Posted in Whathaveyou on April 11th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Progressive heavy rock masters Elder are on tour now celebrating the 10th anniversary of their 2015 third full-length, Lore (review here). A worthy cause, indeed. After this US run — they were in Brooklyn last week; my wife had a Board of Ed. meeting — they’ll do Spring fests and club dates in Europe. Their summer looks to be open thus far — a break would be well earned, but I wouldn’t put it past them to sneak in work on their next record if that’s actual downtime — but newly announced is a Fall run, also in Europe, with All Them Witches.
That’s a one-two bill of two of their generation’s best bands, and accordingly, I don’t need to sell you on it, so I won’t. All Them Witches also announced US dates with King Buffalo yesterday, which tells me to expect their next record sometime around the Fall. Fingers crossed, anyhow.
From the PR wire:
ELDER Announce European Tour Dates With ALL THEM WITCHES!
This year marks the 10th anniversary of “Lore”, the ground-breaking, third studio album released in 2015 on Stickman Records by progressive psych-rock spearheads ELDER. In support, the band is currently touring North America followed by Europe in May, including much-awaited festival appearances at such as Desertfest London, Berlin and Oslo, Sonic Whip and many more, playing the album in its entirety!
The band states: “Lore is turning 10 years old. This album marked a point of departure for Elder upon a path which the band is still walking now. For us, this is the record where the band came into its own as a unique voice in the heavy rock underground. As we approach our second decade as a band, we feel it’s appropriate to look back on this landmark for us and acknowledge it properly, which is why we’re doing a tour performing the entire album along with some other tracks from our earlier catalog; we’ll give this era of the band a proper celebration before turning our attention once again toward the future and the next album, currently being written.”
Furthermore, ELDER have just announced to join neo-psychedelic blues rock masters ALL THEM WITCHES on their House of Mirrors Tour in Europe this October, with many more headlining dates around the tour to be revealed soon! Visit https://beholdtheelder.com/tour/ for tickets & more concert info.
ELDER “Lore” 10th Anniversary Tour 2025:
11.04.2025 Columbus (OH), Ace Of Cups 12.04.2025 Chicago (IL), Reggies 13.04.2025 Detroit (MI), Sanctuary 14.04.2025 Buffalo (NY), Rec Room 15.04.2025 Toronto (ON), Axis 17.04.2025 Montreal (QC), Theatre Fairmount 18.04.2025 Hamden (CT), Space Ballroom 19.04.2025 Boston (MA), Middle East 08.05.2025 Hamburg (DE), Bahnhof Pauli 09.05.2025 Copenhagen (DK), A Colossal Weekend 10.05.2025 Oslo (NO), Desertfest Oslo 11.05.2025 Stockholm (SE), Hus 7 13.05.2025 Esch-Alzette (LU), Kulturfabrik 14.05.2025 Tourcoing (FR), Le Grand Mix 15.05.2025 Brussels (BE), Le Botanique 16.05.2025 London (UK), Desertfest London 17.05.2025 Nijmegen (NL), Sonic Whip Festival 18.05.2025 Savigny-Le-Temple (FR), Grand Sludge Fest 20.05.2025 Wiesbaden (DE), Schlachthof – Kesselhaus 21.05.2025 Lyon (FR), L’Epicerie Moderne 22.05.2025 Lucerne (CH), Sedel 23.05.2025 Munich (DE), Feierwerk 24.05.2025 Jena (DE), Kuba 25.05.2025 Berlin (DE), Desertfest Berlin 05.06.2025 Gdańsk (PL), Mystic Festival
With ALL THEM WITCHES: Oct 6: Glasgow, UK – The Garage Oct 7: Manchester, UK – Manchester Academy 2 Oct 8: Leeds, UK – Leeds Beckett Students’ Union Oct 9: London, UK – O2 Forum Kentish Town Oct 11: Paris, FR – Le Bataclan Oct 12: Brussels, BE – Ancienne Belgique Oct 14: Utrecht, NL – Tivoli/Vredenburg Oct 15: Tilburg, NL – 013 Poppodium Oct 17: Copenhagen, DK – Amager Bio Oct 19: Berlin, DE – Tempodrom Oct 20: Warsaw, PL – Progresja Oct 21: Prague, CZ – Roxy Oct 22: Vienna, AT – Gasometer Oct 23: Milan, IT – Alcatraz Oct 24: Berne, CH – Bierhübeli Oct 26: Barcelona, ES – Razzmatazz Oct 27: Madrid, ES – La Riviera
Elder is: Nick DiSalvo – Guitars, Vocals Mike Risberg – Guitars, Keys Jack Donovan – Bass Georg Edert – Drums
Good first day yesterday. Good second day today. I’ve been doing Quarterly Reviews for over a decade now, and I’ve kind of learned over time the kind of thing I should be writing about. It might be a record that has a ton of hype or one that has none, and it might be any number of styles — I also like to sneak some stuff in here that doesn’t ‘fit’ once in a while — but in my mind the standard is, “is this something I’ll want to have heard and/or written about later?”
For all the terrors of our age, the glut of good music coming out means there’s more than ever I want to write about, and in a weird way, I look forward to Quarterly Reviews as a way for me to dig in and get caught up a bit. I’ve already been blindsided this QR and it’s the second day. I call that a win.
Quarterly Review #11-20:
Kal-El, Astral Voyager Vol. 1
There are few acts the world over who so succintly summarize so much of the appeal of modern heavy rock. Norway’s Kal-El offer big riffs, big hooks, big melodies, songwriting, and still manage heavy-mellow vibes thanks to an ongoing cosmic thematic that brings desert rock methods to more ethereal places. Is “Cloud Walker” the best song they’ve yet written? It’s on the list for sure, but don’t discount nine-minute opener/longest track (immediate points) “Astral Voyager” or the hey-that’s-a-Star-Trek-reference “Dilithium” with its dug-in low-distortion verses and the Captain‘s vocal outreach. All along, it’s never quite felt like Kal-El were reshaping heavy, but as time passes and they unveil Astral Voyager Vol. 1 with immediate promise of a follow-up, it’s curious how much Kal-El and notions of ‘peak genre’ align. Those of you who proselytize for riffs: even before you get to riding that groove in “Cosmic Sailor,” Kal-El are primed for ambassadorship.
North Carolinian sludgethrowers Bronco take their name from their bassist/vocalist, who also goes by Bronco, and who in the 2010s cut a tone-worshiping generational swath through the Southern wing of the style as a member of Toke, proffering heavy riffs, harsh-throat vocals, and a disaffection that can only be called classic. With eight songs rolling out over 45 minutes, Bronco‘s Bronco picks up the thread where Toke left off with pieces like “Ride Eternal,” which crawls, or the declarative riffing of “Legion” (eerie guest vocals included amid all the pummel), or the closer “TONS,” which I’m going to assume isn’t titled after the Italian sludge-band, though if those guys wanted to put out a song called “Bronco” on their next record, they’d be well within their rights. A remarkably cohesive debut for something that’s so loudly telling you to fuck yourself. These guys’ll be opening for High on Fire in no time.
Although one wouldn’t listen to Santiago, Chile’s Ocultum and be likely to have “refined” top the list of impressions given by the raw, rot-coated sludge of their third album and Heavy Psych Sounds debut, Buena Muerte, the grim-leaning atmosphere, charge later in the title-track, cultish presentation and the atmosphere emergent both from guitar-wail and yelling interlude “Fortunato’s Fortune” and from the material that surrounds, whether that’s the title-track or the just-under-12-minute “Last Weed on Earth.” The record finds the three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Sebastián Bruna, bassist Pablo Cataldo and drummer Ricardo Robles dug in, stoned and malevolent. They’re not as over-the-top as many in cult rock, but one does get a sense of ceremony from “Last Weed on Earth” and subsequent capper “Emki’s Return” — the latter galloping in its first half and willfully devolved from there into avant noise — even if that’s more about the making of the songs than the performance of genre tropes.
The grunge crunch of “Running With Secrets” and the Cantrell-y acoustics of “Push” are barely the beginning of the story as regards Fidel A Go Go‘s meld of sounds, which ranges from the willfully desert rocking “Sandstorm” to the proggy “Lil Shit,” the transposed blues of “Rainy Days” and the penultimate “Psychedelicexistentialcrisisalidocious,” which is serene in its melody and troubling in the words, as one would hope, and while the moniker and the punny album title speak to shenanigans, the Brisbane four-piece offer a point of view both instrumentally and lyrically that is engaging and draws together the stylistic range. There’s little doubt left to whom “A Stench of Musk” and “Barely an Adversary” are about, but even that’s not the extent of the perspective resonant in these 11 songs. There’s enough fuzz here for desert heads, but Fidel A Go Go are broader in attitude and craft, and Diss Engaged makes a point of its artistic freedom.
Like their 2023 debut EP, Lady Cadaver, Tumble‘s second short offering, Lost in Light sees the trio of guitarist/vocalist Liam Deak, bassist Tarun Dawar and drummer Will Adams working with producer/engineer Ian Blurton (Ian Blurton’s Future Now, etc.) to hone and sharpen a classic, proto-metallic sound without seeing a dip in recording quality. As such, the five songs/20 minutes of Lost in Light are duly brash — looking at you, “Dead by Rumour” and the Radio Moscow-esque “The Less I Know” — but crisp in tone and execution. The mid-tempo “Sullen Slaves” picks up in its solo section later for a bit of boogie, and the slightly-slower metallic lurch of “Laid by Fear” sets up a contrast with the swinging closer “Wings of Gold” that makes the ending of the EP an absolute strut. They aren’t even asking a half-hour of your time, and the rewards are more than commensurate for getting down. They continue to be one to watch as they position themselves for a full-length debut in the next couple years.
Normally I might consider it a hindrance to have no clue what’s going on, but if you’ve never before encountered Italy/France semi-industrial duo Putan Club you might just find yourself in better position going into Filles d’Octobre as the avant garde radfem troupe unfurl a live set recorded at Portugal’s Amplifest, presumably in 2022. But if you don’t know it’s a live record, what’s coming musically, or that Filles d’Octobre is derived from their 2017 debut album, Filles de Mai, there’s a decent change your contextless self will be scrathing your head in wonder of just what’s going on with the bouncy lurch and maybe xylophone of “Filippino,” and that seems to suit Putan Club just fine. If you have to break something to remake it, Putan Club are set to the task of manifesting a rock and roll that is dangerous, new, unrepentantly socially critical, and ready to dance when you are. That they meet these significant ambitions head on shouldn’t be discounted. Not for everybody, but definitely for everybody who thinks they’ve heard it all.
The first live offering from Argentinian prog-heavy instrumentalists IAH follows behind the band’s most expansive studio LP to-date, 2023’s V (review here), and brings into emphasis the group’s dynamic. It’s not just about being able to make a part sound floaty or to make the part next to it crush, but the character of a piece like the 24-minute “Noboj pri Uaset” (which might be new) is as much about the journey undertaken in their builds and the smoothness of the shifts between parts. They dip back to their earlier going for “Sheut” at the start of the set and “Ourboros” and “Eclipsum” the latter of which closes, and the bass in “Sentado en el Borde de una Pregunta” is worth the price of admission alone, never mind as a complement to the extended progression of “Noboj pri Uaset,” which is something of the buried lede here. So be it. On stage or on record, IAH offer immersion unto themselves. A little more tonal edge as a result of the live recording doesn’t hurt that one bit.
Before the Dawn of Time is upwards of the seventh full-length from Swedish vintage-style heavy rockers Gin Lady, and in addition to seeing them make the jump from Kozmik Artifactz to Ripple Music, the sans-pretense 11-songer invents its own moment. It’s like the comedown era (from 1968-1974, roughly) happened, but happened differently. It’s another path to a heavy rock future. There’s ’70s vibes in “Tingens Sanna Natur” a-plenty, and if it’s boogie or push or hooky melodic wash you want, “Mulberry Bend” has you covered for that and then some, never mind the down-home strum of “Bliss on the Line” or the pastoral contemplation of “The Long Now,” as Gin Lady put a classy stamp of their own on classic aural ideologies, as what are no doubt hyperspecific keyboards make the production smooth and let “Ways to Cross the Sky” commune with Morricone while capper “You’re a Big Star” drops a melody that can really only be called “arena ready.” As it stands, it’ll probably go over killer at festivals across Europe.
Duly apocalyptic for being the band’s first full-length release since 2019, Adrift‘s fourth album, Dry Soil, elicits an overarching doom that makes its tonal claustrophobia all the more affecting. The long-running Madrid outfit offer six songs that veer between the contemplative and the caustic as throatrippers worthy of Enslaved add an element of the extreme to the post-metallic intensity of “Edge” and “Restart” in the record’s middle. There are heavy rock underpinnings — that is, somebody here still likes Sabbath — but Adrift are well at home in all the bludgeonry, and “Bonfire” finishes by tying black metal, sludge, noise and darkly thrashing metal together with a suitably severe ambience. Are they torching it at the end? Kind of, but just replace “it” with “everything” and you’ll have a better idea perhaps of where they’re coming from on the whole. But for regionalist discrimination, Adrift would’ve conquered Europe a long time ago.
Berlin trio Black Sadhu — guitarist/vocalist Max Lowry (also synth, effects), bassist Alex Glimm and drummer Martin Cederlund — employ atmosphere to a point of cinematics on their second full-length, Ashes of Aether, following up the post-doom wash of 2021 standalone single “Mindless Masses” with plays back and forth between full-heft nod and take-a-breather meanderings. This cuts momentum less than one might think as the keyboard and drone and sample of “Tumors of Light” lend experimentalist verve to “Descent,” the next of the nine-track outing’s more-complete-song songs, as the latter unfolds with a shine on the crash that continues to cut through the surrounding rumble as the procession unfurls. Patience, then. So long as you know the payoff is coming — and it is; looking at you, “Electric Death” — and don’t mind being stretched and contorted on a molecular level between here and there, you should be good to go.
Amsterdam-based longform heavy psychedelic rockers Temple Fang release their new album, Lifted From the Wind, April 25 through respected purveyor Stickman Records. Below, they’re premiering a video for “The Radiant,” and below that, in the blue text you’ll see kind of a brief background on the record that the band asked me to write a couple months ago. It’s not the story of how they got together, or the partnership of bassist Dennis Duijnhouwer (also synth) and guitarist Jevin de Groot (also percussion) going back to their time together in cosmic celebrants Mühr and probably well before that — both on vocals, they are more in harmony than they’ve ever been here, figuratively and literally — or of the deepened collaborative feel as the four-piece have solidified the lineup with guitarist Ivy van der Veer (also Myriad’s Veil) and drummer Daan Wopereis, both of whom also contribute backing vocals.
Lifted From the Wind isn’t the first Temple Fang studio LP, even if it feels like the beginning of their future. One might be forgiven for thinking of it as a kind of debut since it seems both so fresh in its delivery and so much like a moment of arrival and declaration for the band. And neither 2021’s Fang Temple (review here) nor any of the handful of live outings they’ve done since manifests their sound in the way Lifted From the Wind does.
This happens across an encompassing five-song/74-minute sprawl, and that is going to be an attention test for some listeners to be sure — I don’t know when the last time you tried to concentrate on anything for an hour was, but I’ve made a recent attempt and the results were nowhere near as gorgeous as the expansive verse and proggy twisting riffery, lush melody, heavy underpinning and welcoming grace of “The River,” which both gets outwardly heavier than Temple Fang have ever been and aligns their ethic of massive jamming around a structure of verses, allowing the band to tell their story in a different way than they have to this point.
If you’re worried, I get it. The jams are still there. We’re talking about a question of balance of the elements in Temple Fang‘s sound, and yes, as discusssions go, it’s heady, nerdy shit. Know this: If you’ve never heard Temple Fang before there’s still a decent chance Lifted From the Wind ends up on your list of 2025’s best albums, unless you have some moral objection to life-affirming heavy psychedelia, spiritual realization or, like, sunshine. I’m not saying the album is without its challenging aspects.
The 2LP puts “The River” and “Once” on the A and B sides, respectively, with de Groot‘s lyrics around the nine-minute mark in the latter, “Once you feel the sadness/You become the sadness/When you let it go/It finds another home/Shackles will explode,” leading into a tempo kick of swirl nonetheless plotted in its trajectory before the flow ebbs and the ebb flows, the build builds and they cruise, backing vocals arriving in a call and response on repeated lines until another starburst after 13 minutes in. Speedier solocraft and rhythmic rush ensues, but the last five minutes of Lifted From the Wind‘s longest track, summarized by the lyric, “Once you feel this way, then you surrender,” move into cymbal wash and ethereal noodling around this repeated mantra. Surrendering advised.
A belly breath starts “Harvest Angel” at the outset of side C, and fair enough. “Harvest Angel” bring shorter than “Once” by eight minutes gives it a more straightforward initial impression, but don’t be fooled, there’s a whole infinite of ‘far out’ in/out there to be explored. Languid at the start, and almost a little like ‘Temple Fang does the blues,’ the song transitions to a speedier, jazz-proggier stretch in its second half, everybody singing overtop, and though they give the listener a moment to recover afterward — nothing if not considerate — the intention behind the placement of the centerpiece feels all the more purposeful.
“Harvest Angel” and “The Radiant” are the only two inclusions to share a side, and de Groot‘s guitar-following vocals at the end of the former give the standalone drums at the beginning of the latter clear reign to create a feeling of movement. If you haven’t already stopped reading this and listened to the song — thanks, but don’t feel obligated to make the blah-blah journey — you’ll find it a resoundingly efficient encapsulation of what Lifted From the Wind is doing in terms of not grounding the band’s sound but giving new and solid shape to the skies in which they’ve largely heretofore floated. There’s an engaging hook delivered in harmonized layers, and with “The Radiant,” Temple Fang position themselves among Europe’s finer prog-psych .
Could it be a sign of a transition to a more verse/chorus approach? Hell if I know, and just at this moment it doesn’t matter. “The Radiant” is Temple Fang announcing themselves. They’re ready, and since the circa-2019 inception of the band, Lifted From the Wind is what they’ve been working toward. 15-minute capper “Josephine” gives serenity of guitar, gentle cymbals and vocals up front, moves with patience (and choice backing vocals throughout; not gonna spoil it) into a section of intertwining guitar reachout, purposeful twists and pulls somehow not struggling because the pace is so fluid.
They’re not a third of the way through when a more prominent lead takes over, beginning to shift in a section of all-in Dutch prog. It stops, it turns, and it’s precise instrumentally in a way Temple Fang have not been until this record. Closing the album with a love song is reasonable for an offering that has so much heart at root across the board, and in both the forward emotional expression of the lyrics and the takeoff of the instruments accopanying them, “Josephine” resolves in gorgeousness as it invariably must, piano lines in among the dream of guitar and light-bouncing groove that takes the record into its final fadeout.
Granted, if they were arrogant about it, the whole thing would fall flat, but my only gripe with Lifted From the Wind is how obviously its finished form wasn’t. By implying communion with the otherwordly in the making of the songs — which the sonic aesthetic reinforces; I am a firm believer in the jam-room conversation between instruments as a moment with something beyond oneself — the band skillfully redirects the conversation around the material from the clear work they have done, not only in nailing their performances in the studio, but in undertaking a willful aural growth and progression over the last six years that’s brought them to this moment of triumph. That harmony in “Harvest Angel” and that shuffle in “The Radiant” didn’t happen by accident. These are works of craft, of mastery, and deserve consideration as such, even if the four-piece aren’t going to lay them out that way for you.
With a few weeks still to go before the release, I offer the video for “The Radiant” premiering below, and encourage you to enjoy. Thanks for reading:
Temple Fang, “The Radiant” video premiere
With ‘Lifted From the Wind,’ Temple Fang posit their creativity not only as a communion with each other — a conversation of instruments — but with something more ethereal.
Their psychedelia is one of soul as much as sound, and where plenty of bands out there cast their songs as rituals, Temple Fang convey the joy of true reverence in the name of sonic exploration and, now more than ever, craft.
That’s right, kids. They’re still plenty sprawling, but these are the most refined songs Temple Fang have wrought to-date from their particular corner of the cosmos (somewhere in Amsterdam), digging into repetition for hypnosis and emphasis alike, and remaking various notions of heavy in their image.
‘Lifted From the Wind’ helps give shape to the trajectory Temple Fang have been on from their outset, and feels like a moment of arrival in terms of manifesting a vision of who they want to be. It’s a special, deeply honest record, and whatever Temple Fang do from here on out, a Landmark in the life of this band. You’d be lucky to see others working under its influence. – JJ Koczan, Feb. 2025.
Tracklisting: 1. The River (18:24) 2. Once (21:11) 3. Harvest Angel (12:34) 4. The Radiant (7:26) 5. Josephine (15:00)
Temple Fang are: Dennis Duijnhouwer: Vox, Bass, Synth Jevin de Groot: Vox, Guitar, Percussion Ivy van der Veer: Guitar, Vox Daan Wopereis: Drums, Vox
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 28th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Heads up on one of the best records you’ll hear this year. At least one of the best records I’ll hear. A Spring release suits Lifted From the Wind, which breathes new life into Temple Fang‘s sound and heavy progressive rock more broadly, the Amsterdam-native four-piece developing their craft a new degree of refinement without giving up the expansive feel of their work to-date — that sense of having gone far out one time a long while ago and stayed there to beam back soulful and immersive psych jams.
I was asked to do a bio for the record, and I did ultimately donate a few thoughts to the cause — the band sent me a file with a bunch of my quotes about them; turns out I’ve said some very nice things about Temple Fang since their inception; I stand by all of it — to go along with a piece they wrote in their own words. The bottom line narrative of the album though is that they’ve moved deeper into traditional songwriting without necessarily giving up the longform methodology of their work to this point, and oof, does it ever work.
If I’m lucky, I’ll get to do a premiere or something from Lifted From the Wind before it’s out April 25, but either way keep an eye for a review. This is a band actively pushing themselves to the next level creatively, and it’s not a thing to be missed. Once you hear “Once.”
The following came down the PR wire and includes dates for the band’s Spring tour:
We are proud to announce the release of our new album ‘Lifted from the Wind’ on Stickman Records on April 25th.
Our most ambitious and realized work yet, we can’t wait for y’all to hear it.
Pre-order starts on March 13th. XO TF
With ‘Lifted From the Wind’, Temple Fang posit their creativity not only as a communion with each other — a conversation of instruments — but with something more ethereal. Their psychedelia is one of soul as much as sound, and where plenty of bands out there cast their songs as rituals, Temple Fang convey the joy of true reverence in the name of sonic exploration and, now more than ever, craft.
That’s right, kids. They’re still plenty sprawling, but these are the most refined songs Temple Fang have wrought to-date from their particular corner of the cosmos (somewhere in Amsterdam), digging into repetition for hypnosis and emphasis alike, and remaking various notions of heavy in their image. ‘Lifted From the Wind’ helps give shape to the trajectory Temple Fang have been on from their outset, and feels like a moment of arrival in terms of manifesting a vision of who they want to be. It’s a special, deeply honest record, and whatever Temple Fang do from here on out, a landmark in the life of this band. You’d be lucky to see others working under its influence. — JJ Koczan, Feb. 2025
‘Lifted From the Wind’ 01. The River 02. Once 03. Harvest Angel 04. The Radiant 05. Josephine
Produced by Sebastiaan van Bijlevelt
29/03 Terneuzen, NL Terneuzen on Fire 23/04 Køln, DE Sonic Ballroom 24/04 Duisburg, DE Bora 25/05 Münster, DE Rare Guitar 26/04 Jena, DE Kuba 27/04 Dresden, DE Chemiefabrik 28/04 Hamburg, DE Markthalle 30/04 Amsterdam, NL Secret Show w/ Heath 02/05 Eindhoven, NL Effenaar w/ Mojo & the Kitchen Brothers 03/05 Haarlem, NL Slachthuis w/ Heath 05/05 Augsburg, DE Soho Stage 06/05 Salzburg, AT Rockhouse Bar 07/05 Stuttgart, DE Goldmarks 08/05 Winterthur, CH Gaswerk 09/05 Seewen, CH Gaswerk 10/05 Delémont, CH SAS 11/05 Barberaz, FR Brin de Zinc 13/05 Esch-Alzette, LUX Kulturfabrik w/ Elder 14/05 Tourcoing, FR Le Grand Mix w/ Elder 15/05 Rotterdam, NL Baroeg @ Rotown 16/05 Groningen, NL Vera w/Heath 17/05 Nijmegen, NL Sonic Whip 19/05 Frankfurt, DE Das Bett w/ The Devil and The Almighty Blues 20/05 Karlsruhe, DE P8 w/ The Devil and The Almighty Blues 21/05 Bielefeld, DE Forum w/ The Devil and The Almighty Blues 22/05 Leipzig, DE Werk 2 w/ The Devil and The Almighty Blues 23/05 Oldenburg, DE Cadillac Club
Temple Fang: Dennis Duijnhouwer – Bass, Vox Jevin de Groot – Guitar, Vox Ivy van der Veer – Guitar Daan Wopereis – Drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 11th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
No question King Buffalo are among the US’ foremost heavy psychedelic rock bands. I’ll entertain suggestions if you have any for others to top them, but mostly because I can’t think of any names off the top of my head. If you were lucky enough to see them out with Parks from All Them Witches supporting on their recent tour, kudos. I caught them in Brooklyn (review here) at the start of the tour with Sun Voyager on the bill. The band they’ve become is, frankly, astonishing.
I could go on at some length with plaudits for their chemistry, aural heft and dynamic — sorry, but talking specifically about Dan Reynolds‘ basswork requires more space than the internet can hold — but I’ll spare you in the name of their likely being more to come from them in terms of summer tour dates. Note that these shows are booked with Route One (run by Ben Ward of Orange Goblin), Desertscene London, who do Desertfest London, and the esteemed Sound of Liberation, whose 20th anniversary party King Buffalo will also play in June, and the band have also been confirmed for Croatia’s Bear Stone Festival — see you there — and the long-running Stoned From the Underground in Germany on the first two weekends in July. To me this says a significant summer tour announcement is incoming.
You know what I’d like to go with it? Word of an album. King Buffalo don’t owe anybody anything after the ‘Pandemic Trilogy,’ but they’re not ones to rest on laurels, and if the December single “Balrog” was a herald, I’m ready for what’s coming. Fingers crossed for sometime soon.
And King Buffalo supported by The Atomic Bitchwax rules. Great pairing. From socials:
We are stoked to welcome NY heavy psych sires King Buffalo back for a full UK tour this Summer! Joining them will be very special guests – stoner fuzz lords The Atomic Bitchwax 💥
11th August 2025 – Nottingham – Rescue Rooms 12th August 2025 – Glasgow – Classic Grand 13th August 2025 – Manchester – Gorilla 14th August 2025 – Bristol – Thekla 15th August 2025 – London – The Garage
Posted in Reviews on January 17th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
First night of the tour, and the first of two nights in NYC for King Buffalo, who pick up more or less where they left off show-wise in December. They played Asbury Park in my beloved Garden State last month and a scheduling conflict had me elsewhere, so I knew I didn’t want to miss them this time. Also in December, the trio of guitarist/vocalist/synthesist Sean McVay, bassist/keyboardist Dan Reynolds and drummer Scott Donaldson posted “Balrog,” a new standalone single, which I took as a sign they’re beginning to move forward from the three-album cycle that has defined their last few years — 2022’s Regenerator (review here) and 2021’s Acheron (review here) and The Burden of Restlessness (review here) — and in addition to wanting to hear a new song live, wanting to hear songs from what fans have dubbed the ‘Pandemic Trilogy’ was a big factor in the decision to drive to TV Eye, which is buried so deep in Ridgewood that it almost feels like gatekeeping.
It took me less time to get there than when last I made the journey, which was a relief. I was enticed to leave the house early by the prospect of a couple hours’ writing time in the car — it’s time I’d have spent in traffic otherwise and just been stressed out to get here later — and no regrets. I get pretty anxious for going to shows these days anyhow. Most of the time, my solution to that is to not, which, though invariably cheaper, is probably not the correct answer, even if this venue just happens to be so deep in Ridgewood you’d have an easier time getting to the city by train from Connecticut.
May a two-band-max bill forever be the law of the land on weeknights. This being the first night of the tour — with Sun Voyager opening, no less; it’s been since Grim Reefer Fest in 2023 — it was something of an occasion, and though if all goes according to my evil plans for summer festivals, this wouldn’t be the only time I’d see the band in 2025, well, I’d been looking forward to seeing them in New York since I missed them in Asbury Park last month, and a month is even longer than it took me to drive to the venue, which is so deep in Ridgewood that dicks like me from Jersey call it “upstate.”
I have a million of ’em. Hang tight.
Doors were at 7:00, which to me spoke of an 8PM start. But I know I’m not the only person who likes these bands, so I went in at doors instead of hanging back, was the first one other than the sound guy and the bands setting up in the room. Fine. I said hi to Sun Voyager and some of King Buffalo’s expanding and loyal following, Bill Kerls and Amanda Jayne Vee, and others whose names I didn’t know but who knew each other. Found a spot on the floor to write, read, wait. The curtain was drawn, so not much to look at anyway. Sun Voyager went on at eight.
But not really. I don’t know what the deal was, but shit happens and sometimes it happens half an hour after you think it’s going to. I was up front for the duration, hanging out with a swath of good people local and otherwise. The two who had the horse masks on at the Slomosa show in Jersey were there, once again showcasing good taste. When Sun Voyager went on, it was with some new material, an extended take on “God is Dead” drawing from their 2022 self-titled (review here) and 2018’s Seismic Vibes (review here), “Caves of Steel” from the self-titled and some new material that showed how they’ve grown with bassist Stefan Mersch and guitarist Christian Lopez (also of Heavy Temple) both contributing vocals.
The band were set up on stage in a line with Lopez at stage right, Mersch in the middle and Kyle Beach pounding and swinging away stage left, providing outbound propulsion. Careening through the divide between hard driving psych and space rock, their groove was both well known to the crowd, subdued but appreciative on a Thursday, and welcomed, and Lopez was a blast on stage. No surprise there, I suppose, if you’ve watched him play a set on a given night, but a needed reminder that when you’re tearing holes in the galaxy with your 13th solo, you’re probably also having a really good time. I was having a good time watching it, I know, and now I have new Sun Voyager to look forward to, which I didn’t when I left the house to drive to TV EYE, which is so deep in Ridgewood something something blah blah okay I admit it I got nothing. But it sneakily got to be too long since I saw Sun Voyager and I was glad to rectify that in such face-liquefying style.
People were stoked for King Buffalo. This is a band with fans. They have inspired loyalty. A community is building right now, as we speak.. That’s not an inconsiderable achievement. I mean, yeah, people show up to shows for bands all the time, but I was up front before the band went on, and it was a deep passion on display as folks were swapping stories of past gigs — apparently Asbury was the best ever; so it goes — as they waited. The curtain parted eventually and the band came out and went into “Hours” and “Mercury,” both from Regenerator, for a mellower start ahead of “Grifter” from The Burden of Restlessness and “Shadows” from Acheron. Set-wise, I showed up for the Pandemic Trilogy, and I got it, plus the new song “Balrog” heralding an album in who-kn0ws-what state of completion, “Goliath Part 2” and a jammy stretched out “Kerosene” from 2016’s Orion (review here), “Eye of the Beholder” from 2018’s Longing to Be the Mountain (review here).
“Centurion” from the same record led into the closing pair of “The Knocks” and “Firmament.” It would have been hard to find two songs to better summarize the emotional catharsis between The Burden of Restlessness and Regenerator than those. “The Knocks” is intense and dug in, sharp in its stops and I hit my head on the monitor headbanging which I hadn’t done since seeing Lo-Pan at Roadburn 2014. It is the hardest, arguably the darkest place emotionally on any of those three records. “Firmament,” on the other hand, is the release, and the two are complementary in their builds and rhythm.
And what to say about King Buffalo at this point except they’re among the best the US has to offer in heavy psych and among the best heavy psych has to offer, period. McVay is a somewhat reluctant frontman, but a frontman nonetheless. He can shred, he can sing, he can play guitar and keyboard at the same time if the song calls for it. I don’t know what time Donaldson was playing in for “Grifter,” but I know I can still hear those three-in-a-row snare pops in my head. And Reynolds? Shit. King Buffalo have a lot going for them as a band, but the character and fluidity Dan Reynolds brings to their songs on bass is second to none. I mean it. Anytime you want to lock yourself into the vibe? Key in on Reynolds. He’s over there taking “Shadows” for a walk, dropping the bottom out from the floor in “Centurion,” and giving “Balrog” a little bit of funk, which you didn’t even know it needed but hell yes it absolutely did.
You know, the thing of it is, you can kind of imagine King Buffalo in it for the long haul. I mean, it’s already going on 12 years since their demo (review here) came out, and they’re established headliners. Among the best of the bands to have emerged in the heavy ’10s. But they don’t feel like they’re done growing, and they’re dedicated to what they do, both on stage and in the studio. Am I still going to be going to King Buffalo shows in 15 years? You can kind of imagine it. I look forward to what their future brings, in both the short and long term. That’s been the case all along.
I got home from Queens like 12:15, which wasn’t bad. Thanks to Scott and King Buffalo for having me out, to TV Eye for existing and hosting shows, to you for reading and to everyone I was talking to at the venue for being kind and welcoming. King Buffalo’s fanbase, as you likely know if you’re part of it, is full of sweethearts. May it continue to flourish. If you’re headed to night two, enjoy. As you may be aware, the venue’s pretty deep in Ridgewood.
Posted in Bootleg Theater on January 16th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Hitting Ireland and the UK in a couple weeks’ time before returning to the US for their second Stateside touring stint since their second album, Tundra Rock (review here), was released last September, Norwegian heavy rock spearheads Slomosa — seen above in full flannel regalia — have rolled out ‘The Making of Tundra Rock,’ a 37-minute documentary and performance video that goes behind the scenes as its title suggests. The band, maybe last week?, had put up a video for “Monomann” from the album that would seem to have been taken from this, and it’s one more way in which they’re engaging their audience and inviting people to take a look at what they do on a professional level.
This just came down the wire this morning, so I haven’t had time to sit in my own ’70s cushion chair and dig in, but you do get to see the band recount their favorites from the new record (and then play them) and the sound on the recordings is such that if the audio was posted to Bandcamp as an album-performance in-studio live record kind of thing it’d probably be worth picking up, so even at a skim it’s got something to offer anybody who dug the record. And if Slomosa‘s winning the year-end poll here is anything to go by, that’s plenty of people.
The video, PR wire info, and all the upcoming tour dates I currently have follow here. Enjoy:
Slomosa, ‘The Making of Tundra Rock‘
Slomosa Releases “The Making of ‘Tundra Rock'” Performance + Interview Video
Norwegian Rock Band set to Support Helmet on ‘Betty’ 30th Anniversary Tour; See New Music Video “Monomann”
Slomosa’s New LP, ‘Tundra Rock’, Out Now!
Norwegian “tundra rock” band, Slomosa, has released a live-in-studio performance and interview video centered on its new album, ‘Tundra Rock’, which was released this past September via Stickman Records in Europe and MNRK Heavy in the US, and was hailed as “a sweeping signature hybrid of revved-up stoner rock riffage, grungy hooks, and a concentrated punk wallop”. Recorded live in Bergen, Norway, the 37-minute “Making of ‘Tundra Rock'” video spotlights the undeniable energy and unquestionable catchiness that surrounds Slomosa, paired with behind-the-scenes stories about creating the album and forming the band.
Simultaneously, Slomosa drops a new play through music video for the powerful ‘Tundra Rock’ track “Monomann”. Crank it up now.
Slomosa will support Helmet on the North American leg of its ‘Betty 30th Anniversary Tour’. The 25-city winter tour kicks off on February 19 in Ft. Worth, TX and runs through March 23 in Baltimore, MD. The tour routing is as follows:
Slomosa + Helmet ‘Betty’ 30th Anniversary US Tour 2025: February 19 – Fort Worth, TX – Tulips FTW February 21 – San Antonio, TC – Paper Tiger (Slomosa headlining show) February 22 – Houston, TX – Scout Bar February 23 – Austin, TX – Mohawk February 25 – Mesa, AZ – Nile Theater February 27 – Pomona, CA – The Glass House February 28 – Los Angeles, CA – The Regent Theater March 1 – Oakland, CA – Crybaby March 2 – Roseville, CA – Goldfield Trading Post March 4 – Portland, OR – Hawthorne Theatre March 5 – Seattle, WA – The Crocodile March 6 – Boise, ID – Shrine Social Club March 8 – Denver, CO – The Oriental Theater March 9 – Lawrence, KS – The Bottleneck March 10 – Minneapolis, MN – Varsity Theater March 11 – Madison, WI – Majestic Theatre March 12 – Chicago, IL – Cobra Lounge March 14 – Columbus, OH – Skully’s March 15 – Mechanicsburg, PA – Lovedraft’s Brewing Co March 16 – Ferndale, MI – The Magic Bag March 17 – Toronto, ON – Lee’s Palace March 18 – Montreal, QC – Théâtre Fairmount March 20 – Boston, MA – The Paradise Rock Club March 21 – Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg March 22 – Philadelphia, PA – Underground Arts March 23 – Baltimore, MD – Baltimore Soundstage
UK & Ireland 2025: 31.1 / Limerick / Dolan’s Kasbah 01.2 / Belfast / Voodoo 02.02 / Dublin / The Grand Social 03.02 / Manchester / Rebellion 04.02 / Glasgow / Garage Attic 05.02 / Nottingham / Rescue Rooms 06.02 / Brighton / Green Door Store 07.02 / London / Underworld 08.02 / Bristol / Thekla 09.02 / Norwich / Waterfront Studio
Posted in Reviews on December 11th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Wow. This is a pretty good day. I mean, I knew that coming into it — I’m the one slating the reviews — but looking up there at the names in the header, that’s a pretty killer assemblage. Maybe I’m making it easy for myself and loading up the QR with stuff I like and want to write about. Fine. Sometimes I need to remind myself that’s the point of this project in the first place.
Hope you’re having an awesome week. I am.
Quarterly Review #21-30
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Thou, Umbilical
Even knowing that the creation of a sense of overwhelm is on purpose and is part of the artistry of what Thou do, Thou are overwhelming. The stated purpose behind Umbilical is an embrace of their collective inner hardcore kid. Fine. Slow down hardcore and you pretty much get sludge metal one way or the other and Thou‘s take on it is undeniably vicious and has a character that is its own. Songs like “I Feel Nothing When You Cry” and “The Promise” envision dark futures from a bleak present, and the poetry from which the lyrics get their shape is as despondent and cynical as one could ever ask, waiting to be dug into and interpreted by the listener. Let’s be honest. I have always had a hard time buying into the hype on Thou. I’ve seen them live and enjoyed it and you can’t hear them on record and say they aren’t good at what they do, but their kind of extremity isn’t what I’m reaching for most days when I’m trying to not be in the exact hopeless mindset the band are aiming for. Umbilical isn’t the record to change my mind and it doesn’t need to be. It’s precisely what it’s going for. Caustic.
The fourth full-length from Boston’s Cortez sets a tone with opener “Gimme Danger (On My Stereo)” (premiered here) for straight-ahead, tightly-composed, uptempo heavy rock, and sure enough that would put Thieves and Charlatans — recorded by Benny Grotto at Mad Oak Studios — in line with Cortez‘s work to-date. What unfolds from the seven-minute “Leaders of Nobody” onward is a statement of expanded boundaries in what Cortez‘s sound can encompass. The organ-laced jamitude of “Levels” or the doom rock largesse of “Liminal Spaces” that doesn’t clash with the prior swing of “Stove Up” mostly because the band know how to write songs; across eight songs and 51 minutes, the five-piece of vocalist Matt Harrington, guitarists Scott O’Dowd and Alasdair Swan, bassist Jay Furlo and sitting-in drummer Alexei Rodriguez (plus a couple other guests from Boston’s heavy underground) reaffirm their level of craft, unite disparate material through performance and present a more varied and progressive take than they’ve ever had. They’re past 25 years at this point and still growing in sound. They may be underrated forever, but that’s a special band.
Writing a catchy song is not easy. Writing a song so catchy it’s still catchy even though you don’t speak the language is the provenance of the likes of Uffe Lorenzen. The founding frontman of in-the-ether-for-now Copenhagen heavy/garage psych pioneers Baby Woodrose digs into more straightforward fare on the second full-length from his new trio Lydsyn, putting a long-established Stooges influence to good use in “Hejremanden” after establishing at the outset that “Musik Er Nummer 1” (‘music is number one’) and before the subsequent slowdown into harmony blues with “UFO.” “Nørrebro” has what would seem to be intentional cool-neighborhood strut, and those seeking more of a garage-type energy might find it in “Du Vil Have Mere” or “Opråb” earlier on, and closer “Den Døde By” has a scorch that feels loyal to Baby Woodrose‘s style of psych, but whatever ties there are to Lorenzen‘s contributions over the last 20-plus years, Lydsyn stand out for the resultant quality of songwriting and for having their own dynamic building on Lorenzen‘s solo work and post-Baby Woodrose arc.
The popular wisdom has had it for a few years now that retroism is out. Hearing Baltimorean power trio Magick Potion vibe their way into swaying ’70s-style heavy blues on “Empress,” smoothly avoiding the trap of sounding like Graveyard and spacing out more over the dramatic first two minutes of “Wizard” and the proto-doomly rhythmic jabs that follow. Guitarist/vocalist/organist Dresden Boulden, bassist/vocalist Triston Grove and drummer Jason Geezus Kendall capture a sound that’s as fresh as it is familiar, and while there’s no question that the aesthetic behind the big-swing “Never Change” and the drawling, sunshine-stoned “Pagan” is rooted in the ’68-’74 “comedown era” — as their label, RidingEasy Records has put it in the past — classic heavy rock has become a genre unto itself over the last 25-plus years, and Magick Potion present a strong, next-generation take on the style that’s brash without being willfully ridiculous and that has the chops to back up its sonic callouts. The potential for growth is significant, as it would be with any band starting out with as much chemistry as they have, but don’t take that as a backhanded way of saying the self-titled is somehow lacking. To be sure, they nail it.
Oase is the second full-length from Berlin’s Weite behind 2023’s Assemblage (review here), also on Stickman, and it’s their first with keyboardist Fabien deMenou in the lineup with bassist Ingwer Boysen (Delving), guitarists Michael Risberg (Delving, Elder) and Ben Lubin (Lawns), and drummer Nick DiSalvo (Delving, Elder), and it unfurls across as pointedly atmospheric 53 minutes, honed from classic progressive rock but by the time they get to “(einschlafphase)” expanded into a cosmic, almost new age drone. Longer pieces like “Roter Traum” (10:55), “Eigengrau” (12:41) or even the opening “Versteinert” (9:36) offer impact as well as mood, maybe even a little boogie, “Woodbury Hollow” is more pastoral but no less affecting. The same goes for “Time Will Paint Another Picture,” which seems to emphasize modernity in the clarity of its production even amid vintage influences. Capping with the journey-to-freakout “The Slow Wave,” Oase pushes the scope of Weite‘s sound farther out while hitting harder than their first record, adding to the arrangements, and embracing new ideas. Unless you have a moral aversion to prog for some reason, there’s no angle from which this one doesn’t make itself a must-hear.
Big on tone and melody in a way that feels inspired by the modern sphere of heavy — thinking that Hum record, Elephant Tree, Magnetic Eye-type stuff — Florida’s Orbiter set forth across vast reaches in Distorted Folklore, a song like “Lightning Miles” growing more expansive even as it follows a stoner-bouncing drum pattern. Layering is a big factor, but it doesn’t feel like trickery or the band trying to sound like anything or anyone in particular so much as they’re trying to serve their songs — Jonathan Nunez (ex-Torche, etc.) produced; plenty of room in the mix for however big Orbiter want to get — as they shift from the rush that typified stretches of their 2019 debut, Southern Failures, to a generally more lumbering approach. The slowdown suits them here, though fast or slow, the procession of their work is as much about breadth as impact. Whatever direction they take as they move into their second decade, that foundation is crucial.
As regards genre: “dark arts?” Taking into account the 44 minutes of Vlimmer‘s fourth LP, which is post-industrial as much as it’s post-punk, with plenty of goth, some metal, some doom, some dance music, and so on factored in, there’s not a lot else that might encompass the divergent intentions of “Endpuzzle” or “Überrennen” as the Berlin solo-project of Alexander Donat harnesses ethereal urbanity in the brooding-till-it-bursts “Sinkopf” or the manic pulses under the vocal longing of closer “Fadenverlust.” To Donat‘s credit, from the depth of the setup given by longest/opening track (immediate points) “2025” to the goth-coated keyboard throb in “Mondläufer,” Bodenhex never goes anywhere it isn’t meant to go, and unto the finest details of its mix and arrangements, Vlimmer‘s work exudes expressive purpose. It is a record that has been hammered out over a period of time to be what it is, and that has lost none of the immediacy that likely birthed it in that process.
Indianapolis four-piece Moon Goons cut an immediately individual impression on their third album, Lady of Many Faces. The album, which often presents itself as a chaotic mash of ideas, is in fact not that thing. The band is well in control, just able and/or wanting to do more with their sound than most. They are also mindfully, pointedly weird. If you ever believed space rock could have been invented in an alternate reality 1990s and run through filters of lysergism and Devin Townsend-style progressive metal, you might take the time now to book the tattoo of the cover of Lady of Many Faces you’re about to want. Shenanigans abound in the eight songs, if I haven’t made that clear, and even the nod of “Doom Tomb Giant” feels like a freakout given the treatment put on by Moon Goons, but the thing about the album is that as frenetic as the four-piece of lead vocalist/guitarist Corey Standifer, keyboardist/vocalist Brooke Rice, bassist Devin Kearns and drummer Jacob Kozlowski get on their way to the doped epic finisher title-track, the danger of it coming apart is a well constructed, skillfully executed illusion. And what a show it is.
Although it opens up with some element of foreboding by transposing the progression of AC/DC‘s “Hells Bells” onto its own purposes in heavy Canadiana rock, and it gets a bit shouty/sludgy in the lyrical crescendo of “What a Dummy,” which seems to be about getting pulled over on a DUI, or the later “The Castle of White Lake,” much of Familiars‘ Easy Does It lives up to its name. Far from inactive, the band are never in any particular rush, and while a piece like “Golden Season,” with its singer-songwriter vocal, acoustic guitar and backing string sounds, carries a sense of melancholy — certainly more than the mellow groover swing and highlight bass lumber of “Gustin Grove,” say — the band never lay it on so thick as to disrupt their own momentum more than they want to. Working as a five-piece with pedal steel, piano and other keys alongside the core guitar, bass and drums, Easy Does It finds a balance of accessibility and deeper-engaging fare combined with twists of the unexpected.
Progressive stoner psych rockers The Fërtility Cült unveil their fifth album, A Song of Anger, awash in otherworldly soul music vibes, sax and fuzz and roll in conjunction with carefully arranged harmonies and melodic and rhythmic turns. There’s a lot of heavy prog around — I don’t even know how many times I’ve used the word today and frankly I’m scared to check — and admittedly part of that is how open that designation can feel, but The Fërtility Cült seem to take an especially fervent delight in their slow, molten, flowing chicanery on “The Duel” and elsewhere, and the abiding sense is that part of it is a joke, but part of everything is a joke and also the universe is out there and we should go are you ready? A Song of Anger is billed as a prequel, and perhaps “The Curse of the Atreides” gives some thematic hint as well, but whether you’ve been with them all along or this is the first you’ve heard, the 12-minute closing title-track is its own world. If you think you’re ready — and good on you for that — the dive is waiting for your immersion.
