Posted in Whathaveyou on July 30th, 2026 by JJ Koczan
Roman trio Fvzz Popvli will head out this November on a round of touring in celebration of their 10th anniversary as a band, and they’ve also got room on a weekender in September, prefacing that celebration and following their appearance at the Roma Stone Fest Sept. 8 where they’ll take part alongside Fu Manchu, Stoned Jesus, L’Ira del Baccano and others. The band’s most recent album, Melting Pop (review here), was released in early 2025 and was their fourth full-length, so for marking a decade they’ve been pretty productive during their time, all while maintaining a punkish laissez-faire attitude.
They spent much of last year on the road and did at least three legs of touring to support the album, and though to my knowledge 2026 has been less busy, clearly they’re still heralding the newest offering as they take the time this Fall to look back on how far they’ve come. Nothing like celebrating work by doing more work.
Heavy Psych Sounds sent the dates (including open slots; always help if you can) down the PR wire:
*** FVZZ POPVLI – X Anniversary Tour ***
– the Italian fuzz riffers will tour Europe in September and November 2026 –
We are very stoked to announce that our Italian fuzz wizards FVZZ POPVLI will rock Europe soon !!
FVZZ POPVLI – X Anniversary Tour 08.08.2026 – I – Roma – Roma Stone Fest w/Fu Manchu 18.09.2026 – I – OPEN SLOT 19.09.2026 – I – Bozen – Platza Open 20.09.2026 – I – Porto San Giorgio – CSA Officina Trenino 05.11.2026 – I – Verona – TBA 06.11.2026 – CH – Baden – Werkstatt 07.11.2026 – CH – St Gallen – Rümpeltum 08.11.2026 – CH – St Iimier – Espace Noir 09.11.2026 – F – Barberaz – Brin De Zinc 10.11.2026 – F – Clermont-Ferrand – Le Fotomat 12.11.2026 – F – Strasbourg – La Peniche Mecanique 13.11.2026 – B – Namur – Creed 14.11.2026 – NL – Heerlen – T’ Duuvelke 15.11.2026 – B – Herent – Loft 17.11.2026 – B/F/D – OPEN SLOT 18.11.2026 – F – Lyon – La Pente 19.11.2026 – D – Stuttgart – Schlampazius 20.11.2026 – L – Luxembourg – Bonne Nouvelle 21.11.2026 – CH – Zurich – Safari Bar 22.11.2026 – I – Conegliano – LZO
Founded in Rome by Pootchie and Datio in A.D. MMXVI, the idea was to build a powertrio with a direct and rough way to deliver heavy fuzzy riffs. Their sound melts Black Sabbath-style heavy riffs with the roughest garagepunk bands attitude -like The Stooges-, adding the psychedelia from the 70’s to create their own style!
In November 2024 the band signed a new agreement with Heavy Psych Sounds and released a brand new album called Melting Pop in early 2025.
Fvzz Popvli: Pootchie – Gvitar and Voice Alex – Bass George – Drvms
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 24th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
You can see on the poster below it says ‘last names are in,’ which means that yes indeed, this is the final lineup announcement for Desertfest Belgium 2025 this Oct. 17-19 in Antwerp. Seeing the complete bill is cool in itself, from Graveyard and YOB to Elephant Tree, Acid Mammoth, Black Capricorn and Froglord from this latest announcement, it’s another cross-generational assemblage that, front to back, screams quality. I mean really. Colour Haze, Lowrider, High Desert Queen, Mars Red Sky, MR.BISON, Wren and Oranssi Pazuzu, and that’s hardly scratching the surface. It’s going to be a hell of a weekend.
That’s been the case for a few years with Desertfest‘s Fall flagship edition. Desertfest Belgium has become an epicenter and an intersection on the Fall circuit, but the assemblage is stunning well before you get to it being Orange Goblin‘s last Belgian date ever or Acid King doing two sets — which is probably the only way to top Acid King doing one set — the Mars Red Sky and Monkey3 collab, or Psychlona‘s unmitigated hookmaking. Oh yeah, and Bongripper will be there. So it’s “all this and crush the universe too.” If you’ll be in attendance, mark yourself lucky. Also, note to self: check out Marx.
From socials:
We are beyond thrilled to announce no less than 14 (!) new bands that will be gracing the Desertfest Antwerp stages this fall. Please welcome:
Elephant Tree 🌑 Mephistofeles 🌑 Acid Mammoth 🌑 Nightstalker 🌑 Telepathy 🌑 Black Capricorn 🌑 Froglord 🌑 FVZZ POPVLI 🌑 Huracán 🌑 GROS COEUR 🌑 T E R Z I E L E 🌑 Fomies 🌑 Scott Hepple and The Sun Band 🌑 MARX
Just a quick note that Hedonist will play DF on Saturday 18/10 (instead of Friday) and that Neànder will play DF on Friday 17/10 (instead of Saturday).
All your tickets can be found at the usual spot right now.
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 16th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Punk-rooted Italian heavy rockers Fvzz Popvli are set to head out again in Europe this Fall as they continue to support Feb. 2025’s Melting Pop (review here). This is ‘Part III’ of the tour. Part I was in March. Part II was in May.
Part III being in November after a couple Heavy Psych Sounds Fest appearances in Germany and the UK gives the band a bit of a respite before they head out, and the bulk of the shows coming after October puts them beyond the Fall fest season, which more and more bands seem to be doing this year in Europe, or at least I’m noticing it more. In any case, Fvzz Popvli will enter the field on Nov. 13, as you can see on the list of dates below, as taken from the PR wire. Note the Italian date for the 30th is TBA. I don’t know if that’s a fest or an open slot or what, but if you can give the band someplace to play/sleep, you could certainly do worse than to reach out.
Album stream’s at the bottom. Have at it:
*** FVZZ POPVLI – Melting Tour 2025 – part III***
– the Italian fvzz riffers will be back on tour soon –
Today we are stoked to announce that our Italian fvzz rock riffers FVZZ POPVLI will be back on the road this Fall !!!
*** FVZZ POPVLI – Melting Tour 2025 – part III *** 30.08.2025 – B – BILZEN – INFERNUM FEST 24.10.2025 – D – BERLIN – HPS FEST 25.10.2025 – D – DRESDEN – HPS FEST 31.10.2025 – UK – LONDON – HPS FEST 13.11.2025 – I – TURIN – BLAH BLAH 14.11.2025 -F – TOULON – LA BIÈRE DE LA RADE 15.11.2025 – F – NICE – LA ZOMNÈ 16.11.2025 – F – BARBERAZ – BRIN DE ZINC 18.11.2025 – CH – GENÈVE – D’URGENCE DISK 19.10.2025 – CH – INS – SCHÜXENHAUS 20.11.2025 – D – TUBINGEN – SHEDHALLE 21.11.2025 – D – BIELEFELD – EXTRA BLUES BAR 22.11.2025 – NL – NIJMEGEN – DE ONDERBROEK 23.11.2025 – NL – AMSTERDAM – LOVE FOR LOUD 25.11.2025 – D – WEIMAR – C.KELLER 26.11.2025 – D – LEIPZIG – BLACK LABEL 27.11.2025 – CZ – PRAGUE – KLUBOVNA 28.11.2025 – CH – ST GALLEN – RUMPELTUM 29.11.2025 – CH – BASEL – QUARTERDECK 30.11.2025 – I – TBA
Founded in Rome by Pootchie and Datio in A.D. MMXVI, the idea was to build a powertrio with a direct and rough way to deliver heavy fuzzy riffs. Their sound melts Black Sabbath-style heavy riffs with the roughest garagepunk bands attitude -like The Stooges-, adding the psychedelia from the 70’s to create their own style!
In November 2024 the band signed a new agreement with Heavy Psych Sounds and released a brand new album called Melting Pop in early 2025.
Fvzz Popvli: Pootchie – Gvitar and Voice Alex – Bass George – Drvms
Posted in Reviews on April 11th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
A friendly reminder that the end of the week is not, in fact, the end of the Quarterly Review, which will continue through Monday and Tuesday. That brings the number of releases covered to 70 total, which feels like plenty, and should hopefully carry us through a busy Spring release season. I’m thinking June for the next QR now but don’t be surprised if that turns into July as we get closer. All I know is I wanna do it before it’s two full weeks again.
As always, I hope you’ve found something that speaks to you in all this 10-per-day nonsense. If not, first, wow, really? Second, it ain’t over yet. Maybe today’s your day. One way to know.
Quarterly Review #41-50:
Dead Meadow, Voyager to Voyager
You may be mellow-vibes, but unless you’re “Not the Season,” Dead Meadow have one up on you forever. While Voyager to Voyager, which is the L.A. band’s eighth or ninth LP depending on what you count, comes with the tragic real-world context of bassist Steve Kille‘s 2024 passing, he does feature on the long-running trio’s first offering through Heavy Psych Sounds, and whether it’s “The Space Between” or the shuffle-stepping “The Unhounded Now” or the pastoral “A Question of Will” and the jangly strum of “Small Acts of Kindness” later on, guitarist/vocalist Jason Simon, Kille and drummer Mark Laughlin celebrate the ultra-languid take on heavy, psychedelic and shoegazing rock that’s made Dead Meadow a household name for weirdos. Not that they’re not prone to a certain wistfulness, but Voyager to Voyager is vibrant rather than mournful, and the title-track is an album flow unto itself in just eight minutes. If you can slow your manic-ass brain long enough to sit and hear it front-to-back, you’re in for a treat.
There is a sense of stepping out as Irish troubadour Seán Mulrooney makes his full-length solo debut with This is My Prayer on Ómós Records. Mulrooney is best known for residing at the core of Tau and the Drones of Praise, and for sure, pieces of This is My Prayer are coming from a similar place, but where there was psychedelic meander for the band, under his own moniker, Mulrooney brings a clarity of tone and presence to lyrics ranging from spiritual seeking to what seems to have been an unceremonious breakup. With character and emotion in his voice and range in his craft, Mulrooney sees a better world on “Ag Múscliaghacht” and posits a new masculinity — totally needed; trainwreck gender — in “Walking With the Wind,” meets indie simplicity with lap steel in “Jaguar Dreams” and, in closer “The Pufferfish,” pens a fun McCartney-style bouncer about tripping sea life. These are slivers of the adventures undertaken in singer-songwriter style as Mulrooney hones this solo identity. Very curious to see where the adventure might take him.
Issued in 2024, Sun Dog is the third MaidaVale long-player, and with it, the Swedish heavy psychedelic rockers showcase six years’ worth of growth from their second album. Melancholic of mood in “Fools” and “Control” and the folkish “Alla Dagar” and “Vultures,” Sun Dog starts uptempo with the Afrobeat-influenced “Faces,” drifts, shreds, then drifts again in “Give Me Your Attention,” dares toward pop in “Daybreak” and fosters a sense of the ironic in “Wide Smile is Fine” and “Pretty Places,” the latter of which, with a keyboardier arrangement, could’ve been the kind of New Wave hit that would still be in your head 40 years later. The nine-songer (10 if you get “Perplexity,” which was previously only on the vinyl) doesn’t dwell in any single space for too long — only “Wide Smile is Fine” and “Vultures” are over four minutes, though others are close — and that lets them balance the downer aspects with forward momentum. MaidaVale are no strangers to that kind of movement, of course, but Sun Dog‘s mature realization of their sound feels so much more vast in range.
Here come Causa Sui with another live album. And I’m not saying the only reason the thankfully-prolific Danish psychedelic treasures, heavyjazz innovators and El Paraiso label honchos are only releasing a complement to 2023’s Loppen 2021 (review here) to rub in the fact that I’ve never been lucky enough to catch them on a stage — any stage — but I am starting to take it personally. Call me sensitive. In any case, despite feeling existentially mocked by their chemistry and the fluidity of “Sorcerer’s Disciple” or the 22-minute “Visions of a New Horizon,” the hour-long set is glorious as one would expect, and though Loppen 2024 is a blip on the way to Causa Sui‘s forthcoming studio album, In Flux, especially when set alongside their previous outing from the same Christiania-based venue, it highlights the variable persona of the band and the reach of their material. Someday I’ll see this goddamn band.
Underlying the grit and stoner drawl of “El Rey del Mundo de los Muertos” is the lurching progression of Black Sabbath‘s “Sweet Leaf,” and that reinterprative ethic comes to the strutting Pentagrammery of “La Verdad es Tu Ataud” as well, but in the tonal density and the way their groove snails its way into your ear canal, the vibe Fulanno bring to Nosotros Somos el Fin del Mundo is in line with stoner doom traditionalism, and the revelry is palbale in the slow nod of the title-track or the horror samples sprinkled throughout or the earlier Electric Wizard-style languidity of “El Nacimiento de la Muerte.” They save an acoustic stretch in reserve to wrap “Desde las Tinieblas,” but if you think that’s going to clean your soul by that point then you haven’t been paying attention. Unrepentantly dark, stoned and laced with devil-, death-and riff-worship, Nosotros Somos el Fin del Mundo further distinguishes Fulanno in an always crowded Argentinian underground, and dooms like a bastard besides.
Because the age we live in permits such a thing and it tells you something about the music, I’m going to cut and paste the credits for Israeli duo Ze Stoner‘s debut EP/demo, Desert Buddhist. Dor Sarussi is credited with “bass guitar, spaceships, vocals,” while Alexander Krivinski handles “didgeridoo, spaceships, drums, and percussion.” How tripped out does a band need to be to have two members credited with “spaceships,” you ask? Quite tripped out indeed. Across the 12:09 “Part I – The Awakness” (sic) and the 11:41 “Part II – The Trip,” and the much-shorter 1:41 finale “Part III – The Enlightenment,” Ze Stoner take the meditative doom of Om or an outfit like Zaum and extrapolate from it a drone-based approach that retains a meditative character. It is extreme in its capacity to induce a trance, and as Desert Buddhist unfolds, it plays as longer movements tied together as a single work. There is massive potential here. One hopes Sarussi, Krivinski, their spaceships and didgeridoo are just beginning their adventures in the cosmos.
Oslo-based newcomers Arv aren’t shy about what their sound is trying to do. Their debut album, Curse & Courage, arrives via the wheelhouse of Vinter Records and brings together noise-laced and at-times-caustic hardcore with the atmospherics, echoing tremolo and churning intensity of post-metal. They lean to one side or the other throughout, and “Wrath” seems to get a bit of everything, but it’s a harder line to draw than one might think because hardcore as a style is all urgency and post-metal very often brings a more patient take. Being able to find a place in songwriting between the two, well, Arv aren’t the first to do it, but they are impressively cohesive for Curse & Courage being their first record, and the likes of “Victim,” the overwhelming rush of “Forsaken” earlier on and the more-ambient-but-still-vocally-harsh closing title-track set up multiple avenues for future evolution of the ideas they present here. Too aggressive to be universal in its appeal, but makes undeniable use of its scathe.
I’m not sure what’s going on in “Erotik Fvel P.I.M.P.,” but there’s chicanery a-plenty throughout Fvzz Popvli‘s fourth full-length, Melting Pop, which is released in renewed cooperation with Heavy Psych Sounds. Hooks, fuzz, and the notion that anything else would be superfluous pervade the Indiana Jones-referencing “Temple of Doom” and “Telephone” at the outset, the latter with some choice backing vocals, and they kick the fuzz into overdrive on “Salty Biscvits” with room besides for a jangly verse. Running an ultra-manageable 30 minutes, the album breaks in half with four songs on each side. “Kommando” leads off the second half with dirtier low end tone ahead of the slower-rolling “Ovija,” which shouts and howls and is all kinds of righteously unruly, where “Cop Sacher” punks at the start and has both gang vocals and a saxophone, which I can say with confidence nothing else among the 70 records in this Quarterly Review even tried let alone pulled off, and they close with due swagger and surprising class in “The Knight.” Part of Fvzz Popvli‘s persona to this point has been based in rawness, so it’s interesting to hear them fleshing out more complex arrangments, but at heart they remain very much stoner rock for the glory of stoner rock.
The tone worship is there, the working-class-dude stoner swing is there, and the humor that might result in a song like “Hypertension” — for which no less than Bob Balch of Fu Manchu sits in — so when I compare Rust Bucket to Maryland’s lost sons Earthride, please know that I’m not talking out of my ass. The Minnesota-based double-guitar five-piece revel in low end buzz-tone, and with no-pretense groove, throaty vocals and big personality, that spirit is there. Doesn’t account for the boogie of “Keep Us Down,” but everybody’s gotta throw down now and then. They shift into a sludgier mood by the time they get around to “The Darkness” and “Watch Your Back,” but the idea behind this first Rust Bucket feels much more like a bunch of guys getting together to hammer out some cool songs, maybe play some shows, do a record and see how it goes. On paper, that makes Rust Bucket an unassuming start, but its anti-bullshit stance, steady roll and addled swing make it a gem of the oldschool variety. Much to their credit, they call the style, “fuzzy caveman dad rock.” They forgot ‘bearded,’ but otherwise that about sums it up. Maybe the beard is implied?
It is appropriate that Mountain Dust named their third LP after themselves, since it finds them transcending their influences and honing a cross-genre approach that’s never sounded more their own than it does in these nine songs. From the densely-weighted misdirect of “Reap” with its Earth-sounding drone riff through the boogieing en route to the mellower and more open soul-showcase “Waiting for Days to End” — backing vocals included, see also “It’s Already Done” on side B — and the organ in “Vengeance,” the dynamic between the Graveyard-style ballad “This is It” and the keyboard/synth-fueled instrumental outro “All Eyes But Two,” Mountain Dust gracefullly subverts retroist expectations with individualized songwriting, performance and production, and this material solidifies the Montreal four-piece among the more flexible acts doing anything in the sphere of 1970s-style heavy rock. That’s still there, understand, but like the genre itself, Mountain Dust have very clearly grown outward from their foundations.
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 6th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
I’m honestly not sure how to classify the upcoming Fvzz Popvli album, whether Melting Pop will be the Roman trio’s first for Heavy Psych Sounds proper or if 2023’s III (review here) was through the label as well as RetroVox or has been reissued or the band just worked with HPS for booking or what. When they signed, there was a sense they were re-signing, that’s all. In any case, they’re on the label now and the record’s coming out.
Imagine heavy garage and proto-punk meeting with loose-groove fuzz, shades of Ramones getting their feet under them, but grown up on Fu Manchu and desert riffing. They’ve never been nor have they ever tried to be perfect — perfect would ruin the songs — but the rawness that’s been part of their collective character to this point comes up against an inevitable awareness of self in the sound. That is, Fvzz Popvli have been around for a bit at this point and, almost in spite of themselves, know what they’re doing. In this case, they’re melting pop.
Also, they’re going on tour.
The dates are in the poster below, and beneath that, I’ve included the album info as well, because I hadn’t had the chance to post it and for my own future reference.
So, from socials and the PR wire, then. A rare collaboration between the two in one post:
Europe!!! fvzzpopvli will be hitting the road in March to celebrate their new LP Melting Pop!!! Be sure to catch them!!!
Say Fvzz Popvli: “Happy new year folks! Let’s start with an awesome announcement: The 1st leg for the MELTING TOUR, the tour will support our upcoming release “MELTING POP” across Europe! We gonna perform in Italy,Switzerland,Germany,Holland,Belgium,Austria and for the very 1st time GREECE!”
—
Founded in Rome by Pootchie and Datio in A.D. MMXVI, FVZZ POPVLI is a power trio that delivers heavy fuzzy riffs in a straightforward and no-frills fashion. They play a wild blend of Black Sabbath-style heaviness, a rough garage punk band attitude à la The Stooges, and 70s psychedelia.
The band released their debut EP in May 2017 with a promotional tour in Italy, Switzerland and Germany. In June, they signed to Heavy Psych Sounds for the release of their debut album “Fvzz Dei”, which has brought the band to more than 70 European stages in eight countries including the revered indie festival Duna Jam. In 2018, FVZZ POPVLI released their second album “Magna Fuzz” followed by 75 European shows with appearances at festivals such as HPS Fest, Le Grand Incendie, Berlin Swamp Fest and Tabernas Desert Rock Festival. In 2019, the band signed with indie label Retrovox and released their third studio album “Fvzz Popvli III” in March 2023, supported by four European tours.
FVZZ POPVLI have shared the stage with White Hills, Black Rainbows, Ufomammut, Karma To Burn, Mars Red Sky, Rotor, Naxatras, Lili Refrain, El Perro, Giöbia, Zodiac, DYSE, Powder for Pigeons, Hypnos, The Tazers, Mother Engine, The Midnight Ghost Train and much more.
About their upcoming new album, the band says: “As always, we decided to do our own thing. We’re just so over the same old tired riffs and worn-out stoner vibes, like a pair of Birkenstocks at an indie concert, and let’s not even start on those interesting lyrics about how to smoke weed (seriously, tell us more!). So here we are at a crossroads: should we just follow the crowd and do what everyone else is doing, or put in the hard work to create something that makes us happy while we play it? Well, here’s Melting Pop! It’s not stoner, it’s not garage, it’s not punk, it’s not psych, it’s not even a traditional album. It’s melting, a blend of Fvzz Popvli saying “screw the labels” and just going with the flow, all-natural, like grown-ups with no preservatives.”
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 6th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Coming off the release of last year’s III (review here) through RetroVox Records, Italian riffchuckers Fvzz Popvli have signed to Heavy Psych Sounds for the release of their fourth album, which will be up for preorder next week. The details of the release are held back from this announcement, as is the wont of Heavy Psych Sounds — and when you’re the planet’s foremost heavy imprint, you can do that kind of thing — but those and the first streaming track will be out next Thursday too. All that’s happening here is the signing, which itself is plenty, and word of the new record existing.
So good for Fvzz Popvli. They’ve very much felt like a HPS band without actually releasing through the label — their management is closely associated, too — and while I wouldn’t say this is a surprise, it will surely help the band’s raw, punkish distortion reach new ears, and that’s probably a good thing for all involved. Surely the band will have European tour dates as well. I’ll do my best to keep up.
But ahead of all of that, this from the PR wire:
Heavy Psych Sounds Records to announce the Italian garage rock wizards FVZZ POPVLI coming back with a brand new album !!!
NEW ALBUM PRESALE + FIRST TRACK PREMIERE – NOVEMBER 14th
SAYS THE BAND
“We are stoked to announce that we just signed an agreement for our fourth upcoming studio album, and the third release with Heavy Psych Sounds Records. Is good to be back!”
BIOGRAPHY
Founded in Rome by Pootchie and Datio in A.D. MMXVI, the idea was to build a powertrio with a direct and rough way to deliver heavy fuzzy riffs. Their sound melts Black Sabbath-style heavy riffs with the roughest garagepunk bands attitude -like The Stooges-, adding the psychedelia from the 70’s to create their own style!
The band released and promoted an “EP” in May 2017, with a promotional tour in Italy, Switzerland and Germany. In June 2017 they became a part of Heavy Psych Sounds Records (Bongzilla, Pentagram, Brant Bjork, Nick Olivieri, Fatso Jetson, Yawning Man, Nebula, Giöbia, Duel, Black Rainbows.) roster to promote their 1st album “FVZZ DEI”. Released in September 2017, the album has brought the band on more than 70 european stages in 8 countries, giving them the chance to play in the mysterious DUNA JAM. In June 2018 the band recorded their 2nd album “MAGNA FVZZ”, which has been released in October 2018 followed by a 75 gigs european tour, with highlights in festivals like HPS Fest, Le Grand Incendie, Gouha, Berlin Swamp Fest and Tabernas Desert Rock Festival. In 2019 the band signed with the indie r’n’r label RETROVOX to release their 3rd studio album named FVZZ POPVLI III in March the 3rd 2023, then Datio left the the band, III was supported by 4 long tour legs across Europe in the name of Punk Rock.
Fvzz Popvli, among others, shared the stage with: White Hills, Black Rainbows, Naxatras, Giöbia, Ufomammut, Karma To Burn, Rotor, Zodiac, DYSE, Powder for Pigeons, Lili Refrain, El Perro, Hypnos, The Tazers, Mars Red Sky, Mother Engine, The Midnight Ghost Train and much more. In November 2024 the band signed again an agreement with Heavy Psych Sounds, to release a new album on Q1 2025.
FVZZ POPVLI is Pootchie – Guitar and Voice Alex – Bass George – Drums
Here we go day four of the Quarterly Review. I would love to tell you it’s been easy-breezy this week. That is not the case. My kid is sick, my wife is tired of my bullshit, and neither of them is as fed up with me as I am. Nonetheless, we persist. Some day, maybe, we’ll sit down and talk about why. Today let’s keep it light, hmm?
And of course by “light” I mean very, very heavy. There’s some of that in the batch of 10 releases for today, and a lot of rock to go along, so yes, another day in the QR. I hope you find something you dig. I snuck in a surprise or two.
Quarterly Review #31-40:
Dorthia Cottrell, Death Folk Country
Crafted for texture, Death Folk Country finds Windhand vocalist Dorthia Cottrell exploring sounds that would be minimal if not for the lushness of the melodies placed over them. Her first solo offering since 2015 runs 11 tracks and feels substantial at a manageable 42 minutes as delivered through Relapse Records. The death comes slow and soft, the folk is brooding and almost resistant in its Americana traditionalism, and the country is vast and atmospheric, and all three are present in a release that’s probably going to be called ethereal because of layering or vocal reverb but in fact is terrestrial like dry dirt. The seven-minute “Family Annihilator” is nigh on choral, and e-bow or some such droner element fills out the reaches of “Hell in My Water,” expanding on the expectation of arrangement depth set up by the chimes and swells that back “Harvester” after the album’s intro. That impulse makes Death Folk Country kin to some of earlier Wovenhand — thinking Blush Music or Consider the Birds; yes, I acknowledge the moniker similarity between Windhand and Wovenhand and stand by the point as regards ambience — and a more immersive listen than it would otherwise be, imagining future breadth to be captured as part of the claims made in the now. Do I need to say that I hope it’s not 2031 before she does a third record?
It’s been a quick — read: not quick — five years since Italian heavy rockers Fvzz Popvli released their second album, Magna Fvzz (review here), through Heavy Psych Sounds. Aptly titled, III is the third installment, and it’s got all the burner soloing, garage looseness and, yes, the fvzz one would hope, digging into a bit of pop-grunge on “The Last Piece of Shame,” setting a jammy expectation in the “Intro” mirrored in “Outro” with percussion, and cool-kid grooving on “Monnoratzo,” laced with hand-percussion and a bassline so thick it got made fun of in school and never lived down the trauma (a tragedy, but it rules just the same). “Post Shit” throws elbows of noise all through your favorite glassware, “20 Cent Blues” slogs out its march true to the name and “Tied” is brash even compared to what’s around it. Only hiccup so far as I can tell is “Kvng Fvzz,” which starts with a Charlie Chan-kind of guitar line and sees the vocals adopt a faux Chinese accent that’s well beyond the bounds of what one might consider ‘ill-advised.’ Cool record otherwise, but that is a significant misstep to make on a third LP.
San Diegan riffslingers Formula 400 come roaring back with their sophomore long-player, Divination, following three (long) years behind 2020’s Heathens (review here), bringing in new drummer Lou Voutiritsas for a first appearance alongside guitarist/vocalists Dan Frick and Ian Holloway and bassist Kip Page. With a clearer, fuller recording, the solos shine through, the gruff vocals are well-positioned in the mix (not buried, not overbearing), and even as they make plays for the anthemic in “Kickstands Up,” “Rise From the Fallen” and closer “In Memoriam,” the lack of pretense is one of the elements most fortunately carried over from the debut. “Rise From the Fallen” is the only cut among the nine to top five minutes, and it fills its time with largesse-minded riffing and a hook born out of ’90s burl that’s a good distance from the shenanigans of opener “Whiskey Bent” or the righteous shove of the title-track. They’re among the best of the Ripple Music bands not yet actually signed to the label, with an underscored C.O.C. influence in “Divination” and the calmer “Bottomfeeder,” while “In Memoriam” filters ’80s metal epics through ’70s heavy and ’20s tonal weight and makes the math add up. Pretty dudely, but so it goes with dudes, and dudes are gonna be pretty excited about it, dude.
Each of the two intended sides of Abanamat‘s self-titled debut saves its longest song for its respective ending, with “Voidgazer” (8:25) capping side A and “Night Walk” (9:07) working a linear build from silence all the way up to round out side B and the album as a whole. Mostly instrumental save for those two longer pieces, the German four-piece recorded live with Richard Behrens at Big Snuff and in addition to diving back into the beginnings of the band in opener “Djinn,” they offer coherent but exploratory, almost-Uncle–Acidic-in-its-languidity fuzz on “Thunderbolt of Flaming Wisdom,” growing near-prog in their urgency with it on the penultimate “Amdest” but never losing the abiding mellow spirit that manifests out of the ether as “Night Walk” rounds out the album with synth and keys and guitar in a jazzy for-a-walk meander as the band make their way into a fuller realization of classic prog elements, enhanced by a return of the vocals after five minutes in. They’re there just about through the end, and fit well, but it demonstrates that Abanamat even on their debut have multiple avenues in which they might work and makes their potential that much greater, since it’s a conscious choice to include singing on a song or not rather than just a matter of no one being able to sing. The way they set it up here would get stale after a couple more records, but one hopes they continue to develop both aspects of their sonic persona, as any need to choose between them is imaginary.
Led by nine-string bassist Frédérick “ChaotH” Filiatrault (ex-Unexpect), Montreal four-piece Vvon Dogma I are a progressive metal whirlwind, melodic in the spirit of post-return Cynic but no less informed by death metal, djent, rock, electronic music and beyond, the 10-song/45-minute self-released debut, The Kvlt of Glitch confidently establishes its methodology in “The Void” at the outset and proceeds through a succession marked by hairpin turns, stretches of heavy groove like the chorus of “Triangles and Crosses” contrasted by furious runs, dance techno on “One Eye,” melody not at all forgotten in the face of all the changes in rhythm, meter, the intermittently massive tones, and so on. Yes, the bass features as it inevitably would, but with the precision drumming of Kevin Alexander, Yoan MP‘s backflipping guitar and the synth and strings (at the end) of Blaise Borboën (also credited with production), a sound takes shape that feels like it could have been years in the making. Mind you I don’t know that it was or wasn’t, but Vvon Dogma I lead the listener through the lumbering mathematics of “Lithium Blue,” a cover of Radiohead‘s “2+2=5” and the grand finale “The Great Maze” with a sense of mastery that’s almost unheard of on what’s a first record even from experienced players. I don’t know where it fits and I like that about it, and in those moments where I’m so overwhelmed that I feel like my brain is on fire, this seems to answer that.
Two sprawling slow-burners populate the self-titled debut from UK three-piece Orme. Delivered through Trepanation Recordings as a two-song 2LP, Orme deep-dives into ambient psych, doom, drone and more besides in “Nazarene” (41:58) and “Onward to Sarnath” (53:47), and obviously each one is an album unto itself. Guitarist/vocalist Tom Clements, bassist Jimmy Long (also didgeridoo) and drummer Luke Thelin — who’s also listed as contributing ‘silence,’ which is probably a joke, but open space actually plays a pretty large role in the impression Orme make — make their way into a distortion-drone-backed roller jam on “Nazarene,” some spoken vocals from Clements along the way that come earlier and more proclamatory in “Onward to Sarnath” to preface the instrumental already-gone out-there-ness as well as throat singing and other vocalizations that mark the rest of the first half-hour-plus, a heavy psych jam taking hold to close out around 46 minutes with a return of distortion and narrative after, like an old-style hidden track. It’s fairly raw, but the gravitational singularity of Orme‘s two forays into the dark are ritualistic without being cartoonishly cult, and feel as much about their experience playing as the listener’s hearing. In that way, it is a thing to be shared.
The UK-based experimentalist psych collaboration between Fred Laird (Earthling Society) and Mike Vest (Bong, et al) yields a third long-player as The Gateless Gate finds the duo branching out in the spirit of their 2021 self-titled and last year’s Pancosmology (review here) with instrumentalist flow and a three-dimensional sound bolstered by the various delays, organ, synth, and so on. Atop an emergent backbeat from Laird, “Twilight Chorus” (16:13) runs a linear trajectory bound toward the interstellar in an organic jam that comes apart before 12 minutes in and gives over to church organ and sampled chants soon to be countermanded by howls of guitar and distortion. Takest thou that. The B-side, “Sound of Desolation” (19:55), sets forth with a synthy wash that gives over to viol drone courtesy of Martin Ash, a gong hit marking the shift into a longform psych jam with a highlight bassline and an extended journey into hypnotics with choral keys (maybe?) arriving in the second half as the guitar begins to space out, fuzz soloing floating over a drone layer, the harder-hit drums having departed save for some residual backward/forward cymbal hits in the slow comedown. The world’s never going to be on their level, but Laird and Vest are warriors of the cosmos, and as their work to-date has shown, they have bigger fish to fry than are found on planet earth.
What a show to preserve. Heavy Petal Music, while frustrating in that it’s new Rainbows Are Free and not a follow-up to 2019’s Head Pains, but as the Norman, Oklahoma, six-piece’s first outing through Ripple Music, the eight-song/43-minute live LP captures their first public performance in the post-pandemic era, and the catharsis is palpable in “Come” and “Electricity on Wax” early on and holds even as they delve into the proggier “Shapeshifter” later on, the force of their delivery consistent as they draw on material from across their three studio LPs unremitting even as their dynamic ranges between a piano-peppered bluesy swing and push-boogie like “Cadillac” and the weighted nod of “Sonic Demon” later on. The performance was at the 2021 Summer Breeze Music Festival in their hometown (not to be confused with the metal fest in Germany) and by the time they get down to the kickdrum surge backing the fuzzy twists of “Crystal Ball” — which doesn’t appear on any of their regular albums — the allegiance to Monster Magnet is unavoidable despite the fact that Rainbows Are Free have their own modus in terms of arrangements and the balance between space, psych, garage and heavy rock in their sound. Given Ripple‘s distribution, Heavy Petal Music will probably be some listeners’ first excursion with Rainbows Are Free. Somehow I have to imagine the band would be cool with that.
It’s the marriage of complexity and heft, of melody and nod, that make Slowenya‘s “Angel Raised Wolves” so effective. Moving at a comfortable tempo on the drums of Timo Niskala, the song marks out a presence with tonal depth as well as a sense of space in the vocals of guitarist/synthesist Jan Trygg. They break near the midpoint of the 6:39 piece and reemerge with a harder run through the chorus, bassist Tapani Levanto stepping in with backing vocals before a roar at 4:55 precedes the turn back to the original hook, reinforcing the notion that there’s been a plan at work the whole time. An early glimpse at the Finnish psych-doom trio’s next long-player, “Angel Raised Wolves” comes paired with the shorter “Horizontal Loops,” which drops its chugging riff at the start as though well aware of the resultant thud. A tense verse opens to a chorus pretty and reverbed enough to remind of Fear Factory‘s earlier work before diving into shouts and somehow-heavier density. Growls, or some other kind of noise — I’m honestly not sure — surfaces and departs as the nod builds to an an aggressive head, but again, they turn back to where they came from, ending with the initial riff the crater from which you can still see right over there. The message is plain: keep an ear out for that record. So yes, do that.
Let’s start with what’s obvious and say that Elkhorn‘s four-song On the Whole Universe in All Directions, which is executed entirely on vibraphone, acoustic 12-string guitar, and drums and other percussion, is not going to be for everybody. The New York duo of Drew Gardner (said vibraphone and drums) and Jesse Sheppard (said 12-string) bring a particularly jazzy flavor to “North,” “South,” “East” and “West,” but there are shades of exploratory Americana in “South” that follow the bouncing notes of the opener, and “East” dares to hint at sitar with cymbal wash behind and rhythmic contrast in the vibraphone, a meditative feel resulting that “West” continues over its 12 minutes, somewhat ironically more of a raga than “East” despite being where the sun sets. Cymbal taps and rhythmic strums and that strike of the vibraphone — Elkhorn seem to give each note a chance to stand before following it with the next, but the 39-minute offering is never actually still or unipolar, instead proving evocative as it trades between shorter and longer songs to a duly gentle finish. Gardner formerly handled guitar, and I don’t know if this is a one-off, but as an experiment, it succeeds in bridging stylistic divides in a way that almost feels like showing off. Admirably so.
Posted in Questionnaire on March 14th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.
Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.
Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.
The Obelisk Questionnaire: Giorgio Natangeli of Fvzz Popvli
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
We do what elevates us the most, possibly the best thing we are able to do after breathing. Music is the life we have chosen. There is a moment when you are a kid, Music speaks to you in a certain way, and at some point you feel like your paths connect and bond strongly. Once it has happened, there’s no going back, it’s a life-long relationship.
Describe your first musical memory.
When I was a young kid, well before learning to play any instrument, on weekend mornings, my parents would put up some CDs on the stereo with their favorite music (classical, Italian songwriters, classic rock). It was such a joy to wake up listening to that kind of music, and to this day, those are the sounds of my childhood, and the foundation of my music culture.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
My first European tour with FVZZ POPVLI, back in 2017. It has been my first experience playing outside my country and was unbelievable. The amount of joy bringing your music to other people from different countries is a life changing experience. Coming back to Rome felt like the end of a beautiful dream.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
Being a musician, I’ve learnt that you should never hold a belief so firmly it incapacitates you to enjoy what’s around. Music, to me, is about being surprised, amazed by something you could never have expected. Being open and ready to be caught “off-guard” makes music and other artistic experiences so enjoyable and cathartic.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
To us, Art is both a language, and a craft. For an artist, making a living out of his/her ability to communicate with others is a primary need to fulfill. Over time, every experience lived by an artist will help him/her refine his/her craft, giving a powerful tool to achieve this goal.
How do you define success?
Success is being able to convey your message to the highest number of people. Art is a statement, so do not expect everyone to agree with you, but be honest to yourself and be the first to believe in what you do. It has nothing to do with money.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
Hate, Racism, Xenophobia, Homophobia, short-minded people seeing others as enemies and not as brothers or sisters.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
Maybe our next record hehe.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
Conveying a message. It is a powerful ability and can be (and definitely has been in the past) misused or abused. Art by itself isn’t good, nor evil, but the context in which it is used is critical. Using Art just to control people, to produce violence, to anesthetize minds, to make money, all of this is a crime. Art is a product of the artist and his/her will to communicate with the world, and cannot be turned against humanity itself.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
Friendship, seen as true relations between people, of all countries, all ethnicities. The way a human being is able to connect to others, is what makes us what we are, unique, wise, free.
