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Quarterly Review: Church of the Sea, Gu Vo, Witchfinder, Centre el Muusa, 0N0, Faeries, Cult of Dom Keller, Supplemental Pills, Green Hog Band, Circle of Sighs

Posted in Reviews on June 30th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

THE-OBELISK-FALL-2020-QUARTERLY-REVIEW

I’ll find out for sure in a bit, but I think this might be one of those supremely weird Quarterly Review days where it’s a total mash of styles and it doesn’t make any sense whatsoever from one release to the next so that by the time the batch of 10 records is done we’ve ended up covering a pretty significant swath of heavy music’s spectrum. I ain’t out here trying to be comprehensive, you understand. I’m just doing my best to keep up. And in that, sometimes you hit a weird day.

In fact, I think “weird” might be the operative word for the Quarterly Review so far. I think about this music, who it’s for, why, and it’s weird and it’s for weirdos in my head. Both of those things are meant in a spirit of reverence for weirdness. Weird is interesting. Weird stands out. Weird is… also how I feel basically any time I’m out of the house among other adults unless I’m at a show. Weird is that beautiful thing that unites those people who don’t seem to fit anywhere else but in this.

So yeah, today’s weird. Strap in, kids.

Quarterly Review #31-40:

Church of the Sea, Odalisque

CHURCH OF THE SEA ODALISQUE

Electronic beats, live guitar, and a resonant human voice make for a fascinating blend on Church of the Sea‘s richly atmospheric Odalisque. The Athenian trio of vocalist Irene, guitarist Vangelis (a different Vangelis) and synthesist/sampler Alex conjure a deep sense of mood in songs like “Mirror” and the closer “Me as the Water, Me as a Tree,” operating from the weighted beginning of opener “No One Deserves” onward in a slow-moving, open-spaced take on heavy post-rock that staves off the shimmering guitar in favor of adding the rumble of distortion often as a backing drone to fill out the sound alongside the synth behind Irene‘s voice. There are shades of Author & Punisher‘s latest — but Odalisque is less about slamming impact than spreading out the landscape of its title-track and the personal examinations of its lyrics, though “Raindrops” doesn’t seem fully ready to commit to one or the other and it’s easy to appreciate that. A striking debut from a band whose individualized purpose sets them apart even within Greece’s crowded and wildly creative underground.

Church of the Sea on Facebook

Church of the Sea links

 

Gu Vo, Gu Vo

gu vo gu vo

Drummer Edu Escobar, bassist Raúl Burrueco and vocalist/synthesist Alejandro Ruiz are Gu Vo, and given their lack of guitar, it should come as little surprise that their Sentencia Records self-titled debut is a markedly rhythmic experience. Taking some example perhaps from Slift‘s uptempo space/krautrockism, the Spanish three-piece bring an avant garde vibe even to the ultra-smooth build of “Crab Ball Gate,” hypnotizing through repetition in the low end and drums while the keys weave in and out of prominence, “Little Lizard” arriving with storybook fanfare before toying with willful-sounding low- and high-end frequency imbalance — you go this way and I’ll go that, etc. — and vocals that are duly spaced. The nine-song/49-minute outing is ambitious, droning large in “USG Ishimura” and actually maybe-actually-sampling Altered Beast for the chiptunery of “Rise From Your Grave.” “TuunBaq” brings some of these impulses together at the end, but Gu Vo‘s Gu Vo is more about the trip you take than where you end up, and that’s much to its advantage.

Gu Vo on Facebook

Sentencia Records on Bandcamp

 

Witchfinder, Endless Garden

Witchfinder Endless Garden EP

Watch out for the slowdown in about the last minute and a half of “The Maze” (6:28) which is the first of two songs on Witchfinder‘s Endless Garden EP. Things are rolling along, some Acid King nod in that main riff, and then, wham, screams and meaner sludge pushes into the proceedings without so much as a s’il vous plaît from the Clermont-Ferrand-based four-piece. The keyboard later in the subsequent “Eternal Sunset” (10:41) running alongside the slower movement there calls to mind Type O Negative — though I understand it’s Hangman’s Chair holding down such vibes in France these days, so maybe or maybe not an influence — plays a similar function in distinguishing the ending from what’s come before, but it’s the overarching heft of Endless Garden that makes it such a fulfilling answer to 2019’s Hazy Rites (review here), the band perhaps pushing back against some of the more cultish tendencies of current heavy in favor of a more individual statement of fuzz and psych-doomer spaciousness. It’s been a hell of a three years since the album. A reminder of Witchfinder‘s growth in progress is welcome.

Witchfinder on Facebook

Mrs Red Sound on Bandcamp

 

Centre El Muusa, Purple Stones

Centre el Muusa Purple Stones

Imagine yourself having a dream about surfing and you might be on your way to Centre El Muusa‘s sound. The Estonian instrumentalist four-piece debuted on Sulatron with their 2020 self-titled (review here), and they cohesively explore various realms here, dream-beach among them, but also some twangy slide guitar in opener “Pony Road” and “Desert Song,” the band using the titles seemingly to drop hints of the vibes being captured. Sure enough, the dirty fuzz in “Boomerang” comes back around, “Keila Train” — it’s about a 15-mile trip from Talinn, where the band are from, to Keila — has a distracted line of keys over mellow jazz drumming and meandering guitar, and “Pilot on Board” brings a subtle kosmiche push with an undulating waveform drone that’s like the wind passing under and over the wings of an airplane. Each of these moments of (assisted) evocation can be experienced or not depending on how far in a given listener wants to plunge — or how high they want to float, in the case of “Pilot on Board” — but the abiding sense of exploration in sound remains vital just the same. Wherever it may want to take you at a given moment, it wants to take you. Let it.

Centre El Muusa on Facebook

Sulatron Records webstore

 

0N0, Unwavering Resonance

0N0 Unwavering Resonance

I’ll admit that Unwavering Resonance is my first exposure to Slovakia’s 0N0, but it won’t be the last. Their third full-length following 2016’s Reconstruction and Synthesis with an EP and a split between, the new outing collects four cuts across a manageable 36 minutes and begins with its longest track (immediate points) in the 12-minute declaration of purpose “Clay Weight.” Though reputed for more industrialized fare in the past — and still definitely utilizing programming for the ‘drums’ and other synthy sounds — one cannot ignore the chug that rises to prominence in the leadoff, or the malevolence of purpose in the deathly use to which it’s put. Post-metal and death-doom come together fluidly enough in “Clay Weight” and the subsequent “Shattering” (5:12) with a balance tipped to one side or another — the second track, shortest, blasts furiously — and one wouldn’t call what happens in the nine-minutes-each pair of “Unwavering Resonance” and closer “Wander the Vacant Twilight” an evening out, since they continue to lean to particular aspects of their crushing sound in a given stretch, but hell’s bells it’s heavy, and its catharsis is less about making your skin crawl than turning bones into powder. Methodical, not chaotic, but ready to bask in the chaos surrounding. More brutalism than brutal.

0N0 on Facebook

0N0 on Bandcamp

 

Faeries, Faeries

Faeries Faeries

Shit, that’s heavy. Released on cassette and download, the 2021 self-titled debut long-player from Savannah, Georgia’s Faeries is a beast working under suitably beastly traditions. Tapping into a tonal density and an and-yet-it-moves crush of riff that reminds of the earliest days of fellow Peach Staters Mastodon, there’s a more straight-ahead, heads-down, push-through-with-the-shoulder sensibility to David Rapp‘s solo outfit, an underlying sense of riff worship in “March March,” “Megadrone,” and the rest of the nine-song/45-minute outing that — much to Rapp‘s credit — are set for destructive purposes rather than self-indulgent progressivism. That’s not to say Faeries, the album, is dumbed down. It’s not, and even in the vocal gruel of “Fresh Laces” and “The Pain of Days” or the chug-‘n’-swing instrumental “The Volcano,” that can be heard in the structure of the songs — “Slurricane” deviates to somewhat lighter tone and also-instrumental closer “Traces” echoes that — but Rapp‘s clear intention here is to base his songwriting around the heaviest sounds possible, and while it’s exciting to think maybe he got there on this first outing, it’s even more exciting to think maybe he didn’t and is going to try again sometime soon. Either way, happy bludgeoning/being bludgeoned.

Faeries on Instagram

The Silver Box on Bandcamp

 

The Cult of Dom Keller, Raiders of the Lost Archives: Demos & Rarities 2007-2020

Cult of Dom Keller Raiders of the Lost Archives Demos & Rarities 2007-2020

Somewhat inevitable that a 100-minute collection of lost tracks, demos, alternate versions and live takes from UK psych adventurers Cult of Dom Keller would be something of a fan-piece. Still, as Raiders of the Lost Archives: Demos & Rarities 2007-2020 spans its 20-song run and multiple lineups of the band, its moving between years and methodologies has plenty of flow if you’re willing to open yourself to the essential fact that the band can do whatever. the. fuck. they. want. To wit, “Monarch” with its relatively forward verses and choruses and the lo-fi howling feedback of “QWERTYUIOP,” or 2020’s creep-into-wash “Dead Don’t Dream” and the garage-psych urgency of 2007’s “We Left This World Behind for a Place in the Sun.” Those who’ve followed Cult of Dom Keller on their merry path will dig the (again, relatively) efficient look at how far they’ve come and in how many different directions, while those unfamiliar with the band might want to find something less inherently uneven to dig on (start with 2020’s Ascend! (review here), then work back), but cuts like “Broken Arm of God” and “Jupiter’s Beard” are ready to catch ears either way, and if it takes time to digest, well heck, you’ll have all the time in the world if you quit your day job, so why not just go ahead and do that?

Cult of Dom Keller on Facebook

Cult of Dom Keller on Bandcamp

 

Supplemental Pills, Volume 1

Supplemental Pills Volume 1

The narrative — blessings and peace upon it — holds that Supplemental Pills got together at the behest of vocalist/guitarist Ezra Meredith when his main outfit, Hearts of Oak stepped back for pandemic lockdown. Fair enough. With Joel Meredith on guitar, bassist/synthesist Aron Christensen (also Hearts of Oak) and drummer/vocalist Mark Folkrod, these seven songs feel carved out of jams as the reportedly were, with “Feel It” blinking momentarily into Endless Boogie-sounding improv preach while mellower and more spacious pieces like opener “Run On,” the nine-minute drone-drawler “Floating Mountains Over Rivers” and the 11-minute fuzz-go repetitions of “Gonna Be Alright” — a decent mantra if e’er there was one — ooze deeper into vibe rock far-outreach. “Freedom March” is fairly active, with Ezra‘s vocals there and in “Run On” seeming to nod at the departed Mark Lanegan, and “The Wizard Was Right” has a sense of movement as well that suits its overlaid verses. If it feels right, it is right. Drone what thou wilt. And if this is what they’re coming up with essentially by accident, one shudders to think what might happen if they actually tried to write a song. It’s just crazy enough to work.

Supplemental Pills on Facebook

In Music We Trust Records on Bandcamp

 

Green Hog Band, Crypt of Doom

Green Hog Band Crypt of Doom

Some sonic coincidence brings Amorphis‘ “Forever More” to mind in hearing the winding guitar figure featured in Green Hog Band‘s instrumental-but-for-the-sample “Iron Horses,” but that’s not a direct influence. The Brooklynite trio’s third full-length, Crypt of Doom, follows last year’s Devil’s Luck (review here) and sees the self-recording trio of vocalist/bassist Ivan Antipov, guitarist Mike Vivisector (also lyrics) and drummer Ronan Berry weaving into and out of Russian-language lyrics on top of their thick-toned sludge rock, which they shove resolutely on “Sweet Tea, Banana Bread” and even give a little shuffle on the penultimate “New Year Massacre,” but which is invariably more suited to the doomly lurch of opener “Dragon” or its later giant-lizard-thing counterpart “Leviathan.” Still, that these guys can make that bubbling cauldron of sludge and are even vaguely interested in doing anything else is admirable, and as raw as Crypt of Doom is, even the air seems to be stale, never mind the bare walls of rock and dirt surrounding. Dig a hole, reside therein, riff.

Green Hog Band on Facebook

The Swamp Records on Bandcamp

 

Circle of Sighs, Alabaster

Circle of Sighs Alabaster

Most of all, one has to give kudos to Los Angeles experimentalist outfit for daring to cross the line between hard industrial music and the hip-hop it’s been summarily ripping off for the last quarter-century-plus. Alabaster is the third full-length from the unit not-so-secretly led by bassmaster/programmer/etc.-ist Collyn McCoy (also Night City, Aboleth, a bunch of others), and in addition to guest rappers A-F-R-O, Zombae and Kayee on cuts like “Anatomy Autonomy” (relevant) and the becomes-a-black-metal-onslaught “Copy Planet,” the nine-song/32-minute outing regurgitates genre expectations in a spew so willfully individual it can’t help but make its own kind of sense even unto the sound collage of “Segue-08” or “ec63294e-0dcf-4947-bb7c-965769967dbd,” which answers the freak-dance of “A Magical Journey of Love” with sentient-AI-knows-where-you-live moodsetting, which of course is an excellent precursor to the organ-laced cult extremity of “FLESHSELF: Abandon the Altars.” This is never going to be for everyone, but Alabaster‘s willingness to play with risk in sound makes just about everything that ‘fits in’ feel ridiculous. You think you’ve heard it all? Think you’re bored? Check this shit out and see how wrong you are.

Circle of Sighs on Facebook

Circle of Sighs on Bandcamp

 

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Quarterly Review: DANG!!!, Stew, Nothing is Real, Jerky Dirt, Space Coke, Black Solstice, Dome Runner, Moonlit, The Spacelords, Scrying Stone

Posted in Reviews on December 16th, 2021 by JJ Koczan

THE-OBELISK-FALL-2020-QUARTERLY-REVIEW

Day four. Fancy pants. Yesterday was the most effective writing day I’ve had in recent memory, which makes today kind of a harrowing prospect since the only real way to go after that is down. I’ve done the try-to-get-a-jump-on-it stuff, but you never really know how things are going to turn out until your head’s in it and you’re dug into two or three records. We’ll see how it goes. There’s a lot to dig into today though, in a pretty wide range of sounds, so that helps. I’ll admit there are times when it’s like, “What’s another way to say ‘dudes like to riff?'”

As if I’d need another way.

Anyhoozle, hope you find something you dig, as always. If not, still one more day tomorrow. We’ll get there. Thanks for reading.

Quarterly Review #31-40:

Dang!!!, Sociopathfinder

dang sociopathfinder

It would take all the space I’ve allotted for this review to recount the full lineup involved in making DANG!!!‘s debut album, Sociopathfinder, but the powerhouse Norwegian seven-piece has former members of The Cosmic Dropouts, Gluecifer, Nashville Pussy, and Motorpsycho, among others, and Kvelertak drummer Håvard Takle Ohr, so maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise they get down to serious business on the record. With influences spanning decades from the ’60s-gone’90s organ-laced electro-rock of “Long Gone Misery” and the Halloween-y “Degenerate,” to the rampaging heavy rock hooks of “Manic Possessive” and “Good Intentions” and the “In the Hall of the Mountain King”-referencing closer “Eight Minutes Till Doomsday,” the 12-song/46-minute outing is a lockdown-defiant explosion of creative songwriting and collaboration, and though it features no fewer than six guitarists throughout (that includes guests), it all flows together thanks to the strength of craft, urgency of rhythm, and Geir Nilsen‘s stellar work on organ. It’s a lot to take on, but pays off any effort put in. Unless you’re a sociopath, I guess. Then you probably don’t feel it at all.

DANG!!! on Facebook

Apollon Records website

 

Stew, Taste

stew taste

Following up their 2019 debut, People (review here), Swedish classic-heavy trio Stew offer an efficient nine-song/38-minute excursion into ’70s/’10s-inspired boogie rock and heavy blues with Taste, balancing modern production and its own yore-born aesthetic in sharp but not overly-clean fashion. The vocal layering in the back half of opener “Heavy Wings” is a clue to the clarity underlying the band’s organic sound, and while Taste sounds fuller than did People, the bounce of “All That I Need,” the blues hooks in “Keep on Praying” and “Still Got the Time,” subtle proto-metallurgy of “New Moon” (one almost hears barking at it) and the wistful closing duo of “When the Lights Go Out” and “You Don’t Need Me” aren’t so far removed from the preceding outing as to be unrecognizable. This was a band who knew what they wanted to sound like on their first album who’ve set about refining their processes. Taste checks in nicely on that progress and shows it well underway.

Stew on Facebook

Uprising! Records website

 

Nothing is Real, Transmissions of the Unearthly

nothing is real transmissions of the unearthly

Are the crows I hear cawing on “Tyrant of the Unreal” actually in the song or outside my window? Does it matter? I don’t know anymore. Los Angeles-based psychological terror rock unit Nothing is Real reportedly conjured the root tracks for the 87-minute 2CD Transmissions of the Unearthly with guest drummer Jeremy Lauria over the course of two days and the subsequent Halloween release has been broken into two parts: ‘Chaos’ and ‘Order.’ Screaming blackened psychedelia haunts the former, while the latter creeps in dark, raw sludge realization, but one way or the other, the prevailing sensory onslaught is intentionally overwhelming. The slow march of “King of the Wastelands” might actually be enough to serve as proclamation, and where in another context “Sickened Samsara” would be hailed as arthouse black-metal-meets-filthy–psych-jazz, the delivery from Nothing is Real is so sincere and untamed that the horrors being explored do in fact feel real and are duly disconcerting and wickedly affecting. Bleak in a way almost entirely its own.

Nothing is Real on Facebook

Nothing is Real on Bandcamp

 

Jerky Dirt, Orse

Jerky Dirt Orse

After immersing the listener with the keyboard-laced opening instrumental “Alektorophobia” (fear of chickens), the third album from UK outfit Jerky Dirt, Orse, unfolds the starts and stops of “Ygor’s Lament” with a sensibility like earlier Queens of the Stone Age gone prog before moving into the melodic highlight “Orse, Part 1” and the acoustic “Eh-Iss.” By the time the centerpiece shuffler “Ozma of Oz” begins, you’re either on board or you’re not, and I am. Despite a relatively spare production, Jerky Dirt convey tonal depth effectively between the fuzz of “Ygor’s Lament” and the more spacious parts of “In Mind” that give way to larger-sounding roll, and some vocal harmonies in “The Beast” add variety in the record’s second half before the aptly-named “Smoogie Boogie” — what else to call it, really? — and progressive melody of “Orse, Part 2” close out. A minimal online presence means info on the band is sparse, it may just be one person, but the work holds up across Orse on multiple listens, complex in craft but accessible in execution.

Jerky Dirt on Bandcamp

 

Space Coke, Lunacy

Space Coke Lunacy

A scouring effort of weirdo horror heavy, the five-track Lunacy from South Carolina’s Space Coke isn’t short on accuracy, seemingly on any level. The swirl of nine-minute opener “Bride of Satan” is cosmic but laced with organ, underlying rumble, far-back vocals and sundry other elements that are somehow menacing. The subsequent “Alice Lilitu” is thicker-toned for at least stretches of its 13 minutes, and its organ feels goth-born as it moves past the midpoint, but the madness of a solo that ensues from there feels well cast off (or perhaps on, given the band’s moniker) the rails. Shit gets strange, people. “Frozen World” is positively reachable by comparison, though it too has its organ drama, and the ensuing “Lightmare” starts with an extended horror sample before fuzzing and humming out six minutes of obscure incantation and jamming itself into oblivion. Oh, and there’s a cover of Danzig‘s “Twist of Cain” at the end. Because obviously. Doom filtered through goth kitsch-horror VHS tape and somewhere behind you something is lurking and you don’t see it coming until it’s too late.

Space Coke on Facebook

Space Coke on Bandcamp

 

Black Solstice, Ember

Black Solstice Ember

Broken into two halves each given its own intro in “Intervention” and “Celestial Convoy,” respectively, the debut full-length from Stockholm’s Black Solstice brings back some familiar faces in guitarist Anders Martinsgård and drummer Peter Eklund, both formerly of Ponamero Sundown. Ember, with flourish of percussion in “Signs of Wisdom,” grunge-style harmonies in “Burned by the Sun” and just a hint of winding thrashy threat in “Firespawn,” is deeply rooted in doom metal. They count Sabbath as primary, but the 10-track/42-minute offering is more metal than stonerized riff worship, and with vocalist “Mad Magnus” Lindmark and bassist Lelle B. Falheim completing the lineup, the four-piece boast an aggressive edge and hit harder than one might initially think going in. That is no complaint, mind you. Perhaps they’re not giving themselves enough credit for the depth of their sound, but as their first long-player (following a few demos), Ember finds a niche that hints toward the familiar without going overboard in tropes. I don’t know who, but someone in this band likes Megadeth.

Black Solstice on Facebook

Ozium Records webstore

 

Dome Runner, Conflict State Design

Dome Runner Conflict State Design

Begun as Paleskin before a probably-for-the-best name change, Tampere, Finland’s Dome Runner offer a hard-industrial bridge between Godflesh at their angriest and earliest Fear Factory‘s mechanized chugging assault. Conflict State Design is the trio’s first full-length, and along with the stated influences, there’s some pull from sludge and noise as well, shades of Fudge Tunnel in “Unfollow” met with harsh screaming or the churning riff underscoring the explosions of synth in “The Undemonizing Process,” like roughed-up Souls at Zero-era Neurosis. With the seven-minute extreme wash of “Impure Utility of Authoritarian Power Structure” at its center, Conflict State Design harkens back to the dreary industrialism of two decades ago — it very pointedly doesn’t sound like Nine Inch Nails — but is given a forward-thinking heft and brutality to match. Amid something of an industrial revival in the heavy underground, Dome Runner‘s debut stands out. More to the point, it’s fucking awesome.

Dome Runner on Facebook

Dome Runner on Bandcamp

 

Moonlit, So Bless Us Now…

Moonlit So Bless us now

Varese, Italy, instrumentalist heavy post-rockers Moonlit almost can’t help but bring to mind Red Sparowes with their debut album, So Bless Us Now…, though the marching cymbals early in the 17-minute finale “And We Stood Still Until We Became, Invisible” seem to be in conversation with Om‘s meditative practice as well, and the violin on the earlier “Empty Sky/Cold Lights…” (11:25) is a distinguishing element. Still, it is a melding of heft and float across “For We Have Seen” (12:29) at the beginning of the record, more straight-ahead riffing met with a focus on atmospherics beyond conventional sense of aural weight. Each piece has its own persona, some linear, the penultimate “Shine in the Darkest Night” more experimentalist in structure and its use of samples, but the whole 55-minute listening experience is consuming, minimal in its droning finish only after creating a full wash of mindful, resonant psychedelic reach. With titles drawn from Nietzsche quotes from Thus Spake Zarathustra, there are suitably lonely stretches throughout, but even at its maddest, So Bless Us Now… holds to its stylistic purpose.

Moonlit on Instagram

Moonlit on Bandcamp

 

The Spacelords, Unknown Species

The Spacelords Unknown Species

Not to be confused with New York outfit Spacelord, the now-decade-plus-runnin German instrumental kosmiche-harvesters The Spacelords present Unknown Species across three — and I’m just being honest here — wonderful extended works, arranged from shortest to longest as “F.K.B.D.F.” (8:10), “Unknown Species” (14:53) and the initially-unplugged “Time Tunnel” (20:26) unfurl a thoughtful outbound progression that finds beauty in dark times and jams with intent that’s progressive without pretense — and, when it wants to be, substantially heavy. That’s true more of the end in “Time Tunnel” than the initial synth-laced drift of “F.K.B.D.F.,” but the solo-topped punch of the title-track/centerpiece isn’t to be understated either. In 2020, the trio released their Spaceflowers (review here) LP, as well as a documentary about their recording/writing processes, and Unknown Species pushes even further into defining just how special a band they are, gorgeously constructed and impeccably mixed as it is. Can’t and wouldn’t ask for more.

The Spacelords on Facebook

Tonzonen Records website

 

Scrying Stone, Scrublands

Scrying Stone Scrublands

A debut outing from Michigan-based newcomers Scrying Stone, the 29-minute Scrublands flows like an album so I’m going to consider it one until I hear otherwise. And as a first album, it sets melody and tonal density not so much against each other, but toward like purposes, and even in the instrumental “Ballad of the Hyena,” it finds cohesive ground for the two sides to exist together without contradiction and without sounding overly derivative of its modern influences. “At Our Heels” makes an engaging hello for first-time listeners, and the faster “The Marauder” later on adds a sense of dynamic at just the right moment before the fuzzy overload of “Desert Thirst” dives into deeper weedian idolatry. There’s some boogie underneath the title-track too, and as a companion to the willing-to-soar closer “Dromedary,” that unrushed rush feels purposeful, making Scrublands come across as formative in its reach — one can definitely hear where they might branch out — but righteously complete in its production and songwriting; a strong opening statement of potential for the band to make en route to what might come next.

Scrying Stone on Facebook

Scrying Stone on Bandcamp

 

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Space Coke Releasing Lunacy in January

Posted in Whathaveyou on November 1st, 2021 by JJ Koczan

I said when Space Coke released their most recent album, L’Appel du Vide (review here), in 2018 that that record would surely get picked up for a vinyl issue sometime in 2019. Money in the bank, I said. Didn’t happen, but that hardly seems to have held back Space Coke at all, as they’ve moved forward despite the world stopping and will on Jan. 14 release their next full-length, titled simply Lunacy. I haven’t heard it yet or I’d tell you what it sounds like, but I know damn well that whenever and whatever I end up writing about it — beyond this, anyhow — I won’t be trying to predict anybody’s future.

Lesson learned? Probably not, but, you know, a bit of humbling every now and again is good for the soul.

Info came down the PR wire:

space coke

SPACE COKE To Release New Album Lunacy

On January 14 2022 psychedelic rockers SPACE COKE will release their new album Lunacy.

The band comments: “We have an origin theme that a trip to space is a breakaway from a society gone mad. A planet that has built up civilizations based on power and oppression. Also mix that with the SPACE COKE scene from Cheech and Chong’s movie. Reno grew up in a diverse multicultural household and likes his music and musical companions to reflect that. SPACE COKE is aural magic to ground us in how small our planet and its affectations are in an immeasurable existence.”

Lunacy is a Twilight Zone-like journey and will be both darker and more occult themed than previous albums. Each musician’s influences add to the complexity of the album and lend to something far beyond the traditional hallmarks of fuzz and bass. Reno Gooch pulls from his childhood of listening to Indian classical, as well as contemporary artists such as SUN RA, SONIC YOUTH and ANTHONY BRAXTON, plus some of rocks most well known godfathers: BLACK SABBATH, MOTHERS OF INVENTION and JIMI HENDRIX.

If you’re ready to embark on a journey from which you may not return, SPACE COKE will be your guide. As they say: If the amp don’t smoke, it ain’t SPACE COKE.

More information will be available soon.

https://www.facebook.com/SpaceCokeSC
https://spacecoke.bandcamp.com/music

Space Coke, L’Appel du Vide (2018)

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Kylesa to Reissue Catalog Through Heavy Psych Sounds; Preorders Up

Posted in Whathaveyou on June 24th, 2021 by JJ Koczan

I guess it’s possible we’re counting Kylesa‘s 2002 self-titled debut as a demo here? It was certainly raw compared to the band they’d become over their years together. But I don’t know, because the PR wire info lists 2005’s To Walk a Middle Course — on the heels of which they signed to Prosthetic for the subsequent two releases, 2006’s Time Will Fuse its Worth and 2009’s Static Tensions (review here) before aligning to Season of Mist — as the second record, so maybe it’s just a question of there being four more to come instead of three. Perhaps an issue for another time. The point here is that the three records listed above originally put out between 2005-’09 are being reissued on vinyl through Heavy Psych Sounds.

That puts Kylesa in the choice company of Dozer and Nebula as an act for whom the Italian label has embarked on a reissue series. While they’re without the doubt the least stoner rock of that bill, their more aggressive style — highlighted during this period of their tenure — was always tinged with an undercurrent of heavy. In any case, can’t argue. These records deserve to be heard, as the does the rest (?) of the Savannah, Georgia, troupe’s catalog apparently to see reissue next year.

Preorders up now. Links, all three album streams, and whatnot follow:

kylesa

Heavy Psych Sounds to repress first three KYLESA albums – presale starts TODAY!!!

Today we start with the presale of the first 3 albums. In 2022 we are going to repress the other 3 releases.

FIRST THREE ALBUMS PRESALE: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop.htm

USA PRESALE: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop-usa.htm

NEW KYLESA MERCH by Branca Studio: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/merch.htm

SAYS THE BAND:
“We’re happy to announce that HPS is reissuing the long OOP titles “To Walk a Middle Course”, “Time Will Fuse Its Worth” and “Static Tensions” on vinyl. These were really our most formative years as a band; a time when we toured the most, discovered who we were musically and found a sound that we could no doubt call our own.”

HPS180 *** KYLESA – Static Tensions ***
– REPRESS of the 4th KYLESA album with new coloured versions –
RELEASED IN
15 ULTRA LTD TEST PRESS VINYL
100 ULTRA LTD 3 COLORS STRIPED SOLID PURPLE/TRANSPARENT/BROWN SOLID VINYL
300 LTD TRANSPARENT SPLATTER PURPLE VINYL
BLACK VINYL

RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 15th

TRACKLIST
Scapegoat – 3:25
Insomnia For Months – 2:04
Said And Done – 4:10
Unknown Awareness – 4:23
Running Red – 5:46
Nature’s Predators – 4:10
Almost Lost – 3:03
Only One – 5:20
Perception – 3:43
To Walk Alone – 4:23

HPS181 *** KYLESA – To Walk a Middle Course ***
– REPRESS of the 2nd KYLESA album with new coloured versions –
RELEASED IN
15 ULTRA LTD TEST PRESS VINYL
100 ULTRA LTD TRANSPARENT BACK. BLUE-FUCSIA SPLATTER VINYL
300 LTD SEA BLUE VINYL
BLACK VINYL

RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 22nd

TRACKLIST
SIDE A
A1 In Memory – 4.29
A2 Fractured – 2.43
A3 Train Of Thought – 3.29
A4 Motion And Presence – 4.26
A5 Welcome Mat To An Abandoned Life – 3.38
SIDE B
B1 Bottom Line – 2.48
B2 Eyes Closed From Birth – 3.56
B3 Shatter The Clock – 4.46
B4 Phantoms – 6.15
B5 Crashing Slow – 3.35

HPS182 *** KYLESA – Time Will Fuse Its Worth ***
– REPRESS of the 3rd KYLESA album with new coloured versions –
RELEASED IN
15 ULTRA LTD TEST PRESS VINYL
100 ULTRA LTD CORNETTO YELLOW TRANSPARENT VINYL
300 LTD ORANGE SOLID VINYL
BLACK VINYL

RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 22nd

TRACKLIST
SIDE A
A1 Intro – 0.34
A2 What Becomes An End – 4.02
A3 Hollow Severer – 4.12
A4 Where The Horizon Unfolds – 4.53
A5 Between Silence And Sound – 6.18
A6 Intermission – 2.01
SIDE B
B7 Identity Defined – 3.20
B8 Ignoring Anger – 5.17
B9 The Warning – 6.26
B10 Outro – 2.23

Kylesa last lineup:
Phillip Cope – vocals, guitars, samples
Laura Pleasants – vocals, guitars
Carl McGinley – drums, percussion, keys / samples

https://www.facebook.com/KYLESAmusic
https://twitter.com/kylesamusic
https://www.instagram.com/kylesa_band/
https://kylesasom.bandcamp.com/
heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com
www.heavypsychsounds.com
https://www.facebook.com/HEAVYPSYCHSOUNDS/

Kylesa, To Walk a Middle Course (2005)

Kylesa, Time Will Fuse its Worth (2006)

Kylesa, Static Tensions (2009)

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Friday Full-Length: Kylesa, Exhausting Fire

Posted in Bootleg Theater on January 15th, 2021 by JJ Koczan

 

Savannah, Georgia’s Kylesa released their final album, Exhausting Fire, on Oct. 2, 2015. The record came out on Season of Mist, and as was their wont, they did a bunch of touring to support it before and after it came out, including playing what was then Psycho California and I’m sure five or sixty others. By the time Exhausting Fire was six months old, though, in April 2016, they announced they were essentially on permanent hiatus, “no set date to reconvene.”

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen worse, but that was kind of a bummer way for Kylesa to end, and to even look at the title Exhausting Fire, one gets the sense that the group — who had already pared down from being a two-drummer five-piece to just guitarist/vocalists Laura Pleasants and Philip Cope (the latter also bass and keys) and drummer Carl McGinley (Jay Matheson also plays bass on the bulk of the outing) — saw it coming. They’d spent years road-dogging. My prevailing memory of them live will always be sitting on grass watching them play with the two drummers set up on a flatbed trailer on a little hill behind a now-gone record store at SXSW one year, but I saw them plenty of times and they always delivered. From their second album, 2005’s To Walk a Middle Course and 2006’s Time Will Fuse its Worth through 2009’s Static Tensions (review here) and the increasingly progressive trio of recordings for Season of Mist in 2010’s Spiral Shadow (review here), 2013’s Ultraviolet (review here) and Exhausting Fire, they never put out the same album twice, and though their fire may have been exhausting — while the lyrics in bulk feel more about personal relationships (not that a band isn’t one), “Night Drive” could easily be read to be about touring — they still pushed themselves forward in their approach and style.

That resulted in some righteously heavy moments, as with the opener “Crusher,” or the riff-forward side A closer “Shaping the Southern Sky,” or the oboe-inclusive “Blood Moon” on side B, but also a more brazenly and more confidently melodic take than they’d ever shown before. Granted, their reemergence from having two drummers was inherently going to realign the dynamic of the group as a whole, making room for that melody to flourish, but one of the overarching narratives of Kylesa‘s discography is the ratio of shared vocals between Cope and Pleasants becoming a defining element of the band. More even than on Ultraviolet, there’s a sense of individual authorship in the songs — he brought this part, she brought this one, etc. — but both parties are still evolving in this material. Cope takes on an almost gothic New Wave aspect with “Moving Day,” backing himself on keys, while Pleasants offers an ahead-of-its-time heavy post-rock with side B leadoff “Falling,” underscored by the weighted punctuation of McGinley‘s drumming.

Songs like “Inward Debate” and “Lost and Confused” find one or the other in the forward position, or effectively switching or working in a thoughtfully constructed arrangement, and by the time they get to the penultimate kylesa exhausting fire“Growing Roots,” they manage to pull together a sound like heavy Weezer — which I have to imagine that, if they saw this, they’d take as the compliment it’s intended to be, since “Growing Roots” sounds like heavy Weezer is what they were going for. With Cope at the helm as ever at The Jam Room in Columbia, South Carolina, Kylesa‘s exploration never really ended — until of course it did — and even while there were signature elements of their style in their deceptively angular riffing resulting in the mounting rhythmic tension of their verses headed toward a chorus release, or even the touches of psychedelia worked into “Shaping the Southern Sky” or the arrival of the last shove in album finale “Out of My Mind,” those came accompanied by evident growth that was no less an essential component of the band’s work.

The melodic burst at the end of “Lost and Confused.” The conveyed monotony of “Night Drive.” The boldness of the verses in “Crusher” and the simple fact that that song leads off while being so dynamic rather than just an up-front rocker. There’s so much on Exhausting Fire to argue for Kylesa as an undervalued, taken-for-granted band. It’s not their heaviest album or their most rawly aggressive — maybe that would be their 2002 self-titled, with Cope fresh off his time in Damad; recall their split with Meatjack if you dare — but Exhausting Fire is also more than a band burning themselves out or already being burnt. It’s them turning exhaustion into expression, and it still resonates effectively.

I didn’t review Exhausting Fire when it came out. I don’t remember why. I’d spent a decade at that point listening to them and considered myself a fan, but I was a little scared off by the title, and it goes back to what I was saying before about the band knowing the end was coming. I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear that from a group whose work I’d enjoyed so much. Like how Abbey Road is bittersweet because you know they knew it was over, one last blowout. That’s kind of the vibe that hindsight puts to work across Exhausting Fire, but even in that, their work as songwriters and the chemistry between Pleasants and Cope continued to move forward from where it was a couple years before. It wasn’t until earlier this week that I actually gave Exhausting Fire a fair shot. Now I want the CD. Go figure.

Both Philip Cope and Laura Pleasants have remained active since Kylesa called it a day. Cope produces a swath of acts at The Jam Room and features in the band Oakskin, who have a few singles up on Bandcamp and took part in last year’s Mutants of the Monster virtual festival, while Pleasants has pursued more New Wave and post-punk-inspired atmospheric songcraft with The Discussion, who reissued the 2017 EP Movement Towards a New Beginning (originally just called the European Tour EP) and offered the new single Deathtripper B/W A Forest in 2020. There’s been no word of a reunion and I wouldn’t expect any anytime soon — so it’ll probably happen five minutes after this is posted; that’s how it usually goes when I say something like that — but Kylesa merch continues to be available and their albums still sound vibrant these years after the fact, like they were made to do.

As always, I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading.

Okay. Everything is awful. Mostly me. I’m the worst. Let the record show.

Oh man, I miss the record show.

Anyway. It was just one of those weeks. Muddling, middling, head down, just-get-through-the-day-to-another-one-for-fucking-what kind of week. I mentioned last week the telehealth appointment about meds. Holy fucking shit that was weird. And awkward, and uncomfortable. Dude was asking me questions like I’m supposed to sit there and do Depression Theater for him and talk about how I don’t want to get out of bed or how daily tasks are hard for me and I just said fuck it. “I’m sorry, this is making me really uncomfortable and I’m going to end the call. Thanks for your time.”

Nothing resolved, but at least pulling myself out of that situation felt good. I was weirded out the rest of the day though. Is this really how people do medicine? I’m a fucking stranger tell me about the time you spend curled up on the floor? Shit. I said to him, “I’ve been in treatment long enough to know when things aren’t right.” Fine. So dance for me, you pill-seeking monkey.

I recorded some vocals last Sunday. Sang clean a bit, which is hard for me because I know I’m not good at it and that’s like the omega of self-fulfilling prophecies. A vocal coach once quickly cut to the core of me and said, “Someone in your life once told you you couldn’t sing,” and that’s true. Anyway, I got through it and then went back on Wednesday and added a bunch more screams to the track, because that I can do and of course that’s what the person whose project it is was into. Can’t blame him. Anyway, it came out fine and I think the song will be out in a couple weeks. It’s a Joni Mitchell cover, but I rewrote most of the lyrics so they didn’t feel misogynist coming out of my mouth.

The Patient Mrs.’ semester begins next week. She’s back on campus not quite full-time, I think. I don’t know. Shit changes daily. She’s worried about getting tenure, trying to get writing done while teaching. The Pecan has been in virtual preschool the last couple weeks because the fucking plague is a thing and he maybe goes back next week too to in-person instruction. We don’t even know yet and it’s Friday. He was just finally sitting in the chair long enough to sing the days of the week (which is to the tune of the old Addams Family theme song, hilariously enough) and months of the year (to the tune of something else I can’t put my finger on just now; if The Patient Mrs. reads this as she sometimes does, she’ll probably tell me and I’ll slap my forehead, which is how I do).

I’m sure there’s more, but between that and the general overhang of dread resulting from impending fascist insurrection, is any more really necessary? Look out for a video interview with Lupus from Kadavar on Monday. I talked to him yesterday. Had never interviewed him before and probably should’ve by now, but he was nice.

Great and safe weekend. Don’t forget to hydrate and wear your mask and social distance and all that stuff.

FRM.

The Obelisk Forum

The Obelisk Radio

The Obelisk merch

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Quarterly Review: Avon, The Discussion, Alms, Vessel of Light, Enojado, Mother Mars, Southfork, Gypsy Sun Revival, Valhalla Lights, L.O.W.

Posted in Reviews on April 2nd, 2018 by JJ Koczan

Quarterly-Review-Spring-2018

This is the part of each Quarterly Review when I begin to question my life choices. Otherwise known as ‘the beginning.’ I still haven’t decided if this is going to be a five-dayer or a six-dayer, but one way or another, between now and whenever it ends, at least 50 records will be reviewed in batches of 10 per day. It’s completely insane. Completely. Every three months or so I remind myself of this by doing it again, and every time it ends up being worth the insanity. I’ve no doubt that will be the case here as well, but looking across the next five days at placeholders where reviews need to be, well, yeah. It’s pretty insane.

So let’s go.

Quarterly Review #1-10:

Avon, Dave’s Dungeon

avon daves dungeon

Dave’s Dungeon is the second full-length from Californian desert rockers Avon, and with it they make their debut on Heavy Psych Sounds. Peppered with varied songwriting across alternately garage rocking cuts like “Yello,” “On Fire” and “Red Barn” (video premiere here), languid psychedelic excursions in “Space Native” and the subtly proggy “Hero with a Gun,” and the classic desert crunch of “Dungeon Dave,” “Mace Face” and “Terraformations,” the three-piece of vocalist/guitarist James Childs, bassist Charles Pasarell (also Waxy) and drummer Alfredo Hernández (ex-Kyuss, Yawning Man, etc.) have no doubt garnered attention due to the participation of the latter, but all three manage to leave their mark across the 10 tracks, particularly Childs. His English-accented vocals become a defining element in “Hero with a Gun” and “Yello,” and whether fast or slow, the rhythm section offers air-tight accompaniment. Straightforward in their approach but not without some flourish, Avon bring their own touch to the classic desert style and offer memorable songs in the process. Nobody loses.

Avon on Thee Facebooks

Heavy Psych Sounds website

 

The Discussion, European Tour EP

The Discussion European Tour Ep 2017

Issued to coincide with an initial string of Fall 2017 European shows, the aptly-titled Tour EP serves as the debut offering from The Discussion, and its five tracks mark the return of guitarist/vocalist Laura Pleasants, not heard from since the end of her prior outfit, Kylesa. With “A Gesture/Other Side,” Pleasants and company commune with post-rock and atmospheric stretch, where “Like Rain” and “Surf Jesus” channel New Wave and Blondie pop with an underlying heft of low end to add presence. Through it all, Pleasants’ vocals prove a patient and melodic element, and as “Before We’re Gone” brings in a moody krautrock sensibility and finale “Cuts Like a Knife” engages louder and more forward riffing in its final minute payoff, the message that The Discussion has only begun comes through loud and clear. Tour EP sounds like the beginning stages of a larger process of experimentation and creative growth, and one hopes it proves to be precisely that.

The Discussion on Thee Facebooks

The Discussion on Bandcamp

 

Alms, Demo Vol. 1

alms demo vol 1

Modern heavy rock groove meets classic metal guitar on AlmsDemo Vol. 1, which, as it turns out, is more of a sampler than an actual demo, comprised as it is of two rough mixes from the band’s forthcoming debut album. The result of this mesh on “The Offering” and “Dead Water” is somewhere between Uncle Acid swing and Iron Maiden twin lead work, and the five-piece do well immediately to own the combination and make it cohesive sonically. Traditional doom play more of a role in “Dead Water,” and the keys of vocalist Jess Kamen – joined by guitarist/vocalist Bob Sweeney, guitarist Danny McDonald, bassist Andrew Harris and drummer Derrick Hans – and while I don’t know what label it is that’s going to pick them up (I’d believe anyone from Ripple to Shadow Kingdom to Season of Mist, depending on how much they want to tour), but if these two songs are anything to go by, they’ll be lucky to get them.

Alms on Thee Facebooks

Alms on Bandcamp

 

Vessel of Light, Vessel of Light

vessel of light vessel of light

Collaborating between Ohio and New Jersey, Vessel of Light brings together vocalist Nathan Opposition of Ancient VVisdom and guitarist Dan Lorenzo of Hades. Their self-titled five-tracker EP (on Argonauta) melds bluesy metallic riffing with tales of murder and drugs on cuts like “Dead Flesh and Bones” (video premiere here) and its eponymous closer, which emphasizes a hook based around the lines, “LSD has got a hold on me/I wanna show you all the things that I’ve seen.” It goes like that. For Lorenzo, parts recall the groove he brought to short-lived heavy rock outfit The Cursed, but with Opposition’s lyrics and the periodic delving into harsher vocals, there’s a moodier and more aggressive edge to the songs that helps define the personality of the duo as a band. How often they’ll work together remains to be seen, they make a murderous introduction with this EP and there’s plenty of fodder here for further exploration should they get there.

Vessel of Light on Thee Facebooks

Argonauta Records website

 

Enojado, Mist and Thunder

enojado mist and thunder

German trio Enojado was founded by guitarist/vocalist Stephan Kieserling circa 2002, and though he’s been through numerous lineups since, with bassist/vocalist Thomas Schnaube and drummer Till Junker, he’s put together the band’s first release since their 2014 The Chain is Loose LP was issued by Setalight. At under half an hour and six tracks plus an intro, late 2017’s Mist and Thunder offers solid heavy rock songwriting with a straightforward approach bordering on the metallic in its tone but never quite departing a heavy rock context in rhythm, even in the starts and stops of “Notorious.” The obvious standout in heft is the seven-minute “Coma,” which seems to add weight to everything around it, from “The Truth About Gold” earlier to “I Saw the Sun,” which follows, and the finale in “Queen of Heaven,” which brings a quick payoff to the release and leaves a residual echo and drone/guitar minimalism for its last two minutes. Less derivative than it at first seems, Mist and Thunder might take multiple rounds to sink in, but proves worth the effort of a dedicated listen.

Enojado on Thee Facebooks

Enojado on Bandcamp

 

Mother Mars, On Lunar Highlands

mother mars on lunar highlands

It’s kind of rare for a band to sound like they’re making fun of their own music as they play it, and yet, “Lost Planet Airmen” from Mother Mars’ fourth full-length, On Lunar Highlands, does precisely that. The Aussie trio led by multi-instrumentalists Frank (drums, synth, Clavinet) and Paul (guitar, bass, synth, banjo-mandolin, keys) Attard – who also produced together – and featuring the bluesy stylings of vocalist Dave Schembri, did not make the 11-tracker a minor undertaking. Rather, at 69 minutes, it pushes through stoner boogie on “Thought it Best to Cut You Loose” and still has room for heady jams on extended pieces like “The Stalwarts of Stalwart Castle” (9:31), “Woodhollow Green” (12:55) and the penultimate title-track (8:35), which leads to the far-out banjo shenanigans of closer “The Heavy Hand of the Destroyer.” Needless to say, madness ensues. Interludes like “Bean Stalkin’” and “Bean Stalkin’ Again” and the experimental “The Working Mind of the Creator” add anything-can-happen flair, and the weirder On Lunar Highlands gets, the more it satisfies. It gets very, very weird.

Mother Mars on Thee Facebooks

Mother Mars on Bandcamp

 

Southfork, Through a Dark Lens

southfork through a dark lens
Two decades after their founding in 1997, Stockholm’s Southfork returned late last year with their first album since 2001’s Straight Ahead, the seven-track Through a Dark Lens, which itself is nearly five years in the making. Opening with its longest cut (immediate points) in the 7:59 “Already Gone,” the bass-heavy approach the band takes is indeed emblematic of an era now easily thought of as classic, but one could hardly call it dated for that. Rather, tracks like “Into the Deep” and “Tomb of the Mirror Men” flow easily from one to the next and the record reveals in the strut of “Seventosix” and the answer-back closer “Nowhere Gone” just why someone might put almost half a decade of effort into realizing it. Whether you remember Southfork’s original run or not, Through a Dark Lens offers immersive tone and songwriting and as Southfork have already followed it up with what seems to be a compilation release, it may signal a return to fuller activity on their part.

Southfork on Thee Facebooks

Southfork on Bandcamp

 

Gypsy Sun Revival, Journey Outside of Time

Gypsy Sun Revival Journey Outside Of Time

Production by Kent Stump (Wo Fat). Mastering by John McBain (ex-Monster Magnet). Released through Nasoni Records. Sure enough, the second album from Texas heavy psych rockers Gypsy Sun Revival, Journey Outside of Time, wants nothing for the quality of its associations and with the Hendrixian guitar work of Will Weise and the bluesy classic frontman approach of vocalist Mario Rodriguez, they earn that pedigree through and through. Tyler Gene Davis’ contributions on organ only further the ‘70s vibes on “To the Sky” before Weise takes a wah-soaked solo backed by Lee Ryan on bass and drummer Ben H., and the later two-part “Pisces” combines with closer “Departure” to create a thrilling jammed-out side B that takes the more structured craft of “Indigo” and catchy opener “Cadillac to Mexico” earlier and pulls them through an interdimensional haze that only does more to evoke the album’s title. Between Journey Outside of Time and Gypsy Sun Revival’s 2016 self-titled debut (review here), one is left wondering how long we’ll be able to think of them as a well-kept secret of Texas’ fertile heavy underground.

Gypsy Sun Revival on Thee Facebooks

Nasoni Records website

 

Valhalla Lights, My Gracious Highway

valhalla lights my gracious highway

There’s a commercial sense of clarity to Valhalla LightsMy Gracious Highway, which seems to have been originally issued by the band in 2016 but is being given a renewed international push. It’s a crisp 13-track/45-minute long-player, marked by solid songcraft and the forward performance of vocalist Ange Saul, who takes the place of departed original singer Phoebe Black, who passed away in 2015 just prior to guitarist George Christie, bassist Brent “Badger” Crysell and drummer Deon Driver – all formerly of heavy rockers FORT – entered the studio to record their debut release. Songs veer toward Queens of the Stone Age-style groove on “Hammer the Witch” and closer “Punk,” and there’s enough variety of mood between the brooding “Beautiful,” showcase centerpiece “The One” and “Darker Side of Love” and the all-go rockers “Rise Above,” “Crucify” and “Someday” to carry the listener through smoothly with an abiding sense of professionalism. Will be too clean for some listeners, but is largely inarguable in its execution.

Valhalla Lights on Thee Facebooks

Valhalla Lights website

 

L.O.W., Bones EP

low bones ep

Located in the northwest of Poland, the acronymic four-piece L.o.W. debut with the Bones EP, which hurls forth three extended works of extreme sludge led into by an atmospheric intro. The band – the lineup of vocalist Adam, guitarist Marek, drummer Witold and bassist Micha? belong to the post-Primitive Man sphere of viciousness, but “Tear Me Open” offers some respite in its closing moments, pulling back on the massive plunder and switching from guttural growls to spoken vocals. With just a touch of Electric Wizard swirl, “Almost Like God’s,” renews the onslaught, offering a break in its middle from the Eyehategod-style sway while saving its most brutal growl for last, and at just under 10 minutes long, the title-track rounds out Bones with bass and drums unfolding a progression soon topped by guitar noise that lets the listener know they’ve just entered another level of punishment. There are moments of impulse toward stonerism that show themselves in Marek’s guitar work, but the primary mission on Bones seems to be assault, and the band has no problem living up to that intent.

L.o.W. on Bandcamp

L.o.W. on Thee Facebooks

 

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The Discussion Announce Inaugural European Tour Dates this Fall

Posted in Whathaveyou on June 27th, 2017 by JJ Koczan

the discussion laura pleasants

Former Kylesa guitarist/vocalist Laura Pleasants recently announced the formation of a subsequent project, The Discussion, and it seems that she’s diving headfirst into the new band. Though no music has yet to surface from the outfit, which consists thus far of Pleasants alone in the studio but will perform as a live three-piece including bassist Derek Lynch and drummer/sampler Richard Adams, a first live incursion has been announced that’s set to take place over the bulk of Fall 2017 across a considerable swath of Europe.

A band’s first tour covering a span of three months on a route of multiple countries on foreign shores? Some might prefer to test the waters with a weekender here or there, but hitting the road hard is nothing new for Pleasants, who did so for years as a member of Kylesa. And with that band’s increasingly progressive output leading up to their 2015 swansong, Exhausting Fire, which you can hear in full below, I have the feeling I won’t be the only one interested to find out where Pleasants takes The Discussion sound-wise. All the better she’s taking the project out to get it into as many ears as possible.

Dates, many of which are still to be announced, follow here, as posted on the social medias:

the discussion euro tour

The Discussion – European Fall Tour 2017

Updates are happening all the time, so please keep checking with us!

Wed 6/9: Hamburg, DE @ Hafenklang
Thurs 7/9: Stockholm, SE @ Undergången
Fri 8/9: Gothenburg, SE @ Truckstop Alaska
Sat 9/9 Oslo, NO @ Revolver
Sun 10/9 Copenhagen, DK @ Beta
Mon 11/9 Berlin, DE @ Tiefgrund
Tues 12/9 Leipzig, DE @ AKKO
Wed 13/9 TBC
Thurs 14/9 Vienna, AT @ Das Bach
Sat 16/9 Budapest, HU
Sun 17/9 Belgrade, RS
Thurs 21/9 Sofia, BG
Fri 22/9 Thessalonik, i Greece
Sat 23/9 Athens Greece
Sun 24/9 Ioannina Greece
Thurs 28/9 – 7/10 : ITALY TBA
Sun 8/10 Lyon, FR
Tues 10/10 Barcelona, ES TBC
Wed 11/10 Castellón, ES
Thurs 12/10 Madrid TBC
Fri 13/10 Langreo, Asturias, ES
Sat 14/10 Bilbao, ES TBC
Tues 17/10 Paris, FR TBC
Thurs 19/10 UK TBC
Fri 20/10 UK TBC
Sat 21/10 UK TBC
Sun 22/10 UK Stonehenge
Tues 24/10 Ghent or Antwerp, BE TBC
Wed 25/10 Amsterdam, NL TBC
Thurs 26/10 NL TBC
Fri 27/10 NL TBC
Sat 28/10 Belgium or Germany TBC
Sun 29/10 Belgium or Germany TBC
Tues 31/10 Karlsruhe, DE Dudefest
Wed 1/11 Switzerland TBA
Thurs 2/11 Munich TBC
Fri 3/11 Leanna’s b-day / off
Sat 4/11: TBC Southern Germany

The Discussion is:
Laura Pleasants – Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Keyboards, etc
LIVE:
Richard Adams – Drums, Percussion, Samples
Derek Lynch – Bass

https://www.facebook.com/thediscussion.laurapleasants/
http://www.kylesa.com/

Kylesa, Exhausting Fire (2015)

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Kylesa Set April 22 Release for Live at Maida Vale Studios

Posted in Whathaveyou on April 3rd, 2017 by JJ Koczan

kylesa

I know this is probably the least-relevant measure that’s ever been applied to the band, but I’ll take a Kylesa live performance 150 times before I go see Mastodon. The two groups, who pretty much have in common Georgian lineage and a move from the heavier end of sludge thrust into more progressive and melodically conscious fare — not nothing — aren’t really comparable at this point, with Mastodon having gotten a major label push a significant-enough difference to make them largely apples and oranges and Kylesa pretty much having broken up (at least for now) last year following the release of the apparently-aptly-titled Exhausting Fire through Season of Mist in 2015, but still. I’m just saying. Kylesa were fucking awesome live every time I saw them.

They’ll release Live at Maida Vale Studios on April 22. It’s their fourth outing for Season of Mist, which makes me wonder what the terms of their contract with the label might’ve been after three studio outings in Exhausting Fire, 2013’s Ultraviolet (review here) and 2010’s Spiral Shadow (review here). For some reason, three-album deals and five-album deals seem more likely in my head than four-album deals, which of course Live at Maida Vale Studios would fulfill. Odd.

Okay. Whatever happens with Kylesa in the future, remember they never stopped progressing. PR wire has art and details:

kylesa-live-at-maida-vale-studios

KYLESA release Record Store Day exclusive, “Live at Maida Vale Studios”

Savannah’s genre-defying heavy rock group KYLESA will see the release of ‘Live at Maida Vale Studios’ as part of Record Store Day 2017. ‘Live at Maida Vale…’ captures KYLESA’s February 2014 BBC Radio 1 Rock Show session in its entirety, and has never been commercially available before. The session was recorded with BBC DJ Daniel P. Carter for the BBC program “Rock Show with Daniel P Carter”.

The track list for ‘Live at Maide Vale…’ is:
1. Quicksand
2. Long Gone
3. Don’t Look Back
4. To Forget

‘Live at Maida Vale…’ is a one time pressing of 1500 12″ LPs, 1000 CDs, and 150 cassettes and will be available on April 22 2017 at independent record stores worldwide. A full list of confirmed Record Store Day special releases and more can be found here.

Maida Vale Studios is a complex of seven BBC sound studios in London.The historic set of studios have seen musical performances dating back from 1946 to the present. Past performances have include music from legendary rock icons such as DAVID BOWIE, LED ZEPPELIN, JIMI HENDRIX and many more.

KYLESA’s most recent studio release is their critically acclaimed record ‘Exhausting Fire’. ‘Exhausting Fire’, which is available across several CD and LP formats at the Season of Mist E-Shop. The album is streaming via Bandcamp, and is also available on Spotify.

https://www.facebook.com/KYLESAmusic
https://twitter.com/kylesamusic
https://www.instagram.com/kylesa_band/
https://kylesasom.bandcamp.com/
https://shopusa.season-of-mist.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=kylesa

Kylesa, Exhausting Fire (2015)

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