Posted in Questionnaire on March 18th, 2025 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: Seb Painchaud of Tumbleweed Dealer
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
The one constant in my musical journey is “Evolution” . I would describe what I do as musically evolving constantly. Every composition is a stepping stone towards new sounds, every song is meant to push back the limits of what our music can be.
Describe your first musical memory.
It’s not my first musical memory per se, but it’s the first one that really impacted me. I have this uncle that is only 7-8 years older than me. He had a motorcycle, listened to cool music, he was my idol when I was a preteen. He made me a mixtape that I listened to religiously and that impacted my musical tastes profoundly. He had put Yngwie Malmsteen, Uzeb, Frank Zappa, Steve Vai, Jeff Healy, it was really all over the place, and it really helped shape me as a music fan before I even picked up an instrument.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
Seeing our latest album come together. It’s the album I have always wanted to make but didn’t know how to.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
Honesty has always been my most treasured value. I can’t recall one specific instance that was tested, but rather I can say that growing and becoming a father has really shown me the difference between being honest and being an asshole. I’ve had to learn that you can be truthful without being hurtful, and that I can refuse to compromise myself while remaining respectful.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
It leads to more artistic progression. It’s really a “the journey was the destination” kind of thing. The word I use the most to discuss composing music is evolution. I could not have written this album if I didn’t write the first three. I could not have created this project without being in all the bands I was in before. So, everything you create is the result of years of evolution.
How do you define success?
If I was in it for the money, I would not make weird instrumental music, now would I? I wrote this album for myself as a listener. I wanted to make the album I was hoping to hear when I scour the net for new releases. I made something that would last up to repeat listens with deep details to discover on every new play. To me success is when someone tells me they enjoyed the album on that level. That they took the time to dissect it and discover those details. You are on Spotify, you have access to the whole world’s collective musical history, and you chose to spend time with my art out of all of that and to focus on it, to deeply appreciate it. That’s success right there!
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
The endtimes in which we live. As a parent, it is frightening to see the world we live in and to know that our children will never have the carefree childhood we were lucky enough to have.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
A collaborative album with a talented vocalist. Something akin to our song with Ceschi on this latest record.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
To be created. A true artist makes art because he has to. I don’t enjoy the process, but I cannot live without it.
Say something positive about yourself.
I am twice the man I used to be. Having a family has transformed me and I wake up every day trying to make the world a better place for those around me.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
The next episode of Severance. I am HOOKED on that show!!
I’ve been fortunate enough to have The Obelisk among the slew of included presenters for Calgary’s The Electric Highway festival, and I’m glad to be able to continue the thread in 2025. The site’s logo is down there on the poster, keeping company both good and plentiful, but if you’re drawn to the lineup itself rather than the ‘sponsors,’ that’s only reasonable. Bison will headline alongside Castle — two righteous Canadian exports, the latter with a new album out this past Fall — and Fever Dog wlil make the trip from California while Buffalo Bud Buster, The Getmines, Blacksmith and Brewer and La Chinga return, and others, including two Calgary locals to start each night, make first appearances.
It’s a rad mix and, again, thanks to The Electric Highway for letting The Obelisk have anything to do with it whatsoever. I’ll do an oldschool hip-hop shoutout to Billy Goate and Steve Howe. Woop woop and such.
Details as per the PR wire:
The Electric Highway Festival (Calgary, AB) Announces 2025 Lineup w/ BISON, CASTLE, LA CHINGA, BUFFALO BUD BUSTER and more!
The Electric Highway Festival is excited to announce the full lineup for the 2025 edition of the Festival being held in Calgary, AB on April 4 & 5 at Dickens (1000 9 Ave SW).
Canadian veteran sludge metal band BISON headlines the whole festival while doom metal band CASTLE headlines Friday night. They will be joined by Southern California band FEVER DOG, and various Western Canadian bands including LA CHINGA, BUFFALO BUD BUSTER, THE GETMINES, 88 MILE TRIP, and more. The Final Full Line Up by Day: Friday, April 4, 2025 Castle (San Francisco/ Vancouver) Buffalo Bud Buster (Calgary) Blacksmith and Brewer (Vancouver)) CHÛNK (Vancouver) Hydracat (Edmonton) The Astral Prophets (Calgary) BUNS (Calgary) Doors 5pm – Show 6pm Saturday, April 5, 2025 Bison (Vancouver) La Chinga (Vancouver) Fever Dog (Southern California) The Getmines (Vancouver) 88 Mile Trip (Vancouver) Lover (Calgary) GEOFF (Calgary) Doors 5pm – Show 6pm
Advance 2-day passes are available for $75. Advance single-day tickets are $40 for Friday and $45 for Saturday
The Electric Highway Festival hosts various genres that range from Desert Rock, Stoner Metal, Doom, Sludge, Trippy Psychedelic, Surf Rock, Acid Rock, Noise Rock, Fuzz Rock, Space Rock, Blues Rock, Heavy Psych, Heavy Blues, Southern Rock, Fuzzy Punk, Sludgy Hardcore bands and variations of any of the previously mentioned styles. The festival includes a vendor area with interesting goods for attendees to take home with them.
Previous editions of the festival featured one of the event’s past favorites Californian headliners Sasquatch, Juno Award-winning Canadian band ANCIIENTS, Vancouver’s La Chinga, Space Queen, Dead Quiet, and more, Gnarwhal from Yellowknife, NWT, Calgary’s Gone Cosmic, Hombre, Flashback among many more, and a whole host of other great bands.
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 14th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
The evocative drone of Montreal-based solo artist Vision Eternel is well suited in sound to romantic notions, so it’s fitting that a tradition has emerged wherein an exclusive Valentine’s Day something or other shows up. In this case, it’s the previously unreleased song “Moments of September (Reprise).” It’s not new in the sense of being just made, but was written in the late teens for For Farewell of Nostalgia and if I told you it was melancholic with hints of melody and a noir-style depth of lore and lost love, well, you could only really say it’s consistent with what Vision Eternel do. At its core, wistfulness is an essential element.
Copious details follow, as per the PR wire. I couldn’t find an embeddable (sp?) stream of the track, but if you follow the link below, it takes you to where you can download the song direct:
This Valentine’s Day marks the eighteenth anniversary of Vision Eternel’s debut extended play, Seul Dans L’obsession. It is also the sixteenth anniversary of the Japanese compilation, An Anthology Of Past Misfortunes, the tenth anniversary of the extended play Echoes From Forgotten Hearts (and the first anniversary of its Deluxe Edition). All Vision Eternel releases were originally planned to be released on Valentine’s Day, but most of them missed the deadline due to recording, mixing, mastering, artwork, or record label delays.
Unfortunately, Vision Eternel does not have a new release to present to its fans in 2025, but since this holiday is such a meaningful and important date in the band’s calendar (and also Jack Benny’s birthday), we are offering our annual Valentine’s Day Exclusive heartbreak treat: “Moments Of September (Reprise)”, an unreleased rarity from the band’s archives.
In keeping with the band’s most recent release, last year’s Deluxe Edition re-issue of Echoes From Forgotten Hearts, this song traces its origins from that extended play. Written for Echoes From Forgotten Hearts in 2014, but re-recorded during For Farewell Of Nostalgia‘s first session in 2018, “Moments Of September (Reprise)” offers a new take on “Pièce No. Sept”. The idea of Echoes From Forgotten Hearts was, initially, to have a single song that lasted seven to ten minutes. However, once the material was arranged for the score of a short film, the long song was broken down into smaller sections, or pieces. It was recorded and released as such on Echoes From Forgotten Hearts.
During the early demoing sessions for For Farewell Of Nostalgia in April 2017, “Pièce No. Sept” and other segments of Echoes From Forgotten Hearts were often played in rehearsal. Later, in June 2018, an idea sparked to finally record a proper seven to ten-minute version of the finished songs, as originally envisioned in 2014. The new version of the song, which took on the updated title “Moments Of September”, would have remained a b-side of For Farewell Of Nostalgia, but only a couple of demo versions were tracked during the release’s first recording session, between June and August 2018, and it was not re-recorded during the second recording session in 2019.
In addition to demoing the lengthier version, a new arrangement was made for a reprise version. This arrangement was made, recorded, and mixed on the night of July 19, 2018, during the same session as another reprise b-side, “Moments Of Neglection (Reprise)”. “Moments Of September (Reprise)” was one of two songs considered as an exclusive hidden bonus track for the vinyl edition of For Farewell Of Nostalgia, which was ultimately never released because the band could not secure a record deal (we are still looking!).
An original colored pencil drawing by Rain Frances of Rain Frances Art accompanies this year’s Valentine’s Day Exclusive. Frances has provided artwork for past Vision Eternel releases, including the Deluxe Edition of Echoes From Forgotten Hearts, For Farewell Of Nostalgia, the An Anthology Of Past Misfortunes boxed set, and the Lost Misfortunes series, as well as previous Valentine’s Day Exclusives.
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 6th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Vancouver’s Heavy Trip have been riding a wave of positive reception since the November release of their second album, Liquid Planet, which I swear I’m going to review one of these days. I’m sure you’ve heard it because you’re cool like that — if not, no worries, player’s below — but it’s four songs/40 minutes instrumental neostoner bangers. The band sound energetic coming off 2020’s self-titled debut (review here), and they’ll take the show on the road next month to support the LP, playing in Canada and deigning to come to the United States, which honestly, if I was Canadian, I would probably not at this point do. Kudos, Heavy Trip, on your generosity of spirit in sharing sets with such a roiling shitshow of a country.
I put this one on the calendar. It’s in Manhattan, which compared to every recent experience in New York I’ve had sounds so easy I can’t believe it, but it’s also a Friday night, which is hard for traffic. But, Sundrifter are gonna be there. Two bands I’ve never seen makes it hard to argue. Maybe I can get a babysitter and make it date night, just accept that getting out of the city after is gonna take two hours. Life man. Oddly enough I never used to think about this shit in my 20s. Too drunk, likely.
…Thanks for taking that little walk off-topic with me. Here’s the info you probably clicked here for in the first place. Have a great day:
⚡️🛸HEAVY TRIPPING EAST🛸⚡️🗽🎚️💥 🇨🇦/🇺🇸 TOUR COMMENCING MARCH 2025 📡 10 GIGS 11 DAYS, SEE YA ON Z ROAD ⛽️ 💨
@black_throne_productions 🍻🍻🍻🍻🍻🍻🍻🍻🍻🍻
Wednesday, March 12 – Montreal – @bar_lesco Hosted by @astrosonicprods Thursday, March 13 – Ottawa – @houseoftarg Hosted by @strangevalleyprodetrangevallee Friday, March 14 – Toronto – @bovinesexclub Hosted by @black_throne_booking & @fuzzedandbuzzed Saturday, March 15 – Hamilton – @doorspubhamilton Hosted by @black_throne_booking Sunday, March 16 – Niagara – @niagaraartistscentre Hosted by @black_throne_productions Tuesday, March 18 – Buffalo – @recroombuffalo Hosted by @heavyblazerbooking & @afterdarkpresents Wednesday, March 19 – Albany – @empirelivealbany Hosted by @empirelivealbany Thursday. March 20 – Providence, RI – @fetemusic Hosted by @sundrifterbc Friday, March 21 – NYC – @theboweryelectric Hosted by @sundrifterbc Saturday, March 22 – Easthampton, Massachusetts – @marigoldtheater Hosted by @marigoldtheater
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 23rd, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Montreal heavy rockers Sons of Arrakis this week begin their 2025 round of live activity supporting their second album, Volume II (review here), heading out on the previously announced ‘The Great Scattering Part II’ tour with Salem’s Bend. The occasion there — in addition to the record and the importance of getting together and doing things with friends, duh — is a stop through Planet Desert Rock Weekend V at the end of the month in Las Vegas, and I can’t help but note that Stoomfest, which is listed below for July at the end of the band’s to-now-revealed live plans for this year, is in the UK. Seems fair to expect at very least a week of touring around that, unless it’s an exclusive one-off or some such.
To my knowledge those will be the band’s first shows not in Canada or its embarrassing southern neighbor, but there are plenty of chances to see them in the US too, including this Spring in the Northeast and at Maryland Doom Fest in June. All the dates and info are below, as posted on socials by the band:
🚀 Sons of Arrakis: Shai-Hulud Odyssey Part I – 2025 🚀
We’re thrilled to announce the Shai-Hulud Odyssey 2025 tour presented by Black Throne Productions! 🌌 This journey will take us across North America and beyond!
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 2nd, 2025 by JJ Koczan
It would seem to have worked out the first time if the somewhat exhausted but contently familiar faces of Salem’s Bend and Sons of Arrakis in the photo are anything to go by. At least those you can see. The two bands, from Los Angeles and Montreal, respectively, set out together this past February and March on a run of six joint Canadian shows, and this West Coasty stint coming up at the end of January would seem to be a fitting answer to that.
Further impetus, of course, is provided by the stopthrough in Las Vegas for Sons of Arrakis to play the opening night of Planet Desert Rock Weekend V, but it’s always nice to know that two bands enjoyed each other’s company enough to want to ever speak or play a show together again, let alone potentially share space, gear and/or van stink for upwards of a week’s time.
One difference between this year (2025) and last is that in 2024, Sons of Arrakis released Volume II (review here), which is certainly a thing to consider. Oh, and I didn’t actually see a poster for the tour, which is called ‘Great Scattering Part II,’ but there’s a credit for one to Bill Kole in the social media post below. If you read this and have it, I’m happy to add it to the post after the fact. Thanks.
Please note that all event links below are live. It took me an embarrassingly long time this morning to cut and paste hyperlinks between tabs, so yes, I’m pointing it out. I probably got them wrong, so heads up there too, I guess:
⚡️Great Scattering Tour Part II⚡️
One month to go before we hop on a plane to Los Angeles to reunite with our friends from Salem’s Bend ! Visas are sorted, gear is ready, and we’re fired up!
We had so much fun on our Great Scattering tour through Québec and Ontario earlier this year that we just had to make a Part II ⚡️
Cheers to our partners at Ripple Music, Black Throne Productions and Vegas Rock Revolution for making it happen!
Scope the dates below and we’ll see you on the road!
Tomorrow, Jan. 3, is the release date of the second Pontiac EP, Night Tripper and a UFO. If it’s not already marked on your calendar, it’s cool, I know everybody gets busy around the holidays, etc., but if you caught wind of the duo’s debut release, Hard Knox (review here), back in early 2024 and had your interest piqued, the four-songer follow-up digs deeper into the nuance of influence and into the songs themselves for a more expanded but cohesive feel. At the center of the project is guitarist/vocalist/bassist Dave Cotton, also known for his work in the likewise intricate progressive metal outfit Seven Nines and Tens, and with these songs, he and drummer Drew Christie explore ground around psychedelic indie, post-hardcore, shifting with heavy fluidity through parts and melodies pulling from different sides, veering into and out of wash and shimmer, the crash and ringout vibrant before the title line is delivered, again, to round out “Night Tripper and the UFO.” The abiding vibe is weird, the music a 17-minute (and some of that is silence after the title-track in my version) call to the open-minded and aurally curious: come hear something you might not’ve heard before.
That call remains the same, mind you, even for those who took on Hard Knox from out of the glut of the digital ether. Pontiac‘s initial public offering traded on its ability to pivot, to bounce between one idea and the next, and to make it flow except where the interruption was the point. Night Tripper and a UFO operates similarly, and sometimes it’s still Cotton‘s voice wrangling disparate ideas into a single song, but “Death Valley” unfurls with layered harmony, hints a record scratch in its ’90s-strut midsection if doesn’t actually have one, and works to and through a bright-toned and still angular nod to cap with the line “No better time than the nighttime” amid a fading rollout into the more garage “Night Tripper and a UFO,” taking the emo at root in Cotton‘s vocal style and giving it a pastoral chorus backdrop early before adding backing vocals by Sara Wazani. A penchant for throwing open doors, aurally, shows itself in both “Death Valley” and “Night Tripper and a UFO” as it moves in its second half back to the hook to close, the standout line somehow Beatlesian, “Headmistress will perform/Night tripper and a UFO,” in the tradition of Mr. Kite’s Benefit happening in a world the listener can’t and doesn’t need to fully see to appreciate.
“Bible of the Roaring Twenties” calls back to some of the oldie-born realizations of the first EP, which I’m pretty sure I called an album last year — it doesn’t matter, it’s all made up and I’m willing to argue my point — but takes on a twang in its electric guitar before shifting into pastoral, gentle-snare surf shuffle shove. If the first two of its three minutes seem brazen in their straightforwardness, just before three minutes in, organ arrives to hold your hand as you leap off the cliff into the ending procession of decades, and the capper “Cut the Competition to Shreds” follows with mid-’60s shine resonating from its guitar. The narrative, loaded with place-names, including prisons, speaks to the Americana life-on-road ideal — you can read below of Cotton‘s inspiration from Kerouac — presented in snippets complemented by jangly alt rock guitar and music that feels built around the words but that serves its own purposes as well. “Cut the Competition to Shreds,” which in its title highlights a kind of capitalistic cruelty and the violence of exploitation so often framed as part of the natural order, is a fitting ending for Night Tripper and a UFO, for its ensuing quirk, sure, but also for the outward-looking perspective of the song itself.
Like the rest of the short release that surrounds, it confirms the experimentalist crux underlying Pontiac‘s craft and the individual poise of Cotton‘s songwriting in collaboration with Christie. I don’t know that Pontiac are or aren’t working their way toward a full-length — aren’t we all, on some level? — but Night Tripper and a UFO asserts/affirms a progression underway in the craft, and a distinct creative voice coming into focus. Not everyone who hears it will be able to get on board, but Pontiac is likely to land in craterous fashion with the right kind of oddball ears. Take a breath before you dive in.
For further background, Cotton was kind enough to present a track-by-track look at where the material is coming from, going into detail on some of the meld of influence and such. There’s a lot more substance to what’s going on here than the 17 minutes really hints. I encourage you in a spirit of friendship to dig in.
And please, enjoy:
Night Tripper and a UFO Track-by-Track with Dave Cotton
My drummer Drew and I had a really enjoyable time making the first Pontiac release “Hard Knox” in 2023 at Little Red Sound in New Westminster with Felix Fung. When we recorded the first tune “Ether” for the session, Felix asked us to come into the control room and listen to the take. He pointed to the screen with the soundwave of our performance and said “you guys could have recorded this to tape.” What he was referring to was the old recording technique of recording to two inch tape, where the performance had to be flawless. Personally, I was excited to hear that. Especially coming from Felix who is as savvy a musician as anyone you will meet.
The new record Night Tripper and UFO was less easy to record. I wrote the songs in half the time and we weren’t as well rehearsed. We finished the session feeling humbled which was the polar opposite of the Hard Knox sessions. Despite this it was still enjoyable and I think the sounds we got the 2nd time are seemingly higher quality.
As well this was my first time working with Noah Mintz at the Lacquer Channel based in Toronto. Noah is a bit of a Canadian musician legend. It’s pretty exciting as a songwriter to finally work with him and as a result I feel like I have a batch of some of my best tunes in this release.
“Death Valley”
I really wanted to write a song that sounded like the band Cactus and their cover of Bukka White’s blues classic “Parchman Farm Blues.” For those having heard the Cactus version, it’s very busy complex drumming, with really busy guitar playing over top. Cactus were being championed as “The American Led Zeppelin” during that era. I think they only put out two records, maybe three, before they split, but if you listen to the performance on their tune, it’s pretty incredible. Aside from that I was also trying to capture the spirit of 70s hard rock like Montrose, Budgie, Bloodrock, Groundhogs, Blue Cheer, and Bubble Puppy.
Death Valley’s working title was “Hobby Farm.” In writing it, it was a literal riff farm of ideas. When I edited them altogether finally, it was tricky to keep the busy spirit of the arrangement but also make it sort of linear in a traditional song context.
“Night Tripper and a UFO”
This tune’s working title for a long time was “Shake Dope” as I was trying to write a song like “Shake the Dope Out” by Warlocks from LA. Sara Wazani of Vancouver group “The Brahmankind” stopped by the studio the day we tracked vocals. She contributed some amazing singing to the track.
“Bible of the Roaring Twenties”
Part of my intention with Pontiac is to create a sort of subversive take on late 80s and early 90s Canadian Content groups like The Northern Pikes, Skydiggers, Glass Tiger, Frozen Ghost, and The Pursuit of Happiness. I can hear me going for that on this track. My love of John Squire from the Stone Roses is on full display as well with the guitar phrases, especially the pull off lead lines.
This song also sounds like the Eagles on acid to my ears. I was definitely influenced by the group the Four Freshmen with all the vocal harmonies. This song started out as me trying to write something “surfy” like Link Wray. Funny how songs rarely sound like the original intention.
“Cut the Competition to Shreds”
I read “On the Road Again” by Jack Kerouc this year. The book’s themes of manic wanderlust, and road trip adventures were an influence on the lyrics for this tune. I started out trying to write something like Atlanta band Deerhunter but as usual, it ends up sounding completely different than intended.
Recorded at Little Red Sound Engineered and mixed by Felix Fung Mastered by Noah Mintz at Lacquer Channel Additional vocals on title track Sara Wazani
Pontiac: Guitars, bass, vocals David Cotton Drums Drew Christie
Posted in Bootleg Theater on December 27th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
I distinctly remember when Toronto’s Quest for Fire released their self-titled debut in 2009, in no small part because I utterly whiffed on it. Brutally. The label behind the release, New York’s much-respected Tee Pee Records, had just switched their promo methodology to sending CDs in a generic digipak for review, and I was bummed about that, because artwork, etc. And so, when it came time to dig into the self-produced six-track/43-minute outing from the heavy psychedelic rockers — the album’s lineup: Chad Ross (ex-The Deadly Snakes, also Nordic Nomadic, Comet Control and solo work as C.Ross) on guitar, vocals and Korg, Andrew Moszynski (Comet Control) on guitar, Josh Bauman (Nordic Nomadic) on bass, Mike Maxymuik (ex-Cursed, ex-Black Mountain) on drums, plus here Will Kidman on keys and Matt Carlson (who also engineered) on harmonica — I let it go. I don’t have another way to say it. Sometimes the thought of listening, liking, buying one more good record is exhausting. Right or wrong, I didn’t have room in my heart for Quest for Fire‘s Quest for Fire.
Wrong, decidedly.
As a matter of self-defense from myself, it wasn’t all that long before I got on board. Quest for Fire‘s second record, 2010’s Lights From Paradise (review here), was an admirably languorous work of lush, resonant, and melodic psych. Not without its more active moments, but defined by the serenity overarching its procession, Ross‘ mellow vocals giving even the brashest stretches a peaceful vibe. In an interview here in 2021, Ross talked about the rougher edges and more nebulous definition (paraphrasing) of Quest for Fire‘s early days, the jams from which the first album was born, and indeed the self-titled carries a looser construction than the record that followed in such short order.
This becomes a boon to the songs quickly as four-minute, comparatively taut careening opener “Bison Eyes” prefaces the new space rock by hailing the old, showing punker roots in the riff, but immediately rich in tone in a way that’s atmospheric even with the tempo. Lead guitar notes float over the thrust, and the backbeat holds behind the swirl of the last verse and chorus, taking some influence from heavy rock but using it toward decidedly more molten ends, and when it’s done, “Strange Waves” complicates the plot with hints of a Western ramble next to languid, addled chug with acoustic guitar (and Carlson‘s echoing harmonica) laced through, complementing the bottom-end heft with a sense of lightness as would become an essential facet of Quest for Fire‘s work during their time, and building to a roll across its seven and a half minutes that’s glorious in its payoff, pointedly slower than “Bison Eyes” and a classic example of a band leading off with a rocker and then pulling the floor out from under their listener. One can’t hear some Dead Meadow-style fuzzgaze in “Hawk That Hunts the Walking” (8:44) at the end of side A manifest in the wah soloing and verses, but the chorus has a layered, complex melody of its own, and there’s more depth to it than just that as they cycle through quieter and louder parts, keeping the nod of “Strange Waves” from the outset and holding forth a kind of glacial momentum as they solo to the finish from which side B’s “I’ve Been Trying to Leave” crashes in. Well hello.
If you’ve been hanging in this far, congratulations. Quest for Fire‘s spacious mix has plenty of room for the listener the burrow themselves into, but lacks nothing for impact, whether it’s Maxymuik‘s snare or Bauman‘s bass underscoring “Strange Waves,” and the second half of the album continues with a mind toward expansion of sound. At 6:16, “I’ve Been Trying to Leave” realigns more toward the straightforward, like a funhouse mirror of how “Bison Eyes” started off, manipulated in its purposes to its own ends as it imagines a psychedelic post-hardcore the likes of which a band might’ve made an entire career out of. Swirl and churn and melody and charge are all accounted for, and as with side A, the two longer cuts that follow — “You Are Always Loved” (7:23) and the closer “Next to the Fire” (9:08) — draw from the well of energy established just prior.
Quest for Fire didn’t invent this methodology, but they employ it well on their first LP, and it gives “You Are Always Loved” the freedom to be as subdued as it wants without entirely losing the balance of motion in the material. There are subtler ebbs and peaks in the first half of the track, a fuzzy solo and acoustic/voice finish, and the abiding kindness of the lyrical reassurance feels like part of the ambient breadth; a sweet herald of things to come, both in Quest for Fire and in Ross and Moszynski‘s subsequent outfit, Comet Control, and in the former’s songwriting more generally. Such moments of a band ‘figuring it out’ aren’t always so palpable, but they’re making a home in the nebulous range of “You Are Always Loved,” and the space left open as the title-line is delivered underscores the point.
That leaves “Next to the Fire” as both last and longest of Quest for Fire‘s inclusions, and it buzzes to life around an accordingly large roll. The wah’s on, the cymbals crashing, the movement forward and at a more active tempo as they shift into the verse around twists of lead and echoing vocal lines. “Next to the Fire” is more brash, but like “Hawk That Hunts the Walking,” is leant a more individual impression by Ross‘ breathy delivery, which in the second half becomes the calm around which the storm is rotating. They end with noise and a wisp of synth, which is fair enough, and leave the listener with an in-the-room feel as regards dynamic, their chemistry established unflinchingly across a swath of well united moods and immersive sounds.
I won’t say I’ve been avoiding Quest for Fire‘s Quest for Fire for the last 15 years, because I’ve listened to it plenty in that span if less than its follow-up, but digging into the songs again, I retain my sheepishness at having skipped out initially, much to my own loss. The band would be done in 2013 and Comet Control picked up from there with their 2014 self-titled debut (review here), which brought new direction to what Quest for Fire had built. In addition to serving as a refresher at how underrated this band was, I guess the hindsight is a reminder that music, art and so much else in life doesn’t have an expiration date, no matter what capital-driven internet-era FOMO would tell you otherwise. Maybe you’ll hear it now, maybe you heard it then, maybe you’ll hear Quest for Fire‘s self-titled in another 15 years. There’s comfort knowing it’ll still be there, whenever you need it.
As always, I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading.
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This week was Xmas. We hosted Xmas Eve for my family on Tuesday, a casual thing. Thanksgiving was a big sit-down dinner, this was mellower. My sister, her husband and one of their sons were all sick, so my mother and one of my nephews came, along with my sister’s in-laws (who also live in the neighborhood) and a couple of local cousins. It was pleasant and relatively low-key. The plan had been to go to my mother/sister’s house for Xmas Day, but that was canceled; still sick. Yesterday I ended up taking my nephew (who is 16 and just getting into metal; drop your recommendations in the comments) to the video game store, and that was fun, and today The Patient Mrs.’ mother, sister, and her two kids are coming down today to stay over to tomorrow and do a delayed celebration either tonight or tomorrow I don’t really know. All the while, The Pecan is off from school and spending much time on the iPad in the mornings, though yesterday we also spent like two hours at an indoor play-place in Fairfield called FunTime Junction — we were like the only ones there for an hour; it was great — where we’ve been a bunch of times, so trying to keep a balance in the activity level as much as possible in the cold. It snowed on Monday and Tuesday.
So that was the holiday. Being spectacularly broke, it was not a huge splash of presents. I asked The Patient Mrs. what she wanted, she wanted socks. I bought her the socks she wanted. I also got socks, a case of Topo Chico (which is kind of a gag gift, but also pretty good if you like spending $2.50 for a bottle of seltzer), and the Final Fantasy VII/VIII remaster for Switch. Not the VII remake for PS5 or whatever, the original games, which I bought somewhat for posterity because I figured I’d want to play VIII again eventually, ever, at some point, and the likelihood of finding the four-disc PS1 version I bought in 1999 alongside a new tv specifically purchased to play that game with money I earned stocking shelves at KB Toys Store #1051 in on Rt.10 & 202 in Morris Plains, NJ — roughly a minute from where I now live — is probably on par with my likelihood of finding that tv. I started a new game, got killed by the big dinosaur early on, and nostalgia ensued. I’ll call it a win.
It was a relatively quiet week around here, but I’m glad to have gotten the reviews up that I did for The Whims of the Great Magnet and West, Space and Love — two 2024 releases I definitely wanted to cover before crossing the admittedly arbitrary line of the New Year. Happy New Year, by the way. I’m taking off Jan. 1 and will try to put together the poll results. If I can do it in one day, I’ll post accordingly, but don’t count on it. Not that you’re holding your breath, but I kind of am. The difference between first and second place is four votes. That’s tighter than it’s been in years. Every vote counts.
Kind of a rough morning so far as The Pecan has decided she no longer wants her meds in a mashed banana and so a pivot is required to whatever the next fucking thing that will spark minimal cooperation might be. A bribe? Some complicated performance aspect? Who knows, but rest assured, it’s fucking always something and generally an argument. It’s nine in the morning and I’ve already been punched today, which doesn’t happen every day anymore but still sucks for sure and has a tendency to sour one’s mood. I’ll eat a gummy and chill out, shower and have breakfast. Just feels shitty to feel like I need to redirect my own morning before it’s really even started, no less with company coming and all that. I don’t know. Small bumps in the big picture, but they add up.
That’s a bummer note to leave on, so let’s look at next week. Monday is a Darsombra video premiere if I get the video in time. Thursday I have a full premiere for the second Pontiac record. I need this weekend to write a bio for the new 16 album, which is rad, and there’s still news to catch up on forever, so that.
Whatever you’re up to, have a great and save weekend. Don’t forget to hydrate, especially if you’re hitting it to ring in 2025, and watch your head. I’m gonna go bathe for the first time since, I think, Tuesday, and get my head right. Thanks again for reading.
