https://www.high-endrolex.com/18

Review: Various Artists, Live in the Mojave Desert, Vols. 1-5

Posted in Reviews on April 13th, 2021 by JJ Koczan

live in the mojave desert 1-5

Late in 2020, when the project was announced, Live in the Mojave Desert sounded immediately ambitious. A series of five exclusive streams, taking bands and putting them out in the Californian deserts, with civilization somewhat visible from the aerial drone shots, but definitely far enough away to have been left behind, to record live sets by Giant Rock (see also: Yawning Man, Live at Giant Rock, the video/LP something of a precursor) and be captured doing so by professional audio and video. The series was successfully pulled off, which was impressive in itself, and it set a standard for heavy acts in this era of streaming that few could hope to match. The intention was concert-film, and the results were likewise.

Heavy Psych Sounds and the newly-formed Giant Rock Records — helmed by series director Ryan Jones — have overseen physical pressings of the sets as live albums, taking the audio caught by Dan Joeright of Gatos Trail Studio in Joshua Tree with mixing by Matt Lynch at Mysterious Mammal and others. From this comes Live in the Mojave Desert Vol. 1-5, and from the moment Isaiah Mitchell starts echoing out the notes that signal the pickup in “Violence of the Red Sea” to the final wah-out, crashes and shout of Mountain Tamer‘s “Living in Vain,” it remains clear the series is something special — a grand monument built to an ugly time.

A rundown:

Earthless, Live in the Mojave Desert Vol. 1

earthless live in the mojave desert
(stream review here)

The crazy thing about this series — or one of the crazy things, anyhow — is that if it had been just Earthless, that probably would’ve been enough to be staggering. Admittedly, it is difficult to hear the audio from bassist Mike Eginton, drummer Mario Rubalcaba and the aforementioned Isaiah Mitchell and not think of the desert at night being lit up by the Mad Alchemy Liquid Light Show, drones flying overhead as trippy lights flash and shift with the music, but I’m not sure that’s a bad thing. Earthless played three songs — “Violence of the Red Sea,” “Sonic Prayer” and “Lost in the Cold Sun” — and that’s enough to make their release the only 2LP of the Live in the Mojave Desert set, topping out at about 77 minutes, with the entirety of sides C and D dedicated to “Lost in the Cold Sun”‘s 39-minute sprawl.

There’s a reason Earthless were the headliners for this thing, and it’s because there’s no one else who has the same instrumental dynamic they bring to the stage — or sand, as it were — and because if you’re going for “epic” as a standard, they’re the band you call. Will Live in the Mojave Desert Vol. 1 replace Live at Roadburn 2008 (discussed here) as the band’s supreme live-recorded statement? I don’t know, but it sure sounds incredible. “Sonic Prayer” comes through with due sense of worship and “Lost in the Cold Sun” fuzzy grace feels like the kind of thing a future generation might think of as classic rock. Watching, it was easy to get lost in the show, follow the head-spinning turns of guitar atop the ultra-sure foundation of bass and drums, and listening, it’s the same. With an exquisite mix and a vital performance, it’s every bit the best-case-scenario for what Live in the Mojave Desert could and should be.

Earthless on Thee Facebooks

Earthless on Twitter

Earthless on Instagram

Earthless on Bandcamp

Nebula, Live in the Mojave Desert Vol. 2

nebula live in the mojave desert
(stream review here)

With Live in the Mojave Desert Vol. 2, I consider Nebula‘s comeback complete. The band reformed in 2017, hit the road hard, and in 2019 offered up the return studio full-length, Holy Shit! (review here), and toured again for as long as that option was available. They have new material in the works too, and what’s most striking about the trio’s performance the 10-song/48-minute set here is how characteristic it sounds. Drummer Mike Amster (also Mondo Generator, etc.) and bassist Tom Davies strap the listener down while founding guitarist/vocalist Eddie Glass takes off to the center of the universe, and amid classics like that opener, Holy Shit! cuts like “Messiah,” “Let’s Get Lost,” “Man’s Best Friend” and the new song “Wall of Confusion” fit right in. There’s never a doubt, never a question of who you’re hearing. Even the sloppiest moments are pure Nebula.

That’s what they’ve always been — part punk, part heavy psych, part pure go — and Live in the Mojave Desert Vol. 2 brings that to bear without question. As a follow-up to Holy Shit! as well as the band’s second sanctioned live recording behind 2008’s Peel Session, it captures their inimitable sonic persona and the sense of chaos that their material always seems to carry, like it’s all about to come apart at any second and if it did, fuck it anyway, you’re the one with the problem. It never does come apart here, which I guess is to the band’s credit as well, but this set is nonetheless a full expression of who Nebula are as a group. Now get to work on that next record.

Nebula on Thee Facebooks

Nebula on Instagram

Spirit Mother, Live in the Mojave Desert Vol. 3

spirit mother live in the mojave desert

(stream review here)

If one might think of including Spirit Mother in the series as a risk, the risk was mild at best, and as the first of two bands representing a next generation of California’s heavy underground, the Long Beach troupe more than acquitted themselves well in their relatively brief 10-song/33-minute showing. Live in the Mojave Desert Vol. 3 basks in the violin-conjured atmospheres of the four-piece’s debut album, Cadets (review here), and wants nothing for impact to complement that ethereal sensibility. Their songs are short, and that gives them a kind of proto-grunge edge, and the vocals of bassist Armand Lance, who shares those duties with violinist SJ, add drug-punkish urgency to the procession of one song into the next.

For a band coming off their first album, they are intricate in aesthetic in ways that might surprise new listeners, and that’s exactly why they feature behind Nebula in this series. Hearing them dig into “Black Sheep” and “Martyrs” and “Dead Cells” on Live in the Mojave Desert Vol. 3 is the best argument I can think of in favor of signing the band for their next studio release, and if Heavy Psych Sounds doesn’t, someone else surely will. Not trying to tell anyone their business, of course, but Spirit Mother are happening one way or another. That combination of air, earth, and fuzz is too good to leave out.

Spirit Mother on Thee Facebooks

Spirit Mother on Instagram

Spirit Mother on Bandcamp

Spirit Mother website

Stöner, Live in the Mojave Desert Vol. 4

Stöner live in the mojave desert

(stream review here)

Aired fifth but billed almost inevitably as Vol. 4, the unveiling of Stöner, the new trio from Brant Bjork and Nick Oliveri with Ryan Gut (also of the former’s solo band) on drums was a bonus to the Live in the Mojave Desert. On-again-off-again collaborators across decades, Bjork and Oliveri nestled into mostly laid-back, stripped down grooves, their stated purpose in going back to the roots of the sound they helped create in the first place. The Kyuss-ness of the central riff of opener “Rad Stays Rad” is no less demonstration of their having done so than the driving punk of the Oliveri-fronted “Evel Never Dies.” The vibe is nostalgic in that song, as well as “Rad Stays Rad,” the gleefully funked “Stand Down,” and “The Older Kids,” but if Stöner is about looking back at this point, they’re doing so with fresh eyes.

To wit, “Own Yer Blues,” “Nothin’,” and the 13-minute mint-jam finale “Tribe/Fly Girl” are more endemic of who these players have become than who they were in the early ’90s or before, and that applies to “Stand Down” too. Bjork‘s vocals sound double-tracked on some of the parts (or at least close delay), but he and Oliveri work well together as one would expect, and as a reveal for what these guys had come up with in renewing their collaboration, Live in the Mojave Desert Vol. 4 offers seven memorable songs that would make anything more seem unnecessarily fancied up. If their calling card is that rad stays rad, they prove it. And I know he’s not the top bill in the trio with Bjork‘s flow and Oliveri‘s bass tone, but Gut‘s contributions here aren’t to be understated.

Stoner on Instagram

Stoner website

Mountain Tamer, Live in the Mojave Desert Vol. 5

mountain tamer live in the mojave desert

(stream review here)

Second only to Stöner in curiosity factor, L.A. trio Mountain Tamer have always held a darker edge in their sound, and that comes through in the brash 36 minutes, shouts and screams echoing out over fuzzed garage metal in a fuckall that’s punk in attitude but angrier in its underlying core. Guitarist/vocalist Andrew Hall, bassist Dave Teget and drummer Casey Garcia are the kind of band who open the show and sell the most merch when they’re done. The elements they’re working with are familiar and have been all along in their decade together and across their three LPs — the latest of them, 2020’s Psychosis Ritual (review here), was released by Heavy Psych Sounds — but more even than in their studio work, Live in the Mojave Desert Vol. 5 brought to light just how much their own their sound really is.

Whether languid as in “Chained” or “Black Noise” or furious as in “Warlock” and “Living in Vain,” Mountain Tamer give Nebula a run for their money in terms of chaos, and easily make for the most pissed off listen of the bunch in Live in the Mojave Desert. The relative roughness of their edge suits them, however, and the rampant echo on the guitar assures there’s still a spacious sound to act as counterbalance to all that thrashing and gnashing. If you can call it balance, I don’t know, but it works for them and they wield their sound as knife more than bludgeon when it comes to it.

Mountain Tamer on Thee Facebooks

Mountain Tamer on Instagram

Mountain Tamer on Bandcamp

Live in the Mojave Desert Vol. 1-5 teaser

Giant Rock Records Instagram

Live in the Mojave Desert website

Heavy Psych Sounds on Thee Facebooks

Heavy Psych Sounds on Instagram

Heavy Psych Sounds website

Heavy Psych Sounds on Bandcamp

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Video Interview: Tom Davies of Nebula Talks ‘Live in the Mojave’, New Album and More

Posted in Bootleg Theater, Features on February 10th, 2021 by JJ Koczan

nebula for interview

According to Nebula bassist/backing vocalist Tom Davies, the venerable Los Angeles trio have about 17 songs written for their next album in one stage or another of completion. Sounds like plenty, right? To put that to scale, 2019’s Holy Shit (review here) had nine. So that’s at least a full-length and probably an EP’s worth, with some odds and ends left over either for later or the riffy scrapheap. In any case, Davies, founding guitarist/vocalist Eddie Glass and drummer Mike Amster are hoping to record in the next couple months with an eye toward releasing in the Fall.

If the last year taught humanity anything, though, it’s that the best laid plans often… catch the plague? Whatever. Nebula in 2020 were to have taken off on tour with fellow stoner legends Monster Magnet on a US tour that was to begin right around the time everything started locking down. The good news, I suppose, is they had time to write and work on 17 songs in a way they’ve never done before — Glass also became a father for the first time; his and his girlfriend’s baby has a cameo in the ‘Couchlock and Rock’ segment preceding their recent ‘Live in the Mojave Desert’ livestream (review here), and is of course an adorable lump of mini-humanity as babies are at that stage of life — and whenever it surfaces, Holy Shit‘s follow-up will continue the band’s post-reunion shift back into a full-on working group.

And if you didn’t watch it, ‘Live in the Mojave Desert’ is proof-positive of exactly why that’s good news. The trio, set up out in the desert, first sunset, then psychedelic oil projections from Mad Alchemy surrounding, live-album-worthy sound (which is fortunate, since the set will be a live album on Heavy Psych Sounds) and drones flying around capturing the whole thing — the production scale is massive for a livestream — but at the core of it is Nebula kicking ass in classic form. A power trio. Davies and Amster, with absolutely locked in grooves despite not having done a show in however long, while Glass rips out another solo because what the hell the world’s ending anyway. If that’s to be the shape of human dystopia, then at least we know hedonism will outlive us.

Davies, loungin’ in his home studio, took some time out to talk about the process of making the stream — he hadn’t seen the finished product yet when we spoke, and neither had I — as well as writing and recording, life during lockdown in the desert, and more.

Please enjoy:

Nebula Interview with Tom Davies, Feb. 4, 2021

A video of “Let’s Get Lost” was posted as a preview for the full stream that aired this past weekend. You can see that and stream Holy Shit in its entirety both below.

Nebula, “Let’s Get Lost” from Live in the Mojave Desert Vol. 2

Nebula, Holy Shit (2019)

Nebula on Thee Facebooks

Nebula on Instagram

Live in the Mojave Desert tickets at Tixr

Stoned and Dusted Instagram

Stoned and Dusted on Thee Facebooks

Heavy Psych Sounds on Thee Facebooks

Heavy Psych Sounds website

Heavy Psych Sounds on Bandcamp

Tags: , , , , ,

Live Stream Review: Nebula, Live in the Mojave Desert

Posted in Reviews on February 8th, 2021 by JJ Koczan

nebula live in the mojave desert with header

A good many have tried, but the special off-the-rails sensibility in Nebula has never properly been duplicated. Often associated with the Californian desert rock scene — something the trio played into with the fisheye-instruments-on-sand cover art for their 1999 debut, To the Center (discussed here, also here), though it was recorded in Seattle — they might in fact be the last great stoner rock band, founded by guitarist Eddie Glass alongside fellow Fu Manchu alums Mark Abshire and Ruben Romano. With Glass‘ classic shred and loose swinging riffs, drawling vocals and flourishes of hard garage and psychedelia throughout, Nebula have nonetheless remained a punk act throughout their tenure, and that combination of elements in the precise measure brought to bear by Glass — now joined in the cause by bassist/backing vocalist Tom Davies and drummer Mike Amster (also Mondo Generator, ex-Blaak Heat, etc.) — has made them a standout for over two decades.

That tenure was interrupted following the release of 2009’s Heavy Psych (review here) and a 2010 split with Quest for Fire on Tee Pee Records, but with a return in 2017 that led to much touring and the release of 2019’s comebacker Holy Shit (review here), Nebula have remained vital, and more importantly, have remained Nebula. As the second installment of producer/director Ryan Jones‘ ‘Live in the Mojave Desert’ stream series, they seem right at home for a band who spent 2020 off the road. Maybe there’s a little shaking off the dust as they get started with the title-track of the aforementioned To the Center, but between the desert wind and the air being pushed by Amster‘s kick and the amps of Davies and Glass, there’s little to worry about in that regard.

The basic idea of presentation was much the same as with the first installment a couple weeks ago that featured Earthless (review here): take a heavy band out to the desert, set them up with pro audio and lights, multiple cameras, drones buzzing around getting wide shots and scenery, and when night falls, let Mad Alchemy‘s Lance Gordon and crew light it up with psychedelic oil projections as it seems only they could. Following an hour of interview and preview/promotional programming — including sample audio from upcoming Spirit Mother and Mountain Tamer streams — Nebula start circa sunset under a gorgeous turquoise sky and tear into a set of new material and old with signature ferocity, the inheritors of whatever oozing degenerate vibe once made The Stooges seem so dangerous, and soon enough are jamming through “Man’s Best Friend,” “Giant” from 2001’s Charged and “Clearlight” again from the debut, drones still showing a bit of daylight left though the band seem by then thoroughly locked into a world of their own.

Spacey samples push the far-far-out feel for “Clearlight,” and after new song “Wall of Confusion” and Holy Shit‘s “Tomorrow Never Comes,” there’s a quick interview break filmed after the set that acts as a buffer before the second half of the show. They talk about favorite concert films — Live at Pompeii, The Song Remains the Samethough Glass is largely unintelligible beneath a gorilla mask. As one might suspect, when they restart, it’s with the Mad Alchemy light show behind them, and “Let’s Get Lost,” which served last week as a preview clip ahead of the full performance airing, earns its place as a focal point here as well.

nebula

It is an anti-anthem, a punk track that’s too high to see straight and too talented to fall completely apart, though not for lack of trying. The lyrics “take some drugs,” “drop out” and “society’s a bummer” flash on the screen before the song is deconstructed to synthy sampling and effects noise, Amster‘s holding-it-all-together drums signaling the transition into “Messiah,” another Holy Shit highlight, which Glass solos into oblivion leading to a moment of silence that’s so loud it’s damn near poignant. Wait. Am I supposed to be feeling feelings right now?

No time. “Perfect Rapture” from the Quest for Fire split drawls into the more uptempo “It’s All Over” and “Witching Hour,” a quick nod to Dead Kennedys included, and they finish cold as the video fades out. By then, Nebula have clearly demonstrated their much-missed unfuckwithability as a live act, and the lack of crowd — with a substantial crew, some trailers shown in the early drone shots, porta-johns, trucks tucked off to the side, and so on, they’re not quite void of audience — does nothing to dull their impact. Their dynamic has changed over the years with different players, but the unhinged nature of their approach remains singular and remains their own.

Watching a Nebula stream would probably already be the kind of thing that’s a highlight of whatever afternoon, and they’ve done one or two prior to this. The difference, of course, is the professional, concert-film level at which ‘Live in the Mojave Desert’ is executed. On a sheer production level, it’s unmatched by anything I’ve seen in the streaming era, and in the use of visual effects, Sam Grant‘s skillful, rhythmic editing, the inclusion of Mad Alchemy and the sense of urgency that’s driving the whole project, it is a rare positive marker for this time that has disintegrated the live music experience and perhaps changed it permanently.

I mean that. ‘Live in the Mojave Desert’ rises to meet the moment in which it’s happening. It’s not about a middle finger to COVID, though I guess it’s that too, and it’s not just a reminder that bands are still cool. It’s something more its own; a grand-scale passion project that’s open to public view. Will people talk about Nebula at Skull Rock like Pink Floyd in Pompeii? Shit if I know. Ask me in 50 years. But right now, the comfort and the reassurance ‘Live in the Mojave Desert’ provides isn’t to be understated. For just a little while, letting go mentally and and following those drones as they soar over lit-up boulders, it kind of seems like it’ll just be what it’s gonna be. Life’s hard, everything’s hard, but at least there’s this.

Nebula, “Let’s Get Lost” from Live in the Mojave Desert Vol. 2

Nebula on Thee Facebooks

Nebula on Instagram

Live in the Mojave Desert tickets at Tixr

Stoned and Dusted Instagram

Stoned and Dusted on Thee Facebooks

Heavy Psych Sounds on Thee Facebooks

Heavy Psych Sounds website

Heavy Psych Sounds on Bandcamp

Tags: , , , , ,

Nebula: “Let’s Get Lost” Video from Live in the Mojave Desert Posted

Posted in Bootleg Theater on February 4th, 2021 by JJ Koczan

nebula live in the mojave desert

It is my hope that by the time this post reaches your eyes — tomorrow morning or early afternoon to me, stuck in the past — you’ve not only already seen this video already, but it’s entirety superfluous because you’re not only aware of how righteous it is, you’ve already secured your access to Nebula‘s ‘Live in the Mojave Desert’ stream, the second in the series of five being put on by producer Ryan Jones (also of the Stoned and Dusted fest), which airs this Saturday.

If you missed it, the first installment in the series featured Earthless (review here), and I’m not shitting you when I say it was such stuff as dreams are made of. And if you can think of a better follow-up to have shredding fuzz in the desert night than Nebula (among bands who actually exist), then cheers, you’re one up on me. Door prizes include spending 12 years of your life blogging imaginary conversations with no one. Good luck.

Like the Earthless stream, there will be two hours of programming. First hour, interviews, all very super-casual and Californian. Second hour, you get to watch Nebula kill it in hi def. If you were to actually go to a show and see Nebula, as I did in Sept. 2019 (review here), it still would not be the same as this experience, not only because it’s clearer than you’re seeing any night Nebula are playing, but also because of the Mad Alchemy crew lighting up the desert night, the pro-shop audio mix and master, and the fucking drones buzzing around taking video from above.

Look. If we’ve ever been friends, I’m telling you, this series is something special. And I know they’re putting out vinyl and videos and whatever after the fact through Heavy Psych Sounds, and I’m sure as hell not going to say don’t buy it — because, yeah, do — but this is the kind of thing that if you’re not on board for it as it’s happening, you stand a good chance of regretting that later. That’s all I’ve got.

Here’s Nebula doing “Let’s Get Lost”:

Nebula, “Let’s Get Lost” from Live in the Mojave Desert Vol. 2

LIVE IN THE MOJAVE DESERT is a livestream concert film series created in the California wilderness, with performances from Earthless, Nebula, Spirit Mother, Mountain Tamer, and STONER (a new band by Brant Bjork and Nick Oliveri).

Each film will be presented in a world-premiere, 1080p HD livestream event hosted by the California Desert Wizards, the bands, and your favorite rock heroes of the California Desert Rock scene. It’s gonna be a party so get ready for rad music, good times, and other far out content.

Each event will last two hours which will include an hour long “Couchlock and Rock” session featuring a chat hosted by the California Desert Wizards alongside special guests including band members and icons from the California Desert Rock scene—think if MTV in the 80’s was run by heshers and stoners. The second hour will feature the 1080p HD livestream concert film experience. The band lineup includes:

EARTHLESS – Saturday, January 23
NEBULA – Saturday, February 6
SPIRIT MOTHER – Saturday, February 20
MOUNTAIN TAMER – Saturday, March 6
STONER (the new project from Brant Bjork and Nick Oliveri)– Saturday, March 20

Nebula on Thee Facebooks

Nebula on Instagram

Live in the Mojave Desert tickets at Tixr

Stoned and Dusted Instagram

Stoned and Dusted on Thee Facebooks

Heavy Psych Sounds on Thee Facebooks

Heavy Psych Sounds website

Heavy Psych Sounds on Bandcamp

Tags: , , , , ,