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High Noon Kahuna Premiere “Danger Noodle” Video

Posted in Bootleg Theater on March 10th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

high noon kahuna

Maryland heavy genremelders High Noon Kahuna released their debut album, Killing Spree (review here), last November. The new video for “Danger Noodle,” the second cut on the record, presents a cautionary tale of what happens when religious fanatics handle their serpents in traffic — and no, that’s not euphemism. Snake-handling as a religious practice is mostly a US thing, more specifically mostly an Appalachian thing, and of course has been somewhat exaggerated in terms of the numbers of people who actually do it, but that’s only because it’s so fascinating and seemingly random. Yeah, I know there’s snake in the Bible who’s kind of a big deal. But there are lots of animals. Remember Noah?

Nonetheless, somehow snakes are the thing, and to be perfectly honest with you I’m too terrified of American religious culture to dive into why that happens — presumably something about the devil and rugged individualism — but if it makes people feel special for five minutes out of their day, well, the rest of life can be pretty crushing and miserable, so I won’t say I don’t understand being part of a weirdo community with practices that seem odd to outsiders either as I’ve worn a black t-shirt almost every day of my life for at least the last 25 years and I woke up at 4AM to start writing this post. Religion, whatever you worship and however you practice, dogma or not, is bizarre. You ever read about what happens in the brains of people speaking in tongues?

So yes, sometimes faith comes back to bite you, be it in unresolved trauma or with literal teeth. Made by Chaos Cartoon and Design, the “Danger Noodle” clip reminds of this and offers as well a chance to dig back into Killing Spree as a whole, which was the proverbial ‘these guys are onto something’ debut album tucked away amid the onslaught of releases late last year, the band combing a desert of sound and finding remnants of black metal, surf rock, heavy riffing and shover-prog in order to attain some individualism — rugged, of course — of their own amid a flood of acts. Their pedigree in bands like Internal VoidAkris and Admiral Browning is welcome context, but High Noon Kahuna‘s style is something else almost entirely, and as “Danger Noodle” shows, their approach is loaded with potential. With a sound that stretches so far and stays cohesive, they can go just about wherever they want, and they do on the record, from the almost Kylesa-esque jabbing rhythm of “Parachute” to the low-end fuzz that precedes the freakout in the second half of closer “Sand Storm.”

It is my sincere hope that Paul CogleTim Otis and Brian Goad keep the band going, and continue to explore outward from the foundation they’ve constructed; as intentionally wobbly as it can seem in places, that’s the point. The record’s only 34 minutes long and if you haven’t heard it, please consider this gentle encouragement to dig in (the Bandcamp stream is down there somewhere) after you watch the video. They’ve got live dates coming up as well, including playing a VHS expo in Hagerstown, MD, which fits somehow.

Enjoy:

High Noon Kahuna on “Danger Noodle”:

We have always loved the irony that one of the most poisonous creatures on earth can be given such a cute name.

Lyrically, the song speaks of the dangers of obsession; be it money, religion, or power.

We have been friends with Troy at Chaos Cartoon and Design for a long time. When he approached us about doing an animated video we got very excited. We briefly discussed Serpent Handling factions of Christianity and shared a few gory images of preachers who were bit. Mostly those of Cody Coots from Kentucky, there is an amazingly violent video of him getting bit on youtube. Troy took it from there!

High Noon Kahuna is a trio of veteran heavy music musicians based in the Mid-Atlantic U.S. region of Frederick, Maryland. With Tim Otis on guitar (Admiral Browning / Akris), Brian Goad on Drums (Internal Void / The Larrys), and Paul Cogle on Bass and Vocals (Akris / Black Blizzard).

HIGH NOON KAHUNA – Live shows:
– March 25 – Frederick MD – Cafe 611
– April 23 – Hagerstown MD – Captian Adam’s VHS Pirate Ship VHS EXPO
– May 6 – Frederick MD – Olde Mother Brewing Company
MINI-SPREE-TOUR:
– May 25 – Harrisonburg VA – Crayola House
– May 26 – Asheville NC – Shakeys
– May 27 – Marryville TN – The Bird & The Book
– May 28 – Lexington KY – The Green Lantern Bar

High Noon Kahuna:
Tim Otis: Guitar
Brian Goad: Drums
Paul Cogle: Bass / Vocals

High Noon Kahuna, Killing Spree (2022)

High Noon Kahuna on Linktree

High Noon Kahuna on Bandcamp

High Noon Kahuna on Facebook

High Noon Kahuna on Instagram

High Noon Kahuna on Twitter

High Noon Kahuna on YouTube

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Quarterly Review: Astrosaur, Kvasir, Bloodshot, Tons, Mothman & The Thunderbirds vs. World Eaters, Deer Lord, IO Audio Recordings, Bong Voyage, Sun Years, Daevar

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

quarterly-review-winter 2023

There was some pretty good stuff this week, I gotta say. Feels self-congratulatory to be like, ‘hey good job slating reviews, me!’ but there it is. I don’t regret hearing anything I have thus far into the Winter 2023 Quarterly Review, and sometimes that’s not the case by the time we get to Friday.

Of course, there’s another week to go here as well. We’ll pick it back up on Monday with another 10 records and proceed from there. If you’ve been following along, I hope you’ve found something you dig as well.

Winter 2023 Quarterly Review #41-50:

Astrosaur, Portals

ASTROSAUR Portals

This is what happens when you have virtuoso players writing songs rather than paeans to their own virtuosity. Led by founding guitarist Eirik Kråkenes, with drummer Jonathan Eikum (also Taiga Woods) and bassist Steinar Glas (also Einar Stray Orchestra), Astrosaur are blindingly progressive on their third full-length, Portals (on Pelagic), operating with post-metallic atmospheres as a backdrop for stunning instrumental turns, builds and crashes, willful repetition and the defiant denial of same. There’s more scope in the intro “Opening” than on some entire albums, and what “Black Hole Earth” begins from there is a dizzying array of sometimes cosmic sometimes earthborn riffing, twisting bass and mindfully restless drums. “The Deluge” hitting into that chase after four minutes in, that seemingly chaotic swirling noise suddenly stopping “Reptile Empire” and the false start to the 23-minute epic “Eternal Return” — these details and many besides give the overarching weight of Portals at its heaviest a corresponding depth, and when coupled with the guitar’s ability to coast overhead, they are genuinely three-dimension in their sound. You’d be right to want to hear Portals for “Eternal Return” alone, but there’s so much more to it than that.

Astrosaur on Facebook

Pelagic Records on Bandcamp

 

Kvasir, Sagittarius A* Star

Kvasir Sagittarius A Star

Kvasir‘s Sagittarius A* Star is named for the black hole at the center of the galaxy, and the 21-minute single-song EP is the follow-up to their 2021 debut album, 4 (review here), a dug-in proto-metallic exploration composed in movements that flow together as a whole organic work. The Portland-based four-piece of guitarists Christopher Lee (also vocals) and Gabriel Langston, bassist Greg Traw and Jay Erbe work on either side between traditional metal and heavy rock riffing, inhabiting both here as “Sagittarius A* Star” launches into its initial verses over the first four minutes, a solo emerging after 5:30 to set the pattern that will hold for the remaining three-fourths of the song. A slowdown takes hold about a minute later and grooves until at about nine minutes in when the bass comes forward and things get funkier. The vocals return at about 11:30 to complement a galloping riff that’s fleshed out until just after the 14-minute mark, when a jazzier instrumental movement begins and the band makes it known they’re going out and not coming back, the swaying finish with more insistent guitar, first interjecting then satisfyingly joining that sway, capping with a (still plotted) jammier feel. If that’s the Milky Way succumbing to ultragravity and being torn apart molecule by molecule en route to physics-defying oblivion, then fair enough. Worse ways to go, certainly.

Kvasir on Facebook

Kvasir on Bandcamp

 

Bloodshot, Sins of the Father

Bloodshot Sins of the Father

Though the leadoff Sins of the Father gets reminds of circa-’90s noise metal like Nailbomb, Marylander four-piece Bloodshot lean more into a hardcore-informed take on heavy rock with their aggressively-purposed debut album. Comprised of vocalist Jared Winegardner, guitarist Tom Stacey, bassist Joe Ruthvin (ex-Earthride) and drummer JB Matson (ex-War Injun, organizer of Maryland Doom Fest, etc.), the band push to one side or the other throughout, as on the more rocking “Zero Humility” and the subsequent metallic barker “Uncivil War,” the mid-period Megadeth-style riffer “Beaten Into Rebellion,” the brooding-into-chugging closing title-track and “Fyre,” which I’m pretty sure just wants to kick my ass. The 10-track entirety of the album, in fact, seems to hold to that same mentality, and there’s a sense of trying to recapture something that’s been lost that feels inherently conservative in its theme — “Faded Natives,” “Visions of Yesterday,” the speedier “Worn and Torn,” and so on — but gruff though it is, Sins of the Father offers a pissed-off-for-reasons take on heavy that’s likewise intense and methodical. That is to say, they know what they’re doing as they punch you in the throat.

Bloodshot on Facebook

Half Beast Records on Bandcamp

Nervous Breakdown Records store

 

Tons, Hashension

Tons Hashension

A second release through Heavy Psych Sounds and Tons‘ third full-length overall, Hashension wears its love of all things cannabian on its crusty stoner sludge sleeve throughout its six-track/39-minute run, begun with the riffnotic “Dope Dealer Scum” before “A Hash Day’s Night” introduces the throatripper vocals and backing growls and a more heads-down, speedier tempo that hits into a mosh of a slowdown. “Slowly We Pot” — a play on Obituary‘s Slowly We Rot — to go along with the Beatles, Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd (and Gummo) titular references — follows in a spirit as angry as one imagines Bongzilla might be if someone un-freed their weed. Yes, “Hempathy for the Devil” and “Ummagummo” precede the sample-topped slamming march of “Hashended,” and lo, the well-baked extreme sludge they’ve wrought rumbles and thuds its way out, not so much gnashing in the way of “A Hash Day’s Night” or the roll after the midpoint in “Ummagummo” — though the lyrics there seem to be pure weed-worship — but lumbering in such a way as to ensure the point gets across anyhow. I’m not going to tell you you should be stoned listening to it, because I don’t know, maybe you’re driving or something, but I doubt Tons would argue if you brought some edibles to the gig. Enough to share, perhaps.

Tons on Facebook

Heavy Psych Sounds store

 

Mothman & the Thunderbirds vs. World Eaters, Split

Mothman and the Thunderbirds vs World Eaters Split

In the battle of Philly solo-project Mothman and the Thunderbirds vs. Ontario-based duo World Eaters, the numbers may be on the side of the latter, but each act offers something of its own on their shared 18-minute EP. Presenting two tracks from each band, the outing puts Mothman and the Thunderbirds‘ “Rusty Shackleton” and “Nephilim” up front, the latter particularly reinforcing the Devin Townsend influence on the part of multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Alex Parkinson, while “Flash of Green” and “The Siege” from World Eaters — drummer Winter Stomp and guitarist/bassist/vocalist/synthesist David Gupta — present an atmospheric death metal, more than raw bludgeoning, but definitely that as well. As a sampler platter for both bands, there’s more time to get to know World Eaters since their songs are markedly longer, but the contrast from one to the other and the progression into the mire of “The Siege” gives the split an overlaid personality, almost a narrative, and the melodies in Parkinson‘s two cuts have a lingering presence over the masterful decay that follows in World Eater‘s material. One way or the other, these are both relatively upstart projects and their will toward progression is clear, as pummeling as its form may be. Right on.


Mothman & The Thunderbirds on Bandcamp

World Eaters on Bandcamp

 

Deer Lord, Dark Matter Pt. 1

Deer Lord Dark Matter Pt 1

Preceded by the two-song single Witches Brew/Psychedelic Roadkill, the six-song/24-minute Dark Matter Pt. 1 is short but feels nonetheless like a debut album from Sonoma County, California (try the cabernet), three-piece Deer Lord, who present adventures like getting stoned with witches on a mountaintop, riding free with an out-on-bail “Hippie Girl” in the backseat of presumably some kind of roadster, going down the proverbial highway and, at last, welcoming you to “Planet Earth” after calling out and casting off any and all “Ego” along the way. It is a modern take on stonerized heavy, starting off with “Witches Brew” as the opener/longest track (immediate points) with a languid flow and psychedelic underpinnings that flesh out even amid the apex soloing of “Planet Earth” or the fervent push of the earlier “Ride Away,” that tempo hitting a wall with the intro of “Ego” (don’t worry, it takes off) so as to support the argument in favor of Dark Matter Pt. 1 as an admittedly brief full-length, the component tracks working off each other to enhance the entirety. The elements beneath are familiar enough, but Deer Lord put an encouraging spin of their own on it, and especially as their debut, it’s hard to imagine some label or other won’t get on board, if not for pressing this, then maybe Pt. 2 to come. Perhaps both?

Deer Lord on Facebook

Deer Lord on Bandcamp

 

IO Audio Recordings, Awaiting the Elliptical Drift & VVK

IO Audio Recordings Awaiting the Elliptical Drift & VVK

Compiling two 2022 EPs into a single LP and releasing through a microcosm of underground imprints in various terrestrial locales, IO Audio RecordingsAwaiting the Elliptical Drift & VVK is my first exposure to the Orange, CA, out-there-in-space unit, and from the blower kosmiche rocking “Awaiting the Elliptical Drift” to the sitar meditation “Luminous Suspension,” and the hazy wash of “Sunrise and Overdrive” (that’s side A) to the experimentalist consumption of “VVK” and “Gramanita” rounding out with its heartbeat rhythm giving over to a hardly-flatlined drone after shuffling cool and bassy and fuzzy with jangly jam strum overtop, I tell you in all sincerity it won’t be my last. There’s a broad cross-section stylistically, which suits a compilation mindset, but I get the feeling that if you called it an album instead, the situation would be much the same thanks to an underlying conceptualism and the adventuring purpose beneath the open-structured fluidity. That’s just fine, as IO Audio Recordings‘ sundry transformations only enhance the anything-that-works-goes and shelf-your-expectations listening experience. Not that there’s no tension in their groovy approach, but the abiding sensibility advises an open mind and maybe a couple deep breaths in and out before you take it on. But then definitely take it on. If you need me, I’ll be spending money I don’t have on Bandcamp.

The Weird Beard Records store

Fuzzed Up and Astromoon Records on Bandcamp

We Here & Now on Bandcamp

Ramble Records on Bandcamp

Echodelick Records on Bandcamp

 

Bong Voyage, Feverlung

Bong Voyage Feverlung

While “bong” in a band name usually connotes dense sludge in my head, Oslo four-piece Bong Voyage defy that stereotype with their Dec. 2022-released second single, “Feverlung” — the first single was October’s “Buzzed Aldrin” — and no, the song isn’t about the pandemic, it’s about getting high. The six-minute rocker hoists jammy flourish mostly in its second half, in a break that, in turn, shifts into uptempo semi-space rock post-Slift pulsations atop a progression that, while I’ll readily admit it sounds little like the song on the whole still puts me in mind of Kyuss‘ “Odyssey” in its vocal patterning and melody. That ending is a step outward from the solidified early verses, which are more straight ahead heavy rock in the vein of Freedom Hawk or a less-directly-Ozzy take on Sheavy, and while one listening for them to bring it back around to the initial riff will find that they don’t, the band’s time isn’t necessarily misspent in terms of serving the song by letting it push beyond exospheric traps. They won’t catch me by surprise next time aesthetically, and it wouldn’t be a shock to find Bong Voyage in among the subset of up and coming heavy rockers that’s put Norway on the underground radar so much these last couple years. Either way, I’ll look forward to more here.

Bong Voyage on Facebook

Bong Voyage on Bandcamp

 

Sun Years, Sun Years (Demo)

IMGSun years demo

In its early going, Sun Years‘ “Codex” stagger-sludges like Eyehategod with guitarist Dalton Huskin‘s shouty echoing vocals on top, but as it moves into its second half, there’s a pickup in tempo and a bit of swirling lead guitar emerges in the 4:37 song’s closing stretch as Asechiah Bogdan (ex-Windhand, ex-Alabama Thunderpussy) makes his presence felt. Alongside bassist Buddy Bryant and drummer Erik Larson (once-and-again guitarist for Alabama Thunderpussy, drummer of Avail, Omen Stones, ex-Backwoods Payback, the list goes on), Bogdan and Huskin explore mellower and more melodic reaches the subsequent “Teeth Like Stars,” still holding some of their demo’s lead track’s urgency as a weighted riff takes hold in trade with the relatively subdued verse. That’s a back and forth they’ll do again, moving the second time from the more weighted progression into a solo and build into a return of the harsher vocals, some double-kick drumming and a last shove that lasts until everything drops out except one guitar and that riffs for a few seconds before being cut off mid-measure. Well, that’s a band with more dynamic in their first two tracks than some have in their entire careers, so I guess it’s safe to say it’ll be worth following the Richmond, Virginia, foursome to see where they end up next time out.

Sun Years on Bandcamp

Minimum Wage Recording on Facebook

 

Daevar, Delirious Rites

Daevar Delirious Rites Cover

Recorded by Jan Oberg (Grin, Slowshine, EarthShip) at Hidden Planet Studio in Berlin, Daevar‘s five-track/32-minute 2023 debut album, Delirious Rites, arrives likewise through Oberg‘s imprint The Lasting Dose Records and finds the man himself sitting in for guest vocals on the 10-minute “Leviathan” alongside the band’s own bassist/vocalist Pardis Latif, who leads the band from the depths of the rhythm section’s lurch on the gradually unfolding Windhand-vibing leadoff “Slowshine,” the particularly Monolordian “Bloody Fingers” with Caspar Orfgen‘s guitar howling over a marching riff, and “Leila” where Moritz Ermen Bausch‘s drums offer a welcoming grounding to Electric Wizardly nod and swirl. Thus, by the time his spot in the aforementioned “Leviathan” rolls (and I do mean rolls) around, just ahead of closer “Yellow Queen,” the layers of growling and screaming he adds to the procession are a standout shift well placed to play off the atmosphere established by the previous tracks. Shortest at 5:10, “Yellow Queen” lumbers through more ethereal doom and hints at a psychedelic current that might continue to develop in a midsection drifting break that builds back into the catchy plod from whence it came. Not necessarily innovative at this point — they’re a new band — but they seem to know what they want in terms of sound and style, and that only ever bodes well.

Daevar on Facebook

The Lasting Dose Records on Bandcamp

 

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Caustic Casanova Announce December Tour Dates

Posted in Whathaveyou on November 29th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

Caustic Casanova (Photo by atsign-rocknrollsocialite Shane K Gardner)

What a joy this record is. Now based in Frederick, Maryland, and Upstate or Upstate-ish New York with a style no more easy to pin down, the post-hardcore-infused progressive heavy noise rock of Caustic Casanova has never come across in a recording so full and vibrant as it does on their 2022 album, Glass Enclosed Nerve Center (review here). It’s like they took the wretched weirdness of our times and set it all up on a series of spinning plates, and they spend the entire album running back and forth making sure none of the plates stop until finally, at the end, they take all the plates and smash them over your fucking head because what are you doing watching plates spin anyway? It’s a very special, very specific, very heavy kind of magic they capture.

If you haven’t heard that album yet — the release was early last month on Magnetic Eye, so you’re by no means late — the stream is of course at the bottom of this post. The four-piece (maybe traveling as a trio, I don’t know) toured to Monolith on the Mesa in New Mexico in Sept. and will head south from Maryland in December to continue to support it along the Southeastern Seaboard, hitting the Carolinas, Georgia and Kentucky on a six-shows-six-nights jaunt that wraps up their year nicely. Before they go, drummer/vocalist Stefanie Zaenker is filling in on drums for War on Women on a tour that starts tonight in Massachusetts — more info in this Facebook post — and runs until Dec. 7. I only expect more touring to take place in 2023, and I’d be lying if I told you I wasn’t thinking of putting together a fest-ish lineup just to try to book them for it playing Glass Enclosed Nerve Center in its glorious entirety.

The band posted the dates on social media as follows:

Caustic Casanova dec 2022 shows

Yo!

Hope our American fans enjoyed their Thanksgiving! Gobble Gobble!

Better late than never folks, we’re pleased to announce our “Glass Enclosed December to Remember Nerve Center Tour.”

The dates:
12/14 – Asheville, NC at The Odd
12/15 – Winston-Salem, NC at Monstercade
12/16 – Atlanta, GA at Sabbath Brewing
12/17 – North Charleston, SC at Tua Lingua
12/18 – Charlotte, NC at The Milestone
12/19 – Louisville, KY at Highlands Tap Room

Art by Jase Harper. Photo by Shane K. Gardner.

Caustic Casanova are:
Francis Beringer – Bass/Vocals
Stefanie Zaenker – Drums/Vocals
Andrew Yonki – Guitar
Jake Kimberley – Guitar

http://causticcasanova.com/
https://www.facebook.com/CausticCasanova
https://www.instagram.com/CausticCasanova/

http://store.merhq.com
http://magneticeyerecords.com/
https://www.facebook.com/MagneticEyeRecords

Caustic Casanova, “A Bailar Con Cuarentena” official video

Caustic Casanova, Glass Enclosed Nerve Center (2022)

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High Noon Kahuna Stream Killing Spree in Full; Out Friday

Posted in audiObelisk, Reviews on November 16th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

High Noon Kahuna

Frederick, Maryland-based trio High Noon Kahuna self-release their debut full-length, Killing Spree, this Friday, Nov. 18, and yes, the headline here is the stylistic blend. If you find yourself thinking something along the lines of “Morricone-infused heavy black metal surf punk? really?” and wondering if such a thing could exist, the answer is a resounding “sure.” Come on, it’s the year 3000 or some such. We’ve got all kinds of crazy shit now.

The real story of High Noon Kahuna isn’t so much that they did the thing in terms of mixing disparate styles, but that they did it and made it work. And in what’s probably a fortunate turn for them, the three-piece of bassist/vocalist Paul Cogle (Nagato, AkrisBlack Blizzard), drummer Brian Goad (NagatoInternal Void) and guitarist Tim Otis (Admiral Browning, Akris) are less experimental and less outwardly wacky in their presentation than one might think. That is, Killing Spree, which runs six tracks and 34 minutes, nine of which are dedicated to closer “Sandstorm” alone, is surprisingly light on chicanery. But that turns out to be the key. Perhaps the band was born out of a desire to do something different, to find a niche to which no one had yet laid claim, and their success in across these songs is as inarguable as Cogle‘s rumble beneath the DickDale-but-from-Norway guitar line of “Sharktooth,” but if they had come out of the gate with some asshat goofball nonsense, in all likelihood, Killing Spree would’ve fallen flat. It very much does not.

Now, I’m not about to accuse High Noon Kahuna of taking themselves too seriously — even their moniker makes doing so idea ridiculous, let alone the music — but going into the album, opening cut “Parachute” makes it clear at the outset these songs are not a joke. Frenzied and shouting over its tense verse in a way that’s post-hardcore in the way Kylesa was, the lead track informs the audience, crucially, that they mean it. And “Danger Noodle,” which follows immediately, is an album highlight that rises from its initial fade to chart a way forward for the band as a whole in its clearheaded stylistic blend. With Satyricon-style swing-riffing at its foundation, it nails the balance of tone and rhythm, and in another context could probably be positioned as goth or high-art post-punk or some such critical wonder, but as is still sets itself on fire with its late guitar solo and cares less for where you put it than for its own declarations, which are resonant. The aforementioned “Sharktooth,” in instrumentalist fashion, leans toward the surf aspect and plays a bit with effects in the second half, but stays on target ultimately and is shortly over three minutes long like a classic 45RPM on a juke box in your alternate reality malt shop. All nostalgia is false nostalgia anyway; you might as well change the past.

There’s an element of shimmer in Otis‘ guitar throughout “Another Way Around,” which feels born of ’90s punk and maybe even a bit of alt-rock and runs a current of distortion almost as a drone line beneath its brighter melodic verses, which seem to answer High Noon Kahuna Killing Spree“Danger Noodle” in showing a bit of influence from Michael Rudolph Cummings of Backwoods Payback — or else they just both really like Neil Young — while the penultimate “Black Lodge” takes hold with a broader seven-minute runtime in lead-up to the band’s finishing move, taking its guitar line for a swaggering walk early in surfly meander while gradually building toward the noisier assault that resolves in intertwining layers of feedback. And when “Sandstorm” arrives, it does so in a hurry of call and response guitar and bass leading into its verse, coherent like “Another Way Around” and less about mashing these (somewhat; because let’s be honest, we’re still basically talking about things-you-can-do-with-guitar here) differing aesthetics together one into the next than creating a genuine meld from them and coming out of it with something individual.

The first movement of “Sandstorm” culminates shortly before four minutes in — more feedback! — and High Noon Kahuna harness big-slowdown doomly crashes for a couple minutes before Otis squiggles out the guitar over the lumbering. The noise is the last thing to go and there’s plenty of it, but it’s important to note that even as Killing Spree seems to be setting the parameters of who High Noon Kahuna are as a band, it’s also willing to bend its own rules. What should be taken away from that is the sense that Killing Spree isn’t a one-off so much as the beginning of a larger creative progression. One never knows for certain what the future will bring, but even in their instrumental stretches, High Noon Kahuna seem to have more to say and in addition to everything else they accomplish in these tracks, the sense that they’re interested in exploring further comes through plainly.

To bottom line it for you — because we’re just about there — there are two things you need to know. One, the band isn’t a joke. Two, they pull it off. I’ll not predict where they might go from here, end up in terms of sound or songwriting or style or anything else, but not knowing that is part of what makes the material so exciting, since the potential avenues spread out like the stinging tentacles of some giant prehistoric jellyfish. Weirdness über alles. Not universal in its appeal, but searching to commune with fellow open minds.

Give it a shot and see where you land. You can stream Killing Spree on the player below. If you do and have any thoughts either way, I’d love to know about it in the comments. Thanks for your time.

And please enjoy:

High Noon Kahuna on Killing Spree:

“While difficult to characterize, the High Noon Kahuna sound is a 100% organic blend of influences from Surf, Noise, Punk, Western, Shoegaze, Black Metal, and Doom. Our vibe formed naturally via freestyle jamming and has grown into its own unique force. We are so excited to release these jams to the world! We love what we do and hope you will, too.

We’d also like to thank our team (who are absolute professionals in their field) Kevin Burnsten from Developing Nations, James Plotkin from Plotkinworks, Leanne Ridgeway from Mettle Media PR, and the unbelievable art of Jon Moser, who all helped make this dream a reality!”

Preorder link: https://highnoonkahuna.bandcamp.com/album/killing-spree

–Links for the credits in the quote:
https://www.instagram.com/developing_nations/
https://www.plotkinworks.com/
http://www.mettlemediapr.com/
https://www.jonmoserjraws.com/

High Noon Kahuna is a trio of veteran heavy music musicians based in the Mid-Atlantic U.S. region of Frederick, Maryland. With Tim Otis on guitar (Admiral Browning / Akris), Brian Goad on Drums (Internal Void / The Larrys), and Paul Cogle on Bass and Vocals (Akris / Black Blizzard).

With the vivid cover art created by Jon Moser, ‘Killing Spree’ was recorded in the Spring of 2022 in Baltimore, Maryland, at Developing Nations by Kevin Burnsten. Mastering was done by James Plotkin at Plotkin Works.

Killing Spree – Tracklist:
01. Parachute
02. Danger Noodle
03. Shark Tooth
04. Another Way Around
05. Black Lodge
06. Sandstorm

High Noon Kahuna:
Tim Otis: Guitar
Brian Goad: Drums
Paul Cogle: Bass / Vocals

High Noon Kahuna on Linktree

High Noon Kahuna on Bandcamp

High Noon Kahuna on Facebook

High Noon Kahuna on Instagram

High Noon Kahuna on Twitter

High Noon Kahuna on YouTube

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Maryland Doom Fest 2023 Announces Lineup

Posted in Whathaveyou on October 31st, 2022 by JJ Koczan

It’s a big ‘un. And if you’re like me, there are a couple names that stick out from the poster below, particularly Earthride and The Skull. Both are tribute sets, of course. The Skull frontman Eric Wagner passed away in 2021 after complications from a covid-19 infection and the loss of Earthride‘s Dave Sherman just a couple months ago continues to be keenly felt in and beyond the confines of the scene he called home. Karl Agell (ex-C.O.C.) will step in for The Skull, while Scott Angelacos of Hollow Leg is set to front a rotating cast of players for Earthride. You would be hard-pressed to find a more fitting occasion for honoring one’s own, except perhaps this gig in a couple weeks.

Plenty of familiar, returning acts as well as newcomers. Hippie Death Cult and will travel from the Pacific Northwest, Switchblade Jesus and Doomstress make an appearance (not the first for either) from Texas, and Red Mesa come straight out of the capital-‘desert’ Desert. Meanwhile, Faith in Jane, Black Lung, Bloodshot, Mangog, Mythosphere, Thonian Horde, Spiral Grave and plenty of others represent the Maryland home team, High Leaf and Thunderbird Divine trip down from Philly, Curse the Son (CT) and Guhts (NY) come from farther north, Hollow Leg make the trip out from Florida, and Lo-Pan, Doctor Smoke and Brimstone Coven head over from the Midwest. That’s just off the top of my head. I’m not sure there’s ever been a MDDF pulling so many bands from different parts of the country, though of course international bands have featured in the past as well.

There are always some shakeup between the first announcement and the final lineup, but so far so good here. Any way it works out, Maryland Doom Fest has nothing to prove at this point. Guaranteed banger.

Here’s the poster (oy) and the lineup, the latter in alphabetical order:

Maryland Doom Fest 2023 sq

 

Maryland Doom Fest 2023

June 22-25 – Frederick, MD

We are proud to present to you The Maryland DooM Fest 2023 lineup roster and 2023 promotional art!!!!

We showcase over 50 kickass bands bringing you heavy riffs over these #4daysofdoom!!

The centerpiece art was created by Joshua Adam Hart (Earthride, Unorthodox, Revelation, Chowder, Stout, to name a few).

Josh is a career tattoo artist and is currently scheduling appointments at Triple Crown Towson Tattoo. Schedule to get ink from him at info@triplecrowntowson.com

The incredible flyer layout, coloring, and design is by our very talented Bill Kole (make sure to check out his band Ol’ Time Moonshine)!!

Above the Treachery, Akris, Black Lung, Bloodshot, Bonded by Darkness, Borracho, Brimstone Coven, Cobra Whip, Conclave, Crowhunter, Curse the Son, DeathCAVE, Doctor Smoke, Doomstress, Double Planet, Dust Prophet, Earthride, Faith in Jane, False Gods, Flummox, Fox 45, Future Projektor, Gallowglas, Grim Reefer, Guhts, Helgamite, High Leaf, Hippie Death Cult, Hog, Hollow Leg, Hot Ram, Las Cruces, Leather Lung, Lo-Pan, Mangog, Mythosphere, Orodruin, Red Mesa, Severed Satellites, Shadow Witch, Smoke the Light, Spiral Grave, Switchblade Jesus, The Skull, Thonian Horde, Thousand Vision Mist, Thunderbird Divine, Unity Reggae, VRSA, Weed Coughin, Wizzerd

https://www.facebook.com/MdDoomFest/
www.marylanddoomfest.com

Lo-Pan, “Ascension Day” live at Maryland Doom Fest 2019

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High Noon Kahuna Set Nov. 18 Release for Killing Spree

Posted in Whathaveyou on October 17th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

High Noon Kahuna

New stuff out of Frederick, Maryland’s ever-vital underground in the form of High Noon Kahuna upcoming debut full-length, Killing Spree. Tim Otis and Paul Cogle have circled each other for years on show and festival bills as members of Akris, Admiral Browning, Black Blizzard, and others, and together with Brian Goad of Internal Void — also Nagato with Cogle — their coming together feels organic in a bound-to-happen kind of way, and High Noon Kahuna‘s sound is suitably nuanced around a heavy rock foundation. These dudes have been at it long enough, together or not, that to expect something individual here is not at all unreasonable, especially given pedigree.

They’re streaming “Another Way Around” — it boggles the mind how you don’t automatically make a song called “Danger Noodle” your lead single; not a marketing major in the bunch — now ahead of the release on Nov. 18, and preorders are, of course, a thing. The PR wire brought the following, because who else would:

High Noon Kahuna Killing Spree

HIGH NOON KAHUNA Shares Details Of Upcoming ‘Killing Spree’ Album

High Noon Kahuna is a trio of veteran heavy music musicians based in the Mid-Atlantic U.S. region of Frederick, Maryland. With Tim Otis on guitar (Admiral Browning / Akris), Brian Goad on Drums (Internal Void / The Larrys), and Paul Cogle on Bass and Vocals (Akris / Black Blizzard).

These three cats have been acquainted for many years and, throughout their accord, have consistently supported each other in all their various bands. At the onset of 2022, this crew found themselves with the fortunate opportunity to jam.

And jam, they absolutely did! When like-minded musicians converge, something mystical happens. By bringing years of influence and admiration for all musical genres, High Noon Kahuna has created an unusual style that disobeys the rule of music categorization. Drawing on influences from Surf, Noise, Punk, Western, Shoegaze, Black Metal, and Doom, it’s hard to confine the diversity into a specific box at any given moment.

With their new release, ‘Killing Spree,’ due out November 18th of this year, the band fuses a collective sound from noisy and fuzzy to clean and sparkly, with every gleam in between.

Killing Spree – Tracklist:

01. Parachute
02. Danger Noodle
03. Shark Tooth
04. Another Way Around
05. Black Lodge
06. Sandstorm

With the vivid cover art created by Jon Moser, ‘Killing Spree’ was recorded in the Spring of 2022 in Baltimore, Maryland, at Developing Nations by Kevin Burnsten. Mastering was done by James Plotkin at Plotkin Works.

Have a listen to the first single, “Another Way Around,” from the Killing Spree album and pre-order now via Bandcamp: highnoonkahuna.bandcamp.com

Out November 18th, 2022.

High Noon Kahuna:
Tim Otis: Guitar
Brian Goad: Drums
Paul Cogle: Bass / Vocals

https://linktr.ee/highnoonkahuna
https://highnoonkahuna.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/HighNoonKahuna/
https://www.instagram.com/highnoonkahuna/
https://twitter.com/HighNoonKahuna

High Noon Kahuna, Killing Spree (2022)

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Album Premiere & Review: Caustic Casanova, Glass Enclosed Nerve Center

Posted in audiObelisk, Reviews on October 5th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

Caustic Casanova Glass Enclosed Nerve Center

[Click play above to stream Caustic Casanova’s Glass Enclosed Nerve Center. Album is out Friday, Oct. 7, on Magnetic Eye Records and can be preordered here.]

It does not matter what genre label you want to put on Caustic Casanova‘s fifth album, Glass Enclosed Nerve Center. There is no box, no simple explanation from which it will not wiggle loose. What is hands-down one of the best offerings of 2022 in the stylistic umbrella that is heavy rock, it is a definitive manifestation of who the band have always been and who their potential has meant they could be. From professing love amid pedal steel and a newfound affection for synth that will continue to serve them well in “Anubis Rex,” happenstance-skewering like it’s no big deal both sides of maybe the stupidest debate in recorded human history — ‘iz medicin halp?’ — in the single lyric, “But with perfect ideology it’s impossible to spread disease,” of “A Bailar Con Cuarentena,” to narrating totalitarian anxieties via Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive Party in “Bull Moose Against the Sky,” Glass Enclosed Nerve Center is likewise intricately composed and untethered feeling, the band — bassist/vocalist Francis Beringer, drummer/vocalist Stefanie Zænker, guitarist Andrew Yonki and, involved for the first time in the writing, second guitarist Jake Kimberley — mining creative triumph from the raw ore of human decline.

Instrumentally, lyrically and in their performance as captured here by returning producer J. Robbins (and returning mixer Andrew Schneider; it’s a winning team), with whom the band have worked for over a decade, Caustic Casanova are a blast. “Anubis Rex” begins with a sunrise of guitar, and from there the momentum is quickly established across the three shorter opening tracks — “Anubis Rex” (posted here), “Lodestar” (video posted here) and “A Bailar Con Cuarentena” (video posted here) — as the band twist from one part to the next in an establish-the-riff-then-start-the-vocals manner that speaks to their underlying foundation in post-hardcore.

Each of these three pieces, all of which are under five minutes long, offers something else, whether it’s the bass punch of “Lodestar,” the hungover, grown-up emo of “Anubis Rex” or the encapsulation of our era, percussive playfulness and restless freneticism of “A Bailar Con Cuarentena,” but they are united in perspective, in their thoughtful execution, lyrics that are smart, funny, an obvious focal point and worth committing to memory, and in their ability as players to launch into another level of heft even from was on offer in 2019’s God How I Envy the Deaf (review here). “Anubis Rex” is more about movement than weight, relatively speaking, but with its mathy beginning “Lodestar” both makes and delivers on the threat, with Caustic Casanova harnessing a sound like the band one wishes Mastodon had become, able to dizzy with complex, progressively styled changes while remaining accessible via the overarching melody and, in this case, a hook.

“A Bailar Con Cuarentena” is a highlight that builds off elements put forth in the first two tracks — thus a logical third — and lives up to having the word ‘dance’ in its title while still managing a linear narrative that moves from sipping mental champagne with shut-in multitudes to finding out why the rattlesnake’s teeth are so white. It also serves as a lead-in for the 9:40 “Shrouded Coconut,” a marked shift in approach that pulls away from the immediacy of the first three tracks in favor of a long instrumental stretch before its first verse, playing back and forth between riffs and leads over a swinging beat, spacious keys, etc., for the better part of its initial four minutes — longer than “Lodestar,” which is 3:41, for example — before Beringer and Zænker begin singing. The change can be jarring if you don’t know it’s coming, but “Shrouded Coconut” offers depth for repeat listeners in its plotted movement and increase in intensity later as they cut the tempo and shift into a feedback-laced lumber the likes of which would bring a tear to Floor‘s collective eye, ending in a solid minute of noise that feels well earned as a cap to side A.

Caustic Casanova

By this time, Glass Enclosed Nerve Center has set itself up for what follows on the 22-minute “Bull Moose Against the Sky,” a genuine epic tale complete with multiple characters between Theodore Roosevelt, his wife Edith, attempted-assassin John Flammang Schrank, Jane Addams, William Howard Taft (played by Robbins) and a Greek-style chorus. The lyrics are set up as a kind of morality play, with lines and verses given to characters beginning with Beringer a capella soon joined by Zænker as they describe a fever dream of the Dakotas. This beginning, after all the noise at the end of “Shrouded Coconut,” is stark and the snare and guitar work that follows is heavy Americana wrought in such a way as to emphasize both the theatrics — all that’s missing in that start is a fife, and I’m not sure a fife would actually work there; there’s just about no way it wasn’t considered — but within the first five minutes, they’ve built on the heft in “Lodestar” and “Shrouded Coconut,” drawn themselves out through winding crunch accordingly, and begun the tale of Roosevelt deciding to run for President a third time, being shot, losing and ultimately dying.

I’ll just say it and get it out of the way: It’s the best song I’ve heard this year, as both a story/conceptual work and just as a righteous summary of the band. From the pride-swell vocals at the start to the sneaky entry after seven minutes in of the “Thriller”-style keyboards soon to swell to prominence as Edith declares/warns, “He’s a magnet/A comet/With molten and volcanic core,” to the thrust backing Robbins-as-Taft’s resolve, “I have a part to play/I’ll play it,” and the turns past the 10-minute mark between the chorus and the increasing frenzy of Roosevelt’s mindset — mirrored in the music, naturally — that give way to a post-black metal mini-stretch of blastbeats and reverb-soaked vocals from Zænker, because why not, and a bright-sounding momentary up-for-air that results in a highlight guitar solo, mapped out and no less considered than any of the words to any of these songs, before a standout verse of looming storm begins the apex movement of the piece. Yes, there is more blasting as Beringer-as-Roosevelt berates with outdated namecalling, “Weasel worders, mollycoddlers, kittle cattle, tame/The black blood crusts around the mouths of those you have betrayed,” and it comes after a sweeping and progressive noise rock tumult from which they sprint driven by suitable tremolo and, at 18:25, a resounding thud that is the signal of entry into the song’s still-heavy comedown.

Like all that feedback at the end of “Shrouded Coconut,” the denouement in “Bull Moose Against the Sky” is purposeful and makes a fitting conclusion. Roosevelt swaggers, “It’ll take more than a bullet to kill a bull moose like me,” but the keyboard has already started the dirge that the whole band will soon take up, the guitars seeming to claw for more life even as the final lines are recited in callback to earlier verses, leaving no loose ends instrumental or otherwise. So it is that Glass Enclosed Nerve Center finishes with a distant echo of guitar playing the melodic answer to “Face is marred by sweat [blood] and dust/Fails again and again and just gets up.” Silence weighs heavy when it is finished, underscoring the power of the song to make its audience feel something for this character who, in addition to sport-killing in colonialist fervor throughout his life, was a megalomaniac who sabotaged his own political party in unhinged bridge-burning zealotry. Nobody remembers that part. Everybody remembers the face on Mt. Rushmore.

And while “Bull Moose Against the Sky” is a career achievement in its own right, it is not at all the sum total of accomplishments on Glass Enclosed Nerve Center. Each of these five tracks adds something to the whole, is crucial in craft and engaging regardless of the approach one wants to take in hearing it. Touring veterans at more nearly 15 years’ remove from their 2008 debut, Imminent EminenceCaustic Casanova are a refreshing answer to the cynicism of both “rock is dead” and “there’s too much out there and it all sounds the same.” They are between punk, metal, prog, noise and heavy rock(s) in such a way as to be on a wavelength of their own, and while that’s been the case for some time, never before have they come across as so utterly in command of their style and songwriting. They have pushed and pushed and pushed themselves creatively ever forward in an individual approach, and this is one of the best albums of 2022 with longer, enduring resonance anticipated. Some records you just know you’re going to live with. Recommended.

Caustic Casanova, “A Bailar Con Cuarentena” official video

Caustic Casanova, “Lodestar” official video

Caustic Casanova, Glass Enclosed Nerve Center (2022)

Caustic Casanova website

Caustic Casanova on Facebook

Caustic Casanova on Instagram

Caustic Casanova on Bandcamp

Magnetic Eye Records on Bandcamp

Magnetic Eye Records website

Magnetic Eye Records on Facebook

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Caustic Casanova Post “A Bailar Con Cuarentena” Video

Posted in Bootleg Theater on September 20th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

Caustic Casanova A Bailar Con Cuarentena

Caustic Casanova bassist/vocalist Francis Beringer below cites the lyrics to the band’s new single, “A Bailar Con Cuarentena,” as perhaps his favorite ever, which even considering the rest of their upcoming LP, Glass Enclosed Nerve Center (out Oct. 7 on Magnetic Eye Records, set to stream here in full on Oct. 5) never mind their four prior albums and sundry other releases, is saying something. But yeah, it’s understandable. The band isn’t through the first verse before they’ve introduced the AutoZone Messiah and made fun of his mullet with bonus wordplay in substituting “piety” for “party,” toyed with language in multiple languages and established the setting for the song in the age of the titular pandemic quarantine.

Oh but there’s more. Consider the phonetic chicanery between “Logorrhea” and “lager,” a French pronunciation for “timbre” tossed in for good measure to make it work with “amber,” or the similar rhyme-plus pairing of “Appalachianese” and “ideology.” The gleefully weird, mundane-as-unfamiliar portrayed in the lines, “Another incantation from the half-mad cocatrice/Peaceful defenestration from the rock band name police,” and “defenestration” for “demonstration” there. The classic post-hardcore word swap of “seat”/”screen” codifying the awaiting if word and signal earlier. The sheer encapsulation of the era in “This news is big if true.” Shit that’s efficient. And the air of threat in the final part, where we meet and speak with the rattlesnake. Favorite or not, the attention to detail and composition in “A Bailar Con Cuarentena” is deeply, deeply admirable.

And the video is so perfectly odd. Animated by Jase Harper, with birds a plenty and some only-suitable headbanging, we see Beringer, drummer/vocalist Stefanie Zaenker and guitarist Jake Kimberley playing as a trio while remotely-located guitarist Andrew Yonki looks down as an angry sun. Heads are flowers, times are a tough and riffs are mighty. No, I’m not sick of telling you how good this record is. If I have any credibility at all after running this site for the last 13-plus years of my wretched life, please believe me when I tell you Glass Enclosed Nerve Center is something special from this band and not to be missed.

I had bothered Beringer a while back for the lyric sheet to go with the album, and seeing his note below, asked for permission to post the words to the song with the video. You’ll find them below, and so far as I know this is the first time they’ve been made public.

Enjoy the clip:

Caustic Casanova, “A Bailar Con Cuarentena” official video

Order now: http://lnk.spkr.media/caustic-casanova-2022

Directed and animated by Jase Harper (Jaseharper.com)
Videography and headbanging by Chris Joao

´A Bailar Con Cuarentena´, our first song with a title entirely en español, is one of the weirdest Caustic Casanova songs ever. It has a fairly interesting history. It’s the first Caustic Casanova song I’m aware of that started with lyrics first. I built the riffs around the words, and then altered the delivery of the words around Stefanie’s drum ideas. As a result of that intricate words-riffs-drums interplay the song is firing on all cylinders, rhythmically speaking, at every moment.

Stefanie initially didn’t like the song, and didn’t want to go through with finishing it, but I insisted that it would eventually be great if we pushed and pushed. During the pandemic we had a lot of time to work on it and hammer out its numerous difficulties. Stefanie harbored some concern that the tune wouldn’t be heavy, but when Jake got his hands on the bass and drum music after nearly a year of separation among us, he unleashed his crackling fuzz and octave-down fury all over it, turning it into one of the heaviest and most over the top Caustic Casanova songs ever, especially at the end. It’s easily the most challenging live song we’ve ever written — from a physical playing standpoint, it requires the entire band to be locked in and focused for every moment. The material is that demanding.

The lyrics were, at first, about something else (and the title was about dancing with a shark, not dancing with the quarantine). I never intended to write a song about the year 2020 and being stuck at home with an infectious disease panicking the shut-in multitudes. But so many lines that were written pre-pandemic seemed so strangely perfect for a pandemic era song that I eventually got rid of everything that didn’t fit with the theme and filled it out as the album’s “quarantine song.” In the end, it’s probably my favorite set of lyrics I’ve ever written.

The music video, another collaboration with our long time artist Jase Harper, is our first foray into animation and live action combined. It visually represents the fact that we’re sometimes a live trio, with Stefanie, Jake, and me, and sometimes a live four piece with Andrew. Since he lives in upstate New York and we’re in Maryland, we simply can’t get together as often as we’d like for shows and tours. In this video, Andrew plays a sun and moon god figure, a man trapped in a celestial body, desperately trying to re-assume his true human form and join his band for some riffs upon a jungle altar of madness. I never thought about this until just now, but it’s a good representation of all of us coming out of quarantine, learning to become real humans and functioning musicians and music fans again.
— Francis

Lyrics:
A Bailar Con Cuarentena
Words: Beringer
Music: Zaenker / Kimberley / Beringer

It’s business in the front, and piety in the back
The autozone messiah says come on in let’s have a snack
We’re grilling sacred cows, it’s conquistador cuisine
A bailar con quarantine urges our spanglish language magazine

Another incantation from the half-mad cocatrice
Peaceful defenestration from the rock band name police

We’re sipping mental champagne with the shut in multitudes
Meanwhile Satan lost your records in the hospital of doom

I am patiently and eagerly awaiting word from my captors, madam
We are patiently and eagerly awaiting some type of signal from your people, madam

This news is big if true

Something sinister’s sweeping through the people of this planet who aren’t you

Logorrhea’s soothing pace and timbre
Well the lager’s crisp, have a refreshing amber
And I’m glued to the seat by God again
Glued to the screen by God, amen! Amen!

In perfect appalaichanese
He said docs don’t know they spread disease
But with perfect ideology
It’s impossible to spread disease

Rattlesnake, rattlesnake why your teeth so white?
Been living in the bottom so damn long all I know how to do is bite

All I do is, all I do is, all I know how to do is bite

Caustic Casanova are:
Francis Beringer – Bass/Vocals
Stefanie Zaenker – Drums/Vocals
Andrew Yonki – Guitar
Jake Kimberley – Guitar

Caustic Casanova website

Caustic Casanova on Facebook

Caustic Casanova on Instagram

Caustic Casanova on Bandcamp

Magnetic Eye Records on Bandcamp

Magnetic Eye Records website

Magnetic Eye Records on Facebook

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