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: Caitlin Mkhasibe of P+A+G+E+S

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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?

For our album, No More Can Be Done, I’ve been asked by other musicians if I’m bored when playing sparsely and I’ve responded that it’s actually challenging to deliberately play slowly and maintain a decent sense of timing for the band to rely on. My body finds ways to fill in the gaps and that comes in the form of movement. I saw on KEXP, Cheryl Waters noted that Adrienne Davies of ‘Earth’ dances behind the kit. Helo (guitarist) and Frank (bassist) do watch me closely for timing visual cues. I follow everyone too, but if I mess up, it’s the most noticeable mistake out of everyone’s cavernous sound, so there’s a lot of pressure to stay present.

In my mind, a lot of my accented cymbals are back-up vocals too. What I enjoy is that I’m not trying to impress listeners with ‘chops’ or drown out anyone else in the band, and if I do play faster or fuller, it’s relevant to the intention of the song. We really worked hard towards this.

I love that I’m inevitably going to play shows predominantly in spaces full of men, and they’re going to have to exercise a kind of respectful patience and listening to me that I wouldn’t normally get in everyday life. It’s very feminist and I hope more women and girls of colour who know me as a quiet and shy person feel like they can take up space with their drums too.
The first time I played drums was at 13 in my friend’s bedroom. Her older brother’s band used her room as storage and we took turns on the kit and played basic rock beats, suggesting ideas to each other.

I want every time I play to feel as welcoming and fun. I’ve heard too many horror stories from women who’ve said, as teens, their male music teachers sexually assaulted them, were misogynists who held them back on purpose or that it felt unsafe to play live. That trauma deterred them from their instrument for a while. I really took my safe passage into drums for granted. Women, non-binary and transgender folks defy many odds by picking up an instrument.

In various settings, patriarchal men feel entitled to being hyper critical of us because of internalized self-hatred. To them, everything we do is lame by default so we’re easily disregarded or irrelevant. Perfectionism is a patriarchal prison and I think truly living is challenging the -isms or making grumpy, oppressive people irritable.

Describe your first musical memory.

My late gran singing and consoling five-year-old me on my parent’s stoep. She knew many unfamiliar British songs and hymns. I started ballet and gymnastics around that time too so there was a lot of forgettable music on tape to stiff choreography on mats, wooden floors, by barres and on stages.

I’ll give another early memory: No matter how ferociously loud the music in my headphones were, nothing drowned out my late dad’s Pan Pipe: Moods CD playing in the car on long car rides to a Zulu family wedding or funeral where people would sing there. My dad was the calmest driver ever though.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

In 2015, as an opening band for a show, we did soundcheck and the sound engineer said, “Right, so as soon as the drummer arrives, you guys can start playing,” and while still sitting behind the kit I said, “I am the drummer”, and he looked bewildered.

Seeing ‘As Is’ play live was always phenomenal (Lliezel Ellick, Garth Erasmus, Manfred Zylla, Niklas Zimmer). In 2016, we did a show together once with their drummer, Andrea Dicò, at Alexander Theatre. For that performance, Andrea said I could pick anything from his metal suitcase of Milnerton thrift market trinkets to add to my kit. I was deeply honoured. His textural approach to drumming was really something myself and our guitarist, helo, resonated with. Andrea said his goal was to find the most messed up sounding kit and play it. That reminded me of Brian Chippendale from Lightning Bolt, without the mic and pedals.

When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?

At least by 2025, I hoped that the world would be a lot more progressive in its thinking and accountable in its responses to the environmental destruction caused by AI and the human rights violations from mining in Congo and the genocides in Sudan and Palestine. I’m surprised that anger is still not seen as a normal response to injustices of Capitalism or understanding that racism in all of its iterations stems from White Supremacy and it contorts us to uphold and coddle Whiteness. I can’t believe respectability politics still exist, even on the left.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

It leads to innovation, creativity and a more fulfilled society because we’re embracing ourselves. Hope is humbling.

How do you define success?

I believe award systems are biased, so I don’t rely on them as guides. I do appreciate kind feedback and ways to improve from peers. Caring, doing your best, working collaboratively, working fairly, being proud of a finished project, being inspired and having okay mental health are all good measures of success for me when considering, contextually, the overculture protects itself and takes pleasure in punishing others for being different. Some people are also scared of finding themselves in the position of being the misunderstood ‘other’, so they self-police their own joy. Success is also just being yourself and being brave in standing up for unique people or what they create. Standing by some-one’s work, even if you’re the only one who sees its value, is huge to me.

What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?

I’m half Zulu, so, in one day, in the name of a patriarchal culture, I saw a goat crying for help before being slaughtered. Its guts were in a bucket. I saw the sweetest cow fighting against being slaughtered and eventually saw its body hung up while being carved out. Then I saw steaming hot, cooked tripe being dished on a plate. I absolutely despise the smell. I really don’t think I’ve lost my ‘Zulu-ness’ by being vegan for the past 10 years. : )

Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.

I’m also a visual artist and I have reccurring dreams of doing a residency. It’s located on an achingly beautiful mountain with patches of dense forest. I walk down a wide dirt road to get to the small town. I’ve almost mentally mapped out the whole place now. It keeps getting eerie and detailed per dream visit because of its surrealism and my anxiety around institutions. Maybe this will become an art residency horror comic.

What do you believe is the most essential function of art

It’s both refuge from and a mirror to the ugly world. It’s a space for marginalized voices, a medium for catharsis, to process trauma and is an empathy builder. I do not think intellectualizing and debating people’s humanity is art. It’s unethical because that’s rooted in racism, sexism, classism and queerphobia.

Say something positive about yourself.

As different as I feel I am, I’m proud of my self-belief, and in turn, that gives me hope in other people. I wish for people to be able to do what they love and that that makes them kinder.

Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?

I recently finished reading The High Desert by James Spooner (who also did Black Punk Now with Chris L. Terry) and Ducks by Kate Beaton. I’m looking forward to Ijeoma Oluo’s Be a Revolution and House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski.

https://linktr.ee/pages_doom
https://pagesdoom.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/pages_doom/
https://www.youtube.com/@PAGES_DOOM

P+A+G+E+S, No More Can Be Done (2025)

P+A+G+E+S, Black Room Session – Live at Sound and Motion Studios

This isn’t the end of the Quarterly Review — it wraps up on Monday — but it is the end of the week, and I’m ready for it. The music’s been good though and that’s something of a salvation for times where it seems like the strange and terrifying are in competition with each other to make life more awful. That doesn’t end on the weekend, of course, but at least I’ll have two days to put together the last post of this QR, and when you’ve been writing 10 reviews a day all week, half that counts as respite. Something like it, anyhow.

So before we wrap up the week with whatever on earth I’ll actually pick to close it out (any requests?), here’s one more batch, with my thanks for your valuable time and attention. Hope you find something cool.

Quarterly Review #51-60:

P+A+G+E+S, No More Can Be Done

No More Can Be Done is the debut album from South Africa’s P+A+G+E+S, but the Cape Town trio spent five years in the 2010s together as Morning Pages, so that their first record would hold so much intention behind it shouldn’t necessarily be a shocker. The reason behind the name change? An apparent change in their project, which is to say the band got way, way darker, way, way heavier and nasty in that sharp-toothed-thing-you-can’t-see-but-you-know-is-there-also-there-are-no-lights kind of way. The 15-minute opener/longest track (immediate points) “The Passage” leads the way down into the bleak, extreme sludge that follows, but as the careful linear build of “Shine On” later demonstrates, P+A+G+E+S are more methodical than the noise and outwardly chaotic feel would seem to indicate. Atmosphere plays a central role in what they do, and that’s consistent from their run as Morning Pages, but No More Can Be Done is about what’s lurking and lurching in the bleakness.

P+A+G+E+S Linktr.ee

P+A+G+E+S on Bandcamp

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Bask, The Turning

Following the intro “Chasm,” Bask launch their fourth album, The Turning, with minor-key mystique and subsequent crush via “In the Heat of the Dying Sun” and “The Traveler,” piling triumph upon triumph in a way that is indicative of the progressive songwriting at work. “The Cloth” is slower, but neither less weighted nor less gorgeous for that, and as “Dig My Heels” works in some of the Southern/Americana pastoralism the Asheville, North Carolina, outfit have always been known for, the melody proves a standout, setting up another life-affirming payoff in the seven-minute “Unwound,” the mellower turn for the build of “Long Lost Light” and the somewhat wistfully twanging undertones of the title-track, which closes with grace and poise rare enough in heavy anything. Clearly a band who have worked to and been successful in transcending their root influences, and an identity that’s been hard-forged over their decade-plus. The Turning sees them actively bring their approach to another level.

Bask on Bandcamp

Season of Mist website

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Matus, El Aullido b/w Planetario

A 15-minute two-songer from Lima, Peru’s Matus, as the psychedelic weirdo sometimes-cultists of long standing offer “El Aullido” (8:45) and “Planetario” (6:55) as their first outing since 2021’s Espejismos II (review here). Both processions — and they are that — feel built out from jams, but the recordings have guitarist Manolo Garfias and keyboardist Richard Nossar (both also alternate bass duties) at their core, along with Roberto Soto‘s drumming, Veronik‘s theremin in the deep-freakout section of “Planetario,” Úrsula Inga‘s vocals on “El Aullido,” and so on with other guests (including Camilo Uriarte, who co-produced and mixed, along solo artist Chino Burga on guitar, and Cristóbal Pérez on sax for “Planetario”) adding to the movement. “El Aullido” pairs shoegaze with a roll informed by South American folk, perfect for Inga‘s vocals, while “Planetario” carries more of its melody in the keyboards and surrounding ambience. It’s a welcome check-in from Matus as they celebrate the 20th anniversary of the band.

Matus on Bandcamp

Matus on Facebook

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November Fire, 2025

Where New England bizarropsych rockers November’s Fire‘s 2024 album, Through a Mournful Song, took an approach to its material like some of earliest Monster Magnet‘s underproduced kitchen-sink quirk, the two-song EP 2025 presents two different faces, and that turns out to be because the songs included are over 30 years old. “2025” and “Somnia” — the latter which brings in original guitarist Greg Brosseau for a guest spot that includes clean lead vocals — were allegedly written in the early 1990s, and if you told me the root of the title-track was a teenaged thrash riff, they make that easy enough to believe in the modernized, thickened chug of the song as it stands now. That is to say, they’ve brought it into the sludgy experimentalist context of the work now, but it remains dark. As it inevitably would. “Somnia” is shorter, has some backing chants, and feels meditative even as the guitar holds to its restlessness. Weird band staying weird, screwing around with their old stuff and getting something out of it. Sometimes an experiment works.

November Fire Linktr.ee

November Fire on Bandcamp

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Goatmilker, Goatmilker

Bergen, Norway, four-piece Goatmilker don’t really leave you with much choice other than to call them progressive, though that hardly says boo about the reach of their self-titled debut, which is as much psychedelic punk as it is black metal in its rhythms, but remains a work of heavy rock and roll nonetheless, grooving, catchy on “Devils on My Tail,” aggro-weird on “Time… Tearing Apart,” all-in on tonal overwhelm for “Mountains” and cheekily grandiose in the finale “Storm” only after they’ve seen fit to take on Journey‘s “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart),” which given the goes-where-it-wants succession leading up to it hardly feels out of place at all. While at no risk of overstaying its welcome at eight songs and 34 minutes, Goatmilker does make for a challenging listen at times, but the rewards for actually paying attention to what they’re doing are worth whatever effort is required. That is to say, engage actively for best results.

Goatmilker Linktr.ee

Goatmilker on Instagram

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Grin, Incantation

If Grin sound a little different on Incantation, a two-track 7″ with a digital bonus cut in the flatteningly heavy “Echoes in the Static,” that might be because the duo of drummer/vocalist Jan Oberg and bassist Sabine Oberg didn’t record themselves as usual, but instead tracked live at Wave Akademie in their native Berlin with Anton Urban (Jan Oberg co-produced, mixed and mastered, so still had a hand for sure). So, rather than the studio leftovers one might expect mere months after the band’s last full-length, Acid Gods (review here), the songs may have their origins as such but arise from different circumstances. There’s some more of a wash to “Incantation” and “The Color of Ghosts,” and “Echoes in the Static” is consumed by its titular noise toward its finish, but “The Color of Ghosts” dares some melodic vocals amid all that bombast, and as usual, Grin forge their own take on metal, sludge and intense atmospheric heavy.

Grin on Bandcamp

The Lasting Dose Records on Bandcamp

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Mezzoa, TON 618

A collection of bangers on the second LP through Glory or Death Records from San Diego rockers Mezzoa, TON 618 plays out over the course of a taut 13 songs and 39 minutes, careening desert style in “Hard to Hear,” punking up the groove in “Chump” before basking in Sabbath worship for “Wasted Universe” (think “Symptom” thereof), building crunching tension in “Uncle Cho” only to release it in the second half of the song with a grunge melody, carrying that melody into “Smiles for Everyone,” and then slamming all that momentum into the fuzzed radness of the lead tone and Alice in Chainsy vocal of “How You Been.” That’s not the end, I’m just less efficient than the band and so I’m running out of space. “Blessing” attains inner Nirvana while “Desert Snakes” sounds like it’s ready for a John Garcia guest spot, “Chachi Liberachi” echoes the sharper corners of “Wasted Universe,” “Goin’ Down” has that riff that every New York hardcore song ever (yes, all of them. don’t @ me.) has but goes somewhere completely different with it, and closer “How Are We” highlights the craft that’s let them do it all in the first place. Hey kid, you like rock music? Well get a load of this.

Mezzoa on Bandcamp

Glory or Death Records website

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Orsak:Oslo, Silt and Static

Beginning with its longest track in the nine-minute “Biting In,” Orsak:Oslo‘s Silt and Static finds the Norwegian/Swedish outfit somewhat outgrown from their dronier foundations, harnessing a psychedelia that moves with krautrocking purposes, while retaining the band’s previously-established ambient instrumentalist approach. “Days Adrift” is an even thicker roll, with ebbs and flows that give precedent to the shove that results in “Salt Stains,” which follows, while “Petals” dips momentarily into minimalism. But the story here is the fullness of sound, with pieces like the subdued-but-building “Resonance in Ash” or “Petals” in conversation with Pelican/Russian Circles-style heavy, while “The Onward Stride” and “Time Leak” bring prog more to the forefront and “Bread and Sink” lets the rumble bring it all together. In these ways, Silt and Static rewrites the story of Orsak:Oslo as a band, and their reach has never seemed so broad.

Orsak:Oslo website

Vinter Records website

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Modder, Destroying Ourselves for a Place in the Sun

The hypnotic drone finish of “Type 27” that ends side A of Modder‘s second album, Destroying Ourselves for a Place in the Sun, is just one way the band incorporate ambience as a key element in their trades between loud and quiet, tense and open, and crushing and spacious. These different sides come together in various combinations across the six cuts on the Belgian instrumentalist five-piece’s 41-minute run, which sets out in oppressive and blasting fashion with “Stone Eternal,” as heavy as whatever doom you want to put it next to and still able to hit with the precision of Gojira. The shorter “Mather” is more angular, glitchy and mirrored by “Chaoism” on the album’s second half, and though they lead off with their longest track (immediate points) in “Stone Eternal,” the heavy djenty chug that comes to fruition on “In the Sun” is unmistakable as anything but the closer, building, receding, tossing in what sure sounds like a human voice chanting and surging in intensity to round out with a keyboard-overlaid bludgeoning. By then you’re pretty much pulp anyway.

Modder Linktr.ee

Lay Bare Recordings website

Consouling Sounds store

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Futuredrugs, Past Warnings of Present Futures

Past Warnings of Present Futures tells you a lot about its point of view in the title, but electronic experimentalists Futuredrugs push the meaning deeper still, opening with a barely recognizable take on “What a Wonderful World” with “Skies of Blue” and revamping Tom Waits‘ “Dirt in the Ground” on “…And the Gallows Groaned.” The cinematic, dark synth/programmed backdrop of these and the sampled “No Home” blur the line between originality and reinterpretation/manipulation, and I won’t claim to know whether pieces like “Ice Age Coming” or “When the Last Tree Falls” are similarly sourced, but maybe. In any case, in a time when remembering things like “nothing matters anyway” is a comfort, there is space for the open-minded listener to dwell among these seven tracks, which when taken as a whole succeed in embodying the apocalyptic hellscape of recent years. I don’t know if they’re offering sanctuary so much as a snapshot, but as that, it sure feels like an accurate depiction.

Futuredrugs on Bandcamp

Futuredrugs on Instagram

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I’m not trying to be out here spoiling a thing that’s not coming out for another two months, but if you check out P+A+G+E+S‘ debut album, No More Can Be Done, the Cape Town, South Africa, extreme atmospheric sludge trio open with a 15-minute slab of worldmaking grimness called “The Passage,” and indeed it’s kind of like being passed from beneath a grindstone to whatever chute has been tasked with extricating the chaff. A crushing plunge, in other words.

If you’re the type to capitalize letters when typing using the caps lock button, their moniker will be a challenge. I advise going with shift in typing it out. Is this a note to myself for an eventual album review? Maybe, but I’ve got more listening to do before I get there. There isn’t a single public from it yet or I’d probably have a Bandcamp player below, but if you want to get a sense of the vibe and all the surrounding void of the band photo and cover art aren’t enough of a hint where they’re coming from, then yes, for sure that clip should answer any questions you have. With punishment.

Note that this is their debut album but from 2014-2019 the band operated as Morning Pages, and there are still a few experimentalist singles you can find on Bandcamp if you’re remotely willing to search. Here’s what the PR wire brought:

P+A+G+E+S – No More Can Be Done – RELEASE DATE 25th October 2025

Cape Town’s doom, atmospheric noise, drone, and sludge post-metal trio P+A+G+E+S are set to unleash their debut full-length album, NO MORE CAN BE DONE, recorded with producer Simon Ratcliffe at Sound and Motion Studios between 3 and 7 February 2025. The album is a stark, slow-burning monolith of existential dread, geopolitical despair, environmental decay, and raw emotional weight—tempered by a glimmer of perseverance in a world teetering toward collapse. P+A+G+E+S’ message is to take note of environmental degradation and to challenge oppression by standing up for BIPOC, women, LGBTQI+, human and animal rights.

Since pivoting from their post-rock and noise roots in 2017, Caitlin Mkhasibe (drums), Frank Lunar (bass), and helo samo (guitar, vocals, sampling, and textural noise) have pushed their sound toward heavier, drudging territory. NO MORE CAN BE DONE represents the culmination of years of interrupted yet purposeful writing, with its earliest riffs born in late 2019 and its completion delayed by the global pandemic until writing resumed in March 2024.

“Grief and the depressing state of the world were big inspirations,” says the band. “We wanted to create something that embodies that state and cast a light on things that are often hard to address—while writing music we would want to hear ourselves.”

Musically, the album unfolds like a descent into shadow:

Side A begins as a metamorphosis of chaotic, jolting noise before shifting into an industrial, mechanical gait, eventually dissolving into a fragile, symphonic closure.

Side B surges forward with dissonant, discordant tones anchored by hefty, deliberate drums, each moment meticulously constructed.

Lyrically, the record distills vast, overwhelming concepts into simple mantras, delivered through a detached, almost spectral vocal style—an intentional choice to let meaning resonate in repetition.

The songs began with helo samo bringing guitar riffs to rehearsal, where the trio shaped and stripped ideas through process of elimination. Rough phone recordings became the blueprint, later evolving into demos tracked on an electronic kit and home setup. Vocals were initially captured on an SM58 in the back seat of a car, underscoring the band’s raw, unvarnished approach.

All instruments were tracked live in one room to preserve the immediacy and weight of their sound. After establishing the perfect mic configurations, the band spent days building the album layer by layer: foundational live takes, doubled guitars for stereo depth, noise and sampling textures, and finally, the haunting vocal performances.

Created by helo samo, the cover depicts the stages of a dandelion’s life cycle—symbolizing resilience and perseverance amidst chaos. The image’s calmness stands in deliberate contrast to the crushing sonic force within.

“The dandelion embodies the quality of being gentle but strong, spreading with the wind,” the band notes.

In four words – Slow, crushing, dissonant doom.

Track Listing:
1. The Passage
2. Ascension
3. Devastation Junkie
4. Shine On
5. Moribund

The members consist of Caitlin Mkhasibe (drums), Frank Lunar (bass), helo samo (guitar, vocals, sampling and textural noise).

https://linktr.ee/pages_doom
https://www.instagram.com/pages_doom/
https://www.youtube.com/@PAGES_DOOM

P+A+G+E+S, Black Room Session – Live at Sound and Motion Studios

Filthy Hippies released their new single “Wilt” this past Friday on the usual internetty smattering of streaming services. Lots of big names and no paychecks, you know the type. The South African heavygazer outfit say farewell to their now-former drummer, Mark Van Zyl, with their upcoming full-length, A Colourful Trip Through Melancholy — a title to which the music absolutely does live up — which lands April 4 with the backing of Mongrel Records. The new LP is coming on a quick turnaround from 2024’s Share the Pill (review here), but perhaps the fact that their drummer was moving to New Zealand — not gonna say I don’t get it — lit a fire under the process; I honestly don’t know. In any case, there are far worse things for a band to be than prolific.

The album is keyed for immediate immersion as “Get Out of My Way” begins. The vocals of guitarist/keyboardist Andrew Paine sit mellow and breathy deep within the fliud mix, the guitars of Ca’lee Tucker and Tim Ball create an engrossing backdrop of effects and noise, bassist Mandy Backstrom (also vocals) locked in on bass while what may or may not be a drum machine holds a subtle intensity beneath all the slow swirl. “Wilt” follows immediately and brings a clearer acoustic strum, but hey, big shocker, the album they decided to call A Colourful Trip Through Melancholy has a pretty vital focus on mood. Further to that, the sound isn’t monolithic. As with Share the Pill, Filthy Hippies dare to lean into indie and pop-psych — the latter in the second-half lead guitar of “Miserable,” for example — but the megafuzz blowout “Sad Things Write Themselves,” the psychedelic trip-hop of “Mind Pollution” and the comparatively minimalist guitar contemplation “Flashbacks” are also accounted for in their scope, so in addition to a world being made, it’s one that is full of life.

But of course, evolution is slow and so for the most part are Filthy Hippies. A transcendental hum in “Throw Away” feeding into “Flashbacks” gives the middle of the record a particularly entrancing bent, but “Smells Like Rehab” grounds with a straightforward folkish acoustic guitar and leaves it to the vocals and backing keys to get weird with just a hint of twang, subsequently shoved cosmic by “Sad Things Write Themselves.” The story of the back half of A Colourful Trip Through Melancholy gets more complex with the combined vocals and ambient layering of “Colours Fade Away,” which creates a space and threatens to fill it but recedes calmly into an ethereal drift. All of this is headed toward the druggy ’90s experimentalism of “Stargazer” (more fun with pop malleability here) and “Absolution,” but before the closing duo, “Into a Dream” gives one last space-rocking push, tambourine included for extra movement. That divergence into the relatively straightforward does a lot to realign the listener before side B wraps up as weirdo-celebrant as it does. They say in space no one can hear you scream. I’m pretty sure that means no one can hear you chill the fuck out either.

Considering the ephemeral nature of the band’s lineup as presented here, the adieu being bid to the five-piece they were presumably in the name of being able to get on stage and do the thing, A Colourful Trip Through Melancholy covers a lot of ground and finds the band getting more expansive in terms of style. I don’t know the actual circumstances under which it was made — that is, if it was recorded at the same time as the last album, or if the fact that they do it all themselves lets them jam and explore and they like to get the stuff on tape while it’s fresh, or whatever else in this universe of infinite possibility — but it feels less about impact than its predecessor and that comes across like an organic progression of craft in this material. Quick turnaround or not, it’s a dynamic worth preserving.

Enjoy the premiere of “Wilt” below, followed by more from the PR wire:

Filthy Hippies, “Wilt” video premiere

ADD ➤ https://orcd.co/-wilt

Cape Town-based alternative-psychedelic band Filthy Hippies have made a name for themselves in the South African music scene with their signature shoegaze-infused sound. Since their formation in 2018, they have cemented their reputation as a standout act in the country’s thriving psych scene, sharing stages with notable bands such as Dangerfield and delivering an unforgettable performance at the 2019 Endless Daze Festival.

After a period of evolution and lineup changes, Filthy Hippies are thrilled to announce their latest album, ‘A Colourful Trip Through Melancholy’. This release marks a significant chapter for the band as they bid farewell to longtime collaborator Mark Van Zyl, who was instrumental in shaping the record before his upcoming move to New Zealand.

“His intense creativity will be sorely missed,” shares frontman Andrew Paine. “But it was awesome to get to go down the rabbit hole one last time with him before he goes.”

‘A Colourful Trip Through Melancholy’ is exactly that—a vibrant yet introspective journey through the highs and lows of life. “It’s just reflections on everyday experiences and emotions,” Paine explains. “A
journey through a slightly jaded mind.” The album embraces a message of presence and acceptance, reminding listeners to cherish fleeting moments. “Enjoy every moment as it happens,” says Paine. “Things fade away far too quickly, and life moves in very definite cycles.”

The recording process was an immersive and intensive experience, with the band diving deep into latenight brainstorming sessions and extended tracking marathons. “Everything was recorded at our home
studio, The Sanctuary. Lots of late-night brainstorming and intensely long sessions—it was a lot of fun.”

With a Phil Spector-esque wall of sound blending rich textures, layered harmonies, and deep-rooted pop sensibilities, ‘A Colourful Trip Through Melancholy’ stands as a defining statement from Filthy Hippies.

Track Listing:
1. Get Out Of My Way
2. Wilt
3. Miserable
4. Fuzzbox
5. Mind Pollution
6. Throw Away
7. Flashbacks
8. Smells Like Rehab
9. Sad Things Write Themselves
10. Colours Fade Away
11. Into A Dream
12. Stargazer
13. Absolution

Video filmed by Meg Davidson
Edited by Filthy Hippies with Mark Van Zyl.
2025 Mongrel Records

Line Up:
Andrew Paine – Vox/Guitars/Keys
Mandy Backstrom – Bass/Vox
Tim Ball – Guitars
Ca’lee Tucker – Guitars
with Mark Van Zyl

Filthy Hippies on Instagram

Filthy Hippies on Facebook

Mongrel Records website

Mongrel Records on Facebook

Mongrel Records on Instagram

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:

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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 Milchem — Gregory 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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Jarzmo, Antropocen

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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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 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)

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 with 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

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

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)