2020, if you can believe it, has started to wind down. The year-end poll is up, and it’s time for the Apparently-Annual The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal’s Some of the Best of 2020 Two-Part Extravaganza Blowout Supershow How Can I Possibly Make the Title Even Longer Oh Wait I Got It: The Next Generation.

That’s right, friends and neighbors, this show and the next one — which is on frickin’ Xmas Day; love it — bring just a smattering of some of 2020’s highlights. Voice tracks and playlists are in for both episodes, and this one airs today as the first of the two-parter, acknowledging the utterly spectacular time it’s been for death-doom particularly. I guess Atramentus are doing some heavy lifting there, but to listen to that track, I think you’ll agree they’re up to the task.

Beyond that, space rock, prog-heavy, psychedelia, and good ol’ riffs pervade, thriving despite the hardest and most surreal times. If you get to listen, I very much hope you enjoy it. I’ll be in the Gimme chat if you want to say hi.

Thanks for listening and reading.

The Obelisk Show airs 5PM Eastern today on the Gimme app or at http://gimmemetal.com

Full playlist:

The Obelisk Show – 12.11.20

The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is Dec. 25 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.

Gimme Metal website

The Obelisk on Thee Facebooks

It comes up in the interview, but I’ll note here as well that the discography of Craig Riggs is significant. In addition to his time first as drummer then as frontman of Boston heavy rock standard-setters Roadsaw, there’s White Dynomite, Los Angeles’ Sasquatch for whom he plays drums, and Kind, whose new album, Mental Nudge (review here) is their second behind 2015’s Rocket Science (review here). All of that doesn’t take into account either the fact that Riggs is head honcho at Mad Oak Studios, an institution in the Northeast, occasionally puts out releases through Mad Oak Records, and roasts his own coffee. Dude keeps busy.

Nonetheless, with Riggs on vocals, Darryl Shepard on guitar, Tom Corino on bass and Matt Couto on drums, Kind are a special case. A supergroup the pedigree of which spans decades not only through his own but Shepard‘s as well, the band coalesces around a heavy psychedelic rock that puts emphasis on all three words in that combination. Particularly on Mental Nudge, they are able to harness breadth and shove alike, and as the album was recorded in January with the emerging specter of the COVID-19 pandemic starting to take shape around them, the record brims with the potentiality for what they might’ve done in bringing it to the stage.

Well, so much for that. While Kind are taking part today along with Set Fire and others in a prior-filmed live stream (info on Thee Facebooks) to benefit the esteemed ONCE Ballroom in Somerville, MA, as well as Grayskull Booking, Mental Nudge is the first record in Riggs notable catalog where he can’t get on stage to support it with live shows. In the video interview below, we talk about what to do with that energy — hint: make another record — along with the yet-to-be-released-but-already-in-the-can Sasquatch album, experimentation with melodic layering and effects, changes in the band’s circumstances with the dissolution of what had been Corino‘s main outfit Rozamov and Couto‘s separation from Elder, and much more.

We spoke earlier this week, on the grim-feeling morning after the US presidential election, and that comes up too in its way, as it would almost have to. Not too much. Just a little.

Thanks to Riggs for taking the time to chat and to you for reading and/or watching

Please enjoy:

Kind, Mental Nudge Interview with Craig Riggs, Nov. 4, 2020

One more time, Kind‘s Mental Nudge is out now through Ripple Music. The album stream follows here.

Kind, Mental Nudge (2020)

Kind on Thee Facebooks

Kind on Instagram

Ripple Music on Thee Facebooks

Ripple Music on Bandcamp

Ripple Music website

Seriously, nothing personal if that’s your thing, but I’m just not a big Halloween guy. I know it’s like supposed to be a whole heavy metal blah blah holiday and paganism and skulls and Samhain and witches are hot and all that kind of stuff, but it’s really not my vibe. So while there was a part of me that was tempted to play Type O Negative’s October Rust in its entirety as a part of this episode of The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal, I opted instead to stow that notion and focus on new music instead. If you’re into dressing up and carving pumpkins and all that, awesome. I wish I could rock that way. It looks like fun. But it’s just not me.

Right around KVLL and Celestial Season this episode gets pretty heavy — heavier than I knew it was going to until I started to put it together — but it shifts back I hope with some sense of flow thanks to Grayceon and Pallbearer and Kind ahead of the two-long-songs closeout that’s kind of become tradition. Weird to think of approaching 50 episodes here, but I guess time does what time does, which is fly. In any case, if you listen, don’t miss Alien Mustangs at the start and don’t miss BleakHeart in the middle. Those are two records I haven’t really had the chance to cover that are both excellent, though really any of this stuff you felt inclined to dig further into, it’s not like I’d fight you on the impulse.

Either way, thanks for listening if you do. I hope you enjoy the show.

The Obelisk Show airs 5PM Eastern today on the Gimme app or at http://gimmemetal.com

Full playlist:

The Obelisk Show – 10.30.20

The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is Nov. 13 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.

Gimme Metal website

The Obelisk on Thee Facebooks

What a difference a few years can make. It’s been five since Boston’s Kind released their debut album, Rocket Science (review here), through Ripple Music, and the intervening time has seen a few changes of circumstance that put the band in new light. Vocalist Craig Riggs, heretofore best known as the vocalist of Roadsaw, not only put out a record with that band but also joined L.A.’s Sasquatch on drums. Guitarist Darryl Shepard, whose pedigree of Beantown-based groups might be unmatched — Milligram, Blackwolfgoat, Hackman, countless others — has spent the last few years exploring grunge/heavy-punk influences with the duo Test Meat. And in the rhythm section, what was formerly thought of as bassist Tom Corino‘s main project, Rozamov, haven’t played a show since 2018, despite putting out an awaited debut of their own, while drummer Matt Couto parted ways with Elder in 2019.

The result of all this as it relates to Kind‘s second full-length, Mental Nudge, is a palpable sense of focus. If the songs on Rocket Science were the output born of the four-piece’s initial coming together and learning how to work from a group, then this follow-up is accordingly a moment whereby they take what was established last time around and blast it forward in terms of progression. Notably, that can be heard in terms of the songcraft, as right from the outset with “Broken Tweaker,” Mental Nudge does not shy away from laying down righteous hooks, where the previous collection perhaps pushed back to some minor degree against that impulse to highlight more of a psychedelic expanse. Rest assured, with synth added from Couto and Riggs both, a cut like “It’s Your Head” offers both, and that’s indicative of the modus of the record as a whole, though the tracklisting veers between longer songs (six to eight minutes) and shorter ones (under five) so as much as Kind are dedicated to setting up a full-album flow and letting each song make an impression of its own as a part of that, there’s a willingness to play around a bit and bounce the listener back and forth along the way.

It works well. “Fast Number Two” is a direct sequel to the accordingly titled “Fast Number One” from the first LP, and is emblematic of how the three shorter inclusions on Mental Nudge — itself, “Helms” and the penultimate title-track — manage to balance structural and atmospheric impulses. The sense of space — Alec Rodriguez recorded at Mad Oak Studio; another crucial return — is what unites the material throughout, and in following “Broken Tweaker” laying down the gauntlet in the opening line of the record, “Fuck yeah, I’m willing,” “Fast Number Two” brings a charge without stumbling over its own sprawl. No one in the band is inexperienced when it comes to writing songs, of course, but particular credit has to go to Couto, who handles every turn with grace and a masterful swing, and Corino, whose bass tone brings low-end punch not only to “Fast Number Two” but to the subsequent chug of “Bad Friend” and the closing plod of “Trigger Happy” in highlight fashion. Their work together not only brings impact, groove and weight to the riffs, but broadens and enhances the reach of the band overall.

Along with Riggs‘ layered vocals finding layered and languid apexes in “Bad Friend” and “Helms,” repeating lines in the latter — which is also the centerpiece — as a preface to the hypnosis cast in the finale, and the wash of riffs and leads from Shepard, who spaces out in the midsection of “Bad Friend,” shreds in “It’s Your Head” and pulls out Cantrell-style soul for “Mental Nudge,” Kind becomes bolstered by the quality of each performance without losing sight of the mission in terms either of individual pieces or the album they comprise. Being more than the sum of their parts might be cliché — actually there’s no “might” about it — but that doesn’t make it any less true. Whatever a given song might hold in terms of tempo or melody, the atmosphere of Mental Nudge is immersive and welcomes the listener in plenty-of-room-for-everybody fashion. “It’s Your Head,” “Mental Nudge” and “Trigger Happy” make up a purposeful side B, and while it begins at a charge, the band’s intention to tip the balance toward breadth comes across clearly in both the songs themselves and in the change in structure — i.e., where each longer piece has a corresponding shorter one on side A’s four tracks, “Trigger Happy” (8:29) has the last word on side B.

It’s worth noting that Mental Nudge‘s seven-track/44-minute run is about five minutes shorter than Rocket Science, which also had eight songs, so that might very well be the difference here, but one way or the other, it allows Kind to set the listener adrift in the closing minutes of the album, as “Trigger Happy” picks up from the guitar-led thickened scorch that is “Mental Nudge” and unfurls itself with a surprising edge of psychedelic doom and teases a final surge as it passes the five-minute mark but ultimately cuts back following a quick solo and sets its course toward an eventual dissolution, rolling out on crashes and melodic whispers that in their residual fade-out tones manage to cast an empty version of the space they’ve created. When it’s over, one might feel as though taking in a cliffside view. Kind, then, have pushed as far outward as they’ll go on Mental Nudge, and left their audience in that place. The effect is resonant and lasting.

What Rocket Science put forth, Mental Nudge codifies into genuine sonic persona. Kind are not just a band with members who are/were in other groups — they’ve created this approach of their own and proceeded to work in their own sphere. Obviously there are shades of past work, since it’s the same people, but Kind build something new out of that both because of the combination of players and the individualized intent from which they’re functioning. One hopes it’s not another half-decade before a third Kind record surfaces, but if it is and it represents the sort of accomplished step forward from the standard Mental Nudge sets, it will have been worth the wait.

Kind, Mental Nudge (2020)

Kind on Thee Facebooks

Kind on Instagram

Ripple Music on Thee Facebooks

Ripple Music on Bandcamp

Ripple Music website

My daily coffee ritual is as complex as it is splendid. It begins the night before. The hopper of my Chemex Ottomatic is filled with filtered water from the fridge. It’s an eight-cup hopper and I generally go just a little above the line. Beans are usually already in the burr grinder, so I tap the button on that — and yes, I know you’re supposed to grind immediately before making the coffee, but you go ahead and run a burr grinder that sounds like a jet engine at 3:45 in the morning when your wife is sleeping right down the hall and see how you fare; it’s a question of courtesy — and a corresponding eight cups of rough-grind awaits. Set up the carafe with the filter, pour in the grounds, and go to sleep knowing that when I get up all I have to do is press a button and the best coffee I’ve ever had — because the best one is always the next one; it’s like Neurosis albums — will be waiting for me by the time I’m done brushing my teeth. There are mornings where that knowledge gets me out of bed.

Now then. I am loyal generally to Dean’s Beans out of Massachusetts, and I have two custom roast recipes through them that I order in eight-to-ten-pound batches: a low-acid dark roast I call ‘The Obelisk Dark Roast’ and a medium roast called ‘The Obelisk Heavy Psych Blend.’ But when I read on the social medias that Craig Riggs — he of Kind, Roadsaw, Sasquatch, etc., as well as Mad Oak Studios — was rolling out a fresh batch of Rwandan-bean dark roast through Mad Oak Coffee Roasters, it was time to deviate from the norm. I emptied out the grinder to start entirely fresh when the bright orange bag showed up and felt ready to give it an honest go.

First, the bag. Resealable is always preferable though probably more expensive. You live with it either way. First thing I look for though when I’m opening a bag of any dark roast is how wet are the beans. Gimme those greasy beans. I want to be able to pop a bean in my mouth straight off and taste it before I even take a bite. I’m not looking for something so dark it just tastes burnt and bitter, and from the first sniff to the chewed bean, Riggs‘ dark roast held the promise of balanced presence of flavor. I looked forward to the morning.

And when the AM came — cruelly early, but no different than ever — I brewed the eight-cup pot I’d consume in my big Baltimore mug The Patient Mrs.’ mother gave me a couple years ago that I use every day and travel with if I can (not so much a concern lately, oddly enough), basically splitting it in half. The grounds had a good-looking bloom in the pour-over machine and I let it settle before pouring the first cup, then let that cool a bit as is my custom before finally diving in while working on my laptop on the couch — the ritual complete when the cup gets washed and stuck in the dish drainer, where it basically lives when not in use because it never goes back in the cabinet, though it does make it into the dishwasher sometimes.

Both cups held that smoothness, which is what I was looking for. A velvety flavor to dark roast, and though I know Ethiopian beans, for example, especially in lighter roasts, are much heralded for their fruity sensibilities, that’s not where I’m at. Wood, cocoa, if it’s nutty that’s fine, but I drink it black exclusively and so I want my coffee basically to taste like coffee. Mad Oak‘s did to a satisfying degree. I am no expert when it comes to palette — can’t tell you hints of cherry or identify elements of the terroir — but I’m a snob and my taste in coffee is easily offended. In talking to my wife about it I told her it was a coffee I could live with, and I didn’t mean it like it’s meh and it’s not gonna kill me. I mean like me and the coffee should get an apartment together.

Mad Oak Coffee Roasters has been around in seemingly intermittent fashion for at least the last six years and probably longer. The bags now are snazzier looking. I asked Riggs where he got his beans from and he said a company in California, which means by they time they got to me in New Jersey they went from Rwanda to California to Massachusetts and then south to me, which isn’t an insignificant trip. I would assume based on knowing Riggs that he’s working with fair trade sourcing — crazy, I know, but Rwanda’s known way more for genocide than coffee — and, well, I guess if I was so concerned about the environmental impact of shipping coffee I’d probably move to Africa or South America. In the meantime, complicity for everyone!

When I finished the pot — which I did in good time, mind you — I decided quickly to make myself another cup’s worth, to get the fresh-ground experience. I wish I was erudite enough to honestly say there was an appreciable difference, but really, it was delicious in any case. Riggs only does small batch roasts — limited edition, for those of you who want to think of it like a vinyl release — but if you can get your hands on some when the getting’s good, the balance and depth of flavors happening in my mug this morning were enough to make me look forward to the next time it’s available.

Mad Oak Coffee Roasters on Thee Facebooks

Mad Oak Coffee Roasters on Instagram

Mad Oak Studios website

New Kind is out in September, and if I need to say it, that’s a reason to hold a spot on your best-of-2020 list. The four-piece of course features members of Roadsaw and Rozamov as well as those formerly tenured in outfits like Elder and Milligram, but here’s one for you — the band also features members of Kind, and if you heard their Ripple-issued 2015 debut album, Rocket Science (review here), you know that means something. Far from being the work of four dudes in other bands with disparate influences, Rocket Science forged a persona for Kind as a separate unit, working indeed from different influences, but toward a common point of heavy psychedelic rock built around memorable songwriting. I’m not saying I’ve heard it or anything, but Mental Nudge, which Ripple will release in September, is very much a worthy follow-up to what was a killer debut.

They’re giving a first sample now in the track “Bad Friend,” and while I’m here, I’ll give a wave to my buddy Lee over at The Sleeping Shaman, who had the premiere. Hey Lee. Hope you’re well.

The PR wire sent the following:

Boston stoner rock supergroup KIND unleash first single + preorder for new album ‘Mental Nudge’, coming September 11th on Ripple Music!

Boston-based stoner rock supergroup KIND (with current and former Elder, The Scimitar and Roadsaw members) return with their sophomore album ‘Mental Nudge’ this September 11th on Ripple Music, and share first single “Bad Friend” today..

Featuring Matt Couto (ex-Elder), Tom Corino (ex-Rozamov), Craig Riggs (Roadsaw) and Darryl Shepard (ex-The Scimitar), Boston heavy rock/stoner foursome KIND return with their second full-length, ready to unleash the follow-up to their acclaimed 2015 Ripple Music debut ‘Rocket Science’. Staying true to their sound but expanding their sonic palette, KIND has crafted seven new songs that cover the aural spectrum, from the indie-rock influenced “Helms” to the full-on doom of “Trigger Happy” to the rock bombast of “Broken Tweaker,” all capturing the effortless interplay between the instruments and Craig Riggs’ powerful vocals. The result is a wall of sound that shows the talent and experience these musicians continue to bring to the form.

‘Mental Nudge’ was recorded at Mad Oak Studios by Alec Rodriguez (Lesser Glow, Forn, Chelsea Wolfe live sound) and mastered by Carl Saff at Saff Mastering. Artwork was designed by Alexander von Wieding (Monster Magnet, Karma to Burn, Brant Bjork).

Stream KIND’s infectious new single “Bad Friend” right here

‘Mental Nudge’ will be released on September 11th, and available now to preorder via Ripple Music as:
– Rare Test Pressing LP
– Worldwide Edition Classic Black Vinyl LP
– Limited Edition Colored Vinyl LP (150 copies pressed on yellow and mint green half and half vinyl)
– CD and digital

KIND New album ‘Mental Nudge’
Out September 11th via Ripple Music
European preorder // North American preorder

TRACK LISTING:
1. Broken Tweaker
2. Faster Number Two
3. Bad Friend
4. Helms
5. It’s Your Head
6. Mental Nudge
7. Trigger Happy

KIND are:
Matthew Couto – drums
Tom Corino – bass
Craig Riggs – vocals
Darryl Shepard – guitar

https://www.facebook.com/KINDtheband
https://www.instagram.com/therockbandkind/
https://www.facebook.com/theripplemusic/
https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/
http://www.ripple-music.com/

The ongoing nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, the varied responses of publics and governments worldwide, and the disruption to lives and livelihoods has reached a scale that is unprecedented. Whatever the month or the month after or the future itself brings, more than one generation will bear the mark of having lived through this time, and art, artists, and those who provide the support system to help uphold them have all been affected.

In continuing the Days of Rona feature, it remains pivotal to give a varied human perspective on these events and these responses. It is important to remind ourselves that whether someone is devastated or untouched, sick or well, we are all thinking, feeling people with lives we want to live again, whatever renewed shape they might take from this point onward. We all have to embrace a new normal. What will that be and how will we get there?

Thanks to all who participate. To read all the Days of Rona coverage, click here. — JJ Koczan

Days of Rona: Darryl Shepard of Kind, Test Meat & Blackwolfgoat (Malden, Massachusetts)

—

How have you been you dealing with this crisis as a band? As an individual? What effect has it had on your plans or creative processes?

Neither of my bands, Test Meat or KIND, have been practicing or anything. Neither band had a tour cancelled but a couple of local shows were. KIND had just finished up our album before the stay-at-home order went into effect, we just got it done under the wire. Test Meat played on March 7th, that was right before the shit really hit the fan. It was a great show but there was a weird vibe. I’m doing fine so far, working from home and watching a lot of movies. I don’t rely on my music for income so I guess in this situation I’m somewhat lucky. Otherwise just playing guitar and coming up with riffs. But like I said, no band rehearsals.

How do you feel about the public response to the outbreak where you are? From the government response to the people around you, what have you seen and heard from others?

Overall Boston seems to be dealing with it pretty well except for some protesters who want things to reopen now, but they’re a vocal minority. I live right outside of Boston and in my town it’s pretty chill. Lots of people are wearing masks and being cautious but some aren’t. I only go out like once a day for a walk or supplies. I’ve been to a supermarket once in the past two months, I usually go to smaller stores for what I need. It seems like there’s two separate narratives going on though. Some people are taking this seriously and being cautious and then some people are just acting like nothing at all is wrong. As far as the government response, it’s absolutely atrocious and a joke. It’s criminal in my mind, what they’re doing, such as seizing supplies from states. Governor Baker in Massachusetts though has been doing a great job and is showing some real leadership.

What do you think of how the music community specifically has responded? How do you feel during this time? Are you inspired? Discouraged? Bored? Any and all of it?

It seems like people are getting very creative. Lots of videos being posted of different musicians playing together. I’ve been really enjoying the ones Charlie Benante’s been posting of the S.O.D. semi-reunion and stuff like that. I posted one video on YouTube as Blackwolfgoat, just an improv I did. I’ve been playing guitar and coming up with riffs. I’ll definitely have a few songs once we’re able to rehearse again. I’m not bored at all. I’m a homebody in general so I’m good with watching movies and noodling on my guitar.

What is the one thing you want people to know about your situation, either as a band, or personally, or anything? What is your new normal? What have you learned from this experience, about yourself, your band, or anything?

I’m just staying busy, trying to not think about it too much, watching less news so I don’t get stressed out. Trying to remain hopeful. Like I said, KIND has a new album in the can and that’ll be coming out later this year, so I’m really looking forward to that. Everyone that I play music with seems to be doing okay for now. Just hanging in there, everyone stays in touch either online or via texts. It looks like I’ll be working from home for the foreseeable future, which is totally different for me but I’m fine with it (I work for a law firm, by the way). Just gotta stick it out, take it one day at a time. I think there will be a huge explosion of new music from bands that will come out of this. Hoping so anyway!

https://www.facebook.com/KINDtheband/
https://www.instagram.com/therockbandkind/
https://www.facebook.com/testmeat1/
https://www.instagram.com/test_meat
https://testmeat.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/blackwolfgoat
https://blackwolfgoat.com/

This past weekend, Boston four-piece Kind entered Mad Oak Studios to begin recording their second album. The heavy psychedelic rockers tracked music for seven songs for the yet-untitled follow-up to their 2015 Ripple Music debut, Rocket Science (review here), and vocals for three.

Details on the record are sparse at this point, as they would be, but included will be new songs “Bad Friend” and “Trigger Happy,” the latter of which guitarist Darryl Shepard singles out as being especially doomed in its sound in contrast to some of the more psych and space rocking fare of the prior outing. Shepard, who in the intervening years since Rocket Science has also worked with Test Meat on several releases and his own experimental outfit Blackwolfgoat on last year’s Giving Up Feels So Good (review here), is just one of the members of Kind who’s kept busy in the interim. Bassist Tom Corino, also of Rozamov, released that band’s debut, This Mortal Road (review here), in 2017 and followed it with a live offering. Drummer Matt Couto, though he’s now left Elder, toured copiously with them and issued Reflections of a Floating World (review here) also in 2017, and vocalist Craig Riggs last year fronted Roadsaw on a long awaited new album, Tinnitus the Night (review here). So if you’re wondering why it’s taken Kind five years to get a new album going, there you have it.

The band is working with producer Alec Rodriguez at Mad Oak and will look to finish the recording process soon, then on to mixing, mastering and the eventual release. I’m not sure if Ripple will be putting it out or what, but even putting aside the pedigree of the group as much as such a thing is possible, it’s hard to imagine that based on Rocket Science alone they wouldn’t have any number of potential allies among labels. Who the hell wouldn’t want their logo on that?

Squares. That’s who.

Shepard was kind enough to take a few minutes and give a quick update on the proceedings and send a few studio pics, and you’ll find that below, along with the stream of Rocket Science if you’d like a refresher.

Dig:

Darryl Shepard studio update:

So we finished up the music for 7 songs, it’s definitely over 40 minutes long, not sure of the exact length. Craig has been battling an ear infection of some sort so he wasn’t feeling well at all on Friday but he rallied and [Sunday] he sang three songs. We should finish up the vocals and some synth stuff soon. It’s sounding really good so far. Not sure when vocals will be finished but hopefully within a week or so. I think this album is a good continuation of Rocket Science but there’s some new sounding stuff on it for us too.

Kind is:
Matthew Couto – drums
Tom Corino – bass
Craig Riggs – vocals
Darryl Shepard – guitar

https://www.facebook.com/KINDtheband/
https://www.instagram.com/therockbandkind/
https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/album/rocket-science

Kind, Rocket Science (2015)