Posted in Whathaveyou on June 19th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
South African psych rockers Ethyl Ether released their new album, Violent Entertainment (review here), in the early-going of 2023, and, well attentions are fickle. People move on to other stuff, and the way things are now, so much of the work leading up to a release is done and then a band either tours for 15 months or just kind of tries to keep up promoting on social media doing local shows and so on. But release dates come, hyperbole is thrown, release dates go. A video like this, for an after-the-release single “Vacant” from Violent Entertainment, is something more bands need to be doing.
I know there are fiscal concerns in that — in everything, really — but if you’ve already put everything you have into promoting a record leading up to the release, then it makes sense to keep that momentum going afterward to the best of your ability. The video below for “Vacant” is cinematic and leaves little doubt as to the subject matter at hand, and it gives people like me an excuse to post about the band again and gives the band another chance to catch ears that might’ve missed the album around its initial release. There are no losses, except maybe the money to make the thing, but money is all pretend anyway. Did you know it’s actually just paper? Astonishing, I know.
Enjoy “Vacant” at the bottom of the post, followed by the album stream of Violent Entertainment. The PR wire checked in with this to say:
Ethyl Ether Unveils Captivating Music Video for their track Vacant
Cape Town based psychedelic shoegaze outfit Ethyl Ether has unleashed an enthralling music video for their mesmerizing single Vacant, taken from their highly acclaimed new album Violent Entertainment, out now on Mongrel Records. The captivating video serves as a visual feast, perfectly capturing the ethereal essence and sonic landscape of the band’s latest opus.
With their unmistakable blend of swirling guitars, dreamy atmospheres, and enchanting vocals, Ethyl Ether continues to push boundaries and captivate listeners with their innovative sound.
The release of the music video comes on the heels of Ethyl Ether’s highly successful album Violent Entertainment, which has received accolades from both fans and critics alike. The record has been praised for its innovative songwriting, captivating melodies, and the band’s ability to seamlessly merge elements of psychedelia and shoegaze into a cohesive and unique sonic tapestry.
“Violent Entertainment is a commentary on the times we find ourselves as humans… a constant diet of social media and reality shows. We are shocked by nothing anymore, allowing ourselves to be influenced by whatever speaks strongest to our personal viewpoint. We have become selfish, and live from selfie to selfie, one foot in the real world and one foot online. Violent Entertainment laments the loss of real human emotion and cries for a return to real interactions… a call for a time that is sadly long gone.” – Ethyl Ether
Line Up: Andrew Paine – Vocals/Guitar Mark Van Zyl – Guitar Mornay Carstens – Guitar Pat Naidoo – Drums Frederick Muller – Bass
In April, not so terribly long ago, Ruff Majik released their fourth LP, Elektrik Ram (review here), and though I find I have a hard time talking about the record without hyperbole, the absolute very least one might say about it is it’s their finest effort to-date. Sharp in songwriting and humor, emotive without trying to sell itself as such, groovy as the day is long and with each track hitting like another side of a multiple personality, it’s a front-to-back listening experience that, at least for me, sums up the appeal of the band and, more broadly, demonstrates how heavy rock doesn’t have to be all-the-time-miserable to be meaningful.
I was asked to be a ‘media sponsor’ for this tour. I never really know what that means other than I probably share some links or posters, post about something I would definitely be posting about anyway. Whatever. Let me be clear: I’m honored that this stupid little blog that I started the better part of 15 years ago might ever asked to be involved in something like this. That someone thinks enough of what I do here to put an Obelisk logo on their tour poster. I don’t even have to pay for that; it just happens. Silly cool. It’s this site, Sound of Liberation, which booked the tour, and Mongrel Records, which put out the album. One of these things is not like the others in that it had nothing whatsoever to do with the actual proceedings. I feel lucky to be in that company.
Ruff Majik have also been confirmed for Desertfest Belgium 2023 in Antwerp, so these tour dates may not be the last — the name of the tour comes from a line in Elektrik Ram‘s title-track — but they’ve got fests lined up including SonicBlast Fest, where I’ll see them for the first time, as well as Moosenmättle Open Air and Blue Moon Fest in Germany, and dates with Acid King, Greenleaf and Sasquatch peppered throughout.
Poster and dates follow. “Arsenic on the rocks”:
Ruff Majik Set to Ignite European Stages on Long-Awaited Tour
Prepare for an explosive journey as South Africa’s leading stoner rock band, Ruff Majik, embarks on their highly anticipated We’ve Come To Lay Waste European tour brought to you by the good people at Sound Of Liberation. With their hard-hitting sound and electrifying performances, Ruff Majik is set to captivate audiences across the continent.
Fresh off the release of their critically acclaimed album, Elektrik Ram, the band is eager to share their powerful and introspective compositions with fans around the world. Known for their signature blend of heavy riffs, hypnotic melodies, and captivating lyrics, Ruff Majik has established themselves as torchbearers of the stoner rock genre.
The European tour will see them gracing renowned festivals, including Sonic Blast, Blue Moon Festival, Trafostation 61, Moosenmättle Open Air and Rifffields. Their dynamic live shows, characterized by intense energy and an undeniable stage presence, will leave audiences craving for more. In addition to their festival appearances, the guys will also have the privilege of sharing the stage with prominent bands such as Acid King and Sasquatch, further solidifying their position in the global stoner rock community while expanding their fan base to new horizons.
Lead vocalist and guitarist, Johni Holiday expresses their enthusiasm, stating “After a 3-year absence we’re finally making it back! With two new albums to tour as well. We’re bringing fire and baptising.”
With a loyal fan base in their home country and growing international recognition, Ruff Majik is poised to make a significant impact during the tour. Their evocative music speaks to the human experience, transcending boundaries and resonating with listeners from all walks of life.
Tour Dates 5/8 DE Wolfach – Moosenmättle Open Air 9/8 PO Ancora – SonicBlast 12/8 DE Lichtenstein – JUST Riot / Voice Of Art 13/8 DE Frechen – Trafostation 61 15/8 DE Berlin – Urban Spree with Sasquatch 17/8 DE Hannover – Faust with Sasquatch 18/8 DE Cottbus – Blue Moon 19/8 PL Kozmin Wielkopolski – Rifffields 20/8 CZ Prague – Nová libeňská Synagoga 22/8 DE Frankfurt – Zoom with Greenleaf 23/8 NL EDE – Astrant 24/8 NL Eindhoven – Effenaar with Acid King 25/8 DE Dresden – Ostpol 26/8 DE Siegen – Vortex
Ruff Majik is Johni Holiday (vocals & guitar), Cowboy Bez (guitar & vocals), Jimmy Glass (bass), and Steven Bosman (drums), four horsemen of the feedback apocalypse who know what they want to say and do it without apology.
[Click play above to stream Ruff Majik’s Elektrik Ram in its entirety. Album is out tomorrow, April 28, through Mongrel Records and available to order here: https://orcd.co/elektrik_ram]
A career album, and the sort that not every career gets to feature. If you’ve never given Ruff Majik a shot, maybe because of their silly name, or someone told you they sound like Queens of the Stone Age — not unfair; never less so than now, if that’s to be the measure — or whatever, hearing Elektrik Ram is the reason you should. If you’ve dug in before and weren’t feeling it, you should try again now. I don’t want to get into superlatives, but both for Ruff Majik as a band — the four-piece led by guitarist/vocalist Johni Holiday and here boasting bassist Jimmy Glass, guitarist/backing vocalist Cowboy Bez and drummer Steven Bosman in the lineup, plus guests — and for South African heavy rock in general, it should be considered a landmark in addition to being one of 2023’s best albums. The latter designation pales.
There’s a narrative across the unflinchingly tight 11 songs/37 minutes that goes from kicking ass (“Hillbilly Fight Song”) and making love (“She’s Still a Goth”) to loss and grief (“Mourning Wood”), burnout and breakdown (“Delirium Tremors”) and the sense of exhaustion that goes with being in that state (“Cement Brain”), to a turnaround of momentary triumph (“Elektrik Ram” and “Queen of the Gorgons”) to the new low-low: bad-time self-destruction [“A Song About Drugs (With a Clever Title)], disaffection and disgust both (“Shangrilah Inc.”) on the way to being medicated, subdued, and wanting to die (“Chemically Humanized”).
It’s Holiday‘s story and he asserts the presence to tell it in a dynamic tour de force performance, in terms of using his voice across a range of modes, and of the arrangements and layers; the extra backup in “Hillbilly Fight Song,” the higher-register flourish as the verse of “Elektrik Ram” readies to turn to the chorus, the lower swagger in “Mourning Wood” to play up the goth, the robot voice that “wants that techno” in “Rave to the Grave,” the duet with Bez (who sings lead initially) in “Chemically Humanized,” on and on with these moments, sometimes on a more-than-one-per-song basis.
The instrumentation behind, sometimes in front, sometimes alongside him is no less impeccable in its detail. Handclaps in “Rave to the Grave” and the playfully bopping earlier-Beatles lead in the second half, a tambourine shaking lazily but steadily amid the hip-hop piano in the centerpiece “Cement Brain,” an actual box of small percussion instruments being jostled in “Shangrilah Inc.,” that god damned triangle in “Delirium Tremors” that is so correctly placed to be maddening? As addled and pained as so much of this record is, it is exquisite.
Ruff Majik have always been capable songwriters; it was what made The Devil’s Cattle (review here) a highlight of 2020 along with the elaborate and varied presentation. Elektrik Ram is more crafted than anything the band has released to-date, and that’s true in the shifts in tempo from the initial ragers to the mid-tempo “Cement Brain,” picking back up into “Elektrik Ram” and “Queen of the Gorgons” then on the downswing for “A Song About Drugs (With a Clever Title)” and marching the declining nod of “Shangilah Inc.” into the acoustic-led “Chemically Humanized.”
Where the last album found Holiday collaborating with producer/multi-instrumentalist Evert Snyman even to the degree of sharing lead vocal duties, Elektrik Ram internalizes the lessons of that methodology and moves forward on its own (Snyman was involved in some of this record but not nearly as much so as last time). Holiday, then, becomes a uniting factor. Individual songs go where they will, but between the sharpness of their execution, the storyline they’re making, and Holiday at the center of that storm — not at all the calm eye of a hurricane; he’s in it — there’s never a point at which Ruff Majik step so far out as to lose momentum or make a transition seem disjointed.
The samples are another tie together. Sometimes absurd and mostly from 1959’s The House on Haunted Hill — Vincent Price’s recognizable voice gives just the right amount of kitsch to tracks about addiction, paranoia and suicidal ideation — they speak either directly or not to the themes of the songs they’re about to start: “Hillbilly Fight Song,” “Cement Brain,” “Elektrik Ram,” “Queen of the Gorgons,” “Shangrilah Inc.” and “Chemically Humanized,” while adding to the persona of Elektrik Ram as a whole. Short, sometimes backed by piano as on “Cement Brain” — the timing of the drunkard’s croon first lyric “It’s all coming back to me slowly…” as the start of the song proper is an on-rhythm highlight of timing.
Elsewhere the work is done by the quick feedback of “She’s Still a Goth” or the right-in guitar line of “A Song About Drugs (With a Clever Title),” as no moment of Elektrik Ram seems unconsidered, while at the same time the album effectively and somewhat ironically recounts what it’s like to be an absolute mess in one’s own life. You could sit and do this all day. It’s everything here. Every level. All the detail, all the acuity. It’s not just one element, one stretch or one track, it’s not even just one player, though the perspective from which the songs are speaking is in Holiday‘s voice.
The way desert rock kind of blows wide after “Mourning Wood” starts the comedown after “Hillbilly Fight Song” and “She’s Still a Goth.” The sort of playful cynicism of including a voicemail from All This for Nothing‘s Paul Gioia as an executive in the “high-flying world of riff management” going on to list the cities that will be blown away by the riffs he’s just heard. All of these things become characters in the play that’s happening in the songs, the lyrics themselves not directly telling a narrative in the first-this-happened-then-this-happened sense, but stepping into new perspectives as they go — in the case of “Elektrik Ram,” that’s a shift from defeat to triumph in the span of a verse. Everything is what and where it needs to be. Even the “Delirium Tremors” triangle. You don’t like it, but you’re not supposed to like it. You’re supposed to pay attention.
Structures are spare to the point that “A Song About Drugs (With a Clever Title)” is twice through a verse and chorus and that’s it, and the likes of “Hillbilly Fight Song” isn’t much more than that with an instrumental break and another chorus after. Likewise, “She’s Still a Goth” is the same minus the last hook. The album pivots, smoothly. Every song has an identity of its own, and the story — music and lyrics — is told as much in the mood as in the actual content of the track in question. And it gets dark. “Rave to the Grave” is nigh on manic, and that’s a whole separate issue, but “Shangrilah Inc.” is looking around and justly bitter almost as a mask for the underlying misery that comes forward in “Chemically Humanized.”
And the lyrics that turn self-awareness into strength. Looking at a song like “Delirium Tremors” — the play on ‘delirium tremens’ emblematic of the wit throughout — there’s a distance between the narrative voice of the lyrics and the unfolding plot that feels literary. Holiday refers to poetry twice in “Chemically Humanized” and Edgar Allen Poe comes up (as he would) in “She’s Still a Goth,” and if these are clues to the mindset from which the lyrics were approached, that allows the material to move more deftly within and between pieces as well while signaling to the listener that the narrator is trustworthy. The sub-three-minute bang-bang-bang of “She’s Still a Goth” into “Mourning Wood” into “Rave to the Grave” after “Hillbilly Fight Song” launches at just over that same mark guides the audience across per-track changes of mood before slamming into “Delirium/I’m spinning out of control again…” and “I need an icepick lobotomy” in “Delirium Tremors.”
That’s a hard crash, existentially speaking. Elektrik Ram makes it fun so that the chorus of “You found me in a coma/Naked on the floor/You said ‘I’ve had enough’/I said I’d have one more/You probably should’ve cut me off/But I wouldn’t listen to you anyway,” becomes a sing-along as much as a confession acknowledging the narcissism of addiction — that “you” is accusatory; it casts blame even if the next line redirects that blame toward the self. The first chorus on this album could not possibly be more swaggering as Holiday in a faux-Southern accent intones, “Sit your ass down when grown folks is talking,” heading into, “And I don’t give a fuck/About the mess I made/And I don’t recall/Asking you a god damned thing.” Meanwhile, at the other end, the last lyric in “Chemically Humanized,” pleading, is “I wish I was dead.”
It is a remarkable journey between those two ends, meeting inwardly- and outwardly-imposed difficult times with cleverness, honesty and humor, unflinching as that examination is supposed to be in “Cement Brain” for the chorus lines, “Please don’t let me fall off/The fucking wagon,” and perhaps most importantly, sounding no less sincere in that than in the wife-worship of “Queen of the Gorgons” or the allusion to poker in “A Song About Drugs (With a Clever Title)” that asks, “Are you all in?/In on the joke,” after references to alcohol and other abuse, admonitions of choking on pride, and so on. The second verse of “A Song About Drugs (With a Clever Title)” does some particularly heavy lifting: “I told you/I need to know/I need to see where this tunnel goes/Will there be a light?/Probably/There’ll be a light/Just not for me.” Ditto “Plug me out/Plug me back in/See if that does anything” from the start of “Elektrik Ram.”
However embellished those lines might be for the purpose of telling the story, that doesn’t make it less true as an experience, and Elektrik Ram is brave in laying it out in plain-but-not-stale terms while also serving as Ruff Majik‘s boldest sonic reach yet. Considerations of genre are by no means absent, but “Cement Brain,” “Shangrilah Inc.,” “Chemically Humanized,” even “Delirium Tremors” with its thematic confusion and disorder, careening groove, are mindful in their rule-breaking, and the album accordingly transcends style while pushing the band forward into new, individualized ground for the band.
I said as much at the outset, but it’s not the kind of accomplishment that happens every year or to every act, and there is not one song among the 11 included that couldn’t (or shouldn’t) be a single. Each serves to enhance the whole while offering something of its own musically, vocally, thematically, to stand out from the rest. Even “She’s Still a Goth” and “Queen of the Gorgons,” which are close in sound and substance and perhaps separated so as to mirror each other on sides A and B of the vinyl, feel purposeful in that and follow different structures. Not unflawed, Elektrik Ram is nonetheless flawless in being what it needs to be, and it places Ruff Majik even more at the forefront of South African heavy, which is a spot that suits them well. Recommended.
[This review contains factual information gleaned in this interview, which is also posted here.]
Ruff Majik, Interview with Johni Holiday, March 17, 2023
Next Friday, South African fuzz rock luminaries Ruff Majik issue their new album, Elektrik Ram, through Mongrel Records. It’s slated to stream here in its entirety on Thursday the 27th with a full review, and in the interest of honesty and in keeping with what I feel is the spirit of the release — so, again, honesty — I’ll confess I’m a little nervous to write about it.
Rest assured, I’ve heard it enough. Can’t stop listening, actually. But that’s only part of the point. I’m addition to being maddening in its catchiness and setting a standard for memorable songcraft that nothing I’ve heard so far this year comes close to touching, the album follows in brutally upfront and sometimes hilarious fashion a narrative of mental health crisis on the part of guitarist/vocalist Johni Holiday — also responsible for the odd bit of percussion; like, say, a whole box of instruments being shaken at once.
This story plays out as Elektrik Ram engages the fullness of real life in love songs, the odd bit of triumph as in the second verse of its title-track (“I come to lay waste”) and good fun mined from tales of terror and paranoia like “Delirium Tremors” or the brash-as-fuck-and-it-knows-it leadoff “Hillbilly Fight Song,” which is enough to make you believe Waffle House opened a franchise in Lydenburg. I’ll save the review for the review (too late), but through it all, the songwriting recounts the tale without losing a beat or giving up any of its immediacy for the sake of narrative. It’s not the kind of record that comes along every year, and for the band, a high point of their career to-date.
Among its other strengths in structure, melody, performance, variety, and so on, Elektrik Ram is rife with minute aural details, be it the continuity thread of samples as they relate to the material itself or the or that triangle in “Delirium Tremors” that’s so purposefully obnoxious. Or maybe it’s just that part where the corporate boss from the “high-flying world of riff management” comes on with the many big plans for Zurich, Budapest, Shanghai, speculating that Philadelphia will be tough, whereas New York and Chicago are pushovers in what’s obviously a joke, but probably a fair assessment nonetheless.
All of these moments are collected throughout the album, and so in setting up this interview, there was a TON of shit that I wanted to discuss with Holiday. To wit, the interview runs over an hour and I didn’t even get to ask if he was tempted to fade the end of closer “Chemically Humanized” after including “I’ve seen the end/It fades out slow” in the lyrics of the earlier “Mourning Wood.” There are a bunch of those kinds of things that are discussed, however, so part of my hesitation here as well comes from the fact that, if you’re reading or watching this today, right now, you probably haven’t heard the full record yet.
I could’ve waited to run this until after Elektrik Ram is out, but at the same time, it’s a pickle since I already know I’ll want to refer to information from this interview in the album review, so having it here helps that. I’d tell you to check it out maybe after the release but how fucking likely is that not fucking likely at all thank you very much. So here we are.
It’s a good chat though, either way, and Holiday goes deep on the state he was in when some of this material was being written and recorded. It’s worth a watch or I wouldn’t be posting it, is what I’m saying, but no question you’ll have more context for it after next week when the album stream goes live. We make the most of what we have when we have it.
So please, enjoy:
Ruff Majik, Interview with Johni Holiday, March 17, 2023
Ruff Majik release Elektrik Ram April 28 through Mongrel Records. Initial singles can be heard on the player below, and more info is at the links that follow.
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 31st, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Last time I posted about the upcoming Ruff Majik LP, Elektrik Ram, I said I needed to dig into it more. Well, I’ve done that and it’s stellar. A can’t-put-it-down album, and even when I do manage to stop listening, I still hear the songs playing in my head because they’re that infectious. And it’s different songs on different days, because they’re all up to the standard. In the boldness of their arrangements, the no-holds-barred lyrics and the way they break out of heavy rock genre limitations, it’s a triumph of a record. Earlier this week I did a video interview with vocalist/guitarist Johni Holiday, and we went pretty deep into what was going on with him as it was coming together — spoiler: a lot — as well as the love songs that appear throughout, one of which is the latest single, “Queen of the Gorgons.”
There are 11 cuts on the album and “Queen of the Gorgons” is the fourth to stream. They’ve gamified it accordingly with all sorts of shenanigans in the lyric video. You might find the song a fitting complement to “She’s Still a Goth” on side A, and while I’d love to go on a long, long rant about the work outdoing themselves with this record, I’m slated to stream Elektrik Ram in full on April 27, and I honestly don’t care if they release every song from it beforehand, I’m fucking honored to have it on the schedule. It’s an adventure. Don’t skip.
Preorders are up, so have at that if you will, and you can see the rules of the game below along with everything they’ve put out from the record this far. If there’s more I’ll post more because it’s that kind of thing. From the PR wire:
Ruff Majik shares new single from upcoming album Elektrik Ram and announces vinyl pre-orders.
With iconic music press buzzing over Ruff Majik’s new album Elektrik Ram, set for release on the 28th April 2023 via Mongrel Records the band release fiery new single Queen of The Gorgons.
A rewatching of the classic 1981 ‘Clash Of The Titans’ set Johni Holiday’s brain gears into motion, somewhere during a delirious recovery state. Basically, we all know the story of the gorgon Medusa, and how she was slain at the hands of Perseus. In this version of the story, the tables have turned, and Perseus (the speaker) finds himself head over heels in-love with Medusa, and fairly close to worshipping her, singing about admiring her ‘serpentine locks of hair’ and ’emerald eyes set to stun’. Of course, Johni also delves into biblical references when he asks the serpentine woman to build him ‘a church from my ribs’ so he can sing her hymns every day.
“It’s about admiring a woman for her fierce attitude and way of life. She has no care about the speaker and has no need to care about him. The story revolves around his maniacal worship of her, and her indifference to his existence.” – comments Johni
If you’ve been wanting to get your hands on an Elektrik Ram vinyl – here’s your chance. Watch the lyric video for Queen Of The Gorgons and as you will notice it’s full of Easter eggs. Whoever finds all the Easter eggs first wins a copy of Elektrik Ram and a one of a kind, never to be printed again t-shirt.
Rules: 1. Take screenshots of all the Easter eggs you find. 2. Post them as a story, reel or a regular post in order, and remember to tag the band. Watch the official lyric video Buy / Stream Queen Of The Gorgons:https://orcd.co/queenofthegorgons
The horned infant known as Ruff Majik emerged from the primordial ooze when the band moved from the historical town of Lydenburg in 2012 to the capital city of Pretoria, where they honed their craft for a few years before finally entering the studio to record for the first time. Now, with a number of EP’s and two lauded albums under their belt, not to mention a megaton of local and international touring, they return with what might be their defining work in the shape of ‘Elektrik Ram’.
Current lineup: Johni Holiday Jimmy Glass Cowboy Bez Steven Bosman
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 24th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Time for a second single as reconfigured South African heavy psychedelic rockers Acid Magus lava-flow their way closer to issuing their sophomore full-length, Hope is Heavy, through Mongrel Records. We get a month on that release — July — as the now-five-piece answer last month’s reveal of “Demon Behemoth” (posted here; also ‘dehemonth?’) with “Caligulater,” the lyrics of which posit your boss, landlord, etc. as one of the more reputedly cruel of Rome’s emperors. If you’ve ever had a job in an office and watched some wanker lord over it like a middle-management fiefdom, or, you know, paid to purchase absolutely anything at any point in the last three years and spent more money to get less of whatever you’re buying, surely it’s a relatable perspective.
Adding a second guitar and bringing in a new frontman aren’t minor changes for the band to undertake, particularly in light of how well their sound worked on 2021’s Wyrd Syster (review here), their debut album. “Caligulater” and “Demon Behemoth” drop hints of some shifts in approach, with a heavier foundation beneath bright-toned, semi-airy post-psych leads and more forward and purposeful vocal melodies. There’s a definite aspect of solidification here that makes me curious how the record will pan out around these tracks, but nothing Acid Magus have yet unveiled has been discouraging, which is about the absolute least you can say about the songwriting that’s coming to the forefront.
Don’t let me keep you. Both tracks are at the bottom of the post. You know what to do. PR wire had this to say:
Acid Magus unleash massive new single Caligulater from forthcoming album Hope Is Heavy
Pretoria based South African experimental rock band Acid Magus have been making waves in the music scene since their well received 2021 debut release Wyrd Syster. Now a 5-piece, 2023 sees the band returning stronger than ever with a new vocalist and addition of a second guitarist plus a forthcoming album Hope Is Heavy, set for release in July 2023 via Mongrel Records. New single Caligulater comes off the back of the albums immersive debut single Demon Behemoth which released in February this year.
Continuing the cynical theme established with Demon Behemoth, Caligulater derives its name from the infamous emperor Gaius, otherwise known as Caligula. He was the megalomaniacal third emperor of Rome, a man steeped in violent and sadistic excess. In short, not a cool guy. Guitarist and songwriter Keenan Kinnear delves into the message behind the song, “Caligulater explores my feelings concerning myself and my place in society. My own existential crisis and self-imposed vitriolic outlook on the world when at my worst. The “they” in the main hook, “they made us, betrayed us and enslaved us” can be applied to any subject. It could be Caligula himself concerning the citizens of Rome circa 37 AD or your parents, boss, society as a whole etc. It can even apply to yourself in the end.”
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 24th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
I still need to dig into the new Ruff Majik album, Elektrik Ram — I’ve had the record for a bit but I’m backlogged and there’s time — but their new single “Cement Brain” emphasizes so much of what I appreciate about the band’s work to this point. There’s a solid underpinning of heavy rock, desert-ish but less fuzz-soaked than they’ve been at other times (not a complaint), and the swagger with which they commune outside genre is wonderfully brazen. Instrumentally, “Cement Brain” has a current almost of hip-hop to it, and the vocal arrangement they put over top manages to sound like an absolute toss-off, casual Friday show up and see what happens, but reveals the depth and consideration that is truly such an asset to their approach.
With tongue-in-cheek all the while and songwriting and production sharp enough to cut glass, Ruff Majik are an act with a genuinely individual point of view, in South Africa or otherwise. Yeah, you’ll hear some Queens of the Stone Age sometimes and those vocals remind me every now and again of Guns ‘n’ Roses if Axl hadn’t tragically bought into his own purported genius, but what Ruff Majik bring in terms of craft and persona is their own, and I’ll gladly put them against any of the best bands Europe has on offer in heavy rock. I very, very much hope someday to see them live.
I’ve got a lineup listed below that I’m pretty sure corresponds to the four dudes pictured above — cheers to Johni Holiday on the 1991 mullet, and I mean that unironically — but before I review the album, which I certainly will, I need to get my hands on a lyric sheet and complete list of personnel involved, who, what, where and when (the why is generally answered with “because the song wants it”). That’s a note to myself, but I’ll tell you that the more I hear of Elektrik Ram, the more I feel like I need to hear. Singles working as singles should. Fair enough.
The PR wire takes it from here:
Ruff Majik releases new single Cement Brain from upcoming album Elektrik Ram
Ruff Majik returns with the low-slung boogie of Cement Brain taken from the band’s forthcoming long-player Elektrik Ram out 28th April 2023 on Mongrel Records.
As with previous single Elektrik Ram (and album title track), Cement Brain was once again inspired by and written in a mental health facility. Vocalist Johni Holiday had gone in for treatment of severe agoraphobia and a crippling panic disorder, which he self-medicated with alcohol and many other substances. In the window of time that he became well and had a clear head, he penned this number as a plea to his friends and family to never let him slip back into his old ways again.
“On the surface, it’s about escaping an abusive relationship. But deep down, the relationship in question is my relationship with substances such as alcohol The song pleads with the listener to not let me go back.” Explains Johni on the message behind the track.
Current lineup: Johni Holiday Jimmy Glass Cowboy Bez Steven Bosman
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 3rd, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Don’t sleep on this. Don’t do it. I know, it’s another band, announcing another release, they’ve already made their debut in 2021’s Wyrd Syster (review here) so maybe you feel like you’re late to the party, but trust me, you’re not. Go ahead and click play on “Demon Behemoth” at the bottom of this post and you’ll find welcome amid the warm heavy psych tones and melodies as Acid Magus give a first taste of their upcoming sophomore LP, Hope is Heavy.
The song gets into some proggy chug and exploration later on — there’s time for these things in an eight-minute single — but the message even in its outer reaches is to immerse, to lose yourself in the going, and it’s worth doing so. Some restructuring of the band’s lineup has led to their becoming a five-piece, and while I dug that first record, what I’m hearing in “Demon Behemoth” is an uptick in fullness as well as production value and if that’s hope getting heavy as the track passes its sixth minute mark and finds its way back to its harmony-topped roll, the real adventure is just beginning. Sign me up.
No concrete release date as yet for Hope is Heavy, but Mongrel Records will have the release and the label sent the following down the PR wire:
Acid Magus unveil cathartic new single Demon Behemoth
Acid Magus is an experimental rock outfit from Pretoria, South Africa. Doom, stoner, punk, psych, and classic rock are all common themes in their music. As huge fans of the rock greats (Zeppelin, Sabbath), stoner/desert rock behemoths (Kyuss, Sleep) as well as the tripped out psychedelic stylings of modern “psych” bands like Slift. Acid Magus take inspiration from all kinds of great music, spanning the entire gamut from 60s Hendrix and The Doors to Hawkwind and Scorpions at their heaviest, all this with maybe a little Alt Rock sensibility thrown in for good measure.
The band’s debut album Wyrd Syster was released in 2021 to widespread acclaim from fans and heavy music media. 2023 see Acid Magus returning as a 5 piece with a new vocalist and the addition of a second guitarist, as well as a brand-new album Hope Is Heavy, set for release later this year on Mongrel Records.
Demon Behemoth is the crushing first single from the forthcoming album. Guitarist and chief songwriter Keenan Kinnear explains, “Demon Behemoth is not only the first single but also the first track off our upcoming sophomore album, Hope is Heavy. The entire album is a concept dealing with me realizing how I am slowly becoming more cynical with age. Every song on the album, including Demon Behemoth, is a cross-section of my psyche, self-analyzed for the sake of solving the “great cynicism” I am experiencing at the moment and searching for the silver lining in what constantly seems to be an increasingly grim outlook.”
In the faint light that separates dreams from reality, lies from truth and heaven from hell, lives the Acid Magus. Meditating, surrounded by darkness and light, energizing the air with electric anticipation. Come forward and listen, stay awhile, there are no sins…
