Posted in Whathaveyou on August 3rd, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Who doesn’t appreciate a low-drama lineup change? One player out, another player in. Nobody’s being cagey about announcements, not trying to sneak in a new bass player or some such — just easy peasy and on to the next thing. Kudos to Formula 400 on applying the sans-bullshit aesthetic that results in the kind of driving heavy rock and roll of their 2023 album, Divination(review here), to the logistical functioning of the group itself. Guitarist/vocalist Ian Holloway bows out, Alex Zambon steps into the band alongside guitarist/vocalist Dan Frick, bassist Kip Page and drummer Lou Voutiritsas, and business proceeds. The four-piece will be at the second annual SoCal Heavy Jam on Sept. 30, sharing the bill with Sasquatch, the reinvigorated Unida, Zed, Salem’s Bend, Whiskey and Knives, Mezzoa, Desert Suns and Lords of Dust.
That’s a single day, by the by, which you should take to mean it’s packed, and it looks like it’ll be a rager to (maybe, maybe not depending on one’s intake) remember. You’ll recall that Kip Page is one of the organizers, along with members of Mezzoa and Desert Suns, and they don’t print it on the flyer or anything, but the vibe I get from last year and this year’s lineups is that it’s as much a party as a festival in a way that, one hopes, is as low-drama as the lineup change bringing Zambon to Formula 400. The band announced that swap thusly on the ol’ social media:
Hey everyone wanted to give you an update on Formula 400!
Just a little while back Ian decided to leave Formula 400 to pursue other projects and Ian was instrumental in Formula 400. We wish him well but the show must go on!
We are excited to announce Alex Zambon to our rocking family. He not only plays a mean guitar but can sing as well. He has played in such SoCal bands as Redrum and Honey Child. His most influential artists are Black Sabbath, Soundgarden and SRV. Good influences we think!!
Please give a warm welcome to Alex Zambon and we can’t wait to play our 1st show together with him!
Here we go day four of the Quarterly Review. I would love to tell you it’s been easy-breezy this week. That is not the case. My kid is sick, my wife is tired of my bullshit, and neither of them is as fed up with me as I am. Nonetheless, we persist. Some day, maybe, we’ll sit down and talk about why. Today let’s keep it light, hmm?
And of course by “light” I mean very, very heavy. There’s some of that in the batch of 10 releases for today, and a lot of rock to go along, so yes, another day in the QR. I hope you find something you dig. I snuck in a surprise or two.
Quarterly Review #31-40:
Dorthia Cottrell, Death Folk Country
Crafted for texture, Death Folk Country finds Windhand vocalist Dorthia Cottrell exploring sounds that would be minimal if not for the lushness of the melodies placed over them. Her first solo offering since 2015 runs 11 tracks and feels substantial at a manageable 42 minutes as delivered through Relapse Records. The death comes slow and soft, the folk is brooding and almost resistant in its Americana traditionalism, and the country is vast and atmospheric, and all three are present in a release that’s probably going to be called ethereal because of layering or vocal reverb but in fact is terrestrial like dry dirt. The seven-minute “Family Annihilator” is nigh on choral, and e-bow or some such droner element fills out the reaches of “Hell in My Water,” expanding on the expectation of arrangement depth set up by the chimes and swells that back “Harvester” after the album’s intro. That impulse makes Death Folk Country kin to some of earlier Wovenhand — thinking Blush Music or Consider the Birds; yes, I acknowledge the moniker similarity between Windhand and Wovenhand and stand by the point as regards ambience — and a more immersive listen than it would otherwise be, imagining future breadth to be captured as part of the claims made in the now. Do I need to say that I hope it’s not 2031 before she does a third record?
It’s been a quick — read: not quick — five years since Italian heavy rockers Fvzz Popvli released their second album, Magna Fvzz (review here), through Heavy Psych Sounds. Aptly titled, III is the third installment, and it’s got all the burner soloing, garage looseness and, yes, the fvzz one would hope, digging into a bit of pop-grunge on “The Last Piece of Shame,” setting a jammy expectation in the “Intro” mirrored in “Outro” with percussion, and cool-kid grooving on “Monnoratzo,” laced with hand-percussion and a bassline so thick it got made fun of in school and never lived down the trauma (a tragedy, but it rules just the same). “Post Shit” throws elbows of noise all through your favorite glassware, “20 Cent Blues” slogs out its march true to the name and “Tied” is brash even compared to what’s around it. Only hiccup so far as I can tell is “Kvng Fvzz,” which starts with a Charlie Chan-kind of guitar line and sees the vocals adopt a faux Chinese accent that’s well beyond the bounds of what one might consider ‘ill-advised.’ Cool record otherwise, but that is a significant misstep to make on a third LP.
San Diegan riffslingers Formula 400 come roaring back with their sophomore long-player, Divination, following three (long) years behind 2020’s Heathens (review here), bringing in new drummer Lou Voutiritsas for a first appearance alongside guitarist/vocalists Dan Frick and Ian Holloway and bassist Kip Page. With a clearer, fuller recording, the solos shine through, the gruff vocals are well-positioned in the mix (not buried, not overbearing), and even as they make plays for the anthemic in “Kickstands Up,” “Rise From the Fallen” and closer “In Memoriam,” the lack of pretense is one of the elements most fortunately carried over from the debut. “Rise From the Fallen” is the only cut among the nine to top five minutes, and it fills its time with largesse-minded riffing and a hook born out of ’90s burl that’s a good distance from the shenanigans of opener “Whiskey Bent” or the righteous shove of the title-track. They’re among the best of the Ripple Music bands not yet actually signed to the label, with an underscored C.O.C. influence in “Divination” and the calmer “Bottomfeeder,” while “In Memoriam” filters ’80s metal epics through ’70s heavy and ’20s tonal weight and makes the math add up. Pretty dudely, but so it goes with dudes, and dudes are gonna be pretty excited about it, dude.
Each of the two intended sides of Abanamat‘s self-titled debut saves its longest song for its respective ending, with “Voidgazer” (8:25) capping side A and “Night Walk” (9:07) working a linear build from silence all the way up to round out side B and the album as a whole. Mostly instrumental save for those two longer pieces, the German four-piece recorded live with Richard Behrens at Big Snuff and in addition to diving back into the beginnings of the band in opener “Djinn,” they offer coherent but exploratory, almost-Uncle–Acidic-in-its-languidity fuzz on “Thunderbolt of Flaming Wisdom,” growing near-prog in their urgency with it on the penultimate “Amdest” but never losing the abiding mellow spirit that manifests out of the ether as “Night Walk” rounds out the album with synth and keys and guitar in a jazzy for-a-walk meander as the band make their way into a fuller realization of classic prog elements, enhanced by a return of the vocals after five minutes in. They’re there just about through the end, and fit well, but it demonstrates that Abanamat even on their debut have multiple avenues in which they might work and makes their potential that much greater, since it’s a conscious choice to include singing on a song or not rather than just a matter of no one being able to sing. The way they set it up here would get stale after a couple more records, but one hopes they continue to develop both aspects of their sonic persona, as any need to choose between them is imaginary.
Led by nine-string bassist Frédérick “ChaotH” Filiatrault (ex-Unexpect), Montreal four-piece Vvon Dogma I are a progressive metal whirlwind, melodic in the spirit of post-return Cynic but no less informed by death metal, djent, rock, electronic music and beyond, the 10-song/45-minute self-released debut, The Kvlt of Glitch confidently establishes its methodology in “The Void” at the outset and proceeds through a succession marked by hairpin turns, stretches of heavy groove like the chorus of “Triangles and Crosses” contrasted by furious runs, dance techno on “One Eye,” melody not at all forgotten in the face of all the changes in rhythm, meter, the intermittently massive tones, and so on. Yes, the bass features as it inevitably would, but with the precision drumming of Kevin Alexander, Yoan MP‘s backflipping guitar and the synth and strings (at the end) of Blaise Borboën (also credited with production), a sound takes shape that feels like it could have been years in the making. Mind you I don’t know that it was or wasn’t, but Vvon Dogma I lead the listener through the lumbering mathematics of “Lithium Blue,” a cover of Radiohead‘s “2+2=5” and the grand finale “The Great Maze” with a sense of mastery that’s almost unheard of on what’s a first record even from experienced players. I don’t know where it fits and I like that about it, and in those moments where I’m so overwhelmed that I feel like my brain is on fire, this seems to answer that.
Two sprawling slow-burners populate the self-titled debut from UK three-piece Orme. Delivered through Trepanation Recordings as a two-song 2LP, Orme deep-dives into ambient psych, doom, drone and more besides in “Nazarene” (41:58) and “Onward to Sarnath” (53:47), and obviously each one is an album unto itself. Guitarist/vocalist Tom Clements, bassist Jimmy Long (also didgeridoo) and drummer Luke Thelin — who’s also listed as contributing ‘silence,’ which is probably a joke, but open space actually plays a pretty large role in the impression Orme make — make their way into a distortion-drone-backed roller jam on “Nazarene,” some spoken vocals from Clements along the way that come earlier and more proclamatory in “Onward to Sarnath” to preface the instrumental already-gone out-there-ness as well as throat singing and other vocalizations that mark the rest of the first half-hour-plus, a heavy psych jam taking hold to close out around 46 minutes with a return of distortion and narrative after, like an old-style hidden track. It’s fairly raw, but the gravitational singularity of Orme‘s two forays into the dark are ritualistic without being cartoonishly cult, and feel as much about their experience playing as the listener’s hearing. In that way, it is a thing to be shared.
The UK-based experimentalist psych collaboration between Fred Laird (Earthling Society) and Mike Vest (Bong, et al) yields a third long-player as The Gateless Gate finds the duo branching out in the spirit of their 2021 self-titled and last year’s Pancosmology (review here) with instrumentalist flow and a three-dimensional sound bolstered by the various delays, organ, synth, and so on. Atop an emergent backbeat from Laird, “Twilight Chorus” (16:13) runs a linear trajectory bound toward the interstellar in an organic jam that comes apart before 12 minutes in and gives over to church organ and sampled chants soon to be countermanded by howls of guitar and distortion. Takest thou that. The B-side, “Sound of Desolation” (19:55), sets forth with a synthy wash that gives over to viol drone courtesy of Martin Ash, a gong hit marking the shift into a longform psych jam with a highlight bassline and an extended journey into hypnotics with choral keys (maybe?) arriving in the second half as the guitar begins to space out, fuzz soloing floating over a drone layer, the harder-hit drums having departed save for some residual backward/forward cymbal hits in the slow comedown. The world’s never going to be on their level, but Laird and Vest are warriors of the cosmos, and as their work to-date has shown, they have bigger fish to fry than are found on planet earth.
What a show to preserve. Heavy Petal Music, while frustrating in that it’s new Rainbows Are Free and not a follow-up to 2019’s Head Pains, but as the Norman, Oklahoma, six-piece’s first outing through Ripple Music, the eight-song/43-minute live LP captures their first public performance in the post-pandemic era, and the catharsis is palpable in “Come” and “Electricity on Wax” early on and holds even as they delve into the proggier “Shapeshifter” later on, the force of their delivery consistent as they draw on material from across their three studio LPs unremitting even as their dynamic ranges between a piano-peppered bluesy swing and push-boogie like “Cadillac” and the weighted nod of “Sonic Demon” later on. The performance was at the 2021 Summer Breeze Music Festival in their hometown (not to be confused with the metal fest in Germany) and by the time they get down to the kickdrum surge backing the fuzzy twists of “Crystal Ball” — which doesn’t appear on any of their regular albums — the allegiance to Monster Magnet is unavoidable despite the fact that Rainbows Are Free have their own modus in terms of arrangements and the balance between space, psych, garage and heavy rock in their sound. Given Ripple‘s distribution, Heavy Petal Music will probably be some listeners’ first excursion with Rainbows Are Free. Somehow I have to imagine the band would be cool with that.
It’s the marriage of complexity and heft, of melody and nod, that make Slowenya‘s “Angel Raised Wolves” so effective. Moving at a comfortable tempo on the drums of Timo Niskala, the song marks out a presence with tonal depth as well as a sense of space in the vocals of guitarist/synthesist Jan Trygg. They break near the midpoint of the 6:39 piece and reemerge with a harder run through the chorus, bassist Tapani Levanto stepping in with backing vocals before a roar at 4:55 precedes the turn back to the original hook, reinforcing the notion that there’s been a plan at work the whole time. An early glimpse at the Finnish psych-doom trio’s next long-player, “Angel Raised Wolves” comes paired with the shorter “Horizontal Loops,” which drops its chugging riff at the start as though well aware of the resultant thud. A tense verse opens to a chorus pretty and reverbed enough to remind of Fear Factory‘s earlier work before diving into shouts and somehow-heavier density. Growls, or some other kind of noise — I’m honestly not sure — surfaces and departs as the nod builds to an an aggressive head, but again, they turn back to where they came from, ending with the initial riff the crater from which you can still see right over there. The message is plain: keep an ear out for that record. So yes, do that.
Let’s start with what’s obvious and say that Elkhorn‘s four-song On the Whole Universe in All Directions, which is executed entirely on vibraphone, acoustic 12-string guitar, and drums and other percussion, is not going to be for everybody. The New York duo of Drew Gardner (said vibraphone and drums) and Jesse Sheppard (said 12-string) bring a particularly jazzy flavor to “North,” “South,” “East” and “West,” but there are shades of exploratory Americana in “South” that follow the bouncing notes of the opener, and “East” dares to hint at sitar with cymbal wash behind and rhythmic contrast in the vibraphone, a meditative feel resulting that “West” continues over its 12 minutes, somewhat ironically more of a raga than “East” despite being where the sun sets. Cymbal taps and rhythmic strums and that strike of the vibraphone — Elkhorn seem to give each note a chance to stand before following it with the next, but the 39-minute offering is never actually still or unipolar, instead proving evocative as it trades between shorter and longer songs to a duly gentle finish. Gardner formerly handled guitar, and I don’t know if this is a one-off, but as an experiment, it succeeds in bridging stylistic divides in a way that almost feels like showing off. Admirably so.
On this very day, as they take the stage among the sprawling multitudes at Stoner Jam in Austin, Texas, riff-slinger San Diego four-piece Formula 400 announce their new album, Divination, will be released on May 19 through Animated Insanity Records. To mark the occasion, they’re premiering the opening track “Whiskey Bent” — a harrowing lyrical tale of post-gig debauchery one night after a show at Count’s Vampd in Las Vegas — at the bottom of this post. Go ahead and hit play, I’ll wait.
Those who take on “Whiskey Bent” will find the barriers to entry are markedly low. Amid a gruff vocal, you might notice a general uptick in production value as compared to Formula 400‘s 2020 debut, Heathens (review here), while continuing that record’s penchant for accessible riffs and inviting groove. As a first glimpse of what’s to come on Divination, it bodes well in its on-paper construction and full-toned out-speakers realization, and alongside pieces like “Born to Lose” and “Bottomfeeder,” its unabashed, metal-rooted heavy rock reminds of aughts-era European acts like Mustasch, (later) Sparzanza, Mother Misery and, to some extent, Spiritual Beggars with how it lands in a place that would be commercially viable if the infrastructure were there (radio, tv, now internet, etc.) to receive it.
Rest assured, Formula 400 do just fine as-is, and though “Whiskey Bent” is short as it leads the way at the outset of Divination, it’s a strong foot forward daring the listener to give as much volume as possible in the listening.
Art, info and more follows from the band via the PR wire:
Dan Frick on “Whiskey Bent”:
Basically after our gig at Vampd and a night of already drinking a lot, we went to the golden nugget and hung out in the hotel for a bit, I think I downed another six pack in my room before Lou and I headed to the casino. We went to the casino bar and started doing shots and drinking jack and cokes. I blacked out at that point, and Lou somehow got me back to my room upstairs.
No one knows what happened, really, but for some reason I left my room to go back downstairs to the casino. Apparently I was found by a person walking by passed out in the planter on Fremont Street. They called an ambulance and filled me with hydrating fluids, but I didn’t have an ID on me, so I was detained by security until they could figure out who I was.
They are anticipating an early May release for digital and likely cds not long after that I would think. Vinyl will be later in the year .
The label is Animated Insanity Records. First single is Whiskey Bent written by Dan Frick (Ride the Sun/Shield of Snakes) and is about a night in Las Vegas playing a Vegas Rock Revolution Presents Friday Night Rock with Void Vator, Fostermother + Sonolith and Dan ended up on whiskey bender that took him wandering the streets of Sin City and finally crashing in the bushes at Golden Nugget. HA!
Formula 400 has shared the stage with John Garcia, Nebula, Unida, Void Vator, Steak, 16, The Freeks, Hippie Death Cult , Destroyer of Light, Fostermother and others along with upcoming show with The Well.
Have played at Planet Desert Rock Weekend III, Ripplefest Texas, Maryland Doomfest, Stoner Jam (Austin) and SoCal Heavy Jam.
Formula 400 live: 3/16 Austin TX Stoner Jam 3/17 Houston TX Black Magic Social Club 3/18 San Antonio TX Faust Tavern 3/28 San Diego CA TilTwo w/ The Well 4/22 Pour House with Blackwülf and Great Electric Quest
Formula 400 are: Dan Frick: Guitar and Vox Kip Page: Bass Ian Holloway: Guitar and Vox Lou Voutiritsas: Drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 17th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Zaum and Dopelord, huh? That’s a pretty good show. The latter Polish outfit were recently also added to the lineup for Desertfest Belgium, but given that that’s about two weeks before this tour kicks off, it seems unlikely Zaum will make the trip over from Canada for that. Still, as the duo/trio go supporting this year’s Divination (review here), they indeed head abroad on the heels of their best work yet, having honed their mantra-doom style to a fine point of execution without giving up the contemplative feel and repetitiveness that’s proven so essential to the aesthetic. I’ve never seen them live, and that’s something I’d like to correct at the next available opportunity. That won’t be this tour, unless somebody magically comes through with a plane ticket, but one of these days, I’ll get there.
The PR wire brought dates for your perusal. So peruse:
ZAUM: Psychedelic Doom Conjurors Announce European Tour With Dopelord; Divination Full-Length Out Now Via Listenable Records
Canada’s favorite psychedelic doom conjurors ZAUM will join Poland stoner/doom troupe Dopelord for a European journey this fall. The Northern Trails Tour will commence on October 31st in Copenhagen, Denmark and run through November 10th in Berlin, Germany.
Comments ZAUM vocalist/bassist Kyle Alexander of the trek, “We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to share a tour of one of our favorite regions in the world with our Polish brothers in Dopelord. This will actually be the first time people in North/Western Europe will witness our live visual experience component with Nawal Doucette performing her ‘Evil Queen’ rituals in addition to customized backing visuals for the ideal ZAUM experience. We recently showcased this for the first time in Eastern Europe just prior to the release of our new record Divination and the feedback was truly overwhelming and quite unexpected. I think the visual experience adds more context to the world of ZAUM we’ve created and I think people can often witness something a little different than what they’re used to seeing at the average concert.” See all confirmed dates below.
Divination was released in May via Listenable Records. While ZAUM’s meditative “mantra doom” stays quite true to what fans have experienced to date, their songcraft and presentation has progressed further with the inclusion of recorded instrumentation such as jaw harp, digideroo, singing saw, dilruba, saz, brass bells, brass bowl, and finger cymbals. In addition, their live experience now features Nawal Doucette performing her mesmerizing dark dance rituals entrancing all those who observe.
Divination is available on CD, LP, and digital formats. For physical orders visit the Listenable Shop at THIS LOCATION. For digital orders visit the Listenable Bandcamp page HERE where the record can be streamed in full. The record is also available as a limited-edition cassette only available through the ZAUM Bandcamp page HERE.
ZAUM w/ Dopelord: 10/31/2019 BETA – Copenhagen, DK 11/01/2019 Blitz – Oslo, NO 11/02/2019 Hulen – Bergen, NO 11/03/2019 Folken – Stavanger, NO 11/05/2019 Plan B – Malmo, SE 11/06/2019 Nalen – Stockholm, SE 11/07/2019 Hängmatten – Goteborg, SE 11/08/2019 Metal Fest – Aalborg, DK 11/09/2019 Haftenklang – Hamburg, DE 11/10/2019 Zukunft am Ostkreuz – Berlin, DE
ZAUM: Kyle Alexander McDonald – vocals, bass, textures Christopher Lewis – drums, percussion Nawal Doucette – visual performance art, ambiance
[Click play above to stream Divination by Zaum in its entirety. Album is out May 10 on Listenable Records.]
Across a three-track sprawl, Canadian duo Zaum successfully manage to stay on theme while significantly expanding their sound. At its core, Divination — which is the Moncton outfit’s third full-length and first for Listenable Records — holds to much the same methodology as 2016’s Eidolon (review here) or even 2014’s debut, Oracles (review here), but the context has shifted as bassist/vocalist/etc.-ist Kyle Alexander McDonald and drummer/percussionist Christopher Lewis have begun to embrace different contours and textures in their work. As with the last two albums, there are some clues to be found in the artwork, in this case exploring the theology and mysticism of Southeast Asia as well as some of the folk influence, but Zaum‘s central purpose has not wavered and throughout the 18:27 opener and longest track (immediate points) “Relic,” they show growth not by moving away from their initial purposes, but by advancing deeper and more complex arrangements.
Like the similarly-minded Om before them, Zaum have begun to push outside the confines of a bass/drum duo, incorporating various bells and other atmospheric elements in order to convey the ambience that is so crucial to what they do now more than ever. It’s worth noting that McDonald and Lewis have furthered the visual side of their live presentation as well, bringing aboard Nawal Doucette as a presence onstage. Whether or not she contributes to the album, I don’t know — there are vocals near the beginning of “Relic” that could be hers, but I haven’t seen proper credits — but either way, “Relic,” as well as “Pantheon” (8:48) and “Procession” (13:58), which follow, bear the mark of this increased focus on atmosphere. Of course, this was not an area in which Zaum were exactly lacking prior to Divination, but it’s a question of balance in their sound, and they have grown more patient in their execution as well as more willing to explore the spaces they naturally create in their material. This has only made them a stronger band and more suited to their aesthetic purpose.
The sense of ceremony is immediate as “Relic” begins to unfold, and it remains prevalent no matter how tonally weighted Zaum get. Echoing voice, flute sounds, finger cymbals and darkly psychedelic textures put the listener precisely in the place the band wants them to be, and though the first few minutes of “Relic” are quiet, the patience they instill in the audience is another triumphant aspect of Divination on the whole. Soon enough, the drones and bass and echoing march will commence, and “Pantheon” as the centerpiece/side B leadoff hits with even more impact ahead of “Procession,” which casts a more strictly doomed pall on the way to its apex topped by righteously harmonized vocals. There are ebbs and flows along the way — plenty of flow throughout, actually — in volume and intensity, but at its most subdued or its loudest push, Divination remains informed by that original showcase of patience, and the temporal slowdown that ensues is all the more effective for it.
But Zaum‘s dynamic isn’t just about volume tradeoffs or writing long songs. It’s the feeling of ritualization that helps to distinguish them, and “Relic” shows this as well from front to back, dipping into some spaces that feel born of more extreme metal — thinking just past the halfway point before the vocals drop out. As Zaum have moved toward discovering their own sound, they’ve worked to conjure a singly dark vibe that Divination certainly brings to its most resonant realization yet. It’s not that Zaum are suddenly playing death or black metal — far from it — but as they began by transposing the tenets of doom onto their style, their breadth in that regard would seem to have expanded as well along with the rest of their modus. As “Pantheon” sets its ambient foundation in the first minute and then begins constructing a temple build of foreshadow harmonies and drone metal leading to bleak incantations, it’s hard to tell just with what gods Zaum are communing — all of them? — but clear just the same that the intent is not of this world.
It is a grim psych of the spirit, and the “Procession” to which it leads feels very much like the march to death. The closer isn’t the longest work Zaum have ever done — both tracks on Eidolon topped 20 minutes, there’s “Relic” here and the 19-minute “The Serpentshrine” from their 2015 split with Shooting Guns (review here) — but it might be this album’s highest achievement. To hear Zaum use vocal layering as they do effects and percussion along with the bass and drums as another instrument at their disposal puts them in a different category of songwriters entirely, and it only speaks well for their search as it continues to move forward from here. “Procession” winds down before building back up to its 10th minute, eventually making its way into the aforementioned harmonies, chant-like as they are.
Amid all the nuance of arrangement, Zaum make an easy argument for themselves as a progressive band. The simple fact that they’d work so directly toward an atmospheric ideal does that alone, never mind how they actually get there. But with the ending of “Procession,” and really with Divination the whole way through, Zaum separate from the paths of their influences and find their own way. They are the monk leaving the monastery to create a new path, and the sound they find on that journey is as enriching as any dogma might provide. Again, for those who’ve experienced Zaum in the past, it’s not so much that Divination is a radical reinvention of what they do. It’s not supposed to be. Instead, what it does is to show how malleable their approach is to further growth and how much it’s able to branch out in terms of expression without sacrificing its basic level of impact to that cause. Those who’ve heard them before will still recognize them, but the shape of what’s being recognized has changed and signals in this material that change will be ongoing. So be it.
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 14th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
I don’t think it’s been a full four days since Zaum‘s Eastern European tour dates were posted here, but here we are again as news comes down that the Moncton, New Brunswick, mantra doom outfit will release their third album, Divination, on April 26 in Europe as they wrap up said tour — they’re in Gdansk that night, which seems as good a place as any for a release gig — and May 10 in North America, both through Listenable Records. No audio, preorders or even a tracklisting yet, but the cover art’s out and there’s a bit of background on the record from the PR wire that gives a sense of some of the exploration at hand in the songs. Certainly there’s no shortage of reasons to be intrigued.
To wit:
ZAUM: Ambient Doom Alchemists To Release Divination Via Listenable Records This Spring; European Tour Announced
ZAUM is a passage toward the dark realizations of the old world; a monolithic, doomy mantra-based meditative experience forged by bass and drums interwoven with sitar, woodwind, string, and synth textures. Based in New Brunswick, Canada, observers experience a tranquil resonance whereby the astral and physical planes can coexist and be understood from a natural perspective.
ZAUM impending new album Divination, set for release this May via Listenable Records, is a direct continuance of the ever-evolving lore and world in which ZAUM has exposed. Conceptually, the album unpacks a transmundane darkness from ancient Burma – touching on conflict, theism, and some esoteric events which play a key role in the developing canon of ZAUM based on their previous releases to date.
Audibly, the album portrays a dense and vivid dreamstate, supplanting the listener into an overseer’s perspective of these aforementioned esoteric depths, reexperienced with a celestial clarity. The soundscapes within encapsulate an unveiled mysticism harnessed to unpack the fluidity of consciousness at the crux of the human condition.
While ZAUM’s meditative “mantra doom” sound stays quite true to what people have experienced to date, their sound and presentation certainly has progressed further into new territory on Divination with the inclusion of recorded instrumentation such as jaw harp, digideroo, singing saw, dilruba, saz, brass bells, brass bowl, and finger cymbals. In addition, their live experience now features a monumental change with the recruitment of Egyptian-Canadian evil queen Nawal Doucette to ZAUM, performing her mesmerizing dark dance rituals entrancing those who observe.
Divination will be released on April 26th in Europe followed by a North American release date of May 10th with preorder options to be available at the Listenable Shop at THIS LOCATION in the coming days.
Prior to the release of Divination, ZAUM will bring their psalms to European stages. The trek will run from April 9th through April 28th. See confirmed dates below.
09/04 – Dresden, DE @ Bärenzwinger 10/04 – Osijek, HR @ Dungeon 11/04 – Thessaloniki, GR @ Eightball Club 12/04 – Athens, GR @ Death Disco 13/04 – Kavala, GR @ T.E.I. Kavalas 14/04 – Istanbul, TR @ Mecra 15/04 – Sofia, BG @ Mixtape 5 16/04 – Timisoara, RO @ Reflektor 17/04 – Bucharest, RO @ B52 18/04 – Cluj-Napoca, RO @ Flying Circus 20/04 – Pescara, IT @ Tube Cult Fest 21/04 – Krško, SI @ Krško MC Klub 23/04 – Budapest, HU @ Dürer Kert 24/04 – Szeged, HU @ Grand Café 26/04 – Gdansk, PO @ Protokultura 27/04 – Wroclaw, PO @ Czasoprzestrze? 28/04 – Warsaw, PO @ Mala Warszawa
ZAUM: Kyle Alexander McDonald – vocals, bass, textures Christopher Lewis – drums, percussion Nawal Doucette – visual performance art, ambiance
