Posted in Whathaveyou on November 2nd, 2020 by JJ Koczan
It’s been more than half a decade now since current Soldati and former Ararat/Los Natas frontman Sergio Chotsourian released his first solo album under the Sergio Ch. banner. In that time his creative reach has only grown broader, and over the past few tumultuous months that has continued to manifest in new materials. Released in May, September and last week — which was October for those of you in the pandemic’s sphere of timeless drawl — a series of three singles brings this breadth into focus with the sheer differences between them.
Rooted in South American psychedelia and folk, “Flyfly” and “Panpan” definitely feel of a series — all the more for their titular similarities — but especially as they followed the 36-minute dronefest that was “Death Row Live Foreva,” it brings into relief just how much one never really knows what Chotsourian will do next or where his whims might lead him and thus his listeners. In a year that already saw Chotsourian release the awaited debut of Soldati, Doom Nacional (review here), as well as the solo record From Skulls Born Beyond (review here), these new songs are a hallmark of the relentless creativity that drives him forward as a songwriter and producer. If you do dig into “Death Row Live Foreva,” prepare to be hypnotized.
I read on thee social medias that Los Natas‘ recently announced reissue of Corsario Negro was delayed — due in November sometime, I think — of course due to the ubiquitous concerns that have delayed everyone’s everything throughout this wretched year. At least the dude’s making new music.
Taken from his latest studio solo long-player, From Skulls Born Beyond (review here), the track and accompanying video for “Un Rio” cut a pretty contemplative feel for Sergio Chotsourian, and do so in relatively efficient fashion. The rainy drive, hanging-around-waiting-to-play-a-show atmosphere of the clip is well met by “Un Rio,” an acoustic strummer in the particular style Chotsourian has manifest with his Sergio Ch. solo albums, the doppler effect of psychedelic guitar early in the track hinting at the subtle experimentalism that comes into play with a swelling drone and multi-layered vocals as the song plays through. Chotsourian engages fluidly with a vision of South American acid folk that is stark in its denial of nostalgia — that is, there’s nothing about it that looks backward toward some imagined ’60s or ’70s heyday, and especially as he has progressed since offering up his solo debut in 2015’s 1974 (review here), he’s been able to stay grounded and leave his own footprint in the otherwise ethereal seeming aesthetic he’s adopted.
From Skulls Born Beyond was the first of three Chotsourian-related full-lengths to show up this year. It arrived in March and was followed in April by the awaited debut from his heavier trio Soldati, Doom Nacional (review here), as well as the single-song 36-minute solo release Death Row Live Foreva, also under the Sergio Ch. banner, which hit in May. It was a busy Spring, to say the least. And for Chotsourian, who also runs South American Sludge Records and has lately overseen represses and reissues from his groundbreaking desert/heavy rock outfit Los Natas — whose last album came out 11 years ago, if you can believe that — the next thing is never far off, whatever it might be.
For now, it’s this video. Enjoy:
Sergio Ch., “Un Rio” official video
VIDEO OFICIAL DEL DISCO DE SERGIO CH. – “FROM SKULLS BORN BEYOND” PRODUCIDO POR SERGIO CH. VIDEO REALIZADO POR SERGIO CH.
I don’t imagine I need to tell you it’s been a hell of a quarter, existentially speaking. It’s like the world decided to play ’52 card pickup’ but with tragedy. Still, music marches on, and so the Quarterly Review marches on. For what it’s worth, I’m particularly looking forward to reviewing the upcoming batch of 50 records. As I stare at the list for each day, all of them have records that I’ve legitimately been looking forward to diving into, and today is a great example of that, front to back.
Will I still feel the same way on Friday? Maybe, maybe not. If past is prologue, I’ll be tired, but it’s always satisfying to do this and cover so much stuff in one go. Accordingly, let’s not delay any further. I hope you enjoy the week’s worth of writeups.
Quarterly Review #1-10:
Sergio Ch., From Skulls Born Beyond
Intertwining by sharing a few songs with the debut album from his trio Soldati, Doom Nacional (review here), the latest solo endeavor from former Los Natas/Ararat frontman Sergio Ch. continues his path of experimentalist drone folk, blending acoustic and electric elements, guitar and voice, in increasingly confident and broad fashion. The heart of a piece like “Sombra Keda” near the middle of the album is still the strum of the acoustic guitar, but the arrangement of electric and effects/synth surrounding, as well as the vocal echo, give a sense of space to the entirety of From Skulls Born Beyond that demonstrates to the listener just how much range Sergio Ch.‘s work has come to encompass. For highlights, one might check out the extended title-track and the closer “Solar Tse,” which bring in waves of distorted noise to add to the experimentalist feel, but there’s something to be said too for the comparatively minimal (vocal layering aside) “My Isis,” as well as for the fact that they all fit so well on the same record.
The follow-up to DOOL‘s 2017 debut, Here Now There Then (review here), does no less than to see the Netherlands-based outfit led by singer Ryanne van Dorst answer the potential of that album while pushing forward the particular vision of Dutch heavy progressive rock that emerged in the wake of The Devil’s Blood, acknowledging that past — Farida Lemouchi (now of Molassess) stops by for a guest spot — while presenting an immersive and richly arranged 54-minute sprawl of highly individualized craft. Issued through Prophecy Productions, it brings cuts like the memorable opener “Sulphur and Starlight” and the dynamic “A Glass Forest” as well as the classic metal chug of “Be Your Sins” and the reaches of its title-cut and acoustic-inclusive finale “Dust and Shadow.” DOOL are a band brazen enough to directly refuse genre, and it is to their benefit and the audience’s that they pull off doing so with such bravado and quality of output. For however long they go, they will not stop progressing. You can hear it.
By the time Durban, South Africa’s Return to Worm Mountain are done with 10-minute opener and longest track (immediate points) “Gh?l” from their second album, Therianthropy, the multi-instrumentalist duo of Duncan Park (vocal, guitar, bass, banjo, jaw harp) and Cam Lofstrand (vocals, drums, synth, guitar, bass, percussion) have gone from High on Fire-meets-Entombed crunch to psychedelic Americana to bare-essential acoustic guitar, and unsurprisingly, the scope doesn’t stop there. “Mothman’s Lament” is folksy sweetness and it leads right into the semi-industrial grind of “Mongolian Death Worm” before “Olgoi-Khorkoi” sludge-lumbers into Echoplex oblivion — or at very least the unrepentantly pretty plucked strings of “Tatzelwurm.” The title refers to a human ability to become an animal — think werewolf — and if that’s a metaphor for the controlled chaos Return to Worm Mountain are letting loose here, one can hardly argue it doesn’t fit. Too strange to be anything but progressive, Therianthropy‘s avant garde feel will alienate as many as it delights, and that’s surely the point of the entire endeavor.
Primo weedian stoner sludge doom of precisely the proportion-of-riff one would expect from Polish bashers Dopelord, which is to say plenty huge and plenty grooving. “The Witching Hour Bell” sets the tone on Sign of the Devil, which is the fourth full-length from the Warsaw-based four-piece. They lumber, they plod, they crash, and yes, yes, yes, they riff, putting it all on the line with “Hail Satan” with synth flourish at the end before “Heathen” and the ultimately-more-aggro “Doom Bastards” reinforce the mission statement. You might know what you’re getting going into it, but that doesn’t make the delivery any less satisfying as Dopelord plod into “World Beneath Us” like a cross between Electric Wizard and Slomatics and of course stick-click in on a quick four-count for the 94-second punk blaster “Headless Decapitator” to cap the 36-minute vinyl-ready run. How could they not? Sure, Sign of the Devil preaches to the choir, but hell’s bells it makes one happy to have joined the choir in the first place.
Numbered instrumental progressions comprise this third and self-titled offering from Peruvian trio Ancestro (issued through Necio Records and Forbidden Place Records), and the effect of the album being arranged in such a fashion is that it plays through as one long piece, the cascading volume changes of “II” feeding back into the outset count-in of the speedier “III” and so on. Each piece of the whole has its own intention, and it seems plain enough that the band composed the sections individually, but they’ve been placed so as to highlight the full-album flow, and as Ancestro move from “IV” into “V” and “VI,” with songs getting longer as they go en route to that engrossing and proggy 13-minute closer, their success draws from their ability to harness the precision and maybe even a little of the aggression of heavy metal and incorporate it as part of an execution both thoughtful and no less able to be patient when called for by a given piece. Hard-hitting psychedelia is tough to pull off, but Ancestro‘s Ancestro is no less spacious than terrestrial.
In 2016, Lithuanian two-piece Hellhookah made it no challenge whatsoever to get into the traditionalist doom of their debut album, Endless Serpents (review here), and the seven songs of The Curse make for a welcome follow-up, with an uptick in production value and the fullness of the mix and a decided affinity for underground ’80s metal in cuts like “Supremacy” and “Dreams and Passions” to coincide with the Dio-era-Sabbath vibes of centerpiece “Flashes” and the nodding finisher “Greed and Power,” which follows and contrasts “Dreams and Passions” in a manner that feels multi-tiered in its purpose. Departing from some of the Vitus-ness of the first full-length, The Curse adopts a more complex tack across its 38 minutes, but its heart and its loyalties are still of doom, by doom, and for the doomed, and that suits them just fine. Crucially, their lack of pretense carries over, and their love of all things doomed translates into every riff and every stretch on offer. If you’d ask more than that of them, well, why?
Bluesy in opener “Demons,” grunge-tinged in “Lily” and fuzz-folk-into-’70s-soul-rock on “How Can I Love You,” Daisychain‘s self-titled debut EP wants little for ambition from the start, but the Chicago-based four-piece bring a confidence to their dually-vocalized approach that unites the material across whatever stylistic lines it treads, be it in the harmonies of the midtempo rocker “Are You Satisfied” or the righteously languid “Fake Flowers,” which follows. With six songs and 21 minutes, the self-released outing is but a quick glimpse at what Daisychain might have in store going forward, but the potential is writ large from the classic feel of “Demons” to the barroom spirit of closer “The Wrong Thing,” which reminds that rock and roll doesn’t have to sacrifice efficiency in order to make a statement of its own force. There’s plenty of attitude to be found in these songs, but beneath that — or maybe alongside it — there’s a sense of an emergent songwriting process that is only going to continue to flourish. What they do with the momentum they build here will be interesting to see/hear, but more than that, they’re developing a perspective and persona of their own, and that speaks to a longer term ideal. To put another way, they don’t sound like they’re half-assing it.
Capping with a slide-tinged take on the traditional “Parchman Farm” (see also: Blue Cheer, Cactus, etc.), Ohio’s The Burning Brain Band‘s self-titled debut casts a wide net in terms of influences, centering the penultimate “The Dreamer” around 12-string acoustic guitar on an eight-minute run that’s neither hurried nor staid, but all the more surprising after the electronica-minded “Interlude (Still Running),” which, at four minutes is of greater substance than one might expect of an interlude just as the seven-and-a-half-minute warm-up “Launch Sequence” is considerably broader than one generally considers an intro to an album. There isn’t necessarily a foundational basis from which the material emanates — though “Brain Food” is an effective desert-ish rocker, it moves into the decidedly proggier “Bolero/Floating Away” — but “Launch Sequence” is immersive and the four-piece bring a performance cohesion and a clarity of mindset to the proceedings of this debut that may not unite the songs, but carries the listener through with a sure hand just the same. Who ever said everything on a record had to sound alike? For sure not The Burning Brain Band, who translate the mania of their moniker into effective sonic variety.
Count Slump in a freakout psych renaissance, all punk-out-the-airlock and ’90s-noise thisandthat. Delivered through Feel It Records, the Richmond, Virginia, outfit’s debut, Flashbacks From Black Dust Country indeed touches ground every now and again, as on “Desire Death Drifter,” but even there, the vocals are so soaked wet with echo that I’m pretty sure they fucked up my speakers, and as much as “Tension Trance” tries, it almost can’t help but be acid grunge. In an age of nihilism, Slump aren’t so much unbridled as they are a reminder of the artistry behind the slacker lean, and in the thrust of “(Do The) Sonic Sprawl” and the far-out twist of “Throbbing Reverberation,” they affirm that only those with expanded minds will survive to see the new age and all the many spectral horrors it might unfurl. Can it be a coincidence that the album starts “No Utopia?” Hardly. I’m not ready to call these cats prophets, but they’ve got their collective ear to the ground and their boogie is molten-core accordingly. Tell two friends and tell them to tell two friends.
It’s a ripper, inciting Larry David-style “prettay good” nods and all that sort of approval whatnot. If you want to think of Canyon as Philly’s answer to Memphis’ Dirty Streets, go ahead — and yes, by that I mean they’re dirtier. EP III boasts just three tracks in “No Home,” “Tent Preacher” and “Mountain Haze,” but with it the classic-style trio backs up the power they showed on 2018’s Mk II (review here), tapping ’70s blues rock swagger for the first two tracks and then blowing it out in a dreamy Zeppelin/Rainbow jam that’s trippy and righteous and right on and just plain right. Maybe even right-handed, I don’t know. What I do know is that these guys should’ve been picked up by some duly salivating label like last week already and they should be putting together a full-length on the quick. They’ve followed-up EP III with a stonerly take on The Beatles‘ “Day Tripper,” and that’s fun, but really, it’s time for this band to make an album.
At the time it came out four years ago in 2015, Sergio Ch.‘s first solo album, 1974 (review here), seemed to take shape directly from out of the third offering from his band Ararat, 2014’s Cabalgata Hacia la Luz (review here). The two shared several tracks, among them “La Familia y las Guerras,” and both had an overarching purpose in introspection, an intimate feel that manifested in experimentalist-tinged folk in one and brash heavy punk/rock in the other. Still, they were linked, and with Sergio Chotsourian‘s songwriting at the epicenter, they held a consistency that went beyond whatever sonic disparities there may have been. Different appeal, same level of quality between them.
Chotsourian has since gone on to form the trio Soldati and begin to dole out singles and other short releases ahead of an eventual full-length, and he’s also put out the second acoustic-ish album, 2017’s Aurora (review here), as well as several collaborative efforts of various stripes, but I still break out 1974 on occasion, and songs like “La Familia y las Guerras” are a big part of why. Arrangement-wise, there’s nothing outlandish about it, and it’s not as drone even as some of the material on the subsequent full-length would be, but it carries a nonetheless open feel and is spacious thanks to a bit of echo while still staying intimate in a close-up-to-the-mic vocal-style from Chotsourian, who if he didn’t record it live certainly gives a convincing facsimile of having done so.
As to why now would be a time to make a video for a song on a record that was released so long ago, I’d only ask the obvious question: “Who cares?” In addition to the aforementioned and long-bandied Soldati long-player, there’s been word that Chotsourian will do another solo offering under his own name, and that will be something to look forward to, but in the meantime, why not shut up and take what one can get? If that’s going for a backwards walk in some hot-looking desert space, then so be it. One could, of course, do a lot worse, both in the video and in life generally.
I’ve also included the full 1974 stream below, in case it’s been a while.
Enjoy:
Sergio Ch., “La Familia y las Guerras” official video
VIDEO OFICIAL DEL DISCO DE SERGIO CH. – “1974” PRODUCIDO POR SERGIO CH. VIDEO REALIZADO POR MILAGROS ARROM Y LUCAS MARTINEZ
Posted in Bootleg Theater on January 30th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Since he has a new solo album currently being mastered — the title will reportedly by From Skulls Born Beyond — it’s tempting to think of Sergio Ch.‘s — né Chotsourian — new video for “La Heroina” perhaps as a way of saying goodbye to 2016’s Aurora (review here), but the truth is that even after that record came out, he was still putting together clips for 2015’s 1974 (review here), so it’s not exactly like he’s following an album cycle-style promotional model. More like he’s doing whatever the hell he wants, which is probably how it should be for the former Los Natas frontman who’s also at the helm of South American Sludge Records and who fronts Soldati and the somewhat-MIA Ararat. His whims have a pretty good track record, as far as that kind of thing goes.
And while From Skulls Born Beyond promises further refinement of his drone-laced folk approach, “La Heroina” serves as an example of how well that worked across Aurora as well. It’s at least the fourth video that the Buenos Aires-based Chotsourian has issued for the six-song offering, and with direction from Milagros Arrom, it’s a returning partnership that once again serves to highlight the track’s experimentalist and, in this case, particularly trance-inducing edge. Centered around echoing strums of acoustic guitar, there’s nonetheless a psychedelic feel gleaned from the effects on the vocals and the intermittent bursts of harmonica, and the naturalist swirl evokes acid folk atmospherics without any lysergic posturing. It’s not the most experimentalist piece on Aurora — that would be “Aurora II,” still awaiting its video last I checked — but it finds a balance between traditional songcraft and an out-there anti-structure that suits it well, throwing kind of a loop in the second half when all of a sudden it just kind of starts over. Pay attention and it’ll still catch you off guard.
Soldati were slated to have an album in progress as well, and they may indeed have one in the works or done, but it’s good news that a new Sergio Ch. offering will be out before 2019’s done as well, as his solo material has proven to be an exploration all its own, distinct from his work in full bands despite inherent ties in songwriting and performance.
Enjoy “La Heroina” below:
Sergio Ch., “La Heroina” official video premiere
VIDEO OFICIAL DEL DISCO DE SERGIO CH. – “AURORA” PRODUCIDO POR SERGIO CH. VIDEO REALIZADO POR MILAGROS ARROM
Over the last couple years as former Los Natas and current Soldati frontman Sergio Chotsourian — also of Ararat, whose status is somewhat up in the air at this point — has developed his multifaceted solo persona Sergio Ch., experimenting with South American folk traditions, psychedelia and drone fluidity, as well as developed various one-offs and side-projects, I’ve posted any number of videos corresponding to whatever he’s got going at the time. Some are premieres, like the one for “Los Barcos” below, and some are just put out there as quickly as I can catch up to their actual release. But he’s been a regular around these parts for a while now, and that’s not without reason.
The basic fact of the matter is I believe what Chotsourian is doing now is important. His status in Argentinian and South American heavy in general — fostered not only through Los Natas‘ enduring influence, but through his South American Sludge Records label as well — is unquestionable, but in listening to his two solo records, 2016’s 1974 (review here) and 2017’s Aurora (review here), it’s abundantly clear his interest lies not in rehashing past glories, but continuing to push into new areas of sound and style. Despite this, his approach is consistently organic and his voice resonant with emotion. There’s always genuine expression happening, regardless of the context in which it appears.
So if you’re wondering, I guess that’s why I try and post about his work as much as possible, and that’s why I’m going to continue to do so. I suppose you could say I’m a fan.
“Los Barcos” originally appeared on 1974, and if you’re wondering why there’d be a video for it now, note the violin guest spot from Milagros Arrom, who also did the camerawork for the clip.
Please enjoy:
Sergio Ch., “Los Barcos” official video premiere
VIDEO OFICIAL DEL DISCO DE SERGIO CH. – “1974” PRODUCIDO POR SERGIO CH. CAMARA POR MILAGROS ARROM VIDEO REALIZADO POR LUCAS MARTINEZ
In a way, it seems that a collaboration between Sergio Chotsourian and Gabo Ferro was probably bound to happen. Both Buenos Aires-based artists have long-running career trajectories that have brought them to solo singer-songwriterism: Ferro was the founding vocalist of hardcore outfit Porco and went on to release a number of albums on his own, while Chotsourian took an even more path to releasing solo albums as the founding guitarist/vocalist of Los Natas and an ongoing string of other projects and collaborations from Ararat to Soldati and so on. Neither is a stranger to working in collaboration with other artists, and together, as Gabo Ferro y Sergio Ch., they’ll release their debut album, Historias de Pescadores y Ladrones de la Pampa Argentina, next month on Oui Oui Records.
The album’s title translates to “stories of fishermen and thieves of the Argentinian lowlands,” and if you note that there’s an immediate connection to place in the title, that would hardly seem to be a mistake. To herald the record’s arrival, Ferro and Chotsourian have released a video for “Corona de Caranchos,” and it’s a song steeped in South American folk traditions. Still modern in its structure and sound, it speaks to that specificity of place in its atmosphere and melody, bringing the listener along on a textured journey that is naturalistic in its execution and no less emotionally resonant than it is thoughtfully composed. I’ll cop to not being as familiar with Ferro‘s work as Chotsourian‘s but as “Corona de Caranchos” demonstrates plainly, their two voices and styles work well alongside each other, and the single leaves one curious to find out where else Historias de Pescadores y Ladrones de la Pampa Argentina might take them. Presumably, at some point, near some water.
When we spoke, Chotsourian had the release in two weeks through Oui Oui Records. Sometimes their stuff can be hard to find outside Argentina, but we live in a magical age of technical wonders in which it’s really, really, really easy to spend money, and if you’re reading this, you’re already on the internet, so I’m guessing you can figure it out.
Enjoy the “Corona de Caranchos” video below:
Gabo Ferro & Sergio Ch., “Corona de Caranchos” official video
Directed by Dante Martínez.
From the album: “Historias de Pescadores y Ladrones de la Pampa Argentina.”
Sergio Chotsourian, the padrino of modern Argentinian heavy rock, is being somewhat tight-lipped when it comes to his next solo release. One might recall his last outing, the sophomore LP Aurora (review here), worked in a structure of offsetting two massive works of drone with more naturalistic, acoustic-based fare. One can extrapolate from the rather minimal info Chotsourian gave below that From Skulls might follow a similar pattern upon its release sometime later in 2018. Even if there are structural similarities, however, I wouldn’t count on Chotsourian to go repeating himself. Anyone who heard Aurora after his 2015 solo debut 1974 (review here) or who may have followed his career through his days in Los Natas, to Ararat, to Soldati and any of the number of projects he has going now, including cradling an entire continent’s worth of underground heavy with his South American Sludge Records label can tell you: you never quite know what you’re going to get.
All the better, and speaking of Los Natas — if you missed the news earlier this month — that most woefully defunct of power trios has inked a deal to release their classic debut album, Delmar, as an LP through Italian imprint Argonauta Records. That record, originally issued through Man’s Ruin, was something of a watershed moment for desert rock not actually from the Californian desert, and though by the time they were done in 2009/2010, Los Natas had become a very different band — for example, adding the “Los” part to their name where it hadn’t been there to start with — it remains a landmark over 20 years later.
Why bring it up now? Well, for starters it’s not like I can talk about From Skulls since I haven’t heard it yet, and also, if as Chotsourian asserts below that it’s maybe his best album ever, it’s got some tough competition in that regard, but with an assessment like that, I look forward all the more to hearing it when the time comes.
Until then, enjoy “Fuerte Armado” on the player below:
Sergio Ch., “Fuerte Armado” live playthrough
I’ve just finished recording a new solo album. Folk drone. I’m thrilled maybe my best album ever.
12 songs. 7 folk songs, 2 mega drones. Releasing by end of the year.
But recorded a live track as an advance video for it.
