Posted in Questionnaire on May 26th, 2022 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: Scott Donaldson of King Buffalo
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I define myself as a musician and small business owner. It started from a desire to play music with friends and organically grew into a full-time job.
Describe your first musical memory.
Watching music VHS tapes at my dad’s. The three that come to mind to mind are Styx and Van Halen Live concerts. I remember Alex Van Halen making his drumset sound like a helicopter which blew my mind at the time and Tommy Shaw having a shiny metallic guitar that changed colors (it was just the stage lights). My tiny brain thought a color changing guitar was the ultimate. It’s kinda hilarious that I now have a drumset that can “change color” haha. The 3rd was all the Def Leppard music videos through Hysteria. I loved and completely wore through that tape.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
That’s tough. I’ve been extremely fortunate to meet a lot of super talented musicians and even luckier to be able to call many of them friends. I honestly can’t pick just one but it’d involve touring with them.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
Probably when Sean said I should start playing certain songs to a click. A lot of his delays are mapped out and for some of the synth work, I have to be exactly on. I didn’t like the idea at first and now I love it. It’s comforting to know I’m in the right place and kinda liberating. Thanks Sean!
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
Does anyone know? I think everyone’s journey is different. Each person has their own views and ways of moving forward. I think it depends on the person and the environment they develop in.
How do you define success?
I think definitions of success change as you grow musically and as a person. Success to me when I first started was to make four records with my name on it and to do a West Coast tour. Now we’re approaching 10 records with KB so, I think we’ve achieved some success, but I also think there’s a lot more to go.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
A dog at a live show without ear protection. Please protect your animals!
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
It’d be cool to have some KB tunes in a video game haha.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
For me it’s trying to have fun. Music has become my full time job and I’m lucky to be able to say that. I think it can become easy to get jaded and forget how far you’ve come. I don’t want to take anything for granted and enjoy things for as long as they last. Having fun while creating is essential, because if it stops being fun I think it can stifle your creativity.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
Dune Part 2. I read all the books over the pandemic and always had a campy appreciation of the David Lynch film. Part 1 was close to perfect for me and I’m excited to see what the next one brings. Fingers crossed they make a 3rd as well.
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 23rd, 2022 by JJ Koczan
First I was like, ‘Oh damn, that day one lineup rules!’ and then I was all, ‘Oh damn, but look at day two!’ and that’s how I know this festival will be a good time. Lazy Bones, in the spirit of Up in Smoke or Keep it Cool — both in the autumn season — is a new festival helmed by the obviously-capable hands of Sound of Liberation, set to take place July 29-30 in Hamburg, Germany. And yeah, the lineup rules so far. There’s apparently more to come — I’m not sure how much more because I’m not sure how many stages there will be; figure one or two for a first-time-out kind of fest — but anytime Sound of Liberation plants a flag on a weekend and says they’re doing a festival, it’s worth paying attention.
The end of July puts Lazy Bones a respectful two weeks apart from Stoned From the Underground in Erfurt, and Hamburg is over three and a half hours by train anyhow, so not much stepping on toes there. Where it is, Lazy Bones is in a good position to catch some tours just ending and others just beginning, and I continue to look forward to a day when Europe has a different festival to offer — at least one — somewhere on the continent every weekend of the year. Think it can’t happen? I mean, it most likely won’t, but stranger crap certainly has.
Some day I will see My Sleeping Karma. This’d be a cool way to do it.
From social media:
Lazy Bones Festival: WITCH, Colour Haze, My Sleeping Karma, King Buffalo & many more
29. & 30. JULY 2022: LAZY BONES
Friends, today we’re super excited to present you what we’ve been working on in secret lately…
Please welcome a brand new SOL Festival in the beautiful city of Hamburg: Lazy Bones!
Two days of finest stoner & psychedelic rock in the legendary „Gruenspan“ club in one of the most beautiful maritime cities.
LINE UP Friday 29.07.2022 Witch King Buffalo Valley of the Sun & more to be announced
Saturday 30.07.2022 Colour Haze MY SLEEPING KARMA – OFFICIAL monkey3 Wo Fat Lucid Void & more to be announced
When it comes to festival survival, the value of being able to take a shower in your own shower is not to be understated. I wanted to scrub myself with dish detergent just to cut through all that rock and roll greasiness. Alas, resisted the impulse. Still, your own water, soap, toothpaste, towel? These are luxuries not everyone gets to enjoy at an event like this, and which, most of the time, I don’t either.
The tradeoff is commuting to NYC four days in a row, but whatever. The ride today was easy enough, and the ride home last night was bearable even with traffic because the lower level of the GW was closed. There need to be at least three more Hudson River crossings from the Jersey side, though I think you’d have to level Weehawken to make that happen. Eminent domain.
Second day of the fest proper. I’m hanging in. Ground myself macadamia nut butter for the car ride, had a protein bar this morning. Saw a wonderful bunch of people yesterday and expect the same tonight; such are the comings and goings. A boost of energy from that. I was beat to crap by the time C.O.C. went on though, and managed about five decent hours of sleep once I got home, a little after 1AM. You get what you can get when you can get it. Showing up early today, I got to watch WarHorse soundcheck, and that was a win, as I expect much of the day will be. Doors are in an hour.
Green Druid
A fresh take on atmospheric sludge that, when they decide it’s time to slow it down, is god damned brutal. It’s easier to get a handle on where they’re coming from live than on record, big crash, big lurch, plenty of creeper vibes, but delivered with an element of rawest-style post-metal. Low end is ferocious with bass and two guitars and the vocals swapping between cleaner singing and harsher screams is arranged more creatively to suit the mood. Quick set, but they made a positive impression on an already-warm room and for a day that’s more about weight and extremity at least in parts than was yesterday, they seemed to be just right in terms of bridging worlds. If you need me I’ll be at the merch stand. So long as there’s no cartoon boobs, I’m all over it. [Actually, turned out I barely looked at the shirt before I bought it. It’s got a big ol’ bong on it. Probably won’t wear it much, but screw it, gave the band some money. Gas ain’t cheap.]
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WarHorse
I like to think of WarHorse playing 20 years ago and clearing out rooms of people who just don’t get it. As they are now, they manage to be both devastatingly heavy and a good time. You can tell watching them that they’re having fun playing the songs, and while their sound remains utterly miserable and Jerry Orne’s gurgle is as guttural as ever, he and Terry Savastano are into it immediately while Mike Hubbard lays suitable waste behind them. For a reunion that started kind of casually, not a ton of hype around it, WarHorse have become a force. They were one before, obviously, but the appetite for such things has clearly changed in the last two-plus decades. I don’t know what label I’d put them on — Profound Lore? Season of Mist? — but they sound like a band too dead on in their game not to put out new material. I love watching wretched sounding metal played with a smile. Also with a grimace.
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Somnuri
Nothing follows slow-brutal-fun like periodically-thrashz-fast-brutal-fun, and I’ll tell you, that thrash with a ‘z’ was a typo but I’m leaving it because fuck it, it works. Like Green Druid, they change it up arrangement-wise, but their take is more directly lethal, and they manage the balance between heavy tones and rip-face thrust well on stage. Justin Sherrell is stupid talented. They got a new bassist since the last time I saw them, but so it goes. Last summer’s Nefarious Wave full-length has held up, and frankly it deserves every airing it gets. I seem to recall they did a tour for it earlier this year, and they opened one of the YOB shows at the Saint Vitus Bar — not the one I saw, but still — their stuff is a rager unto itself and the latest incarnation of the regional penchant for creative confrontationalism that once birthed Hull. That’s good company to keep as far as I’m concerned. The fog machine was rolling and the riffs were bludgeoning breakdown-style and offset by ambient stretches like a seething just waiting to explode. Like me on the George Washington Bridge last night at 12:30. Their version of that feeling is better.
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Cloakroom
Not a band I knew a ton about prior to their taking the stage, but they were a big swap-out in mood from Somnuri and the fact that they carried their shoegaze-informed take on heavy across so well and so immediately transformed the spirit of the big room after WarHorse is much to their credit. I’ll admit that I didn’t stay probably as long as I should have because I knew I wanted to be up front for Brume, but their roll was like a deep, fresh, cool breath and watching them I got shades of early Jesu and newer Elephant Tree both — neither of whom I imagine they sound like on record, but that’s where my brain went; I heard tell later that the guitarist is a big Weezer fan, which makes as much sense as anything — and there’s nothing but to dig about that. True to their style, they were pretty subdued on stage for the most part, but their combination of depth of tone, volume and melody made them immersive in a way that no one else up to this point has been. Five years from now, when I’m probably sweating everything they do like the Johnny Comelately poseur I am, I’ll probably brag about having seen them at Desertfest.
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Brume
There have been and still are a lot of bands I want to see this weekend, but Brume were my most eagerly anticipated. They offer something that nobody else on this bill does in the same way, and the spaces they create with their material are incredible. I was right to look forward to it. I ended up taking pictures blah blah and then just stayed up front for all but about the last two minutes of the set, and goodness gracious I’m glad I did. The addition of Jackie Perez-Gratz on cello and a couple backing vocal spots puts them in another echelon. Put out another record already. [Edit: I talked to them later in the night and told them I wanted to hear it finished by Tuesday; they said they needed a deadline.] The stage energy was surreal and I did, I just planted myself up front and that was it. Every bit what I hoped their set would be and when I went over to the main room for the start of Inter Arma, I was annoyed with myself for not seeing the last 30 seconds or whatever it was of Brume. Yeah, I know how the song ends, but still. At least I can take comfort in knowing what’s in store for next time. Back to Rabbits I go until then.
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Inter Arma
Like, six dudes? Yeah, I think six. Could’ve been 40, they were so intense. Fucking death metal. Inter Arma’s Sulphur English was so widely hailed it actually got annoying, but they brought that chug and death stomp to the stage with all due brutality and then just a little extra on top. First theremin of the weekend, which is always a good sighting, but the core of the band is the fact that they’re punishingly extreme and still manage to evoke some presence beyond that in their sound. I was more into it than I expected to be, especially coming off Brume, but there was no real question about their intention from the start, and it was a reminder that I actually enjoy death metal even if it’s not what I always write about. But even in that sphere they’re a legit creative band with less genre-strictness than many, and that’s a thing to be respected. I don’t reach for their stuff all the time, and I don’t think I’ve seen them since their first record, but they were killer.
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Yatra
Yatra are a death metal band. They started out as kind of a deathly sludge act and have leaned decidedly into the more teeth-gnashing side of their approach. Their new album is their first for Prosthetic, which is a good fit for them label-wise since that’s where metal bands go who do more than one thing, and they played the title-track “Born Into Chaos.” I’ll confess I haven’t really dug into the record yet — I think the promo came in my email on Thursday? — but their last one wasn’t exactly subtle about the course they were setting and that’s just fine. They can play here, they can play Maryland Deathfest, they can play a kid’s backyard birthday party and get arrested, whatever. Let them be the death metal band who heavy rockers are into, or at least one of a very select few. It’s gotta be somebody, and the more direct route to aural decapitation suits them. Only surprised there was no mosh, even when the blastbeats started.
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King Buffalo
What catharsis. I feel like I’ve been waiting the whole pandemic to see King Buffalo again. Admittedly, there have been opportunities in the last year as they’ve gotten back out, so it’s me, but to finally be in the same space as these songs. They opened with “Silverfish.” That’s the whole story. What more do you need than that? This trilogy of albums, The Burden of Restlessness, Acheron, and the third to come, are a fucking document of this era and if you don’t realize how fortunate you are that this band is doing this work right now, you’re missing it. You’re fucking up. It’s not too late. I was all set to go watch Silvertomb, who I hear do Type O Negative songs too and that’s great, but King Buffalo started to play “Orion” and I knew that if I moved I’d regret it no matter what. Then they break out “Loam?” Come on. Where in earth could you possibly need to be more than you need to be here? Huh? King Buffalo stand among the best and most forward thinking heavy psych bands of their generation and there’s nothing to make me think their best work isn’t ahead of them. Bands like this don’t happen all the time. This. Is. A. Special. Band. Tell your friends. Shit, tell your mom. She’ll be into it. You know how good it was? It was so good that I just stood there and enjoyed it.
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Silvertomb
Somebody’s going home with covid tonight. Kenny Hickey. He called it a rite of passage. Maybe it is. He also called the crowd a bunch of potheads, which is fair considering the smell in the room right now. I was late to the start of the set, but managed to finagle my way around the side to catch what remained. Of course the relation to Type O Negative gives a nostalgic feel. Hearing Kenny Hickey sing brings back fond memories, but also in reminded of a time when no less than 80 percent of the metal bands in Brooklyn sounded like this, about 20 years ago. Getting to see a guy who was in no small part responsible for that — especially on the last two Type O records, both of which I continue to love — is probably enough of an appeal to earn Silvertomb the spot on the bill, honestly, but they also rocked. I whiffed completely on their last album, but had checked out the one before. Kenny teased an “Oh Darling” cover on acoustic guitar, which might’ve been fun, but no dice.
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Torche
Impossible to watch them play and remove it from the context of Steve Brooks announcing on Thursday that he’s done in the band after their Fall tour with Meshuggah. Still don’t know if that means the band are done, but they played as trio, owing to Jon Nunez getting covid. So it goes. They did “Mentor,” and they did Floor’s “Iron Girl,” and they closed with “Tarpit Carnivore,” is if this is the last time I ever see them play, I can’t possibly feel like Torche owe me anything. For them, there was a pit. And yeah, that makes sense. I put myself in the crowd to watch, and there were some laughs, some fuckups, and so on. It was not the tightest Torche set I’ve ever witnessed — have I ever told you about the time I saw Torche and Black Cobra circa ’06 in a shoe museum in Los Angeles? yes? well anyway they rocked the shit out of that footwear and the lucky several individuals who happened to be in attendance — but it’s hard not to be in a good mood when they play regardless of the circumstance. Bomb string, man. Maybe they’ll get back together at some point in some incarnation. Isn’t that what bands do at this point? A six-week hiatus? That’d be fine. Not that they owe it or anything.
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Baroness
I’ve never successfully managed to get on board with Baroness. I’ve tried — I promise, I have — but it just hasn’t happened. Even knowing this, and knowing there’s a good lot of modern heavy that has operated and continues to operate under their direct influence, I did my best to keep an open mind and try to catch the vibe. And I think I succeeded in that at least to some extent. They’re like Rush. You listen to Rush, and a whole lot of other bands across a bunch of different styles start to make sense. Baroness engage with a lot of different forms of rock and heavy music, metal, punk, prog and so on, and they’ve turned it into their own thing. I might not dig it, but I’m not going to rag on them either because what they’ve accomplished is significant even before you get to what they sound like, their massive, won-the-hard-way chemistry as players, their attention to presentation (a setlist with lighting instructions being just one example), or their stage presence. In many respects, they are the quintessential headliner. So, they headlined.
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Other Random Observations:
– I don’t think I’d be a very good bartender, and for someone who’s spent so much of his life daydreaming about opening a venue, I’ve considered it a fair amount.
– On the other hand, someone drove through with a forklift before doors and that looked like good fun.
– Tried not to be starstruck when Jackie Perez-Gratz walked past me wheeling her cello in its case. Did it work? Maybe. Still gonna put on Grayceon’s All We Destroy on the way home.
– Can hear the Morbid Angel influence both in Yatra and Inter Arma. Ties them together in a way I wouldn’t have expected.
– Wow.
– Slower start to the day in terms of crowd, but it filled up. The party must’ve gone late last night.
– Again, folks be inebriated. Guess it’s Saturday. Get home safe.
– That macadamia nut butter may have saved my life.
Gadzooks! You’d almost think I planned these things out in advance. Please rest assured that this 84th episode of The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal is as conceptually haphazard as usual — I’d say it’s as haphazard in execution as well, but Dean Rispler does a banger job putting it all together, editing, etc. — so it’s really just my end that’s a wreck. In any case, today begins Desertfest New York 2022 proper at the Knockdown Center in Brooklyn, and I’m thrilled to have this playlist as a selection from among the bands playing it.
Some are New York or area natives — Geezer, King Buffalo from Upstate, Somnuri from Brooklyn itself — but whether it’s WarHorse coming down from Boston to play or High on Fire, Brume, Red Fang, Dead Meadow, Sasquatch and others coming from the other side of the country to Orange Goblin making the trip from the UK, it’s a rager. The playlist is killer because the fest is killer. Simple as that.
I won’t be in the chat this time because, well, I’ll be at the fest, but I’ll check in if I can. Thanks if you listen, and thanks for reading.
The Obelisk Show airs 5PM Eastern today on the Gimme app or at: http://gimmemetal.com.
Full playlist:
The Obelisk Show – 05.13.22
Corrosion of Conformity
Deliverance
Deliverance
Torche
Mentor
Torche
High on Fire
Hung, Drawn & Quartered
Surrounded by Thieves
VT1
John Garcia
Chicken Delight
John Garcia & The Band of Gold
Sasquatch
It Lies Beyond the Bay
Fever Fantasy
Dead Meadow
Sleepy Silver Door
Live at Roadburn 2011
Brume
Despondence
Rabbits
Red Fang
Number Thirteen
Murder the Mountains
Somnuri
Watch the Lights Go Out
Nefarious Wave
King Buffalo
The Knocks
The Burden of Restlessness
Orange Goblin
They Come Back (Harvest of Skulls)
Healing Through Fire
VT2
Inter Arma
A Waxen Sea
Sulphur English
WarHorse
Lysergic Communion
As Heaven Turns to Ash
Yatra
Terminate by the Sword
Born Into Chaos
Valley of the Sun
The Chariot
The Chariot
Druids
Path to R
Shadow Work
High Reeper
Plague Hag
Higher Reeper
Greenbeard
Diamond in the Devil’s Grinder
Variant
VT3
Geezer
Atomic Moronic
Stoned Blues Machine
Howling Giant
Nomad
The Space Between Worlds
The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is May 27 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 29th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Rochester, New York, heavy psych forerunners King Buffalo are gearing up to announce the third in their trilogy of albums composed under COVID-19 lockdown circa 2020. Pretty much as soon as I can write it, I think. Before that, however, the band and Sound of Liberation have unveiled a slew of European tour dates, including stops at festivals like Lake on Fire, Stoned From the Underground, SonicBlast, Krach am Bach, on and on and on through what seems like a vigorously-returned summer festival season. With gusto, you might say. Regenerated.
Obviously, given the above, there’s more to come from the band shortly — next week — but as they recently wrapped a US tour alongside Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats and were out with Clutch before that, their own return to live performance seems to be all the more in swing. Reasonable, since they just put out two of the best records in 2021 with Acheron (review here) and the prior The Burden of Restlessness (review here), the first two chapters of the aforementioned trilogy. Hard to imagine they don’t have another album’s worth of material done at this point as well, but let’s not get greedy.
From Sound of Liberation on socials:
KING BUFFALO EUROPE 2022
Friends, we’re beyond happy to finally present you a King Buffalo tour – something we’ve been working on since 2019 but that wasn’t allowed to happen until now.
Get ready for finest heavy driving riffs and familiar grooves from the Rochester, NY trio, King Buffalo will tour their latest record „Acheron“, their second release within a year and inevitably known as „the cave record“ as it was recorded in one. Sound of Liberation proudly presents:
KING BUFFALO EUROPEAN TOUR 2022 14.07.22 (DE) Wiesbaden, Schlachthof Wiesbaden 15.07.22 (DE) Oberzenn, Raut Oak Fest 16.07.22 (DE) Erfurt, Stoned from the Underground – Festival 17.07.22 (NL) Deventer, Burgerweeshuis 19.07.22 (UK) Manchester, Rebellion Manchester 20.07.22 (UK) Bristol, Exchange 21.07.22 (UK) London, Oslo Hackney 22.07.22 (NL) Nijmegen, Valkhof Festival 23.07.22 (FR) Lille, The BLACK LAB 24.07.22 (FR) Sélestat, Rock Your Brain Fest 25.07.22 (DE) Munich, Free&Easy Festival 27.07.22 (DE) Dresden, Chemiefabrik Dresden (Chemo) 28.07.22 (DE) Herzberg, Herzberg Festival 29.07.22 (DE) Hamburg, Lazy Bonez Festival @Gruenspan 30.07.22 (DE) Michelau, Rock im Wald Festival 31.07.22 (DE) Berlin, Lido Berlin 02.08.22 (PL) Warsaw, Klub Hydrozagadka 03.08.22 (PL) Krakow, Klub Alchemia 04.08.22 (AT) Vienna, ARENA WIEN 05.08.22 (AT) Waldhausen, Lake on Fire 06.08.22 (DE) Beelen, Krach am Bach 09.08.22 (CH) Zürich, Mascotte Club Zürich 10.08.22 (CH) Bruson, PALP festival 11.08.22 (POR) Moledo, SonicBlast Fest 12.08.22 (BE) Kortrijk, ALCATRAZ MUSIC 13.08.22 TBA
We really can’t wait to see this tour rolling. Hope to see you all there!
If you want to get back into the live rock’n’roll mood already, check out our King Buffalo merch & vinyl at SOL Records
Cheers Your SOL Crew
King Buffalo is: Sean McVay – Guitar, Vocals, & Synth Dan Reynolds – Bass & Synth Scott Donaldson – Drums & Percussion
Still playing catchup with some of the best stuff from 2021, and considering it’s been 2022 for all of a week, that’s not actually that bad. To say I vouch for this playlist is moot. You’ve seen my best of 2021 post — or if you haven’t, here it is — and when it comes to the Gimme Metal show generally, my position is I’m not going to play it if I don’t think it’s cool, so yeah, I’m on board with what’s happening here.
I’ll spare you grand reflections on the year that was, musically or otherwise, and just note that there’s some good variety of stuff going on here, between the likes of Lammping, Apostle of Solitude, Black Willows and Comet Control. I dig that. I hope you do too. Pretty simple, right?
If you didn’t hear the Kadabra record — yeah, I know their name is similar to Kadavar; they’re a different band — check that track out. Ditto, uh, everything, but I know not everyone has or is willing to make the time. Life is what it is. I feel lucky Gimme still lets me do this.
The Obelisk Show airs 5PM Eastern today on the Gimme app or at: http://gimmemetal.com.
Full playlist:
The Obelisk Show – 01.07.22
Yawning Sons
Cigarette Footsteps
Sky Island
Comet Control
Heavy Moments
Inside the Sun
Lammping
Intercessor
Flashjacks
VT
Apostle of Solitude
Apathy in Isolation
Until the Darkness Goes
Delving
Delving
Hirschbrunnen
LLNN
Desecrator
Unmaker
Kadabra
Graveyard
Ultra
Alastor
Death Cult
Onwards and Downwards
King Buffalo
Locusts
The Burden of Restlessness
Jointhugger
Midnight
Surrounded by Vultures
The Age of Truth
A Promise of Nothing
Resolute
High Desert Queen
Skyscraper
Secrets of the Black Moon
Stoner
Nothin’
Stoners Rule
The Kings of Frog Island
Beyond the Void
VII
Elder & Kadavar
From Deep Within
Eldovar: A Story of Darkness and Light
VT
Black Willows
Ascent
Shemurah
The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is Jan. 21 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.
Posted in Features on January 3rd, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Welcome to 2022. If you’re here, congratulations, thanks and good luck. The future rolls forward with us, over us. If we’re lucky, good music does the same.
The poll ran a little shorter than in 2020, when it started after Thanksgiving, and it ended a day or two sooner as well, but no matter. There were still 374 lists contributed and 1,687 separate album listings. Invariably that includes duplicates, but still, quite a number for a year at least half of which was thrown down a well of plague, canceled tours and pressing delays. Thank you to everybody who added a list or a pick or two picks or 10 or anything. You made my year, I shit you not.
As ever, two polls were posted. Raw votes and points. For reference, here are the same rules that I’ve been cut and pasting for however long: You submit your list of up to 20 favorites. Anything from the start of 2020 to the finish is eligible. There are two lists, one of the raw votes, and one in which a 1-4 ranking is worth five points, 5-8 worth four, 9-12 worth three, 13-16 worth two and 17-20 worth one.
That’s how the magic happens. Here’s the magic:
Top 20 of 2021 — Weighted Results
1. King Buffalo, The Burden of Restlessness (542 points)
2. Monolord, Your Time to Shine (360)
3. Green Lung, Black Harvest (349)
4. Greenleaf, Echoes From a Mass (335)
5. King Buffalo, Acheron (318)
6. Domkraft, Seeds (269)
7. Mastodon, Hushed & Grim (235)
8. The Age of Truth, Resolute (218)
9. Kal-El, Dark Majesty (204)
10. High Desert Queen, Secrets of the Black Moon (199)
11. Kadavar & Elder, Eldovar: A Story of Darkness and Light (167)
12. Delving, Hirschbrunnen (160)
13. Thunder Horse, Chosen One (158)
14. Stöner, Stoners Rule (154)
15. Maha Sohona, Endless Searcher (137)
16. Hippie Death Cult, Circle of Days (124)
17. Jakethehawk, Hinterlands (121)
18. Jack Harlon & the Dead Crows, The Magnetic Ridge (117)
19. Spelljammer, Abyssal Trip (114)
20. Red Fang, Arrows (108)
There were more in the 90s, but Acid Mammoth and Blackwater Holylight were the highest I could find and I figured that was enough. Good list. Some results here show bands campaigning, others not so much, but I’d see this list somewhere and nod agreement, so I’m not gonna fight it. In any case, the one-two seems pretty much undeniable, though the race between King Buffalo and Monolord was closer than these numbers make it appear. It wasn’t until the last week or two that The Burden of Restlessness really pulled ahead. My own list was much the same in terms of placement. For a minute there, I thought Green Lung was going to sneak into the number two spot as well.
I have to think Kadavar & Elder, Weedpecker (who were in the 80s, I think) and pretty much everything that came out last month other than King Buffalo’s Acheron was somewhat hurt by arriving late, but on the other hand I’m not going to delude myself into thinking release dates are or should be scheduled around Obelisk polls. Still, I’d have put a few of those higher, but then, there’s only so much room, isn’t there?
Top 20 of 2021 — Raw Votes
1. King Buffalo, The Burden of Restlessness (126 votes)
2. Monolord, Your Time to Shine (98)
3. Green Lung, Black Harvest (93)
4. Greenleaf, Echoes From a Mass (86)
5. King Buffalo, Acheron (78)
6. Domkraft, Seeds (71)
7. Mastodon, Hushed & Grim (57)
8. Kal-El, Dark Majesty (56)
9. The Age of Truth, Resolute (54)
10. Kadavar & Elder, Eldovar: A Story of Darkness and Light (50)
11. Stöner, Stoners Rule (44)
12. Delving, Hirschbrunnen (43)
13. Hippie Death Cult, Circle of Days (39)
13. Thunder Horse, Chosen One (39)
14. Maha Sohona, Endless Searcher (37)
14. Spelljammer, Abyssal Trip (37)
15. Jack Harlon & the Dead Crows, The Magnetic Ridge (36)
15. Red Fang, Arrows (35)
16. Jakethehawk, Hinterlands (34)
17. Acid Mammoth, Caravan (32)
17. Heavy Temple, Lupi Amoris (32)
18. Khemmis, Deceiver (31)
19. Blackwater Holylight, Silence/Motion (30)
19. Weedpecker, IV: The Stream of Forgotten Thoughts (30)
20. Alastor, Onwards & Downwards (28)
Notes:
A couple ties here so I’m nixing honorable mentions — I’m fairly certain you get the point anyway. Everything else had fewer than 28 votes, but if you want to correct me on that and go through all the lists, please know you’re welcome. As always, some discrepancies between the point system and the raw votes, but even the top three were locked in, and if you want to switch Greenleaf and King Buffalo’s Acheron on a given day depending on your mood, well, I can relate to that too. Glad to see stuff like Acid Mammoth and Hippie Death Cult do well here, ditto that Kal-El and the Delving record. It was a good year. I’m not sorry it’s over, but that doesn’t make the music and less killer.
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All the lists submitted will follow the ‘Read More’ tag below. There are plenty of them, so dig in as you will. Thank you to everybody who submitted, to the people who shared the link, even to the bands out there hustling to get people to add them as picks. I think that’s a perfectly valid way to go. In any case, your ongoing support is very much appreciated. Thank you, about 374 times over.
And a final thank you to The Patient Mrs. and to Slevin, the former of whom indulges me daily with time to work on this site and the latter of whom I bug for shit all the time and usually feel pretty terrible about it. Both of them, suffice it to say, have better things to do, so thank you.
Lists follow. My heart goes out to whoever listed their name as three poop emojis.
Posted in Radio on December 24th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
Some extenuating circumstances here leading to a repeat posting of this playlist. What does that mean? Fair question!
This show was originally supposed to air on Dec. 10, but there were some last-minute technical difficulties — the nature of which I don’t even know, so it’s not like I’m keeping secrets — and it didn’t happen. Hey, I’ve done (apparently) 74 episodes of this show and that’s never happened before, so I consider that a pretty impressive run.
And obviously the world has continued along its chaotic, dizzying spin, so no real harm done. In the voice breaks here I talk about the next episode being on Xmas Eve and this being part one of two before the end of the year — which obviously won’t happen — but to be honest with you, I’ll be fucking astounded if anyone even notices, let alone calls it out. It is what it is. I’m lucky Gimme lets my weird, often-doesn’t-play-metal ass do a show at all.
So hey, thanks for listening if you do. And Happy Xmas if that’s your thing.
The Obelisk Show airs 5PM Eastern today on the Gimme app or at: http://gimmemetal.com.
Full playlist:
The Obelisk Show – 12.24.21
Green Lung
Leaders of the Blind
Black Harvest
Monolord
I’ll Be Damned
Your Time to Shine
Greenleaf
Bury Me My Son
Echoes From a Mass
VT
Heavy Temple
The Maiden
Lupi Amoris
Maha Sohona
Leaves
Endless Searcher
Domkraft
Into Orbit
Seeds
Spelljammer
Among the Holy
Abyssal Trip
Samsara Blues Experiment
Massive Passive
End of Forever
IAH
Arce
Omines
Genghis Tron
Alone in the Heart of the Light
Dream Weapon
Spidergawd
Black Moon Rising
VI: At Rainbows End
Thunderchief
King of the Pleistocene
Synanthrope
Spaceslug
Follow This Land
Memorial
King Buffalo
Acheron
Acheron
Weedpecker
Fire Far Away
IV: The Stream of Forgotten Thoughts
VT
Temple Fang
Let it Go/When We Pray
Fang Temple
The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is Dec. 24 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.
