Posted in Questionnaire on February 18th, 2021 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: Jasper Hesselink of No Man’s Valley
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I am a singer, a writer of lyrics, a writer of reviews, a teacher of English, and a father of two girls (age 8 and 11). I have always wanted to play in bands so I made it happen from the moment it was possible. I even studied English to be able to write better lyrics ;) So far I have played over 200 shows, made three EPs and two full-length albums. At the moment The Netherlands has quite a severe lockdown so we have not able to practice normally for months. I have started my own music blog Weirdo Shrine to kill some time and because I love to discover new music and practice my writing: https://weirdoshrine.wordpress.com/
Describe your first musical memory.
Well, I am well in my thirties, so my first experiences discovering bands were all through tape trading, borrowing CDs from my friends’ bigger brothers and so on. Getting into heavier rock music for me started with Iron Maiden’s first 10 albums. I don’t think I ever played any other band as much as them. I sometimes miss those days when you really had to hunt music down and it wasn’t so easily available as these days. Finding an album and buying it was a completely different experience than it is today.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
My best musical memories probably stem from playing live with No Man’s Valley. Our best gigs were probably supporting The Stranglers and meeting them backstage was a dream come true too. My best memory however was playing Freak Valley Festival in 2018. We had some bad luck because the generator supporting the stage broke down in the middle of our set, but it turned out pretty great because the whole crowd started singing along to the song even while they didn’t know the lyrics. It so heartwarming when a crowd is there for you, even when you strike bad luck like that. I shook a lot of hands afterwards at the merch stands, that made me feel like a million bucks.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
Well I believe The Netherlands where I live is a safe place, and that you should be able to go wherever you want to at any time. I used to ride my bike everywhere and at any time, but this one night I was hit by a motorbike which skidded to the ground. I was unharmed, and I got up to check on the people on the motorbike but when I got there this guy started attacking me. I was so stunned I didn’t even move while this guy just kept hitting me with his fists. That’s when I saw the gun. Apparently he dropped it when his motorbike hit me. He picked up the gun and I started running, he shot at me seven times and somehow missed. That was a huge test for my belief in safe and dull Holland to be honest. Much later I wrote the song “7 Blows” about that experience.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
Who cares really haha, I have learned that it doesn’t really matter where your artistic progression leads you, as long as it still takes you places. For me and my band music has always been such an incredibly important outlet. It’s like an ongoing therapy session sometimes haha. As long as it still means that for us it’s worth doing and it doesn’t really matter what the outcome is.
How do you define success?
Just being able to live in the moment, creating something out of nothing, and really enjoying what you doing while doing it is a success to me. Another level of success for me is to be able to juggle all the different parts of my life without compromising too much, I’m still working on that ;)
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
The Blair Witch Project. I don’t think I ever walked comfortably in a forest after seeing that.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
I still really like to write and record a mega jam. We are bad at that, we mostly write song-songs. We are working on it at the moment but Corona is slowing us down unfortunately. The working title is “Flight of the Sloths” so perhaps you can imagine what it will sound like!
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
Practicing the magic of creating something out of nothing.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
Hugging a bunch of people once this shit show is over. I am pretty introverted so I don’t really miss it all that much, but it’s been a year since I hugged my mom and dad and my sister so I am very much looking forward doing that again.
No Man’s Valley, “Eyeball” official video premiere
[Click play above to stream the premiere of No Man’s Valley’s “Eyeball” video. Their new album, Outside the Dream, is out March 22 on Tonzonen Records.]
Both their 2016 debut album, Time Travel (review here), and the new follow-up, Outside the Dream (on Tonzonen), immediately clue the listener into No Man’s Valley‘s priorities. This is not a band dealing in grounded fare. The Horst, Netherlands-based five-piece meld ethereal atmospherics with classic psychedelic blues, resulting in a two-sided long-player that channels Doors-style drift on “From Nowhere” after the earlier “Eyeball” melds echoing lysergics with airy post-rocking guitar and a fervent stomp in its drums. Modern touchstones would be The Flying Eyes (“From Nowhere”) or maybe even All Them Witches (“7 Blows”), but No Man’s Valley present these aspects of their sound with a distinctive, open feeling take on songwriting that’s nonetheless memorable, with a depth of mix that lends even the more straightforward push of “Hawk Rock” an ambient character.
Comprised of vocalist Jasper as well as guitarist Christian, bassist Rob, keyboardist Ruud and drummer Dinand, all of whom contribute backing vocals at one point or another, the band are able to tie together seemingly disparate moods and elements, suck that the subdued and malevolent closer “Murder Ballad” is preceded by “Lies,” which seems to call back to the earlier circus feel in the apex of “Eyeball,” but with something even more vicious at play. If one thinks of the album as a progression of dreaming, the opening title-track leads the listener into a fuzz-drenched subconscious along a soulful, organ-inclusive march, and “Eyeball,” “Hawk Rock” — as in, Hawkwind? certainly possible — and “From Nowhere” follow with a pattern of increasing depth, malleable the way one dream can turn into another instantly, getting weirder all the while. That would make side B opener “Into the Blue,” which is appropriately named as the bluesiest track on the record, a similar launchpoint into something darker throughout “7 Blows,” “Lies” and “Murder Ballad.”
That’s a convenient-enough narrative, but I’m not sure it’s what the band are actually shooting for. The lines aren’t so clearly drawn, and they don’t seem to want to be. There’s no question they end dark with “Lies” and “Murder Ballad,” but the path they take to get there isn’t so black and white, and to think it might be is to undervalue the complexity on display throughout sides A and B of the eight-song/40-minute outing. One would call it grey in its approach if it weren’t so gosh darn colorful. Ultimately, No Man’s Valley‘s breadth is not a detriment, of course, and they have the songwriting behind their explorations of mood to hold it all together. Fair enough, but even to look at the almost-manic assembly of images and figures on Outside theDream‘s cover art, it’s clear they’re crafting a dreamscape — more inside the dream than out of it; though perhaps the title is referring to that haze in one’s first waking moments when consciousness and the unconscious seem to intertwine.
If that’s the case, the shouts in “Eyeball” and the surrounding swirl of effects, as well as the echoing ramble of “Into the Blue” would seem to make even more sense, making sense — from a conceptual standpoint — isn’t really the idea here. Whatever they might be expressing in terms of theme or story, there’s no question No Man’s Valley distinguish themselves among a swath of European psychedelic heavy by means of both style and substance in their work. “Into the Blue” descends into a glorious wash of guitar while the keys — Rhodes, maybe — still stand out all the more dream-like for cutting through the mix as they do, while the earlier “Hawk Rock” is all about thrust, with a garage-rocking style that resolves itself in a Hammond-drenched verse and a sudden stop ahead of the brooding “From Nowhere,” which indeed makes “nowhere” sound like the place to be.
All along this varied course, the band provide a trail of deceptively lush melody for the audience to follow along with them as they go deeper, and even as “7 Blows” seems to break in its midsection in order to vibe out ahead of the closing duo, there’s a return to the hook impending as if to let everyone know they’re not all the way gone yet. This care and attention to detail further help distinguish No Man’s Valley, but frankly, if their second album proves anything, it’s that they don’t need much help. Even in that vast, mostly empty landscape in the middle of “7 Blows,” Jasper plays a fitting Jim Morrison in order to give a human presence ahead of the cacophonous payoff to come. That transition, like Outside the Dream as a whole, is handled with fluidity and grace, and much as they seem to invite all parties to go get lost with them, they’re never actually lost. Even “Lies” has a swinging undercurrent despite its more cynical take and shorter runtime, and its percussive motion, start-stop guitar and bouncing organ line all come together with boozy verse lines to build to the standout chorus.
That leaves No Man’s Valley right at the precipice of “Murder Ballad,” which indeed lives up to its title. Foreboding guitar howls behind the quietly-delivered vocals and a steady, grounding, bassline. One would be remiss not to mention Nick Cave, but “Murder Ballad” isn’t out of place with the rest of Outside the Dream, it’s just a darker manifestation of that unconsciousness. Without the push of drums, it feels like the moment when the band finally let go into the ether, and even at just over four minutes, it is something of a grand finale in terms of execution without actually being overbearing in terms of volume. Fitting, then, that it should close, since it effectively draws down the dream-side of the album, leaving off to silence in such a way as to make one wonder what happens next. Did we wake up? Are we still asleep? Perhaps that’s an answer that will come with No Man’s Valley‘s third record, but either way, their second builds on the debut in terms of structure and expansion of sound, showing the band as perfectly comfortable in or out of the reaches of the waking world. Like a lucid dream, where they go from here would seem to be entirely up to them.
It’s been fairly quiet since earlier this summer when Netherlands-based classic heavy psych blues rockers No Man’s Valleyannounced their intentions toward a second full-length to be titled Outside the Dream, and launched a crowdfunding campaign for its completion. Well, I guess it all worked out, because the album is recorded and set for release in early 2019 through Tonzonen Records as the follow-up to 2016’s Time Travel (review here), which came out via Nasoni. They’re giving a first glimpse of what’s in store with the new release in a video for the track “Lies.”
And in a relatively concise three minutes laced with organ, a Stooges-style stomp and a catchy hook that may or may not switch between “It’s alright” and “It’s all lies” — kind of hard to tell with the vocal effects — the song makes its impression melodically and in terms of its structure and tone, as well as in its tight-knit, get-in-rock-and-get-out-again attitude. There’s nothing spare about it, no extra pieces left hanging about. It seems to pull its influence from the time when the only option for it coming out might’ve been pressed as a 45RPM record in a paper sleeve, and sure enough its shuffle and push would well earn that distinction if it came to it. As it stands, it’s just the first piece of Outside the Dream to be made public.
The video is assembled footage from what looks like the public domain — nothing really landmark, but the purpose it’s serving is to highlight the song, and it does that fairly enough. You can and should check it out on the player below. No Man’s Valley have a few live dates in the next month-plus, including later this week in Berlin with Daily Thompson. All info follows the clip itself.
Please enjoy:
No Man’s Valley, “Lies” official video
Check out the new video for the song Lies, taken from our upcoming album Outside The Dream. The album will be released on Tonzonen Records early next year. The album was recorded with Mathijs Kievit (Bartek, Luwten) at Studio Joneski and mastered by Pieter Kloos (Motorpsycho, Beaver, Komatsu). Catch the band live this year at:
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 29th, 2018 by JJ Koczan
So No Man’s Valley have a new album… not quite. To be more accurate, they’ve got songs and intentions toward a new album. The Dutch heavy psychedelic blues rockers have aligned themselves to Tonzonen Records for the follow-up to 2016’s Time Travel (review here), and they’ve set themselves toward an early 2019 release. They’re even currently in the studio, but they’ve set up a crowdfunding campaign in order to cover their costs there as they work to finalize the release. They’ve got posters from their appearance at Freak Valley, album preorders, shirts, and private show opportunities within a reasonable distance from their hometown — they’ve even got their own P.A., so I mean, if you’re having a backyard barbecue in Den Haag or something, that might be fun — as well as other claimable whatnots for those who donate, and the campaign is nearly a third of the way to its goal with 31 days still to go.
The band was kind enough to send some info down the PR wire about the new record’s making and how listeners can help. It all looks an awful lot like this:
No Man’s Valley – Outside The Dream on Tonzonen Records
Dutch psychbluesers No Man’s Valley are thrilled to announce the coming of their second album Outside The Dream on limited Vinyl and CD. They will work together with Tonzonen Records from Germany (The Spacelords, Psychic Lemon, Mouth) for this release which will see the light of day around early 2019. The record is being produced at the moment by Matthijs Kievit (Bartek), and will be mastered by Pieter Kloos (Motorpsycho, Astrosoniq, Dool).
We Need You
The band have already started recording, but they still need some financial support. So for the coming 30 days they have launched a crowdfunding campaign which should help them fund their ambitious project, while gaining the opportunity to secure one of those highly limited gems, next to some other personal band items like posters and photographs. Donate here:https://www.voordekunst.nl/projecten/7467-no-mans-valley-second-album-on-vinyl
Outside The Dream
Outside The Dream is the story of how to transform personal backlash into something new and positive. This personal weight makes sure the band has gotten more to the core of their strength. Never before did the band sound so vulnerable yet at the same time so powerful.
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 9th, 2017 by JJ Koczan
Here’s the thing about No Man’s Valley going on their Time Travel Tour: Yes, they’ll be traveling through time. We all are, forward, every day. That’s not the thing. The thing is that even as the Netherlands-based heavy psych rockers go supporting their 2016 Nasoni Records debut album, also called Time Travel (review here), they’ll be road-testing new songs as well. So they’re doing a bit of time travel that way too, at least on a conceptual level, as they look ahead to their second LP.
Presumably they’ll get to recording later this year, once the rest of the tracks are, you know, written, and though it might be 2018 before the record shows up, that’ll only make it seem more futuristic when it does. Because, damn, 2018 sure sounds like the future to my old ass.
The band sent their tour dates down the PR wire with a general update, and you can find all that below. They’ve got an open day on May 5 and I think they were looking at Berlin for it. If you happen to be in that part of the world and can help them out, frickin’ do that.
Poster and whatnots:
No Man’s Valley – Time Travel Tour 2017
No Man’s Valley is proud to announce Time Travel Tour 2017! The band’s first genuine tour outside The Netherlands will take the band through Germany, Switzerland, and Austria and will involve over 4000 kilometers of head-spun road tripping. Aside from the festivals and headliner shows No Man’s Valley is also proud to be supporting US spacerock heroes Farflung in Dresden!
NMV will mostly play songs from their well-praised 2016 debut album Time Travel, as well as some brand new scorchers from the follow-up record that is being written at the moment…we’re psyched to finally get out there and meet as many of you beautiful people as we possibly can!!!
No Man’s Valley Time Travel Tour 2017: Sa 29-04 Kulturherberge Westfeld DE Su 30-04 Giesser Fest Leipzig DE Mo 01-05 Groovestation Dresden DE w/ Farflung Tu 02-05 Schwarze Erle Basel CH We 03-05 Epplehaus Tubungen DE Th 04-05 Derwisch Wien AT Fr 05-05 TBA Sa 06-05 Baron Mainz DE Sa 27-05 See You Again Fesval Wipperfurth DE
Posted in Reviews on December 26th, 2016 by JJ Koczan
2016 ends and 2017 starts off on the right foot with a brand new Quarterly Review roundup. The first time I ever did one of these was at the end of 2014 and I called the feature ‘Last Licks.’ Fortunately, I’ve moved on from that name, but that is kind of how I’m thinking about this particular Quarterly Review. You’ll find stuff that came out spread all across 2016, early, middle, late, but basically what I’m trying to do here is get to a point where it’s not March and I’m still reviewing albums from November. Will it work? Probably not, but in order to try my damnedest to make it do so anyway, I’m making this Quarterly Review six full days. Monday to Monday instead of Monday to Friday. 60 reviews in six posts. Sounds like madness because it is madness. Let’s get started.
Quarterly Review #1-10:
Hornss, Telepath
San Francisco trio Hornss debuted on RidingEasy Records with 2014’s No Blood No Sympathy (review here) and further their raw genre blend on Telepath, their half-hour follow-up LP delivered via STB, melding heavy punk and metallic impulses to a noisy, thick-toned thrust on songs like “Atrophic” and the bouncing “Sargasso Heart” while opener “St. Genevieve” and the penultimate “Old Ghosts” dig into more stonerly nod. The latter track is the longest inclusion on the record at 3:26, and with 11 cuts there’s plenty of jumping between impulses to be done, but the trio of guitarist/vocalist Mike Moracha, bassist/vocalist Nick Nava – both formerly of desert punkers Solarfeast – and drummer Bil Bowman (ex-Zodiac Killers) work effectively and efficiently to cast an identity for themselves within the tumult. It’s one that finds them reveling in the absence of pretense and the sometimes-caustic vibes of songs like “Leaving Thermal,” which nonetheless boast an underlying catchiness, speaking to a progression from the first album.
Easily justifiable decision on the part of Denver’s Khemmis to return to Flatline Audio and producer Dave Otero (Cephalic Carnage, etc.) for their second album, Hunted. No reason to fix what clearly wasn’t broken about their 2015 debut, Absolution (review here), and on the 20 Buck Spin Records release, they don’t. A year later, the four-piece instead build on the doomly grandeur of the first outing and push forward in aesthetic, confidence and purpose, whether that’s shown in mournful opener “Above the Water,” the darker “Candlelight” that follows, or the centerpiece “Three Gates,” which opens as muddied death metal before shifting into a cleaner chorus, creating a rare bridge between doom and modern metal. Khemmis save the most resonant crush for side B, however, with the nine-minute “Beyond the Door” capping with vicious stomp before the 13-minute title-track, which closes the album with an urgency that bleeds even into spacious and melodic break that sets up the final apex to come, as emotionally charged as it is pummeling.
In addition to the outright charm of titles like “Doominati,” “Coup d’étwat,” “Murdercycle” and “Urinal Acid” (the latter a bonus track), Rochester, New York’s Fox 45 offer fuzzy roll on their Twin Earth Records debut full-length, Ashes of Man, the three-piece of Amanda Rampe, Vicky Tee and Casey Learch finding space for themselves between the post-Acid King nod of “Necromancing the Stone” and more swing-prone movements like the relatively brief “Soul Gourmandizer.” Playing back and forth between longer and shorter tracks gives Ashes of Man a depth of character – particularly encouraging since it’s Fox 45’s first record – and the low-end push that leads “Phoenix Tongue” alone is worth the price of admission, let alone the familiar-in-the-right-ways straightforward heavy riffing of “Narcissister” a short while later. Very much a debut, but one that sets up a grunge-style songwriting foundation on which to build as they move forward, and Fox 45 seem to have an eye toward doing precisely that.
Double-guitar Pittsburgh four-piece Monolith Wielder make their self-titled debut through Italian imprint Argonauta Records, bringing together Molasses Barge guitarist Justin Gizzi and Zom guitarist/vocalist Gero von Dehn with bassist Ray Ward (since replaced by Amy Bianco) and drummer Ben Zerbe (also Mandrake Project) for 10 straightforward tracks that draw together classic Sabbathian doom with post-grunge heavy rock roll. There’s a workingman’s sensibility to the riffing of “No Hope No Fear” and the earlier, more ‘90s moodiness of “Angels Hide” – von Dehn’s vocals over the thick tones almost brings to mind Sevendust on that particularly catchy chorus – but Monolith Wielder’s Monolith Wielder isn’t shy about bringing atmospherics to the Iommic thrust of its eponymous cut or the penultimate “King Under Fire,” which recalls the self-titled Alice in Chains in its unfolding bleakness before closer “Electric Hessian” finishes with a slight uptick in pace and a fade out and back in (and a last sample) that hints at more to come.
The stomp and clap intro “The Man Who Would be King” casts an immediately bluesy hue on No Man’s Valley’s debut album, Time Travel (LP release on Nasoni), and the Netherlands-based five-piece seem only too happy to build on that from there. It’s a blend outfits like The Flying Eyes and Suns of Thyme have proffered for several years now between heavy psychedelia and blues, but No Man’s Valley find a niche for themselves in the dreamy and patient execution of “Sinking the Lifeboat,” a highlight of the eight-track/33-minute LP, and bring due personality to the classic-style jangle-and-swing of “The Wolves are Coming” as well, so that Time Travel winds up more textured than redundant as it makes its way toward six-minute piano-laden finale “Goon.” Once there, they follow a linear course with a post-All Them Witches looseness that solidifies into a resonant and deeply engaging apex, underscoring the impressive reach No Man’s Valley have brought to bear across this first LP of hopefully many to come.
Barcelona classic rocking four-piece Saturna seem to avoid the boogie trap when they want to, as on the more rolling, modern heavy groove of “Five Fools,” and that keeps their World in Sound/PRC Music third album, III/Lost in Time, from being too predictable after the opening “Tired to Fight” seems to set up Thin Lizzy idolatry. They dip into more complex fare on “Leave it All,” somewhere between Skynyrd leads, Deep Purple organ-isms topped with a rousing hook, but keep some shuffle on songs like “Disease” and the earlier “All Has Been Great.” Highlight/closer “Place for Our Soul” seems to be literal in its title, with a more subdued approach and harmonized vocal delivery, and listening to its more patient delivery one can’t help but wonder why that soul should be relegated to the end of the album instead of featured throughout, but the songwriting is solid and the delivery confident, so while familiar, there’s ultimately little to complain about with what III/Lost in Time offers.
Especially with the title of their second EP set as Hate from the Bong, one might be tempted to put Belgian outfit MØLK immediately in the same category of malevolent stoner/sludge metal as the likes of Bongripper, but frankly they sound like they’re having too much fun for that on the five-tracker, reveling in lyrical shenanigans on the politically suspect “Stonefish” and opener “Methamphetamine.” Make no mistake, they’re suitably druggy, but even Hate from the Bong’s title-track seems to keep its tongue in cheek as it unfolds its post-Electric Wizard echoes and tonal morass. That gives the five-piece an honest vibe – they’re a relatively new band, having released their first EP in 2016 as well; why shouldn’t they be having a good time? – to coincide with all that thickened low end and vocal reverb, and though they’re obviously growing, there isn’t much more I’d ask of them from a debut full-length, which is a task they sound ready to take on in these songs.
Italian cult rock outfit Psychedelic Witchcraft have proven somewhat difficult to keep up with over the last year-plus. As they’ve hooked up with Soulseller Records and reissued their Black Magic Man EP (review here), their full-length debut, The Vision, and already announced a follow-up compilation in 2017’s Magick Rites and Spells, the band consistently work to feature the vocals of Virginia Monti (also Dead Witches) amid semi-retro ‘70s-style boogie, as heard on the debut in cuts like “Witches Arise” and “Wicked Ways.” At nine tracks/34 minutes, however, The Vision is deceptively efficient, and though they’re unquestionably playing to style, Psychedelic Witchcraft find room to vary moods on “The Night” and the subdued strum of “The Only One Who Knows,” keeping some sonic diversity while staying largely on-theme lyrically. To call the album cohesive is underselling its purposefulness, but the question is how the band will build on the bluesy soulfulness of “Magic Hour Blues” now that they’ve set this progression in motion. Doesn’t seem like it will be all that long before we find out.
Following the heavy post-rock wash of their 2016 debut album, Tidals, Brooklynite two-piece Spotlights – bassist/guitarist/vocalist Sarah Quintero and guitarist/synthesis/vocalist Mario Quintero – return on the quick with a three-track EP, Spiders, and set themselves toward further sonic expansion. The centerpiece “She Spider” is a Mew cover, electronic beats back opener “A Box of Talking Heads V2” and the spacious closer “Joseph” is a track from Tidals remixed by former Isis drummer Aaron Harris. So, perhaps needless to say, they hit that “expansion” mark pretty head-on. The finale turns out to be the high point, more cinematic in its ambience, but still moving through with an underlying rhythm to the wash of what one might otherwise call drones before becoming more deeply post-Nine Inch Nails in its back half. How many of these elements might show up on Spotlights’ next record, I wouldn’t guess, but the band takes an important step by letting listeners know the potential is there, adding three wings onto their wheelhouse in three tracks, which is as efficient conceptually as it is sonically immersive.
This self-titled second full-length from Malmö, Sweden-based Moon Coven begins with its longest track (immediate points) in “Storm” and works quickly to nail down a far-reaching meld between heavy psych and riffy density. Issued through the much-respected Transubstans Records, it’s a nine-track/50-minute push that can feel unipolar on an initial listen, but largely avoids that trap through tonal hypnosis and fluid shifts into and out of jams on cuts like “The Third Eye,” while centerpiece “Haramukh High” provides a solidified moment before the organ interlude “The Ice Temple” leads into the mega-roll of finisher “White Sun.” What seems to be a brooding sensibility from the artwork – a striking departure from their 2014 debut, Amanita Kingdom – is actually a far more colorful affair than it might at first appear, and well justifies the investment of repeat visits in the far-out nod of “Conspiracy” and the swirling “Winter,” which goes so far as to add melodic texture in the vocals and notably fuzzed guitar, doing much to bolster the proceedings and overarching groove.
Dutch heavy psych-blues rockers No Man’s Valley will release their debut album, Time Travel, this summer on Nasoni Records. “Kill the Bees” is the second track on the record after intro “The Man Who Would be King,” and the LP version is a bit longer than that which appears with the band’s new video, but the clip still offers more than enough of a glimpse to give a sense of the atmosphere in which the band is working; a line of heavy blues not dissimilar from The Flying Eyes‘ classic swing and swagger, but of rapidly developing character on cuts like “Sinking the Lifeboat” and the appropriately-howling “The Wolves are Coming.” By the time they get around to the penultimate title-track and piano-laden closer “Goon,” No Man’s Valley have reached beyond where they started out, but they never quite let go of that core of liquefied blues rock that ties the songs together.
And in putting the emphasis on that, “Kill the Bees” starts out Time Travel with a catchy hook and easy swing. As to the bees themselves? Could be the blues, if the video is anything to go by. The prevailing vibe is melancholy but the song doesn’t lack movement by any means, and the clip seems to follow a kind of grueling creative process at work, winding up kind of manic visually but with resolution to that process ultimately. The song, smoothly edited, does likewise, so all the better.
You can find the video for “Kill the Bees” below, followed by the credits for its making.
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 17th, 2016 by JJ Koczan
Netherlands-based heavy psych rockers No Man’s Valley have signed on with Nasoni Records for the Summer 2016 release of their debut album, Time Travel. A first glimpse of what’s on offer with the record is available now in a new teaser clip posted below, and in its quick 40 seconds you’ll find modern heavy blues à la The Flying Eyes and poised space prog in the Floydian tradition, all of which dogwhistles a psychedelic breadth to follow-up on the Horst-based five-piece’s prior EPs, 2012’s Mirror Image and 2014’s And Four Other Songs EPs and that same year’s The Wolves are Coming two-songer.
I know I’ve said this before, but there are few labels who carry the same kind of weight for me in terms of taste as does Nasoni. Generally speaking, a Nasoni Records logo is about all the endorsement I need to make me want to hear a given album, so when it comes to No Man’s Valley getting that endorsement, it’s even more impressive considering it’s their first album. Looking forward to it.
The official announcement, live dates and the aforementioned teaser follow here:
Dutch Psychedelic organ-infused waveblues band No Man’s Valley signs with Nasoni Records!
We are proud to announce that we will release our debut album Time Travel through Berlin-based cult label Nasoni Records. We will do a limited edition (300x) vinyl album on clear vinyl. The record will be released in summer, an exact date is yet to be determined. So say tuned! In the meanwhile, consider yourself teased and if you feel like seeing us live, here are our upcoming dates:
