Posted in Whathaveyou on November 5th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Prior confirmations at Desertfest Berlin, Desertfest London and Obsidian Dust Festival in Belgium made a run of European tour dates all the more likely for Hermano, but certainly it’s nice to see how it will all shape up as the John Garcia-fronted heavy rockers — and I’m not saying they’re the most underrated of his projects, because Slo Burn and Unida, but still — take to old continental shores for 10-thus-far dates that include the above-mentioned fests and a coheadlining night in Austria with Truckfighters, which even with just the two bands is like a Desertfest unto itself.
It’s not three months on the road and it doesn’t put them someplace I’m likely to be, which is a bummer, but I have it on good authority I’m not the only human being on the planet and I can never get out to shows anyway, so maybe I’ll live. For Hermano, the tour represents a continuation of periodic, mostly-Euro-centered activity that saw them performing in France earlier this year for not-their-first Hellfest, that slot following up on the release of lost studio material, When the Moon Was High…, that came out on Ripple Music in 2024.
The last Hermano album was 2007’s …Into the Exam Room (discussed here), and while that record brimmed with creative vitality in producing some of the best and most memorable songs of Garcia‘s post-Kyuss career, there’s never really been word of a next one.
Bassist Dandy Brown posted the dates on social media thusly:
Contact your local ticket agencies. It’s on.
Hermano Europe 2026
07.05 Paris FR La Marquinerie 08.05 Utrecht NL Tivoli Vrendenburg 09.05 Cologne DE Luxor 11.05 Vienna, AT Arena* 12.05 Munich DE Backstage Halle 14.05 Berlin DE Desertfest Berlin 15.05 London UK Desertfest London 17.05 Brussels BE Obsidian Dust
* One more to be announced soon. Stay tuned.
HERMANO line-up: John Garcia – Vocals Dandy Brown – bass Mike Callahan – Guitar David Angstrom – Guitar Chris Leathers – drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 3rd, 2025 by JJ Koczan
I’m not sure if this is everybody playing next year’s Legalize Lex, or just Legalize, at Al’s Bar in Lexington, Kentucky. This year had 17, and this is 14 bands, so if they’ve pared it down a bit, fair enough, but it’s also next April, so if they’re allowing for a couple others to get on board or for plans to chance, also fair enough. Note that Hashtronaut, Crop, Swamp Hawk, Shi and Veilcaste played this year’s Legalize, and a couple repeats year to year, friends and associated acts, is part of building a festival culture as well.
One assumes Spotlights will headline, and Hashtronaut and Crop would seem to have moved up the bill as well. Crystal Spiders will surely be awesome, and Fairie Ring and Doomsday Profit and Insomniac and well basically I’m just listing names at this point because I think the bands are cool and somehow you’re just supposed to get that reading. Come on, man. You were at that Insomniac gig in Brooklyn, right? Talking to myself and Gavin Zollo because I don’t think Ron actually reads. Ha. I don’t think anybody reads.
I digress. Driving untold hours to stand around a place to see bands? Sounds right up my alley. Not even joking:
Legalize Lex 2026
Hello everyone, we had a couple of errors on the initial release post and we want to make sure we represent all our bands the best we can, so we’re reposting this bad boi! We definitely appreciated all of your likes and comments the first time around, your support means the world to us. If you feel so inclined, please share this post so we can keep spreading the word! Year 3 is gonna be a banger! Excited to see you all!
Lineup: Spotlights Hashtronaut Crop Crystal Spiders Swamp Hawk Faerie Ring Uga Buga Insomniac Doomsday Profit Veilcaste Dead Vibes Ensemble Shi Acromancer Blonde Cauldron
Posted in Reviews on October 7th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
It hasn’t exactly been graceful so far, this Quarterly Review, but it’s gotten to where it’s needed to go across a tumultuous first two days, and I’ll take that as a positive sign of things to come. We’re in the thick of it now, with day three, and it’s a good day to dig in, so I won’t delay further except to say I hope you find something in here that you enjoy.
Quarterly Review #21-30:
Vinnum Sabbathi, Intersatelital
Mexico City instrumentalists Vinnum Sabbathi have been plenty busy in the five years since their 2020 split with Comacozer (review here), whether it was collaborating with Rezn, touring multiple times in Europe, putting out a live record, etc., but the three-song Intersatelital EP is a welcome standalone studio return for the band just the same. Issued to coincide with their Summer ’25 Euro run, the 19-minute outing basks in 20th Century-era space exploration, with Spanish-language samples recounting the launch of early communications satellites for a kind of positive-future manifestation as the intro “Centro de Control Especial” flows into “Sistema de Satelites Morelos” and the 11-minute finale “Rodolfo Neri Vela,” which is both heavy enough to pay off the entire procession of the release and intense enough to convey escape velocity. The short version: Vinnum Sabbathi deliver again.
Past the medically-noisy intro “Flatline,” Crop‘s S.S.R.I. — the Lexington, Kentucky, sludgers’ second LP, named for the class of antidepressants — builds a massive wall of harsh-shout-topped sludge metal with “Formaldehyde,” big tones and big riffs resulting in big impact. Nothing to complain about, and I’m not complaining, but neither is that all they have to offer. A midsection break with vocals that if you come back in a decade will probably be clean hints at complexity in the composition, and sure enough, even the lumbering largesse of “Godamn” or the closer “Break” give hints of melody somewhere (the latter also some double-kick), and by the time they get to “10-56,” they’ve established their context enough that the dynamic will be apparent for those willing to hear it. That makes “Alone” less of a surprise with a more progressive reachout in its second half, followed by the echoing guitar interlude “Breath,” after which “Break” buries itself and everything else in lurching distortion and takes just a quick breather before the last and most vicious onslaught. They sound like they’re on a path of growth, but to be sure they’re also flattening everything on that same path.
Bloodsports are no more beholden to the post-grunge melancholy of “Rosary” than the outright crush of “Rot” just before or the willfully choppy succession of “Trio 1” and “Trio 2” that open its respective sides or the penultimate strum and cello of “A River Runs Through,” and their first album, Anything Can Be a Hammer envisions an intimate volatility. “Come, Dog” and the daringly straight-ahead “Calvin” find the Brooklynite four-piece (maybe sometimes a trio?) casting their lot with individual perspective almost as a side-effect of the personal expression the nine component tracks seem to convey, but also rock, and while at full-bore, the six-minute closing title-track is a forceful push revealing a prog-hardcore metal (Converge, Oathbreaker) influence somewhere in the band that provides a roiling payoff. It gets chaotic and they let it, so bonus points for all that noise. A lot will depend on whether or not they tour, but there’s a take developing in Bloodsports‘ sound that isn’t like much else out there. If they can hit it hard and tour, the potential is there to be realized.
Swedish heavy progressive psychedelic rockers Eyes of the Oak follow 2024’s sophomore LP, Neolithic Flint Dagger (review here), with the three-tracker Tripping Through Neon Skies, which pairs two originals in “Temple of Hallucinations” (5:08) and “Hitchhiking From the Mescaline Moon” (11:49), the latter drifting into a cosmically declarative crescendo that calls to mind Samsara Blues Experiment in its sweep, with a duly spaced-out take on AC/DC‘s “Hell’s Bells” that admirably balances loyalty to the original (why else would you cover it?) with the band’s will to make it their own in melody and reach. “Hitchhiking From the Mescaline Moon” is more of a voyage, of course, but “Temple of Hallucinations” casts itself out in vivid colors with a proggy hook and swells of vocal melody that add a light, not-unwelcome touch of the grandiose. It’s a big sound, and a big universe, and with these songs, Eyes of the Oak continue to carve out their place in it.
So here’s my story. Not knowing much about Virginia’s Pygmy Lush beyond their being well recommended and sharing members with Pageninetynine, I showed up to their set at this year’s Roadburn Festival, and found their punk-rooted, sometimes-loud Americana engaging enough that I knew I wanted to check out their first album in 14 years, Totem. Year goes on, blah blah, summer, blah blah everything is terrible, and I finally get around to the album and Totem blindsides with a post-hardcore swing and angularity, somewhat thinky-thinky-smart-dude in pieces like “Algorithmic Mercy (Prayers Printed Directly Into a Shredder),” and unhinged in the general impression in that way that sounds like it’s about to trip over itself the whole time but never actually does. Kind of a surprise, but it’s done well and I ain’t mad about it. I’m sure there’s a narrative to the whole thing that’s been rephrased however many times over by critics more erudite than I could or would ever be, or maybe the band is just dynamic (gasp!). They quiet down for “Nonsensical Whisper” at the end, too, so it’s not all shove, even if that does define the record in large part.
The second album from Berlin’s Sheev, Ate’s Alchemist, purports a theme of dark emotions and their ethereal origins, and I’m not entirely sure how that translates into the odd-timed chuggery that bookends “Elephant Trunk,” but the progressive metal/rockers make a showcase of scope across the eight cuts/49 minutes of the album, veering into and out of various microgenres, whether it’s the doomly overtone of “Cul de Sac” or the imagine-thrash-but-soaring of “Martef” after the intro “The Alchemist.” Clearly a band who’ve worked on their sound, who believe in what they do, and who have paid attention in class when it comes to fostering a unified feel across disparate sounds. There’s nowhere the album goes that finds Sheev out of place, and while the level of engagement for a given listener will depend on their ability to meet the band where they’re at, the arguments for doing so are myriad. There are about eight of them, actually. Funny how that’s the same number of songs included, right? Stick around for the mathy wash at the end of “Sabress.”
I mean, you might think you’re ready for what’s coming on Lähdön Aika‘s fourth full-length, Mustalle Maalle, but you’re probably wrong about that. Just because they’ve been a band for over 20 years doesn’t mean the atmospheric post-sludge extremists can’t still bash your skull with the throatripper-topped jabs of “Et enää mitään” or the speedy crusher “Paina pääsi alas” later on, the rawness of the vocals only one example of the levels on which the Finnish outfit make their sound an assault. As they make their way toward the 10-minute capper “Ihmishaketta,” “Teuraaksi Kastettu” delves into a post-metal that makes Amenra sound like Oasis and the lumber of “Viilto” becomes a downward march only after it’s already lowered the whole quarry onto your person. Physical oppression through music, is what I’m talking about. A grim world awaits you if you think you can handle it, but again, these guys are experienced. They know what they’re doing as they bask in the wanton slaughter of “Ikeestä.” It’s not an accident. There’s method to it. That makes the album feel even more dangerous.
Some of the early vibes on “Beam” or “Stonewall Angel” on Fuzz Thrower‘s self-titled debut — on CD thanks to Off the Record Label imprint, PowerWax Records — remind of Sungrazer‘s mellow heavy psych circa 15 years ago, and certainly the drifty interlude “Waves” backs that up, but Netherlands-based multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Tjeerd de Jong (also of Phantom Druid) grunges out in the march of “Nowhere,” gets more Sabbath-doomed for “Drooler” and the penultimate “Pictures of the Moon,” hints toward goth metal in “Ocean in the Sky,” and rounds out the nodder riffing of “Soon We Roam” with a sampled poetry reading, so no, things are not so easily accounted for in a single comparison point. So much the better. Across the album’s 29 minutes, de Jong presents a strong sense of trying out ideas — the way the vocals rest on top of “The End is Open,” for example — that might bring progression to subsequent releases, but there’s already depth to spare in the songwriting of this first outing. If/when he buys a keyboard, watch out.
It’s a secondary element, but don’t discount the synth work of drummer Daniel Figueroa on Moths‘ Septem EP, and if you’d like an example of why, check out “Pride.” The seven-track/26-minute offering takes each of its titles from the alleged seven deadly sins, with a full prog-metal brunt behind vocalist Mariel Viruet‘s noteworthy, growl-inclusive range as a singer. Guitarists Omar González (rhythm) and Jonathan Miranda (lead), bassist Weslie Negrón and Figueroa vary tempo and aggression to suit a given mood, and the keys are a bigger part of that than they might at first seem. Don’t tell the guitarists. The affect is definitely metal in pieces like “Gluttony” and “Greed,” while “Lust” lets the bass lead the groove, and “Wrath” — as good a place to end as any — pushes deeper into poised extremity with a blasting finish, the overarching density calling for nothing so much as repeat listens.
Pairing aggro, low-throat growl sludge with jammier takes, psychedelia, proggy riffing and a resolution in Iommic swing, the 28-minute “Subherbia” from Greenhead‘s debut album of the same name encapsulates on its own the kind of range one might expect (hope) for from a newcomer band, but the Washington D.C. trio don’t end there. Side B brings “Indigo,” “All Seeing Eye,” “Nature’s Pyramid” and “Purple God,” riding the blurred line between modern stoner largesse and classic doom riffing cohesively, letting “Nature’s Pyramid” punk up its chorus a bit as a precursor to the gang shouts of “Purple God.” I don’t know what genre you call it and I don’t care. I’m just happy to hear a new band mashing styles together to see what sticks and coming out it with a first LP that practically smacks you in the face with its ambition. What comes of it or doesn’t, whatever. I’ll take Subherbia as-is, thanks, and hope I’m lucky enough to see them do it live at some point.
Posted in Questionnaire on August 12th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.
Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.
Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.
The Obelisk Questionnaire: John Barnett From Ned
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I am the lead singer and guitarist for the band Ned and we play a loud, brash, Appalachian version of Stoner music. We started in 2014 In a small holler called Southfork with John Barnett and Stevie Watkins as the two founders. I always just wanted to be a guitar player or a drummer until the band I was in at the time (Whip lash) needed a singer and everyone refused to do it and I kind of got nominated. Even though I never sang before, within 3 years it was all I did because the other members hired two guitar players and there was no room left for a third guitar player even though I was the first. I kind of just got stuck on singing there for a while. This was all before Ned and kind of the reason I was the guitar player and singer in Ned and the only one at that. I never wanted to do just singing. I didn’t know where to put my hands and I didn’t realize being a singer meant you were the front man also meaning you’re an entertainer. At that point in my life I was only ready to be a musician, later on I learned how to be more of an entertainer and not just a musician.
Describe your first musical memory.
I actually have two; the first one drew my curiosity to music and the 2nd got me involved in playing music. The first one I have faint memories of and it was when I was about three or four. My grandfather (Andrew Jack Mullins) used to come over and play the guitar for me. He was a professional musician, who back in the 1960s, went to Nashville and recorded a couple singles. His biggest hit, in my opinion, is “Tonight I’m So Lonesome My Darling”. The second memory came from when I was going to church when I was about 12 or 13 years old. I walked into church before service and I noticed one of the older kids at the pool pit playing what I assumed was a guitar, come to find out it was a bass. I expressed my interest in learning how to play an instrument and he took me under his wing and showed me how to play three songs; “Smoke on the Water”, “Iron Man”, and the intro to “Carry on My Wayward Son”. He was also one of the guitar players who replaced me later on. Although I wasn’t happy I was only singing, I was happy that my guitar teacher was in my band and he was a great guitar player, better than me. So ultimately it was the best decision to make him a guitar player in the band.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
This is a tough question to answer because I have good memories in different parts of music. But I will make it short and sweet. When it comes to mainstream bigger bands ,hands down, it had to be the scream from Slayer on the song “Angel of Death” at Riverbend in Ohio. Hearing it live for the first time, it’s so powerful. Local bands now; The best memory I have is the show that I booked up in a small town called Birdseye Indiana. We threw a benefit show with my band Ned, my other band Artificial Hatred, and several more. We raised money for a women’s halfway house so they can get new plumbing installed and continue treatment. Unbeknownst to us, a member of the community’s house burnt down and we were able to raise some money for them as well. I feel like this is one of the best things I’ve ever done with my music. Now, this next one hits close to home. I moved from Richmond KY back to my hometown Jackson KY in July of last year and for quite some time, Stevie wasn’t the drummer in the band Ned but that was going to change. Ned was back home and Stevie was able to be a part of it again. We loaded up generators and went to our old practice room and got in two songs before the amp killed over. Luckily we got to go do that, even if it was for two songs. Stevie passed away shortly after that day due to medical malpractice at our local hospital. Even though we only played for the 6 months I was back home, I’m glad that I chose to move back home to spend it with him.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
This is gonna be a long one! So as I said before I used to go to church, that doesn’t make me holier than now but I do have some morals. I don’t steal, I don’t kill, and for me money is the root of all evil but we gotta have it to survive. I say this to set up what I’m about to say next. We booked a show with a person within a day’s notice because one of my dearest friends was a vendor and overheard the festival saying the sound guy quit and took the bands with him. Her being as helpful as she is recommended having Ned. Now Ned hasn’t played in a couple years in a live setting, we didn’t even have a drummer. But we showed up, found drummers while we were there, and we gave them a hell of a show. We were also invited back for another gig with my other band (Artificial Hatred).
After that show we started hearing rumors that we stole equipment. I messaged the booker and was met with “Well that’s what I heard but I’m not telling you who told me”. A couple of f-bombs later, we didn’t talk anymore and I was still no closer to finding out who started the rumor. So I went on about my business and called it a loss; oh well, there’s someone talking about me, life goes on. We wanted to book a show down in London, Kentucky, called Mountains of Metal. So, we get a hold of the Booker and we’re told to hit them back up next year because they were full. So we did the next year and the year after that and the year after that. Eventually, I found out that the booker for Mountains of Metal is also friends with the booker of that other show and runs the lights for Mountains of Metal.
Come to find out, the booker for that show Mountains of Metal was also in another band that I’ve booked two or three times and didn’t realize it. So, realizing that I had his band booked at an upcoming show, I made plans to talk one on one with him about this. Now, the story is I stole equipment off one of my ex-band members and that this guy is his friend and he’s not going to put our band on his show because that’s his friend and he doesn’t want to screw his friend over. Even though his friend’s a liar and made up rumors but we’ll get there. So the band that I supposedly stole off of I was good friends with still, they probably didn’t know that. I messaged a member of that band and he responded with “No, we haven’t heard anything like that. We were hoping that we all could get together and play music again soon.” That doesn’t sound like someone who’s mad at me for stealing equipment.
So, I put it out to the public and it was met with crickets. After I prove that rumor wrong, another rumor popped up from the same people that I apparently stole land out from under them. Now, what they’re referring to is the beginning of this story when Ned went to go play a show last minute; that show was on a festival grounds where that group of bookers threw shows sometimes but did not own. We were approached by the landowner into throwing a show there with our team. We also asked the previous bookers if they wanted to be involved and where they didn’t have control, they said no. I mean if I’m going to spend thousands upon thousands of dollars on a show I’m going to be in control and not someone who doesn’t have a dime in it. They claim that we stole that land out from under them when they didn’t even own it to begin with and neither did we.
So yeah, I’m hurt over the fact that someone out there can go out and lie on somebody, get a group of people to believe it, and destroy any chances of someone taking that path in music when the person who was accused is innocent. I took it to Facebook live and asked if anybody has a problem with me to handle it with me like an adult, to sit down and have a conversation and do whatever we have to do to resolve this. Because it wasn’t fair and still isn’t fair to me that unknown people apparently know me well enough to destroy my music career at that time. That was also met with crickets online.
The last part of this story is the most mind-blowing to me because of who I am and probably to the people who know me as well. One of the people who was a part of all that became no longer part of that and became really good friends with me. And according to him, they were afraid that I was going to bring a gun and shoot up the place! First of all I don’t even own a gun, second of all if I did decide to do that it wouldn’t be directed towards a bunch of innocent people. I will go after the one who caused me the problems and make an example out of him. But again, I have morals and even though that might be a quick solution to the problem, it creates a lot more problems than a good long-lasting solution. So basically I didn’t need them and apparently they don’t need me. Did I mention the guy was accused of meeting up with underage girls but was let off because the cops messed up and now that guy is around children and young girls doing these festivals all the time and no one says a word? All I wanted to do was play music! And people like that that made it about everything but music and will spread rumors about you just because they are jealous and see you as threat was a major test for me.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
I believe it leads to more technically advanced progressive music, but it also hinders your ability to make fun little songs, which throughout the course of history, are known to be the biggest hits and make the most money. Not saying there’s not some technically advanced stuff in there but the majority of it is fully processed computerized hog slop. If success was based on skill, Beethoven would still be in the top 40 and so would Frank Zappa, Gojira, Cannibal Corpse, and many many others. The musical climate would be completely different and a lot of them bands that I’ve mentioned probably wouldn’t even existed if musical success was based on skill.
How do you define success?
It’s funny because 13-year-old me, 18-year-old me, and 25-year-old me would all have a different answer so I’m going to give you 30-year-old me’s answer. Success is doing something that you love to do and that doesn’t hinder your life in a negative way. It’s having dedicated people with the same “Why are we doing this?”. It’s finding solace in the chaotic world that we are forced to live in. And if we’re talking about being in a band, I would just love for people to come out and enjoy the show and if they enjoyed it so much be able to have merchandise that they can purchase and if they don’t have money to purchase it be well off enough that you can just give it to them. Notice how I didn’t say money equals success? For me it doesn’t. For me money is the by-product of success. You don’t get money unless you are successful. So being successful has to come first in whatever facet of life you decide to take.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
Definitely the true nature of people. Also, how young people who genuinely believe that bringing everybody together is the key to a successful scene and then the old people using that same technique to create competition in the young blood while they are taking advantage of the musical environment. What I’m trying to say is the older musicians that have been around are like Hulk Hogan in WCW; they deliberately keep the younger people down to hold their spot because they just don’t have it anymore and the younger people can pass them up and they know that. So they hold on to these venues and opportunities like a lifeline because it is but literally if everyone worked together and understood the reason that this person is the headliner and it’s because he is that good and not solely based on “Well I’ve been doing it for 8 – 10 years”, we might actually get something somewhere. All these people that I looked up to when I first got into the scene are just sad to me now. How can you be the biggest thing in your scene for five-six years and never go anywhere? It’s all superficial and it’s uncanny to see with my rose tinted glasses off on this side of life now.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
I’m going to have to say, a self-sustaining band. Like I said in the previous question, I’d like for people to show up, have a good time, and buy merchandise if they like the music well enough. Now I’ve played bigger shows and smaller shows and I appreciate every single person who comes out, but to have the feeling of not being able to get in the crowd because there are so many people and running out of merchandise because so many people are buying it is the feeling that I want to create that I haven’t had yet. The feeling of being wanted and included in something that is bigger than me and doing something that generally makes a difference in people’s lives is what I want.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
For me, it’s meditation and medication. I’ve noticed when I go long periods of time without playing music I get tiresome, restless, and easy irritable. I need an avenue to express those feelings of sadness, anger and sometimes happiness. The only time I ever feel free to do as I please is when I step up on that stage and I take control for 45 minutes to an hour. The stage used to make me very nervous but now it’s my safe haven. It’s weird because I can be on that stage in front of 300 people and be unaffected but if I’m down in that crowd say at a county festival I get overwhelmed with the amount of people and the eyes on me. When I was a kid I used to get in fights in school all the time and it was either put me on Ritalin or take anger management therapy. Coming from a Christian household, they absolutely refused to do medication. So I went to therapy and the breakthrough that we had was that music is my crutch and that when I play the drums it helps release all that built up frustration and anger. I’ve asked myself why drums help me release my anger but playing guitar didn’t and I’ve come to the conclusion that when I play drums I let the music go through me and I really feel it. Now when I play guitar, at least when I was younger, I was too focused on messing up because I wasn’t a great guitar player and I wasn’t a great singer but I’m a decent drummer and it’s really hard to throw me off time. But I used to just stand there out of nervousness until one day I jumped around on stage and it got a pop so I started doing more of that and now just like the drums the music flows through me and as I’m jumping around on stage headbanging you can see it and I can’t hold it back.
Say something positive about yourself.
I’ve really worked hard at this trying to make it in music, but people’s interpretations of success don’t show it. I believe we are a lot better off than we were when we were 13. I believe we’re more talented and we have a better head on our shoulders now. I try to keep going no matter what gets me down. I have a drive for music that can’t be suppressed, not even by me.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
Wanting to be a dad. I’ve pushed aside family responsibilities throughout the entirety of my twenties just to have enough time, money, and energy to play music and when I turned 30 things changed. I quit worrying about things that were out of my control and things that weren’t really important to me. I played music for me and for my fans and loved ones, but I also did it to leave a legacy for my namesake so he or she can be proud of their dad. I want to be able to show my kids music and what really influenced me and helped me through a tough time. I’m not a dad yet but I want it more than anything and wherever the music goes after that is where it’s going to go, just like it has through every good and bad thing in my life so far.
Thank you for taking the time to ask me these questions. Doing this has helped me reflect and come to some good realizations on my musical journey.
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 29th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Crop‘s second album, S.S.R.I. — named for the Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor class of anti-depressive medications; paxil, prozac, laxapro, etc. — will be out Aug. 22, and to mark the occasion of the announcement, the Lexington, Kentucky, sludge rockers have posted the longest track from the record as the first single. At seven minutes, “Alone” presents a vicious mood marked by a semi-melodic rasp from vocalist Marc Phillips, not unlike the gutted-out approach of Hollow Leg‘s Scott Angelacos, able to conjure a sense of harshness while still holding a line of accessibility that bands like Weedeater or Bongzilla don’t have.
“Alone” streams at the bottom of this post. Crop are set to appear in June at the final Maryland Doom Fest. More info on that here.
The following came down the PR wire:
CROP Announces New Album S.S.R.I Out August 22 via Third House Communications, First Single “Alone” Out Now
Lexington, KY’s heaviest export, CROP, has announced the release of their highly anticipated sophomore album S.S.R.I, due out August 22, 2025 via Third House Communications. Alongside the announcement, the band has dropped the album’s first single, “Alone”—a soul-crushing breakup song that cuts deeper than heartbreak and settles into the kind of emotional void that never really closes.
“Alone” is a brutal meditation on what it means to lose someone twice—once in the relationship, and again in the realization that their presence offered no real solace.
Backed by thunderous guitars, unrelenting drums, and vocals that walk the line between raw power and quiet devastation, “Alone” captures the emotional core of S.S.R.I—an album steeped in grief, clarity, and the jagged edge of survival. Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Jason Groves, S.S.R.I builds on the massive sound CROP introduced with their self-titled 2021 debut, and dives even further into the chaos of identity, loss, and mental disintegration.
The seven-track record features emotionally heavy tracks like “Formaldehyde,” “10-56,” and “Break,” and pairs crushing riffs with deeply introspective lyrics, reflecting the band’s evolution from local underground staple to national force.
Known for their blistering live shows and rising reputation in the doom and heavy grunge scenes, CROP has performed at Maryland Doom Fest, RPM Fest, and shared stages with WEEDEATER, CONAN, REZN, BONGZILLA and more. With S.S.R.I, the band delivers not just an album, but a fully immersive psychological and sonic experience.
Formed in 2020 in Lexington, KY, CROP is a four-piece heavy band steeped in the grit of 90s grunge and sharpened by the weight of modern doom. Their debut album CROP (2021) introduced audiences to their brutal honesty and raw sonic identity. With their follow-up S.S.R.I (2025, Third House Communications), the band has expanded both emotionally and sonically, delivering a record that is as vulnerable as it is heavy.
CROP is: Marc Phillips – Vocals Zach Hunter – Guitar Braun Dabney – Bass Andrew Beauvier – Drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 21st, 2025 by JJ Koczan
So here’s a moment where I’m just going to be honest with you. I’m pretty sure this lineup has been announced for a bit. If you’ve been to Legalize Lex and you accordingly keep up with the Lexington, Kentucky-based two-dayer set for April 18-19 on social media, maybe you’ve seen that the likes of Horseburner, Lo-Pan, Temple of the Fuzz Witch and Hashtronaut are making the trip. Fine. So maybe it’s not ‘breaking news,’ as much as anything in the heavy underground short of Bobby Liebling memes could hope to be. I haven’t posted the lineup here yet, so even if it’s not new to you, it’s new to me. Thanks for indulging my late-to-the-party ass once again.
Crop are the affiliated act here, and they seem to be setting up the fest as a regional nexus, pulling bands from all cardinal directions to solidify what’s turned out to be a pretty banger bill. Reminds me of an old Emissions lineup, and not just because Rebreather are there, but also in some of the stoner-sludge later down the poster. The day-split is out — you can see the Saturday is more packed than the Friday, as it should be, but the first night is by no means lacking — and the lineups are rad. I won’t be there to see it, but if you get to go, I’d expect it to be a party as much as a festival. Certainly that’s the vibe I’m getting from the poster.
The day-split came down the PR wire as follows:
LEGALIZE Announces Full Lineup and Set Times for its 2nd Annual Festival in Lexington KY!
[Click play above to stream International Space Station Vol. 2 in full. The split is out Aug. 20 on Worst Bassist, Weird Beard and Echodelick Records.]
In addition to being the most expensive thing ever built, the International Space Station is the most resounding proof ever manifest of the potential for what humanity can accomplish when we, in even momentary or compartmentalized fashion, put aside our differences and genuinely collaborate. Human potential, circling the planet above our heads every 90 minutes or so. Worst Bassist Records (Germany/EU), working in conjunction with Weird Beard Records (UK) and Echodelick Records (US), offers the second installment of its split series, International Space Station Vol. 2, both in tribute and in some of the same cooperative spirit. Like its 2022 predecessor, International Space Station Vol. 1 (review here), the assemblage features four bands, including the Americans Verstärker, from Kentucky, as well as Kombynat Robotron (from Germany), Speck (from Austria) and Sarkh (from Germany). It’s not quite the same as Europe, Russia, Canada and America spending billions of dollars to construct the ISS itself, module by module, but as one would hope, each band brings something of their own to the overarching scope of International Space Station Vol. 2, while keeping to the abiding space rock theme, in essence if not necessarily genre tropes. It’s cosmic one way or the other, to be sure.
As with Vol. 1, each band on Vol. 2 is given a side to work with to make a full 72-minute 2LP. Verstärker lead off and bring the first of the split’s delves into krautrock across “Weltraumtraum” (12:16) and “Kvant” (5:46), the latter of which is an immersive, multi-tiered drone that gradually emerges from the second half of “Weltraumtraum.” The two are likewise exploratory, if in different ways, as the first cut starts out with a more urgent gallop on drums and a bassline that keeps it cool but still moves, guitar feeling out the spaces in the swirl. A boogie takes hold until about four and a half minutes in, where the change marked by a stop of drums leads to a heavier outbound thrust. About force more than escape velocity, the next two minutes of push give over to mellower bassy jamming and guitar effects floating overhead, a little ghostly, but there. The drums keep the tension so that when “Weltraumtraum” starts to build back up it makes sense, and even after the crescendo, until just about 10 minutes in, the drums hold out amid the residual synth and guitar echoes. Once they go, it’s the sci-fi drone of “Kvant” all the way — an initial and not at all last hypnotic stretch as International Space Station Vol. 2 broadens its reach.
Kombynat Robotron bring a reset at the start of their lone inclusion “Montan” (15:31) and answer the proggy flow of Verstärker‘s longer piece with an easy movement of their own. Shimmering guitar over a krautrock groove probably shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone familiar with the band, this split series, or the style more generally, but Kombynat Robotron bring a Yawning–Man-in-space sensibility to the guitar work and subtle gotta-go of the rhythm. A crash and stop at five minutes in marks the divergence from where they’ve been to where they’re going, which is to a more actively swirling solo section, with crash cymbal adding to the build as they move further into the maybe-improvised unknown. Howls and wails circa 8:20 preface a pickup in the toms, and the Kiel trio carry their procession in willfully, increasingly noisy style across its back half, such that when it ends with a feedbackscape, it makes sense, feeling all the more vibrant and nebular in their fusing of elements. As the only band with one song here — everyone else does a long one and a short one, like Verstärker — Kombynat Robotron still use their time well to emphasize performance as well as exploration. “Montan” is duly massive as a result.
The immediate impression when Speck set forth with “Flaniergang” (16:03), with “Bes, So Bes” (4:29) following, is cleaner in tone, but it’s the urging motion of the drums that is most consuming. Accompanied by a bassline one might be tempted to call “solid” were it not so utterly liquefied, the drums mark out the path the song will take and give everybody — yes, including you — the chance to get on board before the real takeoff. That comes shortly after three minutes in as the guitar comes forward and the groove opens up with chugging interstellar build. Hints of heavy psych melodicism persist in the guitar, and that’ll do quite nicely, thank you, but Speck bring the proceedings back down for a quick refueling ahead of the next launch, which comes in short order. It’s not the last either — they sneak in a third redirect in the last two minutes that makes “Flaniergang” even more exciting, capping with feedback that leads directly into the cymbal wash of “Bes, So Bes,” a slow-rolling improv-feeling jaunt into low gravity that isn’t shapeless but which is clear in its less-rigid structure, and at this point in the split, calling something “less rigid” is really saying something.
Given the unenviable task of rounding out the final of the 2LP’s four sides, Sarkh flip the script and put the shorter song first, topping “Helios” (6:17) with a sample in its early going and sweeping in with heavier tones and some of the post-metallic expanse they’ve established as well within their reach. By the time they’re three minutes in, “Helios” is crushing and sprawling in kind, and they continue to set airy post-rock guitar against what in context sounds downright pummeling as the song churns to its purposeful ending, a stretch of low hum making the transition between “Helios” and the concluding “Cape Wrath” (11:37). Terrestrial, if not cavernous in its sound, and once again, remarkably heavy, “Cape Wrath” turns from the patterned riff that begins it, drops the drums and resets for a breath around ambient guitar, and thereby sets out on one big, last build, the payoff of which is your explanation for why Sarkh appear last on International Space Station Vol. 2 — once you go in the black hole, there’s no getting back out. It’s okay though, because as gravitational as they get, Sarkh retain enough presence and intentionality to bring “Cape Wrath” to a close with a change to sparse standalone guitar, not unlike that which set out that build to begin with.
And really, who knows where or when that was. On the cosmic-web-defined, impossible-to-comprehend-by-our-bacteria-brains scales of time and space in the universe, International Space Station and the structure that inspired the series in the first are — like everything else human beings have ever done and likely will ever do — small achievements, but they share that aspect of realized potential, and like the different sections of the ISS being assembled in orbit some 255 miles above the surface of the planet, each band’s material adds to the complexity of what’s portrayed by the whole, which is a fresh, multidimensional space rock that speaks no less to an optimistic future. The eons-long course of civilization’s history has wrought little that is more worth celebrating, and International Space Station Vol. 2 feels suitably reverent.
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 24th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
I know I’ve said this before, but I continue to believe there’s something extra rad about a four-way split. Two, generally pretty cool, but often leads to a sense of one band competing with the other or at least a tendency on the part of the listener to compare them, which is just the same thing from the other side. Three, well fine as long as you don’t have any intention toward vinyl. But a four-way 2LP split breaks up in a satisfying way, as everybody gets to showcase their aural wares on their own side, and there’s usually enough breadth of personality between the four bands that the listener is more inclined to take everything as it comes. As Worst Bassist Records showed with three first installment of the four-way split series International Space Station (review here) in 2022, ‘take it as it comes’ is precisely the best way to go in hearing it.
Jointly released through Weird Beard Records in the UK and Echodelick Records in the US, and I believe available to preorder from all of them, International Space Station Vol. 2 once again brings together an intercontinental assemblage in Verstärker (from the US, despite the maybe-misleading umlaut), Kombynat Robotron and Sarkh (from Germany), and Speck (from Austria), and everybody but Kombynat Robotron already has a song streaming. And Kombynat Robotron aren’t being jerks or holdouts or whathaveyou, but they’ve only got one song on their side. Fair enough up keep it under wraps for now.
If you do want to hear that — and we both know you do — come back Aug. 19, as I’ll be streaming the album in full that day with what I’m sure will be a duly slobbering review full of obscure Star Trek references and cosmic buzzwords picked up from the PBS S0ace Time science videos my daughter watches with ironically religious fervor. So it’ll be awesome, in other words.
For now, art, info and copious linkage follow. Engage:
The long awaited vol. 2 of the Intrernational Space Station arrives!
2-LP in a fat gatefold cover, colored wax, limited to 500 LP 1: orange wax LP 2: blue wax CD in digisleeve lim. 100
Four international bands (Verstärker, Kombynat Robotron, Speck, Sarkh) contributing 1 LP side each, instrumental, about how to watch the ISS crossing their skies from time to time… or being overwhelmed by the rough beauty of the ocean…
Long and psychedelic tracks pulsating through space and try to follow the way of the space station around our globe and even beyond, to contribute you the opportunity to travel through your inner cosmosis while listening, only interrupted by the needle lifting, which could just be some stops at random interstellar stations, to release and gain passengers.
2-LP in a fat gatefold cover, colored wax, limited to 500 LP 1: orange wax LP 2: blue wax
Out via Worst Bassist (DE+World), Echodelick (USA) and Weird Beird (UK) August 20th 2024 Comes with Download Code
CD out via Worst Bassist on Aug. 20th.
Verstärker
Verstärker from Kentucky, USA, play monotonic motorik sound, surrounded by soundscapes and beautiful noise.
Groove, shifts, scapes, beauty, intensity, it’s all there.
Kombynat Robotron
Germany’s high flying neo-krautrockers continue on side B with their floating and dynamic longtrack.
Speck
Side C kicks off with Austria’s instrumental psychedelic mantra jammers Speck, who created a journey through mind and space until…
Sarkh
… the ISS takes another turn over Germany and brings you a force of nature to end all this, with side D.
You’ll be torn apart and re-built again through the heavy and yet delightful instrumentals.
