Exile on Mainstream Announces 25th Anniversary Parties in Berlin & Leipzig

Posted in Whathaveyou on December 5th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

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

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

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

And so on:

exile on mainstream 25th anniversary parties

25 Years Exile On Mainstream

8/9 May 2024 – Berlin, Neue Zukunft

10/11 May 2024 – Leipzig, UT Connewitz

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Moth, Frost (2023)

Conny Ochs, “Hickhack” official video

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Quarterly Review: Tortuga, Spidergawd, Morag Tong, Conny Ochs, Ritual King, Oldest Sea, Dim Electrics, Mountain of Misery, Aawks, Kaliyuga Express

Posted in Reviews on November 30th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

The-Obelisk-Quarterly-Review

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

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

Quarterly Review #31-40:

Tortuga, Iterations

TORTUGA Iterations

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

Tortuga on Facebook

Napalm Records website

Spidergawd, VII

spidergawd vii

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

Spidergawd on Facebook

Stickman Records website

Crispin Glover Records website

Morag Tong, Grieve

Morag Tong Grieve

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

Morag Tong on Facebook

Majestic Mountain Records store

Conny Ochs, Wahn Und Sinn

Conny Ochs Wahn Und Sinn

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

Conny Ochs on Facebook

Exile on Mainstream website/a>

Ritual King, The Infinite Mirror

ritual king the infinite mirror

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

Ritual King on Facebook

Ripple Music website

Oldest Sea, A Birdsong, A Ghost

oldest sea a birdsong a ghost cropped

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

Oldest Sea on Facebook

Darkest Records on Bandcamp

Dim Electrics, Dim Electrics

dim electrics dim electrics

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

Dim Electrics on Facebook

Sulatron Records webstore

Mountain of Misery, In Roundness

Mountain of Misery In Roundness

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

Mountain of Misery on Facebook

Electric Witch Mountain Recordings on Facebook

Aawks, Luna

aawks luna

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

Aawks on Facebook

Black Throne Productions website

Kaliyuga Express, Warriors & Masters

Kaliyuga Express Warriors and Masters

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

Kaliyuga Express on Facebook

Riot Season Records store

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The Obelisk Questionnaire: Conny Ochs

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

CONNY OCHS (Photo by Pietro Bondi)

The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.

Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.

Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.

The Obelisk Questionnaire: Conny Ochs

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

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

Describe your first musical memory.

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

Describe your best musical memory to date.

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

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

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

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

To freedom, I hope.

How do you define success?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Conny Ochs, “Hickhack” official video

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Conny Ochs to Release Wahn Und Sinn Oct. 20; Preorders Available

Posted in Whathaveyou on August 31st, 2023 by JJ Koczan

CONNY OCHS (Photo by Pietro Bondi)

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

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

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

From the PR wire:

Conny Ochs Wahn Und Sinn

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Conny Ochs, Doom Folk (2019)

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Quarterly Review: Khanate, Space Queen, King Potenaz, Treedeon, Orsak:Oslo, Nuclear Dudes, Mycena, Bog Monkey, The Man Motels, Pyre Fyre

Posted in Reviews on July 19th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

the-obelisk-qr-summer-2020

Ah, a Quarterly Review Wednesday. Always a special occasion. Monday starts out with a daunting look at the task ahead. Tuesday is all digging in and just not trying to repeat myself too much. Wednesday, traditionally, is where we hit the halfway point. The top of the hill.

Not the case this time since I’ll have 10 records each written up next Monday and Tuesday, but crossing the midpoint of this week alone feels like an accomplishment and you’ll pardon me if I mark it as such. If you’re wondering how the rest of the week will go, tomorrow is all-business and Friday’s usually a party one way or the other. My head gets so in it by the middle of next week I’ll be surprised not to be doing this anymore. So it goes.

Quarterly Review #21-30:

Khanate, To Be Cruel

Khanate To Be Cruel

Who among mortals could hope to capture the horrors of Khanate in simple words? The once-New York-based avant sludge ultragroup end a 14-year hiatus with To Be Cruel, a fourth album, comprising three songs running between 19-21 minutes each that breed superlative hatefulness. At once overwhelming and minimalist, with opener “Like a Poisoned Dog” placing the listener in a homemade basement dungeon with the sharp, disaffection-incarnate bark of Alan Dubin (also Gnaw) cutting through the weighted slog in the guitar of Stephen O’Malley (also SunnO))), et al), the bass of James Plotkin (more than one can count, and he probably also mastered your band’s record) and the noise free-jazz drumming of Tim Wyskida (Blind Idiot God, etc.), they retain the disturbing brilliance last heard from in 2009’s Clean Hands Go Foul (discussed here) and are no less caustic for the intervening years. “It Wants to Fly” is expansive and wretched death poetry set to drone doom, a ritual made of its own misery, and the concluding title-track goes quiet in its midsection as though to let every wrenching anguish have its own space in the song. There is no one like them, though many have tried to convey some of what apparently only Khanate can. As our plague-infested, world-burning, war-making, fear-driven species plunges further into this terrible century, Khanate is the soundtrack we earn. We are all complicit. All guilty.

Khanate on Facebook

Sacred Bones Records store

 

Space Queen, Nebula

Space Queen Nebula EP

Though plenty atmospheric besides, Vancouver heavy fuzz rockers Space Queen add atmosphere to their nine-song/26-minute Nebula EP through a series of four interludes: the a capella three-part harmonies of “Deluge,” the acoustic-strummed “Veil” and “Sun Interlude,” and the finishing manipulated space-command sample in “End Transmission” after the richly melodic doom rock of “Transmission/Lost Causemonaut.” That penultimate inclusion is the longest at 6:14 and tells a story in a way that feels informed by the three-piece of drummer/vocalist Karli MacIntosh, guitarist/vocalist Jenna Earle and bassist/keyboardist/vocalist Seah Maister‘s past in the folk outfit Sound of the Sun, but transposes its melodic sensibility into a heavier context. It and the prior garage-psych highlight “When it Gets Light” — a lighter initial electric strum that arrives in willful-seeming contrast to “Darkest Part” immediately preceding — depart from the more straight-ahead push of opener “Battle Cry” and the guitar-screamer “Demon Queen” separated from it by the first interlude. Where those two come across as working with Alice in Chains as a defining influence — something the folk elements don’t necessarily argue against — the Nebula EP grows broader as it moves through its brief course, and flows throughout with its veering into and out of songs and short pieces. This is Space Queen‘s second EP, and if they’re interested in making a full-length next, they sound ready.

Space Queen on Facebook

Space Queen on Bandcamp

 

King Potenaz, Goat Rider

king potenaz goat rider

Fasano, Italy’s King Potenaz debut on Argonauta Records with Goat Rider, which conjures raw fuzz, garage-doom atmospherics, and vocals that edge toward aggression and classic cave metal, early Venom or Celtic Frost having a role to play even alongside the transposition of Kyuss riffing taking place in the title-track, which follows “Among Ruins” and “Pyramids Planet,” both of which featured on the trio’s 2022 Demo 6:66, and which set a tone of riff-led revelry here with a sound that reminds of turn-of-the-century era stoner explorations, but grows richer as it moves into “Pazuzu (3:33)” — it’s actually 5:18 — with guest vocals from Sabilla and the quiet three-minute instrumental “Cosmic Voyager” planet-caravanning into the 51-minute album’s second half, where “Moriendoom (La Ballata di Ippolita Oderisi)” and the even doomier “Monolithic” dig into cultish vibes and set up the bleak shuffle of nine-minute closer “Dancing Plague,” departing from its central ’90s-heavy riff into a mellow-psych movement and then returning from that outward stretch to end. Even at its most familiar, Goat Rider finds some way to harness an individual edge, cleverly using the mix itself as an instrument to create the space in which the songs dwell. It may take a few listens to sink in, but there’s real potential in what they’re doing.

King Potenaz on Facebook

Argonauta Records store

 

Treedeon, New World Hoarder

Treedeon New World Hoarder

With the release of their third album, New World Hoarder, German art-sludgers Treedeon celebrate their first decade as a band. The combined vinyl-with-CD follows 2018’s Under the Manchineel (review here) and proffers raw cosmic doom in “Omega Time Bomb,” crossing the 10-minute line for the first time after the particularly-agonized opener “Nutcrème Superspreader” and before the title-track’s nodding riff brings bassist Yvonne Ducksworth to the fore vocally, trading off with guitarist Arne Heesch as drummer Andy Schünemann crashes cyclically behind. “New World Hoarder” gives over to side B opener “Viking Meditation Song,” which rolls like an evil-er version of Goatsnake, and “RHV1,” on which Heesch and Ducksworth share vocal duties, as they also do in 12-minute closer “Läderlappen” — a shouting duet in the first half feels long in arriving, but that’s how you know the album works — as the band cap with more massive chug following an interplay of melody and throatier fare. They’re right to ride that groove, as they’re right about so much else on the record. Like much of what Exile on Mainstream puts out, Treedeon are stylistically intricate and underrated in kind.

Treedeon on Facebook

Exile on Mainstream site

 

Orsak:Oslo, In Irons

Orsak Oslo In Irons

There are a couple different angles of approach one might take in hearing Orsak:Oslo‘s In Irons full-length. The Norway/Sweden-based instrumental troupe have been heretofore lumped in with heavy post-rock and ambient soundscaping, which is fair enough, but what they actually unveil in “068 The Swell” (premiered here), is a calming interpretation of space rock. With experimentalism on display in its late atmospheric drone comedown, “068 The Swell” moves directly into the more physical “079 Dutchman’s Wake (Part I),” the languid boogie feeling modern in presentation and classic in construction and the chemistry between the members of the band. The drums sit out much of the first half of “069 In What Way Are You Different,” giving a sense of stillness to the drone there, but the song embraces a bigger feel toward its finish, and that sets up the feedback intro to “078 The Mute (Part II),” which veers dreamily between amplifier drone and complementary melodic guitar flourish. Taking 17 minutes to do it, they close with “074 Hadal Blue,” which more broadly applies the space-chill of “068 The Swell” and emphasizes flow and organic changes from one part to the next. Immersive, it would be one to get lost in if it weren’t so satisfying to pay attention.

Orsak:Oslo on Facebook

Vinter Records website

 

Nuclear Dudes, Boss Blades

Nuclear Dudes Boss Blades

Fuck. Yes. As much grind as sludge as electronics-infused hardcore as it is furious, unadulterated noise, the 12-song/50-minute onslaught that is Boss Blades arrives via Modern Grievance at the behest of Jon Weisnewski, also of Sandrider, formerly of Akimbo. If Weisnewski‘s name alone and the fact that Matt Bayles mixed the self-recorded debut LP aren’t enough to pull you into the tornado of violence and maddening brood that opener “Boss Blades” uses to open — extra force provided by one of two guest vocal spots from Dave Verellen of Botch; the other is on “Lasers in the Jungle” later on — then perhaps the seven-minute semi-industrial march of “Obsolete Food” or the bruising intensity of “Poorly Made Pots” or the minute and a half of sample-topped drone psych in “Guitart,” the extreme prog metal of “Eat Meth” or “Manifest Piss Tape” will do the trick, or the nine-minute near-centerpiece “Many Knives” (which, if there’s a Genghis Tron influence here generally — and there might be — is more the last record than the older stuff) with its slow keyboard unfolding as a backdrop for Dust Moth‘s Irene Barber to make her own guest appearance, plenty of post-everything cacophony mounting by the end, grandiose and consuming. I could go on — every track is a new way to die — but suffice it to say that this is what my brain sounds like when my kid and my wife are talking to me about different things at the same time and it feels like my skull is on fire and I have an aneurysm and keel over. Good wins.

Nuclear Dudes on Instagram

Modern Grievance Records website

 

Mycena, Chapter 4

mycena chapter 4

Sometimes harsh but always free, 2022’s Chapter 4 from Croatian instrumentalist double-guitar five-piece Mycena — guitarists Marin Mitić and Pavle Bojanić, bassist Karlo Cmrk, drummer Igor Vidaković and synthesist/noisemaker Aleksandar Vrhovec — brings three tracks that are distinct unto themselves but listed as part of the same entirety, dubbed “Dissolution” and divided into “Dissolution Part 1” (17:49), “Dissolution Part 2” (3:03), and “Dissolution Part 3” (18:11), and it may well be that what’s being dissolved is the notion that rock and roll must be confined to verse/chorus structuring. Invariably, Earthless are a comparison point for longform instrumental heavy anything, and given the shred in “Dissolution Part 1” around five minutes deep and the torrent rockblast in the first half of “Dissolution Part 3” before it melts to near-silence and quietly noodles its way through its somehow-dub-informed last 11 or so minutes, building in presence but not actually blowing up to full volume as it caps. While totaling a manageable 39 minutes, Chapter 4 is a journey nonetheless, with a scope that comes through even in “Dissolution Part 2,” which may just be an interlude but still carries a steady rhythm that seems to reorient the band ahead of their diving into the extended final part, the band sounding natural in making changes that would undo acts with less chemistry.

Mycena on Facebook

Mycena on Bandcamp

 

Bog Monkey, Hollow

bog monkey hollow

Filthy tone. Just absolutely nasty. Atlanta’s Bog Monkey tracked Hollow, their self-released debut LP, with Jay Matheson at The Jam Room in South Carolina, and if they ever go anywhere else to try to capture their sound I’d have to ask why. With seven cuts totaling 33 minutes play-time and fuzz-sludge blowouts a-plenty in “Facemint,” the blastbeaten “Blister” and the heads-down largesse-minded shove-off-the-cliff that is “Slither” at a whopping 2:48, Hollow transposes Conan-style shouted vocals on brash, thickened heavy, the bass in “Tunnel” and forward-charging leadoff “Crow” with its thrash-riffing hook is the source of the heft, but it’s not alone. Spacious thanks to echoes on the vocals, Hollow crushes just the same, and as the trio plunder toward the eight-minute “Soma” at the end, growing intense quickly out of a calmer intro jam and slamming their message home circa 3:40 with crashes that break to bass and guitar noise to establish the nod around which the ending will be based, all you can really do is look forward to the bludgeoning to come and be glad when it arrives. Don’t be fooled by their generic name, or the silly stoner rock art (which I’m not knocking; it being silly is part of the point). Bog Monkey bring together different styles in a way that’s thoughtful and make songs that sound like they just rose out of the water to fucking obliterate you. So go on. Be obliterated.

Bog Monkey on Facebook

Bog Monkey on Bandcamp

 

The Man Motels, Dead Nature

The Man Motels Dead Nature EP

Punkish in its choruses like the title-track or opener “Sports,” the four-song Dead Nature EP from South Africa’s The Man Motels is the latest in a string of short releases and singles going back to their 2018 full-length, Quit Looking at Me!, and they temper the urgency of their speediest parts with grunge-style melody and instrumental twists. Bass and drums at the base of “Young Father” set up the sub-three-minute closer as purely punk, but sure enough the guitar kicks in coming out of the verse and one can hear the Nirvana effect before it drops out again. Whether it’s a common older-school hardcore influence, I don’t know, but “Sports” and “Young Father” remind of a rawer Fu Manchu with their focus on structure, but “The Fever” is heavier indie rock and culminates in a tonally satisfying apex before cutting back to the main riff that’s led the way for… oh, about three minutes or so. All told, The Man Motels are done in 15 minutes, but they pack a fair amount into that time and they named the release after its catchiest installment, so there. Maybe not the kind of thing I’d always reach for in my own listening habits, but I’m not about to rag on a band for being good at what they do or showcasing their material with the kind of energy The Man Motels put into Dead Nature.

The Man Motels on Facebook

Mongrel Records website

 

Pyre Fyre, Pyre Fyre

pyre fyre pyre fyre

With a couple short(er) outings to their credit, Bayonne, New Jersey, three-piece Pyre Fyre present seven songs in the 18 minutes of their self-titled, which just might be enough to make it a full-length. Hear me out. They start raw with “Hypnotize,” more of a song than an intro, punkish and the shortest piece at 1:22. From there, the Melvins meet Earthride on “Flood Zone” and the range of shenanigans is unveiled. Produced by drummer/noisemaker Mike Montemarano, with Dylan Wheeler on guitar, Dan Kirwan on bass and vocals from all three in its hithers and yons, it is a barebones sound across the board, but Pyre Fyre give a sense of digging in despite that, with the echo-laced “Wyld Ryde” doled out like garage thrash, while “Dungeon Duster/Ice Storm” sounds like it was recorded in two different sessions and maybe it was and screw you if that matters, “Don’t Drink the Water” hits the brakes and dooms out with stoner-drawl vocals later, “Arachnophobia” dips into a darker, somehow more metal, mood, and the fuzzy “Cordyceps” ends with swagger and noise alike in just under two and a half minutes. All of this is done without pretense, without the band pausing to celebrate themselves or what they just accomplished. They get in, kick ass, get out again. You don’t want to call it an album? Fine. I respectfully disagree, but we can still be friends. What, you thought because it was the internet I was going to tell you to screw off? Come on now.

Pyre Fyre on Instagram

Pyre Fyre on Bandcamp

 

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The Obelisk Questionnaire: Yvonne Ducksworth of Treedeon

Posted in Questionnaire on May 29th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

Yvonne Ducksworth of Treedeon

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: Yvonne Ducksworth of Treedeon

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

I’m a working class musician who uses music as a form of self therapy, in order to get to… one day, to the next. It’s a passion and a meditation. Also; my job finances my music habit. I write lyrics, sing and play Bass.

Everyone in my immediate family had an artistic specialty.. & lyrics have always been there for me. I read a lot, and wrote a lot to let off steam…

However, the first time in a band, I was on drums; because everyone else had a guitar So I did that for awhile… Eventually I got the Mic though lol.

Describe your first musical memory.

Performance wise? My mother teaching me to sing an Elvis song for the family Xmas gathering …

Describe your best musical memory to date.

My Grandfather on Violin and my Grandmother on Piano; playing classical songs together, but also Pop & Rock classics. Both slightly drunk and totally happy. Each convinced that the other had just played a wrong note…

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

I try not to hold firm beliefs, because life is a complicated clusterfuck of perspectives … I’m flexible. Or jaded. I also don’t like being disappointed.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

For me personally… Hopefully to a better understanding of myself.

Music has allowed me to step out of the shadow of pain, has strengthened me, accompanied me, held me, tolerated me, and screamed at me to get my shit together.

How do you define success?

A Woman once thanked me for the words in a song that I used to play. She said she had not been able to describe a certain feeling, but the song gave her the words for it.

Absolutely the best compliment I’ve ever gotten as a musician…

That was my moment of success.

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

The downward spiral and eventual unraveling of a friend…

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

A song that is, ‘just right’, ‘perfect’ and ‘finished’.

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

To give a voice to the people, to question authority, to challenge norms, to give meaning to a feeling, and a time, to soothe us all emotionally…

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

A Motorcycle ride in the summer rain. :)

https://www.facebook.com/Treedeon
https://www.instagram.com/Treedeon

https://www.instagram.com/exileonmainstreamofficial/
http://www.mainstreamrecords.de

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The Obelisk Questionnaire: Ana Muhi and Sven “Missu” Missulis of MIGHT

Posted in Questionnaire on March 10th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

might

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: Ana Muhi and Sven “Missu” Missulis of MIGHT

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

Ana: I decided to allow myself the luxury of doing what I love. Sounds cheesy, but that’s the way it is. Making music is a self-determined space for me. It’s a way to give kind of shape to my woolly thoughts. And as a matter of course I wanted to be loud.

Sven: My father had a guitar on which he played maybe once in every six months or less and as a kid I liked sitting beside him and listen. Later, when I was 14 years old, some of my friends had instruments and we started a punk band. That was the time when I began to play the guitar. 2,5 months later we had our first concert. You can imagine how it sounded. Luckily it was filmed. The guy who filmed that concert back in 1991 uploaded it on YouTube a few years ago.

Describe your first musical memory.

Sven: One of my first musical memory as a small child is sitting with our little dog Snoopy on the backseat of my mom’s Citroen 2CV listening to a best of ABBA tape while she was driving us three somewhere. We have done that very often and in my memories it is always summer.

Ana: I was hanging around with my little sister on a lazy Sunday afternoon. We had some of the best pancakes ever and listened to a radio show. I recorded our beloved songs on audio tapes and we sang perfectly out of tune in kiddy fantasy English.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

Ana: One of the first concerts from our former band was in a very close and airless underground vault. A wonderful location, but I must have fainted for a few seconds, after my scream split the air. It was a sort of sweaty full-body-mission, I don’t want to miss.

Sven: There are so many good musical memories in my life. It is not easy to chose just one. At the age of 11 or 12 I combed through my parents vinyl collection and discovered “The Wall” by Pink Floyd. That was a massive experience.

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

Sven: When I realized that I am really getting old.

Ana: It’s hard to keep hope that stupid egomaniacs will not rule the world. The abuse of power from megalomaniac narcissists makes me sick.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

Ana: Artistic progression leads to confrontation with yourself in your surrounding world. It’s a naked encounter with truth. Sometimes painful, but always the opposite from death.

Sven: I would say it is a constant changing, a little less here, a little more there, something new, another thing is through. I think it does not lead anywhere, it just changes the direction sometimes.

How do you define success?

Sven: Being satisfied.

Ana: To leave the competition by your own choice, just to go ahead with yourself.

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

Ana: Hate.

Sven: I’d thought about this question for a while and of course there are things I wish I have not seen, like destroyed nature f.e., but if I think in this direction there is nothing that I wish I have not seen, because even if I haven’t seen it, it would happen. So it is important to see what is happening to act the right way.

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

Sven: The third MIGHT album.

Ana: Maybe I’ll have the patience to write something longer than a song once. When I was a child I loved to write theatre plays and the first pages for novels. But I always ripped it to pieces and I still do so today.

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

Ana: Art should work up the courage we lose in our daily routines.

Sven: Art connects people around the world.

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

Sven: Spring and summer.

Ana: I’m looking forward to embrace my 80-year-old dad and my beloved old life at all. Nothing is to take for granted and I’m thankful to join the game for a while.

http://www.might.earth
https://might.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/might.earth

https://www.instagram.com/exileonmainstreamofficial/
http://www.mainstreamrecords.de

Might, Abyss (2022)

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Review & Album Premiere: Might, Abyss

Posted in audiObelisk, Reviews on August 25th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

MIGHT (photo by Ana Muhi)

Hanover, Germany, two-piece Might will release their second full-length, Abyss, on Friday, Aug. 26. It is their sophomore outing to be issued by respected purveyor Exile on Mainstream behind their 2020 self-titled debut (review here) and bears the marks of a purposeful creative progression, as Ana Muhi and Sven “Missu” Missulis steadily work themselves into a varied succession of genres across the included 11 songs/38 minutes, from the piano-into-rumbling-post-doom of the intro “Naked Light” and the tense chug and groove of the subsequent “Lost,” trading vocals already in refuse-to-make-it-a-pattern fashion and continuing through the semi-title-track “Abysses” with a dug-in atmospheric grunge before “Circles” breaks out the pop-punk to start a procession of three two-and-a-half-minute cuts, the subsequent “Who’s Ahead” and “Tightrope Walk” delving between modern post-Jarboe-ist piano avant — one might think of Lingua Ignota, but that’s only part of it — and acoustic contemplation, respectively.

Presumably that’s side A of Abyss, and there are a few lessons to be gleaned from it. First, Might are a band suited to any and all expanded definitions of what’s ‘heavy.’ That is, while “Naked Light,” “Lost” and “Abysses” might serve as early representation for distorted tones and harder-hitting ideologies, mourning what’s lost in environment and innocence, trying to find some way through if not out. The answer to that, of course, is the music itself is the way out, but one still has to write the songs, which obviously Might do or you and I wouldn’t be sitting down having this nice chat about them. But after this initial sweep comes the swap-swap-swap of “Circles,” “Who’s Ahead” — the lyrics to this are likewise minimal and evocative; that line about changing an activation code; what a sense of place and feeling and time conveyed through such a mundane image; where are they when this is happening, I wonder; who’s picking those dead flowers at the side of the road?; where are they going? — and the centerpiece “Tightrope Walk,” which taps into indie folk with a showcase for Muhi‘s vocals in less theatrical form than “Who’s Ahead” just before while remaining no less expressive. And it’s not that the ‘other stuff’ is richer somehow than the ‘heavier stuff’ — let me be clear: it isn’t — but that’s precisely the point. Wherever Might go on Abyss sound-wise is secondary to the weight of intention and conveyance that comes through in the material. The second lesson, then, is that Might are going to do whatever they feel and no less. Righteous.

“How Sad a Fate” repeats obscure lines around ranging tones and a looming sense of threat, is somehow punk in its point of view but not at all in the delivery, which moves in its later reaches into as genuine a lurch as Might have yet produced. But their attentions don’t stay in one place too long, ever, on Abyss, and “Shrine” picks up directly to answer the punk waiting to burst out in the song before with a verse led by Missulis and turns into guttural intensity for just a moment before it spaces out and thrusts into extreme metal, turning again to its rolling verse, like Might decided to find out what might’ve happened if Darkthrone went to an art school taught by Sonic Youth. Oh and the song’s also under three minutes long. So yes, there’s a fair amount packed in there. But as ever, Might carry it through with a smoothness that seems counterintuitive to their willing lack of precision — Abyss flows despite its stylistic complexities and part of that stems from the organic, playing-live (though it’s impossible with just the two of them and the amount of instruments they use; see the videos below with a projected Missulis on drums) feel of the songs; it’s not that they’re not tight, they’re just not tight-assed — and which speaks to their history together, personal as well as their time together in Deamon’s Child, whose dissolution in 2020 led to the starting of this newer outfit.

The subsequent “Lucky Me” picks up on the brutal letting-loose of “Shrine” before it and is grander in the unfolding. It, “How Sad a Fate” and “Abysses” are the only pieces that run longer than either side of 2.5-3.5 minutes, and they provide landmarks throughout, but “Lucky Me” is the nastiest of the bunch, with a forward stomp of kick drum and snare behind sharp riffing and vocal barks from Muhi initially that move into uptempo-but-still-weighted chugs and twists before a drop at the midsection recalls the ambience from which the song burst forth without actually bringing it back, instead exploring an open field of remaining-anxious pastoralia before resuming its relative onslaught. One last recitation of the title, and birdsong provides a transition into the returned piano balladry of “Dear Life” in a purposeful-seeming resonant echo of “Who’s Ahead” and before capping with a wash of nasty noise, “Holy Wars” rings out a kind of longing in its guitar and Missulis‘ vocals, a kind of heavy-indie vibe persisting into the heavier movement that follows, which in turn unfurls into the aforementioned some-say-fire-some-say-ice-we-say-feedback ending of the record, which feels very much like the punctuation at the end of the sentence of the proceedings in their entirety.

Would it be a surprise to call Abyss immersive? I mean, they titled the album Abyss. In any case, one can’t and won’t argue with either their mournful, angry, curious or disappointed points of view here, as well as the varied means through which those are brought to bear. This band isn’t going to be for everybody and they’re not trying to be. But maybe they’re for you, and I know of one sure way to find out.

Accordingly, enjoy:

Abyss will be released through Exile On Mainstream on August 26th, pressed on LP and CD and available on all digital services. Find preorders HERE: https://shop.mainstreamrecords.de/product/eom103

Ana Muhi on Abyss:

“I am grateful that we have the chance to release our new album called Abyss. This world is a beautiful place. But we’re all standing on the edge of an abyss. Human rights violations, racism, climate change. It’s an individual decision not to be part of that hate. Everyone can contribute to stop this absolute madness. That’s what it’s all about. Music is a way to get in touch and jump over that damned fucking abyss. At least to have a blast before we die in pain.”

Sven Missullis on Abyss:

“We are very happy to work again with Exile On Mainstream and our good friend Andreas. For us it was never a question, and it may not have been for him either, because he had not heard a single tone until we sent the finished master for pressing. Using the artwork was a dream come true, especially for me. I am a huge fan of Zdzisław Beksiński. I dreamed about using his painting – the one we used for our album – and showed it to Ana. She also fell in love with it. So, I got in contact with the Historical Museum in Sanok which owns the rights of all works of Beksiński, who sadly was murdered in 2005. The director of the museum, Jarosław Serafin, is a very nice person. He gave us the license for using the painting. Bam!

“The recording process was intense but also stress-free, which doesn’t mean there was no chaos, but we have our own studio and so time doesn’t matter. We can record whenever we want and how long we want. In the middle of the recording process there were these Exile On Mainstream Roadshows with Confusion Master, Gaffa Ghandi, and MIGHT. At that point we didn’t want to play any of the new songs live, so we had to rehearse our first album in the middle of recording a new album. That was a bit strange but also refreshing and we made a two-week break from the studio. Besides the release, I am very much looking forward to the next shows in September where we will play those new songs for the very first time.”

MIGHT’s Abyss was entirely recorded, mixed, and mastered by the band. The album’s cover is fitted with a 1976 oil painting by Polish artist Zdzisław Beksiński. The impression of the painting, as oppressive as it may seem at first glance, nevertheless radiates a warming confidence and security. This makes the image a fantastic visualization of MIGHT’s music.

Delicate piano sounds are being buried under thick, viscous lava of distorted guitars and a mean bass. Hovering above it, Ana’s subtle, yet haunting voice connects tragedy with hope in a world gone haywire. Or seems like it. Sometimes she must scream. MIGHT is a must-hear band for fans of Chelsea Wolfe, Emma Ruth Rundle, Jarboe, Dolch, Treedeon, Neurosis, Ides Of Gemini, and Black Mare.

MIGHT Live:
9/02/2022 KuFa – Braunschweig, DE
9/09/2022 South Of Mainstream Festival – Berlin, DE
11/05/2022 – Bei Chez Heinz – Hannover, DE

Might, “How Sad a Fate” official video

Might, “Shrine” official video

Might website

Might on Bandcamp

Might on Facebook

Exile on Mainstream on Instagram

Exile on Mainstream website

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