Posted in Whathaveyou on June 27th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Netherlands-based dark-prog rockers Iron Jinn announced a while back that they’d be supporting and collaborating on stage with Alain Johannes in September, opening a trio of Dutch shows for the singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist (also producer!) known for his work in Eleven, Queens of the Stone Age, Them Crooked Vultures, and so on as part of the latter’s broader European tour. Not a minor gig for Iron Jinn, whose self-titled debut (review here) came out this past Spring through Stickman Records and who played the release show for it at this year’s Roadburn Festival in Tilburg, and my only real complaint with any part of their working with Johannes was I wasn’t going to be able to see it.
Well, in addition to posting the ticket links and the handy reminder below along with the update that they got together presumably to do a bit of prep and see whether the entire idea was going to work at all, Iron Jinn have announced that they and Johannes have together filmed a ‘2 Meter Sessions’ that will be unveiled sometime I guess in the coming months, so that those unable to actually catch them live can have a bit of the experience. If you’re not familiar — and it’s okay, I wasn’t either — the ‘2 Meter Sessions’ is a series that’s been going on for at least 30 years and their YouTube channel has an archive of 150-plus clips to lose your afternoon perusing. Hopefully this one streams as well.
Words from Iron Jinn follow, as per social media:
Stoked to have had Alain Johannes as a guest at the Iron Jinn HQ, a sweet week of jamming on his music, hanging out and playing the legendary 2 Meter Sessies together. Waiting for his return in September to play some exciting evenings at the clubs. Iron Jinn kicks off every night with a full set and this melts into Alain Johannes’ iconic musical legacy (solo/QOTSA/Eleven). Interchanging musicians, instruments and building on each others energy is gonna be the adage and living in the moment will be a necessity. Tickets on sale now at the venues!
Based in The Netherlands, Iron Jinn release their self-titled debut album April 21 through Stickman Records, celebrating with a release show at Roadburn Festival on April 22. The venerable Tilburg fest is a fitting showcase for the band, who’ll present their nine-song/60-minute 2LP cycle after having made their live debut at Roadburn 2018 (review here), working then under the moniker Iron Chin and entrancing a packed 013 Green Room with material it had never heard before. With the collaboration between guitarist/vocalists Wout Kemkens (Shaking Godspeed) and Oeds Beydals (Death Alley, Gewapend Beton, Molassess, The Devil’s Blood) at its foundation and the lineup solidified with Birth of Joy‘s Bob Hogenelst on drums and Gerben Bielderman (Pronk, Pauw, Helm Op, Figgie, etc.) on bass, the album sprinkles moments of clarity amid headed-way-down plunges into atmospheric ethereality, seeking to and succeeding in immersing listeners in a sprawl of dark and progressive heavy rock with the stated goal of evoking the feel of dreams.
It is ostensibly psychedelic, but an is-it-real psychedelia of the unconscious more than an effects wash, and in moments like the winding build to the crescendo of “Blood Moon Horizon” tucked away before closer “Cage Rage” with its extended drone finish or the dual-vocal melody of “Ego Loka” rounding out the three-song leadoff salvo with particularly Swansy vibes after “Winding World” first sounds the alarm at the very beginning of the record — howling lead guitar with frenetic strums behind; Beydals and Kemkens announcing the band’s arrival — before the string sounds swap channels, the effigies are burnt and the mellowing resolution feels like a gift after and before “Soft Healers” plunges once again into foreboding creep groove, jazzy intensity and a feel like being transported to someplace else as (I think?) the keys emulate horns to set up a stretch of electronic low-end beneath the meditative doom drums and second cynical verse — “break through the fourth wall and ‘burn the green room” feels like it’s dropping references — lead to a wobbly weirdo guitar solo emblematic of the manner in which Iron Jinn as a whole is too cohesive to be experimental at least in the we-tried-a-thing-and-recorded-it sense, but remains deep in its exploratory sensibility, notably in the guitars and synth, which makes it fortunate that Bielderman and Hogenelst are there to provide a grounding presence.
I haven’t seen a tracklisting for the 2LP version, and perhaps unsurprisingly for something with so much flux and fluidity, there are multiple ways it can be parsed, whether it’s the first three songs on side A or just the pairing of the seven-minutes-each “Winding World” and “Soft Healers,” which on their own do a lot of the necessary scene-setting for what follows, even as “Ego Loka” offers reinforcement of their vaporous motives. Stylistically, Iron Jinn is much the same, and whether one wants to approach it as a work of dark prog, heavy psychedelia edging on the stratospheric, a new branch on the cultish family tree of The Devil’s Blood or the something-else that it ultimately is, what you put into listening is what you’re going to get out. “Truth is Your Dagger” picks up to establish new momentum coming out of “Ego Loka,” unfurling its somehow-drifting angularity on either side of a midsection break held together by Hogenelst that leads into a surge topped by a triumphant delivery of the title-line by Kemkens and Beydals in unison; the encouragement to break out of one’s own conceptions that the concluding lyric “stab your truth” seems to be — and fair enough — the ethic seems to be conveyed by the example of the music itself as much as the words. Whatever else Iron Jinn might be at this point and however one might want to categorize this initial offering, it is markedly individual.
That is to say, if you want to sit with it and parse out where centerpiece “Lick It or Kick It” — lyric video premiering below; the single’s been out for a week or so — comes by its grim ambience, vague threat and theatricality (also glockenspiel, maybe), controlled bombast and abiding tension that seems unreleased even through the fuzzed payoff it gets, amplifier hum carrying into the willful play on Devin Townsend doing ’60s psych that “Relic” posits itself as being, you can do that. I won’t say you’re wrong, and the rewards of closer listening throughout Iron Jinn‘s Iron Jinn are abundant, from the arrangements of synth to the manner in which the guitars work off each other from the outset on, to the subtle energetic push of the vocals coming together and the tent of Weird under which the entire cosmic circus is held, to the chiming notes in “Bread and Games” that seems to push as far into amorphousness as they’ll go until the aforementioned drone epilogue of “Cage Rage” still to come, viewing the world around them with due terror and refusing to capitulate to the demands of genre. But whether you’re with them or not, Iron Jinn are going to that place right where the brain meets the stem, the moment right before you’re actually asleep when you have that last conscious thought, whatever it might be. They’ll take you if you’re willing to go, and I’d bet that if you asked, they already know not everyone is going to be willing.
As “Bread and Games” gives over not-quite-patiently to the here-we-go spacey intro of “Blood Moon Horizon,” and the eventual breakout that everything seems to have been moving toward that’s still preface to the linear build across the first six-plus minutes of “Cage Rage” — a fitting title to encapsulate the jaw-clenching tension throughout — the real accomplishment of Iron Jinn becomes somewhat clearer. The reason it works is because none of the four-piece are playing against each other. Beydals and Kemkens, Hogenelst and Bielderman, drawn together by the smoothness in the production sound by Sebastiaan van Bijlevelt — let alone the scope of the mix — are united in their purpose. Even when Hogenelst sits out “Ego Loka” and “Bread and Games,” and even in the comings and goings around that long final contemplation, the impression is that Iron Jinn are trying this thing and following where it has led them. You wouldn’t be wrong to say it’s a record born out of and for strange times, but the ambition here is even broader than the hour-long stretch of the 2LP. They sound like a band frustrated with conceptions of style driving themselves to create something new, like a sculptor whose medium just happens to be fog, or the first chapter of a book the plot of which is only starting to reveal itself.
Maybe that’s the case, and if so, I won’t predict where Iron Jinn are headed in terms of sound, or why, or how long it might take them to get there, if ‘there’ is even an endgame and the goal is not the going in the first place. What I’ll say instead is that I hope they keep moving. In following Beydals‘ work over the last decade, as a player and songwriter he seems to have been a reluctant focal point, searching for an outlet wherein his expressive intent can flourish, untethered. And it could well be that Iron Jinn, that the creative partnership with Kemkens is the vehicle through which that will happen, but it will be years more before we know, and in a universe of infinite possibility the band could break up before the record’s even out and an asteroid could smash into the ocean and set all the oxygen in Earth’s air on fire, so no, no speculation. But there’s potential and promise at this point, and Iron Jinn builds on past successes — by no means just for Beydals — while carving out their own path, not with arrogance, but with artistic certainty and an awareness of and (if understated) excitement for what they might yet achieve.
In addition to the Roadburn release show, Iron Jinn have slots lined up at Desertfest London, Sonic Whip, Bridge Festival and Void Fest, as well as club dates and gigs supporting and performing with the venerable Alain Johannes in September. You’ll find those dates, the preorder link, and more info under the premiere of the “Lick It or Kick It” lyric video below, courtesy of the PR wire.
Iron Jinn are Oeds Beydals (The Devils Blood/Molassess/Death Alley), Wout Kemkens (Shaking Godspeed/De Niemanders), Bob Hogenelst (Birth of Joy/Molassess) and Gerben Bielderman (Pauw).
‘Iron Jinn’ tracklisting 1. Winding World 2. Soft Healers 3. Ego Loka 4. Truth Is Your Dagger 5. Lick It Or Kick it 6. Relic 7. Bread And Games 8. Blood Moon Horizon 9. Cage Rage
Credits Written by Iron Jinn Recorded and mixed at Galloway Studio by Sebastiaan van Bijlevelt Mastered by Pieter Kloos Video concept and styling Louise Te Poele Camera, animation and editing Daan van der Pluijm Handwriting by William van Giessen Released by Stickman Records
The release party takes place at Roadburn Festival Saturday April 22nd. Other shows we can announce at this point are:
14.04.2023 – Live At The Farm, Varsseveld Gelders Goed 05.05.2023 – London (UK), Desertfest London 06.05.2023 – Nijmegen (NL), Sonic Whip 12.05.2023 – Eindhoven (NL), Bridge Festival Eindhoven 27.05.2023 – Den Haag (NL), Sniester 12.08.2023 – Void Fest, Waldmünchen (DE) 08.09.2023 – Zwolle – Hedon Zwolle w/ Alain Johannes 09.09.2023 – Leiden – Gebr de Nobel w/ Alain Johannes 10.09.2023 10.09.2023 – Heerlen – @de nieuwe nor w/ Alain Johannes
Iron Jinn are: Oeds Beydals Gerben Bielderman Bob Holgenelst Wout Kemkens
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 19th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Listen to the two singles back to back and you can hear some of the differing sides of Iron Jinn‘s makeup coming forward, between psychedelia and some more urgent push. The Amsterdam-based four-piece, which boasts Oeds Beydals on guitar — see also Death Alley, Molassess, The Devil’s Blood, etc. — will release their self-titled debut full-length through Stickman Records this April, playing a release show at, where else?, Roadburn Festival, where Beydals and Wout Kemkens (also Birth of Joy) first came together, then under the moniker of Iron Chin, in 2018.
Neat, right? New song, release show, things happening. Cool. You’ll also note the part below at the end where it mentions ever so casually that members of Iron Jinn (all or some, I don’t know) will pull double-duty this coming Fall, touring with and playing in the backing band for Alain Johannes. That is a show I would like very much to see. Johannes has promised a career-spanning set, if such a thing is even possible in a single night, and I feel like only good things can come from these two parties meeting and working together over a stretch of dates.
The PR wire takes it from there:
IRON JINN (feat. members of The Devil’s Blood, Death Alley & more!) announce Roadburn record release & share new single “Winding World”!
Years after debuting at Roadburn 2018 as a European counterpoint for the San Diego-Takeover, Iron Jinn, featuring members of The Devil’s Blood, Death Alley, Shaking Godspeed and Birth Of Joy, comes full circle with a release party at Roadburn 2023!
Iron Jinn will be released on April 21, 2023 coinciding with the band’s appearance at the festival. A limited Roadburn edition of the vinyl will be available exclusively there and in the Stickman Records webshop.
You can get a taste of their woozy rock’n’roll on debut single Soft Healers, and get swept along with the tide on Winding World – their brand new track released today to coincide with this very announcement. Listen to Winding World now!
Says guitarist/singer Wout Kemkens of the new single: ”Winding World is like a sonic action painting to me; the parade of seemingly unrelated images/happenings that pass by during the song is an ode to the fact that everything is constantly changing, which is maddening, but beautiful. I always loved Louis Armstrong’s ‘Wonderful World’ and for me ‘Winding World’ feels related, but as a hectic 21st century version. A stroll in this particular moment of time, and really feeling and seeing what is happening, such a day.”
Ever since we came off stage at Roadburn 2018 as the one off Iron Chin project, I always wondered what would happen if Wout Kemkens and I would share writing duties equally and develop an actual band,” Oeds says, “By circumstances beyond our control we suddenly had the time to make it happen and Iron Jinn quickly developed a mind of its own. To be able to present it where the first seeds were sown makes it all the more special.
The Amsterdam-based band has also announced a slew of live dates celebrating the record, as well as an upcoming tour with Alain Johannes (Queens of the Stone Age, Them Crooked Vultures). Not only will Iron Jinn be directly supporting Johannes on the tour, but also playing in his live band. Dates have not been made public yet, but the tour is slated for September/October of this year. Find more info HERE:https://alainjohannes.eu/alain-johannes-european-tour-2023/
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 30th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
April 2023 release date for a band from the Netherlands with Oeds Beydals on guitar? That tells me Iron Jinn are at least looking to have a release party at Roadburn Festival next year. That’s supposition on my part, mind you, not insider info or anything like that, but I was fortunate enough to be there when a somewhat different incarnation of what’s become Iron Jinn played Roadburn 2018 (review here), and I recall it being righteously all over the place.
The lineup of the band has changed in the ensuing four years — and the name; they were Iron Chin at the time, which I assumed derived from Beydals‘ then-chops-heavy facial hair; I guess once you fill the beard in it makes less sense — but the first single from Iron Jinn‘s self-titled debut is “Soft Healers” and is streaming now at the bottom of this post. You will find it atmospherically rich and, well, righteously all over the place throughout its seven minutes.
More to come on this one, but the point is the music, so if you want to jump to that as you read, no one’s going to hold it against you. From the PR wire:
IRON JINN Signs With Stickman Records; Debut Album Coming April 2023 – First Single Out Now!
Stickman Records, label home for high class bands such as Elder, Motorpsycho, King Buffalo, Weedpecker and many more, is proud to announce a new signing: Iron Jinn from Amsterdam. Iron Jinn are Oeds Beydals (The Devil’s Blood, Death Alley), Wout Kemkens (Shaking Godspeed, De Niemanders), Bob Hogenelst (Birth of Joy) and Gerben Bielderman (Pauw). Their self-titled debut is a frantic album that follows the logic of a dream: none. The nine songs are the result of a chaotic accumulation of modern world impressions, information and conversations that are forcefully pushed through a human funnel: the minds of Oeds and Wout.
Iron Jinn sounds downright exciting. The voices of Wout and Oeds reverberate passionately over mesmerizing grooves and pure melodies and harmonies. A rare combination in contemporary (rock) music. Guitarists/songwriters Oeds and Wout crossed paths for several years whilst playing in Death Alley and Shaking Godspeed. Finding common ground in challenging the status quo in heavy rock music, their first real get-together birthed a festival: the all-nighter Last Night On Earth. For their second collaboration they took to the Roadburn 2018 stage and performed new original material as Iron Jinn (then spelled ‘Iron Chin’). After their Roadburn live debut they kept on writing, teamed up with longtime friend and powerhouse drummer Bob and commenced the recordings for this debut album in the spring of 2021. After that Gerben was added to the band’s line-up.
Wout Kemkens explains: “When we wrote Soft Healers, the nasty throbbing sensation of the music drove me towards the old Dutch saying, ‘soft healers cause stinking wounds’. The song also deals literally with the physical side of thoughts and actions: matter over mind, a reversal of the popular modern world catchphrase. Humans can be great tricksters, but it’s hard to outsmart some realities, I guess. You cannot always place will above matter, something we love to do.”
Rolf Gustavus (Stickman Records): ‘As a rule, we at Stickman Records don’t just sign bands out of the blue, but rules are made to be broken. We are always looking for that indefinable quality in the bands we work with, a unique spark that we feel sets our label apart from the pack. When we heard the first song “Winding World” we already knew this was a special record and a rare band that would fit our roster perfectly.’
