Well, this was a markedly joyous Quarterly Review. I know it’s been a good year already for music and there’s more coming, but it’s always something of a relief when I get to Wednesday or Thursday of one of these things and don’t want to bash my head into a wall until I lose consciousness. The horrors persist but so do the riffs. I am fortunate for that.

If we’re being honest, I do these for myself. I do it as a way to keep up with things that are coming out or are already out (sometimes for a while; I think there were two 2025 outings in here this week), but it’s also a different kind of challenge to get through so much, and I enjoy that probably more than I generally say. This week I added a bunch of stuff to my best-of-2026 lists, and that includes today as well.

But while it may be me being self-serving in terms of musical exposure, I always hope you’ve been able to find something in this mix that you hadn’t heard before that speaks to you. Or maybe you agree with something I said, or disagree, or whatever. Maybe some piece of cover art made you feel something. Maybe your day got a little better just for that. Whatever it is. Please know that if you’re taking part in this at all, on any level, it’s appreciated.

Back in Sept., maybe? I’ll see if I can make it through the summer. Depends in part on how much comes in, which is almost always a flood these days. Not mad about that, by the way.

Alright, here we go. Thanks again for reading.

Quarterly Review #41-50:

Restless Spirit, Restless Spirit

Fullness of push, vitality in delivery, a distinctive take on craft drawing from a range of intangible influences — if Restless Spirit‘s self-titled fourth album is the band declaring themselves, then they picked the right record to share their name. The Long Island-based Magnetic Eye Records trio have fostered a next-generational take on riff metal able to sound massive and to move, not necessarily drawing from Sleep, but rather tipping that foundational balance more toward metal’s traditionalism. But they’re not an overly aggressive band, and even in the faster stretches of “Desire Lines” or the subsequent galloper “Desolation’s Wake,” or the penultimate “Time and Distance” with its more angular groove, they avoid a dudely trap into which many others have fallen. Ultimately, that balance is the place where Restless Spirit dwell in terms of sound, and it’s become more their own over time. This album would seem to be not only them acknowledging that, but embracing it and owning it outright. It’s a strong statement for any band to make at any point in their career, and the material here makes it feel all the more earned.

Restless Spirit on Bandcamp

Magnetic Eye Records store

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Ryan Güt, The Shastafarian

If you saw Brant Bjork in any incarnation between 2015-2024, whether it was solo, with Stöner, the beginnings of Brant Bjork Trio or with Mario Lalli and the Rubber Snake Charmers, chances are it was Ryan Güt holding down the crucial groove on drums. His first solo album, The Shastafarian, finds him stepping forward as a multi-instrumentalist and producer, and across 37 minutes from the Funkadelic-style talk-over-it startoff in “Beggars and Choosers” to the Blue Öyster Cult cover “Veterans of the Psychic Wars” that closes, Güt offers a spread of classic influence manifest in individualized songs. “Basically Dead (This Town)” feels like Thin Lizzy revelry, “Song for G” keeps its singer-songwritery acoustic foundation despite a full arrangement, and the self-jam in “On the Up and Up” digs in with surprising aplomb for only being one person. There’s a synthier wash in “Sand to Snow,” and that’s telling for a more experimental second half with the dirty fuzz of “Crig Lord Archduke Earl of Montague (The Monkey)” and the dub instrumental “DHS (12th St. Remixes)” entrances ahead of the grounded finish with the already-noted cover. It will be a tragedy if Güt and Zack Oakley (ex-Joy, etc.) never work together, as they seem to share so much in basic intent and both are fully capable of building an album solo, but on his own Güt sets up a broad progression here and one hopes the exploration continues.

Ryan Güt website

Ryan Güt on Bandcamp

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Bismut, Matsutake

As opening cut “Alienation” drifts into its second half, the drums just barely holding onto ground to hint at the swing-around that’s coming, Dutch trio Bismut reaffirm their progressive purposes. Since their inception, the Nijmegen instrumentalist trio have been more about flow than structure, and Matsutake as their fourth full-length, continues the journey. Each piece has its own intention, be it the headspinning “Assemblage” or the tense-until-it-blows-out “Neugier” just before, or the two-and-a-half-minute kissoff “Salvage,” but no question they hit an apex of heft in the pairing of “Contamination” and “(Potentially) Immortal,” which are the two longest and most dug-in tracks, Bismut carrying a spirit of urgency as much as aftermath, with the latter hinting at techno before hitting into a payoff righteous enough to count for the whole record’s procession. The vibe is restless, which is to say Bismut aren’t sitting still, aren’t resting too long in a single part, but it’s the fluidity born out of their sheer chemistry that makes it all work.

Bismut website

Tonzonen website

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Crippled Black Phoenix, Sceaduhelm

Sceaduhelm might be the outright heaviest I’ve heard Crippled Black Phoenix sound in their 20-plus years — at least in parts; they’re never quite only doing one thing at a time — but that’s still only half the story when it comes to the atmosphere and the palpably gothy mood spread across the 66-minute 2LP. I know, it’s another brilliant CBP album? Ho-hum, business as usual. Maybe it’s true that the band will be more appreciated 40 years on than they are now, but as samples draw together the various sections/sides, vocalists swap out between “No Epitaph – The Precipice” and “Hollows End,” etc., the band remain unthethered to genre and unto themselves in the world they create. “Vampire Grave” is so ’90s goth kitsch you can smell its clove cigarettes, but neither “Colder and Colder” nor “Under the Eye,” which follow, want for resonance, and the penultimate “Tired to the Bone” provides a gorgeous comedown before they cap with the yes-it-was-all-real-you-weren’t-dreaming “Beautiful Destroyer,” rolling with marked largesse into a suitably beautiful finish. I guess it’s hard for a band who don’t tour super-often or hock records on social media like mini-infomercials to get hype in this age of horrors, but damn. Even if you’ve never heard Crippled Black Phoenix before — maybe especially? — Sceaduhelm is a clarion to be heeded.

Crippled Black Phoenix website

Season of Mist website

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Some Pills for Ayala, Incarnate

It’s been a productive half-decade for Néstor Ayala Cortés, whose solo-project Some Pills for Ayala began following the dissolution of his prior outfit, At Devil Dirt. Handling multiple instruments and samples, vocals and production, Some Pills for Ayala have been consistent in regards to exploring various facets of rolling heavy tonality, and the fuzz runs unsurprisingly strong in Incarnate as well, though the rawness of noise amid the stonerly swing of “I Can’t Lie” and the upped level of crush in “Until You Die” demonstrate some of the nuance Cortés has grown into as the band has moved forward. Grunge and aughts-era heavy melodymaking are still part of it, but Incarnate is a product of nothing so much as the artist who made it, and listening brings to light just how much Some Pills for Ayala stands willfully apart from the microgenred norm.

Some Pills for Ayala on Bandcamp

Some Pills for Ayala on Instagram

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Gnod, Chronicles of Gnowt Vol. 1

Admirably adventurous and consistently antifascist UK psychedelic rockers Gnod begin a stated trilogy with Chronicles of Gnowt Vol. 1, and obviously I haven’t heard the other two parts yet, but this six-track/42-minute outing taken on its own could hardly be said to feel incomplete. Side A is bookended by “Three Trees (Part 1)” and “Three Trees (Part 2),” comprised of drifting acoustics manipulated in the second installment by effects, and between them, “Shadow Mirror” heavy-ambles through a lysergic slog and “Neptune” indeed offers planetary distance in its far off rumble. That turns out to be prescient as “All Tunnel No Light” (9:56) and “Ekstasis” (10:32) comprise the entirety of side B, the former growing into a massive, slow lurch and the latter less structured-feeling in its makeup despite the drums holding on to the central groove as it makes its way toward the relatively quick comedown with residual effects churning thereafter. This entire triptych might just be a blip in the larger breadth of Gnod‘s catalog, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t significant either there or in the larger scope of heavy psych rock.

Gnod on Bandcamp

Rocket Recordings website

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Fuzzing Nation, Mothertruck

Mothertruck is the conceptualist debut album from Athenian trio Fuzzing Nation, who rally listeners to their tale with heaped-on hairy riffery and a fervent heavy rock execution. They’re not over-the-top fast, or making-a-point-of-it slow, but they find and inhabit a comfortable range in the middle, and in the dancey “The Elder’s Code” and the Kyussian shover “The Core Machine,” they present themselves as kin to desert-heavy, but have an underlying core of trad/classic metal, which can be heard in “Turn the Key” more than careening opener “Burning Roads,” which is a rocker through and through. Maybe it’s a fine line Fuzzing Nation gleefully tread. Fine. The narrative — pretty sure it involves a big truck; just a guess — settles into its own aftermath with “I Don’t Care at All,” capping with a last push a record that never compromises in its love of heavy rock and roll or the band’s narrative vision conveyed through it. I don’t know if they’ll keep telling the story, that happens sometimes, but if you can call your record Mothertruck and actually pull it off, you’re already on your way.

Fuzzing Nation website

Argonauta Records store

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Ak’Chamel, Spiritually Unemployed

Once upon a time there was a band way out west with the unfortunate moniker Master Musicians of Bukkake. Ak’Chamel, an apparent duo, costumed and anonymous, maybe/maybe not from Austin, Texas, feel similarly fascinated with transgressing the barriers between folk musics and psychedelic arrangements, such that Spiritually Unemployed, their second album, is as intimate as it is expansive. It speaks to places that probably don’t exist — at least not in the way they’re offered as realities in the songs — and keeps a thread of irreverence in songs like “The Cosmic Vulva vs. The Post-Enlightened Tongue” and the closing “My Little Pony Apocalypse Diorama Playset.” You’ll be hard pressed to find a collection of weirder sounds, and for sure experimentation is part of the point, but Spiritually Unemployed doesn’t come across as haphazard or disconnected so much as drawn together over its 10 relatively brief inclusions and soundtracky in ethereal occasionally ways. Get weirder. No, weirder than that. Keep going. You’re almost there…

Ak’Chamel on Bandcamp

Akuphone Records website

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Sonic Secrets, Diversions Vol. 1

To be honest, I kind of think Sonic Secrets, as the name for the instrumental solo-project of North Carolina’s Kevin Clark (ex-Black Skies), is emblematic of the intention for the music. Diversions Vol. 1, a 10-song/20-minute offering one might otherwise consider a debut album, doesn’t come across like it was made for press, or a response, or something like that. Starting with drum parts and building around them, Clark over the course of three days went from zero to has-a-record, and listening through, the sense I get is that the process was as much the reason behind it as the need for a creative splurge. Only “The Descent,” with Western-sprawl guitar over an keyboard beat, tops four minutes long, and it and everything that surrounds portrays itself as both proof-of-concept — i.e. demonstrating that Clark can function as a band on his own, which yes, it would seem so — and the result of a craft that’s insular despite drawing from an array of stylistic influences. And it does a little bit come across like something just made to be itself, a sonic secret. One wonders how long Clark will be able to keep it that way.

Sonic Secrets on Bandcamp

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Big Scenic Nowhere, Rehearsal 11.19.21

The key word is “rehearsal” with Rehearsal 11.19.21, limited to 100 LP copies and released independently by West Coast supergroup Big Scenic Nowhere. Offered as two full sides, the vinyl captures the band — Tony Reed (Mos Generator, etc.) on vocals/keys/bass, guitarists Gary Arce (Yawning Man, etc.) and Bob Balch (Fu Manchu, etc.) and drummer Bill Stinson (Yawning Man) — preparing for their first-ever live show. The difference is they’re playing songs they’d already written — “LeDu,” “Lavender Blues,” “Towards the Sun,” and so on — rather than jamming out the bones of what would become their next record. They still haven’t played live a ton, so hearing this material, with chatter among the members and a casual dipping into and out of the songs, brings a new dimension to their studio work up to this point, and presents listeners with another side than even a regular live album could provide. Maybe most of all, it argues in favor of them doing more with the band. Nobody involved is short on other things happening musically, but Big Scenic Nowhere‘s proggy desert heavy found a trajectory all its own. A platter such as this in raw celebration of that is most certainly welcome.

Big Scenic Nowhere on Instagram

HeavyHead Store

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This is the second announcement from the second year of Obsidian Dust, which will be held in Brussels next May as a Springtime complement to Desertfest Belgium in Antwerp in Fall. The lineup, as you can see in the poster, is compelling. Red Fang will headline — fair — and they and Ufomammut and Gnod are the big names joining here, but you can see The Sword, King Buffalo, Acid King, Earthless, Jarboe, Blackwater Holylight and John Garcia-fronted rockers Hermano already confirmed to take part, and it looks like a banger of a two-dayer perfectly slotted in among the Spring Desertfests (London, Berlin, Oslo) to take advantage of who’ll be touring around that time. Plus, you’ve got Dope Purple, which is really all you need when you get right down to it.

That Taiwan-based outfit’s 2025 noise-psych jam outing, Children in the Darkness, streams below, along with the latest from Ufomammut just for fun. The following came through socials:

My oh my… look at these killer new additions to the Obsidian Dust lineup!

Tickets: https://botanique.be/en/concert/obsidian-dust-sword-earthless-many-more-2026#tickets-widget

Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/608324672304294

RED FANG is ready to blast the stage with exclusive punk-infused stoner rock dust.

UFOMAMMUT will launch us into the stratosphere with massive psychedelic riffs.

Conjurer brings pure chaos: blood, fire, metal.

Cardiel fires off a tornado of skaterock, sludge and psychedelic dub.

And GNOD, expect a heavy, mind-melting sonic cleanse.

This edition proudly features the cult Californian rock outfit HERMANO, performing with their original band members, alongside the otherworldly guitar magic of The Sword, the soaring psych of King Buffalo, the roaring fuzz of Acid King, the sonic voyages of Earthless, the dark mystique of Blackwater Holylight, the experimental force of Jarboe, the crushing rituals of Cult of Occult, and the psychedelic chaos of Dope Purple.

Like what you see?

Check our website for day or combi tickets and get ready for the Obsidian Dust storm hitting Brussels!

https://obsidiandust.be/
https://www.instagram.com/obsidiandust_belgium
https://www.facebook.com/obsidiandustbelgium

Dope Purple, Children in the Darkness (2025)

Ufomammut, Hidden (2024)

By virtue of the most solid eight hours of sleep I’ve had in the last six months, I was reborn. My first thought this morning when Lee’s alarm went off at nine was “now we’re talking.” Okay, Roadburn. I’m here.

That was a fortunate position to be in, because as will happen in Tilburg each Spring, today was packed. Showered, coffee, a couple crucial changes made, like my pants. Went to the 013 office with Lee for blurbing for the app and such, back to the room, ate an apple that I’d grabbed from the breakfast downstairs, got myself together and ready to jump back into it.

The sun came out as I waited on the line outside The Engine Room. I was glad to have traded purple hoodie for wizard flannel back at the room. 1PM would be an early start to the day with the Throwing Bricks and Ontaard commissioned piece ‘Something to Lose.’ I knew/know precious little about either band, but had heard exciting things, and when you’re here, the commissioned pieces are part of why. An ongoing series of maybe-once-in-a-lifetime performances and collaborations — among the ‘special sets’ that I’ve seen at Roadburns over the years, they’ve been some of the most special — and word was that the two young Utrecht bands, had gone all-in on the project. Something I’d never seen and something, two bands I’d never heard and I’d probably never be able to see otherwise. I don’t take it for granted how par-for-course that is at is at Roadburn.

Barring disaster between now and the end, Thursday will have been the hardest day for me at Roadburn 2025. Usually Friday is pretty rough because I’m through the initial adrenaline of getting here and have to sort of coast on momentum, but that sleep and some food did me good. Lesson learned? Probably not. With the busier schedule of today, though, I was happy for how it worked out.

Even more after Ontaard and Throwing Bricks went on, because the moisture level in the room shot up immediately and it was all snuggles in the tight photo pit. It was too early in the day for me to smell that bad, so I grabbed the shots I could and ended up making my way around the entire room (apologizing to everyone crunched in in the space as I passed excuse me I’m sorry excuse me I’m sorry excuse me I’m sorry I was born, etc.) to get my camera bag from the other side of the photo pit. In hindsight, this was a dumbass move, but I underestimated how many people there would be, despite having waited on line with them outside. I don’t have an excuse. Just a moron. Sorry.

I do hope somebody had the good sense to record ‘Something to Lose,’ though, because it struck me as an effort worth preserving, and it would be cool to hear the depth of the atmospherics against all that bashing away, blast and plod and nod, but if it’s a one-shot and that’s it, take it as a reminder to be present the moment as much as you can. Genre lines rendered as meaningless as they ultimately are, they were cohesive and purposeful as players came and went from the stage, vocalists trading out, spoken word over drones, all leading to a grand finale of upwards of 14 of them on the stage. Quite a thing to behold. Then you get to the music, which was likewise divergent and devastating. I watched from the back, stank but out of the way, and if you believe in Roadburn’s vision of ‘underground futurism,’ in terms of being forward thinking about things to come in heavy anything, it was right there on stage. Consuming.

There was a box of tapes for me at the backstage entrance — not at all aberrant; for years I’ve had all my mail forwarded through the 013 office (not true) — and I had walked down toward the Hall of Fame and seen no end to the line for Midwife, so I booked it up grab that box, dropped it off at the room, drank water and ate a protein cookie, washed up a bit — didn’t shower for a second time, but the thought occurred to me — and changed the now-smelly tshirt I had on for a fresh one. Wouldn’t save me the rest of the day as it was sunny and warmer than Thursday, but one does what one can. I popped in somewhat casually to check out a few minutes of De Mannen Broeders, which is Colin H. van Eeckhout from Amenra and Broeder Dieleman, both also performing solo at some point in the weekend, I believe. Well, Eeckhout definitely was, since his double-duty solo set was next after De Mannen Broeders finished, in the same room.

Before either Dieleman or van Eeckhout came out, a choir sang. I stuck around long enough to see them depart and the two principals, as well as a piano player on a baby grand, take up the vocal duties. It was moody and introverted, but still ‘folk’ in the way of folk music as human expression of humanity. Accordingly, somebody farted. All told, I was there for maybe 15 minutes, and then I realized Messa was on in a few over at the Main Stage, about to bring their new album, The Spin (review here), to life before an anxious throng of an audience.

In the interest of honesty, it was the photo pit of the weekend I was most dreading and I was right. But that’s why I’ve been carrying around the big lens this whole time. Messa came out after their intro and dove into the record with poise and flow, and as it was my first time seeing them — not the fault of any lack of touring on their part, mind you — to witness the charisma and performance first-hand, never mind the stylistic innovation of the songs themselves, they left no question as to how Metal Blade Records got on board for the release. They sounded like an idea whose time had come. It was heavy, lovely, sad and bold in kind, and though The Spin had only been out for a week, the room was ready for it.

Standing in the hallway, I ran into Lee. We had a quick debate about whether Messa were metal or not — I’m in the ‘pro’ camp — and eventually landed on a kind of goth metal. I might throw the word progressive in there, if only to account for the stupid amount of talent in the band. I went in the back downstairs for the end of Messa and had a little break before I needed to be anywhere, which I used to sit on ass and look at the rest of the day. I knew I wanted to finish out with Gnod and White Hills up the road at Koepelhal, so I decided to make my way there and settle in. I’d been back and forth already, but was in no rush. Found a sun-adjacent shady spot and parked for a few to watch the world go by.

I brought my sunglasses on this trip, but the trouble is I like them and I don’t think I’ve ever worn a pair at a festival anywhere on the planet and had that pair make it from beginning to end. To live in the now, or to squint. That was the (dumb) question.

The tradeoff for being awake was antsiness. I had a really good spot, but after about 10 minutes, I started getting itchy, got up and left. Where was I headed? To food, it turned out. I had thought I was going to go the photo pit for Envy on the 013 Main Stage, but my body took me downstairs for some chicken instead. Pounded that in all of three minutes, downed and refilled my water bottle, and by then Envy were on. The photo pit was going, but on a whim I decided to revert to my original intention, which was to see Pygmy Lush at The Engine Room, back up the block at the Koepelhal. So I got my back and forth in, but also food, which was solid strategy because I missed lunch. There was still a lot of day to go.

I didn’t know Pygmy Lush at all, either personally or musically, but the Virginian outfit are friends of a friend and I think mostly if not entirely comprised of members from pg.99, who were also on the bill, so on a day where nothing I’d thus far seen I’d ever seen before — that’s Ontaard and Throwing Bricks, De Mannen Broeders, Messa and Envy — it made sense to keep the thread going. Not even one of them I’d seen. I’m not trying to paint myself like generally I’m Mr. Watchedeverybandever, because I’m not and I haven’t, but such days for me are rarer than not at a festival.

Not lost on me that that thread occurred to me while I stopped for the first time today to really take a purposeful break, as I did sitting and waiting for Pygmy Lush l. It gave me a frame in which to place the day, and even though my one remaining must for Roadburn Friday — Gnod and White Hills — was comprised of two acts I’d seen individually, their ‘Drop Out’ collaboration would give me a chance to appreciate their work in a new way, and was something that had never happened on stage before. So, close enough for me. A whole day of musical first exposures. What a gift to get.

Pygmy Lush were not without tonal presence, but we’re coming from a mellow place in terms of spirit, and with three guitarists, two with vocals, the songs had texture and melody and were thoughtful in the delivery of both. Not uptempo, but affirming in a fragile way. They had no merch and said so, warned the crowd when there were two songs left, and were laid back on the stage, which made it all the more human as they unfurled contemplative Americana with intermittent fuller breakouts that filled the space otherwise purposely left open in the sound. A little shuffle, a little push, but I’m the era of vibes, they were one, and I was glad to have made the walk back to Koepelhal. They finished about as loud as they got and the place went off. I watched the whole set.

This morning, back at the office of the 013, we put a headline on the blurbs that went out with the day’s picks. I had a few, Lee, the esteemed José Carlos Santos, whose bibliography is intimidating but who is decidedly not a dick, Walter, and Dan Pietersen, who writes for Lee. Too many dudes by any measure, but it was sort of a last-minute thing anyway. The headline we ended up going with was, ‘The Sonic Journey Continues,’ and absolutely that’s kind of corny. We knew that when we went with it, but being here, especially the way my Friday had panned out, the cliché feels pretty well earned, and I’m not sure I would want to say it another way. Because there is a certain amount of buying in you have to do as an audience member. If you’re going to stand there cross-armed and cynical, you’ve already missed the point of coming to Roadburn. Shit yeah, be on that sonic journey. At the end of this weekend we’re all going to go back to lives, jobs, families and/or situations that involve various combinations of all of the above. This time is precious and scant. Why let yourself miss it?

Yeah, said the guy who had eight real-life hours of sleep last night. I know. But let part of my holding onto the moment be appreciating that as well as part of what’s made my experience of the day possible. Surely I wouldn’t have the energy for all this navelgazing if I was poorly rested.

In the years since Roadburn started putting bands at the Koepelhal — there is a part of me for whom it’s still a novelty, but it’s been a while by now — you’ve been able to cross from the Engine Room to The Terminal without leaving the building, and the merch was set up between. This year it’s under construction. Merch is elsewhere right down the sidewalk, and you walk outside and around the corner of the building to get to The Terminal. I have to think that makes lines easier to manage, but it can be surprising to walk out into bright daylight. I guess my inner goth was shocked after Pygmy Lush. Spoiler though: there is no inner goth.

Said the robot voice: “Thank you. It is time to take you to paradise. It is a cold, black paradise. Thank you.” This was how Zombie Zombie introduced the penultimate song they would play. They were killer. Total switch in spirit from Pygmy Lush into krautrocking weirdo psychedelic techno with live drums — sometimes two of the three members would be playing them on opposite sides of the stage, and a bit of cosmic sax early, but an unrepentant danciness at the heart of it all. You could tag them as experimental in form, since that’s almost certainly part of what they do, but their songs, though largely instrumental but for the what came through the robo-effect mic, and that was fine, because while space is dark and endless, it’s also constantly in motion in all directions at once according to the math.

Zombie Zombie weren’t quite ‘dark energy’-level powernerds, but the movement was essential just the same. The earlier dance party gave way to more of a build as they moved through their 50-minute set — loaded with temporal distortions as it was — and I went to stand next to the soundboard to take it all in, the throb of bass in wub wub wub thud thud thud, the video behind them raining code like The Matrix used to do. With a higher synth drone and low pulsing beat, a pickup on the drums and strong notion of being all-in for the far-out, and they had people dancing the entire time. It wasn’t aggressive and it wasn’t threatening unless you’re the genre status quo, but they were heavy in a different way than anything I’ve seen this weekend if not ever, and no less so for all that fun.

There was any half an hour before Human Impact went on, and I did find a way between the two rooms from the back of The Terminal. Easy enough. Sat in the photo pit for a quiet few, fell down a hole on my phone and wrote while the band did a line check. They’ve been around at least since the pandemic — I’m not a huge noise rock guy, but I don’t know if you get to be into underground heavy anything in the New York metro area (where I live) and not respect the shit out of Unsane, and Chris Spencer’s involvement in Human Impact was what first grabbed my attention about the band. I haven’t covered everything they’ve done, but with Eric Cooper from Made Out of Babies on bass, who I remember going to see play in Brooklyn the better part of 20 years ago, Cop Shoot Cop’s Jim Coleman on keyboard and Jon Syverson from Daughters on drums, I don’t think I’d be the first to call them super in the group sense, but onstage the impression was far different from the egotism that designation implies.

A bleak, not-inaccurate portrayal of now in music, Human Impact fused noise rock and industrial sounds and atmospheres, were vivid in message and heft, sometimes raging but not all the time, and when the keys and riffs diverged, they seemed to hit that much harder upon coming back together. Cooper mostly backed Spencer’s vocals, but with some input from Coleman as they pushed toward the dark noise apocalypse that was promised but never materialized in the ’90s when some of the same formula was put to much worse use by far too many bands. In Human Impact, the clash of organic and inorganic was resonant, and the aggression seethe was palpable on stage, in no small part because they threw it at you from there and it would be hard to miss. The finish — I didn’t know the title but did recognize the crush — was like grim concrete.

My night would close as planned, with Gnod and White Hills at The Terminal. At a fest this broad, you can make your own way, find your sound and your people. Ideally, anyhow. Gnod Drop Out With White Hills was the official billing, with the ‘Drop Out’ in reference to the collaborative album NYC’s preeminent psych freaks and Gnod, from Salford, UK, who surely are keeping themselves busy these days saying no to the psycho right-wing capitalist fascist industrial death machine, as they once put it. I was there for the line check and even that was hypnotic. Chat Pile were about to go on for a secret show I saw in the TMSQR app, but nah.

With Ego Sensation’s persistent tom and snare as the beating heart of the proceedings, Gnod and White Hills didn’t so much drop out as they did force one to question whether they were ever in to begin with. I did my best with the camera in the lights and fog early in the set — photographic evidence of alien life would be quite a coup for a middle-aged blogger — but whatever. I was honestly more concerned with watching them than taking pictures. Crazy, I know.

Builds of synth along with the guitars of Dave W. and Gnod’s Paddy Shine gave a sense of expanse with the bass crying the groove alongside the drums, and by the time vocals came in, it was a genuine churn, with a depth of mix that came through even by the side of the stage, let alone over in back. Entrancing heavy psych from masters of the form, in a collab that goes back at least a decade, tearing holes in the universe together on stage for the first time. Something special. I don’t know how many times I even said that today, but start to finish, that’s what it was. Careening and cascading, the joint project rode my day out on a chariot with a wizard painted on the side, and scorched the ground beneath them like rockets at takeoff. I’ve done a lot of really stupid shit in my life. I’m not a particularly good person. I’m not kind. But I had to look around me as the one where they kept going “unified…” hit its comedown and understand that whatever I’ve made worse about the planet during my time on it, I’d done something right if I was standing there.

I went back to the room to finish out the night, sort photos, etc. I had done more back and forth than I’d intended throughout the day and was exhausted with work to do, but no regrets whatsoever for how Friday panned out. Hard to believe there are two more days of Roadburn left.

Thanks for reading. More pics after the jump.

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Maybe fair to think of this as the second part of the story. Gnod, from Salford in the UK, and White Hills, from New York in the New York, are set to release their third collaborative outing, Drop Out III, on March 21 through Thrill Jockey. The special performance at Roadburn Festival, which was announced at the same time as the album itself, it turns out will be the launch point for a European tour together as they take the rest of April and into May to develop what will surely be an out-there onstage persona between the two outfits.

I have to imagine somewhere, at the behest of somebody, at least one of these shows will be recorded. Would you be surprised if a ‘Live at Roadburn’ showed up at some point later this year or in 2026? Me neither, but the more the merrier. The tour runs April 18 through May 4, as the PR wire tells it:

Gnod & White Hills announce their debut collaborative tour throughout the UK and EU this Spring including Roadburn Festival

New album Drop Out III is out Mar. 21st

Preorder Gnod & White Hills’ Drop Out III: https://thrilljockey.com/products/drop-out-iii

Gnod & White Hills have announced a full collaborative tour throughout the UK and Europe this Spring, including their debut collaborative performance at Roadburn Festival. The tour comes just after the release of the newest release in their Drop Out series, Drop Out III, out Mar. 21st.

Manchester’s Gnod and New York’s White Hills stand as titans of Psychedelic & Space Rock. Together they bend the very notions of what rock can do, seemingly suspending our sense of time. Their alchemical chemistry and a fateful session at the Dropout Studio in Camberwell gave rise to the legendary, ongoing series of records under the moniker Drop Out. The records became an influential and sprawling series of extended pieces that remain touchstones of contemporary psychedelia. Having been called “absolutely essential,” “best I have heard – ever,” “A masterpiece,” the Drop Out series finally gets its definitive edition.

Drop Out III stands as a wholly new iteration of Gnod & White Hills’ initial collaboration. Reaching well beyond a mere reissue, Drop Out III is replete with sounds recorded in what the bands term the “Drop Out era” that have never been heard before. Drop Out III’s new elements make clear the unified ethos of both bands. The expanded versions of these timeless pieces epitomize the sense of possibility brimming throughout the album. That an album over 15 years out from its inception could continue to grow well past its roots is a testament to Gnod & White Hills’ ability as artists and collaborators.

Gnod & White Hills tour dates
Apr. 18 – Tilburg, NL – Roadburn Festival
Apr. 19 – Berlin, DE – Neue Zukunft
Apr. 20 – Hamburg, DE – Stubnitz
Apr. 22 – Stockholm, SE – HUS7
Apr. 23 – Oslo, NO – Goldie
Apr. 24 – Copenhagen, DK – Loppen
Apr. 25 – Sønderborg, DK – Sønderborghus
Apr. 26 – Kiel, DE – Schaubude im Hinterhof
Apr. 27 – Nijmegen, NL – Doornroosje
Apr. 28 – Brussels, BE – Magasin 4
Apr. 29 – London, UK – Dingwalls
Apr. 30 – Brighton, UK – Hope & Ruin
May 1 – Falmouth, UK – Cornish Bank
May 2 – Bristol, UK – Strange Brew
May 3 – Hebden Bridge, UK – Trades Club
May 4 – Newcastle, UK – Star and Shadow Cinema

https://www.instagram.com/ingnodwetrust
https://gnod.bandcamp.com/
https://linktr.ee/gnodgnetwerk

http://www.whitehillsband.com
http://www.facebook.com/WHITEHILLSBand
http://www.instagram.com/whitehillsmusic
http://whitehills.bandcamp.com/music

http://www.thrilljockey.com/
http://www.facebook.com/thrilljockey
http://www.instagram.com/thrilljockey

Gnod & White Hills, Drop Out III (2025)

Does it make perfect sense that the forthcoming release from Gnod and White Hills would be hard to classify? If you’ve ever encountered either outfit on their own even in passing, never mind their prior collaborative output, probably. The kraut-worshiping psych heads share an affinity for digging into the outer expanses of ‘far out, man,’ and as the title Drop Out III implies, they’ve gone down this road together twice before.

But of course the story is more complicated than just that. Drop Out III expands on previous joint efforts and features material recorded around the time of their initial offering, as well as tracks from each band separately. Is it a split? A collaboration? A reissue? A new album? A little bit of all of them, it seems like.

A nine-minute sampling is available in the form of lead single “Run-A-Round,” and as the PR wire notes, the two entities will share the stage for a special thus-far-one-off at Roadburn 2025 in the Netherlands next April.

Art, info and audio follows:

Gnod & White Hills announce the next release in their legendary, ongoing collaborative series, Drop Out III, Due out Mar. 21st, 2025

Preorder Gnod & White Hills’ Drop Out III: https://thrilljockey.com/products/drop-out-iii

Gnod & White Hills set to perform a Drop Out collaborative set for the first time ever at Roadburn Festival 2025

The legendary team-up of masters of psych rock Gnod & White Hills have announced the next release in their lauded ongoing collaborative series Drop Out. As titans of the exploratory rock community, their alchemical chemistry gave rise to the ongoing work that is Drop Out, originally conceived and assembled in the late 2000s from across the Atlantic Ocean which was later iterated by the more widely released Drop Out II. This new edition, Drop Out III, further expounds on the lysergic glory of previous versions with new arrangements, mixes, bonus tracks, and songs assembled as they were initially intended. Drop Out III will be released on double LP March 21st, 2025 with a full album of downloadable bonus material. Gnod & White Hills will be performing a collaborative set including material from Drop Out for the first time ever at Roadburn Festival 2025.

Along with the album’s announcement, Gnod & White Hills have shared the new expanded version of “Run-A-Round,” a loping cosmic excursion with cascading melodies that unfurl into one another, showcasing their fresh take on the track while retaining it’s intoxicating potency.

Drop Out III stands as a wholly new iteration of Gnod & White Hills’ initial collaboration. Reaching well beyond a mere reissue, Drop Out III is replete with sounds recorded in what the bands term the “Drop Out era” that have never been heard before. The double LP’s first two sides feature instrumentation and arrangements originally recorded but not included on previous releases. Embodying the two bands’ inquisitive natures, the already hypnotic flow of the songs take on new character, their timbres shifted and color palettes swirled in deft mixes. Classics like the single “Run-A-Round” and the eponymous “Drop Out” maintain their motorik drive and fizzing melodies, yet capture a new spirit. The latter two sides feature pieces never before included on vinyl, including the beautifully serene “Air Streams” in its original droning arc, previously broken bisected into separate tracks with completely different arrangements. In addition to those intoxicating pieces that will sound familiar and reinvigorated to fans, the album comes with a full album’s worth of bonus material, all crafted around the Drop Out era. White Hills’ “Decorating Time” (later repurposed into “Undressing Time”) showcases the depth of the band’s subtlety, rich with minute turns and a twist of psychedelic ambience. “Nothing NEU! Under the Sky” captures the invigorating pulse and dynamics of Gnod’s live performances.

Drop Out III’s new elements make clear the unified ethos of both bands. The expanded versions of these timeless pieces epitomize the sense of possibility brimming throughout the album. That an album over 15 years out from its inception could continue to grow well past its roots is a testament to Gnod & White Hills’ ability as artists and collaborators.

Drop Out III tracklist

LP 1:
1. Drop Out *
2. Run-A-Round *
3. Wellhang *
4. Spaced Man *

LP 2:
5. Elka *
6. Undressing Time ^
7. Air Streams ^
8. Unify ^

LP3 – digital only:
1. Per Sempre *
2. Decorating Time ~
3. Changesaw +
4. Model Citizen ~
5. Nothing Neu! Under The Sky +
6. Hole In My Eye ~
7. Ovid’s Poem ~

* New expanded version
% Never appeared on vinyl previously
^ Never previously released
~ White Hills track recorded around DO
+ Gnod track recorded around DO

https://www.instagram.com/ingnodwetrust
https://gnod.bandcamp.com/
https://linktr.ee/gnodgnetwerk

http://www.whitehillsband.com
http://www.facebook.com/WHITEHILLSBand
http://www.instagram.com/whitehillsmusic
http://whitehills.bandcamp.com/music

http://www.thrilljockey.com/
http://www.facebook.com/thrilljockey
http://www.instagram.com/thrilljockey

Gnod & White Hills, Drop Out III (2025)

Heyo, just a word here as Roadburn does that Roadburn pre-holiday thing and announces a butt-ton of acts for next year’s festival before things get (outwardly) quieter for the next month or so. I know the narrative as regards the festival is that they’ve expanded from their beginnings, let go of the stoner rock stuff and all this, and to a certain point, that’s probably true. But among these almost-30 bands and artists, check out just how much heavy, psych, space and generally-out-there shit there is. Like, a ton.

Gnod & White Hills — who just announced a new collaborative album today — and Messa (I haven’t seen that album announcement but assume it’s coming unless I just missed it; it’s apparently called The Spin) playing full LPs, Coilguns, Smote, Thou, Zombie Zombie, Pothamus who I recently got put onto — some of it is spaced out and some of it is trippy, but if you’re looking for tonal presence, I don’t think it’s going to be in short supply.

That they also happen to be open-minded around this, such that Dødheimsgard and Chat Pile can exist on the same bill with Cinder Well, Faetooth and a Kylesa reunion, I don’t think is a weakness. At least it doesn’t seem to be looking at the new poster art, which I’ll just say flat out I prefer to 2024’s. I got to attend Roadburn earlier this year for the first time in five years, and it was magic and emotional both. I don’t know that I’ll be invited back for 2025 — because, really, why would I? — but this announcement does nothing at all to uncross my superstitious fingers.

The PR wire brought the latest:

Roadburn adds 29 new names to the 2025 lineup including envy, Oranssi Pazuzu, Thou, Gilla Band, Midwife, Steve Von Till and more

Roadburn has announced a further 29 names for the 2025 edition of the festival. Among the artists confirmed are several who will return to Roadburn – such as Thou, Messa, and Oranssi Pazuzu – and many who will be making their Roadburn debut – such as Envy, Tristwych y Fenywod, and Curses. Steve Von Till and Midwife have also been announced as artists in residence, both performing multiple times over the course of the festival. Roadburn 2025 will take place in Tilburg, The Netherlands between April 17-20.

Roadburn’s artistic director Walter Hoeijmakers comments:

“This announcement shows the broad scope of heaviness at Roadburn 2025. There are artistic, musical and emotional boundaries being pushed, and we are hosting up-and-coming acts making their festival debuts alongside longstanding luminaries. We are looking to the future, to our roots, and in all directions in the present to find those defying the perceived limits of genre in the underground. We know there are no limits.”

The new names added to Roadburn 2025 are as follows:

Bambara: brooding post-punk from New York

Big Brave performing their latest, critically acclaimed album A Chaos of Flowers

Blind Girls will make the trek from Australia to bring their frenetic screamo to Roadburn

Buñuel’s off-kilter noise rock will be presided over by enigmatic frontman Eugene S. Robinson

CHVE is the intense and intimate outlet for the solo work of Amenra’s Colin H. van Eeckhout

Coilguns will perform their new album Odd Love in its entirety.

Curses (Live) are set to deliver their neon-lit post-punk/electro hybrid

Dødheimsgard will bring their iconic combination of progressive black metal and avant-garde industrial as they perform their latest album, Black Medium Current

envy will make their long awaited Roadburn debut, performing A Dead Sinking Story in full as well as a modern era/Eunoia set

Gilla Band will revisit the Early Years with a noise-rock set that throws back to their roots

Gillian Carter hail from Orlando, Florida and will bring their distinctive brand of screamo to Tilburg in April.

Glassing head to Europe for just the second time to showcase their post-everything sound and bristling live energy.

Gnod & White Hills unite to perform their legendary Gnod Drop Out With White Hills II album

Great Falls fuse noise rock and hardcore in a discordant, emotion driven sonic purge

Messa return to Roadburn to play their upcoming new album, The Spin, in full.

Michael Gira and Kristof Hahn (SWANS) will present an intimate set of new and rarely heard compositions.

Midwife (Artist In Residence) – Madeline Johnston AKA Midwife will return to Roadburn – this time as an artist in residence – where she will perform three times, including a set with Vyva Melinkolya and a commissioned performance of her new album, No Depression In Heaven

Oranssi Pazuzu return to the festival with a very special performance of their latest release, Muuntautuja

Pothamus have just announced a brand new album, Abur, which they will perform in full at Roadburn 2025.

Pygmy Lush will play their first show in Europe at Roadburn, bringing their dark Americana to Roadburn.

Smote will expand to an eight-piece ensemble to perform their latest album, A Grand Stream

Steve Von Till (Artist In Residence) – we have invited Steve to be an artist in residence to honour his incredible musical legacy and shine a light on his future creative endeavours; he will perform two full sets and unite with artist Thomas Hooper for a collaborative audio-visual exhibition.

Thou will perform their latest album, Umbilical, in full on the main stage.

Tristwch Y Fenywod bring their folky Welsh-language incantations to Tilburg.

Violent Magic Orchestra blend black metal and electronics to dizzying effect

Vuur & Zijde feature members of Laster, Silver Knife, Terzij de Horde and more – and will make their live debut performing their album, Boezem

Vyva Melinkolya will play her first show in Europe, bringing her emotionally heavy dreamgaze to Roadburn.

Witch Club Satan rip up the rule book of black metal, embracing the feminine and the theatrical along the way.

Zombie Zombie combine groovy electronics and trippy motorik rhythms in their psychedelic sound

More information on these artists can be found HERE: https://roadburn.com/line-up/

They will join a slew of previously announced artists including Chat Pile, ØXN, Sumac, Altin Gun, and Kylesa.

All ticket and accommodation options for Roadburn are now on sale. For all information including tickets, please visit www.roadburn.com

https://www.facebook.com/roadburnfestival/
http://www.instagram.com/roadburnfest
http://www.roadburn.com

Thou, Umbilical (2024)

Some new names from Belgium’s Down the Hill Festival for the 2024 edition, bringing familiar parties like UK psychedelic novamakers Gnod and Mojo and the Kitchen Brothers, who you might remember were picked up last year by Lay Bare Recordings ahead of releasing their Mojo’s Heavy Cream LP this past Fall. The latter outfit — the one with the longer name, just to be clear — are making a return appearance after kicking things off in 2023, and Dutch heavy psych/classic rockers Rrrags are back for a second time as well, supporting their 2023 album, Mundi, also as it happens on Lay Bare.

Joining them and rounding out the list of five in this announcement — with seven names still to be unveiled as you can see on the poster below — are Desmond Dandies and Large Plants. The former are Belgian-based heavy garage-psych rockers with a strong current of later-’60s classicism running through last year’s 57 Heaven made modern through its still-organic production, and the latter is the acid-folk/neofolk-informed solo-project of UK songwriter Jack Sharp, formerly of Wolf People.

I’ll tell you honestly I hadn’t heard either Desmond Dandies or Large Plants before seeing their names here, and although when I started this post I intended just to put the Gnod stream at the bottom, I ended up with a player for each band because once I actually listened to them I couldn’t leave anybody out. That speaks to me of a lack of filler, which is something further to be appreciated about Down the Hill. Headliner still TBA. I wonder if it’ll be High on Fire, maybe Brant Bjork? This summer is packed front to back with tours in Europe, so the possibilities are vast, though if it had been Greenleaf or Rotor, I’d still think it was awesome.

The following was posted on socials:

It’s time for the weekend, so let’s add 5 more bands to next summer’s edition.

With GNOD you will dive head and body first into a powerfully new psychedelic maelstrom full of possibilities, we don’t think they need further introduction.

Large Plants started as a solo recording project for Jack Sharp, the singer and guitarist for Wolf People, characterized as psych rock, with a folkier, proggier and more fantastic feeling.

2nd time RRRags at Down The Hill, influences come from the heavy and psychedelic seventies with bands such as Grand Funk Railroad, Stooges, Pink Floyd and Hawkwind. This band also performs live with a blend of long, instrumental jams and heavy, catchy songs. In short, a party not to be missed for the true psych head!

Desmond Dandies, heavily inspired by the sound of the 60’s and all its side streams, they instinctively reproduce a genre that can’t be put into boxes. Live sets vary every show, pushing their musical limits, but always characterized by solid harmonized vocals, tight guitar riffs, and energetic rhythm section.

Mojo & The Kitchen Brothers, also the 2nd time playing DTH, last edition they opened the fest, now we give them a later spot, their catchy tunes, proggy riffs, deafening drums, roaring basslines and spacy, triple-guitar jams take the listener on a Janus-faced journey through the limbo between past and present.

Line up so far:
Greenleaf, Rotor, GNOD, Zone Six, B R I Q U E V I L L E, Large Plants, Full Earth, Vandal X, Doodseskader, Fuzzy Grass, RRRags, TAKH, Kozmotron, Desmond Dandies, Cuberdon, Mojo and The Kitchen Brothers and CRANC

And of course our DJ’s Cosmic Masseur, 7” of Riffs and Coconaut.

Tickets are selling fast!

Write it down into your agenda… the end of August, awesome party in Rillaar, aka Down The Hill.

Go to www.downthehill.be to get your tickets.

So… 7 more names to add to this already great line-up.

Headliner will be announced very shortly!

Keep an eye on our socials. Event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/319457490570582/

https://www.facebook.com/DownTheHillFestival/
http://www.downthehill.be/

Gnod, Hexen Valley (2022)

Rrrags, Mundi (2023)

Mojo and the Kitchen Brothers, Mojo’s Heavy Cream (2023)

Large Plants, “The Death of Pliny” (2021)

Desmond Dandies, 57 Heaven (2023)

Don’t mind me, just over here daydreaming about this one. Yeah, maybe I’ll always be something of a sucker for The Netherlands in Springtime, but even taking that into account, the lineup for Sonic Whip 2023 in Nijmegen speaks for itself top to bottom in terms of the bill. There’s a couple bands I don’t know — including The Psychotic Monks, who were just added, and Shaman Elephant, who were the other band that took part in Enslaved‘s big-band collab — but for familiar names and faces and acts I’ve never seen like Stoned Jesus, Causa Sui, Somali Yacht Club, Samavayo, Vinnum Sabbathi, Slift, and so on, I feel like this is two days I very much wouldn’t mind living through.

I feel that way about a lot of European fests these days, and maybe that in itself is worth examining — if perhaps we’re in something of a golden age (a loaded phrase for the Dutch) of smaller-scale festivals across the continent. I see nothing but arguments in favor of that proposition here, and post-covid, the explosion of events both new and returning is only welcome as far as I’m concerned. I haven’t been invited, won’t get over for it, but it’s a good one, and if you’re headed out to it, I tip my hat in your general direction. Or at least I will next time I have a hat on.

Final announcement follows. Tickets are on sale:

LINE-UP SONIC WHIP 2023 COMPLETE

5 & 6 MAY Doornroosje, Nijmegen, Netherlands

Sonic Whip, the multi-headed rock monster that combines ripping guitars with steaming bass lines, pounding drums and other sonic, psychedelic excesses. The 2023 edition will happen on May 5 & 6 in Doornroosje, Nijmegen.

With the addition of The Psychotic Monks (fra), Samavayo (ger), Shaman Elephant (no) and Vinnum Sabbathi (mex) the line-up for Sonic Whip is complete! We’re looking forward to welcome all these fantastic artists and are convinced this is going to be a rad psychedelic sonic party. We hope you will join us on 5 & 6 May in Doornroosje.

FULL LINEUP:
King Buffalo, SLIFT, Stoned Jesus, Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, Causa Sui, Lowrider, Somali Yacht Club, Les Big Byrd, GNOD, The Psychotic Monks, Radar Men From The Moon, Samavayo, Ecstatic Vision, Iron Jinn, USA Nails, The Gluts, Deathchant, Dommengang, Shaman Elephant, Psychlona, Vinnum Sabbathi and Madmess.

Get your tickets here: https://bit.ly/SonicWhip2023

Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/530494448958919

https://www.facebook.com/Sonicwhipfestival
https://www.instagram.com/sonic_whip/
https://www.doornroosje.nl/festival/sonic-whip/

Vinnum Sabbathi, Live at Channel 66 (2022)