Burnt Counters, the latest full-length from Texas-based experimentalist solo-project Slow Draw, came out yesterday, April 12. It is the second album of 2026 for multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Mark Kitchens (also of Stone Machine Electric and the Obelisk co-presented festival Heavy Mash) behind February’s Is it Death Metal or Sadness? (review here), and as one both would and wouldn’t expect, a marked departure in form.
Slow Draw in these eight songs embraces more of a full-band sound, and what that generally but not exclusively means is that the drones that have typified some of the more accessible moments of the project are here backed by drums. That doesn’t apply to the nonetheless Earth-y feedbacky lines under the long sample in opener “Entrances and Exits” — which, hey, I know we’re here for an album premiere, but there’s a video that’s brand new too and you’ll find that down near the bottom like shh it’s a secret — but it for sure distinguishes the self-jamming low heavy psych fuzz of “Crush” and the subsequent “Totems,” which runs eight minutes and like the leadoff has space carved out for its sampling, though there are also verses. Kitchens embracing a variety of forms is nothing new for Slow Draw, but the folkgaze of “As I Stare” is both a preface for the later acoustic guitar of the penultimate “Walk in the Woods with Dad,” and a meditation that speaks to the willyfully Om-ian central line of “Escape,” the title of which is acutely aware of what it’s offering the listener.
“Roadblock” brings a more Melvinsy chug to the band-methodology of “Crush,” and while Kitchens is tentative on vocals, the low-in-the-mix and largely-raw presentation of his voice fits with the off-genre sensibility of Slow Draw generally — that is to say, he’s doing the thing, but in his own way. That’s very much been Slow Draw‘s defining ethic, wherever a given release has gone in terms of sound, and the field recordings and plucked strings of “Walk in the Woods with Dad” hold no less emotional resonance for the weirdness that pervades around them. Rather, the different sides enhance each other across the 41 minute of the album, and as Burnt Counters caps with its title-track, it departs once again, this time into a cosmic sprawl that feels like it was intentionally left undrummed to emphasize the float. There’s a sample, obscure but there like a garbled transmission, and the keys and maybe guitar have been duly warped to coincide.
Kitchens cites the Burnt Counters as more personal, and the intimacy of “Walk in the Woods with Dad,” and the scientific framing of atheism in the sample across “Entrances and Exits” feels like a purposefully-placed thesis as if to say, “here’s what we’re thinking about this time.” Such clarity of communication is an element that has taken hold over time in Slow Draw, and as Kitchens continues to feel his way forward as a vocalist, learning and growing with each release, the focus there on Is it Death Metal or Sadness?, much of which was based in captured off-the-cuff everyday sing-songing, the turn that Burnt Counters represents feels dramatic on its own, but in the context of Kitchens‘ continued plunge into the aural unknown, it’s a fascinating place for him to end up this time around and organically proves the concept of Slow Draw as both an emotionally expressive solo outlet and a full band jamming.
Where it goes from here, of course, is anybody’s best guess.
That too is part of the appeal. Slow Draw has occupied reaches political and aesthetic, and the can-be-anything arthouse persona serves Kitchens well on Burnt Counters. It also builds on the vibrant living-creative documenting of Is it Death Metal or Sadness?, because the artistic growth feels born of and in response to genuine human experience.
As always, I hope you enjoy. Kitchens‘ explanation of Burnt Counters follows the player below, with the premiere of the “Entrances and Exits” video. Of course the full album is near the bottom of the post. For best results, approach with an open mind. Yes, all of it:
Slow Draw, “Entrances and Exits” video premiere
Mark Kitchens’ (one third of Stone Machine Electric) long-running solo project Slow Draw deals in patient and often unsettling drone, ambient, and psychedelia. Following 2025’s album The People’s Department of Governmental Checks & Balances and its penchant for heavy, distorted nightmare fuel, Kitchen returns with new album Burnt Counters. Dark and poignant in new ways, “Burnt Counters” carves out a very personal corner of Slow Draw’s discography.
IN THE BAND’S OWN WORDS:
“This recording of this album started in the summer of 2024, after I had the experience of a pulmonary embolism followed by a pneumothorax. Some of these songs are about that and reinforced my thoughts on certain topics. Most of this album was recorded in 2024, but it lagged into 2025 and wrapped up in January of 2026.
“I bounced back and forth on whether to give it a full band sound, or to make it sound how it might if I performed it live by myself. As you’ll hear, I went with the full band sound. It is a studio album, so if and when I play any of these live, it will be a different experience.
“Burnt Counters is a more personal album than others. My father passed away in November 2025, commemorated in Walk in the Woods with Dad. My wife, Lynda, provided lyrics for As I Stare. Roadblock is specifically about my health experiences in 2024. If I had ignored my body, I may not be here now.”
Slow Draw – Burnt Counters Album out April 12th Self-released (CD, Digital) Hurst, Texas
Tracklist: 1. Entrances & Exits (5:18) 2. Crush (4:18) 3. Totems (8:05) 4. As I Stare (2:40) 5. Roadblock (5:03) 6. Escape (6:13) 7. Walk in the Woods with Dad (4:22) 8. Burnt Counters (5:12)
Posted in Reviews on March 19th, 2026 by JJ Koczan
Feeling dug in, which I take as a good sign. There’s been a decent portion of this QR that’s catching up from last Fall onward, and I would’ve liked to cover some of that sooner, but honestly I struggled to find a week-plus to do this and lost an additional month by the time I did. So if you’re like ‘duh this is old’ to some of it — there are also releases that aren’t out yet — I apologize. In 10 years it won’t matter that whatever it was came out last October.
On that happy note, back to it.
Quarterly Review #31-40:
Witchcraft, A Sinner’s Child
Sweden’s Witchcraft follow their 2025 full-length, Idag (review here), with the five-song EP A Sinner’s Child, which runs a similar, if condensed, gamut, from founding frontman Magnus Pelander‘s solo acoustic folk to lumbering, heavy doom and points between. Pelander plays all the instruments on rolling opener “Drömmen Om Död Och Förruttnelse,” the minimal guy-and-guitar “Even Darker Days,” and the morosely weighted “Själen Reser Sig,” while the full-band title-track “A Sinner’s Child” and its closing alternate-lyrics companion-piece “Sinner’s Clear Confusion” are defined as much by the emotive blues of the vocals as by the wistfully strummed electric guitar that accompanies. “A Sinner’s Child” is between the two sides of “Själen Reser Sig” and “Even Darker Days,” sound-wise (it’s before them in the tracklisting) and underscores that it’s not just the extremes that Pelander/Witchcraft inhabit, but the intricate places between as well. I don’t know if it’s leftovers from the record or filler or what, and I don’t care. Just happy it exists and the band are making music, thanks.
Well, Portland and post-punk, so yes, Dead Moon are a factor, but PDX trio Perfect Buzz keep the songwriting tight and headed in their own, vividly rocking direction. The punk roots come out in “Here Come the Cowgirls,” with a shimmer in the guitar that’s unexpected, particularly after “You’re Wrong” was so sure of itself pounding its titular chorus into your head, but the heavier opener “Mess Around” sets a heavy-alternative expectation, and even the proto-grunge riffing of “Gonna Make U Sweat” is drawn under that umbrella. If you see them compared to Mudhoney, that’s probably why. But “Gonna Make U Sweat” is also the longest song at 3:28, and nothing else tops three minutes, so it’s not like Happy Trails is wasting anyone’s time. Instead, Perfect Buzz‘s debut EP showcases varied intent brought together by sharp, clearly-nobody’s-first-time-at-the-dance craft. Each of the four tracks sets out to do, and does, something different, while adding depth to the persona of the band, still being shaped but already a good time.
Raw sludge metallers Smoke Rites offer visceral and disaffected doom on their second full-length, Eager Eyes of Talion, marked by the forward-in-the-mix gritty vocals of Tomasz Mielnik, whose harsh-throated shouts, growls and divergences into clearer singing top the weighted, rolling processions of guitarist Łukasz Borawski, bassist Adam Ziółkowski and drummer Michał Kamiński, resulting in a suitably filthy sound. It’s dark-themes-for-dark-times in “Golden Road,” the title-track and the chugging “Nothing Never,” and certainly “Death is a Five Letter Word” and “Wind of Most Cruel Kind” aren’t offering much in terms of comfort. Even the interlude “Charas Drift” is brought to a harsh place, but Eager Eyes of Talion stays grounded in the muddy shove of “10ft. Dread” and the comparative loll of “Devil’s Advocate,” and doesn’t feel like it’s hading out any more punishment than is due. In a mad world, madness feels reasonable. Here we are.
Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean, Let Us Not Speak of Them But Look and Pass On
Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean uphold a long Massachusetts legacy of extreme sludge, and the four-song EP, Let Us Not Speak of Them But Look and Pass On, is duly facepeeling. Obviously “An Abundance of Mercy,” the nine-minute opener, is ironically titled. Mercy doesn’t really apply in the post-deity gnashing void the band portray, abrasive and churning. The lead cut is a slower assault where “Upheaval” is faster and more outwardly violent. “An Adornment of Light” might take home the prize for the lyric “I can show you/Just how broken/A wing can be,” if not for its seven-minute succession of massive lumber and throatripping screams or the ping ride in the last minute, like it’s marking the steps to where you jump in the volcano. Speaking of, “Execution” closes with a summary made more volatile for smashing elements together, but across the board, it’s a litmus test for how much noise you can take, which, since you’re alive today, is obviously more than any people at any other time in history could, so yes, have at it.
This might be genius. Hurst, Texas, solo experimentalist Mark Kitchens (also Stone Machine Electric) offers 11 sub-minute-long — the longest track is Hugging Curbs at 41 seconds — snippets, song ideas, root melodies, and tossoffs on Is it Death Metal or Sadness. Most are voice-based, but like opener “Big Dipper Little Dipper,” “Lynda and Her Celery,” “Almonds and Pistachios” and “Steven Lee Hall Junior” and “In the Pharmacy,” most have some synth or percussive accompaniment, and for most the lyrics are basically the titles. Maybe the most telling of all, centerpiece “Banana Time” — the lyric, “It’s banana time in the kitchen” — sounds like it was probably thought up while Kitchens was getting a banana. Five-second closer “Season My Eggs” — “I forgot to season my eggs, yeah-heah,” in a rocker voice — is likewise true to life. The reason this might be genius is because it reflects the ways music interacts with your daily life. Maybe you do sing a little song while you’re getting a banana, or get a hook in your head like the multi-layered “3 and 7” out of nowhere. It’s the sense of spontaneity captured. It turns out neither to be death metal nor sadness, and that could hardly be more fitting for the project.
Once they start rolling out that fuzz, there’s little stopping (and why would you?) German heavy rockers Capacopter who, working under influence from early Queens of the Stone Age via modern forerunners Slomosa, present their self-titled first LP with all due electricity and grooving intent. Hooks abound as in opener “600 Years” and the desert-airy “Caravan,” and they keep structures pretty straightforward for the eight-song duration — has Noisolution heard this? — but there’s some branching out in “Half’n Inch” at the start of side B, and “JP’s Horse” and closer “Wandering Stones” take time for atmospherics as well, while “Kings and Crowds” and “Temple Son” are, on balance, more direct, though songwriting is a factor front-to-back. The album ends up being a mix, and there are highlight stretches in the quieter moments as well, but as a statement of intent, Capacopter posits them as rockers, and fair enough. An encouraging and promising debut album. There’s growing into themselves to do, but there’s also time to do it.
Dense to a point of opaqueness at its heaviest, but able as well to shift into and through ambient passages, Monovoth‘s To Live in the Breath of Worship feels emotive without words and finds the despondent post-metallic Buenos Aires solo-project exploring tense and grimly progressive reaches. The third LP in five years from multi-instrumentalist Lucas Wyssbrod, it doesn’t shy from extremity in “Crimson Red Wound” or the blastbeaten-until-it-drones-in-apology 16-minute closer “To Drown in the Tears of God” (there is a human voice there), but is no more defined by that than the subdued bleakness of its stillest moments, nor is it overly predictable in the movements between those two sides, or unipolar in how it executes one or the other. This variability, flexibility, allows “Cosmically Orphaned” and earlier opener “From a Dying Star” to tell a similar story in different ways, and makes the album as a whole a more complete, immersive experience. It’s also noisy as hell, and that helps too.
Opening cut “Kronologia” (8:32) is the shortest of the three inclusions on Pimeyden Harha‘s severe-cast, wholly-doomed full-length debut, Aika, by about half. The subsequent “Rauha” (16:01) and “Entisöijä” (19:27) render the opener as lead-single fare, but rest assured, the solo outfit has plenty of doom to go around, whether it’s longform or, you know, sorta-longform. Lyrics, and somehow also the instruments, are in Finnish, and most of what keeps Aika from being death-doom is the melodic chant of sole-denizen/multi-instrumentalist J. LaCoin‘s vocals. Tempos are mostly a crawl, but “Rauha” lets you know up front it’s going to thrash out at the finish, and yes, it does, and there’s a bit of pickup in the later reaches of “Entisöijä” as well, but the bulk of the record is willed as a morose plod, and the atmosphere is accordingly grey. To its credit, however, Aika holds firm to its intent and doesn’t veer from its path as the songs play out; the most divergence happens in “Koronologia,” and it’s brief. That’s not to say Pimeyden Harha comes across as unipolar, just that it’s a sound crafted with a goal in mind. As a debut, one might call it foreboding.
The only real question going into this debut album by Spain’s Wild Fuzz Trip is whether or not the five tracks on Fuzz Transmissions live up to the billing. Are they, in fact, a wild fuzz trip? Well, yes. Whether you’re dug into the mellow midsection of “Big Grey” or the more uptempo boogie into meatier riffing that happens over the course of centerpiece “Galactican Twilight,” the double-guitar troupe — here guitarists Miguel A. Marañón and Diego López (also keys), bassist Andy Shardlow (Josiah) and drummer Suso Valcárcel and Martin Ludl on the sax in closer “Nebula Groove” — are right there with you, and though they’ve been a band for eight years and this is apparently their first LP, the surety of their going speaks to the slew of EPs and single releases leading up to it. They neither wasted their time nor waste yours as the listener, bringing their ambition to life in an expansive sound one hopes will continue to flesh out.
Breadth and crush, expressive human intimacy and instrumental expanse, post-metallic chiaroscuro, etc., however you want to frame Gavran‘s The One Who Propels, the Rotterdam four-piece find their niche in style with a sound that basks in its multifaceted nature across five longer-form cuts, each of which plays out with a balance between two-plus sides, melodically sung here and abrasively screamed there, conveying emotion in the lulls of “Brod” as much as the next-level-obliteration that kicks in for (about) the final minute of “Okreni.” “Zora” and “Pogon” both start very, very heavy, but even there, a change in the vocals provides distinction amid tonal consistency, and Gavran are served across the 59-minute span by their attention to detail in terms of arrangement as well as the depth of mix which sometimes they seem to occupy to a point of spilling out, only to recede again and let the next melodic contemplation hold sway. The resulting entirety is viciously affirming as it leads to 16-minute capper “Plutaju,” which methodically encapsulates the course of the album while continuing to carve its own place.
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 3rd, 2026 by JJ Koczan
I didn’t even get the chance to review the last one yet! Burnt Counters, which is out April 12, is kind of like Slow Draw‘s proper follow-up to 2025’s The People’s Department of Governmental Check and Balances (review here), is not the first release from Mark Kitchens‘ solo-project on 2026. Last month, Kitchens dropped the sub-10-minute Is it Death Metal or Sadness?, which was both a tongue-in-cheek experiment and a hard-hitting look at the way music and the mundane interract.
Burnt Counters seems to be going for something more drone-based and expressive, and fair enough. The palette for Slow Draw has been broad since the project’s outset, so I would still expect plenty persistence of weird, and so much the better.
The PR wire has it like this:
New ambient/noise album from Slow Draw (Mark Kitchens of Stone Machine Electric), “Burnt Counters”, out April 12th; lead single “Roadblock” out March 13th
Ambient soundscapes, lightly steeped in exploratory psych and the meditative drawn-out cadence of drone
Mark Kitchens’ (one third of Stone Machine Electric) long-running solo project Slow Draw deals in patient and often unsettling drone, ambient, and psychedelia. Following 2025’s album The People’s Department of Governmental Checks & Balances and its penchant for heavy, distorted nightmare fuel, Kitchen returns with new album Burnt Counters. Dark and poignant in new ways, “Burnt Counters” carves out a very personal corner of Slow Draw’s discography.
IN THE BAND’S OWN WORDS:
“This recording of this album started in the summer of 2024, after I had the experience of a pulmonary embolism followed by a pneumothorax. Some of these songs are about that and reinforced my thoughts on certain topics. Most of this album was recorded in 2024, but it lagged into 2025 and wrapped up in January of 2026.
“I bounced back and forth on whether to give it a full band sound, or to make it sound how it might if I performed it live by myself. As you’ll hear, I went with the full band sound. It is a studio album, so if and when I play any of these live, it will be a different experience.
“Burnt Counters is a more personal album than others. My father passed away in November 2025, commemorated in Walk in the Woods with Dad. My wife, Lynda, provided lyrics for As I Stare. Roadblock is specifically about my health experiences in 2024. If I had ignored my body, I may not be here now.”
Slow Draw – Burnt Counters Album out April 12th Self-released (CD, Digital) Hurst, Texas
Tracklist: 1. Entrances & Exits (5:18) 2. Crush (4:18) 3. Totems (8:05) 4. As I Stare (2:40) 5. Roadblock (5:03) 6. Escape (6:13) 7. Walk in the Woods with Dad (4:22) 8. Burnt Counters (5:12)
Stone Machine Electric release their new album, Faces, this Friday, Sept. 26, through Argonauta Records. It is either the fifth or sixth full-length from the Hurst, Texas, veteran weirdos, depending on how you want to count 2014’s Garage Tape (review here), and it follows behind 2020’s The Inexplicable Vibrations of Frequencies Within the Cosmic Netherworld (review here) and the longest break between releases of the band’s career. Some of that time owes to the times, obviously, but the former duo of William “Dub” Irvin and Mark Kitchens became a trio, welcoming Erick Paxecko on bass. It’s not the first time since their outset that Irvin (guitar, vocals) and Kitchens (drums, vocals and tape manipulation; also of the experimentalist solo outfit Slow Draw) have branched out the configuration of the band, but there’s little arguing with the results across the six songs and 40 minutes of Faces. Nobody else takes jam-based material quite where Stone Machine Electric do, and Faces will be immediately recognizable to those familiar with their prior work.
That said, from the meditative vibe set by the keyboard/effects and vocals of Om-meets-Sabbath-meets-a-sludgy-end opener “Just Another Wizard” (you know, like Helmet and House of Pain’s “Just Another Victim” with its third eye open) and the encroaching march of “Walls of Hate,” which follows, through the six-minute finale “The Alp” (yes, singular), there are moments where the most surprising aspect of Faces is how straightforward it is. Even “Manic,” which is the longest inclusion at 9:27 and departs before it’s halfway through to a sprawling three-piece jam, returns to the structure from whence it came to bookend. That’s not to say there isn’t quirk to the craft or that the overarching impression of individuality has lessened, just that as “Chroma” takes Led Zeppelin through the wormhole and “Price of it All” pairs funky start-stops with grittier-delivered vocals, it wouldn’t be the first time Stone Machine Electric have fostered some commonality with their fellow Texans Wo Fat, whose Kent Stump is a frequent collaborator. Just by way of context, The Inexplicable Frequencies… was three songs and 45 minutes. That should be a stark enough difference to clue you in to an intentional change in methodology.
And it is easy to see the intent behind the change. I’m not sure everything can be boiled down to the advent of Paxecko in the group, but I’d suspect not, and no, these aren’t the first straight-ahead songs Stone Machine Electric have written, but they feel focused in a new way and while I don’t have the math to back this up, Faces certainly feels like the most vocally-centered the they have ever been. Considering their history of instrumentalism and general malleability of modus, maybe that’s not saying a ton, but even setting “Just Another Wizard” and the easy-riding swagger of “Price of it All” next to each other demonstrates a range being employed in the songs. So not only is Faces the most refined Stone Machine Electric have sounded to-date, but it keeps the unpredictability of their past work intact — not to mention being something of an unanticipated turn in itself. That you don’t know what’s coming next has been among the band’s strengths for the last 16 years. Somewhat ironically, aside from the participation of Irvin and Kitchens, it is their most reliable aspect.
Given that, I won’t hazard a prediction about where Faces might lead them. Instead, after five years, I’ll just say I’m glad the new album exists in the now. The doomjazz elements may have been put on a relative back-burner — either permanently or not, who knows — but there continues to be no mistaking Stone Machine Electric. The key difference is one of writing, of perhaps taking the parts of jams and assembling them so they function more as traditional songs, but in doing so, Faces feels no less adventurous than anything Stone Machine Electric have done in the past, and they approach their task with characteristic boldness, oddball angling, and depth of arrangement and tone. Their frequencies, their vibe, their affect, whatever you want to call it, remains almost entirely their own.
Please enjoy:
Stone Machine Electric, Faces album premiere
Texas-based power trio Stone Machine Electric are back with Faces, their most immersive and mind-bending album to date, set for release on September 26, 2025 via Argonauta Records.
Formed in 2009 by Mark Kitchens and William “Dub” Irvin, and joined by bassist Erick Paxecko in 2023, the band has spent over a decade crafting sonic landscapes rooted in stoner rock, doom, space and experimental vibes, building a loyal cult following in the US underground. Their previous releases, include the sprawling The Inexplicable Vibrations of Frequencies Within the Cosmic Netherworld and the live album Vivere.
Faces captures the full evolution of Stone Machine Electric’s sound: six tracks of introspective heaviness, slow grooves and expansive atmosphere. It’s the sound of a band tapping into the void and bringing back something real, raw and hypnotic.
Tracklist – Faces 1. Just Another Wizard – 07:53 2. Walls of Hate – 06:32 3. Chroma – 05:24 4. Manic – 09:26 5. Price of It All – 04:51 6. The Alp – 06:25
“Faces” will be released on September 26, 2025 on CD, digital and limited edition colored deluxe vinyl (300 copies only) via Argonauta Records.
Stone Machine Electric: Mark Kitchens: Drums, HC-TT, and Vocals William “Dub” Irvin: Guitar and Vocals Erick Paxecko: Bass
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 2nd, 2025 by JJ Koczan
The truth is you never really know what’s coming with Stone Machine Electric, so when you put on the new single “Chroma” in the creepy-mask-inclusive video below and find its central riff like something delivered by Helmet via Led Zeppelin‘s “Kashmir,” it’s a surprise, but it invariably was going to be. “Chroma” is markedly structured compared to some of the Hurst, Texas, outfit’s past work — drummer/vocalist Mark Kitchens (also Slow Draw) and guitarist William “Dub” Irvin brought on bassist Erick Paxecko in 2023, so a shift in dynamic makes sense, and it’s not their first song with a verse — but SME are not a haphazard band.
I can’t help but wonder if Faces, which will be the more manageably-titled follow-up to the band’s 2020 album, The Inexplicable Vibrations of Frequencies Within the Cosmic Netherworld (review here), will dig into jams elsewhere or if “Chroma” is signaling intent across the board this time out. No matter which way it goes, it’ll be fun to be surprised.
From the PR wire:
Doom Jazz Rockers Stone Machine Electric Reveal First Single And Video From The Upcoming New Album
Step into the void. STONE MACHINE ELECTRIC return with Chroma, the first single and official video from their upcoming new album Faces, set for release on Argonauta Records in early Autumn 2025.
Based in Texas and known for their signature blend of heavy psychedelia and doom-laced improvisation, a sound they call Doom Jazz, the trio delivers a hypnotic and crushing new chapter with Chroma. The track captures their dark, spacious, and deeply atmospheric approach.
Formed in 2009 by Mark Kitchens and William “Dub” Irvin, and completed by bassist Erick Paxecko in 2023, STONE MACHINE ELECTRIC have built a cult following with a string of self-released records, powerful live performances, and features in respected outlets.
“Chroma is a glimpse into the twisted heart of our upcoming album Faces,” say the band. “It captures where we are now: deeper, heavier, more experimental. We’re excited for this first taste to be out in the world.”
The full-length album Faces will be released in early Autumn 2025 via Argonauta Records. More details coming soon.
Stone Machine Electric are: William “Dub” Irvin – Guitar/Vocals Mark Kitchens – Drums/Vocals/Keyboard Erick Paxecko – Bass
Drone soloist Mark Kitchens, who operates under the moniker of Slow Draw with the experimentalist project, is on cusp of an April 29 release for his new five-song LP, The People’s Department of Governmental Checks and Balances. From the tense dub of its opening chapter “A Misleading Sense of Direction,” which sets its low-key beat and weaving line of synthesizer drone as a backdrop for a sample from air traffic control that I’m pretty sure returns backward on closer “Trying to Land,” the 35-minute work sets itself forth as a kind of resonant, individualized psychedelia distinct from what Kitchens has done with Slow Draw up to this point, but very much born out of those root creative impulses.
Consider that most drone you hear is made by guitarists. Kitchens handles a range of instruments inSlow Draw, but is also the drummer in Stone Machine Electric, and so that organic and electric beatmaking would be a part of his approach makes sense, even as the 12-plus-minute “Paradise of Fools” seems to be so much about the SunnO)))-style tonal overwhelm of its guitar. And fair enough, but while Kitchens spends a decent amount of the total runtime in that space, it’s still only part of the overarching impression, and Kitchens is no less purposeful in leaving the reaches open for most of “Inventing Scapegoats,” taking the placed-far-back vocals buried in the mix of the song prior and putting them as the swirling monasterial fog of the ongoing ritual exploration. Where “Paradise of Fools” was only missing drums to give a full-band feel — accomplishing a Megaton Leviathan-style avant drone-gaze in the meantime — “Inventing Scapegoats” is much quieter, to a point of minimalism early on, but does tip over to manifesting that full-band feel.
That in itself isn’t necessarily new. Kitchens had guitar/bass/drum solo arrangements on 2023’s The Mystic Crib (review here), and that rhythm would be part of the ideology even in a drone project for a drummer should be taken as no surprise. It’s the way Kitchens brings drone, psych and a kind of meditative feel together. “A Misleading Sense of Direction” is part of it in terms of setting the atmosphere, and “Paradise of Fools” reminds of Author & Punisher at its noisiest, so I’m not complaining about that either, but in “Inventing Scapegoats” and “Data Corrupter,” the latter of which sounds like it was recorded on a room mic filtered through a ColecoVision, Kitchens realizes something different in heavy psych and drone. It’s not quite drone-gaze, or heavy-gaze or whatever the difference might be between the two, but it draws from that as well as from the likes of Om and, in the case of the latter, its rough sound and samples make it sound all the more like a garage-psych dispatch from the apocalyptic now.
Each piece on The People’s Department of Governmental Checks and Balances — and if you find the implications of the cover art shocking, grow up; even David Brooks is calling for a popular uprising — adds something to the procession of the whole, and the kind of drummer’s-drone point of view can be heard in the jazzy motion of “Trying to Land,” which would seem to bookend with the leadoff, but in terms of Slow Draw making ‘songs,’ with vocals and changes and arrangements and so on, the album is an immediate standout in Kitchens‘ growing catalog. His journey to this point has brought him to a place of what feels like genuine stylistic discovery and a nascent process emerging in a project that has made experimentation a founding principle. I’m curious as hell to know where Kitchens might take Slow Draw from here, and his move toward songwriting is a big part of why.
The album streams in full below. Please enjoy:
The next Slow Draw work arrives April 29th with the new album “The People’s Department of Governmental Checks & Balances”.
IN THE BAND’S OWN WORDS:
“This album is a continuation of the frustration with current times and events as expressed in the recent release ‘Living in a Land of Scarecrows’. Things seem to be going in reverse, and nothing is logical, so, this mess of songs reflects that kind of chaos and frustration.
Since 2017, Mark Kitchens (one third of Stone Machine Electric) has been steadily releasing a series of singles and albums through his solo project Slow Draw. Informed by drone, ambient, psychedelia, and more, Slow Draw creates patient, exploratory soundscapes. At times unsettling, at others peaceful, Kitchens navigates his way through space and noise with unwavering intent.
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 20th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
As the actual governmental checks and balances are willfully eroded if not outright ignored, it’s good to know somebody’s thinking of breaking out the guillotine and returning to a classic solution to the oppressive forces of oligarchy. I’ll probably get put on a government watch list for posting the album cover of Slow Draw‘s The People’s Department of Governmental Checks and Balances — should be a protest sign if it isn’t one; I’d take a shirt if I could get white on black with the words on top (I’m pretty specific these days) — but the sentiment is welcome and it feels like anytime anybody is speaking out in a way more substantive than those Reels videos where some hyper-earnest-but-ultimately-doing-nothing 25-year-old sits down and tells you “this isn’t normal” for 30 seconds until the story cuts off.
There may not be a free press separate from corporate and/or political influence, and accountability may be a myth contigent on nothing more than what apparently until now was a belief in it, but it’s nice knowing you’re not alone while you’re hunkered down in your bunker/living room waiting for the nation to further unravel, daydreaming of an escape you likely won’t be lucky enough to make before you become a “it couldn’t happen here” cautionary tale. Horrors abound. At least the music’s good in this failed, shithole country.
From the PR wire:
Slow Draw – single “Trying to Land” – Ambient soundscapes, lightly steeped in exploratory psych and the meditative drawn-out cadence of drone out April 1st, 2025
Album “The People’s Department of Governmental Checks & Balances” out April 29th
Since 2017, Mark Kitchens (one third of Stone Machine Electric) has been steadily releasing a series of singles and albums through his solo project Slow Draw. Informed by drone, ambient, psychedelia, and more, Slow Draw creates patient, exploratory soundscapes. At times unsettling, at others peaceful, Kitchens navigates his way through space and noise with unwavering intent.
The next Slow Draw work arrives April 29th with the new album “The People’s Department of Governmental Checks & Balances”, led by the first of three singles, “Trying to Land”, out April 1st.
IN THE BAND’S OWN WORDS:
“This album is a continuation of the frustration with current times and events as expressed in the recent release ‘Living in a Land of Scarecrows’. Things seem to be going in reverse, and nothing is logical, so, this mess of songs reflects that kind of chaos and frustration.
The first single, ‘Trying to Land’, is about trying to reign it all in. Can you bring it in nice and smooth, or will it be rough and unpredictable? In this environment, you’ll never know until you are on the ground. Will it be rubble or business as usual?”
Slow Draw – The People’s Department of Governmental Checks & Balances
Single “Trying to Land” out April 1st, 2025 Album out April 29th (Digital, CD, limited run cassettes) Self-released Hurst, Texas
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 19th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
In the parlance of probabaly-not-our-times anymore, GTFO. Not that Stone Machine Electric signed to Argonauta — that’s good news and makes a lot of sense, hooray for everybody, hope a new record is coming soon, etc. — but that it’s been five years since Hurst, Texas’ number-one weirdo stone-fusion export last released an album.
Not that The Inexplicable Vibrations of Frequencies Within the Cosmic Netherworld (review here) wasn’t long-enough a title to hold the band over for half a decade, it just doesn’t feel like that much time has passed. Maybe part of that is that SME drummer Mark Kitchens has been keeping busy developing the experimentalist solo-project Slow Draw — he’s got a record coming out April 29; news post slated here for tomorrow for it — and maybe I’m just old and that’s how time passes now. I ask you, can’t it be both?
Stone Machine Electric were in the studio last year with Kent Stump at the helm, but I haven’t seen word of a release date or anything yet for what will be their first LP for Argonauta. Always worth keeping an eye on these guys though — they’re always up to some kind of shenanigans or other, usually of the distortion-fueled variety.
From the PR wire:
Psychedelic Stoner Rock Trio STONE MACHINE ELECTRIC Signs With Argonauta Records
Argonauta Records is thrilled to welcome Texas-based stoner rock trio Stone Machine Electric to its ever-growing roster of heavy, boundary-pushing artists! Renowned for their immersive and spacious brand of psychedelic jamming, which they have aptly named Doom Jazz, the band has been crafting their unique sonic identity since 2009.
Formed by Mark Kitchens and William (Dub) Irvin, Stone Machine Electric has been on an evolving journey, solidifying their lineup with the addition of bassist Erick Paxecko in 2023. Over the years, the band has independently released a demo, an EP, and five full-length albums, including their most recent record, The Inexplicable Vibrations of Frequencies Within the Cosmic Netherworld, which saw the light via Desert Records. Their dynamic and powerful live presence has also been captured on the album Vivere, released through Off The Record Label.
No strangers to the road, Stone Machine Electric has extensively toured their home state of Texas, making waves in Arizona, Oklahoma, and Louisiana, and sharing the stage with heavyweights like King Buffalo, Mothership, Wo Fat, and Jucifer. They have also left their mark on the Texas festival circuit, performing at End Hip End It, Fuzzed Out Fest, and Heavy Mash.
Now, with a new chapter unfolding, Stone Machine Electric is set to release their upcoming album Faces under the Argonauta Records banner. The band comments:
“We’re excited to work with Gero and Argonauta Records on releasing Faces as the next stop in our journey as Stone Machine Electric! It will be great to be a part of what Argonauta has contributed to the heavy underground and look forward to bringing our style of heavy into the fold of the other great bands that make up what this label is about. We are honored to work with Argonauta, and are looking forward to getting our new music out as far as it can reach.”
Stay tuned for more details on Faces, tour dates, and further announcements from Stone Machine Electric and Argonauta Records!
Stone Machine Electric are: William “Dub” Irvin – Guitar/Vocals Mark Kitchens – Drums/Vocals/Keyboard Erick Paxecko – Bass
different sides enhance each other across the 41 minute of the album, and as Burnt Counters caps with its title-track, it departs once again, this time into a cosmic sprawl that feels like it was intentionally left undrummed to emphasize the float. There’s a sample, obscure but there like a garbled transmission, and the keys and maybe guitar have been duly warped to coincide.
