Posted in Whathaveyou on October 10th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
15 years of Wight, huh? I recall vividly digging their recently-reissued 2011 debut, Wight Weedy Wight (review here), and the progression they’ve unfolded in the years since — their most recent album is 2020’s Spank the World (review here) — they came to embrace first a psychedelic take and settled into a funkish groove based around that, emphasizing performance and daring to be fun in an unironic way. Well, at least mostly unironic. Cheekiness has always been a factor, along with a good deal of charm.
They’ll head out for live shows to celebrate the anniversary, which is fair enough, in the company of Buddha Sentenza, who as fate and luck would apparently have it are also celebrating their 15th year in 2023. Cheers to both bands and safe travels. You don’t even have to look as far as the poster to know this’ll be fun, but you might want to check it out anyway.
And worth noting that 15 years in, Wight aren’t resting on laurels. I saw some studio-adjacent antics in a post on whichever social it was, so they’re at least around recording equipment, which if you’ve ever heard music before you know is an important step toward making a thing.
And while I’m ticking boxes, I’ll further note that the only reason I’m posting Wight‘s announcement of these shows instead of Buddha Sentenza‘s is I saw Wight‘s first. Fair’s fair.
Dig:
Wight’s 15th anniversary tour with Buddha Sentenza
As you might have noticed on social media, we had our 15th anniversary this year. We prepared a special set for our birthday show back in April, and we’d like to play a few more gigs with that one. So far we have only played locally this year, but now we’ll be going on a short tour through Germany in November. We’ll have our friends of Buddha Sentenza with us, who coincidentally also just turned 15 years old. (The band that is, not the members.)
The tour dates: 01.11 Bessunger Knabenschule – DARMSTADT (Wight only!) 02.11 SubKultur – HANNOVER 03.11 Supamolly – BERLIN 04.11 Schlachthof – EISENACH 11.11 Bessunger Knabenschule – DARMSTADT (Buddha Sentenza only!)
We are planning to play live a lot more in 2024, and also go to other European countries. If you have ideas or suggestions, let us know! So far, we have the following gigs confirmed:
German heavy psych-funk rockers Wight release their new album, Spank the World, on April 24 through Kozmik Artifactz and Fat and Holy Records. Let it suffice to say that Spank the World is the funkdoobiest, trippiest, soul-drippingest apocalyptic sci-fi heavy psych epic you’re going to hear this year, and the fact that it’s likely also the only one you’re going to hear this year has very, very little to do with that. Based in Darmstadt and working as a more involved four-piece with percussionist Steffen Kirchpfening having become more ingrained as a part of the band since joining after most of the skeletal writing for 2016’s Love is Not Only What You Know (review here), Wight moves guitarist/vocalist/key-specialist and directional figurehead René Hofmann into the role of producer as well, tracking over the course of most of last year even as his Wasted Life Studio was being built to completion.
And Spank the World, though it runs a tidy 10 songs and 40 minutes, would not seem to have been a minor undertaking in terms of recording aspirations. Even putting aside the rhythmic complexities brought to bear by Kirchpfening and drummer Thomas Kurek and the shifts in prominence between Hofmann‘s guitar and various keys — organ, clavinet, synthesizers, samplers, etc. (Kirchpfening contributes in this regard as well) — and the swaps between fretted and fretless bass from Peter-Philipp Schierhorn, the guest spots of violin on post-intro opener “Hot,” sax, trombone and trumpet on “Nervous” and “Island in the Sun,” and yes, baritone oud on the three-part pre-outro closer “Bon Apocalypso,” all make for Wight‘s most sonically complex offering to-date, having grown out of the stoner-fuzz beginnings of 2011’s Wight Weedy Wight (review here) and into more psychedelic fare on 2012’s quick-turnaround follow-up, Through the Woods into Deep Water (review here), before restructuring the lineup and bringing in Kirchpfening as a fourth member.
The shift in direction toward broader arrangements seemed at the time to have necessitated that move, and listening to Spank the World, it makes even more sense. Songs like “Island in the Sun,” or the disco-funk tripper “Spiritual Gangster” — a quick instrumental that follows “Hot” and nonetheless serves as more than an interlude in transitioning between the album’s first single and “Nervous” and Motorgroove,” which follow in succession — have a sonic breadth to them that, well, probably would’ve taken much longer than a year to record, even if the three of them had managed to come up with all the same ideas that having a fourth person as a part of the process allowed them to explore. That of course is to say nothing of the aforementioned guest appearances on strings and horns, or the added background vocals, elements of gang shouts, and general twists of mood that come to fruition in the songs themselves, be it the bound-to-be-a-follow-up-single “Time’s Up” on side B or the seven-minute “Bon Apocalypso” itself, which is a somewhat pieced-together freakout jam, less psych than “Motorgroove” at the end of side A, but still flowing and progressive in the finished product. One way or another, people, it all gets pretty wild.
And there’s no doubt left as to that being the band’s precise intent, but that doesn’t mean the songs themselves are haphazard. After “Intro” sets up the rest of what’s to come with synth and various other elements and the robot-voice spoken word of, indeed, ‘The Robot’s Sermon,’ promising a funky end of the world to come, and that’s exactly how the narrative is framed, even as “Hot” — tagged in the liner notes with the line ‘Global Warming’s Not the Only Thing Heating Me Up!’ — and “Nervous” and “Time’s Up” could be just as easily regarded as relationship pieces one way or the other, and are. But, human life being what it is, and with the traditions Wight are working toward on Spank the World, from the mid-’70s P-Funk of Let’s Take it to the Stage to the work of groups like Afreaka!, Mandrill, Cymande and so on, those records never lacked for sex, whatever other issues they might’ve been tackling at the time, so one is inclined to roll with Wight as they accordingly play it loose on the narrative.
As they come out of the subtly jazzy “Interlude” with the spoken delivery of the album’s title line, and embark into “Island in the Sun,” with its laid-back nod tempo and waka-chawaka guitar, they even go so far as to acknowledge the departure they’re making. Again, the liner: ‘C’mon, Everybody Needs It.’ Aside from the statement of class equality inherent in that ‘everybody,’ the simple ‘c’mon’ acts not only as an invitation to the listener to join them on the trip they’re taking sound-wise, but seems to be looking to be cut some slack as well. And it’s slack well earned, because no matter where Wight venture in terms of mood or atmosphere on Spank the World, they do so with precisely as much of a sense of control as they want to convey. “Island in the Sun” shreds out a solo late. “Hot” departs into talkbox psychedelic quirk. “Motorgroove” dream-jams its way into the collection’s crunchiest riff. The minute-long “Outro” distorts electronic beats and bass to act as a bed for a quick description of the aftermath of the funky overlords’ wiping clean the slate of the earth.
But through all of this and everything else, Wight never seem to get lost, and each piece of Spank the World not only feels complete within itself — the instrumentals feel instrumental for a reason; the hooks are well placed — but feeds into the larger progression of the record as a whole. Spank the World is not at all a full-length that one might’ve guessed the band would eventually come up with nine years ago listening to Wight Weedy Wight, but finding out what they’re going to do next has always been part of what makes hearing a new Wight release such an exciting proposition, and as they take the forward steps they do with these tracks, working in and further toward continued mastery of their highly, highly individualized approach, they remain both exciting and unpredictable. This album? It’s a blast. Maybe you can get down and maybe you can’t, but if you find yourself thinking that an LP about giant alien robots coming not to make the Earth stand still, but to boogie into its oblivion is something that doesn’t appeal to you, I dare say it’s time to rethink that position. Today. Do it now.
—
I’m thrilled to host the premiere of the video for “Hot” below, and even more thrilled because it comes accompanied with such thorough background on the album from bassist Peter-Philipp Schierhorn. Thanks to the band for letting me host the clip, and to Schierhorn in particular for taking the time. Spank the World is out April 24 on Kozmik Artifactz and Fat and Holy Records.
This is Peter, the bass player from Wight. Rene asked me to write a few words on our new album – right before the release, there are tonloads of stuff to do, and Rene is in charge of most of those. And maybe it’s also not the worst choice to hear the story from the personal perspective of a guy who was involved, but not from THE main guy who did almost everything the entire time.
As you may read in the “official” press text, Rene was definitely in charge of almost everything during the recording as well. At the first glance, that’s only a small change from previous releases, he was quite obviously credited as the producer or pre-producer on all our releases. Which makes sense, the guy went to college for sound engineering and has gathered quite a lot of experience as a live and studio engineer and producer over the years. “Spank the World” is however the first Wight release that didn’t involve at least some external sound engineer getting involved at some point (well, a friend mastered it in the end, but that was when everything was basically finished already).
There is of course a bit more to the story than we put in the official press text. Usually, people never read more than one page (if at all), but Rene told me you may be interested in some more background information. Lots of different things happened since we came back from the last tour in fall 2017. We haven’t been playing live all that much in the meanwhile, but as you can hear on the album we weren’t really lazy either. But we obviously didn’t spend two and a half years recording.
After “Love Is Not Only What You Know”, we were really figuring out how to work as a four piece band. Steffen wrote and recorded percussion for the album, but only got involved after the rest of the music had already been written. We then had to see how to perform live and quickly found out while percussion and synthesizers were a nice addition to our sound, they bounced us from being the easiest-to-mix rock trio in the world to being every FOH engineer’s nightmare. On top of that, we carried a full recording rig with us on one of the tour legs, which resulted in the “Fusion Rock Invasion – Live over Europe” live album. That one turned out nicely, but the tour was semi-hellish especially for our sound guy Josko (the guy who mastered our album) and Rene, who was of course supporting him besides being the front man of the band. Over time, we found a couple of solutions that made everyone’s life easier, such as having a sub-mixer on stage and only sending out a stereo signal of percussion and synths to the FOH. But that was only the beginning.
We also found out we could do a lot more musically with the additional member and a multitude of additional instruments, but that also meant that our usual approach of jamming in the rehearsal room, then playing the songs live until they were really tight, and then recording them in one go, no longer really worked. There are a few old-style jam tracks on the album, but at some point we decided to really focus on a studio recording. Finish and arrange stuff in the studio, use whatever means necessary to produce a great record, and then try and arrange those songs we wanted to play into proper live versions.
I don’t remember exactly when the decision was taken, but I remember that before the last “LINOWYK” tour in late 2017, Rene proposed a live hiatus afterwards, which we should use to help him build a studio so we could record our next album all by ourselves and take all the time we needed. He only had this tiny little studio, but the room next door in the building had just become available, he had rented it and wanted to make a proper recording room out of it.
That’s what we ended up doing, but it didn’t really go as planned. The more predictable bit was that Rene ended up doing most of the work himself, but as it was to be his workplace afterwards anyways, that wasn’t really that big of a problem (Rene may have a slightly different opinion here ;-)). Us other Wight members and many other friends helped and did some work, but of course the bulk got stuck with Rene himself, who basically spent every day in there for almost half a year.
But things didn’t end there – Thomas suddenly fucked off to the US, as he had taken a session job with an American band for four months, Rene’s wife became pregnant (ok, that one was planned I guess), my engineering job suddenly kicked into overdrive and had me flying all over the world, and on top of that, Rene and I got a bit sidetracked with Glanville, the heavy metal band we had founded as a fun little project a while earlier. The studio was usable by late 2018, but the band Wight hadn’t really played at all in the meanwhile. We had a few songs written before and started recording those right after Christmas 2018, but ended up spending most of 2019 rehearsing, writing and recording.
That actually kind of went in waves. The first couple of basic tracks went in pretty quickly, we went back to rehearsing, made a few more, back to the studio, same drill. At the same time, Rene kicked his brain into producer mode and kept layering stuff over the band tracks. There’s a new synth sitting in the studio? Let’s try that out. This sounds like we need horns – call up some friend that play sax and trombone here. Periklis Tsoukalas of Baba Zula is in town? Oh well, let’s see whether we can fit his electric oud in somewhere.
That entire process culminated somewhat in September of last year. We needed one more song for the album (as well as, of course, more overdubs), Rene had a basic structure and a few chords he had made up while lying on the beach in Thailand a few months earlier, and we took one week in the studio to make it into a song. I ended up playing the bassline one evening while high as fuck, with Rene telling me to change individual notes from time to time, but the rest of the week was basically Rene going crazy in there, calling up different guests for features, having Thomas and Steffen arrange some percussions and synths, and trying out every instrument that happened to be in the studio. Can you tell which song was the result of that?
Short story long, there were a few things more to be done, and I think Rene recorded the last bits and pieces only in December 2019 while already in the mixing process. Funnily enough, the cover artwork had been finished a long time before. Rene and our artwork guy, Ingo, hat met up God knows how long before and developed this piece with the huge intergalactic robot appearing over the Darmstadt skyline to destroy the world. That also ended up pushing the lyrical content of the album into a certain direction. Or did it? I’m still a bit surprised that basic love songs like Hot and Time’s Up actually ended up working very well in this entire apocalyptical context, but hey, sometimes things just work. And maybe Rene also knows what he’s doing a bit more than we sometimes give him credit for.
So the album was on its way, but we figured we needed a video. Not the usual live or live-ish video, but a proper music video like in the old days. We met in January 2020 to record the live scenes to the Hot music video, in one of our favorite pubs in town. The entire video was concepted by film students of Darmstadt’s University of Applied Science, with some input from Rene. One of the reasons why I’m writing this already overly long email is that Rene was just finishing the last shoots for the video this weekend… well, as you have the video or will get it very soon, I won’t lose any extra words on it, just see for yourself. And enjoy our new album – you now have the full background story, and I realize that I just made it sound like a mad journey full of “we don’t know what the hell we’re doing” and “oh shit, we didn’t see THAT coming”, but that is also kind of what happened. Does the album reflect that? I’ll let you be the judge. At least you know how it came to pass now, which may ease your confusion… or contribute to it.
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 29th, 2018 by JJ Koczan
Classic hard rock? Heavy heavy metal? Wherever you might think Glanville and Galactic Superlords respectively reside on the genre spectrum, I think it’s safe to assume the shows are going to be a good time. The Germany/UK and just-Germany-based five-pieces — that’s one crowded-ass van, if they’re sharing — head out together beginning Oct. 2 in Darmstadt and will seven shows throughout Germany, hitting Galactic Superlords‘ native Köln along the way.
Galactic Superlords go supporting their 2018 self-titled debut full-length, and Glanville head out on the heels of their debut EP, First Blood (review here), and the pairing couldn’t be more appropriate, since in addition to whatever sonic elements they might have in common, Glanville frontman René Hofmann (also of Wight) recorded the Galactic Superlords album. It’s nice to have friends, or so I hear.
To the PR wire:
GLANVILLE AND GALACTIC SUPERLORDS TEAM UP FOR TOUR THIS FALL!
A bit of Thin Lizzy, a bit of Iron Maiden, with hints of Dio. GLANVILLE sounds like Rob Halford wearing Dennis Hopper’s leather jacket in Easy Rider. An introduction of exciting things to come: After the critically acclaimed debut EP ‘First Blood’ released in May 2018, GLANVILLE have teamed up with the GALACTIC SUPERLORDS for a tour this Fall!
René Hofmann and Philipp Michel started playing music together as teenagers but at such a young age nobody knows what will happen the next day, much less in the far future. 13 years later Hofmann is a music producer in Darmstadt and Michel is an active touring guitar player and songwriter, still based in the Hessian hinterland. After all these years the two decide to start a new project together, a classic duo like Page and Plant. The search for the rest of the band GLANVILLE took more than a year, but finally a line-up of experienced musicians was completed: Peter-Philipp Schierhorn on bass, Thomas Hoffmann on drums, and Chris West on second guitar. After a quick and dirty pre-production the band met at a studio in Darmstadt, with most members never having played together and some even meeting each other for the first time. Everyone’s prepared and focused. Two days of rehearsals, two days of recording. Live, real and with passion for the music. Catch GLANVILLE live and real on the following dates this Fall, with GALACTIC SUPERLORDS on the bill:
02.10.18 DE – Darmstadt – HoffART Theater 03.10.18 DE – Berlin – Toast Hawaii 04.10.18 DE – Hamburg – Bar227 05.10.18 DE – Leipzig – Black Label 06.10.18 DE – Pratteln – Up In Smoke 12.10.18 DE – Köln – Museum 13.10.18 DE – Heidelberg – Beatfabrik
“When meeting Superlords drummer Carsten for the first time, sharing a cigarette at Desertfest Berlin, I immediately noticed that both of us are slightly crazy in a very similar way. And of course we found out that our respective bands also had something in common – fucking heavy metal! Over the years, we have grown to be good friends, and both our bands have become great teams, but still, nobody has ever heard of either one. So we decided to organize a DIY tour under the name “Your New Favourite Metal Bands You’ve Never Heard Of.” We are really looking forward to deliver some serious heavy metal together, real rock music on real stages, without playbacks, modelling amps or macbooks.” – René Hofmann, vocalist of Glanville
Glanville is: René Hofmann (vocals) Philipp Michel (lead guitar) Peter-Philipp Schierhorn (bass) Thomas Hoffmann (drums) Chris West (rhythm guitar)
Galactic Superlords is: Vocals: Katharina Heldt Vocals/Guitars: Dennis Sennekamp Guitars: Alex Miller Bass: Christian Lantin Drums: Carsten Krohn
On April 14, Glanville played the release show for their debut EP, First Blood, in Darmstadt, Germany, from whence frontman René Hofmann hails. Hofmann is of course best known for his guitarist/vocalist role in the ever-evolving Wight, and that band’s bassist, Peter-Philipp Schierhorn, also features in the new group, along with lead guitarist Philipp Michel (The Earwix) and rhythm guitarist Chris West (Named by the Sun, ex-Stubb) and drummer Thomas Hoffman (ex-Bushfire), comprising an experienced lineup with a definite mission in mind to bask in the glories of the metal of yore. As the title line is delivered in the live clip below for “Dancing on Fire,” if your mind doesn’t readily link to “Living After Midnight,” well, it should.
First Blood, which is out via Fat & Holy Records, brings that mission to life in ready fashion, but still carries an unmistakable current of heavy rock as well. It can be heard in the riffs of the prior video clip for “God is Dead” as well as in “Dancing on Fire” as the band seems to find a balance drawing from ’70s groove and ’80s NWOBHM-style soloing, not entirely dissimilar in the basic math from Chicago’s Bible of the Devil — yes, that’s a compliment — though Hofmann‘s soaring vocals are a distinguishing factor. As Wight moved from heavy psychedelia toward funkier jams, his voice showed likewise progression in confidence and range, and in Glanville he seems to take another step forward as a standalone guitar-less frontman.
And for being a new group if one comprised of veteran players, the band shows itself as being remarkably tight behind him. The dual-leads and gallop in the bridge parts are noteworthy, but even in the shifts from verses to the chorus, there’s a smoothness that, along with the tonality, is perhaps the element most drawn from heavy rock. There isn’t a rough transition. Even live, “Dancing on Fire” is aware of its flow and how crucial it is to maintain it. The vibe is right on, and as much as the grainy visual aesthetic of the “God is Dead” clip — which you can see at the bottom of this post, because one likes to be thorough — tells the story, I think the live show maybe even one-ups it in giving a representation of what Glanville are all about.
Check it out below, followed by more info about the EP and the five-piece’s sundry vices, and enjoy:
Glanville, “Dancing on Fire” live in Darmstadt
Glanville performing “Dancing On Fire” live at Oetinger Villa Darmstadt April 14th 2018.
Glanville was formed by childhood friends Philipp Michel (Jack Daniels) and René Hofmann (Marijuana) who wrote 5 great heavy metal songs and decided they needed to be played by a real band. Hofmann, who previously played guitar, had this to say about the experience:
“As an unsuccessful guitarist screaming and complaining all the time about my playing, I found out that my my tongue works better than my fingers so I became a singer. Finding the right musicians for the band was hard. It took over a year… like diggin’ in the bargain bin and only finding the leftover bruised apples“.
The lineup is completed by bass player Peter-Philipp Schierhorn (Cocaine), rhythm guitar player Chris West (Cheeseburgers) and Thomas Hoffmann (Heroin) on drums. Bass player extraordinaire Schierhorn describes joining the fast-paced band:
“Having grown up on a strict diet of Judas Priest, I just had to hop on board. But now my right hand constantly hurts.”
Audio recorded by Matze Wörnle. Mixed and mastered by René Hofmann. Camera by Gabriel Sahm, Johanna Amberg, Jonas Eichhorn. Edited by Johanna Amberg. Color Grading by Gabriel Sahm.
Glanville is: René Hofmann (vocals) Philipp Michel (lead guitar) Peter-Philipp Schierhorn (bass) Thomas Hoffmann (drums) Chris West (rhythm guitar)
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 14th, 2017 by JJ Koczan
Well, if I hadn’t already put Wight on my favorite covers list for their earlier-2017 single Atlas (review here), for sure they’d earn a spot with the piece by Ingo Kimalkin Lohse that adorns their new live album, Fusion Rock Invasion: Live Over Europe. The LP/DVD offering is out tomorrow, Dec. 15, and available through Bilocation Records, but there won’t be a digital edition at all, so if you want it, you gotta get the vinyl. Blamo. Decisive.
Seems a worthy endeavor, though — certainly owning that art would be no big sacrifice — since the pro-recorded outing captures Wight as they were out in Europe in 2015 heralding the funk-infused progression they’d undertaken with their then-not-yet-released third album, Love is Not Only What You Know (review here), which would surface the next year. The chance to hear Wight, only recently become a four-piece, exploring those textures on stage in front of audiences for what might’ve been the first time? Sounds pretty badass. I’d put that record on.
Info from the band and the label’s preorder page, also linked below:
Sadly too late after our tour, but finally finished and a perfect christmas gift: The first Wight Live Album „Fusion Rock Invasion – Live Over Europe“.
YES there will be a live DVD together with the LP.
300 copies on white/blue/green marbled vinyl. High quality vinyl pressed by Pallas Group in Germany. Package includes LIVE DVD (FSK 0)!
In August 2015, Wight set out for another tour to present new material to European audiences. Albeit not released until almost exactly a year later, the album “Love Is Not Only What You Know” had already been recorded at this point, and Steffen Kirchpfening on percussion and keys had established himself as a permanent addition to the former power trio. Nevertheless, Wight were still treading new ground at this point, emancipating themselves from their blues and stoner rock roots while not completely discarding them.
Enriching their psychedelic sound with new found funk, jazz, prog and world music influences, the band aptly named their tour “Fusion Rock Invasion.” Carrying a full recording rig across Germany, the Netherlands, England and Switzerland in a small touring van, tour sound engineer Josko Joketovic and Wight mastermind Rene Hofmann pushed themselves to the limit to professionally record every show. The result now sees the light more than two years later in the form of the “Fusion Rock Invasion – Live Over Europe” LP.
The live album shows the band during a truly transitional period, presenting at the time unreleased tracks from “Love Is Not Only What You Know” in a four piece constellation for the first time. “Fusion Rock Invasion – Live Over Europe” includes five grooving, moving and hard rocking tracks, recorded in an intimate atmosphere in small, hot and sweaty clubs in Cologne, Munich, London, Hamburg and Tilburg.
The LP is available as a limited bundle with a bonus DVD, containing five live videos recorded during the tour as well as around the release of “Love Is Not Only What You Know.”
VINYL TRACKLIST
1. Helicopter Mama 2. The Muse & The Mule 3. Kelele 4. Master Of Nuggets 5. The Love For Life Leads To Reincarnation
DVD TRACKLIST (42 mins total):
1. The Muse & The Mule (8:48) 2. Kelele (8:56) 3. The Love For Life Leads To Reincarnation (11:02) 4. Cosmic Rhythm #2 (3:34) 5. Master Of Nuggets (9:20)
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 7th, 2016 by JJ Koczan
German heavy psych rockers Wight released their funk-fortified third album (I kind of wish it was their fourth, just so I could continue the alliteration), Love is Not Only What You Know (review here), in September on Fat and Holy Records, Kozmik Artifactz, etc. Like everything they’ve done to-date, it represented a significant turn in sound from where they’d been previously, taking some of the psychedelic elements of 2012’s sophomore outing, Through the Woods into Deep Water (review here), to upbeat places that many even in the jammiest spheres wouldn’t dare to go. Adding a fourth member in percussionist/vocalist Steffen Kirchpfening, Wight signaled clearly they were embarking on a new era, and if you heard the record — if you haven’t, stream it below — you know the results were righteous.
Now they’ll take the show on the road in Germany and Switzerland. Joined by Kes from Istanbul, Wight head into 2017 in grand style on a run presented by Sound of Liberation that starts on Dec. 27 and goes until Jan. 7. They seem to have given the tour the name “The Green Baron and the Flying Fist of Bosphorus,” so, you know, that’s something. I have no idea what it means, but it sounds like a good time, and that could very well be the point.
Dates follow as announced by the band via the social medias:
We are happy to announce the upcoming Germany/Switzerland tour between the years with KES from Istanbul as support. You might have never heard of them but now it’s time. We are also working on new songs to present you at one of the following dates:
Wight & Kes, The Green Baron and the Flying Fist of Bosphorous tour: 27.12 MICHELSTADT – Unterholz 28.12 MÜNCHEN – Feierwerk 29.12 WÜRZBURG – Immerhin 30.12 OLTEN – Coq D’or 31.12 DARMSTADT – Goldene Krone 03.01 HAMBURG – Bar227 04.01 KIEL – Schaubude 05.01 DRESDEN – Sabotage 06.01 BERLIN – Zukunft am Ostkreuz 07.01 TBA please get in contact with us for booking!
Poster by Maarten Donders and René Hofmann
Wight is: René Hofmann – Guitar, Vocals, Synthesizer Peter-Philipp Schierhorn – Bass, Additional Vocals Thomas Kurek – Drums, Additional Vocals Steffen Kirchpfening – Percussion, Additional Vocals
Posted in Reviews on September 7th, 2016 by JJ Koczan
Each of Wight‘s albums has represented a significant jump in sound from the one before it. At this point, they have a decent track record going of shifting sonically from release to release. Their first outing, Wight Weedy Wight (review here), lived up to its name in 2011 with fuzzy groove and stonerized riffing. The 2012 follow-up, Through the Woods into Deep Water (review here), found the Darmstadt trio working quickly on a path of progression, greatly expanding their scope and psychedelic undertones with a natural, jammy vibe.
Their awaited third full-length, Love is Not Only What You Know (on Fat and Holy Records, Kozmik Artifactz, Import Export Music and SPV), may have been much slower in arriving, but brings with it no less a sense of departure from its predecessor(s).
First of all, it marks the introduction of percussionist Steffen Kirchpfening to the lineup with guitarist/vocalist/keyboardist/producer René Hofmann, bassist Peter-Philipp Schierhorn and drummer Thomas Kurek, making it Wight‘s first record as a four-piece, but it also brazenly incorporates elements of classic funk and soul in songs like opener “Helicopter Mama,” “The Muse and the Mule,” “Kelele” and the 11-minute closer “The Love for Life Leads to Reincarnation” that are at once the band’s most clearheaded work to-date but also their most outwardly grooving.
No doubt the inclusion of Kirchpfening plays a role in this — percussion certainly gets its say throughout, right from the bouncing start of “Helicopter Mama,” which was also released as a 7″ single (review here) last year — but as each Wight full-length has moved past the one before it, it has also brought choice elements along for that trip. Through the Woods into Deep Water held to the tonal largesse and fluid spirit of Wight Weedy Wight, and similarly, the seven tracks/46 minutes of Love is Not Only What You Know carry forward the second album’s graceful flow, memorable songwriting, and for the most part, its looser feel and swing.
It’s the context in which those elements arrive that has shifted. Conveniently, the liner notes to the CD version list the band’s influences for each track, and they range from James Brown and Stevie Wonder on “Helicopter Mama,” to broken hearts, David Gilmour and Jack Bruce on “The Muse and the Mule,” to traveling, cultures and chaos on the Eastern-inflected interlude “Three Quarters.” Through the longer stretches in “The Muse and the Mule” (10:10) and “Kelele” (9:29) which follows to round out side A, Hofmann seems to play the role of bandleader.
“Helicopter Mama” was more straightforward, and it gets a complement on side B’s “I Wanna Know What You Feel,” but particularly in the more fleshed out pieces — it goes for “The Love for Life Leads to Reincarnation” (11:47) as well — Hofmann shines vocally, on guitar played through a range of effects, and in adding keyboard flourish. That’s not to say the rest of the band doesn’t make pivotal contributions as well. As with Through the Woods into Deep Water, it’s Schierhorn‘s bass keeping the material grounded, and “The Muse and the Mule” would simply fall flat without him.
Ditto that for “Kelele” and really the record as a whole, including the more subdued penultimate cut “Biophilia Intermezzo,” shorter at three minutes than everything but “Three Quarters,” which is two, but still soulful enough to make an impression. After a dreamier departure in the second half of “The Muse and the Mule,” “Kelele” starts with funky thrust and delivers its hook sans pretense, Kurek holding down the march while Kirchpfening fills the spaces between beats with shekere and djembe.
Just past four minutes in, the song comes to a halt and they launch into a guitar-led heavy psych jam, Hofmann taking an extended solo as the band pushes further and further out, eventually bringing back to the initial progression and the repetitions of the title that seem to beg for a sing-along without actually begging for it, bookending the track excellently and underscoring the sense of control with which Wight execute their material at this stage.
Their stylistic fusion extends even more on “Three Quarters,” which plays up Mideastern drones and chanting for a quick but hypnotic psychedelic centerpiece effect to transition into side B, which comes back to classic funk-infused rock on “I Wanna Know What You Feel,” reminiscent of Humble Pie or early John Mayall if they decided to incorporate sitar accent.
Both “I Wanna Know What You Feel” and “Biophilia Intermezzo” are shorter than anything on side A, including “Helicopter Mama,” but the groove of one and the key-laced soul explosiveness of the other make them standouts nonetheless and though the sound varies widely throughout side B, basically from one song into the next, by the time “The Love for Life Leads to Reincarnation” comes on to close out with a return to the funkier, jammy feel of “The Muse and the Mule,” it all makes an odd kind of sense within the sphere in which Wight seem to be operating.
With Hofmann doing a more than capable Chris Cornell on vocals, the finale opens patiently with a key-solo jam before unfolding its first verse and moving into its chorus, and the difference turns out to be that when the band launches into the last jam this time, there’s no coming back, unlike, say, “Kelele.”
Keys, claves, temple blocks, drums, bass, guitar — all of it creates a fitting swirl to end the expansive feel of the record as a whole, but it’s important to note that the more pervasive vibe comes from the live feel of the song itself, and that’s also a consistent thread tying Love is Not Only What You Know together even as it continues to introduce new ways of working in its final moments. It is unquestionably Wight‘s most vibrant release, and to listen to it and Wight Weedy Wight next to each other, one would hardly even recognize it’s the same band. Because it’s not.
I said their last time out that I wouldn’t want to predict where they head next, and while they seem to have found a niche for themselves otherwise largely unoccupied in European heavy rock, the same applies here. Wight have shown time and again that their commitment is to following their creative will rather than a predetermined “sound,” and on their third album, that will has produced an accomplished collection of intricate but vital songs that redefine the band’s scope entirely.
What that might mean for the future, who knows? Who cares? It’s a party. Groove out and rock on.
Wight, “The Love for Life Leads to Reincarnation” official video
Posted in Features on December 29th, 2015 by JJ Koczan
Please note: This list is not culled in any way from the Readers Poll, which is ongoing. If you haven’t yet contributed your favorites of 2015 to that, please do.
—
What’s a short release? Anything that’s not a full-length. I’ve done this list in the past and given a small list — The Top 20 EPs, Splits, Demos and Singles, or whatever — but “Short Releases” seemed more concise, and believe it or not, that’s something I shoot for.
Essentially, what we’re taking a look at here is everything else a band might put out in a given year. No question that albums are where the greatest impact is made over the longer term, but from landmark 7″s to EPs that provide crucial experiments or serve notice of bands solidifying their sound or marking pivotal first impressions, the shorter offerings have tremendous value, and it’s worth considering them on their own merit, rather than in comparison to LPs directly.
I know for a fact that there are releases I’ve missed here. Particularly among the Bandcamp-only demos, there’s just so much out there that for any one person to keep up with all of it is even more impossible than it’s ever been before. Before you berate me immediately with, “Hey you forgot X Band!” and start throwing tomatoes at your computer or mobile device screen, please keep in mind The Obelisk is run by a single individual and there are only so many hours in the day. As always, I do the best I can.
Here we go:
The Obelisk Presents: The Top 20 Short Releases of 2015
1. Foehammer, Foehammer EP
2. Mos Generator & Stubb, The Theory of Light and Matter Split
3. Sun Voyager, Lazy Daze EP
4. All Them Witches, A Sweet Release
5. Geezer & Borracho, The Second Coming of Heavy: Chapter 1 Split
6. Fatso Jetson & Farflung, Split
7. Eggnogg & Borracho, Sludgy Erna Bastard Split 7″
8. Shroud Eater, Face the Master EP
9. Bedroom Rehab Corporation, Fortunate Some EP
10. Stars that Move, Demo Songs
11. Wight, Helicopter Mama 7″
12. Thera Roya, Unraveling EP
13. Shatner, EP
14. Cities of Mars, Cyclopean Ritual EP
15. Pyramidal & Domo, Jams from the Sun Split
16. Sandrider & Kinski, Split
17. Mount Hush, Low and Behold! EP
18. Godhunter & Amigo the Devil, The Outer Dark Split
19. Groan, Highrospliffics EP
20. Rozamov & Deathkings, Split
Honorable Mention
The Sunburst EP by Valley continues to resonate, as do splits from Goya & Wounded Giant and King Buffalo & Lé Betre. plus Derelics‘ Introducing, Time Rift‘s demo, the Carpet 7″, Watchtower‘s EP, Eternal Black‘s debut demo, Dorre‘s half-hour single One Collapsed at the Altar, and Mount Desert‘s two-songer all deserve serious consideration, as well I’m sure as many others.
Notes
It’s something of a break in routine for me to put any kind of debut in a top spot (other, of course, than on the list of debuts), but Foehammer simply would not be denied. The Virginia trio’s three-song EP release on Grimoire Records (LP on Australopithecus Records), it was a self-titled that seemed to be telling you the name of the band twice as if in a warning against forgetting it. And that warning was one to heed. Foehammer‘s first outing brought the Doom Capitol region to new heights of extremity, and while at over half-an-hour long it could’ve just as easily have been called a full-length, part of the overarching threat is what the band will bring to bear when they actually get around to their first LP.
A good number of splits included here, with Mos Generator and Stubb‘s The Theory of Light and Matter (HeviSike Records), Geezer and Borracho‘s The Second Coming of Heavy: Chapter 1 (launching a series for Ripple Music), Fatso Jetson and Farflung‘s joint release (on Heavy Psych Sounds) and Eggnogg and Borracho‘s Sludgy Erna Bastard (on Palaver Records) all cracking the top 10. No coincidence that Washington D.C. heavy riffers Borracho show up twice in that mix. As Pyramidal and Domo‘s blissful Jams from the Sun, Sandrider and Kinski‘s one-two, Godhunter and Amigo the Devil‘s Battleground Records collaboration and Rozamov and Deathkings‘ joint single feature between #11-20, a total of eight out of the full included 20 releases here are splits. Last year it was only five.
Whether that means the form is growing in an attempt to capture fickle social-media-age attention spans while cutting individual vinyl pressing costs, I couldn’t say — likely a combination of the two and more besides — but it’s noteworthy that a split is more than just a toss-off, between-albums castaway at this point, something for songs to later be included on rare-tracks comps. One could easily say the same of EPs as a whole. To that end, Sun Voyager‘s Lazy Daze was a brutal tease for the NY psychgaze outfit’s first album, hopefully out in 2016. And while All Them Witches‘ A Sweet Release was over 50 minutes long — longer, actually, than their Dying Surfer Meets His Maker LP, which was also issued this year — they considered it an EP/live collection, and that indeed proved how it worked best, immersive though its stretch remained.
Shroud Eater and Bedroom Rehab Corporation both turned in impressive outings that showed marked progression from their last time out, while Shatner‘s first batch of tracks tipped off a songwriting process well-honed and Stars that Move, Cities of Mars, Thera Roya and Mount Hush — I’d put Mount Desert in this category as well — had compelling outings that, like Foehammer at the top, showed much potential at work in formative sounds. Not to be forgotten, Wight‘s Helicopter Mama 7″ gave listeners a heads up on the funkified stylistic turn their upcoming full-length, Love is Not Only What You Know, will take even further, and UK stoner miscreants Groan proved once and for all that, along with logic and reason, a constantly changing lineup can’t hold back their good times.
—
Like I said — like I always say — if I left something out, let me know about it in the comments. Really let me have it. Call me a jerk. It’s cool. I can take it.
Please note: I can, in no way, take it.
Still, if I left something/someone out, I hope you’ll let me know. And please don’t forget that if you haven’t yet, you can still contribute your list of 2015 favorites to the year-end poll until Dec. 31. EPs, LPs, whatever, however many, it doesn’t matter. All entries are welcome there.
