There are four Canadian shows and Midwestern dates as well here, but basically if you look at this tour John Garcia is set to undertake this summer and the East Coast-plus run the former Kyuss, Slo Burn, Unida, Hermano, Vista Chino and solo vocalist did in 2024 — Telekinetic Yeti also part of the support package then — he’s got a good portion of the country covered as he makes the rounds on the heavy circuit. He’s also got a new band since the last time I saw him, I think, which was in 2022 (review here), though if you’d asked I’d have said it wasn’t that long ago.

Garcia getting out and playing his songs as well as songs from the various bands he’s been in — he exists in a strata of contribution to desert rock that maybe like five people on the planet could hope to boast — is only good news. I’ve stopped holding my breath for a Kyuss reunion and I’m not even sure I’d want one at this point (I’d take a second Vista Chino record in a hot minute, though), but that material has shown genuine longevity in its influence over the last 30-plus years, and deserves to be played for an audience one way or the other. Plus he might do Slo Burn‘s “July” and that’s always fun.

The PR wire had this to say:

JOHN GARCIA (ex-KYUSS) Announces North American Tour w/ TELEKINETIC YETI

Starting in San Diego, CA on June 26 until July 13 in Salt Lake City, UT!

Performing music from his his celebrated projects, including KYUSS, SLO BURN, HERMANO + more!

Ticket link: https://tonedeaftouring.com/johngarcia

American desert rock pioneer and former KYUSS frontman JOHN GARCIA will be embarking on a North American tour, in which he will be supported by psychedelic rock duo TELEKINETC YETI! Garcia will be performing music from his his celebrated projects, including KYUSS, SLO BURN, HERMANO + more! The trek will run through the West Coast and parts of the midwest from June 26 throughout July 13. Garcia will also perform an additional headliner on July 19 in Pioneertown, CA. The full itinerary can be found below while the tickets can be found HERE: https://tonedeaftouring.com/johngarcia

JOHN GARCIA North American Tour Dates
(w/ Telekinetic Yeti):
06/26: San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
06/27: Los Angeles, CA @ Fonda Theatre
06/29: Sacramento, CA @ Ace Of Spades
06/30: San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
07/01: Portland, OR @ Dante’s
07/02: Seattle, WA @ El Corazon
07/03: Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre
07/05: Calgary, AB @ Dickens
07/06: Edmonton, AB @ Starlite Room
07/08: Winnipeg, MB @ Park Theatre
07/09: St Paul, MN @ Turf Club
07/10: Milwaukee, WI @ Club Garibaldi
07/11: Omaha, NE @ Slowdown
07/12: Denver, CO @ Marquis
07/13: Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
07/19: Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy & Harriet’s#
#No Telekinetic Yeti

Live lineup:
John Garcia – Vocals
John Bennet – Guitar
Billy Cordell – Bass
Greg Saenz – Drums

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John Garcia, Live in Milwaukee, WI, 05.15.24

The title Deep Seven Vol. 1 is a stated reference/homage to Deep Six, which came out in 1986 and is regarded as a starting point for grunge for its early assembling the likes of Soundgarden, Green River, Skin Yard and The Melvins, among others. At the time, these were mostly noisy bands trying to feel their way from being punk to something harder, and what came out of it was a generational declaration of themselves in rock and roll and to-date, the only underground rock scene ever to have been picked up by a major label en masse.

A once-in-a-forever happening, and no, I don’t think producers Haldor Grunberg of Satanic Audio and Kamil Ziółkowski of Electric Witch Mountain Recordings, which is the label behind the release and the studio where he seems to have recorded the bulk if not all of it, and features in five of the seven bands included (plus one as a guest), are trying to position Wrocław, Poland, as “the next Seattle.” But, there are parallels to be drawn. The two compilations share an underlying ethic in representing the work of groups and a collective of like-minded artists, working toward their own purposes as individuals, bands, etc., but united in some cases by stylistic similarities (or shared personnel) and in some cases drawn together simply by virtue of making outside-mainstream art in the same city — again, in this case, Wrocław and Poland’s greater Silesian region around it.

These are admirable goals, and with exclusive, new tracks from Palm Desert, Ziółkowski‘s solo-project Mountain of Misery, Solar Trip, Spaceslug, Gozd, O.D.R.A. and Sealess, the 45-minute collection has much to say about the city these bands call home and the sonic elements they share. Perhaps unsurprisingly, among the latter is a strong thread of grunge. This is certainly emphasized in Mountain of Misery‘s “Hollow Water” (5:436 and Spaceslug‘s “Lost in the Tide” (7:36), the latter of which is the centerpiece of the collection and the leadoff of the vinyl edition’s side B, but certainly in the punkier-at-its-root noise rock chug and shout-topped bite of O.D.R.A.‘s “Breslau Babilon” (5:15) — Breslau being an older name for Wrocław — and the despondent atmosphere that begins the subsequent closer “Fading Away” (4:30) by Sealess, there are hints of grunge to be actively or passively heard.

More importantly, that’s not all there is. Spaceslug, who aren’t the longest-tenured here — Palm Desert, whose “Elegy of the Past” (9:22) is both the leadoff and longest track (immediate points), formed in 2008, and O.D.R.A. may go back farther (both bands have Ziółkowski on drums) — are arguably the most known outside of Poland. Their textured, rich interpretation of heavy psychedelia is characteristically fluid in melody and groove on “Lost in the Tide,” which may or may not have some relation to their 2018 LP, Eye the Tide (review here), and comes across as languid but not at all still. The riff is sharper than it seems on first listen, metal-born but heavy-raised. It feels purposeful in its position, not the least for the hypnosis.

“Lost in the Tide” is surrounded on either side by Solar Trip‘s “Blueshift” (6:18) and Gozd‘s “Disguise the Emptiness” (6:22). These are the only two bands in which Ziółkowski isn’t a member, though he contributes recognizable guest backing vocals to the latter, for another aural tie-in, feeling like a linear progression from the psychedelic redirect of Solar Trip — instrumental save for samples and nodding toward modern space-prog in a nonetheless driving movement — through the hypnotic nod of “Lost in the Tide,” and into Gozd, who push even further into open air.

No doubt the fact that these songs were all recorded in the same studio with the same producers between August of this year and last month has something to do with Deep Seven Vol. 1‘s ability to creative this kind of overarching flow; the tracklisting is able to put the listener where it wants them from the moment Palm Desert takeoff from the relatively straight-ahead first half of “Elegy of the Past” to the jammier, trippier second. Mountain of Misery serve as a transition ahead of Solar Trip, Spaceslug and Gozd, and just when you feel like you’re as far out as you can go without the music falling apart around you, O.D.R.A. bring a sudden regrounding and a suckerpunch at the same time. And Sealess not only make sense to finish because they move from the mellow, almost post-heavy fluidity of the early going in “Fading Away” to a more solidified payoff, but the return of vocalist Wojciech Gałuszka from Palm Desert alongside guitar, drums and synth from Ziółkowski and Grunberg‘s production, feels like a bookend to the release as a whole.

And that Ziółkowski and Spaceslug bassist/vocalist Jan Rutka also play in Palm Desert shouldn’t be discounted. Granted, it’s a lot of Ziółkowski front to back as he moves between drumming, singing, keys and guitar in different bands, but his approach seems to be an essential piece of what these same groups are sharing. It’s part of the point, not a thing to hide, is what I’m saying. These bands are supposed to be connected, and they are. That happens in terms of their aesthetic purpose — the blend of psychedelic, heavy, and various niches of rock music — their respective memberships, and of course their geography.

Deep Seven affirms the validity of all of these, and within the broadly varied Polish underground, which is just as likely to produce a Behemoth or a Batushka (or two) as a Dopelord or a Major Kong, casts the included acts as offering something distinct from the rest. They’re not prideful or arrogant about it — at least not in the songs, though O.D.R.A. want nothing for brashness with their Church of Misery-style swing and hardcore-meets-Sabbath overtones — but the message that these groups and this region have something to offer listeners is resonant in the material itself. For that alone, one hopes a Vol. 2 or a Deep Eight or whatever it ends up being called surfaces at some point in the future.

Of course, a crucial difference between this comp and Deep Six is that scene was just beginning to take shape where this one is more established — but again, at no point does it feel like Deep Seven is trying to pitch itself to a commercial music infrastructure that simply no longer exists to support it even if it wanted to. Instead, in a context where these sounds can be heard by anyone, anywhere, anytime, on demand, Deep Seven Vol. 1 reaches out and speaks of people and place in stylistic terms, and in so doing captures something special. If you want to call it the ‘Silesian sound’ from here on out, this offers a glimpse at some of what that means.

Various Artists, Deep Seven Vol. 1 (2024)

Electric Witch Mountain Recordings on Facebook

Electric Witch Mountain Recordings on Bandcamp

There’s a lot of information here, but if you’re not already familiar with Orquesta del Desierto‘s two albums, 2002’s self-titled and 2003’s Dos, the relatively short-lived project with the duo of Dandy Brown (also Hermano, The Fizz Fuzz, solo work) and Pete Stahl (Goatsnake, earthlings?, Wool, Scream) at its core might indeed require a bit of context. Intentionally fluid in their lineup with a stylistic openness that speaks to the heart of desert-weird like Master of Reality at their most oddball or the earliest pair of Man’s Ruin-issued Desert Sessions LPs, Orquesta del Desierto pushed further into quirk and became very much the manifestation of their own niche, while incorporating personalities like Mario Lalli (Fatso Jetson, Yawning Man, etc.) and Alfredo Hernandez (Kyuss, Ché, Avon, etc.) and growing willfully more open in songwriting between the first and second albums.

Adventurous as they were, both Orquesta del Desierto and Dos were rife with genre transgressions, and perhaps that’s part of what’s kept them as something of a secret for the last 20-plus years, but what ‘heavy’ and what ‘desert’ mean and include has ballooned in that same span of time, so I’ll be curious to see how both LPs are received when Heavy Psych Sounds issues newly-remixed/remastered versions in June. So far as I know they’ve both been out of print for some time — though I did find a 2023 digipak edition of Dos on the Alone Records Bandcamp page, so not by any means completely lost to the ether — and like a lot of what’s being revisited from the turn-of-the-century heavy rock movement, they’re well worth exploring again for heads old and new to their work.

The more open your mind can be in the approach, the better off you’ll be. From the PR wire:

Cult desert rock project ORQUESTA DEL DESIERTO (w/ members of QOTSA, Kyuss, Hermano) to reissue full discography on Heavy Psych Sounds; preorders available!

European label Heavy Psych Sounds Records welcomes legendary desert rock collective Orquesta del Desierto — the Palm Desert project founded by Dandy Brown and featuring former members of Kyuss, Yawning Man, Queens of the Stone Age, Goatsnake and more — for the reissue of their “Orquesta del Desierto” and “Dos” albums in a brand new remixed/remastered version this June.

Orquesta del Desierto stands alone among the many unique bands to come out of the Mojave Desert over the last thirty years. While the desert is often associated with purveyors of down-tuned, maximum decibel rock, shortly after the new millennium began a fresh sound associated with the southern California desert was ushered in.

For fans of the band, the story of how Orquesta del Desierto came into existence has circulated through desert rock circles for decades. It is a story that actually began thousands of miles away from southern California and has its roots in a recording session that took place in the America’s Midwest. Shortly after completing the recording of Hermano’s Only a Suggestion, producer Dandy Brown accepted the invitation of legendary singer John Garcia to leave the bitter winters of northern Kentucky and to continue their collaborations in the warmer climate of the Coachella Valley.

Dandy Brown recently turned the collections over to renowned engineers Harper Hug (John Garcia, Vista Chino, Brant Bjork) and Jason Groves (Supafuzz, Asylum on the Hill, Floraburn) for complete remixes and remasters of the Orquesta del Desierto catalog for a spring reissue on HPS Records. After an extensive search to find the best home for the albums, Orquesta del Desierto is proud to have Heavy Psych Sounds Records reissue both remixed and remastered “Orquesta del Desierto” and “Dos” collections available on vinyl this June, with preorders available now at www.heavypsychsounds.com.

“Orquesta del Desierto” reissue (remixed & remastered)
Available June 7th on Heavy Psych Sounds – PREORDER: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop.htm#HPS308

About the album

Recorded at the Green Room Studio in Palm Springs in 2001 and released on the seminal desert rock label Meteorcity Records in 2002, the band’s debut album immediately gathered critical acclaim for its ability to forge a new dynamic in a genre that was rapidly filling with groups cloning the heavier sounds of Kyuss.

Produced by Dandy Brown. Recorded at the Green Room, Palm Springs, California. Engineered by Mike Riley. Remix and Remaster by Jason Groves at Sneak Attack Studios, Lexington, Kentucky. Design and Photography by Dawn Brown.

“Dos” album reissue (remixed & remastered)
Available June 14th on Heavy Psych Sounds – PREORDER: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop.htm#HPS309

About the album

Unable to tour as a group due to commitments to other projects but fueled by the success of the debut release, Brown immediately turned to booking another recording session for the band. Hoping to further expand the group’s dynamic sound, Brown and Stahl solicited song contributions from Mike Riley and Country Mark Engel for the second album. While the core of Brown, Stahl, Riley, Engel and Lalli remained intact for the second session, the group’s diverse approach benefitted from the addition of drummer Adam Maples (earthlings?) and percussionist/drummer Pete Davidson. Additionally, the group was joined at famed Joshua Tree studio Rancho de la Luna by pianist Tim Jones and Bill Barrett on trumpet.

Released in 2003, Dos was immediately embraced as a “… compelling fusion of Latin stylings and psychedelic-tinged blues that is a real alternative these days” (cosmiclava.com). Bolstered by similar acknowledgements and reviews of their second album, Orquesta del Desierto committed to a series of performances throughout southern California and a European tour in 2004. Joined by drummer Bryan Brown, these shows have become legendary among the fans who were able to attend the band’s only active period of live performances.

Produced by Dandy Brown. Recorded at Rancho de la Luna, Joshua Tree, California. Additional Recording at the Green Room, Palm Springs, California. Engineered by Mike Riley. Remix and Remaster by Harper Hug at Thunder Underground, Palm Springs, California. Design and Photography by Dawn Brown.

By the end of 2004, with their two releases achieving overwhelming critical success but realizing that the members of the group were spread too thin with obligations to other projects, Brown decided to disband Orquesta del Desierto. Returning to their catalog years later, though, and considering the limitations of the technology used to capture the band’s two albums, Brown turned the collections over to renowned engineers Harper Hug (John Garcia/Vista Chino/ Brant Bjork) and Jason Groves (Supafuzz/Asylum on the Hill/Floraburn) for complete remixes and remasters of the Orquesta del Desierto catalog.

Orquesta del Desierto is
Pete Stahl
Dandy Brown
Mario Lalli
Country Mark Engel
Mike Riley
Pete Davidson
Adam Maples
Alfredo Hernandez
Sean Landetta Carrillo
Bryan Brown
Tim Jones
Bill Barrett
Jackie Watson
Emiliano Hernandez

heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com
www.heavypsychsounds.com
https://www.facebook.com/HEAVYPSYCHSOUNDS/
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Orquesta del Desierto, Orquesta del Desierto (2002/2024)

Orquesta del Desierto, Dos (2003/2024)

Here’s a concept that’s pretty easy to get behind: John Garcia US tour dates. Desert rock’s founding frontman will appear next weekend in Austin, Texas, at Fiesta Destructo, which I’ll just assume is part either officially or tangentially of SXSW, and in May, will start out in the Midwest on a trip bound for the Eastern Seaboard that hits up into Montreal before turning south to cap in Philly and Brooklyn.

John Garcia and his solo band were last in NYC in the latter half of 2022 for Desertfest New York (review here), and have been gigging regularly on the West Coast, which is fair enough. At the bottom of the post you can see a video taken last November, and as the press release below also reminds, Garcia will play material from across his storied career, which means Kyuss tunes along with his solo stuff, probably Hermano‘s “Kentucky” or an older track and, if you’re truly blessed, “Pilot the Dune” or “July” by Slo Burn. However it shakes out, given the catalog Garcia‘s got to draw from, you’re probably not gonna leave the venue pissed off.

Tour dates came down the PR wire, as booked by Tone Deaf Touring:

🌴JOHN GARCIA (ex-KYUSS) Announces North American Tour, Performing Classics from KYUSS, SLO BURN + HERMANO

American desert rock pioneer and former KYUSS frontman JOHN GARCIA will be embarking on a North American East Coast tour this spring, in which he will be performing classic songs from some of his iconic bands – KYUSS, HERMANO + SLO BURN! GARCIA will be supported by blues-rock guitarist JARED JAMES NICHOLS, psychedelic rock duo TELEKINETC YETI, and blues rockers LEFT LANE CRUISER.

The trek will kick off on May 15 in Madison, WI and will conclude in Brooklyn, NY on May 29. The full itinerary can be found below while ticket links are available HERE: https://tonedeaftouring.com/jgkyuss

Prior to the tour, JOHN GARCIA will be performing a FREE show in Austin, TX on March 16 with support from MIDNIGHT.

JOHN GARCIA North American Tour Dates
(w/ Jared James Nichols, Telekinetic Yeti, Left Lane Cruiser):
03/16: Austin, TX @ Fiesta Destructo [FREE SHOW]*
05/15: Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon
05/16: Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall [On sale Fri, 3/8 @ 10:00 A.M.]
05/17: Lawrence, KS @ Liberty Hall
05/21: Pittsburgh, PA @ Jergel
05/22: Detroit, MI @ Crofoot Theatre
05/23: Grand Rapids, MI @ Pyramid Scheme
05/25: Montreal, QC @ Club Soda
05/27: Hampton Beach, NH @ Wally’s [On sale Fri, 3/8 @ 10:00 A.M.]
05/28: Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer [On sale Fri, 3/8 @ 10:00 A.M.]
05/29: Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere
*John Garcia w/ Midnight ONLY

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John Garcia, Live at The Belasco, L.A., CA, Nov. 17, 2023

The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.

Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.

Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.

The Obelisk Questionnaire: Kamil Ziółkowski of Mountain of Misery, Spaceslug, O.D.R.A., Palm Desert, Etc.

—

How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?

When it comes to issues related to playing music, which is probably what the question is about, I define myself as, on the one hand, a drummer in several bands, but also a creator of music, and the creation of music, the creative process itself, is what I like the most. The symbiosis between several people functioning as a band is something wonderful and the resultant of their actions creating a common creation gives great satisfaction. The love for playing and creating music began when I was 16 years old and that’s when I started playing bass, a year later I switched to drums and it stayed that way, it’s what I identify with the most.

Describe your first musical memory.

It’s hard to single out any specific memory, music has basically always accompanied me. I was lucky that my father listened to broadly understood rock music, and this type of sounds accompanied me from childhood. Bands like Black Sabbath, TOTO, Marillion, Genesis and so on, they shaped me as a person and as a guy who would play music in the future. I started collecting music on physical media when I was 7, back then it was still cassette tapes, first it was… Roxette (!), then things like Def Leppard, and finally grunge, mainly Pearl Jam, then Soundgarden and this was the time I consider it “forming me” as a listener. I love and listen to these bands to this day.

Describe your best musical memory so far.

As a listener, it’s a concert by The Cure, which I love and was at in concert years ago. As a musician, it’s probably the entire period since 2008, when I finally managed to create good things, then the bands I was in were formed and their functioning gave me a lot of fun, I’m talking about Palm Desert and O.D.R.A, and a few years later Spaceslug appeared, the band from which I am probably best known on the broadly understood underground scene.

When was a strongly held belief tested?

You’re asking if I ever doubted playing music. If so, the years between 2006 and 2008 were such a dead period that I was seriously considering selling the drums and calling it quits. Then there was a big revival, as I mentioned above, from that moment on I can’t imagine the moment when I would stop doing it. I would feel an incredible emptiness inside myself if that happened.

Where do you think artistic progress is leading?

Progress can only be assessed from the perspective of time, 50 years ago everyone could also be surprised and announce the end of something when it turned out that progress contributed to something good. I think that artistic progress always goes in the right direction, after all, it is art, right?

How do you define success?

Success is doing something for a long time that gives you satisfaction.

If we evaluate it in hindsight and are satisfied with it, then we can say that we have achieved it.

The scale of success depends, of course, on our expectations and perspective, and is different for everyone.

Have you seen something you wish you hadn’t seen?

Yes, the internet is terrible. I won’t go into details, but I didn’t realize how far can go people to satisfy their sexual “needs” ;)

Describe something you haven’t created yet but would like to create.

Simple, something original enough to take your breath away… And on a more down-to-earth level, in strictly musical terms, I would like to create rock music supported by string instruments, specifically violins.

What do you think is the most important function of art?

Bringing beauty and happiness to everyone who wants to interact with it.

Something non-musical you’re looking forward to?

I can’t wait for my first trip to the United States in next month (January) . Although I’m going there to play a concert with Spaceslug, I also treat it as a journey to the big world, to the place from which I have drawn culture since I was a child, the world with which I was so fascinated, and finally, after many years, such an opportunity arose for the first time.

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61553104355582
https://mountainofmisery.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61552988139323

https://www.facebook.com/spaceslugband/
https://www.instagram.com/spaceslug_pl/
https://spaceslug.bandcamp.com/music

Mountain of Misery, In Roundness (2023)

Mountain of Misery, Anthem of Sadness (2023)

Spaceslug, Memorial (2021)

[Click play above to stream the premiere of Fatso Jetson’s ‘Night of the Living Amends’ from the Legends of the Desert Vol. 3 split with Dali’s Llama, out March 24 through Desert Records. Preorder available on Bandcamp here.]

New Mexico imprint Desert Records launched its ‘Legends of the Desert’ split series in 2020 by bringing together Palehorse/Palerider and Lord Buffalo (discussed here and here), and Legends of the Desert Vol. 2 (review here) followed, with The Penitent Man and Cortége resting side-by-side in furthering the stated objective of honoring a new generational interpretation of who and what ‘legends’ means and the notion that ‘desert’ as applies to music doesn’t just have to mean ‘sounds like Kyuss.’ With Cali desert scene co-progenitors Fatso Jetson and perpetually undervalued grit rockers Dali’s Llama on Legends of the Desert Vol. 3, the series pivots toward two different kinds of legends.

Fatso Jetson arrive after releasing Live From Total Annihilation (review here) last year through Ripple Music in collaboration with All Souls, marking a noteworthy return with their first new material since 2016’s Idle Hands (review here), having played live shows and toured all the while, conditions permitting. They are legends in an underground sense and a band around whom the ‘generator party’ narrative of off-grid punk birthing a new generational interpretation of heavy has rightly coalesced, with guitarist/vocalist Mario Lalli — also of Yawning Man and lately the improvisational unit Mario Lalli and the Rubber Snake Charmers — as ambassador for band and scene alike, surrounded by family with cousin Larry Lalli on bass as always, son Dino Von Lalli on guitar and the not-actually-related-but-might-as-well-be-at-this-point Tony Tornay (also of All Souls) on drums. As a unit, they are largely unfuckwithable and have been for some time.

The perpetually DIY Dali’s Llama formed more or less concurrently to Fatso Jetson in 1993, and have over the years approached desert rock from alternately bluesy, country, punk and gothic angles (among others), the founding duo of guitarist/vocalist Zach Huskey and bassist Erica Huskey likewise unpredictable conceptually and reliable in terms of songwriting and performance across a wide discography, the last installment of which was 2021’s Dune Lung EP (review here), which was itself a follow-up to 2019’s umpteenth full-length, Mercury Sea (review here). Here as on those two releases and others prior, the band operates as a four-piece, with Joe Dillon on guitar and backing vocals and Craig Brown on drums, presenting four songs in complement to Fatso Jetson‘s own and showcasing some of the aural diversity — looking at you, banjo-as-sitar on “Rarified” — that’s part of what makes them so recognizable.

Dali’s Llama get the longer side, as their four cuts weigh in at 22 minutes. Fatso Jetson‘s four are shorter on average — 17 minutes total — but they go first, with Mathias Schneeberger on keys and the instrumental “Night of the Living Amends” as the opener and longest piece of side A nestling comfortably into a signature Fatso Jetson groove; part surf rockabilly, part punk, smoothly toned and loosely exploratory, finding the place where solid ground and psychedelia meet. On the subsequent “Angels Flight,” they bring in vocalist Sean Wheeler (also Throw Rag and a regular with The Rubber Snake Charmers) to join Mario on vocals, but the hypnotic and immersive effect of “Night of the Living Amends” remains even as the first verse starts. Almost before you realize it, they’ve pulled you into the proceedings with them and are underway.

“Angels Flight” feels like a semi-revisit to/fleshing-out-of a progression from “Jolting Tales of Tension” off of 2010’s Archaic Volumes (review here, discussed here), with lyrics from Wheeler overlaid and pedal steel from Gar Robertson for a differentiated wistfulness. Gentle in its delivery compared to some of the band’s output, it’s a highlight melody for Legends of the Desert Vol. 3 and precedes the forward shove of Tornay‘s kick drum on “Todas Petrol Blues,” another smoothly executed instrumental picking up from its fading-in guitars with a burst of energy sustained through a winding sans-vocal chorus and rumbling to a finish before the three-minute “One of Seven” digs into a more traditional hook, the mellow verse giving over to the rousingly catchy lines “One of seven days/I let the hammer swing/I let the hammer swing.” If you’re thinking that’s a tune about being in a band that practices once a week, you might be onto something.

That song’s straight-ahead rocker vibe, still fleshed out with Fatso Jetson‘s interplay of guitar, gives Dali’s Llama a suitable lead-in as they launch side B with “Coyotes in the Graveyard.” Zach and Erica Huskey, Dillon and Brown set out with a fuzzy roller of a riff and Zach‘s bluesy vocal delivery, immediately set to their task of craft. Heavy and laid back in kind, “Coyotes in the Graveyard” is traditional in structure and somewhat darker in atmosphere, but that’s a wheelhouse for Dali’s Llama, and “Lizards” highlights an even thicker tone in the guitars and bass, while the chorus, “Where I’m from there are no wizards/Where I’m from there’s only lizards,” positions them decisively in the desert. They get their point across in paying homage to the landscape itself, and the line transitioning to the hook, “Here the water is the king,” seems to call back to “King Platypus” from 2008’s Full On Dunes (review here) while of course crowning another creature. Long live the lizard.

The previously-mentioned “Rarified” is next, with more of a swing amid its central chug and the start-stop riff behind the chorus before the noted banjo-inclusive break, unexpected and welcome as it is with a comparatively minimal feel during that stretch before a cymbal wash and drumroll brings a solo and chorus return that feels all the more forceful for the subdued place the song has just been. The longest inclusion on the split at 6:22, “Rarified” uses its time well, and gives over to the readily Sabbathian stonerism of “Hypnotic Wind,” with a more forward vocal from Zach and languid movement into its more open chorus. Like much of what Dali’s Llama do, it’s a manipulation of style with a solid structural foundation beneath, accounting for the doomier elements of “Coyotes in the Graveyard” and tying together their side as an EP unto itself with a late push and cowbell-on-board big rock ending.

Geography aside, what Fatso Jetson and Dali’s Llama most have in common is their lack of pretense about who they are. In a true spirit of rugged individualism, these acts of long-standing come together for Legends of the Desert Vol. 3 not necessarily to celebrate their prior accomplishments, but to demonstrate to anyone who might encounter the release the self-determined attitude that got them where they are. In a genre that is underrated as a whole, they deliver arguments in favor of this through their efforts, and like mystical tales known to a select few, their respective legends continue to grow. Maybe there are wizards out there after all.

Fatso Jetson on Facebook

Fatso Jetson on Instagram

Fatso Jetson on Bandcamp

Fatso Jetson website

Dali’s Llama on Facebook

Dali’s Llama on Bandcamp

Dali’s Llama website

Desert Records on Facebook

Desert Records on Instagram

Desert Records on Bandcamp

Desert Records store

Desert Records‘ split series Legends of the Desert has never seemed more aptly named with Fatso Jetson and Dali’s Llama on this third volume. I’ve heard none of it, but the former outfit are progenitors of the Californian desert rock style and an influence to more bands than you or I can count, and the latter are longtime practitioners of the sand-hued arts, persistently underrated in their expansion around the core desert sound and tonality to vibes bluesy, goth rocking and beyond. Both proven entities in my mind.

The label has launched a Kickstarter as of today that’s serving as preorders for the various editions to come, and below they present the respective backgrounds of the bands as probably the best case for supporting the project. Legit. There’s a video below that features new music snippets, but honestly, if you’re not already on board based on the personnel alone — both acts who’ve long since established trust and a series that’s proven its mettle across two to-date volumes — I’m not sure what to tell you. The argument makes itself.

I’ll hope to have more to come as we get closer to the release. For now, this comes from the PR wire:

Legends of the Desert: Vol. 3

The third volume features two old school veterans of desert rock, Fatso Jetson & Dali’s Llama. After kicking off the first two volumes with new bands, it was due time to work with veterans of the Palm Desert scene.

The artwork is done by artist Joshua Mathus of Phoenix, AZ. He is commissioned to do all the album artwork (front and back covers) for the entire series.

Fatso Jetson is an American desert rock band from Palm Desert, California, formed in 1994 by Yawning Man and The Sort of Quartet members Mario Lalli and Larry Lalli, along with Tony Tornay, and Dino Von Lalli (son of Mario). Fatso Jetson have remained an active force in underground rock for almost 25 years. They are often credited as originators of the desert strain of stoner rock made most famous by their younger neighbors Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age. While musically similar to some of their stoner brethren, Fatso Jetson incorporates a variety of musical influences that includes punk, art rock, blues and psychedelic hard rock.

Dali’s Llama is a desert rock band from the Palm Springs/Palm Desert area of Southern California. Dali’s Llama was formed in 1993 and released their first album that same year. The band, started by the husband and wife team of Zach and Erica Huskey, have remained the only two original members from the beginning. Zach is the guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter, and Erica is the bass player. Dali’s Llama has released 15 albums so far. Their music is in five films, including being featured in the desert rock documentary “Lo Sound Desert”. They have performed and/or toured throughout the southwestern United States, including the ‘Stoner Hands of Doom’ and ‘Doom In June’ fests.

KICKSTARTER – LEGENDS of the DESERT: Vol. 3: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/desertrecords/legends-of-the-desert-vol-3

The kickstarter campaign launches on Friday, Dec 9th…and offers 4 stunning vinyl variants. Other rewards include the “Desert Rat” guitar pedal, test pressings, custom print/poster, and vinyl bundles.

SUPPORT THIS PROJECT!!! There are many exciting rewards.

Four (4) stunning vinyl LP variants.
Test pressings of the LP
Desert Rat guitar pedal from Fowl Sounds
Custom screen-print poster 12×12
CD’s
Bundles of the rewards (save $)

SIDE A: Fatso Jetson
Night of the Living Amends 4:54
Angels Flight (feat. Sean Wheeler) 4:45
Todas Petrol Blues 4:21
One of Seven 3:03

SIDE B: Dali’s Llama
Coyotes in the Graveyard 4:21
Lizards 6:09
Rarified 6:19
Hypnotic Wind 5:19

The music in the video features sound clips of 3 of the 8 songs on the album.
The first sound clip is “Coyotes in the Graveyard” by Dali’s Llama.
The second sound clip is “Angel’s Flight” (feat. Sean Wheeler) by Fatso Jetson.
The third sound clip is “Lizards” by Dali’s Llama.

This is the soundtrack to the New Wild West. The focus of the Legends of the Desert series is to provide a modern perspective to the antiquated ‘Wild West’ we have etched in our brains. These songs and tales are not told by the same ol’ perspective of the white male Cowboy. These are narratives told by those who never got their stories heard. We will hear from musicians, artists, Natives, outlaws, desert rats, desert dwellers, cactuses and mesas, ravens and roadrunners, snakes and endless skies.

The bands are curated by label owner, Brad Frye. The requirements for bands to appear on the Legends series must hit certain criteria (besides making original & amazing desert rock music. Bands must be located geographically in the American Southwest. The states within this boundary include: California (southern part), Arizona, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Texas. The bands have to be currently active. They also are in line with the Legends series ethos of offering an updated perspecitve of Wild West. Fuck John Wayne and all the outdated Wild West bullshit that we have been fed by movies and media.

Desert Records has already released Legends of the Desert Vol: 1 & 2. Both releases were successful and were met with great excitement.

https://www.facebook.com/fatsojetson/
https://instagram.com/fatsojetsonband
https://twitter.com/fatsojetsonband
http://fatsojetson.com/

https://www.facebook.com/dalisllama
https://dalisllama.bandcamp.com/
http://www.dalisllamarecords.com/

https://www.facebook.com/desertrecordslabel/
https://desertrecords.bandcamp.com/
https://desertrecords.bigcartel.com/

Fatso Jetson & Dali’s Llama, Legends of the Desert Vol. 3 promo

Fatso Jetson & All Souls, Virtual Volumes Split (2022)

Dali’s Llama, Dune Lung EP (2021)

[Click play above to stream Brant Bjork’s Bougainvillea Suite in its entirety. Album is out Friday through Heavy Psych Sounds.]

Cheers to whatever circumstances in the universe resulted in the usually-on-drums Ryan Güt getting an organ. Bougainvillea Suite is by somebody’s count the 14th studio album by Brant Bjork, and perhaps more crucially, it is the first since May 2020’s Brant Bjork (review here), an interim in which the multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, songwriter and desert rock figurehead has released two long-players as guitarist/vocalist as part of the trio Stöner with fellow Kyuss alum Nick Oliveri (also Mondo Generator, Dwarves, etc.) and the aforementioned Ryan Güt (on drums) in 2021’s Stoners Rule (review here) and 2022’s Totally… (review here). Because Stöner have been touring since about three months before it was actually safe for things to open up, Bougainvillea Suite — the thorny bougainvillea vines depicted on its cover art by Bjork and Mario Lalli (Yawning Man, Fatso Jetson, lately of Mario Lalli and the Rubber Snakecharmers, which is basically Stöner plus himself and vocalist/performance artist Sean Wheeler) — arrives as something of a surprise.

Led off by the cool start-stop bounce of “Trip on the Wine,” finished by the jamming Bo Diddley cover “Who Do You Love” (Quicksilver Messenger Service also did a version and George Thorogood made it a radio hit), with no shortage of hooks and Bjork‘s charismatic cool laced into the masterfully fuzzed “Good Bones,” the later “Ya Dig,” and so on, Bougainvillea Suite runs eight tracks in a relatively unassuming 41 minutes, and is fairly Stöner-adjacent in terms of sound and style. Güt may be on organ and percussion instead of drumming — Bjork handles vocals, guitar, bass, drums, and other percussion; co-produced with Yosef Sanborn at The Rad Cabin in Joshua Tree — and Oliveri may be relegated to an appearance on guitar and backing vocals on the song-for-our-times, finally-someone-saying-screw-it-let’s-get-high-in-a-way-that-isn’t-somehow-fascist “Bread for Butter,” but “Good Bones” and the subsequent “So They Say” have the laid back swing and swagger that are hallmarks of Bjork‘s work over the last 20-plus years of his solo career, and are composed in such a style that it feels like they could easily have been brought to a Stöner jam and turned into that band’s songs. Ditto “Ya Dig,” which actually it wouldn’t surprise in the slightest if it turned up on a third Stöner album, even more than “Bread for Butter,” which, again, has Oliveri singing on it.

This, however, is nothing to complain about, and while I’ll recognize that ‘Hey, Brant Bjork is writing songs that sound like Brant Bjork‘ isn’t exactly universe-defining insight, there’s no question he’s got a sound. For the last two years, that’s been channeled into getting Stöner going, and Bougainvillea Suite steps aside from that, but it’s largely inarguable, and with Güt on keys, these songs make a distinct impression whether it’s in comparison to the band in which Güt and Bjork also play or Bjork‘s solo catalog as a whole (did I mention 14 albums?). The organ is right there after the first drum fill in “Trip on the Wine,” and it runs a thread through the jabby-snare verses of “Good Bones” and fills out beneath the clever lyrics and telltale wah of “So They Say” before adding to the easy-motion twist of “Broke That Spell,” no less crucial an element than the guitar itself as it plays off the central riff and, especially in the latter, takes its own casual saunter of a progression as a preface for “Who Do You Love” still to come.

Like much of what persists throughout Bougainvillea Suite, that extended closing jam isn’t necessarily new ground for Bjork in terms of aesthetic or methodology, but in context it emphasizes the masterful hand with which he is able to guide the listener through the span of a classically constructed full-length; casual, funky and cool as ever, but not at all unconsidered. Side B, accordingly, is an expansion on the moves and tones established on side A, with “Bread for Butter” both the closest Bjork comes to Stöner and the most outward in terms of social commentary, though the comment is less political — Bjork has never shied away from speaking as a person of color through his music; see 2014’s Black Power Flower (review here), among myriad other examples; there is no sense of whitewash here either — than personal, an almost aspirational reminder to keep one’s head amid the onset of the various apocalypses of the last few years.

Sound advice, and if perhaps that same impulse is behind the willful mellowness that’s happening across Bougainvillea Suite, it would make sense, but Bjork has said that much of the ‘bittersweet’ spirit in these songs comes from his own ups and downs, and that after a stretch that might legitimately be defined as an era of his output, he’ll no longer be making records at the same studio in Joshua Tree. If “Bread for Butter” is trying to take that in stride too, well, it would be in character as well as on theme, and it works in the context of the album itself as well, since Bjork‘s laying out of options, “The Beatles or the Stones,” prefaces the bit of devil-sympathy that shows itself in the acoustic strum and hand percussion of “Let’s Forget,”  a sweet and familiar refrain about the “beauty of now” with the title-line nestled into, “please let’s forget about yesterday.”

In terms of execution, the closing duo of “Let’s Forget” and “Who Do You Love” are clearly shooting for different vibes, the former wistful, the latter a blues jam built on top of cyclical tom runs, but they both bring into emphasis how much Güt is contributing here. “Let’s Forget” is peppered with melodic notes of what might be a Rhodes or at least Rhodes-ish sounds — if you told me it was guitar I’d just throw up my hands and say whatever; there are plenty of other examples to cite throughout the record in making the same point — and while it seems to be obscured before the song is really allowed to come apart following its here’s-another-channel-of-guitar solo (no complaints), the organ in “Who Do You Love” is as essential to defining the personality there as it is to “Trip on the Wine” or “Good Bones” back at the rockers-up-front outset. He’s the secret weapon in Stöner too. Should be used to it by now. While we’re talking about it, I’ll also note that few and far between are the artists who would allow someone else to have such an impact on a ‘solo’ record, and that is something to appreciate.

There’s some amount of reassurance to Bougainvillea Suite in that it reaffirms Bjork‘s commitment to the work he does under his own name even as Stöner continues to tour and will presumably have another LP coming barring disaster — the two so far and subsequent tours seem to have been well received — and its somewhat melancholy spirit speaks both to the times and the personal landmark that it is for Bjork as an artist. In a career more than 30 years deep that has likely seen peaks and valleys enough to make the Rockies blush, the greater comfort one derives from Bougainvillea Suite is knowing that whatever comes, Bjork will figure it out, keep making music, keep going. Longevity, creativity, his own style of craft and performance have made him desert rock’s most formidable ambassador. All of these elements, and more, are present here in ready supply.

Brant Bjork on Facebook

Brant Bjork on Instagram

Brant Bjork website

Heavy Psych Sounds on Facebook

Heavy Psych Sounds website

Heavy Psych Sounds on Bandcamp