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L’Ira del Baccano Winter Tour Starts Feb. 17

Posted in Whathaveyou on January 31st, 2024 by JJ Koczan

l'ira del baccano

Anybody remember November? Yeah, me neither. It’s the end of January, the start of February this week, so November might as well have been 1922 it was so long ago. That said, there was something distinctly familiar about the list of tour dates from L’Ira del Baccano as the Italian Subsound Records denizens set forth to promote their ’23 LP, Cosmic Evoked Potentials (review here), and indeed, some of them were announced last Fall. I didn’t figure anybody would be yelling at me for getting them up again — some of the TBD dates have filled in, which is nice to see — and perhaps snag an ear or two who missed the album when that came through because, well, it might make your day better. Ain’t no mystery to what we’re doing here these days.

Maybe they’ll announce a summer tour next week and I can post that and then do it again in June, just keep a thread going. Would you notice? Of course not.

Dates from social media:

L'IRA DEL BACCANO Tour Poster

L’IRA DEL BACCANO official artworks for our Tour created by Michele Carnielli a.k.a. @visione444 . See you on the road!!

(SEARCHING 4TH BETWEEN WÜRZBURG & WEIMAR,HELP US!!)

L’IRA DEL BACCANO Feb/March Tour 2024
17-02 Rome Defrag
27-02 Verona Fine Di Mondo
28-02 Bolzano @pippostage
29-02 Altotting Plattenzimmer e.V.
01-03 Nuremberg Kunstverein Hintere-Cramergasse e.V. with @j.ø.t.u.
02.03 Schmalkalden Kulturverein Villa K with GODDYS
03-03 Würzburg Immerhin Würzburg
04-03 NEED..BOOK US!!
05-03 Weimar C.Keller & Galerie Markt 21 e. V.
06-03 Dresden Chemiefabrik Dresden (Chemo) with Methadone Skies
07-03 Prague @klubmodravopice Těžká psychedelika
08-03 Bayreuth Glashaus Bayreuth
09-03 Heidelberg Yolo Hof
10-03 Salzburg Rockhouse Bar with Humulus

L’IRA DEL BACCANO “COSMIC EVOKED POTENTIALS” order:

SUBSOUND: https://subsoundrecords.bigcartel.com/artist/l-ira-del-baccano
BANDCAMP: https://liradelbaccanoofficial.bandcamp.com/album/cosmic-evoked-potentials

L’Ira del Baccano:
Alessandro Drughito Santori: Guitars, Loops , Production
Roberto Malerba: Lead Guitar, Guitar FX, Synth, Loops
Gianluca Giannasso: Drums
Ivan Contini: Bass

https://www.facebook.com/LiraDelBaccano42/
https://liradelbaccanoofficial.bandcamp.com/
http://www.iradelbaccano.it/

http://subsoundrecords.bigcartel.com/artist/l-ira-del-baccano
https://www.facebook.com/subsoundrecords/

L’Ira del Baccano, Cosmic Evoked Potentials (2023)

L’Ira del Baccano, “The Strange Dream of My Old Sun” official video

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The Black Flamingo Stream Debut Album An-nûr in Full; Out Friday

Posted in audiObelisk, Reviews on January 30th, 2024 by JJ Koczan

The-Black-Flamingo

Roman instrumentalist trio The Black Flamingo will release An-nûr through Subsound Records on Feb. 2, which, if you’re playing along at home, is this Friday. The six-song collection follows behind 2018’s Mictlan EP and shows an early penchant for atmosphere at the start of opener “Selk’nam,” which soon unfurls its central motion in a running bassline and corresponding drum pattern, the guitar stepping into the forward position as the piece begins to take shape. Over the course of the full-length, guitarist/synthesist Mattia Lolli, drummer Tiziano Giammichele and bassist Matteo Nuccetelli build and expand on the palette they set forth in the leadoff, but at about three minutes in when “Selk’nam” locks into that payoff groove, that’s most of what you actually need to know right there.

Samples at the outset of “An-nûr” places the record in the current Israeli genocide of the Palestinian people — sorry to call it what it is; genocide happened to Jews too and security is important, but that doesn’t make it right — and the three-piece allow for some meditative moments after to digest the obviously-clueless/obviously-white interviewer talking to some representative of Palestine and asking horrible, racist questions like, “Why don’t you just stop fighting?” I assume as a tank rolls over the guy’s grandmother in the background or some shit and the world pretends to care in only the most tsk-tsk’ing of fashions. The title-track moves in its second half to a breakout of noisier crashing, as it should, and thereby hints at some of the prog-metal aspects of songs like “Tredici” still to come, the samples there leading into a linear build resolved by Tool-circa-’98-ish start-stops.

Between those, “Due” lets loose with a more ruffled-sounding distortion — it’s not so much fuzzier as hairier — and shifts into its own purposeful ending as a payoff for what came before. Ambient transitions, the samples, etc., build character around “Tredici,” but it’s the percussion at the start of the penultimate “Solaris” that fades in to set the mood. Synth, or keyboard, lend a science-fiction drone to coincide melodically with the rhythmic pattern being laid out, but the jump to dreamier guitar brings a different spirit, something more serene if still otherworldly. It’s not the last rug pull, as The Black Flamingo turn shortly after three minutes into the song’s total six to a fuzzier riff that’s both twisting and more grounded than the place from which the band just came, and that sets “Solaris” on its own building course, hints of post-metal in the intensity of the wash still not giving up their heavy rock foundations.

The culmination of “Solaris” leaves only 13-minute closer “Ayahuasca,” which offers another multi-tiered build and takes the time to work from the ground up in making it. Samples throughout unite “Ayahuasca” with “Tredici” or “Selk’nam” at the outset, but The Black Flamingo are also clearly playing to the ‘big finish’ as an element of genre as well and listening to the actual unfolding of “Ayahuasca” — which, golly, I’d love to try, though I hear it very definitely makes you puke before it melts your brain — which gets heavier so that you go, “okay that’s the payoff” like three times before they’re actually there, it makes sense on the album where it is as an encapsulation of what’s been accomplished across the preceding span, which is to establish the tones, atmospheres and methods along whose lines The Black Flamingo will likely look to develop their sound going forward (some more drastic revamp notwithstanding; one never knows), speaking to something essential in groove now and informing any and all among the converted who’d take them on of their potential for more. This is, as regards hearing them, only good news.

Album stream for An-nûr follows here with more info underneath from the PR wire.

Tell two friends:

‘An-nûr’, ‘light’ in arabic language, is The Black Flamingo’s first LP. Six tracks that go across obsessive rithms, lysergic journey and stoner blows. ‘An-nûr’ is also the title of the single, a long trip of black holes and solidarity with Palestinian people. The LP has been recorded in Rome, in the ‘Cinque Quarti’ studio, under the patient supervision of Lorenzo Amato (Max Carnage), that took care of mixing and mastering. The vinyl mastering has been done by Lorenzo Stecconi (Lento).

Subsound Records will release ‘An-nûr’ on LP and digital on February 2nd, 2024.

TRACKLIST
1. Selk’nam
2. An-nûr
3. Due
4. Tredici
5. Solaris
6. Ayahuasca

BIOGRAPHY

The Black Flamingo is a stoner-psych instrumental trio, which vibes among space and desert, with a rotten attitude. The band is formed in Rome, literally in the spaces of 30 Formiche club, by Erio Destratis (guru and housekeeper), Tiziano Giammichele (Camion, Cielo Drive) and Mattia Lolli (the Whirlings). Erio soon leaves for a nomad life and his bass is taken by Matteo Nuccetelli (Mad Roller).

The Black Flamingo are:
Tiziano Giammichele – Drums
Matteo Nuccetelli – Bass
Mattia Lolli – Guitar, Synth

The Black Flamingo on Facebook

The Black Flamingo on Instagram

The Black Flamingo on Bandcamp

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Pyramid Premiere “Solar Flare”; Beyond Borders of Time Due March 23

Posted in audiObelisk, Reviews on January 15th, 2024 by JJ Koczan

Pyramid Beyond Borders of Time 1

German heavy psychedelic instrumentalists Pyramid will release their second full-length, Beyond Borders of Time, on March 23 through Subsound Records. With it, the Nuremberg-based three-piece answer the heady undertakings of 2019’s Mind Maze and the 2022 two-songer Ancient Vibes of a Sun God Cult through expansive, atmospheric and ultimately clearheaded psychedelic rock, the tension in Lukas Schomann‘s kick drum early on in opener “The Medicine Man” hinting at the proggy rhythms that underpin much of the record that follows, fuzzed to the gills though “The Medicine Man” and others here get by the time they’re done, the lead cut’s apex coming in a head-twist of guitar carried through a series of three stops and tempo shifts. As five of the seven inclusions of Beyond Borders of Time are over six minutes long, it fits in and is representative in that regard while serving as a point of immersion for what’s to come.

“Sunbeam” follows and begins quiet and exploratory, gradually resolving in a warm heavy psych progression, fluid n the execution but not a jam as it builds up near the halfway point and opens to a vital roll. They’ll make it noisier as they go, but “Sunbeam” locks into a groove and does not relinquish. More power to it. At 8:26, “Fainting” is the longest single track, making no secret of its cosmic intention with ringing, resonant standalone guitar from Shane Saban, hypnotic for two minutes in the spirit of mellower Earthless before taking off with more of a shove, hitting the slowdown, and riding that to the comedown that’s also the start of the next build. They’re back in the nod soon enough and no complaints for the tonal reach in the guitar and the solid underwriting of Michael Kümpflein‘s basslines.

It’s a raucous finish, and by no means the only one, from a band who cast their atmosphere as being pretty subdued at least in overall impression if not an actual languidness in their playing. The low end feels especially crucial in the reaches of “Solar Flare,” which follows the centerpiece interlude “Petrichor,” a quick meditative-psych viber that goes to silence before “Solar Flare” pushes back somewhat on the structured feel of the material, working in repetitions around a flourish of guitar melody, but complementing and contrasting that central movement in interesting ways. It doesn’t strike like improv, but it’s probably jam-based, and the sweet figure of guitar proves one of Beyond Borders of Time‘s stronger sans-vocal hooks, and the drone of synth from Kümpflein lends the entire affair an air of the ethereal.

Pyramid

They call into the void with bluesy soloing in the premiering-below “Solar Flare” — it would have to be a little flashy, right? — but are thoughtful in the finish and go to ground in the song’s second half, again relying on the bass to hold proceedings together while they rally for the last shove, which finds an immediate uptick in the smack-o’-fuzz wrought with “Krypta,” which isn’t so much an interlude as a quick parade of righteous desert-style cruncher riffs, less directly space-minded or psychedelic than some of what surrounds, but a vibrant palette cleanser before “Prototype” wraps and substantial enough in its big-groove-time-now swagger to call back to “Sunbeam” earlier on. Good to know there’s still a place for stoner rock in the age of hyper-specialization.

Some of the My Sleeping Karma-ishness of “Petrichor” shows up in “Prototype” as well in the line of synth that runs throughout, but Pyramid are deceptively quick finding their place in the groove, and they unfold the finale of their sophomore outing with patience and a mounting wall of distortion that still feels controlled thanks to the accompanying ambience. At 3:18, they bring it down to near silence and the guitar starts the quiet movement that will end the record, more threatening to get loud — at least in the sense of how they do in “Solar Flare” or “Sunbeam” — than doing so, but getting the point across that they could if they wanted anyhow. As it stands, the quiet capper comes through as classier than a blowout might be, so is only fitting for the rest of what surrounds.

If you go back to the first sentence of this post, you’ll see the album’s not out for over two months. And I just reviewed it. Poor form, too early. But you know, sometimes you listen to a record and you get excited and dig in and want to make the most of the opportunity you have to talk about it. If you’ve ever been there, maybe you can relate. And either way, two months from now when the hype is up and the Bandcamp’s being shared around and all this and that, at least you’ll be ready.

“Solar Flare” premieres here, followed by more from the PR wire. Please enjoy:

Pyramid is an instrumental progressive stoner/psychedelic rock band founded in Nuremberg Germany. The band consists of Lukas Schomann (drums) Michael Kümpflein (bass/synth) and Shane Saban (guitar). “Beyond Borders Of Time” will is the follow-up to their debut album “Mind Maze”. A mesmerizing journey through stoner psychedelia and progressive instrumental rock, it weaves a kaleidoscopic landscape that unfolds like a sonic travel through time and space. Pyramid’s musicianship and unique sound make them a must-hear for fans of instrumental psychedelic and progressive rock.

Pyramid on Facebook

Pyramid on Instagram

Pyramid on Bandcamp

Subsound Records store

Subsound Records on Facebook

Subsound Records on Instagram

Subsound Records at Linktr.ee

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Traum Post “Inner Space”; Self-Titled Debut Album Out March 1

Posted in Whathaveyou on January 9th, 2024 by JJ Koczan

traum

Native English speakers might look at the moniker of Italian cosmic rockers Traum and associate it with the word ‘trauma,’ but ‘traum’ is German for ‘dream’ — ‘weltraum’ is ‘space’; think Weltraumstaunen or other jammers in that sphere — and the sound is correspondingly more outreach than inner-exploration, though admittedly that’s a question of how it’s interpreted. Nonetheless, Traum, which as the PR wire emphasizes boasts members in its ranks of ZuLentoFuzz Orchestra, and a whole bunch of others in Subsound Records head Lorenzo Stecconi alone, never mind what bands anyone else has been in aside from those listed here.

The sound is improv or at least experimental in its root, but the dogwhistle to krautrock and classic prog heads is in the name itself, and considering the swath of styles these guys have covered in other bands, that they’d come together with a distinct purpose in mind doesn’t seem like an over-the-top expectation. “Inner Space” is down there where the streaming stuff goes (should I move that up? new year new theme? what are you thinking here?), and the blue text follows here with more info from the PR wire:

traum traum

Italian avant-garde collective TRAUM (w/ members of ZU, Fuzz Orchestra) release debut single off self-titled album, out March 1st on Subsound Records

Italian avant-garde collective TRAUM (with members of Zu, Fuzz Orchestra, Lento, Zeus!) present their kaleidoscopic psych-laden first single “Inner Space”, taken from their self-titled debut album to be released on March 1st via Subsound Records.

Italian avant-garde collective TRAUM feature members of ZU, Fuzz Orchestra, Lento and Zeus! They masterfully blend psychedelia, krautrock and dark ambient sprinkled with sax and smooth layers of synth that feels like an invitation to a pre-apocalypse seance of meditation resulting in the sharing of the same horizon of interpretation of existence and music by four musicians.

Debut album “Traum”
Out March 1st on Subsound Records
Preorder on Bandcamp: https://traumofficial.bandcamp.com/album/traum
and Subsound Records: https://subsoundrecords.bigcartel.com/products?utf8=%E2%9C%93&search=traum

TRAUM creates and shapes its music starting from the dream dimension. Whether it is an illusory, lucid, interdimensional or induced dream, the music bears witness to it and describes its various aspects, keeping the rudder to starboard like a new Ulysses returning home.

Their first album is the result of almost a month of living together in an old farmhouse playing, improvising and sharing their lives and their musical and cultural passions. Through a state of presence and mutual listening, the eight tracks that made up this multifaceted album were born: the music takes different shapes, conducting the listener on a journey within himself. The record is the spontaneous fruit of an urge to communicate and musically explore today’s reality, both internally and externally.

1. Kali Yuga
2. Vimana
3. Katabasis
4. Inner Space
5. Antartic Down
6. Infraterrestrial Dub
7. Erwachen
8. Eterno Ritorno

TRAUM is
Luca Ciffo – Guitar, Bass
Lorenzo Stecconi – Guitar
Luca T. Mai – Synths/Sax
Paolo Mongardi – Drums

https://www.facebook.com/traumspace
https://instagram.com/traum_musik/
https://traumofficial.bandcamp.com/
https://linktr.ee/traum_musik

https://www.facebook.com/subsoundrecords/
https://www.instagram.com/subsound_records/
http://subsoundrecords.bigcartel.com/
https://www.subsoundrecords.it/

Traum, “Inner Space”

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Quarterly Review: Melody Fields, La Chinga, Massive Hassle, Sherpa, Acid Throne, The Holy Nothing, Runway, Wet Cactus, MC MYASNOI, Cinder Well

Posted in Reviews on November 29th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

The-Obelisk-Quarterly-Review

Day three of the Quarterly Review is always a good time. Passing the halfway point for the week isn’t nothing, and I take comfort in knowing there’s another 25 to come after the first 25 are down. Sometimes it’s the little things.

But let’s not waste the few moments we have. I hope you find something you dig.

Quarterly Review #21-30:

Melody Fields, 1901

Melody Fields 1901

Though it starts out firmly entrenched in ’60s psychedelia in “Going Back,” Melody Fields1901 is less genre-adherent and/or retroist than one might expect. “Jesus” borrows from ’70s soul, but is languid in its rollout with horn-esque sounds for a Morricone-ish vibe, while “Rave On” makes a hook of its folkish and noodly bridge. Keyboards bring a krautrock spirit to “Mellanväsen,” which is fair as “Transatlantic” blisses out ’90s electro-rock, and “Home at Last” prog-shuffles in its own swirl — a masterclass in whatever kind of psych you want to call it — as “Indian MC” has an acoustic strum that reminds of some of Lamp of the Universe‘s recent urgings, and “Void” offers 53 seconds of drone before the stomp of the catchy “In Love” and the keyboard-dreamy “Mayday” ends side B with a departure to match “Transatlantic” capping side A. Unexpectedly, 1901, which is the Swedish outfit’s second LP behind their 2018 self-titled debut (review here), is one of two albums they have for Fall 2023, with 1991 a seeming companion piece. Here’s looking forward.

Melody Fields on Facebook

Melody Fields on Bandcamp

La Chinga, Primal Forces

la chinga primal forces

La Chinga don’t have time for bullshit. They’re going right to the source. Black Sabbath. Motörhead. Enough Judas Priest in “Electric Eliminator” for the whole class and a riffy swagger, loosely Southern in “Stars Fall From the Sky,” and elsewhere, that reminds of Dixie Witch or Halfway to Gone, and that aughts era of heavy generally. “Backs to the Wall” careens with such a love of ’80s metal it reminds of Bible of the Devil — while cuts like “Bolt of Lightning,” “Rings of Power” and smash-then-run opener “Light it Up” immediately positions the trio between ’70s heavy rock and the more aggressive fare it helped produce. Throughout, La Chinga are poised but not so much so as to take away from the energy of their songs, which are impeccably written, varied in energy, and drawn together through the vitality of their delivery. Here’s a kickass rock band, kicking ass. It might be a little too over-the-top for some listeners, but over-the-top is a target unto itself. La Chinga hit it like oldschool masters.

La Chinga on Facebook

Ripple Music website

Massive Hassle, Number One

MASSIVE HASSLE - NUMBER ONE

Best known for their work together in Mammothwing and now also both members of Church of the Cosmic Skull as well, brothers Bill Fisher and Marty Fisher make a point of stripping back as much as possible with Massive Hassle, scaling down the complex arrangements of what’s now their main outfit but leaving room for harmonies, on-sleeve Thin Lizzy love and massive fuzz in cuts like “Lane,” “Drifter,” the speedier penultimate “Drink” and the slow-nod payoff of “Fibber,” which closes. That attitude — which one might see developing in response to years spend plugging away in a group with seven people and everyone wears matching suits — assures a song like “Kneel” fits, with its restless twists feeling born organically out of teenage frustrations, but many of Number One‘s strongest moments are in its quieter, bluesy explorations. The guitar holds a note, just long enough that it feels like it might miss the beat on the turnaround, then there’s the snare. With soul in the vocals to spare and a tension you go for every time, if Massive Hassle keep this up they’re going to have to be a real band, and ugh, what a pain in the ass that is.

Massive Hassle on Facebook

Massive Hassle website

Sherpa, Land of Corals

sherpa land of corals

One of the best albums of 2023, and not near the bottom of the list. Italy’s Sherpa demonstrated their adventurous side with 2018’s Tigris & Euphrates (review here), but the six-song/39-minute Land of Corals is in a class of its own as regards their work. Breaking down genre barriers between industrial/dance, psychedelia, doom, and prog, Sherpa keep a special level of tonal heft in reserve that’s revealed near the end of opener “Silt” and is worthy — yes I mean this — of countrymen Ufomammut in its cosmic impact. “High Walls” is more of a techno throb with a languid melodic vocal, but the two-part, eight-minute “Priest of Corals” begins a thread of Ulverian atmospherics that continues not so much in the second half of the song itself, which brings back the heavy from “Silt” and rolls back and forth over the skull, but in the subsequent “Arousal,” which has an experimental edge in its later reaches and backs its beat with a resonant sprawl of drone. This is so much setup for the apex in “Coward/Pilgrimage to the Sun,” which is the kind of wash that will make you wonder if we’re all just chemicals, and closer “Path/Mud/Barn,” which feels well within its rights to take its central piano line for a walk. I haven’t seen a ton of hype for it, which tracks, but this feels like a record that’s getting to know you while you’re getting to know it.

Sherpa on Facebook

Subsound Records store

Acid Throne, Kingdom’s Death

acid throne kingdom's death

A sludge metal of marked ferocity and brand-name largesse, Acid Throne‘s debut album, Kingdom’s Death sets out with destructive and atmospheric purpose alike, and while it’s vocals are largely grunts in “River (Bare My Bones)” and the straight-up deathly “Hallowed Ground,” if there’s primitivism at work in the 43-minute six-songer, it’s neither in the character of their tones or what they’re playing. Like a rockslide in a cavern, “Death is Not the End” is the beginning, with melodic flourish in the lead guitar as it passes the halfway point and enough crush generally to force your blood through your pores. It moves slower than “River (Bare My Bones),” but the Norwich, UK, trio are dug in regardless of tempo, with “King Slayer” unfolding like Entombed before revealing itself as more in line with a doomed take on Nile or Morbid Angel. Both it and “War Torn” grow huge by their finish, and the same is true of “Hallowed Ground,” though if you go from after the intro it also started out that way, and the 11-minute closer “Last Will & Testament” is engrossing enough that its last drones give seamlessly over to falling rain almost before you know it. There are days like this. Believe it.

Acid Throne on Facebook

Acid Throne on Bandcamp

The Holy Nothing, Vol. 1: A Profound and Nameless Fear

the holy nothing vol 1 a profound and nameless fear

With an intensity thrust forth from decades of Midwestern post-hardcore disaffection, Indiana trio The Holy Nothing make their presence felt with Vol. 1: A Profound and Nameless Fear, a five-song/17-minute EP that’s weighted and barking in its onslaught and pivots almost frenetically from part to part, but that nonetheless has an overarching groove that’s pure Sabbath boogie in centerpiece “Unending Death,” and opener “Bathe Me” sets the pummeling course with noise rock and nu metal chicanery, while “Bliss Trench” raw-throats its punkish first half en route to a slowdown that knows it’s hot shit. Bass leads the way into “Mondegreen,” with a threatening chug and post-hardcore boogie, just an edge of grunge to its later hook to go with the last screams, and feedback as it inevitably would, leads the way into “Doom Church,” with a more melodic and spacious echoing vocal and a riff that seems to kind of eat the rest of the song surrounding. I’ll be curious how the quirk extrapolates over a full-length’s runtime, but they sound like they’re ready to get weird and they’re from Fort Wayne, which is where Charlton Heston was from in Planet of the Apes, and I’m sorry, but that’s just too on-the-nose to be a coincidence.

The Holy Nothing on Facebook

The Holy Nothing on Bandcamp

Runway, Runway

RUNWAY RUNWAY

Runway may be making their self-titled debut with this eight-song/31-minute blowout LP delivered through Cardinal Fuzz, Echodelick and We, Here & Now as a triumvirate of lysergic righteousness, but the band is made up of five former members of Saskatoon instrumentalists Shooting Guns so it’s not exactly their first time at the dance of wavy lines and chambered echo that make even the two-minute “No Witnesses” feel broad, and the crunch-fuzz of “Attempted Mordor,” the double-time hi-hat on “Franchy Cordero” that vibes with all the casual saunter of Endless Boogie but in a shorter package as the song’s only four minutes long. “Banderas” follows a chugging tack and doesn’t seem to release its tension even in the payoff, but “Crosshairs” is all freedom-rock, baby, with a riff like they put the good version of America in can, and the seven-minute capper “Mailman” reminds that our destination was the cosmos all along. Jam on, you glorious Canadian freaks. By this moniker or any other, your repetitive excavations are always welcome on these shores.

Runway on Facebook

Echodelick Records website

Cardinal Fuzz store

https://wehereandnow.bandcamp.com/music

Wet Cactus, Magma Tres

wet cactus magma tres

Spanish heavy rockers Wet Cactus look to position themselves at the forefront of a regional blossoming with their third album, the 12-track Magma Tres. Issued through Electric Valley Records, the 45-minute long-player follows 2018’s Dust, Hunger and Gloom (review here) and sees the band tying together straightforward, desert-style heavy rock with a bit of grunge sway in “Profound Dream” before it twists around to heavy-footed QOTSA start-stops ahead of the fuzzy trash-boogie of “Mirage” and the duly headspinning guitar work of “My Gaze is Fixed Ahead.” The second half of the LP has interludes between sets of two tracks — the album begins with “I. The Long Escape…” as the first of them — but the careening “Self Bitten Snake” and the tense toms under the psych guitar before that big last hook in “Solar Prominence” want nothing for immediacy, and even “IV. …Of His Musical Ashes!,” which closes, becomes a charge with the band’s collective force behind it. There’s more to what they do than people know, but you could easily say the same thing about the entire Iberian Peninsula’s heavy underground.

Wet Cactus on Facebook

Electric Valley Records website

MC MYASNOI, Falling Lower Than You Expected

MC MYASNOI Falling Lower Than You Expected

All-caps Icelandic troupe MC MYASNOI telegraph their experimentalism early in the drone of “Liquid Lung [Nucomp]” and let some of the noise around the electronic nod in “Antenula [OEBT]” grow caustic in the first half before first bliss then horror build around a progression of drums, ending with sax and feedback and noise and where were the lines between them anyway. The delve into the unknown threads more feedback through “Slug Paradox,” which has a vocal line somewhere not terribly far off from shoegaze, but is itself nothing so pedestrian, while “Kuroki” sounds like it could’ve been recorded at rehearsal, possibly on the other side of the wall. The go-wherever-you-end-up penchant holds in “Bleach in Eye,” and when “Xcomputer must dieX” clicks on, it brings about the rumble MC MYASNOI seem to have been threatening all along without giving up the abidingly oddball stance, what with the keyboard and sax and noise, noise, noise, plus whispers at the end. I’m sure that in the vast multiverse there’s a plenet that’s ready for the kind of off-kilter-everythingism wrought by MC MYASNOI, but you can bet your ass this ain’t it. And if you’re too weird for earth, you’re alright by me.

MC MYASNOI on Facebook

MC MYASNOI on Bandcamp

Cinder Well, Cadence

cinder well cadence

The 2020 album from transient folk singer-songwriter Cinder Well, No Summer (review here), landed with palpable empathy in a troubled July, and Cadence has a similar minimalist place to dwell in “Overgrown” or finale “I Will Close in the Moonlight,” but by and large the arrangements are more lush throughout the nine songs of Cadence. Naturally, Amelia Baker‘s voice remains a focal point for the material, but organ, viola and fiddle, drums and bass, etc., bring variety to the gentle delivery of “Gone the Holding,” the later reaches of “Crow” and allow for the build of elements in “A Scorched Lament” that make that song’s swaying crescendo such a high point. And having high points is somewhat striking, in context, but Cinder Well‘s range as shown throughout Cadence is beholden to no single emotional or even stylistic expression. If you’d read this and gripe that the record isn’t heavy — shit. Listen again.

Cinder Well on Facebook

Free Dirt Records on Bandcamp

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L’Ira del Baccano Announce Early 2024 Tour Dates

Posted in Whathaveyou on November 9th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

Supporting their 2023 album, Cosmic Evoked Potentials (review here), on Subsound Records, Italian heavy psychedelic rockers L’Ira del Baccano will head out on a round of European touring starting at the end of February. There are dates to be filled in — I also don’t have venue info, so I guess there’s that as well — here and there as the band courses mostly through Germany, with some shows in Italy and a date in Prague for good measure. They’re hoping to tag a couple more shows onto the end as well, and I’d assume there’s some flex there geographically, since they can head in whatever direction might make sense and then just turn back home after. If all comes together as planned, it’ll be a solid two weeks of shows without a day off. Not insignificant.

The following was posted on socials. If you can help out, do. If you missed the record, you’re never too late no matter what internet fomo tells you. Good music is never irrelevant, especially not for having been out for several months already.

Dig:

L'IRA DEL BACCANO tour

Doomdelic Instrumental Space Prog Rockers @L’IRA DEL BACCANO will be on tour in Germany next March promoting the last album Cosmic Evoked Potential. Few slots are still to be filled. Any suggestion is much appreciated!! (better contacts/names of promoter/booker of course ). Below list of dates, Links. DM the band or Alessandro Drughito Santori for info. Free dates : MARCH 3rd -4th ( 2nd we will be in Schmalkalden and 5th in Weimar)- MARCH 10th & 11th South Germany/Switzerland

L’IRA DEL BACCANO Feb/March Tour 2024

17-02 Rome
27-02 Verona
28-02 Bolzano
29-02 Altotting
01-03 Nuremberg
02.03 Schmalkalden
03-03 NEED..BOOK US!!
04-03 NEED..BOOK US!!
05-03 Weimar
06-03 Dresden
07-03 Prague
08-03 TBA
09-03 Heidelberg
10-03 NEED..BOOK US!! ( South Germany, Switzerland, South France)
11-03 NEED..BOOK US!! ( South Germany, Switzerland, South France

L’IRA DEL BACCANO “COSMIC EVOKED POTENTIALS” order:

SUBSOUND: https://subsoundrecords.bigcartel.com/artist/l-ira-del-baccano
BANDCAMP: https://liradelbaccanoofficial.bandcamp.com/album/cosmic-evoked-potentials

L’Ira del Baccano:
Alessandro Drughito Santori: Guitars, Loops , Production
Roberto Malerba: Lead Guitar, Guitar FX, Synth, Loops
Gianluca Giannasso: Drums
Ivan Contini: Bass

https://www.facebook.com/LiraDelBaccano42/
https://liradelbaccanoofficial.bandcamp.com/
http://www.iradelbaccano.it/

http://subsoundrecords.bigcartel.com/artist/l-ira-del-baccano
https://www.facebook.com/subsoundrecords/

L’Ira del Baccano, Cosmic Evoked Potentials (2023)

L’Ira del Baccano, “The Strange Dream of My Old Sun” official video

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Sherpa to Release Land of Corals on Nov. 6

Posted in Whathaveyou on September 6th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

sherpa

There are a few places on the planet that use the phrase Land of Corals — which is the title of the forthcoming third LP from Italian psychedelic rockers Sherpa — among them St. Martin in the Caribbean and the Maldives, and I’m sure a tragically decreasing assortment of others do as well. For Sherpa, the living rocks, fish and other animals in and around one of the planet’s most vital ecosystems make form the apparent theme of the new outing, which follows behind an appearance on Psychedelic Battles Vol. 6 last year, a couple 2020 standalone singles, a live album from their performance at Roadburn 2019 (review here) and, seeming way back there in the long-ago, 2018’s Tigris & Euphrates (review here), which until this morning stood as their most recent full-length, though the band’s Matteo Dossena released the debut album Topsoils (review here) from the solo-project Year of Taurus in that time as well.

The first audio to come from Land of Corals is second track “High Walls,” which pairs industrial-style electronic pulsations alongside vibrant guitar and drifting vocals. Breadth and intensity, brought together, in less than four minutes. That’s who this band is.

Subsound Records posted a signing announcement a while ago that it had picked up the band. Here that is along with the album cover, tracklisting and so on. Preorders are up on Bandcamp:

sherpa land of corals

SHERPA – Land of Corals

Dark Psychedelic Electronic Doom from Italy

We are so stoked to welcome in our roster a new band !

Sherpa is a project born in 2015 mainly run by Matteo Dossena (composer, singer and guitarist) and Franz Cardone (bass,synthetizers).

After their first psychedelic-pastoral album “Tanzlinde” (out on Sulatron Records, 2016) Sherpa was included in “Tregua 1997-2017 Stelle Buone”, an album by Cristina Donà which celebrate the 20 years anniversary of her debut album Tregua.

The second release, “Tigris & Euphrates” (out on Sulatron Records, 2018), moves on darker and heavier sounds and brings Sherpa to take part at Roadburn 2019.

After 4 years or composing and meditation a new album is born !

The release will be available worldwide on Lp Gatefold Black / Limited / Digital Stores

1. Silt
2. High Walls
3. Priest of Corals
4. Arousal
5. Coward / Pilgrimage to the Sun
6. Path / Mud / Barn

12″ Black Vinyl GATEFOLD
Black Innersleeve
Insert front back inside
Limited to 200 copies

12″ Limited Edition CORAL
Black Innersleeve
Insert front back inside
Limited to 100!

https://www.facebook.com/sherpa.ita/
https://www.instagram.com/sherpa.music/
https://sherpaita.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/subsoundrecords/
https://www.instagram.com/subsound_records/
http://subsoundrecords.bigcartel.com/
https://www.subsoundrecords.it/

Sherpa, Land of Corals (2023)

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The Obelisk Questionnaire: Lorenzo Stecconi of Lento

Posted in Questionnaire on July 14th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

Lorenzo Stecconi

The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.

Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.

Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.

The Obelisk Questionnaire: Lorenzo Stecconi of Lento, Zu, Producer for Ufomammut, Tons, The Wisdoom and more

How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?

In a very simple way to explain, it is to transcribe intuitions and thoughts into music. That meticulous process to distill the core of the spark and to throw away the bad parts. I like to define what I do as a soundtrack for taking a walk inside your inner self, and to think that I’m accompanying someone across that path with my music.

Describe your first musical memory.

My grandfather with a violin in the old family house after some holiday lunch when I was a little kid. I still remember that diffused light coming through the window in the room while he was playing.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

Seeing Current 93 live for my first time around 15 years ago. During the set I was slowly transported in a sort of ecstatic trance, it was some kind of epiphany for me, opening hundreds of musical possibilities in my mind.

When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?

I guess it happens very often if not every day to everyone searching for any kind of answers, in a way or another. You can move really close to the truth, but not that much to touch it. Is it enough to do your best and only navigate close to it?

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

Personally, to a higher state of self consciousness. Idealistically, to transcend matter and to embrace the spiritual world. In a more earthly way, to lead the end-user of art in a land where he dares to enter.

How do you define success?

During this era of narcissism, success is probably one of the most powerful enemies you can encounter, be prepared to be surrounded by the demons of fame and lust. It is scary how mankind have been completely subjugated by the idea of it. I believe the only success one must be proud of is when he’s capable of helping someone, in any best way you can imagine.

What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?

List is long, unfortunately. But each one little test, as we talked before, is a reminder from the universe to tell you something you should work on: as Jung said, you must embrace your shadow in order to understand your demons. So when I’ll stop wishing to not see something, I’ll probably be a better man.

Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.

I dream of a very big ensemble of musicians playing together on a highland, at dawn.

What do you believe is the most essential function of art?

I believe that the most important factor in art is a strong message. When there’s a lack of it, it’s just basic entertainment.

Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?

Connection with people, nature and to be surprised from what my unconscious wants to tell me.

https://www.facebook.com/lorenzerworks/
https://www.instagram.com/lorenzer/
https://lorenzostecconi.bandcamp.com/
https://lorenzostecconi.com/

https://www.facebook.com/subsoundrecords/
https://www.instagram.com/subsound_records/
http://subsoundrecords.bigcartel.com/
https://www.subsoundrecords.it/

Lorenzo Stecconi, Ambula ab Intra (2023)

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