Posted in Whathaveyou on December 2nd, 2022 by JJ Koczan
No doubt their signing with Blues Funeral will mean that their next outing will be the first exposure a lot of listeners have to Jack Harlon and the Dead Crows, so forgive me if I’m a little one-eyebrow-up at it being a covers record. Yeah, I have no doubt the Melbourne heavy desert-psych rockers can put their own spin on tunes from Bauhaus and Melvins, My Bloody Valentine and Joy Division, and so on — they prove it with God‘s “My Pal” as the first single — but it just seems like curious place to start.
I’m hopeful that the band’s first two albums, 2018’s Hymns and 2021’s The Magnetic Ridge (review here), will see international reissue or at very least a new push in distribution as a result of the signing, and if Hail to the Underground is a way for an expanded audience to get on board in the meantime, that hardly seems like something to complain about, perhaps least of all for it being a less-expected way to go. Okay, I think I just talked myself into being cool with it. That didn’t take long.
Here we go to the old PR wire:
Apocalyptic desert psych unit JACK HARLON & THE DEAD CROWS to release new album on Blues Funeral Recordings; first video and preorder up!
Melbourne’s psychedelic fuzz rockers JACK HARLON & THE DEAD CROWS share the first single and video taken from their forthcoming third album “Hail to the Underground”, to be issued on February 17th through Blues Funeral Recordings. Watch their fire-driven new video for “My Pal” right now!
As Australia began a series of flash pandemic lockdowns in early 2021, Melbourne psychedelic fuzz rock band Jack Harlon & the Dead Crows’ prolific frontman Tim Coutts-Smith began experimenting with home recording some of his favorite old songs. This rabbit-hole deep-dive eventually led him to bring the fans in on the project, with a social media post inviting suggestions of old underground songs they’d like to hear “Harlon-ified”.
The result is ‘Hail to the Underground,’ a collection of renditions by Jack Harlon & The Dead Crows selected for their musical importance and personal meaning, with the general throughline being that none of the original artists are household names. Filtered heavily through the spaced-out psychedelia of Jack Harlon’s inimitable style, this fuzz-drenched, genre-crossing love letter includes songs by under-the-radar icons like Bauhaus, God, Butthole Surfers, Joy Division, The Melvins, and more.
About the cover, guitarist and vocalist Tim Coutts-Smith comments: “The debut cover is a tribute to the Australian band GOD, who formed in 1986 and released the song ‘My Pal’ in 1988. The song is seen as a national treasure by a lot of alternative Aussie bands with it being covered by artists such as Magic Dirt, Violent Soho and Peabody. Our band put a call out to our fans to ask which songs they would like performed in our sound. We received an overwhelming response requesting we cover ‘My Pal’. I’ve always loved this song, so the choice was a no-brainer. There is something so mysterious and strangely emotional about this song which, despite its simplicity, I can never fully put my finger on.”
“Hail to the Underground” will be released worldwide on February 17th, 2023 on various vinyl editions, digipack CD and digital, with preorder available now through Blues Funeral Recordings.
TRACKLIST: 1. My Pal (God) 2. Copache (Melvins) 3. You Made Me Realise (MBV) 4. Dust Devil (Butthole Surfers) 5. Day Of Lords (Joy Division) 6. Roll & Tumble (Hambone Willie Newbern) 7. Dark Entries (Bauhaus) 8. Eye Shaking King (Amon Duul II)
Jack Harlon & The Dead Crows is: Josh McCombe – Drums Tim Coutts-Smith – Vocals, Guitar Jordan Richardson – Guitar Liam Barry – Bass
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 14th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
God damn that’s massive. Last heard from with 2020’s Death//Sacrifice (review here), all-caps Melbourne ultra-crush slaughter-sludgers KVLL return unrepentant with “Suffocation,” a six-minute deathly bludgeon that heralds the release next year of an EP that goes by the same name. The song starts big even through its speedier chug, and slows down to get even more tectonic by the time it’s done, and clearly has eyes for your skull. I’ve listened through twice now, and it sounds like my leg feels after having surgery last week — like torn flesh and old bones rubbing against each other. It is brutal.
And oh, the breakdown riff. You’ll slam into the brick wall in front of you at 1:40 and spend the rest of the song trying to escape as the wall on the other side begins to move closer with intent to crush. Good luck with that. A droney backing layer assures the threat is real as even the pummel starts to come apart to noise, and a few last guttural grunts before the final stretch of loops and feedback and whatever else begins its casually destructive exit. Shit. I know they’re doing a three-songer — because that’s what they say they’re doing and they have no reason to lie — but I’ll take full-length from the duo-turned-trio whenever they’re ready to roll one out. If this is the kind of force they’re putting behind their stuff in the meantime though, right on.
Art, info, links:
The song is the first single off our upcoming EP titled Suffocation. Out early 2023. The 3-track EP features another KVLL song, truly sticking to our roots of caveman battle-axe swingin doom. The other song is a cover.
Suffocation was recorded in Early 2022 by Josh Bills at Vagabond Studios. Mixed and Mastered by Josh Bills too. Suffocation is accompanied by a Music Video, shot by Jayden Hauptberger at a factory in the north of Victoria, AUS.
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 11th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Putting this here in no small part as a note to myself, but I figured if you take a listen too, so much the better. I’ve seen Pseudo Mind Hive‘s name around for a bit, but have never really had the chance to dig in. They’ve been kicking around the admirably crowded Melbourne heavy underground for at least half a decade and have numerous releases available on Bandcamp, so I’m late to the party as ever.
Anyhow, along comes a Bandcamp update from respected purveyor Copper Feast Records, and it landed at just the right moment to catch my eye as I’m sitting on the couch recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery earlier this afternoon, and I put on the tunes and dug what I was hearing. I love it when it’s that simple. Whatever you can say about the age in which we live, that that can happen feels not subtly like a miracle to me, as I’m old enough to remember when that was not the case.
In the spirit of sharing something cool, here’s the info from Bandcamp and the EP stream:
This is our new EP ‘Eclectica’
It is a soulful, bizarre and unique cacophony of different influences, approaches and sounds, just like us.
We worked very hard to make this a record that feels classic, and one that could inspire others to express their own unique creativity.
We hope we have succeeded, and we hope that somebody finds Eclectica many years from now in a little record store and loves it. We owe so much to having had that experience ourselves with the countless obscure records from the past that have inspired us.
The road from here on out is a little foggy for us, we’re not sure when we will make music again.
One thing we do know, however, is that we owe everything to you, the beautiful people that have supported us over the last five years. You are as much a part of Pseudo Mind Hive as we are.
All our love, PMH
CREDITS
released November 11, 2022
MUSIC BY PSEUDO MIND HIVE
WORDS BY CHRISTOPHER HOCKEY
PRODUCED BY PSEUDO MIND HIVE AND MICHAEL BADGER
MIXED BY MICHAEL BADGER
MASTERED BY DAVID BRIGGS
ART BY MADISON CRAVIS aka NIBSON MOTHER
PSEUDO MIND HIVE ARE:
Christopher Hockey // Lead Vocals on tracks 2-5, Guitar on all tracks, Piano on track 2
Jake Bicchieri // Bass on tracks 1, 3, 4 & 5, Guitar on track 2, Backing Vocals on tracks 2, 3 and 5
John Zacharias // Guitar on tracks 1, 3, 4 & 5, Bass on track 2, handclaps on track 3
Samuel Drew-Rumoro // Drums on all tracks, keys on tracks 3 and 5, percussion on track 2, shaker and handclaps on track 3
Posted in Questionnaire on October 12th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Plum Green, ‘Valentine’ (Sisters of Mercy cover) video premiere
[Click play above to stream the premiere of Plum Green’s video for the Sisters of Mercy cover, “Valentine.” Her latest full-length, Somnambulistic, is out now on Nefarious Industries and can be found at the bottom of this post.]
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: Plum Green
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I made a decision a long time ago to be as honest as possible while writing lyrics. I need to completely connect with the overall message and meaning behind a song to feel good with performing and releasing it. I’ve never written music based on trends or what other people might think. I’ve been criticised in the past for not being goth enough or fully committing to the “darkness” in my dress, aesthetic and sound because I write dark lyrics/music. I don’t do it because I’ve chosen any specific fashion or genre to stick to or stay inside of. If I write something and listen back to it and don’t feel like I’ve expressed myself truthfully enough it makes me feel deeply uncomfortable so I go back to it and work on it until it feels like I’ve told the complete truth and then I am satisfied. I wrote ‘Somnambulistic’ to be a comforting protection spell for my friends, family and everyone who listens to my music because the people who tend to find and enjoy it always seem to have huge, battered and bleeding hearts just like I do. I don’t want to rub any more salt in. I want to acknowledge the pain and make it better. Sometimes you have to face it to ease it.
Describe your first musical memory.
The most fun musical memory I have is dancing to the Ghostbusters theme song, I would have been around 4 or 5. I was the type of little kid that REALLY got into it. I would have been the stand out kid fully headbanging and totally losing my shit.
Describe your best musical memory to date
I have a lot of great memories from our tour of Europe in 2018 and I wrote a book on it, which is available via my Patreon. The best one that’s the freshest in my mind is from 2021 during a break in Melbourne’s long and torturous lockdowns. We were invited to play in a gold rush era mansion in regional Victoria. As soon as we entered the house I recognised that the audience were a group of fun and lovely people who had been partying for 3 days and they encouraged me to join them. I agreed, partially due to the languishing at home alone and partially because of the stunning surroundings and how safe I felt. It was only during the first song I started to recognise how trippy the lyrics of ‘Somnambulistic’ are. “Your fingertips are leaves, your stems are growing roots”. I looked up into the corner of this gigantic, old living room we were performing in and noticed the intricate wallpaper consisted of long, winding vines with leaves growing off them. They came to life before my eyes and started writhing and twisting into each other as I sang. I looked into the faces of our audience and saw that some of them were crying, their tears were glittering in streams on their faces and everyone was so silent as they watched us. Some of them were filming us. I told them they were the most beautiful audience I had ever seen, and they were. All in costume, a woman had an enormous headdress that comprised of two feathered wings that extended out each side of her head. There were people in togas, roses wrapped around their heads in garlands and everyone was serene and so welcoming.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
A friend of mine recently said to me “there is no right or wrong”. That makes me feel uncomfortable because I feel in my heart that I KNOW hurting animals is bad or giving someone something they need that you have a lot of is good. But I have to face that there is no right or wrong, just culture, traditions and expectations attached to human behaviour. The world and the universe still exists without humanity. Truth is subjective. Humans have generational traumas and instincts from thousands of years ago, There is no “us” without culture and society attached. Sometimes you have to hurt people to heal them, sometimes hurting someone breaks them even further. The intention behind the hurt is everything. If your intention is well meaning, the action is right, if the intention is negative, the action is bad. My belief was tested, but it came around and landed me in exactly the same place.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
I feel that it depends on who it is and what their art form is. It could lead further into truth and fulfilment or denial and absolute rubbish. It’s important either way, to experiment and try different things.
How do you define success?
Being able to express something exactly as you want to and mean it to come across. A venture is even more successful if you manage to compromise with someone else’s artistic ideas and still achieve the desired outcome. As long as you stay truthful to yourself, enjoy what you have created, feel proud of it and manage to positively touch someone who interacts with it then this is absolute success.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
Honestly, I really shouldn’t get into it because I don’t want to ruin someones day, or life. I will say that I think the world gets dark enough without having to deal with people who don’t have empathy. I think the world could easily do without the existence of sadistic sociopaths/psychopaths, narcissists and people who get enjoyment from hurting others. I know that in order to be happy you need to feel pain in order to distinguish between the two. It’s easier to understand how you should be treated by someone once someone has been cruel to you. I think that this can exist with all the miscommunication, bad timing and incompatibility amongst people. Sometimes I wonder if this world we’re in is just a giant experiment and we all exist in a petri dish somewhere with a master tormentor prodding us to see how we will react. Or maybe there are multiple universes that are identical to our own, but exist on a gradient of how harsh reality is. If that was the case I suspect our current universe would be on the harsher end of the spectrum. My ideal universe is this one, minus humans who are compulsively sadistic.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
I’ve been experimenting with operatic vocals. I found it really freeing and expressive. I’m looking forward to reaching that part of my voice again. We’ve also been working on a new EP which might turn into an album called ‘Gogic’, although we might rename it. It’s similar to the last album, ‘Somnambulistic’ but also a progression. It’s a little bit darker and has more elements of black metal than Somnambulistic. We’re working on changing the name from ‘Plum Green’ (which is my name) to a band name, because that fits more with what we’re doing now. It’s not my solo project anymore.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
I think essentially it needs to make you feel something. Really good art should entertain you and make you feel seen or understood on a level. It should capture your attention so fully that it takes you out of yourself and away from your current point of existence and into a different world. But of course, what is “good” is so subjective and changes drastically depending on perception. I know that it’s important to make people feel connected to society. It can provide a link between cultures and a thread into the past to our ancestors. But the essential function of art shouldn’t even be that it’s “good”, because anything can be art.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
I’m really looking forward to a bit of travel. I love museums, art galleries and architecture. I can’t wait to return to Europe so I can explore it further and finally visit Italy. I want to spend more time in Paris and to return to Basque Country. I just want to see the world before my chance ends.
Posted in Reviews on September 29th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Welcome to the penultimate day of the Fall 2022 Quarterly Review, and yes, I will make just about any excuse to use the word “penultimate.” Sometimes you have a favorite thing, okay? The journey continues today, down, out, up and around, through and across 10 records from various styles and backgrounds. I hope you dig it and check back tomorrow for the last day. Here we go.
Quarterly Review #81-90:
Motorpsycho, Ancient Astronauts
There is no denying Motorpsycho. I’ve tried. Can’t be done. I don’t know how many records the Norwegian progressive rockers have put out by now, and honestly I wonder if even the band members themselves could give an accurate count. And who would be able to fact check? Ancient Astronauts continues the strong streak that the Trondheim trio of Tomas Järmyr, Bent Sæther, and Hans “Snah” Ryan have had going for at least the last six years — 2021’s Kingdom of Oblivion (review here) was also part of it — comprising four songs across a single 43-minute LP, with side B consumed entirely by the 22-minute finale “Chariot of the Sun/To Phaeton on the Occasion of Sunrise (Theme From an Imaginary Movie).” After the 12-minute King Crimsony build from silence to sustained freakout in “Mona Lisa Azazel” — preceded by the soundscape “The Flower of Awareness” (2:14) and the relatively straightforward, welcome-bidding “The Ladder” (6:41) — the closer indeed unfurls in two discernible sections, the first a linear stretch increasing in volume and tension as it moves forward, loosely experimental in the background but for sure a prog jam by its 11th minute that ends groovy at about its 15th, and the second a synthesizer-led arrangement that, to no surprise, is duly cinematic. Motorpsycho have been a band for more than 30 years established their place in the fabric of the universe, and are there to dwell hopefully for a long(er) time to come. Not all of the hundred-plus releases they’ve done have been genius, but they are so reliably themselves in sound it feels silly to write about them. Just listen and be happy they’re there.
Did you think Abrams would somehow not deliver quality-crafted heavy rock, straightforward in structure, ’00s punk undercurrent, plus metal, plus melody? Their first offering through Small Stone is In the Dark, the follow-up to 2020’s Modern Ways (review here), and it finds guitarist/vocalist Zachary Amster joined by on guitar by Patrick Alberts (Call of the Void), making the band a four-piece for the first time with bassist/vocalist Taylor Iversen and drummer Ryan DeWitt completing the lineup. One can hear new textures and depth in songs like “Better Living” after the raucous opening salvo of “Like Hell” and “Death Tripper,” and longer pieces like “Body Pillow,” the title-track and the what-if-Blizzard–of–Ozz-was-really-space-rock “Black Tar Mountain,” which reach for new spaces atmospherically and in terms of progressive melody — looking at you, “Fever Dreams” — while maintaining the level of songwriting one anticipates from Abrams four records in. They’ve been undervalued for a while now. Can their metal-heavy-rock-punk-prog-that’s-also-kind-of-pop gain some of the recognition it deserves? It only depends on getting ears to hear it.
Australia-based electronic prog outfit All India Radio — the solo ambient/atmospheric endeavor of composer and Martin Kennedy — has been releasing music for over 20 years, and is the kind of thing you may have heard without realizing it, soundtracking television and whatnot. The Generator of All Infinity is reportedly the final release in a trilogy cycle, completely instrumental and based largely on short ambient movements that move between each other like, well, a soundtrack, with some more band-minded ideas expressed in “The New Age” — never underestimate the value of live bass in electronic music — and an array of samples, differing organs, drones, psychedelic soundscapes, and a decent bit of ’80s sci-fi intensity on “Beginning Part 2,” which succeeds in making the wait for its underlying beat excruciating even though the whole piece is just four minutes long. There are live and sampled drums throughout, shades of New Wave, krautrock and a genuine feeling of culmination in the title-track’s organ-laced crescendo wash, but it’s a deep current of drone that ends on “Doomsday Machine” that makes me think whatever narrative Kennedy has been telling is somewhat grim in theme. Fair enough. The Generator of All Infinity will be too heady for some (most), but if you can go with it, it’s evocative enough to maybe be your own soundtrack.
Mississippi-based heavygaze rockers Nighdrator released the single “The Mariner” as a standalone late in 2020 as just the duo of vocalist/producer Emma Fruit and multi-instrumentalist JS Curley. They’ve built out more of a band on their self-titled debut EP, put to tape through Sailing Stone Records and bringing back “Mariner” (dropped the ‘The’) between “Scarlet Tendons” and the more synth-heavy wash of “The Poet.” The last two minutes of the latter are given to noise, drone and silence, but what unfurls before that is an experimentalist-leaning take on heavier post-rock, taking the comparatively grounded exploratory jangle of “Scarlet Tendons” — which picks up from the brief intro “Crest/Trough” depending on which format you’re hearing — and turning its effects-laced atmosphere into a foundation in itself. Given the urgency that remains in the strum of “Mariner,” I wouldn’t expect Nighdrator to go completely in one direction or another after this, but the point is they set up multiple opportunities for creative growth while signaling an immediate intention toward individuality and doing more than the My-Bloody-Valentine-but-heavy that has become the standard for the style. There’s some of that here, but Nighdrator seem not to want to limit themselves, and that is admirable even in results that might turn out to be formative in the longer term.
William Graham Randles, who is the lone figure behind all the plucked acoustic guitar strings throughout Seven Rivers of Fire‘s three-song full-length, Sanctuary, makes it easy to believe the birdsong that occurs throughout “Union” (16:30 opener and longest track; immediate points), “Al Tirah” (9:00) and “Bloom” (7:30) was happening while the recording was taking place and that the footsteps at the end are actually going somewhere. This is not Randles‘ first full-length release of 2022 and not his last — he releases the new Way of the Pilgrim tomorrow, as it happens — but it does bring a graceful 33 minutes of guitar-based contemplation, conversing with the natural world via the aforementioned birdsong as well as its own strums and runs, swells and recessions of activity giving the feeling of his playing in the sunshine, if not under a tree then certainly near one or, at worst, someplace with an open window and decent ventilation; the air feels fresh. “Al Tirah” offers a long commencement drone and running water, while “Bloom” — which begins with footsteps out — is more playfully folkish, but the heart throughout Sanctuary is palpable and in celebration of the organic, perhaps of the surroundings but also in its own making. A moment of serenity, far-away escapism, and realization.
Half a decade on from The Electric Dunes of Titan (review here), Melbourne sludge rock bruisers Motherslug return with Blood Moon Blues, a willfully unmanageable 58-minute, let’s-make-up-for-lost-time collection that’s got room enough for “Hordes” to put its harsh vocals way forward in the mix over a psychedelic doom sprawl while also coexisting with the druggy desert punkers “Crank” and “Push the Venom” and the crawling death in the culmination of “You (A Love Song)” — which it may well be — later on. With acoustic stretches bookending in “Misery” and the more fully a song “Misery (Slight Return),” there’s no want for cohesion, but from naked Kyussism of “Breathe” and the hard Southern-heavy-informed riffs of “Evil” — yes I’m hearing early Alabama Thunderpussy there — to the way in which “Deep in the Hole” uses similar ground as a launchpad for its spacious solo section, there’s an abiding brashness to their approach that feels consistent with their past work. Not every bands sees the ways in which microgenres intersect, let alone manages to set their course along the lines between, drawing from different sides in varied quantities as they go, but Motherslug do so while sounding almost casual about it for their lack of pretense. Accordingly, the lengthy runtime of Blood Moon Blues feels earned in a way that’s not always the case with records that pass the single-LP limit of circa 45 minutes, there’s blues a-plenty and Motherslug brought enough riffs for the whole class, so dig in, everybody.
Keep an ear out because you’re going to be hearing more of this kind of thing in the next few years. On their third album, Planetarium Module, Cheater Pipe blend Oliveri-style punk with early-aughts sludge tones and sampling, and as we move to about 20 years beyond acts like Rebreather and -(16)- and a slew of others including a bunch from Cheater Pipe‘s home state of Louisiana, yeah, there will be more acts adapting this particular stoner sludge space. Much to their credit, Cheater Pipe not only execute that style ably — Emissions sludge — on “Fog Line Shuffle,” “Cookie Jar” or “White Freight Liner Blues” and the metal-as-punk “Hollow Leg Hobnobber,” they bring Floor-style melody to “Yaw” and expand the palette even further in the second half of the tracklist, with “Mansfield Bar” pushing the melody further, “Flight of the Buckmoth” and closer “Rare Sunday” turning to acoustic guitar and “The Sad Saga of Hans Cholo” between them lending atmospheric breadth to the whole. They succeed at this while packing 11 songs into 34 minutes and coming across generally like they long ago ran out of fucks to give about things like what style they’re playing to or what’s ‘their sound.’ Invariably they think of these things — nobody writes a song and then never thinks about it again, even when they tell you otherwise — but the spirit here is middle-fingers-up, and that suits their sound best anyway.
The largely solo endeavor of Brian Lucas of Dire Wolves and a merry slew of others, Old Million Eye‘s latest full-length work arrives via Cardinal Fuzz and Feeding Tube with mellow psychedelic experimentalism and folk at its core. The Air’s Chrysalis Chime boasts seven pieces in 43 minutes and each one establishes its own world to some degree based around an underlying drone; the fluidity in “Louthian Wood” reminiscent of windchimes and accordion without actually being either of those things — think George Harrison at the end of “Long Long Long,” but it keeps going — and “Tanglier Mirror” casts out a wash of synthesizer melody that would threaten to swallow the vocals entirely would they not floating up so high. It’s a vibe based around patience in craft, but not at all staid, and “White Toads” throws some distorted volume the listener’s way not so much as a lifeline for rockers as another tool to be used when called for. The last cosmic synthesizer on “Ruby River,” the album’s nine-minute finale, holds as residual at the end, which feels fair as Lucas‘ voice — the human element of its presence is not to be understated as songs resonate like an even-farther-out, keyboard-leaning mid-period Ben Chasny — has disappeared into the ether of his own making. We should all be so lucky.
“Bury” is the newest single from Swedish heavy rockers Zoltar, who, yes, take their moniker from the genie machine in the movie Big (they’re not the only ones either). It follows behind two songs released last year in “Asphalt Alpha” and “Dirt Vortex.” Those tracks were rawer in overall production sound, but there’s still plenty of edge in “Bury,” up to and including in the vocals, which are throatier here than on either of the two prior singles, though still melodic enough so that when the electric piano-style keys start up at about two and a half minutes into the song, the goth-punk nod isn’t out of place. It’s a relatively straight-ahead hook with riffing made that much meatier through the tones on the recording, and a subtle wink in the direction of Slayer‘s “Dead Skin Mask” in its chorus. Nothing to complain about there or more generally about the track, as the three-piece seem to be working toward some kind of proper release — they did press up a CD of Bury as a standalone, so kudos to them on the physicality — be it an EP or album. Wherever they end up, if these songs make the trip or are dropped on the way, it’s a look at a band’s earliest moves as a group and how quickly that collaboration can change and find its footing. Zoltar — who did not have feet in the movie — may just be doing that here.
Sardinia’s Fabrizio Monni (also of Black Capricorn) has unleashed a beast in Ascia, and with III, he knows it more than ever. The follow-up to Volume II (review here) and Volume I (review here) — both released late last year — is more realized in terms of songcraft, and it would seem Monni‘s resigned himself to being a frontman of his own solo-project, which is probably the way to go since he’s obviously the most qualified, and in songs like “The Last Ride,” he expands on the post-High on Fire crash-and-bash with more of a nodding central groove, while “Samothrace” finds a place for itself between marauder shove and more direct heavy rock riffery. Each time out, Monni seems to have more of an idea of what he wants Ascia to be, and whether there’s a IV to come after this or he’s ready to move onto something else in terms of release structure — i.e., a debut album — the progression he’s undertaken over the last year-plus is plain to hear in these songs and how far they’ve come in so short a time.
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 11th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
The blurb below, toward the bottom, just above the links, I lifted from Ripple Music‘s Bandcamp. Something about it seemed awfully familiar. I’d soon enough realize that’s because I wrote it in my review of the label’s new Turned to Stone Chapter 5 (review here) split between Planet of the 8s and Duneeater, which is of course what the two bands will be promoting on this upcoming run through their jointly native Australia. That split, organized in executive-producer fashion by Las Vegas-based promoter and general dude-who-knows-stuff-about-heavy-music John Gist of Vegas Rock Revolution (obviously of greater reach than those city limits), is the best argument for itself, so you’ll find it streaming at the bottom of this post, each act a complement for the other without all that exhausting competition.
I don’t have data for how this site does in Australia, and honestly I’d probably rather not know, but Aus heavy is some of the finest in the world, and these bands both rock, so if you happen to be seeing this and in the part of the world where they’ll be, do you really need me to tell you to show up and support, maybe pick up a vinyl? No, I don’t think you do.
From social media:
Planet of the 8s & Duneeater – Turned to Stone Tour
TOUR ANNOUNCEMENT! We’re hitting the road with Duneeater to promote our split 12″ LP ‘Turned To Stone – Chapter V’ out now on Ripple Music. Save $$ with a presale ticket on sale here: https://linktr.ee/ttstour
— More dates TBA —
Fri 30 Sept – The Basement, Canberra Fri 1 Oct – The Stag & Hunter, Newcastle Sun 2 Oct – Frankie’s, Sydney – FREE ENTRY Sat 15 Oct – Enigma Bar, Adelaide Fri 21 Oct – The Evelyn, Melbourne
Ripple Music‘s split series continues, pairing Australian heavy rockers Duneeater and Planet of the 8s. And while many splits set themselves up as a blank-vs.-blank scenario, like a (usually friendly) competition between the bands involved, the Victoria and Melbourne, respectively, outfits make sure everyone knows they’re both playing for Team Riff, setting up the tracklisting between the two so that the bands not only share the release, but indeed some of the music that makes it up. And that goes to underline the sheer listenability of Turned to Stone Chapter 5. It is the converted offering a righteous preach to the choir, and each side has a bit of sermon to it as well. If you’d worship an altar of fuzz, they’ve built one here.
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 23rd, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Recorded between lockdowns in 2021, there is a certain sense of urgency, of longing in Seedy Jeezus‘ The Hollow Earth, and in thinking about life, death, the unknown, the perpetuation of conspiracy theories as both an escapist fantasy and a way to deal with very real cultural, political and economic change, it’s hard for a rock show to speak to all of it, but there’s something just a little extra in the atmosphere of Seedy Jeezus‘ upcoming 2LP live album on Lay Bare Recordings. Maybe it’s knowing that after this everyone would have to go back home again, to recede into lockdown-mode again, or maybe it’s the cautious hopefulness with which the show was played in the first place, that sense of we-need-to-go-for-it-right-now-because-it-turns-out-all-this-shit-is-really-fragile-and-can-go-away-at-any-time, that’s coming across.
I’ll allow that could be me reading into it, but this one has been in the making pretty much since the show was played and its pressing has been met with of-the-era delays and so on, so as the world pokes its head out from under protective cover and hopes to move actually into some kind of “post-pandemic” existence, it’s fitting too that Seedy Jeezus included so much new material in this set. “The Hollow Earth,” which you can see premiering at the bottom of the post, is a mellow, immersive Floyder, and figuratively as well as literally it’s just a fraction of what’s on offer throughout the 10-track outing.
You can read more about the idea of the ‘hollow earth’ concept below. The key I think is where the band ties in the idea of something mysterious and unknown happening beneath the surface in with the notion of death, which of course is what ultimately unites us all. The bridging of one concept to the next, particularly as reflection on the time of the album’s making and when the show was played, is nothing short of brilliant.
Info from the PR wire:
SEEDY JEEZUS – THE HOLLOW EARTH PRESALES JUNE 27 – RELEASE DATE JULY 16 2022
Preorder (open June 27): http://seedyjeezus.com
The Hollow Earth Theory has a long and entwined interaction with the human races’ historical cultural belief systems. Early on it was believed that it is a dark place filled with the souls of the dead. A chasm of dread and foreboding filled with danger and challenge. Later beliefs suggested a world of light and life. A place suspended in the center of that hollow with an interior sun that is divided by day and night. The other part of the Hollow Earth theory is that near the North and South pole are substantial openings that lead into this interior where it is thought that the Aurora Borealis is the escape of the internal heavenly light of this centre world.
Possibly the first person to scientifically speculate about a hollow earth was none other than Edmund Halley, of Halley’s Comet fame. He proposed it as a way of explaining anomalous compass readings, Halley’s theory is that the planet is a series of nested, spherical shells, spinning in different directions, all surrounding a central core. Jules Verne was obsessed with the concept and although the existence of this place is yet to be substantiated by modern science, six feet under the worlds’ surface are pockets of earth, musty and dark. They are filled with fine clothing, jewellery and hold artefacts of one’s existence. They are the final deposit of all we can take with us. Bones, dust and memories.
Seedy Jeezus recorded a live double album capturing fan favourites and a window into what is in store on their next studio album. It was recorded at Studio One B out the back of a stonemasons’ across from the main graveyard in Melbourne’s northern suburbs. It was performed in front of some friends in between heavy lockdowns in 2021 when live performance and social gatherings were almost a forgotten decadence. We were lucky to have this short space of time bring together a time capsule of Seedy songs to send to friends and fans everywhere.
Tracklisting :
1. Is There All That Is – This track will be opening the next studio album, it also hints as to the direction of the album.
2. The Golden Miles – this will also be on the next album… it’s about the end of a relationship, and looking at it as a whole.
3. My Gods Are Stone – from the Polaris Oblique album, Isaiah Mitchell originally played the lead on the studio version.
4. How ya Doin’? – When we first recorded this for the Debut it was 20 mins long, but never released. We thought we’d reinstate the full version.
5. Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) – a Hendrix cover Lex learnt during lockdown and put to the band to play.
6. Echoes in the Sky (Jam) – we debated playing the full song or not at all- the jam won as an overflow from Voodoo Chile.
7. The Hollow Earth – A next album track that also indicated the direction the band is heading… it’s written from the body in the coffin view.
8. Oh Lord Pt. 2 – From Polaris Oblique, this song is a favourite live, and one we always love to play.
9. Dripping from the Eye of The Sun – this song evolves and changes all the time, it’s very diff to the studio version. This is something the band likes to do live.
10. Wormhole – another live favourite, taken from our debut… it’s lost none of its lustre played live.
2LP available in multiple colours: Deluxe (3D colours – Red n Blue) Europe is Purple Death Australia – Halo Gold Standard – Black Death
Also a very limited Destroyer Edition – this is a splatter edition that was pressed and destroyed as they were noisy.
And Test Pressings with unique art, etc….
The Deluxe version comes with: 70 min bonus CD of unreleased Studio demos and Live Slip mat 8 Page booklet of photos taken at the show Liner Notes by Patrick Emery and a set list
Melbourne sludge extremists Ghostsmoker will release their Grief EP on June 14 through Goatsound Records and Gamla Grind Records. Earlier this month, they played the esteemed Doom in June fest at Melbourne’s Bandigo Hotel and in August they’ll be at the two-dayer Sun Burn Lite at The Gasometer Hotel alongside Dr. Colossus, Pod People and Motherslug, among others. Not band for a four-piece with just 2021’s Lockdown Sessions, since removed from Bandcamp, behind them. “Eternal Veil” (video premiering below) appeared on that two-song release, and it’s placed as a second single for the EP behind the lurching fuzz and harsh bite of “Astral Realm.” Do not be surprised to discover that there’s plenty of harsh bite in the EP version of “Eternal Veil” as well. That’s the idea.
I’m not sure if the band are purposefully anonymous or if I just suck at research, but Gamla Grind Records has put out albums from Blunt Shovel and Filth, so there could be some pedigree there, and “Eternal Veil” for sure doesn’t make Ghostsmoker sound like anybody’s first time at the dance. Amid the dark moving lights, shadowy corners and lumbering distortion, Ghostsmoker push air in the tradition of Australia’s own Whitehorse and cut through their thickened riffs and plod with harsh, high-register screams. That’s caused a few comparisons to black metal, including from the PR wire below, and fair enough if that’s what it comes from in terms of personal influence — I’m not about to tell anybody what they like — but from Bongzilla to Thou there’s plenty of throatrippy sludge metal for precedent, I guess going back to bands like Eyehategod and Negative Reaction who helped pioneer the sound. Still, Ghostsmoker do it particularly nasty and with a purposeful sense of impact. I haven’t heard the full EP yet, but it sounds like the time they spent getting their material hammered out and refined — such as it is — during covid lockdown(s) wasn’t misspent.
Having not heard the full four-song offering yet, I’ll decline to make generalizations about the whole release based on these two tracks, but on their own, “Eternal Veil” and “Astral Realm” herald a viciousness from which an outfit like Ghostsmoker might rarely offer escape. You want speculation? It’s probably heavy. There you go. Place your bets accordingly.
Hard to believe today, perhaps, but Friday will be here soon enough. Until then, “Eternal Veil” seems only too glad to run your ears through its paper shredder.
Enjoy:
Ghostsmoker, “Eternal Veil” video premiere
Total Blackened Stoner Doom from Melbourne, Australia.
Ghostsmoker is a Doom band from Melbourne and the 4 Track 12” EP “Grief” is coming out on Goatsound (in partnership with Gamla grind records) June 14th.
They play a blackened style of doom with some super thick distorted tones and a really cool way of maximizing the ambience some black metal manages to squeeze in without becoming some kind of ambient shoegazey stuff.
It’s like classic Doom, while perhaps losing some of the schlocky horror and falling well short of becoming indie doom complete with cardigans and art degrees.
It’s nasty and filthy but really well crafted and thought out, with killer guitar tones that build without you realizing and a vocal that is pummeling in all its blackened glory.
It’s grim it’s frostbitten, Its fucking total doom! Death to posers and all that shit.
