Quarterly Review: Fuzz Sagrado, 24/7 Diva Heaven, Mount Hush, Luna Sol, Ian Blurton’s Future Now, Moskitos, Deer Lord, TFNRSH, Altareth, Jarzmo

Posted in Reviews on December 10th, 2024 by JJ Koczan

THE-OBELISK-FALL-2020-QUARTERLY-REVIEW

Day two. I mean, it’s work in the sense of it takes effort to put together these posts and structure thoughts into hopefully somewhat coherent sentences, etc., but at this point the Quarterly Review is a pretty important tool for me to hear records that, generally once I hear them, I feel like I want to be covering. Sometimes the intensity of that feeling varies; there are things that don’t “fit” with the stoner-and-doom adjacent foundations of what this site does, but the format allows for that flexibility as well, and I credit the QR for helping broaden the perspective of the site as a whole and making me push my own boundaries.

Admittedly, the trade for covering so much — 50 records in five days is a lot, if it needs to be said — is that I can’t always get as deep as I otherwise might, but as I’ve said before, the fact is that I’m one person, and if writing about a lot of this stuff didn’t happen in this way, it probably wouldn’t happen at all. It’s still never going to be everything I want to cover, but doing it this was is often more suited to the subject at hand than a longform writeup would be, it gives me a chance to explore, it’s a consistently challenging undertaking on multiple levels, and it’s satisfying like little else around here when you’re on the other end of one and immediately start building the next.

I’m not entirely sure why I felt the need right there to justify the existence of the entire Quarterly Review thing as a part of this site. If you care, thanks. If not, I can only call that understandable. Thanks for seeing this sentence and whatever you came here for anyway.

We march on, into day two.

Quarterly Review #11-20:

Fuzz Sagrado, Cold Remains

fuzz sagrado cold remains

As Christian Peters has gradually embraced his inner rocker over the last couple years with Fuzz Sagrado, rediscovering the sacredness of tone, if you will, and using an expanded palette of synth and keyboards to build on the project’s beginnings while tying it together with his prior outfit, the heavy psych rockers Samsara Blues Experiment, it’s fascinating how much the respective personalities of the two acts still shine through. On Cold Remains, along with the new song “Snowchild” that leads off, Peters showcases three until-now lost pieces that have their origins in his former band but were never released: “Cold Remains,” a grim-lyric title-track given due heft of low end, the short “Morphine Prayer,” which intertwines acoustic strum and electric leads and drops the drums for an even more open feel, and “Neurotic Nirvana,” which clues you into the grunge of its central riff in the title but stretches outward from there across six minutes with particular bliss in the solo for a hopeful second half. It sounds like reconciliation, and in that, it fits well with the ongoing growth of Peters‘ Brazilian period.

Fuzz Sagrado on Facebook

Electric Magic Records on Bandcamp

24/7 Diva Heaven, Gift

24-7 Diva Heaven Gift

From the punkish opening shove of “Rat Race” and “Manic Street Ballet,” 24/7 Diva Heaven‘s second full-length for Noisolution, Gift, unfolds a style that’s both raw and dense enough to carry a heavy groove, straightforward but nuanced in craft and threaded through with attitude born out of ’90s-era riot grrrl noise rock, but able to temper that somewhat with a mellower, more melodic rocker like “Crown of Creation” — some influence from The Donnas, maybe? — before the sharp-edged intensity of “Face Down” and the thrust of “These Days” precede the centerpiece title-track’s quiet-grunge trading off with careening, hard-hitting punk rock in a way that works. No worries, as “L.O.V.E. Forever” and the Godsleep-esque aggro-rocker “Suck it Up” follow at what might be the start of side B, with a highlight bassy groove in the QOTSA-meets-Nirvana catchy “Born to Get Bored,” staying in a heavy rock modus but nonetheless faster and kind of threatening to throw a punch in “Flawless Fool,” the piano-led “Nothing Lasts” capping with duly wistful minimalism. Killer. It’s 11 tracks in 32 minutes, wastes zero of its own or your time, and has something to say both in sound and its lyrics. This band should be on all the festivals.

24/7 Diva Heaven on Facebook

Noisolution website

Mount Hush, II

MOUNT HUSH II

Holy smokes that’s a vibe. Even at its most active — which would be “Grey Smoke,” if you want specifics — the heavygaze-adjacent psych blues rock of Germany’s Mount Hush holds an encompassing sense of atmosphere, and while cuts like “All I See” or the smokey “Blues for the Dead” can trace some of what they do to the likes of All Them Witches, Queens of the Stone Age, Colour Haze, and so on, the material is inventive, unrushed and explores outward from a solid foundation of craft, leaning perhaps deepest into psych on “Celestial Eyes,” featuring a classy bit of flute in the penultimate “54” and going big in melody and tone for the finishing move in “Blood Red Sky,” working in Eastern scales for a meditative feel while staying loyal to its own distortion and post-Uncle Acid swing; one more part of the not-slapdash pastiche Mount Hush build as they take a marked breadth of influence, melt it down and shape something of their own from it. Gorgeously. Flowing with grace at no expense to the impact, II is a striking and forward looking point of arrival waiting to be caught up to. This is a band I’m glad to have heard, even before you get to the RPG.

Mount Hush on Facebook

Mount Hush’s Linktr.ee

Luna Sol, Vita Mors

luna sol vita mors

Wherever you’re headed, Luna Sol are ready to meet you there. David Angstrom — also of Hermano — leads the bluesy heavy rockers with a slew of choice, family-style cuts. Granted, with 15 tracks and more than 50 minutes of material, there’s room to move around a bit, but whether it’s the Leaf Hound cover “Freelance Fiend” or Mountain‘s “Never in My Life” or the delay-laced verses of not-a-cover “Surrounded by Thieves” later on, Vita Mors offers both scope and craft around the heavy blues framework. That can get a little meaner tonally in “Watch Our Skeletons Die” or fuzzily back a bouncing groove on “I’ll Be Your One,” and the songs will remain united through Angstrom‘s vocals and the trust the band as a whole earn through the strength of their songwriting. It’s not a minor undertaking in an age of short attention spans, but given their time, Vita Mors‘ songs can very easily start to live with you.

Luna Sol on Facebook

Ripple Music website

Ian Blurton’s Future Now, Crimes of the City

Ian Blurton's Future Now Crimes of the City

Taut in their two-guitar drive and going big on hooks and harmonies alike, Ian Blurton’s Future Now‘s second album, Crimes of the City, is a heart-on-sleeve heavy rocker brimming with life, purpose in its construction, and a sense of celebrating the riffs and metals of old. With Blurton himself on guitar/vocals, guitarist Aaron Goldstein, bassist Anna Ruddick and drummer Glenn MilchemGregory MacDonald is also listed as ‘The Goose’ in the credits — the four-piece don’t touch the four-minute mark once in Crimes of the City‘s succession of 10 bangers, despite coming close in “Cast Away the Stones,” and as one could only expect, the songs are air tight in structure and delivery. And just when it seems to run the risk of being too perfect, Blurton drops the layers for the verse of “Nocturnal Transmissions” or exudes sheer delight in the ’80s metal of “Seventh Sin of Devotion,” or the whole band rides a groove like “School’s In,” and it’s all so open, welcoming and vibrant that it can’t help but be human in the end. Killer at any volume, but more don’t hurt.

Ian Blurton’s Future Now on Facebook

Ian Blurton’s Future Now on Bandcamp

Moskitos, Mirage

moskitos mirage

Prone to a psych-garage freakout, willfully jagged on the swaying “Two Birds,” indie drifting to the Riff-Filled Land™ and the neighboring Epicsolosburg on “Ten Lies” and righteously horny/not creepy on “Woman,” Mirage is the first full-length from South Africa’s Moskitos, and while it has some element of sneer as a facet inherited from in-genre influences, “Ryder” still feels sincere as it departs what Moe called a “carhole” one time in favor of a more open landscape. There’s intricacy in the rhythm of “Believer” if you want it, and the set-up-for-contrast relative patience of opener “Umbra,” which, yeah, still twists the cosmos a bit by the time it’s done, is a highlight as well, and “Trigger” shifts between quiet parts and putting a shuffle beneath its melodic ending, but some of the most effective moments here are more about the soul behind it all. The feel is loose, but they’re not without a plan, and while there’s no shortage of haze between here and there, it will be interesting to hear how Moskitos build on ideas like the expansive-but-not-unpoppy-till-the-payoff “Ten Lies” and what new ground they find as they move forward.

Moskitos on Facebook

Moskitos’ Linktr.ee

Deer Lord, Dark Matter Pt. 2

deer lord dark matter pt. 2

This Halloween-issued sequel to Deer Lord‘s early-2023 EP, Dark Matter (review here) unfolds across six tracks broken into two sides of three each. Each begins with its longest track (immediate points), and uses the spaciousness cast in “Dark Matter” (8:11) and “Intelligent Life” (7:24), respectively, to bolster the atmosphere of the rockers that follow, “Faster” and “Dogma” on side A, the swinging cosmic blowout “Blade” and closer “Pay” on side B. If that makes it sound somewhat orderly, this symmetry is contrasted by the loosen-your-head psychedelic drive of “Dogma” or “Faster” sounding like Clutch as beamed from Voyager 1 hitting a gravity wave on the way. The now-trio of guitarist/vocalist Sheafer McOmber, drummer Ryan Alderman and bassist Jared Marill hit on a sonic niche of earthy fuzz meeting with spaced plasmatic volatility. It’s big and it moves! It would be more of a surprise if they weren’t signed by somebody or other by the time they get around to their debut full-length.

Deer Lord on Facebook

Deer Lord on Bandcamp

TFNRSH, Book of Circles

TFNRSH Book of Circles

Following up on their 2023 self-titled-if-you-go-by-apparent-pronunciation LP, Tiefenrausch, Book of Circles sees instrumentalist three-piece TFNRSH make a striking entry into the admittedly crowded German and greater European sans-vocal heavy psychedelic underground. Standing out through a proggy use of synth, the second album offers “Zorn” in the place the first put “Slift,” and while it’s true the band remain not without influence from the modern European heavy psychedelic ouevre — some of the twists in “Zemestån” feel Elderian, as an example — they’re distinguished not only by how heavy “Zorn” eventually gets or “WRZL” is at its outset, or by Julius Watzl‘s stellar hold-it-together drumming amid the currents of synth being run by both guitarist Sasan Bahreini and bassist Stefan Wettengl there, but also by the float and patience of “Ammoglÿd” — imagine a mid-period Anathema intro but it unfolds as the whole song and it works — which only underscores the progressive mindset underlying all of this material. The kind of record that won’t hit with everybody but will hit with some very, very hard.

TFNRSH on Facebook

TFNRSH on Bandcamp

Altareth, Passage: The Welfare Sessions

Altareth Passage The Welfare Sessions

While based largely in doom, Altareth‘s Passage: The Welfare Sessions absolutely soars in the solo of its centerpiece track “Singapore,” picking up from a mellower kind of lumbering brood and answering the lift of its middle with a push to the finish. Passage: The Welfare Sessions may be worth the asking price for that alone, but that hardly means that’s all the Gothenburg five-piece have on offer, when there’s acoustic to layer into the subsequent “Pilgrim” or the blend of murk and impact in the rolling leadoff “Passage,” the way “The Stars” holds to its crawling tempo but offers a sense of payoff anyhow, or the psychedelia that runs alongside the march of “Recluse,” which rounds out the reportedly live-recorded proceedings with emotive melancholy and a final stretch of quiet, sample-topped guitar. Produced by Kalle Lilja and Per Stålberg at Welfare Sounds, hence the title, Passage: The Welfare Sessions speaks even more boldly to the band’s potential than their 2021 debut, Blood (review here). Don’t be fooled by smooth transitions and a subtlety of scope. Altareth are onto something.

Altareth on Facebook

Altareth on Bandcamp

Jarzmo, Antropocen

jarzmo antropocean

If you find yourself wanting to applaud in the couple seconds of silence between “Bat Trip” and the pointedly doomjazzy “Piosenka o przemijaniu,” at least know that you’re not alone. Antropocen is the debut full-length from Kraków, Poland’s Jarzma, and with it, the band invent a style of playing that is immediately their own, basing their arrangements around nyckelharpha and imaginative percussion and drumming either folkish or not, voices coming and going through songs that don’t just sound the way they do as a novelty, but break their own rules from the very outset in the poppish dance hook of opener “Big Heat.” It’s brazen, it’s masterful in terms of performance, and it’s made from a place of wanting to add to the scope of the genre that birthed it (doom/heavy) and represent something about its place to those outside. I guess you could call it experimental in terms of sound, but that’s not to say there’s anything haphazard about it. Given the range of what they’re doing — the band is comprised of Piotr Aleksander Nowak on the aforementioned nyckelharpa and drummer/vocalist Katarzyna Bobik, and there are guests throughout — it’s kind of astonishing for how clearly the plan comes across, actually. When you want something in heavy music you’ve never heard before, Jarzmo will be waiting.

Jarzmo on Facebook

Jarzmo on Bandcamp

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Ethyl Ether Post “Vacant” Video

Posted in Whathaveyou on June 19th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

South African psych rockers Ethyl Ether released their new album, Violent Entertainment (review here), in the early-going of 2023, and, well attentions are fickle. People move on to other stuff, and the way things are now, so much of the work leading up to a release is done and then a band either tours for 15 months or just kind of tries to keep up promoting on social media doing local shows and so on. But release dates come, hyperbole is thrown, release dates go. A video like this, for an after-the-release single “Vacant” from Violent Entertainment, is something more bands need to be doing.

I know there are fiscal concerns in that — in everything, really — but if you’ve already put everything you have into promoting a record leading up to the release, then it makes sense to keep that momentum going afterward to the best of your ability. The video below for “Vacant” is cinematic and leaves little doubt as to the subject matter at hand, and it gives people like me an excuse to post about the band again and gives the band another chance to catch ears that might’ve missed the album around its initial release. There are no losses, except maybe the money to make the thing, but money is all pretend anyway. Did you know it’s actually just paper? Astonishing, I know.

Enjoy “Vacant” at the bottom of the post, followed by the album stream of Violent Entertainment. The PR wire checked in with this to say:

ethyl ether

Ethyl Ether Unveils Captivating Music Video for their track Vacant

Cape Town based psychedelic shoegaze outfit Ethyl Ether has unleashed an enthralling music video for their mesmerizing single Vacant, taken from their highly acclaimed new album Violent Entertainment, out now on Mongrel Records. The captivating video serves as a visual feast, perfectly capturing the ethereal essence and sonic landscape of the band’s latest opus.

With their unmistakable blend of swirling guitars, dreamy atmospheres, and enchanting vocals, Ethyl Ether continues to push boundaries and captivate listeners with their innovative sound.

The release of the music video comes on the heels of Ethyl Ether’s highly successful album Violent Entertainment, which has received accolades from both fans and critics alike. The record has been praised for its innovative songwriting, captivating melodies, and the band’s ability to seamlessly merge elements of psychedelia and shoegaze into a cohesive and unique sonic tapestry.

“Violent Entertainment is a commentary on the times we find ourselves as humans… a constant diet of social media and reality shows. We are shocked by nothing anymore, allowing ourselves to be influenced by whatever speaks strongest to our personal viewpoint. We have become selfish, and live from selfie to selfie, one foot in the real world and one foot online. Violent Entertainment laments the loss of real human emotion and cries for a return to real interactions… a call for a time that is sadly long gone.” – Ethyl Ether

Line Up:
Andrew Paine – Vocals/Guitar
Mark Van Zyl – Guitar
Mornay Carstens – Guitar
Pat Naidoo – Drums
Frederick Muller – Bass

https://instagram.com/ethyletherza
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100071295815108
https://ethylether.bandcamp.com/

http://mongrelrecords.com
http://www.facebook.com/mongrelrecords
http://www.instagram.com/mongrel_records

Ethyl Ether, “Vacant” official video

Ethyl Ether, Violent Entertainment (2023)

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Ethyl Ether Premiere “Six Feet of Snow” Video; Violent Entertainment Out Jan. 27

Posted in Bootleg Theater on December 1st, 2022 by JJ Koczan

ethyl ether

Cape Town, South Africa, five-piece Ethyl Ether will release their fourth album, Violent Entertainment, through Mongrel Records on Jan. 27. And the drawling catchiness, post-rock languidity and tonal weight of “Six Feet of Snow” is representative perhaps not of every move the triply-guitared outfit make across the ’90s-style, CD-ready 12-song/58-minute stretch of the album. It doesn’t account for, say, the dub of “Good Neighbor,” for example, or the post-grunge somehow-Beatlesian alt rock radio friendliness of “Field of Shadows,” “Seasons of Gold” and “Flowers” with their wistfulness tucked away after the acoustic demo-sounding 47 seconds of “I” as the album’s final salvo, but in its blend of shimmer and grim, float and heft, and in its drawing influence from aughts-era emotive rock and heavier impulses to create a kind of immersive wash of melody, it speaks much of what’s at the foundation of the record itself.

Sharp in its songwriting and malleable, clearly, to whatever purposes the band point it toward, Violent Entertainment launches with an according three-song salvo of rockers of which “Six Feet of Snow” is the third, behind opener “Dead Conversations” and the subsequent “Phenomenal,” though the shift when “Vacant” hits is mostly in atmosphere, the band putting more space into the sound, what might be breathing room if anyone could breathe. As a follow-up to 2020’s Chrome Neon Jesus (review here), and as a collection of crafted material in its own right, Violent Entertainment is purposeful and ambitious atop its relatively straightforward structures, and makes deep sounds accessible Ethyl Ether Violent Entertainmentwith a continued poppy sensibility that suits a fourth-album maturation of their processes.

The aforementioned “I” aside, most songs hover on either side of the five-minute mark — “Compromise” is the longest at 6:35 and fills its time working toward a full-toned payoff and classically bluesy solo — and convey a human, feeling-feelings presence without tipping into melodrama at least until the band decide to do pretty much exactly that near the finish. We live in an era of plot twists and cliffhangers. Violent Entertainment speaks to that in its own songs and in making the listener wonder where they might go from here.

As the band note below, ‘Violent Entertainment laments the loss of real human emotion and cries for a return to real interactions… a call for a time that is sadly long gone,’ and that perspective, a certain nostalgia for something lost, is prevalent whatever turns in sound accompany, be it the heavy post-Britpop of “Satin” or the charged thrust of “Exhibition.” Fair enough. As someone old enough to remember a time before I had my face buried in my phone in a desperate search for any minor dopamine fix like a sad hunched over cog, I get it.

And one could debate the quality levels of connection between seeing what’s happening in all your friends’ lives versus actually speaking to them — broadcasting ourselves over interpersonal communication, in other words — never mind the presentation of self as a brand (a personal least-favorite; don’t forget to read The Obelisk!), but what’s the use of decrying the trap’s existence when you’re already snared? Perhaps a song like “Six Feet of Snow” is Ethyl Ether‘s way of trying to gnaw their collective leg off to break free. If you make it, send a postcard from what used to be reality. That’s not even snark. It’s nice to get mail.

Hope you’re ready to have this one stuck in your head for the rest of the day and then some:

Ethyl Ether, “Six Feet of Snow” video premiere

Ethyl Ether on Violent Entertainment:

The song speaks about the feeling of struggling to carve one’s way forward in life. When you are stuck in the past or in your head, that is the snow, that is the crown that you bleed from. Social media perpetuates this, driving us all slowly insane.

Violent Entertainment is a commentary on the times we find ourselves as humans… a constant diet of social media and reality shows. We are shocked by nothing anymore, allowing ourselves to be influenced by whatever speaks strongest to our personal viewpoint. We have become selfish, and live from selfie to selfie, one foot in the real world and one foot online. Violent Entertainment laments the loss of real human emotion and cries for a return to real interactions… a call for a time that is sadly long gone.

Ethyl Ether are a five-piece Psychedelic rock outfit from Cape Town. Formed in 2016, the band has released 3 full length albums, the last album, 2020’s ‘Chrome Neon Jesus’ earned the band a SAMA (South African Music Awards) nomination for Best Rock Album as well as being well received by international rock media.

The band has been hard at work in the studio over the last 9 months on their new album ‘Violent Entertainment’ which will drop in January 2023.

Track Listing:
1 – Dead Conversation
2 – Phenomenal
3 – Six Feet Of Snow
4 – Vacant
5 – Good Neighbour
6 – Satin
7 – Compromise
8 – Exhibition
9 – I
10 – Field Of Shadows
11 – Seasons Of Gold
12 – Flowers

Line Up:
Andrew Paine – Vocals/Guitar
Mark Van Zyl – Guitar
Mornay Carstens – Guitar
Pat Naidoo – Drums
Frederick Muller – Bass

Ethyl Ether, Violent Entertainment (2023)

Ethyl Ether on Instagram

Ethyl Ether on Facebook

Ethyl Ether on Bandcamp

Mongrel Records website

Mongrel Records on Facebook

Mongrel Records on Instagram

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Ethyl Ether Announce Violent Entertainment Out Jan. 27; New Song Posted

Posted in Whathaveyou on November 9th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

Ethyl Ether

The story is pretty simple here: ‘band who’ve done a couple cool records are about to do another.’ That doesn’t do much to tell you about Ethyl Ether‘s heavygaze-informed psychedelic rock as presented on their new streaming single “Field of Shadows,” let alone the rest of their upcoming Violent Entertainment full-length opus, but, well, better to get the basics across than nothing. There’s time to dig in deeper as we get closer.

If you didn’t catch the band’s 2020 outing, Chrome Neon Jesus (review here), it is by no means too late to be introduced. And if you find yourself looking for more as regards the impending follow-up, which is out Jan. 27, 2023, through Mongrel Records, stick around, as I’ll be premiering a video on Thursday, Dec. 1, for the track “Six Feet of Snow.” Seems like the kind of thing one might pair with an album review, if one is so inclined. Which I probably will be, because — and here’s something personal, I hope you’re comfortable with that — I like writing about good tunes.

So, off we go to the preliminaries, hoisted from the PR wire whence they came:

Ethyl Ether Violent Entertainment

ETHYL ETHER – Violent Entertainment

Artist: Ethyl Ether
Title: Violent Entertainment
Format: Digital
Release Date: 27th January 2023

Ethyl Ether are a five-piece Psychedelic rock outfit from Cape Town. Formed in 2016, the band has released 3 full length albums, the last album, 2020’s ‘Chrome Neon Jesus’ earned the band a SAMA (South African Music Awards) nomination for Best Rock Album as well as being well received by international rock media.

The band has been hard at work in the studio over the last 9 months on their new album ‘Violent Entertainment’ which will drop in January 2023.

“Violent Entertainment is a commentary on the times we find ourselves as humans… a constant diet of social media and reality shows. We are shocked by nothing anymore, allowing ourselves to be influenced by whatever speaks strongest to our personal viewpoint. We have become selfish, and live from selfie to selfie, one foot in the real world and one foot online. Violent Entertainment laments the loss of real human emotion and cries for a return to real interactions… a call for a time that is sadly long gone.” – Ethyl Ether

Track Listing:
1 – Dead Conversation
2 – Phenomenal
3 – Six Feet Of Snow
4 – Vacant
5 – Good Neighbour
6 – Satin
7 – Compromise
8 – Exhibition
9 – I
10 – Field Of Shadows
11 – Seasons Of Gold
12 – Flowers

Line Up:
Andrew Paine – Vocals/Guitar
Mark Van Zyl – Guitar
Mornay Carstens – Guitar
Pat Naidoo – Drums
Frederick Muller – Bass

https://instagram.com/ethyletherza
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100071295815108
https://ethylether.bandcamp.com/

http://mongrelrecords.com
http://www.facebook.com/mongrelrecords
http://www.instagram.com/mongrel_records

Ethyl Ether, Violent Entertainment (2023)

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Basson Laubscher & the Violent Free Peace Post “Shoot Me Down” Video

Posted in Whathaveyou on April 29th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

Based in Cape Town, South Africa, blues rockers Basson Laubscher & the Violent Free Peace have set a goal of going to Europe in 2022, and they seem largely unconcerned about where they play once they get there. To wit, they’ll come to your house and bring rock and roll if you’re willing to meet their rate, and it’s pretty awesome to see a band ready to throw down in such a way. “We don’t care, let’s do this.” As abiding ethics go, it’s about as rocking as you get. Near punk, actually.

“Shoot Me Down” is the band’s second single of 2022 and they’ve got a video filmed in their practice space to help spread the bluesy vibes of it. I don’t know if they’ll get to Europe this year or not — my understanding is that two years of solid no-tours has resulted in a backlog for venues now — but the fact that they even put it out there to their listeners instead of trying to work on it like it’s some kind of big secret I find admirable. I hope they’re able to make it happen.

Video’s at the bottom of this post, and the following came down the PR wire to go with:

Basson Laubscher and the Violent Free Peace

Basson Laubscher & the Violent Free Peace release video for new single ‘Shoot Me Down’

Basson Laubscher & his band of blues-rock bandits brings you a hard-hitting, raw, garage-rock salvo on his latest single Shoot Me Down.

Shoot Me Down takes lyrical inspiration from the frustration and defeat from the end of a relationship and inevitable breakup and blends it musically into blissfully dirty, heavy, psychedelic, fuzzed-out rock n’ roll.

Hailing from his testify album, Laubscher shows how he makes his Stratocaster sing with his signature passionate, raw & pure soul ecstasy. This is a no holds barred riff burger and will get you headbanging and throwing the devil horns in no time.

There’s an accompanying video for the track which follows the no frills & cut the bullshit approach by letting the band do what they do best, get in a room and just let it rip. Shoot me down was filmed in their band room by the video’s director & editor Kyle Wesson, who also served as the band’s drummer till 2021.

https://www.facebook.com/BassonLaubscherandTheViolentFreePeace/
https://www.instagram.com/bassonlaubscher_thevfp/
https://www.bassonlaubscher.com/

https://www.facebook.com/sitthefolkdown/
https://www.instagram.com/sitthefolkdown/
https://www.stfd.co.za/

Basson Laubscher & the Violent Free Peace, “Shoot Me Down” official video

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Quarterly Review: The Vintage Caravan, Oslo Tapes, Filthy Hippies, Dunbarrow, Djinn, Shevils, Paralyzed, Black Spirit Crown, Intraveineuse, Void Tripper

Posted in Reviews on July 7th, 2021 by JJ Koczan

the-obelisk-fall-2016-quarterly-review

Day Three. The kinds of material covered have varied, but it’s been pretty good so far, which as you can probably imagine makes this whole process much, much easier. Today would traditionally be hump day, where we hit and surpass the halfway mark, but since this is a double-size Quarterly Review, we’re only a quarter of the way there. Still a long way to go, but I’ve got decent momentum in my head at this point and I’ve taken steps not to make the workload crushing on any given day (this mostly involved working last weekend, thanks to The Patient Mrs. for the extra time), so I’m not feeling overly rushed either. Which is welcome.

In that spirit, let’s get to it.

Quarterly Review #21-30:

The Vintage Caravan, Monuments

the vintage caravan monuments

To every sorrowful head who bemoans the state of rock and roll as being dead, who misses big songs, bands unafraid to groove, to engage their audience, to change things up and stay anchored to a vital spirit of the live experience, the answer is The Vintage Caravan. Monuments is the Icelandic trio’s follow-up to 2018’s Gateways (review here) and it opens with a righteous four-song mission-statement salvo from “Whispers” to “Dark Times” before mellowing out in “This One’s for You” and diving into the eight-minute centerpiece “Forgotten” — later answered by the more subdued but likewise proggy closer “Clarity” — before the hard-hitting shuffle renews on side B with “Sharp Teeth,” “Hell” and “Torn in Two” try to outdo each other in has-the-most-swagger and “Said & Done” sneaks in ahead of the finale to walk away with that particular title. Suitably enough. Momentum is almost a detriment to the proceedings, since the songs are worth individual attention, but among the classic tenets here is leave-’em-wanting-more, and The Vintage Caravan do, no question.

The Vintage Caravan on Facebook

Napalm Records website

 

Oslo Tapes, ØR

Oslo Tapes ØR

First thing to note? Oslo Tapes are not from Oslo. Or Trondheim, for that matter. Founded by Marco Campitelli in Italy, the band is a work of homage and exploration of ideas born out of a trip to Oslo — blessings and peace upon the narrative — and ØR, which is Norwegian for “confusing,” is their third album. It arrives loaded with textures from electro-krautrock and ’70s space modernized through to-day’s post-heavy, a breathy delivery from Campitelli giving a song like “Kosmik Feels” an almost goth-wave presence while the harder-landing “Bodø Dakar,” which follows, shifts with pointed rhythm into a textured percussion jam in its second half, with ethereal keys still behind. The shimmering psychedelia of “Norwegian Dream” comes paired with “Exotic Dreams” late in the record’s eight-track procession, and while the latter emphasizes Oslo Tapes‘ can-go-anywhere sensibility with horn sounds and vague, drumless motion, the hard dance in closer “Obsession is the Mother of All” really seems to be the moment of summary here. That must’ve been some trip.

Oslo Tapes on Facebook

Pelagic Records on Bandcamp

 

Filthy Hippies, Departures

filthy hippies departures

Clocking in at 15 tracks and 77 minutes of deeply varied cosmic fuckery, from the motorik push of “Your Are the Sun” to the ’90s Britgaze stylizations of “Mystified” to the twanging central guitar figure of “The Air is Poison” and onward into the blowout kosmiche echo “Sweet Dreams and Nicotine” and chic the-underground-is-actually-made-of-velvet “Like a Halo” ahead of the Hawkwind-on-ludes “I’m Buggin’ Out,” Filthy HippiesDepartures at very least gets points for having the right title. Departs from everything. Reality, itself, you. The whole nine. The good news is the places it goes have a unifying element of grunge laziness woven throughout them, like Filthy Hippies just rolled out of bed and this material just happened — and maybe that’s how it went — and the journey they make, whistling as they go on “Among the Wire” and ending up in the wistful wash of “Empty Spaces” is a joy to follow. Heady. More purposeful than it’s letting on. Not a minor investment, but not a minor reward either.

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Mongrel Records website

 

Dunbarrow, III

Dunbarrow III

Long since in command of their aesthetic, Norway’s Dunbarrow embark on III, their third long-player, with a full realization of their purpose. Recorded by the five-piece in Spring 2020 and left to gestate for a year’s time, it’s having been unearthed is suitable to the classic doom vibe wrought throughout the eight tracks, but Dunbarrow‘s sound is more vintage in structure than production at this point, and the shifting balance between ‘then’ and ‘now’ in what they do imagines what might’ve been if self-titled era Witchcraft had retained its loyalty to the tenets of Sabbath/Pentagram while continuing to grow its songcraft, such that “Worms of Winter” both is and is decidedly not “Snowblind,” while “Lost Forever” embarks on its own roll and “Turn in Your Grave” makes for an organ-laced folkish highlight, fitting in its cult atmosphere and setting up the rawer finish in “Turns to Dust.” This is who Dunbarrow are, and what they do, they do exceedingly well.

Dunbarrow on Facebook

Blues for the Red Sun Records on Facebook

 

Djinn, Transmission

Djinn Transmission

The year is 2076. The world’s first Whole Earth parliament has come together to bask in the document Transmission, originating in Gothenburg, Sweden, at the behest of an entity known only as Djinn and respected purveyor Rocket Recordings. It is believed that in fact Transmission and its eight component freak jazz psychedelia tracks were not written at the time of their first release some 55 years earlier, but, as scholars have come to theorize after more than a half-century of rigorous, consistent study, it is a relic of another dimension. Someplace out of place, some time out of time as humanity knows it. So it is that “Creators of Creation” views all from an outsider’s eagle eye, and “Urm the Mad” squees its urgency as if to herald the serenity of “Love Divine” to come, voices echoing up through the surcosmic rift through which Djinn sent along this Transmission. What was their purpose? Why make contact? And what is time for such creatures? Are they us? Are we them? Are we alone? Are we “Orpheus?” Wars have been fought over easier questions.

Djinn on Bandcamp

Rocket Recordings website

 

Shevils, Miracle of the Sun

shevils miracle of the sun

Their third album, ShevilsMiracle of the Sun renews the band’s collaboration with producer Marcus Forsgren, which obviously given the sound of the record, was not broken. With a tidy 10 songs in 32 minutes, the Oslo-based four-piece deliver a loyal reading of heavy hardcore riffing minus much of the chestbeating or dudely pretense that one might otherwise encounter. They’ve got it nailed, and the break as “Monsters on TV” squibblies out is a forceful but pleasant turn, especially backed by the pure noise rock of “Scandinavian Death Star.” The band plays back and forth between heft and motion throughout, offering plenty of both in “Wet Soaking Wet” and “Ride the Flashes,” hitting hard but doing more than just hitting at the same time. Topped with fervent shouts, Shevils feels urgent in manner that to my ears recalls West Coast US fare like Akimbo, but is nonetheless the band’s own, ranging into broader soundscapes on “No More You” and anti-shred on “It Never Ends,” the only two cuts here over four minutes long. No time to screw around.

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Shevils on Bandcamp

 

Paralyzed, Paralyzed

paralyzed paralyzed

If they haven’t been yet — and they may have — it’s entirely likely that by the time I’m done writing this sentence some record label or other will have picked up Paralyzed to release their self-titled debut album on vinyl. The Bamberg, Germany-based four-piece bring classic heavy metal thunder to still-Sabbathian doom rock, casting their lot in with the devil early on “Lucifer’s Road (My Baby and Me),” which feels like as much a statement of aesthetic purpose as it does a righteous biker riff. It’s by no means the sum-total of what’s on offer in a more extended piece like “Prophets” or side B’s rumble-and-roll-plus-wah-equals-doom “Mother’s Only Son,” but the brash fare they bring to light on “Green Eyes” and the post-lizard king-turns-Purple spirit of “Golden Days” tie in well with the toss-your-hair-in-the-wind, how’d-that-hole-get-in-my-jeans spirit of the release on the whole. They start instrumental with the eponymous “Paralyzed,” but vocals are a focus point, and as they round out with the rawer “Parallel,” their command of ’70s heavy is all the more evident. They signed yet? Give it another minute, if not.

Paralyzed on Facebook

Paralyzed on Bandcamp

 

Black Spirit Crown, Gravity

Black Spirit Crown Gravity

Admittedly, I’m late to the party on Black Spirit Crown‘s 2020 debut full-length, Gravity, but as one will when in orbit, it’s easy to be pulled in by the record. The Ohio-based two-piece of Dan Simone (vocals, guitar, theremin, dulcimer) and Chris Martin (vocals, keys & programming, bass) — plus guitar spots from Joe Fortunato (Doomstress, ex-Venomin James) — flourish over longform progressive heavy rock pieces like “Doomstar” and “Orb,” both over eight minutes, and the 21:10 closing title-track, which well earns having the album named after it for its consuming balance between aural weight, darkness of atmosphere and tone, and breadth. Before the last several minutes give way to droning noise, “Gravity” counterbalances the metallic underpinning of “Saga” and the rush of the penultimate “Teutates,” its patience singular even among the other longer cuts, balanced in alternating fashion with the shorter. Peppered-in growls make the proceedings less predictable on the whole, and feel like one more strength working in favor of these complex compositions.

Black Spirit Crown on Facebook

Black Spirit Crown on Bandcamp

 

Intraveineuse, Chronicles of an Inevitable Outcome

intraveineuse chronicles of an inevitable outcome

Parisian instrumentalists Intraveineuse make a strong statement with their 32-minute/single-song debut EP, Chronicles of an Inevitable Outcome, the feeling of aftermath — regret? — permeating the goth-doom atmosphere coming through in tectonically-dense riffs as well as the piano that offsets them. France would seem to have a post-Type O Negative standard-bearer in Hangman’s Chair, but to discount Intraveineuse on that basis is to miss out on the flowing, immersive progression the band emit on this already-sold-out tape, working in three distinct movements to find their own place within the style, building momentum gradually until the last payoff cuts itself short, as if to emphasize there’s more to come. Hopefully, anyhow. EP or LP, debuts with this kind of scope are rare and not to be overlooked, and though there are stretches where one can hear where vocals might go, Intraveineuse ably steer “Chronicles of an Inevitable Outcome” through its various parts with natural-sounding fluidity.

Intraveineuse website

Intraveineuse on Bandcamp

 

Void Tripper, Dopefiend

Void Tripper Dopefiend

Grim, gritty and ghastly, Void Tripper is the debut full-length from Brazil’s Void Tripper, comprised of five tracks marked by the shared/alternating vocals of guitarists Mário Fonteles and Anastácio Júnior. The former gurlges on opener “Devil’s Reject” while the latter complements with a cleaner take on the subsequent “Burning Woods,” setting up the back and forth that plays out in the remaining three tracks, “Hollow,” “Satan & Drugs” and “Comatose.” With the lumbering bass and drums of Jonatas Monte and Gabriel Mota, respectively, as the thickened foundation beneath the riffs, there are shades throughout of Electric Wizard and other acts to be heard, but it’s Sabbath-worshiping sludge one way or the other, and Void Tripper willingly head into that void with a dense fog preceding them and a bleak mood that does nothing if it doesn’t feel suited to our times. Riffy disaffection writ large. You wouldn’t call it groundbreaking, but you’d nod the fuck out.

Void Tripper on Facebook

Abraxas on Facebook

 

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Ethyl Ether Premiere “Voodoo” Video

Posted in Bootleg Theater on April 29th, 2021 by JJ Koczan

ethyl ether

One might find Ethyl Ether‘s third album, Chrome Neon Jesus, surprisingly clearheaded in its purposes for an offering that begins with a song called “The Smoke Waits for No Man.” That may or may not be — about the smoke, that is — but the South African heavy rockers unfurl a steady presence and sense of control with their songwriting, launching with some atmospherics deriving from late-’80s nighttime-on-wet-pavement dramas and earlier ’70s rock for a sound that’s coherently modern and becomes less predictable as they go on. To wit, the shouts in the subsequent “Ode” or the proggier wash in “Under the Milky Way” as Chrome Neon Jesus moves fluidly along its course each carry an underlying semblance of order even as they set up turns like the more brash stomping of “Therapy” or the all-go motor riffing of “Voodoo,” which (presumably) ends side A and for which you can see a tripped out video premiering blow.

The vibes continue to get richer as Ethyl Ether proceed into the Cantrell-ian guitars of “Diamonds” and the willfully punkier push of “Cold Black Soul,” tapping into dreamy pop grunge on “Faces” ahead of the spacious “Is Anybody Different” and “Higher Than Drugs,” which rounds out, again surprisingly lucid, with a melodic hook worthy of mid-’90s radio even unto its handclaps and gang-chant chorus finish. Self-awareness on the band’s part extends to them referring to themselves as pop, and that assessment is fair insomuch as it extends to the accessibility of what they’re doing and the obvious care they put into making it. While the vocals sometimes drawl out and tempo gets languid, there may be “happy accidents” that happened in the studio, but nothing across the songs is more out of place than it wants to be, and mix is impeccable. In this way, yeah, Chrome Neon Jesus is pop, if you’re using that word as a stand-in for “professionalism.”

And maybe they are — admittedly “pro” is a bit drier and arrogant in terms of self-applied tags for a band. One way or the other, their sound may prove too clean for some, but I suspect those who continue to dig into the tracks will find something to latch onto that justifies the effort. They know what they’re doing, and if you like songwriting, they’re songwriters.

“Voodoo” doesn’t represent the whole of Chrome Neon Jesus — I’d be hard-pressed to pick a single that does — but if you haven’t had a chance to plunge into the full-length, the Bandcamp stream is at the bottom of this post as well, courtesy of Mongrel Records.

Enjoy the video:

Ethyl Ether, “Voodoo” official video premiere

Drawing from a deep well of musical inspiration that blends blues, psychedelia and rock n roll, South African heavy rockers Ethyl Ether have released a video for their latest single Voodoo. The track is taken from the bands well received 2020 release Chrome Neon Jesus.

“Voodoo is a psychedelic trip that takes you back to the good ol’days of rock n roll. No frills, no fancy, just a song to lose your shit to. And then play it all over again.” Comments Pabs (bass/vocals)

DOWNLOAD / STREAM ‘VOODOO’: https://orcd.co/ethyl_ether_voodoo?
DOWNLOAD / STREAM ‘CHROME NEON JESUS’: https://orcd.co/chromeneonjesus

Vocals,Guitar – Andrew Paine
Bass/Vox – Pabs
Drums – Patrick Naidoo
Lead Guitar – Mornay Carstens

Album Produced by Ethyl Ether

Ethyl Ether, Chrome Neon Jesus (2020)

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Ethyl Ether on Instagram

Mongrel Records website

Mongrel Records on Thee Facebooks

Mongrel Records on Instagram

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Filthy Hippies to Release Departures April 23

Posted in Whathaveyou on February 15th, 2021 by JJ Koczan

filthy hippies

Shoegazer vibes set to psychedelic expanse with flourishes of freakout heft and fuzz to spare, there’s plenty of room for Cape Town’s Filthy Hippies to sprawl out on their fourth long-player in four years — the upcoming Departures clocking in at a willfully unmanageable 15 tracks and 77 minutes — but one could hardly say they don’t make the most of it. Departures is out April 23 on Mongrel Records, and as it’s my first exposure to the three-piece, who formed in 2018, it makes for an immersive introduction. Howl resonate from the hills and anti-genre distinctions like “Sweet Dreams and Nicotine” tap cooler-than-cool sunglasses-all-the-time cynicism even as it blends with classic pop sensibilities. If this was the ’90s — and who says it isn’t? — Filthy Hippies would be the band who told you ’80s Madonna was cool, and they’d probably be right.

Video for “Buggin’ Out” at the bottom of the post. Album info follows here courtesy of the PR wire. Just one to keep watch for if you’re feeling like you’ve heard everything:

Filthy Hippes Departures

FILTHY HIPPIES – DEPARTURES – RELEASE DATE 23rd APRIL 2021

Established in 2018 Filthy Hippies is a South African Alternative trio with a strong undercurrent of Shoegaze influences. The band quickly established themselves as solid contenders in the explosive, burgeoning South African psych scene and list supporting Post-punk band Dangerfield’s album launch, and 2019’s Endless Daze Festival as current highlights.

Filthy Hippies create a sound that is best described as a Phil Spector’esque wall of sound hitched to deep routed pop inflections.

With four albums and three EP’s under their belt, Filthy Hippies feel that the imminent release of the new album ‘Departures showcases some of their best work.

Track Listing:
1. Spirit
2. Mystified
3. You Are The Sun
4. The Recipe
5. The Air Is Poison
6. Otherside
7. Among The Wire
8. Dumb
9. Sweet Dreams and Nicotine
10. Never Without You
11. Dethroned
12. Like A Halo
13. Promise
14. I’m Bugging Out
15. Empty Spaces

Line Up:
Mark Van Zyl – Guitar / Vocals
Andrew Paine – Vocals / Bass
Mandy Backstrom – Drums / Vocals

https://www.facebook.com/trashcanmusic
https://www.instagram.com/filthyhippies_band/
http://mongrelrecords.com
http://www.facebook.com/mongrelrecords
http://www.instagram.com/mongrel_records

Filthy Hippies, “Buggin’ Out” official video

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