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Red Cloud Premiere “Say Yeah” Lyric Video From The Ruby Armada Volume One

Posted in Bootleg Theater, Reviews on June 23rd, 2022 by JJ Koczan

red cloud

Eugene, Oregon’s Red Cloud released The Ruby Armada Volume One EP in April and have a corresponding five-song Volume Two ready to go for a digital release later this year — though both are available now, compiled onto a single CD — it’s a wonderful format, uses lasers. The first EP, as one might expect, sets the tone for the second, and though the roots of the band go back at decade, there’s a feeling-out happening across the songs that sounds fresh, and as The Ruby Armada Vol. I & II progresses between one release and the next, there’s a definite uptick in production and purpose. Vocalist/guitarist Aaron Williams has revamped the band’s lineup since they put out the 2016 full-length, Ursa Minor, and the poppish edge songs likered cloud the ruby armada volume one “To All My Friends” and “Say Yeah” (lyric video premiering below) from the first EP is echoed in the full-sounding songraft in “No Left Turn” and the choir-inclusive-and-still-uptempo closer “Viva! Cascadia!”

What I’m saying here is that The Ruby Armada Volume One, from which the song premiering a video below comes, is rougher in terms of sound, and even though its follow-up is done and available to for purchase — not streaming yet — it’s clear that this trio incarnation of the former-four-piece, which now includes Williams alongside drummer Jesse Jackson and bassist Tanner Rauch, is setting out on a new progression of style. Volume One draws more specifically from grunge in “Walk Away” and “To All My Friends,” brings in Year of the Cobra‘s Amy Tung Barrysmith for a guest vocal spot, and stretches over seven minutes, while “Bleu Skies” is comparatively breezy in its circa ’95 the-world’s-about-to-end-and-no-one-knows-it-except-they-did-know-and-no-one-cared roll, and “Say Yeah” holds to a similar sentiment, except for being even more maddeningly catchy. You used to call it “radio friendly.” Now it’s just friendly.

“Say Yeah” also has the added advantage of Juan Carlos Caceres‘ added backing vocals, and it finishes the first EP, while “No Left Turn” immediately points to fellow Oregonians Red Fang‘s classic “Wires” at its outset riff before quickly finding its own chuggy, hooky path and delving into atmospherics in both its middle and end, giving over to the likewise more patient “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” the two songs bridging the divide between “Numbers” and the more straight-ahead movements of Volume One to paint a more complete image of the band as a whole. “Journey to the Center of the Earth” is dreamy by the time it’s done, and as Red Cloud careen through “Cut and Run” and “MTNS,” they do so carrying the echo of the pop aspects in “Bleu Skies” and “Say Yeah,” ifRED CLOUD THE RUBY ARMADA Vol 2 cover leaned more toward modern heavy rock. “MTNS” also hits a little more angular, but is resolved in its comfortable pace, giving over to “Viva! Cascadia!” with its more complex arrangement, highlight solo and homage to their home region.

Between the two of them, Red Cloud — who take their moniker from a Lakota chief; a fairly noteworthy appropriation depending on their origins — establish a sound that refuses to compromise on songwriting in favor of playing to any given style but that should still find welcome among a cross-section of heavy heads. Thinking of The Ruby Armada Vol. I & II as a second debut feels reasonable, but even if it is one, it clearly benefits from the prior experience of the band’s current lineup. A glimpse of progress in progress, and perhaps of progress to come.

Enjoy:

Red Cloud, “Say Yeah” lyric video premiere

“Say Yeah” from Red Cloud’s Ruby Armada Vol I

Featuring Juan Carlos Caceres (Tigers on Opium) on backing vocals

Following the enthusiastically received debut LP Ursa Minor in 2016, now guitarist & vocalist Aaron Williams, bassist Tanner Rauch (Pink Pollen, Paleons), and drummer Alex Crane (The Cruelest Animal, The West Is Burning) present ‘The Ruby Armada’ (2022). Sure to be an enduring favorite, the album comes in two volumes, each with five songs apiece.

“Much of my music,” Williams remarks, “is really about respecting mother earth. It’s a very common theme: rising up to save earth. I feel like I’m channeling most of the time. I won’t even come in with a concept, I’ll just let it roll. “

A gem of modern rock, the album is fused with elements of grunge, alt rock, and stoner metal, which Red Cloud weave together with deft and heart. The result is a collection of songs that are imminently singable. Which song will hook you? Must-listen for fans of Queens of the Stone Age, Foo Fighters, Screaming Trees, Helms Alee, The Clash, and Dinosaur Jr.

Produced by Aaron Williams and Alex Crane, the double album features contributions from Amy Tung Barrysmith (Year of the Cobra) on “Number” and Juan Carolos Caceres (Tigers on Opium, A//tar, Hound The Wolves) on “Say Yeah.”

The Ruby Armada is coming soon, with the first volume releasing April 22 (digital & cassettes), followed by the second volume early this fall (date TBD).

THE TRACKS
The Ruby Armada: Volume I
1. Walk Away
2. To All My Friends
3. Number
4. Bleu Skies
5. Say Yeah

The Ruby Armada: Volume II
1. No Left Turn
2. Journey To The Center Of The Earth
3. Cut and Run
4. MTNS
5. Viva! Cascadia!

Red Cloud current line-up:
Aaron Williams (guitar, vocals)
Tanner Rauch (bass)
Jesse Jackson (drums)

Red Cloud on Facebook

Red Cloud on Instagram

Red Cloud on Bandcamp

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Quarterly Review: The Order of Israfel, Landskap, Pooty Owldom, Celophys, Dunbarrow, Brutus, Vallihauta, Pater Nembrot, Floodlore, Red Cloud

Posted in Reviews on June 23rd, 2016 by JJ Koczan

the-obelisk-summer-2016-quarterly-review

We continue today to make our way through The Obelisk’s Summer 2016 Quarterly Review. Yesterday we passed the halfway point, always pivotal, and today brings another batch of 10 albums from the realms of doom, heavy rock, heavy psych, boogie rock, and beyond that I’m looking forward to digging into. I’ve been waking up early mornings all week to put these together — in bed circa 10PM, out of bed at 6AM — but it’s been worth it to see the response the posts have gotten so far and, I’ll say it once again, I hope you’ve found something you dig in what’s already out there, or if not, that by the time we wrap tomorrow something piques your interest. Let’s do it.

Quarterly Review #31-40:

The Order of Israfel, Red Robes

the-order-of-israfel-red-robes

Swedish double-guitar four-piece The Order of Israfel make their second offering in Red Robes. Issued, like its 2014 predecessor, Wisdom, by Napalm Records, the new collection tops out at 59 minute/eight tracks of classically rolling doom. Guitarist/vocalist Tom Sutton (also Horisont, ex-Church of Misery) leads the charge for the Gothenburg-based unit, and along with guitarist Staffan Björck, bassist Patrik Andersson Winberg and drummer Hans Lilja, he brings to light a trad doom not so far removed in some of its impulses from some others throughout Northern Europe in the post-Reverend Bizarre sphere, but showing a personality of its own in the layered vocals of “Von Sturmer” and the acoustic “Fallen Children,” which follows, the choral arrangement in the earlier “The Red Robes” and the speedier “A Shadow in the Hills,” which precedes the crawling 16-minute closer “The Thirst,” its slow-nodding finish underscoring what The Order of Israfel bring of themselves to the classic form in songwriting and overall cohesion of purpose.

The Order of Israfel on Thee Facebooks

The Order of Israfel at Napalm Records

Landskap, III

LANDSKAP III

It’s a little bit of everything. Landskap’s aptly-titled third album, III, brings out ‘70s vibe with the organ and underlying shuffle of opener “Wayfarer’s Sacrifice,” but offers a doomier feel in the vocals and guitar, and the band go on to execute Doors-gone-prog moodiness on centerpiece “The Trick to Letting Go” and more psychedelic fuzz on the subsequent “The Hand that Takes Away.” So yeah, the London five-piece of vocalist Jake Harding, guitarist George Pan, bassist Christopher West (ex-Trippy Wicked, Groan), drummer Paul Westwood and keyboardist Kostas Panagiotou cover a good bit if ground in just five tracks, tying it all together via Harding’s vocals and a comfortable pace across the board, even on the more insistent “Awakening the Divide,” though that consistency gets toyed with some as nine-minute closer “Mask of Apathy” moves from its dreamy, spacious initial stretch into more uptempo push as payoff for the album as a whole. All the better to have Landskap shift their own methods as fluidly as they meld different styles across III’s engaging span.

Landskap on Thee Facebooks

Landskap on Bandcamp

Pooty Owldom, Pooty Owldom

pooty owldom pooty owldom

If I have a speed at this point, Pooty Owldom is pretty much it. The Virginia-based duo of Matt “Big Jim” Shively and Walter Barry – also two-thirds of the trio Olson/Shively/Barry, which released their debut, Teirra del Fuego Blues (review here), in 2014 – cross the lines between psychedelia, krautrock, folk, weirdo prog and funk with the carefree fluidity of pre-jam-band Ween on their self-titled first outing under their new moniker, and hopefully it’s not the last one, because whether it’s the soap-opera daydream keys of “The Owlet” or any number of the other owl-themed cuts here – “Fuzzy Pellet” is a personal favorite, but who could argue with the bassline/piano tap of “Owls with Big Donuts?” – there’s a considerable creative breadth at work in kind with what sounds like a really good time in progress. Not one for everybody, but for me, I’d love to hear Shively and Barry flesh these ideas out further over longer pieces – “Torus Landing” goes furthest here at 4:53 – and bring the jazzy rhythmic sunbathing of “Target: Mouse” to even greater experimental realization. However it comes, more please.

Pooty Owldom on Bandcamp

Walter Barry website

Celophys, Ammonite

celophys ammonite

A guitar/drum duo based in Cherkasy, Ukraine, Celophys issued their third album, Ammonite, last year through Robust Fellow Records. The CD arrives as yet another example of the Ukraine’s burgeoning heavy scene, along with Kiev acts like Stoned Jesus, Bomg, Soom, Mozergush, Ethereal Riffian and others, and brings a noteworthy sense of lumbering across its mostly-extended seven tracks, beginning with 12-minute opener and longest cut (immediate points) “Baron,” which melds slow-grind sludge riffing with deathly growls and rasp, which the charmingly-named “Spaceburger” and the later drumless drone-feast “Caveman Ritual” continue to build out in atmosphere and snail’s-pace intensity. Feedback, massive tonality, plodding groove – these are hardly unfamiliar elements, but drummer/vocalist Alexander Beregovoy and guitarist Miroslav Kopeyka bring about a fervent bludgeoning across Ammonite that should have even the jaded among those who approach it nodding approval. Also noteworthy is the limited-to-53 “Nautilus Pack” which comes in a hand-carved, custom-designed oversized wood case with special graffiti art, a sticker and a pin, as well as the digipak version of the album.

Celophys on Thee Facebooks

Robust Fellow Productions on Thee Facebooks

Robust Fellow Records on Bandcamp

Dunbarrow, Dunbarrow

dunbarrow dunbarrow

Dunbarrow’s self-titled debut hits at a curious moment. They might be a few years ahead of their time in returning to the roots of vintage-style heavy rock, but in so doing, they basically take up the mantle that groups like Witchcraft, Graveyard, Kadavar and Blues Pills have left behind in favor of more modern production styles. Specifically, the Norwegian four-piece, who had a handful of shorter digital releases out before, come across in direct conversation with the self-titled Witchcraft debut from 2004. Strange to think that a record with an aesthetic so bent on looking backward could actually be forward-thinking — portrait of what goes around, coming around — but Dunbarrow offer persuasive argument in favor of retro orthodoxy in the swaying “You Knew I was a Snake” and the subdued brooding of “Guillotine.” Whether their bet pays off will be something to find out over the next couple years and as their sound continues to develop, but for their first full-length, they show clever songcraft, a clear idea of what they want to do, and the potential to move that forward in intriguing ways.

Dunbarrow on Thee Facebooks

Dunbarrow on Bandcamp

Brutus, Wandering Blind

brutus wandering blind

I’ll rarely hone in on one instrument throughout an album, but the bass tone on Brutus’ third LP, Wandering Blind (on Svart), has to be heard to be believed. With a goodtime take on ‘70s shuffle, there’s plenty of room for the low end to wind its way around the guitar, and it does. Of course, that’s not all the Swedish/Norwegian five-piece have going for them in these nine live-sounding tracks, as shown in the swaying solo section of “Whirwind of Madness” or the stomp of “Blind Village.” They’re not through the opening title-track before multiple Sabbath references are dropped in the lyrics, and indeed they’re a touchstone, but the more upbeat feel of “The Killer” and the back and forth of closer “Living in a Daze” play to deeper influences from classic heavy rock and its modern incarnations, culminating in a multi-layer guitar solo backed by tambourine, bass, and drums that really seems to sum up the friendly and unpretentious vibe Brutus elicit.

Brutus on Thee Facebooks

Brutus at Svart Records

Vallihauta, Vallihauta

vallihauta vallihauta

Finnish trio Vallihauta make their self-titled debut on Future Lunch with eight raw tracks that span between the hardcore punk/death ‘n’ roll of “Puoliverinen” and the doomed churn in the early going of “Reviiri.” One can basically tell looking at the runtimes of the cuts where Vallihauta are headed with each song, and they adjust their songwriting capably to coincide with the given tempo shifts, resulting in a back and forth as playful as it is aggressive in its sound and harsh low-end buzz, but to their credit, they bring the two approaches together effectively on closer “Ote,” shifting from the record’s most gurgling rumble and tortured plod to increasingly intense punkishness that hits headfirst into a final slowdown to end the album. A multi-faceted approach is rarely something to complain about, and it certainly isn’t here, but the challenge going forward for Vallihauta will be to build on that bridging of gaps in “Ote” without losing either the ferocity of their faster material or the weight of the slower.

Vallihauta on Thee Facebooks

Vallihauta at Future Lunch webstore

Pater Nembrot, Nusun

pater nembrot nusun

The third Pater Nembrot album, Nusun (on Go Down Records), follows five years behind 2011’s Sequoia Seeds (review here), and for Italian heavy rock, it’s been a hell of a half-decade. Now recognized as one of the strongest scenes in Europe, Italy has become a hotbed and Pater Nembrot’s return couldn’t be better timed. The nine-track outing brings some genuinely expansive moments, as with the 10-minute “Architeuthis” for which Christian Peters (Samsara Blues Experiment) guests on synth, or the wah-soaked second half of “The Rich Kids of Teheran,” but even shorter pieces like “Young Rite” effectively bring together grunge and heavy psych influences. The piano-laced opener “Lostman” and acoustic-strummed closer “Dead Polygon” seem to be speaking right to each other and are somewhat at remove with the rest of the record, perhaps the minute-long bass interlude “Uknap” aside (perhaps not), but the four-piece know their game by this point and just when a song like “Overwhelmed” seems like it’s going to lose its course, they bring it around to Nusun’s most satisfying instrumental build.

Pater Nembrot on Thee Facebooks

Pater Nembrot at Go Down Records

Floodlore, When it was Written

floodlore when it was written

Almost immediately upon the band starting “Device,” the sense of ambition in Floodlore’s debut album, When it was Written, is palpable. A psych-infused trio from Northern Virginia, they range freely between the classic-minded “Justice” and fuzzy push of “Bars” before heading back to jammier fare for “Release,” which calls to mind All Them Witches for its meandering blues, and into harder-edged winding riffs for “Evening.” Both “Peace” and “Glow” continue to flesh out one side or the other, but an obvious focal point is the three-part/28-minute closer “Sun/When the Floodlore was Written/In Praise of Alan Watts,” which starts out nodding at surf rock before space-progging out for about 20 minutes, working into an out of extended solos and culminating in swirl and thrust that lives up to the band’s clear will for exploration. Some smoothing out to do in terms of balancing the mix (vocals came through high, though I’ll allow that could be my speakers), but When it was Written impresses in concept and execution and as Floodlore’s first full-length, it’s remarkably encouraging.

Floodlore on Thee Facebooks

Floodlore on Bandcamp

Red Cloud, Ursa Minor

red cloud ursa minor

When it starts to feel like maybe you’ve got a given track figured out, that seems to be the moment when Eugene, Oregon, five-piece Red Cloud turn something around on their full-length debut, Ursa Minor, and though their foundation is still very much in heavy rock, they build on that shifting into and out of desert stylizations and psychedelic swirl. The band – here guitarist/vocalist/bassist Aaron Williams, guitarist Dennis Medina, drummer/engineer Lauren Roberts and bassist/guitarist Sean Loos, though Loos seems to have left the band and bassist Mike Nemeth and keyboardist Garrett Davis come aboard – keep the material consistent by going back to that heavy rock foundation and through a clear focus on songwriting. Even in the somewhat lumbering starts and stops of “Smoke Screen,” these tracks feel worked on and carefully arranged, and though they go different places – “Ghost Dance” with its manic shuffle, closer “Sick Eagle” with its Songs for the Deaf-style drive – they universally take an efficient route to get there.

Red Cloud on Thee Facebooks

Red Cloud on Bandcamp

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