Posted in Whathaveyou on October 3rd, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Look. I’m not gonna fart around here. This is Solace we’re talking about. It’s not just another oh-hey-band-who-tours-all-the-time-is-announcing-a-tour sort of announcement. This is a different thing. The New Jersey stalwarts, in defiance of science, any and all gods, and general common sense, will in January embark on a rare-these-days stretch of dates outside the Garden State, making their way to Las Vegas to leave a bruise on Planet Desert Rock Weekend V alongside the likes of Mos Generator, Sergeant Thunderhoof, Unida, and so on. I’ll be honest, I’m looking at flights for it. I don’t know that it’s something I can make happen — finding a place to crash will be a crucial determining factor — but if I end up going, Solace will be a big part of why.
The tour launches Jan. 24 in Richmond, Virginia, after a Jan. 3 show in Atlantic City celebrating the birthday of one of the two members in the band named Justin, and if you’ll notice, there are still a couple TBD dates as they make their way through Texas and into the Southwest. They’ve got Dallas, Austin and Phoenix listed, so if you’re in any of those places and can help out, do. Not only is it good karma sure to be repaid by the universe in some manner, but you’re also bound to reap a sick payday from the insurance when Solace blow the roof off whatever room you put them in. Book the gig and get ready to make a claim. I’ve seen them any number of times in any number of situations and they have never, ever, ever, not delivered.
Bonus that they’ll have new material to work out on the road. Their last record was 2019’s The Brink (review here) on Blues Funeral, and 2025 would be as good a time as any for a foll0w-up. But Solace don’t owe anyone anything, so whatever they do and whenever they do it, it’s a thing to be treasured.
From the PR wire:
SOLACE will be hitting the road January 2025 on our way out to Vegas for Planet Desert Rock Fest.
We are thrilled that we’re finally going to play a few cities that we haven’t had the chance to visit.
Right now we’re polishing up new material and plan to get into the studio next spring for the follow-up to The Brink. We’ll be playing some of this on the road for sure as well as a few “classics” from our earlier years.
Solace live: -Fri Jan. 3rd Atlantic City, NJ @ Anchor Rock Club, Justin’s Birthday Bash w/ Michael Rudolph Cummings & Johnny Pipe, Featuring “Master of Ceremonies” BRIAN O’HALLORAN -Thurs Jan. 23rd Richmond, VA @ Bandito’s w/ Book of Wyrms -Fri Jan. 24th Atlanta, GA @ Star Bar w/ Hot Ram -Sat Jan. 25th New Orleans, LA @ Siberia -Mon Jan. 27th Houston, TX @ Black Magic Social Club -Tues Jan. 28th TBD, Dallas -Wed Jan. 29th TBD, Austin -Fri Jan. 31st TBD, Phoenix -Sat Feb. 1st Las Vegas, NV @ Planet Desert Rock Fest -Fri March 28 Baltimore, MD @ The Depot -Sat March 29 Columbus, OH @ Ace Of Cups
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 27th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
When last we heard from Jersey riff heroes The Atomic Bitchwax, the trio were set to take off in November for a round of touring alongside Supersuckers. Turns out that’s only part of the plan. Three days after that tour plays its last show in Salt Lake City, the Bitchwax will link up with Royal Thunder for a co-headlining jaunt through the Midwest and Southeast, playing nine shows across 10 nights with what I’ve no doubt will be the kind of get-up-there-and-kick-ass energy they’ve brought to just about every show I’ve seen them play. A perennially undervalued outfit, it’s cool to see them partnered with the cred-toting likes of Royal Thunder, who have a different kind of sound than the go-go-go speed rock around which The Atomic Bitchwax base their style, but should make a fitting complement just the same.
I said as much when the last tour (also listed below, because it’s the same month and it didn’t seem unreasonable to put them together) was announced, but The Atomic Bitchwax are at four years’ remove from 2020’s Scorpio (review here). I’ve hot my fingers crossed they’ll record this winter, but I’ve neither seen nor heard anything to back that with. Just a random hope followed by one for a new LP in 2025. Their 1999 self-titled debut (discussed here) also turns 25 this year. They still work a few songs from it into their regular set, but I wouldn’t argue if they did a full-album show somewhere along the line or maybe even got a reissue together, though I think they did one for the 20th in 2019. Quarter-century later, they’re a different band in terms of lineup, but that one’s still a burner. Toss it on the pile of my Bitchwaxy hopes.
In any case, go see The Atomic Bitchwax. Dates from socials:
Fall Co-Headlining Tour with @royalthunder announced! We hope to see you there!
11/14/24 Oklahoma City OK 89th St 11/15/24 Dallas TX Granada Theater 11/16/24 San Antonio TX Paper Tiger 11/17/24 Austin TX Come and Take It Live 11/19/24 Nashville TN The Cobra 11/20/24 Atlanta GA The Earl 11/21/24 Piedmont SC Tribble’s Bar 11/22/24 Chapel Hill NC Local 506 11/23/24 Summerville SC Trolley Pub
Bitchwax & The Supersuckers! 11/05/24 Club Cafe Pittsburgh 11/06/24 Reggies Chicago Chicago 11/07/24 Turf Club St Paul 11/08/24 Cactus Club Milwaukee 11/09/24 Knuckleheads CMO 11/10/24 Saloon HQ Denver 11/11/24 Urban Lounge Salt Lake City
The Atomic Bitchwax are: Chris Kosnik – Bass Bob Pantella – Drums Garrett Sweeny – Guitar
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 16th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
The moral of the story here is go see The Atomic Bitchwax. I don’t have demographic numbers on how many people in Pittsburgh or Denver or St. Paul read this site, and frankly, I don’t want them. Once you start looking at ratings, you’re playing for ratings, and I’m here for the music. So in that spirit, whether you’re in Chicago — hi, Slevin! — or Basel, Switzerland, when you get the chance to catch The Atomic Bitchwax, I urge you to do it. Whenever, wherever.
Last I saw the Neptunian trio was in June (review here) as they shared a two-band bill with Virginia’s Freedom Hawk in a town called Clifton about 25 minutes from my house. They played a brewery and there were seats outside. It felt like a luxury experience because it was. Your situation might be different, but the Bitchwax will still rip, and you would benefit by being there. I’ll bet they’ll do “Coming in Hot.” Think of going as looking out for number one. Pure self-interest on your own part. Indulge, as the chocolate ads say.
They’ll be out with The Supersuckers, which is a fun pairing, and as much as I’m ready for a follow-up to 2020’s Scorpio (review here), it’s just reassuring to know the Bitchwax are getting out here and there to do a week of dates in places maybe they have or haven’t been in a while, I don’t know. Worry about the rest later. For now, here are those dates from social media. Really.
Also: KHAAAAN!
Really! November 2024 Bitchwax & The Supersuckers!
11/05/24 Club Cafe Pittsburgh 11/06/24 Reggies Chicago Chicago 11/07/24 Turf Club St Paul 11/08/24 Cactus Club Milwaukee 11/09/24 Knuckleheads CMO 11/10/24 Saloon HQ Denver 11/11/24 Urban Lounge Salt Lake City
The Atomic Bitchwax are: Chris Kosnik – Bass Bob Pantella – Drums Garrett Sweeny – Guitar
Life, man. This was my first night back in Jersey after being away for I think what ended up being nine days. Yesterday was a flight from Vegas to Providence via Baltimore, after driving from the Grand Canyon to Vegas the day before, from Mesa Verde to Grand Canyon the day before, Moab to Mesa Verde, Arches, etc., Zion to Moab and Vegas to Zion way back like a million years and a week and a half ago. The short version of the story is I was fucking exhausted. But, Freedom Hawk and The Bitchwax. In Clifton. At a brewery. It’s not like it was literally happening in my back yard, but it was as close to it as I could reasonably ask.
First heavy show at Ghost Hawk Brewing, and sold out to boot, so there’s a chance of it not being the last. Mellow vibe, dudes getting casually lager-drunk; I’ll call it relatable on demographic terms and stroke my graying beard. Food truck right there with the empanadas. I wasn’t in the door before I saw familiar faces. I’m pro-heavy rock in my beloved Garden State across a wide variety of situations, but if the Powers That Book wanted to make Ghost Hawk a stop on the circuit for bands coming through on tour now or ever, I’d call myself lucky. I neither drink alcohol nor eat cubanos at this point in my life, but the spot is pretty rad. Two bands, 7:30 start, a DJ playing cool whathaveyou in one of those turntable setups that are performative but kinda neat just the same. A fellow could get used to these things.
Freedom Hawk went on and were a couple songs in before the fuse or whatever it might’ve been blew — that whole ‘first heavy show here’ thing coming into play; bound to happen — but were back into it soon enough as the members of The Atomic Bitchwax and about 120 others looked on, surrounded by big-vat brewing machines and kegs with Ghost Hawk stickers on them, a tent outside with hightop tables and the smell of Jersey weed in the parking lot; a lovely evening on all accounts. And though they had that unexpected break, it’s not like Freedom Hawk were going to have trouble picking it up after the power came on. Too much groove to lose it so easily. And they’re all smiles on stage, having a good time, maybe a few drinks as well, and there’s no pretense and nobody’s arguing about absolutely nothing and the music started and I got a loud and clear reminder that that’s when things start to make sense. Well, loud and fuzzy anyhow.
By 10 after eight, the crowd was singing along with the riff to “Inside Out,” and that felt about right. “Indian Summer” followed, which is a signature piece for Freedom Hawk at this point, with a tense NWOBHM chug in its verse en route to an open hook that a fair but not at all exclusive swath of their work since has boasted and expanded on — the kind of tune a band writes and learns from, as they did. Catchy. Crazy catchy. Threatens metal but is a rocker all the way, representative of Freedom Hawk more broadly. And no bullshit. That was the theme for the night. Sans. Bull. Shit. It would take more time or energy than I have to convey how much I needed that. That might just be what ultimately got me to Clifton.
The semi-slowdown of “Stand Back” — I’d been listening to Brant Bjork in the car; decent fit — and “Land of the Lost” rounded out the set that had started raging with “Executioner” and “Under a Blood Red Sky.” The Bitchwax, meanwhile, kicked off with “Frankenstein” and “Hope You Die,” as they will, and went into “45” and “So Come On” directly thereafter, so yes, rock and roll was had. New or old, fast or not-quite-as-fast, The Atomic Bitchwax are a reason unto themselves why New Jersey is the most densely populated state in the union. Founding bassist/vocalist Chris Kosnik asked the crowd how many people had heard of the band; honestly I think most had. Then he said 2024 is their 30th year as a band and they tore into “Birth to the Earth.” Hell yes. What a way to announce yourself. Hi we’ve been here for three decades pardon us while we melt your face. Could only be an improvement, dudes. By all means.
Recent favorites like “Ninja” and “Coming in Hot,” “War Claw,” and so on found the apparently-been-at-it-for-30-years-almost-time-for-reissues-I-guess trio very much in their element as regards speed, and the fun they seemed to have bashing away at high velocity and volume was duly infectious as the songs came and went. Many fuck yeahs were had, from all sides. Kosnik on mic: “This one’s for all the girls…” followed by counting. “1.. 2… 6… If we get up to 10, that’s the most we’ve ever had!” Almost made it. Time for “Kiss the Sun,” the Core cover that might as well be an original by now. Let up on the throttle a bit so Garrett Sweeney’s shred feels all the more soulful, Kosnik and drummer Bob Pantella lockstep in holding the riff for the turn back to the verse and chorus, then on to the heavy boogie finish. Not unexpected, but definitely welcome.
I honestly don’t have it in me to check the balance of new vs. old in the set, let alone lay out the parameters of what counts as what, but it felt right on with where they were at last time I saw them, and “Ninja,” “Live a Little” and “Force Field” felt ace in setting up “Shitkicker” (plus a little more “Frankenstein” to cap) closing out. No bridges. No tunnels. No bullshit anywhere to be found. An evening of rare luxuries.
Back on Rt. 3 headed west to go home, I came upon the offramp for Nutley, and as I do nearly every time I pass by that exit on that road, I thought of my friend Gina Brooks, who lived in that area and is buried at a cemetery a bit down the way. She was someone deeply passionate about music, and supportive and kind to me when she really had no particular reason to be. A friend I’ve missed for over a decade now, and a chance to remember that I appreciated. She would have loved this show. I saw fireworks through the trees after I got on Rt. 80 a short time later. It was a good night.
I wouldn’t say we’re in the home stretch yet, but this 100-release Quarterly Review is more than three-quarters done after today, so I guess it’s debatable. In any case, we proceed. I hope you’ve enjoyed what’s been on offer so far. Yesterday was a little manic, but I got there. Today, tomorrow, I expect much the same. The order of things, as that one Jem’Hadar liked to say.
Quarterly Review #71-80:
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Bongripper, Empty
Eight albums and the emergence of a microgenre cast partly in their image later, it would take a lot for Chicago ultra-crush instrumentalists Bongripper to surprise their listenership, at least as regards their basic approach. If you think that’s a bad thing, fine, but I’d put the 66 minutes of Empty forward to argue otherwise. Six years after 2018’s two-song LP Terminal (review here) — with a live record and single between — the four new songs of Empty dare to sneakily convey a hopeful message in the concave tracklisting: “Nothing” (20:40), “Remains’ (12:04), “Forever” (12:43), “Empty” (21:24). That message might be what’s expressed in the echoing post-metallic lead guitar on the finale and the organ on the prior “Forever,” or, frankly, it might not. Because in the great, lumbering, riffy morass that is their sound, there’s room for multiple interpretations as well as largesse enough to accommodate the odd skyscraper, so take it as you will. Just because you might go into it with some idea of what’s coming doesn’t mean you won’t get flattened.
My general policy as regards “last” records is to never say never until everybody’s holograms have been deleted, but the seven songs and 39 minutes of Degradation Years represent an ending for Destroyer of Light just the same, and the Austin-based troupe end as they began, which is by not being the band people expected them to be. Their previous long-player, 2022’s Panic (review here), dug into atmospheric doom in engrossing fashion, and Degradation Years presents not-at-all-their-first pivot, with post-punk atmospherics and ’90s-alt melodies on “Waiting for the End” and heavy drift on “Perception of Time.” “Failure” is duly sad, where the shorter, riffier “Blind Faith” shreds and careens heading into its verse, and the nine-minute “Where I Cannot Follow” gives Pallbearer‘s emotive crux a look on the way to its airy tremolo finish. Guitarist/vocalist Steve Colca has a couple other nascent projects going, guitarist Keegan Kjeldsen and drummer Kelly Turner are in Slumbering Sun, and Mike Swarbrick who plays bass here is in Cortége, but Destroyer of Light always stood on their own, and they never stopped growing across their 12-year run. Job well done.
If you take away the on-stage theatricality, the medieval/horror fetish play, and all the hype, what you’re left with on Castle Rat‘s first album, Into the Realm is a solid collection of raw, classic-styled doom rock able to account for the Doors-y guitar in the quiet strum of the gets-heavy-later “Cry for Me” as well as the shrieks of “Fresh Fur” and opener “Dagger Dragger,” the nod and chug of “Nightblood” and the proto-metal of “Feed the Dream” via three interludes spaced out across its brief 32-minute stretch. Of course, taking away the drama, the sex, and aesthetic cultistry is missing part of the point of the band in the first place, but what I’m saying is that Into the Realm has more going for it than the fact that the band are young and good looking, willing to writhe, and thus marketable. They could haunt Brooklyn basements for the next 15-20 years or go tour with Ghost tomorrow, I honestly have no clue about their ambitions or goals in that regard, but their songs present a strong stylistic vision in accord with their overarching persona, resonating with a fresh generational take and potential progression. That’s enough on its own to make Into the Realm one of the year’s most notable debuts.
With their third full-length and first for Ripple Music, Detroit trio Temple of the Fuzz Witch — guitarist/vocalist Noah Bruner (also synth), bassist Joe Peet and drummer Taylor Christian — follow their 2020 offering, Red Tide (review here), with a somewhat revamped imagining of who they are. Apotheosis — as high as you can get — introduces layers of harsh vocals and charred vibes amid the consuming lumber of its tonality, still cultish in atmosphere but heavier in its ritualizing and darker. The screams work, and songs like “Nephilim” benefit from Bruner‘s ability to shift from clean to harsh vocals there and across the nine-songer’s 39 minutes, and while there’s plenty of slog, a faster song like “Bow Down” stands out all the more from the grim, somehow-purple mist in which even the spacious midsection of “Raze” seems to reside. The bottom line is if you think you knew who they were or you judged them as a bong-metal tossoff because of their silly name, you’re already missing out. If you’re cool with that, fair enough. It’s not my job to sell you records anyway.
Among the final releases for Trepanation Recordings, White Ink is the years-in-the-making first LP from Bologna, Italy’s State of Non Return — and if you’re hearing a dogwhistle in their moniker for meditative fare because that’s also the name of an Om song, you’re neither entirely correct or incorrect. From the succession of the three circa-nine-minutes-each cuts “Catharsis,” “Vertigo” and “White Ink,” the trio harness a thoughtful take on brooding desert nod, with “Vertigo” boasting some more aggro-tinged shouts ahead of the chug in its middle building on the spoken word of the opener, and the intro to the title-track building into a roll of tempered distortion that offers due payoff in its sharp-edged leads and hypnotic repetitions, to the 15-minute finale “Pendulum” that offers due back and forth between minimal spaces and full-on voluminosity before taking off on an extended linear build to end, the focus is more on atmosphere than spiritual contemplation, and State of Non Return find individualism in moody contemplation and the tension-release of their heaviest moments. Some bands grow into their own sound over time. State of Non Return, who got together in 2016, seem to have spent at least some of that span of years since doing the legwork ahead of this release.
Writing and recording as a solo artist under the banner of Thief — there’s a band for stage purposes — Los Angeles-based multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Dylan Neal (also Botanist) pulls back from the ’90s-attitudinal industrial and nü-metal flirtations of 2021’s The 16 Deaths of My Master (review here) and reroutes the purpose toward more emotive atmospheric ends. Sure, “Dead Coyote Dreams” still sneaks out of its house to smoke cigarettes at night, and that’s cool forever and you know it, but with an urgent beat behind it, “Cinderland” opens to a wash that is encompassing in ways Thief had little interest in being three years ago, despite working with largely similar elements blending electronica, synth, and organic instrumentation. The narrative — blessings and peace upon it — holds that Neal‘s father’s onset of dementia inspired the turn, and that’s certainly reason enough if you need a reason, but if there’s processing taking place over the 12 inclusions and 44 minutes that Bleed, Memory spans, along with its allusions to James Joyce, Vladimir Nabokov, etc., that does not at all make the work feel anymore lost than it’s intended to be in the post-techno of “Paramnesia” or the wub-and-shimmer of “To Whom it May Concern” that rounds out. I’ll allow that being of a certain age might make it more relatable.
New Jersey’s Ravens mark their first public offering with this seven-song self-titled debut, spacious in its vocal echo and ostensibly led by riffs though that doesn’t necessarily mean the guitar is foremost in the mix throughout. The guitar/drum duo of Zack Kurland (Green Dragon, ex-Sweet Diesel, etc.) and drummer Chris Daly (Texas is the Reason, Resurrection, etc.) emerges out of the trio Altered States with grounded rhythmic purpose beneath the atmospheric tones and vocal melodies, touching on pop in “Get On, Get On” while “New Speedway Boogie” struts with thicker tone and a less shoegazing intent than the likes of “To Whom You Were Born,” the languid “Miscommunication” and “Revolution 0,” though that two-minute piece ends with a Misfits-y vocal, so nothing is so black and white stylistically — a notion underscored as closer “Amen” builds from its All Them Witches-swaying meanderings to a full, driving wah-scorched wash to end off. Where they might be headed next, I have no idea, but if you can get on board with this one, the songs refuse to be sublimated to fit genre, and there are fewer more encouraging starts than that.
Each of the 10 songs on Spacedrifter‘s first full-length, When the Colors Fade, works from its own intention, whether it’s the frenetic MondoGenerator thrust of “(Radio Edit)” or the touch of boogie in opener “Dwell,” but grunge and desert rock are at the root of much the proceedings, as the earliest-QOTSA fuzz of “Buried in Stone” will attest. But the scope of the whole is richer in hearing than on paper, and shifts like the layered vocal melodies in “Have a Girl” or the loose bluesy swing of the penultimate “NFOB,” the band’s willingness to let a part breathe without dwelling too long on any single idea, results in a balance that speaks to the open sensibilities of turn-of-the-century era European heavy without being a retread of those bands either. Comprised of bassist/vocalist/producer Olle Söderberg, drummer/vocalist Isac Löfgren guitarist/vocalist Adam Hante and guitarist John Söderberg, Spacedrifter‘s songwriting feels and organic in its scope and how it communes with the time before the “rules” of various microgenres were set, and is low-key refreshing not like an album you’re gonna hear a ton of hyperbole about, but one that’s going to stay with you longer than its 39 minutes, especially after you let it sink in over a couple listens. So yeah, I’m saying don’t be surprised when it’s on my year-end debuts list, blah blah whatever, but also watch out for how their sound develops from here.
Collyn McCoy, Night of the Bastard Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Assembled across varied movements of synthesizer ranging from half-a-minute to a bit under four minutes long, the score for the indie horror film Night of the Bastard finds L.A.’s Collyn McCoy (also of Circle of Sighs, bassist for Unida, etc.) performing under his experimental-and-then-some electronic alias Nyte Vypr, and if that doesn’t telegraph weirdness to come, well, you can just take my word for it that it should. I can’t claim to have seen the movie, which is reportedly available hither and yon in the clusterfuck that is the modern streamscape, but ’80s horror plays a big role in pieces like “Shards and Splinters” and the opening “Night of the Bastard” itself, while “If We Only Had Car Keys” and “Get Out” feel even more specifically John Carpenter in their beat and keyboard handclaps. Closer “The Sorceress” is pointedly terrifying, but “Turtle Feed” follows a drone and piano line to more peaceful ends that come across as far, far away from the foreboding soundscape of “Go Fuck Yourself.” Remember that part where I said it was going to get weird? It does, and it’s clearly supposed to, so mark it another win for McCoy‘s divergent CV.
I hate to be that guy, but while Face the Psych is the third long-player from Portugal’s Misleading, it’s my first time hearing them, so I can’t help but feel like it’s worth noting that, in fact, they’re not that misleading at all. They tell you to face the psych and then, across seven cosmos-burning tracks and 54 minutes in an alternate dimension, you face it. Spoiler: it’s fucking rad. While largely avoiding the trap of oh-so-happening-right-now space metal, Misleading are perfectly willing to let themselves be carried where the flow of “Tutte le Nove Vite” takes them — church organ righteousness, bassy shuffle, jams that run in gravitational circles, and so on — and to shove and be shoved by the insistence of “Cheating Death” a short while later. The centerpiece “Spazio Nascoto” thickens up stonerized swing after a long intro of synth drone, and 12-minute capper “Egregore” feels like the entire song, not just the guitar and bass, has been put through the wah pedal. As likely to make you punchdrunk as entranced, willfully unhinged, and raw despite filling all the reaches of its mix and then some, it’s not so much misleading as leading-astray as you suddenly realize an hour later you’ve quit your job and dropped out of life, ne’er to be seen, heard from or hounded by debt collectors again. Congrats on that, by the way.
The riff-mad scourge of the Jersey Shore, Solace made their full-length debut in 2000 through MeteorCity with the somewhat counterintuitively titled Further. What was then the four-piece of guitarist Tommy Southard, bassist Rob Hultz (now of Trouble), drummer Bill “Bixby” Belford and the vocalist I only ever knew by his first name, Jason. Southard and Hultz had been in punk bands together before their heavier post-grunge outfit Godspeed — whose lineup also featured Chris Kosnik pre-The Atomic Bitchwax and current Solace drummer Tim Schoenleber — were snagged in a major label cull by Atlantic Records (see also: Core) following the emergence of Monster Magnet. In 1994, they released their lone LP, Ride, toured with Black Sabbath and Cathedral, and collaborated with Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden on the Nativity in Black tribute album. It was quite a time.
Solace was a different animal. And very definitely an animal. Further was preceded by the Jersey Devils EP (discussed here), which came out in 1999 through MeteorCity and Freebird Records as a split with fellow Garden Staters Solarized, as well as a demo tape (yes, a tape) and a two-songer 7″, but obviously its 53-plus minutes were the first deeper look at what they were about. Mostly volatility.
Were they punk? Hardcore? Metal? They could be righteously aggressive and noisy, roll on a riff for however long, or twist their way through polar shifts within the span of a song like “Black Unholy Ground” or charge through the scorching “Whistle Pig” before turning to acoustic-led melancholia on “Hungry Mother.” Further was likewise chaotic and dynamic, but it all somehow held together. Southard would prove to be the madman behind the madcap, but taken as a whole, Further feels untamed and willful, and when they hit it, the force of their delivery remains unto itself. I’m not going to pretend to be impartial about the band or this record, but after I don’t even want to guess how many times I’ve heard it, I’m still blindsided almost every time.
The seven-minutes-each “Mandog” and “Black Holy Ground” open, and “Followed,” which follows (ha.), tops eight, so by the time you’re three songs into it, it’s been about 25 minutes. And from the first punch of Hultz‘s bass as “Mandog” kicks in to the manic careening circa five minutes in, the shred and the way they seem to throw the song down the stairs as they enter the fade, it remains a signature piece. “Black Holy Ground” is tense in the drums and finds Jason brooding in the first verse, but malleable enough as a singer to carry that melody and move to a shoutier approach as the proceedings grow more intense. It all ends in a wash of noise, but before that, there’s that-era-Clutch-worthy nod and hardcore-punk forward thrust, and 24 years later you’re still kind of left wondering how it all holds together.
Because with some bands, it’s the bass or the drums keeping a central rhythm while the guitar goes off and does it’s thing. You hear that a lot. It’s the classic power trio modus. With Further, it’s not that Solace aren’t tight — if they weren’t, the album probably wouldn’t exist — but that it’s all-in on all-out. Everybody’s in on it. Maybe that applies to the vocals to a lesser extent, but even over the course of “Followed,” Jason ends up in a much different place than he began in topping the build first with subdued, low-mouth singing and barking out later for “Some semblance of self/Some semblance of love” before the cymbal wash leads into the finish. “Whistle Pig” and the later “Suspicious Tower” are shorter and more direct, but still dare the listener to keep up if they can, and on the other side of “Hungry Mother” awaits the tense plod of “Angels Dreaming,” which spends its first four minutes holding itself back tempo-wise before finally breaking free with what in a lot of contexts would be boogie but in Solace‘s hands becomes a sledge. And of course the solo nudges in on psychedelic territory before the big slowdown, because how could it not?
It’s not that Solace, even at this point, were ever lazy in songwriting or haphazard stylistically. Rest assured, they’ve always known precisely what they’re about; it’s who they are. And Further was cohesive — it’s not that Solace got pissed off, hit record and that was it. The record makes its own kind of sense, and its refusal to do otherwise or to compromise in persona or spirit is palpable, whether it’s “Hungry Mother” or “Suspicious Tower,” which starts with a sample from the 1962 sci-fi flick The Creation of the Humanoids, or the 11-minute “Heavy Birth/2-Fisted,” for which my brain still does a “holy shit here we go” every time it comes on. Aggro groove, a trippy middle with toms thudding away behind paid off by shred and a cacophonous but controlled assault to end its extended, sweeping course. I’m not sure how many other bands could even turn that into a song, let alone that one.
Tumult be thy name. Different editions of Further have bonus covers of Iron Maiden‘s “Another Life” and Misfits‘ “We Bite,” the latter of which feels like a better fit but both of which are thoroughly brought into Solace‘s own sound. And maybe that’s not such a surprise now, nearly a quarter-century after the fact with however many microgenres branched off from the core of heavy rock and roll, but the punk-metal Solace wrought on Further would remain a definitive presence in their subsequent work, whether it was 2003’s 13 (discussed here), the 2004 split with Greatdayforup that introduced Justin Daniels on yes-we-need-more guitar, or the fraught-in-the-making 2010 third album, A.D. (review here), after which they actually disbanded until coming back with a new lineup for the 2017 EP, Bird of Ill Omen (review here) and ensuing fourth full-length, The Brink (review here), which in all honesty I’ll tell you was something I didn’t imagine would ever actually happen until late-2019 when it did.
And what could be more Solace than that? The very definition of ‘you never know.’ Now fronted by Justin “Has a Surname” Goins, with Southard and Daniels on guitar, the aforementioned Schoenleber on drums and bassist Mike Sica, Solace are slated to play next year’s Planet Desert Rock Weekend in Las Vegas, and whether it’s there or some dive in Asbury — they were the kings of Long Branch’s The Brighton Bar, sadly closed — I would encourage you heartily to witness first-hand what they bring to the stage when the opportunity presents itself. Fury like no other.
As always, I hope you enjoy. The band have been putting songs up one at a time through their catalog on their YouTube, if you want to hit that up.
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How ’bout that Quarterly Review, huh? It’s a doozy, and if you missed it the other however-many times I said so, it’s only halfway over. 50 more reviews will roll out next Monday to Friday, so sit tight. Plenty more to come.
Tonight is the variety show for The Pecan’s school. It’s at the high school auditorium, kind of a big deal to the kids, blah blah. She’s doing a stand-up routine of math jokes. Killed at dress rehearsal. Brave, all that. Fine. It’s at 6PM, which because I’m in my 40s feels like a decent time for a show to start.
The Zelda saga continues in our home. We borrowed my nephew’s old GameCube so we could play The Wind Walker this week. Between The Patient Mrs. and I, I’m pretty sure someone has gotten hit in Zelda-related incidents the last three days in a row, so you can see how that’s going. Last night I got hit — hard — for falling in lava in whatever early-game dungeon it was, and just kind of shut down for the night. The Patient Mrs., prone to taking it all on herself anyway, stepped in and got the grappling hook, but yeah. Broadly speaking, it sucked. We had a good first night with it on Sunday, but then, the new thing is always an easy day.
Parenting.
We’re also shit-broke, so that’s a fun additional layer of stress. Turns out the impending Budapest trip cost all the money forever. Yay.
Have a great and safe weekend. I’m gonna shower after dropoff, throw in a load of laundry and try to find some kind of breakfast that isn’t binge-eating cheese or almond/pecan butter. I’ll start setting up the next QR post for Monday and maybe do some listening, but the break is what I’m after, so the sooner I’m in it the better. Though the shower is imperative there as well.
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 16th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
There are a couple different sets of shows included below, so make sure you keep that in mind as you peruse live dates for Oldest Sea that are set to take place between basically now and July. First, Samantha Marandola will embark on a solo run in Colorado in New Mexico with Denver’s Allison Lorenzen, and in June, the full band will go a Midwestern/East Coast tour in the company of Portland, Oregon’s Aerial Ruin — but have a hometown-adjacent Philadelphia gig with Tribunal, Mares of Thrace and Hiroe slotted for before they go — and their two dates in Boston and D.C. with Have a Nice Life are similarly preceded by a Philly show, this one alongside Wailin Storms and Husbandry. Lest you doubt the pushing-against-genre-barriers intentions of their late-2023 debut, A Birdsong, a Ghost (review here), which, if you heard it, you probably weren’t anyway.
Well received as A Birdsong, a Ghost has been since its release on Darkest Records last December, it’s encouraging to see the band branching out regionally and beyond live. If you aren’t in a place/position to catch them at any of the dates that follow, keep an eye out. Hopefully there will be more to come.
Dig it:
Says Samantha Marandola, “Erik (Aerial Ruin) and I have been tossing around the idea of touring for nearly two years, and to see it materialize is really exciting. With the exception of Philadelphia, we in Oldest Sea have never played these cities before, and I think it’s been seven or eight years since Aerial Ruin has played this region.”
All OS tour dates listed below:
Oldest Sea SOLO tour with Allison Lorenzen:
5/21 – Santa Fe, NM @ Ghost 5/22 – Taos, NM @ Revolt Gallery Courtyard 5/23 – Trinidad, CO @ Spirit Ditch 5/24 – Colorado Springs, CO – @ What’s Left Records w/ Midwife 5/25 – Denver, CO – @ Squirm Gallery 5/26 – Florence, CO – @ Desert Reef Hot Spring
OS + Aerial Ruin tour:
6/20 – Wheeling, WV @Waterfront Hall 6/21 – Akron, OH @ Buzzbin 6/22 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Brillobox 6/23 – Detroit, MI @ Parts and Labor 6/24 – Cleveland, OH @ No Class 6/25 – Baltimore, MD @ Undercroft 6/26 – York, PA @ The Kennel 6/27 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Meadow (Oldest Sea SOLO performance)
Have a Nice Life tour:
7/19 – Washington DC @ The Howard 7/21 – Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
Philly Dates:
6/12 – @ PhilaMOCA w Tribunal, Mares of Thrace and Hiroe 7/12 – @ Milkboy w Wailin Storms and Husbandry
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 8th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
I know the various eras of Monster Magnet have their fans, but what to me undebatable about the long-running New Jersey-based heavy rock progenitors is the impact they’ve had across the span of their career. Whichever of their records is your favorite — their most recent outing, 2022’s demo-comp Test Patterns: Vol. 1, rawly highlighted the unhinged early cosmic weirdness of “TAB” in the band’s formative state as the trio of Dave Wyndorf, Tim Cronin and John McBain — you would have a hard time overstating their contribution to rock and roll, period, broadening the scope of post-grunge commercialism with hard riffs and due sneer in the later-’90s after emerging from the roots presented on Test Patterns to cast a singular mold of heavy space and psychedelic rock earlier in that decade.
Through the tumult of lineup changes, addiction, a couple ultimately-middling-but-still-smarter-than-everybody LPs and more besides in the ’00s, and a 2010s that included some of their most accomplished work in bringing together the styles explored in disparate succession prior, Wyndorf has steered Monster Magnet to grandmaster status. As they celebrate the 35th anniversary of the band later this year with a European tour built around previously-announced headliner slots at Madrid, Spain’s Kristonfest, Up in Smoke in Switzerland and Desertfest Belgium in Antwerp, I find myself most of all hoping that the 1989-2024 logo featured on the poster below ends up on a t-shirt at some non-bootleg merch outlet. And as I was lucky enough to see what I think is still the current incarnation of the band — Wyndorf on vocals/guitar alongside six-stringers Phil Caivano and Garrett Sweeney, Bob Pantella on drums, Alec Morton on bass — last year headlining Desertfest New York (review here), I can only advise catching them when and if you can whether you’ve seen them before or not. At some point, Dave Wyndorf is gonna get sick of this shit. Clearly he’s not there yet, but it could happen.
Dates are on the poster (in the old days, you used to get a press release about this kind of thing, but don’t let me complain) below, along with the note about tickets going on sale this Friday.
Right on:
Announcing – Monster Magnet 35th Anniversary Tour: 1989-2024 Tickets On-sale: Fri 10 May 2024 (10am CEST / 9am BST).
