https://www.high-endrolex.com/18

The Obelisk Questionnaire: Rory Rummings of Cloud Catcher

Posted in Questionnaire on October 17th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

CLOUD-CATCHER-by-Jake-Yergs

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: Rory Rummings of Cloud Catcher

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

Cloud Catcher plays heavy music, plain and simple! No gimmicks, no image, just heavy riffs, musical dialogue between the band and cranked amps! This would have never came to be if my parents didn’t play Maiden, Priest, Sabbath, Skid Row and guitar driven tunes on repeat when I was a little kid… I also owe them the world for their endless support growing up and allowing me to continuously blow the tiles off the ceiling in our basement with my shitty Randall half stack hahaha!

Describe your first musical memory.

Setting up pots and pans to drum on in the living room as a 4 year old and pretending I was Clive Burr from Iron Maiden while watching “Video Pieces”

Also playing air guitar with my Dad to “Paris is Burning” by Dokken… George Lynch rules!

Describe your best musical memory to date.

Touring with Earthless in 2017 was pretty damn cool… here’s to hoping something like that happens again!!

Honestly, thinking of the jams with my friends at our home studio always makes me stoked. Oh and meeting Uli Jon Roth and having dinner with him by chance was so fucking cool too.

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

Ah man, good question… having to sacrifice a friendship for the pursuit of artistic vision definitely opened my eyes.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

Artistic progression leads to the freedom to explore your own voice… I wish more bands were not afraid to take risks like this, instead of pigeon holing themselves into a box where they will always remain the flavor of the week… bands like the Melvins are a tried and true example of sticking to your guns and progressing your sound and vision while not giving a fuck about what others think. The result is priceless and something that will remain eternal.

How do you define success?

Jamming every Friday, being able to play shows and tour all while being a part of the working class. Doing shit yourself and being proud of the work you put in instead of relying on others to hand you things… that’s success to me.

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

People still dressing up and pretending like it’s the 70’s in 2023… hahaha!

Honestly the way that social media has spread its psychic illness over the world has been something I wish I never had to see.

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

A collaborative album between Cloud Catcher and Blood Incantation and Danava. Atmospheric synth filled riffage that this world needs… perhaps the best modern day prog album? Hmmmm we shall see. Paul, Greg I’m looking at you!!

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

The artist fully embracing who they are and what they like and just fucking going for it!

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

Staying at a family friends cabin with my wife and inner circle this upcoming week… few things are better in this world.

[Photo by Jake Yergs.]

https://www.facebook.com/cloudcatcher303
https://www.instagram.com/cloudcatcherco
https://cloud-catcher.bandcamp.com
https://cloudcatcherco.com

Cloud Catcher, Return From the Cauldron (2023)

Tags: , , , , ,

Quarterly Review: AAWKS & Aiwass, Surya Kris Peters, Evert Snyman, Book of Wyrms, Burning Sister, Gévaudan, Oxblood Forge, High Brian, Búho Ermitaño, Octonaut

Posted in Reviews on October 6th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

the obelisk winter quarterly review

Last day, this one. And probably a good thing so that I can go back to doing just about anything else beyond (incredibly) basic motor function and feeling like I need to start the next day’s QR writeups. I’m already thinking of maybe a week in December and a week or two in January, just to try to keep up with stuff, but I’m of two minds about it.

Does the Quarterly Review actually help anyone find music? It helps me, I know, because it’s 50 records that I’m basically forcing myself to dig into, and that exposes me to more and more and more all the time, and gives me an outlet for stuff I wouldn’t otherwise have mental or temporal space to cover, so I know I get something out of it. Do you?

Honest answers are welcome in the comments. If it’s a no, that helps me as well.

Quarterly Review #41-50:

AAWKS & Aiwass, The Eastern Scrolls

AAWKS & Aiwass The Eastern Scrolls

Late on their 2022 self-titled debut (review here), Canadian upstart heavy fuzzers AAWKS took a decisive plunge into greater tonal densities, and “1831,” which is their side-consuming 14:30 contribution to the The Eastern Scrolls split LP with Arizona mostly-solo-project Aiwass, feels built directly off that impulse. It is, in other words, very heavy. Cosmically spaced with harsher vocals early that remind of stonerkings Sons of Otis and only more blowout from there as they roll forth into slog, noise, a stop, ambient guitar and string melodies and drum thud behind vocals, subdued psych atmosphere and backmasked sampling near the finish. Aiwass, led by multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Blake Carrera and now on the cusp of releasing a second full-length, The Falling (review here), give the 13:00 “The Unholy Books” a stately, post-metallic presence, as much about the existential affirmations and the melody applied to the lyrics as it moves into the drumless midsection as either the earlier Grayceon-esque pulled notes of guitar (thinking specifically “War’s End” from 2011’s All We Destroy, but there the melody is cello) into it or the engrossing heft that emerges late in the piece, though it does bookend with a guitar comedown. Reportedly based around the life of theosophy co-founder and cult figure Madame Helena Blavatsky, it can either be embraced on that level or taken on simply as a showcase of two up and coming bands, each with their own complementary sound. However you want to go, it’s easily among the best splits I’ve heard in 2023.

AAWKS on Facebook

Aiwass on Facebook

Black Throne Productions store

Surya Kris Peters, Strange New World

Surya Kris Peters Strange New World

The lines between projects are blurring for Surya Kris Peters, otherwise known as Chris Peters, currently based in Brazil where he has the solo-project Fuzz Sagrado following on from his time in the now-defunct German trio Samsara Blues Experiment. Strange New World is part of a busy 2023/busy last few years for Peters, who in 2023 alone has issued a live album from his former band (review here) and a second self-recorded studio LP from Fuzz Sagrado, titled Luz e Sombra (review here). And in Fuzz Sagrado, Peters has returned to the guitar as a central instrument after a few years of putting his focus on keys and synths with Surya Kris Peters as the appointed outlet for it. Well, the Fuzz Sagrado had some keys and the 11-song/52-minute Strange New World wants nothing for guitar either as Peters reveals a headbanger youth in the let-loose guitar of “False Prophet,” offers soothing and textured vibes of a synthesized beat in “Sleep Meditation in Times of War” (Europe still pretty clearly in mind) and the acoustic/electric blend that’s expanded upon in “Nada Brahma Nada.” Active runs of synth, bouncing from note to note with an almost zither-esque feel in “A Beautiful Exile (Pt. 1)” and the later “A Beautiful Exile (Part 2)” set a theme that parts of other pieces follow, but in the drones of “Past Interference” and the ’80s New Wave prog of the bonus track “Slightly Too Late,” Peters reminds that the heart of the project is in exploration, and so it is still very much its own thing.

Fuzz Sagrado on Facebook

Electric Magic Records on Bandcamp

Evert Snyman, All Killer Filler

evert snyman all killer filler

A covers record can be a unique opportunity for an artist to convey something about themselves to fans, and while I consider Evert Snyman‘s 12-track/38-minute classic pop-rock excursion All Killer Filler to be worth it for his take on Smashing Pumpkins‘ “Zero” alone, there is no mistaking the show of persona in the choice to open with The Stooges‘ iconic “Search and Destroy” and back it cheekily with silly bounce of Paul McCartney‘s almost tragically catchy “Temporary Secretary.” That pairing alone is informative if you’re looking to learn something about the South African-based songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and producer. See also “The Piña Colada Song.” The ’90s feature mightily, as they would, with tunes by Pixies, Blur, Frank Black, The Breeders and Mark Lanegan (also the aforementioned Smashing Pumpkins), but whether it’s the fuzz of The Breeders’ 1:45 “I Just Wanna Get Along,” the sincere acoustic take on The Beatles “I Will” — which might as well be a second McCartney solo cut, but whatever; you’ll note Frank Black and Pixies appearing separately as well — or the gospel edge brought to Tom Waits‘ “Jesus Gonna Be Here,” Snyman internalizes this material, almost builds it from the ground up, loyal in some ways and not in others, but resonant in its respect for the source material without trying to copy, say, Foo Fighters, note for note on “The Colour and the Shape.” If it’s filler en route to Snyman‘s next original collection, fine. Dude takes on Mark Lanegan without it sounding like a put on. Mark Lanegan himself could barely do that.

Evert Snyman on Facebook

Mongrel Records website

Book of Wyrms, Storm Warning

book of wyrms storm warning

Virginian heavy doom rockers Book of Wyrms have proved readily in the past that they don’t need all that long to set up a vibe, and the standalone single “Storm Warning” reinforces that position with four-plus minutes of solid delivery of craft. Vocalist/synthesist Sarah Moore Lindsey, bassist Jay “Jake” Lindsey and drummer Kyle Lewis and guitarist Bobby Hufnell (also Druglord) — the latter two would seem to have switched instruments since last year’s single “Sodapop Glacier” (premiered here) — but whatever is actually being played by whoever, the song is a structurally concise but atmospheric groover, with a riff twisting around the hook and the keyboard lending dimension to the mix as it rests beneath the guitar and bass. They released their third album, Occult New Age (review here), in 2021, so they’re by no means late on a follow-up, and I don’t know either when this song was recorded — before, after or during that process — but it’s a sharp-sounding track from a band whose style has grown only  more theirs with time. I have high expectations for Book of Wyrms‘ next record — I had high expectations for the last one, which were met — and especially taken together, “Storm Warning” and “Sodapop Glacier” show both the malleable nature of the band’s aesthetic, the range that has grown in their sound and the live performance that is at their collective core.

Book of Wyrms on Facebook

Desert Records store

Burning Sister, Get Your Head Right

burning sister get your head right

Following on from their declarative 2022 debut, Mile High Downer Rock (review here), Denver trio Burning Sister — bassist/vocalist Steve Miller (also synth), guitarist Nathan Rorabaugh and drummer Alison Salutz — bring four originals and the Mudhoney cover “When Tomorrow Comes” (premiered here) together as Get Your Head Right, a 29-minute EP, beginning with the hypnotic nod groove and biting leads of “Fadeout” (also released as a single) and the slower, heavy psych F-U-Z-Z of “Barbiturate Lizard,” the keyboard-inclusive languid roll of which, even after the pace picks up, tells me how right I was to dig that album. The centerpiece title-track is faster and a little more forward tonally, more grounded, but carries over the vocal echo and finds itself in noisier crashes and chugs before giving over to the 7:58 “Looking Through Me,” which continues the relatively terrestrial vibe over until the wall falls off the spaceship in the middle of the track and everyone gets sucked into the vacuum — don’t worry, the synthesizer mourns us after — just before the noted cover quietly takes hold to close out with spacious heavygaze cavern echo that swells all the way up to become a blowout in the vein of the original. It’s a story that’s been told before, of a band actively growing, coming into their sound, figuring out who they are from one initial release to the next. Burning Sister haven’t finished that process yet, but I like where this seems to be headed. Namely into psych-fuzz oblivion and cosmic dust. So yeah, right on.

Burning Sister on Facebook

Burning Sister on Bandcamp

Gévaudan, Umbra

Gévaudan UMBRA

Informed by Pallbearer, Warning, or perhaps others in the sphere of emotive doom, UK troupe Gévaudan scale up from 2019’s Iter (review here) with the single-song, 43:11 Umbra, their second album. Impressive enough for its sheer ambition, the execution on the extended titular piece is both complex and organic, parts flowing naturally from one to the other around lumbering rhythms for the first 13 minutes or so before a crashout to a quick fade brings the next movement of quiet and droning psychedelia. They dwell for a time in a subtle-then-not-subtle build before exploding back to full-bore tone at 18:50 and carrying through a succession of epic, dramatic ebbs and flows, such that when the keyboard surges to the forefront of the mix in seeming battle with the pulled notes of guitar, the ensuing roll/march is a realization. They do break to quiet again, this time piano and voice, and doom mournfully into a fade that, at the end of a 43-minute song tells you the band could’ve probably kept going had they so desired. So much the better. Between this and Iter, Gévaudan have made a for-real-life statement about who they are as a band and their progressive ambitions. Do not make the mistake of thinking they’re done evolving.

Gévaudan on Facebook

Meuse Music Records website

Oxblood Forge, Cult of Oblivion

Oxblood Forge Cult of Oblivion

In some of the harsher vocals and thrashy riffing of Cult of Oblivion‘s opening title-track, Massachusetts’ Oxblood Forge remind a bit of some of the earliest Shadows Fall‘s definitively New Englander take on hardcore-informed metal. The Boston-based double-guitar five-piece speed up the telltale chug of “Children of the Grave” on “Upon the Altar” and find raw sludge scathe on “Cleanse With Fire” ahead of finishing off the four-song/18-minute EP with the rush into “Mask of Satan,” which echoes the thrash of “Cult of Oblivion” itself and finds vocalist Ken McKay pushing his voice higher in clean register than one can recall on prior releases, their most recent LP being 2021’s Decimator (review here). But that record was produced for a different kind of impact than Cult of Oblivion, and the aggression driving the new material is enhanced by the roughness of its presentation. These guys have been at it a while now, and clearly they’re not in it for trends, or to be some huge band touring for seven months at a clip. But their love of heavy metal is evident in everything they do, and it comes through here in every blow to the head they mete out.

Oxblood Forge on Facebook

Oxblood Forge on Bandcamp

High Brian, Five, Six, Seven

High Brian Five Six Seven

The titular rhythmic counting in Austrian heavy-prog quirk rockers High Brian‘s Five, Six, Seven (on StoneFree Records, of course) doesn’t take long to arrive, finding its way into second cut “Is it True” after the mild careening of “All There Is” opens their third full-length, and that’s maybe eight minutes into the 40-minute record, but it doesn’t get less gleefully weird from there as the band take off into the bassy meditation of “The End” before tossing out angular headspinner riffs in succession and rolling through what feels like a history of krautrock’s willful anti-normality written into the apocalypse it would seemingly have to be. “The End” is the longest track at 8:50, and it presumably closes side A, which means side B is when it’s time to party as the triplet chug of “The Omni” reinforces the energetic start of “All There Is” with madcap fervor and “Stone Came Up” can’t decide whether it’s raw-toned biker rock or spaced out lysergic idolatry, so it decides to become an open jam complete people talking “in the crowd.” This leaves the penultimate “Our First Car” to deliver one last shove into the art-rock volatility of closer “Oil Into the Fire,” where High Brian play one more round of can-you-follow-where-this-is-going before ending with a gentle cymbal wash like nothing ever happened. Note, to the best of my knowledge, there are not bongos on every track, as the cover art heralds. But perhaps spiritually. Spiritual bongos.

High Brian on Facebook

StoneFree Records website

Búho Ermitaño, Implosiones

Búho Ermitaño Implosiones

Shimmering, gorgeous and richly informed in melody and rhythm by South American folk, Búho Ermitaño‘s Implosiones revels in pastoralia in opener “Herbie” before “Expolosiones” takes off past its midpoint into heavy post-rock float and progressive urgency that in itself is more dynamic than many bands even still is only a small fraction of the encompassing range of sounds at work throughout these seven songs. ’60s psych twists into the guitar solo in the back half of “Explosiones” before space rock key/synth wash finishes — yes, it’s like that — and only then does the serene guitar and, birdsong and synth-drone of “Preludio” announce the arrival of centerpiece “Ingravita,” which begins acoustic and even as it climbs all the way up to its crescendo maintains its peaceful undercurrent so that when it returns at the end it seems to be home again at the finish. The subsequent “Buarabino” is more about physical movement in its rhythm, cumbia roots perhaps showing through, but leaves the ground for its second half of multidirectional resonances offered like ’70s prog that tells you it’s from another planet. But no, cosmic as they get in the keys of “Entre los Cerros,” Búho Ermitaño are of and for the Earth — you can hear it in every groove and sun-on-water guitar melody — and when the bowl chimes to start finale “Renacer,” the procession that ensues en route to the final drone is an affirmation both of the course they’ve taken in sound and whatever it is in your life that’s led you to hear it. Records like this never get hype. They should. They are loved nonetheless.

Búho Ermitaño on Facebook

Buh Records on Bandcamp

Octonaut, Intergalactic Tales of a Wandering Cephalopod

Octonaut Intergalactic Tales of a Wandering Cephalopod

In concept or manifestation, one would not call Octonaut‘s 54-minute shenanigans-prone debut album Intergalactic Tales of a Wandering Cephalopod a minor undertaking. On any level one might want to approach it — taking on the two-minute feedbackscape of “…—…” (up on your morse code?) or the 11-minute tale-teller-complete-with-digression-about-black-holes “Octonaut” or any of their fun-with-fuzz-and-prog-metal-and-psychedelia points in between — it is a lot, and there is a lot going on, but it’s also wonderfully brazen. It’s completely over the top and knows it. It doesn’t want to behave. It doesn’t want to just be another stoner band. It’s throwing everything out in the open and seeing what works, and as Octonaut move forward, ideally, they’ll take the lessons of a song like the mellow linear builder “Hypnotic Jungle” or nine-minute capper “Rainbow Muffler Camel” (like they’re throwing darts at words) with its intermittent manic fits and the somehow inevitable finish of blown-out static noise. As much stoner as it is prog, it’s also not really either, but this is good news because there are few better places for an act so clearly bent on individualism as Octonaut are to begin than in between genres. One hopes they dwell there for the duration.

Octonaut on Facebook

Octonaut’s Linktr.ee

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Review & Full Album Premiere: Cloud Catcher, Return From the Cauldron

Posted in audiObelisk, Reviews on September 26th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

CLOUD CATCHER Return from the Cauldron

Six years and a rhythm section later, Cloud Catcher are back with a third full-length, Return From the Cauldron released on their own Cauldron Audio Works imprint. The follow-up to 2017’s Trails of Kozmic Dust (review here) arrives three years after the Denver trio offered their split with alter-ego outfit Tricoma, Royal Flush Sessions Vol. I (review here), which makes it four since founding guitarist/vocalist Rory Rummings dismantled the band in 2019 after canceling a tour and an EP The WhipRummings ended up revamping Cloud Catcher, with Matt Ross on bass and Will Trafas on drums, and Return From the Cauldron is the first long-player from this version of the three-piece.

The consistency of songcraft, then, and of Cloud Catcher‘s stylistic niche between classic heavy rock, proto-metal boogie and NWOBHM — not to say the whole album is all three at the same time all the time, but “Wield the Blade” certainly is and it still nods at Black Heaven-era Earthless — one might credit to Rummings as a principal songwriter. Certainly to go back to “Visions” from Trails of Kozmic Dust and put it next to some of the boogie on Return From the Cauldron, the style is recognizable.

Though never quite as willfully dizzying as The Atomic BitchwaxCloud Catcher are no strangers to making heads spin, and they do so across the first half of Return From the Cauldron while also finding themselves dug into a sludgier-rocking vibe, the verses of “I Am the Storm” calling to mind Backwoods Payback or early Alabama Thunderpussy as “Burning Might” will again soon enough, which the hot-shit noodling and Sabbath-blues shoftshoe of “Boundless Journey” only echo, Rummings‘ solo casting space outward from the cyclical riffs. Also consistent with the last album is a studio sound, by which I mean they have one.

I won’t claim to know Cloud Catcher‘s ethic as regards attempting to capture live energy in a recording. For sure they don’t sound like they’re trying to make it boring, but whether or not they’re sCLOUD CATCHER by Victor Rollinspecifically geared toward conveying stage-sound on record, I’ve no idea. But they use the studio space. You can hear the separation of the instruments in “Gemini’s Ascent,” the echoing layers of lead guitar taking off around the barebones psych expanse after two minutes in, room left for verse and flute alike. Fleet as “Wield the Blade” and “Wretched Moon” are, there’s nothing about them to muddy the clarity of their impression.

This is a mature Cloud Catcher. They are cognizant of what their songs are doing and how they relate to each other, the double-kick of “Wretched Moon” and motorshove of “Magician’s Chariot,” for example. And while there are parts that can and do sound raw, whether that’s the bassy fuzz of “Burning Might” or the chase in the guitar and bass after two and a half minutes into the closing title-track, that suits the band’s style, which is impressive enough in technique if not overly technical in what is being played.

But the amalgam of nod and thrust, within the earlier tracks (side A) leaning toward the lumber and in the back end delving deeper into the metallurgics of the thrashy “Wield the Blade” and “Wretched Moon,” which gallops later and crunches like ’90s doom in its first verses, drums building in intensity in the latter like they’re ending the album, even though that doesn’t actually happen for another eight minutes or so with “Return From the Cauldron,” with its creeper and obscure-samples intro and ensuing janga-janga chug, a slower-developing riff than many here that leads to plenty of gallop later. But if Cloud Catcher are going to take their time anywhere, the closer is the place to do it, and their patience is rewarding in the central groove and the twisting payoff alike.

I would love to go on about the band’s accomplishments a decade on from their start, but I’m sick. I can’t keep my eyes open and can’t keep food or water in me and I need to go to bed, now. But please don’t take that as a slight against Cloud Catcher or their achievements in this material, the efforts on Rummings‘ part to find and gel with a new bassist and drummer, and the resulting righteousness of the songs. That I managed to be upright at all to talk about them should be seen as a sign of respect for their work.

You can hear the entirety of Return From the Cauldron on the player below, followed by tour dates and whatnot off the PR wire.

Please enjoy:

CLOUD CATCHER has toured the US several times, including one run with Earthless and an appearance at Psycho Vegas 2017. The power trio has also had the pleasure of sharing the stage with the likes of such stoner/doom luminaries as Dead Meadow, The Obsessed, Danava, Acid King, Lecherous Gaze, and Pike Vs The Automaton. The band is set to embark on a West Coast tour in the Fall in support of Return From The Cauldron. See all confirmed dates below.

CLOUD CATCHER – Live From The Cauldron Tour 2023:
9/30/2023 Hi-Dive – Denver, CO * Return From The Cauldron Record Release Show
10/06/2023 TBA – Fort Collins, CO
10/07/2023 Ernie November Record Store – Cheyenne, WY
10/12/2023 Aces High Saloon – Salt Lake City, UT
10/13/2023 Artifice – Las Vegas, NV
10/14/2023 Poor House – Oceanside, CA
10/15/2023 Knucklehead – Hollywood, CA
10/16/2023 Cocktail Lounge – Ventura, CA
10/17/2023 Thee Stork Club – Oakland, CA
10/18/2023 Cafe Colonial – Sacramento, CA
10/20/2023 High Watermark – Portland, OR
10/21/2023 The Shredder – Boise, ID

CLOUD CATCHER:
Rory Rummings – guitars, vocals
Matt Ross – bass
Will Trafas – drums

Cloud Catcher on Facebook

Cloud Catcher on Instagram

Cloud Catcher on Bandcamp

Cloud Catcher website

Tags: , , , , ,

Love Gang to Play First East Coast Shows Next Month

Posted in Whathaveyou on September 14th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

Heavy Denver’s Love Gang wrapped up their European tour last month at SonicBlast Fest in Portugal, and I’m sorry to report that I missed them there. I dig their early 2023 album, Meanstreak (review here), plenty, and I’ve got no problem with them otherwise, but it was like two in the morning or something and I’m lame. I felt bad, making the trip and all, but at some point I need to go back to the room and sort photos or I’m not going to get the review done in time for the next day to start. Fests mean hard choices.

But in light of that guilt gnawing the back of my amygdala, I figured I’d put up their first East Coast shows, which are set to take place for four nights next month. They’re playing Brooklyn, Philly, TBA and Asbury Park, and I don’t know what brings them to the Eastern Seaboard other than the general demands of touring and supporting the record, but no doubt their classic style will find warm reception when they arrive. The four-piece also have a show in Denver before they head out, so whether that’s travel time and they’re driving east or flying and figuring out the rest when they get there, I have no idea. But good for them touching new ground, and if you’re on the East Coast and mad they’re not coming to you, I get that, but there’s always next time and maybe on the internet we can be happy a thing’s happening at all even if it’s not happening to ourselves. Maybe.

Dates follow, posted with minimal comment on social media:

Love Gang poster

Playing our first ever shows on the East Coast next month. Tickets on sale now.

10.14 Denver, CO – @lostlakedenver
10.18 Brooklyn, NY – @saintvitusbar
10.19 Philadelphia, PA – @ortliebsphilly
10.20 TBA (lovegangco@gmail.com to book)
10.21 Asbury Park, NJ – @houseofindependents

Fliers by @shit_leopard

LOVE GANG is
Kam Wentworth – Guitar & Vocals
Leo Muñoz – Organ
Grady O’Donnell – Bass
Shaun Goodwin – Drums

http://www.facebook.com/lovegangco
https://www.instagram.com/lovegangco/
https://lovegangco.bandcamp.com/

heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com
www.heavypsychsounds.com
https://www.facebook.com/HEAVYPSYCHSOUNDS/
https://www.instagram.com/heavypsychsounds_records/

Love Gang, Meanstreak (2023)

Tags: , , , , ,

Cloud Catcher to Release Return From the Cauldron Sept. 29; New Song Posted

Posted in Whathaveyou on August 24th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

CLOUD CATCHER by Victor Rollins

The forthcoming Return From the Cauldron by Cloud Catcher will be the Denver-based headspinner-rockers’ first full-length since 2017’s Trails of Kozmic Dust (review here). But if you’re feeling like six years is a long time, it’s actually not a terrible turnaround when one considers that the band broke up in 2019 and wound up back together with a new lineup behind founding guitarist/vocalist Rory Rummings — that’d be bassist Matt Ross and drummer Will Trafas — putting out a split in 2020 with their alter-egos Tricoma called Royal Flush Sessions Vol. 1. Three years on from that, releasing on their own label, yeah, that sounds about right.

But if you’d like to know a bit more of what’s to come with Return From the Cauldron — more than you might glean from the first single, “I Am the Storm,” streaming below — it’s that split that you’re going to want to dig into, because “Boundless Journey,” “Magician’s Chariot” and “Wield the Blade,” which all appear on the album’s tracklisting, were all featured on the 2020 release as well. So if you play it right, you’ve got the first three tracks and a cut from side B — four songs. That’s probably a more significant advance listen than will otherwise be available, even if the recordings are different.

West Coast tour lined up, of course. Release show is Sept. 30 in Denver, then they’re off and running. I wouldn’t mind seeing them again. Last time I did, they were a whole different band. Funny how that happens sometimes.

The PR wire has it like this:

CLOUD CATCHER Return from the Cauldron

CLOUD CATCHER: Denver Power Trio To Release Return From The Cauldron September 29th; New Track Streaming, Preorders Available, And Fall Tour Announced

Denver heavy rock power trio CLOUD CATCHER will release their third full-length, Return From The Cauldron, on September 29th via their own Cauldron Audio Works.

CLOUD CATCHER is guitarist/vocalist Rory Rummings with bassist Matt Ross and drummer Will Trafas, a rhythm section akin to Geezer Butler and Mitch Mitchell. With two albums and two EPs already under their proverbial belts, CLOUD CATCHER has been dispensing their own brand of guitar driven, heavy rock to the masses for over a decade. The band’s 2017 released Trails Of Kozmic Dust full-length reaped critical accolades both stateside and abroad.

With Return From The Cauldron, the Rocky Mountain riff merchants continue to push their signature sonic assault forward. An album about emerging positively from hard times and negative experiences, it’s a collection of songs where the themes are perseverance, growth, and hope. Most of the tunes were written when CLOUD CATCHER went on hiatus for the better part of 2019 and during 2020 when the world was slipping into pandemic madness…

“Return From The Cauldron is what I would consider the first true CLOUD CATCHER album,” elaborates Rummings. “We have found our sound and the material present is a further expanse on what we are capable of.”

In advance of the record’s release, today the band unveils first single, “I Am The Storm.” Notes the band, “’I Am The Storm’ is a song about crushing negativity and overcoming hard times with the power of self-realization and riffs. This song was inspired by some of the bands we all know and love such as Iron Maiden, ZZ Top, and of course, Black Sabbath. This song has been chosen as the first single because we feel it is a great introduction to those who don’t know of CLOUD CATCHER.”

Return From The Cauldron was self-recorded by Riley Rukavina, mixed and mastered by Greg Wilkinson at Earhammer Studios, and comes swathed in the cover art of Christina Hunt of Heavy Metal Talisman.

The record will be available digitally and limited-edition vinyl via the CLOUD CATCHER Bandcamp page HERE:

Return From The Cauldron Track Listing:
1. I Am The Storm
2. Boundless Journey
3. Magician’s Chariot
4. Burning Might
5. Gemini’s Ascent
6. Wield The Blade
7. Wretched Moon
8. Return From The Cauldron

CLOUD CATCHER has toured the US several times, including one run with Earthless and an appearance at Psycho Vegas 2017. The power trio has also had the pleasure of sharing the stage with the likes of such stoner/doom luminaries as Dead Meadow, The Obsessed, Danava, Acid King, Lecherous Gaze, and Pike Vs The Automaton. The band is set to embark on a West Coast tour in the Fall in support of Return From The Cauldron. See all confirmed dates below.

CLOUD CATCHER – Live From The Cauldron Tour 2023:
9/30/2023 Hi-Dive – Denver, CO * Return From The Cauldron Record Release Show
10/06/2023 TBA – Fort Collins, CO
10/07/2023 Ernie November Record Store – Cheyenne, WY
10/12/2023 Aces High Saloon – Salt Lake City, UT
10/13/2023 Artifice – Las Vegas, NV
10/14/2023 Poor House – Oceanside, CA
10/15/2023 Knucklehead – Hollywood, CA
10/16/2023 Cocktail Lounge – Ventura, CA
10/17/2023 Thee Stork Club – Oakland, CA
10/18/2023 Cafe Colonial – Sacramento, CA
10/20/2023 High Watermark – Portland, OR
10/21/2023 The Shredder – Boise, ID

CLOUD CATCHER:
Rory Rummings – guitars, vocals
Matt Ross – bass
Will Trafas – drums

https://www.facebook.com/cloudcatcher303
https://www.instagram.com/cloudcatcherco
https://cloud-catcher.bandcamp.com
https://cloudcatcherco.com

Cloud Catcher, Return From the Cauldron (2023)

Cloud Catcher & Tricoma, Royal Flush Sessions Vol. 1 (2020)

Tags: , , , , ,

David Eugene Edwards to Release Hyacinth Sept. 29; “Lionisis” Video Posted

Posted in Whathaveyou on August 7th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

David Eugene Edwards (Photo by Loic Zimmerman)

You can hear in the first single from David Eugene Edwards‘ debut studio solo full-length, Hyacinth, where the comparisons to the self-titled debut from Wovenhand (discussed here) and 16 Horsepower‘s Secret South are coming from. “Lionisis” (audio/video streaming below) has a brooding and organic groove not undercut by the various electronic whip cracks and speedy tick-ticks that accompany and mark out the rhythm, and of course it’s Edwards‘ voice and singular delivery tying those two sides together.

I’ll make no predictions about Hyacinth‘s sonic persona, though some clues might be found in the late-2022 live outing, A Riverwood Arts Session (also streaming below), on which the Colorado-based neofolk pioneer digs into songs from across his many-storied discography. Wherever it may go in arrangement or melody, it will mark the beginning of a new trajectory for Edwards, who’s explored various interpretations of aural heaviness in Wovenhand across the last 15 years or so, building on the more folkish beginnings of the band’s earlier work, as well as what Edwards conjured in songwriting and aesthetic with 16 Horsepower.

I’ve got high hopes that I’m actively working to temper. Really, I’d just like a chance to hear it. The PR wire has info, the preorder link, European tour dates, and so on:

David Eugene Edwards Hyacinth

David Eugene Edwards announces solo debut, shares video for lead single “Lionisis”

Wovenhand & 16 Horsepower cult icon’s first solo album, produced by Ben Chisholm

Pre-orders / pre-saves are available HERE: https://found.ee/DEE-Hyacinth

David Eugene Edwards announces his first ever solo album under his own name today, sharing the lead single and video from Hyacinth. Watch/share “Lionisis” video (directed by Loic Zimmerman).

David Eugene Edwards has always been larger than life. His atemporal style and powerfully iconoclast presence make him seem a man somehow beyond us.

His music with innovative heavy droning folk band Wovenhand, and before that the haunting revivification of high lonesome sound antique Americana of 16 Horsepower breathed a near apocalyptic sense of urgency and poignance into musical archetypes long abandoned in the latter-20th Century. Anyone who has seen him perform live will attest to his captivating intensity as he sings and coaxes sweeping, dark fury and beauty from his instrument.

Now, on his first-ever solo album under his own name, Edwards delivers a sound uniquely his own, with a vulnerability and introspection unheard from him before. Stripping back the heavy rock of his recent work with Wovenhand, Hyacinth puts the man’s voice, and sparing instrumentation into the main focus. There’s a somber beauty and world-weary tone throughout these songs. The album could been considered a slight return to the more melodic sounds of 16 Horsepower’s Secret South (2000) and the first, self-titled Wovenhand album (2002). But there’s more going on here: a rhythmic, pulsating undercurrent reminiscent of the tape loops and rudimentary rhythms of 80s Industrial post-punk as well as 808 Drill Style beats. The overall effect is often as if we’re hearing the clock ticking away our own mortality.

“Hyacinth was a sort of vision,“ Edwards says. “A dream. I sought out of my old wooden banjo and nylon string guitar a hidden path. Secrets they had kept from me within themselves all these years, and created a new Mythos to myself of philosophical and spiritual ideas or concepts.” From the outset of the pandemic, Edwards spent considerable time in solitary isolation, sick and impacted very hard in every way. Once he’d harnessed the music within, he enlisted multi-instrumentalist and producer Ben Chisholm (The Armed, Chelsea Wolfe, Converge, Genghis Tron) to help him realize the album’s recording and mix.

“Overall, I guess the album is a weaving of narratives ancient and modern, of humankind’s search for understanding of this world we find ourselves in and of each other. In all its simplicity and complexity,” Edwards says. “Hyacinth is a reference to the Greek myth of Apollo. And, the word meaning a precious stone and blue larkspur flower of purple and pall.”

In addition to his work with Wovenhand from 2001 to present, and Sixteen Horsepower between 1992 to 2005, Edwards has collaborated with such artists as Crime & the City Solution, Alexander Hacke (Einstürzende Neubauten), and Carpenter Brut. He has also contributed to the soundtracks of films such as Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus, The Brass Teapot, and Titane.

Hyacinth will be available worldwide on LP, CD and download via Sargent House on September 29th, 2023. Pre-orders / pre-saves are available HERE: https://found.ee/DEE-Hyacinth

Album: Hyacinth
Label: Sargent House
Release Date: September 29th, 2023

Tracklisting:
01. Seraph
02. Howling Flower
03. Celeste
04. Through The Lattice
05. Apparition
06. Bright Boy
07. Hyacinth
08. Lionisis
09. Weavers Beam
10. Hall of Mirrors
11. The Cuckoo

DAVID EUGENE EDWARDS EUROPEAN TOUR 2023
Sept 24 Amplifest – Porto PT
Sept 28 Le 106 Club – Rouen FR
Sept 29 Auditorium du Conservatoire de Lille – Lille FR
Sept 30 De Roma – Antwerp BE
Oct 01 Place La Laiterie – Strasbourg FR
Oct 02 L’Usine – Geneva CH
Oct 04 BIKO – Milano IT
Oct 05 Casa del Popolo Il Progresso – Florence IT
Oct 06 Locomotiv – Bologna IT
Oct 09 De Spot – Middelburg NL
Oct 10 Tolhuistuin – Amsterdam NL
Oct 12 Train – Århus DK
Oct 13 Amager Bio – Copenhagen DK
Oct 14 Mejeriet – Lund SE
Oct 15 Nefertiti – Gothenburg SE
Oct 17 Kulturkirken Jakob – Oslo NO
Oct 18 Kulturhuset – Bergen NO
Oct 19 Folken – Stavanger NO
Oct 20 Kick Scene – Kristiansand NO
Oct 23 OSLO – London UK

https://www.instagram.com/davideugeneedwards/
https://davideugeneedwards.bandcamp.com/
https://wovenhandband.com/david-eugene-edwards
https://linktr.ee/davideugeneedwards

https://www.facebook.com/sargenthouse/
https://www.instagram.com/sargenthouse/
http://www.sargenthouse.com/

David Eugene Edwards, A Riverwood Arts Session (2022)

David Eugene Edwards, Hyacinth (2023)

David Eugene Edwards, “Lionisis” official video

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Dreadnought Announce 10th Anniversary Tour

Posted in Whathaveyou on June 13th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

dreadnought

Colorado progressive black metal/doom/whatever outfit Dreadnought followed the 2022 release of their latest album, The Endless (review here), with coast-to-coast US tour, and in addition to celebrating that record — indeed a worthy cause — the band will mark their 10th anniversary with this jaunt along the West Coast and the Midwest, what one might think of as the Rocky Mountain circuit instead of the Appalachian circuit. In any case, I’ll happily tell you from experience that if they’re in a place where you either are or are going to be, that’s a gig worth attending. Not only are they stylistically unto themselves at this point, but they destroy live and a catalog-spanning set sounds like even more of a good time.

If you heard The Endless and you’re down with Dreadnought‘s particular take, then you’ve probably got all the info you need to move onto the list of dates, so I won’t keep you. If you didn’t hear the record though, I’ll remind you as a friend that you have nothing to lose by checking it out on the player at the bottom of this post. Worst that happens is it’s not your thing and you go listen to something else. Best that happens, I guess, is you end up going to a show. It’s pretty rad when that happens.

From the PR wire:

Dreadnought tour

DREADNOUGHT ANNOUNCE NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES WITH IZTHMI AND IMMORTAL BIRD

Denver, progressive metal outfit DREADNOUGHT are set to co-headline their TEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY TOUR with crust, black-sludge band Immortal Bird hailing from Chicago IL, with support from Seattle-based atmospheric black metal 5 piece Izthmi. Although this is DREADNOUGHT’S first tour since their August, 2022 full length release of critically acclaimed album “The Endless”, (Profound Lore) expect to hear songs from their full catalog.

About the tour, DREADNOUGHT vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, Kelly Schilling shares:

“This year marks the decade anniversary of our first album release! To celebrate, we will be performing material that spans our entire discography, from ‘Lifewoven’ through ‘The Endless’.”

Full list of tour dates can be found below.

TOUR DATES
7/20 Denver, CO @ Hi Dive *
7/21 Salt Lake City, UT @ Aces High Saloon *
7/22 Las Vegas, NV @ Dive Bar *
7/24 Long Beach, CA @ Supply & Demand *
7/25 Albany, CA @ Ivy Room *
7/26 Crescent City, CA @ Enoteca *
7/27 Portland, OR @ High Water Mark *
7/28 Vancouver, B.C. @ Wise Hall
7/29 Seattle, WA @ Belltown Yacht Club *
7/31 Bozeman, MT @ Labor Temple
8/2 Des Moines, IA @ Lefty’s
8/3 Minneapolis, MN @ Mortimer’s +
8/4 Milwaukee, WI @ Cactus Club +
8/5 St Louis, MO @ Red Flag +
8/6 Indianapolis, IN @ Black Circle (matinee) +
8/7 Lexington, KY @ Green Lantern +
8/8 Asheville, NC @ Fleetwood’s +
8/9 Atlanta, GA @ Bogg’s Social +
8/11 Houston, TX @ Black Magic Social Club

* with Izthmi as support
+ with Immortal Bird co-headline

More dates are TBA

http://www.facebook.com/dreadnoughtband/
http://www.instagram.com/dreadnoughtdenver
https://dreadnoughtdenver.bandcamp.com/
http://dreadnoughtband.bigcartel.com/
http://dreadnoughtdenver.com/

http://www.profoundlorerecords.com
https://www.facebook.com/profoundlorerecords
http://www.instagram.com/profoundlorerecords
http://www.twitter.com/profound_lore

Dreadnought, The Endless (2022)

Tags: , , , , ,

Burning Sister Premiere Mudhoney Cover “When Tomorrow Hits”

Posted in audiObelisk on June 6th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

burning sister

Denver’s Burning Sister are releasing their new single “When Tomorrow Hits” this Friday, June 9. Technically, it’s a Mudhoney cover, but the Colorado trio who released their debut album, Mile High Downer Rock (review here), in 2022, are more loyal to the Spacemen 3 version taken from 1991’s Recurring, slowing down and fleshing out with echo and shoegazing atmospherics the rawer take of the original original from Mudhoney‘s 1989 self-titled. To say both versions inform Burning Sister‘s take is redundant — it’s the same frickin’ song, that’s what a cover is — but the breadth that “When Tomorrow Hits” fosters is a preface to the band’s upcoming EP, Get Your Head Right, which will be out later this year, and in that it is a herald of expansive vibe to come.

They didn’t write it, so I wouldn’t expect “When Tomorrow Hits” to necessarily define the other tracks on Get Your Head Right, but they build it up from silence to full-volume with patience and mellow-at-first groove, part addled shoegaze à la Dead Meadow, especially once the vocals start, but still held to the structure beneath in its linear movement to the payoff that starts right around 3:10. With the languid flow intact, Burning Sister roll into that volume swell of up and down undulations and give “When Tomorrow Hits” the push it deserves, making it their own across a hypnotic four and a half minutes that tell as much about Burning Sister‘s own influences — what they mean by ‘downer rock,’ for example — and the take on heavy they’re aiming toward. I look forward to hearing “When Tomorrow Hits” in the context of the rest of Get Your Head Right, but it seems like that in-between, pre-grunge moment circa 1988-1991, where ’80s punk and noise was starting to fill out its bottom end and hit with slower tempos, is a definite factor in the makeup of their sound. Noted.

There’s also a personal connection, as bassist/vocalist/synthesist Steve Miller explains in the quote below. I have yet to hear a solid release date for the EP, but frankly, the album’s not that old — the Bandcamp player is down there, you’ll see it — and in thinking about the song in relation to the full-length preceding, the cover adds some reach to what Mile High Downer Rock showed without actually departing in mood. And by mood, I mean downerism and heft.

With the hope of more to come near the EP’s arrival, enjoy “When Tomorrow Hits”:

Burning Sister, “When Tomorrow Hits” track premiere

Steve from Burning Sister on “When Tomorrow Hits”:

“When Tomorrow Hits” by Mudhoney is a late-’80s downer rock classic and the song is just as impactful today as when it came out in 1989. Then Spacemen 3 come around a couple of years later with their final album and make what I consider to be one of the most definitive cover tunes ever—they managed to capture the gravity and essence of the original track, but also successfully make it their own. If we get even halfway there, we’re stoked. This song is dedicated to my friend, Aaron, who passed away in 2011. He introduced me to Spacemen 3 and was with me when I bought my first bass in a pawn shop in Detroit. I can remember many of our conversations about music, particularly about “When Tomorrow Hits,” as if it was yesterday. This one’s for him.

The first single from the band’s upcoming EP Get Your Head Right, out later in 2023.

A powerful cover of Mudhoney’s classic song When Tomorrow Hits that breathes new life and meaning into the track.

Released independently on June 9th. Tracked/Mixed/Mastered by Austin at All Aces Studios.

Steve Miller – bass, synth, vox
Nathan Rorabaugh – guitars
Alison Salutz – drums

Burning Sister, Mile High Downer Rock (2022)

Burning Sister on Instagram

Burning Sister on Facebook

Burning Sister on Bandcamp

Tags: , , , , ,