I’ll admit that part of interviewing Eggnogg about their new record, Rituals in Transfigured Time stems from an attempt to increase my own limited understanding of what’s happening with the project. It’s been six years since the Brooklyn three-piece issued their last full-length, Moments in Vacuum (review here), and though they followed it with the Louis EP (review here) in 2012, their “next album” has been in the works pretty much since, given the title You’re all Invited and teased across a variety of graphic-arts images and vague story pieces from guitarist Justin Karol.

Karol, joined in the band by guitarist/vocalist Bill O’Sullivan and drummer Jason Prushko, finally manifests what was You’re all Invited as Rituals in Transfigured Time, a massive conceptual/narrative work based as much around visual art as aural sprawl and storytelling. It is being unveiled one piece at a time — you can hear the latest installment at the bottom of this post, and there’s more to come — as the band weaves through a complex sci-fi plotline toward a yet-unknown resolution, following the tale of a character named Gunther Kilgore, green of skin and forced into a journey both physical and existential (maybe?) by a tophat-wearing skeleton robot. Yeah, the details get a bit fuzzy. So do the guitars though, so it’s all good.

Rituals in Transfigured Time, now in its Entr’acte following the Prologue — a single, 14-minute track called “Overture / Wild Goose Chase” (posted here) — and Acts I & II — comprised of the 22-minute “Death Cap” and the 20-minute “Meshes of the Aftetnoon” (sic) — will go on for I don’t know how long, but is set to serve as the final Eggnogg outing. It’s also, unquestionably, the most ambitious, blending heavy psychedelia, the band’s trademark quirky post-grunge riffmaking and a progressive sprawl marked by a sense of groove that is wholly their own. If indeed Rituals in Transfigured Time is to serve as Eggnogg‘s closing chapter when it comes to new music — one never wants to say never — then they go having made a definitive statement of what their potential could have brought to bear in a multi-sensory engagement with their audience and a sense of individuality that goes beyond their lumbering tones and weirdo cartoons to the very heart of who they are as players and artists.

And even if it does bring about the end of the band, I look forward to seeing how and where Rituals in Transfigured Time ultimately concludes, especially now that Karol has been kind enough to take some time to explain the project, its arc, origins and where it might lead the members of Eggnogg from here.

Please enjoy the following Six Dumb Questions:

Six Dumb Questions with Eggnogg

—

What’s happening in the story of Rituals in Transfigured Time? Who are the characters? Where are we in the plot? Where is it all leading?

What began as only moments in vacuum turned into six long years adrift in a soundless black void. Our green-skinned protagonist, Gunther Kilgore, had been imprisoned there by mysterious forces in attempt to conceal the secrets of the existence of which Kilgore had been made aware.

Rituals in Transfigured Time is about memories, nostalgia, coincidence, fate, and whether these instances can be manipulated. It centers around a concept I call “Doom Theory,” a quasi-scientific theoretical relationship between heavy or loud sounds or music and unconscious thoughts.

This is the backdrop for Rituals in Transfigured Time, where it is represented by invisible wires or strings that connect all people and things. Kind of like a telephone network, only here the wires connect people’s thoughts and feelings. Each string resonates in waves and can be altered by different sounds or vibrations. They can lay slacked or be wound taut, plucked or strummed to send different moods. But who is pulling the strings?

In the opening Acts, we find the world is ignorant of this, and in bursts of rage and violence, people divide up into cults following the loudest leaders, all connected by a hive-like mentality. Words begin to spread like a disease leading to the final gasp of humanity. If the truth were revealed, the tangled threads could begin to unravel.

Kilgore knows this truth but he is stuck and silenced. He exists neither here nor there, meeting these sort of divine beings who work backstage, revealing how the show is run. His journey seems to take his entire life but he finds that there is no beginning or end to the thread, and the vibrations travel in a loop. He sees that time is cyclical. When he steps out from behind the curtain, he is sent into a time warp.

The next album is called Entr’acte, which means “between acts,” and this ties in musically, visually, and thematically. The time warp leaves us in a far futuristic dystopian city that is inhabited by machines and dictated by pigs. Human population has dropped 99 percent, only the wealthy elite are still around. Pollution has altered the world’s climate so drastically that certain species of animals were forced to speed up their evolution in order to be involved politically and claim their land and resources.

Kilgore arrives here and has to piece together his memory and adjust to the perceived insanity of this new time period. Much of the intentional mystery of the story will be a bit more pronounced this time, with more formal character introductions, such as the divine priestess named Tetra and the skeletal robot with a top hat named Montgomery. Entr’acte will have more of a pulp feel, with parts of the album playing out like a 1930s science fiction radio drama.

How did the idea for such an expansive project come about? What’s the relationship for you between handling the visual art for something like this and writing the songs? Tell me about the songwriting process.

This type of idea had always been in my head, even as early as the formative years of the band when I was around 14, and perhaps even before that. I’ve been drawing and making my own little comic books ever since I was a baby, but I have a distinct memory of when I was around four years old, and my dad showed me the song “Iron Man” by Black Sabbath for the first time. I remember him doing these exaggerated stomps during the opening bass drums and explaining that it was the sound of iron man walking, and when it picks up pace in the second half, that he was running and chasing everyone. The song itself has this story to it, which is a bit different from other popular songs that mostly reflect on feelings.

I started to make this relationship between music and visualizing the scenes from then on with any song I heard. Movies ended up being my true passion because it combines sound and visual so perfectly. So I had been making my own little movies with my friends and timing a lot of scenes to music. Then one weekend I cast a mutual friend in the role of a frightened scientist, and that was Bill O’Sullivan, vocalist and guitarist for Eggnogg. So when we started writing original music, my mind started to go crazy with what kind of stories I could create. Up until then, I had only used other people’s music to accompany the visuals, but creating brand new music opened up many more possibilities.

So even from the earliest days, I was drawing out the potential scenes that went with our songs. Scenes and characters would also influence tones and lyrics. As we went on, certain characters developed and backstories came about, and so this sort of universe began to unfold. Bill and I, and our close friends, talk about the characters and stories often, but no one else has really been made aware of it yet. I was always looking for the right time to start telling this story but never quite knew how to release it and have people try to follow it. Characters and scenes ended up on some album art before, but I felt now was a good time to just go for it. It ties into the idea of the album being the revelation, the truth, the finale, the end all be all.

The material is so expansive. How have these songs come together? Is the complete work recorded and being released piecemeal, or is it still in progress? How much is left to come out and do you have a general timeline for when it will be complete and released?

With Moments in Vacuum, I had sequenced the songs so there was, to me, a clear beginning, middle, and ending. I extended a few pieces in particular to have more musical introductions and interludes so they would sort of flow like scenes. It was a more direct attempt at making a “cinematic” record, as I broke up the songs into a three-act structure. However, it backfired a bit when some friends told me they found the track lengths “too long” or they skipped around and didn’t hear crucial moments that happened further into a track, or listened to the songs out of sequence. Rather than compromise the writing, I wanted to exacerbate the concept even further.

From its conception, the intention was to make a record that consisted of long unbroken takes. This way, you had to follow along from beginning to end. It’s my understanding that this is what an album should be and the song sequencing is a key role. I look at them like scenes in a movie or chapters in a book, and if they are told out of order, you lose the essence of the entire work.

Rituals in Transfigured Time began under the working title of “You’re all Invited,” or my initial pitch, “Mass Suicide: You’re All Invited.” Much of it was recorded six years ago and then scrapped. It was designed as two 20 minute songs, so it would fit exactly on one vinyl record. We tried so frustratingly long to get this version of the album made on vinyl, but just could not secure the funds to do so.

After our fundraiser utterly failed, we tried rereleasing our EPs on physical disc to see what we could generate towards the vinyl but it never added up. By then, our drummer had left the band to go off and star on NBC’s The Voice, and we hunted down Jason Prushko of Mean Little Blanket fame. Jason brought a much meaner style of drumming and so the songs were reworked and expanded upon, hashing out new material as we tested it out live. We took this new version of the album to the studio and laid down the groundwork.

These recordings, however, reflected more of our live set and so the material has been in fine tuning to make it more cohesive. I am tweaking things right up until the release.

Talk about the recording itself. Where and how is Rituals in Transfigured Time coming together as a studio project? How much time has it all taken to make happen and how do you feel about how the results have come out so far?

Right after Moments in Vacuum in 2011, we headed back to our recording space to track demos of the next album, as we had always done every summer since around 2006. Some material would be new, some would be revitalized versions of songs that didn’t make the previous record.

The original version of the album was actually recorded to analog tape. It was an experiment for us but we had heard so many good things. Oh boy, it was a disaster. We could only mic so many drums on this type of machine so we ended up with a very strange and thin sound. The tracks on our Louis EP suffered from a similar fate, as they were recorded right after those sessions.

I was forced to use a digital workflow to help save the drum sound, something on previous records I was against. Moments in Vacuum was done with all full takes and no digital editing of any kind with all of the equalizing and mixing done on a board. So having to go to a computer did not sit well with me at first. I eventually got something workable, but I was never satisfied with it.

Thankfully, we rerecorded everything and more a few years later more professionally, thanks to Steve Schalk of Jupiter 4 Studio, who got us a great clear drum sound. I remember we had it all sort of wrapped up rather quickly and handed it off to other people to mix, which was also new since I usually did the mixing. After many mixes from many sources, something was just not sitting right with me when I listened to it and so I backed away from the project to work on other things.

After about a year of working on films, I returned to the project with a fresh perspective. I really wanted to tie up this loose end and make this thing finally complete. I took the basic recordings we did have and started over conceptually. I outlined the entire thing like I would a film and started building the imagery and tones from there.

So far, the reaction has been positive and so I am quite pleased. There was a lot of worries before release, because I had turned it into this lengthy operatic thing with a story that listeners would not know what to do with it. That may still be partly true, but I am hoping those few fans out there will embrace this different type of album and maybe it will catch on.

I’ve heard rumors this is the final release for Eggnogg. Are you really going to put the band to rest after this? What would you do next? Another band? Focus on graphic art?

For me, this is the final Eggnogg album. Jason Prushko has his own project off in California where he just released an EP titled Sylmar Ave. Bill O’Sullivan is over in Philadelphia working on his acoustic spooky country-western music. He has a whole slew of great material I hope is released soon. And I’m here in New York City twiddling my thumbs. I actually have a lot planned musically but it won’t be released as a band.

Although this will be the final Eggnogg album, there is still a potential of older material being remixed and remastered, and maybe even given the same treatment as Rituals by adding more illustrations. This depends heavily on the fans.

The Rituals project is a blueprint for how I am going to continue post release. I have other stories and scripts that will have a musical accompaniment along with the visual. After the release of Rituals in Transfigured Time, I will be preparing to make a feature-length film. The film happens to be about a struggling doom metal band in Brooklyn and will feature a fairly in-depth original score that those few loyal Eggnogg fans will surely appreciate.

Any other plans or closing words you want to mention?

Rituals in Transfigured Time is set of albums that follow a narrative, starting with the Prologue, into Acts I & II, and next up the Entr’acte. Following this will be Acts III & IIII. It’s being released as installments because, well, it’s a lot of material! I encourage those who care to listen to also view the illustrations and lyrics to get the full experience. There are many hidden meanings within the story. It is my hope that at least one person out there will pick up on it and feel illuminated and inspired.

There is something unique to this type of music, in that it gets everyone, the players and the audience, all moving in unison. Simple melodies and primal rhythms, it’s as if we are all connecting through some type of ancient language that the soul remembers even if we don’t. Slowly nodding along as if our minds were all connected by some kind of invisible thread.

Thank you to anyone who stumbled across our music!

Eggnogg on Thee Facebooks

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Eggnogg website

Justin Karol website

While most of the US was grilling out and getting loaded yesterday in an effort to pretend everything’s just the same in 2017 as it’s always been, Brooklyn three-piece Eggnogg decided it was a good time to unveil a track from their first long-player in six years. The song is a 14-minute two-parter called “Overture / Wild Goose Chase,” and it breaks down into another component three-pieces — ‘Iapetus,’ ‘The Eggnogg Requiem’ and ‘Wild Goose Chase’ — and the album it comes from seems to be part of an intended series as well. Long thought to be called You’re all Invited, it has apparently been dubbed Rituals in Transfigured Time – Prologue and given narrative and visual accompaniment by guitarist Justin Karol, who lends his distinctive cartoon style to each section of the track, introducing the audience to the characters who may or may not play out a story across the album or albums. It’s all pretty nebulous, but there’s more about it on Karol‘s personal website.

I’m not sure what Eggnogg‘s plan for releasing Rituals in Transfigured Time – Prologue actually is, whether they’ll dole it out one song at a time or eventually have a physical version out via their longtime label Palaver Records. Their last offering was 2015’s Sludgy Erna Bastard split with Borracho (review here), which was preceded by the 2012 Louis EP (review here) and their last proper full-length, 2011’s Moments in Vacuum (review here).

Though it winds up in the kind of stomp and swing that’s become a hallmark of Eggnogg‘s sound, “Overture / Wild Goose Chase,” particularly in its patient initial unfolding minutes, seems also to signal progressive impulses that are new to the band. You can hear the song in its multi-faceted entirety at the bottom of this post, and the cover art — I’m guessing that’s Karol‘s manga-informed vision of death with the scythe, though no word on how she’ll play into the story arc — and recording info follow here.

Dig:

Big Snuff Studio Presents: Rituals in Transfigured Time – Prologue

MUSIC WRITTEN BY EGGNOGG
JUSTIN KAROL, WILLIAM O’SULLIVAN, and JASON PRUSHKO

DIRECTED BY
JUSTIN KAROL

1. Overture / Wild Goose Chase 13:51

OVERTURE
Iapetus (00:00-04-20)
The Eggnogg Requiem (04:20-06:02)

-WILD GOOSE CHASE
Wild Goose Chase (06:02-13:51)

released July 4, 2017

WRITTEN by JUSTIN KAROL, WILLIAM O’SULLIVAN, JASON PRUSHKO
LYRICS by WILLIAM O’SULLIVAN

PERFORMANCES by JASON PRUSHKO (drums, percussion),
JUSTIN KAROL (electric guitar, electric bass, keyboard),
WILLIAM O’SULLIVAN (vocals, electric guitar, electric bass)

RECORDED at JUPITER 4 STUDIO – LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK
ENGINEERED by STEVE SCHALK
RECORDED at 286 MESEROLE – BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
RECORDED at CHAPMAN FARM – TOWN OF MARSHALL, NEW YORK
RECORDED at BIG BEVERAGE STUDIO – NEW YORK, NEW YORK

MIXING & MASTERING by BIG BEVERAGE STUDIO – NEW YORK, NEW YORK. ARRANGEMENT by JUSTIN KAROL. ILLUSTRATED by JUSTIN KAROL. PRODUCED by K.W. KOGUT & RON BORRUSO.

https://www.facebook.com/eggnoggmusic/
http://www.twitter.com/eggnoggmusic
http://www.instagram.com/eggnoggmusic
http://www.thenogg.com/
http://www.justinkarol.com/2017/07/rev20170704a.html

Eggnogg, “Overture / Wild Goose Chase”

[TO ENTER GIVEAWAY: Leave a comment on this post with your email address in the form. You’ll be contacted at that address if you win.]

Easily one of the best short releases I’ve heard so far this year, I’m stoked to be able to giveaway TWO copies of the brand new Sludgy Erna Bastard split 7″ by Borracho and Eggnogg. The vinyl was released on March 19 by Palaver Records, and to win a copy all you have to do is leave a comment on this post. Make sure your email address is in the form provided so if your name is drawn, I actually have a way to contact you. Would be helpful. Winners will be drawn and notified on (or around) Monday, March 30.

Sludgy Erna Bastard (review here) brings new material from both outfits, Washington D.C. trio Borracho‘s “King’s Disease” offering a taste of what the follow-up to 2013’s Oculus might hold and their progression as a riff-riding three-piece after a likewise encouraging split last year with Boston’s Cortez, while Eggnogg provide a reminder of their elephantine stomp and gleefully weirdo vibe with “Slugworth,” their first new studio track since 2012’s Louis EP and released ahead of the coming full-length, You’re all Invited.

I feel like past the words “free vinyl,” this one doesn’t really need me to sell it, but both cuts are quality work on the part of the bands, and I’m thrilled to be able to host the giveaway. Vinyl is limited to 300 copies with art from Eggnogg‘s Justin M. Karol, and if you need a refresher of the badassery on hand, here’s the full stream of both tracks:

Once again, how to enter:

Leave a comment on this post with your email address in the form provided. Please note: I neither have the interest nor the capacity to save or sell any personal information given to me. You will not be added to any email lists as a result of entering. It’s really just free vinyl.

Good luck to all who enter and thanks to Palaver Records for the giveaway! Please check them out and the bands as well.

Palaver Records

Borracho on Thee Facebooks

Eggnogg on Thee Facebooks

Click Here to Download

 

[mp3player width=480 height=180 config=fmp_jw_widget_config.xml playlist=aot45.xml]

A real blend this time around. Some of this stuff is straight up riffs and crash, and some of it gets pretty far out, even in the first hour, let alone by the time we get to the last two tracks, with Papir’s live prog freakery and Earthling Society’s trippy experimentalism. There’s a lot to dig here and, perhaps unsurprisingly, I dig it a lot. These are all, I think with the exception just of Stonebride, 2015 releases. Some, like Monolord and Blackout and Stoned Jesus, aren’t out yet, and others, like Corsair, or Elbrus, or Sandrider, are newly released.

All told, the balance works between the more straight-ahead stuff and the weirdness, but my head’s been pulled pretty hard in the direction lately of things generally more on the outer edges of genre, so it seemed only right to be honest to that impulse. It’s not too long, and if there’s something here you haven’t heard before, then of course I hope you dig it. Actually, I hope you dig it anyway, new or not. Cheers.

First Hour:
Stoned Jesus, “Here Come the Robots” from The Harvest
Black Rainbows, “The Prophet” from Hawkdope
Sandrider, “Rain” from Sandrider + Kinski
Eggnogg, “Slugworth” from Sludgy Erna Bastard Vol. 1: Borracho & Eggnogg 7”
Blackout, “Cross” from Blackout
Chubby Thunderous Bad Kush Masters, “Devil’s Buttermilk” from Earth Hog
Shepherd, “Turdspeak” from Stereolithic Riffalocalypse
Corsair, “Coriolis” from One Eyed Horse
Kooba Tercu, “Pebble” from Kooba Tercu
Stonebride, “Sokushinbutsu” from Heavy Envelope
Monolord, “Cursing the One” from Vaenir

Second Hour:
Elbrus, “Far Away and into Space Pt. 2” from Far Away and into Space Pt. 2
King Buffalo, “Providence Eye” from split with Lé Betre
Papir, “Monday” from Live at Roadburn 2014
Earthling Society, “It’s Your Love that’s Sound” from It’s Your Love that’s Sound

Total running time: 1:53:18

 

Thank you for listening.

Download audiObelisk Transmission 045

 

Today — pretty much right now, if you want to be technical about it — Palaver Records has launched preorders for the first in a series of split 7″s it’s calling Sludgy Erna Bastard. Say the title out loud and with just the right accent and it becomes a play on “sludgier than a bastard,” which is a standard that the first installment, featuring Washington D.C. heavy rockers Borracho and Brooklyn’s own Eggnogg, easily lives up to across its relatively brief span. Both bands contribute one song, topped off with cover art by Eggnogg guitarist Justin M. Karol, and between the two of them it’s more or less 11 minutes of choice, thick-cut riffing and heavy, rolled-out grooves, Borracho‘s “King’s Disease” finding that trio pushing further its modus of hooks and badass swing, while Eggnogg‘s “Slugworth” unleashes an elephantine stomp that’s bound to turn some heads their way.

What the two bands have in common is that they’re both in the process of settling into their current configuration. For Borracho, Sludgy Erna Bastard Vol. 1 is another step forward from last year’s split with Boston’s Cortez (review here) and their second full-length, 2013’s Oculus (review here), and as one can hear on the track, guitarist/vocalist Steve Fisher, bassist Tim Martin and drummer Mario Trubiano sound not only cohesive but dynamic, the chemistry between the three of them having been honed across a bevvy of short tours, around the Eastern Seaboard, in Europe last year (including a stop at Desertfest), and most recently for three shows in California last month. As their reach has expanded — they’ll also have a split out on Ripple in April/May with Volume IV — their riffy style has solidified, and after starting as a four-piece on their first album, 2011’s grower Splitting Sky (review here), they’ve progressed into one of the finest three-pieces East Coast heavy rock has to offer. “King’s Disease” has a touch of Southern-styled raucousness to it, but is right in line with the kind of roll that Borracho does best.

While Borracho went from four to three, Eggnogg have gone from three to four in the last couple years. Bassist Corey Dozier joined in 2013 as Bill O’Sullivan (also vocals) moved from bass to guitar alongside Karol, and drummer Jason Prushko (also of math-rockers Mean Little Blanket and numerous other projects) came aboard in 2012, following the recording of Eggnogg‘s most recent studio outing, the Louis EP (review here) — though they also had a compilation of material, Apocrypha, out in 2013. As the first recorded track with both Prushko and Dozier involved, “Slugworth” bodes remarkably well for what might come when Eggnogg get down to releasing their awaited next full-length, You’re all Invited, as their nod has never sounded more righteous. “Slugworth” starts out all quiet an unassuming, but once the full tonal thickness kicks in, it’s an enviable push of low end, Prushko‘s kick drum the hard foot landing each crater-making marker of time. Palaver says Eggnogg‘s You’re all Invited is due to release later this year. Listening to “Slugworth,” I hope even more that turns out to be the case.

Sludgy Erna Bastard Vol. 1: Borracho & Eggnogg is out March 19 and can be ordered now from Borracho‘s Bandcamp and Eggnogg‘s Bandcamp. Please enjoy the premiere of “King’s Disease” and “Slugworth” below, followed by the official announcement from Palaver:

Palaver Records announce split 7” featuring Borracho & Eggnogg

Palaver Records announce the release of a new split 7” single featuring Washington, DC riff monopolizers Borracho and Brooklyn, New York-based genre-bending heavy rockers Eggnogg, to be released on March 19. The record will feature a brand new Borracho original “King’s Disease” and new Eggnogg tripper “Slugworth.” The limited edition of 300 copies will be available on black vinyl, with original artwork by Eggnogg’s own Justin Karol. Both tracks can now be streamed at TheObelisk.net, and preorders are available from Palaver Records.

The record is the first in Palaver Records’ new “Sludgy Erna Bastard” series, that aims to pair up and highlight some of the best heavy underground acts today. Palaver Records representative Gary Branigan said “We’ve been working with Eggnogg for 4-5 years now and really want to embrace this scene. We’ve never seen such a responsive audience. Sludgy Erna Bastard will cater to fans of heavy rock (desert, stoner, doom, sludge, psychedelic), specifically those that love vinyl. The name Sludgy Erna Bastard is a play on words from an American phrase. This is the first of many Sludgy Erna Bastard releases. All of which will feature two bands with artwork by Justin Karol from Eggnogg.”

Sludgy Erna Bastard will be Eggnogg’s first release since 2013’s Eggnogg Apocrypha. After a break in studio recording following the departure of drummer Ryan Quinn, Eggnogg is proud to present the “Slugworth” single, a fascinating excerpt from their forthcoming LP You’re All Invited. Featuring the drumming of Jason Prushko, who joined Eggnogg’s ranks in the summer of 2012, “Slugworth” marks a new height of creative achievement for the band. “Slugworth” is an indication of things to come from a newly resurrected Eggnogg—one which promises to be “sludgier than a bastard.” Eggnogg’s part in the split single Sludgy Erna Bastard will pave the way for their full-length You’re All Invited, which will be released in 2015.

This release is Borracho’s second split 7” in the past year, following 2014’s split with Cortez. In that time the band has taken their live show to Europe and back, and will be kicking off a schedule of winter and spring dates in the eastern US starting tomorrow. The dates include some familiar stops, and team the band up with some powerhouses and rising stars of the US stoner/doom scene. Their March 20 hometown show at The Pinch in Washington DC will serve as the official 7” release show, and will also feature Columbus OH fuzz-freaks Lo-Pan and Detroit’s Against the Grain. Expect more news and new music from Borracho very soon.

Borracho Eastern US dates
February 19 – Washington, DC @ Velvet Lounge w/ Carousel, Joy & Caustic Casanova
March 20 – Washington, DC @ The Pinch w/ Lo-Pan & Against the Grain
March 26 – Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie w/ Doctor Smoke, Wasted Theory & Heavy Temple
March 27 – York, PA @ The Depot w/ Doctor Smoke & Wasted Theory
March 28 – Baltimore, MD @ Metro Gallery w/ Elder, Fortress & The Convocation
April 25 – Stroudsburgh, PA @ The Livingroom
June 7 – Washington, DC @ The Pinch w/ Mos Generator, Wounded Giant & Wasted Theory

Borracho on Thee Facebooks

Borracho on Bandcamp

Eggnogg on Thee Facebooks

Eggnogg on Bandcamp

Palaver Records’ store

Palaver Records

Washington D.C. trio Borracho have some pretty killer shows coming up. First off, they’re headed to the West Coast this week to meet up with Castle for two gigs ahead of an appearance at a Strange Magic Records showcase alongside The Chuck Norris Experiment and others. Upon their return, they’ll hit up a few killer regional gigs, first with Carousel and Joy in their hometown next month and then on a weekender that includes two gigs in PA with Doctor Smoke and Wasted Theory and one night in Baltimore alongside Elder. They’ve got a date in there with Lo-Pan as well. There isn’t one of those shows that isn’t a score from the standpoint of anyone who makes it out to them.

By those March shows, Borracho will also have a new split 7″ out with Brooklyn’s Eggnogg on Palaver Records. You might recall their most recent release was a shared single with Boston’s Cortez that came out last year (review here). Looks like they’re set to give another quick look at some new material ahead of their next full-length outing, whenever that might arrive.

They sent this newsletter down the PR wire:

California Bound This Week!

We’re just a couple days away from our first west coast shows. Join us at one of the shows below, or if you’re not in Cali, forward this email to a friend or five who are!

Jan. 29 – Oakland, CA @ The Golden Bull w/ Castle & Heavy Action
Jan. 30 – Los Angeles, CA @ Five Star Bar w/ Castle & Behold! The Monolith & The Love Below
Jan. 31 – Pomona, CA @ Characters w/ The Chuck Norris Experiment, PRV13, and Chango’s Psychotic Garage PLUS Jake Starr

New 7″ Single Out in March

It’s been a little while since we dropped some new music on you. This one has been a little hung up, but we’re excited to announce a brand new split single with Eggnogg on Nashville’s Palaver Records. King’s Disease will appear with Eggnogg’s Slugworth, and we’ll be celebrating its release with a hometown show in DC on March 20 at The Pinch with the riotous Lo-Pan and Against the Grain.

More Shows!

Those of you on the east coast will have a bunch of chances to catch us with some other badass bands over the next couple of months. Check the schedule below. Hope to see you out there!

Feb. 19 – Washington, DC @ Velvet Lounge w/ Carousel, Joy & Caustic Casanova
March 20 – Washington, DC @ The Pinch w/ Lo-Pan & Against the Grain
March 26 – Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie w/ Doctor Smoke, Wasted Theory & Heavy Temple
March 27 – York, PA @ The Depot w/ Doctor Smoke & Wasted Theory
March 28 – Baltimore, MD @ Metro Gallery w/ Elder, Fortress & The Convocation

http://www.borrachomusic.com/
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Borracho/Cortez, Split 7″ (2014)

Yesterday, in an attempt to assemble the necessary funding to press their next full-length to vinyl, Brooklyn-based heavy psych/doom trio Eggnogg launched a Kickstarter campaign. The album they’re looking to press is called You’re all Invited, and it’ll be the youngin’ act’s third behind 2010’s The Three, 2011’s excellent Moments in Vacuum (review here) and the two EPs Nogg and this summer’s Louis (review here). Atmospherically, Eggnogg‘s songs vary almost on a track-by-track basis — as Louis demonstrates — but overall, the band’s sound is forged in weighted doom tonality, stoner-funk groove, grunge-derived melodies and a quirky psychedelic oddness that’s fast becoming a defining element.

Underneath it all, however, is a core of strangely infectious songwriting. Eggnogg tracks are slow burners, but before too long, you find yourself humming along to bassist/vocalist Bill O’Sullivan‘s guttural bluesy delivery, or nodding along to any number of Justin Karol‘s riffy hooks. O’Sullivan and Karol (who also provides the band’s distinct artwork) make up the creative core of the band, but drummer Ryan Quinn has a large role to play as well, holding together their extended jams — and no doubt that will remain true on You’re all Invited as well, the first side of which is a five-part, 22-minute single track.

While raking in the dough necessary to press the album and preparing to send out a slew of donation gifts (including, for someone who pledges two grand, eating every item on a McDonald’s menu), Eggnogg will also be performing alongside Borracho, Valley of the Sun, Summoner and Shock Radar at Heavy Planet’s CMJ showcase, set to take place Oct. 18 at Fontana’s in Manhattan. In light of that, the Kickstarter, the band’s affection for song titles that end in “-og,” and the recent Brooklyn gig I was lucky enough to catch, it seemed only too prudent to hit up O’Sullivan with Six Dumb Questions, so that’s exactly what I did.

You’ll find his responses below. Please enjoy:

1. Tell me about how the band got together. When did you move from Utica to Brooklyn, and how did you get started jamming?

Justin, Quinn and I attended the same school from first grade onward, and in ninth grade we started jamming together, playing under the name Armada. Armada played instrumental compositions that Justin and I had wrote, but it wasn’t long before I started writing lyrics, and we decided to take on the new name GonZo to reflect the change in our sound. GonZo played throughout high school, and during this time we wrote a lot of the songs that we would later record and release as EGGNOGG.

By searching the internet, we realized too many musical acts were using the name Gonzo and that we needed to differentiate ourselves. In 2009 we decided to rename ourselves EGGNOGG (GonZo reversed is Oznog, which sounded close enough to Eggnog, to which we added an extra “g” for symmetry). The record that was initially going to be titled GonZo Demo III was retitled EGGNOGG’s The Three.

In August 2009 I moved from the Utica, New York, area to Brooklyn. I returned to Central New York State for the summer of 2010, during which time we recorded Moments in Vacuum. Operating a band at such a distance was very straining at times, but we persevered and managed to finish our second album, as well as the Nogg EP and most of Louis during that period, despite the inconvenience. Justin moved down to New York City in May of 2012, and since then we’ve been hard at work completing our new album, You’re all Invited. We’ve got the band going full-force again, centered down here in Brooklyn now.

2. What was the recording process for the Louis EP? Are you aware that the three opening songs on the releases since the first EP have rhymed with the band’s name? Is that on purpose, and was there anything you wanted to do differently with Louis than you did on Moments in Vacuum? Is there a particular Louis the EP is named for?

Justin and Quinn tracked the drums and some of the guitars for Louis Upstate in the Spring of 2012, and we did the rest down here in Bushwick. Most of the songs on Louis were written during the GonZo days, and we took the opportunity to rerecord them knowing what we know now.

Interestingly enough, the song “Baras Mogg” was a live staple of ours back in 2006, long before we ever had the idea to name ourselves EGGNOGG. The song title “Bog” is a Nadsat word, and “Magog” is a biblical figure. A historical ancestor of mine was named Morty Og O’Sullivan. So maybe the “og” is in my blood — it’s an interesting syllable to me, and the choice to name the band EGGNOGG had nothing to do with the word’s meaning, but rather, its phonetic sound.

Louis was intended to be a much shorter, easier listen than Moments in Vacuum. Louis is named after our old bassist from the GonZo days.

3. Each Eggnogg release seems to have its own personality. Not that they’re all so different, but it in listening, you can hear different sides of the band’s sound being played up, either consciously or not. What’s in store for You’re all Invited?

We don’t want to repeat ourselves. I’ve always made a conscious effort to write music that sounds new to me, and I have no interest in writing songs that sound the same. Each album has its own sound, and we are always trying to do something new while making sure that it fits within the context of our previous work. I think we’ve succeeded in doing this with You’re all Invited.

You’re all Invited is very heavy — in my opinion, the heaviest music we’ve made so far. But like our other albums, it will have a lot dynamics, and plenty of laid back, melodic parts to contrast with the sludgy riffs. The whole record will flow together and transition smoothly, as if it were all one extended piece. This is different from Moments in Vacuum, I think, because with Moments in Vacuum, every song had a very definite beginning and end, and each song brought a particular style. Each song on You’re all Invited will exhibit many different styles from beginning to end, but the changes will unfold very naturally, like a story.

4. Will you tour at all in support of the new album? Any other shows coming up after the Heavy Planet CMJ gig in October?

No other shows booked at this moment, but we’re looking to play plenty of shows this year around New York and the Tri-State Area.

5. When will the Kickstarter for the vinyl pressing of You’re all Invited be up? Will you put the album on CD as well?

We just launched the Kickstarter campaign, and it will last 30 days. I don’t see any reason to do a CD release of You’re all Invited, because as a music fan, I’d much rather have a vinyl. But there is no reason for anyone to worry: every purchase of the vinyl will come with a free download of the album, and the album will be available for a paid download as well (via PalaverRecords.com). So people will be able to get the album in a digital form. In my opinion, the resurgence of vinyls and the ease of transferring music over the internet is making CDs obsolete.

But for people who still prefer the CD medium, I have good news. We’re finally going to put out the Nogg EP and Louis EP on CD. They will be combined on one disc, and this new Apocrypha compilation will be released as a reward for Kickstarter donations.

6. Any other plans or closing words you want to mention?

We’re really counting on the success of this Kickstarter campaign, because we wouldn’t be able to come up with the money to make the vinyls by ourselves. Help us get this new album off the ground, and you’ll get some good stuff in return.

Eggnogg’s You’re all Invited Kickstarter Campaign

Eggnogg on Thee Facebooks

Eggnogg at Palaver Records

To hold a place between 2011’s Moments in Vacuum full-length and the forthcoming You’re all Invited long-player due out this fall, Brooklyn heavy psych trio Eggnogg release the four-song Louis EP through Palaver Records and continue to refine their approach to funky rhythms and heavy riffs. In the time since Moments in Vacuum was issued, bassist/vocalist Bill O’Sullivan also released his first solo album — Phillip’s Head, also on Palaver – and based around two shorter tracks and two longer ones, Louis makes a strong follow-up to Moments in Vacuum, continuing Eggnogg’s penchant for quirk and making deceptively complex stylistic turns sound both natural and smooth. As was the album, the subsequent EP is roughly produced, playing up Justin Karol’s cassette-ready grunge guitar into an aesthetic choice to go alongside the surprisingly prevalent bass of O’Sullivan and the still lo-fi drumming of Ryan Quinn. When O’Sullivan comes in particularly as EP opener “Baras Mogg,” the effect of the band’s dynamic sound is startling, and by that I mean that the quiet parts are so quiet they trick you into turning the volume up and then the rumble kicks in and Eggnogg bludgeon you with thickened tonality and massive lumbering riffage. The first time it happens, there’s hardly a hint given that it’s coming, such is the trance the far-back drums, guitar, bass and O’Sullivan’s crooning puts you into while listening. Wah persists through bluesy guitar and it’s just before two minutes into the song’s total 8:31 that the chorus lands its first weighted blow. They trade off again into quiet, but especially after a few listens, that chorus proves infectious on almost a primal level, O’Sullivan switching to more of a shout and playing off contradictions in the lyrics, “Sing on high, I think I’ll sing it low,” etc., while Quinn slams hard on his low-mixed, compressed-sounding cymbals and Karol holds notes so long you can hear the waves in their sustain for each line.

Instead of a third cycle, they break into a quiet solo section that leads to an onslaught of undulating riffing, topped by more echoey shouts and an irresistible bounce. Already “Baras Mogg” is six minutes in and it seems to still be establishing its course, which, almost naturally, Eggnogg promptly abandons. That post-solo pounding is basically the apex, but then the trio just rumbles into oblivion over the course of the next couple minutes, checking in here and there on a riff (see 7:19), but never committing fully to one direction or another. If it wasn’t so clearly on purpose, or so the beat wasn’t so well sustained by Quinn, it might fall flat, but the last minute seems almost to be headed toward driving home an ending riff, and then, gleefully, they chug out a measure and end “Baras Mogg” cold, giving Louis a start that’s delightfully unpredictable despite telegraphing most of the moves it’s making. Karol, O’Sullivan and Quinn continue to expand their scope on the brief but maddeningly funky “Vermicious Knidds,” which sounds as much like Seas of Cheese-era Primus as its title might suggest and its opening Twin Peaks sample might contradict. Thickened guitar squibbles, tom rolls and what sounds an awful lot like slap-bass ensues for a quick 2:23, but though the song is short, its effect on the overall atmosphere of Louis is much more lasting, bringing a lighthearted, fun feel to the heaviness that “Baras Mogg” proffered. It too ends abruptly, but works well feeling into the nine-minute “The Squid/The Fandangler,” which continues the Primus-vibing as O’Sullivan starts the song off on bass before Karol’s guitar and Quinn’s drums kick in. A verse is quickly established that sets up the EP’s most driving chorus – the opening line, “Here’s the way it goes,” seeming very much to be indicate of Eggnogg’s commanding directionality – and as with “Baras Mogg,” verse and chorus are cycled through twice (a solo between acts as bridge) before a longer break is embarked on. In this case, it’s a plotted kind of jam that sounds pieced together from improvised parts to have a build.

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