Posted in Whathaveyou on November 24th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
Lost in Time is the second Liquify full-length of 2021 behind January’s Illusionary Reality, and it follows a science-fiction storyline set 300 years in the future dealing with a potentially lost love and, of course, an invader from an alternate dimension. Because if you’re going to write sci-fi, make it frickin’ count. Kudos to Washington-based Tanner Ratcliffe on giving listeners that much more to dive into.
It’s a vibe-heavy affair from the social media-averse solo-project and the spaciousness suits narrative as well. The last record for enough of a response that even I eventually caught onto it, so with the follow-up being self-released last night, it seemed only fair to note the occasion.
Info and audio, courtesy of Bandcamp:
Liquify – Lost in Time
In the distant year of 2321, visions of serenity have closely become reality in earth’s calm future. Join Captain Fritzer as he finds himself trapped in the time loop where he must save the love of his life while fighting off a hyper-dimensional invader who hunts them through the barren wasteland…
For as long as I can remember, I’ve always had a fascination with science fiction, particularly that of the future. The thought of what the world could look like in a 100, 200, or 1000 years always struck me with a burning interest.
I had so many questions like what would technology look like? What would the cities and civilizations of the future look like and how far advanced would things be? Would humanity ever see the future advanced civilizations like of that depicted in 1950s and 1970s vintage retro art, or are we doomed to destroy each other and simply restart like a cycle? Is humanity even meant to achieve such advancements or is it only a concept belonging to the modern human imagination?
Anyway, I wanted this album to be future themed while still having the Liquify sound and desert feel. I also thought it would be unique to have a concept with a story about a man having to save the love of his life while escaping an evil interdimensional invader.
The album begins smooth and dreamy with Visions of Serenity and moves on to a relaxed pace with Trapped in the Time Loop eventually building to a crescendo of distortion guitar driven madness with multiple solos, like that of someone being driven insane while stuck in a time loop repeating the same event over and over. We move on to Forgotten Years which has a more somber feel while maintaining a groovy desert rock vibe. Next, we reach the Garden of Enchantment keeping it slow and steady while also keeping it short and sweet.
Last but not least, we arrive at the long riff building Future-Fi that includes a hypnotic synth and then closes off the album with a harmonic melody.
I would like to say a big thank you to everyone for the support along the way. I hope you enjoy the music and stay tuned for more on the way! – Liquify
Tracklisting: 1. Visions of Serenity 03:25 2. Trapped in the Time Loop 09:27 3. Forgotten Years 08:29 4. Garden of Enchantment 03:56 5. Future-Fi 15:35
All instruments by Tanner Ratcliffe Artwork by Yusuf Wahyudi Written, Recorded, and Mixed from February to July 2021
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 16th, 2017 by JJ Koczan
The fuzz of the people! History counsels healthy skepticism when it comes to anything taking on the tag ‘populi,’ but to say the least, the newcomer Roman trio seem to have brought enough fuzz for everybody. Their debut single, “Lost in Time” — for which you can see the lyrics below, sent as they were down the PR wire — is up now as a name-your-price download through Bandcamp, and both a first EP and a 10-date first European tour seem set to arrive in May, and the three-piece features guitarist/vocalist Pootchie (not to be confused, or maybe to be confused, I don’t really know, with the Simpsons character), who also made a full-length debut last year as a member of Beesus (review here).
In any case, “Lost in Time” gives Queens of the Stone Age-style riffing a garage-minded kick in the pants, and if you’ve got a couple minutes, you can get a sampling of it below. Social media presence is nil, but I also included the link to their Bandcamp, in case you’d like to read all the same stuff there as well.
Like thus:
FVZZ POPVLI – Lost in Time
Established in Rome under the will of three potheads… FvzzPopvli: a brand new trio with musicians coming from different experiences, with an addiction for heavy fuzzy riffs from the Black Sabbath era till the Palm Desert Scene, playing with a garage attitude in a heavy psych mood! The band is ready to promote their first single “Lost In TIme”, wich is actually an exclusive for Bandcamp with an up to you download. The upcoming “EP” is composed of five roaring songs, to quench your thirst of fuzzy and fat sounds!
Lost In Time, by FVZZ POPVLI
Lost In Time by FVZZ POPVLI, released 09 February 2017 Lets get high in the sky, no more sight to try, when you’re in the sky everything will be alright, high in the sky you’re not gonna die, when you feel alright, can you? let’s ride! Are you ready ready to take the flight? Are you ready, ready for the sky? Are you ready? I’m lost in time, are you ready… I, im gonna fly, i fly so high, i bet the skyyyy. Are you lost in time? Now you see me blind! Are you lost at home! And you feel it before! Are you ready, you’re not gonna die! Are you ready, you gonna ride!
FVZZ POPVLI ARE: POOTCHIE – Guitar and Voice (BEESUS,The Wisdoom) DATIO PALATIO – Bass (The Anthony’s Vinyls) GLVE-Drums (TOOT)
Posted in Reviews on December 26th, 2016 by JJ Koczan
2016 ends and 2017 starts off on the right foot with a brand new Quarterly Review roundup. The first time I ever did one of these was at the end of 2014 and I called the feature ‘Last Licks.’ Fortunately, I’ve moved on from that name, but that is kind of how I’m thinking about this particular Quarterly Review. You’ll find stuff that came out spread all across 2016, early, middle, late, but basically what I’m trying to do here is get to a point where it’s not March and I’m still reviewing albums from November. Will it work? Probably not, but in order to try my damnedest to make it do so anyway, I’m making this Quarterly Review six full days. Monday to Monday instead of Monday to Friday. 60 reviews in six posts. Sounds like madness because it is madness. Let’s get started.
Quarterly Review #1-10:
Hornss, Telepath
San Francisco trio Hornss debuted on RidingEasy Records with 2014’s No Blood No Sympathy (review here) and further their raw genre blend on Telepath, their half-hour follow-up LP delivered via STB, melding heavy punk and metallic impulses to a noisy, thick-toned thrust on songs like “Atrophic” and the bouncing “Sargasso Heart” while opener “St. Genevieve” and the penultimate “Old Ghosts” dig into more stonerly nod. The latter track is the longest inclusion on the record at 3:26, and with 11 cuts there’s plenty of jumping between impulses to be done, but the trio of guitarist/vocalist Mike Moracha, bassist/vocalist Nick Nava – both formerly of desert punkers Solarfeast – and drummer Bil Bowman (ex-Zodiac Killers) work effectively and efficiently to cast an identity for themselves within the tumult. It’s one that finds them reveling in the absence of pretense and the sometimes-caustic vibes of songs like “Leaving Thermal,” which nonetheless boast an underlying catchiness, speaking to a progression from the first album.
Easily justifiable decision on the part of Denver’s Khemmis to return to Flatline Audio and producer Dave Otero (Cephalic Carnage, etc.) for their second album, Hunted. No reason to fix what clearly wasn’t broken about their 2015 debut, Absolution (review here), and on the 20 Buck Spin Records release, they don’t. A year later, the four-piece instead build on the doomly grandeur of the first outing and push forward in aesthetic, confidence and purpose, whether that’s shown in mournful opener “Above the Water,” the darker “Candlelight” that follows, or the centerpiece “Three Gates,” which opens as muddied death metal before shifting into a cleaner chorus, creating a rare bridge between doom and modern metal. Khemmis save the most resonant crush for side B, however, with the nine-minute “Beyond the Door” capping with vicious stomp before the 13-minute title-track, which closes the album with an urgency that bleeds even into spacious and melodic break that sets up the final apex to come, as emotionally charged as it is pummeling.
In addition to the outright charm of titles like “Doominati,” “Coup d’étwat,” “Murdercycle” and “Urinal Acid” (the latter a bonus track), Rochester, New York’s Fox 45 offer fuzzy roll on their Twin Earth Records debut full-length, Ashes of Man, the three-piece of Amanda Rampe, Vicky Tee and Casey Learch finding space for themselves between the post-Acid King nod of “Necromancing the Stone” and more swing-prone movements like the relatively brief “Soul Gourmandizer.” Playing back and forth between longer and shorter tracks gives Ashes of Man a depth of character – particularly encouraging since it’s Fox 45’s first record – and the low-end push that leads “Phoenix Tongue” alone is worth the price of admission, let alone the familiar-in-the-right-ways straightforward heavy riffing of “Narcissister” a short while later. Very much a debut, but one that sets up a grunge-style songwriting foundation on which to build as they move forward, and Fox 45 seem to have an eye toward doing precisely that.
Double-guitar Pittsburgh four-piece Monolith Wielder make their self-titled debut through Italian imprint Argonauta Records, bringing together Molasses Barge guitarist Justin Gizzi and Zom guitarist/vocalist Gero von Dehn with bassist Ray Ward (since replaced by Amy Bianco) and drummer Ben Zerbe (also Mandrake Project) for 10 straightforward tracks that draw together classic Sabbathian doom with post-grunge heavy rock roll. There’s a workingman’s sensibility to the riffing of “No Hope No Fear” and the earlier, more ‘90s moodiness of “Angels Hide” – von Dehn’s vocals over the thick tones almost brings to mind Sevendust on that particularly catchy chorus – but Monolith Wielder’s Monolith Wielder isn’t shy about bringing atmospherics to the Iommic thrust of its eponymous cut or the penultimate “King Under Fire,” which recalls the self-titled Alice in Chains in its unfolding bleakness before closer “Electric Hessian” finishes with a slight uptick in pace and a fade out and back in (and a last sample) that hints at more to come.
The stomp and clap intro “The Man Who Would be King” casts an immediately bluesy hue on No Man’s Valley’s debut album, Time Travel (LP release on Nasoni), and the Netherlands-based five-piece seem only too happy to build on that from there. It’s a blend outfits like The Flying Eyes and Suns of Thyme have proffered for several years now between heavy psychedelia and blues, but No Man’s Valley find a niche for themselves in the dreamy and patient execution of “Sinking the Lifeboat,” a highlight of the eight-track/33-minute LP, and bring due personality to the classic-style jangle-and-swing of “The Wolves are Coming” as well, so that Time Travel winds up more textured than redundant as it makes its way toward six-minute piano-laden finale “Goon.” Once there, they follow a linear course with a post-All Them Witches looseness that solidifies into a resonant and deeply engaging apex, underscoring the impressive reach No Man’s Valley have brought to bear across this first LP of hopefully many to come.
Barcelona classic rocking four-piece Saturna seem to avoid the boogie trap when they want to, as on the more rolling, modern heavy groove of “Five Fools,” and that keeps their World in Sound/PRC Music third album, III/Lost in Time, from being too predictable after the opening “Tired to Fight” seems to set up Thin Lizzy idolatry. They dip into more complex fare on “Leave it All,” somewhere between Skynyrd leads, Deep Purple organ-isms topped with a rousing hook, but keep some shuffle on songs like “Disease” and the earlier “All Has Been Great.” Highlight/closer “Place for Our Soul” seems to be literal in its title, with a more subdued approach and harmonized vocal delivery, and listening to its more patient delivery one can’t help but wonder why that soul should be relegated to the end of the album instead of featured throughout, but the songwriting is solid and the delivery confident, so while familiar, there’s ultimately little to complain about with what III/Lost in Time offers.
Especially with the title of their second EP set as Hate from the Bong, one might be tempted to put Belgian outfit MØLK immediately in the same category of malevolent stoner/sludge metal as the likes of Bongripper, but frankly they sound like they’re having too much fun for that on the five-tracker, reveling in lyrical shenanigans on the politically suspect “Stonefish” and opener “Methamphetamine.” Make no mistake, they’re suitably druggy, but even Hate from the Bong’s title-track seems to keep its tongue in cheek as it unfolds its post-Electric Wizard echoes and tonal morass. That gives the five-piece an honest vibe – they’re a relatively new band, having released their first EP in 2016 as well; why shouldn’t they be having a good time? – to coincide with all that thickened low end and vocal reverb, and though they’re obviously growing, there isn’t much more I’d ask of them from a debut full-length, which is a task they sound ready to take on in these songs.
Italian cult rock outfit Psychedelic Witchcraft have proven somewhat difficult to keep up with over the last year-plus. As they’ve hooked up with Soulseller Records and reissued their Black Magic Man EP (review here), their full-length debut, The Vision, and already announced a follow-up compilation in 2017’s Magick Rites and Spells, the band consistently work to feature the vocals of Virginia Monti (also Dead Witches) amid semi-retro ‘70s-style boogie, as heard on the debut in cuts like “Witches Arise” and “Wicked Ways.” At nine tracks/34 minutes, however, The Vision is deceptively efficient, and though they’re unquestionably playing to style, Psychedelic Witchcraft find room to vary moods on “The Night” and the subdued strum of “The Only One Who Knows,” keeping some sonic diversity while staying largely on-theme lyrically. To call the album cohesive is underselling its purposefulness, but the question is how the band will build on the bluesy soulfulness of “Magic Hour Blues” now that they’ve set this progression in motion. Doesn’t seem like it will be all that long before we find out.
Following the heavy post-rock wash of their 2016 debut album, Tidals, Brooklynite two-piece Spotlights – bassist/guitarist/vocalist Sarah Quintero and guitarist/synthesis/vocalist Mario Quintero – return on the quick with a three-track EP, Spiders, and set themselves toward further sonic expansion. The centerpiece “She Spider” is a Mew cover, electronic beats back opener “A Box of Talking Heads V2” and the spacious closer “Joseph” is a track from Tidals remixed by former Isis drummer Aaron Harris. So, perhaps needless to say, they hit that “expansion” mark pretty head-on. The finale turns out to be the high point, more cinematic in its ambience, but still moving through with an underlying rhythm to the wash of what one might otherwise call drones before becoming more deeply post-Nine Inch Nails in its back half. How many of these elements might show up on Spotlights’ next record, I wouldn’t guess, but the band takes an important step by letting listeners know the potential is there, adding three wings onto their wheelhouse in three tracks, which is as efficient conceptually as it is sonically immersive.
This self-titled second full-length from Malmö, Sweden-based Moon Coven begins with its longest track (immediate points) in “Storm” and works quickly to nail down a far-reaching meld between heavy psych and riffy density. Issued through the much-respected Transubstans Records, it’s a nine-track/50-minute push that can feel unipolar on an initial listen, but largely avoids that trap through tonal hypnosis and fluid shifts into and out of jams on cuts like “The Third Eye,” while centerpiece “Haramukh High” provides a solidified moment before the organ interlude “The Ice Temple” leads into the mega-roll of finisher “White Sun.” What seems to be a brooding sensibility from the artwork – a striking departure from their 2014 debut, Amanita Kingdom – is actually a far more colorful affair than it might at first appear, and well justifies the investment of repeat visits in the far-out nod of “Conspiracy” and the swirling “Winter,” which goes so far as to add melodic texture in the vocals and notably fuzzed guitar, doing much to bolster the proceedings and overarching groove.
