Posted in Whathaveyou on April 12th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
To be perfectly honest, I know nothing about this band beyond what I read — because yes, sometimes I do actually skim over the various press releases posted in this space — and what I’ve heard in the 30-second teaser posted below. Nada. Haven’t heard the record, didn’t catch their 2023 demo, Dusk, that’s now gone from their Bandcamp. None of it. Still, as I found myself the other day racking my brain to think of exciting new bands in the sphere of sludge/sludge metal separate from the over-the-top shenanigans and naked tone worship of what’s been called ‘bong metal’ here and elsewhere (elsewhere first, I’m sure), word of Carnwennan‘s debut album, Lotus, showed up in my email as if on cue. And you don’t get much in the teaser, but you do get a strong hint dropped of nastiness set to unfold.
Set to deliver May 31 — the Bandcamp page set up through Darkest Records (also home to NJ’s Oldest Sea) has it as June 1, a day later; I’m listing the earlier date because, well, better sooner than later — there’s more catharsis in the single riff currently streaming from the four-part single-song work, but almost certainly plenty of space in not-that-half-minute for such things. And if it turns out that extremity rules the day, fine. I wouldn’t say I’m tired of all the psychedelic bliss and harmonies and this and that of the modern heavy underground, but sometimes you just want to hear something that hurts too.
Heads up on this, and the live shows around release time, and the video to come:
CARNWENNAN: Albany, New York-Based Meditative Sludge/Doom Metal Band To Release Debut LP, Lotus, On Darkest Records May 31st; Album Art, Teaser, And Preorders Posted
Albany, New York-based sludge/doom metal quartet CARNWENNAN arrives with their debut LP, Lotus, confirmed for late May release through Darkest Records, the label formed by members of fellow Hudson Valley sludge stalwarts Hush.
Born out of sorrowful introspection, CARNWENNAN seeks to put forth a relentless dirge of misery by combining their wall of sound with projected images of woe and suffering. Formed in 2020 as a means of escape for its members, CARNWENNAN’s droning despair coagulated into a four-piece act of meditative penance by pulling together members of the local hardcore and metal scenes influenced by bands like Earth, Sunn O))), Primitive Man, and Sleep.
CARNWENNAN’s forthcoming debut album, Lotus plays as one continuous track subdivided into four movements, an album created with great restraint and tension, resulting in a slow-motion, seamless evolution. The wooded surroundings of the band’s upstate surroundings indisputably influence the lush, organic sounds of growth and decay, life and demise, themes which are exemplified in the lyrical and visual delivery of the album.
Lotus was recorded by Ryan Slowey at the Darkest Records headquarters outside of Hudson, New York, and mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege (Locrian, Iron Monkey, Mournful Congregation). CARNWENNAN’s bassist, Alex Waters, is an acclaimed painter and created the album’s cover art. Vocalist/guitarist, Jack Jackal, also does design work for many underground artists and curates Castle Jackal Magazine, contributed artwork to the album layout. Amps and pedals used on the album were conceived and built by lead guitarist Alexandria Ashpond. Since recording the album, the band’s original drummer James Leshkevich has left and been replaced by former drummer of The Acacia Strain, Kevin Boutot. An official video directed by Cam Damage has been filmed for one of the tracks, from which the teaser from the album has been sampled.
Watch for an official video and additional content from Lotus to drop over the weeks ahead. Fans of Earth, Khanate, Hush, Om, Bell Witch, Primitive Man, Conan, and Old Man Gloom should not ignore CARNWENNAN’s Lotus.
Lotus Track Listing: 1. I 2. II 3. III 4. IV
CARNWENNAN is booking shows throughout the Northeast surrounding the release of Lotus, with more widespread touring in the works for later in the year. See all currently confirmed shows below and watch for updates to post throughout the coming months, including a release show for the LP.
CARNWENNAN Live: 5/04/2024 Culture Club – New Milford, CT w/ Afghan Haze, Cadmium, Bajzelle 6/09/2024 Collar City Mushrooms – Troy, NY w/ Radiation Blackbody, Compress 6/08/2024 No Fun – Troy, NY w/ Horse Grave, Flatwounds, King Mob
Recorded by Ryan Slowey at Darkest Records in Hudson, NY. Mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege. Artwork by Alex Waters and Jack Jackal.
CARNWENNAN: Alexandria Ashpond – lead guitar Alex Waters – bass Jack Jackal – guitar, vocals Kevin Boutot – drums
Posted in Reviews on November 30th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Posted in Questionnaire on November 13th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.
Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.
Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.
The Obelisk Questionnaire: Samantha Marandola & Andrew Marandola of Oldest Sea
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
Sam: I put my current emotional state into sonic form. My music is highly autobiographical, and the process of writing and performing it is like a form of self-therapy.
Describe your first musical memory.
Sam: I was laying on the couch with my dad watching a Roy Orbison concert on TV. If my memory serves me right, it was not long after he died and they were airing a bunch of his filmed performances. I’d never heard a voice like that before. It was so ethereal and I was completely mesmerized. I was only 4 or 5 years old.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
Sam: I think my earliest musical memory is probably also my best musical memory.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
Andrew: I’m never married to any set of beliefs. I do not take offense to my personal ideas being challenged. I embrace the possibility of being incorrect.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
Andrew: Artistic progression leads to more questions than answers. Writing and imagining is a never ending labor.
How do you define success?
Sam: When you feel like what you’re doing has purpose and meaning, then that’s what I consider to be success.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
Sam: There’s this really gory scene in the movie Bone Tomahawk and the visuals haunt me to this day.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
Sam: I’d like to eventually score films.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
Sam: I mean, art elevates. I truly believe that the action of creating something from nothing raises the collective vibration of the world. You make the world a better place when you make art.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
Sam: Oh man, I’m in my late thirties so the things I look forward to usually have something to do with home repairs. We’re getting our deck replaced soon and wow that’s pretty exciting.
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 19th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Stepping forward as the also-life-partners duo of vocalist/pianist/synthesist Samantha Marandola and guitarist/bassist/drummer Andrew Marandola, New Jersey’s Oldest Sea — lest we forget that my beloved Garden State once produced Evoken — herald their upcoming debut full-length, A Birdsong, A Ghost, with the minimalist drone creep of “Sacred Destruction,” the opening piece of the record for which a new video can be streamed below. Grueling riffs, fragile-but-maybe-rage-shaking vocal melodies, a resonant expression and a heft that goes beyond tone to the overarching atmosphere typify the first public audio from the follow-up to Oldest Sea‘s 2022 Strange and Eternal EP (review here), and it may well be that the rest of what follows on A Birdsong, A Ghost is even more ethereal, but the impression from the clip is that there’s a context being set for the whole work — a whole-album intro, in other words — and so “Sacred Destruction” feels bigger than itself on multiple fronts.
Very much looking forward to digging into this record. Here’s the news from the PR wire so I can say I posted it later:
OLDEST SEA- A Birdsong, A Ghost
OLDEST SEA: ethereal doom duo expresses “feminine rage, grief, and transformation” on new album “A Birdsong, A Ghost”; official music video now streaming, directed by Dylan Pecora (Merzbow, Ecology: HomeStones)
Oldest Sea announces the December 1st release of its new full-length album, A Birdsong, A Ghost.
The album will be released on Darkest Records, the label owned by Jordan Cozza of sludge-doom greats HUSH.
“It’s an expression of feminine rage, grief, and transformation,” says Oldest Sea vocalist Samantha Marandola. “It’s kind of just one long primal scream for me.”
On “Sacred Destruction,” the album’s opening track, Marandola’s crystalline vocals, layered sumptuously, dance around the sparse twang of a lonesome guitar, building tension that eventually gives way to a majestic doom dirge. Marandola’s voice is stunning and one-of-a-kind. Whether quavering vulnerably or soaring all-powerfully, it hooks the ear and commands attention like a hawk’s talons sunk in flesh.
“I started as a one-person project back in 2017 and wrote experimental, ethereal, folk music,” she says. “My husband Andrew joined me a short while later and we began to play out as a two-piece. By 2021, my writing evolved into something heavier.”
Across A Birdsong, A Ghost – five tracks, clocking in at almost 40 minutes and unfolding like one long scene in a film – the couple set a tone that is haunting, otherworldly, and heartbreaking. The two have stated their influences to include doom bands such as Mournful Congregation and Shape of Despair, composers such as John Carpenter and William Basinski, and iconic vocalists such as Björk and Roy Orbison. All are clearly represented here.
The Marandolas also give credit to their rural New Jersey surroundings. Samantha, who works by day in environmental conservation for a land and water trust, states: “It is very rural. A farming community. Being so close to the natural world has a huge impact on how and what I write.”
The “Sacred Destruction” video, created by Philadelphia sculptor and video maker Dylan Pecora, is a gorgeous, surreal clip, laced with body horror, reminiscent of the works of Matthew Barney. “The song is about letting go of a former self,” says Samantha. “Dylan’s video captures everything that’s meant to be conveyed in that song, and I really appreciate their surrealist approach. They found a way to seamlessly unify song and film so that they’re essentially one unit.”
Pecora’s credits include building props and puppets for Saturday Night Live, and creating music videos for artists such as Merzbow. They are also alleged to be involved in the mysterious Ecology: HomeStones project, which has amassed more than half a million followers across social media.
A Birdsong, A Ghost was engineered and mixed by the Marandolas and mastered by Dan Lowndes (Leviathan, Unearthly Trance).
Oldest Sea has played shows with the likes of Planning for Burial, Bell Witch, and Mizmor. A short tour with Oktas begins November 9th.
Tour: Nov 9 – Worcester, MA @ Ralph’s Diner (w/ Oktas) Nov 10 – Providence, RI @ The Mayday (w/ Oktas) Nov 11 – Portland, ME @ Urban Farm Fermentory (w/ Oktas) Nov 12 – Burlington, VT @ The Monkey House (w/ Oktas) Nov 13 – Saratoga Springs, NY @ Desperate Annie’s (w/ Oktas)
Tracklist: 1) Sacred Destruction 2) Untracing 3) Astronomical Twilight 4) The Machines That Made Us Old 5) Metamorphose
Lineup: Samantha Marandola – vocals, synth, piano Andrew Marandola – guitar, bass, drums
