Genoa, Italy, instrumentalist heavy rockers IKITAN make their full-length debut this week with Shaping the Chaos, with distribution through Taxi Driver Records. The 52-minute nine-tracker is a moment toward which the trio of guitarist Luca Nasciuti, bassist Frik Et and drummer Enrico Meloni have been building for the last four years, and I don’t know where they found some of the subject matter, but in taking their overarching theme from strange places and unexplained whathaveyou as they purport to have done — for example, closer “52Hz Whale” refers to a whale call heard in the ocean from a probably-yet-undiscovered whale species at a different frequency than all other whales; a single whale at its own frequency; each title offers its own internet rabbit-hole to go down — they’ve also underscored what seems to be the key ambition of the record itself and the band up to now. It’s about standing out.

You know I had a whole thing with parentheticals behind each title, but for your ease and the sanity of my sentences, here’s the tracklisting and meaning behind each title:

1. Chicxulub (the crater from the impact that killed the dinosaurs)
2. Lahar (a kind of destructive pyroclastic flow with water, ash and ice.
3. Darvaza (a burning gas field in Turkmenistan)
4. Sailing Stones (rocks blown by wind leaving trails in dirt in Death Valley)
5. Natron (the world’s saltiest lake, in Kenya)
6. Bung Fai Phaya Nak (in Thailand, maybe-naturally-occurring burning gas bubbles in the Mekong River)
7. Brinicle (underwater stalactites of sea ice)
8. Blood Falls (a flow of oxidized iron in Antarctica that, indeed, looks like blood)
9. 52Hz Whale (“the loneliest whale” singing at its own frequency)

Prioritizing aural individuality is tricky. “We don’t want to sound like anyone else,” as an operating ethic, can be a loaded phrase. With a progressive mindset to their craft — i.e., they’re paying attention to what they’re doing — IKITAN take the approach with which they set out earlier this decade with 2020’s Twenty-Twenty EP (review here) and push exponentially outward. There’s progressive metal lurking in the punchy bassline of intro “Chicxulub,” but when the two-minute piece bursts to life, its tones are weighted and even its abbreviated runtime is enough for the lead guitar to torch some ground, but they are less willing to be caged by genre than they have shown to this point. “Lahar” and “Darvaza” — the latter of which appeared on 2021’s Darvaza y Brinicle EP (review here) — follow in succession, with a build to a fervent shove in the former and a rush into the ether in the latter that aligns as it heads into the midsection around a declarative, angular riff, recedes, and deftly brings it back at the end, and by the time the bass starts “Sailing Stones,” momentum is well on IKITAN‘s side and they’ve harnessed the sound — somewhat raw in production, but clear enough to let the shifting moods and structures of the material carry through — and with a stop-and-go early, they bring a blend of crunch and float that reminds some of Pelican before a more intense finish.

Later on, “Blood Falls” brings the album back to ground ahead of closing out with “52Hz Whale” as a bookend to “Chicxulub,” but the 10-minute “Natron,” “Bung Fai Phaya Nak” and “Brinicle” (the other track from the aforementioned two-songer) represent the farthest reaching material on Shaping the Chaos. “Natron” has guest percussion by Olmo Manzano and violin later by Roberto Izzo, but more than that, it’s a shift in sound. IKITAN show themselves as willing to explore in these pieces, but that should’t be taken to mean they’re just jamming. Certainly “Natron” likely had its beginnings as a jam, but it’s become a fully-realized centerpiece, deceptively patient in the exeuction, broken into movements the last of which is a set of classic prog-rock twists underscored by a rumble of dirty bass that’s not grandiose sounding by any means, but that purposefully takes on a different atmosphere from most of what the band has offered thus far. A solo takes off early in “Bung Fai Phaya Nak,” and it seems like the turns of “Natron” are going to lead to more thrust, but they calm it down in order to work their way back, and “Brinicle” picks up from there with three movements: a short intro of standalone guitar, a shift into double-kick-backed post-rock (“fascinating,” said Spock), and the heaviest nod and tonality they’ve offered in a Middle Eastern-hued crescendo.

The tempo and shove pull back in the beginning of “Blood Falls,” but there’s metallic tension in the drums, and so when it smoothes out its willfully bumpy early procession, it seems like that’s going to be the story of it, but IKITAN do a quick reset and over a classy push of bass and drums — not too much — soaring lead guitar suddenly drops to silence for the bass-led epilogue in “52Hz Whale.” Mind you I have no idea if any of the outro is actually at 52Hz, but either way, the closer is gone before its two minutes are even up and the band leave without having said a word but having made a statement just the same. Shaping the Chaos was self-recorded and pieced together over a couple years, and the material feels duly sculpted while remaining spare in the production as noted.

That doesn’t really hurt the songs, especially after a couple listens, but if part of the band’s process is going to be handling their own recording duties, this too is an avenue for creative growth as they move forward, and the inclusion of percussion and violin on “Natron” here speaks well for the potentiality of future arrangement flourish as well. Could IKITAN be one of those bands who gets a keyboardist after two or three records? I don’t know, but Shaping the Chaos lays out a sprawl of potential routes the trio (for now!) might take as they continue to grow, and begins to harness the individuality that seems to be so much of what they’re going for. It might be a sleeper in terms of hype, but IKITAN have something here.

Shaping the Chaos streams in full below, followed by more info from the PR wire.

Please enjoy:

IKITAN, heavy post-rock trio from Genoa, Italy, proudly announce their comeback with their first full length titled “Shaping The Chaos”.

Recorded between 2021 and 2025, the album is inspired by inexplicable phenomena or weird places from planet earth.

“Shaping The Chaos” is self-produced and it will be distributed by Taxi Driver Records. The album will be published on digital, cd, and vinyl (hand-numbered limited edition of 100 copies with an obi) on Bandcamp Friday 7 March 2025. Both physical formats come with a poster representing the album cover, once again crafted by Luca Marcenaro.

Pre-orders for “Shaping The Chaos” started on Friday 14 February on IKITAN’s Bandcamp page, and the album will be premiered by The Obelisk on Wednesday 5 March.

IKITAN will also present the album at a release party held at Flamingo Records Store in Genoa, Italy, on Sunday 9 March.

“Shaping The Chaos” encapsulates the last four years of the band’s life and the conflicting emotions that led to its making.

Even though it is very different from the debut EP “Twenty-Twenty”, it shares the same emotional and instrumental philosophy.

If “Twenty-Twenty” featured a single track or, better a musical journey, lasting 20 minutes and 20 seconds, “Shaping The Chaos” includes nine self-contained songs, each one inspired by our planet.

“Curiosity has driven us to cross unusual places and delve into the intricacies of the planet Earth’s inexplicable natural phenomena. Each of these inspires the songs on the album.

We go from blood falls to the place where the meteorite that led to the dinosaurs’ extinction fell, from the door to hell to the sound of the world’s loneliest whale,” states the band.

And the music? 100% IKITAN—post-rock and metal with a touch of stoner, psych, and prog, featuring dreamy guitar lines that build over a deep, driving bass and thunderous drums.

This time, IKITAN decided to infuse the song “Natron” with something unique, thanks to the contribution of two incredible artists: Olmo Manzano on percussion and Roberto Izzo on violin.

“Shaping The Chaos” includes 9 tracks in the digital and cd version, and 7 on vinyl, as “Darvaza” and “Brinicle”, which will be available on cd and in digital, were already published as a limited-edition cassette in 2021.

The album will be published on Friday 7 March 2025, which is also Bandcamp Friday.

“Shaping The Chaos” is distributed by Taxi Driver Records and it will be available on digital, cd and vinyl (hand-numbered limited edition of 100 copies with an obi) from Friday 7 March 2025. Both physical formats come with a poster.

Pre-orders for “Shaping The Chaos” started on Friday 14 February on IKITAN’s Bandcamp page, and the album will be premiered by The Obelisk on Wednesday 5 March.

Tracklisting:
1. Chicxulub
2. Lahar
3. Darvaza
4. Sailing Stones
5. Natron
6. Bung Fai Phaya Nak
7. Brinicle
8. Blood Falls
9. 52 Hz Whale

Recorded, mastered and produced by IKITAN between 2021 and 2025 at Marsala Studios, Genoa, Italy, World.

IKITAN is the alleged god of the sound of the stones, brought to life by:
Luca Nasciuti: guitars
Frik Et: bass
Enrico Meloni: drums and cowbell
Olmo Manzano: percussions on “Natron”
Roberto Izzo: violin on “Natron”
Graphics: Luca Marcenaro

IKITAN on Facebook

IKITAN on Instagram

IKITAN on Bandcamp

IKITAN website

IKITAN’s Linktr.ee

Taxi Driver Records on Facebook

Taxi Driver Records on Bandcamp

Taxi Driver Records website

If you follow Ikitan on the ol’ social medias, you may have seen the post below, which includes a plug for the fact that the band’s new album, Shaping the Chaos, will be streamed herein full March 5, two days before its official March 7 release. Wednesday ahead of the Friday, in other words. The chuggy-punchy “Sailing Stones” is serving as the first single to coincide with preorders, and the Genoa-based instrumentalists aren’t kidding when they talk on the Bandcamp page about it being different from their prior EP, Twenty-Twenty (review here).

The reach in the lead guitar later on here and the way they ride that groove feels more psychedelic than dug-in-in-the-room, but the twists and stops on either side of that push have their own weight to carry. In any case, they’re following a plot and it’s complex and volatile and I’m gonna go ahead and dive into the record ahead of streaming it you’re good right okay cool.

Here’s info:

🌎 SHAPING THE CHAOS 🪐 NEW ALBUM ALERT 🌍 OUT ON 7 MARCH 2025 🗓️

It is with great pride that we announce the publication of our long-awaited first full-length. Who would have said? We made it!

🔥 Recorded between 2021 and 2025, “Shaping The Chaos” is inspired by inexplicable phenomena or weird places from planet earth.

Self-produced and distributed by Taxi Driver Records, the album will be published on digital, cd, and vinyl (hand-numbered limited edition of 100 copies with an obi) on Bandcamp Friday 7 March 2025. Both physical formats come with a poster representing the album cover, once again crafted by Luca Marcenaro / graphic + illustration.

➡️ TODAY! Pre-orders for “Shaping The Chaos” start today, Friday 14 February on our Bandcamp page: https://ikitan.bandcamp.com/album/shaping-the-chaos

📻 The album will be premiered by The Obelisk on Wednesday 5 March.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 And if you’re in Genoa, come and celebrate with us at Flamingo Records Store Genova for our release party on Sunday 9 March! More details coming soon.

Tracklisting:
1. Chicxulub
2. Lahar
3. Darvaza
4. Sailing Stones
5. Natron
6. Bung Fai Phaya Nak
7. Brinicle
8. Blood Falls
9. 52 Hz Whale

https://www.facebook.com/IkitanBand/
https://www.instagram.com/ikitan_official/
https://ikitan.bandcamp.com/
https://ikitanband.com/

https://www.facebook.com/taxidriverrecords/
https://taxidriverstore.bandcamp.com/
http://taxidriverstore.com

Ikitan, Shaping the Chaos (2025)

In a week that’s pretty light on announcements, be it for tours or new releases or whathaveyou, Italy’s Humulus shine through with live plans for the early part of this New Year, with one TBA still saddled in a stretch of 10 days and more listed as being in the offing. The occasion of the trio’s going is 2023’s Flowers of Death (review here), which was the first outing from the band to feature guitarist/vocalist Thomas Mascheroni after a lineup shift that saw him step in after 2020’s The Deep (review here).

Their fourth full-length overall, it also featured a collaboration with Colour Haze guitarist/vocalist Stefan Koglek, whose presence and influence certainly doesn’t hurt, and in part with that laid out a progressive and psychedelic course for their work to follow going forward. If you didn’t hear it — and if you didn’t, it’s okay, I don’t hear everything either — it’s at the bottom of this post and since it came out in September and 2024 is only two days old, it’s still a new release, so have at it. The dates were posted on social media as follows:

Flowers of Death Tour 2024 💥 here’s the first part of the tour dates confirmed for the next year…Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy and for the first time Denmark 🔥 We wish you all the best for the new year and we hope to see you in front of the stage…and don’t forget to drink good beers 🍺 cheeeers

07.03 Gerwerk Winterthur CH
08.03 Freiburg Im Breisgau DE
09.03 Sas Delemont CH
10.03 Rockhaus Salzburg AT
11.03 Kopi Keller Berlin DE
12.03 TBA
13.03 Lygtens Kro Copenhagen DK
14.03 Pogo Retroquitaten Telgte DE
15.03 Vortex Siegen DE
16.03 Bandhaus Erfurt DE
17.03 Live Bar Sölden AT
more TBA

Humulus:
Thomas Mascheroni – Guitar and Voice
Massimiliano Boventi – Drums
Giorgio Bonacorsi – Bass

https://www.facebook.com/humulusband
https://www.instagram.com/humulus.band/
http://www.humulus.bandcamp.com

http://kozmik-artifactz.com/
https://www.facebook.com/kozmikartifactz
https://www.instagram.com/kozmikartifactz/
https://kozmik-artifactz.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/taxidriverrecords/
https://www.instagram.com/taxidriverworld/
https://taxidriverstore.bandcamp.com/
http://taxidriverstore.com

Humulus, Flowers of Death (2023)

Revamped Italian heavy rockers Humulus will release their new album, Flowers of Death, on Sept. 1 through Taxi Driver Records and Kozmik Artifactz. Running seven tracks/43 minutes and varying from the heavy psychedelic post-stoner earthiness of opener “Black Water” to the blasted-into-space finale in “Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth,” it is the fourth full-length overall from the Brescia trio, who made their self-titled debut in 2012. It follows a not unreasonable three years behind 2020’s The Deep (review here), and is consistent with theme that emerged there of progressing outward from their heavy rock foundation. Flowers of Death has the additional distinguishing factor of being the first Humulus outing since guitarist/vocalist Thomas Mascheroni joined the band late last year, taking the place of Andrea Van Cleef alongside bassist Giorgio Bonacorsi and drummer Massimiliano Boventi.

In some ways, that change is the story of the album. It’s not the story of the songs, but if one heard The Deep or 2017’s Reverently Heading into Nowhere (review here), there’s been incremental growth all along from the band’s beery beginnings, and that’s true here too. Swapping in Mascheroni — who also fronts garage’d psych-blues rockers Thomas Greenwood and the Talismans and did the covers for the “Seventh Sun” single (premiering below) and the LP — accounts for the shifts in sound beyond that, whether that might be manifest in the way second cut “Secret Room” follows the fluid and modern roll of “Black Water” with a faster, riffier push, turns on a dime drawn from “Misty Mountain Hop” and winds up in pastoral psych that puts one in Arbouretum-style sunshine ever so briefly, and finishes by hinting at the cosmic launch to come at Flowers of Death‘s end as it fades out.

Not only is there variety in terms of where a given song might go, but structurally between them as well. “Shimmer Haze” essentially follows one righteously swinging progression for most of its five minutes, with a guitar-led mellow break in its second half that builds back up and some groovy kick drum in its earlier verses, and when they bring back that main riff at 4:47 with barely half a minute left, they gracefully and unhurriedly tie it together as a grounded heavy rocker while holding to the exploratory atmosphere of the first two tracks. I don’t think “Shimmer Haze” is anything particularly new from Humulus, but it’s greatly to their credit that they make it come across like it is. As the centerpiece, “Buried by Tree” moves into a slightly faster tempo and is marked by the tom work behind Mascheroni‘s vocals and guitar starts and stops, coming to a head as the guitar aligns with Bonacorsi and Boventi and shoots into the chorus, departing from there into a spacious midsection that gradually jams back to another round through the verse and hook, both efficient in execution and laid back in presence.

At 7:30, “Seventh Sun” is the second longest piece on Flowers of Death and is something of a landmark for Humulus. As the band explains below, it was the first track written with Mascheroni, and its languid rollout through an extended intro positions it directly into heavy psychedelia in a way that the additional guitar from Colour Haze‘s Stefan Koglek (who also apparently leant a hand in songwriting as well) very much fits when it arrives near the song’s middle. By the time they get there, Humulus have already hypnotized the listener with the flow built around the bassline, guitar starting off, leaving, then fading back in as the track sleeks into its verse. Koglek‘s lead will be recognizable to Colour Haze fans, and its end marks a change into a more active solo and ending section, and where “Shimmer Haze” turned back from its shorter excursion to finish with reinforcement of structure, “Seventh Sun” willingly lets itself go instrumental into that good night, its residual hum seeming to last right until the snare snap of the title-track announce it’s time to boogie.

And so it may be. Surf boogie at that. Taking ’60s garage and modern heavy psych and, yeah, some surf in that guitar line, the three-piece skillfully bring the listener back from the trance of “Seventh Sun” with physical (relative) urgency in the short cut that precedes the takeoff of the 10-minute “Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth” — one imagines a document with three words all-caps: “PLANT MORE TREES” — which follows suit from “Seventh Sun” in not coming back once it goes into its jam, but is resolute in its cosmic feel. Once more to the credit of Humulus‘ songwriting, the initial verses are more than a formality en route to the extended instrumental finish, which comprises the last six-plus minutes and brings subtle dynamic in its moments of digging in loud or quiet, but definitely saves its biggest thrust for last, a coursing wall of interstellar fuzz nova-blasted by a star about to be recycled.

I’m not sure one could really hope to summarize the totality of Flowers of Death in a single track anyway, and as an alternative, space rock works to emphasize the open stylistic nature of Humulus at this stage in their career, more than a decade on from their first record and with a one-third-new lineup. I’ve said on multiple occasions that swapping a guitarist — let alone a guitarist/vocalist — from a power trio is a major change for a band to make. It’s had a significant impact on Humulus as well, but they haven’t lost the thread from where The Deep was leading, even as they’ve thrown open new and exciting creative avenues to traverse.

“Seventh Sun” premieres below, with more comment from the band, preorder links, and so on after.

Please enjoy:

Humulus, “Seventh Sun” track premiere

https://youtu.be/i-QhVYwFxF0

Humulus on “Seventh Sun”:

“The idea of this song came from an old bass riff that Giorgio used to play to check his sound in rehearsal, studio, live, etc. We never built up a song on this riff, so when Thomas joined the band in November 2022 was the first idea we started to jam on. This is the first song that we wrote for the new LP and during the months we’ve spent writing the rest of the songs, it changed a lot and we added and cut different parts. Also under the supervision of Stefan from Colour Haze who played an additional guitar part. For sure is one of the most psychedelic and atmospheric song of this LP and more than the others represents well the transition from the ‘Old Humulus sound’ to the new one.”

Song Name: Seventh Sun
LP Name: Flowers of Death
Music by Humulus, Lyrics by Thomas Mascheroni
Additional guitar by Stefan Koglek (Colour Haze)
Artwork for the Single by Thomas Greenwood

‘Flowers of Death’ preorder: http://www.kozmik-artifactz.com/ & http://taxidriverstore.com

Tracklisting:
1. Black Water
2. Secret Room
3. Shimmer Haze
4. Buried By Tree
5. 7th Sun
6. Flowers Of Death
7. Operating Manual For Spaceship Earth

Humulus:
Thomas Mascheroni – Guitar and Voice
Massimiliano Boventi – Drums
Giorgio Bonacorsi – Bass

Humulus on Facebook

Humulus on Instagram

Humulus on Bandcamp

Kozmik Artifactz website

Kozmik Artifactz on Facebook

Kozmik Artifactz on Instagram

Kozmik Artifactz on Bandcamp

Taxi Driver Records on Facebook

Taxi Driver Records on Instagram

Taxi Driver Records on Bandcamp

Taxi Driver Records store

Something of a different look from Humulus on their upcoming Flowers of Death LP. The follow-up to 2020’s The Deep (review here) sees the Brescia-based three-piece making their first offering with new guitarist/vocalist Thomas Mascheroni, who joined the band late last year, playing alongside bassist Giorgio Bonacorsi and drummer/band-ambassador Massimiliano Boventi. The heft is still there, as songs like “Shimmer Haze” and “Buried by Tree” will attest, but some of the burl has been swapped out for an exploratory sense, and Mascheroni imports some of his psychedelic and melodic sensibility from his solo work — he also did the cover art — giving a fresh voice to the group who released their beer-rocking self-titled debut in 2012.

They don’t sound like a completely different band — though they do go full-space rock at the end with “Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth,” with engrossing results — but like they’re pursuing the direction they took with the somewhat-left-turn that their 2020 LP represented, and they sound like they’ve restructured the group, which they have. Mascheroni replaces Andrea Van Cleef in Humulus, and has a style of his own. I’m not going to say it’s better or worse now, because that’s not really what it’s about — though if you want radical honesty, Humulus now are probably more in line with what I’d put on for a given afternoon — but listening to Flowers of Death as I’ve been fortunate enough to do, they sound excited and eager to plumb these new reaches of sound, and I look forward to hearing where they end up.

They’re confirmed for Keep it Low in Munich this year, which Colour Haze also regularly play, it being their hometown. You’ll note that band’s guitarist Stefan Koglek had a hand in advising on songwriting (not a tutelage that’s going to hurt) and plays extra guitar on “Seventh Sun.” That song has a mellow drift and the kind of build that I very much wouldn’t mind watching emanate from a festival stage. I won’t make it to Keep it Low unless a miracle happens, but as a word to the wise, it’s something you might consider.

I’ll hope to have more to come on the record as we get closer to the release. For now, here’s the announcement and some words on it from Boventi:

HUMULUS – Flowers Of Death

Release date: 1st September 2023

Preorder link: http://shop.bilocationrecords.com/

Label: Kozmik Artifactz (LP, 300 copies) Taxi Driver (CD, 300 copies)

Says Massimiliano Boventi: “I think that the most important thing for a band like us who recently had a lineup change, is to start immediately to work hard on new material…and it’s exactly what we did from november until april 2023. The result is an LP that reflects what Humulus are in this moment: you can feel in the songs the ‘classical’ Humulus style that is more connected to the rhythmical part of the band, the oldest part :) , and the fresh air given by the new member. But the most important thing for us is that these parts are well connected and we feel us again as a band, musically speaking but also as friends.

It was also a pleasure and a great honour to be helped by Stefan Koglek from Colour Haze who gave us precious tips about what to do in the songs without changing our band sound. We never did this before with other artists for previous records and was really a different and very stimulating thing to do for composing part of the LP. And he played an additional guitar part on the song called “Seventh Sun”.

So we are really excited about this release, and also some gigs for October and November are coming.

All the songs are written and played by Humulus.
This Lp was recorded in April 2023 at IndieBox Music Hall Studio (Brescia) by Giovanni Bottoglia.
Cover art by Thomas Mascheroni (our Singer and Guitar player).
Stefan Koglek: Additional guitar on “Seventh Sun”.

Humulus:
Thomas Mascheroni – Guitar and Voice
Massimiliano Boventi – Drums
Giorgio Bonacorsi – Bass

https://www.facebook.com/humulusband
https://www.instagram.com/humulus.band/
http://www.humulus.bandcamp.com

http://kozmik-artifactz.com/
https://www.facebook.com/kozmikartifactz
https://www.instagram.com/kozmikartifactz/
https://kozmik-artifactz.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/taxidriverrecords/
https://www.instagram.com/taxidriverworld/
https://taxidriverstore.bandcamp.com/
http://taxidriverstore.com

Humulus, The Deep (2020)

You’re about to get hit with a lot of information, so buckle up. The Fizz Fuzz will release their second full-length, Deserts, Mountains, Oceans, on March 14 through Taxi Driver Records and Slush Fund Recordings. Last heard from not so terribly long ago with 2020’s debut album, Palmyra (review here), the Santa Rosa, California, outfit centers around the core duo of guitarist/vocalist Dawn Brown and vocalist, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Dandy Brown, the latter of whom, in addition to solo work under his own name, is a veteran of desert heavy outfits like the John Garcia-led Hermano, as well as Orquesta del Desierto — as much a dug-in weirdo myth as they ever were a band — Yawning Sons, and others.

Across the utterly manageable eight songs and 36 minutes of Deserts, Mountains, Oceans — recorded between Italy and Georgia, as one does — and in collaboration with drummer Steve Earle of Afghan Whigs (who wrote one song and co-wrote another as well), Isaak bassist Gabriele Carta, and with guest spots from Mike Reeder, Keith Murphy, and Mark Engel (also Orquesta del Desierto), the Browns offer an inviting take on desert blues, sweet punk and self-assured heavy rock, basking in tonal and melodic richness from the opening strums of “Statues” (premiering below) onward as Dawn and Dandy trade and share lead vocal duties. United by a universal lack of pretense, the material is classic in structure and neither playing to genre nor forgetting from whence the band comes in terms of style — and yes, there’s a good bit of fuzz throughout.

Some fizz as well, if by that we mean the vital electric undercurrent that allows “Statues” to begin a build of momentum that continues through the subsequent “Deaf and Dumb,” which feels brief and hooky at 4:06 with Dawn taking the fore vocally; since Dandy fronts “Statues,” that establishes the back and forth that bolsters the material throughout, and sets up the duet in “Disbelief” that’s no less satisfying because one sees it coming. Backed by organ work in a show of eternal cool, “Disbelief” finds Dandy crooning in a way that reminds of softer John Garcia while Dawn answers in the verse lines, moving toward and through a memorable chorus that’s laid back in terms of tempo and understated compared to the semi-angular starts and stops of “Deaf and Dumb,” but all the more resonant melodically and purposeful not to go too far over the top as it crescendos with a guitar solo and keys behind.

Capping side A, “I Suppose” goes back to ground with a fuzzy strum at its outset, continuing to play with the balance between the dual vocals as it builds into a shuffle that would signal a shift in focus toward rhythm were it not for lushness of the vocals overtop. There’s style in the production, the deceptive depth of the mix — even just between lines at 2:11-2:15 into “I Suppose,” there’s more going on for those who’d dig deeper into the flourish — and the mellow vocal delivery, as well as substance in the songwriting and the crafted feel of the verses, the smoothness of their transitions from one part to the next throughout, and the thoughtfulness of the arrangements around Dandy and Dawn, and progression in the performances of both as compared to Palmyra three years ago with an accordingly more solidified idea of what The Fizz Fuzz‘s project is as a group and an idea. It gives more than it takes, stays casual in its accomplishments and is listenable in that way older Masters of Reality always seems to be timeless for being out of its own time.

The mix shifts on “Free for Sorry,” with Dawn forward in the duet, Dandy backing behind, and the introduction of drums is held back for more than a minute of the total 3:50 — not an insignificant amount of real estate, considering — with the effect of emphasizing the flow in the central riff. It’s a highlight performance from Dawn in answer to “Deaf and Dumb” earlier, and sways all the more fluidly with the ‘oooh’s backing her. “Craters,” meanwhile, taps a beefed-up Blind Melon vibe as the repeated line “time rolls on” is complemented by a groove that does much the same, snare drum punching through to punctuate a motion that’s not hurried but not staid, balanced just right for what it wants to be like so much of Deserts, Mountains, Oceans; pro-shop in sound and confident without arrogance, a work of artisans comfortable in their methods while pushing themselves forward. Placed ahead of the closer, “Mad Jimmy” comes across like it would work just as well as a fully unplugged folk song with its shared vocals and wistful guitar, but the full arrangement with drums and bass certainly doesn’t hurt.

It’s the shortest of the cuts at 3:43 (not by a ton) and leads into the longest, which is the 6:30 relative blowout of “Billion.” In genuinely classic fashion, The Fizz Fuzz offer a build into their version of a grand finale, tension mounting in the first two minutes before they reveal the catchy standout chorus and layer guitar lines with more decisively desert-rocking intent as they cycle through again en route to a victory lap reprise and ending around those guitars, residual melody fading as the record is brought to an appropriately classy conclusion, sweaty at the expulsion of energy but unruffled. They sound like they could keep going, like they have more to say, like they could just keep doing this forever, and maybe they will, but the achievement here in songwriting, in the varying arrangements and phrasings, in the richness of the total affect, isn’t to be understated. What Dawn Brown and Dandy Brown have built is an exercise in aural honesty. There’s no put-on happening here, nobody’s pretending to be anything they’re not, and the sincerity of expression throughout Deserts, Mountains, Oceans is palpable, drawing the listener closer to the songs and still, still, still poised and sympathetic in mood.

I’ll bottom line it: You like songs? The Fizz Fuzz‘ve got songs, and on Deserts, Mountains, Oceans they’re playing them just for you whether you hear them or not.

To that end, you’ll find the premiere of “Statues” below. Keep in mind that initial strum of guitar. The tone there is a clarion that extends across what follows on the record, and the groove that coincides likewise is a thread carried through the duration. I dig it. I think you’ll dig it too.

Under the player is copious PR wire info (still buckled?), but again, the release is March 14 digitally, with vinyl preorders opening the same day through Taxi Driver and Slush Fund. Beyond that, what you really need to know is in the audio, so please enjoy:

Dandy Brown on recording Deserts, Mountains, Oceans:

After releasing our first album, Palmyra, in 2020, we were set to embark on a series of tour dates throughout Europe and the United States, but, of course, those plans were interrupted by the pandemic. About a year and a half after we released the first album, we were finally able to do a couple of brief tours in Italy and the United States, but we spent most of the lockdown and ensuing travel restrictions water-shedding in our Northern California home writing the songs that would eventually end up appearing on Deserts, Mountains, Oceans.

While our first album was certainly a collaborative effort, most of the songs that appeared on our first collection were derived from parts and pieces each of us had constructed before we came together as a writing team, before we were husband and wife. Certainly, not many good things can be said about the years the world suffered through the virus, but for us it turned out to be an opportunity to explore our writing with a much more heightened sense of collaboration, which, of course, allowed us to push each other in new and exciting directions. Palmyra was a great achievement for us, but Deserts, Oceans, Mountains represents an evolution in both of our writing styles and a truer representation of the heart of where the Fizz Fuzz currently stands and the future directions we are heading.

We have been truly lucky to have such a great supporting cast with Steve Earle (Afghan Whigs) on drums and Gabriele Carta (ISAAK) on bass. They have not only enhanced the songs we have written for Deserts, Mountains, Oceans, but they contributed to the development of the songs on the album in unique and exciting ways. We were also tremendously excited to have Steve Earle contribute a song to the album and co-write another, adding an exciting dynamic to the material that has broadened the collection in a way that we are immensely grateful to share.

Thematically, Deserts, Mountains, Oceans represents our reflections upon some of the most traumatic episodes of our lives . . . messages of lost or damaged relationships, broken dreams and, unfortunately, the often merciless passage of time. We think, though, that within the representations of those darker themes each song has a way of commenting upon the ability to move past those unfortunate elements of life and to embrace the optimism that we all have the capacity to discover if we are willing to search for it. Essentially, while the title of the album reflects the physical geography where we have resided, the metaphors within those locations stand as testaments of the desolation that has impacted both of us, the climb to the place we are now, and the bliss we have found with and within each other.

THE FIZZ FUZZ – Deserts, Mountains, Oceans

DIGITAL DOWNLOAD AVAILABLE AND VINYL PRE-ORDERS BEGIN: MARCH 14, 2023

Coming together for the first time in the high desert of southern California during the fall of 2017, the FIZZ FUZZ are a blues-rock band from Santa Rosa.

Dandy Brown is a producer, singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist best known for his work with the bands Hermano, Orquesta del Desierto, John Garcia, Alice Tambourine Lover, Yawning Sons, and his solo releases. In addition to covering guitar and vocal duties with the band, Dawn Brown is a multi-media artist currently engaged with photo experiments and commissioned pieces throughout northern California.

Their debut album, Palmyra, was released in the spring of 2020 and features performances by David Angstrom (Hermano/Luna Sol), Steve Earle (Afghan Whigs), Mike Callahan (Hermano/Earshot), Alice Albertazzi and Gianfranco Romanelli (Alice Tambourine Lover), and Mark Engel (Orquesta del Desierto).

The Fizz Fuzz sophomore release, Deserts, Mountains, Oceans, is slated for release on March 14, 2023. Recorded at Oxygen Studios (Verzuolo, IT) and the Slush Fund facilities in Athens, GA, the new collection features Steve Earle and Gabriele Carta, and guest performances by Mike Reeder, Keith Murphy, and Mark Engel. They will be performing in the UK to support the new album in March, 2023.

The Fizz Fuzz live:
March 14: the Victoria, Swindon
March 16: the Glass House, Ashford
March 17: Liquid Light Brew Company, Nottingham
March 18: Percy’s Cafe Bar, Whitchurch

The Fizz Fuzz on Instagram

Dandy Brown / The Fizz Fuzz website

Taxi Driver Records on Facebook

Taxi Driver Records on Bandcamp

Slush Fund Recordings store

Slush Fund Recordings website

Behold, the last day of the Quarterly Review. For a couple weeks, anyhow. I gotta admit, even with the prospect of doing it all again next month looming over my head, this QR has been strikingly easy to put together. Yeah, some of that is because of back-end conveniences in compiling links, images and embeds, prep work done ahead of time, and so on, but more than that it’s because the music is good. And if you know anything about a QR, you know I like to treat myself on the last day. Today is not at all an exception in that regard. Accordingly, I won’t delay, except to say thanks again for reading and following along if you have been. I know my own year-end list won’t be the same for having done this, and I hope the same for you.

Quarterly Review #41-50:

Kanaan, Earthbound

F-U-Z-Z! Putting the jazzy drive they showcased on 2020’s Odense Sessions on hold, Oslo trio Kanaan — guitarist/percussionist Ask Vatn Strøm (guitar, percussion, noise), Ingvald André Vassbø (drums, percussion, Farfisa) and Eskild Myrvoll (bass, synth, Mellotron, some guitar) — get down to the business of riffs and shred on the clearly-purposefully-titled Earthbound, still touching on heavy psychedelic impulses — “Bourdon” is a positive freakout, man — but underscoring that with a thickness of groove and distorted tonality that more than lives up to the name. See also the cruncher “Mudbound,” which, yeah, gets a little airy in its back half but still holds that thud steady all the while. Simultaneously calling back to European instrumental heavy of two decades ago while maintaining their progressive edge, Kanaan strike a rare — which is to stop just shy of saying “unique” — balance that’s so much richer than the common Earthless idol-worship, and yet somehow miraculously free of pretense at the same time. 46 minutes of heavy joy.

Kanaan on Facebook

Jansen Records website

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Spacelord, False Dawn

Not to be confused with Germany’s The Spacelords, Buffalo, New York’s heavy blues purveyors offer a melody-minded eight songs across the 44 minutes of their third self-released long-player, with the vocals of Ed Grabianowski (also guitar) a distinct focal point backed by Rich Root‘s guitar, bass, drums and production. The two-piece deftly weave between acoustic and electric guitar foundations on songs like “How the Devil Got Into You” and “Breakers,” with a distinctly Led Zeppelin-style flair throughout, the Page/Plant dynamic echoed in the guitar strum as well as the vocals. “Broken Teeth Ritual” pushes through heavier riffing early on, and “All Night Drive” nears eight minutes with a right-on swinging solo jam to follow on the largely unplugged “Crypt Ghost,” and “M-60” nears prog metal in its chug, but the layering of “Starswan” brings a sweet conclusion to the proceedings, which despite the band’s duo configuration sound vibrant in a live sense and organic in their making.

Spacelord on Facebook

Spacelord on Bandcamp

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Altareth, Blood

The opening title-track of Altareth‘s debut album, Blood, seems to be positioned as a direct clarion call to fellow Sabbathians — to my East Coast US ears, it reminds of Curse the Son, which should be taken as a compliment to tone and melody — but the Gothenburg five-piece aren’t through “Satan Hole” before offering some samples and weirdo garage-sounding ’60s keyboard/horn surges, and the swirling lead that consumes the finish of “Downward Mobile,” which follows, continues to hint at their developing complexity of approach. Still, their core sound is slow, thick, dark and lumbering, and whether that’s coming through in centerpiece “Eternal Sleep” or the willful drudgery that surrounds the quiet, melodic break in “Moon,” they’re not shy about making the point. Neither should they be. The penultimate “High Priest” offers mournful soloing and the nine-minute closer “Empty” veers into post-Cathedral prog-doom in its volume trades before a solo crescendo finishes out, and the swallowed-by-sentient-molasses vibe is sealed. They’ll continue to grow into themselves, and Blood would seem to indicate that will be fun to hear.

Altareth on Facebook

Magnetic Eye Records store

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Negură Bunget, Zău

The closing piece of a trilogy and reportedly the final offering from Romanian folk-laced progressive black metallers Negură Bunget following the 2017 death of founding drummer Gabriel “Negru” Mafa, Zău begins with the patient unfolding and resultant sweep of its longest track (immediate points) in “Brad” before the foresty gorgeousness of “Iarba Fiarelor” finds a place between agonized doom and charred bark. Constructed parabolically with its longer songs bookending around the seven-minute centerpiece “Obrazar,” Zău is perhaps best understood in the full context in which it arrives, as the band’s swansong after tragic loss, etc., but it’s also complex and engrossing enough to stand on its own separate from that, and in paying homage to their fallen comrade by completing his last work, Negură Bunget have underscored what made them such a standout in the first place. After the wash of “Tinerețe Fără Bătrânețe,” closer “Toacă Din Cer” rounds out by moving from its shimmering guitar into a muted ceremony of horn and tree-creaking percussion that can only be called an appropriate finish, if in fact it is that for the band.

Negură Bunget on Facebook

Prophecy Productions store

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High Fighter, Live at WDR Rockpalast

High Fighter — with guitars howling, screams wailing and growls guttural, drums pounding, bass thick and guitars leading the charge — recorded their Live at WDR Rockpalast set during lockdown, sans audience, at the industrial complex Landschaftspark Duisburg- Nord depicted on the cover of the LP/DL release. It’s a fittingly brutal-looking setting for the Hamburg-based melodic sludge metal aggressors, and in their rawest moments, tracks like “When We Suffer” and “Before I Disappear” throw down with a nastiness that should raise eyebrows for any who’d worship the crustiest of wares. Of course, that’s not the limit of what High Fighter do, and a big part of the band’s aesthetic draws on the offset of melody and extremity, but to listen to the 34-minute set wrap with the outright, dug-in, At the Gates-comparison-worthy rendition of “Shine Equal Dark,” it’s hard not to appreciate just how vicious they can be as a group. This was their last show with founding guitarist Christian “Shi” Pappas, and whatever the future holds, they gave him a fitting sendoff.

High Fighter on Facebook

Argonauta Records website

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Spier Kitten, Major Label Debut

This is fucking rad. Long-running Welsh trio Spider Kitten probably don’t give a shit if you check it out or not, but I do. Major Label Debut runs less than half an hour and in that time they remind that there’s more expressive potential to heavy rock than playing to genre, and as cuts like “Maladjusted” reinvent grunge impact and the brooding “Hearts and Mindworms” blend Melvins-born weirdo impulses and naturalize Nine Inch Nailsian lyrical threat, there’s a good sense of doing-whatever-the-hell-they-want that comes through alongside deceptively thoughtful arrangements and melodies. The weight and post-Dirt sneer of “Sandbagged (Whoa, Yeah)” may or may not be parody, but hell if it doesn’t work, and the same applies to the earlier blast-punk of “Self-Care (Makes Me Wanna Die),” both songs in and out in under three minutes. Give it up for a band dwelling on their own wavelength, who’ve been hither and yon and are clearly comfortable following where their impulses lead. This kind of creativity is its own endgame. You either appreciate that or it’s your loss.

Spider Kitten on Facebook

Spider Kitten on Bandcamp

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Snowy Dunes, Sastrugi

Even discounting the global pandemic, it feels like an exceptionally long four years since Stockholm’s Snowy Dunes issued their sophomore album, 2017’s Atlantis (review here). “Let’s Save Dreams,” which is the second cut on Sastrugi, was released as a single in 2019 (posted here), so there’s no question the record’s been in the works for a while, but its purposefully split two sides showcase a sound that’s been worth the wait, from the straightforward classic craft of the leadoff title-track to the dug-in semi-psychedelic swing of 11-minute capper “Helios,” the four-piece jamming on modernized retro impulses after dropping hints of prog and space-psych in “Medicinmannen” (9:14) and pushing melancholy heavy blues into shuffle-shove insistence on side A’s organ-laced closer “Great Divide” with duly Sverige soul. Pushes further out as it goes, takes you with it, reminds you why you liked this band so much in the first place, and sounds completely casual in doing all of it.

Snowy Dunes on Facebook

Snowy Dunes on Bandcamp

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Maragda, Maragda

A threat of tonal weight and a certain rhythmic intensity coincide with dreamy prog melodies in “The Core as a Whole” and “The Calling,” which together lead the way into the self-titled debut from Barcelona, Spain’s Maragda, and an edge of the technical persists despite the wash of “Hermit,” a current perhaps of grunge and metal that’s given something of a rest in the brightness of “Crystal Passage” still to come — more than an interlude at three minutes, but instrumental just the same — after the sharply solo’ed “Orb of Delusion.” Payoff for the burgeoning intensity of the early going arrives in “Beyond the Ruins,” though closer “The Blue Ceiling” enacts some shred to back its Mellotron-y midsection. There’s a balance that will be found or otherwise resisted as Maragda explore the varied nature of their influences — growth to be undertaken, then — but their progressive structures, storytelling mindset and attention to detail here are more than enough to pique interest and make Maragda a welcome addition to the crowded Spanish underground.

Maragda on Facebook

Spinda Records on Bandcamp

Nafra Records on Bandcamp

Necio Records on Bandcamp

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Killer Hill, Frozen Head

Extra super bonus points for Los Angeles heavy noise rockers Killer Hill on naming a song “Bullshit Mountain,” and more extra for leaving the incidental-sounding feedback in too. Frozen Head follows behind 2019’s About a Goat two-songer with six tracks and 22 minutes that pummels on opener “Trash” and its title-track in a niche thick-toned, hardcore-punk born — the band is members of Helmet and Guzzard, so tick your ‘pedigree’ box — and raw, churning metal raised, “Frozen Head” veering into Slayery thrash and deathly churn before evening out in its chorus, such as it does. Sadly, “Laser Head Removal” is instrumental, but the longer trio that follow in “Bent,” the aforementioned “Bullshit Mountain” and the all-go-until-it-isn’t-then-is-again-then-isn’t-again “Re Entry” bask in further intentional cross-genre fuckery with due irreverence and deceptive precision. It sounds like a show you’d go to thinking you were gonna get your ass beat, but nah, everyone’s cool as it turns out.

Killer Hill on Facebook

Killer Hill on Bandcamp

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Ikitan, Darvaza y Brincle

Distinguished through the gotta-hear-it bass tone of Frik Et that provides grounding presence alongside Luca “Nash” Nasciuti float-ready guitar and the cymbal wash of Enrico Meloni‘s drums, the Genoa, Italy, instrumental three-piece Ikitan make their first offering through Taxi Driver Records with the two-track cassingle Darvaza y Brincle. The outing’s component inclusions run on either side of seven minutes, and the resultant entirety is under 14, but that’s enough to give an impression of where they’re headed after their initial single-song EP, Twenty-Twenty (review here), showed up late last year, with crunch and heavier post-rock drift meeting in particularly cohesive fashion on “Brincle” even as that B-side feels more exploratory than “Darvaza” prior. With some nascent prog stretch in the soloing, the complete narrative of the band’s style has yet to be told, but the quick, encouraging check-in is appreciated. Until next time.

Ikitan on Facebook

Taxi Driver Records store

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Probably a good idea on the part of all-caps Italian instrumentalist trio IKITAN not to call their new release ‘2021.’ While enjoyable, I kind of felt like their late-last-year debut extended single, “Twenty-Twenty” (review here), suffered some amount of guilt by association with the miserable year in which it arrived. At very least, in putting it on, I found myself thinking about 2020, and, well, that has yet to prove pleasant on balance, though some good things did happen, IKITAN‘s debut among them.

Darvaza y Brinicle it is for the impending two-songer, the tape also marks the first release for the band through Taxi Driver Records, and its titular tracks serve to highlight their claim toward a post-rock influence, airy guitar taking flight amid a heavier crunch and an overarching progressive feel.

Plus, who doesn’t like a cassingle?

From the PR wire:

IKITAN publish two new singles in a limited-edition cassette by Taxi Driver Records

IKITAN, a heavy post-rock trio, is proud to present “Darvaza y Brinicle”, its first limited-edition cassette, published by Taxi Driver Records.

The cassette will be released on Friday 3rd December 2021 and the two new songs, titled “Darvaza” and “Brinicle”, will be available on Taxi Driver’s Bandcamp page as well as on all the band’s digital stores.

The tape contains the two singles on side A, and “Twenty-Twenty Live at Forte Geremia” on side B, which was released digitally and as a video in June 2021.

Only 30 copies of the cassette will be available, and each one comes with a digital download of the two singles… and a BIC pen.

Listen to “Darvaza” and Pre-order the limited-edition cassette “Darvaza y Brinicle” (limited-edition: 30 copies).

“With a lot of new riffs under the belt since the release of “Twenty-Twenty”, and having had the opportunity to share “Live at Forte Geremia” with the world, it was the right time to publish some new music.
We’ve been rehearsing a lot as a consequence of the prolonged state of emergency in Italy, and “Darvaza” and “Brinicle” are the first products of this increased musical productivity in IKITAN’s headquarters”, says the band.

Unusual natural phenomena and weird facts have always been fascinating for IKITAN; the name of the band itself represents the alleged Aztec god of the sound of the stones, as depicted in the cover of “Twenty-Twenty”.
The Darvaza is in Turkmenistan whilst the Brinicle occurs in the Antarctic Ocean.

“Darvaza (“Door to Hell”, an artificially-created crater that’s been burning since the 70es) and Brinicle (a finger-of-death ice stalactite that kills everything it encounters in the water) represent two different yet complementary sides of our nature, devastating and powerful but ethereal and dream-like at the same time”, says IKITAN.

The idea of releasing the two singles as a cassette comes from Massimo Perasso, owner of Taxi Driver Records, an independent music label based in Genoa and born in 2009.

“We’re very happy to partner with Maso, a true legend in Genoa when it comes to heavy music, stoner and all types of interesting and cool projects, and his label Taxi Driver Records. We’ve always been fans of the label and its releases, and to be among some of Genoa’s (and beyond) best acts makes us very proud”, concludes IKITAN.

IKITAN was formed in Genoa, Italy, in 2019. The band’s self-released debut “Twenty-Twenty” is a one-track instrumental EP lasting 20 minutes and 20 seconds, and it was published on 20th November 2020. The EP was well-received globally by the press and fans alike.

As it was impossible to play live due to the pandemic, IKITAN recorded its first live video, “Twenty-Twenty Live at Forte Geremia”, in March 2021. It was recorded on top of an old military fort (819 m asl) and it captures the band playing “Twenty-Twenty” live for the first time, in a dramatic scenery between sea and mountains, and with no audience. The video of the concert, a tribute to generator parties, is available on YouTube.

The artwork for both “Twenty-Twenty” and “Darvaza y Brinicle” is crafted by Luca Marcenaro.

Save the date! “Darvaza y Brinicle” will be published on 3rd December 2021 in a limited-edition cassette by Taxi Driver Records and it will be available on the label’s Bandcamp.

Listen to “Darvaza” and Pre-order the limited-edition cassette “Darvaza y Brinicle” (limited-edition: 30 copies).

“Twenty-Twenty Live at Forte Geremia” is available on IKITAN’s Bandcamp as a name-your-price digital download as well as a live video on YouTube. IKITAN’s debut EP “Twenty-Twenty” is available as a limited-edition (200 copies) digipack with a free poster and sticker as well as a digital download on Bandcamp.

IKITAN:
Luca “Nash” Nasciuti: guitar
Frik Et: bass
Enrico Meloni: drums and cowbell

https://www.facebook.com/IkitanBand/
https://www.instagram.com/ikitan_official/
https://ikitan.bandcamp.com/
https://ikitanband.com/
https://www.facebook.com/taxidriverrecords/
https://taxidriverstore.bandcamp.com/
http://taxidriverstore.com

IKITAN, Darvaza y Brinicle (2021)

IKITAN, “Twenty-Twenty” Live at Forte Geremia