Posted in Bootleg Theater on December 16th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
This past week, I traveled to Sweden for the first and hopefully not the last time, and accordingly, I put forth the question in the Obelisk Facebook group wondering what were people’s picks for the best Swedish heavy rock album ever. Siena Root‘s 2004 debut, A New Day Dawning, was floated among many, many others, and as it had been a while, it seemed like a prime opportunity for a revisit.
Issued through Rage of Achilles and Nasoni Records, the 13-track/68-minute A New Day Dawning followed about half a decade’s worth of demos and EPs, and very much benefits from the time the four-piece at that point put into building their sound. It is not a minor undertaking now — and somehow putting out a debut 2LP in 2004, well before the resurgence of vinyl as the predominant format for heavy rock, seems especially bold — but it is resoundingly cohesive across its span, and each of its four sides presents something of a different look from Siena Root stylistically. At the time, the band was comprised of vocalist/organist Oskar Lundström, guitarist/vocalist KG West, and the rhythm section of bassist/vocalist Sam Riffer and drummer/vocalist Love H. Forsberg, the latter two of whom remain the founding principals of the group today.
Like much of what was happening in Sweden at the time, Siena Root were informed by the classic heavy rock of the 1970s, and A New Day Dawning bears that out at various points, whether it’s the Mk. II Deep Purple-style groove-hump of “What Can I Do” or the flute-laced jam so gracefully emphasizing the pastoral and telling of future arrangement adventures to come in closer “Into the Woods.” The beginning of Sweden’s retro movement is commonly credited to the band Norrsken, whose members went on to form bands like Witchcraft — who also debuted in 2004 — and Graveyard, but Siena Root were concurrent at least to the wave that took hold and continues to flourish as its own vintage-minded niche. To Siena Root‘s credit, however, A New Day Dawning does not sacrifice audio fidelity for aesthetic. The production on these songs is organic, to be sure, and I don’t know whether it was done live, to tape, etc., or any of those other things that dogwhistle a retro mindset — Per Ängkvist engineered, Christofer Stannow mastered — but the tones they conjure are full as well as warm, and from the fade-in of opener “Coming Home” onward, they make it clear to the listener that it’s okay to trust where the band are leading. You’re in good hands from the outset, and for the duration.
“Coming Home” is an energetic, classic-vibing and subtly complex roller with boogie intentions and a bluesy spirit that comes to be what Siena Root most lean toward on side A. Followed by the hooky shuffle “Just Another Day,” the quick-but-funky “Shine” and the all-in blues rocker “Fever,” it’s a fluid and welcoming start to the record, immediately dynamic, immediately engaging on a level of songwriting and performance. Their sound would grow more expansive with this lineup in time — and as noted, A New Day Dawning provides hints of that later on — but the leadoff stretch is all about bringing the audience in, and as side B launches with “Above the Trees” and the aforementioned, organ-emphasized “What Can I Do,” the record cleverly shifts from the blues to a more definitively ’70s-inspired take, with the catchy start-stops of “Little Man” and the mostly mellow “Roots” underlining the point. To this day, Siena Root call themselves ‘roots rock.’ Listening again to the actual roots of the band, it’s hard to argue.
As A New Day Dawning works toward side D’s more extended closing duo — “Rasayana” (9:06) and “Into the Woods” (8:19) — the loosely proggy jammer “Trippin'” and the suitably molten follow-up “Until Time Leaves Us Again,” with its drum solo and all, begin that process of expansion. The organ in the latter makes it a highlight if the guitar already didn’t, and as they transition into the shorter, touch-ground-early-then-take-off “Words,” the depth of consideration on the part of the band in structuring the record becomes clearer. Each side has not only its own personality, but its own progression as well, and after casting more ethereal vibes in “Trippin'” and “Until Time Leaves Us Again,” “Words” gives an on-stage-circa-1974 culmination to that linear voyage, allowing “Rasayana” and “Into the Woods” to flourish almost as an entity unto themselves.
The former, “Rasayana,” finds West beginning what would become a lifetime’s exploration of South Asian classical music on veena and Greek tzouras, while Riffer adds percussion to his double-bass and sintir. They resolve ultimately in a combination of rock and folk styles, trading back and forth and bringing the ideas together throughout before ending with a quick da-dum that almost has one’s ears hearing “War Pigs” hi-hat in the fadeout. “Into the Woods,” with the already-noted flute, a guest appearance by Anna Sandström, as well as hurdy-gurdy credited to Tängman starts at a slower nod and works into a vital shuffle by its halfway point, but mellows out again for a grand and abidingly natural-sounding finish. It’s not overdone, it’s not underdone, and its sweep at the end — in hindsight — feels like it’s carrying you into what was then the band’s own bright future.
Just yesterday, I posted news of the Feb. 24 release date of Siena Root‘s upcoming eighth album, Revelation (info here), through Atomic Fire Records. The lineup is different, as noted, with Forsberg and Riffer now joined by vocalist/keyboardist Zubaida Solid and guitarist Johan Borgström as veterans of the scene they helped to create, but much of the soul that one finds so resonant in A New Day Dawning — never mind the boogie — remains in the band to this day. From this first (2)LP, they went on to offer a stretch of classics in their own right in 2006’s Kaleidoscope (discussed here), 2008’s Far From the Sun and 2009’s Different Realities (discussed here), and their sound has continued to grow despite personnel shifts and a generation’s worth of acts digging into retroism as a stylistic movement. One only looks forward to what’s to come, and looking back across this initial offering, it’s been a hell of a day up to now.
As always, I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading.
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Got back on Monday from the aforementioned Sweden trip, have been sick since Tuesday. Wednesday I had a follow-up with my neurologist to discuss what I’ve come to playfully call my abby-normal brain, and she put me on Adderall in addition to Wellbutrin and told me to take a small fortune’s worth of vitamins and go swimming if I want to, well, get old, I guess. Fair enough. Gonna wait for the snot to stop leaking out of my face before I hit the pool. Might be a few more days.
Tough week with/for the kid, who’s ready in his bones for the holiday break. I can’t even argue.
I’m going to see Sunn O))) on Saturday in Brooklyn with a friend I haven’t seen in a long time. Should be interesting, and I managed to get a photo pass, so will review as well. Beyond that, next week is clear to give me time to work in the Best of 2022 post, which I hope to have done either Wednesday or Thursday. To give you some hint of where I’m at with it, my list isn’t actually done yet. So let’s say probably Thursday it’ll go up.
Also need to do a Gimme Metal playlist for next Friday, so that’s where I’m headed for the rest of today, then grocery shopping and hopefully a bit of fuckoff time, which I could very much use after a busy few weeks. I tend to catch my breath when I can. That’s of course harder to do when you can’t breathe through your nose, but one endeavors just the same.
I hope you have a great and safe weekend. I have a follow-up with my orthopedic surgeon about my knee this morning, but I don’t expect much exciting to come out of it. I’m still healing, still sore at the end of the day from various bendings and so on, but I think I’m getting to where I need to be. It might just hurt now. Like, until I eventually get my knees replaced — which I fully expect I’ll have to do at some point; my mother is headed that way now — and then probably for the rest of my life after that. Which I hear won’t be that long if I don’t get like $200 worth of vitamins in my body stat. Life is strange and mostly stupid. Periodically glorious.
Which I suppose is what makes the rest worth it.
Agaun, great and safe weekend. Stay warm and hydrated, and I’ll have that year-end stuff up as soon as possible, to be followed in short order by a Quarterly Review with 100 more records covered. So there.
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 15th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
A solid release date for the new Siena Root album, Revelation, is good news, as it will be fascinating to hear what the long-running Swedish outfit have conjured to coincide with the classic vibes of the single “Coincidence and Fate” below. My guess? More classic vibes. My hope, anyhow. This will be their second record with Zubaida Solid on lead vocals, and she brings a marked charisma to the lead track from the album, which feels like a long time coming despite the fact that the band’s prior LP, The Secret of Our Time, was released in 2020.
If you can keep a secret, I’ve already decided to close out this week with the first Siena Root record, 2004’s A New Day Dawning, so this won’t be the last you hear of them before Friday afternoon, but I wanted to get this posted anyhow because (1:) I’m already late on it and (2:) this band has seen two entire bands’ worth of personnel come and go over the course of their time and still managed to be pretty consistent as regards awesome. Can’t help but admire such a thing.
From the PR wire:
SIENA ROOT Presents Video For New Digital Single, “Coincidence & Fate;” Revelation Album Details Unveiled + Preorders Available
Sweden’s root rock figureheads SIENA ROOT will release their eighth studio album on February 24th via their new label home, Atomic Fire Records!
Fittingly titled Revelation, the recording serves as the group’s most versatile offering of their long-spanning career, guiding listeners through a true journey rather than simply stringing together song after song. The eleven-track offering was recorded analogously at Silence Studio in Koppom, Sweden and Root Rock Studios in Stockholm, Sweden where it was also mixed. Mastering was handled at Stockholm’s Cutting Room.
In advance of the record’s release, today SIENA ROOT unveils their video for “Coincidence & Fate.”
The band comments, “This is the trailer for our movie, Wheels Of Revelation, as well as the first track of the album Revelation and tells a story of fear one experiences when coming close to death and realizing the fickleness of life. Musically, ‘Coincidence & Fate’ is an all-analogue recording featuring dirty organ riffs and fat drums. That’s where heavy rock tunes with female front vocals — seemingly inspired by classic acts such as Uriah Heep and Jethro Tull — meet SIENA ROOT’s remarkable root rock sound. Enjoy!”
Preorder Revelation on CD, LP, pre-save it on your favorite DSP or preorder it digitally to receive “Coincidence & Fate” immediately at THIS LOCATION:https://sienaroot.afr.link/RevelationPR
Revelation Track Listing: 1. Coincidence & Fate 2. Professional Procrastinator 3. No Peace 4. Fighting Gravity 5. Dusty Roads 6. Winter Solstice 7. Dalecarlia Stroll 8. Leaving The City 9. Little Burden 10. Madukhauns 11. Keeper Of The Flame
SIENA ROOT have announced a show to celebrate Revelation on release day at Pipeline in Sundsvall, Sweden with support coming from Drivet.
SIENA ROOT Live: 2/24/2023 Pipeline – Sundsvall, SE
SIENA ROOT: Zubaida Solid – vocals, keys Johan Borgström – guitars Sam Riffer – bass Love Forsberg – drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 4th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Well, at least I didn’t miss it. When last discussed, Siena Root‘s Revelation LP was set to arrive in Aug. 2022 through Metalville Records. They posted the single “Little Burden” earlier this year and now there’s word that the album will be released this coming Spring through Atomic Fire Records, who’ve picked them up for the release. Hey, good for the band I guess. Given the folks who run it, Atomic Fire is no minor endorsement for a band even with an established track record — which, even before their eighth LP lands, they have, across multiple lineups — to get, and they’ve already been out on tour this year. How could more possibly not follow in 2023 if that’s when Revelation is actually going to happen?
I’ll be interested to see what those plans include, actually. But we’ve probably got a bit to go before we get there. The PR wire brought background and the signing announcement:
SIENA ROOT Unveils New Digital Single/Video, “Little Burden;” Forthcoming Full-Length, Revelation, To Be Released In Spring 2023 Via Atomic Fire Records
With seven studio albums in nearly two decades of band history, Sweden’s root rock figureheads SIENA ROOT are constantly working on something new. They’ve continually changed their approach and experimented with their sound — not only to keep their music fresh but to challenge themselves which is one of the main reasons why the group’s relevance remains after all these years.
Besides touring with acts such as Deep Purple and Dewolff, the quartet — founding members drummer Love Forsberg and bassist Sam Riffer with guitarist Johan Borgström and vocalist/keyboardist Zubaida Solid — have always brought an infectious performance to stages globally. Those lucky enough to attend one of SIENA ROOT’s post-pandemic tours earlier this year may already know how the band spent the Corona years recording a brand-new album that is finally set to be released next year via their new label home of Atomic Fire Records!
Comments the band, “The ‘Dynamic Root Rock Experience’ called SIENA ROOT caught fire a long time ago. As we all know, you need to catch a fire to be burnin’ and this time SIENA ROOT caught an Atomic Fire: we are very proud and honored to announce that we are a part of the Atomic Fire Records family now. The new album, Revelation, will be released in early 2023, stay tuned!”
Atomic Fire Records CEO Markus Wosgien adds, “We’re very happy to enrich our roster with SIENA ROOT’s innovative mixture of classic, folk, and psychedelic rock. Their musical path as well as their everchanging sound charmed us enormously, leading to their new opus Revelation, which is nothing short of amazing. It’s an album that surely won’t only fascinate rockers but also fans beyond the genre. What an outstanding group. They truly know how to perform this music the right way!”
The record title definitely keeps its word: it’s a sonic Revelation and has become the most versatile offering in SIENA ROOT’s long-spanning career, guiding listeners through a true journey rather than simply stringing together song after song. But that’s not all: the first appetizer, new single “Little Burden” which premiered live in 2022, can be enjoyed alongside a music video, edited by Linus Grane, via YouTube.
Elaborates the band, “This is a first taste of SIENA ROOT’s journey when introducing the more acoustic side of the ‘Dynamic Root Rock Experience.’ The song deals with leaving the city and the experience that comes with that. ‘Little Burden’ is a song that describes the feeling of melancholy and battle one experiences when faced with the arbitrary issues of man and when burdens, however small and inconsequential, make you weary and sometimes even poison you.”
More info on SIENA ROOT’s eagerly awaited eighth studio album as well as preorder details will be unveiled before the end of the year.
SIENA ROOT: Zubaida Solid – vocals, keys Johan Borgström – guitars Sam Riffer – bass Love Forsberg – drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 23rd, 2021 by JJ Koczan
In the wreck that was 2020, I somehow missed that long-running Swedish classic heavy rockers Siena Root had put out a new album. Frankly I’m embarrassed to admit that. Nonetheless, when Revelation follows The Secret of Our Time as the group’s second album with Zubaida Solid on vocals and Johan Borgström stepping in as their lone full-time guitarist, I’m not about to make the same mistake twice.
The band have signed to Metalville Records for the new outing and while there’s no audio from Revelation yet, the fact that it’s not coming out until Aug. 19 — the second half of next year, already — means there’s plenty of time for such things before we get there. I won’t pretend to know what the world will look like by then or what the state of vinyl pressing will be.
Still, new Siena Root is good news in whatever contextual apocalypse it might show up. Here’s word from the PR wire:
SIENA ROOT sign with METALVILLE, prepare new album
Metalville Records is proud to welcome Siena Root to its roster. The band’s new studio album, Revelation, will be released on August 19th, 2022.
“Dynamic Root Rock Experience” is the term Siena Root use to describe their music. And it is exactly this experience that makes the Swedes’ new album Revelation, so attractive to the listener: an uncompromising mixture of hypnotizing rhythms, heavy riffs, beautiful solos, and emotional vocals. The band fuses eastern acoustic folk melodies with hard rock and Nordic wilderness.
In 20 years of band history, Siena Root have constantly worked on something new, changed their approach, and experimented a lot.
Revelation has become the most versatile in Siena Root’s career; the band jumps between strong melodies and beautiful harmonies, led by a fantastic female voice. For this, the band used exclusively analog equipment, as usual. With their incredible range of different styles, the 11 tracks show the band’s musical ingenuity, recorded by experienced musicians who have a perfect sense for the right moment when handmade root rock is to be served.
Tracklisting and first track to be revealed in time. Cover artwork for Revelation is as follows.
DISCOGRAPHY The Secret of Our Time – Album (2020) In the Fire – 7″ Single (2019) A Dream of Lasting Peace – Album (2017) Pioneers – Album (2014) Conveniently Blind – 7″ Single (2013) Root Jam – Double Live Album (2011) Kalejdoskop – Live DVD (2010) Different Realities – Album (2009) Far From The Sun – Album (2008) Kaleidoscope – Album (2006) Mountain Songs – 7″ Single (2005) A New Day Dawning – Double Album (2004)
SIENA ROOT lineup Sam Riffer – bass Love Forsberg – percussion Zubaida Solid – vocals Johan Borgström – guitar
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 10th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Siena Root touring? Sweet. Siena Root releasing a new single? Even sweeter. Siena Root working on a new record? Ah, there it is. That’s the stuff.
The Swedish classic heavy rockers will head out a mostly-Germany tour starting Feb. 27, bringing their collaboration with vocalist Lisa Lystam to stages also in Belgium and Austria. Neat. I won’t get to see them, but hey, I’m glad they’re getting out. It’s really the prospect of new material from the Swedish outfit that’s got my interest piqued. Their last record was 2017’s A Dream of Lasting Peace (review here), so it hasn’t been all that long since they had a release, but a new single and word of progress on a new LP is definitely welcome. Even if it doesn’t happen until 2020, the point is it’s happening. And that only makes the world a better place.
The tour was announced a bit ago by the band, but I’m slow, so here are the dates and their word of progress on the next full-length:
We’re proud to let you know that Siena Root is on tour again! This time the spotlight will be on their recent successful collaboration with blues singer Lisa Lystam, as well as the upcoming single release “In the Fire”. The band is hitting the road in the middle of their work on the next album.
“We had the opportunity to work [on songs] in this vintage rural cinema where legends like Ingmar Bergman used to active. The song writing continues and we are looking forward to make another recording soon.”
27.02 DE Hamburg, Logo 28.02 DE Osnabrück, Kleine Freiheit 01.03 DE Oldenburg, Cadillac 02.03 DE Hagen, Kultopia 03.03 BE Bree, Ragnarok Live Club 05.03 DE Jena, Kulturbahnhof 06.03 DE Leipzig, Moertelwerk 07.03 DE Nürnberg, Der Cult 08.03 DE Aschaffenburg, Colos-Saal 09.03 DE Siegen, Vortex 10.03 DE Mannheim, MS Connexion Complex 12.03 DE München, Backstage 13.03 AT Wien, Viper Room
Siena Root is: Matte Gustavsson – lead guitar Sam Riffer – bass and vocals Love “Billy” Forsberg – drums and vocals Erik “Errka” Petersson – organs and keyboards Samuel Björö – lead vocals
Go ahead and file under Øresund Space Collective, I suppose. And while you’re at it, pick up the pieces of my blown mind after realizing that it’s been six full years since the West, Space & Love album came out. Their self-titled debut (review here) was originally released under that banner, but immediately on its own wavelength. The uniting factor was the participation of synth specialist Scott “Dr. Space” Heller in the project, but actually, at the time, two-thirds of the outfit came from Sweden’s Siena Root — those being guitarist/sitarist KG Westman and drummer Billy “Love” Forsberg — so I suppose they were even more “file under” that band, if you want to go by the pure math. In terms of their approach though, well, I’ll say the album’s on the right Bandcamp. Perhaps the last song title says it best: “Sitars in Space.” The notion behind West, Space & Love as a project was that it should be a mostly acoustic psychedelic record. Of course, synth plays a heavy role, but with Westman‘s sitar, acoustic and electric guitars, and bass, as well as a variety of percussive instruments and more guitar helmed by Forsberg, there remains a strong undercurrent of the organic to the five included tracks on the ultra-manageable 44-minute LP. Though, you know, I say “LP” and I don’t think it was ever released on vinyl. Could it be time for a reissue?
Now’s as good as whenever, in that regard, though time doesn’t really matter with a release like this. It’s not like it’s going to go out of style. A spirit of exploration pervades — they take their improvisation-minded cues from their Øresund Space Collective parentage, to be sure; not that Siena Root at this point didn’t do their fair share of jamming — but again, the plane from which West, Space & Love‘s jams came was pretty much their own. And it was mellow. Extremely so. In my original writeup for the record, I talk about it behind a nighttime headphone record. I stand by that 100 percent, but I remember clearly the scenario I was talking about was being up late at night at Roadburn in the Netherlands when I first got this CD and listening to it there basically on repeat for the whole weekend. It’s a freakout, but such a quiet one that it was just the perfect chillout to answer that kind of sensory overload. Six years later, the feeling is much the same.
Listening to “High Rise,” “Kafi (For Your Love)” and “Spirit Blues” on what would essentially serve as side A, the flow is impeccable. From the harder acoustic strum and percussive pulse of “High Rise” through the patient and graceful unfolding of “Kafi (For Your Love)” — every bit worthy of a comparison to Lamp of the Universe, and that’s not a line I’ll often draw — and the tracklist-centerpiece naturalism so prevalent in “Spirit Blues,” each player gets his moment to shine out from the three-piece. Whether it’s Love on “High Rise” and in the one-man-drum-circle during the second half of “Spirit Blues” or Dr. Space with the synth wash at the end of the opener or Westman‘s initial strum of sitar in “Kafi (For Your Love)” immediately taking my mind to The Beatles‘ “Love You To” — where it’s always a pleasure to go — the personality of each player is in full bloom throughout, and the manner in which they meld together to form something new is nothing short of remarkable.
And that continues into “Repetition” and “Sitar in Space,” both of which speak to a self-awareness on the part of their creators. It’s easy to imagine that the last two cuts, both utterly meditative in their approach and spacious beyond even what was brought to bear on the three tracks prior, came from later in the session. They seem to be that much more comfortable and settled into a methodology — especially the closer — but I know nothing about in what order these songs happened in the studio, so that’s just a narrative brought on by the evocative nature of the material itself. That is, that 22-minute stretch is so immersive and even unto its titles feels so conscious of what it’s creating that it’s easy to thread the story that it came after the initial explorations at the beginning of the record. For those interested more by general atmospheres than the circumstances of their creation, consider it emblematic of the pull West, Space & Love elicit generally, and the strength in terms of bringing ambience to life. Because while it is for the most part a quiet album, there’s no doubting the vibrancy of West, Space & Love from front to back. “Trippy” is overused as a descriptor, but there’s a genuine sense of journey in these songs for mind and spirit alike, and whether you let them wash over you or try and pick apart each hand-drum thud, synthesized swirl and sitar pluck, the resonance of the album’s entirety will continue long after play has stopped.
It was enough, I suppose, that Forsberg, Westman and Heller came together again in 2016 for West, Space & Love Vol. II (review here). It was a less acoustically-based session, and had the gag-track “Pig in Space” to pull the listener out of the otherwise hypnotic moment, but was still a worthy follow-up to the chemistry established here, and one hopes it won’t be the last time these three get together, however busy they might otherwise be. Forsberg remains with Siena Root, while Westman‘s contributions to 2009’s Different Realities (discussed here) would be his last with the band. He continues to focus on Hundusthani classical sitar music and has performances booked between next week and late September, when he’ll be in New York and Massachusetts both for select US appearances. His latest album, Sonashish, came out last year through Bihaan Music. Here’s a bonus raag from him just because I happened to be on his website and put it on:
Of course, Heller continues to pursue the outer reaches of the known cosmos with Øresund Space Collective, about whom writing has essentially become a means of doing myself a favor over the last several years, as I find their output always to be such a joy to put on and adventure with. I’ll say the same applies to West, Space & Love as well, which it’s been a thrill to revisit. I hope you feel the same way.
And as always, I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading.
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Pouring coffee in the dark at four in the morning? What could possibly go wrong?
Sometimes I feel like the late-night/early-morning process of decision making is its own beast entirely, separate from the entire rest of the day. And then I remember things like the fact that I drove out of lunch the other day with my wallet on top of the car, losing it — which only sucks because it was a customized gift from The Patient Mrs. — as well as my drivers license, credit cards, debit card, insurance info, cash in pounds, euro and dollars, and several checks made out to cash, etc., and I remember that, no, I’m a fucking moron all the time. Doesn’t matter if it’s four in the morning or four in the afternoon. Points for consistency, I guess?
In any case, I emerged from the coffee-pour unscathed, though I still consider the oh-no-I-can’t-turn-on-the-light-because-I-might-wake-the-baby-who-is-behind-a-closed-door theory specious and ill-examined at best. Fate may have its way with me next time, but it’ll have to wait: this was the end of the pot.
It will be missed.
I’ve been up since two, which is pretty good, considering. Last night was 12:45, for example. I managed to go back to bed for an hour or so at five yesterday, and I may yet do the same this morning, but it’s basically an effort to be done with this stuff by the time The Pecan wakes up. That’s been sometime between five and six for the last month, and especially as we’ve been back and forth between Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Jersey — currently in the latter, until Sunday — my early-morning-get-up-at-4:30-or-five-or-six-and-write time has pretty much evaporated. I’ve made the best of it, and hopefully not too many typos along the way. Nothing is permanent. Someday, my son will wake up without screaming and make himself breakfast. Whether I’ll live to see it, well, let’s not be melodramatic.
By the way, in all the hubbub of traveling and dumbassery, I left my all my meds in Massachusetts. Remember last week when I talked about crying for no reason? Yeah. Tomorrow should be interesting.
Speaking of interesting, I’m kicking the can down the line again and pushing back the Quarterly Review another week. The reason? I’m just not ready. I don’t have Photoshop installed on The Silver Fox yet or a registered version of Word — the former used to making a banner, the latter for keeping track of word counts for the reviews so I don’t fly off the handle and do 500 words for everything — so that’s a thing, and I still have one or two more picks to include for a couple of the days. Getting that laptop stolen in the UK really fucked me up. I hope the dickweed who did the snagging got some decent heroin with whatever cash he got in exchange for it. I’d love to hear from (presumably) him.
So, with the Quarterly Review put off, next week has a lot of stuff up in the air. I’ll improvise like West, Space & Love, but here’s the basic formative plan I’m going from. I fully expect this will change:
Mon.: Saturnia review; Churchburn video.
Tue.: Great Electric Quest review.
Wed.: Black Moon Circle review.
Thu.: TBD.
Fri.: TBD.
Pretty vague. Sorry about that. I was hoping to pull it together on the Quarterly Review and just didn’t get there, so the stuff for the week after, which was half-planned as you can see above, has basically been bumped up. If I’m lucky, someone will feel like premiering something in all that. For what it’s worth, I’ve already got stuff planned as far out as July 31. Just not next week.
However, I remain certain this site won’t go without its due share of postery. There’s plenty out there to cover. To wit, I just checked my email and got asked to do two premieres next week. So things will shape up. I still need to look at Thee Facebooks messages as well. Oy.
Actually, why don’t I go do that. Plus it’s quarter after five, so The Pecan should be getting up imminently and I should put the first of today’s posts live.
And yup, there’s the call. Gotta run. Great and safe weekend, and please check out the forum and radio stream.
Posted in Features on December 28th, 2017 by JJ Koczan
Please note: This post is not culled in any way from the Year-End Poll, which is ongoing. If you haven’t yet contributed your favorites of 2017 to that, please do.
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We’re almost at the finish line for 2017, and if I’m honest, it’s not a minute too soon. I think if one more record comes out this year my head is going to explode.
A perpetual onslaught of cool music is, of course, nothing to complain about. It just seemed like every time I thought I had a handle on where the year was going, some other announcement came through and knocked me on my ass. What’s that? The Obsessed are putting out their first album in more than two decades? Oh and Monolord have a new one coming? Radio Moscow just signed to Century Media? Arc of Ascent are back? Samsara Blues Experiment are back? Causa Sui are putting out a live album and a studio album? Sasquatch are going to Europe and sneaking a record along with them? All of a sudden I’m out of breath feeling like I just ran a lap.
It’s been madness this year. Between an emergent neo-psych movement in the wake of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard and others, and the ongoing and constant reshaping of doom and heavy rock from practitioners new and old, I don’t know how anyone could ever claim to keep up with any of it.
You know I do the best I can, so when you look through this list, please keep in mind that these are my picks and the result of applying my own standard, which if you’ve ever seen a list on this site before you probably already know is a combination of things like what I view as being important on a critical level and things like what kept me coming back as a listener. What were the year’s biggest releases and what couldn’t I get enough of? Sometimes those two things come together around one record and it’s beautiful. That’s usually your album of the year, or close to, anyhow.
No sense in delaying further. I hope if you haven’t heard some of this stuff you’ll give it a shot, and if you have something you felt strongly about it, you’ll let me know in the comments. Thanks in advance for keeping it civil, and of course for reading.
Here goes:
30. Geezer, Psychoriffadelia
Released by Kozmik Artifactz and STB Records. Reviewed May 16.
Coming off of what was their strongest album to-date in their 2016 self-titled (review here), New York heavy psych blues trio Geezer decided it was time to take the groove for a walk. And so they did. Psychoriffadelia is the result — a looser collection of jams and willfully unrefined heavy blues, reveling in the politically incorrect on “Dirty Penny” only after basking in the post-Monster Magnet hypnosis of “Red Hook” and the earlier roll of the more straightforward “Hair of the Dog” and “Stressknots.” Everything Geezer has done to this point has pushed their sound to new places. Psychoriffadelia is no exception.
More than a touch of twang on opener “Heartland” sets a tone of Americana-infusion for Orango‘s sixth LP, The Mules of Nana, but the 10-tracker is ultimately much more about harmony-laced classic heavy smoothness than playing to prairie-minded sensibilities, though roots spread wide through a natural, dirty blues just the same. However they get there, “Hazy Chain of Mountains,” the softshoe-ready funk of “Head on Down” and the peacefully progressive finish of “Ghost Rider” bring ’70s-style thrills in songwriting and their precise, gorgeous execution. Underrated record from an underappreciated band.
Cali boogie kingpins and all-around marvelous frenetic bastards Radio Moscow were in top form on their Century Media debut, and if it was a new beginning they were searching for, they met it head on with a sound as classic and organic as ever. Arguably the most powerful power trio in their game, they tore through cuts like “No One Knows Where They’ve Been” and “Deceiver” while offering flourish in the trip-out “Woodrose Morning” and subdued blues-psych on the penultimate “Pick up the Pieces.” Very much to form, but cast of a form that still manages to outclass all challengers.
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27. Spaceslug, Time Travel Dilemma
Released by Southcave Records, BSFD Records and Oak Island Records. Reviewed Feb. 10.
And so here we have the first of what will no doubt be several records about which I’m going to say they should be higher on the list. Poland’s Spaceslug have emerged from the moist ground created by their own tonality and on their sophomore full-length, they proffered warm depth of fuzz and a corresponding melodic and psychedelic reach that was resonant even before they brought in ex-Sungrazer bassist Sander Haagmans for a guest spot on the title-track. It’s been out for 10 months and still delivers every time I put it on, which is often.
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26. Mothership, High Strangeness
Released by Ripple Music and Heavy Psych Sounds. Reviewed March 7.
Three albums into a tenure marked by hard-driving riffs, scorching solos and relentless road work, there’s little Texas trio Mothership need to do at this point to prove themselves to their audience. At the same time, High Strangeness brought considerable expansion to their range overall, whether it was the exploratory “Eternal Trip” or the semi-metallic insistence behind “Midnight Express,” while staying tied together with lyrical and instrumental hooks. High Strangeness set a new standard for Mothership, plain and simple, and easily surpassed the considerable accomplishments of their 2012 self-titled debut (review here) and 2014’s Mothership II (review here).
There was a lot about Eternal Black‘s Bleed the Days that chugged its way into the post-Wino oeuvre of US-style trad doom, but the gruff, lumbering and impeccably riffed outing was nonetheless one of 2017’s best debut full-lengths, and it was the songwriting that got it there. Already sounding sure in the vibe captured, cuts like the plodding brooder “Sea of Graves” and “Stained Eyes on a Setting Sun” showed potential in mood and atmosphere as much as sheer sonic heft — though of course there was plenty of that to go around as well. Doomers missed it at their peril.
It kind of feels like a slight to have Berlin trio Kadavar appear anywhere outside of at least a top 10 on any kind of list whatsoever, ever, but that’s not my intention at all. Rather, their fourth album and third for Nuclear Blast found them at an important stage in their progression — past the novelty of the vintage feel in their early work, after having proven their songwriting could translate to a modern context, and embarking on a process of expanding their sound. Rough Times, which was as current as current could be, met that goal and beat it easily with a barrage of memorable choruses and a dark streak one could only consider suitable for our age.
The biggest surprise about Shroud Eater‘s long-awaited sophomore long-player was also its most encouraging aspect — namely how it found the Miami trio bringing together various impulses shown on a number of shorter releases over the course of the six years since their debut, ThunderNoise (review here), came out in 2011, and still managed to utterly crush when it so chose. With a swath from sludge to drone and back again, this was no minor feat, and that the songs they brought to bear were so memorable at their heart as well makes me hope all the more it’s not 2023 before their third album arrives.
What’s left to say about Norwegian progressive black metal innovators Enslaved 14 records into their career? Plenty as it turns out. The introduction of new keyboardist/vocalist Håkon Vinje in place of Herbrand Larsen brought a new twist on a signature element of Enslaved‘s approach. Vinje utterly owned his role, and his performance alongside guitarist Ivar Bjørnson, bassist/vocalist Grutle Kjellson, guitarist Arve “Ice Dale” Isdal and drummer Cato Bekkevold resulted in a fresh urgency that made the band’s sound even more potent and set their ongoing creative evolution on a new branch of its self-directed path.
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21. Arc of Ascent, Realms of the Metaphysical
Released by Astral Projection and Clostridium Records. Reviewed April 6.
Some five years on from 2012’s The Higher Key (review here) and seven out from their debut, Circle of the Sun (review here), and with bassist/vocalist Craig Williamson firmly entrenched in his always excellent Lamp of the Universe psych-drone-folk solo-project, I wasn’t sure there would be another offering from New Zealand heavy psych-rock trio Arc of Ascent, but Realms of the Metaphysical took shape from an ether of riffs and echoes atop resilient underlying structures and revitalized the group with new drummer Mark McGeady in the lineup with Williamson and guitarist Matt Cole-Baker. Remains to be seen if this marks a priority shift for Williamson or it’s a one-off, but its arrival was welcome either way.
With the various glories already offered in 2017 on the Live in Copenhagen (review here) 3LP, one didn’t necessarily expect a new studio outing from Danish instrumental psych masters Causa Sui, but Vibraciones Doradas found them as vibrant as ever, bringing forth a surprising amount of tonal weight on songs like “El Fuego,” warm fuzz for the basking on opener “The Drop” and spaciousness on the closing title-track. Somewhat more straight-ahead in its rocking groove than 2016’s Return to Sky (review here), the five-track/38-minute long-player showed yet again why Causa Sui are always welcome and that any news of a new release from them, live, studio, whatever, is good news. This was the kind of record that could make your day if you let it.
The Iowa-based duo of guitarist/vocalist Alex Baumann and drummer Anthony Dreyer, operating as Telekinetic Yeti, released what I considered to be the debut of the year, both for the fullness of its tonality and the accomplishment in songcraft it already showed. Powered by cuts like its lumbering title-track and the gloriously fuzzed runner “Stoned and Feathered,” it could’ve been another band’s second or third record for the level of cohesion on display and the obvious awareness on the part of the band of what they wanted to do with their sound and the just-as-obvious result of their bringing it to life.
While I admit I’m still not 100 percent certain on whether to spell “kozmic” in the title with a ‘k’ or with a ‘c’ on the end, that question did nothing ultimately to diminish enjoyment of Denver emergents Cloud Catcher‘s sophomore outing. Topped off by one of the best album covers of the year, the follow-up to their 2015 debut, Enlightened Beyond Existence (discussed here), took the progressive casting of that record to a place entirely more raw and rock-driven, willfully roughing up the edges even as it showed marked creative growth on a relatively quick turnaround. The must-hear bass tone of “Beyond the Electric Sun” and “Super Acid Magick” was icing on a cake of choice riffing and Hendrixian lead swirl, and the shuffle they elicited was enough to make even the most stubborn of asses (i.e. mine) think about moving.
After the neo-garage manifestations of their 2015 sophomore outing, Valley of the Snake (review here), it was clear Philly psych rockers Ruby the Hatchet were a force when it came to songwriting. What was less obvious was what they’d do with that going forward. On Planetary Space Child, at least, the answer is they’ll take it to Freaktown. The melody-happy, organ-laced swirlmasters conjured presence kosmiche enough to justify the album’s title, and around the cast-in-moon-rock structures of the swinging “Pagan Ritual” and the playfully doomed “Symphony of the Night,” Ruby the Hatchet built a multifaceted weirdoist triumph the likes of which simply doesn’t come along every year, establishing themselves as more reliable and less predictable than ever: an absolute win.
It’s been the case more or less all along with UK forest rockers Alunah that their nature-minded material and heavy rolling grooves have had their haunting aspects, but with the production of Conan‘s Chris Fielding behind it, Solennial — their fourth LP and first on Svart — brought this to new levels entirely. The songs, memorable like footprints in the woods, are somewhat bittersweet in context now, since founding guitarist/vocalist Sophie Day announced in September she was leaving the band, but as the group will move forward led by guitarist Dave Day and recently acquired new singer Siân Greenaway, intrigue remains high at what the future might bring and the impact of Solennial is undiminished.
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15. Mindkult, Lucifer’s Dream
Released by Transcending Obscurity Records and Caligari Records.
Virginia-based doomgazing garage cult solo-project Mindkult has thus far managed to keep some of the mystique around its sole inhabitant, Fowst, which is admirable in a way. As the multi-instrmentalist, vocalist and producer this year answered the promise of last year’s Witch’s Oath (review here) debut, he did so around a swath of purposeful miseries, loose devil worship and other dark thematics, casting an atmospheric darkness matched head-on by the tonal murk of his riffs. Through this, however, the songwriting was no less memorable than on the first offering, and as the project moves forward, one can only hope that Fowst will continue to use that as the core aspect buried six feet under his other, formidable stylistic achievements. That certainly was how it worked out on Lucifer’s Dream.
Behold ye perhaps the most underrated band in heavy metal. Regardless of subgenre, style, strata, whatever, it’s hard to listen to From Fields of Fire and think of Pittsburgh’s Argus as anything else. The five-piece’s fourth album continued to owe part of its sound to doom, but was much more encompassing than simply that, touching on aspects of classic metal with a command that left one wondering how they hadn’t yet been tapped to open for Judas Priest on that band’s next tour. Victory abounds on a per-song basis throughout the nine-tracker, and whether it was the emotional crux of “Hour of Longing” or the catchy fistpump righteousness of “Devils of Your Time” or the 11-minute progressive reach of “Infinite Lives/Infinite Doors,” Argus once again crafted a work nigh-unmatched in poise and class.
For the first outing ever to be issued under his real name, Denmark’s Uffe Lorenzen — aka Lorenzo Woodrose of garage-psych pioneers Baby Woodrose — danced between acid folk singer-songwriterisms like “Flippertøs” and more expansive jamming on “På Kanten Af Verden,” all the while retaining his distinct structural and arrangement sensibilities and creating a flowing vibe that was nothing less than a pure joy of classic-form psychedelia. The most serene and pastoral freakout one was likely to witness in 2017, easily, Galmandsværk resounded in the Mellotron-laced “Høj Som Et Højhus” and was no less at home in the acoustic spaciousness of the earlier “Remits Tyranni,” able to wander where it pleased and find steady ground in molten surroundings.
A welcome return from a viciously underappreciated band, The Flying Eyes‘ Burning of the Season marked the Baltimore four-piece’s first offering for Ripple Music and first since 2013’s Lowlands (review here), a four-year stretch during which the band kept busy touring Europe and South America, the latter also being where they recorded these songs with Gabriel Zander at Estudio Superfuzz in Brazil. The tonal depth resulting from that process was enough to make the collection a highlight, but it was the songs themselves that most stood out, benefiting from the band’s expanded reach and legitimate, hard-won maturity. Especially for a group who’ve done so much work on the road over their years — to be fair, the US has been pretty low priority in that regard — they remain a secret kept too well.
Doomed extremity simply unmatched in its scope. The song of the year for 2017. An accomplishment the likes of which is prone to happen maybe once or twice in a generation. None of this seems to really speak to the entirety of the achievement that is Bell Witch‘s Mirror Reaper — the single-song, 83-minute full-length issued by the Seattle duo like a challenge in the face of mortality itself. Beautiful, devastating and weighted like the grave, its sprawl utterly consumed the listener, and I firmly believe it will be years before its depths are fully processed. Some offerings are bigger than the year in which they’re released. Mirror Reaper would seem to function on a scale of its own, and though it could easily be read as a litmus test for audience punishment, the truth of the listening experience is both more emotionally complex and more fulfilling than simple hyperbole can capture.
The story all along with Gothenburg’s Monolord has been tone. Tone tone tone. Crush crush crush. Riffs riffs riffs. Nothing wrong with any of that, but their third album, Rust, proves once and for all that there’s more to the trio than “cool riffs bro” and post-Electric Wizard nod. Catchy cuts like “Dear Lucifer” and rolling opener “Where Death Meets the Sea” brought a sense of space leading to the later sprawl of “Forgotten Lands” and “At Niceae,” and the band settled into an individualized, lumbering psychedelia that moved forward from 2015’s Vænir (review here), not leaving behind the heft that earned them their reputation, but not at all being limited by it either in scope or overall approach. Three records in, Rust brought forth Monolord‘s greatest sonic expansion yet and gave rise to the feeling that their true potential was just starting to come to fruition. Also, crush crush crush. Cool riffs, bro.
The Sunken Djinn is Vokonis‘ second full-length in as many years, and in addition to serving as their Ripple debut where 2016’s Olde One Ascending (review here) landed via Ozium Records, it was a feast for hungry riff hounds. In defiance of its quick turnaround, it showed a firm evolution taking place within the upstart Swedish trio of guitarist/vocalist Simona Ohlsson, bassist/backing vocalist Jonte Johansson and drummer Emil Larsson, whose range overall was greater in tracks like “Rapturous” and the torrential “Blood Vortex” while nonetheless controlled in its delivery. Their Sleep-y origins still a factor sound-wise, Vokonis were able just the same to push themselves ahead into new sonic ground in fittingly lumbering fashion, and the character they brought to “The Sunken Djinn,” “Calling from the Core” and the noise-caked “Maelstroem” seemed to speak to a burgeoning sense of atmospheric focus taking hold as well. Still so much potential here.
Do I even need to remotely justify having Electric Moon‘s first studio album in six years on this list? Was it not just like a love-letter issued by the cosmos itself? What more explanation could possibly be necessary? Not that the German trio haven’t dropped copious, glorious live outings all the while, but to have Dave “Sula Bassana” Schmidt, “Komet Lulu” Neudeck and Marcus Schnitzler follow-up 2011’s The Doomsday Machine (review here) with four cuts culminating in the 22-minute sprawl of “(You Will) Live Forever Now” was high on the list of the year’s most satisfying psychedelic journeys. Constantly exploring, their methods always seem geared toward finding the molten essence of space rock itself, and though the songs on Stardust Rituals were a little more crafted than some of their straight-up improv jams, they nonetheless showed there are many avenues one might take to get to the heart of the sun.
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7. Sun Blood Stories, It Runs Around the Room with Us
This one is personal, and by that I mean I love this fucking band. Similar to my experience with their 2015 sophomore outing, Twilight Midnight Morning (review here), the third record by Boise-based trio of Ben Kirby (vocals, guitar, synth, percussion), Amber Pollard (vocals, guitar, theremin, percussion) and Jon Fust (drums, keys, percussion, noise) was one that I simply could not put down. Even now, seeing the name of the record is all I need to have songs like “The Great Destroyer” and the immersive midsection in “Come Like Rain” and “Time Like Smoke” stuck in my head, let alone the ultra-brazen, searingly-pissed “Burn” noise assault that finished the album and in the span of 90 seconds turned all the psychedelic warmth and serenity on its face with a visceral anger completely unforeseen and jarring, turning it from a depth-laden execution of adventurous neo-psych and indie into a project of conceptual artistry with all the efficiency of the chemical reaction it sought to portray. If you missed it, your loss.
Songs like “Alaskan Thunder Fuck,” “Humble Brag” and “Earth Shaker (Which Doobie U Be?)” assured that the defining character of Force Field, the sixth album from New Jersey’s The Atomic Bitchwax, was pure scorch. That made the 12-cut outing a more than worthy follow-up for 2015’s Gravitron (review here), which introduced this more speed-rock-minded, aggressive delivery from the tight-as-nails trio, and while they proved they could still lock in a slower groove on the organ-topped finisher “Liv a Little,” head-spinners like the instrumental “Fried, Dyed and Layin’ to the Side” and “Houndstooth” came across like the fruit of the band pushing themselves to the limits of their physical ability in terms of tempo, and their ride along the edge of that line brought thrills at every turn. And make no mistake, there were a lot of turns. Fortunately, bassist/vocalist Chris Kosnik, guitarist/vocalist Finn Ryan and drummer Bob Pantella seemingly had a corresponding hook in their pocket for each one of them. This band is a national treasure.
Warm, fuzzy tones, rhythmic shifts right out of classic progressive rock, melodic intricacy and periodic excursions into glorious psychedelic drift: I’m not sure what wasn’t to like about Inerte, Atavismo‘s second full-length behind 2014’s Desintegración (review here). Comprising five tracks of unmistakable flow and jam-laden fluidity, it was immersive with landmarks along the way to keep the listener from getting too lost, and whether or not one spoke Spanish, the three-piece of Jose “Poti” Moreno (ex-Viaje a 800, Mind!), bassist/vocalist Mateo and drummer/vocalist Sandri Pow (also ex-Mind!) made it easy to follow along their purposefully meandering path, offering guidance no less skillful on the 11-minute fuzz-freaker “El Sueño” than the dream-toned linear build of “Belleza Cuatro.” There were very, very few albums I listened to more this year than this one, which is precisely why it is where it is on this list.
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4. Samsara Blues Experiment, One with the Universe
Released by Electric Magic Records and Abraxas Records. Reviewed May 4.
Four years between records isn’t at all an unheard of stretch. It’s not the longest on this list by any means. But with Berlin heavy psych rockers Samsara Blues Experiment, it really seemed like the band was done, so to have them come back with such force on One with the Universe was, as I know I said at several points throughout the last 12 months, one of the year’s total highlights. Tracked by former bassist Richard Behrens, the group’s fourth album answered the extended-track spread of 2013’s Waiting for the Flood (review here) with a deeper sense of sonic variety, and while the 15-minute title-cut and opener “Vispassana” still had plenty of room for jamming out and even six-minute centerpiece “Glorious Daze” found room for some flourish of organ and sitar, guitarist/vocalist Christian Peters, drummer Thomas Vedder and bassist Hans Eiselt rightly featured the chemistry they’ve built as a trio live and brought to the songs a renewed sense of vigor, sounding — and hopefully being — truly inspired. Waiting for the Flood capped a period of marked productivity across several years. Fingers crossed One with the Universe begins that cycle anew.
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3. Elder, Reflections of a Floating World
Released by Armageddon Shop and Stickman Records. Reviewed May 23.
You just can’t consider Elder‘s Reflections of a Floating World outside the context of the progressive achievement that was their prior outing, 2015’s Lore (review here). Where the trio — based now between Massachusetts and Berlin, Germany — took their first two outings, 2008’s self-titled debut (discussed here) and 2011’s Dead Roots Stirring (review here), to find their sound, which they began to showcase on the 2012 Spires Burn/Release EP (review here), it was Lorethat brought to fruition the potential that had always been waiting to be unleashed by the trio of guitarist/vocalist Nick DiSalvo, bassist Jack Donovan and drummer Matt Couto, and Reflections of a Floating Worldhad the daunting task of being the next further step from that landmark moment. To say the band rose to the occasion is perhaps to undersell the cohesion at work in consuming-but-cohesive pieces like opener “Sanctuary” or “Blind” or “Staving off the Truth,” which brought together clear-headed psychedelia around a wash that seemed to stem as much from rhythm as melody. As they’ve matured stylistically and become a major touring presence, Elder have made themselves perhaps the most pivotal American heavy rock act going, and Reflections of a Floating World brings them to the discovery of yet another apex while at the same time giving zero indication it will be the last one they find.
Of course, the bonus of writing about Colour Haze in just about any context is that you get to put Colour Haze on while you’re doing it, and in the case of the 12th LP from these Munich heavy psych forebears, that’s an even more appealing prospect. After stripping down some of the arrangement flourish with 2014’s To the Highest Gods We Know (review here), the 13-track/73-minute 2LP In Her Garden brought a revitalized sonic expansion, but as ever, it wasn’t just the horns or the strings or the blend of keys and acoustics that made In Her Garden the unbridled joy that it was and continues to be — it was the underlying performance from guitarist/vocalist Stefan Koglek, bassist Philipp Rasthofer and drummer Manfred Merwald that gave the album the stem on which its garden grew. That’s not to say Jan Faszbender‘s work on modular synth, Rhodes, and Hammond or the arrangements of strings, tuba, bass-clarinet and trombone throughout hurt anything, just that as Colour Haze have grown into incorporating these elements into their groundbreaking aesthetic, they haven’t left behind the organic chemistry and necessary live feel that has helped them influence a generation of followers over their more than 20-year career. One came through as much as the other on In Her Garden, and that balance gave the overarching warmth of their self-recorded tonality yet another level on which to engage their audience. I’ll be a sucker for Colour Haze for as long as I live, and I have absolutely no problem admitting to and owning that.
It was clear early on that Nashville four-piece All Them Witches were contending hard for Album of the Year with Sleeping Through the War, their fourth long-player and second for New West following the mellow vibes of 2015’s Dying Surfer Meets His Maker (review here). What finally sealed it? The songs. Working with producer Dave Cobb, the each-member-essential lineup of bassist/vocalist Michael Parks, Jr., guitarist Ben McLeod, key-specialist Allan van Cleave (Rhodes, Mellotron, piano, organ, etc.) and drummer/graphic artist Robby Staebler solidified their approach in exciting new ways on early cuts like the grunge-crunching “Don’t Bring Me Coffee” and the shuffling “Bruce Lee,” which hit in succession following the fluid lead-in of opener “Bulls,” an introduction of the organic psychedelia and heavy blues that the loose-swinging of “3-5-7″‘s nigh-on-gospel chorus and subsequent, almost maddeningly catchy “Am I Going Up?” would continue to push outward, thereby setting a linear course into a consciousness-capturing side B with “Alabaster” and the jammier “Cowboy Kirk” and “Internet” playing between melodic nuance and mindful, go-with-it drift. The unflinching strength of the material was matched perhaps only by the understatement of its delivery, which was the more staggering considering how easily the arrangements of background vocals on “Am I Going Up?” or “3-5-7” could have come through as overblown or self-indulgent, and by the time they got down to the light weirdo-bluesy stomp of “Internet” — the key lyric and hook being, “Guess I’ll go live on the internet” — there was no doubting the genuine nature of the realization Sleeping Through the Warrepresented for All Them Witches. Coupling that feeling of achievement with the sheer repeatability of the listening experience itself left no doubt that 2017 belonged to these tracks and the marvelous way the band wove between them, and that whatever other sounds All Them Witches may go on to explore and whatever else they may accomplish as a result, Sleeping Through the War was a truly special moment in their evolution that, as with the best of offerings in any year, will continue to resonate long after the calendar page has turned.
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The Next 20
You know, I used to feel like once you got past a top 20, the numbers were arbitrary. Then I felt that way about the top 30. This year, I think I agonized more about what to include in numbers 31-50 than I did between 30 and the album of the year. Put that in your “go figure” file while you chew on these picks:
31. Cities of Mars, Temporal Rifts
32. The Midnight Ghost Train, Cypress Ave.
33. Snowy Dunes, Atlantis
34. Rozamov, This Mortal Road
35. PH, Eternal Hayden
36. Sasquatch, Maneuvers
37. Young Hunter, Dayhiker
38. The Devil and the Almighty Blues, II
39. Ufomammut, 8
40. John Garcia, The Coyote Who Spoke in Tongues
41. Paradise Lost, Medusa
42. Beastmaker, Inside the Skull
43. Arduini / Balich, Dawn of Ages
44. Primitive Man, Caustic
45. Motorpsycho, The Tower
46. Arbouretum, Song of the Rose
47. Hymn, Perish
48. Youngblood Supercult, The Great American Death Rattle
49. Pallbearer, Heartless
50. Dool, Here Now There Then
There’s so, so much good stuff here. So much. The Cities of Mars debut was a treasure and the only reason it wasn’t on my top debuts list was because I haven’t had the chance to go back in and put it on. The Young Hunter record? Some of their best work yet. Hell, that Arduini / Balich album alone! Then you’ve got huge releases by Pallbearer, Ufomammut, Paradise Lost, Primitive Man, on and on. Like I said at the outset, one more album and my head was gonna explode this year. Way too much to ever hope to keep up with. One thing though I felt like I really wanted to emphasize including was Dool. They’re in the last spot, but make no mistake, in atmosphere and songwriting that album was something really special and loaded with potential. It’s not there because it came in last. It’s there to highlight the point of how much it should be on this list.
What’s that? More records? Okay…
Honorable Mentions
In case you also weren’t completely overwhelmed this year, maybe another batch of records will do the trick. Here’s some presented alphabetically:
Anathema, The Optimist
Blackfinger, When Colors Fade Away
Child, Blueside
Cortez, The Depths Below
Demon Eye, Prophecies and Lies
Elbrus, Elbrus
Electric Wizard, Wizard Bloody Wizard
Ecstatic Vision, Raw Rock Fury
Five Horse Johnson, Jake Leg Boogie
Mirror Queen, Verdigris
The Obsessed, Sacred
T.G. Olson, Foothills Before the Mountain
Outsideinside, Sniff a Hot Rock
Queens of the Stone Age, Villains
Siena Root, A Dream of Lasting Peace
Six Organs of Admittance, Burning the Threshold
Steak, No God to Save
Summoner, Beyond the Realm of Light
Valborg, Endstrand
With the Dead, Love from With the Dead
Plus: Abronia, Lewis and the Strange Magics, Iron Monkey, Band of Spice, Puta Volcano, Galley Beggar, Heavy Traffic, Coltsblood, REZN, Green Meteor, Demon Head, Lord, Grigax, The Raynbow, Carpet, Norska, Les Lekin, Slow, Ixion, and I’m sure more that I’ll add as the names continue to pop into my head.
I did this back in June as well, but I also want to draw attention to a swath of quality live albums that came out this year. The top pick should be no surprise if you’ve been hanging around the site of late:
Live Albums:
1. SubRosa, Subdued Live at Roadburn
2. Causa Sui, Live in Copenhagen
3. Slomatics, Futurians Live at Roadburn
4. My Sleeping Karma, Mela Ananda – Live
5. Wight, Fusion Rock Invasion
5. Death Alley, Live at Roadburn
Thank You
It’s been a hell of a year, obviously. Musically and otherwise. As always, I cannot possibly come close to thanking you enough for your incredible and ongoing support of The Obelisk, of what this site is, what it’s become over its nearly nine-year run, what it will continue to become going forward from here. It is astounding to me and deeply humbling that you would possibly take time out of your busy day and your busy life to check out what’s going on here, and words fail me continually when it comes to feeling like I can properly convey my appreciation for that. Thank you for reading. Thank you for reading. Thank you for reading. Tattoo it on my forehead.
Thank you to The Patient Mrs. for understanding how much I need to be doing this, to Slevin for keeping the site running on the technical end, to Behrang Alavi for taking over hosting earlier this year, to my family for their ongoing support, to The Pecan for sleeping late some mornings and giving me time to write, and to everyone who ever shared a link on social media or made a comment on a post or anything like that. To long-time readers and to newcomers alike — thank you so much. This year has seen a fair share of ups and downs, but the support this site gets sustains me in ways I never expected it could, and that would be impossible without you. Please know how crucial that is to me.
Well, that should do it. I know there are probably disagreements about where things landed on the list, what was included, what was left out, etc., as there always are. All comments are of course welcome — only thing I’d ask is you please keep it civil and respectful of the opinions of others. Otherwise, have at it. Please.
Posted in Podcasts on December 26th, 2017 by JJ Koczan
So this is something I’ve never done before. I’m not exactly what you’d call an early adopter when it comes to new technology, but this weekend I finally signed up for Spotify and decided to give a shot at putting together a year-end playlist through that rather than doing the standard podcast. Aside from a kind of ongoing latent concern about essentially giving away downloads of music that doesn’t belong to me via the old mp3 files — no one’s ever said anything and I always figured it was okay since songs were bundled together as one file — this just seemed more useful in allowing people to explore different artists, albums, etc. If you disagree, I’m sorry.
I can’t say I won’t ever go back to the other way, or that I’ll actively enjoy having a Spotify account enough to keep it, and so on, but it’s something new to try, so I’m giving it a shot. The playlist turned out to be nine hours and 12 minutes long, and once I got going, I couldn’t really resist making it 65 tracks, what with it being the 64th podcast and all. One to grow on.
As always, I hope you enjoy. Thanks for listening:
Track details:
• Artist, Track, Album, Runtime
• Elder, Sanctuary, Reflections of a Floating World, 00:11:13
• All Them Witches, Am I Going Up?, Sleeping Through the War, 00:05:33
• Lo-Pan, Pathfinder, In Tensions, 00:06:22
• MOON RATS, Heroic Dose, Highway Lord, 00:04:27
• Bees Made Honey in the Vein Tree, Medicine, Medicine, 00:06:38
• Mindkult, Lucifer’s Dream, Lucifer’s Dream, 00:09:06
• Brume, Reckon, Rooster, 00:09:12
• Riff Fist, King Tide, King Tide, 00:11:20
• Monolord, Dear Lucifer, Rust, 00:08:41
• Hymn, Serpent, Perish, 00:07:32
• Vinnum Sabbathi, Gravity Waves, Gravity Works, 00:08:26
• Electric Wizard, Wicked Caresses, Wizard Bloody Wizard, 00:06:43
• Ruby the Hatchet, Symphony of the Night, Planetary Space Child, 00:07:08
• Telekinetic Yeti, Colossus, Abominable, 00:08:56
• Bong Wish, My Luv, Bong Wish, 00:02:31
• Radio Moscow, New Skin, New Beginnings, 00:03:02
• Cloud Catcher, Celestial Empress, Trails of Kozmic Dust, 00:05:41
• The Atomic Bitchwax, Humble Brag, Force Field, 00:02:52
• Sasquatch, Just Couldn’t Stand the Weather, Maneuvers, 00:06:27
• Kadavar, Die Baby Die, Rough Times, 00:04:18
• Cities of Mars, Children of the Red Sea, Temporal Rifts, 00:08:27
• Argus, You Are the Curse, From Fields of Fire, 00:06:23
• Comacozer, Hylonomus, Kalos Eidos Skopeo, 00:13:43
• Samsara Blues Experiment, One with the Universe, One with the Universe, 00:15:02
• Orango, Heirs, The Mules of Nana, 00:04:46
• Siena Root, Tales of Independence, A Dream of Lasting Peace, 00:03:39
• Demon Head, Older Now, Thunder on the Fields, 00:04:17
• Sun Blood Stories, Great Destroyer, It Runs Around the Room with Us, 00:06:11
• Spaceslug, Time Travel Dilemma, Time Travel Dilemma, 00:10:07
• Arc of Ascent, Hexagram, Realms of the Metaphysical, 00:07:34
• Causa Sui, Seven Hills, Vibraciones Doradas, 00:07:24
• Alunah, Fire of Thornborough Henge, Solennial, 00:05:32
• Vokonis, Calling From The Core, The Sunken Djinn, 00:06:03
• Enslaved, Sacred Horse, E, 00:08:12
• Dvne, Edenfall, Asheran, 00:07:04
• The Midnight Ghost Train, Break My Love, Cypress Ave., 00:03:33
• The Obsessed, It’s Only Money, Sacred, 00:02:35
• Mothership, Crown of Lies, High Strangeness, 00:05:41
• Geezer, Red Hook, Psychoriffadelia, 00:06:02
• Uffe Lorenzen, Flippertøs, Galmandsværk, 00:02:46
• Youngblood Supercult, Master of None, The Great American Death Rattle, 00:04:01
• Beastmaker, Nature of the Damned, Inside the Skull, 00:03:26
• Pallbearer, I Saw the End, Heartless, 00:06:21
• Paradise Lost, Blood and Chaos, Medusa, 00:03:51
• Rozamov, Wind Scorpion, This Mortal Road, 00:08:49
• Eternal Black, Sea of Graves, Bleed the Days, 00:06:33
• Demon Eye, Politic Divine, Prophecies and Lies, 00:03:40
• Snowy Dunes, Ritual of Voices, Atlantis, 00:07:17
• The Devil and the Almighty Blues, Low, II, 00:08:49
• Abronia, Glass Butte Retribution, Obsidian Visions / Shadowed Lands, 00:06:09
• John Garcia, Kylie, The Coyote Who Spoke in Tongues, 00:04:58
• Tuna de Tierra, Raise of the Lights, Tuna de Tierra, 00:07:09
• Colour Haze, Lotus, In Her Garden, 00:07:05
• IAH, Stolas, IAH, 00:08:39
• Fungus Hill, Are You Dead, Creatures, 00:08:54
• Atavismo, El Sueño, Inerte, 00:11:18
• Tuber, Noman, Out of the Blue, 00:08:14
• Spidergawd, What You Have Become, Spidergawd IV, 00:03:44
• Puta Volcano, Bird, Harmony of Spheres, 00:05:07
• Ufomammut, Core, 8, 00:05:15
• Kings Destroy, None More, None More, 00:14:03
• PH, Looking Back at Mr. Peter Hayden, Eternal Hayden, 00:16:44
• Mt. Mountain, Dust, Dust, 00:17:15
• Electric Moon, Live Forever Now (You Will), Stardust Rituals, 00:22:41
• Bell Witch, Mirror Reaper, Mirror Reaper, 01:23:15
This past week, I traveled to Sweden for the first and hopefully not the last time, and accordingly, I put forth the question in the Obelisk Facebook group wondering what were people’s picks for the best Swedish heavy rock album ever. Siena Root‘s 2004 debut, A New Day Dawning, was floated among many, many others, and as it had been a while, it seemed like a prime opportunity for a revisit.
