Posted in Whathaveyou on November 2nd, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Oh hi, Lord Mountain. It’s been six years since the Santa Rosa, California, four-piece wrought their impressive self-titled debut EP (review here), and that feels like plenty. In accordance with local statutes and the dictates of commonly-agreed morality, the classic-tinged outfit will offer their first full-length album, The Oath (don’t break it!), on Jan. 20.
The advent of the new release — hard to think of a first record as a comeback, but it has been a while — comes with two streaming songs in album opener “Well of Fates” and the prior-issued single “The Last Crossing.” The latter was released as a standalone in — wait for it — summer 2020 — so as you may have suspected, The Oath has been in the works for some time. Listening to “Well of Fates,” I’m reminded of bands like Hour of 13 who meld classic heavy rock and doomed traditionalism to a new style of cultish, dark metal. I’m not sure Lord Mountain will be so severe ultimately across the board, but for a first listen, the sharper corners on their riffs are duly compelling.
I’ll hope to have more to come on this one either before or sometime in January, but for now, here’s the basic info hoisted from Bandcamp:
LORD MOUNTAIN – The Oath
Lord Mountain’s full length debut THE OATH is set for a January 20th, 2023 release date by King Volume Records and Kozmik Artifactz. The album is eight tracks of top notch heavy metal and doom. Synthesizing traditional metal and fantasy influences from the 70’s and 80’s, Lord Mountain brings a vintage style and perspective to the modern era. With nods to Pagan Altar, Pentagram, and Sabbath, Lord Mountain carries the flame of classic heavy metal forward. Filled with perilous adventure and somber laments, The Oath is a quest-like experience more than collection of songs. Jesse Swanson, the lead singer and songwriter, casts hallucinations of soaring towers and bottomless chasms, all for us to explore with sword in hand.
A professional tattoo artist by trade, Swanson has a comprehensive aesthetic mission for the band. He created original oil paintings and drawings for the album art. Lord Mountain represents the intersection of all his interests and abilities into one artistic vision.
“The Oath is one of the most fully realized pieces of art we have ever put out. Jesse has a vision that transcends his medium. The songs, his voice, his album art, all conspire to take you away on a dark journey of loss and discovery.” – Todd White, Owner of King Volume.
Pre-orders for the full length album will begin in November. With the full length on the horizon, the band is releasing exclusive singles to support the release of THE OATH.
RECEIVE TWO TRACKS NOW
Track Listing The Last Crossing Well of Fates Pressing Information 1. Well of Fates 2. The Gaint 3. Beyond the Frozen Sea 4. The Last Crossing 5. Chasm of Time 6. The Sacrifice 7. Serpent Temple 8. The Oath
36 minutes of rocking old school doom!
Limited to 200 copies worldwide.
Lord Mountain: Jesse Swanson – guitars and vocals Sean Serrano – guitars Andy Chism – bass Pat Moore – drums
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: Kyle Hulgus of Faerie Ring (Evansville, Indiana)
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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?
We axed practices pretty early on, a few weeks before Indiana went on soft lockdown. It’s going on nine weeks since we’ve jammed together when we’re used to doing it every Monday. There weren’t any stringent orders put in place, just a lot of “Please don’t go outside…..well unless you need to….or you’re bored.” Admittedly, I didn’t accept the whole scope of how serious this was right off the bat. We were right in the middle of booking a tour through Canada, which would’ve been several of ours first time outside the country, and Covid-19 was threatening that. I just didn’t want to believe it. My roommate, who’s a paramedic, quickly whipped my ass into shape and the gravity of the situation really started to materialize in front of me. Without him, my dumb ass would probably be on a respirator.
Aside from all that, we’re still riffin’. Sending each other sound clips of potential songs and all that. We were about 70-ish percent done with the new album before all this started and I’m feeling good that we’ll be able to churn out the rest once we start getting back together, whenever that will be. At home, I’ve probably changed the strings and set up my guitars two times over. I’m in a lot of gear-swap groups on Facebook and have re-done my pedal board top to bottom. I’m wearin’ thin, JJ. If all this continues I might finally cave and start practicing playing in hopes of one day having passable skill.
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?
Indiana, along with much of the Midwest, against all odds, were quick to act. They closed schools before we even stopped practicing. Bars and sit-down restaurants soon after that.
I’m lucky enough to still be employed, so the mental anguish set upon some isn’t a card I have to pull. I sling pizza, so I’m in contact with 40-50 extra people a day and get to peek in to their situations. Some are in full hazmat, some are drunk and mad, some walk right up breathing in your mouth like a pandemic is ravaging the entire Earth. Out the door lines at Home Depot and Lowe’s (why are you even open?). Cars wrapped around fast-food restaurants. I drove through a makeshift tennis court in the middle of a neighborhood road last week and I got the stink eye from them! It’s mind boggling to me how crystal clear both ends of the spectrum are.
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?
This can be said for many subcultures, but the underground Hard-Rock/Doom/Stoner community is one of the most supportive groups of people I’ve ever witnessed. In the middle of all this, we’ve had a new roll out of merch and a repress of our album that we’ve been sandbagging since winter. Since the Canada trip was canned and all our shows through June were canned, we were hit with it. “Are we dicks if we release this stuff?” People are struggling. Burning through their savings just to pay rent, and we expect them to buy our crappy album on top of that? Well, we did and to our utter surprise, they did too. We’ve had people supporting us since Day 1 that are still kicking us around and it’s outstanding, inspiring, unbelievable and all other things sports movies make you feel. Bandcamp doing the multiple fee waiving days is just icing on the cake that is the music community. All that being said, if your band is selling masks, know that every normal person thinks you’re corny.
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?
Man, that’s a loaded question. I’ve realized stupid stuff. Like….I can just buy a new toothbrush whenever I want. I don’t have to wait till it’s nasty or…..that’s it’s ok to have more than one phone charger and I don’t have to bring it room to room. But on a more serious note, I’ve witnessed personality en masse to each extreme. One thing this pandemic has done has turned whatever type of person you are to 11. It’s like how you see someone treat a Server or a Dog and you get a glance into their soul. You’re now getting that experience at Walmart in line from some lady with 256 rolls of Charmin and she’s tailgating you with no goddamn mask on. I think Feb 29th was the last show I saw. Om in Louisville. There was one man in the crowd in a N-95 respirator. He had a Miller Lite , cracked and uncovered, and he kept lifting his mask to drink. I had been ripping doobies all night entranced by this magical man. It was both the funniest and wildest thing I could’ve seen. If blissful ignorance had a mascot, it’d be my boy here.
As for the band, we’ll get right back out there. As EVERYBODY is, we’re rescheduling. I think it’s gonna whip ass to see if the crowds pack. People who wouldn’t normally show, might show. I’m excited for the future. The first month back after everyone is comfortable is going to make this all worth it.
Once upon a time, ages ago, before the digital media three-month promotional cycle took hold as the standard form for how albums came to public light, every now and then you’d get a genuine early listen. Maybe a song would be on the radio, or maybe a cassingle would show up to tease something coming later on, whatever it might be. As L.A. heavy garage-fuzzer duo Lord Loud present the announcement that their second album, Timid Beast (cover art on left below), will be released on Sept. 4 through King Volume and Kozmik Artifactz, think of their unveiling the title-track (artwork on right below) as an early listen that portends good things for later this year.
It’s a heads up, ready to catch your ear so that maybe you’ll take the meantime to reintroduce yourself to 2017’s cucumber-cool debut, Passé Paranoia (review here), and in its sun-caked tone and rampant sense of melody and jangle it represents the album well. You can see from the tracklisting below that “Timid Beast” at 3:22 is one of the longer songs on the album that shares its name — though two cuts do reach the four-minute mark — but it still keeps with the two-piece’s garage traditionalism and straight-ahead riffy right-on-itude.
We’re half a year out — two days notwithstanding — from the release, so I’m going to leave it there for now and give the standard “more to come.” Preorders? Yeah, probably at some point. Most importantly though, you can hear the song at the bottom of the post.
Enjoy the early listen and worry about the rest later:
Lord Loud – Timid Beast
The album is called “Timid Beast”, and it drops Sept. 4th (available on digital and custom-color vinyl) out through King Volume Records/Kozmik Artifactz in Europe. This is our second LP, following up “Passé Paranoia”, with the same lineup (Mike Feld on drums/perc, Chris Allison on vox/guitars/other instruments). We recorded/mixed everything ourselves, and are juiced to get these slabs out into the world.
Chris Allison on “Timid Beast”:
“Timid Beast” was recorded almost a year ago. The song’s roots lied in a growing separation that I felt. Social, political, economic, technological. A lot of people have felt it, and have been fighting back or lashing out a bit to try to give themselves some agency in the path we’re on. In that struggle, I caught myself changing in ways I didn’t like. Things like cynicism were let to creep in amongst some of the other changes I was trying to make. As time passes, the rooted sentiment seems to be amplifying. This song will hopefully be one I can look back to constantly question myself: am I fighting the beast or am I becoming the beast.
Tracklisting: 1. Dirty Seeds 03:25 2. Without You 03:12 3. Lady Sunday 02:18 4. Timid Beast 03:22 5. Imaginary 04:16 6. The River 03:07 7. Wherewithal 02:49 8. Glances 03:12 9. Labyrinth 02:55 10. Labyrinth Coda 01:12 11. Turbulence 04:04
Lord Loud are: Chris Allison – vocals, guitar, etc. Mike Feld – drums, percussion
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 29th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
There’s only so much burying of head in the sand/riffs one can do before acknowledging that the planet is quite literally on fire. Putting aside politics or the disgusting notion that these issues were made political in the first place, lands are burning, people and animals are dying and any and all predicted trajectories for the future do not indicate positive signs. The Avengers will not save us. Luke Skywalker will not save us. This is real life. Science is real life.
I am not the first person to say any of this or to note that if you and I don’t take care of each other, from daily kindness to crowdfunding, then we all burn and burn alone.
Indiana-based riffers Faerie Ring, who made an impressive debut last year with The Clearing (review here), today issue a live recording from a few weeks back, Live at Bokeh, in order to help raise funds for wildlife affected by the fires in Australia, which, hey look at that, are ongoing.
Entire species are dying. Today. And no, a recorded set from a recent heavy show is not the end-all answer to climate disaster. But it also isn’t nothing, which, to my shame, is what I’ve done to help at this point.
This is worth your money:
Faerie Ring – Live at Bokeh
Recorded live at Bokeh Lounge in Evansville Indiana Jan 4, 2020
*****All Proceeds with be going directly to the Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park****
This recording was handed to us free after one of our performance at Bokeh out of the kindness of heart. Seems only right to do something good with it. As always thanks for listening and we love you.
If you would like to donate directly or check in on rehabilitation progress, go to:
Over the past few days we have started to see a large number of injured koalas, along with other native species heavily impacted by this event. We have been treating these victims as best we can to supply pain relief, antibiotics, treatment to wounds and basic husbandry requirements. We spent most of January 3rd building extra holding enclosures as well as defending the park from the immediate threat of the fire. We will continue to prepare more infrastructure to house the extra wildlife we expect to see over the coming weeks.
For those of you who would like to contribute we are asking for funds to help with veterinary costs, koala milk and supplements, extra holding/rehabilitation enclosures, as well as setting up a building to hold supplies to treat these animals.
Due to the recent tragic bushfires, the Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park has received a lot of concerned phone calls and messages regarding the impacted wildlife from these fires.
We are working around the clock with a highly experienced, qualified and dedicated team of volunteers including qualified vets, vet nurses and wildlife carers to rescue, rehabilitate and care for all of the animals coming in from the bushfires.
On admittance to us, all efforts are made to rehydrate, treat and assess the wildlife by our vet care team. Many are being treated for severe burns with most burns being to their hands, feet and rumps.
We will continue to provide the best care possible for our injured wildlife, we expect due to significant habitat loss we will be building exhibits to hold the treated koalas until we can arrange release back into the wild for many of them.
Kangaroo Island is well known for its thriving koala population however over 150,000 hectares has been lost due to recent events, this will effect our koala population dramatically. We need to pull together to save this Australian icon.
Once conditions improve and we are granted access to fire ground, a qualified team will be going out to rescue wildlife caught in the fires and relocate those left without a food source or home.
credits James Wallwork // Electric Guitars & Vocal Kyle Hulgus // Electric Guitars Alex Wallwork // 4 String Electric Bass Guitars Joseph Rhew // Battery
Recorded live by John Kern with help from Steve Tyner of Black Cat Recording
Posted in Reviews on January 7th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
We begin Day Two of the Winter 2020 Quarterly Review. Snow on the ground fell overnight and the day ahead looks as busy as ever. There’s barely time to stop for sips of coffee between records, but some allowances must be made. It’s Tuesday after all. There’s still a lot of week left. And if we can’t be kind to ourselves in the post-holiday comedown of wintry gray, when can we?
So yes, pause, sip — glug, more likely — then proceed.
I don’t usually play favorites with these things, but I think today’s might have worked out to be my favorite batch of the bunch. As always, I hope you find something that speaks to you.
Quarterly Review #11-20:
Dommengang, No Keys
Driving heavy psych and rock meet with spacious Americana and a suburbanite dreaminess in Dommengang‘s No Keys, the now-L.A. trio’s follow-up to 2018’s Love Jail (review here). It is a melting pot of sound, with emphasis on melting, but vocal harmonies and consistently righteous basslines like that in “Stir the Sea” act to tie the nine component tracks together, making Dommengang‘s various washes of tone ultimately the creation of a welcoming space. Early cut “Earth Blues” follows opener “Sunny Day Flooding” with a mindful far-outbound resonance, and the later “Arcularius – Burke” finds itself in a linear building pattern ahead of “Jerusalem Cricket,” which reimagines ’70s country rock as something less about nostalgia than forward possibility. Having come far on their apparently keyboard-less journey, from the breadth-casting verses of “Stir the Sea” to the doomy interlude “Blues Rot,” they end with “Happy Death (Her Blues II)” which sure as hell sounds like it has some organ on it. Either way, whether they live up to the standard of the title or not is secondary to the album’s actual achievements, which are significant, and distinguish Dommengang from would-be peers in atmosphere, craft and melody.
Though they don’t do it nearly as often as they did between 2012 and 2015, every now and then Boston’s Ice Dragon manage to sneak out a new release. Over the last few years, that’s been a succession of singles, but Passage of Mind is their first LP since 2015’s A Beacon on the Barrow (review here), and though they’ll always in some part be thought of as a doom band, the unassuming organic psychedelia of “Don’t Know Much but the Road” reminds more of Chris Goss‘ work with Masters of Reality in its acoustic/fuzz blend and melody. The experimentalism-prone outfit have been down this avenue before as well, and it suits them, even as members have moved on to other projects (Brass Hearse among them), with the seven-minute “One of These Days” basing itself around willfully simplistic-sounding intertwining lines of higher and lower fuzz. There are moments of serenity, like closer “Dream About You” and “Sun in My Eyes,” but “The Sound the Rain Makes” is more of a blowout, and even the darker vibe of “Delirium’s Tears” holds hits melody as top priority. Hey guess what? Here’s an Ice Dragon album that deserves more attention than it’s gotten. I think it’s the 12th one.
Oslo’s Saint Karloff squash the high standard they set for themselves on their 2018 debut, All Heed the Black God (review here), with the 41-minute single-song long-player Interstellar Voodoo, basking in bluesy Sabbathian grandeur and keeping a spirit of progressive adventuring beneath without giving over entirely to self-indulgent impulses any more than one could as they careen from one movement to the next in the multi-stage work. With vinyl through Majestic Mountain Records, tape on Stoner Witch Records and CD through Ozium Records, they’re nothing if not well represented, and rightly so, as they veer in and out of psychedelic terrain in exciting and periodically elephantine fashion, still making room for classic Scandi-folk boogie on side A before the second half of the track stomps all over everything that’s come before it en route to its own organ-laced jammy meandering, Iommi shuffle and circa-’74 howl. As a new generation of doom rock begins to take shape, Saint Karloff position themselves well as earlier pursuers of an individualist spirit while still drawing of course on classic sources of inspiration. The first record was encouraging. The second is more so. The third will be the real tell of who they are as a band.
The jangling guitar strum in centerpiece “Lucid” on Witch Trail‘s The Sun Has Left the Hill (Consouling Sounds) has the indelible mark of classic rock and roll freedom to it. One wonders if Pete Townshend would recognize it, or if it’s too far blasted into oblivion by the Belgian trio’s aesthetic treatment across The Sun Has Left the Hill‘s convention-challenging 29-minute span, comprising seven tracks that bring together a heavy alternative rock and post-black metal vision marked by spacious echoes and cavern screams that are likewise tortured and self-assured. That is to say, there’s no mistaking the intent here. In the early intensity of “Watcher” or the shimmering and more patiently unfolding “Silent Running,” the Ghent three-piece mark out their stylistic terrain between bursts of noisy chaotic wash and clearheaded execution. The six-minute “Afloat” hisses like a lost demo that would’ve rewritten genre history some 25 years ago, and even in closer “Residue,” one can’t help but feel like Witch Trail are indeed looking to leave some lasting effect behind them with such forward-thinking craft. Sure to be a shock for those who take it on with no idea of what to expect.
Shortly before Love Gang are halfway through the opening title-track of their debut album, Dead Man’s Game, just when you think you might have their blend of organ-laced Radio Moscow and Motörhead figured out, that’s when Leo Muñoz breaks out the flute and the whole thing takes a turn for the unexpected. Surprises abound from the Denver foursome of Muñoz (who also handles organ and sax), guitarist/vocalist Kam Wentworth, bassist Grady O’Donnell and drummer Shaun Goodwin, who find room for psychedelic airiness amidst the gallop of “Addiction,” which doesn’t seem coincidentally paired with “Break Free,” though the two don’t run together. Love Gang‘s 2016 self-titled EP (review here) had a cleaner production and less aggro throb, and there’s some of that on Dead Man’s Game in the peaceful melody of “Interlude,” but even seven-minute closer “Endless Road” makes a point of finishing at a rush, and that’s ultimately what defines the album. No complaints. Love Gang wield momentum as another element of inventive arrangement on this encouraging first long-player.
‘Tis the stuff of battle axes and severed limbs, but it’s worth noting that three of the six inclusions on Firebreather‘s second LP and first for RidingEasy Records, Under a Blood Moon, have some reference to fire in their title. The follow-up to their brazen 2017 self-titled debut (review here) starts with its longest track (immediate points) in the nine-minute “Dancing Flames,” then follows immediately with “Our Souls, They Burn” and launches side B with the eponymous “Firebreather,” as the Gothenburg trio of Mattias Nööjd, Kyle Pitcher and Axel Wittbeck launch their riffy, destructive assault with urgency that earns all that scarred land left in its wake. The High on Fire comparison remains inevitable, perhaps most of all on “Firebreather” itself, but Firebreather have grown thicker in tone, meaner in approach and do nothing to shy away from the largesse that such a sound might let them convey, as “Our Souls, They Burn” and in the volume surges of closer “The Siren.” Under a Blood Moon is a definite forward step from the first LP, showing an evolving sound and burgeoning individuality that one hopes Firebreather continue to hunt down with such vigilance.
Presented through Stolen Body Records, the debut long-player from French trio Karkara purports to be “Oriental psych rock,” which accounts for an Eastern influence in the overall sound of its seven-track/41-minute run, but there are perhaps some geographical questions to be undertaken there, as “Camel Rider” and others show a distinctive Mideastern flair. Whatever works, I guess. At its core, Crystal Gazer is a work of psychedelic space rock, brought to bear with a duly open sensibility by guitarist/vocalist Karim Rihani (also didgeridoo), bassist Hugo Olive and drummer/vocalist Maxime Marouani as seemingly the beginning stages of a broader sonic adventure. That is to say, the stylistic aspects at play here — and they are very much “at play” — feel purposefully used, but like the foundation of what will be future growth on the part of Karkara as a unit. Will they progress along a more patient and meditative path, as “The Way” hints in some of its early roll, or will the frenetic winding of closer “Jedid” set their course for subsequent freakouts? I don’t know, but Karkara strike as a band who won’t see any point to standing still creatively any more than they do to doing so rhythmically.
Information is limited on Circle of Sighs, and by that I primarily mean I don’t have any. They list their point of origin as Los Angeles, so there’s that, but as to the whos and whats, wheres and so on, it’s a mystery. Something tells me that suits the band, whose four-track debut EP, Desolate, gracefully executes a blend of melodic downerism with more extreme elements at play, melodic vocal arrangements offset by screams in the closing title-track after the prior rolling groove of “Burden of the Flesh” offered a progressive and synth-laden take on Pallbearer-style emotive doom. Acoustics, keyboard, and a clear use of multiple singers give Circle of Sighs‘ first outing a kitchen-sink feel, but one can only admire them for trying something new at their (presumed) outset, and the catchy chug of “Hold Me, Lucifer” speaks to more complex aesthetic origins than the simplistic subject matter might lead one to believe. The outlier is the penultimate nine-minute cut “Kukeri,” which broods across its first three minutes in a manner that would make Patrick Walker proud before unfolding the breadth of its lumber and arrangement, harmonies and screams and the first real showcase of more extreme impulses taking hold in its second half — plus strings, maybe — which “Desolate” itself will build upon after a bookending acoustic close. There’s some sorting out to do in terms of sound, but already they show a readiness to push in their own direction, and that’s more than it would seem reasonable to ask.
Way out west, Chris Allison of the band Lord Loud is taking on psychedelic shimmer under the ostensible solo moniker of Floral Fauna, but the situation of the project’s 11-tracker debut LP, Pink and Blue is more complicated in personnel and style than that, melding fuzzy presence, classic ’60s surf-tone, rampant hooky melody and ready-to-go-anywhere-as-long-as-it-works pop experimentalism together in a steaming lysergic cauldron of neo-yourface-ism that’s ether blissed enough to tie funk and ancient R&B to cosmic flow together in a manner that feels like an utter tossoff, like, hey, yeah man, this kind of thing just happens all the time here. You know, no big deal on this wavelength. Mellow dreams in “Great White Silence,” a spacey ramble in “Velvet and Jade” and the echoing leadwork of “Red Anxiety” continue the color theme from the opening title-track, and the record caps with “Herds of Jellyfish,” which at last brings forward the vocal harmony that the whole album seems to have been begging for. Cool debut? Shit, man. It’s 36 minutes of straight-up psych joy just waiting to bring you on board. Legal psilocybin now.
There are a couple things you can figure on in this wacky universe, and one of them is that German imprint World in Sound knows what it’s doing when it picks up a classic heavy rock band. Silhouettes is the second long-player the label has released from woefully-monikered Aschaffenburg-based four-piece Vvlva, and indeed in the upfront boogie of “Cosmic Pilgrim” or the more progressive unfolding of pieces like “Tales Told by a Gray Man,” the centerpiece “Gomorrah,” or the longer “Night by Night/The Choir” and “Dance of the Heathens,” which seem to bring the two sides together, there’s enough vintage influence to make the case once again. Like the more forward thinking of their contemporaries, Vvlva have brought this modus into the present when it comes to production value and clarity, and rather than sound like it’s 1973, they would seem to be making 1973 sound like them. Whether one dives in for the early hooks in “Cosmic Pilgrim” or “What Do I Stand For?” or the fuzzy interplay between the solo and organ in the maddeningly bouncing “Hobos,” there’s plenty in Silhouettes to demonstrate the vitality and continued evolution of the style.
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 22nd, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Call it a win for social media advertising, I guess, but I was dicking around Thee Facebooks earlier this week and saw King Volume Records‘ sponsored post for the debut album from Floral Fauna releasing on Dec. 9 and decided to check it out based on nothing more than the imprint putting it out and the awesome-looking cover. Still value in catching the eye. Anyhow, fortunately, my click-twice efforts were rewarded with two streaming tracks from the impending Pink and Blue, the title-cut and the snarky “When You Smile,” as both dig into classic ’60s garage rock vibes and meld these together with neo-psychedelic reach and production value. The mood is liquid, if liquid is a mood — it is — and the expanse of reverb is subtle but definitely there for something that still might be called “garage.” I don’t know how many cars it holds, but it definitely holds a mighty pedalboard.
The central figure here is Chris Allison, whom you might recognize from his other band, Lord Loud, who released their debut LP, Passé Paranoia (review here), on King Volume in 2017. He’s joined by a range of guests as fleshed out in the album details below.
Streaming tracks follow as well. Enjoy:
Floral Fauna – Pink & Blue
Floral Fauna is a seed planted in fertile soil by Chris Allison. Following in the footsteps of psych contemporaries, Floral Fauna’s sound has retro sounding roots. But its vines are grasping out for new, sonic footing. Like leaves throughout the seasons, this debut album contains a plethora of colors and sounds.
It playfully skips around from lush organ/synth/string pads to crunchy and dead garage riffs. Guest musicians helped with the harvest; big names like Julian Porte (Levitation Room), Geoff Halliday (Hands), Julian Medina (Nadu), Emily Howard (Human Behavior) and even Michael Feld from his other heavy psych band Lord Loud. Floral Fauna couldn’t be more excited for this sunrise. It’s going to be a beautiful bloom!
Releases December 9, 2019.
Tracklisting: 1. Pink and Blue 2. Over and Over 3. Wah Hoo Hoo 4. Left Behind 5. Great White Silence 6. Pages of Time 7. When You Smile 8. Red Anxiety 9. Herds of Jellyfish 10. Awoke One Morning 11. Velvet and Jade
Floral Fauna is: Geoff Halliday – drums (1-5, 7, 10) Jim Wimberly – drums (9, 11) Michael Feld – drums (6) Julian Medina – drums (8) Emily Howard – clarinet (9) Noam Goldstein – flute (7) Julian Moon – piano (6) Chris Allison – other instrumentation, vocals
Mixed by Chris. Mastered by Adam Boose at Cauliflower Audio.
Posted in Reviews on September 30th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Call two friends and tell them to tell two friends to tell two friends, because the Quarterly Review has returned. This time around, it’s 50 records front to back for Fall 2019 and there are some big names and some smaller names and a whole lot of in between which is just how I like it. Between today and Friday, each day 10 album reviews will be posted in a single batch like this one, and although by Wednesday this always means I’m totally out of my mind, it’s always, always, always worth it to be able to write about so much cool stuff. So sit tight, because there’s a lot to get through and, as ever, time’s at a premium.
Thanks in advance for keeping up, and I hope you find something you dig.
Quarterly Review #1-10:
Monkey3, Sphere
It’s a full-on Keanu Reeves “whoa” when opening track “Spirals” kicks in on Monkey3‘s sixth album, Sphere (released by Napalm), and that’s by no means the last one on the cinematic six-tracker. The long-running Swiss mostly-instrumentalists have been consistently, persistently underappreciated throughout their career, but whether it’s the aural scope of guitar and keys in “Axis” or the swaps between intensity and sprawl in 14-minute closer “Ellipsis,” their latest work is consuming in its sense of triumph. Even the four-minute “Ida,” which seems at first like it’s barely going to be more than an interlude, finds a thread of majestic cosmic groove and rides it for the duration, while the proggy immersion of “Prism” and the harder drive of “Mass” — not to mention that shredding solo — make the middle of the record anything but a post-hypnosis dip. I won’t pretend to know if Sphere is the record that finally gets the Lausanne four-piece the respect they’ve already well deserved, but if it was, one could only say it was for good reason. Blends of heft, progressive craft, and breadth are rarely so resonant.
When you call your record Mount Crushmore, you need to bring it, and much to their credit, Baltimorean sludge-rocking five-piece Asthma Castle do precisely that on their debut full-length. Issued through Hellmistress Records, the 37-minute/six-track outing is a wordplay-laced pummeler that shows as much persona in its riffing and massive groove as it does in titles like “The Incline of Western Civilization” and “The Book of Duderonomy.” Trades between early-Mastodonic twists and lumbering sludge crash add a frenetic and unpredictable feel to pieces like the title-track, while “Methlehem” trades its plod for dual-guitar antics punctuated by metallic double-kick, all the while the vocals trade back and forth between growls, shouts, cleaner shouts, the odd scream, etc., because basically if you can keep up with it, Asthma Castle wouldn’t be doing their job. One shudders to think of the amount of Natty Bo consumed during its making, but Mount Crushmore is a wild and cacophonous enough time to live up to the outright righteousness of its title. If I graded reviews, it would get a “Fuckin’ A+,” with emphasis on “fuckin’ a.”
Some day the world will wake up and realize the rock and roll powerhouse it had in Brooklyn’s The Giraffes, but by then it’ll be too late. The apocalypse will have happened long ago, and it’ll be Burgess Meredith putting on a vinyl of Flower of the Cosmos in the New York Library as “FAKS” echoes out through the stacks of now-meaningless tomes and the dust of nuclear winter falls like snow outside the windows. The band’s tumultuous history is mirrored in the energy of their output, and yet to hear the melody and gentle fuzz at the outset of “Golden Door,” there’s something soothing about their work as well that, admittedly, “Raising Kids in the End Times” is gleeful in undercutting. Cute as well they pair that one with “Dorito Dreams” on this, their seventh record in a 20-plus-year run, which has now seen them find their footing, lose it, find it again, and in this record and songs like the masterfully frenetic “Fill up Glass” and the air-tight-tense “Like Hate” and “Romance,” weave a document every bit worthy of Mr. Meredith’s attention as he mourns for the potential of this godforsaken wasteland. Oh, what we’ll leave behind. Such pretty ruins.
In the fine tradition of heavy rock as grown-up punk, North Carolina’s Bask bring progressive edge and rolling-Appalachian atmospherics to the underlying energy of III, their aptly-titled and Season of Mist-issued third album. Their foot is in any number of styles, from Baroness-style noodling to a hard twang that shows up throughout and features prominently on the penultimate “Noble Daughters II – The Bow,” but the great triumph of III, and really the reason it works at all, is because the band find cohesion in this swath of influences. They’re a band who obviously put thought into what they do, making it all the more appropriate to think of them as prog, but as “Three White Feet” and “New Dominion” show at the outset, they don’t serve any aesthetic master so much as the song itself. Closing with banjo and harmonies and a build of crash cymbal on “Maiden Mother Crone” nails the point home in a not-understated way, but at no point does III come across as hyper-theatrical so as to undercut the value of what Bask are doing. It’s a more patient album than it at first seems, but given time to breathe, III indeed comes to life.
Listening to the weighty rollout of opening cut “Bite the Ash” on Faerie Ring‘s debut album, The Clearing (on King Volume Records), one is reminded of the energy that once-upon-a-time came out of Houston’s Venomous Maximus. There’s a similar feeling of dark energy surging through the riffs and echoing vocals, but the Evansville, Indiana, four-piece wind up on a different trip. Their take is more distinctly Sabbathian on “Lost Wind” and even the swinging “Heavy Trip” lives up to its stated purpose ahead of the chugging largesse of finisher “Heaven’s End.” They find brash ground on “The Ring” and the slower march of “Somnium,” but there’s metal beneath the lumbering and it comes out on “Miracle” in a way that the drums late in “Lost Wind” seem to hint toward on subsequent listens. It’s a mix of riff-led elements that should be readily familiar to many listeners, but the sheer size and clarity of presentation Faerie Ring make throughout The Clearing makes me think they’ll look to distinguish themselves going forward, and so their first record holds all the more potential for that.
Begun as the solo-project of London-based multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Mark Walker and presently a trio including Louis Kinder and Jonathan Walker as well, Desert Sands make their recorded debut through A Records with the three-song/half-hour The Ascent EP, a work of psychedelic existentialism that conveys its cosmic questioning even before the lyrics start, with an opening riff and rhythmic lurch to “Are You There” that seems to throw its central query into a void that either will or won’t answer. Does it? The hell should I know, but The Ascent proves duly transcendent in its pulsations as “Head Towards the Light” and 11:45 closer “Yahweh” — yeah, I guess we get there — bring drifting, languid enlightenment to these spiritual musings. The finale is, of course, a jam in excelsis and if drop-acid-find-god is the narrative we’re working with, then Desert Sands are off to a hell of a start as a project. Regardless of how one might ultimately come down (and it is, by my estimation at least, a comedown) on the question of human spirituality, there’s no denying the power and ethereal force of the kind of creativity on display in The Ascent. One will wait impatiently to see what comes next.
Say what you want about New Orleans or North Carolina or wherever the hell else, Midwestern sludge is another level of filth. To wit, the Carcass-style vocals that slice through the raw, dense riffing on “Aspirate on Aspirations” feel like the very embodiment of modern disillusion, and there’s some flourish of melodic guitar pluck there, but that only seems to give the ensuing crunch more impact, and likewise the far-back char of “Freezing in Fire” as it relates to the subsequent “Dead Idles,” as Cavalcade refute the trappings of genre in tempo while still seeming to burrow a hole for themselves in the skull of the converted. “Noose Tie” and “We Dig Our Own Graves” tell the story, but while the recording itself is barebones, Cavalcade aren’t now and never really have been so simple as to be a one-trick band. For more than a decade, they’ve provided a multifaceted and trickily complex downer extremity, and Sonic Euthanasia does this as well, bringing their sound to new places and new levels of abrasion along its punishing way. Easy listening? Shit. You see that eye on the cover? That’s the lizard people staring back at you. Have fun with that.
Long Island chug-rockers Restless Spirit would seem to have been developing the material for their self-released debut album, Lord of the New Depression, over the last couple years on a series of short releases, but the songs still sound fresh and electrified in their vitality. If this was 1992 or ’93, they’d be signed already to RoadRacer Records and put on tour with Life of Agony, whose River Runs Red would seem to be a key influence in the vocals of the nine-track/39-minute offering, but even on their own, the metal-tinged five-piece seem to do just fine. Their tracks are atmospheric and aggressive and kind, and sincere in their roll, capturing the spirit of a band like Down with somewhat drawn-back chestbeating, “Dominion” aside. They seem to be challenging themselves to push outside those confines though in “Deep Fathom Hours,” the longest track at 7:35 with more complexity in the melody of the vocals and guitar, and that suits them remarkably well as they dig into this doomly take on LOA and Type O Negative and others from the early ’90s NYC underground — they seem to pass on Biohazard, which is fine — made legendary with the passage of time. As a gentleman of a certain age, I find it exceptionally easy to get on board.
An eight-piece outfit based in Arvika, Sweden, which is far enough west to be closer to Oslo than Stockholm, Children of the Sün blend the classic heavy rock stylizations of MaidaVale, first-LP Blues Pills and others with a decidedly folkish bent. Including an intro, their The Sign Records debut album, Flowers, is eight track and 34 minutes interweaving organ and guitar, upbeat vibes and bluesier melodies, taking cues from choral-style vocals on “Emmy” in such a way as to remind of Church of the Cosmic Skull, though the aesthetic here is more hippie than cult. The singing on “Sunschild” soars in that fashion as well, epitomizing the lush melody found across Flowers as the keys, guitar, bass and drums work to match in energy and presence. For a highlight, I’d pick the more subdued title-track, which still has its sense of movement thanks to percussion deep in the mix but comes arguably closest to the flower-child folk Children of the Sün seem to be claiming for their own, though the subsequent closing duo of “Like a Sound” and “Beyond the Sun” aren’t far off either. They’re onto something. One hopes they continue to explore in such sünshiny fashion.
Having made their debut with 2016’s There is Nothing (discussed here), Indianapolis downtrodden heavy rock four-piece Void King come back for a second go with Barren Dominion (on Off the Record Label), a title of similar theme that finds them doom riffing through massive tonality on “Burnt at Both Ends,” asking what if Soundgarden played atmospheric doom rock on “Crippled Chameleon” — uh, it would be awesome? yup — and opening each side with its longest track (double immediate points) in a clearly intended vinyl structure hell bent on immersing the listener as much as possible in the lumber and weight the band emit. Frontman Jason Kindred adds extra burl to his already-plenty-dudely approach on “Crippled Chameleon” and closer “The Longest Winter,” the latter with some harmonies to mirror those of opener “A Lucid Omega,” and the band around him — bassist Chris Carroll, drummer Derek Felix and guitarist Tommy Miller — seem to have no trouble whatsoever in keeping up, there or anywhere else on the eight-song/46-minute outing. Topped with striking cover art from Diogo Soares, Barren Dominion is deceptively nuanced and full-sounding. Not at all empty.
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 3rd, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Sometimes I get on kind of a high-horse around here and talk about bands like they’re shifting paradigms for all eternity and hyperbole this and that and whatever. I know it. I get excited. It’s part of the thing, if the thing is being passionate about music. And I try to curb it when I can. But something comes along like the streaming Faerie Ring track “Lost Wind” and it’s a reminder of what it’s really all about. It’s not furthering some grand aesthetic vision or whatever. It’s having a good time. And I don’t mean that like whoa-brah party rock like it’s cool-kids thing and you’re not invited if your Instagram brand isn’t super-hot right now. I mean like it’s about getting together with friends, creating something that, yes, is art, but that is also a personal expression of where you’re at and, occasionally — just occasionally — can also be a lot of fun. I hear “Lost Wind” in its unabashed appreciation of volume and tonal weight and think, not about it changing the universe, but about how much fun that shit must be to play on a stage in front of some friends and whoever else has shown up. I like that thought. I like this song.
That’s it.
Album is out June 7. It’s their first, and called The Clearing. King Volume has the release, and their taste is reliable. Preorders are up, as per the PR wire:
FAERIE RING: Indiana Fuzz Rock Alchemists To Release The Clearing Debut Via King Volume Records June 7th; New Track Streaming + Preorders Available
Evansville, Indiana-based fuzz rock alchemists FAERIE RING will release their debut full-length, The Clearing, June 7th via King Volume Records.
Recorded and mixed at Hickory Sound Recording by Aaron Travis and mastered at Cauliflower Audio, over the course of seven tracks, FAERIE RING effortlessly combines various influences from the pantheons of stoner rock into a singular vision. Expanding on the green haze of Sleep and the rocking, desert grooves of Kyuss, FAERIE RING is clearly rooted in the art of riff worship. Still, there exists the freshness of spring and new growth within their psalms; the mushrooms on the forest floor bursting forth and reaching towards the light above. Here we see the boldness of youth and passion re-visioning the perceived limits of the genre. Coalescing all that is heavy and psychedelic into a single breathing ecosystem, FAERIE RING’s compositions evoke a sense of wonder, like wandering through a towering forest displaced from time; being present and respectful towards the old growth and rejoicing in the new life that is teeming below the surface.
In advance of the release of The Clearing, FAERIE RING is pleased to unveil “Lost Wind” for public feasting. Issues the band simply, “‘Lost Wind’ is the slow sonic immersion into the psychic depths of the FAERIE RING sound.”
The Clearing will be released on digital and vinyl formats via King Volume Records. For preorders, visit the King Volume Bandcamp page at THIS LOCATION.
FAERIE RING will bring their riffs to the stage at the Buzz/Cut Queer Music Fest in Indianapolis this September with additional live dates to be announced in the weeks to come.
FAERIE RING: 9/07/2019 Buzz/Cut Queer Music Fest – Indianapolis, IN
The Clearing Track Listing: 1. Bite The Ash 2. Lost Wind 3. The Ring 4. Somnium 5. Miracle 6. Heavy Trip 7. Heaven’s End
What started out as an after-work jam in 2016 between guitarist Kyle Hulgus and drummer Joey Rhew quickly bloomed into a full-fledged project with the addition of guitarist/vocalist James Wallwork and bassist Alex Henderson. Shortly thereafter, FAERIE RING employed the help of local recording savant Aaron Travis to pick up what was recorded in a small room and make it sound like it was being blasted out of the Earth itself. There are no gimmicks involved in what FAERIE RING manifest; no need to fly to some rustic cathedral in a far away land for recording aesthetic. The band simply put big amps in a tiny room with linoleum floors and drop ceilings and hit the “Record” button. Tune in; drop out.
