This week, Argentinian duo Les Nadie re-release their debut full-length, Destierro y Siembra (review here), through a veritable swath of labels: Echodelick Records in the US, Spinda Records in Spain, Psychedelic Salad Records in Australia, and Dirty Filthy Records in the UK. The level of support that’s rallied behind the first outing from the Córdoba-based two-piece of guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Juan Conde and drummer Rodri Deladerova should tell you something about the album even before you hit play on this bonus-track-inclusive reissue/first-physical-release streaming below.

Offered first by the band in 2022, it’s still a manageable 37 minutes with “Mal Viaje” (2:20) and “Hellkhan” (4:45) tacked onto the back end, and between the opening dense strums and swagger of “Grito el Indio” and the atmospheric guitar of “Venenauta” that used to close after the airy finish to the chugging “Del Pombero,” I’ll just say outright that you should consider yourself invited to hear it. If I’d had time to mail out cards, I might have. This will have to suffice.

I’ve promised myself I won’t re-review the album, and I won’t. Cut my hand open and swore a blood oath. But it doesn’t feel out of line to say that, for a record to be self-released by a band only to have four labels collaborate to pick it up and put it out less than a year later is pretty significant. The catchy melody in “Zhonda,” the way Codne and Deladerova weave in and out of riffy density and the playful desert weird of the airier guitar work. It’s the kind of record that has so much blended into it, it’s become something new, atmospherically.

And about those bonus tracks, “Mal Viaje” unfolds with a far back vocal over classically fuzzy guitar, less grunge than some of the proceedings, a stoner riff so groovy it feels like Fu Manchu wrote it circa 1995, but a drone runs throughout the entire song (it’s not long, but still) and gives it a personality of its own, while “Hellkhan” is more Kyuss in purpose and the tension in its rhythm. It also has its swirling element — effects, I think — and circles around an instrumental procession as that plays out, until just before 2:30 it drops out to a bridge to build back to full tonality (and drone) and they finish it cold.

Fair enough. Neither of the bonus tracks is knock-your-socks-off difference-maker must-own by itself — and that’s a lot to ask of studio leftovers or demos or whatever they are — but this is the first physical pressing for the album, and invariably this is the version of Destierro y Siembra most listeners will know because of that and the additional support behind the release. And neither do the bonus tracks take anything away from the original edition of the record, which is still under 40 minutes long and has what was the quiet atmospheric finish bolstered by the manner in which the mellow guitar stretch of original closer “Venenauta” meets with Deladerova‘s kick at the start of “Mal Viaje,” reinvigorating toward the next hypnotic close and that much more dynamic for how that procession plays out.

In addition to not reviewing, I’m not going to get into hyperbole about the album’s importance or the up-and-coming generation of heavy rockers in Argentina of which Les Nadie (not to be confused with Los Naides) would seem to be part — releases this year from Black Sky Giant and Moodoom and the continued success of an act like IAH, as well as a horde of other instrumentalists haunting Bandcamp also argue in favor — but suffice it to say there’s something happening there right now as there is in many other places and as the 2020s come into focus after their tumultuous and traumatic beginning, the shape that the next few years in heavy will take is being sculpted now, maybe also in Destierro y Siembra.

Not going to speak in absolutes — it’s an unpredictable world set in a universe of infinite possibilities — but part of enjoying Destierro y Siembra is wondering what Les Nadie might do from here, how they might flesh out their sound or deep-dive into the rawness that a duo configuration can provide, or both, or neither. Whatever comes, their debut is a special record and I’m glad to host it here and glad to have the excuse to listen again.

I hope you dig it:

Producido por Manu Collado en @fusisestudio (Córdoba , Argentina)

Grabación y mezcla a cargo de Manu Collado en @fusisestudio ,(Córdoba, Argentina) y Xavi Esterri Comes en @nomadstudio.es (Lleida, Catalunya) entre los meses de Marzo de 2021 y Julio de 2022.

Drum doc. Maxi Mansur

Mastering por Timone Brutti en Abdijan Studios , Lavaur, France.

Les Nadie son:
Juan Conde (guitar, voices)
Rodri Deladerova (drums)

Les Nadie on Instagram

Les Nadie on Facebook

Les Nadie on Bandcamp

Spinda Records on Facebook

Spinda Records on Instagram

Spinda Records on Bandcamp

Spinda Records website

Echodelick Records on Facebook

Echodelick Records on Instagram

Echodelick Records on Bandcamp

Echodelick Records website

Psychedelic Salad Records on Facebook

Psychedelic Salad Records on Instagram

Psychedelic Salad Records on Twitter

Psychedelic Salad Records store

Dirty Filthy Records on Facebook

Dirty Filthy Records on Instagram

Dirty Filthy Records store

I was not 24 hours removed from recommending this band to a friend who had just put me onto Black Sky Giant‘s new album as a candidate for the current best outfit in Argentinian heavy. A few years back, I might’ve said Certainly there are other candidates, but Les Nadie‘s Destierro y Siembra (review here) hit a nerve like few debuts do and particularly coming from a duo had a real sense of live chemistry without giving up production value. Just killer stuff. The kind of thing that maybe at least four labels would want to get behind for a proper release.

Well wouldn’t you know, that’s exactly what’s happened. Spinda Records sent the announcement below, but Psychedelic Salad in Australia, Echodelick in the States, and Dirty Filthy in the UK will also be giving a push. Psychedelic Salad and Echodelick are no strangers to collaborating (the same may be true of Dirty Filthy, I honestly don’t know) and you might recall Spinda‘s last roster-add was Bismut (info here), which was in collaboration with Lay Bare in the Netherlands. Shit is awesome, is all I’m saying. More collaboration. I don’t know what that does for the logistics of distribution, let alone anyone who works for a distributor outside the given network of ones involved in a given release, but it feels like a cool idea as a way to mitigate shipping costs to different regions while, again, everybody gets another voice behind promotion. Everybody wins.

In this case, Les Nadie do too. Their debut album will have four homes instead of just one, and there you go. Also, I think it’s hilarious that the glut of links in between the announcement text and the Bandcamp embed takes up more space than either that text or the player. You have to get your laughs where you can.

From Spinda via the PR wire:

Spinda Records – Argentinian psych-shoegaze band Les Nadie joins the family!

As many of you, we usually discover new music thanks to different magazines, websites and podcasts… Well, back in July 2022 we were reading a review of the debut album of an Argentinian band whilst we were listening to their songs, and we simply loved it. Immediately after, we contacted them with a proposition: to reissue that album on physical format, as it was available only on digital.

That band was the power duo Les Nadie, originally formed in 2018 by two young lads that, inspired by their predecessors such as Los Natas or Los Antiguos and the vast emptiness of the desert and the northern winds of their region, started mixing heavy riffs with other passages much calmer and reverberated, getting sometimes even very close to shoegaze and psych rock.

Les Nadie joins now Spinda Records in order to finally reissue on physical format that debut album that they self-released last year. And we’ll do it in collaboration with our friends at Psychedelic Salad Records (Australia), Dirty Filthy Records (UK) and Echodelick Records (US). ‘Destierro y Siembra‘ is the name of this awesome album, and it will be out (including some surprises) this Spring!

https://www.facebook.com/lesnadie

https://www.facebook.com/SpindaRecords
https://www.instagram.com/spindarecords
https://spindarecords.bandcamp.com/
https://www.spindarecords.com/

https://www.facebook.com/ERECORDSATL
https://www.instagram.com/echodelickrecords/
https://echodelickrecords.bandcamp.com/
https://www.echodelickrecords.com/

https://www.facebook.com/psychsalad/
https://www.instagram.com/psychsalad/
https://twitter.com/psychsalad
https://psychedelic-salad.com/shop/

https://www.facebook.com/dirtyfilthyrecords/
https://www.instagram.com/dirtyfilthyrecords/
https://dirtyfilthyrecords.bigcartel.com/

Les Nadie, Destierro y Siembra (2022)

I wish I could say I planned it out ahead of time that the 100th episode of The Obelisk Show would coincide with both the final one of 2022 and the third of the three roundups of some of the year’s best in heavy, but I’m nowhere near that coordinated. Fortunate happenstance, then, and a killer show either way.

You might note the minor departure from the general format I use in that this one doesn’t end with an extended track. Fact is there was just more I wanted to include than there was room for, so I opted to pack in three or four shorter songs where there might otherwise be one. Nothing here tops 10 minutes long — CB3 is just over eight and that’s the longest — and I can’t remember the last time that happened.

Before I turn you over to the playlist itself, I’d like to extend my sincere thanks to Gimme Metal for allowing me to continue to do this show. Seems obvious to say, considering, you know, this site in general, but sharing music I dig is among my favorite things to do, and I value the opportunity to engage with Gimme’s audience as a part of that. Thank you to Tyler, Brian, Dean and the entire crew for having me and making this thing happen.

Thanks for listening if you do, thanks for reading if you are.

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

Full playlist:

The Obelisk Show – 12.23.22 (VT = voice track)

Church of the Cosmic Skull	Now’s the Time	There is No Time
All Souls	I Dream	Ghosts Among Us
Sasquatch	Live Snakes	Fever Fantasy
Sky Pig	Larva	It Thrives in Darkness
VT
Abronia	Night Hoarders	Map of Dawn
Ealdor Bealu	Way of the Sudden Storm	Psychic Forms
Valley of the Sun	Images	The Chariot
Nebula	Highwired	Transmission From Mothership Earth
Supersonic Blues	They See Me Comin’	It’s Heavy
Les Nadie	Del Pombero	Destierro y Siembra
Sun Voyager	Rip the Sky	Sun Voyager
Besvärjelsen	House of the Burning Light	Atlas
VT
Dreadnought	Midnight Moon	The Endless
Author & Punisher	Misery	Krüller
Messa	Dark Horse	Close
Somali Yacht Club	Silver	The Space
Lamp of the Universe	Emerald Sands	The Akashic Field
Toad Venom	Swirling Hands	EAT!
CB3	To Space and Away	Exploration
VT
Ecstatic Vision	The Kenzo Shake	Elusive Mojo

The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is Jan. 6 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.

Gimme Metal website

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Destierro y Siembra is not only the debut full-length from Córdoba, Argentina, duo Les Nadie, but the band’s first release of any kind as well. Comprised of guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Juan Codne and drummer Rodri Deladerova, the seven-song offering is low on hype and big on creativity, culling together a half-hour’s worth of material that brings a striking amount of character to largely familiar elements. Right at the outset, with the manner in which the post-Melvins roll-and-crash of lead cut “Gritó el Indio” gives way to layered ethereal howls (presumably representing the titular gritó, or cry) as it moves into its middle third, guitar effects placed overtop to add to the weirdness, turning back to the main riff soon enough before picking up the speed and shifting to a modified ending, Les Nadie signal their intention toward inventive structures and an unwillingness to play by traditional verse/chorus rules that only becomes a source of strength as the rest of the release unfolds.

Only the centerpiece “Helledén” (5:38) is longer than “Gritó el Indio” (5:35), and not by much, but quickly Les Nadie‘s work becomes as much about atmosphere, if not more, as about the riffs being played or the weight of the opener’s nod. “Zhonda” follows and begins with a more urgent pace and harder hitting drums from Deladerova, Codne‘s guitar turning from the crunch to an almost-noodling-but-not-quite succession of notes in what becomes the first real verse on Destierro y Siembra, all the more effective in the clarity of its delivery with that shimmer behind it and the fact that the band have gone about seven minutes into the offering without saying a word, despite the voice-as-instrument work on the first song. The lyrics, which translate to either a request for or a story about a wind from the south coming to bring rebirth — “Viento/Del sur viento/Baja a mi encuentro/Y resurrección” — are delivered twice through before the crunch resumes, sounding all the more grunge for the held note at the finish of the second time. The duo cycle through again before building into an early payoff of groove that gets accompanied by some howls not dissimilar from those in “Gritó el Indio,” but modified in purpose, now representing the wind itself as the song comes to its sudden end and “Siembra / Destierro,” which is as close to a title-track as Destierro y Siembra gets.

The ambience and feeling of open space in the recording, reverb on the guitar, continues in “Siembra / Destierro,” offset by a more solidified, fuzzier fluidity. Again, layering is a factor in the presentation, and as Destierro y Siembra was tracked between March 2020 and July 2021 (sounds about right) at studios in Córdoba and Catalonia, working with Manu Collado and the Lleida-based Xavi Esterri in the northern part of Spain, the fluidity of that jam comes across as well-honed, Codne‘s guitar swaying through the early procession — “Siembra,” presumably — before extending the method to the vocals of the following “Destierro,” which in their drawling, bottom-mouth layers recall the darker moments of Alice in Chains‘ Dirt over suitably heavy crashes and thuds. Thus the song ends, a final strum filling the silence before the airier, bouncing guitar figure of “Helledén” starts. After the first minute, the aforementioned centerpiece arrives at a lighthearted movement of guitar that becomes a recurring theme, balanced against jazzy jabs with vocals overtop. It is a willful contradiction of purpose that shouldn’t work but which the duo pull off readily, resolving in sweet, early Mars Red Sky rawness and melody, the guitar meandering to the end with just a flourish of cymbal wash.

As with “Zhonda” after “Gritó el Indio,” “Babas D’Allah” follows “Helledén” with a more straight-up riff, announcing itself via dense distortion before desert-hued noodling takes hold. With no more conflict than in “Helledén,” “Babas D’Allah” basks in its point and counterpoint, each change between them highlighting the differences and the unlikely flow that results as Les Nadie shift between the one and the other, the god-slobber’s 1994-ish Fu Manchu-style heavier riff seeming to find a complement in the intro to the penultimate “Del Pombero,” which starts out organic and weighted in a nod that comes through like a response to “Gritó el Indio” and that likewise builds out some of the Mars Red Sky melodicism as it breaks from the march for its verse before resuming the procession once more, a change that’s nowhere near as stark as some of those that come before it but that nonetheless finds the guitar resting to give space to the vocals, and solo lines and rhythm tracks working in layers as Codne and Deladerova summarize a good portion of what’s worked well in Destierro y Siembra — doing whatever they want, when they want to do it. Exploratory as the album may feel, there’s no questioning the confidence in Les Nadie to pull it off. And really, that and the creativity behind it in the first place is what it takes.

So, having been up, down, fast, slow, hither, yon, the desert, the beach, the garden, the boogie van and the monster truck, they end subtle and quiet with the guitar epilogue “Venenauta,” which is some reference to poison I can’t quite place translation-wise but that underscores how much of what makes Destierro y Siembra such an engaging listen across its relatively brief span comes down to the atmosphere in the material itself. There’s pastoralism, or at least a drive toward escape in the songs, but Les Nadie are neither cloying in their use of structure — not beating you over the head with a hook — nor so psychedelic as to be tripped out to the exclusion of conscious craft. Their efforts here stand as testament to the undervalued status of South American heavy rock in the broader, worldwide underground, but more crucially and more immediately, they announce Les Nadie as a band and Codne as a songwriter looking to break from the norm of sand-worship, riff-worship, worship-worship, etc., while remaining steadfast in their use of the tenets of genre. These two sides, like the banishment and sowing in the album’s title, feel disparate, but in Les Nadie‘s capable hands are the stuff of a richness that speaks to present immersion and future possibility all at once.

Les Nadie, Destierro y Siembra (2022)

Les Nadie on Instagram

Les Nadie on Facebook

Les Nadie on Bandcamp

Good show. Good tracks. Two Acid King songs to start, new stuff from Nebula, Sasquatch, Obiat, Torpedo Torpedo, Les Nadie — with whose debut album I am enthralled; review next week — Chat Pile, Brujas del Sol, Cities of Mars, Freedom Hawk (also reviewing next week). Classics from YOB, The Devin Townsend Band, Yawning Man, Kyuss, Sleep. New classic, anyhow, from the latter and a live cut from Yawning Man that’s gorgeously immersive to end out before the bonus track Freedom Hawk closes. I don’t know how much sense it makes on paper, but it flows well.

I don’t really have a theme here other than “make a good show.” I wanted to mix it up with stuff people might know and not, hopefully keep listeners hooked. Even 89 episodes of The Obelisk Show, I still a little bit live in fear that at some point Gimme Metal is going to be like, “You’re weird, you play weird shit, you never turn your playlists in on time and you suck at this,” and give me the axe. It’s happened to me on radio before (ask me about that some time; glorious story), but hasn’t happened yet here. Still, a nod to accessibility isn’t the worst idea once every 90 shows or so.

Thanks if you listen and thanks for reading.

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

Full playlist:

The Obelisk Show – 07.22.22 (VT = voice track)

Acid King	Red River	Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere
Acid King	2 Wheel Nation	III
The Devin Townsend Band	Sunday Afternoon	Accelerated Evolution
YOB	Quantum Mystic	The Unreal Never Lived
VT
Cities of Mars	Towering Graves (Osmos)	Cities of Mars
Torpedo Torpedo	Black Horizon	The Kuiper Belt Mantras
Les Nadie	Del Pombero	Les Nadie
Sasquatch	Save the Day, Ruin the Night	Fever Fantasy
Sleep	Giza Butler	The Sciences
Kyuss	Whitewater	Sky Valley
Nebula	Highwired	Transmission From Mothership Earth
Chat Pile	Slaughterhouse	God’s Country
Obiat	Sea Burial	Indian Ocean
Brujas del Sol	To Die on Planet Earth	Deculter
VT
Yawning Man	Blowhole Sunrise/Space Finger	Live at Giant Rock
Freedom Hawk	Age of the Idiot	Take What You Can

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

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