Denver’s Abrams aligning to Small Stone Records makes a lot of sense as far as matching bands and labels goes. The band have been belting out hooky, well-crafted and progressive-melody-edged heavy rock and roll since before their debut album, Lust. Love. Loss. (review here), and even the snare drum that begins album opener/first streaming single “Like Hell” seems like an instruction to stand up and take note. So be it. I haven’t heard the full record yet — it’s out Sept. 9, so yeah, plenty of time for these things — but the band’s penchant for songcraft is long since proven in my mind. Really, from that first record on, Zach Amster and company have delivered a professional-quality product while keeping an underground edge to their material. A band ready to make a mark and a label that might let them do it? As I said, a good match.

The PR wire brings details and streaming audio. Side note, I very much look forward to hearing “East Coast Dreams,” which I imagine is about finding good pizza and bagels while people are inexplicably rude to you. Or, if it’s the South, racism. Either way, dudes might want to start dreaming in the other direction, where the grass — at least until it gets consumed by an all-year-season wildfire or turned into a techbro billionaire’s compound– is genuinely greener.

Preorders are up now:

ABRAMS: Denver Rock Outfit To Release In The Dark September 9th Via Small Stone Recordings; “Like Hell” Streaming + Preorders Available

Denver rock outfit ABRAMS will release their new full-length, In The Dark, on September 9th via Small Stone Recordings, today revealing the album’s first official single and preorders.

Initially seeking to fuse melodic hooks with dissonance, ABRAMS began in 2013 in Denver, Colorado, with guitarist/vocalist Zach Amster and bassist/vocalist Taylor Iversen. Later joined by drummer Ryan DeWitt, ABRAMS has released an EP and three studio albums, all to critical acclaim. With each release the listener can hear the band evolving and maturing to what it has become today. A band dedicated to compelling songwriting, and energetic live performances, ABRAMS ups the ante with the moody, heavy, psychedelic rock venture of their forthcoming LP, In The Dark.

Adding Patrick Alberts (Call Of The Void) to the lineup, In The Dark serves as ABRAMS’ first release as a four-piece, following behind 2020’s Modern Ways. With the pandemic cancelling all touring plans for Modern Ways, ABRAMS immediately got to work demoing more than twenty-five plus songs for their next release. Given the world was in lockdown, Amster took a deep dive to learn the ins and outs of home recording to refine song structure, with a hyperfocus put on vocal hooks. There was a goal set to have as complete and polished songs as possible prior to entering the studio in Summer of 2021 with producer, engineer, and collaborator Dave Otero (Khemmis, Cattle Decapitation) at Flatline Audio who was the last piece in shaping the final soundscape.

The new collection is a fine-tuned, forty-five-minute sonic journey detailing the angers, fears, frustrations, and joys inherent in living in a world gone mad. With cinematic guitar riffs, brooding leads, and addictive vocal hooks, ABRAMS conjures a mature, polished, and intensely passionate craft, urgent but not at all rushed. There are hints of early AmRep mixed in with the larger sounds of ‘90s alt heroes Failure, Quicksand, and Hum. Combine that with the heaviness of recent Mastodon and stoner psychedelia of All Them Witches and you get In The Dark.

In advance of the record’s release, ABRAMS is pleased to unveil first single, “Like Hell.” Notes the band, “‘Like Hell’ was a no brainer decision for us when deciding what song should lead off the record. It’s one of our heavier songs that grabs your attention from the get-go. There’s a little something here for every rock fan – hooky vocals, heavy riffs, pounding drums, and even some HM2 [distortion] for those metalheads out there. I’d like to think if Queens Of The Stone Age played on Trap Them’s guitar rig, you’d get this song. Enjoy!”

In The Dark features cover art by Robin Gnista and will be available on CD, LP, and digitally. Find preorders at THIS LOCATION: https://smallstone.bandcamp.com/album/in-the-dark

In The Dark Track Listing:
1. Like Hell
2. Death Tripper
3. Better Living
4. In The Clouds
5. Fever Dreams
6. Body Pillow
7. Leather Jacket
8. White Sand
9. In The Dark
10. Black Tar Mountain
11. East Coast Dreams (Digital Bonus Track)

ABRAMS:
Zachary Amster – guitar, vocals
Taylor Iversen – bass, vocals
Ryan DeWitt – drums
Patrick Alberts – guitar

https://www.facebook.com/abramsrock
https://www.instagram.com/abramstheband
http://www.smallstone.com
http://www.facebook.com/smallstonerecords
http://twitter.com/SSRecordings
http://www.instagram.com/smallstonerecords

Abrams, In the Dark (2022)

Hot damn. I don’t know that I’d forgotten how good this album is, but the refresher of putting it on again is certainly welcome. Salt Lake City’s Dwellers came about in 2009, and were of immediate note because of the involvement of guitarist/vocalist Joey Toscano, whose previous band, Iota, who once upon a 2008 put out a record called Tales (discussed here, discussed here) that no home should be without. As with any number of very good things, Iota didn’t last, and from their first posted tracks, Dwellers seemed to carry some elements forward while also exploring a heavier, psychedelic blues style. This would turn to be prescient on the part of the three-piece, which also included drummer Zach Hatsis and bassist Dave Jones, both then of SubRosa. As rhythm sections go, not too shabby.

Pagan Fruit (review here) followed behind 2012’s Good Morning Harakiri (review here; vinyl review here), with Jones adding organ, Hatsis vibraphone and Rhodes and other synth, Toscano playing a bit of harmonica, and so on to add to its bluesy flair. Seven years after the fact, in addition to the languid swing that is such a defining factor from early cuts “Creature Comfort” and the mega-catchy “Totem Crawler” onward into the even-more-open “Return to the Sky,” the album — released in 2014 as their second LP on Small Stone — remains organic in its production by Andy Patterson (who was in Iota as well and would eventually drum in the final incarnation of SubRosa; he’s also been in any number of other projects), deep in the mix by Eric Hoegemeyer and abidingly fluid in its construction. One can hear early All Them Witches showing up in the dreamy Rhodes notes floating over the end of “Return to the Sky,” and the later inclusion of Genevieve Smith‘s cello on “Spirit of the Staircase” adds to that song’s sense of foreboding in a way that only reaffirms the forward potential that still existed in Dwellers at this stage of their run.

So too the rollout of “Rare Eagle” at the end of side A and the album finale “Call of the Hallowed Horn” — guest vocals in the latter by Raven Quinn — both of which are longer form works despite being individually immersive along their own course. That is, it’s not just Dwellers jamming out twice in the same way from one to the other, though honestly, if it was, I doubt I’d be sitting here complaining about it. “Rare Eagle” hypnotizes after the salvo of hooks in “Creature Comfort,” “Totem Crawler” and “Return to the Sky,” where “Call of the Hallowed Horn,” with the prominent organ work, layered vocal melody earlier and the guest spot arriving later, pays off some of the moodier aspects of “Son of Raven” and “Spirit of the Staircase” while also accounting for the twisting solo work on “Devoured by Lions” and the boogie shove in the penultimate “Waiting on Winter” — side B is a back and forth in terms of tempo and the physical momentum of the songs — in its tonal fullness and motion persisting despite the drifting sections of its second half.

Does it all. It slices, it dices, it purees. It shreds and contemplates. It worships. It casts forth on a 47-minute course of nine songs each of which I’m thankful for since it turned out that Pagan Fruit was the final Dwellers studio record, followed just by a digital-only live release, also in 2014. When I went back to dig into links for this post (very purposefully didn’t read the reviews), there’s not a peep from the band by the end of 2014. They were in that year’s best-of coverage, but then that’s it. Of course, one doesn’t know if they had any idea going into Pagan Fruit that it was going to be their final release, but if I feel like sometimes a band has a sense for when things are winding down even if they don’t realize it. Maybe it’s a feeling that they’ve pushed as far as they can go along a particular path and it’s time for something else? I don’t know. It doesn’t have to be conscious.

I’ve spent some significant time wondering what a third Dwellers album would’ve been like, speculating on where they might’ve gone sound-wise in terms of building on the post-Black Keys vibe to which they add such weight of tone and atmosphere here. Would they have stripped back? Added more to the arrangements? There’s so much to build on in the songs on Pagan Fruit — each track has something to it, even if it’s the chorus of “Son of Raven” or “Totem Crawler”‘s non-sexist overtly sexual longing — that it’s easy to think they might have continued to broaden the psychedelic aspects at work in these tracks, to have pushed deeper into the airy dug-in stretches of “Call of the Hallowed Horn” — while we’re talking about sex… — but at the same time, if they did an entire record like “Rare Eagle,” just running out on jammier fare altogether, or decided to go full-time with a cello and composed an entire collection of songs with “Spirit of the Staircase” as a foundation, who the hell would have argued?

This is a record of which I was and am a genuine fan. I wrote a lot about Dwellers (not in the last seven years, apparently, but at the time) and even before I put Pagan Fruit on, from the moment I had the idea to close out this week with it, I could hear the songs in my head. The word is “memorable.” This is a memorable album, comprised of memorable tracks, on whatever format one might encounter it, be it CD, vinyl, download, etc. There might even be a tape version out there somewhere, I don’t know. My ideal is someone who’s never heard it hears it and is like, “oh shit, I never knew,” but really, I’m just happy to have had the chance to hit play on this after some measure of time. If you might be as well, that’s cool too.

Together, perhaps, we can wonder “Oh, what could’ve been” on a third album, and hold an asterisk that crazier things have happened than a band coming back after seven, nearly eight, years to put one out.

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

—

So. Tomorrow, I’m going up to Woodstock, New York, to do an in-studio with A BAND for the weekend. I’m not sure I’m allowed to say who it is or what. I guess I’ll figure that out tomorrow and that will dictate how I handle the ensuing, inevitable, writing and photography. Maybe I’ll have a post or two up next week about it, maybe they’ll prefer I don’t post until later. King Buffalo had me hold off for months about Acheron, and I’m not gonna be like “hey freedom of the press don’t tell me what to do!” when a band is kind enough to invite me to see their process like that. I’m just not that kind of asshole. So I’ll talk to THE BAND and see what they think and go from there.

Next week though is also year-end coverage. Don’t expect much on Monday or Tuesday as I’m trying to put my final lists together and get the writing done. I’m both looking forward to and dreading it, to be honest, which is how I know it’s time to do the doing.

I’m pretty sure the Gimme Metal show that was supposed to air last week and didn’t will also air next week. I don’t think they’re adjusting schedules for my ass, in any case.

The Patient Mrs. and I finished the Get Back documentary this week. I take my Beatles very personally. Like Charles Manson, only without the underlying psychopathology that would have me believe they’re only speaking to me in their songs — in fact they’re speaking to everyone at a one-on-one level — and we saved the rooftop concert to watch with The Pecan. Highlight of my time as a parent so far to look over at him next to me on the couch and see him tapping his foot to “Get Back” and to shimmy a little bit to “One After 909.” Fucking a. Amid my myriad failures, at least I’m doing something right.

I’ll end on that note since it’s a positive one and last week was such a bummer. I got a few nice messages from people, comments, etc., and I very much appreciate that. But it’s not why I write something like that. I feel the need to say that because I don’t want anyone to be like, “Oh man, dude’s bumming again I now feel obligated to say something nice.” Please don’t. It’s something I need to do. I need to be honest to the moment I’m in when I’m in that moment. It’s not about spreading awareness of dudes with comfortable lives being depressed. I’m pretty sure anyone who sees anything I write knows that exists. I’m not trying to make some grand statement. I just want to work through my own shit, and for me, a big part of that is writing about when I’m having a hard time. Again, thank you for your support, and huge thanks to everyone who reached out, but I don’t want anybody to feel like I’m some cloying vagueposting shit trying to get attention for himself. I’m trying to feel my way through the end of a long week.

Today, I’ll note, feels better than last Friday at this time. That’s what life is. Ups and downs. Both are worth sentences in my mind.

Have a great and safe weekend. Depending on what THE BAND says, I’ll either be posting social media/other updates or just working on my year-end list while I’m up north. Either way, it’ll be a good time. I’ll do my best to remember to hydrate and hope you will as well. Be safe out there. Back Monday with… something…. maybe. Ha.

FRM.

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Oviedo, Spain, heavy rockers Green Desert Water released their third album, Black Harvest, last month on Small Stone Records and Kozmik Artifactz, celebrating fuzzy songcraft and a vision of groove that manages to sound like “nothin’ too fancy” while bridging decades of influence as only quality heavy can. In their ’70s-meets’90s riff-driven heavy blues vibe, they are the quintessential Small Stone act; it is an international stock and trade the label has engaged since Halfway to Gone and Dixie Witch roamed the land — not to mention Kozmik Artifactz with more than a decade under its belt in Europe — and certainly Green Desert Water‘s 2018 offering, The Deepest Sea (review here), fit that bill as well. If anything, the steady AC/DC roll of “The Whale” and the catchier hook of “Too Many Wizards” (video premiering below) and the too-clearheaded-in-structure-to-be-psychedelic-but-still-kind-of-trippy pairing of “Sacred Tree” and “Dead Sacred Tree” at the record’s outset only show the trip of guitarist/vocalist Kike Sanchís, bassist Juan Arias García and drummer Dani Barcena as having refined their approach and songwriting.

That’s true of Black Harvest‘s shorter and longer songs alike. In total, the album runs seven tracks and 38 minutes — a tidy LP length — but it divides that almost on a per-track basis between longer and shorter pieces, gradually evening out as side B closes. “Sacred Tree” and “Dead Sacred Tree” — which run directly one into the other — are both about four minutes long, but if one takes them as a single entity as they’d essentially be on vinyl, then the shift to “Too Many Wizards” becomes even more striking, even though “Dead Sacred Tree” works just fine on its own anyhow, bringing its weighted riff to a post-Sabbath shuffle with organic ’70s shove. “Too Many Wizards” is the shortest inclusion at 3:36, but has fuzz and swagger both in supply to last much longer, and gives itself over to the more methodical title-track, which tops seven minutes and caps side A with due ebbs and flows, a guest-spot on guitar from Wo Fat‘s Kent Stump doing nothing to hurt their deceptively patient cause.

“The Whale,” “Shelter of Guru” and “Soul Blind” — five, eight and six minutes long, respectively — continue the pattern somewhat, but by the time the first of them picks up from the drop at the end of “Black Harvest,” Green Desert Water are long since locked into the full-album flow that carries them through the remainder of the outing. Without making a show of largesse, “The Whale” brings a plodding first half into a shuffling second marked by highlight basswork from García beneath Sanchís‘ guitar and a quick flash of cowbell from Barcena snuck in there as well. The drums begin “Shelter of Guru” as well, but it’s the riff that ultimately leads the procession into its nod and extended solo section, finding gallop late but making the speed count for something in selling the energy built up over the course of the song prior, leaving “Soul Blind” a natural place to start mellow and work its way into its own thrusts of volume, one, then another, before closing out the proceedings with a last lick of guitar and some residual lower hum.

Which is as fitting as anything, because like the rest of Black Harvest before it, “Soul Blind” makes complex songwriting ideas sound easy. Some bands just know how to put together a record. Green Desert Water sound utterly natural doing so, as if it could not and would not be something other than it is. All the more fortunate, then, for anyone who’d take the record on.

The clip for “Too Many Wizards” premieres below, and the full album stream for Black Harvest is down near the bottom of the post. You’ll find it above all the copious links. You know the way.

Enjoy:

Green Desert Water, “Too Many Wizards” video premiere

“Too Many Wizards” is the third track from Green Desert Water’s 2021 LP called Black Harvest.

Black Harvest is available on CD and digital formats via Small Stone and limited edition LP (deluxe gatefold) via Kozmik Artifactz. Find ordering options HERE where the record can be streamed in full: https://smallstone.bandcamp.com/album/black-harvest

GREEN DESERT WATER:
Juan Arias García – fuzz bass
Dani Barcena – drums, percussion
Kike Sanchís – guitars, vocals

Guests:
Kent Stump – additional guitar on “Black Harvest”
Alvaro Barcena – backing vocals

Green Desert Water, Black Harvest (2021)

Green Desert Water on Facebook

Green Desert Water on Instagram

Green Desert Water on Twitter

Small Stone Records website

Small Stone Records on Facebook

Small Stone Records on Twitter

Small Stone Records on Instagram

Kozmik Artifactz website

Kozmik Artifactz on Facebook

Kozmik Artifactz on Instagram

Kozmik Artifactz on Twitter

Portuguese heavy rockers Miss Lava today premiere their new live outing, DeLores Session. Earlier this year, the Lisboa mainstays offered up Doom Machine (review here) through Small Stone Records and Kozmik Artifactz and thereby pushed their own creative limits and songwriting processes — neither of which one would call lacking previously — to newfound heights, turning tragic personal circumstance into triumph of expressive craft.

And yeah, that’s all well and good, but how about some damn shows? You know the story there, sadly enough. I’ve never had the pleasure of seeing Miss Lava live, let alone for their new album, but damn, they bring it. With crisp audio production and a multi-camera shoot, the four-piece who after this said goodbye to drummer J. Garcia tear into tracks taken almost entirely from Doom Machine — “I’m the Asteroid” comes from 2016’s Sonic Debris (review here). It’s a killer set, and if they had any pandemic-era dust to kick off, I certainly couldn’t tell.

It’s the kind of performance that a band might ultimately decide to put out as a live album, and wouldn’t you know it, in between my booking this premiere and today, that actually happened. The ‘DeLores Session,’ which you can watch in its entirety below, is out today for Bandcamp Friday. More info and the always important purchase link follows the clip below.

Please enjoy:

Miss Lava, ‘DeLores Session’ video premiere

Miss Lava on ‘DeLores Session’:

When Portugal opened after COVID we just wanted to get out there and play. The guys from Psychedelic Film Festival reached out to ask if we could do a performance of two to three songs for their online festival Rock Against PTSD. We really love playing these songs. So we just went ahead, called our friends from The Quartet of Woah! and took our gear to their place at Casa DeLores. Then we rocked out these songs, way more than originally planned, with the help of our mutual friend and producer Fernando Matias (he did “Sonic Debris” with us and all of TQOW! albums).

All in all we had a great day among friends, drank a few beers and had some pizza. It turned out this is J. Garcia’s last recording with the band. It feels great to have it documented like this and to release it as a freebie!

We really like listening to the raw approach on the songs, with all the fucks up and everything. It’s honest rawk. Hope you all dig it.

Purchase link: https://smallstone.bandcamp.com/album/delores-session

Tracklist:
1 – Feel Surreal – Live
2 – I’m the Asteroid – Live
3 – Sleepy Warm – Live
4 – Brotherhood of Eternal Love – Live
5 – The Oracle – Live
6 – The Great Divide – Live
7 – The Fall – Live
8 – Fourth Dimension – Live
9 – In the Mire – Live
10 – Magma – Live
11 – Doom Machine – Live

Recorded May 1st, 2021 at “Casa DeLores” in Lisbon, Portugal. Produced by WH!, Pentagon Audio Manufacturers and Miss Lava. Recorded, engineered, mixed and mastered by Fernando Matias.

Special thanks to “The Quartet of Woah!”

Miss Lava:
Johnny Lee – Vocals
Ricardo Ferreira – Bass and Vocals
K. Raffah – Guitars
J. Garcia – Drums

Miss Lava, Doom Machine (2021)

Miss Lava on Facebook

Miss Lava on Instagram

Miss Lava on Bandcamp

Small Stone Records on Bandcamp

Small Stone Records website

Kozmik Artifactz on Facebook

Kozmik Artifactz website

Spanish heavy psych blues rockers Green Desert Water have set a Nov. 5 release for their new album, Black Harvest. To herald the opening of preorders, Small Stone is streaming “Too Many Wizards” from the record now, which will also see vinyl release in Kozmik Artifactz in the continuing partnership between the two labels. Not to be confused with the Green Lung record of the same name due in October on Svart, this Black Harvest is the follow-up to the band’s 2018 offering, Solar Plexus (review here), and rocks in an entirely different way.

“Too Many Wizards” has more in common sonically with All Them Witches, for example, and you know there’s nothing wrong with that either, I’m sure I don’t need to tell you. Note also the guest appearance on the record from Kent Stump of Small Stone alums Wo Fat, should you require further enticement.

The PR wire sent the following the other day and I’m late on it because I suck at this, even though I did the update for the band’s bio:

GREEN DESERT WATER: Black Harvest Full-Length From Spanish Psychedelic Blues Rock Trio To See Release November 5th Via Small Stone Records; “Too Many Wizards” Now Playing + Preorders Available

Oviedo, Spain-based psychedelic blues rock trio GREEN DESERT WATER will release their third full-length, Black Harvest, on November 5th via Small Stone Records!

Black Harvest is inarguably the band’s most cohesive, classic, and vibe-ready work yet. With the introduction of new drummer Dani Barcena, guitarist/vocalist Kike Sanchís and bassist Juan Arias García unite in classic power trio fashion, building upon the significant accomplishments of 2018’s Solar Plexus with even more flash of heavy blues, psychedelia, and weighted riffery. Can you hang? Of course you can!

Wo Fat’s own Kent Stump sits in on the title-track, which is a fitting centerpiece rife with AC/DC-vs.- Sabbath vitality, following behind the opening salvo of “Sacred Tree” and “Dead Sacred Tree,” which set a tone figuratively and literally for what follows with a focus on melody and songwriting – the catchy “Too Many Wizards” could easily be a state-of-the-union for the heavy rock underground – tempos no less comfortable careening than they are crashing, and a classic sensibility filtered through modern production that leaves the songs full and engaging for the most fickle of attention spans. Later, to be snared by “Shelter Of Guru” is to take a ride in a traditionalist caravan, and both journey and destination satisfy ahead of the capper boogie in “Soul Blind.” Rest assured, you’re about to spend 38 minutes in the presence of masters. Roll with it and be glad you did.

In advance of the release of Black Harvest, GREEN DESERT WATER is streaming “Too Many Wizards” noting, “when the old masters speak, the apprentice wizards must shup up, close their eyes, and open their minds…”

Black Harvest will be available on CD and digital formats via Small Stone and limited edition LP (deluxe gatefold) via Kozmik Artifactz.

Find preorders HERE: https://smallstone.bandcamp.com/album/black-harvest

Black Harvest Track Listing:
1. Sacred Tree
2. Dead Sacred Tree
3. Too Many Wizards
4. Black Harvest
5. The Whale
6. Shelter Of Guru
7. Soul Blind

GREEN DESERT WATER:
Juan Arias García – fuzz bass
Dani Barcena – drums, percussion
Kike Sanchís – guitars, vocals

Guests:
Kent Stump – additional guitar
Alvaro Barcena – backing vocals

http://www.facebook.com/greendesertrock
http://www.instagram.com/greendesertwater
http://twitter.com/greendesertrock
http://www.smallstone.com
http://www.facebook.com/smallstonerecords
http://twitter.com/SSRecordings
http://www.instagram.com/smallstonerecords
http://kozmik-artifactz.com/
https://www.facebook.com/kozmikartifactz
https://www.instagram.com/kozmikartifactz/
https://twitter.com/kozmikartifactz

Green Desert Water, Black Harvest (2021)

Florida’s The Electric Mud return on Sept. 25 with the independently-issued Black Wool EP, pairing two original tracks with two fairly bold covers. At four songs and 24 minutes, with its makeup what it is, Black Wool is squarely in the EP category; a quick showcase of where the band’s at rather than a full-length follow-up to 2020’s sophomore LP, Burn the Ships (review here), which came out through Small Stone and Kozmik Artifactz. The Fort Myers four-piece did well with that significant backing, and with a tour upcoming (!), Black Wool should sit nicely alongside on any number of merch tables as they head out from the desantis-infested swamps and coastlines of their home state and as far outward as Wisconsin on a two-week run. Have fun out there, kids. Everybody be safe.

The Electric Mud is guitarists Constantine Grim and Peter Kolter (the latter also vocals), bassist Tommy Scott and drummer Pierson Whicker, and across “Ordinary Men,” “Black Wool,” “Albatross” (premiering below) and “Whipping Post,” they offer Southern heavy rock tied to traditional songwriting, no shortage of twang, and a flourish of modern heavy in the guitar work. Scott and Whicker, on the originals as well as the covers of Corrosion of Conformity and The Allman Brothers Band — which both feel like they’re probably sacred ground to the band The Electric Mud have become since making their debut 2018’s Bull Gator — are solid from the word go, as “Ordinary Men” starts out with the bassline bouncing and snare popping beneath deceptively intricate riffwork. They’re in the first verse quick and the tension runs high, but the chorus is here for it and so is the guitar-forward winding finish, and Kolter‘s gruff vocal delivery is in control the entire time.

The title-track, which follows directly, could be a country song if you replaced the fuzz with… whatever they make country songs with these days. Nonetheless, the ‘Southern’ runs heavy in ‘Southern heavy,’ and shortly before they’re halfway through the song’s total seven minutes, they break into a different movement that branches out instrumentally led by the two guitars. The band have talked about Black Wool as being their most progressive work yet, and in “Ordinary Men” and “Black Wool,” those instrumental pushes are where it’s most evident. “Black Wool” jams its way back to a play on its central line with standalone guitar, somewhere out there in the cool evening alongside Clutch‘s “The Regulator” staring at an open field at dusk. You know how it goes.

As for the covers, well, they’re classics. The Allman Brothers Band helped invent Southern rock and Deliverance-era C.O.C. almost singlehandedly made it heavy. The Electric Mud‘s reverence for both is plain, and likewise their desire to make the songs their own, which they do tonally as well as in Kolter‘s vocals. “Whipping Post,” like “Black Wool,” is longer and provides more room for the band to branch out and jam, but Whicker gives Reed Mullin his due on “Albatross” as one would hope, and the last shove captures the building urgency of the original well. They finish with the Allmans though, because if you’re going to play that song, it’s probably best practice to put it last. And it works there, with its hook offset by the over-the-top guitar shenanigans that have inspired multiple generations toward their own interpretations of shred.

For a quick outing to coincide with a tour through this plague-addled land, Black Wool brings persona and craft together in a way that answers the prior LP and hints at forward movement without spoiling that still-never-been-played-out offering. If I saw the CD on a merch table, it’d be an easy pickup.

“Albatross” follows here, with PR wire info below.

Please enjoy:

Captured at Farmadelica Sound in Bokeelia, Florida with tracking, mixing, and mastering done by Howard Wulkan, the EP represents a heavier and proggier turn for the band with a pair of new, original tracks as well as and an homage to the seedy, sordid Sunshine State bar circuit where they cut their teeth with covers of Corrosion Of Conformity and The Allman Brothers Band.

THE ELECTRIC MUD’s Black Wool will be released independently on CD and digitally. Find preorders at THIS LOCATION and additional merch options HERE: https://theelectricmudofficial.bandcamp.com/album/black-wool-ep

In conjunction with the release of Black Wool, THE ELECTRIC MUD will kick off a near-two week run of live dates beginning September 25th in Cape Coral, Florida. See all confirmed dates below.

THE ELECTRIC MUD:
9/25/2021 Rackem – Cape Coral, FL
10/01/2021 Burns Alley Tavern – Charleston, SC
10/02/2021 TBA
10/06/2021 Tribbles – Piedmont, SC
10/08/2021 Skylark Social Club – Raleigh, NC
10/09/2021 Riffhouse – Chesapeake, VA
10/11/2021 The Empty Glass – Charleston, WV
10/12/2021 Westside Bowl – Youngstown, OH
10/13/2021 Legends – Mt. Vernon, OH
10/14/2021 Metal Monkey Brewing – Romeoville, IL
10/15/2021 Lyric Room – Green Bay, WI
10/16/2021 Polack Inn – Wausau, WI

THE ELECTRIC MUD:
Constantine Grim – guitar
Pierson Whicker – drums, percussion
Peter Kolter – vocals, guitar
Tommy Scott – bass

The Electric Mud, “Ordinary Men”

The Electric Mud on Facebook

The Electric Mud on Instagram

The Electric Mud on Bandcamp

The Electric Mud website

When Constantine Grim of Floridian heavy rockers The Electric Mud took the Obelisk Questionnaire, the non-musical thing he said he was looking forward to was the birth of his first daughter in July 2021. Good to know that amid the tumult and upending-of-life that is welcoming a new child into the family, he and the band have nonetheless found time to record a new EP, complete with C.O.C. and Allman Brothers, and to schedule a round of tour dates that will take them as far out as Wisconsin — provided they happen — this Fall. Hey, want to get out ahead of both that Delta Variant and that four-month sleep regression? Yeah, I get that for sure.

Congratulations though to Grim on what my wife and I still refer to as an “additional factor,” and to the band on the new release. The Electric Mud‘s 2020 album, Burn the Ships (review here), was on Small Stone and Kozmik Artifactz, but I believe the EP is independent, though I might be wrong there. In any case, it’ll be up through their Bandcamp, where there’s also the opening track streaming now (also at the bottom of this post).

Details from the PR wire:

THE ELECTRIC MUD: Florida Stoner/Retro Rock Unit To Release Black Wool EP September 25th, New Track Streaming + Tour Dates Announced

Florida-based stoner/retro rock unit THE ELECTRIC MUD returned to the studio earlier this year to record their brand new EP, Black Wool, now completed and confirmed for release on September 25th.

Captured at Farmadelica Sound in Bokeelia, Florida with tracking, mixing, and mastering done by Howard Wulkan, the EP represents a heavier and proggier turn for the band with a pair of new, original tracks as well as and an homage to the seedy, sordid Sunshine State bar circuit where they cut their teeth with covers of Corrosion Of Conformity and The Allman Brothers Band.

In advance of the release of Black Wool, today the band is streaming EP opener, “Ordinary Men,” noting of the track, “Opening the EP is ‘Ordinary Men,’ a rollicking slab of riffs and grooves that takes us through some of our heaviest and most intricate paces to date, alongside lyrics that implore the listener to make the most of the time they’re given.”

THE ELECTRIC MUD’s Black Wool will be released independently on CD and digitally. Find preorders at THIS LOCATION and additional merch options HERE: https://theelectricmudofficial.bandcamp.com/album/black-wool-ep

Black Wool EP Track Listing:
1. Ordinary Men
2. Black Wool
3. Albatross (Corrosion Of Conformity cover)
4. Whipping Post (The Allman Brothers Band cover)

In conjunction with the release of Black Wool, THE ELECTRIC MUD will kick off a near-two week run of live dates beginning September 25th in Cape Coral, Florida. See all confirmed dates below.

THE ELECTRIC MUD:
9/25/2021 Rackem – Cape Coral, FL
10/01/2021 Burns Alley Tavern – Charleston, SC
10/02/2021 TBA
10/06/2021 Tribbles – Piedmont, SC
10/08/2021 Skylark Social Club – Raleigh, NC
10/09/2021 Riffhouse – Chesapeake, VA
10/11/2021 The Empty Glass – Charleston, WV
10/12/2021 Westside Bowl – Youngstown, OH
10/13/2021 Legends – Mt. Vernon, OH
10/14/2021 Metal Monkey Brewing – Romeoville, IL
10/15/2021 Lyric Room – Green Bay, WI
10/16/2021 Polack Inn – Wausau, WI

http://www.theelectricmud.com
http://www.facebook.com/TheElectricMud
http://www.instagram.com/theelectricmud
http://www.smallstone.com
http://www.facebook.com/smallstonerecords
http://www.smallstone.bandcamp.com

The Electric Mud, “Ordinary Men”

Portland, Oregon’s Robots of the Ancient World released their second album, Mystic Goddess, on May 21 through Small Stone Records and Kozmik Artifactz. And while it’s immediately notable that the five-piece worked with producer/legend Jack Endino (and Mikel Perkins) on the recording of this follow-up to their 2019 debut, Cosmic Riders, having solidified their lineup in the interim, what’s even more notable as one makes the trip through the eight-track/42-minute outing is the cross-microgenre stylistic melange with which the band is working.

There are certainly uniting factors in the guitars of Nico Schmutz and Justin Laubscher, the Doors-via-Danzig (Doorzig?) vocal style of Caleb Weidenbach that tops the rolling, fluid groove of bassist Trevor Berecek and drummer Harry Silvers, but the open creative spirit is palpable, from the low-end centered sway and epic-tales vibe of the opening title-track through “Wasteland”‘s heavy blues also nodding to Kadavar in its vocal melody, on down through the willful plunge into doom of the 10-minute “Lucifyre” — a penultimate track swaying along to its own languid bassline, rife with trippy leads, shouts of its title and a long noise-and-sample finish (David Icke, who was booted from social media last year for spreading COVID-19 misinformation) followed only by the CD/DL-only acoustic-into-grunge-riffed closer “Ordo ab Chao,” which asks the question “Who do you think you are?” less as a challenge than a genuine query of how one sees oneself in the universe. As that song, and the album, finishes like a raw, minus-harmonies outtake from Sap, one can’t help but wonder indeed how Robots of the Ancient World might answer the question.

Perhaps they’d be so brazen as to think they’re themselves. That’s how Mystic Goddess ultimately makes it sound, whatever elements they may smash together in the Hadron collider of a bluesy, wah-infused cut like “Agua Caliente” to get there. The unmitigated Pacific Northwest janga-janga stonerly chug of “Out of the Gallows” — which, oh, hey, just happens to have a video premiering below — betrays the secret of the ooze in its bassy righteousness. If Robots of the Ancient World are the rock ’em sock ’em type, it’s the low end providing the force behind their punches. So be it as “Unholy Trinity” opens side B with a darker and more atmospheric turn, still lumbering rock, drunken swagger and so on, but culminating with more foreboding heft in preface for what’s to come after the don’t-mind-us-we’re-just-gonna-sneak-in-this-tambourine-party “MK Ultra Violence” is there and gone in three and a half minutes and “Lucifyre” takes hold.

The word is “dynamic,” but the band’s mission isn’t just to put together parts in a this-sounds-like-this-and-this-sounds-like-that succession of new and old stylistic references, and neither are they tucked in that prodigious, riff-filled corner of the US without purpose behind their craft. I wouldn’t call what they do progressive if only for the level of self-indulgence that automatically implies, but there is underlying thought even to their bluesiest, loosest-seeming moments, a willful letting go that makes a forward charge like “Out of the Gallows” that much richer. It’s rock and roll, kids. Mystic Goddess alights on a whole bunch of this and that aesthetically, and they do it well, but to miss the preach of rock and roll is to miss the point entirely.

Check out the aforementioned video for “Out of the Gallows” below — one can’t help but be reminded of Axl Rose‘s disappearing t-shirt in “Welcome to the Jungle” while watching the sunglasses come and go from Weidenbach‘s face — and dig into the full album stream after the PR wire info, which has more about the recording.

Most of all, enjoy:

Robots of the Ancient World, “Out of the Gallows” official video premiere

ROBOTS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD entered Seattle’s Soundhouse Studios in February 2020 to record with Jack Endino, famed sonic architect of the grunge revolution, and his longtime protégé Mikel Perkins. They emerged through the wormhole with Mystic Goddess, a forty-three-minute hallucinatory sound excursion through a wide range of styles that keeps listeners engaged while never losing focus or sacrificing flow.

“Raw, powerful, no nonsense production is what we were seeking,” says guitarist Justin Laubscher. After connecting with Endino through a friend and veteran of the grunge wars, Laubscher says the band “scraped up every nickel we could and went for it.”

Recorded, mixed, and mastered in six days, Mystic Goddess almost crashed and burned prior to liftoff. Four days in, Endino abruptly fell ill, “wrecked from this weird flu from hell,” according to Laubscher. “At the time, COVID-19 was not yet a thing in the US.” Perkins engineered the final two days of tracking. “Perkins is a legend, stepped in without missing a beat, and we all felt at ease. He entertained our more fringe ideas, the ones up until that point I was apprehensive to present to Jack.” Endino eventually finished the mixes remotely and Perkins is credited as co-producer.

“I’m intrigued by psychedelics, esotericism, and conspiracy theories. I love to go deep with secret societies, other dimensions, and all that jazz. So, when you hear the Carl Sagan intro to ‘Cosmic Riders’ or David Icke closing out ‘Mystic Goddess,’ it’s a tribute,” notes Laubscher, “a nod to those dudes who are a creative inspiration for my song writing.”

ROBOTS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD:
Caleb Weidenbach – vocals
Nico Schmutz – guitar
Justin Laubscher – guitar
Trevor Berecek – bass
Harry Silvers – drums

Robots of the Ancient World, Mystic Goddess (2021)

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