Orange Goblin, Time Travelling Blues (1998)

You wouldn’t know it to look at either my pajamas or my plans for the evening, which include experimenting with a parmesan cheese crisp recipe and watching baseball, but I must feel like partying on some level if I’m breaking out Orange Goblin‘s Time Travelling Blues. Yeah, the UK stoner doom forerunners vibe out Kyuss-style on “Shine” and bring things down a little bit on the title cut, but basically, that’s what this album is to me: A party. And not one of those parties you wind up at where you don’t know anybody and it’s all awkward and terrible. I’m talking about good friends, beers, the yard — all that nonsense. I don’t think I’ve ever actually done that with this record on, but I’d be down to try.

Time Travelling Blues is the second Orange Goblin album, released in 1998 on Rise Above. Because the band has remained so vital — if anything, becoming more so; they’re certainly bigger now than they’ve ever been — it’s strange to think of the record as being 16 years old, but Orange Goblin have kicked a lot of ass for a long time, so there you go. This one I consider the middle part of an essential trilogy of Orange Goblin full-lengths, with their 1997 debut, Frequencies from Planet 10, on one side and 2000’s third offering, The Big Black, on the other, though really none of their stuff is to be fucked with, and live they destroy. No wonder the London scene is currently flush with bands working under their influence.

Orange Goblin‘s last album came out in 2012, but with how hard they’ve toured to support A Eulogy for the Damned, it doesn’t seem unreasonable to think it might get a follow-up sooner rather than later. Maybe 2015? After the half-decade between 2007’s Healing through Fire and Eulogy, I certainly wouldn’t argue.

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Next week is Roadburn, if you can friggin’ believe that. Snuck up on me this year, it did, though I’ve been doing enough work in preparation. The process is going to be a little different this year than in years past, I think. Sorry to be vague. I’ll explain it all next week. I fly out Tuesday night, get to Tilburg on Wednesday and probably start typing immediately. As ever, you know I’ll cover as much as I can and update as much as I can. Before I even start, I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to the fest and the 013 venue. It’s through the generous grace of both that I’m able to go at all.

When I get back, I have some serious thinking to do. Need to find a job, and in the meantime, need to adjust the balance of my day to better facilitate that — which means maybe I don’t spend a nine-to-five’s worth on blogging about doom for no money. Maybe it’s time to put ads on the site and see if I can bring in some cash that way. I don’t know. I’d only like to do ads if they have nothing to do with music. Like if I could get banners for Palmolive and shit like that, I’d be down. Otherwise it’s like throwing your editorial integrity right out the window, though that’s essentially how it’s been since the first newspaper opened and did a story about the restaurant next door. I don’t know when unemployment monies start coming in, but my student loans are in deferment, which helps. Need to talk to The Patient Mrs. and see what my options are and how long we can hold out, because if you’re an out of work editor, nobody gives a fuck. I knew it before but didn’t have to care. Now I have to care and it’s fucking killing me. Need to find something that’s not just a resumé shot into a LinkedIn abyss.

Anyway. Before I head out next week, look for a Pilgrim review. I might hit up that Satan’s Satyrs/Magic Circle/Queen Elephantine show mentioned earlier as well on Sunday, and if I do, I’ll review that too.

Enjoy the Orange Goblin and have a great and safe weekend. Please hit up the forum and radio stream.

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