Posted in Whathaveyou on February 9th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
This is the second time this week I’m posting news about Mars Red Sky. The Bordeaux trio are fresh off announcing a stretch of tour dates alongside Weedeater and Telekinetic Yeti that starts this month, and they’re following that with the unveiling of their new EP, made in collaboration with folk singer Queen of the Meadow. Born Helen Ferguson, she and Mars Red Sky‘s Julien Pras have worked together going back to his being her guitar teacher and they may or may not be married. In any case, I’ve heard the thing, and it’s a fit, which is what matters, and obviously it’s that basis in the prior relationship that makes that possible. Stumbling through Queen of the Meadow‘s Bandcamp, 2018’s A Room to Store Happiness hits a nerve nicely in “Royal Garden.” I’ve embedded it below. It’s not her latest album, that’s 2021’s Survival of the Unfittest, but you know how to get to Bandcamp from an embed.
Of course, Mars Red Sky have long had a pattern of releasing EPs as a way of leading into new full-lengths, so I’ll just say I hope that’s the case here. It’s also not the first collaboration the three-piece have done, as they worked together with Year of No Light on an EP (discussed here) in 2012. It’s a good one though. You won’t regret keeping an ear out.
For now:
Hey there!
We are excited to officially announce the release of our new EP « Mars Red Sky & Queen of the Meadow » this April 28th 2023 on long time friends record label Vicious Circle Records and our own one Mrs Red Sound !! We teamed up with dark folk artist Queen of the Meadow who sings on each track. We hope you’ll like this one made – as always – with love & fuzz. Details about the release and more surprises to be revealed in the next few days… Stay tuned!
18.02.2023 (#127465#)(#127466#) ERFURT Bandhaus Erfurt 29.02.2023 (#127462#)(#127481#) VIENNA Echoes of Erebos 30.02.2023 (#127468#)(#127463#) BRISTOL Astral Festival 01.05.2023 (#127468#)(#127463#) CARDIFF The Globe Cardiff * 02.05.2023 (#127470#)(#127466#) DUBLIN The Grand Social* 03.05.2023 (#127468#)(#127463#) GLASGOW Cathouse Rock Club* 05.05.2023 (#127468#)(#127463#) SHEFFIELD Corporation Sheffield* 05.05.2023 (#127468#)(#127463#) MANCHESTER Factory Manchester* 06.05.2023 (#127468#)(#127463#) DURHAM Dominion Festival 07.05.2023 (#127468#)(#127463#) LONDON Desertfest London 27.05.2023 (#127466#)(#127480#) MADRID Kristonfest 26.08.2023 (#127463#)(#127466#) RILLAAR Down The Hill * With Weedeater and Telekinetic Yeti.
MARS RED SKY are: Julien Pras : guitar, vocals Jimmy Kinast : bass, vocals Mathieu “Matgaz” Gazeau: drums, vocals
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 7th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
This is a cool mix. Weedeater and Telekinetic Yeti have been tourmates in the past in the US, so for them to take that show to the UK and Ireland for fests and more, adding Mars Red Sky to the mix gives it a totally different character, tying together tonal largesse and melody as is their wont while Telekinetic Yeti bludgeon with riffs and Weedeater bring their signature party scathe, which at this point I think I’m prepared to just call ‘the blues’ and leave it at that. There. Weedeater are a blues band. Feels good to say that. Via sludge, sure.
Mars Red Sky have new material in the works — perhaps the next announce from their label Mrs Red Sound will be that release?; one hopes — but either way, they have festivals booked throughout the Spring and Summer. They’ll be in Bristol this month for Astral Festival, and this tour takes them to Desertfest London ahead of appearances at Kristonfest in Madrid — presented in part by this site — and Down the Hill in Belgium. Gonna be a busy year for the Bordeaux trio, I think. “Sapphire vessel gaining speed,” and so on.
The aforementioned Mrs Red Sound sent the following:
France’s psychedelic doom stalwarts MARS RED SKY to announce new dates across the UK and Ireland with Weedeater and Telekinetic Yeti.
Doom progressive veterans MARS RED SKY are back on track with a full UK and Ireland tour announcement. They will be sharing the stage with North Carolina sludge/stoner legends Weedeater and US heavy psych heavyweights Telekitenic Yeti. Mars Red Sky will also be playing some nice festivals such as Astral, DesertFest London, Dominion or Kriston Fest. Let there be loud!
Impossible to miss French trio MARS RED SKY on the road this Spring. According to some posts and their social medias, the Bordeaux-based psych doom band are up to new audio material. This tour should be the best way to hear more about it. Stay tuned…
18.02.2023 (#127465#)(#127466#) ERFURT Bandhaus Erfurt 29.02.2023 (#127462#)(#127481#) VIENNA Echoes of Erebos 30.02.2023 (#127468#)(#127463#) BRISTOL Astral Festival 01.05.2023 (#127468#)(#127463#) CARDIFF The Globe Cardiff * 02.05.2023 (#127470#)(#127466#) DUBLIN The Grand Social* 03.05.2023 (#127468#)(#127463#) GLASGOW Cathouse Rock Club* 05.05.2023 (#127468#)(#127463#) SHEFFIELD Corporation Sheffield* 05.05.2023 (#127468#)(#127463#) MANCHESTER Factory Manchester* 06.05.2023 (#127468#)(#127463#) DURHAM Dominion Festival 07.05.2023 (#127468#)(#127463#) LONDON Desertfest London 27.05.2023 (#127466#)(#127480#) MADRID Kristonfest 26.08.2023 (#127463#)(#127466#) RILLAAR Down The Hill * With Weedeater and Telekinetic Yeti.
MARS RED SKY are: Julien Pras : guitar, vocals Jimmy Kinast : bass, vocals Mathieu “Matgaz” Gazeau: drums, vocals
Posted in Reviews on January 5th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Here’s mud in yer eye. How are you feeling so far into this Quarterly Review? The year? How are things generally? How’s your mom doing? Everybody good? Hope so. Odd as it is to think, I find music sounds better when you’re not distracted by everything else going to shit around you, so I hope you don’t currently find yourself in that situation.
Today’s 10 records are a bit of this, bit of that, bit of here, but of there, but I’ll note that we start and end in Greece, which wasn’t on purpose or anything but a fun happenstantial byproduct of slating things randomly. What can I say? There’s a lot of Greek heavy out there and the human brain forms patterns whether we want it to or not. Plenty of geographic diversity between, so let’s get to it, hmm?
Winter 2023 Quarterly Review #31-40:
The Temple, Of Solitude Triumphant
Though they trace their beginnings back to the mid-aughts, Of Solitude Triumphant (on the venerable I Hate Records) is only the second full-length from Thessaloniki doom metallers The Temple. With chanting vocals, perpetuated misery and oldschool-style traditionalism metered by modern production’s tonal density, the melodic reach of the band is as striking as profundity of their rhythmic drag, the righteousness of their craft being in how they’re able to take a riff, slog it out across five, seven, 10 minutes in the case of post-intro opener “The Foundations” and manage to be neither boring nor a drag themselves. There’s a bit of relative tempo kick in “A White Flame for the Fear of Death” and the tremolo guitar (kudos to the half-time drums behind; fucking a) at the outset of closer “The Lord of Light” speaks to some influence from more extreme metals, but The Temple are steady in their purpose, and that nine-minute finale riff-marches to its own death accordingly. Party-doom it isn’t, and neither is it trying to be. In mood and the ambience born out of the vocals as much as the instruments behind, The Temple‘s doom is for the doomly doomed among the doomed. I’ll rarely add extra letters to it, but I have to give credit where it’s due: This is dooom. Maybe even doooom. Take heed.
Gothenburg heavy rockers Dead Man’s Dirt, with members of Bozeman Simplex, Bones of Freedom, Coaster of Souls and a host of others, offer their 2023 self-titled debut through Ozium Records in full-on 2LP fashion. It’s 13 songs, 75 minutes long. Not a minor undertaking. Those who stick with it are rewarded by nuances like the guitar solo atop the languid sway of “The Brew,” as well as the raucous start-stop riffing in “Icarus (Too Close to the Sun),” the catchy “Highway Driver” and the bassy looseness of vibe in the penultimate “River,” which heads toward eight minutes while subsequent endpoint “Asteroid” tops nine. It is to the band’s credit that they have both the material and the variety to pull off a record this packed and keep the songs united in their barroom-rocking spirit, though some attention spans just aren’t going to be up to the task in a single sitting. But that’s fine. If the last couple years have taught the human species anything, it’s that you never know what’s around the next corner, and if you’re going to go for it — whatever “it” is — go all-in, because it could evaporate the next day. Whether it’s the shuffle of “Queen of the Wood” or the raw, in-room sound of “Lost at Sea,” Dead Man’s Dirt deserve credit for leaving nothing behind.
Big rolling riffs, lurching grooves, melodies strongly enough delivered to cut through the tonal morass surrounding — there’s plenty to dig for the converted on Witchfinder‘s Forgotten Mansion. The Clermont-Ferrand, France, stoner doomers follow earlier-2022’s Endless Garden EP (review here) and 2019’s Hazy Rites (review here) full-length with their third album and first since joining forces with keyboardist Kevyn Raecke, who aligns in the malevolent-but-rocking wall of sound with guitarist Stanislas Franczak, bassist Clément Mostefai (also vocals) and drummer Thomas Dupuy. Primarily, they are very, very heavy, and that is very much the apparent foremost concern — not arguing with it — but as the five-song/36-minute long-player rolls through “Marijauna” and on through the Raecke-forward Type O Negative-ity of “Lucid Forest,” there’s more to their approach than it might at first appear. Yes, the lumber is mighty. But the space is also broad, and the slow-swinging groove is always in danger of collapsing without ever doing so. And somehow there’s heavy metal in it as well. It’s almost a deeper dive than they want you to think. I like that about it.
There’s some whiff of Conan‘s riffing in “Acompáñame Cuando Muero,” but on the whole, Mexico City sludge metallers Fumata are more about scathe than crush on the six tracks of their sophomore full-length, Días Aciagos (on LSDR Records). With ambient moments spread through the 35-minute beastwork and a bleak atmosphere put in place by eight-minute opener and longest track (immediate points) “Orgullo y Egoísmo,” with its loosely post-metallic march and raw, open sound, the four-piece of Javier Alejandre, Maximo Mateo, Leonardo Cardoso and Juan Tamayo are agonized and chaotic-sounding, but not haphazard in their delivery as they cross genre lines to work in some black metal extremity periodically, mine a bit of death-doom in “Anhelo,” foster the vicious culmination of the bookending seven-minute title-track, and so on. Tempo is likewise malleable, as “Seremos Olvidados” and that title-track show, as well as the blasting finish of “Orgullo y Egoísmo,” and only the penultimate “No Engendro” (also the shortest song at 4:15) really stays in one place for its duration, though as that place is in an unnamed region between atmosludge, doom and avant black metal, I’m not sure it counts. As exciting to hear as it is miserable in substance, Días Aciagos plunges where few dare to tread and bathes in its own pessimism.
Sumerlands‘ second album and Relapse debut, Dreamkiller finds Magic Circle‘s Brendan Radigan stepping in for original vocalist Phil Swanson (now in Solemn Lament), alongside Eternal Champion‘s Arthur Rizk, John Powers (both guitar), and Brad Raub (bass), and drummer Justin DeTore (also Solemn Lament, Dream Unending, several dozen others) for a traditional metal tour de force, reimagining New Wave of British Heavy Metal riffing with warmer tonality and an obviously schooled take on that moment at the end of the ’70s when metal emerged from heavy rock and punk and became its own thing. “Force of a Storm” careens Dio-style after the mid-tempo Scorpions-style start-stoppery of “Edge of the Knife,” and though I kept hoping the fadeout of closer “Death to Mercy” would come back up, as there’s about 30 seconds of silence at the finish, no such luck. There are theatrical touches to “Night Ride” — what, you didn’t think there’d be a song about the night? come on. — and “Heavens Above,” but that’s part of the character of the style Sumerlands are playing toward, and to their credit, they make it their own with vitality and what might emerge as a stately presence. I don’t know if it’s “true” or not and I don’t really give a shit. It’s a burner and it’s made with love. Everything else is gatekeeping nonsense.
Shadows is the first full-length from Genoa, Italy’s Expiatoria — also stylized with a capital-‘a’: ExpiatoriA — and its Nov. 2022 release arrives some 35 years after the band’s first demo. The band originally called it quits in 1996, and there were reunion EPs along the way in 2010 and 2018, but the six songs and 45 minutes here represent something that no doubt even the band at times thought wouldn’t ever happen. The occasion is given due ceremony in the songs, which, in addition to being laden with guest appearances by members of Death SS, Il Segno del Comando, La Janera, and so on, boasts a sweeping sound drawing from the drama of gothic metal — loooking at you, church-organ-into-piano-outro in “Ombra (Tenebra Parte II),” low-register vocals in “The Wrong Side of Love” and flute-and-guitar interlude “The Asylum of the Damned” — traditional metal riffing and, particularly in “7 Chairs and a Portrait,” a Candlemassian bell-tolling doom. These elements come together with cohesion and fluidity, the five-piece working as veterans almost in spite of a relative lack of studio experience. If Shadows was their 17th, 12th, or even fifth album, one might expect some of its transitions to be smoothed out to a greater degree, but as it is, who’s gonna argue with a group finally putting out their debut LP after three and a half decades? Jerks, that’s who.
Setting originals alongside vibe-enhancing covers of Blaze Foley and Commander Cody, Portland’s Tobias Berblinger (also of Roselit Bone) first issued The Luckiest Hippie Alive in 2018 and it arrives on vinyl through Ten Dollar Recording Co., shimmering in its ’70s ramble-country twang, vibrant with duets and acoustic balladeering. Berblinger‘s nostalgic take reminds of a time when country music could be viable and about more than active white supremacy and/or misappropriated hip-hop, and boozers like “My Boots Have Been Drinking” and the Hank Williams via Townes Van Zandt “Medicine Water” and “Heartaches, Hard Times, Hard Drinking”, and smokers like the title-track and “Stems and Seeds (Again)” reinforce the atmosphere of country on the other side of the culture war. Its choruses are telegraphed and ready to be committed to memory, and its understated sonic presence and the wistfulness of the two-minute “Crawl Back to You” — the backing vocals of Mariya May, Marisa Laurelle and Annie Perkins aren’t to be understated throughout, including in that short piece, along with Mo Douglas‘ various instrumental contributions — add a sweetness and humility that are no less essential to Americana than the pedal steel throughout.
Based in Norrköping, Sweden, the three-piece Grandier turn expectation on its head quickly with their debut album, The Scorn and Grace of Crows, starting opener/longest track (immediate points) “Sin World” with a sludgy, grit-coated lumber only to break after a minute in to a melodic verse. The ol’ switcheroo? Kind of, but in that moment and song, and indeed the rest of what follows on this first outing for Majestic Mountain, the band — guitarist Patrik Lidfors, bassist/many-layered-vocalist Lars Carlberg, (maybe, unless they’re programmed; then maybe programming) drummer Hampus Landin — carve their niche from out of a block of sonic largesse and melodic reach. Carlberg‘s voice is emotive over the open-feeling space of “Viper Soul” and sharing the mix with the more forward guitars of “Soma Goat,” and while in theory, there’s an edge of doomed melancholy to the 44-minute procession, the heft in “The Crows Will Following Us Down” is as much directed toward impact as mood. They really are melodic sludge metal, which is a hell of a thing to piece together on your first record as fluidly as they do here. “Smoke on the Bog” leans more into the Sabbathian roll with megafuzz tonality behind, and “Moth to the Flames” is faster, more brash, and a kind of dark heavy rock that, three albums from now, might be prog or might be ’90s lumber. Could go either way, especially with “My Church of Let it All Go” answering back with its own quizzical course. Will be very interested to hear where their next release takes them, since they’re onto something and, to their credit, it’s not immediately apparent what.
Doomers will nod approvingly as Ottawa’s Subsun cap “Proliferation” by shifting into a Candlemassian creeper of a lead line, but that kind of doomly traditionalism is only one tool in their varied arsenal. Guitarist/vocalist/synthesist Jean-Michel Fortin, bassist/vocalist Simon Chartrand-Paquette and drummer Jérémy Blais go to that post-Edling well (of souls) again, but their work across their 2022 debut LP, Parasite, is more direct, more rock-based and at times more aggressive on the whole. Recorded at Apartment 2 by Topon Das (Fuck the Facts), the seven-songer grows punkish in the verse of “Mutation” and drops thrashy hints at the outset of “Fusion,” while closer “Mutualism” slams harder like noise rock and punches its bassline directly at the listener. Begun with the nodding lurch of “Parasitism” — which would seem as well to be at the thematic heart of the album in terms of lyrics and the descriptive approach thereof — the movement of one song to the next has its underlying ties in the vocals and overarching semi-metal tonality, but isn’t shy about messing with those either, as on the lands-even-harder “Evolution” or the thuds at the outset of “Adaptation,” the relative straightforwardness of the structures allowing the band to draw together different styles into a single, effective, individualized sound.
The acoustic guitar of opener “Kata Vathos” transitions smoothly into the arrival-of-the-electrics on “Krifto,” as Athens’ Bazooka launch the first of the post-punk struts on Kapou Allou, their fourth full-length. Mediterranean folk and pop are factors throughout — as heard in the vocal melody of the title-track or the danceable “Pano Apo Ti Gi” — while closer “Veloudino Kako” reimagines Ween via Greece, “Proedriki Froura” traps early punk in a jar to see it light up, and “Dikia Mou Alithia” brings together edgy, loosely-proggy heavy rock in a standout near the album’s center. Wherever they go — yes, even on “Jazzooka” — Bazooka seem to have a plan in mind, some vision of where they want to end up, and Kapou Allou is accordingly gleeful in its purposed weirdoism. At 41 minutes, it’s neither too long nor too short, and vocalist/guitarist/synthesist Xanthos Papanikolaou, guitarist/backing vocalist Vassilis Tzelepis, bassist Aris Rammos and drummer/backing vocalist John Vulgaris cast themselves less as tricksters than simply a band working outside the expected confines of genre. In any language — as it happens, Greek — their material is expansive stylistically but tight in performance, and that tension adds to the delight of hearing something so gleefully its own.
Posted in Questionnaire on December 7th, 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: Baron Crâne
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
We continuously try to improve ourselves as musicians and technicians in relation to our instruments and to music in general.
We manage and develop the project Baron Crâne and it includes recording and live performances.
Describe your first musical memory.
Léo GTR: my mother playing flute
Oliv: me dancing on Michael Jackson
Léo drms: My father singing with his best friends during a late party !
Describe your best musical memory to date.
Léo GTR: the 1st time I listened to Django Reinhardt it was like a whole new universe appeared to me. I was deeply moved.
Oliv: The 1st time that I played with other musicians in a band, it allowed me to use music as a language.
Léo drms: a live show of Dhafer Youssef where I had no idea what I was about to hear, and I ended up with one of my best concert ever, with Mark Giuliana on drums and Tigran Hamasyan on piano.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
Oliv: When I realized that the best music for me was not the most popular.
Léo GTR: I feel that living in peace in this world implies to constantly test my own beliefs.
Léo drms: when I had a band that started to work pretty well and the leader decided to quit and stop music for personal reasons.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
Oliv: humility
Léo GTR: not necessarily to stadiums but sometimes to satisfaction
Léo drms: to being yourself and alive.
How do you define success?
Oliv: money, I mean it
Léo GTR: I think you never really succeed but a good step is when people can listen to your music in supermarkets.
Léo drms: when you feel complete every time you are playing music.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
Oliv: Les Enfoirés (French caritative show), I mean it.
Léo GTR: all the shits on Netflix that made lose too much time
Léo drms: the video tape of my first time singing on stage while playing drums. The legend says that it was a song from Led Zeppelin !
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
Oliv: a dancing music album
Léo GTR: a music as powerful as “the Perfume” of Suskind.
Léo drms: a show that will mix all forms of arts, starting with music of course, circus, dance, drama and cinema.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
Oliv: emancipation
Léo GTR: elevation
Léo drms: exploring the way of being human
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
Oliv: Jean Luc Mélenchon prime minister, I mean it
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 4th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Won’t lie: I’m feeling the keys in the new Witchfinder single. “Ghosts Happen to Fade” is one of five tracks on the Clermont-Ferrand, France-based now-four-piece’s impending full-length, Forgotten Mansion — out Nov. 18 through Mrs Red Sound — and if its blend of huge riffing and organ-ic grandiosity are anything to go by, the follow-up to 2019’s Hazy Rites (review here) LP and earlier-2022’s Endless Garden EP (review here) should offer an array of delights familiar and new for listeners to dig into. There’s plenty of space in their sound for everybody, in other words.
To say new keyboardist Kevyn Raecke adds atmosphere to the track feels more like cliché than insight, but it’s true just the same. The seven-and-a-half-minute piece unfolds from post-Electric Wizard/Monolord roll into harsher sludge, and the keys help very much to tie it together, adding to the foundation of guitar, bass and drums and creating not quite a wash of melody, but certainly a wall of sound that is full and suited to what Witchfinder — who made their self-titled debut in 2017 — have established as their prior modus.
You know the drill. Song’s at the bottom of the post, info follows here from the PR wire. Go, go:
WITCHFINDER to reveal details on new album ‘Forgotten Mansion’ coming out this Fall via Mrs Red Sound : stream first single
France’s doom sludge oufit WITCHFINDER unveil track listing, artwork, recording details and first single off their upcoming album ‘Forgotten Mansion’ – out on November 18th 2022 through Mrs Red Sound. Enjoy spectral first excerpt “Ghosts Happen To Fade” now!
The ‘Forgotten Mansion’ that adorns the desolated garden pictured on the cover of WITCHFINDER’s latest EP has now its very own piece of music. This relevant visual and sonic follow-up features gloomy atmospheres, explores the horror topic and spreads a massive blast of fuzz. The addition of keyboardist Kevyn Raecke propels their already ultra-thick sounding into a cathedral-esque dimension; both theatrical and heavy. The psychedelic touch is cleverly highlighted here over a substantial doom cushion. One can appreciate some faster sections and a nicely worked heavy rock riffage which spices up this record and prevents it from drowning in any easiness. With their new album ‘Forgotten Mansion’, Witchfinder dust off the genre without flaying its foundations at any time.
Witchfinder’s new album ‘Forgotten Mansion’ was recorded, mixed and mastered at Monochrom Studio, Gniewoszów, Poland, by Haldor Grunberg (Behemoth, Dopelord, Belzebong) of Satanic Audio, who also sings on the second track “Marijuana”. Add the single “Ghosts Happen To Fade” to playlists HERE: https://ampl.ink/ghostshappentofade
WITCHFINDER new album ‘Forgotten Mansion’ Out November 18th 2022 on Mrs Red Sound Records
TRACK LISTING: 1. Approaching 2. Marijuana 3. Lucid Forest 4. Ghosts Happen To Fade 5. The Old Days
I’ll find out for sure in a bit, but I think this might be one of those supremely weird Quarterly Review days where it’s a total mash of styles and it doesn’t make any sense whatsoever from one release to the next so that by the time the batch of 10 records is done we’ve ended up covering a pretty significant swath of heavy music’s spectrum. I ain’t out here trying to be comprehensive, you understand. I’m just doing my best to keep up. And in that, sometimes you hit a weird day.
In fact, I think “weird” might be the operative word for the Quarterly Review so far. I think about this music, who it’s for, why, and it’s weird and it’s for weirdos in my head. Both of those things are meant in a spirit of reverence for weirdness. Weird is interesting. Weird stands out. Weird is… also how I feel basically any time I’m out of the house among other adults unless I’m at a show. Weird is that beautiful thing that unites those people who don’t seem to fit anywhere else but in this.
So yeah, today’s weird. Strap in, kids.
Quarterly Review #31-40:
Church of the Sea, Odalisque
Electronic beats, live guitar, and a resonant human voice make for a fascinating blend on Church of the Sea‘s richly atmospheric Odalisque. The Athenian trio of vocalist Irene, guitarist Vangelis (a different Vangelis) and synthesist/sampler Alex conjure a deep sense of mood in songs like “Mirror” and the closer “Me as the Water, Me as a Tree,” operating from the weighted beginning of opener “No One Deserves” onward in a slow-moving, open-spaced take on heavy post-rock that staves off the shimmering guitar in favor of adding the rumble of distortion often as a backing drone to fill out the sound alongside the synth behind Irene‘s voice. There are shades of Author & Punisher‘s latest — but Odalisque is less about slamming impact than spreading out the landscape of its title-track and the personal examinations of its lyrics, though “Raindrops” doesn’t seem fully ready to commit to one or the other and it’s easy to appreciate that. A striking debut from a band whose individualized purpose sets them apart even within Greece’s crowded and wildly creative underground.
Drummer Edu Escobar, bassist Raúl Burrueco and vocalist/synthesist Alejandro Ruiz are Gu Vo, and given their lack of guitar, it should come as little surprise that their Sentencia Records self-titled debut is a markedly rhythmic experience. Taking some example perhaps from Slift‘s uptempo space/krautrockism, the Spanish three-piece bring an avant garde vibe even to the ultra-smooth build of “Crab Ball Gate,” hypnotizing through repetition in the low end and drums while the keys weave in and out of prominence, “Little Lizard” arriving with storybook fanfare before toying with willful-sounding low- and high-end frequency imbalance — you go this way and I’ll go that, etc. — and vocals that are duly spaced. The nine-song/49-minute outing is ambitious, droning large in “USG Ishimura” and actually maybe-actually-sampling Altered Beast for the chiptunery of “Rise From Your Grave.” “TuunBaq” brings some of these impulses together at the end, but Gu Vo‘s Gu Vo is more about the trip you take than where you end up, and that’s much to its advantage.
Watch out for the slowdown in about the last minute and a half of “The Maze” (6:28) which is the first of two songs on Witchfinder‘s Endless Garden EP. Things are rolling along, some Acid King nod in that main riff, and then, wham, screams and meaner sludge pushes into the proceedings without so much as a s’il vous plaît from the Clermont-Ferrand-based four-piece. The keyboard later in the subsequent “Eternal Sunset” (10:41) running alongside the slower movement there calls to mind Type O Negative — though I understand it’s Hangman’s Chair holding down such vibes in France these days, so maybe or maybe not an influence — plays a similar function in distinguishing the ending from what’s come before, but it’s the overarching heft of Endless Garden that makes it such a fulfilling answer to 2019’s Hazy Rites (review here), the band perhaps pushing back against some of the more cultish tendencies of current heavy in favor of a more individual statement of fuzz and psych-doomer spaciousness. It’s been a hell of a three years since the album. A reminder of Witchfinder‘s growth in progress is welcome.
Imagine yourself having a dream about surfing and you might be on your way to Centre El Muusa‘s sound. The Estonian instrumentalist four-piece debuted on Sulatron with their 2020 self-titled (review here), and they cohesively explore various realms here, dream-beach among them, but also some twangy slide guitar in opener “Pony Road” and “Desert Song,” the band using the titles seemingly to drop hints of the vibes being captured. Sure enough, the dirty fuzz in “Boomerang” comes back around, “Keila Train” — it’s about a 15-mile trip from Talinn, where the band are from, to Keila — has a distracted line of keys over mellow jazz drumming and meandering guitar, and “Pilot on Board” brings a subtle kosmiche push with an undulating waveform drone that’s like the wind passing under and over the wings of an airplane. Each of these moments of (assisted) evocation can be experienced or not depending on how far in a given listener wants to plunge — or how high they want to float, in the case of “Pilot on Board” — but the abiding sense of exploration in sound remains vital just the same. Wherever it may want to take you at a given moment, it wants to take you. Let it.
I’ll admit that Unwavering Resonance is my first exposure to Slovakia’s 0N0, but it won’t be the last. Their third full-length following 2016’s Reconstruction and Synthesis with an EP and a split between, the new outing collects four cuts across a manageable 36 minutes and begins with its longest track (immediate points) in the 12-minute declaration of purpose “Clay Weight.” Though reputed for more industrialized fare in the past — and still definitely utilizing programming for the ‘drums’ and other synthy sounds — one cannot ignore the chug that rises to prominence in the leadoff, or the malevolence of purpose in the deathly use to which it’s put. Post-metal and death-doom come together fluidly enough in “Clay Weight” and the subsequent “Shattering” (5:12) with a balance tipped to one side or another — the second track, shortest, blasts furiously — and one wouldn’t call what happens in the nine-minutes-each pair of “Unwavering Resonance” and closer “Wander the Vacant Twilight” an evening out, since they continue to lean to particular aspects of their crushing sound in a given stretch, but hell’s bells it’s heavy, and its catharsis is less about making your skin crawl than turning bones into powder. Methodical, not chaotic, but ready to bask in the chaos surrounding. More brutalism than brutal.
Shit, that’s heavy. Released on cassette and download, the 2021 self-titled debut long-player from Savannah, Georgia’s Faeries is a beast working under suitably beastly traditions. Tapping into a tonal density and an and-yet-it-moves crush of riff that reminds of the earliest days of fellow Peach Staters Mastodon, there’s a more straight-ahead, heads-down, push-through-with-the-shoulder sensibility to David Rapp‘s solo outfit, an underlying sense of riff worship in “March March,” “Megadrone,” and the rest of the nine-song/45-minute outing that — much to Rapp‘s credit — are set for destructive purposes rather than self-indulgent progressivism. That’s not to say Faeries, the album, is dumbed down. It’s not, and even in the vocal gruel of “Fresh Laces” and “The Pain of Days” or the chug-‘n’-swing instrumental “The Volcano,” that can be heard in the structure of the songs — “Slurricane” deviates to somewhat lighter tone and also-instrumental closer “Traces” echoes that — but Rapp‘s clear intention here is to base his songwriting around the heaviest sounds possible, and while it’s exciting to think maybe he got there on this first outing, it’s even more exciting to think maybe he didn’t and is going to try again sometime soon. Either way, happy bludgeoning/being bludgeoned.
The Cult of Dom Keller, Raiders of the Lost Archives: Demos & Rarities 2007-2020
Somewhat inevitable that a 100-minute collection of lost tracks, demos, alternate versions and live takes from UK psych adventurers Cult of Dom Keller would be something of a fan-piece. Still, as Raiders of the Lost Archives: Demos & Rarities 2007-2020 spans its 20-song run and multiple lineups of the band, its moving between years and methodologies has plenty of flow if you’re willing to open yourself to the essential fact that the band can do whatever. the. fuck. they. want. To wit, “Monarch” with its relatively forward verses and choruses and the lo-fi howling feedback of “QWERTYUIOP,” or 2020’s creep-into-wash “Dead Don’t Dream” and the garage-psych urgency of 2007’s “We Left This World Behind for a Place in the Sun.” Those who’ve followed Cult of Dom Keller on their merry path will dig the (again, relatively) efficient look at how far they’ve come and in how many different directions, while those unfamiliar with the band might want to find something less inherently uneven to dig on (start with 2020’s Ascend! (review here), then work back), but cuts like “Broken Arm of God” and “Jupiter’s Beard” are ready to catch ears either way, and if it takes time to digest, well heck, you’ll have all the time in the world if you quit your day job, so why not just go ahead and do that?
The narrative — blessings and peace upon it — holds that Supplemental Pills got together at the behest of vocalist/guitarist Ezra Meredith when his main outfit, Hearts of Oak stepped back for pandemic lockdown. Fair enough. With Joel Meredith on guitar, bassist/synthesist Aron Christensen (also Hearts of Oak) and drummer/vocalist Mark Folkrod, these seven songs feel carved out of jams as the reportedly were, with “Feel It” blinking momentarily into Endless Boogie-sounding improv preach while mellower and more spacious pieces like opener “Run On,” the nine-minute drone-drawler “Floating Mountains Over Rivers” and the 11-minute fuzz-go repetitions of “Gonna Be Alright” — a decent mantra if e’er there was one — ooze deeper into vibe rock far-outreach. “Freedom March” is fairly active, with Ezra‘s vocals there and in “Run On” seeming to nod at the departed Mark Lanegan, and “The Wizard Was Right” has a sense of movement as well that suits its overlaid verses. If it feels right, it is right. Drone what thou wilt. And if this is what they’re coming up with essentially by accident, one shudders to think what might happen if they actually tried to write a song. It’s just crazy enough to work.
Some sonic coincidence brings Amorphis‘ “Forever More” to mind in hearing the winding guitar figure featured in Green Hog Band‘s instrumental-but-for-the-sample “Iron Horses,” but that’s not a direct influence. The Brooklynite trio’s third full-length, Crypt of Doom, follows last year’s Devil’s Luck (review here) and sees the self-recording trio of vocalist/bassist Ivan Antipov, guitarist Mike Vivisector (also lyrics) and drummer Ronan Berry weaving into and out of Russian-language lyrics on top of their thick-toned sludge rock, which they shove resolutely on “Sweet Tea, Banana Bread” and even give a little shuffle on the penultimate “New Year Massacre,” but which is invariably more suited to the doomly lurch of opener “Dragon” or its later giant-lizard-thing counterpart “Leviathan.” Still, that these guys can make that bubbling cauldron of sludge and are even vaguely interested in doing anything else is admirable, and as raw as Crypt of Doom is, even the air seems to be stale, never mind the bare walls of rock and dirt surrounding. Dig a hole, reside therein, riff.
Most of all, one has to give kudos to Los Angeles experimentalist outfit for daring to cross the line between hard industrial music and the hip-hop it’s been summarily ripping off for the last quarter-century-plus. Alabaster is the third full-length from the unit not-so-secretly led by bassmaster/programmer/etc.-ist Collyn McCoy (also Night City, Aboleth, a bunch of others), and in addition to guest rappers A-F-R-O, Zombae and Kayee on cuts like “Anatomy Autonomy” (relevant) and the becomes-a-black-metal-onslaught “Copy Planet,” the nine-song/32-minute outing regurgitates genre expectations in a spew so willfully individual it can’t help but make its own kind of sense even unto the sound collage of “Segue-08” or “ec63294e-0dcf-4947-bb7c-965769967dbd,” which answers the freak-dance of “A Magical Journey of Love” with sentient-AI-knows-where-you-live moodsetting, which of course is an excellent precursor to the organ-laced cult extremity of “FLESHSELF: Abandon the Altars.” This is never going to be for everyone, but Alabaster‘s willingness to play with risk in sound makes just about everything that ‘fits in’ feel ridiculous. You think you’ve heard it all? Think you’re bored? Check this shit out and see how wrong you are.
You like symmetry? I do. Here’s a bit of it for you. In January 2020, Bordeaux, France, progressive heavy psychedelic rockers Mars Red Sky announced a Springtime return for their first US shows since 2016. I was proud to have this site as a presenting media sponsor, and happy for the excuse to reengage with 2019’s The Task Eternal (review here), because, well, I dig this band a lot and that’s a killer record. Relatively simple, I guess. So here’s the symmetry — the photo above is the same one I used in 2020 and I’m proud to be presenting this upcoming US run as well. And hey, it’s still their first North American shows since 2016! Not much has happened since then around these parts, right?
More than a decade removed from their reissued-last-year 2011 self-titled debut (review here; discussed here), it’s interesting to think of the band’s impact not only helping foster heavy music’s engagement with its own vision of thoughtful craft and artistic growth — they’re nothing if not a positive example in that regard — but also just the manner in which their blend of vocal float and tonal weight has become so widespread. They’re not the only reason for that — bands like Monolord, Elephant Tree, and King Buffalo have certainly had a say — but at least two of those have drawn marked influence from Mars Red Sky, and that’s by no means the end of that list.
The reason Mars Red Sky are so special, if you’ll permit me the indulgence, is that they didn’t stop with that central innovation/nuance. Their penchant for heavy/melodic has become more complex as their songwriting has done the same. The Task Eternal branched as far out as they’ve gone so far, and while I wonder if the forced time off the road of the last few years and the reissue of their self-titled in 2021 might see them reexamine the impact of that early work, invariably affecting their sound, whatever shape the next Mars Red Sky offering might take, I’m only keen to find out. Whichever way they go, they always seem to move forward.
Heavy music in 2022 wouldn’t be the same without this band’s work over the last 11-plus years. That is reason to show up much more than maybe an Obelisk logo on the poster or whatever. Plus they’ll be out with Greenbeard, and I just saw those guys at Desertfest New York (review here) and they tore it up. These are going to be some good-ass shows, and like in 2020, Mars Red Sky will hit Monolith on the Mesa as well. One more reason to abandon your life and roll to the desert, as if you needed another.
Dates follow, as well as Mars Red Sky‘s previously announced European summer stint, because this is the internet, damnit, and no gods no masters no borders just riffs.
Dig:
The Obelisk Presents: MARS RED SKY US TOUR DATES – With Support from Greenbeard
9/09 Chicago, IL @ Reggies 9/10 Rock Island, IL @ Wake Brewing 9/11 Minneapolis, MN @ Skyway Theatre 9/13 Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive 9/16 Taos, NM @ Monolith on the Mesa Festival * 9/17 Phoenix, AZ @ The Rebel Lounge 9/18 San Diego, CA @ Brick By Brick 9/19 Costa Mesa, CA @ The Wayfarer 9/20 Los Angeles, CA @ Resident 9/21 Oakland, CA @ Starline Social Club 9/23 Portland, OR @ The High Water Mark 9/25 Seattle, WA @ Substation * = No Greenbeard
Previously announced European tour: 3C, Sound of Liberation, Ya Ya Yeah and Mrs Red Sound proudly present Mars Red Sky on tour:
02.07.22 SLUNJ (HR) Bear Stone Festival 06.07.22 LILLE (FR) La Bulle Café * 07.07.22 DORTMUND (DE) JunkYard * 08.07.22 JENA (DE) KuBa * 09.07.22 PLESZEW (PL) Red Smoke Festival * 10.07.22 GÖTTINGEN (DE) Vinyl-Reservat * 16.07.22 LA ROCHELLE (FR) Les Francofolies 21.07.22 SANTANDER (SP) Rock Beer the New 22.07.22 OVIEDO (SP) TBA 23.07.22 FIGUEIRA DA FOZ (PT) WoodRock Festival 24.07.22 MADRID (SP) Wurlitzer Ballroom 29.07.22 NEUENSEE (DE) Rock im Wald Festival 06.08.22 ERCÉ_EN_LAMÉE (FR) Macumba Open Air Festival *With Witchfinder
Mars Red Sky celebrated the anniversary of their cult eponymous debut album in December 2021 by releasing an original online tool entitled “Inside MRS”, that allows to remix the album stems. Anyone who bought the record gets a private access code to log in to the website and to listen to the bass only, or to the lead guitar and vocals only, while watching footage of the recording sessions in the Bardenas Desert, Spain, about ten years ago. The band wanted to let the fans explore the entrails of the recordings. This release also features an illustrated lyrics booklet with fans artworks. Available for purchase at this location, through Mrs Red Sound Records:https://marsredsky.rocks/debutLPreissue
MARS RED SKY are: Julien Pras : guitar, vocals Jimmy Kinast : bass, vocals Mathieu Gazeau: drums, vocals
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 1st, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Any day that I get to write about Mars Red Sky doing a thing is a good day, in no small part because it means I’m probably going to put on Mars Red Sky while I do. The Bordeaux-based three-piece reissued their 2011 self-titled debut (review here; discussed here) late last year in suitably creative fashion, letting the audience mix it themselves, which you bet your ass I did. It feels like longer than it’s actually been since they released 2019’s The Task Eternal (review here), and one might hope for an EP at least from them sometime soon — their long-standing habit of preceding LPs with EPs well established by now — but I’ve heard nothing in that regard.
Their tourmates for the Summer, Witchfinder — who are also on Mars Red Sky‘s label, Mrs Red Sound (sic) — do have a new album coming though, and that’s something. The two bands will team up for a handful of dates including Red Smoke Festival in Poland, which is just one of the fests Mars Red Sky have slated for the next few months. Take note also of Bear Stone Festival, which looks friggin’ awesome, as well as WoodRock, Rock im Wald and Macumba Open Air, on the list below.
Which reminds me, the list:
MARS RED SKY: new European dates announced
Relentless Bordeaux-based heavy psychedelic merchants MARS RED SKY unleash new European Tour dates including some gigs supported by their label mates: doom quartet Witchfinder.
3C, Sound of Liberation, Ya Ya Yeah and Mrs Red Sound proudly present Mars Red Sky on tour:
02.07.22 SLUNJ (HR) Bear Stone Festival 06.07.22 LILLE (FR) La Bulle Café * 07.07.22 DORTMUND (DE) JunkYard * 08.07.22 JENA (DE) KuBa * 09.07.22 PLESZEW (PL) Red Smoke Festival * 10.07.22 GÖTTINGEN (DE) Vinyl-Reservat * 16.07.22 LA ROCHELLE (FR) Les Francofolies 21.07.22 SANTANDER (SP) Rock Beer the New 22.07.22 OVIEDO (SP) TBA 23.07.22 FIGUEIRA DA FOZ (PT) WoodRock Festival 24.07.22 MADRID (SP) Wurlitzer Ballroom 29.07.22 NEUENSEE (DE) Rock im Wald Festival 06.08.22 ERCÉ_EN_LAMÉE (FR) Macumba Open Air Festival *With Witchfinder
Artwork by Crime da Mala Editions.
Mars Red Sky celebrated the anniversary of their cult eponymous debut album in December 2021 by releasing an original online tool entitled “Inside MRS”, that allows to remix the album stems. Anyone who bought the record gets a private access code to log in to the website and to listen to the bass only, or to the lead guitar and vocals only, while watching footage of the recording sessions in the Bardenas Desert, Spain, about ten years ago. The band wanted to let the fans explore the entrails of the recordings. This release also features an illustrated lyrics booklet with fans artworks. Available for purchase at this location, through Mrs Red Sound Records:https://marsredsky.rocks/debutLPreissue
MARS RED SKY are: Julien Pras : guitar, vocals Jimmy Kinast : bass, vocals Mathieu Gazeau: drums, vocals
