Posted in Bootleg Theater on November 8th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
As you and I sit comfortably in our reclining easychairs, gently clinking crystal highballs of actually-old-fashioned old fashioneds and toasting the ease of our lives, Iowa two-piece Telekinetic Yeti are once again out on the road, slogging away and carrying a silly-billy amount of amplifiers and playing louder than is recommended by medical professionals. The yeoman’s work of riffs. They’re out with JD Pinkus, who if you were going to put a bassist in the band would be a good one for the job, and will hit up the Southeast region and a little bit in their native Midwest as they put yet more miles between themselves and last year’s Tee Pee Records label debut, Primordial (review here).
And yes, that album was primordial. Willfully lunkheaded in how it clubbed your unassuming skull with riff after fuzz-coated riff. And I’m glad to have the excuse to revisit it that the video provides. Maybe this is Telekinetic Yeti saying goodbye to Primordial as they round out the tour cycle and begin to think about moving forward again — they don’t strike me as the ‘go home for two years’ types, but one never knows — with new material and, subsequent to that, probably a whole other round of touring. I’m very glad I got to see them play these songs.
If you haven’t, there’s still time. Dates and PR wire info follow the clip below.
Please enjoy:
Telekinetic Yeti, “Beast” official video
TELEKINETIC YETI RELEASE “BEAST” VIDEO
ANIMATED CLIP COMES FROM BAND’S ALBUM, PRIMORDIAL
U.S. TOUR UNDERWAY; J.D. PINKUS SUPPORTS
Directed by Brodie Rush. Featuring Alex Baumann (guitar and vocals) and Rockwel Heim (drums).
The duo share the larger theme behind the track: “’Beast’ is a reflection on societal disillusionment and the inherent desire to escape the cyclical trap of wage slavery. Acknowledging that these empires are built on sand as well as the human need to escape the tentacles that bind us through mindless, obligatory, financially-centered routines facilitated by hypnotic black magic.”
Telekinetic Yeti have spent the past year-plus on the road supporting the well-received, 11-song Primordial, including multiple headlining treks and a stint with Weedeater. The band is in the midst of their final 2023 tour dates, playing tomorrow at Maggie Meyers in Huntsville, Ala. J.D. Pinkus opens on all remaining shows.
11/08/2023 Huntsville AL @ Maggie Meyers 11/09/2023 Little Rock AR @ Four Quarter 11/10/2023 Lafayette LA @ Freetown Boom Boom Room 11/11/2023 New Orleans LA @ Poor Boys 11/12/2023 Panama City Beach FL @ Moseys 11/15/2023 Cape Coral FL @ Nice Guys 11/16/2023 Tampa FL @ Brass Mug 11/17/2023 Jacksonville FL @ Kona Skatepark 11/18/2023 Savannah GA @ EL Rocko Lounge 11/19/2023 Charleston SC @ Trolley Pub 11/20/2023 Piedmont SC @ Tribbles 11/21/2023 Raleigh NC @ Pour House 11/22/2023 Atlanta GA @ Star Bar 11/24/2023 Wilmington NC @ Reggies 11/25/2023 Chesapeake Bay VA @ Riffhouse 11/26/2023 Bensalem PA @ Broken Goblet
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 12th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Think we’ll get a new record from these guys in 2024? I wouldn’t mind one showing up. Based in Iowa but spending markedly little time there the past couple years, Telekinetic Yeti seem to treat hard-touring as a defining ethic. This past summer, they undertook their first headlining stint on the US West Coast with the backing of Tone Deaf Touring, with support from Stinking Lizaveta, Somnuri and Rifflord (at various points, though that’d be a mean package tour if those are still a thing) after going to the UK in Spring with Weedeater and Mars Red Sky. At least to-date in the tenure of the band, this is what they do.
And 2022’s Primordial (review here), as the ostensible cause they’re supporting, stands up to the volume and vitality they bring to it on stage. It hasn’t been so long that the record has lost its mud-tinted luster, whatever that might even mean — I guess just that it still sounds good listening to it as I put this together — but for an act with such an intense focus on forward momentum, it might not be unreasonable to think that would extend to recording. Or maybe the full-color shirts do well enough on the road that they can take their time and keep re-pressing sold out LPs. Good work if you can get it. Also hard work. Fair enough.
They’re out this time with JD Pinkus of Butthole Surfers, Melvins, etc., which will certainly not make any given gig less raucous. Telekinetic Yeti put up the poster with a quick blurb on social media, and wouldn’t you know it, here it is:
Get ready! We are joining forces with JD Pinkus this fall for a road trip! Highly excited about this one! Get your tickets now! Where will we see you?
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 5th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Iowa’s Telekinetic Yeti, slotting comfortably into position as headliners. Can’t say they didn’t earn it, no matter what angle you want to see the question from. Their 2022 album, Primordial (review here), was the stuff of stoner doom memes not made by the band, and live the two-piece lay waste, as I was fortunate enough to see them do at Desertfest New York last Spring (review here). Right now they’re out in the UK with Weedeater and Mars Red Sky headed to Desertfest London this weekend, and when they come back from that, they’ve now got this summer stint lined up with support from instrumental prog-heavy legends Stinking Lizaveta — whose new album, Anthems andPhantoms, will have just come out on June 23 — as well as alternate openers Somnuri for most of the shows and Rifflord for the last few.
Incidentally — or more likely, not — Telekinetic Yeti and Stinking Lizaveta both played that day at Desertfest New York — Somnuri the day before — and while I don’t know if they met there or not, they’re both Tone Deaf Touring clients, and the shows are gonna be bangers. It’s not my job to sell you on a thing, but really, even if it was, I feel like this one sells itself. Megafuzz meets ultrajazz with crush and/or nod as a preface. That’s a good night.
Dates follow:
TELEKINETIC YETI Announces U.S. Summer Headlining Tour
Psychedelic doom duo Telekinetic Yeti will be embarking on a U.S. headlining tour this July with support from Stinking Lizaveta (all dates), Somnuri (July 5-26), and Rifflord (July 27-30). The extensive trek kicks off on July 5 in Des Moines, IA and will conclude on July 30 in Chicago, IL. The full itinerary and ticket links can be found below!
The band will be supporting its 2022 sophomore full-length, ‘Primordial,’ which was released on July 8, 2022 via Tee Pee Records. Stream/order/download HERE.
Telekinetic Yeti U.S. Tour Dates (w/ Stinking Lizaveta (all dates), Somnuri (July 5-26), and Rifflord (5/27-30): 07/05: Des Moines, IA @ Leftys 07/06: Denver, CO @ Hi Dive 07/07: Salt Lake City, UT@ Aces High Saloon (On Sale Friday May 5 @ 10:00 A.M. EDT) 07/08: Boise, ID @ Shredder (On Sale Friday May 5 @ 10:00 A.M. EDT) 07/11: Vancouver, BC @ The Wise 07/12: Bellingham, WA @ Shakedown 07/13: Seattle, WA @ Funhouse @ El Corazon 07/14: Portland, OR @ Dantes 07/15: Eugene, OR @ John Henrys 07/18: San Francisco, CA @ Bottom Of The Hill 07/19: Pacifica, CA @ Winters Tavern 07/20: Palmdale, CA @ Transplants Brewery 07/21: Hollywood, CA @ Knitting Factory 07/22: Mesa, AZ @ Nile Theatre 07/25: Oklahoma City, OK @ 89th St 07/26: Tulsa, OK @ Mercury Lounge 07/27: Lawrence, KS @ Bottleneck (On Sale Friday May 5 @ 10:00 A.M. EDT) 07/28: Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St Entry 07/29: Lincoln, NE @ Cosmic Eye 07/30: Chicago, IL @ Reggie’s Rock Club ALL TICKET LINKS: http://tonedeaftouring.com/yeti
Telekinetic Yeti is: Alex Baumann – Guitar/Vocals Rockwel Heim – Drums
Based in Davenport, Iowa, before they relocated to Oakland, California, Mondo Drag released New Rituals (review here) in 2010 through Alive Naturalsound as their debut album. In 2008, they’d released a CD-R (that’s right, kids) titled Holy Spirit, and New Rituals‘ second cut “Light as a Feather,” as well as the later pairing of “Apple” and “My, Oh My” featured on that as well, but one way or the other, New Rituals brought 11 songs and 51 minutes of vibrant, semi-traditionalist heavy psychedelia, fluid in its jamming and exciting in its twists of dual-guitars and keys.
The five-piece of guitarist/vocalist Nolan Girard, guitarist Jake Sheley, bassist Dennis Hockaday, keyboardist/saxophonist John Gamino and drummer/vocalist Johnnie Cluney launched with the sprawling, record-unto-itself nine-minute opener and longest inclusion (immediate points) title-track before the two-minute fuzz boogie of “Light as a Feather” and the spacious, jam-born, made-classy-by-the-keys-and-guitar “Love Me (Like a Stranger)” — one of several planets visited with deceptive efficiency to its circa-five minutes — continue to unfurl the scope of the release so that when the acoustic twang and jangle of the nonetheless Dead Meadow-esque “Come Through” starts, it’s not so much out of place as it is the next stop on the front-to-back journey in which the listener is taking part.
And while Mondo Drag at this point where nowhere near as pointed in their direction as they’d be six years later on their third full-length, 2016’s The Occultation of Light (review here), which was the prog-tinged answer to 2015’s Mondo Drag (review here) (recorded in 2012), the encompassing breadth of New Rituals holds its own place in their catalog and offers a persona distinct from what would come after.
Listening now, I like it better than I remember liking it when it came out. The band sounds adventurous and exploratory as they take the Stooges-with-organ psych bounce of “Serpent Snake” — built off of Holy Spirit‘s “Through the Eyes of Serpents,” but longer with a dream-blues break in the middle and subsequent hypnotic crescendo of two guitars soloing organ for added impact over the steady nod of the bass and drums. I stand by what I wrote in the review linked above — I went back and read it, which I don’t always do; one prefers to keep the vestiges of one’s sanity, and decade-old typos are bad for the soul — but I think ultimately I could’ve been kinder to New Rituals, and that perhaps in the last 13 years my ability to appreciate an album like this has grown.
As New Rituals casts an overarching and organic atmosphere to tie its songs together while seeming to follow one whim after the next in terms of the actual songwriting — the layer of acoustic guitar nestled into the mix on “True Visions” putting the lie to the notion that Mondo Drag were half as languid as they could come across when they wanted to or that their being so meant they were lazy in terms of craft, which “New Rituals” itself makes clear they weren’t even before everything that comes after reinforces the point — the band leave a trail behind that’s a joy to follow, and I’m only too glad to unironically call it rad in the going.
But they were cool in what was then a next-generation fashion of which I was wary, and I think that frame tinged how I heard it — also it’s not a minor undertaking at a bit shy of an hour; the vinyl version eliminates the CD’s closing duo “My, Oh My” and “Tallest Tales,” bringing the runtime down to a single LP’s 39 minutes — but if New Rituals came down the wire today, it would still sound fresh in its will toward a natural, band-in-room presentation, and it’s no more dated in its affect 13 years later than it seemed to want to be in the first place.
The tones are warm, the material is varied, with the melancholy drift that caps “True Visions” contrasted by the soon-to-be-melted initial garage rock push of “Apple” and the brightly folkish acoustics of the instrumental “Black River” just a couple examples of Mondo Drag‘s per-song shifts in purpose, and through it all the band retains a sense of character that comes through in how they play as well as in the production on which they collaborated with engineer Pat Stolley, who also mixed and deserves a thank-you card for his effort in that regard, succeeding in the probably significant challenge of nailing the balance of elements in “Come Through” and the markedly-less-country “Black River” as well as the fuzzed jabs of “Light as a Feather,” the wash that takes hold in “Serpent Snake,” and so on.
By the time they arrive at the clear-headed strum and stomp of “My, Oh My,” with its handclap-ready snare punctuation and mellow shuffle early and hand-percussion-inclusive still-controlled relative freakout in its second half, Mondo Drag have made a case for themselves as masters of understatement, pulling from divergent aspects of classic psychedelia, blues and progressive rock and creating a niche for themselves while showing potential for deep-dives to come. Formative, yeah, but satisfyingly done and promising in the extreme. I don’t know what else to ask of a debut album from a band like this, or what more I might’ve asked 13 years ago. Time does funny things sometimes.
The bass-and-toms foundation in “Tallest Tales” and the punches of guitar and keys that interject give New Rituals‘ finale a tense start, but the band smooth it out before launching into their last solo-topped stretch, loosely proto-metal but dug into its own ideas of what that means rather than the tropes of retroism that would continue to be set over the next couple years. But from hearing space rock that now reminds me of Temple Fang in “New Rituals” to the intentional meander of the back halves of “Love Me (Like a Stranger)” and “Apple,” hindsight gives a lot to appreciate in what Mondo Drag were able to accomplish in this first record, and as it’s been about four years since first word of a fourth album that may or may not manifest anytime soon (never say never in a universe of infinite possibilities), the chance to revisit this earlier stage of their development — and mine, if you count that review — has only furthered anticipation for what that shape that next release might take, if any.
As always, I hope you enjoy. Thank you for reading.
—
It’s 4:59AM now. I woke up around 2:35, just kind of got up. I’ll be tired tonight, but, well, I’m tired every night, and I’m pretty sure that even if I slept until five or six or whatever I would not be magically cured of fatigue on either practical or existential levels. I’ve been waking up early, before the alarm, all week. Maybe the last two weeks.
There’s never enough time. I have to remind myself that there’s never going to be. Constantly. I’ll never have time to do all the writing I want to do, let alone the energy, and that’s it. Accepting limitations. A work in progress. This whole thing, still. But if I can get up early and not have an unfinished sentence hanging over my head so that I’m not trying to sneak in a news post on my phone or something when I should be reading to my kid , well, that seems like it’s worth some effort on my part. Things will not always be as they are right now.
Another mantra, and one I employed liberally in what was a pretty up and down week. Half-days at school Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday threw the proverbial wrench in our routine, which sucked, and by Wednesday I was a wreck. Yesterday was somewhat better but the days are a drag and I feel pretty isolated in most of my relationships, including those with my wife and son, which are obviously the two most important in my life. It’s not a pleasant place to be, and I can feel my brain boil when I start to get overwhelmed, which happens pretty much daily. There’s always that voice in my head that tells me they’d be better off without me. I think it’s factually true — I’m not fishing for comments here, I’m stating the truth as I see it — that my presence is a net negative in the house and in their lives, especially his in these formative years. Hey kid, wanna learn how to be a miserable son of a bitch? The kind of guy who gets thrown off-balance by a five-year-old’s backtalk? Here’s how!
To be fair, some of his backtalk is infuriating, but the point stands. Apart from the basics of making sure he’s got food in his mouth and reading the same books 75 times, I’m not sure what good I’m actually doing him. Which makes me sad. All the time. Because the truth is I’m really, really trying to be better than I am, every day, and failing, every day. And basic tasks like putting OxyClean on carpet stains from a dry-boogers bloody nose he woke up with the other day are apparently beyond me, as the bleached-white stains upstairs now show; a reminder for years to come of my general incompetence and ineptitude. The Patient Mrs., in trying to talk me down from being upset about having ruined the carpet we had put in only like three years ago, could not deny that, had she handled it, the outcome would’ve been different.
Wednesday evening we had a parent-teacher conference with his teacher and two of his aides who’ve worked with him for the now-three school years he’s been in pre-K — one in pre-K 3, two in pre-K 4; for which he’s now old — and they talked about how far he’s come in social-emotional development, and it’s true. He’s worked hard and he continues to work hard, reasoning things out. He’s smart. Deadly smart, and quick like his mother. And stubborn since he was born. If he ever figures out what the fuck is going on with himself gender-wise, he’ll (or she’ll?) be on his (maybe their?) way. I wish he still went to OT, but it cost too much to keep going even after we argued for the new prescription to do so so that insurance would cover any of it. But I think everyone should go to OT, if only for practice breathing, so maybe I’m not the best judge.
I’m glad he’s doing well in school. I wish he and I were in a better place, as I seem to be the wall against which he so readily bangs his head — not an enviable role — but at least I can be the wall. And I’m trying not to be a prick to him. Or to The Patient Mrs., for that matter. Trying to give breaks when I can, to not be mad about inconsequential shit, to pick my battles and more often choose to not battle at all, but trying and doing are two different things, and I fail all the time.
Monday a review of the Speck/Interkosmos split, after that, in succession, premieres for Edena Gardens, Karma Vulture, Fatso Jetson and Dun Ringill, the latter a video for their new single. Gonna try to interview Cas from Sasquatch next week to advance the band headlining The Electric Highway, which the site is co-presenting with a butt-load of other entities of varying stripes, and might do a Gimme Metal thing with Johni from Ruff Majik, whose new album is a stunner on multiple levels. It’ll be streamed here on April 27, which is a Thursday, the day before it’s out. I’m already writing the review in my head, because at the most bottom of bottom lines, that’s precisely the kind of dork I am.
Was hoping to go see Jerry Cantrell this weekend and review but didn’t get approved for a ticket or photo pass. Humbling. This is why when people talk about how big or somehow-important this site is I give it so little credence. I’ve been doing this for 14 years and can’t even get on the list at the Wellmont in Montclair for a 50-something grunge guitarist with the dude from The Dillinger Escape Plan singing. I’ve interviewed both Cantrell and Greg Puciato in my time, but I’m nowhere near as cool as I used to be, legitimately. Ain’t even arguing. These periodic reminders are useful in helping me to know my place.
Quarter past six now. Kid’s been up since about 5:25. I didn’t bother trying to send him back to bed; that’s right on the line of when I would and there’s no sense starting the day with what would only be a frustration in the end. Gonna leave it there for now and pick back up on Monday. Thanks for reading and have a great and safe weekend. Don’t forget to hydrate. Should probably eat something too, if you’re into that.
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 27th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Early in 2022, Iowan two-piece Twin Wizard revisited their 2020 initial offering, Glacial Gods (review here), by presenting a (new version of the record) featuring the band’s then-newly-acquired guitarist/vocalist Matt Larson. Larson came aboard in place of Brad Van (also of Wisconsin’s Droids Attack), and fair enough to have another edition of the album to coincide. The lead presence in a duo, even if drummer Anthony Dreyer (ex-Telekinetic Yeti) is the founder, is not a minor change to make once a release is out, and if you’re trying to make an impression with a new band who’s going to be touring as Twin Wizard have, then you probably want a recording on hand that represents that.
So, Glacial Gods (Purple) — so named for the color of the sky on the cover art, which was originally red — is streaming below, and Twin Wizard will continue to support the cause as we move into 2023, with a healthy stretch of winter tour dates lined up that includes shows with King Buffalo, Greenbeard and a stint with North Carolina’s Ape Vermin, who released their Arctic Noise EP in 2021. As both groups have shows on either side of the tour together, you’ll find them listed separately below, which sounds a little confusing at first since obviously there’s overlap and that’s the point, but I believe in you and know you can handle it. In any case, RIFFS.
Here you have it:
TWIN WIZARD – Winter Tour 2023
Twin Wizard is thrilled to announce they are hitting the road this winter and joining forces with the mighty APE VERMIN! Twin Wizard is touring in support of their re-released record “Glacial Gods Purple”. Other dates will include bands such as King Buffalo and Greenbeard. Come party with us and Ape Vermin, see you all soon!
Twin Wizard’s Dates
Jan 14 Romeoville, IL @ Metal Monkey Brewing Jan 17 Iowa City, IA @ Gabe’s w/ King Buffalo Jan 20 Rock Island, IL @ Ribco Jan 25 Cedar Falls, IA @ Octopus College Hill Jan 26 Kansas City, MO @ Farewell Jan 27 Oklahoma City, OK @ Blue Note w/ Greenbeard Jan 28 Wichita Falls, TX @ The Iron Horse w/ Greenbeard Jan 29 Amarillo, TX @ Leftwoods w/ Greenbeard Jan 31 Albuquerque, NM @ Sister Bar Feb 1 El Paso, TX @ The Rockhouse * Feb 2 Tucson, AZ @ House Of Bards * Feb 3 Phoenix, AZ @ Blooze Bar * Feb 4 San Diego, CA @ Til Two Club * Feb 5 Palmdale, CA @ Transplants Brewery * Feb 6 Santa Cruz, CA @ Blue Lagoon * Feb 7 San Francisco, CA @ TBA * Feb 8 Santa Rosa, CA @ TBA * Feb 10 Seattle, WA @ The Funhouse * Feb 11 Portland, OR @ The Six * Feb 12 Spokane, WA @ Mootsy’s * Feb 13 Boise, ID @ The Shredder * Feb 15 Salt Lake City, UT @ Aces High Saloon * Feb 17 Cheyenne, WY @ Ernie November * Feb 18 Colorado Springs, CO @ The Six Two * * = With Ape Vermin
Ape Vermin’s Dates
Jan 27 Atlanta, GA @ Sabbath Brewing Jan 28 New Orleans, LA @ Sydney’s Saloon Jan 29 Houston, TX @ The Acadia Jan 31 Dallas, TX @ Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studio Feb 1 El Paso, TX @ The Rockhouse * Feb 2 Tucson, AZ @ House Of Bards * Feb 3 Phoenix, AZ @ Blooze Bar * Feb 4 San Diego, CA @ Til Two Club * Feb 5 Palmdale, CA @ Transplants Brewery * Feb 6 Santa Cruz, CA @ Blue Lagoon * Feb 7 San Francisco, CA @ TBA * Feb 8 Santa Rosa, CA @ TBA * Feb 10 Seattle, WA @ The Funhouse * Feb 11 Portland, OR @ The Six * Feb 12 Spokane, WA @ Mootsy’s * Feb 13 Boise, ID @ The Shredder * Feb 15 Salt Lake City, UT @ Aces High Saloon * Feb 17 Cheyenne, WY @ Ernie November * Feb 18 Colorado Springs, CO @ The Six Two * Feb 19 Kansas City, MO @ The Flesh Pit Feb 21 St Louis, MO @ TBA Feb 22 Cincinnati, OH @ Legends Bar Feb 23 Louisville, KY @ Mag Bar Feb 24 Nashville, TN @ Springwater Supper Club Feb 25 Asheville, NC @ Fleetwoods *= With Twin Wizard
TWIN WIZARD is : Anthony Dreyer – Drums Matt Larson – Guitar/Vocals
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 11th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
It’s a god damned riff bonanza, is what it is.
Guitarist/vocalist Alex Baumann and drummer Rockwel Heim comprise Dubuque, Iowa’s Telekinetic Yeti and Primordial is their debut on Tee Pee Records and second album overall. Recorded by Phillip Cope (formerly of Kylesa, producer of Black Tusk, Irata, the original Baroness EPs, etc.), Primordial follows the riff-worshiping Midwesterners’ 2017 debut, Abominable (review here), and years of obviously-interrupted-there-for-a-while touring, as well as a lineup change that brought an ugly split between Baumann and fellow founder Anthony Dreyer, who now plays in Twin Wizard. Restored to a duo, Telekinetic Yeti strike with maximum force and gravity on Primordial, laying claim to the beginnings of a generational shift and making their influences their own through their megatonality and absolute willingness to speak to the ‘stoner’ in stoner rock.
Those who dare the 11 songs and 43 minutes of Primordial will find a more fully realized version of Telekinetic Yeti for their efforts. Granted, Abominable had “Stoned and Feathered,” but with the second record, cuts like “Ancient Nug,” “Stoned Ape Theory,” and “Toke Wizard” outright don the trappings of weedianism, and that’s even more telling since “Stoned Ape Theory” — also the longest song at a still-ready-to-squeeze-into-the-live-set 5:25 — which hypnotizes even as it seems to pummel you further into the ground with each of its many thuds, is instrumental. Theoretically at least, they could’ve called that anything at all, and the title they chose is telling about both the audience they’re speaking to and the self-aware manner in which they’re doing it.
Influences show themselves like YOB in the opening title-track, High on Fire in the call-to-war drums on the closer “Cult of Yeti,” The Sword in the uptempo bouncing shove of “Toke Wizard,” earliest Mastodon in the barks from Baumann late in “Ghost Train,” or how the fuzzed-out guitar solo interlude “Light in a Dying World” speaks both to Earthless and Hendrix with a rumble of its own underneath, Floor in “Ancient Nug” and the melody and movement of centerpiece “Beast,” and maybe some Red Fang in “Tides of Change” a short while later, but that’s the point. Telekinetic Yeti have taken these elements, melted them down with the heat from burning tube amps lit by the central nodder riff in “Rogue Planet” into what I’ll assume is a very dense, very heavy black iron cauldron, and created a sound that can only be defined as their own from it. Sure, Conan put their guitar (and bass in their case) tone at the forefront of their immediate impression as well, but that’s the point. Telekinetic Yeti represent a new generation of heavy that’s learned from what’s come before.
There is not one song on Primordial that isn’t ready to be memed about — from the shut-up-and-take-my-money hook of “Ancient Nug” to the when-the-slowdown-hits slowdown of that song or “Invention of Fire” — and though that sounds like a joke, it’s actually crucial to comprehending how Telekinetic Yeti are engaging with their listeners. Think about meme culture at large. It is a generational advent, distilling elements of popular culture, news, life, anything into a concise, snappy, often impactful statement with an intention to be seen and appreciated even outside of an understanding of the joke if it is one. Telekinetic Yeti likewise have processed the heavy stylings of the aughts — now 20 years ago — and crafted Primordial as a distillation with its own purposes and its own expression. And like with meme culture at first, or like with the wave of bands noted above who were tagged “hipster metal” when they came out and broadly derided, there invariably will be those who call this album derivative instead of understanding that Telekinetic Yeti are a fresh representation of the tenets of genre, and they at very least sound like they know it.
In “Cult of Yeti,” the chorus issues both the challenge and the proclamation, “You will never scale these mountains,” and even the idea of the song, album, band as such a giant rock formation is in conversation with the genre itself, from Sleep to Stoned Jesus. But if you’ve hit those lofty peaks, it’s these mountains we’re talking about now. This tone, this delivery, this vitality that is Telekinetic Yeti‘s own. Even calling the album Primordial — let alone the maybe narrative of bombed-brain evolution between “Stoned Ape Theory” and “Tides of Change,” “Invention of Fire,” and so on — is emblematic of Baumann and Heim‘s deep-running vision of what they want the band to be and to do. This is stoner metal stripped, as Max Cavalera once put it, “back to the primitive.” There is no feigned attempt at sounding progressive or like they’re trying to push the genre forward. Telekinetic Yeti may eventually do that, but one suspects that even if they do it will be on their own terms given the strength of the statement here in the opposite direction.
This is a band willing to be big, lumbering, bringing their riffs down on you like an avalanche or a wrecking ball — take your pick — and while Primordial is atmospheric even at its most intense moments, its purpose is unwavering. If there’s pretense here, I’m not sure where, but at the same time, there’s a sense of stage presence to the music, the push of the duo in the headspinning middle of “Invention of Fire,” the lead notes and sticks-on-the-rim-of-the-drum that begin “Toke Wizard,” and in that nasty feedback and layered-over plod of “Ghost Train” — never mind the actual hooks in cuts like “Primordial,” “Ancient Nug,” “Cult of Yeti,” and so on — that feel purpose-crafted to tour with as much as circumstances might permit.
And maybe that’s where they’ll most shine, in a live setting, but the substance of Primordial is still more than just an advertisement for showing up to the gig and buying a shirt. The declarative aspects of Telekinetic Yeti‘s songs, the attention to detail in the mix, the depth of their sans-bass low end, the head-in-clouds largesse of the riffy monoliths they’re building; it all speaks to a band who are looking to position themselves at the forefront of riff-based heavy, and as they continue to put their work in on tour — perhaps more than ever, with live music “back” and their lineup concerns seemingly settled — it’s entirely possible they’ll get there.
In the spirit of Primordial, I’ll say it simply: This shit fucking crushes. Ace riffs. Killer delivery, killer sound, enough variety, knows what it is and how to do what it wants. Band with a plan. They nailed it. Stone on.
Oh we’re in the thick of it now, make no mistake. Day one? A novelty. Day two? I don’t know, slightly less of a novelty? But by the time you get to day three in a Quarterly Review, you know how far you’ve come and how far you still have to go. In this particular case, building toward 100 records total covered, today passes the line of the first quarter done, and that’s not nothing, even if there’s a hell of a lot more on the way.
That said, let’s not waste time we don’t have. I hope you find something killer in here, because I already have.
Quarterly Review #21-30:
My Diligence, The Matter, Form and Power
The Matter, Form and Power is the third long-player from Brussels’ My Diligence, whose expansive take on melodic noise rock has never sounded grander. The largesse of songs like the Floor-esque “Multiversal Tree” or the choruses in “On the Wire” and the layered post-hardcore screams in “Sail to the Red Light” — to say nothing of the massive nod with which the title-track opens, or the progressively-minded lumbering with which the 10-minute “Elasmotherium” closes — brims with purpose in laying the atmospheric foundation from which the material soars outward. With “Celestial Kingdom” as its centerpiece, the heavy starting far, far away and shifting into an earliest-Mastodon chug as drift and heft collide, there are hints of Cave In in form if not all through the execution — that is, My Diligence cross similar boundaries but don’t necessarily sound the same — such that the growling that populates that song’s second half isn’t so much a surprise as it is a slamming, consuming, welcome advent. Music as a force. As much volume as you can give it, give it.
Their moniker derived from the initials of the three members — bassist/vocalist/synthesist Pietro Brunetti, guitarist/vocalist Claudio Banelli and drummer Carlo Forgiarini — Italian troupe BBF aren’t through I Will Be Found‘s five minute opener “Freedom” before they’ve transposed grunge vibes onto a go-where-it-wants psychedelia from out of an acoustic, bluesy beginning. Garage rock in “Cosmic Surgery,” meditative jamming in “Rise,” and a vast expanse in “T-Rex” that delivers the album’s title line while furthering with even-the-drums-have-echo breadth the psych vibe such that the synthy take of the penultimate “Wake Up” becomes just another part of the procession, its floating guitar met with percussion real and imagined ahead of the bookending acoustic-based closer “Supernova,” which dedicates its last 90 seconds or so to a hidden track comprised entirely of sweet acoustic notes that might’ve otherwise ended up as an interlude but work just as well tucked away as they are. Here’s a band who know the rules and seem to take a special joy in bending if not outright breaking them, drawing from various styles in order to make their songs their own. To say they acquit themselves well in doing so is an understatement.
Progressive and melodic, the fourth album from Iowan trio Druids is nonetheless at times crushingly heavy, and in a longer piece like “Ide’s Koan,” the band demonstrate how to execute a patient, dynamic build, beginning slow and spaced out and gradually growing in intensity until they reach a multi-layered shouting apex. Drew Rauch (bass), Luke Rauch (guitar) and Keith Rich (drums) all contribute vocals at one point or another, and whether it’s in the plodding rock of “Dance of Skulls” or the not-the-longest-track-but-the-farthest-reaching closer “Cloak/Nior Bloom,” their modern prog metal works off influences like Baroness, Mastodon, Gojira, etc., while retaining character of its own through both rhythmic intricacy and its abiding use of melody, both well on display in “Othenian Blood” and the subsequent, drum-intensive “Traveller” alike. “Path to R” starts Shadow Work mellow after the ceremonial build-up of “Aether,” but the tension is almost immediate and Druids‘ telegraphing that the heavy is coming makes it no less satisfying when it lands.
Though it’s spread across two LPs, don’t think of Kandodo4‘s Burning the (Kandl) as an album. Or even a live album, though technically it’s that. You might not know, you might not care, but it’s a historical preservation. ‘The time that thing happened,’ where the thing is Simon Price of The Heads leading a jam under the banner of his Kandodo side-project featuring Robert Hampson of Loop, and bassist Hugo Morgan and drummer Wayne Maskell — who play in both The Heads and Loop — as part of The Heads‘ residency at Roadburn Festival 2015 (review here). I tell you, I was there, and I’ve seen few psychedelic rituals that could compare in flow or letting the music find its own shape(lessness) as it will. Burning the (Kandl) not only has the live set, but the lone rehearsal that the one-off-four-piece did prior to taking stage at Het Patronaat in Tilburg, the Netherlands, that evening. Thus, history. Certainly for the fest, for the players and those who were there, but I like to think in listening to these side-long stretches of expanse upon expanse that all of our great-grandchildren will worship at the altar of this stuff in a better world. Maybe, maybe not, but better to have Burning the (Kandl) ready to go just in case.
The second EP in about nine months from Los Angeles’ Spencer Robinson — operating under the moniker of Into the Valley of Death — the seven-song Ruthless feels very much like a debut album despite a runtime circa 25 minutes. The songs are cohesive in bringing together doom and grunge as they do, and as with the prior Space Age, the lo-fi aspects of the recording become part of the overarching character of the material. Guitars are up, bass is up, drums are likely programmed, vocals are throaty and obscure at least until they declare you dead on “Ghost,” and the pieces running in the three-to-four-minute range have a kind of languid drawl about them that sound purely stoned even as they seem to reach out into the desert after which the project is seemingly named. Robinson, who also played bass in The Lords of Altamont and has another outfit wherein he fronts a full backing band, is up to some curious shit here, and whether or not it was, it definitely sounds like it was recorded at night. I’m not sure where it’s going, and I’m not sure where it’s been, but I know I’ll look forward to finding out.
Enköping, Sweden’s Stuck in Motion issued their 2018 self-titled debut (review here) to due fanfare, and Still Stuck (changed from the working title ‘Ut på Tur,’ which translates, “on tour”) arrives with a brisk reminder why. Jammy in spirit, early singles “Höjdpunkternas Land,” “Lucy” and “På Väg” brim with vitality and a refreshing take on classic heavy rock, not strictly retro, not strictly not, and all the more able to jam and offer breadth around traditional structures as in “I de Blå” for that, weaving their way into and out of instrumental sections with a jazzy conversation between guitars and keys, bass and drums, percussion, and so on. Combined with the melodies of “Tupida,” the heavier tone underlying “Fisken” and the organ-and-synth-laced shuffle of the penultimate “Tung Sol,” there’s a balance between psych and prog — and, on the closing title-track, horns — which are emblematic of an organic style that couldn’t be faked even if the band wanted to try. I don’t know the exact release date for Still Stuck — I thought it was already out when I slated this review — but its eight songs and 40 minutes are like the kind of afternoon you don’t want to end. Sunshine and impossible blue sky.
A blurb posted by Spanish instrumentalists Sageness — also written SageNESS — with the release of Tr3s reads as follows: “The future seen from the past, where another current reality is possible, follow us and we will transfer to a new dimension. (Tr3s),” and fair enough. One could hardly begrudge the trio a bit of escapism in their work, and listening to the 36 minutes across four songs that comprises Tr3s, they do seem to be finding their way into the ‘way out.’ Though if where they’re ending up is 12-minute finale “Event Horizon,” in which the very jam itself seems to be taffy-pulled on a molecular level until the solid bassline and drums dissipate and what takes hold is a freakout of propulsive, drift-toned guitar, I’m not sure if they do or don’t ultimately make it to another dimension. Maybe that’s on the other side? Either way, after the scope of “Greenhouse” and the more plotted-seeming stops of “Spirit Machine,” that end is somewhat inevitable, and we may be stuck in reality for real life, but Sageness‘ fuzzy and warm-toned heavy psychedelic rock makes a reasoned argument for daydreaming the opposite.
You think you’re up for Kaleidobolt, and that’s adorable, but let’s be honest. The Finnish trio — whose head-spinning, too-odd-not-to-be-prog heavy rock makes This One Simple Trick laughable as a title — are on another level. You and me? They’re running circles around us in “Fantastic Corps” and letting the truth about humans be known amid the fuzz of “Ultraviolent Chimpanzee” after the alternately frenetic and spaced “Borded Control,” momentarily stopping their helicopter twirl to “Walk on Grapes” at the album’s finish, but even then they’re walking on grapes on another planet yet to be catalogued by known science. 2019’s Bitter (review here) boasted likewise self-awareness, but This One Simple Trick is a bolder step into their individuality of purpose, and rest assured, they found it. I don’t know if they’re a “best kept secret” or just underrated. However you say it, more people should be aware. Onto the list of 2022’s best albums it goes, and if there are any simple tricks involved here, I’d love to know what they are.
It probably wouldn’t fit on a 7″, but The Tazers‘ Outer Space EP isn’t much over that limit at four songs and 13 minutes. The Johannesburg trio’s melodicism is striking nearly at the outset of the opening title-track, and the fuzz guitar that coincides is no less right on as they touch on psychedelia without ever ranging so much as to lose sight of the structures at work. “Glass Ceiling” boasts a garage-rocking urgency but is nonetheless not an all-out sprint in its delivery, and “Ready to Die” hits into Queens of the Stone Age-esque rush after an acoustic opening and before its fuzzy rampage of a chorus, while “Up in the Air” is a little more psych-funk until solidifying around the repeated lines, “Give me a reason/Show me a sign,” which culminate as the EP’s final plea, like Witch played at 45RPM or your favorite stoner band’s cooler cousin. Four songs, it probably took more effort to put together than they’d like you to think, but the casual cool they ooze is as infectious as the songs themselves.
Bong-worship sludge from London. It’s hard to know the extent to which Obelos — which for some reason my fingers have trouble typing correctly — are just fucking around, but their dank, lurching riffs, throaty screams and slow-motion crashes certainly paint a picture anyhow. Paint it green, with maybe some little orange or purple flecks in there. Interludes “Paranoise” and “Holy Smokes” bring harsh noise and a kind of improvised-feeling, also-quite-noisy chicanery, but the primary impression in Green Giant‘s six tracks/27 time-bending minutes is of nodding, couchlocked stoner crush, and I wouldn’t dare ask anything more of it than that. Neither should you. I’d argue this is an album rather than the EP it’s categorized as being, since it flows and definitely gets its point across in a full-length manner, but I’m not even gonna fight the band on that because they might break out a 50-minute record or some shit and, well, I’m just not sure I’m ready to get that high this early in the morning. Might have to reserve an entire day for that. Which might be fun, too.
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 1st, 2022 by JJ Koczan
I’ve listened to the new Telekinetic Yeti album, Primordial, and it seems to me like a wilful, meme-ready singer stoner metal answer to heavy rock’s progressive turn of these last few years. The Midwestern duo seem to build off earliest Monolord‘s heft-worship, and find their purpose in volume rather than self-indulgence, which results in a refreshingly regressive take. The riffs are big and they land on your head and it’s very heavy and you listen and go “wow that’s very heavy” and you have a good time and forget for a few minutes that the world is ending and/or has already ended.
Escapism through smashy-smashy? Maybe, or maybe I just spend too much time around a four year old. Either way, having recently seen Telekinetic Yeti playing on a stage surrounded by guitar cabs, I’d suggest you’ll likely not regret doing similar, and the chance will come this summer as the band embark on an extensive US tour put on by Tone Deaf. It should tell you something about their rising stature even ahead of Primordial‘s July release on Tee Pee Records that the long-running psych outfit White Hills will support.
Dates and info from the PR wire:
TELEKINETIC YETI ANNOUNCE NORTH AMERICAN SUMMER TOUR; JOIN WEEDEATER FOR SEVERAL DATES
Telekinetic Yeti, the Iowa-based duo of Alex Baumann (guitar/vocals) and Rockwel Heim (drums), have announced an extensive, two month North American Summer tour, with the pair joining Weedeater for two weeks before kicking off their own headlining trek with openers White Hills.
The news arrives as the band prepares for the July 8 arrival of Primordial (Tee Pee Records), with a preview of the 11-song album coming via the band’s “Ancient Nug” video (https://youtu.be/dr3bQUAakq0).
Primordial was produced by Phillip Cope (Kylesa, Baroness). Album pre-orders are available now (https://teepeerecords.com/products/telekinetic-yeti-primordial-cd-lp), with the collection available on several limited-edition colored vinyl variants, CD and digitally.
Tour dates:
With Weedeater: July 2 Piedmont, SC Tribbles July 3 Atlanta, GA Sabbath Brewing July 4 Memphis, TN Hi Tone July 5 Lafayette, LA Freetown Boom Boom Room July 6 Denton, TX Rubber Gloves July 7 Austin, TX Lost Well July 8 Houston, TX Last Concert Café July 9 Tulsa, OK Mercury Lounge July 12 Madison, WI High Noon July 13 Grand Rapids Pyramid Scheme July 14 Bloomington, IL Nightshop July 15 Athens, OH The Union July 16 Cleveland, OH No Class July 17 Johnson City, TN The Hideaway
Headlining dates, White Hills support: July 19 Charlotte, NC Snug Harbor July 20 Charlottesville, VA Champion Brewing (free show) July 21 Morgantown, WV 123 Pleasant St July 23 Richmond, VA Richmond Music Hall July 24 Philadelphia, PA Silk City July 25 Brooklyn, NY Knitting Factory July 26 Pittsburgh, PA Crafthouse July 28 Detroit, MI Smalls July 31 Newport, KY Southgate House August 1 Chicago, IL Empty Bottle August 3 Green Bay, WI Lyric Room August 4 Iowa City, IA Wildwood August 7 Denver, CO Globe Hall August 8 Salt Lake City, UT Aces High August 10 Seattle, WA Substation August 11 Bellingham, WA Shakedown August 12 Vancouver, BC Rickshaw Theatre August 13 Portland, OR Bossanova Ballroom August 14 Sacramento, CA Café Colonial August 16 San Francisco, CA Bottom of the Hill August 19 Tempe, AZ Yucca Taproom August 20 Albuquerque, NM 606 August 21 Oklahoma City, OK 89th St August 25 Kansas City, MO Record Bar August 26 St. Louis, MO Red Flag August 27 Rock Island, IL Skylark August 29 Minneapolis, MN 7th St Entry
Tickets for all shows are on-sale now: https://telekineticyeti.com/ticket-links.
