Posted in Whathaveyou on September 4th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Planet Desert Rock Weekend IV will take place across three days this coming January in Las Vegas, and if you’re the type to travel, that should be plenty of notice for you to plan your excursion. Assembled by singularly-passionate promoter John Gist of Vegas Rock Revolution, the initial lineup features Sasquatch and Freedom Hawk and Borracho and a Spiralarms reunion and and and and, oh hell you can read it for yourself on the banner.
In all seriousness, it’s a solid bill. Sandveiss are awesome and they and Black Elephant and Mezzoa, Vegas’ own Sonolith are the kind of right on picks one would expect considering the personnel involved in making the thing. I’m not the world’s biggest Scorpion Child fan, but even I know they’re good at what they do and I would imagine they put on a killer show. I guess I felt compelled to mention it since they were the only band I hadn’t talked about yet. Unless I missed someone else. Ha.
Here’s all the info, courtesy of the ol’ social media:
Planet Desert Rock Weekend returns for V4 with a 3 night heavy rock and roll party on January 25-26-27, 2024! After this year’s amazing couple nights, we are excited to bring a new and different lineup w/ some familiar bands from the Vegas Rock Revolution family blended in as always. The unique thing about PDRW is that you have your days to do things in Vegas. Shows start in the early evenings each night and all shows are at one venue each day.
Vegas Rock Revolution is super psyched to have Sasquatch and Freedom Hawk returning to Planet Desert Rock Weekend along with local riffmasters Sonolith!
6 more bands to be announced to finish the lineup. This will be 3 days in Vegas you will not forget.
Posted in Questionnaire on March 23rd, 2021 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: Alessio Caravelli of Black Elephant
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
We have a blues approach, developing with psychedelia and a rock impact on stage.
Describe your first musical memory.
My cousin’s concert in the ’90s, with a Pink Floyd tribute band.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
Playing at Pietrasonica Festival. It was memorable.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
During this pandemic.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
It leads me to the essential, less frills.
How do you define success?
Redemption from a not always happy life.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
A lot of live clubs closing forever.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
An album of cover songs that inspired me, and a movie soundtrack.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
Communication.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
[Click play above to stream ‘Yayoi Kusama’ from Black Elephant’s Seven Swords. Album is out Aug. 21 on Small Stone Records and Kozmik Artifactz.]
The priority is set quickly on Black Elephant‘s Seven Swords, and it’s the vibe. With zero pretense about their intention, the Savona, Italy, four-piece unfurl their fourth long-player and second for Small Stone with the patient, gradual build-up of opening cut “Berta’s Flame,” clearly in no rush to get anywhere, quiet but definitely in motion, and subtly establishing both the tonal weight and the spacious atmospheres in which the rest of what follows will inhabit. There’s a theme to Seven Swords, which indeed boasts seven tracks over a wholly manageable 33 minutes — something about samurai; they could well be following the plot of the 2005 movie of the same name starring Donnie Yen for all I know — but the album as a whole is less about a narrative arc than an instrumental one. Led by the warm-toned fuzz of guitarists Alessio Caravelli and Massimiliano Giacosa, with Marcello Destefanis on bass and Simone Brunzu drumming, Black Elephant are not shy about playing to genre.
But if they’re preaching to the converted, they’re doing so because they themselves are the converted and they’re doing so with character and a sense of dynamic that, like the breadth of the mix as a whole, is established early. Hypnosis would seem to be the name of the game as “Berta’s Flame” rolls through its instrumental 6:48, but it’s not entirely ambient, and in its louder sections, it gives a glimpse of some of Seven Swords‘ more rocking moments to come, whether that’s the straightforward fuzzblast of “Yayoi Kusama” or the nothing-if-not-self-aware “Red Sun and Blues Sun” later on. Still, the wash of guitar that takes hold in “The Last March of Yokozuna,” fleshed out with effects and far-back drumming, makes clear Black Elephant‘s intention to showcase tone as a major factor in the album’s overarching personality. Fortunately, their tones, and the varied uses to which they’re put, live up to that task.
As noted, Seven Swords is Black Elephant‘s second full-length through Small Stone, and it follows 2018’s Cosmic Blues (review here) not without some sense of departure but a consistency of overarching purpose. That is, it’s mostly the theme that’s changed, but there is growth demonstrated over the course of the record as well. On the whole, Seven Swords feels more exploratory than its predecessor. It’s jammier, has a broader reach, and when it coheres around a verse/chorus riff, as on “Yayoi Kusama” — which in addition to being the third track is the first to feature vocals — the effect is striking. After “Berta’s Flame” and “The Last March of Yokozuna,” that first verse is almost a surprise the first time through the record, and that works much to Black Elephant‘s benefit, as their ability to adjust the balance of their approach continues to serve them throughout the rest of what follows. From such classic riff-rockery, they move into the centerpiece “Mihara,” which closes out the vinyl edition’s side A and boasts a reverb-soaked forward guitar lick at the outset that gracefully rolls into a steady groove of the sort in which “Berta’s Flame” traffics before it unveils its largesse.
A sense of threat of the same thing happening looms somewhat over “Mihara,” but it’s hardly a negative, and before they get there, a whispered verse and a stretch of dreamy lead guitar cap the first two minutes of the track. When the fuzz hits, it lands heavy, but the lead guitar continues to float overhead, lending atmospherics to the underlying weight, and reminding of breadth as a factor in what Black Elephant are doing throughout the songs, which flow together with deceptive ease, loud parts moving into quiet, jams solidifying, liquefying; backs and forths that sound easier than they are because they’re executed so smoothly. Drums end “Mihara” on tom roundabouts and finish cold, but the sense of side A as a united work remains prevalent, and the band’s firmness of purpose in that regard would seem to be emblematic of their experience over the decade they’ve spent together.
Side B is the shorter of the two halves by about three minutes, but there’s still plenty of work to be done, as “Red Sun and Blues Sun” indicates. It’s the shortest inclusion at just 2:41 — the longest is closer “Govinda” at 8:48 — but the title’s nod to Kyuss isn’t happenstance, but rather further evidence of the band’s self-awareness since, indeed, it’s a Kyuss-style riff that follows the guitar count-in at the beginning of the track. With tambourine adding to the rhythm and the two guitars intertwining, though, Black Elephant make their mark on the brief instrumental, branching out in the midsection before resuming the push and finishing together in time to reference “Faeries Wear Boots” at the start of “Seppuku.” That dogwhistle, bound to perk up the ears of much of the band’s listenership, is likewise put to more individualized use, as the basis for a bluesy riff accompanied by distorted vocals early but soon giving way to mid-paced fuzzy roll that builds through one of Seven Swords‘ stronger hooks.
It serves as something of a landmark for side B, pulling back from the desert idolatry of “Red Sun and Blues Sun” and preceding the immediate psychedelic impression made by the opening guitar on “Govinda.” The finale is a stretch and meant to be one, but it does not pick sides, rather summarizing the course the rest of the album has followed, almost condensing its shifts into its own run between more serene and more driven progressions. It is ultimately the jammy side that wins out over the bulk of the song — almost inevitably — though as Black Elephant hit into the final moments of “Govinda,” they embrace a last fuzzy measure on the way to a return of the open-feeling guitar that launched. That’s a pointed conclusion just the same, highlighting the consciousness at work behind Black Elephant‘s craft and the tricky nature of a record that’s so likely to put its audience in a trance without losing itself in the process. Whatever theme they’re working under, that would seem to be Black Elephant‘s greatest strength, and it makes the manner in which their work unfolds all the more engrossing.
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 18th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
I’m pretty sure I wrote the bio below for Black Elephant‘s upcoming album, Seven Swords. Or if not, I at least gave it a good once-over from what they had before. Either way, I’ve had the chance to sit with the release for a while now, and while there are no-doubter familiar aspects to it in the warm fuzzy tones and charged riffs, there is a subtlety to the blend between patient instrumentalism and all-go forward thrust that is more outwardly dynamic than the band might first let on. That is to say, you should definitely go ahead and stream opening track “Berta’s Flame” at the bottom of this post. It’s not like you’ll regret doing so. But keep in mind as you do that the song isn’t necessarily telling you the whole story of the record.
Also, that story seems to have something to do with sumo wrestling. I’m still not quite sure what. But hey, riffs.
The PR wire has words:
BLACK ELEPHANT: Psychedelic Fuzz Rock Alchemists To Release Seven Swords August 21st Via Small Stone; New Track Streaming + Preorders Available
The planets have aligned, and space itself has opened up to grace us with the heavy roll of BLACK ELEPHANT’s Seven Swords, set for release this August via Small Stone Records.
The Italian fuzzmongers mark ten years of cooperative corporeal existence in 2020 and last checked in from their native Savona in Summer 2018 with the aptly titled Cosmic Blues. Two years and an entire lifetime later, they’re back with another collection of classic-minded heavy groovers, picking the best the ’70s, ’90s, and ’10s had to offer in riffery and melding spacey blowouts with desert-hued hooks.
Seven Swords is the second LP BLACK ELEPHANT has issued in league with Detroit-based imprint Small Stone Records, and whether it’s the scorching leads of “Yayoi Kusama” or the conscious wink-and-nod of “Red Sun And Blues Sun” a short time later — just ahead of the bluesy “Seppuku” and the near-nine-minute stretch of closer “Govinda” — the four-piece bring their finest work to-date in an efficient seven-track, thorty-three-minute stretch, building not only on what they accomplished on Cosmic Blues, but also what their prior two full-lengths — 2014’s Bifolchi Inside and 2012’s Spaghetti Cowboys — were building toward. This is a band coming into their own, wasting neither their time nor yours in the process.
Seven Swords was recorded and mixed by Giulio Farinelli at Green Fog Studio in Genoa, mastered by Farinelli at Everybody On The Shore Studio in Milan, Italy, and mastered by Chris Goosman at Baseline Audio Labs in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Fuzz pedals preach on, the sky cracks, and the riffs themselves seem to lock bellies in sumo battles, so what the hell? The world’s ending anyway. You might as well have some fun with it. BLACK ELEPHANT’s Seven Swords will be released on August 21st on CD and digitally via Small Stone as well as limited edition vinyl via Kozmik Artifactz.
For preorders and to sample opening track, “Berta’s Flame,” visit the Small Stone Bandcamp page at THIS LOCATION.
Seven Swords Track Listing: 1. Berta’s Flame 2. The Last March Of Yokozuna 3. Yayoi Kusama 4. Mihara 5. Red Sun And Blues Sun 6. Seppuku 7. Govinda
[Click play above to stream the video premiere for ‘Walking Dead’ by Black Elephant. Their album, Cosmic Blues, is out July 20 on Small Stone Records.]
Though they stay pretty much within the sphere of heavy rock throughout, the actual sound of Italian four-piece Black Elephant is much more nuanced in its refusal to simply do or be one thing. Within the first three tracks of Cosmic Blues, their second album and debut on the ultra-respected purveyor Small Stone Records, the band bounce around between hard-hitting riffs, psychedelic spaciousness, noisy crunch and meandering jams. Only then do they break into the three-minute riff-winding boogie and straight-ahead drive of “Walking Dead.” And yet, as the opening semi-title-track “Cosmic Soul,” the not-at-all-a-cover “Helter Skelter” and the 1:44 instrumental “Chase Me” play out, there’s nothing particularly jarring in the transitions wrought by guitarist/vocalist Caravelli Alessio, guitarist Giacosa Massimiliano, bassist De Stefanis Marcello, and drummer Brunzu Simone.
Particularly with Alessio belting out the vocals as he does on the swinging “Baby Eroina” later, or in the more subdued verses of “Cosmic Soul,” for that matter, there are elements of classic Swedish heavy rock at play in terms of style — that foundation in classic heavy rock melded with a post-’90s grunge groove — but Cosmic Blues is quick to establish its own identity in the sonic meld and thorough in its expansion thereof. The outing totals a relatively quick seven tracks/34 minutes, but that’s more than enough time for Black Elephant to convey their variety of influence, and it’s worth noting that while they seem to make a point of changing up their take throughout, doing so never seems to come at the expense of an individual song itself. From “Cosmic Soul” onward, they go pretty far out, and yet by maintaining a firm commitment to underlying structure, their feet never seem to leave the ground.
A striking balance, and it speaks to the eight years Black Elephant have been a band that they should be able to roll out the languid solo-topped nod early in “Baby Eroina” and move into and through the boogieing midsection of the 7:31 track — that’s the longest on the record, with “Helter Skelter” pretty close at 7:04 — and back to the central riff with such smoothness. Sure, Cosmic Blues has its jarring moments. Following the penultimate also-semi-title-track “Cosmic Blues for Solitary Moose,” the opening push of closer “Inno” hits like a slap to the face, but that’s what it’s meant to do, and this too becomes part of Black Elephant‘s overarching purpose. There’s a strong commitment to vibe throughout, and to be sure, the record has a front-to-back flow that holds firm throughout, but as many wandering solos as there are — they include a particularly resonant one in “Inno,” as one might expect for the finale — the band seem to have an eye on the overarching impression they leave behind them.
It’s a positive one, gaining from the different faces Black Elephant show throughout and the efforts they make toward consistency in line with that. Hard not to consider the two longer tracks as highlights. With the extra room in “Helter Skelter” and “Baby Eroina,” Black Elephant flesh out stylistically. In the earlier cut, that means knocking out a noise rock riff early and taking it into a heavier groove before shifting via wah-drenched lead work into its jammed-out midsection, gradually getting more and more minimalist as it goes, only to build excitingly back to the chorus and end with some added crunch. “Baby Eroina” — funny how I keep wanting to put an ‘h’ in front of the second word — is looser in its march overall, but saves its trippiest guitar work for its ending, instead putting out thick distortion and funky vibes in its early moments before launching into its mostly-instrumental second half.
Those are by no means the only highlights of Cosmic Blues — I’ll take nothing away from the effectiveness of “Walking Dead”‘s momentum-maximization at the album’s center or the effectiveness of the brief “Chase Me” before it in capitalizing on a will toward sonic adventure — but they’re striking as focal points just the same, and like “Inno,” they do well to summarize the most important aspect of Black Elephant‘s methodology, which is that rather than jump from one sound to the next, they bring this diversity of ideas into their own approach. The difference is ultimately one of coalescence. Black Elephant are able to shift into and out of parts of songs without losing either their forward momentum or, in the case of some of the jammier moments, themselves in the process. This is what makes the album flow instead of having it be disjointed the whole way through. The intent is writ large throughout Cosmic Blues, but in kind with the album’s variety is that strong sense of identity that feels crafted with such care, and that’s what makes the collection work so well and ties the songs together, longer or shorter.
While Black Elephant don’t necessarily go anywhere that heavy and/or psychedelic rock hasn’t gone before, they do an excellent job of finding their niche in the genre and do even better in tipping the balance in their aesthetic to one side or the other. Some will dig it for its variety. Some will dig it for its familiarity. And some will just dig it because riffs. There’s nothing wrong with any of that, and the varied appeal speaks to Black Elephant knowing their audience — as with many bands in the genre, they play with a fan’s love for it — and knowing how to communicate their ideas through sound. Eight years will no doubt help that effort, but Cosmic Blues stands on its own outside of the time it took the band to realize it, and instead, calls back to its influences and inspirations and invites them, and everyone else, to check out how it all came together in the end. It would be hard to argue against doing so, and I find I’m not inclined to try.
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 22nd, 2018 by JJ Koczan
Took me frickin’ forever to write the bio below for the Black Elephant record. Like, two months. Just ridiculous. I finally banged it out after I got back from Planet Roadburn last month, but yeah, it was embarrassingly long in the making. Not the record’s fault by any means. You can hear in opening track “Cosmic Soul” that the Italian outfit have their game together on their third record, Cosmic Blues, so yeah, the lag was all on my end. Turns out I just suck. My second grade teacher, Mrs. Lehman, was right all along.
Second grade was a real killer.
Anyhoozle, Black Elephant‘s Cosmic Blues, complete with a bio by yours truly, is out July 20 and available now to preorder from the ultra-venerable Small Stone Records. The PR wire brings release info, art, and some familiar words — which is doubly fortunate, since the document with the bio was on my stolen laptop. “Hooray for cloud backups,” he said far too late.
I just made myself sad twice in the span of one post. Quitting while behind:
BLACK ELEPHANT: Psychedelic Fuzz Rock Unit To Release Cosmic Blues Full-Length Via Small Stone This July; New Track Streaming + Preorders Available
Italian psychedelic fuzz rock unit BLACK ELEPHANT will release their third full-length, and first under the Small Stone Records banner, titled Cosmic Blues, this July.
One would be hard-pressed to come up with a better descriptor for BLACK ELEPHANT’s Cosmic Blues full-length than the title of the album itself. Based in Savona, Italy, the four-piece have conjured ghosts of ’70s heavy fuzz and ’90s riff mongering offering up a sonic brew that’s both potent and thoroughly modern. Cosmic Blues follows 2014’s Bifolchi Inside and 2012’s Spaghetti Cowboys (get it?) and marks their debut on Small Stone Records. Comprised of lead vocalist/lead guitarist Alessio Caravelli, rhythm guitarist Massimiliano Giacosa, bassist Marcello Destefanis, and drummer Simone Brunzu, BLACK ELEPHANT makes their mark in their home country’s booming heavy rock underground with memorable songs and a sound that’s just as comfortable getting funky on “Chase Me” as it is reimagining Soundgarden as a riff rock outfit à la peak-era Dozer, rolling out huge grooves en route to “Cosmic Blues For Solitary Moose,” loaded with fuzz and scorching solos.
Given a brisk, live sound in its production – fitting for a group with hundreds of shows under their collective belt – Cosmic Blues comes across natural and at times maintains the intensity of BLACK ELEPHANTS’ earlier work (closer “Inno” walks by and waves), while simultaneously exploring more spacious realms in the not-a-cover “Helter Skelter” and the takeoff jammer “Baby Eroina,” which eases into and out of its nodding rhythm with a smoothness worthy of a group’s third album and a fluidity that typifies the record’s entire thirty-four-minute run. Leaving their own tracks in the footsteps of bands like Small Stone’s own Isaak, BLACK ELEPHANT hits a new level of craft with Cosmic Blues, and if the righteous drive of opener “Cosmic Soul,” the flowing progression of the LP that ensues, and the name they’ve given the whole affair are anything to go by, they know it for sure. All the better.
BLACK ELEPHANT’s Cosmic Blues was recorded and mixed by Giulio Farinelli, mastered by Maurizio Giannotti, and cames wrapped in the cover design of Robin Gnista. The record will see release on July 20th on CD, digitally, and limited edition purple vinyl.
For preorders, go to the Small Stone Bandcamp page at THIS LOCATION where you can also sample opening track, “Cosmic Soul.”
Cosmic Blues Track Listing: 1. Cosmic Soul 2. Helter Skelter 3. Chase Me 4. Walking Dead 5. Baby Eroina 6. Cosmic Blues For Solitary Moose 7. Inno
BLACK ELEPHANT is: Alessio Caravelli – lead vocals, lead guitar Massimiliano Giacosa – rhythm guitar Marcello Destefanis – bass guitar Simone Brunzu – drums
