Oh hi there. It’s Quarterly Review time again, and you know what that means. 50 records between now and Friday — and I may or may not extend it through next Monday as well; I think I have enough of a backlog at this point to do so. It’s really just a question of how destroyed I am by writing about 10 different records every day this week. If past is prologue, that’s fairly well destroyed. But I’ve yet to do a Quarterly Review and regret it when it’s over, and like the last one, this roundup of 50 albums is pretty well curated, so it might even be fun to go through. There’s a thought. In any case, as always, I hope you find something you enjoy, and thank you for reading if you do or as much as you do.

Quarterly Review #1-10:

Steve Von Till, No Wilderness Deep Enough

Neurosis guitarist/vocalist Steve Von Till seems to be bringing some of the experimentalism that drives his Harvestman project into the context of his solo work with No Wilderness Deep Enough, his fifth LP and first since 2015’s A Life unto Itself (review here). Drones and melodic synth backs the deceptively-titled “The Old Straight Track,” and where Von Till began his solo career 20 years ago with traditional folk guitar, if slower, on these six tracks, he uses that meditative approach as the foundation for an outward-reaching 37-minute run, incorporating ethereal strings among the swirls of “Shadows on the Run” and finishing with the foreboding hum of “Wild Iron.” Opener “Dreams of Trees” establishes the palette’s breadth with synthesized beats alongside piano and maybe-cello, but it’s Von Till‘s voice itself that ties the material together and provides the crucial human presence and intimacy that most distinguishes the offerings under his own name. Accompanied by Von Till‘s first published book of poetry, No Wilderness Deep Enough is a portrait of the unrelenting creative growth of its maker.

Steve Von Till on Thee Facebooks

Neurot Recordings on Bandcamp

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Cyttorak, Simultaneous Invocation of Apocalyptic Harbingers

Take a breath before you hit play only to have it punched right out from your solar plexus by the brutalist deathsludge Cyttorak cleverly call “slowerviolence.” Dominated by low end and growls, screams, and shouts, the lumbering onslaught is the second standalone EP for the three-piece who hail from scenic Pawtucket, Rhode Island (former home of the PawSox), and throughout its six-track run, the unit conjure an unyieldingly punishing tonal morass set to aggressive purpose. That they take their name from the Marvel Universe character who controls X-Men villain Juggernaut should not be taken as coincidence, since their sound indeed seems intended to put its head down and smash through walls and/or anything else that might be in its path in pursuit of its quarry. With Conan-esque lyrical minimalism, the songs nonetheless give clues to their origins — “Royal Shokan Dismemberment” refers to Goro from Mortal Kombat, and finale “Domination Lord of Coldharbour” to Skyrim (which I still regret not playing) — but if you consider comics or video games to be lighter fare, first off, you’re working with an outdated mentality, and second, Cyttorak would like a bit of your time to smother you with volume and ferocity. They have a new split out as well, both on tape.

Cyttorak on Thee Facebooks

Tor Johnson Records website

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Lambda, Heliopolis

Also signified by the Greek letter from which they take their moniker, Czech four-piece Lambda represent a new age of progressive heavy post-rock. Influences from Russian Circles aren’t necessarily surprising to find coursing through the instrumental debut full-length, Heliopolis, but there are shades of Elder as well behind the more driving riffs and underlying swing of “Space Express,” which also featured on the band’s 2015 EP of the same name. The seven-minute “El Sonido Nuevo” did likewise, but older material or newer, the album’s nine-song procession moves toward its culminating title-track through the grace of “Odysea” and the intertwining psychedelic guitars of “Milkyway Phaseshifter” with an overarching atmosphere of the journey to the city of the sun being undertaken. And when they get there, at the closer, there’s an initial sense of peace that gives way to some of the most directly heavy push Heliopolis has to offer. Payoff, then. So be it. Purposeful and somewhat cerebral in its execution, the DIY debut brings depth and space together to immersive effect.

Lambda on Thee Facebooks

Lambda on Bandcamp

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Dee Calhoun, Godless

Following his 2016 debut, Rotgut (review here) and 2018’s Go to the Devil (review here), Godless is the third full-length from former Iron Man and current Spiral Grave frontman Dee Calhoun, and its considerable 63-minute runtime finds him working in multiple directions while keeping his underlying roots in acoustic-based heavy metal. Certainly “To My Boy” — and Rob Calhoun has appeared on his father’s releases before as well — has its basis in familial expression, but its pairing with “Spite Fuck” is somewhat curious. Meanwhile, “Hornswoggled” cleverly samples George W. Bush with a laugh track, and “Here Under Protest,” “The Greater Evil,” “Ebenezer” and “No Justice” seem to take a worldly view as well. Meanwhile again, “Godless,” “The Day Salvation Went Away” and “Prudes, Puritanicals and Puddles of Piss” make their perspective nothing if not plain for the listener, and the album ends with the two-minute kazoo-laced gag track “Here Comes the Bride: A Tale From Backwater.” So perhaps scattershot, but Godless is nonetheless Calhoun‘s most effective outing yet in terms of arrangements and craft, and shows him digging further into the singer-songwriter form than he has up to now, sounding more comfortable and confident in the process.

Dee Calhoun on Thee Facebooks

Argonauta Records website

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Turtle Skull, Monoliths

Melodic vocal lines weave together and float over alternately weighted and likewise ethereal guitars on Turtle Skull‘s second album, Monoliths. The percussion-inclusive (tambourine, congas, rain stick, etc.) Sydney-based heavy psychedelic outfit create an immersive wash that makes the eight-song/55-minute long-player consuming for the duration, and while there are moments of clarity to be found throughout — the steady snare taps of “Why Do You Ask?” for example — but the vast bulk of the LP is given to the overarching flow, which finds progressive/space-rock footing in the 11-plus minutes of finale “The Clock Strikes Forever” and is irresistibly consuming on the drifting wash of “Rabbit” or the lysergic grunge blowout of “Who Cares What You Think?,” which gives way to the choral drone of “Halcyon” gorgeously en route through the record’s back half. It’s not the highest profile heavy psych release of 2020, but neither is it to be overlooked for the languid stretch of “Leaves” at the outset or the fuzz-drenched roll in the penultimate “Apple of Your Eye.”

Turtle Skull on Thee Facebooks

Art as Catharsis on Bandcamp

Kozmik Artifactz website

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Diuna, Golem

In some ways, the dichotomy of Diuna‘s 2019 sophomore full-length, Golem, is set by its first two tracks, the 24-second intro “Menu” and the seven-minute “Jarmark Cudów” that follows, each longer song throughout is prefaced by an introduction or interlude, varying in degrees of experimentation. That, however, doesn’t cover the outsider vibes the Polish trio bring to bear in those longer songs themselves, be it “Jarmark Cudów” devolving into a post-Life of Agony noise rock roll, or the thrust in “Frank Herbert” cut into starts and stops and shouting madness. Heavy rock, noise, sludge, post-this-or-that, it doesn’t matter by the end of the 12-track/44-minute release, because Diuna establish such firm control over the proceedings and make so clear the challenge to the listener to keep up that it’s only fun to try. It might take a couple listens to sink in, but the more attention one gives Golem, the more one is going to be rewarded in the end, and I don’t just mean in the off-kilter fuckery of closer “Pan Jezus Idzie Do Wojska.”

Diuna on Thee Facebooks

Diuna on Bandcamp

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Tomorrow’s Rain, Hollow

“Ambitious” doesn’t begin to cover it. With eight songs (plus a bonus track) and 11 listed guest musicians, the debut full-length, Hollow, from Tel Aviv-based death-doomers Tomorrow’s Rain seems to be setting its own standard in that regard. And quite a list it is, with the likes of Aaron Stainthorpe of My Dying Bride, Greg Mackintosh of Paradise Lost, Fernando Ribeiro of Moonspell, Mikko Kotamaki of Swallow the Sun, and so on, it is a who’s-who of melodic/gothic death-doom and the album lives up to the occasion in terms of the instrumental drama it presents. Some appear on one track, some on multiple tracks — Ribeiro and Kotamaki both feature on “Misery Rain” — and despite the constant shifts in personnel with only one of the eight tracks completely without an outside contributor, the core six-piece of Tomorrow’s Rain are still able to make an impression of their own that is bolstered and not necessarily overwhelmed by the extravagant company being kept throughout.

Tomorrow’s Rain on Thee Facebooks

AOP Records website

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Mother Eel, Svalbard

Mother Eel‘s take on sludge isn’t so much crushing as it is caustic. They’re plenty heavy, but their punishment isn’t just meted out through tonal weight being brought down on your head. It’s the noise. It’s the blown-out screams. It’s the harshness of the atmosphere in which the entirety of their debut album, Svalbard, resides. Five tracks, 33 minutes, zero forgiveness. One might be tempted to think of songs like “Erection of Pain” as nihilistic fuckall, but that seems incorrect. Nah, they mean it. Fuckall, yeah. But fuckall as ethos. Fuckall manifest. So it goes through “Alpha Woman” and “Listen to the Elderly for They Have Much to Teach,” which ends in a Primitive Man-ish static assault, and the lumbering finish “Not My Shade,” which assures that what began on “Sucking to Gain” half an hour earlier ends on the same anti-note: a disaffected malevolence writ into sheer sonic unkindness. There is little letup, even in the quiet introductions or transitions, so if you’re looking for mercy, don’t bother.

Mother Eel on Thee Facebooks

Mother Eel on Redbubble

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Umbilichaos, Filled by Empty Spaces

The four-song/39-minute atmospheric sludge long-player Filled by Empty Spaces is listed by Brazilian solo outfit Umbilichaos as being the third part of, “the Tetralogy of Loneliness.” If that’s the emotion being expressed in the noise-metal post-Godflesh chug-and-shout of “Filled by Empty Spaces Pt. 02,” then it is loneliness viscerally presented by founding principal and multi-instrumentalist Anna C. Chaos. The feel throughout the early going of the release is plodding and agonized in kind, but in “Filled by Empty Spaces Pt. 01” and “Filled by Empty Spaces Pt. 03” there is some element of grim, crusted-over psychedelia happening alongside the outright dirge-ism, though the latter ultimately wins out in the four-minute instrumental capper “Disintegration.” One way or the other, Chaos makes her point through raw tonality and overarching intensity of purpose, the compositions coming across simultaneously unhinged and dangerously under control. There are many kinds of heavy. Filled by Empty Spaces is a whole assortment of them.

Umbilichaos on Thee Facebooks

Sinewave website

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Radar Men From the Moon, The Bestial Light

Fueled by avant grunge/noise impulsion, Radar Men From the Moon‘s latest foray to Planet Whothefuckknows arrives in the eight-song/41-minute The Bestial Light, a record alternately engrossing and off-putting, that does active harm when the sounds-like-it’s-skipping intro to “Piss Christ” comes on and then subsequently mellows out with psych-sax like they didn’t just decide to call the song “Sacred Cunt of the Universe” or something. Riffs, electronics, the kind of weirdness that’s too self-aware not to be progressive, Radar Men From the Moon take the foundation of experimentation set by Astrosoniq and mutate it via Swans into something unrecognizable by genre and unwilling to compromise its own direction. And no, by the time “Levelling” comes on to round out, there is no peace to be found, though perhaps a twisted kind of joy at the sheer postmodernism. They should score ballets with this stuff. No one would go, but three centuries from now, they’d be worshiped as gods. Chance of that anyway, I suppose.

Radar Men From the Moon on Thee Facebooks

Fuzz Club Records on Bandcamp

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As they mark the 10-year anniversary of their debut in 2021, Washington D.C. heavy rolling trio Borracho will also release their covid-delayed fourth full-length, Pound of Flesh. Also their second for Kozmik Artifactz, the new Borracho follows some four-plus years on from 2016’s Atacama (review here) and is prefaced by the new video for “It Came From the Sky.” And if the premise of an upcoming Borracho record isn’t immediately enticing, plug your brain into the clip for just long enough to hear guitarist Steve Fisher‘s fuzz riff and that should be more than enough to prick up your ears.

I’m not sure who recorded the thing, and I’m not sure how representative “It Came From the Sky” might be of what surrounds it across the whole of the LP, because I haven’t heard it yet, but Fisher and bassist/backing vocalist Tim Martin conjure up some enviable tonality, and set to Mario Trubiano‘s steady-as-she-goes-and-she-goes-pretty-damn-steady drums, you’re basically getting a lesson in how to do heavy fuzz correctly in 2020.

For Borracho, “It Came From the Sky” also represents something of a turn toward the socially conscious. Can’t argue. Lines like the song’s hook, “What do you want?/What do you want from me?/Whatever happened to the land of the free?/Fear. Control. Fear.,” put emphasis on the paranoia of our age, and the song digs into conspiracy theories and the abiding sense of something having shifted in the reality in which we live. The last runthrough of the chorus, in fact, switches out “the land of the free” for “reality,” in a clever twist that works well rhythmically. You’ll also note that, in the video, all three members of the band are shown speaking various lines throughout, underscoring the notion of their speaking as a group.

And if you missed it above, Borracho hail from the epicenter of alternate-universe-ism that is the American capitol city, Washington “Taxation Without Representation” D.C. I cannot for the life of me imagine what the air in that town might smell like at this point, but as the US moves inexorably toward a presidential election that has the potential to either reinforce or undermine our shown-to-be-oh-so-fragile system of government, it’s only fair that politics, social issues, and so forth should be on Borracho‘s mind. For those of you who might live elsewhere in the world, you’d have to work really, really hard to ignore it otherwise.

With the promise of more to come, enjoy the premiere of “It Came From the Sky” — filmed in isolation I would guess by the band themselves and skillfully edited together by Larry Jackson, Jr. (also of Wasted Theory) — below, followed by some quick confirmation from the band about the record coming out, double-vinyl style.

Dig:

Borracho, “It Came From the Sky” official video premiere

From the forthcoming album Pound of Flesh, coming in early 2021 on Kozmik Artifactz heavyweight 2LP, CD and digital.

Borracho on Thee Facebooks

Borracho on Bandcamp

Borracho website

Kozmik Artifactz website

Kozmik Artifactz on Thee Facebooks

[Slick play above to stream The Kings of Frog Island’s VI in full. Vinyl is out Nov. 9 on Kozmik Artifactz.]

It’s not as if The Kings of Frog Island have been absent. Granted, it’s been six years since the band released their fifth numerically-titled full-length, V (review here), in 2014, which brought the “Sunburn/Every turn” hook and a host of jammed-out, vinyl-flowing psychedelic delights, but still. In 2016, the band oversaw a vinyl issue for 2013’s IV (review here) as a first step in their alliance with Kozmik Artifactz, and in 2019, they completed a new single and video for every month of the year (posted here) — plus one to grow on — and in March, they re-recorded “The Watcher” from 2008’s II (discussed here) and posted another video to coincide. With the advent of VI, however, the longest LP drought of their career comes to an end, and a perhaps-overdue proper album arrives to find them with a somewhat shifted focus.

Comprised of 10 songs split evenly onto two vinyl sides and released again through Kozmik Artifactz, VI completes a second trilogy of offerings for The Kings of Frog Island, with founding members Mark Buteaux (vocals/guitar) and Roger “Doj” Watson (drums) as well as Gavin Searle, Lee Madel-Toner and Tony Heslop working at their own Amphibia Sound Studios IV in the groups native Leicester, UK, over a period from 2017-2020 to construct the material, bringing together the mellow psych explorations in which they’ve basked since IV with the more structured songwriting of the earlier work of what one might call their Elektrohasch era — their 2005 self-titled debut, the aforementioned II, and 2010’s III (review here). That third album would force an adjustment with the departure of guitarist/vocalist Mat Bethancourt (also of Josiah) to focus on the garage-y leanings of Cherry Choke, but The Kings of Frog Island flourished in cosmic drift and made a space for themselves both in terms of sound and the studio where they captured it. In short, they dug in. Across its 42-minute span, VI carries the feel of an emergence.

Or maybe a re-emergence would be more like it, but one way or the other, VI brings The Kings of Frog Island into alignment with all sides of their sound. The shimmering guitar in “Toxic Heart” seems to hint toward earlier days, while the immediately-prior “Bad Trip” is pure psychedelic in-studio experimentation, and the beginning that VI receives with the 1:37 ambient “Monotron” sets an atmospheric foundation that even the more straightforward chorus-making of the subsequent fuzz rocker “Ever and Forever” builds upon. Not only that, but the first two cuts also set up the back-and-forth sensibility that plays out on much of VI, with grounded riffs and progressions meeting head-on with spacier keyboard work sometimes even within a single track itself, as on “Pigs in Space,” perhaps named for the yawning sort of oink later in its proceedings.

And even as “Toxic Heart” picks up after “Bad Trip” — the two are presented as one song in the digital version of the album I have, but there’s a clear divide around five and a half minutes in — intertwining vocal lines, the already-noted airy guitar and even the generally languid pacing continue to harness the tripped-out feel, even if in less directly experimental fashion than on the song before. The Kings of Frog Island, then, are headed far out. They’re going. One way or the other, their goal is to get there, and they do precisely that with these songs. But it’s the level of interplay between structure and fluidity that makes VI a standout in their catalog and feel like a summation of their work not just over the three years they put into the record’s making, but the 15 years of their career to this point. That would be a lot to ask of a band whose approach and lineup has varied to the degree that The Kings of Frog Island‘s has over their time, but perhaps the patience that seems to come through in “Toxic Heart” or the side B opener “Sicario” is emblematic of the patience that went into making the record in the first place, and maybe that’s the ‘secret weapon’ here, such as it is. They took their time and made the album they wanted to make.

Easily said, harder done. “Sicario” has a moodier feel in its fuzzed lumber, slow, touching on doom but still maintaining enough lysergic tonality as it moves toward its final wash and shifts into “Brainless,” which is the shortest cut on VI apart from “Monotron.” In its 3:09, it builds up from a humming drone and ambient (amphibient?) noise to a quiet guitar line joined at 1:41 by a solo and soon thereafter by drums that continue the instrumental push by uncovering a funk that was there all along and had just gone unseen. Bell-ish sounds, forward and backward, consume the march at about 2:45 and there’s only ultra-soft resonance left over until Madel-Toner‘s vocals enter to begin “Murderer,” which seems to herald the arrival of a final movement of VI that stands apart from its two-sided configuration.

That is, the last three songs — “Murderer,” “I Am the Hurricane” and “Fine” — flow together particularly well, leaving an impression on the listener that underscores the ease of motion across the album as a whole. “Murderer” brings Monster Magnet-style riffing together with synthesizer breadth and multiple layers of vocals, while “I Am the Hurricane” shifts from its blown-out verses into repetitions of its title line over a jam that is about as much of a signature as The Kings of Frog Island‘s approach could ever ask for, and “Fine” closes with a fuzzgrunge shrug and playful tambourine bounce and a winding guitar line like the ’90s alt rock of some other, inevitably cooler, dimension. Even unto its elaborate cover art and we-have-a-logo-now logo, The Kings of Frog Island‘s VI speaks to a sense of creative purpose on the part of the band that, again, hasn’t necessarily been lost — they did put out 13 singles in 2019 — but that manifests here in a way that is engaging and only leaves one with the feeling that they have more to say. It might be another six years before they get to a seventh full-length and it might not, but a decade and a half on from their first release, The Kings of Frog Island keep exploring, keep experimenting and keep crafting a sound that is theirs alone.

The Kings of Frog Island on Thee Facebooks

The Kings of Frog Island on YouTube

The Kings of Frog Island on CDBaby

Kozmik Artifactz website

Kozmik Artifactz on Thee Facebooks

Floridian heavy rock four-piece The Electric Mud will issue their second album, Burn the Ships, on Sept. 25 via the multinational consortium of Small Stone Records and Kozmik Artifactz. The unit, who of course take their moniker from Muddy Waters‘ 1968 “rock” album, Electric Mud (discussed here), offered their debut, Bull Gator, in 2018 and found themselves dug into a bayou of heavy blues rock, a classic-style inflection in their tone and presentation that one imagine perked up the ears of Small Stone perhaps like a next-generation Five Horse Johnson, and after posting a video for “First Murder on Mars” with the announcement of the release, they have a new lyric video for “A Greater Evil” premiering now.

Usually when it comes to Small Stone stuff, the opening track is posted first, then another one or two down the line ahead of the release. Why all the videos for The Electric Mud? Well, when the band has already put the album out, you kind of have to take a different approach. It was last August that the The Electric Mud had Burn the Ships set to go, but frankly, when you hook up with two ultra-established, brand-name heavy imprints to give your record a proper release across two continents and multiple physical formats, it seems like maybe that’s worth pulling said record down from your Bandcamp — for a little while, at least. Cheers to The Electric Mud on that one, by the way.

As for the magic formula that got them there, look no further than the not-so-mysterious alchemy that is songwriting, performance and production. The recording is modern but organic, the pace is uptempo but not harried, and though the lyrics of “A Greater Evil” take a social stance — from 2019! ah, simpler times! — they seem to purposefully do so through storytelling rather than soapbox-style opining. Comprised of guitarists Constantine Grim and Peter Kolter (the latter also vocals), bassist Tommy Scott and drummer Pierson Whicker, the band tap into a heavy rock vibe that feels natural and maybe even straightforward, but is still remarkably difficult to pull off without falling flat. If the endorsements behind them — i.e., the label logos on Burn the Ships — don’t speak of their not-fallen-flat three-dimensional status, then surely “A Greater Evil” itself will.

Thus, have at it, and enjoy:

The Electric Mud, “A Greater Evil” lyric video premiere

The Electric Mud on “A Greater Evil”:

‘A Greater Evil’ represents a bit of a progression in our sound. Between the four of us we listen to just about everything, and you can really hear some of those unexpected influences coming out the more we write together.

Crawling from the humid, mangrove-choked banks of the Caloosahatche River, THE ELECTRIC MUD drifted from late night jam sessions, backyard keggers, and a revolving cast of members until one night, in the taproom of a closed up brewery, Peter Kolter, Pierson Whicker, Tommy Scott, and Constantine Grim found themselves in an old fashioned Morricone-style standoff. THE ELECTRIC MUD released its debut album, Bull Gator, in 2018, and hit the road.

With hard work came opportunity that found the band opening not just for Southern rock legends such as Molly Hatchet, Blackfoot, The Devon Allman Band, Brother Hawk, and others but also winning a tri-state battle of the bands competition that drew the eye of Matt Washburn owner/operator of Ledbelly Sound Studio (Mastodon, Elder, Royal Thunder) in north Georgia. Washburn and the band hit it off immediately, and the band decamped to The Peach State in 2019 to write and record its follow up album, falling in along the way with the legendary Small Stone Records.

Following an independent unveiling by the band, Burn The Ships will see official release on CD and digital formats via Small Stone as well as limited edition vinyl via Kozmik Artifactz. For preorders, visit the Small Stone Bandcamp page at THIS LOCATION.

THE ELECTRIC MUD:
Constantine Grim – guitar
Pierson Whicker – drums, percussion
Peter Kolter – vocals, guitar
Tommy Scott – bass

The Electric Mud, “First Murder on Mars” official video

The Electric Mud website

The Electric Mud on Thee Facebooks

The Electric Mud on Instagram

Small Stone Records website

Small Stone Records on Thee Facebooks

Small Stone Records on Bandcamp

Kozmik Artifactz website

Kozmik Artifactz on Thee Facebooks

Maybe you didn’t think you even had a quote for Danish progressive heavy psychedelia, but really, who are you fooling? Of course you do, and to that end, Natskygge have aligned with Kozmik Artifactz to present their self-titled debut later this month, and the record should allay any and all concerns about meeting said quota. Presented across a crisp eight tracks running a manageable 35-minutes, the offering picks up for 2018’s three-songer Lidt Efter Lidt and will see its official issue on Aug. 21. It may be that the album was out before from the band — to be honest I don’t know — so if I’m late to the party here and this is a post-self-release snag on the part of the label, then fine. I’ll be late to the party. Not the first time. Either way, the album sounds cool and its mellow-but-heavy spirit is suiting my sunny afternoon pretty damn well at the moment. Not sure what else I’d ask of it. Cool to see a generation that must’ve grown up on Baby Woodrose bring their own stuff to fruition.

Check it out:

Natskygge release their Kozmik debut 21st August

Introducing Natskygge, who combine classic elements of space rock, with the rawness of a well seasoned garage band. Heavy melancholy mix with dreamy otherworldly universes, which – not least emphasized by the lyrical content – makes it clear that Natskygge have a deep interest in expanding the human consciousness. Combining crisp fuzzy guitars, psychedelia, space rock and heavy doom, gives Natskygge a distinctive sound that is sure to suck the listener into their black hole.

Natskygge’s self-titled debut will be released on limited edition heavyweight vinyl on the 21st of August on Kozmik Artifactz.

VINYL FACTZ
– Plated & pressed on high performance vinyl at Pallas/Germany
– limited & coloured vinyl
– 300gsm gatefold cover
– special vinyl mastering

TRACKS
1. Filmmer
2. Kaptajnen
3. Dromme Falder
4. Silhuetter af Liv
5. Pa Hjornet af Galaksen
6. Oceaner
7. Rogslor
8. Livets Kulor

Natskygge are:
Thomas Iversen on vocals & guitar
Martin Lykkegaard on guitar
Dan Kunstmann on bass
Thomas Sørensen on drums

https://www.facebook.com/natskygge.band/
https://natskygge.bandcamp.com/
http://kozmik-artifactz.com/
https://www.facebook.com/kozmikartifactz

Natskygge, Lidt Efter Lidt (2018)

Am I the only one hearing a strong current of All Them Witches in the kind of sparse guitar line of Arcadian Child‘s new single? The track in question, “Bitter Tea,” is the first audio to come from the band’s third album Protopsycho, and its moody feel suits that progression it puts to good use. They put out the song this past weekend as a heads up, and the LP will be the four-piece’s second release in 2020 following the live album From Far, For the Wild (review here) that came out in January.

I usually try to be reasonably comprehensive in posting links to bands and labels — Thee Facebooks, Instagrams, Bandcamps, etc. — but if this post feels like it has a mega-barrage, you’re right. It does. Protopsycho is being released by Ripple Music in the US, Kozmik Artifactz in Europe and what I’d guess is the band’s own Bitter Tea Records imprint on tape. So yeah, all that makes for a lot of links.

Those, as well as the song stream, follow the album art and announcement below:

Arcadian Child announce new album – “Protopsycho” will be set for release on 9 October via Ripple Music and Kozmik Artifactz and share new track “Bitter Tea”. Arriving on July 31, frontman Panagiotis Georgiou describes Bitter Tea as “an honest track fighting self-doubt, pushing back our anxieties and fears. We experimented with new sounds in this one and wanted the song to progress and evolve throughout its journey. We did it and we’re happy.” Bitter Tea arrives with an accompanying artwork by Nun Other.

Arcadian Child are a mercurial psychedelic rock quartet based out of Limassol, Cyprus. Psyched, potent and intoxicating, they deliver their diverse rock melded with tripped-out ambience, hallucinogenic patterns, and cathartic outbursts. With sounds rivaling the squealing sirens of the Mediterranean up to the dark bellows of the West, Arcadian Child convey their psychedelic ritual in their jam-filled live shows where they spread their hypnotic vibrations. Boasting a heady swagger, sophisticated riffs, and purposeful lyrics their music echoes far and wide.

Their 2017 debut album “Afterglow” was widely acclaimed and received compelling support from the growing international neo-psych scene and the Limassol psych rockers signed with California-based Ripple Music in January 2018 to reissue it worldwide on vinyl. Their highly anticipated sophomore studio set was released on 23 November 2018 through Ripple Music and Rogue Wave Records and received multiple raving reviews. In October 2019, they paired up with leading underground label “Kozmik Artifactz” for a vinyl release of their third album which is to be released October 9, 2020.

Tracklisting:
1. Snakecharm
2. Wave High
3. Sour Grapes
4. The Well
5. Bitter Tea
6. Bodies of Men
7. Raising Fire
8. Protopsycho

Arcadian Child are:
Panagiotis I.G – Vocals, Guitars
Stathis Hadjicharalambous– Guitars
Andreas Kerveros – Bass, Backing Vocals
Constantinos Pavlides – Drums

https://www.facebook.com/arcadianchildband/
https://www.instagram.com/arcadianchild/
https://arcadianchildband.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/bittertearecords/
http://www.instagram.com/bittertearecords_/
https://bittertearecords.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/theripplemusic/
https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/
http://www.ripple-music.com/
http://kozmik-artifactz.com/
https://www.facebook.com/kozmikartifactz

Arcadian Child, Protopsycho (2020)

This one was released independently by the band last year, but has since been picked up by Small Stone and Kozmik Artifactz. To the best of my admittedly faulty recollection, that’s the first time Small Stone has picked up a release from this generation of Bandcamp records and handled the physical pressing in this manner. Of course it’s done reissues before but this would seem to be more in line with the “first official” rather than a reissue coinciding with another, corresponding new release.

Does that distinction matter? Maybe, if Small Stone makes a habit of it or if you’re the sort to be particularly interested in the evolution of indie label business models. Either way, The Electric Mud’s Burn the Ships has a Sept. 25 release date and there’s a new video out to mark the occasion.

You’ll find that and PR wire info below:

THE ELECTRIC MUD: Florida Stoner Rock Unit To Release Burn The Ships Full-Length Via Small Stone September 25th; New Video Now Playing + Preorders Available

Florida-based stoner/retro rock unit THE ELECTRIC MUD will release their Burn The Ships full-length September 25th via Small Stone Records.

Crawling from the humid, mangrove-choked banks of the Caloosahatche River, THE ELECTRIC MUD drifted from late night jam sessions, backyard keggers, and a revolving cast of members until one night, in the taproom of a closed up brewery, Peter Kolter, Pierson Whicker, Tommy Scott, and Constantine Grim found themselves in an old fashioned Morricone-style standoff. Each had reputations around their Florida town as serious musicians and hard workers, and after throwing lightning bolts around the room for a few hours it became clear that they had found not just a band, but a sound. Alongside their love for The Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd and their shared Florida roots, came also a deep appreciation for the proto metal of Black Sabbath and the prog metal of Mastodon, and the band aimed to slow cook it and serve it to the masses. After countless hours of grueling rehearsals and gigging in the dives and biker bars of their hometown, THE ELECTRIC MUD released its debut album, Bull Gator, in 2018, and hit the road.

With hard work came opportunity that found the band opening not just for Southern rock legends such as Molly Hatchet, Blackfoot, The Devon Allman Band, Brother Hawk, and others but also winning a tri-state battle of the bands competition that drew the eye of Matt Washburn owner/operator of Ledbelly Sound Studio (Mastodon, Elder, Royal Thunder) in north Georgia. Washburn and the band hit it off immediately, and the band decamped to The Peach State in 2019 to write and record its follow up album, falling in along the way with the legendary Small Stone Records. THE ELECTRIC MUD calls upon a punishing rhythm section and dizzying twin guitars alongside gritty, soulful vocals to remind audiences that rock and roll is a timeless, cosmic giant that never truly dies.

In advance of the record’s release, the band is pleased to debut a video for opening track, “The First Murder On Mars” shot at Sonic Studios in Fort Myers, Florida by Matt Anastasi.

Following an independent unveiling by the band, Burn The Ships will see official release on CD and digital formats via Small Stone as well as limited edition vinyl via Kozmik Artifactz. For preorders, visit the Small Stone Bandcamp page at THIS LOCATION. Fans of The Sword, Radio Moscow, Clutch, Captain Beyond, The Allman Brothers, and the like, pay heed.

Burn The Ships Track Listing:
1. The First Murder On Mars
2. Stone Hands
3. Reptile
4. A Greater Evil
5. Call The Judge
6. Priestess
7. Good Monster
8. Led Belly
9. Terrestrial Birds

THE ELECTRIC MUD:
Constantine Grim – guitar
Pierson Whicker – drums, percussion
Peter Kolter – vocals, guitar
Tommy Scott – bass

http://www.theelectricmud.com
http://www.facebook.com/TheElectricMud
http://www.instagram.com/theelectricmud
http://www.smallstone.com
http://www.facebook.com/smallstonerecords
http://www.smallstone.bandcamp.com

The Electric Mud, “First Murder on Mars” official video

Kind of a note to myself here. This record came in this morning and I was curious, so checked it out and I think it might be awesome. It’s the Sydney-based band’s second full-length behind a 2018 self-titled and it’s coming out through Art as Catharsis and Kozmik Artifactz, so that’s good backing either way, but it was the actual sound of the thing that might’ve sold me. Folky, bright, but still heavy underpinnings to the psychedelic flow to what I’ve heard. I guess everything coming out of Oz at this point is represented as being influenced by King Gizzard but I can’t really speak to that one way or the other, but if you know that Khruangbin record and Kikagaku Moyo, you know that’s good territory to be in.

So why the post? Well, my time’s pretty bare these days so it’s a reminder to myself to put on the record tomorrow and listen through the entire thing when this post goes live. It’ll be Thursday so I’ll have a couple extra minutes. If I told you what was going on on my right-hand side right now — first, it would be a longer explanation than the press release below, but second, it still wouldn’t make any sense. It’s been quite a week. I’m looking forward to checking Monoliths out.

Dig:

TURTLE SKULL – Monoliths 28.08.2020, Art As Catharsis / Kozmik Artifactz

Art As Catharsis are proud to announce the release of Turtle Skull’s second album, Monoliths – a texture-rich record that dances between bone-crushing lows and ethereal highs.

Taking inspiration from Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd and Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Turtle Skull’s blend of warped psychedelia, shattering doom and indie-rock sensibility merges into their own brand of music dubbed ‘flower doom’.

While the final product contains a faint similarity to the sounds of King Gizzard & The Lizzard Wizard, Khruangbin, or Kikagku Moyo, Monoliths is distinctively its own beast. It’s a record that heaves and soars, taking joyous compositions and steering them headfirst into a realm of fuzz and fury.

“For me this album and this band was an opportunity to take everything back to the simplest form,” says vocalist/guitarist Dean McLeod. “I’d been listening to lot of drone, heavy psych, stoner doom, ambient stuff, and one of the things that often unite these somewhat disparate genres is the extensive use of drones and ambient synths.

“This record is about the intimate connection we share with the Earth on which we stand. It’s about the world and your place in it. It’s about looking deep inside yourself and seeing what you find. It’s about life and death and everything in between… and most of all it’s about the pure joy of creation. We are very happy to share it with you.”

At the end of its runtime, Monoliths undeniably displays a much more fleshed-out realisation of the doom, psych rock and indie fusion that launched the five-piece into the public eye following their self-titled release. Tipping between heavy and catchy is the strength of Monoliths – the roar of the fuzzed-out amps is counterbalanced by feather-light vocals, creating a contrast as clear and harmonious as sun and sky. For fans old and new, this is fusion at it’s finest – a record with something to offer every listener.

1. Leaves
2. Rabbit
3. Heartless Machine
4. Why Do You Ask?
5. Who Cares What You Think?
6. Halcyon
7. Apple Of Your Eye
8. The Clock Strikes Forever

This record is about the intimate connection we share with the Earth on which we stand. It’s about the world and your place in it. It’s about looking deep inside yourself and seeing what you find. It’s about life and death and everything in between. It’s about greed, racism, colonialism and technological destruction. It’s about hopelessness and despair. It’s about self love and introspection. It’s about friendship and the power of shared experience. It’s about life-changing psychedelic journeys. It’s about connecting with the source. And most of all it’s about the pure joy of creation. We are very happy to share it with you.

Tobia Blefari – Percussion (congas, rain stick, shaker, tambourine)
Julian Frese – Bass, piano, vocals
Dan Frizza – Synths
Charlie Gradon – Drums, vocals
Dean McLeod – Guitars, vocals

https://www.facebook.com/turtleskullmusic/
https://www.instagram.com/turtleskullmusic/
https://turtleskullmusic.bandcamp.com/
http://www.facebook.com/artascatharsis
https://instagram.com/artascatharsis
http://artascatharsis.bandcamp.com/
http://kozmik-artifactz.com/
https://www.facebook.com/kozmikartifactz

Turtle Skull, Monoliths (2020)