the first half of “Surf Queen” before it gets into a more open, jammier stretch and circles back to the hook, the pure desert worship and escapism of “California,” the ecological impossibility of lines like “Surfing through the desert, I ride a wave/There’s a lady dressed in white who knows my name” in “Cocaine Hippo,” and so on — results in a full-length of marked flow and varied sounds built around its central, heavily-fuzzed ideology. Most of all it feels like a celebration.
One that feels well earned, given the five years between Hymn of the Cosmic Man and Low Desert Surf Club. And if these songs are something of a breakout moment for Fire Down Below, a realization of who they are as a group and the things they want to honor in their music, then that’s the manifestation of a heart-on-sleeve approach they’ve had all along. Heavy rock by heavy rockers; Fire Down Below sound like fans of the style they’re playing.
The low-rolling post-Kyussism of “Airwolf” and the similarly sourced shove of “The Last Cowboy” in the penultimate spot — crucial there for regrounding from “Hazy Snake” and ending on a gentle fade in its solo ahead of the sprawling “Mantra” — and the fact that the centerpiece is the sand-boogie of “Dune Buggy,” named for vehicle that might cruise through the desert à la Truckfighters and serves as a getaway car here, makes forehead-slapping sense considering the return of the cowbell, the drive of the chorus and that last charge that pays off its mini-build. On a level of fans communicating their love for this specific thing to its specific community, the dogwhistles and references abound and converts will find themselves smiling in recognition as the funky swing in the first movement of “Mantra” unfolds with its Brant Bjork hat on, so much go-go-go throughout resolved inevitably, correctly, at an unshakable altar of cool.
If “Surf Queen” ends side A of the 2LP and “The Last Cowboy” wraps side B, and side D is etched, that leaves “Mantra” hanging alone on side C. Will listeners to the vinyl swap platters for one song, even one as substantial as that? Does anyone actually listen to vinyl other than to take pictures for social media? I don’t know. Depends on the listener, obviously, but “Mantra” earns its standalone place, feeling at least partially improvised around its central riff in the early going, digging into mellower Kyuss circa …And the Circus Leaves Town in its wavy-guitar structured midsection before the swinging, hot-shit strut verse riff kicks in and the festival set begins the trek to its peak.
At about 8:30, the vocals depart and the band smoothly — so, so smoothly; gracefully — begin to sidestep into another mostly-instrumental stretch, still holding some of the early funk and classic style, but seeming to inhale before they dive into Low Desert Surf Club‘s actual finish. I don’t know the process through which “Mantra” was made, whether it was different parts recorded and assembled after the fact, jammed-out live in the studio, or what, but I enjoy how little it seems to matter to the actual listening experience, which fulfills the immersion that “Here Comes the Flood” teased and is atmospheric without hyperintellectualizing aesthetic and thus undercutting the passion fueling it. It’s a win, is what I’m saying.
And its ending, for which the vocals briefly return, hits its mark and calms down, highlighting the intimacy between Fire Down Below and their subject matter. This is not desert rock by happenstance; it’s desert rock as a lifestyle. It’s tattooed desert rock. And I guess there are still people who think desert rock has to come from a desert. Okay. Does everyone who plays death metal have to die? Regardless of the absurdity of that position, Low Desert Surf Club basks in its all-in nature as regards genre, and a good portion of the character of the album comes from the obvious love and passion with which it was made. Also the riffs. And the songs. And the tone. And and and…
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 21st, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Antwerp, Belgium’s Gnome made a convincing enough argument with their 2022 album, King (review here), that the year-plus since its release has seen them snatched up by a broad swath of European festivals, among them Desertfest in London and Berlin, Stoned From the Underground in Germany, Down the Hill, Masters of the Riff, and the impending Lazy Bones in Hamburg after this first US tour that continues their forward momentum. Yes, my fellow Americans, it’s like your “Come to [insert town here]!” reaction comments were heard, processed as visa applications and put to the best use, as Gnome will bring their blend of sick riffs and silly hats to the West Coast starting on Sept. 22.
Bookended by festivals, the tour puts Gnome on the road through the Midwest before hitting Oregon and Sacramento, CA, to finish out. There are a couple shows in here that might be rougher — I don’t know how Omaha rocks on a Tuesday night — but with Louder Than Life on one end and AfterShock Music Festival on the other, this initial incursion is both careful in not taking on too much expense and still positioning the band to do well on the whole. Safe travels to Gnome. Hope to see them along the way somewhere, if not this tour (and not, since it’s on the other side of the country from me), then maybe the next one.
From social media:
With great pleasure doth we announce our 2023 US BLASPHEMY TOUR!!! (#127482#)(#127480#) See you there, little gnomies from the other side! We’ll be sharing some of these stages with the lovely BoneHawk !
Much love and kudos to Bradley Raffenaud at Madison House for making this tour possible!!! (#129395#)
Cheerios muchachos
GNOME 2023 US Blasphemy Tour
09.22 Louder Than Life Fest Louisville KY 09.24 Revival Music Hall Peoria IL 09.25 The Bottleneck Lawrence KS 09.26 Reverb Lounge Omaha NE 09.29 Nortons Brewing Co. Wichita KS 09.30 Vultures Colorado Springs CO 10.01 Globe Hall Denver CO 10.04 Volcanic Theatre Pub Bend OR 10.05 Dante’s Portland OR 10.08 AfterShock Music Festival Sacramento CA
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 28th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Man this looks like a wild time. Desertfest Belgium 2023 has just about finalized its lineup, bringing Enslaved, Quicksand, Black Mirrors, Khan, Iron Jinn, Bushfire and a host of others to the bill and teasing that there’s still one more to add. Belgian native. A surprise. You’ll note below that it says “artist” instead of “band.” Could it be a solo act? Curious.
Whoever it is, they’ll join a packed bill that stands out even among the crowded European Fall festival circuit. You can see the list of names below and I sincerely doubt you need me to tell you how badass an assemblage it is, so I won’t. I will point out that it’s a great mix of European and American acts with representatives from Australia in Khan and South Africa in Ruff Majik. If you’re keeping score at home, that’s four continents accounted for across the three days of the fest. Not too shabby.
The latest from the fest is below, as per social media:
We are excited to announce the following final bands. Some are big, some badass, some barbaric, some boisterous, and some all of the above! (#129304#) We are talking about:
Enslaved – Quicksand – Kid Congo and The Pink Monkey Birds – Khan – Black Mirrors – LA MUERTE – Fire Down Below – BUSHFIRE – Red Sun Atacama – Iron Jinn – Astodan – Witch Piss
Unfortunately REZN’s European tour was cancelled, so they won’t make it to this year’s Desertfest. We sure hope to welcome them back somewhere in the near future.
On the bright side, we have one final, very talented Belgian surprise artist tugged away in our sleeve! The project is so secret that we can’t say much more just yet, but we will be lifting a corner of the veil pretty soon…
