Friday Full-Length: Yawning Man, Nomadic Pursuits

Posted in Bootleg Theater on July 26th, 2024 by JJ Koczan

Whether or not it actually was for the band themselves — and we’ll get to why in a minute provided I don’t get sidetracked by sweet tonal resonance — it’s arguable that Nomadic Pursuits (review here) was a new beginning for Californian desert rock progenitors Yawning Man. True, it’s their second LP. Prior to its release in 2010 through Cobraside Distribution, the three-piece of guitarist Gary Arce, bassist Mario Lalli and drummer Alfredo Hernandez had offered their debut in 2005’s Rock Formations (discussed here) and companioned that with the Pot Head EP, and the two would be coupled into the compilation Vista Point in 2007, but by the time three years had gone by, all three of those discs were pretty difficult to come by. Nomadic Pursuits brought the instrumentalist trio a new degree of professionalism in terms of sonic character and depth, and presented what was by then a band more than two decades old as having a fresh perspective on the aural niche they helped create. The richness of its sound, whether that’s Lalli‘s fleet low-end in “Sand Whip” and “Far-Off Adventure” or Arce‘s lightly melancholic reverb in “Camel Tow” (also “Camel Tow Too,” later), the circles around which they instrumentalist trio seem to be running around at the culmination of “Sand Whip” or the indie quirk underlying closer “Laster Arte,” set a balance between serenity and heft that in some crucial ways has been a defining aspect of their work since.

On the most basic level, the band — through various Arce-led incarnations — has done much more after 2010 than they’d done prior. Never ones to shy away from reissues, Yawning Man‘s The Birth of Sol: The Demo Tapes (discussed here) collected early recordings (put on actual cassettes, mind you) from their early days circa 1986 and arrived in 2009, also through Cobraside, but the album, EP, and two comps comprised the entirety of Yawning Man‘s studio output for nearly a quarter-century before Nomadic Pursuits. In the 14 years since, in addition to regular international touring, Arce and company — my understanding gleaned from social media is the band currently features the founding guitarist alongside a recently-stepped-back-in Lalli on bass and likewise-returned drummer Bill Stinson, and that they’re recording with Jason Simon of Dead Meadow guesting in some capacity, but they’re fluid in personnel as well as craft, so don’t quote me on any of that — have done four studio LPs, two live albums, a crucial 2013 split with Fatso Jetson, and overseen a full series of catalog reissues, including for Nomadic Pursuits, through Italian forerunner imprint Heavy Psych Sounds. As regards productivity, they’re much more of a band now than they were when they were starting out as kids jamming in the Californian desert.

Maybe that’s just the way of things. Maybe it takes a while sometimes to realize when you have something special going on and you’re a part of it, or maybe Yawning Man‘s own legacy was bolstered as a result of the on-internet proliferation of the generator-party desert rock narrative, like sandy Southern California in the late ’80s and early ’90s was peopled by roving bands of stoned teenaged marauders worshiping the god of (I believe) Larry Lalli‘s gas powered generator, rogue hillside and defunct skatepark trespass concerts becoming the stuff of hyper-romanticized legend. The sound of freedom in a particularly dirty-footed American heavy-hippie ideal. I don’t know if that’s how it went and the truth of history is it doesn’t matter if that’s what’s become the narrative, but by 2010, Yawning Man were ready to be more than just that band Kyuss covered that one time and to get some fraction of their due as essential to the shape of what their microgenre became. More than just an obscure band people talked about in the past tense.

And what is a nomadic pursuit if not exploration? The 42-minute seven-tracker bears that out in the unfolding of “Far-Off Adventure” — the longest inclusion at 8:28 — as well as the peacefully expansive centerpiece “Blue Foam,” with Arce‘s guitar looped or layered or its-14-years-later-and-I-still-don’t-know-how-it’s-talking-to-itself-across-channels-like-that, or the more rhythmically restless “Ground Swell,” on which Hernandez goes full-on with a jazzy showcase, and “Camel Tow Too,” which takes a different route from the same central progression as the opener and becomes more than a simple reprise for it. Emblematic of their approach generally, there’s more happening across Nomadic Pursuits than simple hit-record-and-go jamming. They’re following a structure, even if it’s not always obvious, or at very least they have some idea in mind of where they’re headed before they get there, however nebulous that might be. But the material throughout is an exploration of atmospheres and moods and different textures and energies, the shifts in pacing and broader activityyawning man nomadic pursuits level between “Sand Whip” and “Blue Foam” representative of a dynamic that’s only grown more encompassing in the years since.

It would be that aforementioned split with Fatso Jetson — which was issued concurrent to say-hi-to-the-next-generation appearances at Desertfest London 2013 (review here) that also included a set from Yawning Man offshoot Yawning Sons in a landmark one-two-three succession — that pushed further in cementing Yawning Man as a influential and veteran outfit to a new listenership, but I’ll gladly maintain that Nomadic Pursuits is the work that allowed that to happen in the first place, and that its value in listening holds up as more than preface for what they’d do afterward across the 2010s and into the tumultuous first half of this decade. As they approach a 40th anniversary since their inception, Yawning Man are more reality than legend, which considering the legend involved should be read as a compliment, and as both an entity unto themselves in sound and a nexus point around which numerous other Arce-involved projects orbit, whether that’s Yawning Sons, already noted, or Yawning Balch, Big Scenic Nowhere, the forthcoming SoftSun, and so on. Like the joshua, their family tree is an expanding fractal of branches and constant new growth.

I already mentioned they’re working on new recordings. Their latest album, Long Walk of the Navajo (review here), was released last year on Heavy Psych Sounds. If you’re looking for where to head next, that’d be a good stop to make.

In any case, I hope you enjoy, and thanks for reading.

As will happen, I had been stuck on trying to find a record with which to close out this week, and it wasn’t until I was taking the dog around the block at quarter-to-six this morning that Nomadic Pursuits came to mind. Part of why it did was because in 2010 when I originally reviewed it, my wife and I were spending a summer month — it was the two of us and the little dog Dio back then — at a cabin in Vermont. She was working on her Ph.D. dissertation. I was writing stories that would become part of my graduate thesis. We’d write early in the day then pop down the hill for a beer — I still drank then — and once or twice a month I popped back down to NJ for band practice like the four-hour ride was no big deal.

Easy to romanticize that trip now. No question life was less complex before we had a kid in ways I can hardly appreciate most of the time from the deeply frustrating trenches of parenthood. But I read the photo caption in that review and found I was bitching about the heat — something I was doing not two weeks ago here as well; I’d like to flatter myself into thinking I’ve become more grateful for what I have, or at least presenting myself that way; this may be and more likely is a delusion; you’d have to ask The Patient Mrs. probably when I’m not in the room — and was reminded that while looking back can often put a sepia-toned spin on one’s experiences, there are ups and downs to everything while you’re living through it.

I write this as my wife and daughter argue in the next room about eating yogurt for breakfast. The kid, picking up from yesterday’s obnoxious without losing the beat of contradictory impulse that makes so many of our days and doings brutal. Now whimpering for something or other. Ugh. Our niece, 15, flew into town yesterday and The Pecan has been turbocharged as a result. This morning’s derailing, not unexpected, has proceeded in pinches, bites, punches, kicks for my wife and I. I look forward to being nostalgic about this era, to whatever else I might be blinded as a result. Maybe in middle age I’m less committed to remembering the reality of a thing. Fine.

I hope I forget being the less preferred parent. I hope I forget the way I get ignored when I ask my kid to do something, or tell her, or do anything other than threaten to end whatever kind of fun she’s having at the moment, or yell at her to finally do it because I feel helpless and like that’s the only way I can actually get her to acknowledge I’m speaking. I hope I forget feeling like a failure all the time, that I failed before I started and I’ve been failing since, here, at home, everywhere. I hope in the years to come I can whitewash all of it into a succession of the positive memories, of her creativity, her intelligence and cleverness, her four-dinensional thinking and the positive manifestations of her excited spirit, all of which are as much a part of her as the rest that is so crushing and overwhelming.

My time is up. Great and safe weekend. Thanks for reading. Brant Bjork Trio plays A38 in Budapest on Monday. Look for a review Tuesday, and I’m halfway through a Worshipper album review that I hope to finish at the nearest opportunity. Until then, then.

FRM.

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Brant Bjork Trio Announce Once Upon a Time in the Desert Out Sept. 20

Posted in Whathaveyou on June 25th, 2024 by JJ Koczan

brant bjork trio

I’d love to sit here and opine at some length about the career path of Brant Bjork, Mario Lalli and even at this point Ryan Güt — who’s been with Bjork through solo stuff, the Stöner trio with Nick Oliveri and is now part of Brant Bjork Trio; no slouch on contribution through this stretch even if he’s the dude in the band without the middle-name “desert legend,” is what I’m saying — but fact is I’m also in the desert, in Arizona, headed to the Grand Canyon. It ain’t California sands, Palm Springs, generator parties, but hell, it’s closer than New Jersey, where I’ll fly back to the day after tomorrow.

So, light on time, especially as The Patient Mrs. is giving me the wrap-it-up sign and I await the kick-in of the gummy that’s going to let me live aneurysm-free through this morning dealing with our daughter — who has outdone even her own high standards of pain in the ass on this trip — but happy to post word of Brant Bjork Trio‘s Once Upon a Time in the Desert, out Sept. 20 through Duna Records (Bjork‘s label; his bringing it back in-house follows years on Heavy Psych Sounds and Napalm Records going back the last decade-plus) and the first single “Backin’ the Daze,” which is both as catchy as you’d expect and, if I’m hearing it right, not quite family-friendly. So it goes.

The PR wire takes it from here. Tour dates are ported over from this post; there may be changes. Single’s at the bottom:

brant bjork trio once upon a time in the desert

BRANT BJORK TRIO to release new studio album “Once Upon A Time In The Desert” on September 20th via Duna Records; first single streaming!

BRANT BJORK TRIO announce the release of their new studio album “Once Upon A Time In The Desert” on September 20th, marking the return of Brant Bjork’s beloved desert rock label Duna Records (distributed worldwide by Cobraside Distribution). The trio also releases their new single “Backin’ the Daze” and announce 2024 European and Japan tours.

Brant Bjork has spent over a quarter-century at the epicenter of Californian desert rock. From cutting his teeth drumming and composing on the legendary Kyuss’ landmark early albums, to propelling the seminal fuzz of Fu Manchu from 1994-2001 while producing other bands, putting together offshoot projects, and over the last 20 years embarking on his solo career as a singer, guitarist and bandleader, founding his own record label and more, his history is a winding narrative of relentless, unflinching creativity. Brant Bjork is considered a founding pioneer of the stoner rock and desert rock music scenes.

In 2024, the Brant Bjork Trio featuring old friend and influential desert rock pioneer Mario Lalli (Yawning Man, Fatso Jetson, Desert Sessions) on bass guitar and Brant Bjork band alumni Ryan Güt on drums will release a breakout full-length LP on Bjork’s newly relaunched Duna Records, distributed worldwide by Cobraside Distribution. “Once Upon a Time in the Desert” is the result of a long collaborative friendship between Bjork, Lalli and Güt. The power trio recorded the tracks at Donner & Blitzen studios in Southern California with another long-time collaborator Mathias Shneeberger, who has recorded and engineered many classic desert rock albums over the years.

The music the Brant Bjork Trio creates together is a heavy, fluid groove, organic desert rock & roll — a genre created by these veteran independent musicians — and their new record “Once Upon a Time in the Desert” expresses the principles of those styles born in the So Cal desert. Pure, heavy and grooving. So Cal desert blues that only these desert originals can deliver.

BRANT BJORK TRIO “Once Upon A Time in the Desert”
Out September 20th on Duna Records
Preorders coming soon!

TRACKLIST:
1. U.R. Free
2. Backin’ The Daze
3. Higher Lows
4. Down the Mountain
5. Magic Surfer Magazine
6. Sunshine Is Making Love To Your Mind
7. Rock And Roll In The Dirt
8. Astrological Blues (Southern California Girl)
9. Do You Got Some Fire?

Brant Bjork shares some insight into the new album and relaunch of Duna Records:

“Things come and go and sometimes they come back again. With that said, It’s an exciting time for me to be officially re-launching Duna Records. Duna was a vision I had in the mid-’90s and it finally became a reality in 2002 until its hiatus in 2006. Duna Records was and will continue to be my personal record label that is a home for all things creative amongst myself and others that are close to me. The timing couldn’t be better for Duna to begin a new life.

To celebrate this new beginning, I have recorded a new record with the Brant Bjork Trio and it will be Duna’s first official returning release. As you might know by now, due to extensive touring in the U.S., South America, Australia, Europe and Japan, the Brant Bjork Trio consists of my longtime drummer Ryan Güt and my longtime desert brother Mario Lalli on bass. Mario and I share a very unique and very special musical history that began when I was 13 years old! I always knew we would be playing together in my band and my patience paid off. To have Mario and Ryan as the rhythm section in a trio… so rad! Together, Mario and I produced the new record, appropriately titled ‘Once Upon a Time in the Desert’; and we are beyond excited to get this music out and into the hands and ears of all the fans new and old.

I’m very lucky to be able to sustain a life as the musician that I am. I certainly wouldn’t be able to do so without all of the musicians, music industry partners and of course the fans that have supported me for 25 years. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate my musical journey and show my appreciation than to re-launch Duna Records and release new and old music directly to my fans, the way it was always meant to be. Thank you and stay tuned for more desert rock.”

After completing successful tours of Europe and Australia earlier this year, the Brant Bjork Trio will be kicking off the second leg of their European tour later in July, followed by a tour of Japan in October to promote the release and relaunch of Duna Records. In 2025, the band will tour the UK, selected European regions, USA East Coast, New Zealand and more.

BRANT BJORK TRIO – SUMMER EUROPEAN TOUR 2024
24.7.24 RARE GUITAR, MÜNSTER (DE)
25.7.24 HERZBERG FESTIVAL, BREITENBACH (DE)
26.7.24 ROCK IM WALD, MICHELAU (DE)
27.7.24 BLUE MOON FESTIVAL, COTTBUS (DE)
28.7.24 STADTWERKSTATT, LINZ (AT)
29.7.24 A38, BUDAPEST (HU)
30.7.24 MOCVARA, ZAGREB (HR)
31.7.24 VIPER ROOM, VIENNA (AT)
2.8.24 POOLBAR FESTIVAL, FELDKIRCH (AT)
3.8.24 PALP FESTIVAL, BAGNES (CH)
4.8.24 BLAH BLAH, TORINO (IT)
5.8.24 ALTROQUANDO, ZEROBRANCO (IT)
6.8.24 FORTEZZA NUOVA, LIVORNO (IT)
8.8.24 HOFLÄRM FESTIVAL, MARIENTHAL (DE)
9.824 ALCATRAZ FESTIVAL, KORTRIJK (BE)
10,8.24 SONIC BLAST FESTIVAL, MOLEDO (PT)

Brant Bjork Trio Japan Tour 2024
10/23(Wed) Osaka Sengoku Daitoryo
10/24(Thu) Kanazawa REDSUN
10/25(Fri) Nagoya Tokuzou
10/26(Sat) Tokyo Ryogoku Sunrise
10/27(Sun) Nishi-Yokohama El Puente
10/28(Mon) Tokyo Shindaita FEVER

Tickets: https://linktr.ee/brantbjorktrio

The Brant Bjork Trio:
Brant Bjork – guitar/vocals
Mario Lalli – bass 
Ryan Güt – drums

https://www.facebook.com/BrantBjorkOfficial
https://www.instagram.com/brant_bjork
http://www.brantbjork.com

The Brant Bjork Trio, “Backin’ the Daze” official video

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The Brant Bjork Trio Announce European & Japanese Tour Dates

Posted in Whathaveyou on May 29th, 2024 by JJ Koczan

brant bjork trio

As we speak, the Brant Bjork Trio — that’s Bjork himself on vocals and guitar, Mario Lalli on bass, Ryan Güt on drums — are wrapping up a Desertfest-heavy Spring run of Europe and the UK that was billed as “pt. 1” of the broader continental plans. The next installment is coming up quickly already in about two months, as Sound of Liberation posted the other day, and there’s once again no shortage of fest appearances slated, between Herzberg, Rock im Wald, Blue Moon Festival, Poolbar Festival, Palp Festival, Hoflärm, Alcatraz Festival and SonicBlast Fest as the tour moves through the end of July and into August, taking ass and kicking names all the while. Something like that, anyhow.

Cool cool. I don’t know about you, but I’m waiting for news about the album for which Brant Bjork Trio were in the studio back in February, and with the roughly-concurrent announcement of a Fall run through Japan, it seems more likely to be this year rather than next. Could even be in time for July, depending on when the record was/is actually finished, but who the hell knows anything actually. Not me, I guess is what I’m saying.

Still, this is a lot of moving around if you’re not lugging a long-player along for the merch table. Sound of Liberation posted the first part of this and I grabbed the Japanese dates from Brant Bjork‘s socials. To wit:

Sound of Liberation proudly presents – BRANT BJORK TRIO – SUMMER EUROPEAN TOUR 2024

24.7.24 RARE GUITAR, MÜNSTER (DE)
25.7.24 HERZBERG FESTIVAL, BREITENBACH (DE)
26.7.24 ROCK IM WALD, MICHELAU (DE)
27.7.24 BLUE MOON FESTIVAL, COTTBUS (DE)
28.7.24 STADTWERKSTATT, LINZ (AT)
29.7.24 A38, BUDAPEST (HU)
30.7.24 MOCVARA, ZAGREB (HR)
31.7.24 VIPER ROOM, VIENNA (AT)
2.8.24 POOLBAR FESTIVAL, FELDKIRCH (AT)
3.8.24 PALP FESTIVAL, BAGNES (CH)
4.8.24 BLAH BLAH, TORINO (IT)
5.8.24 ALTROQUANDO, ZEROBRANCO (IT)
6.8.24 FORTEZZA NUOVA, LIVORNO (IT)
8.8.24 HOFLÄRM FESTIVAL, MARIENTHAL (DE)
9.824 ALCATRAZ FESTIVAL, KORTRIJK (BE)
10,8.24 SONIC BLAST FESTIVAL, MOLEDO (PT)

We can HIGHLY recommend their killer live show. Absolute legendary trio that you should catch whenever you can.

Brant Bjork Trio Japan Tour 2024

Announcing our first tour of Japan !!

10/23(Wed) Osaka Sengoku Daitoryo
10/24(Thu) Kanazawa REDSUN
10/25(Fri) Nagoya Tokuzou
10/26(Sat) Tokyo Ryogoku Sunrise
10/27(Sun) Nishi-Yokohama El Puente
10/28(Mon) Tokyo Shindaita FEVER

Tickets: https://linktr.ee/brantbjorktrio

The Brant Bjork Trio:
Brant Bjork – guitar/vocals
Mario Lalli – bass 
Ryan Güt – drums

https://www.facebook.com/BrantBjorkOfficial
https://www.instagram.com/brant_bjork
http://www.brantbjork.com

The Brant Bjork Trio, “Trip on the Wine” live Bahnhof Pauli, Hamburg, DE 05.14.24


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Album Review: Big Scenic Nowhere, The Waydown

Posted in Reviews on February 6th, 2024 by JJ Koczan

big scenic nowhere the waydown

Five years on from their debut EP, Dying on the Mountain  (discussed here), it still feels a little weird that Big Scenic Nowhere are an actual band, never mind sounding more established with their core lineup, more progressive and more distinct as an outfit from their other collaborations than they ever have. They might rightly be called a supergroup with drummer Bill Stinson (Yawning Man, Yawning Balch, etc.), guitarists Gary Arce (Yawning Man, Yawning Balch, Yawning Sons, Ten East, Dark Tooth Encounter, Zun, WaterWays, some new band he’s got going with Pia from Superlynx, on and on) and Bob Balch (Fu Manchu, Slower, Yawning Balch, Sun and Sail Club, ex-Minotaur, etc.) and vocalist/keyboardist Tony Reed (Mos Generator, Twelve Thirty Dreamtime, Constance Tomb, Stone Axe, etc.), though the term has fallen out of favor as these things inevitably will, but Big Scenic Nowhere‘s third full-length, The Waydown, is an accomplishment and realization of the band as themselves and shouldn’t be thought of otherwise.

While the project started as a lost Arce demo (discussed here) with completely different goals, and have always been open to guest appearances, Big Scenic Nowhere have featured plenty between 2020’s Vision Beyond Horizon (review here) and 2021’s The Long Morrow (review here) — at the start it wasn’t clear who was actually in the band, so that’s solidified as well — and The Waydown brings sit-ins from returning keyboardist/organist Per Wiberg (Spiritual Beggars, ex-Opeth, solo, etc.), guitarist Reeves Gabrels (David Bowie, The Cure), as well as former Hall & Oates keyboardist Eliot Lewis on the included Hall & Oates cover, “Sara Smile.”

Those other contributions from Wiberg and Gabrels and are spread throughout the seven-track/39-minute long-player, delivered as ever through Heavy Psych Sounds and meld with those of the band itself, but it’s Big Scenic Nowhere‘s own performances that are the highlights. I’m not even sure if it’s Reed or Balch on bass on a given track, but as much as it’s the two guitars at the forefront when considering the band, “Summer Teeth,” the slower but hypnotically hooky centerpiece “Bleed On,” and the mellow-rolling, seven-minute closer “100” — which bookends with the also-seven-minute “The Waydown” at the outset — are much bolstered by the low end, with Stinson‘s drums (or maybe Reed‘s, depending?) as the solid foundation beneath the explorations taking place.

Because while The Waydown is perhaps the most song-oriented Big Scenic Nowhere have yet been and it brings the core group into focus in no small part because of the unifying factor of Reed‘s vocals, it is still based on and carved out from jams, the band’s core process rooted in getting together for a time, banging out as much improvised or thought-of-a-part whathaveyou as they can, and sending the files home with Balch to be edited and carved into songs after the fact. It’s a heady way to do it, but it has allowed for a sense of progression in the band even as most of their material to-date has come from a single multi-day session. And on The Waydown, whether it’s the righteous creeper riff of the penultimate “BT-OH” or the declarative arrival of the first lines in “The Waydown” after the brief and comparatively minimal ambient intro, the carving, cutting, pasting and shaping results in a decisively and purposeful-seeming progressive feel.

Big Scenic Nowhere band photo 2

“Sara Smile” is a departure, obviously, with Reed shifting into a gentler, soulful vocal on the cover taken from 1975’s Daryl Hall & John Oates and the band tackling an arrangement that’s something kin to a heavy/desert interpretation of AOR, but in the post-chorus-takeoff melancholy of “Summer Teeth,” the harder-landing fuzz in “Surf Western” in the midsection riffing and how it changes back to shimmer for the verse, and even the dreamy vibe brought to “100,” there’s an attention to detail in The Waydown that tells you the songs have been worked on and, considering the depth, loved, before arriving in their final forms as presented, and that thoughtfulness in composition — even if it comes after the moment the actual music was made — and consideration of atmosphere while building same isn’t to be discounted. That Reed and Balch are also studio engineers kind of makes the band possible as they are now, as Reed‘s home in Washington State and the rest of the band’s in Southern California is a distance crossed by craft, Balch getting parts set in a branched collaboration with Reed adding vocals and maybe keys or drums, and so on, which makes Big Scenic Nowhere multi-tiered as regards creativity when one considers Balch‘s other direct partnership in the band, with Arce on guitar.

And what about Gary Arce? Is the man whose guitar made the desert sing an afterthought on The Waydown? Hardly. As Reed steps forward in lead-singer fashion, Arce‘s signature tone is what lends the proceedings their lightness, making the atmospheres of “Bleed On” and “100” possible and speaking to the improvisatory roots of the songs themselves. I’m not sure “Surf Western” would exist as an aural concept let alone the actual track on the record if it weren’t for Gary Arce, and the subdued standalone strums after three minutes in — in the drawdown right before the big riff circles back with a wallop — Big Scenic Nowhere remind that a goodly portion of their emotional resonance comes from the string section, even if that too is changing with the highlight stretches of bass as noted.

Is The Waydown the best Big Scenic Nowhere record? Yes. It feels like it’s the most vivid manifestation of their project yet as distinct from other outfits — which is saying something considering Yawning Balch is literally Yawning Man… wait for it.. plus Balch — and the intention with which it sets itself to the work of craft has become a key aesthetic component in a way that is likewise the band’s own. More importantly, it’s also the most Big Scenic Nowhere record in its contemplations, its dynamic turns and changes in volume or mood, and the resulting definition of the personality for the entire outfit. Yeah, it might still feel a little weird that they’re a band at all — to wit, I’m not sure they’ve ever played live — but they most definitely are, and never quite so engrossing a band as right now.

Big Scenic Nowhere, The Waydown (2024)

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Friday Full-Length: Dark Tooth Encounter, Soft Monsters

Posted in Bootleg Theater on January 26th, 2024 by JJ Koczan

Dark Tooth Encounter‘s Soft Monsters was released in 2008 through Lexicon Devil, and is one of any number of projects in the oeuvre of guitarist Gary Arce of Yawning Man, who around this period was also collaborating with UK prog instrumentalists Sons of Alpha Centauri as Yawning Sons for the first time, as well as getting Yawning Man together as a touring act — they’d release Nomadic Pursuits (review here) in 2010 and enter more of a traditional-band existence rather than the vague-desert-legend status they’d enjoyed prior — demoing with Big Scenic Nowhere, who are now a real band much different than that demo, jamming with Ten East for the first two LPs in 2006 and 2008, collaborating with Hotel Wrecking City Traders out of Australia, on and on. I think even the Zun demo happened right around then too.

Arce‘s not exactly hard up for projects these days either, between Yawning Man actively releasing and touring, Yawning Balch bringing a similar lineup plus Bob Balch of Fu Manchu for two LPs in 2023, and a new LP on the way next week from Big Scenic Nowhere, which also has Arce and Balch paired, and whose drummer, Bill Stinson, also plays on Dark Tooth Encounter‘s Soft Monsters and holds the jams together in both Yawning Man (until last year) and the two Yawning Balch albums.

And I could be wrong about this, but I don’t think Stinson was in Yawning Man circa 2008 (original drummer Alfredo Hernandez played on Nomadic Pursuits), but Yawning Man also weren’t as active as they would be a few years after the fact, so while I’m not sure exactly how Dark Tooth Encounter happened, it might just have been a step-aside for Arce to work with Stinson alongside Ten East, whose second album, The Robot’s Guide to Freedom, surfaced concurrent to Soft Monsters.

Is that weird? Well, a little, but listening to Dark Tooth Encounter, it makes a little more sense since the mission on Soft Mirrors — seven songs/39 dark tooth encounter soft monstersminutes, as if “ready for LP reissue” could be an actual runtime — is also a bit of a sidestep from either Yawning Man or Ten East. Mario LalliFatso Jetson, Yawning Man, lately Mario Lalli and the Rubber Snake Charmers and the Brant Bjork Trio — sits in on bass for centerpiece “Radio Bleed,” but handles guitar on side A’s “Weeping Pines” and the finale “Engine Drone,” both of which have a subtle touch of the West Coast speaking to the East as regards ideas of ‘Southern’ in rock, Lalli and Arce‘s guitars allowing different textures to take hold than in, say, even the melancholy layers of keys and guitar in the penultimate “Hyper Air,” which feels prescient of All Them Witches in its full-room spaciousness, or opener “Alloy Pop,” wherein Arce (on guitar and bass) and Stinson (on drums and more drums, but always with class and a willingness to rest in a part while the guitar fleshes out) set the course for what Soft Monsters will be.

Part of that, as with most of Arce‘s work, comes from post-rock and post-punk more than the psychedelic subset of heavy with which Yawning Man are often lumped. Dark Tooth Encounter offers this with a feel that’s more worked on and structured, while still instrumental — though, is that a yell in the fade of “Alloy Pop?” did someone turn on a table saw? — giving a sense of the jams likely to have spawned the material in the first place but at the same time building more on top of those jams and refining them to be ‘songs’ in a verse/chorus sense; Arce is no stranger to proliferating instrumental hooks, and Dark Tooth Encounter takes advantage of its opportunities to showcase that in “Honey Hive,” with Stinson‘s snare accenting the rhythm of the guitar or the psych-jazz of “Deep Sleep Flower,” with Arce on keyboard, bass and lap steel in addition to standard guitar, the necessary layering process of which has me wondering which was recorded first, the bass or guitar.

Either way, “Deep Sleep Flower” resonates with more tonal heft than much of Soft Monsters, and that seems to be by design. Compared to the spaces left between the slow strums of “Weeping Pines,” on which Scott Reeder (currently Sovereign Eagle; see also KyussFireball Ministry, The ObsessedGoatsnake, and Across the River with Mario Lalli and Alfredo Hernández [also later of Kyuss], who were kind of a precursor to Yawning Man and desert rock more generally in the mid-1980s; the Across the River demo tape is the stuff of legend) takes up bass as Lalli moves to guitar.

Reeder also contributed to Ten East. Nobody’s a stranger here, and nobody sounds like one. That’s to the advantage of Soft Monsters generally, since as an instrumental offering it’s inherently going to benefit from the chemistry between the players involved; to be found in ample supply through “Radio Bleed” at the album’s center, spacey and weirdo proggy and so irrevocably desert hued in no small part because Arce and company have set those associations forward in the genre to start with. Maybe it’s a footnote or a one-off, but one might have said the same thing until just a few years ago about Big Scenic Nowhere, and that band came to be something completely different than when the name first showed up.

So maybe at some point there will be another Dark Tooth Encounter, but I’d expect if so, at least if it were to happen somewhere amid Arce‘s already-detailed list of current projects — which I’m just going to go out on a limb and say is incomplete — it would also take a different form than on Soft Monsters, since ArceLalli and Stinson spent most of the 2010s as Yawning Man. But one never knows — anything, ever — and neither Stinson nor Lalli are ‘in’ Yawning Man at the moment, so perhaps bringing Dark Tooth Encounter back in some form at some point would be a way to reignite that collaboration among the many others all these players past and present. You won’t hear me predict. You will hear me recommend this one for a Yawning Man or hypnotic-instrumental fan looking for a fix or a post-rocker looking for a bridge to something of heavier tonal presence. In other words, as always, I hope you enjoy.

Thank you for reading.

If you tuned in last Friday, you probably caught the bit at the end where I talked about my laptop getting busted. Kid fell off the side of the couch — she runs on furniture when she gets an idea; it’s not something we encourage, but it’s something we live with, because theoretically you want a kid to be excited about ideas and movement is part of how she processes things intellectually and emotionally — and landed on my computer while also dumping my full iced tea cup on the same computer. Somehow she didn’t get wet, I assume because all the tea actually went inside the laptop, as if by now-is-the-time-for-this-thing-to-die magic.

A week later, I have perspective enough to see it could’ve been much worse. The Pecan wasn’t hurt; that’s always a plus. The laptop was going on six years old; it had a cracked case, couldn’t run unplugged, keys got stuck, on and on. Crucially — this is the one that makes it okay — the repair guy I use (TelStar Computers, Denville, NJ; a local small business I’m glad to support) was able to save the data on the hard drive, so I have that ready to go. From there, the hardest part has been accepting that because I’m using our own money rather than glut from the life-affirming crowdfunding campaign that got me that now-ex-laptop after I was robbed in the UK in 2018, I have to settle for a smaller screen with less desktop real estate to organize records, and give up an internal optical drive along with other bells and whistles. Still, a new laptop will allegedly be here on Tuesday, and I can’t look that gift horse in the mouth. I am privileged to be able to get another computer at all — the emergency backup Chromebook I call ‘Little Red’ is fine to visit, but nowhere I want to live — and I thank The Patient Mrs. for her getting-my-ass-in-gear efforts and her price-comparison research. My new one will be a Lenovo, which somehow makes me feel like a businessman. Expect copious corporatespeak, all synergisms and disruptional action assets and whatnots.

But this was kind of a bumpy, by-the-seat-of-my-pants week and I guess I made it through. I have a bio project for a death metal band (frickin’ a) to bang out this afternoon, so I’m going to leave it there and go immerse myself for a little bit in pummeling, bludgeoning extremity, and that’ll be a lot of fun I have no doubt.

Monday, a Sundrifter premiere. Tuesday I think a full-album stream for The Black Flamingo, though I need to check that. Wednesday I’m doubled up with premieres for Goat Major and a full-album stream for Troy the Band. Thursday is a full-album stream for Kariti, and next Friday I want to review the Guhts record, though it might be Monday, Feb. 5, before I get there. Either way, that’s what’s in my notes for next week, plus news posts, other videos that come up and whatever else catches the eye.

I hope you have a great and safe weekend. We’re in Connecticut tomorrow and are having company (like a double-playdate/brunch? oof, adulthood) on Sunday, so it’ll be busy, but I’m around if anyone needs me for anything. Don’t forget to hydrate, watch your head, all that stuff.

FRM.

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Brant Bjork Trio Announce European Tour Dates

Posted in Whathaveyou on January 18th, 2024 by JJ Koczan

Previously confirmed for Desertfest Oslo, Desertfest London and Desertfest Berlin, the Brant Bjork Trio have now tied those slots together as part of a European tour set for Spring. This tour is coupled by stints set for South America in March and Australia later in March and early April.

That will just about bring the three-piece of Brant Bjork, Mario Lalli and Ryan Güt to here, which is the start of May at Desertfest Oslo and the launch of this tour. You’ll note that the run — which is put together by Sound of Liberation — is billed as ‘Pt. 1.’ It makes sense to think that ‘Pt. 2’ might happen in July or August, when they’re already confirmed for Hoflärm and SonicBlast Fest, which will either precede or not a slot at Ripplefest Texas, I can’t even remember. Gonna say, “probably?”

Before anything else, though, they’ll be at Planet Desert Rock Weekend in Las Vegas the weekend of Jan. 25, which is next week. I was hoping to make the trip, but well, hope don’t pay flights and a room for a couple nights and I don’t have a job, so yeah.

Note shows here with Ruff Majik and Monkey3. Both are slated to have new records out this year, maybe even in the first half of the year. And for what it’s worth, Siena Root are there too and they had a record in 2023, and Brant Bjork Trio have new songs as well. These kinds of things can make a run like this all the more special.

Go go go:

Brant Bjork Trio euro tour

Sound of Liberation proudly presents:
BRANT BJORK TRIO – EURO 2024 TOUR

10.05.24 (NO) Oslo, Desertfest
11.05.24 (NL) Nijmegen, Sonic Whip
12.05.24 (DE) Cologne, Club Volta * w/ monkey3
14.05.24 (DE) Hamburg, Bahnhof Pauli
15.05.24 (DE) Bielefeld, Forum
16.05.24 (BE) Sint-Niklaas, De Casino * w/ monkey3
17.05.24 (UK) London, Desertfest
18.05.24 (FR) Wasquehal, The Black Lab
19.05.24 (FR) Nantes, Le Ferrailleur
20.05.24 (FR) Paris, Backstage By The Mill
22.05.24 (DE) Aschaffenburg, Colos-Saal * w/ Siena Root
23.05.24 (CH) Aarau, Kiff * w/ Ruff Majik
24.05.24 (DE) Munich, Feierwerk * w/ Ruff Majik
25.05.24 (DE) Erfurt, VEB Kultur * w/ Ruff Majik
25.05.24 (DE) Berlin, Desertfest
28.05.24 (NL) Amsterdam, Melkweg

Tickets: https://linktr.ee/brantbjorktrio

The Brant Bjork Trio:
Brant Bjork – guitar/vocals
Mario Lalli – bass 
Ryan Güt – drums

https://www.facebook.com/BrantBjorkOfficial
https://www.instagram.com/brant_bjork
http://www.brantbjork.com

Brant Bjork Trio, “Let the Truth Be Known” live in North Hollywood, Sept. 8, 2023

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Brant Bjork Trio Announce Australian Tour

Posted in Whathaveyou on December 19th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

brant bjork trio

Anybody notice Brant Bjork hitting the road pretty hard these last couple years? Since I guess later 2021/2022, if it hasn’t been solo, it’s been the trio Stöner, and of late he’s been keeping company with that band’s drummer Ryan Güt and longtime collaborator and bassist Mario Lalli, also of Fatso JetsonYawning Man, more recently the jammy The Rubber Snake Charmers, and like Bjork (Kyuss, Fu Manchu, etc.), is a founding principal of Californian desert rock. I was fortunate enough to see this band, the Brant Bjork Trio, at Desertfest New York (review here), and their chemistry, presence, groove all live up to reputation. Playing tunes from Bjork‘s solo catalog and even apparently composing new material perhaps with an eye toward an LP, they’ve obviously been hither and yon in the US already, and in 2024 they’ll look to expand on that in busy fashion.

After Planet Desert Rock Weekend in January — which I want to go to; anyone got a flight and hotel room I could borrow? — the three-piece head to South America in March for a run of shows in Chile, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. That’s not an insignificant amount of travel. Later the same month, they’ll one-up themselves by undertaking the journey to Australia for shows there with support from Full Tone Generator, with whom Bjork has both played and produced previously. That stint ends early in April, and is the newest announcement, hence the headline above. Still to come, however, are the full dates for the European tour that will go at least three full weeks as it’s already confirmed to take Brant Bjork Trio from Desertfest Oslo (May 10-11) through Desertfest London (May 17-19) to Desertfest Berlin (May 24-26).

I seriously doubt that will be the end of their year, either, especially if they might be eyeing a Fall LP release with so much touring before. Or maybe they’ll hit the studio this Winter and put out a record in Spring. Or maybe a fucking asteroid will smash into the planet and none of these shows will happen, for all I know, but the point here is that despite having absolutely nothing, zero, nulla, to prove to anyone, they’re out doing so anyway. If you be there to see them on stage — they seem to be making it easier by going everywhere — I can only recommend doing so as something you will not regret.

Dates follow, as per social media:

Brant Bjork Trio aus tour

One of my favorite places to play !

Stoked to announce the Brant Bjork Trio is coming over to Australia, we will be playing with our buddy’s Full Tone Generator on all the dates !

Brant Bjork Trio featuring Ryan Güt & Mario Lalli.

Tix and info :
https://linktr.ee/brantbjorktrio

BRANT BJORK TRIO

US DATES
Dec 21st Venice West
Planet Desert Rock Weekend IV – January 25-26-27, 2024, Las Vegas

SOUTH AMERICAN TOUR
Concepcion Chile 3/6/2024
Santiago Chile 3/7/2024
São Paulo Brazil 3/8/2024
March 9th Uniclub Buenos Aries Argentina
MAR 10 SUN Montevideo, Uruguay Plaza Mateo

AUSTRALIAN TOUR
28/03 – Barwon Club Geelong (VIC) AUS
29/03 – Singing Bird Studio Frankston AUS
30/03 – Gasometer Hotel Melbourne (VIC) AUS
31/03 – Crown & Anchor Hotel Adelaide (SA) AUS
03/04 – The Basement Canberra (ACT) AUS
04/04 – Dicey Rileys Wollongong (NSW) AUS
05/04 – Marrickville Bowlo Sydney (NSW) AUS
06/04 – Mos Clubhouse Gold coast (QLD) AUS

EUROPE 2024
Desertfest Oslo: 10th – 11th May 2024
Desertfest – Berlin
Desertfest London

The Brant Bjork Trio:
Brant Bjork – guitar/vocals
Mario Lalli – bass 
Ryan Güt – drums

https://www.facebook.com/BrantBjorkOfficial
https://www.instagram.com/brant_bjork
http://www.brantbjork.com

Brant Bjork Trio, “Let the Truth Be Known” live in North Hollywood, Sept. 8, 2023

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Nick Oliveri Adds Dates to 2024 European Tour

Posted in Whathaveyou on December 7th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

Nick Oliveri has put out records this year with Mondo Generator and The Dwarves. He’s toured incessantly, either on his own like the ‘Death Acoustic’ — as opposed to ‘death metal’ — European run he’s got scheduled for early 2024, or with Mondo Generator, who are a trio on fire with Mike Pygmie on guitar and Mike Amster on drums, and in the last couple years, he’s brought forth and developed the band Stöner with former Kyuss bandmate and longtime collaborator Brant Bjork, issuing two albums, a live record and an EP to-date while also touring domestically and abroad to support. He’s done nothing the last few years but work, and to see him on stage as I’ve been lucky enough to do twice in the last two years with Mondo Generator, he’s both a frontman of marked presence and a raw-as-nails punk rocker with a scream that’s unmistakable.

What will next year bring? One assumes more. Oliveri obviously wants to keep momentum on his side, and with full-band stints likely to follow (or precede; one never knows) these March dates, it doesn’t seem unreasonable to expect more word soon. That’s before you get to festivals and all that.

From the PR wire:

NICK OLIVERI – Death Acoustic 2024

– new updated shows –
WE 06.03.24 IT TREVIGLIO – NAMA BREWING
TH 07.03.24 IT RAVENNA – BRONSON
FR 08.03.24 IT PORDENONE – ASTRO CLUB
SA 09.03.24 PT TORRES VEDRAS – BANG VENUE
SU 10.03.24 DE RAVENSBURG – IRISH PUB SLAINTE
MO 11.03.24 DE WEIDEN – SALUTE LIVE CLUB
TU 12.03.24 DE OPEN SLOT
WE 13.03.24 NL ARNHEM – LUXOR LIVE
TH 14.03.24 ES BILBAO – GROOVE
FR 15.03.24 ES MADRID – WURLITZER BALLROOM
SA 16.03.24 ES BARCELONA – SIDECAR
SU 17.03.24 NL DORDRECHT – NL BIBELOT POPPODIUM
MO 18.03.24 UK DOVER – THE BOOKING HALL
TU 19.03.24 UK NEWCASTLE – THE CLUNY
WE 20.03.24 UK GLASGOW – SLAY STUDIO
TH 21.03.24 UK BOLTON – ALMA INN
FR 22.03.24 UK CARDIFF – FUEL
SA 23.03.24 UK LONDON – SIGNATURE BREW
SU 24.03.24 UK BOURNEMOUTH – BEAR CAVE
TU 26.03.24 NL DEN HAAG – PAARD
WE 27.03.24 NL ALKMAAR – VICTORIE

https://www.facebook.com/officialmondogenerator/
https://www.instagram.com/nick_o_1971/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5Ug0EkTXplXiip0C2OzVi7
https://www.mondogenerator.net/

heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com
www.heavypsychsounds.com
https://www.facebook.com/HEAVYPSYCHSOUNDS/
https://www.instagram.com/heavypsychsounds_records/

Nick Oliveri, How to play “Autopilot” from Playthisriff.com

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