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Zed Announce European Tour Dates to Desertfest London 2019

Posted in Whathaveyou on February 5th, 2019 by JJ Koczan

zed

There’s a lot of repetition in what I do, inherently. You cover the same kinds of bands, use a lot of the same phrasing, and when it comes to the news stuff, that part of it, there are a few different kinds of stories you generally run into. Band has new album. Band doesn’t have new album. Band is touring. Band breaks up. Band has a new member. And so on. Of all the categories for stories I see on a week-in-week-out basis, this might be my favorite: Band is going to Europe for the first time.

In this case, it’s San Jose heavy rockers Zed, who’ll bring their straightforward, hard-hitting craft to stages in Belgium, Germany and France alongside Ripple Music labelmates Plainride ahead of an appearance at Desertfest London 2019. And maybe if I was European I’d feel the same way about bands touring the US for the first time, but it’s a special level of achievement for a group to get out and go abroad, to make that happen, and I’m glad to see the cats from Zed making the trip. It’s a feelgood story. So feel good. Then go rock out.

They go on the heels of a reissue for 2013’s Desperation Blues (discussed here) that came out last month on Ripple and are sure to make a boatload of new friends along their way. Awesome.

The social medias has it like this:

zed plainride tour

Zed – European Tour Dates 2019

Europe, we’re finally gonna bring the rock to you! Stoked to get out there with our bros in Plainride and capping it off with Desertfest London!

April 27 Ghent BE Den Drummer
April 28 Hamburg DE Bar 227
April 29 Volmerange-les-Mines FR No Man’s Land
April 30 Dresden DE Chemiefabrik
May 1 Cologne DE Stereo Wonderland
May 2 Brussels BE Jeudhuis de Schackel
May 4 London UK Desertfest London 2019 (Zed only)

Replete with new album artwork and bonus material (previously unheard first time around) Desperation Blues is an honest collection of blood, sweat, Desperation Blues was officially re-released on 18th January 2019 through Ripple Music. Order the album now at www.ripple-music.com.

Zed is:
Pete Sattari- Guitar/Vox
Sean Boyles – Drums
Greg Lopez – Guitar
Mark Aceves – Bass

https://www.facebook.com/zedrocknow/
https://zedisded.bandcamp.com/
http://www.zedisded.com/
http://www.ripple-music.com
https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/theripplemusic/

Zed, “Halo” official video

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Zed Premiere “Halo” Video from Desperation Blues Reissue

Posted in Bootleg Theater on January 17th, 2019 by JJ Koczan

zed

I can’t give away too much at this point, but this Spring, Zed are going to Europe. The San Jose-based heavy rockers this month will oversee a reissue of their 2013 Desperation Blues album, billed through Ripple Music as Desperation Blues Deluxe and including refreshed art and bonus tracks culled from the band’s 2010 debut, The Invitation. The four-piece have been building momentum over the last several years on tour and with the signing to Ripple for the release of Trouble in Eden (review here), their third LP, and after doing gigs on both coasts — they’ll make a return in 2019 to the Maryland Doom Fest as well — the initial incursion abroad seems nothing if not earned. One expects they’ll be well received.

It would seem on an initial reading that the lyrics of “Halo” are all the more relevant in today’s climate of political unrest, troubling surges of populism and crumbling international relations, but the truth is the US has been at war since before Zed put out The Invitation nine years ago, and lines like, “So confused, so afraid/What if the pigs come back today?/All I’ve worked for, all I’ve saved, so easily taken away,” aren’t so much finding new meaning as simply still applicable to the same degradation. The video premiering below works on similar ground, pitting footage of protesters engaging riot police alongside shots of the band playing live, the wobbly closed-circuit effect giving unity to the two as though to underline the notion of expression as an inherent act of defiance in a system of oppression. That is, if you want to piss someone off, make good art.

Though in that regard, throwing shit at cops works too.

Some would say that is art.

In any case, the spirit of the video suits the track’s workmanlike chug and subtle undertone of aggression, and the song remains catchy and well-composed without getting weighed down by its theme. Putting it in the context of what Zed would do on their two to-date subsequent outings, it’s a strong indicator of the band they would become — the band that will make themselves ambassadors of US heavy in a few months’ time — and shows how songwriting has been at their core all the while through their career, along with no small supply of swagger. That also continues to serve them well.

Safe travels to come, Zed. I’m looking forward to the tour announcement.

Desperation Blues Deluxe is out Jan. 18 on Ripple Music. Enjoy the video. It’s not the last one they’ll have for the reissue:

Zed, “Halo” official video premiere

Zed on “Halo”:

Wanted to make a video that honors the spirit of the song which is about how there is so much unrest and strife in the world and it doesn’t matter whether you are right or left leaning, there are movements and machinations at the highest levels of government that are being done to further oppress, devalue and control the common man. Yet the human spirit is unstoppable and will stand up even when the odds are stacked high against it.

Music Video for the song Halo off of “Desperation Blues Deluxe” the Ripple Music re-issue of ZED’s critically acclaimed self-released album.

Replete with new album artwork and bonus material (previously unheard first time around) Desperation Blues is an honest collection of blood, sweat, Desperation Blues will be officially re-released on 18th January 2019 through Ripple Music. Pre-order the album now at www.ripple-music.com.

Zed is:
Pete Sattari- Guitar/Vox
Sean Boyles – Drums
Greg Lopez – Guitar
Mark Aceves – Bass

Zed on Thee Facebooks

Zed on Bandcamp

Zed website

Ripple Music website

Ripple Music on Bandcamp

Ripple Music on Thee Facebooks

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Zed Post “Skin + Bones” Video; Desperation Blues Reissue Due Jan. 18

Posted in Bootleg Theater on December 21st, 2018 by JJ Koczan

zed

San Jose heavy rockers Zed will reissue their 2013 album, Desperation Blues, on Jan. 18 through Ripple Music. And if the band are feeling somewhat sentimental for what was their second album following 2010’s The Invitation, that’s certainly fair enough. It was the record that solidified their approach in hard-hitting, semi-aggro heavy rock and roll, as well as the one that led to their signing with Ripple Music for the follow-up, Trouble in Eden (review here), in 2016. Well worth a special place in the band’s heart, I should think.

With an eye toward marking the occasion and an apparent backlog of images to share, Zed have posted a kind of collage reminiscence video for the song “Skin + Bones” that has photos included from their last several years of shows. Of particular note was the excursion that took them to the East Coast where they played the first night of Maryland Doom Fest 2018 (review here). They have shots with the organizers of the fest, other bands, and even one of yours truly if you’re quick enough to see my dopey mug pass by en route to the next pic. I usually charge a licensing fee for my image, but since it’s Zed, I’ll let it go this time around.

I was glad to catch the four-piece at that fest, as I was to see them for the first time at Borderland Fuzz Fiesta in 2016 (review here). They’ve grown as songwriters, as I think Trouble in Eden showed, but Desperation Blues captured the root of their sound in terms of conveying their passion for straightforward, direct-line heavy rock with more than just a chip on its shoulder. I don’t know what else they might have in the works for the New Year, but if they’re running at an every-three-year pace, they’re due for a new studio release at some point.

In the meantime, a bit of nostalgia.

PR wire info follows the video below. Please enjoy:

Zed, “Skin + Bones” official video

Blasting out onto the San Francisco Bay Area rock scene in 2007, ZED quickly made a name for themselves with their crushing live shows and incessant grooves. Having played together in various projects since ’98 (including releasing an album with the band Stitch for Prosthetic/Metal Blade Records), guitar player/vocalist Peter Sattari, drummer Rich Harris and bassist Mark Aceves joined up with guitar wizard Greg Lopes to create a sound that was uniquely their own. A sound with the sole purpose to rock with no concerns for genre classifications and idle labeling.

Showcasing equal appeal to fuzz-box mercenaries, ’74 Chevy van-driving stoners and horns-thrusting metalheads, ZED truly made their mark in May 2013 with the self-release of Desperation Blues, an album which, with the help of the Californian label Ripple Music gets an official worldwide reissue on CD/LP this January.

Replete with new album artwork and bonus material (previously unheard first time around) Desperation Blues is an honest collection of blood, sweat, Desperation Blues will be officially re-released on 18th January 2019 through Ripple Music. Pre-order the album now at www.ripple-music.com.

Zed on Thee Facebooks

Zed on Bandcamp

Zed website

Ripple Music website

Ripple Music on Bandcamp

Ripple Music on Thee Facebooks

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Epicenter Fest 2017 Set for Sept. 16; High on Fire, Mos Generator, Big Business, Holy Grove & More to Play

Posted in Whathaveyou on July 17th, 2017 by JJ Koczan

When Epicenter Fest 2017 says it’s carefully curated, I have no trouble believing it. The inaugural edition of the San Jose, California-based all-day event is set for Sept. 16 and would seem to have undertaken the mission of setting West Coast heavy to task in celebrating some of its own finest purveyors. High on Fire headline, as they should, and the lineup flows from there with groups varied in geography and style, from the brash catchiness of Big Business to the rolling grooves of Holy Grove, the straight-ahead classicism of Mos Generator, and upstart outfits BrumeKOOK and Mesmer, as if to underscore the point that the Pacific region’s growth is still very much in progress.

A standout name on the bill not included in the paragraph above is Future Usses, which features guitar manufacturer Sacha Dunable (also Intronaut) and is a new outfit making its live debut at the fest. Even without the Bill and Ted reference in the moniker, that’d be a band to keep an eye on. So do that. I’ll do the same.

Fest info follows, along with ticket links and whatnot. Looks awesome even from the entire other side of the country:

epicenter fest 2017

OSKAR BLUES PRESENTS: EPICENTER HEAVY MUSIC FESTIVAL-2017

Honoring the Past, Present, and Future of Bay Area Heavy Underground Music Featuring High on Fire, Big Business & 7 more great bands

Heavy San Jose is bringing a festival unlike anything San Jose has ever seen. High on Fire, who got their start in San Jose in a practice studio just a couple of blocks from The Ritz, will headline this nine-band monster show. Epicenter Heavy Music Festival was designed to shake the Bay Area to its foundations.

The carefully curated lineup of nine bands represent nine different genres of heavy music. In addition to High on Fire, heavy music stalwarts Big Business, will also grace the Ritz stage with more earth-shaking sound than should come from a two-piece. Mos Generator (Seattle), and Holy Grove (Portland), will descend from the northern wilds to bring furious wrath and heavy-metal vengeance. Future Usses (Los Angeles) is a new band fronted by Sacha Dunable (Intronaut/Dunable Guitars), and Epicenter will be the first live taste of their loopy psych-doom. The line-up also features three up-and-coming local bands: KOOK (Glory or Death Records) from right here in San Jose, Brume (DHU/Doom Stew Records) from San Francisco, and Mesmer (Wicked Lester Records) from Oakland. There’s at least one more band not yet announced (but already booked) and more surprises in the works.

This festival is all about shining a light on the unique musical history of San Jose and the greater Bay Area, bringing a one-of-a-kind event to heavy music lovers, and putting the spotlight an amazing venue in San Jose (The Ritz). The Bay Area birthed some of the most influential bands in heavy music, starting with Blue Cheer in the late 60s, continuing through the thrash era in the 80s with Metallica, Exodus and Testament, and the birth of stoner/doom in the 90s with Sleep, High on Fire and Neurosis. New amazing heavy underground bands are constantly forming in the Bay, and it’s Heavy San Jose’s mission to highlight them, as well as provide an artist-friendly environment for touring bands in the heavy underground.

The event will showcase as much great local flavor as possible, featuring local artists and businesses (Martin Roberson, owner of Lucky Stars Tattoo in San Jose created the show poster). Sponsorships, are still available (contact info above). We’re offering VIP and General Admission tickets, and we’re expecting a sellout (capacity at the Ritz is just over 500). VIP tickets (only 50 available) are on sale now, with GA tickets going on sale Friday July 14th at 10:00am pacific.

Bands Performing (see below for band bios):
High on Fire (San Jose/Oakland)
Big Business (Los Angeles)
Mos Generator (Seattle)
Holy Grove (Portland)
Future Usses (Los Angeles)
Brume (San Francisco)
KOOK (San Jose)
Mesmer (Oakland)

Event Details:
When: September 16, 2017 5:30 PM – 1:30 AM
Where: The Ritz – 400 South First Street, San Jose, CA
Cost: General availability tickets are $45 with VIP tickets priced at $75 (early access to the venue, access to a private VIP area, limited edition screen printed show poster, and other fun surprise perks).

Tickets: https://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/1523269?utm_medium=bks
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1971651789739169

www.heavysj.com
www.facebook.com/heavysjc

High on Fire, “Devilution” live at Roskilde 2017

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The Obelisk Radio Adds: Lord Mountain, The Giraffes, Saint Vitus, Långfinger, Soggy

Posted in Radio on January 9th, 2017 by JJ Koczan

the obelisk radio cavum

It’s been a long time. Long enough that I’m not even going to link back to the last time I did a round of Radio Adds. Life happens, and with the Quarterly Review, I guess my focus went elsewhere. Well, I just did a Quarterly Review, and that actually kind of inspired this, since I found there was yet more records that wanted covering even after that over-full round of 60 that closed out 2016 and opened 2017. So here we are.

There are, in fact, more than 50 albums being added to The Obelisk Radio playlist today. I can’t promise I’ll do Radio Adds weekly like I once did, or monthly, or again in 2017, or ever, but the opportunity presented itself and it seemed only right to take advantage. This stuff all came out last year, so it’s all readily available, and audio samples are included, because, you know, music and such.

Let’s dig in:

Lord Mountain, Lord Mountain

lord-mountain-lord-mountain

Of all the styles under the vast umbrella of “heavy,” traditional doom is among the hardest to execute – especially, I’d think, for new bands. You need a balance of atmosphere and lack of pretense, a classic vibe, riffs, and groove. On the surface, you’re playing to the past, but if you put out something that just sounds like Sabbath and bring nothing of yourself to it, you’re sunk. Santa Rosa, California’s Lord Mountain – vocalist/guitarist Jesse Swanson, guitarist Sean Serrano, bassist Dave Reed and drummer Pat Moore – would seem to have it figured out on their self-titled debut EP. Released by King Volume Records on limited tape, it brings forth four tracks in 21 minutes that are no less comfortable playing to the downer riffing of Candlemass – opener “Fenrir” – than to the epic chanting of Viking-era Bathory – “Under the Mountain” – and that find distinction for themselves in nodding to one side or the other as they make their way across the bass-y Sabbathism of “Dying World” and into the concluding solo-topped gallop of “Tomb of the Eagle” (more Dio-era there, but effectively translated tonally). As an initial offering, its presence is more stately than raw, and part of that is aesthetic, so I still think Lord Mountain will have growth to undertake, but their EP shows marked potential and brings a fresh personality to doom’s rigid traditionalism, and there’s nothing more one could reasonably ask of it. A CD would probably be too much to ask, but it’s hard to believe no one’s snagged it for a 10” release yet.

Lord Mountain on Thee Facebooks

Lord Mountain on Bandcamp

King Volume Records on Bandcamp

 

The Giraffes, Usury

the giraffes usury

Behold the winding, self-directed narrative of underrated, underutilized and underappreciated New York heavy rockers The Giraffes, who issued Usury via Silver Sleeve Records in Jan. 2016, on the cusp of their 20th anniversary and with it welcomed back frontman Aaron Lazar (also a one-time contributor to The Book of Knots, speaking of underrated) to the fold alongside guitarist Damien Paris, drummer Andrew Totolos and bassist Josh Taggart. Comprised of just six songs with a 28-minute runtime, it nonetheless holds to a full-album sentiment, with songs like the tense “Washing Machine” working in a vein not dissimilar to their righteous 2008 offering, Prime Motivator (review here), while the preceding “Facebook Rant” and “Product Placement Song” bask in a social commentary that one can only hope the ensuing decades make dated and the subsequent “White Jacket” has a melancholy danceability that one might’ve related around the time of The Giraffes’ 2005 self-titled debut related to System of a Down, but now just sounds like an enrichment of their approach overall. Usury gets off to a slow start (not a complaint, given the groove) with “Blood Will Run,” which seems to shake off its dust initially before commencing its real push and chug circa the halfway point, but by the time they get down to eight-minute finale “How it Happened to Me,” the sudden conclusion of the jam leaves one to wonder where they went and when they’ll be back, which presumably is the whole idea. Behold a band who did it before it was cool, should’ve been huge, and still kept going. The story is more complicated than that, but there are few tales more admirable.

The Giraffes on Thee Facebooks

The Giraffes website

 

Saint Vitus, Live Vol. 2

saint-vitus-live-vol-2

The first Saint Vitus live album – Live – surfaced in 1990 via Hellhound Records and captured the band in Germany in 1989. Its 2005 reissue on Southern Lord played a large role in introducing the pivotal doomers to a new generation of fans. Live Vol. 2 follows some 26 years later via Season of Mist and likewise documents a crucial era in the four-piece’s existence, having been recorded in 2013 in Luxembourg following the release of their 2012 album, Lillie: F-65 (review here), with the lineup of vocalist Scott “Wino” Weinrich, guitarist Dave Chandler, bassist Mark Adams and drummer Henry Vasquez. It’s a 59-minute set, all told – one suspects some of Chandler’s stage rants between songs were shortened or removed – and among the most striking impressions it makes is how seamlessly Lillie: F-65 cuts “Let Them Fall,” “The Bleeding Ground” and “The Waste of Time” fit in alongside classics like the speedy “War is Our Destiny” and “Look Behind You” or the more grueling “Patra (Petra)” and galloping “White Stallions.” Of course, the anthemic “Born too Late” closes out, with Chandler’s wash of feedback and all-low-end tone at the start the ultimate hallmark of what Saint Vitus have always been – a middle finger to square culture unlike any other. This era of the band may be over, with original vocalist Scott Reagers stepping back into the frontman role, but as one continues to hope for another studio album, Live Vol. 2 proves more than a stopgap and takes an active role in adding to the band’s legendary catalog.

Saint Vitus on Thee Facebooks

Season of Mist website

 

Långfinger, Crossyears

langfinger-crossyears

After two successful full-lengths in 2010’s Skygrounds and 2012’s Slow Rivers, next-gen Swedish heavy rockers Långfinger join forces with Small Stone Records for their 10-song/46-minute third album, the crisply-executed Crossyears. Like their countrymen labelmates in Jeremy Irons and the Ratgang Malibus, the Gothenburg three-piece bring modern edge and production to what a few years ago might’ve been purely retro ‘70s boogie rock, as tracks like “Fox Confessor,” “Say Jupiter,” the more languid “Atlas” and “Caesar’s Blues” bask in a showcase of tight, natural performance with a clean production style that still highlights same, bassist/keyboardist/vocalist Victor Crusner, guitarist/backing vocalist Kalle Lilja and drummer/backing vocalist Jesper Pihl proving the maturity of their songwriting while still delivering the push of “Silver Blaze” and closer “Window in the Sky” with a sense of energy behind them. Their approach so solidified, Långfinger don’t seem to leave much to chance in their sound, but Crossyears engages heavy rock tradition effectively while bridging a gap of decades across its run, and that, frankly, seems like enough for any one record to take on.

Långfinger on Thee Facebooks

Small Stone Records on Bandcamp

 

Soggy, Soggy

soggy soggy

Soggy’s self-titled LP, released in this edition by Outer Battery Records (see also Arctic, Earthless Meets Heavy Blanket), is a reissue of a 2008 collection of tracks from a span of years that find the blown-out French punkers paying direct homage to The Stooges with a cover of the seminal “I Wanna be Your Dog,” immediately drawing a line to what seems to have been the band’s most prominent influence. Some 35-plus years after they were initially put to tape, Soggy’s tracks continue to feel dangerous and raw in their frenetic proto-punkery, and that would seem to be exactly what the Soggy LP is looking to convey, digging into the vast trove of lost artifacts in heavy and punk rock and finding a treasure ripe for hindsight appreciation. As much as it just makes me want to put on the self-titled Stooges record or Fun House, I can’t argue with the success of Soggy’s Soggy or not admire its mission, even if some of its blows land harder than others.

Soggy on Bandcamp

Outer Battery Records on Thee Facebooks

 

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Friday Full-Length: Operator Generator, Polar Fleet

Posted in Bootleg Theater on December 23rd, 2016 by JJ Koczan

Operator Generator, Polar Fleet (2001)

There is an essential truth in Operator Generator‘s 2001 debut, Polar Fleet, and if you’ll indulge me for a minute or two, I’d like to explore it. The San Jose, California, four-piece of vocalist Mitchell French, guitarist Tom Choi, bassist Joe Tucci and drummer Michael Parkinson released the eight-track outing in 2001 during the latter days of Man’s Ruin Records — it’s catalog number MR-2008, which means it came after the label’s ill-fated 1999 distribution alignment with Artemis Records, so that makes sense — and even beyond the basic fact of its quality riffing, or of its groove, to me it represents a clear marker in the march of generations of heavy rock. I’ve talked about this a lot, in Friday Full-Length posts, in reviews, and so on, but while it’s by no means the only example — Man’s Ruin alone remains a treasure trove of now-obscure pre-social-media heavy, from SuplecsBottomBegotten and Drunk Horse to the rawer Mass and Greenmachine, let alone anything anyone else put out on a label or independently — Operator Generator remains a perfect example of a record that, now, it’s almost too easy to view as being ahead of its time.

Granted, they had a direct line to Sleep via Choi, who previously played guitar in Asbestosdeath as part of a lineup that also included Matt PikeAl Cisneros and Chris Hakius, but to listen to the post-Sleep’s Holy Mountain chug of “Infinite Loop” and any number of acts who send me the Bandcamp links to their “debut EP” — a demo by any other name — on a weekly basis, you would in many ways think the last 15 years never happened. I’m not saying these bands aren’t allowed to take influence from the past. Far from it. One could and probably should quite easily argue that representing aesthetic traditionalism is half the point of working within any genre — the other half, hopefully, being originality — but as listeners, I feel like we have a responsibility to dedicate ourselves to understanding where those traditions come from, and so that’s why I tend to go on at such lengths about the days before Facebook and Instagram brought a new wave of bands particularly from the US, Europe and Australia. That might sound like I’m advocating a dry, academic approach to listening to music, and I’m not — at least not to the extent that cold analysis would trump actual enjoyment — but part of moving a style forward, or moving anything forward, is exploring the history that birthed it. Enjoying the output of new bands is one of the greatest joys the planet has to offer, and it’s one I feel can only be enriched by a fuller framework.

What’s the fucking point? The fucking point is riffs weren’t invented in 2006. Or 2001. Or 1995. Or 1969. Or 1955. Or 1928. The impulse to create something of meaning and presence goes back to cave drawings and probably long before that. Listening to Polar Fleet, whether it’s the forward push the title-track or the on-theme vibes of the later “Arctic Quest,” I’m reminded of just how crucial it is that as creative people — and both hearing and making records can be creative acts, make no mistake — attempts are made to engage with history. Not at the sacrifice of the present, but toward its future. Operator Generator had two releases out in their time in this long-player and a prior self-titled EP on 12th Records, and if either showed up in my inbox today, I might note the dated sound of the drums on “Museum’s Flight,” but I’d be just as likely to offer high praise to the psychedelic expansion of closer “Soil of Lavamore,” and if I didn’t know the album’s origin, I’m sure I could be convinced it was brand new. I invite you to put it next to any number of current releases and see if you don’t get where I’m coming from. The more time passes, the more records like this one become important, and the more important it becomes to realize the effect they’ve had on the development of heavy music worldwide. Context matters.

Polar Fleet has an impending reissue by Twin Earth Records — which, if you want the context, is headed by Ric Bennett, of high-grade Sabbath worshipers Starchild and Stars that Move. More on that as I hear it.

As always, I hope you enjoy.

I appreciate your indulging the preach, but as we come down to the wire on 2016 and lists start to come out and stuff like that, I can’t help but feel like there are an awful lot of not-that-new ideas being celebrated as revolutionary. That’s the nature of things, I suppose, and end-of-year critical hyperbole is a fact of life — I’ve certainly been guilty of it as well — but I don’t know. Maybe I’m just getting old. I remember being 22 and starting to seriously dig into heavy rock — hardly ground floor; this is circa 2002-2003 — and it all sounded so fresh, when even bands like Operator Generator were feeding off what came before them. Dudes who saw Kyuss in 1992, or for that matter Mountain in 1971, were probably shaking their heads and wondering what the big deal was. Like I said, nature of things.

This weekend is the Xmas holiday. If it’s one you celebrate for either religious or secular reasons, I hope it’s a good one for you. Family, gift-giving, food, the whole bit. The Patient Mrs. and I will head south, first to her family in Connecticut and then to mine in New Jersey — not that her family isn’t my family and my family isn’t hers, I’m just categorizing by blood relation; love abounds from all sides and I feel remarkably fortunate for that — but should return to Massachusetts on Monday following the revelry. Not certain on the exact timing yet, but it’s hardly our first time at this rodeo, so we’ll figure it out, and as I’ve discovered time and again, I can run a decent enough hotspot from my phone on the I-95 corridor to get posts up from my laptop while on the road.

That’s good, because Monday starts the Quarterly Review, which will take us into the New Year as it’s six days this time instead of the traditional five. I’m thinking of it as kind of a wrap-up for 2016, so there’s a lot to cover. It could’ve been two full weeks, but I’d lose my mind. I’ll be plenty busy as it is. Here’s a tentative look at the week-plus:

Mon.: Quarterly Review day one; comment from Geezer on touring Europe.
Tue.: Quarterly Review day two; track premiere from Michael Wohl.
Wed.: Quarterly Review day three.
Thu.: Quarterly Review day four.
Fri.: Quarterly Review day five.
Sun.: Year-End Poll results out.
Mon.: Quarterly Review day six.

Yup, look for those results on New Year’s Day, and the last batch of Quarterly Review writeups — 10 records per day, as usual — that Monday. Starting on the first, I’ve also got a new sponsorship deal for the site being tried out that I’m excited for, and of course there’s plenty of news and videos and other stuff peppered throughout the week that still needs to be sorted. It will be busy and require much coffee, and that’s apparently how I like it.

But as I sign off even momentarily — because really I’m just about to get back to work on the aforementioned Quarterly Review; not actually going anywhere — let me please wish you once again a happy holiday. Be safe, have a great time, and listen to awesome music. If you missed it, there’s a four-hour podcast that went up yesterday that might help in that endeavor. Just saying.

All the best and back Monday. Thanks for reading, and please check out the forum and radio stream.

The Obelisk Forum

The Obelisk Radio

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Zed Premiere Video for “Royale”; Trouble in Eden out Aug. 26

Posted in Bootleg Theater on August 4th, 2016 by JJ Koczan

zed

San Jose aggro heavy rockers Zed will head out this October on a run down the West Coast in order to promote their new album, Trouble in Eden. The record drops Aug. 26 via Ripple Music, and the four-piece of guitarist/vocalist Peter Sattari, guitarist Greg Lopez, bassist Mark Aceves and drummer Rich Harris have a new video for the track “Royale,” which leads off the album, providing and opening punch from which they can build moving through the tracks. Like a lot of what they do, it has a straightforward, stripped-down appeal driven by its energetic delivery and rhythmic thrust, which comes accompanied by a solid chorus.

The circumstances of the “Royale” video’s arrival are also pretty true to who they are as players. Comprised of performance footage filmed on an iPhone, a DSLR and a GoPro and edited in Final Cut Pro X, Aceves describes it below as “fully DIY,” the band having hired a director who wound up unable to make the gig. Fair enough for making the most of what they had to work with. The clip winds up benefiting from the change in camera-type, and in the spirit of Zed‘s music, it offers more than a superficial glance can really tell. Doesn’t hurt either that the track is so damn catchy.

Zed play the release show for Trouble in Eden on Aug. 19 in San Francisco at Bottom of the Hill. Info for the rest of their dates and the aforementioned comment from Aceves follow the “Royale” video, which you’ll find below.

Please enjoy:

Zed, “Royale” official video

Mark Aceves on “Royale”

“The video was filmed in mid-July and it was a fully DIY effort in that we were slated to work with a producer/director who at the last minute had some family issues come up and he just disappeared, so we decided to take things into our own hands. We had the room booked, so we invited some friends to come hang out who help set up and we filmed it in one afternoon, and I think it came out pretty good! We chose this song as it is the opening song on the album and it comes out with a bang! I think it really captures the essence of ZED, which is big riffs and hooks, being both heavy and groove oriented at the same time. This one’s a real head bobber and ass shaker!”

Trouble In Eden will be officially released on 26th August through Ripple Music.

Zed live:
19 August Bottom of the Hill San Francisco, CA (RECORD RELEASE PARTY!)
10 September The Uptown Oakland CA
2 October The Caravan San Jose, CA
13 October Black Water Portland, OR
14 October Skylark Seattle, WA
15 October Black Forest Eugene, OR
20 October Viper Room Los Angeles, CA
21 October Til Two San Diego, CA
22 October Dive Bar Las Vegas, NV
19 November Uptown Oakland, CA

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Zed Post “Save You from Yourself” Lyric Video

Posted in Bootleg Theater on July 7th, 2016 by JJ Koczan

zed

San Jose heavy rockers Zed have announced an Aug. 26 release date for their third full-length, Trouble in Eden. Also their debut on Ripple Music, it follows 2013’s Desperation Blues and with the first audio from the record arriving in a lyric video for “Save You from Yourself,” one can already hear how much it flies in the face of the current conception of West Coast riffing, geared so often as the region is toward laid back vibes and analog fetishization. Nothing against that, and true, Zed have a break in “Save You from Yourself” that’s a little more mellow, but the overarching impression of the track is far more aggressive and in-your-face than one might expect from a phrase like “San Jose heavy rockers” that opened this paragraph. To my ears, they sound almost like an East Coast band.

My impression was much the same earlier this year when I was fortunate enough to watch Zed play at Borderland Fuzz Fiesta 2016 (review here) in Tucson, Arizona. They had a lot of new material in the set from the then-unannounced Trouble in Eden, and as the PR wire alludes below, they blend heavy-riffed impulses with angrier tendencies, be it noise rock or oldschool metal blended into their still-weighted groove. “Save You from Yourself” has a marked hook that only becomes more of a focal point on repeat listens, and the lyric video blends performance and landscape footage highlighting desert atmospheres that fit as well as anything I could come up with, certainly, even if they’re not necessarily representative of everything Zed have on offer — until the motorcycles show up. Then they’ve pretty much got it covered.

More to come on the album as we get closer to the release. For now, the “Save You from Yourself” clip follows here, with the aforementioned PR wire copy below in blue:

Zed, “Save You from Yourself” lyric video

The Valley of the Riff is well inhabited and plentiful in its offerings and the beauty of its vast sprawl is that there is room for many. Making their presence well-known with heavy footprints and sonically indelible marks are San Jose-based Earth shakers ZED. A sound based on core principles of the blues, heaviness, groove, and feel this San Francisco Bay Area quartet is the genuine article, Ladies & Gentlemen. The sound is as organic as it is raw.

No bell bottoms, wizard sleeves, or hip huggers for this crew. It’s a barrage of head-bobbing, air-guitaring, hip-shaking, blues-driven rock as delivered by the bastards of rock & roll. With equal appeal to the fuzz-box mercenaries, stoner-rockers safety meeting in a ’74 Chevy van, and horns-thrusting metalheads pressed against the stage, this band refuses to conform or brandish a manufactured label.

Showing the maturity and confidence to explore the full gamut of their influences and what inspires them internally, ZED is set to offer their third full-length album “Trouble In Eden” with an August 26th release date on Ripple Music. “Trouble In Eden” is a literal collection of blood, sweat, and tears crafted together with raw, personal, relative lyrical content. Tales touching on religious-fueled tragedy, societal reflection, struggles with mental anguish, loss, and perseverance, this album is one for all to relate to. Drop the needle, push play, crank the knob, push the volume high and prepare to be intoxicated by the potion ZED is offering.

Trouble In Eden will be officially released on 26th August through Ripple Music.

Zed on Thee Facebooks

Zed website

Ripple Music website

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