Posted in Whathaveyou on July 7th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
If you’re reading these words, probably most of the seven-plus minutes of Occult Hand Order‘s new streaming track “Sink” will ring familiar, either because you know the Lyon, France, trio from their past offerings or it’s not your first time at the fuzz rodeo. But the band — whose second album, Silence by the Raging Sea, is to be released on Oct. 20 — are new to me, and they engage post-metal and psych-tinged heavy riffing together in a way that feels like it’s moving toward an individualized goal, if not already there, and instead of going heavygaze or some such, they use one style to offset and expand the parameters of the other. On “Sink,” they seem to meet that goal, with organic tone and structural complexity as assets in their favor
As to how “Sink” represents the rest of the album to follow this Fall, I can’t say as I’ve not yet heard it, but October is three months and five universes away, so there’s time to figure it all out. For now, just a cool track I found on the PR wire that does some interesting rearranging around what one would generally expect sound-wise and a release date. If you want to hear the song, it’s at the bottom of the post, of course.
From the PR wire:
Doom/post-rock trio OCCULT HAND ORDER present a stellar, mystical excerpt of their new album, due out on October 20th: “SINK”
French heavy psychedelic/post-rock outfit OCCULT HAND ORDER announce the release of their new album ‘Silence By The Raging Sea’ on October 20th 2023. To kick things off, they unveil a nebulous, cryptic first track: “Sink!
Lyon-based musicians OCCULT HAND ORDER have this ability to combine psychedelia and occult doom to produce an exhilarating soundscape, spiced with spectacular riffs and a crushing rhythmic pattern. With their new album ‘Silence By The Raging Sea’, OCCULT HAND ORDER play on the apocalyptic aspect of doom and post-rock-inspired soundscapes to point out an overwhelming, sometimes paralysing anxiety. The new track “Sink” perfectly introduces this unique, esoteric universe. Hugo Zepah (bass/vocals) details: “It’s all about human beings who believe that they understand and that they are capable of dealing with powerful forces, beyond their control. We want to focus on our own failings: envy, greed and indifference, especially regarding the horrors that are striking us without us being able to stop them. Sink is the fall: sinking into dark, cold abysses”.
In the absence of solution, violence and darkness provide an obvious way out. Like slow, impetuous waves, each track delivers a beauty either hypnotic or shattering. This gem has been mastered by Magnus Lindberg, Cult Of Luna’s guitarist. Recorded and mixed by Roman Peyr in Chasseneuil, France. Art direction: TINS. Mastering: Magnus Lindberg (Cult Of Luna). Artwork: Morgane Dezaubris.
New single “Sink” Off new album ‘Silence By The Raging Sea’ Available on October 20th 2023 on vinyl and digital
TOUR 14.09.2023 LYON, FR – Le Farmer [Release Party] 25.10.2023 KOSICE, SL – Collosseum Klub 26.10.2023 BUDAPEST, HU – Riff Klub 27.10.2023 BRATISLAVA, SL – Weranda 03.11.2023 NICE, FR – Altherax 16.12.2023 GENEVA, CH – Urgence Disk 17.12.2023 LA CLUSAZ, FR – Le Lion d’Or 21.01.2024 BARCELONE, SP – Nevermind 24.02.2024 GHENT, BE – Kinky Star 01.03.2024 BERLIN, DE – Loophole
Formed in Lyon in 2018, heavy psychedelic trio OCCULT HAND ORDER might be defined as an interstellar ship committed to carrying cinder blocks from one foggy planet to another. Cosmicity, heaviness and esotericism colour doom, sludge and stoner riffs. The vocal harmonies are intense and lend a magical mysticism to the compositions.
Following the release of a self-titled debut effort in 2019, Occult Hand Order approached the appropriately named Interstellar Smoke Records label and offered the public the EP ‘The Chained The Burned The Wounded’. The EP is warmly welcomed by the critics, opening the roads of the best European stages to the trio. Driven by the dynamism of these two releases, the French men’s upcoming new studio album ‘Silence By The Raging Sea’ is due out on October 20th 2023.
LINE-UP Hugo Zepah: vocals, bass Nico Fabre: guitar Tony Duvillard: drums
Posted in Questionnaire on February 16th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.
Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.
Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.
The Obelisk Questionnaire: Raphaël “Grizzly” Jaudon of Goatfather
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I play drums for a bit more than 10 years now. I’ve been in a few bands before, playing mostly post-metal and black metal, and at the moment I’m the drummer of a stoner band named Goatfather. Well, I guess that’s an easy way to describe it. But as soon as it comes to genres, subgenres and so on, I’m not quite sure anymore! The band is born from all the musicians’ stories and personalities, so our music incorporate a lot of different atmospheres. That’s what I like to do. I’m not the kind of musician that elaborates the whole concept in his head and then tries to make it happen exactly the way it was designed. When we met we had no idea what the music would become: it came up after a great deal of rehearsals, listening to and playing with each other.
Describe your first musical memory.
Both of my parents are classical musicians, so I feel like I’ve been surrounded with music all my life. When I was a newborn baby they put my cradle on the top of the piano while my dad was playing. I slept just like that, but I woke up as soon as he stopped playing. So, this must be my first musical memory: feeling uncomfortable when the music stops!
Describe your best musical memory to date.
This is both a musical and cinematographic memory: the scene where Denis Lavant is dancing to the song “Modern Love” by David Bowie, in Leos Carax’ Mauvais Sang. He’s listening to the song on the radio, and all of the sudden he starts running like a madman in the street, half dancing half moving randomly and hitting the air with his fists. I discovered this movie when I was a teenager and this scene struck me deeply. The song so perfectly fits the situation that it can take over the character’s mind and body. Anybody who likes music lives just to feel moments like these.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
I always thought I was immune to stage fright. I see my fellow musicians getting more and more nervous before getting on stage while I always stay calm and focused. Well, it was true until the first time I played on a festival stage, with thousands of people staring at me. That was hell of a test (and hell of a pleasure too)!
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
Artistic progression is a tricky thing. On the one hand, it leads you to become more confident and proud of yourself. The more you practice, the more you learn new ways to express the feelings you have in mind, the more you feel ready to complexify your compositions. But on the other hand, you must be careful not to lose the spontaneity that drove you in the first place.
How do you define success?
I’m not a huge fan of the word “success”. Sometimes you just want to express a feeling, coming straight from your guts, and people happen to identify with it, no matter how many likes or listeners on streaming platforms. That’s the most precious thing in a musician’s life, and we’ve all experienced it at least once. The moment you start considering your music in terms of numbers or success, I feel, that’s where you begin to lose yourself. Sometimes even “small” bands happen to have this kind of thoughts, and it makes me very sad.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
The more I hang around in the musical scene, the more I witness disrespectful behaviors that I wish we had wiped out long ago. There’s still a lot of sexism, racism, antisemitism, homophobia, transphobia around us. Every day you learn that some band you like has acquaintances with fascism, every day women you like are abused during a show or a festival. I’m sick of it. The field of heavy music still has a lot of things to work on.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
When I look back at my life I realize all the music I’ve created is quite luminous, despite all the blast beats and the heavy tones. For example Goatfather’s latest album Monster Truck is full of hope and desire for freedom. In the future, I’d like to try making something really dark for once! Expressing nothing but despair, absurdity and the fear of death. I’m not sure I’d be able to do this, but it’s worth getting a shot.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
Art reminds us that beauty exists and is priceless. In the everyday life we’re all stuck in boring routines and deceptive activities, and it makes me very sad when I think of all the people that will never have the chance to experience anything else in their lives — because of poverty, war, depression or any other shit that can happen. Let’s face it: 90% of life sucks. At least art and music can help us fill the rest with joy and previously unsuspected emotions.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
Posted in Bootleg Theater on October 15th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
With their collective tongue duly in cheek, French heavy rockers Goatfather released their second album, Monster Truck, in September through Argonauta Records. What’s in a name? Plenty. And here’s the thing: if you find yourself wondering — as I did, I admit — how seriously you need to take a group of grown-ass men who’ve made the conscious decision to call their band Goatfather, consider that both of the major stylistic traditions in which they’re working, sludge and stoner rock, have a history of silly bandnames. Consider Weedeater and Bongzilla, or Truckfighters and Orange Goblin, let alone Goatsnake or any number of others. Goatfather are by no means the first on this particular ground. Plus, The Godfather.
As with so much else in life, it all makes much more sense once you experience the music. Monster Truck, which ports a vision of ’70s truckerism emphasized in the video premiering below for opening track “Convoy” into a metaphor for personal freedom, a lifestyle outside the sedentary structures of our age, ensues with righteously thickened grooves. “Convoy” gallops through its verses and hook at the outset and “Punish the Punisher” isn’t far behind, but the second track and the subsequent “Blood of My Brother” bring the more aggressive, sludgier side of Goatfather to the forefront as well as the vocals shift from cleaner burl to a harsher, throatier shout. “Monster Truck” itself also works within this duality, but pushes outward as well, touching instrumentally on a languidness that will surface again at the album’s finish in “Shelter.”
And there’s plenty of asskicking still to be done before they get there, with “Don’t Give Up,” “Mile After Mile” and “In Your Face” — the latter of which boasts a lyrical statement of intention well worth seeking out on Bandcamp (linked through the player below) — and Goatfather do not veer from their purpose. “Mile After Mile” ties back in directly to the trucker theme, and does so as the shortest cut on Monster Truck at 3:43, with a raw take on heavy rock and roll that’s actively working to dispense with bullshit, pretense, and anything else that might be keeping it from getting its point across. It and “In Your Face” are both a little more nestled-in when it comes to tempo, and that works well setting up a flow into the nodder “Shelter” — there’s a hidden acoustic reprise as well — which neatly conveys the rugged individualistic theme, summarizes the punch of the whole record and goes out on a last hook invoking the desert. If you’d ask more, you’ve missed the point.
Sam Peckinpah is known for various depictions of violence. Straw Dogs. The Wild Bunch. I’ve never seen Convoy, the film from whence Goatfather constructed their video for the song of the same name, but I can’t help but be reminded of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 classic Riding With Death and, of course, of C.W. McCall as well, and I think that’s well in like with the vibe the French foursome are going for.
By all means, enjoy:
Goatfather, “Convoy” video premiere
Goatfather on “Convoy”:
Stonerheadz!
Here’s a video for “Convoy”, a song we’re so proud of that we even made it the opener of Goatfather’s latest release, “Monster Truck”!
As you’re about to see, this video is a bit unconventional. It’s made of footage from Sam Peckinpah’s 1978 road movie “Convoy” (fun fact: it’s also the title of the song! amazing!), starring a bunch of wild truckers defying authority and the police to gain their freedom. We’ve been inspired by this movie and a few others in the same genre while writing and composing the album, hope you’ll like it!
Of course we could’ve made some real shooting, with our ugly faces playing music in some random ugly place… but hey, do you guys really wanna see that? Instead, you shall enjoy Peckinpah’s ferocious images, cause this is the kind of feeling we want to share in our music: impressions of speed, filth and freedom.
Join the ride!
Monster Truck Tracklisting: 01. Convoy 02. Punish The Punisher 03. Blood Of My Brother 04. Monster Truck 05. Don’t Give Up 06. Mile After Mile 07. In Your Face 08. Shelter
All music and lyrics by Goatfather, 2021. Recorded, mixed and mastered at Warmaudio studio (Décines, France) by Mickaël Kassapian. 2021, Argonauta Records for vinyl and CD versions.
Goatfather is: Drums : Raph “Grizzly” J. Bass : Quentin “Greunt” J. Lead Guitar : Pierre “Menhir” B. Rhythm Guitar/Vocals : Yann “Olaf” S.
Oh, hello there. Don’t mind me. I’m just here, reviewing another 10 records today. I did it yesterday too. I’ll do it again tomorrow. No big deal. It’s Quarterly Review time. You know how it goes.
Crazy day yesterday, crazy day today, but I’m in that mode where I kind of feel like I can make this go as long as I want. Next Monday? Why not? Other than the fact that I have something else slated, I can’t think of a reason. Fortunately, having something else slated is enough of one. Ha. Let’s go.
Quarterly Review #31-40:
DVNE, Etemen Ænka
It’s like Scotland’s DVNE threw all of modern heavy metal into a blender and hit “cohesive.” Etemen Ænka‘s lofty ambitions are matched indeed by the cohesion of the band’s craft, the professionalism of their presentation, and the scope of their second album’s 10 component tracks, whether that’s in the use of synth throughout “Towers” or the dreamy post-rock aside in “Omega Severer,” the massive riffing used as a tool not a crutch in “Court of the Matriarch,” closer “Satuya” and elsewhere, and even the interlude-y pieces “Weighing of the Heart,” “Adraeden” and the folkish “Asphodel” that leads into the finale. DVNE have made themselves into the band you wish Isis became. Also the band you wish Mastodon became. And probably six or seven others. And while Etemen Ænka is certainly not without prog-styled indulgence, there is no taking away from the significant accomplishment these songs represent for them as a group putting out their first release on Metal Blade. It’ll be too clean for some ears, but the tradeoff for that is the abiding sense of poise with which DVNE deliver the songs. This will be on my year-end list, and I won’t be the only one.
Beginning with its longest track (immediate points) in the 11-minute “Rekviem,” Yarost’ I Proshchenie is the third full-length from St. Petersburg’s Wowod, and its sudden surge from ‘unfold’ to ‘onslaught’ is a legitimate blindside. They hypnotize you then push you down a flight of stairs as death growls, echoing guitar lines and steady post-metallic drum and bass hold the line rhythmically. This sense of disconnect, ultimately, leads to a place of soaring melody and wash, but that feeling of moving from one place to another is very much the core of what Wowod do throughout the rest of the album that follows. “Tanec Yarosti” is a sub-three-minute blaster, while “Proshschenie” lumbers and crashes through its first half en route to a lush soundscape in its second, rounding out side A. I don’t care what genre “Zhazhda” is, it rules, and launches side B with rampaging momentum, leading to the slow, semi-industrial drag of “Chornaya Zemlya,” the harsh thrust of “Zov Tysyachi Nozhey” and, finally, dizzyingly, the six-minute closer “Top’,” which echoes cavernous and could just as easily have been called “Bottom.” Beautiful brutality.
The chaos of last year is writ large in the late-2020 Endless Render EP from Brooklyn-based solo industrial outfit Trace Amount. The project headed by Brandon Gallagher (ex-Old Wounds) engages with harsh noise and heavy beatmaking, injecting short pieces like “Pop Up Morgues” with a duly dystopian atmosphere. Billy Rymer (The Dillinger Escape Plan, etc.) guests on drums for opener “Processed Violence (in 480P)” and the mminute-long “Seance Stimulant,” but it’s in the procession of the final three tracks — the aforementioned “Pop Up Morgues,” as well as “S.U.R.V.I.V.A.L.” and “Easter Sunday” — that Gallagher makes his most vivid portrayals. His work is evocative and resonant in its isolated feel, opaque like staring into an uncertain future but not without some semblance of hope in its resolution. Or maybe that’s the dream and the dance-party decay of “Dreaming in Displacement” is the reality. One way or the other, I’m looking forward to what Trace Amount does when it comes to a debut album.
French instrumentalists Fuzzcrafter issued C-D in October 2020 as a clear answer/complement to 2016’s A-B, even unto its Jo Riou cover art, which replaces the desert-and-fuzz-pedal of the first offering with a forest-and-pedal here. The six works that make up the 41-minute affair are likewise grown, able to affect a sense of lushness around the leading-the-way riffage in extended cuts “C2” (13:13) and the psychedelic back half of “D2” (13:18), working in funk-via-prog basslines (see also the wah guitar starting “D1” for more funk) over solid drums without getting any more lost than they want to be in any particular movement. In those songs and elsewhere, Fuzzcrafter make no attempt to hide the fact that they’re a riff-based band, but the acoustic side-finales in “C3” (which also features Rhodes piano) and “D3,” though shorter, reinforce both the structural symmetry of the mirrored sides as a whole and a feeling of breadth that is injected elsewhere in likewise organic fashion. They’re not changing the world and they’re not trying to, but there’s a mark being left here sound-wise and it’s enough to wonder what might be in store for the inevitable E-F.
Pine Ridge‘s second album, Can’t Deny, finds the Russian four/five-piece working in textures of keys and organ for a bluesier feel to tracks like the post-intro opening title-cut and the classic feeling later “Genesis.” Songwriting is straightforward, vocals gritty but well attended with backing arrangements, and the take on “Wayfaring Stranger” that ends the record’s first half conjures enough of a revivalist spirit to add to the atmosphere overall. The four tracks that follow — “Genesis,” “Runaway,” “Sons of Nothing” and “Those Days” — featured as well on 2019’s Sons of Nothing EP, but are consistent in groove and “Sons of Nothing” proves well placed to serve as an energetic apex of Can’t Deny ahead of “Those Days,” which starts quiet before bursting to life with last-minute electricity. A clear production emphasizes hooks and craft, and though I’ll grant I don’t know much about Siberia’s heavy rock scene, Pine Ridge ably work within the tenets of style while offering marked quality of songwriting and performance. That’s enough to ask from anywhere.
Plain in its love for Sabbath-minded riffing and heavy Americana roll, “Bowls of Wrath” opens the three-song Dec. 2020 debut EP, Behold a Pale Horse, from Indiana-based solo-project Watchman, and the impression is immediate. With well-mixed cascades of organ and steadily nodding guitar, bass, drums and distorted, howling vocals, there is both a lack of pretense and an individualized take on genre happening at once. The EP works longest to shortest, with “Wormwood” building up from sparse guitar to far-back groove using negative space in the sound to bolster “Planet Caravan”-ish watery verses and emphasize the relative largesse of the track preceding as well as “The Second Death,” which follows. That closer is a quick four minutes that’s slow in tempo, but the lead-line cast overtop the mega-fuzzed central riff is effective in creating a current to carry the listener from one bank of the lake of fire to the other. In 15 minutes, multi-instrumentalist/vocalist/producer Roy Waterford serves notice of intention for a forthcoming debut LP to be titled Doom of Babylon, and it is notice worth heeding.
Bomg‘s Peregrination isn’t necessarily extreme the way one thinks of death or black metal as extreme styles of heavy metal, but is extreme just the same in terms of pushing to the outer limits of the aesthetics involved. The album’s four track, “Electron” (38:12), “Perpetuum” (39:10), “Paradigm” (37:17) and “Emanation” (37:49), could each consume a full 12″ LP on their own, and presented digitally one into the next, they are a tremendous, willfully unmanageable two-and-a-half-hour deep-dive into raw blowout dark psychedelic doom. The harsh rumble and noise in “Perpetuum” some 28 minutes on sounds as though the Ukrainian outfit have climbed the mountains of madness, and there is precious little clarity to be found in “Paradigm” or “Emanation” subsequent as they continue to hammer the spike of their manifestations deeper into the consciousness of the listener. From “Electron” onward, the self-recording Kyiv trio embark on this overwhelming journey into the unknown, and they don’t so much invite you along as unveil the devastating consequences of having made the trip. Righteously off-putting.
As much as something can fly under the radar and be a Nuclear Blast release, I’m more surprised by the hype I haven’t heard surrounding White Void‘s debut album, Anti. Pulling together influences from progressive European-style heavy rock, classic metal, cult organ, New Wave melodies and a generally against-grain individualism, it is striking in its execution and the clear purpose behind what it’s doing. It’s metal and it’s not. It’s rock and it’s pop and it’s heavy and it’s light and floating. And its songs have substance as well as style. With Borknagar‘s Lars Nedland as the founding principal of the project, the potential in Anti‘s eight component tracks is huge, and if one winds up thinking of this as post-black metal, it’s a staggeringly complex iteration of it to which this and any other description I’ve seen does little justice. It’s going to get called “prog” a lot because of the considered nature of its composition, but that’s barely scratching the surface of what’s happening here.
Leeds, UK, four-piece Day of the Jackal bring straight-ahead hard rock songwriting and performance with an edge of classic heavy. There’s a Guns ‘n’ Roses reference in “Belief in a Lie” if you’re up for catching it, and later cuts like “Riskin’ it All” and “‘Til the Devil” have like-minded dudes-just-hit-on-your-girlfriend-and-you’re-standing-right-there vibes. They’re a rock band and they know it, and while I was a little bummed out “Rotten to the Core” wasn’t an Overkill cover, the 10 songs of love and death that pervade this debut long-player are notably hooky from “On Your Own” to “Deadfall” and “Rock ‘n’ Roll Deathride,” which casually inhabits biker riffing with no less ease of movement than the band would seem to do anything else. Production by James “Atko” Atkinson of Gentlemans Pistols highlights the clarity of the performance rather than giving a rawer glimpse at who Day of the Jackal might be on stage, but there’s plenty of vitality to go around in any case, and it’s headed your way from the moment you start the record.
Following their 2018 debut, Ashen Blood (review here), Denver heavy lifters Green Druid give due breadth to their closing take on Portishead‘s “Threads,” but the truth is that cover is set up by the prior five tracks of huge-sounding riffery, basking in the varying glories of stoner doom throughout opener “The Forest Dark” while keeping an eye toward atmospheric reach all the while. It is not just nod and crush, in other words, in Green Druid‘s arsenal throughout At the Maw of Ruin, and indeed, “End of Men” and “Haunted Memories” bridge sludge and black metal screaming as “A Throne Abandoned” offers surprising emotional urgency over its ready plod, and the long spoken section in “Desert of Fury/Ocean of Despair” eventually gives way not only to the most weighted slamming on offer, but a stretch of noise to lead into the closer. All along the way, Green Druid mark themselves out as a more complex outfit than their first record showed them to be, and their reach shows no sign of stopping here either.
Posted in Questionnaire on March 26th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.
Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.
Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.
The Obelisk Questionnaire: Sacha Besson of Fuzzcrafter
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
It’s a strange instrumental mix of fuzz rock and progressive music, with a lot of different influences ranging from funk to doom metal and world music. We have already released two albums, A – B and C – D, that were both recorded during live studio sessions. We feel that recording that way, in an age of overproduced albums with thousands of tracks, allows us to reach the authenticity and wildness that made the rock ‘n’ roll classics we love.
We try to make music we would be happy to listen to: with massive amounts of fuzz, long tracks with complicated structures, and musical changes you wouldn’t have expected a second earlier.
Describe your first musical memory.
I’m not coming from a musician family, I was not really exposed to music as a child. But I remember having a kind of revelation when playing Zelda Link’s Awakening on my Gameboy when I was like six or seven. The goal of the game is to pick up eight musical instruments through the dungeons. Every time you pick one, the instrument plays his part, then once again with the ones you already got. You literally assist to the creation of the arrangement. I played that on repeat and was like “Wooah, that’s cool, I wanna do this!”
Not really rock ‘n’ roll is it? Fuzzy stuff came later.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
We had a lot of good times with the band, but I’d say the day we finished tracking the second album. It was a challenging session, we had two rough days. It was the first time we recorded tracks that long and technical. When we finally laid down the last track, I was very proud of what we had accomplished. There’s an euphoria you’d never get if you record the instruments one by one.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
As an independent band, I don’t think there are that many occasions for this kind of dilemmas. We’re just having fun playing music we love.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
The more you progress, the more you understand how little you really know. I sure feel that way with music, I guess it’s the same in other artistic fields.
How do you define success?
Setting yourself goals that seem a bit too high, and working your ass off until you finally achieve something you’re proud of. The rest is bonus.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
Humanity going completely crazy, speeding up the extinction of entire species all over the planet to preserve short-term personal comfort… And… Star Wars Ep. VIII.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
We would really like to incorporate more guest musicians, and different kind of instruments in the next releases. We really love the trio format, and I think the limitations it imposes pushes the inspiration in a cool way; but why not bonus tracks with a way bigger band?
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
Isn’t not having a function one of the main characteristics of art?
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
A good beer in a bar with friends when that weird Covid situation is over!
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 15th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
It brings a sense of normalcy to my day when news comes through about Argonauta Records signing a band. Really, it’s good to know that amid all the pervasive chaos that seems to unfold every single exhausting day, Gero is out there snagging this or that act for release sometime in the not-too-distant-yet-still-entirely-unknowable future. In this case, it’s French burl-rockers Goatfather, whose 2017 single “Black Goat” you can hear below and who made their debut in 2016 with a record that somehow they decided it was a good idea to call Hipster Fister. Well then. If you need me, I’ll be giving the benefit of the doubt that all such sexual aggression is taking place in a loving and consensual context.
The new full-length has the more innocuous title of Monster Truck, and as the parent of a toddler who spends a goodly portion of his day thinking about such things, I know damn well somebody who is going to be excited about whatever video might accompany the release. Fingers crossed anyhow.
Release is tagged for “early 2021,” as per the PR wire:
French Heavy Stoner Rock Overlords GOATFATHER Sign Worldwide Deal with Argonauta Records!
New Album, “Monster Truck”, Coming in Early 2021!
French heavy stoner rock overlords, GOATFATHER, have announced their signing with Argonauta Records, who will release the band’s sophomore album in early 2021!
With their acclaimed debut album, “Hipster Fister”, GOATFATHER quickly gained high praise from both fans and critics alike, and burst into the heavy rock scene with shows in support of acts such as STONED JESUS, MARS RED SKY or PLANET OF ZEUS to name just a few. Their filthy blend of high-voltage, heavy and powerful stoner rock takes you on a wild ride, and GOATFATHER’s new album will show no signs of slowing down on that trip! Fasten your seatbelts, as the “Monster Truck” will be rollin‘ as LP, CD and Digital formats in early 2021, says the band about their upcoming collaboration with Argonauta Records:
“Stonerheadz!
As Bruce Willis once said, to be the best you have to work with the best. So we’re very proud to announce our collaboration with Argonauta Records and All Noir! We know that Gero, Mona and all the Argonauta family are real music lovers, who like it heavy, fuzzy and groovy. Seems we were made to get along!
Now let’s kick some asses! Goatfather’s 2nd album “Monster Truck” will be released in 2021 in LP, CD and digital. So brace yourself and see you all in the pit (hopefully)!“
Label owner, Gero Lucisano, comments: “I’ve got the chance to be in touch with Raphaël, band’s drummer, a few months ago, he sent me some links and some band details I immediately found intriguing. After exchanging few messages I immediately got the band would have been ready for a collaboration with a label. They not only have a top notch sounding album, they also have that kind of attitude that I dig when it comes to understand that from now on we will work as a team. So do not expect GOATFATHER being just a band with a massive wall of groovy songs, yet also a bunch of guys with attitude and the need to shout their strength to the whole world. I’m excited to start now to work with them!”
Goatfather is: Drums : Raph “Grizzly” J. Bass : Quentin “Greunt” J. Lead Guitar : Pierre “Menhir” B. Rhythm Guitar/Vocals : Yann “Olaf” S.
My friends, the time has come. Well, actually the time came about two weeks ago at the end of June, but I won’t tell if you don’t. Better late than never as regards all things, but most especially The Obelisk’s Quarterly Review, which this time around features releases recent, upcoming and a bit older, a mix of known and lesser known acts, and as always, hopefully enough of a stylistic swath to allow everyone whose eyes the series of posts catches to find something they dig between now and Friday. As always, it’ll be 50 records from now until then, 10 per day, and I see no reason not to jump right in, so let’s do that.
Quarterly Review #1-10:
Les Discrets, Prédateurs
After offering a preview of their marked stylistic turn in last year’s Virée Nocturne EP (review here), Lyon, France’s Les Discrets return with the suitably nighttime-urbane vibing of their Prédateurs full-length via Prophecy Productions. Five years after Ariettes Oubliées (review here), Fursy Teyssier and company reinvent their approach to the sonic lushness of their earlier work, departing the sphere of post-black metal they previously shared with sister band Alcest in favor of an anything-goes heavy experimentalism more akin to Ulver on cuts like “Le Reproche” or the deeply atmospheric “Fleur des Murailles.” Drones pepper “Rue Octavio Mey” and closer “Lyon – Paris 7h34” effectively conveys the sense of journey its train-schedule title would hint toward, and indeed Les Discrets as a whole seem to be in flux throughout Prédateurs despite an overarching cohesion within each track. It’s a fine line between multifaceted and disjointed, but fortunately, Teyssier’s grip on melodicism is unflinching and enough to tie otherwise disparate ideas together here.
Considering the pedigree involved in guitarist/vocalist Darryl Shepard (ex-Milligram, Blackwolfgoat, Kind, etc.), bassist Aarne Victorine (UXO, Whitey) and drummer Michael Nashawaty (Planetoid, Bird Language), it’s little surprise that Test Meat’s Demo would have a pretty good idea of where it wants to come from. The five-track first showing from the Boston trio blends raw-edge grunge and noise rock on “He Don’t Know” after opening with its longest inclusion (immediate points) in the 3:50 “Cuffing Season,” and though centerpiece “Done” nods at the starts-and-stops of Helmet, the subsequent 2:35 push of “If You Wanna” is strikingly post-Nirvana, and closer “Permanent Festival” rounds out by bridging that gap via a still-straightforward heavy rock groove. Formative, yeah, but that’s the whole point. Test Meat revel in their barebones style and clearly aren’t looking to get overly lush, but one can’t help but be curious how or if they’ll develop a more melodic sensibility to go with the consuming, full buzzsaw tones they elicit here.
Worth noting that while the opening cut here, “Claroscuro,” shares its title with Matus’ 2015 full-length (review here), that song didn’t actually appear on that album. Does that mean that the Lima, Peru, classic progressive rockers are offering leftovers from the same sessions on their new EP and perhaps final release, Intronauta? I don’t know, but the four tracks of the digital outing are a welcome arrival anyway, from the laid back easy vibes of the aforementioned opener through the riffier “Intronauta (Including Hasta Que El Sol Descanse en Paz),” the Theremin-soaked finish of the harder-driving “Catalina” and the acoustic-led four-part closer “Arboleda Bohemia,” which unfolds with lushness that remains consistent with the naturalism that has always been underlying in the band’s work. They’ve said their last few times out that the end is near, and if it’s true, they go out with a fully-cast sonic identity of their own and a take on ‘70s prog that remains an underrated secret of the South American underground.
The jury, at least when it comes to the internet, still seems to be somewhat divided on whether the name of Farflung’s five-track/34-minute EP is Unwound Celluloid Frown or Unwound Cellular Frown. I’d say another argument is whether it’s an EP or an LP, but either way, let the follow-up to the more clearly-titled 2016 album 5 (review here) demonstrate how nebulous the long-running Los Angeles space rockers can be when it suits them. Hugely and continually underrated, the troupe once again aligns to Heavy Psych Sounds for this release, which is rife with their desert-hued Hawkwindian thrust and weirdo vibes, permeating the rocket-fuel chug of the title-track and the noise-of-the-cosmos 13-minute headphone-fest that is “Axis Mundi,” which seems to end with someone coming home and putting down their car keys before a slowly ticking clock fades out and into the backwards swirling intro of lazily drifting closer “Silver Ghost with Crystal Spoons.” Yeah, it’s like that. Whatever you call it, the collection proves once again that Farflung are a secret kept too well.
Immersive and progressive psychedelia unfolds from the very opening moments of Carpet’s third album, Secret Box (on Elektrohasch Schallplatten), as the Augsberg, Germany-based five-piece explore lush arrangements of Moog, Rhodes, trumpet, vibraphone, etc. around central compositions of fluid guitar-led melodies and engaging rhythms. Their 2015 Riot Kiss 7” (review here) and 2013 sophomore long-player, Elysian Pleasures (review here), came from a similar place in intent, but from the funk wah and percussion underscoring the pre-fuzz-explosion portion of “Best of Hard Times” and the okay-this-one’s-about-the-riff “Shouting Florence” to the serene ambience of “For Tilda” and ethereal fluidity of “Pale Limbs” later on, the secret of Secret Box seems to be that it’s actually a treasure chest in disguise. Opening with its longest track in “Temper” (immediate points), the album hooks its audience right away along a graceful, rich-sounding melodic flow and does not relinquish its hold until the last piano notes of the closing title-track offer a wistful goodbye. In between, Carpet execute with a poise and nuance all the more enjoyable for how much their own it seems to be.
Full, natural production, crisp and diverse songwriting, right-on performances and a name you’re not about to forget – there’s nothing about Tricky Lobsters not to like. Worlds Collide is their sixth album and first on Exile on Mainstream, and the overall quality of their approach reminds of the kind of sonic freedom proffered by Astrosoniq, but the German trio of guitarist/vocalist Sarge, bassist/vocalist Doc and drummer/vocalist Captain Peters have their own statements to make as well in the stomping “Battlefields,” the mega-hook of “Big Book,” the dreamy midsection stretch of “Father and Son” and the progressive melody-making of “Tarred Albino” (video premiere here). The emphasis across the nine-song/42-minute outing is on craft, but whether it’s the patient unfolding of “Dreamdiver Pt. I & II” or the harp-and-fuzz blues spirit of closer “Needs Must,” Tricky Lobsters’ sonic variety comes paired with a level of execution that’s not to be overlooked. Will probably fly under more radars than it should, but if you can catch it, do.
Ten Foot Wizard & Chubby Thunderous Bad Kush Masters, Special
Dubbed Special for reasons that should be fairly obvious from looking at the cover art, this meeting of minds, riffs and cats between Manchester’s Ten Foot Wizard and London’s Chubby Thunderous Bad Kush Masters brings four tracks – two per band – and goes so far as to find the groups collaborating on the former’s “Get Fucked,” which opens, and the latter’s “Dunkerque,” which begins their side of the 7”, as vocalists The Wailing Goblin (of Chubby Thunderous) and Gary Harkin (of Ten Foot Wizard) each sit in for a guest spot on the other band’s cuts. Both bands also offer a standalone piece, with Ten Foot Wizard digging into heavy rock burl on “Night Witches” and Chubby Thunderous blowing out gritty party sludge in “Nutbar,” which rounds out the offering, and between them they showcase well the sphere of the UK’s crowded but diverse heavy rock underground. Kind of a niche release in the spirit of Gurt and Trippy Wicked’s 2016 Guppy split/collab, but it works no less well in making its impact felt.
It turns out that Vol. 11 is actually Vol. 1 for Garden City, Idaho, three-piece The Acid Guide Service, who dig into extended fuzz-overdose riffing on the 52-minute nine-tracker, proffering blown-out largesse even on shorter cuts like the five-minute “Into the Sky” while longer pieces like opener “Raptured” (7:16), “EOD” (9:38) and closer “Black Leather Jesus” (10:04) skirt lines between structure and jams as much as between heavy rock and psychedelia. Proffered by the trio of guitarist/vocalist Russ Walker, bassist/vocalist Tyler Walker and drummer Nick McGarvey, one can hear shades of Wo Fat in the guitar-led expanse of “Rock ‘n’ Roll (Is the Drug I’m On),” but on the whole, Vol. 11 speaks more to the late-‘90s/early-‘00s post-Kyuss stoner rock heyday, with flourish of Monster Magnet and Fu Manchu for good measure in the hard-swinging “Dude Rockin’” and its chugging companion piece, “Marauder King.” Big tones, big riffs, big groove. The Acid Guide Service are preaching to the converted, but clearly coming from a converted place themselves in so doing. Right on.
Professing a self-aware love for the earliest days of heavy metal in idea and sound, Oakland’s Skunk offer their full-length debut with the self-released Doubleblind, following up on their 2015 demo, Heavy Rock from Elder Times (review here). That outing featured four tracks that also appear on Doubleblind – “Forest Nymph,” “Wizard Bong,” “Black Hash” and “Devil Weed.” Working on a theme? The theme is “stoned?” Yeah, maybe, but the cowbell-infused slider groove and standout hook of “Mountain Child” are just as much about portraying that ‘70s vibe as Skunk may or may not be about the reefer whose name they bear. Presumably more recent material like that song, “Doubleblind,” closer “Waitin’ Round on You” and leadoff cut “Forest Nymph” coherently blend impulses drawn from AC/DC, Sabbath and Zeppelin. John McKelvy’s vocals fit that spirit perfectly, and with the grit brought forth from guitarists Dmitri Mavra and Erik Pearson, bassist Matt Knoth and drummer Jordan Ruyle, Skunk dig into catchy, excellently-paced roller riffing and cast their debut in the mold of landmark forebears. Mothers, teach your children to nod.
As they make their way through a temporal drift of three tracks that play between krautrocking jazz fusion, psychecosmic expansion and Floydian lushness, Kiev-based explorers The Raynbow keep immersion central to their liquefied purposes. The Cosmic Adventure (on Garden of Dreams Records) is an aptly-titled debut full-length, and the band who constructed it is comprised of upwards of eight parties who begin with the 16-minute opener and longest track (immediate points) “Changes,” which builds toward and through a metallic chug apex, sandwiching it on either side with ultra-patient molten tone and soundscaping that continues to flourish through the subsequent “Cosmic Fool” (5:17) and “Blue Deep Sea Eyes” (8:18), the whole totaling a still-manageable outward trip into reaches of slow-moving space rock that whether loud or quiet at any individual moment more than earns a volume-up concentrated headphone listen. The kind of outfit one could easily imagine churning out multiple albums in a single year, The Raynbow nonetheless deliver a dream on The Cosmic Adventure that stands among the best first offerings I’ve heard in 2017.
[Note: Press play above to hear Sunder’s Sunder in full. It’s out tomorrow, Oct. 30, on Tee Pee and Crusher Records. Preorders are available from Tee Pee, at iTunes or on Amazon.]
Don’t call it a reboot. More like a do-over, maybe. The story goes like this: Early in 2014, a band from Lyon, France, called The Socks released their self-titled debut (review here) on Small Stone Records. Good album. Very much in the post-Kadavar/Graveyard retro-boogie vein, but ably executed, particularly for a young band on their first LP. About a year and a half later, that same band — identical lineup: guitarist/vocalist Julien Méret, drummer Jessy Ensenat, bassist Vincent Melay and organist/backing vocalist Nicolas Baud — reemerge as Sunder, and take a second shot at a self-titled debut, this time through Tee Pee and Crusher Records.
Near as I can tell, the major jump is in Baud swapping out a guitar for keys, but one of the most striking aspects of Sunder‘s first album is that it really is far enough away from what these guys were doing as The Socks to justify being a different band. Songs like the fortified opening salvo of “Deadly Flower,” “Daughter of the Snows” and “Cursed Wolf” — which were also included on Sunder‘s demo (review here) earlier this year — give the listener an immediately fuller sense of breadth, incorporating elements culled from earlier psychedelic and garage rock, less directly indebted to one band or another than to an aesthetic itself that, while undeniably drawn from these decades-old tenets, sounds refreshing for the nuance and melody with which Sunder carry it. If this is a do-over, they’re doing it right.
As with their prior incarnation, Sunder‘s debut arrives with remarkably little pretense. Its nine tracks comprise a thoroughly manageable 33:43, and from the beginning organ line and fuzz of “Deadly Flower” (video premiere here), the foursome maintain an efficient balance of resonant hooks, open vibe and pervasive groove. Nothing’s overcooked, but the material feels thought through and vocal arrangements tap Beatles-style harmonies without falling into a post-Uncle Acid trap, and while “Daughter of the Snows” has some of that Graveyardian swing, Sunder bring more than enough of their own personality to make the shuffle fit with the surrounding material, “Cursed Wolf” playing back and forth on the throttle early before shifting into a sun-caked midsection fuzz jam that seems like it’s going to be a departure point for a build but winds up trailing back to the verse and chorus to close — just a little break from reality, then. A welcome one at that.
“Wings of the Sun” is complementary in its trippy spirit and vocal harmonies, natural sounding but still leaving space for Ensenat‘s drums to thud out an easily-followed beat or for Baud‘s organ to bolster the overarching lysergic nostalgia, which presents a mood much more 1966 than 1971, leaning well over the cusp of the psychedelic era as though — not to harp on it — trying to capture a moment between Rubber Soul and Revolver, plus the organ and minus the cynicism that would later inform what became heavy rock. Sunder‘s Sunder has several legitimately gorgeous stretches, and “Wings of the Sun” is one of them.
Centerpiece “Bleeding Trees” follows and is perhaps even more of an accomplishment, since not only does it bask in the same warmth as the song before it, but it pushes that warmth to a weightier purpose. A darker turn in the verse, shoutier in its bridge, more direct in its choral fullness, “Bleeding Trees” brings out Mellotron backing for a high-point guitar solo and is still done in under four minutes, setting a quick return to the sun with “Eye Catcher,” an A-side in the making that freaks out on fuzz in its first half and goes buzzsaw in its second, all while keeping a fast pace and holding firm to the energy Sunder have shown throughout.
Méret presides over the subsequent “Thunder and Storm” with crisp frontman presence, though the backing he receives from the layered keys and Ensenat‘s what-did-the-drum-do-to-deserve-such-a-beating snare is not to be understated. These quick bursts in “Eye Catcher” and “Thunder and Storm” help propel Sunder‘s second half, but also add to the complexity of the first, expanding the album’s opening progression by showing the band aren’t necessarily beholden to one tack or another. The dynamic is emphasized in the slowdown of the love-lorn “Don’t Leave it Behind,” an open crash, choice key line and balance in the high and low end showing just how deep in the mix Sunder can do while Méret — if I’m not mistaken — turns the vocals backwards from within the swirl. Closing out, the swaggering roll of “Lucid Dreams” is as close as they come to the five-minute mark at 4:51 and a legitimately earned victory lap through another memorable chorus.
It’s no small thing for a band to stop what they’re doing, look around them, decide they want to be somewhere else sonically, and then actually make that change happen. Not only to do it, but to do it without changing a lineup. Sunder‘s first LP is a standout release for the context in which it arrives, but it’s the songwriting and the potential the band shows in their arrangements that make it one of 2015’s strongest debuts, as brazen as it is completely realized. One hopes in listening to it that Méret, Baud, Melay and Ensenat have found the place they’ll call home in terms of style, because what they’re doing across these tracks suits them well and seems to be ripe for any number of avenues for future progression.
