I haven’t heard it, but judging from the description below, the cover art of Conny Ochs‘ new album, Troubadour, seems pretty telling in terms of the intent of the German singer-songwriter’s latest full-length. Ochs last year put out Wahn Und Sinn (review here), which made the shift of putting lyrics in German, and Troubadour will find him back in English and playing mostly on his own in the guy-and-guitar style of his earliest work.

That’s an interesting development, but by no means the craziest thing Ochs has ever done, as his career has found him particularly malleable to changing up his approach, whether that means taking part in the experimentalist outfit Trialogos or working with Scott “Wino” Weinrich (The Obsessed, et al) on collaborative albums. Even on his own, he’s rarely bound by genre, so yeah, in English, in German, whatever. Chances are the record’s going to be beautiful either way.

And yes, that’s genuinely the insight I have to offer here. I don’t know why anybody reads this site. But thanks if you do.

From the PR wire:

CONNY OCHS: German Folk/Rock Soloist Returns To His Roots On Impending Troubadour LP, Set For October 25th Release Through Exile On Mainstream; Preorders Posted

Exile On Mainstream Records presents Troubadour, the intimate new album from nomadic German singer/songwriter CONNY OCHS, confirming the album for release October 25th and introducing the cover art, track listing, and preorders.

Since 2010, CONNY OCHS has been capturing the hearts and minds of curious music fans around the globe through his expressive and emotive songcraft. Through eight full-length releases – including two collaborative albums with Scott “Wino” Weinrich of Saint Vitus, The Obsessed, and more, and not to mention his work in Trialogos and other projects – OCHS has expanded his sound from stripped-down singer/songwriter anthems based almost entirely on guitar and vocals into more rock-infused creations with a more standard rock backline with drums and more.

Almost to the date one year after his Wahn Und Sinn LP, sung completely in German, CONNY OCHS now unveils his new studio album Troubadour, which marks his return to the English language and the very roots of his music, in a very naked approach to the essence of his craft. Here, the soloist delivers an album that feels more akin to his 2010 debut album, Raw Love Songs, yet with a more refined and polished sound and approach, adopted naturally through the years of hard work since the first album.

With eleven heartfelt new songs, CONNY OCHS delivers some of his most melancholic yet optimistic anthems yet on Troubadour, which sees the artist performing all vocals, guitars, piano, and more, the record’s sole guest appearance made by his Trialogos bandmate Sicker Man with whom OCHS co-wrote the string arrangement for the song “Edge Of Love”, and who also performed the actual recording of the cello tracks. Troubadour was recorded with OCHS’ trusted studio cohort Thommy Krawallo at Kabumm Studio who also handled mixing and mastering. The cover photo was taken by Klaus Nauber, and the inlay art was created by OCHS himself.

CONNY OCHS reveals about Troubadour’s inception and creation, “I had a strong desire to create an album with the same minimal approach as Raw Love Songs and Black Happy, but with themes and vibes that reflect my current experiences. Since performing live has always been my main focus, I wanted to write songs that I could play in various settings, such as clubs, festivals, and while traveling, with minimal requirements. I aimed for a down-to-earth record that allows listeners to breathe, pay attention, and explore the details of the images it creates.

“Recently, I had a conversation with a friend about new music, and he expressed that he finds it challenging to listen to many releases because they come across as overwhelming in terms of sound, composition, and arrangements. He mentioned that the sheer volume of releases can be overwhelming. I can relate to his feelings. This is why I wanted to create an album that contrasts with the current trend of overwhelming expression and aesthetics – almost like an anti-record. Troubadour felt like a natural title for this still yet intense recording, which reflects my life over the past two years or so and the stories of people I have crossed paths with. It’s a quintessential songwriter’s record, paying homage to my musical influences such as Townes van Zandt, Leonard Cohen, Elliot Smith, and Dax Riggs. And it´s especially the quiet songs that stayed with me the longest and still touch me as they did the first time I heard them. This album is also an ode to my role as a troubadour – someone who travels in search of songs and is deeply passionate about sharing music with others. It’s about maintaining an intimate connection with my art and returning to the essence of why I started making music in the first place: the pursuit of the ‘tower of song.’

“There’s a special truth about a song that allows you to deeply connect with it when giving you a room to enter. A track becomes more than a mere escape; it becomes your own song. I worked again with Thommy (Krawallo) on this album, with the intention of recording all the tracks live and without click tracks, and with minimal overdubs. Some songs benefited from a few additional tracks, but overall, we kept the recording process simple. Our goal was to capture the authenticity of the moment. We didn’t go back to make changes to any of the songs later on. We wanted to preserve the rawness of the recording, as it is a snapshot of a moment in time.

“I’m eagerly anticipating performing these songs live and witnessing people’s reactions to the new tracks. I hope that these songs can provide the same room to breathe and reach out that it has given to me.”

Troubadour will be released on Black Vinyl LP with a bundled CD and digitally on October 25th. Physical preorders are live at the Exile On Mainstream webshop HERE: https://shop.mainstreamrecords.de/product/eom113

Troubadour Track Listing:
1. Holy Motors
2. Cool Black Stars
3. Trouble Me
4. Edge Of Love
5. Crazy Horse
6. The Boxer
7. Wasp Trap
8. Inside The Man
9. Crow Honey
10. Run With The Devil
11. Way Of The Future

Never one to remain idle, CONNY OCHS is booking new live performances to support Troubadour, having already booked two release shows for the album as part of Haarlem Vinyl Festival September 20th and 21st where the album will be exclusively available before its official release. Watch for additional updates to post over the weeks ahead.

CONNY OCHS Troubadour Release Shows at Haarlem Vinyl Festival:
9/20/2024 Sounds Haarlem Record Store – Haarlem, NL
9/21/2024 St. Bavo Church – Haarlem, NL

https://www.connyochs.com
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https://www.instagram.com/connyochs
https://connyochs.bandcamp.com

http://www.mainstreamrecords.de
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Conny Ochs, “Hickhack” official video

Two nights each in Berlin and Leipzig, on successive nights no less. This is a recipe for ‘everybody’s friends’ when it’s over, and as that’s pretty on-brand for Exile on Mainstream — founder/honcho Andreas Kohl, who knows more than everyone but, like, isn’t a dick about it, keeps the circle pretty tight — but with reunions from End of Level Boss and Ostinato, the ever-mobile Darsombra making an overseas voyage to appear, The Moth who released one of this year’s best records, Conny Ochs and Bulbul, A Whisper in the Noise and Fireflies and Gaffa Ghandi, you get a whole bunch of different styles that somehow fit under a vague descriptor like ‘prog’ just because everyone involved is super-intentional about what they’re doing.

That applies to the label as well. Congrats and much respect to Andreas on 25 years of his label and the badass celebration he’s lined up for it. Still more names TBA, as it happens.

Info follows as posted on socials. Well, not exactly as posted. It was an Instagram textblock thing and I broke it up into paragraphs to make it easy to read. Me back in 2014 would probably laugh at me in 2023 doing that. “Short paragraphs. Who ever heard of that shit?”

And so on:

25 Years Exile On Mainstream

8/9 May 2024 – Berlin, Neue Zukunft

10/11 May 2024 – Leipzig, UT Connewitz

25 years! A quarter century of Exile On Mainstream. So, let’s celebrate. In a big way. On the 8th and 9th of May, we’ll meet in Berlin at the Neue Zukunft, and on the 10th and 11th of May in Leipzig, the city where it all began for us.

Both the Neue Zukunft and the UT Connewitz are inseparably connected to the history of Exile On Mainstream, supporting us far beyond the ordinary.

As it has become a tradition by now, and because we are hopeless romantics, we have three special reunions for the festival: Ostinato, A Whisper In The Noise, and End Of Level Boss will reunite for one-time only performances bringing back memories of the early days of EOM and connecting to current sounds and tunes on the label.

But that’s not all: get ready for some collaborations between the invited bands, which are as much a label tradition.

Tickets presale is open: https://shop.mainstreamrecords.de/product/eom25tic

http://www.mainstreamrecords.de
https://www.youtube.com/@exileonmainstream3639

The Moth, Frost (2023)

Conny Ochs, “Hickhack” official video

Generally I think of Thursday as the penultimate day of a given Quarterly Review. This one I was thinking of adding more days to get more stuff in ahead of year-end coverage coming up in December. I don’t know what that would do to my weekend — actually, yes I do — but sometimes it’s worth it. I’m yet undecided. Will let you know tomorrow, or perhaps not. Dork of mystery, I am.

Today is PACKED with cool sounds. If you haven’t found something yet that’s really hit you, it might be your day.

Quarterly Review #31-40:

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Tortuga, Iterations

From traditionalist proto-doom and keyboard-inflected prog to psychedelic jamming and the Mountain-style start-stop riff on “Lilith,” Poznań, Poland’s Tortuga follow 2020’s Deities (discussed here) with seven tracks and 45 minutes that come across as simple and barebones in the distortion of the guitar and the light reverb on the vocals, but the doom rock doesn’t carry from “Lilith” into “Laspes,” which has more of a ’60s psych crux, a mellow but not unjoyful meander in its first half turning to a massive lumber in the second, all the more elephantine with a solo overtop. They continue throughout to cross the lines between niches — “Quaus” has some dungeon growls, “Epitaph” slogs emotive like Pallbearer, etc. — and offer finely detailed performances in a sound malleable to suit the purposes of their songs. Polish heavy doesn’t screw around. Well, at least not any more than it wants to. Tortuga‘s creative reach becomes part of the character of the album.

Tortuga on Facebook

Napalm Records website

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Spidergawd, VII

I’m sorry, I gotta ask: What’s the point of anything when Spidergawd can put out a record like VII and it’s business as usual? Like, the world doesn’t stop for a collective “holy shit” moment. Even in the heavy underground, never mind general population. These are the kinds of songs that could save lives if properly employed to do so, and for the Norwegian outfit, it’s just what they do. The careening hooks of “Sands of Time” and “The Tower” at the start, the melodies across the span. The energy. I guess this is dad rock? Shit man, I’m a dad. I’m not this cool. Spidergawd have seven records out and I feel like Metallica should’ve been opening for them at stadiums this past summer, but they remain criminally underrated and perhaps use that as flexibility around their pop-heavy foundation to explore new ideas. The last three songs on VII — “Afterburner,” “Your Heritage” and “…And Nothing But the Truth” — are among the strongest and broadest Spidergawd have ever done, and “Dinosaur” and the classic-metal ripper “Bored to Death” give them due preface. One of the best active heavy rock bands, living up to and surpassing their own high standards.

Spidergawd on Facebook

Stickman Records website

Crispin Glover Records website

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Morag Tong, Grieve

Rumbling low end and spacious guitar, slow flowing drums and contemplative vocals, and some charred sludge for good measure, mark out the procession of “At First Light” on Morag Tong‘s third album and first for Majestic Mountain Records, the four-song Grieve. Moving from that initial encapsulation through the raw-throat sludge thud of most of “Passages,” they crash out and give over to quiet guitar at about four minutes in and set up the transition to the low-end groove-cool of “A Stem’s Embrace,” a sleepy fluidity hitting its full voluminous crux after three minutes in, crushing from there en route to its noisy finish at just over nine minutes long. That would be the epic finisher of most records, but Morag Tong‘s grievances extend to the 20-minute “No Sun, No Moon,” which at 20 minutes is a full-length’s progression on its own. At very least the entirety of side B, but more than the actual runtime is the theoretical amount of space covered as the four-piece shift from ambient drone through huge plod and resolve the skyless closer with a crushing delve into post-sludge atmospherics. That’s as fitting an end as one could ask for an offering that so brazenly refuses to follow impulses other than its own.

Morag Tong on Facebook

Majestic Mountain Records store

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Conny Ochs, Wahn Und Sinn

The nine-song Wahn Und Sinn carries the distinction of being the first full-length from German singer-songwriter Conny Ochs — also known for his work in Ananda Mida and his collaboration with Wino — to be sung in his own language. As a non-German speaker, I won’t pretend that doesn’t change the listening experience, but that’s the idea. Words and melodies in different languages take on corresponding differences in character, and so in addition to appreciating the strings, pianos, acoustic and electric guitars, and, in the case of “Welle,” a bit of static noise in a relatively brief electronic soundscape, hearing Ochs‘ delivery no less emotive for switching languages on the cinematic “Grimassen,” or the lounge drama of “Ding” earlier on, it’s a new side from a veteran figure whose “experimentalism” — and no, I’m not talking about singing in your own language as experimental, I’m talking about Trialogos there — is backburnered in favor of more traditional, still rampantly melancholy pop arrangements. It sounds like someone who’s decided they can do whatever the hell they feel like their songs should making that a reality. Only an asshole would hold not speaking the language against that.

Conny Ochs on Facebook

Exile on Mainstream website/a>

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Ritual King, The Infinite Mirror

I’m going to write this review as though I’m speaking directly to Ritual King because, well, I am. Hey guys. Congrats on the record. I can hear a ton going on with it. Some of Elder‘s bright atmospherics and rhythmic twists, some more familiar stoner riffage repurposed to suit a song like “Worlds Divide” after “Flow State” calls Truckfighters to mind, the songs progressive and melodic. The way you keep that nod in reserve for “Landmass?” That’s what I’m talking about. Here’s some advice you didn’t ask for: Keep going. I’m sure you have big plans for next year, and that’s great, and one thing leads to the next. You’re gonna have people for the next however long telling you what you need to do. Do what feels right to you, and keep in mind the decisions that led you to where you are, because you’re right there, headed to the heart of this thing you’re discovering. Two records deep there’s still a lot of potential in your sound, but I think you know a track like “Tethered” is a victory on its own, and that as big as “The Infinite Mirror” gets at the end, the real chance it takes is in the earlier vocal melody. You’re a better band than people know. Just keep going. Thanks.

Ritual King on Facebook

Ripple Music website

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Oldest Sea, A Birdsong, A Ghost

Inhabiting the sort of alternately engulfing and minimal spaces generally occupied by the likes of Bell Witch, New Jersey’s Oldest Sea make their full-length debut with A Birdsong, A Ghost and realize a bleakness of mood that is affecting even in its tempo, seeming to slow the world around it to its own crawl. The duo of Samantha Marandola and Andrew Marandola, who brought forth their Strange and Eternal EP (review here) in 2022, find emotive resonance in a death-doom build through the later reaches of “Untracing,” but the subsequent three-minute-piece-for-chorus-and-distorted-drone “Astronomical Twilight” and the similarly barely-there-until-it-very-much-is closer “Metamorphose” mark out either end of the extremes while “The Machines That Made Us Old” echoes Godflesh in its later riffing as Samantha‘s voice works through screams en route to a daringly hopeful drone. Volatile but controlled, it is a debut of note for its patience and vulnerability as well as its deep-impact crash and consuming tone.

Oldest Sea on Facebook

Darkest Records on Bandcamp

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Dim Electrics, Dim Electrics

Each track on Dim Electrics‘ self-titled five-songer LP becomes a place to rest for a while. No individual piece is lacking activity, but each cut has room for the listener to get inside and either follow the interweaving aural patterns or zone out as they will. Founded by Mahk Rumbae, the Vienna-based project is meditative in the sense of basking in repetition, but flashes like the organ in the middle of “Saint” or the shimmy that takes hold in 18-minute closer “Dream Reaction” assure it doesn’t reside in one place for too much actual realtime, of which it’s easy to lose track when so much krautgazey flow is at hand. Beginning with ambience, “Ways of Seeing” leads the listener deeper into the aural chasm it seems to have opened, and the swirling echoes around take on a life of their own in the ecosystem of some vision of space rock that’s also happening under the ground — past and future merging as in the mellotron techno of “Memory Cage” — which any fool can tell you is where the good mushrooms grow. Dug-in, immersive, engaging if you let it be; Dim Electrics feels somewhat insular in its mind-expansion, but there’s plenty to go around if you can put yourself in the direction it’s headed.

Dim Electrics on Facebook

Sulatron Records webstore

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Mountain of Misery, In Roundness

A newcomer project from Kamil Ziółkowski, also known for his contributions as part of Polish heavy forerunners Spaceslug, the tone-forward approach of Mountain of Misery might be said to be informed by Ziółkowski‘s other project in opener “Not Away” or the penultimate “Climb by the Sundown,” with their languid vocals and slow-rolling tsunami fuzz in the spirit of heavy psych purveyors Colour Haze and even more to the point Sungrazer, but the howling guitar in the crescendo of closer “The Misery” and the all-out assault of “Hang So Low” distinguish the band all around. “The Rain is My Love” sways in the album’s middle, but it’s in “Circle in Roundness” that the 36-minute LP has its most subdued stretch, letting the spaces filled with fuzz elsewhere remain open as the verse builds atop the for-now-drumless expanse. Whatever familiar aspects persist, Mountain of Misery is its own band, and In Roundness is the exciting beginning of a new creative evolution.

Mountain of Misery on Facebook

Electric Witch Mountain Recordings on Facebook

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Aawks, Luna

The featured new single, “The Figure,” finds Barrie, Ontario’s Aawks somewhere between Canadian tonal lords Sons of Otis and the dense heavy psych riffing and melodic vocals of an act like Snail, and if you think I’m about to complain about that, you’ve very clearly never been to this site before. So hi, and welcome. The four-song Luna EP is Aawks‘ second short release of 2023 behind a split with Aiwass (review here), and the trio take on Flock of Seagulls and Pink Floyd for covers of the new wave radio hit “I Ran” and the psychedelic ur-classic “Julia Dream” before a live track, “All is Fine,” rounds out. As someone who’s never seen the band live, the additional crunch falls organic, and brings into relief the diversity Aawks show in and between these four songs, each of which inhabits a place in the emerging whole of the band’s persona. I don’t know if we’ll get there, but sign me up for the Canadian heavy revolution if this is the form it’s going to take.

Aawks on Facebook

Black Throne Productions website

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Kaliyuga Express, Warriors & Masters

The collaborative oeuvre of UK doomsperimental guitarist Mike Vest (Bong, Blown Out, Ozo, 11Paranoias, etc.) grows richer as he joins forces with Finnish trio Nolla to produce Kaliyuga Express‘ Warriors & Masters, which results in three tracks across two sides of far-out cosmic fuzz, shades of classic kraut and space rocks are wrought with jammy intention; the goal seeming to be the going more than the being gone as Vest and company burn through “Nightmare Dimensions” and the shoegazing “Behind the Veil” — the presence of vocals throughout is a distinguishing feature — hums in high and low frequencies in a repetitive inhale of stellar gases on side A while the 18:58 side B showdown “Endless Black Space” misdirects with a minute of cosmic background noise before unfurling itself across an exoplanet’s vision of cool and returning, wait for it, back to the drone from whence it came. Did you know stars are recycled all the time? Did you know that if you drop acid and peel your face off there’s another face underneath? Your third eye is googly. You can hear voices in the drones. Let me know what they tell you.

Kaliyuga Express on Facebook

Riot Season Records store

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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: Conny Ochs

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

I think self-perception can be deceptive given the many pitfalls of ego and circumstance, but since you ask, I’d like to think of myself as an explorer. I have always lived a life on the fringes of society. In orbit, observing, sometimes trying to fit in, but rarely succeeding. This has made me an observer of things, I think, a not always humble, sometimes manic observer. I explore what I see and consequently feel through music, words and images. It’s very cathartic in the sense that you have to let go of everything that comes at you from time to time so that it doesn’t tear you apart. But I hope that the dialog that manifests in this process can be inspiring for everyone who participates. Even if it’s only for a moment. In the end, it’s a quest for freedom.

Describe your first musical memory.

My father used to play and sing songs for me on the guitar just before I had to go to sleep, when I was about four to five years old. I remember how awestruck I was. There was this person I knew from everyday life, but somehow hearing and seeing him in this way transformed him into something almost metaphysical. I hold those memories most dear.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

That is a difficult one. There are many, and they are “best” in different ways. But here and now I’m going with my encounter with Scott “Wino” Weinrich. He really encouraged me to follow my calling when he brought me on stage with him during the “Adrift” tour in 2010 and put me in a spotlight that I wasn’t used to at all. Up until that moment, I hadn’t really figured out where I wanted to go as an artist, but Wino really helped me bring everything into focus by just being the passionate player and singer and, later on, friend that he is. From him I really learned to be in the moment, and to be there for the song, undisguised and honest. What I learned in those days has certainly shaped the way I write and perform forever.

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

There have been a few occasions where I’ve been subtly asked to adapt to certain standards. Very subtly, maybe in terms of a certain sound detail, a certain lyrical style or artwork. I’ve always stuck to what I thought was right at the time, which didn’t always work out the way I had envisioned and made me question my decisions and sometimes quite stubborn demand for authenticity (which is already very hard to define) many times. This can put you in strange places and test the aforementioned faith in whether what you’re doing makes sense at all. Nevertheless, I always did what I thought was honest, and that was the most important thing for me. Still is.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

To freedom, I hope.

How do you define success?

As an artist, to get as close as possible to what you really want to communicate. As a human being, to remain kind, respectful and curious like a child.

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

To be honest, I can’t think of anything… I think it’s all part of the journey, part of the bigger picture by default. However, i am a big movie fan, you could say I watch too many silly films maybe, but that doesn’t really count I guess.

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

I would actually love to work on a graphic novel with a good scriptwriter. I’ve been into comics since I was a kid and have always done small panel projects on my own, but I’ve never ventured into working on a proper graphic novel. I have a few ideas, but I haven’t found the right writer to work with yet. I’d like to just focus on the artwork – plus, the whole process of scriptwriting is something I’d love to find a partner for who really knows how to do it right. I’m a big fan of the work of Alan Moore, as well as Enki Bilal, Rick Griffin, Raymond Pettibon or John Totleben. A sort of crossover between mysticism, surrealism and noir. Probably some musical allusions in it, too. It’s something I’ve been dreaming about for a while. I’m always on the lookout for the still anonymous partner.

What do you believe is the most essential function of art?

For me, art means creating connections. Physical connections between people, connecting to your own body, connections between ideas, connections between brain cells. It can even point a way back into the past, to things you might not have been able to perceive at the time, but which only make sense later. It can connect you to a world from which you feel alienated. And then again, connection is activation, and that is movement, and that is life.

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

It’s been a while since I’ve been on the road without a guitar on my back, and I’m really looking forward to just traveling for a while once I finish recording the new album. It’s going to be hard too. I usually pile new projects on top of each other far in advance. I was actually supposed to start this trip after we finished the last master earlier this year, fingers crossed that I can pull it off this time.

https://www.connyochs.com
https://www.facebook.com/conny.ochs
https://www.instagram.com/connyochs
https://connyochs.bandcamp.com

http://www.mainstreamrecords.de
https://www.youtube.com/@exileonmainstream3639

Conny Ochs, “Hickhack” official video

I’m glad there’s a new Conny Ochs on the way. I don’t care if it’s in German or English or anything else. If you can get down with Trialogos, there’s probably not much in Ochs‘ folkish solo work that’s going to alienate you. The PR wire informs of that below, and I can’t help but be taken aback by Ochs‘ last record, Doom Folk, having come out four years ago. Time has gone all wonky in my head. True of more and more things, I guess.

And looking at that four years, I guess maybe the Trialogos record, Stroh Zu Gold (review here), of which Ochs was a driving force, coming out in 2021, and the noted mountaintop performance in 2022 — the video is at the bottom of this post; too good not to include, since it was mentioned — take a bit of the sting out of that stretch, and certainly Ochs has been active in terms of live performance as much as anyone since 2019.

There’s a book of poetry being released concurrent to Wahn Und Sinn, and there are two release shows booked in Germany and no doubt a stretch of tour dates will follow, along with some music ahead of the release. Plenty to go on at the bottom of this post, though, if you’re looking for a fix.

From the PR wire:

CONNY OCHS: Singer/Songwriter To Release German-Sung Wahn Und Sinn LP Through Exile On Mainstream In October; Artwork, Track Listing, And Preorders Posted

Four-and-a-half years have passed since CONNY OCHS’ most recent album, Doom Folk. While new music from the man was rare in the record store, he was quite active on stage. In addition to some solo tours and very intensive concerts including the online Roadburn Festival 2020 and two touching performances in the Dolomites in 2021 and 2022, which fans could follow via livestream, the artist, who works and lives in Germany and Italy, surprised us especially with the band Trialogos, whose 2021 debut album Stroh Zu Gold presented a completely new side of CONNY OCHS. Working with multi-instrumentalists Kiki Bohemia and Sicker Man, the band delivered a musical collective improvisation based on Tony Conrad’s concept of minimal music as maximalism that was acclaimed worldwide.

During the Corona lockdowns, CONNY OCHS had the time to go through a collection of notebooks that he had amassed during his time in Hamburg, Berlin, and while traveling as a singer in various bands. He reveals, “I always had the feeling that in these lyrics there was a kind of connection between my time as a band member and the moment my solo journey began, the release of Raw Love Songs and my meeting with Andreas of Exile On Mainstream and with Scott ‘Wino’ Weinrich. I felt like there was a before and after, and I wanted to give the before its place in the story.” The idea of publishing selected poems as a book became an affair of the heart. “I hope it can illustrate the trip that I made at the time, that led to the songs and life decisions I took later. To me, it’s thoroughly cathartic, but I’ve tried to find a dynamic that gives the book its own right to be a collection of stories, thoughts, and ideas.”

Initially, the poetry collection Wahn Und Sinn was to be published independently. However, an idea had already started to develop. “I had written some new lyrics in German while working with the notebooks,” explains the singer/songwriter the experimental approach that illustrates the beginnings of the album Wahn Und Sinn. From the collaboration with Tobias Vethake aka Sicker Man at Trialogos also arose the desire and the idea to work together another time. CONNY OCHS developed rough melodies for the lyrics, “Still without really knowing what to do with it. But I had the feeling that there was the same energy in the resulting songs as in the book. I was fascinated by Tobias’ work at Trialogos and as a producer and suddenly felt the urge to ask him to produce these songs. We did it in a radical way: I sent him my unedited demos and asked him to throw away the instruments and just keep the vocals and harmonic arrangements.” The aim was to avoid the singer/songwriter approach that had previously characterized CONNY OCHS’ music. The initial experiment turned into an album whose cover, for the first time, does not feature artwork by the artist himself but a picture by Scottish artist Abi Salvesen. Here, too, a departure from his usual way of working is manifested.

As an experimental excursion and reflection, Wahn Und Sinn thus forms the transition to a new chapter in CONNY OCHS’s creative work, which is to be followed by a new official album as early as Spring 2024.

Wahn Und Sinn will be released on LP with a CD included. The book will also be available as a limited edition with a bundled CD at concerts. In the Exile On Mainstream webshop, the record and book will be available individually or as a bundle. Finally, the content of the record complements the content of the book, inspired by the confrontation with the poems from the years 2000-2010: “If I look at both together now, I find that also Wahn Und Sinn tells the story which until now seems to be the core of my songs: getting lost in order to find yourself.”

The book and the insert included with the album contain all texts in German and English. Also on the album is Conny’s longtime friend and companion Hannes Scheffler, who also handled the final production, mixing, and mastering of the record, as well as Anna Ochs as the singer on the track “Lumos.”

Exile On Mainstream will release Wahn Und Sinn on October 20th.

Physical preorders HERE: https://shop.mainstreamrecords.de/product/eom108

Digital presaves HERE: https://connyochs.ffm.to/wahnundsinn

Watch for audio previews, an official video, and more on CONNY OCHS’ Wahn Und Sinn to be posted over the coming days.

Wahn Und Sinn Track Listing:
1. Turin
2. Risse
3. Ding
4. Hickhack
5. Taub Und Laut
6. Welle
7. Grimassen
8. Melancholia
9. Lumos

CONNY OCHS is also booking live excursions surrounding the release of Wahn Und Sinn, including two record release shows for the album and more. Expect further live announcements to post as the album draws near.

CONNY OCHS Live:
9/09/2023 Spazio 211 – Torino, IT
9/28/2023 Ostpol – Dresden, DE *record release show
10/06/2023 Objekt 5 – Halle/Saale, DE *record release show

https://www.connyochs.com
https://www.facebook.com/conny.ochs
https://www.instagram.com/connyochs
https://connyochs.bandcamp.com

http://www.mainstreamrecords.de
https://www.youtube.com/@exileonmainstream3639

Conny Ochs, Live on Bliss Mountain, Sept. 23, 2022

Conny Ochs, Doom Folk (2019)

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: Conny Ochs

—

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

Even with various works in composition through various projects, I feel myself being, at first, a songwriter. The filtering of my own reactions, emotions, as well as the stories of people I meet and the picturing of situations I encounter is the base of a song. In a song try to distill these elements into an emphatic moment of sharing, both to inspire and reflect, and hopefully transmit my understanding, that through sharing life it can become something more than a single but a universal experience. To me, this has become a strong medicine in the face of, sometimes, struggling with it. I hope it can do the same to others. Finally, I believe the transformation of consciousness, much as shamans once did, keeps us all sane, emphatic, curious, and very much alive.

Describe your first musical memory.

I remember my father playing me children songs by my bed, when I was very young. At that moment, through the music he played, he become something more than the father figure I knew, but a medium. Like a window that led beyond the world I knew.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

That would be writing my first own song with my best friend, around the age of 15. Before that, we had only played the songs of bands we liked. At that moment I felt all the possibilities that were given through means of communicating, and how it changed what I had thought I knew about myself. I never stopped following that road after that.

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

When we started to work with a label for the first time, there were many suggestions made by third parties regarding sound, songwriting, also outfits and so on. We had to defend ourselves in front of people who had been in the music business early on, especially regarding our stage shows, which have been quite intense I guess. That was not always appreciated. Yet we did what we thought was right and true to us, with the consequences that it brought which did not exactly make is easier for us to release our music. But we stuck to our thing all the way though.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

I hope it leads to having the chance to meet and work with a whole bunch of awesome people, keeping an open mind, continuing to be curious about the ways of the world and understanding how to be a free person.

How do you define success?

Transforming what you think and feel into a medium that can be grasped by others.

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

Can´t really think of something here, need to pass that one.

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

I would very much like to become a good cook. Actually just become a cook at all, to my shame I rarely take up on cooking. Then the things i´d like to create would be anything apart from pasta and eggs, that would be something.

What do you believe is the most essential function of art?

I believe art is the universal language that can connect human beings across cultural, intellectual and political borders. It can bring us back to our own truth, unveil what we hide from ourselves and what is hidden from us. It keeps us young and curious. Right now, I feel a lot of art has become just a means of making money and gaining fame. Which I feel actually does not make it art anymore, but maybe some sort of craftsmanship because the spirit is missing. Yet finally the function of art is what you allow it to be to you.

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

Right now in these blurred, confined times, I am looking forward very much to see my family and friends again. Also spring, that is just arriving, and a summer that hopefully can give us all some room to breathe. I am looking forward to simple things that we can all share again. Like throwing a good old party finally.

http://www.connyochs.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Conny-Ochs/112536815501097
http://www.mainstreamrecords.de

Conny Ochs, Doom Folk (2019)

A few episodes ago, I played Graven and floated the idea of doing a whole episode that was super-aggressive. At the same time, I thought a show that went totally the other way would be cool too; all acoustic or near-acoustic stuff and nothing really aggro about it. Well, then my silly brain got started wondering why not do both? So here we are. The first hour? Oh that’s mad. Lots of sludge, lots of screaming. When you start off with YOB’s “Nothing to Win,” you know you’re throwing down some anger. I probably won’t play Primitive Man that often. This time, it felt important to make the point. So it’s there next to Coltsblood. Point made.

Second hour? Well, it starts with Lamp of the Universe, so things get pretty trippy and pretty mellow and they basically stay that way with T.G. Olson, Conny Ochs, No Man’s Valley, The Book of Knots — because god damn, I love that song — and Scott Kelly and the Road Home — ditto — getting progressively moodier as they go. From there, it’s time to jam to the end of the episode with WEEED and Träden, who I recently saw have a show coming up at Rough Trade in New York. No way I’ll be cool enough to be there, but it’s an awesome idea anyhow.

All told, I’m happy with how this one came out, and for being kind of a hodgepodge conceptually, I think it’s worth exploring different kinds of heaviness and what makes a particular song or moment feel that way. If you listened last night or hear the replay, thanks.

Here’s the full playlist:

The Obelisk Show – 03.17.19

YOB	Nothing to Win	Clearing the Path to Ascend
Mastiff	Vermin	Plague*
Swarm of the Lotus	From Embers	When White Becomes Black
Sadhus, The Smoking Community	Sobbing Children	Big Fish*
BREAK
Horsehunter	Bring out Yer Dead	Horsehunter*
Primitive Man	Sterility	Caustic
Coltsblood	Snows of the Winter Realm	Split with Un*
Lamp of the Universe	The Leaving	Align in the Fourth Dimension*
T.G. Olson	Backslider	Riding Roughshod*
Conny Ochs	Hammer to Fit	Doom Folk*
No Man’s Valley	Murder Ballad	Outside the Dream*
The Book of Knots	Traineater	Traineater
Scott Kelly & the Road Home	The Field that Surrounds Me	The Forgiven Ghost in Me
BREAK
WEEED	Carmelized	You are the Sky*
Träden	När lingonen mognar (Lingonberries Forever)	Träden

The Obelisk Show on Gimme Radio airs every other Sunday night at 7PM Eastern, with replays the following Tuesday at 9AM. Next show is March 31. Thanks for listening if you do.

Gimme Radio website

The Obelisk on Thee Facebooks

German singer-songwriter Conny Ochs is no stranger to a place between genres, and he would seem to be acknowledging that with Doom Folk, which has been unveiled as the title of his upcoming long-player to be released next month on Exile on Mainstream. Ochs, also known for his collaborative work alongside Scott “Wino” Weinrich in the duo Wino & Conny Ochs, is the kind of performer with whom it’s really easy to be on a first-name basis as a listener. “Oh, there’s a new Conny out,” and so on. His work is intimate and personal, but as Doom Folk shows, he’s branching out as well in terms of arrangements, giving a more complete feel that’s a departure from some of his earlier guy-and-guitar fare while still tied to that work obviously through his stellar and always heartfelt vocals. Still, that organ on “Hammer to Fit” is a nice touch.

Ochs will play Roadburn in April as part of Exile on Mainstream‘s 20th anniversary showcase. Info on that and album details follow here, all courtesy of the PR wire:

CONNY OCHS: German Rock Icon To Release Fourth Solo LP, Doom Folk, Via Exile On Mainstream On February 8th; Trailer + Preorders Posted

German songwriter, rock ‘n’ roll vagabond, and seasoned performer, CONNY OCHS, will release his fourth solo album, Doom Folk, through his trusted allies at Exile On Mainstream on February 15th. Preorders for the album as well as a trailer have been posted, and several new videos are on the verge of release preceding the album’s street date.

CONNY OCHS believes that the best stories are always the ones yet to be told. He seeks to envision signs of the world that are concealed to most others, and to explore them in a more detailed and higher density. On his new album, Doom Folk, Conny follows different pathways to those which he has forged before, channeling his observations into narratives driven by two powerful forces, fervor, and vulnerability.

OCHS’ previous albums Raw Love Songs (2011), Black Happy (2013), and Future Fables (2016), illustrate his evolution from a blues/folk troubadour to an accomplished singer/songwriter. In his early days, he traversed the globe as a cliché of the lonesome rider, armed with a rugged dreadnought guitar. Doom Folk closes a bracket around it’s three predecessors as well as the two records CONNY OCHS recorded with Scott “Wino” Weinrich (Heavy Kingdom in 2012 and Freedom Conspiracy in 2015), which were also driven by a stripped-down attitude in musicality. While the inspiration is still clearly apparent, the bittersweet hymns of dark melancholy across Doom Folk feel new, refreshed, diverse, and with a slight touch of urgency.

CONNY OCHS has also expanded his musical repertoire to include, bass, drums, percussion, and organs which all find their way into the sounds of Doom Folk, adding tonal urgency, distortion and volume. The album opener “Dark Tower” ignites a surge of emotion, paying tribute to the tragic death of Chris Cornell. “Hammer To Fit” cultivates a sense of hope and optimism while the guitar shimmers in engaging clarity across the tundra, recalling American stalwarts Howe Gelb or Rainer Ptacek. OCHS pays further homage to American songwriting with his eclectic and uncompromising country track “Gun In The Cradle.” While “Drunken Monkey” is a rare pop song amidst his otherwise more familiar flair and radiance counterbalanced by the darkness of the almost-anthemic “Waiting For The Pain” and the shadowy blues of “All Too Bright”, which recalls the morbid prurience of Nick Cave.

Melancholy, insanity, attrition, and hope, are nestled into OCHS’ loud/quiet dichotomy, which is carried forward by clean tones, nuanced instrumentation, and beautiful, authentic singing, before erupting into distortion and dissonance. With twelve anthems packed into thirty-eight minutes, fans of William Elliot Whitmore, Steve Von Till, Wino, Scott Kelly, Woodie Guthrie, make sure to check out CONNY OCHS’ Doom Folk.

Doom Folk will see release on LP, CD, and digital formats through Exile On Mainstream on February 15th. Find preorders and view the album trailer RIGHT HERE.

Doom Folk Track Listing:
1. Dark Tower
2. Crash And Burn
3. Hammer To Fit
4. King Of The Dead
5. Drunken Monkey
6. Moon
7. It’s All Too Bright
8. Crawling
9. Gun In The Cradle
10. Oracle
11. New Ruins
12. Sweet Delusion

OCHS is booking live performances in support of Doom Folk, including the Exile On Mainstream 20th Anniversary Parties this year, April 4th through 7th at UT Connewitz in Leipzig, Germany, and on April 13th at Roadburn Festival in Tilburg, Netherlands. The Leipzig show will feature a full band while Roadburn will be blessed with a intimate, solo show. Watch for more widespread tour news to be released in the weeks ahead.

CONNY OCHS Tour Dates:
4/04/2019 Objekt 5 – Halle/Saale, DE
4/07/2019 UT Connewitz – Leipzig, DE @ 20 Years Exile On Mainstream
4/13/2019 Roadburn Festival – Tilburg, NL @ 20 Years Exile On Mainstream

http://www.connyochs.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Conny-Ochs/112536815501097
http://www.mainstreamrecords.de

Conny Ochs, Doom Folk album teaser