This January, Berlin-based heavy psychedelic rockers Samsara Blues Experiment capped a run that began in 2008 with End of Forever (review here), their fifth album. In between its recording during summer 2020 and the release, guitarist, vocalist, occasional-sitarist and principal songwriter Christian Peters had relocated from Germany to Brazil for — what else? — love. Now married and living in a rural area about six hours from Sao Paulo, Peters has unveiled Fuzz Sagrado, a new solo-project the follows years of making largely synth-based explorations on his own under the moniker Surya Kris Peters.

While not necessarily lacking any synthesizer or keyboard elements in themselves — Peters handles drum programming (though the EP credits Slater on drums), Minimoog, Mellotron, Hammond, etc. — the three songs on Fuzz Sagrado‘s Fuzz Sagrado are enough of a departure to warrant being listed as a new outfit, especially since they boast so much more of a traditional ‘rock band’ style, Peters brings bass and guitar forward and, though these songs are instrumental, he’s begun working on vocal melodies and lyrics for subsequent offerings. Rock songs.

The motivation for the shift is relatively simple: he’s rediscovered his love of rock and roll, and maybe stepping away from the business side of Samsara Blues Experiment, as well as the big move, has facilitated this. In the extended interview that follows, Peters talks about the end of Samsara Blues Experiment and the beginning of Fuzz Sagrado. He talks about the relationships with his former bandmates bassist/backing vocalist Hans Eiselt and drummer Thomas Vedder — both of whom also have other groups going as well — and how it felt to realize that a band who had toured on four continents and been together for 12 years was coming to an end.

He’s still processing it. It’s still pretty immediate. But it should be noted outright that when Samsara Blues Experiment called it quits they called it an “indefinite hiatus” and Peters‘ attitude is very much never-say-never. End of Forever will see a new pressing early next year, with plans reportedly for a 2LP edition of the band’s 2009 debut, Long-Distance Trip (review here), sometime thereafter. He jokes at one point in the interview about doing a reunion at Roadburn as old men. I would hope to be there for it, provided they let me out of the aged-blogger rest home for the day.

As to future plans, there’s “30 or 40” Fuzz Sagrado songs in one stage or another of recording and you can actually watch the inner debate play out as he thinks about whether or not he’s ready to make an album with the new project. If you want a spoiler, I think it might be another EP or two before we get there.

This interview was an utter pleasure for me. I hope you also enjoy:

Interview w/ Chris Peters of Fuzz Sagrado & Samsara Blues Experiment, Aug. 24, 2021

Fuzz Sagrado‘s self-titled debut EP is on Bandcamp now. Samsara Blues Experiment‘s repress of End of Forever is due early 2022. More info at the links.

Fuzz Sagrado, Fuzz Sagrado (2021)

Samsara Blues Experiment, End of Forever (2021)

Fuzz Sagrado on Facebook

Fuzz Sagrado on Instagram

Fuzz Sagrado on Spotify

Fuzz Sagrado website

Electric Magic Records on Facebook

Electric Magic Records on Bandcamp

It’s Thanksgiving here in the US as I write this post. The early morning thereof, to be more specific. There’s one voice break in this episode of The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal, and I cut it yesterday afternoon. I had just put The Pecan down for his afternoon nap and was in the process of getting dinner started (slow cooking) ahead of crashing out myself for about an hour.

The point of my telling you this? Maybe I wasn’t at my best.

Maybe I was a little harried, a little distracted, a little uh-oh-um. I did my best. I didn’t talk at all last time, so it seemed like a good idea at least to jump on and say thanks for listening and offer some setup for the second half of the show, which plays out in a succession of long, increasingly far-out cuts. But it’s not my best vocal work. Not gonna put it on my audition tape for KROQ.

Does KROQ still exist?

Anyway, I know it doesn’t matter, but still. Thank you for checking the show out if you do. For what it’s worth — plenty, to me — the playlist kicks ass.

If you tune in, I hope you enjoy. Thanks again.

The Obelisk Show airs 5PM Eastern today on the Gimme app or at http://gimmemetal.com

Full playlist:

The Obelisk Show – 11.27.20

The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is Dec. 11 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.

Gimme Metal website

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[Click play above to stream the title-track of Samsara Blues Experiment’s End of Forever. Album is out Jan. 2021 with preorders coming next month.]

Two weeks ago, German heavy psychedelic rockers Samsara Blues Experiment announced they would be going on indefinite hiatus. Fair enough. 2020 makes it a decade since the band made their full-length debut with the jammy fluidity of Long-Distance Trip (review here), a record that in no small part would define listener expectation from them even as they went on almost immediately to more progressive work. They’d already toured the US by then, hitting the West Coast in 2009 on the heels of their demo (discussed here, review here), and though they wouldn’t North American shores apart from two more shows in 2015, the years since they stopped through have not lacked adventure.

Even as they moved from a four-piece to the trio of guitarist/vocalist/keyboardist Christian Peters, bassist/backing vocalist Hans Eiselt and drummer Thomas Vedder, a strong European and South American touring presence helped establish them as one of Germany’s foremost post-Colour Haze heavy psych acts, and an indelible commitment to evolving sonically, to never releasing the same album twice, assured they would reach almost immediately beyond their starting point. For however long “indefinite” may last, they’ll be missed, and in End of Forever, they leave behind a final document that summarizes the mindset that has defined them by doing precisely what they’ve done all along: moving forward.

Comprised of seven songs (six plus a bonus track), topped with the visual intricacy of Jessica Rassi‘s cover art, and running a total of 51 minutes, End of Forever was recorded in the plague-addled summer of 2020 with former bassist Richard Behrens at the helm at Big Snuff Studio. It follows three years behind 2017’s One with the Universe (review here) and likewise sees release through Peters‘ Electric Magic Records. That album was defined perhaps inevitably in no small part by its consuming 15-minute title-track, and End of Forever does share some aspects with it, in terms of performance, the winding style of riff that emerges in “End of Forever” itself — indeed, the riff in question, which first emerges at 1:14 into the song’s 7:56 run, would seem to be a purposeful self-reflective nod toward Samsara Blues Experiment‘s early days, and maybe a thank-you card to fans as well — and in the organic production sound.

But End of Forever is distinguished from its immediate predecessor as well as 2013’s Waiting for the Flood (review here) and 2011’s Revelation and Mystery (review here) for how it works in conversation with Peters‘ solo explorations of synth and keyboards. Working under the moniker of Surya Kris Peters, the guitarist — also relocated to Brazil — has been prolific to the point of a creative explosion, with four outings this year to his credit, the latest of which was September’s Leaving Berlin EP.

From the outset of End of Forever in 11-minute opener and longest track (immediate points) “Second Birth,” Samsara Blues Experiment make it known that such elements are by no means off limits when it comes to the personality and atmosphere to be established across this album, and while it’s an Eiselt bassline that launches the record and a smooth jam that takes hold, the synth line the sneaks in along with Vedder‘s drums and the guitar is telling of what’s to follow in terms of the album’s ability to create a melodic wash, often with keyboard and synth working together alongside guitar.

As it nears the five-minute mark, a funky progression of bass, soulful lead guitar and drums takes hold, and ’70s-style Hammond soon enters the fray to set up the arrival of a verse. The song moves through a hook into denser-toned riffing, bringing the organ along for good measure, and hits a thrilling culmination circa 9:30 topped by Peters‘ vocals before making its way out in grand fashion. As the leadoff, it’s a journey unto itself, and it does much to affect the vibe for the rest of the offering, but it’s also not necessarily giving everything away up front.

To wit, the acoustic guitar that steps forward and trades off with electric soloing in “Massive Passive” turns out to be an aspect no less crucial to the album’s overarching flow than are the keys. With the ever-strong foundation of Eiselt and Vedder in the rhythm section, Peters constructs dynamic waves of psych-prog, keeping that acoustic line as part of the build even as the track moves through its culmination and into the percussion at the outset of “Southern Sunset,” which brings more organ and due-seeming shimmer as it moves through its intro and into its acoustic-led verse of love-song pastoralia (the sun and moon also making appearances in their work since the beginning), surging back with electrics and organ and backing vocals during the chorus. “Southern Sunset” makes its way out as it came in, with drums and percussion, but has one of End of Forever‘s best hooks along the way and a vibe unique among Samsara Blues Experiment‘s now-five long-players. It’s telling that even as the band winds down, they’d still refuse to rest on their laurels.

In that, the instrumental centerpiece/presumed side B leadoff “Lovage Leaves” is likeminded. It brings together a gorgeous swath of melody, lush but still natural in its feel, and answers “Southern Sunset” as a four-minute companion-piece that also serves as a bridge to “End of Forever” and “Orchid Annie,” which serve as the closing salvo. The title-cut, as noted, boasts a singular sweep among its compatriot songs, but works with a similar spaciousness as that which surrounds, and while it’s perhaps the most outwardly heavy inclusion in terms of tonal push, it nonetheless represents well End of Forever‘s open-minded approach that melody can and might come from anywhere at any time. As it fades to its conclusion, it feels conscious of being a last statement on the part of the band, and if that’s the case, one looks to “Orchid Annie” (slightly longer at 8:24) as a classic rocking epilogue, organ and lead guitar woven together around lyrics bidding farewell to the titular character.

Choice basslines and nuanced drumming — both of which are balanced in a nigh-on-impeccable mix considering the swirl around them — back Peters‘ layers of keys and guitar, and I’m pretty sure I hear an acoustic strum in there too, though I could be wrong. Either way, “Orchid Annie” embarks circa 4:30 on a midtempo proggy chase that shifts into and through a few quick lines in the next couple minutes, and then keys, wah, electric soloing and the last lyrics gradually coming to a head and then ending cold as perhaps they’d have to in order to end at all.

Given how likely it seems Samsara Blues Experiment knew that End of Forever would be their last record for at least an indefinite amount of time, if not outright forever, the title-track and “Orchid Annie” serve as a wistful goodbye, while the bonus track — a 6:48 instrumental jam called simply “Jumbo Mumbo Jumbo” that seems to be based on where they go in “End of Forever”; a ‘slight return’ or reprise, then — offers one last weight-behind-it-but-still-melodic shove for those who’ve taken the trip to enjoy. And among those, count the band as well as their listenership, because if anything, End of Forever feels like a shared experience, its awareness of self not dulling its progressive mentality but adding to it as Samsara Blues Experiment knowingly hang it all on a wire in order to fashion this completeness to their catalog.

Yes, they will be missed for however long they’re gone, but with End of Forever, Samsara Blues Experiment bring the keystone to hold up the arc of their decade-plus-long stylistic development. Like each of its predecessors, it’s the bravest, most outward reaching and inward looking record they’ve done, and so could not be a more fitting conclusion.

Samsara Blues Experiment on Facebook

Samsara Blues Experiment on Instagram

Samsara Blues Experiment on Bandcamp

Samsara Blues Experiment website

Electric Magic Records on Facebook

Electric Magic Records on Bandcamp

One has to assume Samsara Blues Experiment were eager for adventure when they toured the West Coast on the strength of nothing more than their initial 2009 demo (review here). The Berlin-based outfit were a trio at the time — they’d move to a four-piece, then back to three — and I’m not discounting the value of the demo at all. Its two songs would both become essential pieces om in the band’s catalog and highlights when they reappeared on the 2010 debut album, Long-Distance Trip (review here). But it was a demo, just the same. And a first one at that. It’s not a lot of bands that will tour internationally for that kind of release, let alone cross an ocean. Samsara Blues Experiment have yet to return to North America.

That was 11 years ago and in that time the landscape of the heavy underground has radically changed. Social media, the availability of cheap, intuitive digital distribution, and a force of word of mouth that doesn’t actually require a mouth have not supplanted traditional promotion — I still get press releases down the PR wire, including for Samsara Blues Experiment when they have news — but have added to the scope of a given band’s reach, and as they’ve released through guitarist/vocalist Christian Peters‘ Electric Magic Records imprint, that’s been something of an advantage, though naturally there are drawbacks as well. That they’d be at the vanguard if a new generation and wave of heavy psychedelia from across Europe wasn’t readily foreseeable in 2009 — at least not to me — but in listening to “Singata (Mystic Queen)” (8:32) and “Double Freedom” (13:04), I was just stoked it sounded like Colour Haze.

Did it though? Sort of. I hear it less now than I did at the time, and perhaps less on the semi versions of these songs than the ones that came on the subsequent album, which had a warmer sound, but it still seems like that influence is there. What comes out more in hindsight though is how much of Samsara Blues Experiment‘s own personality was worked into this material. In some ways, these tracks helped set the expectation for who the band — Peters, Richard Behrens (later of Heat) on bass and Thomas Vedder on drums — would become. The use of sitar became a defining element, and the surges of fuzz tone and echoing proclamations of “Double Freedom” are at the core of much I’d what Samsara Blues Experiment did on releases after this one. Though only 21 minutes long, give or take, it was easy to be excited about the demo, both because the jams were fluid and hypnotic and they helped distinguish the band from much of the burlier heavy rock that surrounded in Europe. They weren’t the first heavy psych band after the likes of the aforementioned Colour Haze, or, say, Causa Sui in Denmark, but they represented the generational shift to come and the energy they brought to the songs was no less palpable than the chemistry between the players, which comes through undulled on the live-feeling recording of these tracks.

Both “Singata (Mystic Queen)” and “Double Freedom” lengthened in their final album versions, the latter to a whopping 22 minutes of righteous psychedelic jamming, setting a precedent of longform work that Samsara Blues Experiment have continued to one degree or other ever since, without ever to-this-point crossing the 20-minute line again. Even in the shorter version, though, the jam is pivotal, and that became one of the distinguishing factors particularly in the band’s work, just how much it seemed to emerge from that organic foundation of the jam between players. With layers of effects and keys and guitar swirling over Behrens‘ solid rolling bassline — the first incarnation of the track sounds like it could go forever, the second does — and Vedder‘s backbeat holding it all together, the sense of flourish and patience in the execution of the song undermines the concept of it as a demo. It’s been 11 years. You know what I’d say if it came in today? “Huh. This sounds like Samsara Blues Experiment.”

Long-Distance Trip helped establish band on the Euro circuit and beyond, with a sprawling 66-minute run that washed through its fuzz with a clarity of purpose to match its outward direction — going, boldly — and was followed on a likewise quick turnaround by 2011’s Revelation and Mystery (review here), which basked in a more barebones production but still offered essential cuts like “Hangin’ on the Wire” and its surprisingly hard-landing 12-minute closing title-track. In late 2013, after touring, they’d answer back with Waiting for the Flood (review here), comprised of four extended cuts that brought back more of the psychedelic elements of the debut and still kept some of the second album’s relative immediacy, pulling together the most effective elements of both into a moment of realization for the band that continues to make for a standout listening experience.

It would be four years of lineup changes, touring, touring, and touring, as well as Peters exploring solo work under the moniker of Surya Kris Peters before Samsara Blues Experiment came back around with 2017’s One with the Universe (review here), which was ambitious in its title and blatant in its refusal to be contained by what had been established as the stylistic boundaries of jam-based heavy psychedelia, cuts like “Sad Guru Returns” finding a niche in crunchy rhythmic turns even as the subsequent, organ-and-sitar-laced “Glorious Daze” tapped ’70s jams with a fervency not shown since the band’s earliest work some eight years earlier. The album was awesome and expansive in kind, marked by its 10-minute opener and 15-minute title-track and other triumphs along the way.

There was word a bit ago of Peters working on songs for a fifth Samsara Blues Experiment full-length, which would only be welcome upon its arrival, and in the meantime in the last 15 months has produced no fewer than four solo outings of various lengths, incorporating influences from electronic dance music and psychedelic synth while giving clues to his general mindset in song titles like, “Leaving Berlin, Always Easy,” “Berlin is Not Beautiful” and “A Nickel for Your Thoughts on Rock Music.” So it goes.

Whether and whenever the next Samsara Blues Experiment album surfaces, their discography remains a thing to celebrate, and the substantial kickoff they gave it with this demo shouldn’t be at all overlooked. I just wanted to revisit something special.

As always, I hope you enjoy.

—

Things kind of turned around late-Wednesday and yesterday, but by Tuesday night, I was about ready to die. Rough, rough, rough couple days. No perspective, no broader sense, just head hanging, fucking inward brutality. The tone was set last weekend, honestly. The Patient Mrs. and I spent the bulk of Saturday and Sunday getting on each other’s nerves, and this may surprise you to learn, but a screaming, newly-biting-again toddler does nothing to help ease the general level of tension in a household. Also, we’re getting a dog? Ugh.

So anyway, by Tuesday I was a mess. I popped a whole xanax — I usually take a half — to render myself unconscious for a few hours just to make the day shorter. It helped, I have to say. And things have come around since. Sometimes you rally.

Next week The Pecan goes back to daycare/preschool/whatever we’re calling it. My understanding is they’ve constructed a pandemic-free biodome for the children to play and learn in, so that should be good.

Okay, I’m asking you this as a friend. Did you listen to the Polymoon track that was premiered this week? Here’s the link, click it. That album is way better than most debuts have any right to be. You shouldn’t miss out just because you haven’t already heard of the band.

Been watching the protests, the president’s open embrace of white supremacy, and so on, word of a new spike in COVID-19 cases. All that fun stuff. I try and keep my head down and work. I try and keep up with the kid. Both are hard these days.

New Gimme Radio show at 5PM Eastern. Their app is free. It’s what I use to listen, but streaming on their site is free too: http://gimmeradio.com

And if you didn’t see the playlist, that’s here.

It’s a little after 9:30AM now. I’m gonna take The Pecan out for a long walk and give The Patient Mrs. time to work. She’s had him since breakfast about two and a half hours ago, though we had an OT session in there that was an hour that we both sat in on. She’ll work until naptime (1:30PM sharp), then we’ll all reconvene at about 4 or 4:30PM when he wakes up. Weather’s good, so it should be a decent day. I’m sure that somewhere in there we’ll look at digger trucks again.

Tia Carrera review on Monday, bunch of premieres the rest of the week. This and that. Good fun. Please be safe and have a great weekend. Even if the bastards get you down, try not to let them keep you there.

FRM.

The Obelisk Forum

The Obelisk Radio

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The statistics of COVID-19 change with every news cycle, and with growing numbers, stay-at-home isolation and a near-universal disruption to society on a global scale, it is ever more important to consider the human aspect of this coronavirus. Amid the sad surrealism of living through social distancing, quarantines and bans on gatherings of groups of any size, creative professionals — artists, musicians, promoters, club owners, techs, producers, and more — are seeing an effect like nothing witnessed in the last century, and as humanity as a whole deals with this calamity, some perspective on who, what, where, when and how we’re all getting through is a needed reminder of why we’re doing so in the first place.

Thus, Days of Rona, in some attempt to help document the state of things as they are now, both so help can be asked for and given where needed, and so that when this is over it can be remembered.

Thanks to all who participate. — JJ Koczan

Days of Rona: Christian Peters of Samsara Blues Experiment (Berlin, Germany)

—

How are you dealing with this crisis as a band? Have you had to rework plans at all? How is everyone’s health so far?

Well of course everyone has his own way of dealing with this individually. It’s a very unique and weird situation in recent history and there’s a lot one may worry about these days, especially when you’re with kids and may get into job troubles and such. Of course, like most other bands we have to work in other jobs besides, more or less… So as a band we have agreed on not rehearsing anymore, already before it became a rule to not meet more than one person at once here in Germany.

It appears we seem to be more cautious than others there… but it seemed wise to step back a while, and also get informed. Which is still the main problem, I don’t know if everybody really is informed enough. There’s seems to be a lot of panicking… But back to the band, we are in preparation of the fifth album, have studio time booked, tours planned, etc., and all is very uncertain now.

Even tours scheduled for this coming Summer may be affected, because no one can tell anything right now, which is a very unpleasant situation, speaking in plain terms… But the health thing in general, let’s put it like this; just I for myself probably have been in much worse situations throughout the last two years… all this is mostly about protecting elder folks, I get that…

What are the quarantine/isolation rules where you are?

Well like I mentioned before, it’s not allowed to meet more than one other person when you’re outside. Some people still don’t get it, while others exaggerate in other forms which leads to quite a few bizarre situations in daily life. Since I am kind of a loner naturally for me all that’s not such a big deal, but I see that some people may have a complete new experience there.

Also, most of the stores are closed, which again seems a bit “funny” because just as one example there’s a lot of small groceries or convenience stores here where you hardly see more than two or three customers at once even on a regular day and all these small stores have had to close (and face serious financial trouble) while a lot of anxious peeps crowd that one supermarket in your neighborhood in quest of the holy toilet paper roll (exaggerated, but really… what’s the thing about that?).

Ahm, what can I say, it’s just a bit strange outside… you’re allowed to take walks, alone or with very close family members, and then you see all these “ninjas.” Dude… it’s weird.

How have you seen the virus affecting the community around you and in music?

Of course, it’s inevitable right? Not many people know that besides being a musician, having my own label and working for other labels, occasionally I also work in other parts of the music biz (yeah, the media) where you saw bands cancelling tours very early on, when it still seemed just a bit hyper-cautious,… and then this turned into a kind of snowball… To this day, I still haven’t seen or heard of anyone’s health being that roughly affected by the virus itself, but many are facing severe financial damage!

And that is a bit crazy to me. Well yes, you need to have a back-up, always. That may be something a lot of people may learn from this, and it’s probably easy to say for myself because I’m kinda modest and never had a lot of money to spend nor saw the bigger use in hoarding stuff etc, but… you know, also a lot of the live venues in Berlin seem to face bankruptcy (!!), after only a few weeks of being shut down (!!), and that’s sheer madness somehow…

I don’t know man, I really don’t know what to think. The whole world is freaking out because of this virus… btw, I saw a nice video of that Sadhguru-dude playing a new version of Simon & Garfunkel’s “Sound Of Silence,” maybe you can add that below, just so that some people may have a laugh…

What is the one thing you want people to know about your situation, either as a band, or personally, or anything?

First of all, relax. Personally I’m hoping for a few good side effects that may, or may not, evolve from this. Our commonly known types of capitalism have to end sooner or later (yeah peace out bruh eh).

Maybe some peoples are becoming more conscious, more self-centered and balanced, yet prepared for things like that… coming out of the blue and throwing everybody’s lives upside-down. Personally I have just overcome a whole bunch of “situations” and crises that all seemed worse than all that still. So maybe that’s why I can sit here and still be relaxed.

Well, I don’t know if I really am in any position to give advice but… relax, and also try go inside yourselves (it’s really a good time for introspection, I think) and think about what is life, what is important, how important is love, self-love and self-affirmation in the first place, and how small is a fuckin’ virus and how small-minded are those people hoarding toilet paper… laugh a lot, that’s also a good medicine.

Well, I hope you have someone who makes you laugh, but then there’s a lot of good old movies to watch too… ah, I don’t know.

https://www.facebook.com/suryakrispeters/
https://suryakrispeters.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/samsarabluesexperiment/
http://sbe-official.tumblr.com/
http://instagram.com/samsarabluesexperiment”
https://samsarabluesexperiment.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/electricmagicrecords/
https://electricmagicrecords.bandcamp.com/

Calling it right now: there’s gonna be a new Samsara Blues Experiment album out by the time they get to Munich for the 2020 edition of Keep it Low Festival. Do I know that? Hell no. Not at all. I have no such knowledge, and even if I did — mind you I don’t, at all, really; that’s not me being coy, I actually don’t fucking know — but they’re not a band who just get out and do fests on a whim. Now, I don’t necessarily know if they’ll be on tour for four weeks and hit all the Euro fests happening at that time, whereas I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see Yawning Man pop up on other lineups in addition to this one — I wouldn’t be surprised if they had a new record out too, while I’m thinking about it — but it was late-2018 when they said they were getting to work on a follow-up to 2017’s One with the Universe (review here), so it doesn’t at all seem unreasonable to think that record will come to fruition by this Fall.

I don’t know that. But I’m calling it now. If it doesn’t happen, I probably won’t remind you that I said it would. Ha.

Greece’s Last Rizla and Germany’s Chang and Mindcrawler have also signed on to play, and you’ll find the full announcement from the fest below. You’ll note there’s no mention of a new Samsara Blues Experiment album. Nothing: that’s exactly what they would say if it was going to happen.

From thee social medias:

Keepers,

We know that October is quite far away, but we just can’t help it! It’s our pleasure to welcome 5 more killer acts to Keep It Low Festival 2020!

Samsara Blues Experiment (GER)
Yawning Man (US)
Last Rizla (GRE)
Chang (GER)
Mindcrawler (GER)

We hope you like this announcement as much as we do!

2-day tickets are selling fast and there aren’t many left, so don’t sleep on that and get yours here:

Tickets available here:

https://www.sol-tickets.com/produkte/51-tickets-keep-it-low-festival-2020-feierwerk-area-muenchen-am-09-10-2020

https://woolheads.com/product/keep-it-low-festivalticket-weekend-2020

https://www.eventim.de/artist/keep-it-low-festival/

https://www.facebook.com/events/975025036197960/
https://www.facebook.com/keepitlowfestival/
https://www.keepitlow.de/
https://www.soundofliberation.com/

Samsara Blues Experiment, One with the Universe (2017)

This was my 2019 preview… of sorts. By which I mean that it in no way encompassed everything coming out this year and that some of it was basically me being like, “golly, it sure would be nice if BAND X put out a record in the next 12 months.” Still fun, but I think definitely well earning that “of sorts” tag.

I keep notes with a running list of things like albums coming out and best records of the year, artwork, EPs, etc., and in my notes for what’s coming out in 2019 I have over 50 bands listed so far. Here they are, cut and paste-style:

Cities of Mars, Mr. Peter Hayden, Curse the Son, High Fighter, No Man’s Valley, Destroyer of Light, Year of the Cobra, Buffalo Fuzz, Zaum, The Sonic Dawn, Alunah, Candlemass, Elepharmers, Grandier, Dorre, Abrahma, Mars Red Sky, Eternal Black, Elephant Tree, Atala, No Man’s Valley, Sun Blood Stories, Crypt Sermon, The Riven, Hibrido, Snail, Red Beard Wall, 11Paranoias, Dead Witches, Monte Luna, Captain Caravan, Swallow the Sun, Oreyeon, Motorpsycho, Vokonis, Hexvessel, Saint Vitus, Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard, Kind, Mastiff, Shadow Witch, Kings Destroy, Lo-Pan, Samsara Blues Experiment, Papir, Conan, Green Lung, BUS, Worshipper, Volcano, Mos Generator, Earth, Nebula Drag, Elder, Daxma, Besvärjelsen, Bellrope, The Sabbathian,

Some of that has been officially announced, some hasn’t, and some is rampant speculation, but many of these, and there’s always the contingency that expected releases can be delayed owing to recording and tour schedules, pressing concerns, pianos falling on heads, and so on, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find a bunch of those records on my year-end list in December. Whoopee.

What’s more important to stress, however, is that this is by no means the be-all-end-all list of things coming out. It’s a long year, and it’s January right now. There will be offerings in September and October that no one knows now are even in the works, and still more that aren’t. That’s why the list ends with a comma and a space instead of a period. There’s more to be added.

That said, this is a damn good show and I stand by it. Some of the inclusions could/would/will be among the year’s best albums — the new Worshipper is fantastic, and the new Kings Destroy owns my soul — but I wanted to put some stuff in here that the Gimme audience, which I tend to think of as being more metal though I have absolutely nothing to base that on, isn’t familiar with. Curse the Son, Snail, Sun Blood Stories.

It’s fun to talk about new albums coming out — I had a particular blast mentioning how annoyed I am at the universe for there being a new Sun Blood Stories album and I haven’t heard it yet — and even if some of it is speculative, that’s a good time too.

If you missed the show last night, it’s on tomorrow at 9AM at: http://gimmeradio.com.

The Obelisk Show Ep. 08 – 01.20.19

The Obelisk Show on Gimme Radio airs every other Sunday night at 7PM Eastern, with replays the following Tuesday at 9AM. Next show is Feb. 3. Thanks for listening if you do.

Gimme Radio website

The Obelisk on Thee Facebooks

Between September and November, Samsara Blues Experiment toured on four continents, playing in North and South America, Europe, and Australia and New Zealand. And, you know, they had a couple weeks between each run, but still, holy crap. Were their frequent flier miles expiring or something? Most people don’t get on four continents in a lifetime — they did it in a season. Madness.

As per their social medias, they’re taking a bit of time for the holidays and to work on new material. Their recent setlists have featured a couple new songs, so I guess progress has begun on a follow-up to One with the Universe (review here), which came out in 2017. Does that mean it’ll be out next year? Write in winter, record in spring, promote in summer, release in fall, maybe? It’s possible. If they’re in a hurry and the songs are far enough along, they could feasibly have it out by summer, and Samsara Blues Experiment certainly seem to be in a hurry these days, though I wouldn’t necessarily count on that to translate to songwriting.

Perhaps, then, their newly-announced Spring 2019 tour with Swiss mostly-instrumental stalwarts Monkey3 is a way to tighten up new songs before they enter the studio? Anything’s possible I guess. That would give them until the end of March to catch their breath and get material together. I don’t know. However the scheduling works out — how did this post become an appointment calendar? — the next Samsara Blues Experiment should be one to look forward to, and I plan on doing exactly that.

Here are those dates, courtesy of Sound of Liberation:

Folks, we are more than happy to announce, that Samsara Blues Experiment & monkey3 are going to share the van in March / April 2019! What a heavy trippin’ package! We can’t wait for spring!

DATES:
29.03.19 Cologne / Helios 37
30.03.19 Antwerp / Zappa
31.03.19 Nijmegen / Doornroosje
01.04.19 Paris / Petit Bain
02.04.19 Nantes / Le Ferrailleur
03.04.19 Toulouse / Rex
05.04.19 Stuttgart / JH Hallschlag
06.04.19 Jena / F-Haus
07.04.19 Dresden / Beatpol
08.04.19 Munich / Feierwerk
09.04.19 Zuerich / Rote Fabrik
10.04.19 Vienna / Arena
11.04.19 Budapest / A38
12.04.19 Salzburg / Rockhouse
13.04.19 Aschaffenburg / Colos-Saal (*with My Sleeping Karma)

https://www.facebook.com/samsarabluesexperiment/
http://sbe-official.tumblr.com/
http://instagram.com/samsarabluesexperiment”
https://samsarabluesexperiment.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/electricmagicrecords/
https://electricmagicrecords.bandcamp.com/

Samsara Blues Experiment, One with the Universe (2017)