Posted in Bootleg Theater on September 9th, 2016 by JJ Koczan
Not sure on the exact date, but sometime this month, Sergio Chotsourian is set to release his new solo album, Aurora. Taking its name from its 19-minute title-track, the record is set to be something of a departure from Chotsourian‘s prior outing under the Sergio Ch. moniker, 2015’s 1974 (review here), and I think “Aurora” bears that out in its hypnotic, droning form, way more Earth in its foundation than touching on the folkish personal aspects of the last offering.
In the video for “Aurora,” the former Los Natas/current Soldati frontman seems to have recorded a different version of the song rather than simply edited it down. At least that’s how I understand it. In any case, at eight minutes, it’s still more than enough to give an impression of what the track is about — once you get to the languid, spacious vocals over the repeated guitar line, it’ll start to make sense, and that doesn’t take long — and while I haven’t heard the rest of the record and so won’t speak to how the other five tracks back this one up, it seems like even if they’re a return to the style of 1974 in some part, it will be a different enough context to really distinguish the two albums.
I’ll be keeping my eye out for when Aurora comes out, and suggest you do the same via the South American Sludge Bandcamp page linked below. Pirámide Records is also involved in the release.
Translated info from South American Sludge follows the video below. Enjoy:
Sergio Ch., “Aurora” official video
“AURORA” is the new video and initial caucus new solo album SERGIO CHOTSOURIAN bearing the same name.
Lysergic experience images where the artist is in a space formed by countless scenes hallucinogenic performing the song in unique and direct drive with its wall of amplifiers. The concept of fixed camera was made by photographer SANTI SOMBRA, then editing, postproduction and address of the video was made by JUAN BACAGIANIS.
This version of the song is a new recording to be performed especially for video, more raw, direct and heavier than the original version of the album “AURORA”; It lasts only 7 minutes, when the original version of the album is 19 minutes long. Also recorded, mixed and produced by SERGIO CHOTSOURIAN.
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 26th, 2016 by JJ Koczan
A couple years ago, Sergio Chotsourian, formerly of Los Natas and currently of Soldati, Ararat, his Sergio Ch. solo work and South American Sludge Records issued a two-song release called Aurora. It was digital-only and I’m just going to assume that the new version of Aurora due to be issued as a CD/DL next month — on South American Sludge and Pirámide Records — is built off that. The opening title track, on the 2013 original, was over 19 minutes long, an experiment in drone looping topped off with echoing vocals, creating a pretty vast space. “El Herrero,” though much shorter, kept a similar mindset, just didn’t take it to quite the same lengths, blending it instead with Sergio Ch.‘s well established memorable songwriting.
I don’t know whether Aurora — the 2016 version — will work in the same way. If I had to guess, I’d imagine it will work along reasonably similar lines to how his 1974 full-length (review here) was issued first in a sort of demo form and then built out to be a complete album. The addition of other tracks here and instrumentation gives some clue as to the overall intent toward a fuller sound, but of course we won’t actually know until it’s out.
If you don’t already keep your eye on the South American Sludge Bandcamp page (linked below), it’s a treasure trove of underground heavy in a variety of styles from Argentina and beyond that’s easily worth your time and support. Just a word to the wise.
Album info follows. It’s in Spanish, but I’m pretty sure you can figure out what “guitarra” means, even if your language skills are as limited as mine:
Sergio Ch. – Aurora [CD] [S.A.S. 050]
Tracklist: 01 Aurora 02 El Herrero 03 La Heroina 04 Aurora II 05 El Laud 06 El Llano
Grabado y mezclado por Sergio Ch. en Death Studios Masterizado por Patricio Claypole en Estudio El Attic Artwork por Sergio Ch. Producido por Sergio Ch.
South American Sludge Records, Pirámide Records (2016)
It is not an exaggeration to say that Sergio Chotsourian is perhaps the most important figure in South American heavy rock and roll in the last 20 years. Since the mid-’90s, he has spread an influence outward from Buenos Aires, Argentina, first in early Natas releases like Delmar and Ciudad de Brahman, as well as through that band’s later work as Los Natas and into other acts like the more experimental trio Ararat, whose three albums to-date stand as testament to a broadening aesthetic palette. Further evidence of that comes in projects like the one-off Solodolor, the newly-formed Soldati, Chotsourian‘s soundtrack to the film Los Viajes, and his recent collaboration with his daughter, Isabel Chotsourian on a digital single featuring the track “La Sal y Arroz” (posted here).
That song is of clear personal significance — a full-band version also appeared on Ararat‘s latest, 2014’s Cabalgata Hacia la Luz (review here) — and so it’s fitting that the solo rendition should lead off Chotsourian‘s first outing under the nom de plumeSergio Ch., 1974. Self-recorded and issued through his own South American Sludge imprint, 1974 began life as a short digital collection of home demos, but was eventually branched out to a 52-minute/13-song full-length. In addition to “La Sal y Arroz,” it also shares “Las Piedras,” “La Historia de Hanuman,” “La Familia y las Guerras,” “Los Escombros del Jardin” and “Los Viajes” with the aforementioned most recent Ararat, so it’s probably fair to think of the two as companions, though in truth, Chotsourian‘s work has blended together from one release to the next over the better part of the last decade, as evidenced in the move from the last (to-date) Los Natas record, Nuevo Orden de la Libertad (review here), into the self-titled Ararat debut (review here), along the same piano progression in 2009.
Piano is a key factor in the overall impression of 1974. Like John Lennon‘s Dakota demos, some of these tracks revolve around the minimal arrangements of piano and/or voice, as on the beginning of “Los Barcos,” or in “4737 Minutos” (that’s about 3.2 days), “Los Viajes” and the closing title-track. Even when not being played, the resonance of the piano seems to remain, whether it’s in bell chords or plucked notes on acoustic guitar in “Bed Room” or “Las Melodias,” or the subtly psychedelic echo on “Las Piedras” and the standout “Los Escombros del Jardin.”
Sergio Ch. brings in Walter Broide (Los Natas) and Alfredo Felitte (Ararat) to help on drums periodically and Milagros Arrom for a violin guest spot on “Los Barcos,” but otherwise 1974 is entirely his own, vocals, bass, guitar and the keys. He layers his voice depending on the song, resulting in varied atmospheres between built-out tracks like “La Sal y Arroz” and “Las Piedras” and more singular stretches like the minute-long “La Blusa,” a quick excursion of jangly slide guitar perhaps to lighten the atmosphere following “La Historia de Hanuman” and “La Familia y las Guerras,” which together typify the emotional weight under which a fair portion of the record is operating. These and “Los Barcos,” “4737 Minutos,” the rawer “Las Melodias” and “1974” create a melancholy crux, the wistfulness set forth in the opener built upon for the duration until the title-track seems to round out by cutting short having asked more questions than it answered. That, of course, is a guess, because the lyrics are in Spanish and that’s one of the many, many languages my ignorant ass doesn’t speak, but the prevailing impression comes through nonetheless of these tracks being as much an exploration of feelings as sonics.
As a result, 1974, like a lot of solo offerings, is deeply personal. Its sound is broad and expressive and gripping, enough so that one barely notices as elements like percussion, bass, violin, piano, etc., come and go and come again. These things are part of the overarching reach of Sergio Ch.‘s solo work, established here for the first time but definitely constructed from an ambience he’s brought to life in his bands before. The familiarity of some of this material bleeds through the different arrangements as well, and perhaps 1974 could come across as a richer listen for anyone who caught Cabalgata Hacia la Luz, but the other is by no means a prerequisite for the one. Though they share some songs, the two albums stand alone and the fluidity that Chotsourian brings to these tracks remains steady throughout the CD runtime.
That said, it’s easy — particularly given his track record for such things — to imagine that some of these songs might end up on future Chotsourian-related releases. Indeed they already have if one counts the Isabel y Sergio Ch. version of “La Sal y Arroz,” but even beyond that, fuller-arrangements of “Las Melodias” and “El Pastor de la Hormigas” seem by no means out of the question. Whether or not that happens — and if it does, with what project — of course will remain to be seen, but even if this stuff does continue to show up elsewhere, 1974 will remain a landmark in Chotsourian‘s catalog, because it’s the first full-length to bear his name alone and for the new sonic territory it covers in relation to his prior accomplishments. In mood, performance and execution, it engages on a richly human level.
Truth be told, I almost didn’t post this video from Isabel and Sergio Chotsourian, because it’s so personal I feel like I’m intruding by even writing about it. The song is “La Sal y el Arroz,” which has appeared on the 2014 Ararat album, Cabalgata Hacia la Luz (review here), as well as Sergio Ch.‘s solo offering, 1974, and it brings together father and daughter in an exploration of family and memory, aural as well as visual, the clip being made up of old home movies taken, apparently, over a span of decades.
One of the major themes of Cabalgata Hacia la Luz was familial loss, and that sentimentality invariably is at play in this new version of “La Sal y el Arroz,” which was striking even before it became a multi-generational duet. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first appearance on a recording of Isabel Chotsourian, but if the translated PR wire info below is anything to go by, it’ll by no means be the last — an EP is apparently in the works that will be issued via Sergio‘s South American Sludge imprint.
Sergio, known of course as the guitarist/vocalist for Los Natas before taking up the bassist/vocalist mantle in Ararat, released a demo last month with his new project Soldati (discussed here) and had a collaborative single late last year with Gonzalo Villagra (ex-Los Natas) and drummer Rolando Castello, Jr. (Aeroblús), and so seems to be in the midst of a creative boom. My only regret is that boom hasn’t involved a webstore with international shipping for South American Sludge releases, as I’m still dying to get my hands on a copy of 1974. One of these days.
In the interim, you’ll find Isabel y Sergio Ch.‘s debut collaboration below, followed by the aforementioned translated info on the upcoming release.
Enjoy:
Isabel & Sergio Ch., “La Sal y el Arroz” official video
Isabel and Sergio Ch., father and daughter, are part of a unique musical meeting. A new version of the great song “La Sal y el Arroz”; previously part of Sergio Ch.’s solo album. “1974” and versioned for the Ararat album “Cabalgata Hacia la Luz”.
This time making a new record intimate, a single sound, production and minimalist concept that give a new song to flight and landscape unique acoustic to record this exciting encounter, intense and family.
Made in video by gunkza films about the history of a father and his daughter, growth, and stories their travel along Argentina in 70 years. Originally filmed material only in super 8 and adapted to the concept of this video clip.
Recorded and produced by Sergio Ch. EP coming together to be edited to a cover of The Animals’ “The House of the Rising Sun” for South American Sludge Records.
Before we get to all the tracks and this and that, I have to say, this double-size year-end podcast was an absolute pleasure to put together. Fun. Actual fun. I don’t know if it was the preponderance of excellent songs to work from that came out in 2015 or what, but I had a really good time making my way through the near-four-hour run, and I hope you feel that way too as you listen.
It should go without mentioning, but I’ll give the disclaimer anyway that this is in no way, shape or form a complete rundown of everything awesome produced this year. My own Top 10 has bands on it who aren’t represented here, so if you don’t see something you think belongs in the mix below — looking at you, Baroness fans — please keep in mind that it’s not my intent to offer anything more than a partial summary. Otherwise, I’d have to make it a year long.
Thanks for listening if you get the chance to do so, and if there’s something here you haven’t yet checked out, I hope you dig it. The flow is pretty easy front to back, but we get into some more extreme stuff in the third hour for a bit before going grand with Elder and the “Digestive Raga” from Øresund Space Collective, which seemed an appropriate way to end off giving everyone a chance to process what’s just been heard. Please enjoy.
Track details follow:
First Hour:
0:00:00 Acid King, “Red River” from Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere
0:08:24 Clutch, “Firebirds” from Psychic Warfare
0:11:23 Bloodcow, “Crystals and Lasers” from Crystals and Lasers
0:14:28 Stoned Jesus, “Rituals of the Sun” from The Harvest
0:21:25 Ufomammut, “Plouton” from Ecate
0:24:33 Geezer, “So Tired” from The Second Coming of Heavy: Chapter One Split w/ Borracho
0:32:36 Wizard Eye, “Thunderbird Divine” from Wizard Eye
0:37:40 Mondo Drag, “Crystal Visions Open Eye” from Mondo Drag
0:42:08 Fogg, “Seasons” from High Testament
0:48:26 Goatsnake, “Grandpa Jones” from Black Age Blues
0:53:02 Snail, “Thou Art That” from Feral
Second Hour:
1:03:17 Sergio Ch., “Las Piedras” from 1974
1:06:40 All Them Witches, “Blood and Sand – Milk and Endless Waters” from Dying Surfer Meets His Maker
1:13:54 Death Hawks, “Ripe Fruits” from Sun Future Moon
1:18:45 Colour Haze, “Call” from To the Highest Gods We Know
1:26:46 Kadavar, “Last Living Dinosaur” from Berlin
1:30:50 Spidergawd, “Fixing to Die Blues” from Spidergawd II
1:35:02 The Machine, “Dry End” from Offblast!
1:38:01 The Midnight Ghost Train, “Straight to the North” from Cold was the Ground
1:42:00 Kind, “Pastrami Blaster” from Rocket Science
1:48:29 Valley, “Dream Shooter, Golden!” from Sunburst
1:54:22 Graveyard, “From a Hole in the Wall” from Innocence and Decadence
1:58:09 Demon Head, “Book of Changes” from Ride the Wilderness
Third Hour:
2:02:50 Egypt, “Endless Flight” from Endless Flight
2:12:29 Brothers of the Sonic Cloth, “Empires of Dust” from Brothers of the Sonic Cloth
2:20:09 With the Dead, “I am Your Virus” from With the Dead
2:25:45 Ahab, “Red Foam (The Great Storm)” from The Boats of the Glen Carrig
2:32:08 Kings Destroy, “Mr. O” from Kings Destroy
2:36:37 Sun and Sail Club, “Dresden Firebird Freakout” from The Great White Dope
2:38:33 Sunder, “Wings of the Sun” from Sunder
2:42:41 Weedpecker, “Into the Woods” from Weedpecker II
2:50:50 Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats, “Pusher Man” from The Night Creeper
2:56:26 Eggnogg, “Slugworth” from Sludgy Erna Bastard split w/ Borracho
Fourth Hour:
3:02:48 Golden Void, “Astral Plane” from Berkana
3:09:34 Elder, “Lore” from Lore
3:25:24 Øresund Space Collective, “Digestive Raga” from Different Creatures
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 4th, 2015 by JJ Koczan
Now, Google’s translation matrix may have played hell with some of the copy in the quote below from current Ararat and former Los Natas frontman Sergio Chotsourian — who also has a new band called Soldati that will be worth keeping an eye on — but the point you want to take away from the whole thing is that Sergio Ch.‘s solo album, 1974, has gotten a limited release on CD through his own South American Sludge imprint and Oui Oui Records. The album continues to build on the personal themes that Ararat‘s 2014 outing, Cabalgata Hacia la Luz (review here), put forth, drawing on different interpretations of some of the same material to give a companion feel from one release to the next while still covering raw, untrod ground.
I continue to await the day when Sergio Ch. puts up a webstore with international shipping, but if you can track down the limited CD version in the meantime, it’s worth the effort. Sergio Ch. also has a new video for “Las Piedras” from the album (a different incarnation was on the last Ararat as well), and you can see that under the album info below, which came down the PR wire:
“1974” produced artistically by its author, is a release of Oui Oui Records South American Sludge Records.
A limited edition CD 13 songs that reflect concepts of life, redemption and exchange format transformed into work.
In the words of Sergio Ch: “1974 is the story of my journey. A meeting with myself, with my ghosts, my demons. So it was lightning in the dark to start riding towards the light”
“In 1974 the concept was that the songs remain the most crude and simple as possible, with fewer elements to define them. No recording quality, but color takes sought. Therefore Creole and acoustic guitars and piano They took great character in the main audio. As the voices, poetry and audio was most important for this record. Almost like a search from the lo-fi. Some of the songs were the first shots of some issues that then They formed part of the album Ararat “Ride into the light”. Others are part of my history, my experiences and radical changes that I made in the last years of my life. The dark and heavy as possible rock is intended, in the manner and form in which the message of the song, either with a note and a word can convey that manifests itself. It does not take a double bass and 10 distortion pedals to make battery. The dark and heavy is the message same, in this case the change, the break and how to get ahead in life no matter what happens.”
Buenos Aires trio Ararat‘s third album is their broadest-ranging collection yet. Cabalgata Hacia la Luz, released by South American Sludge in partnership with Oui Oui Records, follows two years after their second album, II(review here), proffered massive tones and open spaces in kind, extended tracks like “Caballos” and “La Ira del Dragon (Uno)” becoming synonymous with the course of the record. Prior to, 2009’s self-titled debut (review here) established Ararat as pushing against some of the heavy rocking conventions of guitarist/bassist/pianist/vocalist Sergio Chotsourian‘s prior outfit, Los Natas, who released their to-date swansong, Nuevo Orden de la Libertad(review here), that same year. With Cabalgata Hacia la Luz, Ararat arrives as a band with its own conventions and methods of working. After what they established as their sound over the first two albums, Chotsourian‘s piano is not unexpected when it arrives on “Los Viajes,” and throughout, a steady use of synth from guitarist Tito Fargo and the richly fluid drumming of Alfredo Felitte will likely feel familiar to anyone who’s followed Ararat since their inception. Where Cabalgata Hacia la Luzmost distinguishes itself, however, is in its scope. Granted, with a record that has 13 tracks and tops out at over 63 minutes, there’s plenty of room to flesh out, but Ararat prove more than capable of pairing off disparate sounds, be it acoustics and heavy distortion or synth and driving, propulsive rock, all while crafting a smooth full-album flow that stands up even into the later reaches and makes for an immersive listening experience well worth its runtime.
As with IIeven more than the debut, Cabalgata Hacia la Luzis deeply atmospheric. Fargo’s synth adds a cinematic sensibility to opener “El Camino del Mono,” which is part of a strong starting trilogy with the noise-soaked “El Paso” and “Los Escombros del Jardin,” the latter of which boasts one of the album’s several landmark choruses amid its chaotic swirl. It, along with later tracks “Nicotina y Destruccion” and “El Hijo de Ignacio” are exceptionally well placed to anchor the proceedings, whereas an organ-inclusive ambient piece like “El Arca” and the acoustic-based closer “Atalayah” might otherwise seem to float off from Ararat‘s central sound, instead they come across as the fruit of experimentation with it. Chotsourian‘s voice, smoky and recognizable, is suited both to the open spaces of “Las Dos Mitades” and the earlier straightforward rush of “Los Escombros del Jardin,” and the rumble of his bass steps forward at more than one interval to be the foundational element of songs — as on “Las Dos Mitades,” when Fargo takes to the keys atop Felitte‘s steady roll — but he’s by no means the only thing tying the diverse sounds of Cabalgata Hacia la Luztogether. Precisely with that sonic diversity, Ararat present a challenge to themselves to remain tight and cohesive through the sundry changes in arrangement, and it’s a challenge they readily meet. There is a strong current of songwriting within the material here, even on a rolling, atmospheric cut like “La Sal y Arroz,” which marks the drawback from the album’s initial salvo to more spacious territories with sweet fuzz, calmer vocals and a wash of cymbals. It’s a different kind of highlight — not the densely packed hook of “Nicotina y Destruccion” — but a highlight all the same.
I like making these podcasts because I never really know where they’re going to end up once I get started. One song leads to the next leads to the next, and before you know it, you’re all spaced out on how cool some brand new acoustic At Devil Dirt sounds coming out of the brutal dead-sludge of Coltsblood, or deep into the ultra vibes of a second hour loaded with interstellar meanderings. Some of these go brutal. This one just went far out.
That At Devil Dirt EP was just released yesterday, so if you don’t recognize the title, that’s probably why. A lot of this stuff is pretty recent, and while some of the songs you might’ve seen around, whether it was the Conan song they did the video for or the Druglord track that was streamed here with the full album, still other cuts, like the Trilogy, Black Moon Circle and Mope are new to these parts. As ever, I think it winds up with a decent blend and I hope you agree.
First Hour:
Ogre, “Nine Princes in Amber” from The Last Neanderthal (2014)
Sun Shepherd, “Awaiting the Firepit” from Procession of Trampling Hoof (2014)
Trilogy, “Invade and Occupy” from Burned Alive (2013)
Young Hunter, “Welcome to Nothing” from Split with Ohioan (2014)
Sergio Ch., “La Familia y las Guerras” from 1974 (2013)
Hull, “Legend of the Swamp Goat” from Legend of the Swamp Goat 7” (2014)
Conan, “Foehammer” from Blood Eagle (2014)
Druglord, “Feast on the Eye” from Enter Venus (2014)
Coltsblood, “Beneath Black Skies” from Into the Unfathomable Abyss (2014)
Second Hour:
At Devil Dirt, “Mirame” from Dinner is Ready (2014)
Black Moon Circle, “Enigmatic SuperBandit” from Black Moon Circle (2014)
Eidetic Seeing, “A Snake Whose Years are Long” from Against Nature (2014)
Goya, “Death’s Approaching Lullaby” from 777 (2013)
Mope, “La Caduta” from Mope (2014)
Mike Scheidt, “Rake” from Songs of Townes Van Zandt Vol. II (2014)
