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The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal Playlist: Episode 78

Posted in Radio on February 18th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

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This was fun. I asked the other day on the ol’ social medias for requests and wound up getting a whole playlist’s worth. It was a genuine surprise, but hell’s bells, there’s some good stuff here, and as I’m normally so focused on trying to fit as much new music as humanly possible into the two hours, the chance to revisit some oldies but goodies from Saint Vitus, Sleep, Mos Generator, and Throttlerod was great, not to mention the chance to shine light on new stuff from Steak, Weedevil, Kurokuma and Lark’s Tongue, the latter of which, I admit, was my own request.

I included the names in the playlist so I could do oldschool radio-style shout-outs, which was fun in the voice breaks, and I appreciated the chance to hear stuff I wouldn’t have otherwise, like Wallowing or Buñuel, the latter whose new album is out today on Profound Lore and is pretty wild heavy stuff. Maybe I’ll do this kind of thing from time to time. Next show I might just load up on psych tunes and let it ride. Ha.

If you listen, or you see these words, thanks.

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

Full playlist:

The Obelisk Show – 02.18.22

Wallowing Earthless (for Matt McCartney) Planet Loss
Kurokuma Smoking Mirror (for Vesper Munkvold & Shasta Beest) Born of Obsidian
Weedevil Underwater (for Matheus Jacques) The Return
Author & Punisher Incinerator (for Dan Blomquist) Kruller
VT
Obsidian Sea The Long Drowning (for Martin Petrov) Pathos
Saint Vitus The Psychopath (for Steven Melson) Saint Vitus
Lord Vicar The Temple in the Bedrock (for Fabrizio Monni) The Black Powder
Throttlerod Never Was a Farmer (for Raul Stanciu) Turncoat
Snail Fractal Altar (for Steve Janiak) Fractal Altar
Ruff Majik Heart Like an Alligator (for Warren Gibson) The Devil’s Cattle
Buñuel When God Used a Rope (for Jasper Hesselnik) Killers Like Us
Steak Papas Special Custard (for John Gist) Acute Mania
10,000 Years Dark Side of the Earth (for Alex Risberg) II
Lark’s Tongue The Novelty Wears Thin (for me) Eleusis
VT
Sleep Leagues Beneath (for Steven Melson) Leagues Beneath
Mos Generator Outlander (for Jessie Avery) The Firmament

The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is March 4 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.

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Review & Video Premiere: Lark’s Tongue, Eleusis

Posted in Bootleg Theater, Reviews on February 11th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

Lark's Tongue Eleusis

Lark’s Tongue, “The Novelty Wears Thin” video premiere

[Click play above to see the premiere of Stefaan Temmerman’s video for Lark’s Tongue’s ‘The Novelty Wears Thin’. Album preorders are available from Consouling Sounds.]

Illinois heavy post-rockers Lark’s Tongue release their new album, Eleusis, on Feb. 18 through Belgium’s Consouling Sounds. It has been eight years and an entire universe since the Peoria-based five-piece issued their full-length debut, Narrow (review here), and their post-metal-adjacent take on heavy is presented through Eleusis across six tracks and 44 minutes of consuming, melodic fare, heavy in purpose and tone, but not at all held back by that when it comes to making a given song move. The dual vocals of guitarists Christopher Bennett and Jeff Hyde — joined in the band by synthesist Jonathan Wright, bassist Mike Willey and drummer/percussionist Sledd — play a large role in conveying the emotional crux of the material, as they inevitably would, but the instruments behind do well in setting an atmosphere of marked depth and reach for the stories to take place.

There are moments — looking at you, “Arborist” — where if Lark’s Tongue were from Finland instead of Peoria, you’d call them folk metal, but they’re no less likely to tap John Carpenter via slow-Slayer at the outset of “Folly of Fantasy” or circa-2001-Katatonia in the melody of opener “The Novelty Wears Thin” (video premiere below), signaling with a tambourine that, like Crippled Black Phoenix before them, just because Lark’s Tongue could get blast-your-face-off heavy and aggressive at any given moment doesn’t at all mean it’s going to happen. If anything, they’re all the more post-metal for sounding like they’re actually over it.

I took notes while I was listening to the record — the title of which refers to a site in Greek mythology, a season-based myth of rebirth around Persephone and Demeter, etc. — and I hit a point about seven minutes into fourth cut and presumed side B opener “A Common Denial” (10:32) where I actually typed out “This record is officially better than anyone will ever know.” That may prove to be the case over time — certainly plenty of stellar albums fly under the radar of hype or don’t receive the word of mouth attention they deserve — but given the textures of Eleusis and the obvious care and attention detail Lark’s Tongue have taken here, the record deserves a better fate. To wit, that tambourine in “The Novelty Wears Thin.”

Sledd brings hand percussion to bear in various points of the record, whether it’s “Arborist” or elsewhere, but amid the layers of guitar, keys, bass and drums, the tambourine demonstrates a loyalty to an idea of rhythmic movement that’s older, poppier even. It comes in right where so many bands would click on the distortion pedal and start growling. And much like the psych-prog triumph that takes place in “Folly of Fantasy” or the payoffs of “A Common Denial” (their “Stones From the Sky” moment, admirably made their own) and album-closer “Obsolescence” that seem to be doing work on behalf of the entire record as well as their individual purposes, “The Novelty Wears Thin” is nonetheless righteously heavy. But by not becoming a blowout, by ending with that tambourine, the leadoff signals to the listener that Lark’s Tongue will not be swayed from their own purposes to conform to the expectations of genre. And much to their credit, they never do.

Lark's Tongue

The keyboard and organ work of Wright across the span of Eleusis is a thing to celebrate. On the penultimate “Elucidate” — which is as close to a title-track as they come — Wright‘s keys run alongside particularly vital guitar and a verse that’s near Cave In in its careening, adding flourish to the melodies of the vocals and the drive surrounding; a shimmering edge on top of the heavier distortion. That cut is the shortest of the inclusions at 4:05, but the band still find room to break at around the 2:30 mark and pursue another, more open movement, and there too the keys play an essential role in the atmospheric impression being made, and as far out as it goes in its time, it doesn’t lose sight of the melody led by the vocals.

At any given point on Eleusis, there might be so much going on that it’s hard to ascertain what’s what — I’d have sworn I heard a sax on “Obsolescence” when I first heard it; had me looking for a Bruce Lamont guest spot, to no avail — but the vocals do much not just to unite the material which is instrumentally and structurally varied. All the more since they’re presented with a relatively clean treatment — the arrangements are thoughtful enough to call progressive, as on “Arborist” or the hold-back-then-get-just-a-little-shoutier finish in “Obsolescence,” or even the harmonies on “Elucidate” — the human voice coming through with a minimum of effects.

This sensibility, like that tambourine, makes Lark’s Tongue feel less experimentalist than considered. The album having been recorded by Joel Madigan at Sound of Mind in Illinois between late 2018 and early 2019 — it was done in Feb. 2019; Sanford Parker mixed at Hypercube and Kevin Rendleman mastered at Hive Mind Audio — positions it as a pre-pandemic offering, despite the 2022 release, and there is a sense of the band in the room together that can be heard in stretches like the bassline taking “Obsolescence” for a walk (rather than the other way around) in its early going, almost swaggering on the way before the break to the rolling drums and mounting guitar tension that eventually lead to Eleusis‘ last crescendo, or in the slow punch of “A Common Denial,” which toasts heavy Americana on guitar after refusing to take any time other than its own in developing from its melancholy and vaguely futuristic noise intro.

They sneak in the heavy later. It’s a joy. And they’re not necessarily going for a band-on-stage feel, but using the studio space as a means of bolstering the ambience and lushness of the record as a whole. This blend of careful planning — at least apparent careful planning — and vital delivery is a piece of what allows Lark’s Tongue to have such a stylistic reach here, but any route one takes to get there, it’s a question of songwriting. Of craft. And Eleusis is by no means the kind of record to beat you over the head with a hook — its purposes are elsewhere — but its impact is resonant and memorable just the same.

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Lark’s Tongue: New Album Eleusis Available to Preorder

Posted in Whathaveyou on January 13th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

Larks Tongue

Had you asked me how long it’s been since Lark’s Tongue put out Narrow (review here), their debut album, I definitely wouldn’t have told you it was going on eight years, and yet the numbers will not be denied. The melodically-minded post-heavy rockers offered a showcase of copious potential in that first record — enough so that the better part of a decade later, I still find myself looking forward to discovering what’s in store on Eleusis, which Consouling Sounds has up for preorder now ahead of a Feb. 18 release.

Sadly there’s no audio available to dig into that I can find, but hey, after eight years, certainly one would consider Narrow prime for a refresher, so you’ll find that streaming below, however much it may or may not have to do with what the band are up to now remaining to be seen. I dig the Eleusis cover art though. Reminds me of that Peaceville-style classic logo-type, though I doubt there will be much death-doom happening in the material itself. Still, I’ll take it.

Details/links follow:

Lark's Tongue - Eleusis

Lark’s Tongue – Eleusis – Feb. 18

Lark’s Tongue – Eleusis album is now available for pre-order on CD and vinyl! To be released on the 18th of February.

Pre-order CD: https://bit.ly/Eleusis-CD

Pre-order LP: https://bit.ly/Eleusis-LP

The Mysteries of Eleusis continue to defy scrutiny as one of the most ancient occulted narratives. The promise of communion with Demeter echoes a desirous return to the natural world which seems ever more fleeting as we entangle ourselves amidst the tools of modernity. Meditation upon ancient mysteries invites us to imagine an existence where harmony takes precedence over convenience and where our stories remain hopeful in the face of apathy.

And so it is with Lark’s Tongue’s psychedelic opus, Eleusis. Just as the entheogenic kykeon transmuted pilgrims at the Rites of Demeter, Lark’s Tongue forge a dizzying concoction of heaviness and lightness, tension and release. Eleusis is Lark’s Tongue’s first recording for Consouling Sounds and it is a complex tapestry of melodic grandeur and imperial distortion- commingling the sonic loom with stately lyricism and deeply impassioned vocal performances. The result is an album that speaks to truths both hidden and overt. The songs are at once tribal and personal. There is an enigmatic pull contained in these songs that upon surrender delivers a familiar sense of time and place that is just left of center yet all its own.

This Eleusis is subtle without being inscrutable, and, with the right attention, its charms reveal themselves- richly rewarding bold travelers with songs of yearning and questioning, survival and grief- all returning to the altar of earth as they must- to the natural laws that bind our existence together as we push our way through this life and onward to whatever pantheon awaits.

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Lark’s Tongue, Narrow (2014)

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Lark’s Tongue Stream Debut LP Narrow in Full

Posted in audiObelisk on September 10th, 2014 by JJ Koczan

larks tongue

Illinois five-piece Lark’s Tongue will release their debut album, Narrow, through their own Bird Dialect Records on Sept. 20 (preorder here). The eight-song 2LP plays out in utter defiance of its title: Narrow is anything but as Lark’s Tongue explore the spaces between heavy psychedelia and post-rock, working influences from New Wave melancholia into songs like “Hecate” and concocting rich vocal harmonies to complement the airy backing of guitar effects and synth that constitute their lush, immersive sound when paired with deep bass and underlying drums that seem to hold the whole thing together. At 63 minutes, it is as ambitious a debut as one is likely to hear this year or any other, and its weight is matched by both its sonic and emotional resonance.

There are moments at which, with the spacious mix, ever-present focus on melody and heavy push, Lark’s Tongue remind of mid-period Katatonia or some of Anathema‘s former glories, but they seem to take the long way around to get there. That is, I don’t think it’s a direct influence, and rather that the wisping guitar of “Lay Me Down Slow” and the dramatic vocals of “Hermit’s Lament” come more from post-rock than the doom that took earlier inspiration from it. Still, as Narrow plays out, even in a heavier-rocking cut like “The Mask of Evil,” there’s a definite sense of clarity in Lark’s Tongue‘s vision, lark's tongue narrowand the method of expression varies widely between the dreamy opening of “Windows and Mirrors” and the drone-to-apex finale of “Brown Recluse,” but what remains consistent is the smoothness with which they execute the material and the vast range of the album’s scope, undercutting the notion of Narrow as a first album and giving away members’ experience in acts like MinskMen of FortuneDeceased Priest and JuanGoblin.

Lark’s Tongue is comprised of Chris Bennett, Jeff Hyde, Nate Lucas, Jon Wright and Andrew Sledd, and whatever else Narrow may or may not be, it’s a huge leap from where they were last year on their split with Across Tundras (streamed here). Listening to it is like diving into a pool, the way the band’s sound encompasses, especially when played at appropriate volume. Perhaps the most immersive moment is “Cold Hands,” which over the course of its 10 minutes rises from minimal guitar drones to a huge, lumbering tonal crush topped with somehow-still-under-control vocals that really emphasize just how far ahead of the game these guys are.

They’ll play two release shows for Narrow on Sept. 19 and 20. PR wire details and LP preoroder info follow the album itself, which you can hear on the player below.

Please enjoy:

Here is the Music Player. You need to installl flash player to show this cool thing!

Following a debut 7″ and split 12″s with Across Tundras and Men of Fortune, Narrow is the debut full-length from Lark’s Tongue and the ninth release on the band’s own label, Bird Dialect. It features eight expansive songs across two LPs that collectively encapsulate the band’s first four years of existence.

Narrow is a pilgrimage across the vastness of psychedelic rock to places at once familiar and foreboding, severe and loving, intricate and immense. It’s the band’s first fully-formed missive: a statement of intention, a transmission of catharsis, a halcyon ode to the power of transformation.

A vinyl release show is set for September 20th at Ear in the Envelope in Peoria, Illinois, just one day after the band opens for the legendary Nik Turner’s Hawkwind at RIBCO in Rock Island.

Recorded by Jeff Gregory at ToneLab/Earth Analog
Mixed by Sanford Parker at Hypercube
Mastered by Collin Jordan at The Boiler Room

Pre-order the record at birddialect.bigcartel.com. For more information, visit birddialect.com or larkstongue.bandcamp.com.

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audiObelisk: Across Tundras & Lark’s Tongue Split LP Streaming in Full

Posted in audiObelisk on March 19th, 2013 by JJ Koczan

Beginning with a welcoming rush of psychedelic cymbal wash and airy notes, the new split LP from harvest rock forerunners Across Tundras and similarly-minded Midwestern outfit Lark’s Tongue sets its sights immediately on the signature blend between the earthy and the ethereal that runs a current through both acts’ contributions. Due April 20 on Cavity Records, it features two tracks from each artist — a longer one, followed by a shorter one — and runs a total of just over 32 minutes of sometimes lush, sometimes sparse Americana-infused heavy psychedelic songwriting.

For Across Tundras, who made their Neurot Recordings debut in 2011 with Sage (review here) after a slew of other LPs and solo offerings from guitarist/vocalist Tanner Olson, this split marks their first studio material since and a precursor to 2013’s forthcoming Electric Nostalgia full-length. The Peoria, Illinois, five-piece Lark’s Tongue boast members of Minsk in their lineup — Chris Bennett and Jeff Hyde — and have released a 7″ and split 12″ with Men of Fortune on their Bird Dialect imprint. Both acts show an allegiance to Earth‘s prairie drone, but each with a somewhat different take that complements the other while maintaining a consistent spaciousness in the music.

That aspect shows up in much of Across Tundras‘ work, which casts off much of the oppressiveness of modern post-heavy in favor of traditional-sounding stomp that somehow sounds modern and like it might also be best presented at 78RPMs. Their two tracks here, “Low Haunts” and “Crux to Bear” are a fitting answer to the stomp and drawl of Sage, with Olson‘s invocations met by a rolling Appalachia of groove fostered by Mikey Allred and Casey Perry as the first unfolds following its initial wash and offsets a thicker intro on “Crux to Bear” with more uptempo swagger and a sense of the song consuming itself in its second half that nonetheless retains the structure a final verse provides.

This is my first exposure to Lark’s Tongue, whose lineup is completed by Nate Lucas, Jon Wright and Andrew Sledd, but especially put in the context of the two Across Tundras tracks, their own contributions make an immediately favorable impression, fleshing out some of the same sonic ideas with memorable choruses in both “Follow Your Nightmares” and “Aluminum” and a strong sense of purpose and aesthetic. “Follow Your Nightmares” takes off on an irresistible thrust but proves not so simple as a follow-the-riff excursion might initially seem, pop meeting with weighted low end and post-rock echoes, even as “Aluminum” seems geared toward an emotional warmth the humanity of which stands in contradiction to its title, its melody both infectious and striking when put to the deceptively heavy guitars and winding effects.

Both bands were kind enough to allow their material to be hosted for streaming ahead of the release and to add some commentary about their tracks, which you can find under the player below. Please enjoy:

Here is the Music Player. You need to installl flash player to show this cool thing!

The Across Tundras/Lark’s Tongue split LP will be released April 20 on Cavity Records. More info available at the label’s website.

From Lark’s Tongue:

This is our third release, following our 7” and split 12” with Men of Fortune released in 2012 on Bird Dialect. “Aluminum” is a relatively newer song, while “Follow Your Nightmares” has been kicking around since the beginning of the band in 2010.

“Nightmares” is a meditation of sorts on how we face our fears. It’s a journey for sure. “Aluminum” is aimed at a faraway place, at the resolution of that conundrum.

Unleashing this fearsome Janus upon the faithful, singing hymns to the eye of the storm, we herald the triumph of passion and amplification. The finest dream is a siren song to suffer, illuminating the pathways where fear and bliss become one. What starts with pleasure endures in alarm, and only your eyes can look straight at the sun.

From Across Tundras:

These are our first proper studio recordings since “Sage” was released on Neurot in 2011. In the time since we toured the USA up and down a few times and rehearsed non-stop at our Ramble Hill Farm stronghold in the hills Northwest of Nashville, TN. The hard work paid off and yielded these two massive tracks and a new full length record we are currently finishing up as we speak.

“Low Haunts” is a trial by hellfire, and coming out on the green mountainside. “Crux to Bear” is owning and disowning the bonds of blood and history.

Echoes of the past and distant rumblings of the future. Truth be told.

Across Tundras on Thee Facebooks

Lark’s Tongue on Thee Facebooks

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