Please note: This post is not culled in any way from the Year-End Poll, which is ongoing. If you haven’t yet contributed your favorites of 2016 to that, please do.

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I say this every year: These are my picks. If you’re unfamiliar with this site, or you don’t come here that often, or if you do and just normally don’t give a crap — all of which is cool — you should know it’s all run by one person. One human being. Me. My name is JJ, and this is a list of what I think are the best albums that were released in 2016.

Since before 2016 began, I’ve kept a running list of releases. My criteria for what gets included in this list is largely unchanged — it’s a balance between what I feel are important records on the level of what they achieve, what I listened to most, what held some other personal appeal, and what I think did the best job of meeting the goals it set for itself. Pretty vague, right? That’s the idea.

The nature of worldwide heavy has become so broad that to encompass it all under some universal standard is laughable. Judging psychedelia, garage rock, heavy psych, doom, sludge and so on by the same measure makes no sense, and as genres continue to splinter and remake themselves as we’ve seen them doing all year and over the last several years, one must be malleable in one’s own taste. We’ve seen a new generation of heavy rock bands emerge in the last three-plus years. It’s been amazing, and there are a few pivotal second and third records that came out in 2016 to affirm that movement underway. Look for it to continue into 2017 and beyond.

This year more than any other seemed to want to bring the different sides together. A laudable goal. Thick riffing marked with flourish of psychedelia. Spacious doom bred against folk impulses. There’s been experimentation around melds that have led to considerable triumphs, and it just doesn’t seem to me that rigid standards can apply. It’s why I don’t grade reviews and never did.

Sound is evolving now as it always has been and as it will keep doing, but like any year, 2016 had a full share of landmarks to offer as a part of that process. As universal development hopefully remains ongoing, it’s only right that we celebrate the accomplishments helping to push it along its winding and sometimes divergent-seeming paths.

I have no doubt you know what I mean. Let’s get to the list:

30. Talmud Beach, Chief

Released by Svart Records. Reviewed Feb. 10.

Seems only fair to start with a record I couldn’t put down. Finnish trio Talmud Beach‘s second album and Svart debut, Chief, hit on just the right blend of laid back, semi-acoustic groove-blues, psychedelia and classic progressive folk rock, but with the exception of its sprawling dreamscape title-track (a welcome arrival at the finale), it also kept the songwriting simple, resulting in a natural, pastoral feel that only highlighted their melodic range in songs like “Mountain Man” and “Snow Snow Snow.” I think it flew under a lot of people’s radar, but I’ve kept going back to it over the course of the year and I see no reason to stop.

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29. Comet Control, Center of the Maze

Released by Tee Pee Records. Reviewed June 22.

Space is still the place. I’ve already highlighted closer “Artificial Light” from Comet Control‘s sophomore LP, Center of the Maze as my favorite song of 2016, so I’ll spare you the longwinded treatise on its languid cosmic glories — this time — but consider this a reminder that that song was by no means the limit of what the eight-track release had to offer in terms of breadth. From the opening push of “Dig out Your Head” to the dream-drift of “Sick in Space,” it unfolded tonal presence and a melodic depth that engaged a gorgeous, multifaceted sonic wash as it moved onward toward that landmark conclusion.

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28. Droids Attack, Sci-Fi or Die

Self-released. Reviewed Feb. 17.

There was not a level on which Madison, Wisconsin’s Droids Attack didn’t make it clear they were going all-out, all-in on Sci-Fi or Die. Even the title speaks to the stakes involved. And sure enough, the trio executed their fourth album with a sense of urgency and professionalism in songcraft, production, artwork (discussed here) and nuance of presentation that managed to make even a song called “Clawhammer Suicide” a classy affair. As guitarist/vocalist Brad Van said on the hidden title-track, “Death to false stoner thrash.” Droids Attack brought that ethic and more to life across the entire record.

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27. Beelzefuzz, The Righteous Bloom

Released by Restricted Release and The Church Within. Reviewed Aug. 2.

A winding road brought Beelzefuzz around to following up their 2013 self-titled debut (review here), and as The Righteous Bloom brought guitarist/vocalist Dana Ortt and drummer Darin McCloskey together with bassist Bert Hall and lead guitarist Greg Diener, it found their songwriting more expansive, more progressive and dug further into their own particular oddball sense of grandeur. I’ve said on multiple occasions that no one out there is doing what Beelzefuzz are doing and that continues to be true. Even as a first offering from a new lineup of the band, The Righteous Bloom took bold and exciting forward steps.

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26. Foghound, The World Unseen

Released by Ripple Music. Reviewed July 6.

Down to business. Immediately. Not a moment to spare. Taking part in what can only be considered a landmark year for Ripple Music, Baltimore’s Foghound issued The World Unseen as an answer to their 2013 debut, Quick, Dirty and High (review here), and upped their game across the board. From the intensity in the hooks of “Message in the Sky” and Rockin’ and Rollin'” to the quiet interlude of “Bridge of Stonebows” and the mid-paced heavy rock nod of “Never Return,” they made a strong case for themselves among their label’s foremost acts and found individualism in the growth of their songwriting. It was a kick in the ass you weren’t going to forget.

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25a. Egypt, Endless Flight

Released by Doomentia Records. Reviewed Dec. 11, 2015.

Put out by the band digitally in Dec. 2015 and issued on vinyl in 2016, Egypt‘s second LP, Endless Flight may be somewhat debatable in terms of when it actually landed (hence “25a.,” above), but the quality of the six-tracker more than warrants inclusion anyway. Rolling dense, massively-fuzzed groove, its nine-minute opening title-track set the course for the Fargo, North Dakota, three-piece, and they only grew the heavy revelry from there, as heard on the penultimate “Black Words,” which seemed to be chewing on rocks even as it played back and forth in tempo, build and push. The converted never had it so good.

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25. 1000mods, Repeated Exposure To…

Released by Ouga Booga and the Mighty Oug Recordings. Reviewed Sept. 20.

There seems to be no stopping the Chiliomodi-based 1000mods, who with their third album have stepped to the forefront of Greece’s populous and vibrant heavy rock underground. Progressed well beyond where even 2014’s impressive Vultures (review here) found them, they seemed to hit a stride with Repeated Exposure To… thanks in part to road time and the ability to bring that energy directly into songs like the eight-minute roller “Loose” and the sizable crashes of “Groundhog Day.” Momentum working in their favor could be heard front-to-back from “Above 179” to “Into the Spell,” moving them toward something ever-more crucial and marking a considerable achievement along that path. 2017 might be a good time for them to test the waters with initial US shows.

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24. Black Rainbows, Stellar Prophecy

Released by Heavy Psych Sounds. Reviewed April 11.

Quick turnaround from Roman heavy psych magnate Gabriele Fiori (guitar/vocals) and company, but though it hit just about 13 months after their fourth full-length, Hawkdope (review here), Black Rainbows, Stellar Prophecy wholly succeeded in making an impact of its own, cuts like the oozing, organ-laced “Woman” and 11-minute jam-out triumph “Golden Widow” showcasing an approach in a continuous state of refinement that seems to get rawer as it goes, shifting like a rogue planetoid toward some maddening cosmic realization. How something can seem both so frenetic and so blissful is still a mystery, and perhaps that’s part of what makes Stellar Prophecy resonate as it does, but either way, Black Rainbows brought together some of the year’s most efficient psychedelic immersion.

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23. Borracho, Atacama

Released by Kozmik Artifactz. Reviewed Nov. 14.

Borracho don’t seem to release an album until they have something to say. That was to their credit on Atacama, their third LP and label debut for Kozmik Artifactz debut. Also their second collection issued as a trio behind 2013’s Oculus (review here), it distinguished itself from its predecessor in its sense of overarching flow, shifting between the ahead-thrust of “Gold from Sand” into the 10-minute sample-laden jam “Overload” to start out with such ease that the listener had little choice but to follow along. With an expanded scope on “Drifted away from the Sun” and the lightly-strummed memento mori “Flower,” Borracho found new avenues of expression to complement their well established dense, heavy riffing, and took obvious care in crafting their most realized LP yet.

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22. The Golden Grass, Coming Back Again

Released by Listenable Records. Reviewed April 26.

Nothing Brooklyn’s The Golden Grass does feels like happenstance, and though their classic-styled boogie is imbued with a vibrant, friendly positive energy, there’s an underlying meticulousness in their arrangements and in their songwriting that came further into focus on Coming Back Again, their sophomore release 2014’s self-titled debut (review here). A more progressive take showed itself in “Reflections” and “Down the Line,” and taken in combination with the bookends “Get it Together” and “See it Through,” the three-piece stood on ground that was even more their own than on the first record, striking a careful balance between the willful exploration of new elements and the outright need for tracks to directly engage their listeners with catchy hooks and upbeat vibes. They did it. Expect continued growth.

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21. Curse the Son, Isolator

Released by Snake Charmer Coalition and The Company Records. Reviewed March 1.

For something so awash in fuzz, so nodding in its rhythms, so let’s-push-the-vocals-back-under-this-huge-awesome-fucking-riff, Curse the Son‘s Isolator was also remarkably clearheaded in its purposes. With the added vocal harmonies of “Callous Unemotional Traits,” the far-off spaces of “Hull Crush Depth” and the stoner metal despair of “Aislamiento,” the Connecticut three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Ron Vanacore, capital-‘d’ Drummer Michael Petrucci and newcomer bassist Brendan Keefe drew a direct, intentional line to sometimes-grueling (hello, “Sleepwalker Wakes”) weighted tonality and found justification for their largesse in its own being. Like 2012’s Psychache (review here), I expect to be returning to Isolator over a longer term than this single year of release.

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20. Neurosis, Fires Within Fires

Released by Neurot Recordings. Reviewed Sept. 21.

I feel like I need to explain myself here. Make no mistake, Neurosis‘ Fires Within Fires is among the year’s most accomplished offerings. There’s just about no way it wouldn’t be. So why not top 10? Top five? It’s a question of timing. With the long-running post-metal progenitors, it’s always a longer digestion period. It was about two years before 2012’s Honor Found in Decay (review here) really sunk in, and I expect Fires Within Fires will work similarly over the greater term. Maybe a little guilt on my part for the disparity between its quality and its placement, but rest assured, Neurosis remain among the most imperative bands walking the earth, and as they took on the full brunt of 30 years of unmitigated progression through Fires Within Fires, they were no less brazen in pushing themselves creatively than they’ve ever been.

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19. Conan, Revengeance

Released by Napalm Records. Reviewed Jan. 19.

Though the narrative of Conan has remained largely unchanged since their inception — hack, slash, kill, riff — and they still bask in nigh-on-unmatched tonal slaughter, their third full-length brings a few key developments. Perhaps most notable from opener “Throne of Fire” onward is the vocal interplay between guitarist/founder Jon Davis and bassist/longtime-engineer Chris Fielding, who joined after 2014’s Blood Eagle (review here). Adding Fielding‘s deeper growls allowed Davis to subtly move into a cleaner shout, and the emergent dynamic between them made Revengeance a decidedly expanded affair compared to Conan‘s past work. Adding drummer Rich Lewis to the mix was no minor shift either, and as much as Conan had already established their sheer dominance, they also sounded refreshed and set themselves up to keep growing.

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18. Baby Woodrose, Freedom

Released by Bad Afro Records. Reviewed Aug. 18.

Some records just feel like gifts, and though many of its lyrical positions were cynical — “Reality,” “21st Century Slave,” “Mind Control Machine,” “Red the Sign Post,” etc. — Freedom marked the 15th anniversary of Danish garage-psych rockers Baby Woodrose with dripping lysergic aplomb, reminding some four years after their last LP, 2012’s Third Eye Surgery (review here), that bandleader Lorenzo Woodrose is unparalleled when it comes to manifesting his take on the psychedelic victories of 13th Floor Elevators and classic-era Hawkwind — firmly at home levitating on the edge of time. Its swirl and underlying foundation of songwriting, its Richie Havens cover title-track, and its sprawling interstellar “Termination” were like a welcome check-in from another dimension, and I only hope it’s not four years before Woodrose sends the next signal. Earth needs this band.

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17. Geezer, Geezer

Released by Ripple Music and STB Records. Reviewed Nov. 10.

I’m not going to discount the shuffle of “Sunday Speed Demon” or sleeze of “Sunday Speed Demon,” but where Geezer‘s self-titled third full-length really showed how far the New York heavy blues-psych trio have come was in its extended midsection jams, “Sun Gods,” “Bi-Polar Vortex” and “Dust,” each of which showed a distinct approach while feeding into an engaging flow between them, offering a blend of trailmarker hooks as they drifted into realms of organic chemistry previously uncharted by the band. The slow-motion swing of “Hangnail Crisis,” raucous push of “Superjam Maximus” and concluding bounce of “Stoney Pony” brought them back down to earth to finish out with a symmetry to the album’s opening, but Geezer kept a collective hand on the controls the whole voyage and when they landed, it was an arrival indeed, and very much what their two previous records were building toward.

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16. EYE, Vision and the Ageless Light

Released by The Laser’s Edge. Reviewed Nov. 17.

Beautifully experimental with its 27-minute finisher “As Sure as the Sun,” EYE‘s Vision and the Ageless Light seemed throughout its whole 46-minute run to be executing a cohesive vision in its synth-soaked progressive textures. Between the intro “Book of the Dead” and the subsequent “Kill the Slavemaster,” “Searching,” “Dweller of the Twilight Void” and the already-noted closer, each piece had something different to offer that added to the full impact of the whole, and with guitarist Jon Finely and bassist Michael Sliclen joining founding drummer/vocalist Brandon Smith and synth/Mellotron/Moog-ist Lisa Bella Donna (also vocals and acoustic guitar), EYE added to the scope of 2013’s Second Sight (review here) and found a place for themselves where prog complexity didn’t need to come at the expense of memorable songwriting and spaced-out vibes. An absolute joy, front to back.

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15. Fatso Jetson, Idle Hands

Released by Heavy Psych Sounds. Reviewed Oct. 3.

Even Fatso Jetson themselves would probably have to admit that six years — even a six years that saw several splits, singles, etc. — was too long between albums. Fortunately, Idle Hands saw the desert rock forebears in top form as regards their quirk-fueled songwriting, angular approach to punk and inimitable groove. Following 2010’s Archaic Volumes (review here) was no easy task, but with additional depth to the material from the contributions of guitarist Dino von Lalli — son of founding guitarist/vocalist Mario Lalli and nephew of founding bassist Larry Lalli — guest spots from his sister Olive Lalli as well as Sean Wheeler (the latter moves second cut “Portuguese Dream” into high-echelon strangeness) and the ever-propulsive drumming of Tony Tornay, Fatso Jetson were both all over the place and right at the core of where they most ought to be sonically. At 56 minutes, it hardly seemed long enough.

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14. Hexvessel, When We are Death

Released by Century Media. Reviewed Feb. 5.

Each song was like a different persona the band adopted momentarily, whether it was the Bowie-goes-proto-goth-prog of organ-ic opener “Transparent Eyeball” or the grim pastoralia of “Mirror Boy” and the condemnations/proclamations of “Drugged up on the Universe,” but wherever Hexvessel went on their third full-length and Century Media debut, When We are Death, that unifying theme went with them. Death. It was everywhere in the Finland-based genre-benders’ deeply varied approach, though its presence made their material in no way off-putting, and in the case of cuts like “Cosmic Truth” or the later “Mushroom Spirit Doors,” not even dark, and as it drew the tracks together despite working in different sounds and style, it became apparent that When We are Death worked because of a universal quality in songwriting and presentation allowing for such drastic shifts without any risk of losing the audience.

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13. Zun, Burial Sunrise

Released by Small Stone Records. Reviewed Feb. 16.

Yawning Man guitarist Gary Arce — a key figure in the development of desert rock and a player of unmatched tone, period — had quite a year, between Zun‘s Burial Sunrise, his main outfit and his collaboration with Fatso Jetson vs. HifiKlub, but it was the dreamscape drift of songs like “Come Through the Water” and “All that You Say I Am” as well as the subtle hooks of “Into the Wasteland” and “All for Nothing” that, for me, made this the highlight. Sure, bringing in vocalists Sera Timms (Ides of Gemini, Black Mare) and John Garcia (ex-Kyuss, Slo Burn, Vista Chino, etc.) and having them swap back and forth between the tracks didn’t hurt either, but the wash of ethereal presence in Arce‘s guitar was an excellent showcase for his patience and improvisational sensibilities, and the spaces Burial Sunrise covered seemed to have an infinite horizon all their own. Will hope for a follow-up, will hope Garcia and Timms return, and will hope for a duet.

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12. Elephant Tree, Elephant Tree

Released by Magnetic Eye Records. Reviewed Jan. 29.

One had reasonably high expectations for the debut full-length from London’s Elephant Tree after their 2014 EP Theia (review here) so deftly blended spacious, sitar-laced heavy psychedelic rock with more visceral sludge impulses — a difficult mix to pull off — but I think it would’ve been impossible to see the quality of this self-titled outing coming in any substantive way. Gone were the screams, in was a depth of tone and nigh-on-perfect tempo — see “Dawn” and “Aphotic Blues,” as well as the acoustic “Circles” between them — and where some first albums have a kind of tentative, feeling-it-out vibe, guitarist/vocalist Jack Townley (interview here), bassist/vocalist Peter Holland, drummer Sam Hart and sitarist/vocalist/engineer Riley MacIntyre took utter command of the proceedings. They won’t have the element of surprise working for them next time, but as Elephant Tree made perfectly clear in its biggest surprise of all, neither do they need it.

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11. Mos Generator, Abyssinia

Released by Listenable Records. Reviewed July 12.

If you were to ask me to summarize in one word the last four-plus years of Mos Generator‘s tenure, since their reactivation with 2012’s Nomads (review here) and the subsequent lineup changes and hard-touring that followed 2014’s Electric Mountain Majesty (review here), I’d say “go.” I might say it three times: Go-go-go. One of three LP-ish offerings out this year, the studio album Abyssinia embodied this ethic as it started with immediate momentum on “Strangest Times” and “You’ve Got a Right” and seemed to push itself into new ground as it went. Guitarist/vocalist/founder Tony Reed brought heavy boogie to bear at a frenetic clip, but Abyssinia offset its early mania with later progressive stylization on “There’s No Return from Nowhere,” “Time and Other Thieves” and harmonized closer “Outlander,” so that in addition to representing their furious creativity, it also brought them to places they’ve never been before in sound.

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10. Slomatics, Future Echo Returns

Released by Black Bow Records. Reviewed June 29.

In some ways, Future Echo Returns was simply picking up where Belfast’s Slomatics left off with 2014’s Estron (review here), as heard on the riff of lead-in track “Estronomicon,” but as the third in a purported trilogy following that record and 2012’s A Hocht, it also brought the tonecrushing three-piece to Skyhammer Studio to work with producer Chris Fielding (Conan) and presented a linear storyline that, while rife with standout moments in cuts like “Electric Breath,” the ambient “Ritual Beginnings” and ultra-catchy “Supernothing,” found a genuine sense of resolution in the finale “Into the Eternal” that spoke to the scope the entire work was meant to represent — not just itself, but an entirety spanning three albums. Not a minor feat, but what also made Future Echo Returns so resonant was how well the material stood on its own, so that even without the narrative context, it was immersive, hypnotic and unbridled in its heft.

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9. Wo Fat, Midnight Cometh

Released by Ripple Music. Reviewed April 21.

After two landmarks issued by Small Stone in 2014’s The Conjuring (review here) and 2012’s The Black Code (reviews here and here), Texas forerunners of riff Wo Fat gave a concise rundown of their appeal in the six-track Ripple debut and sixth LP overall, Midnight Cometh. Their ongoing development as found them bringing together a two-sided personality of memorable songs and open, fluid jams, and cuts like “There’s Something Sinister in the Wind,” “Of Smoke and Fog,” “Three Minutes to Midnight” and “Nightcomer” emphasized the next stage of this process, while the shuffling “Riffborn” and swaggering blues rock of “La Dilleme de Detenu” gave listeners a chance to touch ground every now and again. Over the last two-plus years, Wo Fat have become a point of influence for other, particularly American, acts — see labelmates Geezer — and Midnight Cometh assured that will be the case going forward too; a status well-earned.

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8. King Buffalo, Orion

Released by Stickman Records. Reviewed July 29.

Offered up this summer as a limited self-release and picked up by no less than Stickman Records (Motorpsycho, Elder), Orion might be the most molten inclusion on this list. It’s also my pick for 2016 Debut of the Year, and to hear cuts like “She Sleeps on a Vine,” “Kerosene,” the sprawling closer “Drinking from the River Rising,” or even just to take the whole record front-to-back, which was clearly how the band intended it be experienced, there’s just about no competition in that regard that stands up. The Rochester, NY, three-piece showed marked promise on their 2013 demo (review here) and 2015 split with Lé Betre (review here), but the listenability of Orion — which earned every single one of its repeat visits — made it a triumph on a different level entirely, and distinguished King Buffalo as a formidable presence in the sphere of US heavy psychedelia, fostering a sound no less soulful for its outward cosmic reach and to-be-measured-in-lightyears scale of potential.

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7. Wight, Love is Not Only What You Know

Released by Fat and Holy Records, Kozmik Artifactz, Import Export Music and SPV. Reviewed Sept. 7.

German outfit Wight answered significant anticipation on their third album, Love is Not Only What You Know, some four years after 2012’s Through the Woods into Deep Water (review here) and undertook a significant evolution in sound. A transition from a trio to a four-piece and adding a strong current of funk to their heavy psych groove and boogie resulted in cuts like “The Muse and the Mule,” the jammed-out “Kelele” and “The Love for Life Leads to Reincarnation,” which were as danceable as they were nod-ready, and when complemented by shorter classic rockers like “Helicopter Mama” and “I Wanna Know What You Feel” (still plenty funky) and the Eastern-tinged interlude “Three Quarters,” gave Love is Not Only What You Know scope to match its ass-shaking encouragement. It was a spirit unto itself among 2016 releases, but ultimately, the key to understanding the record was right there in the title: It was all about love, and wherever Wight went in a given track, they never lost sight of that.

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6. Greenleaf, Rise Above the Meadow

Released by Napalm Records. Reviewed Feb. 18.

A decade and a half after 2001’s Revolution Rock (discussed here), Sweden’s Greenleaf most embodied that ethic with Rise Above the Meadow, their sixth long-player and Napalm Records debut. 2014’s Trails and Passes (review here) represented the key step of founding guitarist Tommi Holappa (interview here) bringing vocalist Arvid Johnsson into the lineup, but Rise Above the Meadow built exponentially on what that album achieved, bolstered by work as a touring band and a revitalized songwriting process heard in “Howl,” “A Million Fireflies,” “You’re Gonna be My Ruin,” the stomping “Golden Throne” and “Tyrants Tongue,” among others. I refuse to discount the quality of Trails and Passes, 2012’s Nest of Vipers (review here) or 2007’s landmark Agents of Ahriman (review here), but as Greenleaf shifted toward a style more reminiscent of Holappa‘s later output with Dozer, they also seemed to stake their claim on the forefront of European heavy rock and roll, which was just waiting for them to do so.

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5. Brant Bjork, Tao of the Devil

Released by Napalm Records. Reviewed Sept. 15.

Perhaps the most believable lyric of 2016 was the opening line of leadoff cut “The Gree Heen” from Brant Bjork‘s Tao of the Devil: “I got all that I need. I got the gree-heen.” From the prominent pot leaf on the cover to that single clause — which set the tone for that song’s mega-nod as much as everything that followed in the boogie of “Humble Pie” and “Stackt,” the so-laid-back-it’s-almost-unconscious title-track and the longer-form explorations of “Dave’s War” and the wah’ed-out “Evening Jam” — the inimitable Bjork seems to have embraced the role of stoner guru and the Godfather of Desert Rock. Tao of the Devil was his second release through Napalm behind 2014’s Black Power Flower (review here), which introduced the Low Desert Punk Band, and far from hanging its hat on the man’s historical accomplishments from his days in Kyuss, Fu Manchu, Che, Vista Chino, etc., the 50-minute eight-tracker came fueled by the soul most typified in Bjork‘s solo catalog, which it’s increasingly easy to argue is his greatest contribution to the desert aesthetic. Definitely in his wheelhouse, but what a wheelhouse.

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4. Asteroid, III

Released by Fuzzorama Records. Reviewed Oct. 21.

What a relief it was to have Asteroid back, and what a relief it was to have III arrive some six years after II (review here) and find the Örebro, Sweden, trio’s certified-organic chemistry undulled by that long stretch. The songs — “Pale Moon,” “Last Days,” “Til Dawn,” “Wolf and Snake,” “Silver and Gold,” “Them Calling,” “Mr. Strange” — there wasn’t a miss in the bunch, and in addition to the reignited craftsmanship, III made clear a progression as players and the intent to move forward from guitarist/vocalist Robin Hirse, bassist/vocalist Johannes Nilsson and drummer Elvis Campbell (since replaced by Jimmi Kolscheen), so that the material didn’t just let listeners know Asteroid was a band again after having unceremoniously faded out for a half-decade, but gave a signal that perhaps they were just getting started. One can only hope that turns out to be the case, but either way, III felt like a reward dolled out to their fanbase after a long absent stretch, and one that, like II and their 2007 self-titled debut (discussed here) before it, will reverberate its echoes for years to come. Hands down 2016’s most welcome return.

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3. Gozu, Revival

Released by Ripple Music. Reviewed May 19.

Though it would carry the context of its scorching opener “Nature Boy” with it for the duration and, accordingly, hit with a more intense feel than its 2013 predecessor, The Fury of a Patient Man (review here), Gozu‘s fourth album overall and Ripple label debut was a kick in the ass on more than just that one level. It found the Boston foursome with the finally-solidified lineup of vocalist/guitarist Marc Gaffney, guitarist Doug Sherman, bassist Joe Grotto and drummer Mike Hubbard, and while one could argue they still wound up under the banner of a heavy rock band, that became happenstance to the songs themselves. That is, even more than The Fury of a Patient Man or 2010’s Locust Season (review here), Gozu came across as writing not to style, but to their own impulses, as demonstrated in “Big Casino,” the echoing soul of “Tin Chicken” and shuffle-thrust of “Oldie,” and as they moved beyond their initial swath of influence into this individualized sonic persona, they reaped the benefits of the locked-in lineup and a process of craft that never sounded so purposeful. Revival was indeed typified by its vitality, but it was also the sound of a band maturing as a unit, becoming who they were meant to be, and there is almost nothing more exciting than that for a single album to represent. Plus, it had a song called “By Mennen,” and, you know, references.

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2. Mars Red Sky, Apex III (Praise for the Burning Soul)

Released by Listenable Records. Reviewed Feb. 24.

It was unreasonable to expect the third full-length from Bordeaux, France, trio Mars Red Sky to surpass 2014’s Stranded in Arcadia (review here) and the progressive crux that album brought to the warm tones and sweet melodicism of their 2011 self-titled debut (review here), but Apex III (Praise for the Burning Soul) reinforced the elements that worked so well on previous outings while pushing inarguably onto what the band seemed to know was “Alien Ground” if the title of their intro was anything to go by. More over, it did so with a natural fluidity and poise that were as striking as they were encompassing in sound. Tying to earlier 2016’s Providence EP (review here) in concept and execution through that intro and the title-track following it, Apex III presented the to-date pinnacle of Mars Red Sky‘s growth in songs like “The Whinery,” “Mindreader,” the tear-inducing “Under the Hood,” the swing-happy “Friendly Fire,” the willful atmospheric crash of closer “Prodigal Sun” — each one a crucial advancing step from the trio of guitarist/vocalist Julien Pras, bassist/vocalist Jimmy Kinast and drummer Mathieu “Matgaz” Gazeau — and brilliantly fed them one into the other, so that in addition to the standout impressions of each, there developed a personality to the whole span of the album; a world of Mars Red Sky‘s own creation, where they dwelt for what seemed too short a time before returning to earth and on from here to who knows where next.

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1. SubRosa, For this We Fought the Battle of Ages

Released by Profound Lore. Reviewed Aug. 26.

Most of all, For this We Fought the Battle of Ages was fearless. For their fourth album, Salt Lake City’s SubRosa adapted themes from 1924’s We by Yevgeny Zamyatin, which laid out a futuristic dystopia wherein all identity is subsumed to the state and even love is outlawed when not properly sanctioned. This framework, obscure if influential, gave guitarist/vocalist Rebecca Vernon, violinist/vocalist Sarah Pendleton, violinist/backing vocalist Kim Pack, bassist/vocalist Levi Hanna, drummer/engineer Andy Patterson (formerly of Iota, among others), and a range of other contributors, a space in which to explore gender and LGBT issues across the six included tracks, and from the opening build and crush of the chorus to “Despair is a Siren” through the depiction of privilege in “Wound of the Warden,” the 97-second Italian-language ballad “Il Cappio” (translated: “the noose”) and into the gut-wrenching finale of “Troubled Cells,” their musical accomplishment was no less stunning than lyrics like, “Isn’t it good to be acquainted with darkness?/To caress it gently/To slit its throat,” from “Black Majesty.” Tense in its quiet stretches, harmonized vocally, given orchestral presence through its use of strings, flute, French horn, and so on, For this We Fought the Battle of Ages worked fluidly in what for most acts would be a contradictory modus of careful, meticulous arrangements and raw, emotional realism. No matter how deep it dove — and by the time identity was being erased and the state was taking control of the body on “Killing Rapture,” it was diving pretty deep — SubRosa never lost their sense of poise, so that the defiance in the last movement of “Troubled Cells” in which Heaven itself is rejected with the clearest of justifications, “Paradise is a lie if you’re not by my side,” the band seemed to stand as straight and tall as their multi-tiered righteousness would warrant. But even if one took For this We Fought the Battle of Ages with politics aside, its achievement in marrying post-metallic structures, gothic texture and progressive atmospherics was on a plane of its own making, operating under its own rules and in its own definitive space. Albums like it do not happen every year, and forward motion for genre as a whole is rarely so visible as it was in this special offering, which seems only fair to regard as a landmark for the band and anyone whose ears and hearts it touched.

—

The Next 20

Like any good Top 30, mine goes to 50. Here is the next batch:

31. Blaak Heat, Shifting Mirrors
32. Truckfighters, V
33. West, Space & Love, Vol. II
34. Seedy Jeezus with Isaiah Mitchell, Tranquonauts
35. Yawning Man, Historical Graffiti
36. Causa Sui, Return to Sky
37. Vokonis, Olde One Ascending
38. Hotel Wrecking City Traders, Phantomonium
39. The Wounded Kings, Visions in Bone
40. It’s Not Night: It’s Space, Our Birth is but a Sleep and a Forgetting
41. Beastwars, The Death of all Things
42. Naxatras, II
43. Holy Grove, Holy Grove
44. Worshipper, Shadow Hymns
45. Wretch, Wretch
46. Colour Haze, Live Vol. I: Europa Tournee 2015
47. Zaum, Eidolon
48. Bellringer, Jettison
49. Young Hunter, Young Hunter
50. Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard, Y Proffwyd Dwyll

From the kinetic desert artistry of Blaak Heat to Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard’s ethereal synth-laden doom, there are more than a few essentials here. I’ve never before done a year-end list that had so many releases on it, but my motivation in doing so this time around couldn’t have been simpler: They were simply too good and had too much to offer to leave out. It would’ve been an oversight to do so.

Honorable Mentions

Even a Top 50 fails to grasp the full scope of what 2016 brought about musically, so here are even more, alphabetically:

Ancient Warlocks, II
Black Moon Circle, Sea of Clouds
Sergio Ch., Aurora
Lamp of the Universe, Hidden Knowledge
Mondo Drag, The Occultation of Light
Øresund Space Collective, Visions Of…
-(16)-, Lifespan of a Moth
Spidergawd, III
The Well, Pagan Science
Wovenhand, Star Treatment

And if that’s still not enough, here are 60-plus more names who shouldn’t be left out of the discussion, also alphabetically:

Akris, Atala, Atomikylä, Backwoods Payback, Beastmaker, BigPig, Black Cobra, Black Lung, Blood Ceremony, Blues Pills, Bright Curse, Bus, Dee Calhoun, Captain Crimson, Child, La Chinga, Church of Misery, Conclave, Cough, Devil to Pay, Domkraft, Dot Legacy, Electric Citizen, Estoner, Eternal Elysium, Fatso Jetson & Gary Arce vs. Hifiklub, Fox 45, Goatess, Goblin Cock, Graves at Sea, Heavy Temple (they’ll be back on next year’s list), High Fighter, Holy Serpent, Hotel Wrecking City Traders, Inter Arma, Joy, Kaleidobolt, Khemmis, King Dead, Lord, Lord Vicar, Merchant, Mirrors for Psychic Warfare, Helen Money, Monkey3, Moon Coven, Mother Mooch, Necro, New Keepers of the Water Towers, T.G. Olson, Oranssi Pazuzu, Pooty Owldom, Russian Circles, Salem’s Pot, Samavayo, Seremonia, Skuggsjá, Sourvein, Spirit Adrift, Stone Machine Electric, Suma, Surya Kris Peters, Swans, Throttlerod, Virus, Wasted Theory, Wretch, and Zaum.

—

Thank You

In case none of the above has made it clear, I’ll just say flat out that 2016 has been an amazing year for music, and that every time I feel like maybe underground heavy has hit a wall and there’s nowhere left for it to go, sure enough about three minutes later another record shows up that slaps me in the face with a reminder of just how wrong that notion is.

If you’re still reading — how could you be? — thank you so much for your incredible support throughout 2016 and all the years The Obelisk has been in progress. I already know that 2017 is going to bring some incredible music as well, but that’s another list for another time, so I’ll just say again how much I appreciate your being a part of this ongoing project, how much it means to me to have you here. Thank you, thank you, and thank you.

And please, if there’s anything I forgot, got wrong, misspelled, or if you just think I used the word “breadth” too many times, please let me know about it in the comments.

One more time: Thank you.

—

German heavy psych rockers Wight released their funk-fortified third album (I kind of wish it was their fourth, just so I could continue the alliteration), Love is Not Only What You Know (review here), in September on Fat and Holy Records, Kozmik Artifactz, etc. Like everything they’ve done to-date, it represented a significant turn in sound from where they’d been previously, taking some of the psychedelic elements of 2012’s sophomore outing, Through the Woods into Deep Water (review here), to upbeat places that many even in the jammiest spheres wouldn’t dare to go. Adding a fourth member in percussionist/vocalist Steffen Kirchpfening, Wight signaled clearly they were embarking on a new era, and if you heard the record — if you haven’t, stream it below — you know the results were righteous.

Now they’ll take the show on the road in Germany and Switzerland. Joined by Kes from Istanbul, Wight head into 2017 in grand style on a run presented by Sound of Liberation that starts on Dec. 27 and goes until Jan. 7. They seem to have given the tour the name “The Green Baron and the Flying Fist of Bosphorus,” so, you know, that’s something. I have no idea what it means, but it sounds like a good time, and that could very well be the point.

Dates follow as announced by the band via the social medias:

We are happy to announce the upcoming Germany/Switzerland tour between the years with KES from Istanbul as support. You might have never heard of them but now it’s time. We are also working on new songs to present you at one of the following dates:

Wight & Kes, The Green Baron and the Flying Fist of Bosphorous tour:
27.12 MICHELSTADT – Unterholz
28.12 MÜNCHEN – Feierwerk
29.12 WÜRZBURG – Immerhin
30.12 OLTEN – Coq D’or
31.12 DARMSTADT – Goldene Krone
03.01 HAMBURG – Bar227
04.01 KIEL – Schaubude
05.01 DRESDEN – Sabotage
06.01 BERLIN – Zukunft am Ostkreuz
07.01 TBA please get in contact with us for booking!

Poster by Maarten Donders and René Hofmann

Wight is:
René Hofmann – Guitar, Vocals, Synthesizer
Peter-Philipp Schierhorn – Bass, Additional Vocals
Thomas Kurek – Drums, Additional Vocals
Steffen Kirchpfening – Percussion, Additional Vocals

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Wight, Love is Not Only What You Know (2016)

Each of Wight‘s albums has represented a significant jump in sound from the one before it. At this point, they have a decent track record going of shifting sonically from release to release. Their first outing, Wight Weedy Wight (review here), lived up to its name in 2011 with fuzzy groove and stonerized riffing. The 2012 follow-up, Through the Woods into Deep Water (review here), found the Darmstadt trio working quickly on a path of progression, greatly expanding their scope and psychedelic undertones with a natural, jammy vibe.

Their awaited third full-length, Love is Not Only What You Know (on Fat and Holy Records, Kozmik Artifactz, Import Export Music and SPV), may have been much slower in arriving, but brings with it no less a sense of departure from its predecessor(s).

First of all, it marks the introduction of percussionist Steffen Kirchpfening to the lineup with guitarist/vocalist/keyboardist/producer René Hofmann, bassist Peter-Philipp Schierhorn and drummer Thomas Kurek, making it Wight‘s first record as a four-piece, but it also brazenly incorporates elements of classic funk and soul in songs like opener “Helicopter Mama,” “The Muse and the Mule,” “Kelele” and the 11-minute closer “The Love for Life Leads to Reincarnation” that are at once the band’s most clearheaded work to-date but also their most outwardly grooving.

No doubt the inclusion of Kirchpfening plays a role in this — percussion certainly gets its say throughout, right from the bouncing start of “Helicopter Mama,” which was also released as a 7″ single (review here) last year — but as each Wight full-length has moved past the one before it, it has also brought choice elements along for that trip. Through the Woods into Deep Water held to the tonal largesse and fluid spirit of Wight Weedy Wight, and similarly, the seven tracks/46 minutes of Love is Not Only What You Know carry forward the second album’s graceful flow, memorable songwriting, and for the most part, its looser feel and swing.

It’s the context in which those elements arrive that has shifted. Conveniently, the liner notes to the CD version list the band’s influences for each track, and they range from James Brown and Stevie Wonder on “Helicopter Mama,” to broken hearts, David Gilmour and Jack Bruce on “The Muse and the Mule,” to traveling, cultures and chaos on the Eastern-inflected interlude “Three Quarters.” Through the longer stretches in “The Muse and the Mule” (10:10) and “Kelele” (9:29) which follows to round out side A, Hofmann seems to play the role of bandleader.

“Helicopter Mama” was more straightforward, and it gets a complement on side B’s “I Wanna Know What You Feel,” but particularly in the more fleshed out pieces — it goes for “The Love for Life Leads to Reincarnation” (11:47) as well — Hofmann shines vocally, on guitar played through a range of effects, and in adding keyboard flourish. That’s not to say the rest of the band doesn’t make pivotal contributions as well. As with Through the Woods into Deep Water, it’s Schierhorn‘s bass keeping the material grounded, and “The Muse and the Mule” would simply fall flat without him.

Ditto that for “Kelele” and really the record as a whole, including the more subdued penultimate cut “Biophilia Intermezzo,” shorter at three minutes than everything but “Three Quarters,” which is two, but still soulful enough to make an impression. After a dreamier departure in the second half of “The Muse and the Mule,” “Kelele” starts with funky thrust and delivers its hook sans pretense, Kurek holding down the march while Kirchpfening fills the spaces between beats with shekere and djembe.

Just past four minutes in, the song comes to a halt and they launch into a guitar-led heavy psych jam, Hofmann taking an extended solo as the band pushes further and further out, eventually bringing back to the initial progression and the repetitions of the title that seem to beg for a sing-along without actually begging for it, bookending the track excellently and underscoring the sense of control with which Wight execute their material at this stage.

Their stylistic fusion extends even more on “Three Quarters,” which plays up Mideastern drones and chanting for a quick but hypnotic psychedelic centerpiece effect to transition into side B, which comes back to classic funk-infused rock on “I Wanna Know What You Feel,” reminiscent of Humble Pie or early John Mayall if they decided to incorporate sitar accent.

Both “I Wanna Know What You Feel” and “Biophilia Intermezzo” are shorter than anything on side A, including “Helicopter Mama,” but the groove of one and the key-laced soul explosiveness of the other make them standouts nonetheless and though the sound varies widely throughout side B, basically from one song into the next, by the time “The Love for Life Leads to Reincarnation” comes on to close out with a return to the funkier, jammy feel of “The Muse and the Mule,” it all makes an odd kind of sense within the sphere in which Wight seem to be operating.

With Hofmann doing a more than capable Chris Cornell on vocals, the finale opens patiently with a key-solo jam before unfolding its first verse and moving into its chorus, and the difference turns out to be that when the band launches into the last jam this time, there’s no coming back, unlike, say, “Kelele.”

Keys, claves, temple blocks, drums, bass, guitar — all of it creates a fitting swirl to end the expansive feel of the record as a whole, but it’s important to note that the more pervasive vibe comes from the live feel of the song itself, and that’s also a consistent thread tying Love is Not Only What You Know together even as it continues to introduce new ways of working in its final moments. It is unquestionably Wight‘s most vibrant release, and to listen to it and Wight Weedy Wight next to each other, one would hardly even recognize it’s the same band. Because it’s not.

I said their last time out that I wouldn’t want to predict where they head next, and while they seem to have found a niche for themselves otherwise largely unoccupied in European heavy rock, the same applies here. Wight have shown time and again that their commitment is to following their creative will rather than a predetermined “sound,” and on their third album, that will has produced an accomplished collection of intricate but vital songs that redefine the band’s scope entirely.

What that might mean for the future, who knows? Who cares? It’s a party. Groove out and rock on.

Wight, “The Love for Life Leads to Reincarnation” official video

Wight on Thee Facebooks

Wight on Bandcamp

Wight on Twitter

Wight preorder at Kozmik Artifactz

It’s kind of hard to believe that by the time Sept. 24 rolls around it will have been four years since Wight released their second album, Through the Woods into Deep Water (review here), but what it means is that it’s been an even longer wait for their third outing than I consciously realized. Love is Not Only What You Know will be out this fall, marking the Darmstadt heavy psych rockers’ first album as a four-piece and a funk-fortified new direction for the band. Each of their albums has been a substantial leap from the one before it, so who knows how long this particular party will last before they move on to the next one, but you’re going to have to take my word for it when I say this is one to savor, particularly for those who might get down with classic sweaty grooves.

No exact release date for the album that I’ve seen, but in addition to a slot at Burg Herzberg in July and Swamp Fest also in September, they’ve got a release show booked for Love is Not Only What You Know in their hometown, and you’ll find the info for it below, as posted by guitarist/vocalist René Hofmann.

Dig:

Sep. 24 – Wight Record Release Party + Special Guests: Operators

Oetinger Villa
Kranichsteiner St. 81, 64289 Darmstadt, Hessen

Wight will finally release their third long player “Love Is Not Only What You Know”

We’d like to invite you all to celebrate the birth of our new art piece. It took us more time and effort than ever before. There’s a story behind it, the band’s and personal experiences of the last 4 years. There are countless people, who joined and left us in that time, who influenced us in our daily lives and in our artistical output. For my part, I am very grateful for the good and bad times. Love in all its facets hit me – joy, pain, family, friendship, to be stuck on somebody and being disappointed, to know that there is love and hate for yourself too…

Music is just there to stop thinking and start feeling… and enjoy exactly that!

Or to say it in Wayne Shorter’s words: “Music is interior decoration.”

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Wight, “The Love for Life Leads to Reincarnation” live video

German trio-turned-four-piece Wight continue to tease their sonic evolution with a new video for “The Love for Life Leads to Reincarnation.” The closing track of what will be their third full-length — titled Love is Not Only What You Know — it’s a sprawling 11-minute psych-funk jam that just seems to be waiting for its boarding number to be called to get on the Mothership, following up on the funkified vibes of the Helicopter Mama 7″ (review here) that the Darmstadt outfit released earlier this summer in time for another European tour and expanding on them as well. Of course, the limitations of format have a stake in that as well — one can only fit so much on a 7″ as opposed to an LP — but with “The Love for Life Leads to Reincarnation,” Wight showcase just how fluidly they’ve been able to shift their sound, making a jump no less dramatic than that between their 2011 debut, Wight Weedy Wight (review here), and its 2012 follow-up, Through the Woods into Deep Water (review here), weaving their way from chunky-style riff rock to heavy psych and now beyond that into something even more their own.

And don’t get me wrong, the video’s cool — filmed live by Terrotika at Oetinger Villa on an off-day from the most recent tour, it’s got visual rhythm enough to match the sleek grooves with which Wight are getting down — but the highlight is the song itself. Moving from synth to guitar and vocals, René Hofmann channels Bernie Worrell en route to Chris Cornell while let-me-put-my-sunglasses-on-so-I-can-see-what-I’m-doing bassist Peter-Philipp Schierhorn holds the jam tight before letting it explode into an all-go heavy psych freakout, propelled by drummer Thomas Kurek with swing further underscored by percussionist Steffen Kirchpfening, whose smile throughout the clip only underscores how much fun Wight are having at this point. The clip was recorded in one take, in case there was any doubt Wight could bring it, and like the 7″ preceding, it just makes my want to hear the band’s third album even more.

Hofmann offers some comment under the video, which you’ll find below. Enjoy:

Wight, “The Love for Life Leads to Reincarnation”

Says René Hofmann:

Our new album will have the name “Love is Not Only What You Know”. It is the result of the past 3 years. We let things happen in our lives and so we never force a song to be finished. Sometimes we have missing party for years! And sometimes it just happens that you write a whole song in 2 or 3 rehearsals. It all depends what happens in life at the moment… I could write a lot about it, but just for this song “The Love For Life Leads To Reincarnation”… I read about buddhism and the author wrote that you get salvation if you can free yourself from all delights, wishes, greed etc. you don’t need human relationships anymore, no property. You are just completely happy with yourself if you can achieve this stadium.

I really liked the idea about it. If you can free yourself, you will get one step “higher” or wiser in the next life cycle. If you get the complete epiphany, you will leave the “game of life” Sansara and your soul will be happy in the Nirvana.

The song title just says it all. I don’t need much material goods but I am really into getting emotional rich. I need to travel and see the whole world, I love to let myself go in foreign cultures and for most… I love senses, touching, smelling, hearing, making music, having sex.

So I just accept I don’t wanna be ready to leave life. For me life is too short to get all my stuff done. So If I die, My soul will fly around just for some seconds to grab a new life, which will be born somewhere on earth.

…and then I will make more Wight albums haha! My Band will survive me baby!

Cheers from mad-city Darmstadt!
Rene

First take, filmed by the girl and boys of Terrotika.

Wight performs live at Oetinger Villa Darmstadt
Sunday Aug 23rd 2015

Wight is:
René Hofmann – Vocals, Guitar and Synthesizer
Peter-Philipp Schierhorn – Bass
Thomas Kurek – Drums
Steffen Kirchpfening – Percussions

Credits:
Johanna Amberg – Kamera & Schnitt
Fabian Weber – Kamera
Gabriel Sahm – Kamera & Colour grading
Josko Joketovic – Audio recording
René Hofmann – Audio mixing and mastering

Wight on Thee Facebooks

Wight on Bandcamp

Wight’s Tumblr

Fat and Holy Records on Thee Facebooks

They’re in and out in under 10 minutes, but Wight‘s new 7″, Helicopter Mama b/w I Wanna Know What You Feel (which we’ll shorted to just Helicopter Mama from here on out), could easily serve as a landmark for the German band going forward. Pressed in an edition of 333 copies with 111 in black, 111 in green and 111 others in various color vinyl and released by Fat and Holy Records to coincide with an Aug. 2015 European tour (info here) and help fund the making of their next full-length, it’s also the first studio work they’ve done since their second album, Through the Woods into Deep Water (review here) came out in 2012.

True, they’ve had a couple live digital offerings since, but Helicopter Mama marks a return to the studio, and it’s also their first outing as a foursome, having recorded Through the Woods into Deep Water and their 2011 debut, Wight Weedy Wight (review here), as the trio of guitarist/vocalist/recording engineer René Hofmann, bassist Peter-Philipp Schierhorn and Thomas Kurek prior to adding percussionist Steffen Kirchpfening in 2014. That is a big change in itself, but even the jump from a three- to a four-piece doesn’t really capture the scale of the progression Wight have evidently undertaken in the last three years. Where Through the Woods into Deep Water brimmed with heavy psychedelic vitality, exploding its way through earthy but still spacious jams and rolling riffs, Helicopter Mama is even more of a turn than that album was as compared to Wight Weedy Wight, leaving behind most of the psychedelic flourish and instead digging into a classic soul and funk influence across both “Helicopter Mama” and “I Wanna Know What You Feel.”

Calling it a surprise would be underselling it, but Wight warned their listeners ahead of the new songs making their way out that they were up to something different going forward, and while it’s entirely possible that by the time they get around to their third long-player, they’ll be on a completely different trip, it’s worth noting that they do a heavy funk style extremely well. “Helicopter Mama” — which I didn’t at first until I read the lyrics, but you’ve probably heard the phrase “helicopter parent” before, so extrapolate from that — is wah-soaked ’70s-style funk, what they used to call “hard funk,” and it shows a decided Funkadelic/Sly Stone influence, but Hofmann delivers a soulful vocal that not only makes it believable, but winds up carrying the track as a whole.

It starts with a gong hit and a snare roll, but “Helicopter Mama” itself is all swank and swing, and it keeps its loose feel for the duration, through verses and choruses and into a heavier vibing second half, Kirchpfening making his presence felt while the track nestles into a late chorus that brings to mind some of Cherry Choke‘s soulful psychedelics without losing either its rhythmic pulse or forward movement. Last line of the song is “Some things never change,” but clearly some things do. This fusion continues to be the core of what Wight bring to the table on “I Wanna Know What You Feel,” but they tilt the balance more to the rock side, and wind up absolutely nailing a modernized take on a Rare Earth, Humble Pie-style funk/rock blend, complete with a backing chorus, consistent psychedelic underpinnings to the classic blues rock swing and a push into a gospel-style vocal arrangement that not only ties together with “Helicopter Mama”‘s funkified spirit, but further expands the context of Wight‘s aesthetic shift as well.

So Wight are both embarking on this stylistic turn and showing an immediate range within it on Helicopter Mama, which makes the 7″ even more impressive. It would be one thing if they came into the tracks sort of hemming about and timid, but between how Hofmann belts out “Helicopter Mama” from the gut and the swaggering groove of “I Wanna Know What You Feel,” the only thing one might call “safe” about the release is the fact that the band clearly waited until they knew what they were doing before they put it out. They’ve given themselves multiple avenues through which to continue to grow, and I’d very much doubt these two songs are the limits of what they’re looking to accomplish within this range — or, for that matter, outside of it, since if Wight came back with a record that tied these sounds with some of the last record’s jammy propensity, it would be hard to say it didn’t make sense as a next move.

Neither would I mind if they pushed their funkish propensity into all-out weirdness and wound up layering in effected solos and backwards loops à la some 1970-style soul weirdness. Only their next record will tell where they wind up, and even that will only tell as far as itself, but it says something about the success of the sampling Wight give on Helicopter Mama that it’s so easy to be excited about what they might do to follow it up. Until they get there, they’ve given those familiar with their past work a look at where they’re headed and offered anyone who hadn’t climbed on board yet a welcoming reason and means by which to do so. Again, it’s a quick offering, but it accomplishes much in its short runtime and I’ve very quickly come to consider it among the best short releases I’ve heard in 2015.

Wight, Helicopter Mama (2015)

Wight on Bandcamp

Wight on Thee Facebooks

Wight on Twitter

Wight on Instagram

At the start of 2015, I included the next Wight album — whatever they decide to call it — on my list of the year’s most anticipated records. I stand by that. It’s been three years now since their second offering, Through the Woods into Deep Water (review here), came out and the sheer amount of progression the German outfit showed from their 2011 debut, Wight Weedy Wight (review here), not to mention the songwriting on its own level, has made the appeal enduring for all that time. Still, they’re due, and with the acquisition of a fourth player in the form of percussionist Steffen Kirchpfening, who joins guitarist/vocalist René Hofmann, bassist Peter-Philipp Schierhorn and Thomas Kurek, the prospect of another step forward is enticing.

I don’t know if Wight‘s third will be out before the end of 2015 — last I heard they were in the mixing stage — but they’re headed out on the road next month into Sept., and as they say, they’ve put the last album to rest in their minds, so it seems fair to expect new material to surface soon, even if just on tour.

Dates and a recent update from the band follow:

+++ FUSION ROCK INVASION EUROPEAN TOUR 2015 +++

A year ago, we performed “Through The Woods Into Deep Water” live in the Odenwald (Odin’s Forest), next to our hometown. For us, that was the conclusion of the chapter “Through The Woods”. Since that time many things happened, which are impossible to “share” in social media. We wrote songs, recorded, a fourth musicians joined the band, we toured and we will play even more next month. We are looking forward to show you the new “book of Wight” soon… Paper doesn’t blush.

Wight touring Germany, Netherlands, UK
Friday 21.08.2015 – Biesenthal/B Camp Tipsy
Saturday 22.08.2015 – Cologne Underground Cologne
Tuesday 25.08.2015 – Hamburg Bar 227 – Jack Daniel’s Pilgerstätte
Wednesday 26.08.2015 – Tilburg Little Devil
Thursday 27.08.2015 – Plymouth The Junction
Friday 28.08.2015 – London The Black Heart
Saturday 29.09.2015 – Leicester Sumo Bar Leicester
Sunday 30.08.2015 – Cardiff The Moon Club
Tuesday 01.09.2015 – TBA
Wednesday 02.09.2015 – TBA
Thursday 03.09.2015 – Munich Feierwerk
Friday 04.09.2015 – Darmstadt „Theater im Pädagog TIP“
Saturday 05.09.2015 – TBA

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Wight, Through the Woods into Deep Water (2012)

My understanding is that weekend passes for Desertfest Berlin 2015 are sold out, but individual day tickets are still available. That is, if you want to show up on Friday and bum out on missing the rest of the weekend so hard that you wind up buying tickets for Saturday and Sunday as well, you can. Hey, it’s better than nothing.

The latest addition to the fest is Darmstadt heavy rockers Bushfire. Their last album, Heal Thy Self (review here), came out late in 2013, and it was a significant jump from their 2010 debut, Black Ash Sunday (review here), so I can’t help but wonder what these dudes might be up to now. The slot at Desertfest Berlin 2015 will apparently be their first show of the year. Kind of a late start, but a good one all the same.

Here’s the announcement from the Desertfest crew:

28th band to be confirmed for DesertFest Berlin 2015: Bushfire! The Darmstadt’s five-piece will bring you a good measure of blues, stoner, doom and southern rock.

With three demo Eps and two albums, shows and tours through half of Europe, TV airplay and a loyal fanbase – all of that without any label or management – BUSHFIRE is that kind of DIY band we love, and we are thrilled to have them on board!

Desertfest 3-day passes are now sold out, but stay tuned for the day tickets release, that will happen very soon!

DESERTFEST BERLIN #4 – APRIL 23th, 24th, 25th 2015
ASTRA KULTURHAUS / F-HAIN/X-BERG BERLIN (GER)
www.desertfest.de – www.soundofliberation.com

Red Fang + Orange Goblin + Brant Bjork & The Low Desert Punk Band + Acid King + Ufomammut + My Sleeping Karma + Conan + Black Pyramid + Karma To Burn + Brutus + Dopethrone + The Atomic Bitchwax + Lo-Pan + Baby Woodrose + The Picturebooks + Toner Low + Kamchatka + Dirty Fences + Heat + Bushfire + Mountain Witch + Mother Engine + Moaning Cities + The Sun And The Wolf + Cigale + Riff Fist + Travelin Jack + Tau + more

https://www.facebook.com/DesertfestBerlin
https://www.facebook.com/bushfiremusic

Bushfire, Heal Thy Self (2013)