It’s the last Friday of the month, and if you’ve been keeping up throughout the year so far, you know that means All Them Witches have a new song as part of their Baker’s Dozen monthly singles project. This is actually the first month I’ve managed to remember before the song was actually posted, so I’ll pat myself on the back in having the back end of this post ready to go, and having now actually heard the thing, it’s 17-minute soan renders it as something of an EP unto itself. That, mind you, is not a complaint.
With Hammond organ pulsing alongside the guitar and a hooky groove that’s uptempo without trying too hard to sell itself to the listener, the mega-jam starts off fluid and stays that way for the duration. Robby Staebler, by this point in the band’s career, is a master of working around the central beat, so that even as the rhythm holds, he’s not playing the same thing necessarily every measure through. That makes the transitions in “Acid Face” even smoother, as it heads into Doors-style guitar spaciousness after about six minutes in and picks its way back up through spring morning pastoralia en route to ever more ethereal, improvibing (sic) hypnosis, active without too much going on, laid back without being boring. A jam to hang with for a while.
All Them Witches is: Charles Michael Parks, Jr – bass, vocals Ben McLeod – guitar, vocals Robby Staebler – drums, vocals Allan Van Cleave – Rhodes piano, keys, violin
All Them Witches, “Blacksnake Blues”
All Them Witches, “Fall Into Place” official video
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 24th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Fun fact for you: I was working at my college radio station, WSOU, when CKY put out the song from which 96 Bitter Beings — which features Deron Miller, formerly of CKY, whose song also included the word “quite” — and man, that shit was everywhere. It’s been 20 years minimum and I still find myself with that riff stuck in my head. I hum it to get other songs out. Not daily, but probably more than once a week. That one and “Escape From Hellview.” Eternal repeat.
Miller‘s new band has signed to Nuclear Blast — feather in the cap — and announced that Howling Giant will provide support on an extensive hitting-of-the-road this summer. Howling Giant were a highlight of the recent Desertfest New York (review here) — where the above photo was taken, if the banner behind them wasn’t a clue — and the Nashville-based outfit will also be appearing at RippleFest Texas ahead of starting this run. The more the merrier.
And for a bonus, Howling Giant have already done the everybody-gets-covid-and-the-tour-gets-canceled thing, so hopefully that can be avoided this time around as well.
Fingers crossed, earplugs in, vibes positive. From socials:
Stoked to be hitting the road with 96 Bitter Beings this summer! We have a couple shows leading to RippleFest Texas and then we’re scootin’ right up to SLC to hop on this riff train. See y’all out there!
July 25 – Salt Lake City, UT – Loading Dock July 26 – Denver, CO – Herman’s Hideaway July 27 – Omaha, NE – Reverb Lounge July 28 – Sioux Falls, SD – Big’s Live July 29 – Des Moines, IA – Lefty’s July 30 – Sioux City, IA – Four Winds Festival July 31 – Iowa City, IA – Wildwood Aug 2 – Buffalo, NY – Mohawk Place Aug 3 – Manchester, NH – Jewel Aug 4 – Providence, RI – Alchemy Aug 5 – Hallam, PA – Tourist Inn Aug 6 – Akron, OH – The Empire Aug 7 – Chicago, IL – WC Social Club Aug 8 – Detroit, MI – Sanctuary Aug 10 – Kansas City, MO – Vivo Aug 11 – Oklahoma City, OK – 89th Street Aug 12 – Fort Worth, TX – Rail Club Live Aug 13 – New Orleans, LA – One Eyed Jacks Aug 14 – Corpus Christi, TX – Boozers Aug 15 – Austin, TX – Come and Take It Live Aug 17 – Las Vegas, NV – Soulbelly Aug 19 – Scottsdale, AZ – Pub Rock Aug 20 – Santa Ana, CA – La Santa Aug 21 – West Hollywood, CA – Whisky A Go Go
HOWLING GIANT is Tom Polzine – Guitar and Vocals Zach Wheeler – Drums and Vocals Sebastian Baltes – Bass and Vocals
It’s the last Friday of the month, and in 2022 that means new All Them Witches. Following up on March’s “Silver to Rust” (posted here), February’s “Fall Into Place” (posted here) and January’s series-kickoff “Blacksnake Blues” (posted here), the 12:45 “Slow City” is a steady rolling linear instrumental jam the likes of which the Nashville four-piece used to periodically post on their Bandcamp page, at random, sometimes temporarily. One is reminded a bit of “George W. Kush” or the Effervescent EP (review here) that first came out in 2014, though certainly there are other examples of their gone-exploring impulses captured on tape, including on their studio albums. Dudes can jam. We knew that.
There’s a build in “Slow City,” and the guitar hints late at some foreboding vibes, but they don’t blow out a payoff. Robby Staebler‘s drums hold steady and are atmospheric in their own right, and the guitar of Ben McLeod is in its own trance throughout, with Parks‘ basslines and what may or may not be Allan Van Cleave droning keys out in the background — I’m honestly not sure; if you told me I was imagining it, I’d believe you — adding to the breadth. It’s a mellow vibe but not at all inactive for that, and answers the peaks and valleys of “Silver to Rust” with a fluidity of its own.
All Them Witches are on tour starting May 6 — they’re coming to Asbury Park, which is nice — and after playing what the folks who worked at the jam-band magazine in my old office used to refer to infuriatingly as ‘The ‘Roo,’ they’ll head to Europe for a slew of other festivals and dates, none of which seem to be written out in a conveniently cut and pasted list, but all of which can be found, with ticket links and whatnot, at the link below.
Enjoy the track and here’s to marking the calendar for May 27 and the next song in the Baker’s Dozen series:
All Them Witches, “Slow City” official video
Tour On Sale Now: https://allthemwitches.lnk.to/tour
All Them Witches is: Charles Michael Parks, Jr – bass, vocals Ben McLeod – guitar, vocals Robby Staebler – drums, vocals Allan Van Cleave – Rhodes piano, keys, violin
All Them Witches, “Blacksnake Blues”
All Them Witches, “Fall Into Place” official video
Nashville four-piece All Them Witches have unveiled the next in their Baker’s Dozen singles series in a track/video called “Silver to Rust.” The nine-minute piece, which follows behind “Fall Into Place” (posted here) and “Blacksnake Blues” (posted here) — yes, at some point I completely plan to have links for all of these songs individually, because that’s who I am — works in three distinct stages, unfolding at first with a kind of languid but somewhat downtrodden-of-mood fuzz before shifting at about three minutes in to a build led by the guitar that pays off in a soaring lead, and comes back to a verse with mellow vocals from bassist Charles Michael Parks, Jr. and drums building in intensity from Robby Staebler that only leave to question if they’re going to have enough time to hit another crescendo before the song is over.
By way of a spoiler, they do, if understatedly. Throughout, you’ll note the key work of Allan Van Cleave and the amorphous nature of Ben McLeod‘s guitar, tonally as well as in terms of what he’s playing at any given moment. Where past singles have dug into different sides of the band’s persona as I suppose they inevitably would, engaging their earlier work in “Blacksnake Blues” particularly, I get more of a latter-day All Them Witches vibe here, more dug into the jam than on 2020’s Nothing as the Ideal (review here), but still working from a similar experimentalist impulse, and seeming to grow bolder in the layering process as well.
I wonder how many of these songs are already done. If they’re all recorded and in the can, awaiting release, or in some stage of completion and being worked toward individually. Their presentation is awfully lined up, with all the links and digital distro, video, etc., but given All Them Witches‘ veteran status and factoring in that they’re a bigger band, I’d expect no less than such coordination. As the months play out, it’s interesting to hear the songs begin to interact with each other. I like this next to “Fall Into Place” and “Blacksnake Blues.” I like it on its own too. No substitute for being a sucker, I guess.
All Them Witches earlier this week announced a physical pressing for their Live on the Internet stream as a 2LP/CD. More on that here. They’ve got no shortage of tour dates as well. If you can see them, do that.
Until April, then, enjoy:
All Them Witches, “Silver to Rust” official video
Tour On Sale Now: https://allthemwitches.lnk.to/tour
‘Silver To Rust’ Now Streaming: https://allthemwitches.lnk.to/silvertorust
All Them Witches is: Charles Michael Parks, Jr – bass, vocals Ben McLeod – guitar, vocals Robby Staebler – drums, vocals Allan Van Cleave – Rhodes piano, keys, violin
All Them Witches, “Blacksnake Blues”
All Them Witches, “Fall Into Place” official video
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 22nd, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Dec. 19, 2020. I actually didn’t watch All Them Witches‘ ‘Live on the Internet’ stream when the Nashville then-trio premiered it. Not for any disdain toward the band or the idea of streaming. I kind of knew it would be good and decided that would make me sad and that was that. Looking at the setlist now, I’ll do penance ordering the CD. Hardly flagellation, as punishments go.
They’re on the road most of this year, which is awesome and I hope it all happens and all that stuff. Recall that they’re back to the original four-piece incarnation of the band now, and that’s great too, but this was also for sure a stage of the band worth preserving. This isn’t their first and hopefully it won’t be their last live record. The more the merrier, on my shelf.
From the PR wire the other day:
All Them Witches have released LIVE ON THE INTERNET via New West Records
Order link: http://newwst.com/lotiEM
All Them Witches are known for their loud and lengthy live shows. 2020 found the band releasing their critically acclaimed album, Nothing As The Ideal. An album release from this band would traditionally be followed by a lengthy 18-month tour across the globe. Due to an international pandemic, the band’s touring plans were brought to a halt. This did not stop All Them Witches from assembling in a studio to broadcast a live set for their fans. The set was roundly received as an amazing performance and fans immediately inquired as to whether or not this show would be available outside of the broadcast. New West Records is proud to present All Them Witches – LIVE ON THE INTERNET.
After being on lock down during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the band reconvened at S.I.R. Studios in Nashville, TN to perform a live-streamed event for their fans. Their single performance of the year featured the band playing songs from their critically acclaimed new album Nothing as the Ideal live for the very first time.
“Excited to announce that ‘Live On The Internet,’ with audio from the 2020 livestream of the same name, is available on streaming services NOW for you to enjoy.”
Check it out: allthemwitches.lnk.to/LOTI
Order the 3-LP / 2-CD set, and watch the video for “Enemy of My Enemy” below.
1. Blood And Sand / Milk And Endless Waters 09:43 2. Dirt Preachers 04:04 3. Saturnine & Iron Jaw 05:00 4. 41 05:32 5. When God Comes Back 03:41 6. Alabaster 07:33 7. Diamond 06:21 8. 1X1 04:48 9. 3-5-7 03:42 10. The Marriage Of Coyote Woman 05:46 11. Charles William 05:48 12. Rats in Ruin 09:14 13. Open Passageways 03:33 14. Enemy of My Enemy 03:32 15. Everest 02:37 16. Bulls 05:20
Tour on sale now: https://www.allthemwitches.org/tour
Posted in Bootleg Theater on February 25th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Nashville-based four-piece All Them Witches have posted a video for the second installment in what the band has dubbed their Baker’s Dozen singles series. “Fall Into Place” arrives behind last month’s “Blacksnake Blues” (posted here), which you can also hear below, and as the band gets ready to hit the road for what looks like an increasing amount of the year, they seem as well to be exploring new ground sonically as well.’
This is kind of a relief, to be honest. I dig “Blacksnake Blues” a lot, and a big part of that is the manner in which the track speaks to the band’s earlier work. “Fall Into Place” — true to form for the band — doesn’t. Instead, it’s among the most atmospheric material they’ve done, minimally percussed but backed by a current of drone that plays out behind the melancholic vocal melody. This, in turn, feels more in conversation with some of the experimentation with loops and different kinds of noise manifestations that showed up on 2020’s Nothing as the Ideal (review here), and in light of the shift in lineup that brought Allan Van Cleave back into the band on Rhodes/violin, etc., I’m glad those experiments haven’t been left by the wayside.
Have to wonder if All Them Witches aren’t thinking a 2LP compilation of all these songs when the year’s over, but I suppose we have many more months to speculate throughout 2022 as they build toward the entirety of Baker’s Dozen in a track-per-month rate and one to grow on.
Are we thinking last Friday of every month here? If so, I’ll go ahead and hold a spot for March 25 now.
Enjoy:
All Them Witches, “Fall Into Place” official video
‘Fall Into Place,’ the second song from our Baker’s Dozen project, is yours to enjoy.
‘Fall Into Place’ is the second song from ATW’s project, “Baker’s Dozen.” Baker’s Dozen will feature 13 songs, one each month in 2022 plus an extra track.
Listen to the first Baker’s Dozen song, ‘Blacksnake Blues,’ now: https://allthemwitches.lnk.to/blacksnake
All Them Witches is: Charles Michael Parks, Jr – bass, vocals Ben McLeod – guitar, vocals Robby Staebler – drums, vocals Allan Van Cleave – Rhodes piano, keys, violin
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 28th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Nashville’s All Them Witches return to their heavy blues roots on their new song “Blacksnake Blues,” part of a single-per-month project that’s been dubbed Baker’s Dozen and will feature — you guessed it — a song for each month in 2022 and one to grow on. The band last year announced they’d been rejoined by multi-instrumentalist/organist Allan Van Cleave, and though tour plans for 2020 and 2021 were largely scuttled, the four-piece apparently weren’t sitting still. “Blacksnake Blues” is the first new offering with Van Cleave alongside bassist/vocalist Charles Michael Parks, Jr., guitarist Ben McLeod and drummer/visual artist Robbie Staebler since 2017’s Sleeping Through the War (review here), and its 11-minute run demonstrates the spaciousness his work brought to the band in the first place, allowing the jam into fluid reaches it might not otherwise be able to find in quite the same way.
Van Cleave and McLeod both shine here, and Staebler‘s gentle shove of momentum is no less signature All Them Witches than Parks‘ willing-to-be-soulful-but-not-just-aping-a-blues-delivery verses. They proceed through the verses with due swagger for a veteran band doing what they do, but nothing here is overwrought, even as the jam takes hold and they make their way out, not to return. I don’t know if “Blacksnake Blues” is an indicator as to the mood or vibe of the rest of what will feature in Baker’s Dozen — given everything the band have done to-date in any incarnation, ever, I suspect not — but as a surprise and a heads up that there’s plenty more to come amid the long swath of tour dates they’ve announced for much of 2022, well, the news is welcome and I’ll take it as it comes. There are a lot of fans of earlier All Them Witches who are going to be very, very much on board with this.
And if it gets on Bandcamp, remember to grab it while you can because their digital stuff doesn’t always stay forever. Just saying.
Blacksnake Blues is the first song from ATW’s upcoming project, “Baker’s Dozen.” Baker’s Dozen will feature 13 songs, one each month in 2022 plus an extra track.
You know what? We’re through the first week of the Quarterly Review as of this post. Not too bad. I feel like it’s been smooth going so far to such a degree that I’m even thinking about adding an 11th day comprised purely of releases that came my way this week and will invariably come in next week too. Crazy, right? Bonus day QR. We’ll see if I get there, but I’m thinking about it. That alone should tell you something.
But let me not get ahead of myself. Day five commence.
Quarterly Review #41-50:
Howling Giant, Alteration
Let the story be that when the pandemic hit, Nashville’s Howling Giant took to the airwaves to provide comfort, character and a bit of ‘home’ — if one thinks of live performance as home — to their audience. With a steady schedule of various live streams on Twitch, some playing music, some playing D&D, the band engaged their listenership in a new and exciting way, finding a rare bright point in one of the darkest years of recent history. Alteration, a crisp four-song/20-minute EP, is born out of those streamed jams, with songs named by the band’s viewers/listeners — kudos to whoever came up with “Luring Alluring Rings” — and, being entirely instrumental from a band growing more and more focused on vocal arrangements, sound more like they’re on their way to being finished than are completely done. However, that’s also the point of the release, essentially to showcase unfinished works in progress that have emerged in a manner that nobody expected. It is another example from last year-plus that proves the persistence of creativity, and is all the more beautiful for that.
Vaguely lysergic, twanging with a non-chestbeating or jingoistic ’70s American singer-songwriter feel, Rose City Band‘s Earth Trip brings sentiment without bitterness in its songs, engaging as the title hints with nature in songs like “Silver Roses,” “In the Rain,” “Lonely Planes,” “Ramblin’ with the Day,” “Rabbit” and “Dawn Patrol.” An outlet for Ripley Johnson, also of Wooden Shjips and Moon Duo, the “band” isn’t so much in Rose City Band, but there is some collaboration — pedal steel here and there, as on “Ramblin’ with the Day” — though it’s very much Johnson‘s own craft and performance at the core of this eight-song set. This is the third Rose City Band long-player in three years, but quickly as it may have come about, the tracks never feel rushed — hushed, if anything — and Johnson effectively casts himself in among the organic throughout the proceedings, making the listener feel nothing if not welcome to join the ramble.
Johannesburg, South Africa’s The Tazers are suited to a short-release format, as their Dream Machine EP shows, bringing together four tracks with psychedelic precociousness and garage rock attitude to spare, with just an edge of classic heavy to keep things grooving. Their latest work opens with its languid and lysergic title-track, which sets up the shove of “Go Away” and the shuffle in “Lonely Road” — both under three and a half minutes long, with nary a wasted second in them, despite sounding purposefully like tossoffs — and the latter skirts the line of coming undone, but doesn’t, of course, but in the meantime sets up the almost proto-New Wave in the early going on “Around Town,” only later to give way to the band’s most engaging melody and a deceptively patient, gentle finish, which considering some of the brashness in the earlier tracks is a surprise. A pleasant one, though, and not the first the three-piece have brought forth by the time they get to the end of Dream Machine‘s ultra-listenable 16-minute run.
Pressed in an ultra-limited edition of 34 tapes (the physical version also has a bonus track), Kavrila‘s Rituals III brings together about 16 minutes of heavy hardcore and post-hardcore, a thickened undertone giving something of a darker mood to the crunch of “Equality” as guitars are layered in subtly in a higher register, feeding into the urgency without competing with the drums or vocals. Opener “Sunday” works at more of a rush while “Longing” has more of a lurch at least to its outset before gradually elbowing its way into a more careening groove, but the bridge being built is between sludge and hardcore, and while the four-piece aren’t the first to build it, they do well here. If we’re picking highlights, closer “Elysium” has deft movement, intensity and atmosphere in kind, and still features a vocal rawness that pushes the emotional crux between the verses and choruses to make the transitions that much smoother. The ending fades out early behind those shouts, leaving the vocals stranded, calling out the song’s title into a stark emptiness.
Brutal rebirth. Robin Van Oyen is the lone figure behind Bruges, Belgium-based death-doom outfit Gateway, and Flesh Reborn is his first EP in three years. Marked out with guest guitar solos by M., the four-track/25-minute offering keeps its concentration on atmosphere as much as raw punishment, and while one would be correct to call it ‘extreme’ in its purpose and execution, its deathliest aspects aren’t just the growling vocals or periods of intense blast, but the wash of distortion that lays over the offering as a whole, from “Hel” through “Slumbering Crevasses,” the suitably twisting, later lurching “Rack Crawler” and the grandeur-in-filth 12-minute closing title-track, at which point the fullness of the consumption is revealed at last. Unbridled as it seems, this material is not without purpose and is not haphazard. It is the statement it intends to be, and its depths are shown to be significant as Van Oyen pulls you further down into them with each passing moment, finally leaving you there amid residual drone.
Admirably punk in its dexterity, Bala‘s debut album, Maleza, arrives as a nine-track pummelfest from the Spanish duo of guitarist/vocalist Anx and drummer/vocalist V., thickened with sludgy intent and aggression to spare. The starts and stops of opener “Agitar” provide a noise-rock-style opening that hints at the tonal push to come throughout “Hoy No” — the verse melody of which seems to reinvent The Bangles — while the subsequent “X” reaches into greater breadth, vocals layered effectively as a preface perhaps to the later grunge of “Riuais,” which arrives ahead of the swaggering riff and harsh sneer of “Bessie” the lumbering finale “Una Silva.” Whether brooding in “Quieres Entrar” or explosive in its shove in “Cien Obstaculos,” Maleza offers stage-style energy with clarity of vision and enough chaos to make the anger feel genuine. There’s apparently some hype behind Bala, and fair enough, but this is legitimately one of the best debut albums I’ve heard in 2021.
French prog-fuzz five-piece Tremor Ama make a coherent and engaging debut with Beneath, a first full-length following up a 2017 self-titled EP release. Spacious guitar leads the way through the three-minute intro “Ab Initio” and into the subsequent “Green Fire,” giving a patient launch to the outing, the ensuing four songs of which grow shorter as they go behind that nine-minute “Green Fire” stretch. There’s room for ambience and intensity both in centerpiece “Eclipse,” with vocals echoing out over the building second half, and both “Mirrors” and “Grey” offer their moments of surge as well, the latter tapping into a roll that should have fans of Forming the Void nodding both to the groove and in general approval. Effectively tipping the balance in their sound over the course of the album as a whole, Tremor Ama showcase an all-the-more thoughtful approach in this debut, and at 30 minutes, they still get out well ahead of feeling overly indulgent or losing sight of their overarching mission.
Delivered on multiple formats including as a 12″ vinyl through Regain Records offshoot Helter Skelter Productions, the bleary cultistry of The Crooked Whispers‘ two-songer Dead Moon Night also finds the Los Angeles-based outfit recently picked up by Ripple Music. If it seems everybody wants a piece of The Crooked Whispers, that’s fair enough for the blend of murk, sludge and charred devil worship the foursome offer with “Hail Darkness” and the even more gruesome “Galaxy of Terror,” taking the garage-doom rawness of Uncle Acid and setting against a less Beatlesian backdrop, trading pop hooks for classic doom riffing on the second track, flourishing in its misery as it is. At just 11 minutes long — that’s less than a minute for each inch of the vinyl! — Dead Moon Night is a grim forecast of things to come for the band’s deathly revelry, already showcased too on last year’s debut, Satanic Whispers (review here).
Schooled, oldschool doom rock for denim-clad heads as foggy as the distortion they present, No Stone‘s debut album, Road into the Darkness, sounds like they already got there. The Rosario, Argentina, trio tap into some Uncle Acid-style garage doom vibes on “The Frayed Endings,” but the crash is harder, and the later 10-minute title-track delves deeper into psychedelia and grunge in kind, resulting in an overarching spirit that’s too weird to be anything but individual, however mmuch it might still firmly reside within the tenets of “cult.” If you were the type to chase down a patch, you might want to chase down a No Stone patch, as “Devil Behind” makes its barebones production feel like an aesthetic choice to offset the boogie to come in “Shadow No More,” and from post-intro opener “Bewitched” to the long fade of “The Sky is Burning,” No Stone balance atmosphere and songcraft in such a way as to herald future progress along this morose path. Maybe they are just getting on the road into the darkness, but they seem to be bringing that darkness with them on the way.
Dead Icons is the sixth full-length from Brazilian psychedelic outfit Firefriend, and throughout its 10 songs and 44 minutes, the band proffer marked shoegaze-style chill and a sense of space, fuzzy and molten in “Hexagonal Mess,” more desert-hued in “Spin,” jangly and out for a march on “Ongoing Crash.” “Home or Exile” takes on that question with due reach, and “Waves” caps with organ alongside the languid guitar, but moments like “Tomorrow” are singular and gorgeous, and though “Three Dimensional Sound Glitch” and “666 Fifth Avenue” border on playful, there’s an overarching melancholy to the flow, as engaging as it is. In its longest pieces — “Tomorrow” (6:05) and “One Thousand Miles High” (5:08) — the “extra” time is well spent in extending the trio’s reach, and while it’s safe to assume that six self-recorded LPs later, Firefriend know what they want to do with their sound, that thing feels amorphous, fleeting, transient somehow here, like a moving target. That speaks to ongoing growth, and is just one of Dead Icons‘ many strengths.
