Posted in Whathaveyou on December 23rd, 2022 by JJ Koczan
The other day, Ukraine’s Somali Yacht Club posted the kind of year-end summary on social media that’s become more or less standard practice for bands who, say, give a crap about engaging their fanbase. Earlier in 2022, the Lviv trio released The Space (review here) on Season of Mist, and toured alongside Greenleaf and countrymen labelmates Stoned Jesus, and for sure those came up, as well as hints of this tour that was then TBA.
Obviously they also talked about the war that’s ravaged their home country for most of the year. This week, Ukraine’s president traveled to the US and spoke to congress, etc., shoring up commitment to the aide and weaponry the US has provided thus far. To say it’s a shitty situation generally, but gosh my home nation lives a proxy war with Russia, and if Ukrainian citizens and infrastructure are slaughtered and destroyed in the interim, well, that’s eggs and omelets, innit? I honestly don’t know what the answer is there, between ‘how can you not help when your military budget is by far the highest in the world and you’ve held yourself up — wrongly, but still — as a global moral authority since the end of the Second World War’ and ‘what the fuck business is it of ours if they’re not in NATO.’ Consider it’s probably where the trillions of dollars that went to Afghanistan so girls wouldn’t be allowed in libraries now should’ve gone, but no question it’s a diplomatic conundrum well beyond my paygrade to solve, and I’m not making light of it. Unfortunately the loss of life is real, whether the American people are the ones experiencing it or not. But America has never really given a shit about that either.
I don’t see that war ending anytime soon. If the US pulls the rug out, Ukraine is likely sunk, and that’s basically a setup for genocide. If we send more missiles, what, Kyiv takes Moscow? Or Putin kicks off and all is forgiven? That doesn’t seem likely either. It’s a mess, ugly, and there’s no good answer. Hey, anyone see that trailer for Oppenheimer? Let’s not forget the latent threat of nuclear war hanging over our heads, as if to prove once and for all that humanity has learned jack squat in the last seventy years.
So anyway, happy holidays.
I guess what I’m trying to say is if Somali Yacht Club are somewhat disheartened despite the successes of the band in 2022, well, they’re human beings in a roiling shitshow of a situation, so that seems well justified. What can you do to help? Buy a record? Buy a shirt? I don’t know. That won’t end a war, but it might at least let them know someone gives a shit about what they’re doing.
Okay, that’s my piece. Here’s tour dates. They’ll be out with Psychlona. Sláva Ukrayíni:
Tour. May. 2023. Special guest Psychlona!
First time in Netherlands, UK, Croatia, Sweden, and Denmark! Don’t miss it.
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 28th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
It’s not a long reach to grasp the intended metaphor when it comes to Iron Rain, the impending debut album from Ukrainian heavy post-rock solo-project Super Pink Moon, helmed by Somali Yacht Club guitarist/vocalist Ihor Pryshliak in Lviv. Given the ongoing war between Russia and Pryshliak‘s home country — with my home country, the US, just living its absolute best-life proxy-war thanatos boner dream against an old Cold War foe, complete with all the reactionary propaganda — it seems pretty clear Iron Rain is talking about bombs. If it needs to be said, it is unfortunate that the circumstance exists in which to title an album thusly in the first place. War, like so many other enduring human innovations, is bullshit. If anyone had allowed women to learn to read before, like, 1980, I have no doubt many similar conflicts would have been avoided, but it is what it is. Sad and dragging on.
“Nothing is Real” is the second single to be posted from Iron Rain, which is out in Feb. 2023, and a suitably atmospheric follow-up to the prior-posted “Doomscrolling,” which you can also stream below and which resolves itself in a roller of a heavy riff that offers an alternate definition for the name Pryshliak has given it. Both songs are united in their exploratory feel.
The PR wire has the story to tell:
Somali Yacht Club frontman to release new solo album as SUPER PINK MOON in February 2023; stream dreamy new single “Nothing Is Real” now.
Lviv-based post-rock and shoegaze multi-instrumentalist Ihor Pryshliak aka SUPER PINK MOON announces the release of his new solo full-length “IRON RAIN” in February 2023, and premieres his new single “NOTHING IS REAL”!
Written amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, this new offering from Ukrainian multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Ihor Pryshliak as Super Pink Moon is a sonic testimony that depicts the angst and emotional turmoil of making to make it through the day when surrounded by chaos. Gracefully interweaving post-rock, shoegaze and indie rock, “IRON RAIN” washes over the listener with ten dreamy spells filled with shape-shifting dynamics, heady riffs and delicate melancholic vocals from the beloved Somali Yacht Club frontman.
About the new album, Super Pink Moon comments: “Half of the album was recorded before the 24th of February (the day of Russian invasion) and the second half afterward. For Ukrainians, this date has left a deep wound that is still massively bleeding. To escape from reality, I had to switch my focus to something else, otherwise, I’d just go mad. Musically, my idea was to confuse listeners as much as possible. There are many hidden tricks. I tried to craft complex melodies and rhythms with multiple layers while keeping them as ‘listenable’ as possible. The LP is completely recorded at home.”
“All the lyrics are revolving around self-reflection on the war. It’s still hard to describe the weird mix of feelings. Sometimes you’re extremely proud and even happy, but usually, all you feel is sadness, pain, and despair. One might say, ‘dude, you’re living in the western part of Ukraine’, which is relatively a safe place. But the feeling of survival guilt is constantly hunting you and there’s no place to hide. Also, you can’t hide from the missiles, which is disturbing at least. So, I had to evolve. Now I’m feeling much better, and this record is a kind of snapshot of the ‘self-curing’ process. After our victory, I don’t think I’d ever listen to this record again, too many emotions.”
Super Pink Moon – New album “IRON RAIN” Out on February 16th, 2023 on all streaming platforms
TRACKLIST: 1. NOTHING IS REAL 2. EVERYTHING 3. DOOMSCROLLING 4. COLLISION 5. MIRAGE 6. FORWARDBREAKFORWARD 7. CALMNESS 8. PER ASPERA AD ASTRA 9. HOLLOWNESS 10. ウクライナにславаあれ
Super Pink Moon was created in 2019 as a side project of Somali Yacht Club guitarist and vocalist Ihor in Lviv, Ukraine. After a few months of home experiments, the “Nude” mini album was released in November 2020 under the moniker Slow Noise. Within the next few months, he worked on his debut album “SUPER LP”. All his music is recorded at his home studio, and mixed by Jaro Sound.
The Space is the third full-length from Lviv, Ukraine’s Somali Yacht Club, as well as their first offering through Season of Mist. It arrives following 2018’s The Sea (review here) and 2014’s The Sun (discussed here) and is accordingly encompassing to suit its title. More over, it is the trio’s first long-player to arrive following their 10th anniversary in 2020, and it lands even as their home country and hometown are under attack by Russian forces in an atrocity-laced war of aggression. The band — guitarist, vocalist, keyboardist Ihor, bassist Artur and drummer Oleksa — are elsewhere and safe, but it is difficult to separate the six-song/45-minute procession from the context in which it arrives, though of course it was completed before the fighting began (unless you count the years of conflict in Crimea, in which case it goes back to the first record and before). Although, if anything were going to aid in that forgetting, it might be actually listening to the album in its entirety. As each Somali Yacht Club release has stepped forward from the last, from the warmer heavy psych of The Sun to the melancholic roll of The Sea, so too does The Space clearly state its evolution from where the band were those eventful four years ago.
Alternating between shorter and longer pieces across opener “Silver” (5:17) and the subsequent “Pulsar” (9:06), “Obscurum” (5:06) and “Echo of Direction” (9:46), and “Gold” (3:33) and closer “Momentum” (12:30), The Space is able to create a sense of movement despite a resoundingly methodical delivery, aspects of heavy post-rock in and around “Obscurum” meeting with the most complex melodies Somali Yacht Club have yet harnessed throughout, even “Gold” — which I feared would be an interlude ahead of the finale — boasting an attention to its arrangement and depth that speaks to the care the band put into their craft on the whole. The Sea was also six songs set in pairs, but the manner in which it happens here is more dynamic, and once “Silver” draws the audience into the universe Somali Yacht Club are constructing, that forward push — gentle at times, slow at times, more of a shove others — does not abate.
In this way, The Space is a monument to the richness in Somali Yacht Club‘s sound as it is today and to the artistic growth that’s led them to this point. It nods confidently at Neurosis, building off the rhythm of that band’s 2001 track “Falling Unknown” in the midsection break of “Momentum” and having its own “Stones From the Sky”-moment in “Echo of Direction,” but takes this influence and scores of others and incorporates it into an expressive sonic palette that is nothing if not Somali Yacht Club‘s own. Psychedelic and otherworldly in its purpose — it’s not called The Space because it’s so grounded — the album’s underlying structures are nonetheless firm, the fluidity that emerges in “Obscurum” as it moves into its post-midpoint wash of melody kept together not even just by the drums, but the unity of intent on the part of the whole band and the sense that, yes, they have a plan they’re playing out and that the thing to do is let them guide you through it.
“Silver” touches on pop melodicism in its crescendo, and conveys the breadth with which the rest of what follows will unfold, “Pulsar” beginning with a duly pulsing progression of bass, guitar and effects swirl over the steady drums, cascading between the serene verses and its harmonized chorus, growing peaceful and declarative in kind as it pushes through a build toward its last apex, the keyboard overtop adding to both melody and drama and assuring that the song holds its resonance even as it hits its final crashes into the sunnier beginning of “Obscurum.” This flow continues all throughout The Space — which would seem to have its vinyl side break between “Obscurum” and “Echo of Direction,” though it’s clearly built with more than one format in mind — and the trio are duly graceful as “Obscurum” surprises with a bit of solo scorch later on, feeling perhaps all the more prominent in the mix for the softer notes just before.
The drums begin “Echo of Direction” and set in motion a hypnotic heavy psych-style jam until the aforementioned Neuro-chug is established, carrying into a quieter verse, gorgeous in its layering and open feel. They tease a volume trade first and then bring back the rumble at about five minutes in before working their way back into ‘the riff,’ then execute the quicker back and forth they had hinted toward earlier, once again showcasing a structural awareness that speaks to their having a big-picture view even as they offer their audience the most breadth they’ve ever had. “Echo of Direction” is encompassing in a way that feels purposeful at the outset of the second half of the tracklist — start of side B by any other name — and that correspondingly means “Gold” is exceptionally well placed between it and the closer, the shorter and more straight-ahead motion of the penultimate cut striking just the same for its floating flourish of guitar and mellow vocals, weighted but flying like some kind of metallic airship.
“Gold” slows down as it wraps, letting the sample and more immediate start of “Momentum” convey urgency without feeling overblown. Those expecting a massive payoff in the ending of The Space will likely be satisfied by the peak in “Momentum” that lands just before the song wraps up, but like the album as a whole, it’s more about the journey to get there and the discoveries made along the way; the long, beautiful and exploratory stretch in the midsection just as engrossing as the inevitably made turn toward more outwardly heavy crunch, a last demonstration of the mastery Somali Yacht Club have over their sound as they approach veteran status from their beginnings as upstarts in what at the time was (and I suppose still is) a crowded European psychedelic underground.
In light of the conflict currently embroiling Ukraine, it is easy to read The Space as bittersweet, and Somali Yacht Club‘s craft has always had its share of melancholy. I’ll offer instead not necessarily an alternate read but perhaps one that accounts more for the awe the trio seem to express in what they’re witnessing in the songs themselves. It is as though they’re on the same journey as the listener, moving outward into the unknown, sure of the getting there even as the destination remains intentionally vague. Most of all, The Space is resonant. In shimmering guitar and rich low end, in its lush swells and directed minimalism, it is a triumph beyond expectation and a reminder that the light and warmth, the star-stuff that makes life possible, is in constant wavelength motion.
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 15th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Preorders are available now for the second full-length from Lviv, Ukrainian post-metallers Nonsun, titled Blood & Spirit. One might call that title prescient as regards the war that’s broken out in their home country over the last couple weeks following an unceremonious invasion by the neighboring Russia, but the fact is the title is more than three weeks old, and even if you want to cite that Ukraine and Russia have been in direct conflict since 2014 — before Nonsun even released their 2016 debut, Black Snow Desert — the band take pains to note that they’re working from different ideas than recent headlines. So it goes.
In my home country, we’ve returned to a woefully comfortable disdain for Russia — those with half a thought to spare note it’s “not the Russian people” before launching into some stereotyped declaration or mockery — with shades of what I remember of the end of the Cold War, which I admit isn’t much. In the age of internet fundraising — be careful out there — money has also been donated to Ukrainian aid from a vast swath of sources, up to and including the merchandise for this site as well as the federal government and too many others for me to count. Perhaps in the spirit of helping the band from day to day on the ground in Lviv, they’ll receive 100 percent of the proceeds from the preorders, and if that’s not enough to convince you to place one, there’s an album teaser streaming below that lets you know what you’re in for.
To wit:
NONSUN – Blood & Spirit
You may be familiar with this Lviv, Ukraine quartet from their debut album Black Snow Desert, which we released back in 2018. But whatever you think you know about them, put it to the side in preparation for their sophomore effort. Whereas their first album was intended to be like a single composition spread across six tracks, Blood & Spirit is more a collection of distinct, standalone songs, each telling its own story. And what stories they have to tell! We loved the dense and often demanding drone/sludge approach of Black Snow Desert, but what listeners will discover on Blood & Spirit is truly a force to behold, blending the breathtaking immensity of their doom leanings with a gripping immediacy that’s more consistent with traditional post-metal stylings.
Listeners who loved Black Snow Desert will still find some callback to that record’s drone leanings, particularly on Blood & Spirit’s back half. Both “Guilt, Disgust, Disaster” and “In Your Eyes I’m a Cripple” feature lengthy opening passages that gradually establish an oppressively bleak tone before eventually erupting into explosive crescendos that provide powerful counterpoints to the creeping atmospherics that precede them. Though it is technically an instrumental record, vocals do play a role in a non-traditional, non-lyrical fashion. The band consistently integrates rumbling, guttural vocalizations and breathy chants into the fabric of the songs, subtly perceptible but effective in building a looming sense of dread that pervades the album.
Fans of doom, drone, post-metal, and avant-garde music should consider this 2xLP a must-have. It’s one of the most compelling combinations of principles from those brethren genres put to record in some time, offering an increased accessibility without sacrificing the potent ferocity or probing experimentalism Nonsun initiated with Black Snow Desert. Blood & Spirit reveals a group of musicians tightening their collective grip on an already-compelling conceptual framework and elevating it to new levels of might and impact.
Words from Nonsun: “Never could we imagine how painfully relevant the album’s title would sound near the time of release… Wish it wouldn’t. Initially it was meant to have a more personal meaning. The songs were written and recorded in 2016-2020. The album title refers to spiritual struggles through the bloodiest of times. The five tracks, in a sense, are yearnings, or prayers, thrown into the void. What doesn’t kill you… Does it make you stronger? Or leave you even more crippled? When all magic is gone… Is wisdom worth a thing? It’s about raising questions rather than giving answers. As the rational mind & willpower fail, a spiritual quest begins”
(Also, all the song titles, the artwork, the description above have all been created and finalized during 2016-2021, thus well before the war).
Words from Dunk!records: “Obviously you are all aware of the devastating situation in Ukraine. You might also know about one of our label bands, Nonsun, who live in Lviv, Ukraine. At this moment, all band members and their families are ok. However, the circumstances are difficult and their lives are completely upside down. In agreement with the band we decided to launch the pre-orders for their new album Blood & Spirit. This creates an opportunity for us and for you to support the band in these hard times. Dunk!records will donate 100% of the profits to the band (as well as all profits for their 2018 release Black Snow Desert) as of today until release day (April 15th, 2022).”
Pre-order digital album here: https://bit.ly/Nonsun_BloodSpirit_Digital
Tracklisting: 1. A Wizard Grieving Over the Loss of Magic 2. That Which Does Not Kill 3. Days of Thunder Bring New Wisdom 4. Guilt, Disgust, Disaster 5. In Your Eyes I’m a Cripple
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 16th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Based in the Ukraine — maybe you’ve seen it on the news this week — heavy psychedelic trio Somali Yacht Club were announced as being picked up by Season of Mistalmost a year ago. Together, the band and label set about putting together reissues for the group’s two-to-date full-lengths, 2018’s The Sea (review here) and 2014’s The Sun (discussed here), and now comes work of a third in an apparent ‘the’ series, The Space, the realization of which is being demonstrated in the first streaming single “Silver.”
Before you skip the rest of my blah blah blah and go right to the video at the bottom of this post — as you should — to check out the track, please take note of the April 22 release, the tour dates with Mars Red Sky and the fact that preorders are already up.
Okay, off you go:
SOMALI YACHT CLUB Reveals New Album, Premieres New Single
Psychedelic stoner rock trio SOMALI YACHT CLUB will be releasing their third full-length, ‘The Space,’ on April 22 via Season of Mist, making it the band’s debut to the label! The album art, tracklisting, and details can be found below. The band is now sharing the first new single, “Silver,” which can be heard at THIS LOCATION.
Day two already, huh? It’s a holiday week here in the States, which means people are on vacation or have at least enjoyed a long weekend hopefully without blowing any body parts off with fireworks or whatnot. For me, I prefer the day on rather than the day off, so we proceeded as normal yesterday in beginning the Quarterly Review. “We now return to our regularly scheduled,” and so on.
There’s a lot of good stuff here, as one would hope, and since we’re still basically at the start of this doublewide edition of the Quarterly Review — 10 down, 90 to go — I won’t delay further. Thanks for reading.
Quarterly Review #11-20:
Papir, Jams
Two sessions, three days apart, three pieces from each, resulting in six tracks running just about 80 minutes that Papir are only within their rights to have titled simply as Jams. With this outing, the Copenhagen-based psychedelic trio present their process at its most nakedly exploratory. I don’t know if they had any parts pre-planned when they went into the studio, but the record brims with spontaneity, drums jazzing out behind shimmering guitar and steadily grooving basslines. Effects are prevalent and add to the spaciousness, and the sessions from whence these songs came, whether it’s the key-led four-minute “20.01.2020 #2” or the 20-minute opener “17.01.2020 #1” — all tracks sharing the same date-and-number format as regards titles — feel vibrant and fluid in a way that goes beyond even the hazy hypnotics of “20.01.2020 #3.” Papir‘s instrumental dynamic is of course a huge part of what they do anyway, but to hear their chemistry come through in freer fashion as it does here can only be refreshing. I hope they do more like this.
Brooklyn outfit Kosmodemonic exist almost exclusively within genre border regions. Their second album, Liminal Light, fosters an approach that’s too considered not to be called progressive, but that owes as much to the cosmic doom of YOB as to black metal as to noise rock as to Voivod as to any number of other various ores in the metallic sphere. In their sprinting moments or in the consuming dark grandeur of centerpiece “Ipomoea,” they are pointedly individual, and cuts like “Drown in Drone” and the later slammer “Brown Crown” owe much to sheer impact as to the cerebral underpinnings of their angularity. Liminal Light is vicious but methodical, and feels executed with a firm desire to catch the audience sleeping and then blindside them with a change, be it in moving from one song to another or within one song itself, like when the penultimate “Chains of Goddess Grove” rears back from its lurching movement and spews thrashier fire in its final minute. Put these moments together and you get a record that challenges on multiple levels and is unflinchingly worth the effort of close engagement.
The sixth solo offering from Neurosis guitarist/vocalist Steve Von Till is a first for being completely instrumental. The narrative — blessings and peace upon it — goes that Von Till wrote the music for 2020’s No Wilderness Deep Enough (review here) late during jetlagged nights alone on his wife’s family’s property in Germany, where her family has lived for 500 years, only to later be convinced by producer Randall Dunn to write lyrics and record vocals for the songs. A Deep Voiceless Wilderness, as the title hints, pulls those vocals back out of these re-named pieces, allowing elements like the quiet textures of keyboard and piano, horns and mellotrons to shine through in atmospheric fashion, layers of drone intertwining in mostly peaceful fashion. It is the least guitar-based record Von Till has ever done, and allows for a new kind of minimalism to surface along with an immersive melodic hum. Subdued, meditative, exploratory, kind of wonderful.
Based in Lviv, Ukraine, instrumentalist krautrock bizarros Sex Blender have two full-lengths behind them, and Studio Session I takes the consumingly fuzzed “Diver” from 2018’s Hormonizer and three cuts from 2020’s The Second Coming and turns them into a stirring 44-minute set captured on video for a livestream. Reportedly some of the arrangements are different, as will certainly happen, but as someone being introduced to the band through this material, it’s easy to be struck by the palpable sense of glee with which Sex Blender present their songs. “Crimson Master” is the shortest of the bunch at just over six minutes — it’s the only one under 11 — but even there, the manipulated keyboard sounds, drum fluidity and undercurrent of rumbling distortion push Sex Blender into a place that’s neither doom nor prog but draws from both, crawling where the subsequent “Rave Spritz” can’t help but bounce with its motorik drums and intertwined synth lines. May just be a live session, but they shine all the same.
Déhà‘s third long-player Cruel Words was originally issued in 2019 and is seeing a first vinyl pressing on Burning World Records. The Brussels solo outfit has released no fewer than 17 other full-length outings — possibly more, depending on what counts as what — in the two years since these songs initially surfaced, but, well, one has to start someplace. The 2LP runs 75 minutes and includes bonus tracks — an acoustic version of opener “I Am Mine to Break,” a cover of The Gathering‘s “Saturnine” and the piano-into-post-metal “Comfort Me II” — but the highlights are on the album itself, such as the make-Amenra-blush 12-minute crux of “Dead Butterflies,” wherein a lung-crushing weight is given patient drama through its prominent keyboard layers, or the goth early going of “Pain is a Wasteland,” which seems to brood until it finally can’t take it anymore and bashes its head (and yours) into the wall. Surprisingly methodical for the manic pace at which Déhà (né Olmo Lipani) works, it makes artistry of its arrangement as well as performance and is willfully overwhelming, but engaging in that.
Big riffs, big grooves, big hooks, Thunder Horse‘s second long-player, Chosen One, sees the San Antonio, Texas, outfit inherit some aspects from the members’ past outfits, whether it’s the semi-industrial vocal style of Stephen Bishop on “Among the Dead” or the classically shredding solo work of Todd Connally. With Dave Crow on bass and Jason “Shakes” West on drums, Thunder Horse elbow their way into a nod quickly on Chosen One and hold their ground decisively, with Dehumanizer-esque tones and flourish of keys throughout that closes in lead position on the outro “Remembrance” in complement to the strumming, whistling “Texas” a short while earlier. Even when they shuffle, as on the second half of “Song for the Ferryman,” Thunder Horse do it heavy, and as they did with their 2018 self-titled debut (review here), they make it hard to argue, either with the atmosphere or the sheer lumber of their output. An easy record to dig for the converted.
Heads up children of — or children of children of — the 1990s, as Youngstown, Ohio’s Rebreather effectively reinterpret and heavy up two of that decade’s catchiest hooks in Porno for Pyros‘ “Pets” and R.E.M.‘s “Orange Crush.” Taking songs that, if they ever left your head from rock radio, will certainly be right back in there now, and trying to put their own spin on them is ambitious, but Rebreather have no trouble slowing down the already kinda languid “Pets” or emphasizing the repetitive urgency of “Orange Crush,” and the tonal weight they bring to both honors the original versions as well as who Rebreather are as a band, while showcasing the band’s heretofore undervalued melodies, with call and response vocal lines in both cuts nodding to their sludge/noise rock roots while moving forward from there. They chose the songs well, if nothing else, and though it’s only about 10 minutes between the two cuts, as the first new Rebeather material since their 2018 self-titled EP (discussed here), I’ll take the two covers happily.
Spanish duo Melmak — guitarist/vocalist Jonan Etxebarria and drummer/vocalist Igor Etxebarria — offer an awaited follow-up to their 2016 long-player Prehistorical (review here) and demonstrate immediately that five years has not dulled their aggressive tendencies. Opener “Black Room” is a minute-long grindfest, and though “Scum” finds its way into a sludgy groove, it’s not far behind. “Poser” starts out as a piano ballad but turns to its own crushing roll, while “The Scene” rumbles out its lurch, “You Really Don’t Care” samples a crying baby over a sad piano line and “Ass Kisser” offers knee-to-the-face bruiser riffing topped with echoing gutturalism that carries the intensity into the seven-minute, more spacious “Jaundiced,” which gives itself over to extremity in its second half as well, and the closing noise wash of “The Crew.” What we learn from all this is it would seem Melmak find the heavy underground wanting in violent terms. They answer that call in bludgeoning fashion.
Ostensibly a solo-project from Dark Sun bassist Santtu Laakso, Astral Magic‘s debut LP, Visions of Infinity, features contributions from guitarist Martin Weaver (Wicked Lady, Doctors of Space) and Scott “Dr. Space” Heller (Doctors of Space, Øresund Space Collective), as well as Samuli Sailo on ukulele, and has been mixed and mastered and released by Heller, so perhaps the plot thickens as regards just how much of band it is. Nonetheless, Astral Magic have all the cosmos to work with, so there’s plenty of room for everybody, as Visions of Infinity harnesses classic Hawkwindian space rock and is unafraid to add droning mysticism to the ever-outward procession on “Ancient Mysteries” or “Onboard the Spaceship,” to grow playful on “I Was Abducted” or bask in cosmic serenity on “Winds of Time” and “Wizards.” Off we go, into the greater reaches of “out there.” It’s a fun ride.
Costa Rican trio Crypt Monarch offer their debut full-length in the form of the three-song/36-minute The Necronaut, the sound of which makes the claim on the part of the band — bassist/vocalist Christopher De Haan, guitarist Jose Rodriguez, drummer/vocalist J.C. Zuñiga — that it was made live in a cabin in the woods easy enough to believe. Though mixed and mastered, the 15-minute opener “Morning Star Through Skull” (15:41) and ensuing rollers “Rex Meridionalis” (10:12) and “Aglaphotis” (10:08) maintain a vigilant rawness, laced with noise even as De Haan and Zuñiga come together vocally on the latter, clean singing and gurgles alike. It is stoner metal taken to a logical and not entirely unfamiliar extreme, but the murk in which Crypt Monarch revel is dense and easy to get lost within. This, more than any single riff or lumbering groove, speaks to the success of the band’s intention in crafting the record. There is no clearly marked exit.
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 18th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
I’ll go to this. Hey, Stoned Jesus and Somali Yacht Club — you got room for one more in the van? Mind if I tag along? It’s been nearly a year since the last time I caught a gig — snuck one outdoor show in last summer, I did — so I’m as due as anybody, and while there’s stuff I miss about live music I miss and stuff I don’t — the music and nearly everything else, respectively — 12 dates on the road plus a four-day break for sightseeing seems like just the kind of thing to cure what ails. Also that’s happening in Australia and New Zealand. I’ll go. Is there a grant application I can fill out somewhere?
Gonna go out on a limb and guess that’s a hard “no,” but hey, it’s worth a shot. These dates were first scheduled for now-ish, and if you’re in that part of the world and have tickets already, hold onto ’em (or, you know, don’t delete the email or whatever) because they’re still good for the rebooked shows. All are presented through Your Mate Bookings and check out Wo Fest making an appearance near the end of the tour. You have to appreciate that.
Info snagged from social media:
Stoned Jesus and Somali Yacht Club – Australia & New Zealand Tour
World renowned Stoner Doom trio “Stoned Jesus”; will finally make their way to Australia and New Zealand in Nov. 2021 and they are bringing their Psychedelic Pals “Somali Yacht Club” with them.
Stoned Jesus is just one of those bands, if you know Stoner Rock, well you know Stoned Jesus. The trio from Kyiv created their sound in 2009 and have released four albums and multiple EPs, singles and splits since; making them one of the most popular bands in the European underground rock/metal scenes to date. Bringing together their Sabbath-esque groove and modern doom tones; the trio make mountains out of their riffs and are responsible for the ever-growing community of stoner rock and doom metal. The single “I’m the mountain” released in 2012 quickly became one of the most respected songs in underground rock around the globe.
The Stoner Doom trio then went on to headline and play some of the biggest festivals across Europe including Desertfest (Berlin, Belgium and London) along with which has now landed them on this much anticipated tour leg of their tenth anniversary tour of Australia and New Zealand. Celebrating their little jubilee, the Ukranian trio will play a unique setlist with both classic cuts and tracks from their most recent Prog-influenced critically acclaimed “Pilgrims” album.
Somali Yacht Club have been making waves for a few years right across Europe via their beautiful blend of Post/Psychedelic Doom Rock and Shoegaze; and just after three albums they have penetrated the world market with their latest offering “The Sea” clicking over to 1.1 million views on youtube.
The Ukranian trio have shared the stage and toured with some of the most respected Stoner/Psych Rocks bands in the world including My Sleeping Karma, Naxatras, Colour Haze, Elder, Wo Fat and Sasquatch; hitting the best of the best festivals Keep it low, Streetmode, Stoned from the Underground and Desertfest (Berlin)
The two groups will hit Scarborough, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney, Wollongong, Canberra, Auckland (NZ), Wellington (NZ) and headline this years WO FEST 2020 at The Bendigo Hotel in Collingwood and Armageddoom 6 at Civic Hotel in Inglewood.
Friday 5/11/2021 Indian Ocean Hotel, Scarborough Saturday 6/11/2021 Lucy’s Love Shack, Perth ARMAGEDDOOM 6 Monday 8/11/2021 Whammy Bar, Auckland Tuesday 9/11/2021 Valhalla, Wellington Thursday 11/11/2021 The Flamin’ Galah, Brisbane Friday 12/11/2021 The Vanguard, Newtown Saturday 13/11/2021 Baroque Room, Katoomba Wednesday 17/11/2021 La La La’s, Wollongong Thursday 18/11/2021 TBA, Canberra Friday 19/11/2021 Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy Saturday 20/11/2021 Bendigo Hotel, Collingwood WO FEST Sunday 21/11/2021 Crown and Anchor, Adelaide
All tickets currently held are 100% valid for the new dates and if you have moved in the meantime, we can arrange a ticket transfer to your new local venue (Get in touch via email yourmatebookings@gmail.com)
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 1st, 2021 by JJ Koczan
Hey, that’s awesome. Good for you, Somali Yacht Club. Along with Stoned Jesus being on Napalm, the Lviv trio’s signing to Season of Mist is the biggest heavy-underground inking I can think of — please correct me if I’m wrong. It’s good news in any case, and all the more so since it comes with word of a new album on the horizon. That’ll be fun, especially as it coincides with reissues for 2018’s The Sea (review here) and 2014’s The Sun (discussed here). Sign me up for new stuff for sure.
I’m normally in favor of get-it-all-out-there-as-fast-as-possible-or-at-least-send-it-to-me-early, but in Somali Yacht Club‘s case, if the new record doesn’t show up for a bit, I think that might be okay and give people a chance to get caught up. The Sea and The Sun both resonate on a frequency ill-suited to a quick superficial listen. These are records worth diving into. If a reissue gets an opportunity to do that before being overshadowed by a new album, I think that’d be fine.
On the other hand, new stuff please.
It’s an ongoing debate. With myself. Because I don’t have friends.
Anyhow, congrats to the band and cheers to Season of Mist on the ace pickup:
SOMALI YACHT CLUB Signs to Season of Mist
Season of Mist are proud to announce the signing of psychedelic stoner rock trio SOMALI YACHT CLUB! The band will be releasing a brand new album as well as their back catalogue via Season of Mist in the near future. Stay tuned!
The band comments: “We’re proud to announce that our new album will be released on the Season of Mist. It’s an honor to be part of their roster, featuring many bands that are significant to us. We’re very excited and hope that this cooperation will be fruitful! “
For a glimpse of what to expect, check out SOMALI YACHT CLUB on Bandcamp!
SOMALI YACHT CLUB is a psychedelic stoner rock trio from Lviv, Ukraine. It started out as a jam session between band members from different Lviv groups, but soon turned into the main act for each of them.
The trio self-released the demo EP called ‘Sandsongs’ in 2011. After this, they played numerous shows in Ukraine and shared the stage with bands like ELDER, KADAVER, RED FANG and others. The first album “The Sun” was released on September 11, 2014 (Robustfellow). After the 2015 release of LP “The Sun” (Bilocation Records) the band went on their first European tour with ETHEREAL RIFFIAN (UA).
In 2018, SOMALI YACHT CLUB released the second album “The Sea” (Robustfellow, Bilocation Records) and toured with STRAYTONES (UA) and STONED JESUS Jesus (UA). The stoner rockers have played at festivals like Void, Swamp, Keep It Low and several Garmonbozia festivals.
