Posted in Whathaveyou on April 28th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
The upcoming Volume tour in support of the band’s 2024 return EP, Joy of Navigation, will take off in less than a month’s time. I don’t know when the last time the California-based band hit the Eastern Seaboard, but from Boston down through Baltimore — not total coverage, but not nothing — they’ll swing all the way out before looping back west to finish, suitably enough, in the desert.
It’s a substantial tour, and you’ll note there’s 17 shows listed and I don’t see a day off among them. One would not accuse Volume of going easy on themselves as they make ready to head out, but sometimes that’s part of the idea. You’ll find the dates and such for the tour below, courtesy of the PR wire:
VOLUME announce full US tour starting in May
29 Palms, CA Desert/Stoner Rock supergroup led by Patrick Brink (Fu Manchu), Ed Mundell (Monster Magnet), Mike Amster (Nebula, Spoon Benders), Dave Catching
Twentynine Palms, CA band VOLUME announce full US tour dates today supporting their new album Joy of Navigation (A Trip Through the Eternal Unknown). Please see all dates below.
Joy of Navigation (A Trip Through the Eternal Unknown) is available for download/streaming, released on November 1st, 2024 via Golden Robot Recordings, and on LP via Kozmik Artifactz. Order HERE:https://album.link/Volume-JoyofNavigation
VOLUME LIVE 2025: 05/16 Las Vegas, NV – Dive Bar 05/17 Salt Lake City, UT – DLC 05/18 Denver, CO – The Crypt 05/19 Kansas City, KS – Mini Bar 05/20 Des Moines, IA – Lefty’s 05/21 Chicago, IL – Reggies 05/22 Detroit, MI – the Sanctuary 05/23 Lakewood, OH – 5 O’Clock Lounge 05/24 New York, NY – Lucky 13 05/25 Boston, MA – Mid East Upstairs 05/26 Philadelphia, PA – Animated Brewing 05/27 Baltimore, MD – the Metro 05/28 Louisville, KY – Mag Bar 05/29 St Louis, MO – Red Flag 05/30 Tulsa, OK – Whittier Bar 05/31 Albuquerque, NM – Echoes 06/01 Phoenix, AZ – Yucca Tap Room
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 13th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
The impending Volume EP, Joy of Navigation, follows behind a 20th anniversary edition of the band’s Requesting Permission to Land, and sees a new lineup of the group led by guitarist/vocalist Patrick Brink that includes guitarist Ed Mundell (The Ultra-Electric Mega Galactic, ex-Monster Magnet, etc.), Dave Catching (Queens of the Stone Age, etc.) and Mike Amster (Nebula, Mondo Generator, etc.). That’s a pretty enticing prospect alone, and made no less so by the album’s title-track, which is streaming now. Golden Robot and Kozmik Artifactz have the release, and whether it’s the names and legacy that bring you in or the song itself, I don’t think you’ll be wrong in checking it out.
If you’re experiencing a disconnect between the lineup mentioned above and the photo of the band, it’s because the pic is likely the live lineup rather than that which recorded. I was squinting to see if that’s Amster in the back, but yeah, no. Different group altogether. The good news though is that a live-lineup means live shows. I wouldn’t expect Volume to go coast-to-coast at this point, but there’s a date listed below and more will likely follow to some degree or other.
The PR wire has details:
VOLUME share first single from forthcoming album ‘Joy of Navigation’
29 Palms, CA Desert/Stoner Rock supergroup led by Patrick Brink (Fu Manchu), Ed Mundell (Monster Magnet), Mike Amster (Nebula, Spoon Benders), Dave Catching
Twentynine Palms, CA band VOLUME shares the first single (and title track) to their forthcoming album Joy of Navigation today on all streaming services. “Joy of Navigation” is live on all DSPs HERE & Bandcamp.
The band is VOLUME and it deals primarily in density: Thick and weighty as the abundant sand surrounding their Twentynine Palms, CA hometown, but also comprised of a mass of fine grit that can sear the skin with a gust of wind, and quickly dissipate into the ether.
Yes, that is to say, VOLUME are purveyors of Heavy Acid Rock. Doomy psychedelia, but with more raw 70s punk brash than masquerading metal. VOLUME draw musical influences from bands such as The Stooges, MC5 and Black Flag to name a few, while also crafting their own distinctive heavy psychedelic identity. And, with Joy of Navigation, the band ventures into heavier, more psychedelic tones, while also keeping powerful hooks as the focus.
Originally formed in 1993 by ex-Fu Manchu singer Patrick Brink, the band has featured a revolving set of collaborators, with ex-Monster Magnet guitarist Ed Mundell playing leads on the forthcoming Joy of Navigation mini-album. David Catching (QOTSA, Arctic Monkeys, Iggy Pop) co-produced the tracks with Brink, as well as playing synth on the recording. Mike Amster (Nebula, Mondo Generator, Spoon Benders) plays drums on the mini-album. The current live lineup includes Mingus on drums, bassist Jason Hernandez and lead guitarist Derek Christiansen.
Brink founded the band in order to take the lead and steer the musical reins down psychedelic rocking routes. Having performed with a number of acts including the aforementioned vocals for Fu Manchu in their early days, VOLUME offered Patrick a new creative outlet. Over their career the band has shared stages with Queens of the Stone Age, Mastodon and Goatsnake, and performed at festivals including Emissions of the Monolith and Stoner Hands of Doom (SHoD).
Brink’s upbringing in the secluded desert town east of Joshua Tree and 60 miles north of Palm Springs had a huge impact on his songwriting. It is a place of beauty and harsh realities, and those contrasts are present throughout Patrick’s lyrics and songs. After getting into punk rock by accident in high school Patrick started his first band a couple of years later with the only other punks in town. This early love of punk rock inadvertently led him to the heavier bands on SST Records such as Wurm, SWA, DC3 and St. Vitus.
Heavy As Fuck (1996) and Love Is A Mountain And Heavy As Fuck (1998) were the band’s first recordings. In the Fall of 1998, the seven inch Check This Planet I’m Gone… was released on Superkool Records. Requesting Permission To Land (High Beam Records) was recorded with the help of Mike McHugh (Train, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion). Each song was recorded in one or two takes to retain the original heart and soul of the piece.
“It’s rock and roll. Not brain surgery,” says Patrick of the recording process. The end result is a potent blend of thirty-plus minutes of psychedelic fuzzfest freakout and perhaps some of the rawest riffs you’re likely to hear.
VOLUME draw inspiration from a time when music was truly experimental and free. They see themselves as rock’n’roll torch bearers whose duty it is to bring the flame, intact, into the future. They invite you to join in that endeavor, for the Joy of Navigation.
Joy of Navigation will be available for download/streaming on November 1st, 2024 via Golden Robot Recordings, and on LP via Kozmik Artifactz. Pre-save HERE: https://orcd.co/joy-of-navigation, Pre-order HERE: https://kozmik-shop.com/
VOLUME LIVE 2024: 08/17 San Diego, CA – Til Two Club
Artist: VOLUME Album: Joy of Navigation Label: Golden Robot (digital) / Kozmik Artifactz (vinyl) Release Date: November 1st, 2024
01. Joy of Navigation 02. Mercury 03. Heavy Sunshine 04. Golden Age 05. Space Baby
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 26th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
What does it tell you about an album when five record labels get behind the release? Well, first it tells you that globalization was a farce that requires multiple DIY distributors to cover different territories around the planet because instead of actually helping smooth processes like releasing albums in multiple territories, it made the same five old white men who were already rich that much richer over the course of the last 30 years, but more immediately, it perhaps tells us that it’s time to start thinking of Volume‘s 2002 debut/only-LP Requesting Permission to Land (not the original cover below) as a lost classic, and maybe that it’s time to revisit that pre-social media era of heavy rock and roll in a similar fashion to how about 10 years back it seemed like every other week there was another lost classic from the heavy ’70s coming out on labels like Akarma and Rockadrome. Feels early, but I bet if you were there in the 1970s it felt early a decade ago too.
There are, of course, a near-infinite amount of treasures to be unearthed, because while I’d call the heavy underground well populated today and bolstered by the (semi-)democratization of recording gear/software and streaming, but whatever comes of it in the next few years, Volume‘s Requesting Permission to Land is easily worth the revisit, calling to mind nostalgia for the MySpace era when, say, one might’ve sent Patrick Brink a message requesting a copy of the record to play on one’s college radio stoner rock show. I’d say those were the days, but they weren’t really. I could go on off-topic, but you don’t care. If you want to talk and be friends in real life, hit me up. Also, don’t tell anybody that 2023 is actually the 21st anniversary of the album. Doesn’t matter. Pressing delays, timing, whatever. It exists and it’s coming out. That’s good enough for me.
The relevant info from the PR wire:
VOLUME To Release 20th Anniversary Edition of Requesting Permission To Land
Heavy fuzzed out psychedelic rock from the desert of Twentynine Palms, CA, is the offering from VOLUME. Formed in 1993, VOLUME are back following a hiatus to finish what they started and celebrate a career milestone. The 20th Anniversary edition vinyl pressing of Requesting Permission To Land will be released on October 27th.
“I’m super stoked that ‘Requesting Permission To Land’ will finally be out on vinyl like it was always supposed to be. Get ready to get cosmically freaked out!” – Patrick Brink
From the riff-fueled percussive-frenzy sound of the EP’s opener “Habit” to the rhythmic and progressive conclusion “Headswim”, Requesting Permission To Land is a thrilling collection of heavy acid rock tracks. The EP features a number of talented musicians with drums recorded by Scott Reeder (FU MANCHU), and bass played by James Scoggins (FINAL CONFLICT). If you like straight up fuzzed out psychedelic rock, sit back and let VOLUME spin your head!
About VOLUME:
Patrick Brink began VOLUME back in 1993 with the desire to have a project with which he could take the lead and steer the musical reins down psychedelic rocking routes. Having performed with a number of acts including doing vocals for FU MANCHU in their early days, VOLUME offered Patrick a new creative outlet. Over their career the band has shared stages with QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, FU MANCHU, MASTADON and GOATSNAKE, and performed at festivals including Emmisions of the Monolith and Stoner Hands of Doom (SHoD). VOLUME draw musical influences from bands such as THE STOOGES, MC5 and BLACK FLAG to name a few, while also crafting their own distinctive heavy psychedelic identity.
Requesting Permission To Land will be released via Weird Beard (UK) We Here & Now (CA) Echodelick (US) Worst Bassist (EU) Ramble Records (AU)
Tracklisting: 1. Habit 2. Colossalfreak 3. Dont Look Around 4. Make Believe 5. Headswim
Posted in Questionnaire on March 2nd, 2023 by JJ Koczan
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: Patrick Brink of Volume
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
For the most part it’s in your face psychedelic fuzz rock. We land on the fringes of stoner rock that melds punk’s rawness and edge with the psychedelic fuzz and sounds of late 60’s early 70’s. It’s for fans of the Stooges, Blue Cheer, and early Monster Magnet.
It was a natural progression of growing up on Black Flag, and other SST bands like Vitus & SWA, and loving the ability to be taken away by the sounds of music like Pink Floyd, Loop and Love and Rockets
Describe your first musical memory.
This is absolutely true! Singing “Rubber Duckie” (by Ernie) all the time in the bathtub. I loved singing and just making some noise.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
Singing the second verse and nearly whole chorus of “Wild in the Streets” at a Circle Jerks show. It was in 1989 at the Underground in Phoenix, Az. Keith put the mic near my face, and I grabbed it and just started wailing- having a blast. Halfway through the verse Keith was wanting me to give the mic back but I was caught up in the rush, having too much fun and kept singing. I eventually gave it back, but man that was awesome.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
I don’t know if there has been a point of crisis in things I believe strongly about. But I’m often evaluating my beliefs. I have had many conversations within my own head and with others who disagree with me. So I’m constantly testing my beliefs to see if they hold up or are things I hold onto for sentimental purposes and no real reason other than not liking change or its easier that way.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
Artistic progression leads to an excitement in what you are doing. It’s not always the case -look at the Ramones, they tried very little and seemed to keep the fire burning. But that’s probably the exception. If you are not pushing yourself and exploring new things, even just getting better on your instrument, you are going to find yourself burnt-out, and the next song, album, what have you, is just that, with no real connection to it. Art is about connections, connecting the senses to your heart. It takes work. If it’s not something you’ve worked hard at with all you have got, there is very little reward and feeling of accomplishment to this thing you have created.
How do you define success?
Success for me is being able to do what I love while making sure the family is not neglected. I took a long time off playing in bands because for me I couldn’t maintain both. Now that the kids are older, I have more time to devote to music. Having said that I feel successful each time I’ve written a song, and someone feels a connection to it- that’s what it’s about- It’s about all these connections that we as people make. We need to enjoy them, be thankful for them.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
Kid Rock open for Monster Magnet at the Troubadour.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
A book. I would like to write a book one day. I read a lot of Ancient Church history and would like to write maybe on that.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
To express feelings and emotions and make connections to people through those things.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
Getting out of the construction trade. My wife and I have a little business selling used clothes and I’m hoping to make it full-time in the next year, year and a half. It will free us up to travel, tour anytime, and just have more time to do the things we dig doing.
It’s been a load road, getting from there to here, and here isn’t even there yet if you know what I mean. Alas, Thursday. Day four — 4, IV, I can’t remember how I’ve been writing it out — of the Spring 2022 Quarterly Review, and it’s a doozy. These things are always packed, in fact it’s pretty much the idea, but I still find that even this week as I’m putting out 10 reviews a day — we’ll get to 60 total next Monday — I’m playing catchup with more stuff coming down the pike. It seems more and more like each Quarterly Review I’ve done out of like the last five could’ve been extended a day beyond what it already was.
Alas, Thursday. Overwhelmed? Me too.
Quarterly Review #31-40:
Messa, Close
After two LPs through Aural Music, Italy’s Messa arrive via Svart with a crucial third album in Close. The hype surrounding the record has been significant, and Close earns every bit of it across its 10-song/64-minute run, intricately arranged as the Italian four-piece continue to bridge stylistic gaps with an ease born of expansive songcraft and stunning performance, first from vocalist Sara Bianchin (also percussion) and further from guitarist Alberto Piccolo (also oud, mandolin), bassist/synthesist/vocalist Marco Zanin (also various keys and percussion), and drummer Rocco Toaldo (also harsh vocals, percussion), who together create a complete and encompassing vision of doom that borrows periodically from black metal as anything artsy invariably must, but is more notable for its command of itself. That is, Messa — through the entirety of the hour-plus — are nothing but masterful. There’s an old photo of The Beatles watching Jimi Hendrix circa 1967, seeming resigned at being utterly outclassed by the ‘next thing.’ It’s easy to imagine much of doom looking at Messa the same way.
If what goes around comes around, then don’t be surprised when “Fire & Ice” goes circle-mosh near the end and you get punched in the head. Old. School. Southern. Sludge. Metal. Dudes play it big, and mean, and grooving. Think of turn of the century acts like Alabama Thunderpussy and Beaten Back to Pure, maybe earlier Sourvein, but with a big old lumbering update in sound thanks to a Phillip Cope recording job and a ferocity of its own. They’ve got a pedigree that includes Black Skies, Manticore and Black Hand Throne, and though The Weight of Death is their first long-player, they’ve been a band for seven years and their anti-dogmatic culmination in “Mr. Miserum” feels sincere as only it can coming from the land of the Southern Baptist Church. Aggression pervades throughout, but the band aren’t necessarily monochromatic. Sometimes they’re mad, sometimes they’re pissed off. Watch out when they’re pissed off. And am I wrong for feeling nostalgic listening? Can’t be too soon for them to be retro, right? Either way, they hit it hard and that’s just fine. Everybody needs to blow off steam sometime.
Do I even need to say it, that a band called Dirty Nips offering up a demo called Can O’ Dirty Demo Nipples get up to some pretty cheeky shenanigans therein? I hope not. Still, as the Bristol-via-Poland outfit crunch out the riffs of “The Third Nipple” and harmonica-laced Hank Williams-style country blues on “As I Stumbled” and touch on psychedelic jamming in opener “The Basement” and the later experimental-feeling “Dirty Nips Pt. II,” which just drops to silence in the middle enough to make you wonder if it’s coming back (it is), there’s clearly more going on here than goofball chicanery. “Jechetki” builds on the blues and adds a grunge chug, and closer “Mountain Calling” is — dare I say it? — classy with its blend of acoustic guitar and organ, echoing spoken vocal and engagingly patient realization. They may end up wishing they called themselves something else as time goes on, but as it stands, Dirty Nips‘ demo tape heralds a sonic complexity that makes it that much harder to predict where they might end up, and is all the more satisfying a listen for that.
Though they’re by no means the only band in Sweden to dig into some form of traditionalism in heavy rock, Västerås five-piece Ocean to Burn evoke a decidedly more straight-ahead, Southern-heavy feel throughout the nine songs and 33 minutes of Vultures, their self-released full-length. The throaty grit of vocalist Adam Liifw is a big part of that impression, but in the guitars of Mathilda Haanpää and Fredrik Blomqvist, the tone is more stripped-down than huge-sounding, and the grooves from bassist Pontus Jägervall and drummer Fredrik Hiltunen follow suit. That central purpose suits songs like “Wastelands” and the more strutting “Nay Sayer,” and though they largely stick to their guns style-wise, a bluesier nod on “No Afterlife” early and a breakout in closer “Vulture Road” assure there’s some toying with the balance, even as the tracks all stick to the three- to about four-and-a-half-minute range. They’ve been at it for a while, and seem to revel in the ‘nothin-too-fancy’ attitude of the material, but honestly, they don’t need tricks or novelty to get their point across.
Following an encouraging start in 2019’s Cirrus (review here), Nijmegen instrumentalists Mt. Echo return with the conceptual-feeling Electric Empire, still holding some noise rock crunch in “Automaton” following the opener “Sound & Fury,” but saving its biggest impacts for the angular “50 Fanthoms,” the 10-minute “Flummox” and subsequent “As the Tide Serves,” and on the whole working to bring that side of their approach together with the atmospheric heavy post-rock float of “The End of All Dispute” and the early going of “These Concrete Lungs.” At 10 songs and just under an hour long, Electric Empire has room for world-building, and one of Mt. Echo‘s great strengths is being able to offset patience with urgency and vice versa. By the time they cap with “Torpid,” the trio of Gerben Elburg, Vincent Voogd and Rolf Vonk have worked to further distinguish themselves among their various sans-vocals proggy peers. One hopes they’ll continue on such a path.
Vocalist Eric Brock, guitarist/backing vocalist/principal songwriter Lewis Inglis, bassist Dean Gordon and drummer Ryan Wilson are Edinburgh’s Earl of Hell, and their debut EP, Get Smoked, builds on the brash grooves of prior singles “Arryhthmia” (sic) and “Blood Disco,” the latter of which appears as the penultimate of the six included tracks on the 23-minute outing. More stomp-and-swing than punch-you-in-the-face, “I Am the Chill” nonetheless makes its sense of threat clear — it is not about chilling out — as if opener “Hang ’em High” didn’t. Split into two three-song sides each with a shorter track between, it’s in “Parasite” and “Blood Disco” that the band are at their most punk rock, but as the slower “Bitter Fruits” mellows out in opening side B, there’s more to their approach than just full-sprint shove, though don’t tell that to closer “Kill the Witch,” which revels in its call and response with nary a hesitation as it shifts into Spanish-language lyrics. High-octane, punk-informed heavy rock and roll, no pretense of trying to push boundaries; just ripping it up and threaten to burn ladies alive, as one apparently does.
Released on New Year’s Day after being recorded in Dec. 2021 in the trio’s native Rome, “Yonder” serves as the initial public offering and first single from Slugg, and at 9:59, it is more than a vague teaser for the band they might be. The guitar of Jacopo Cautela and the bass of Stephen Drive bring a marked largesse that nonetheless is able to move when called upon to do so by Andrea Giamberardini‘s drumming, and Cautela‘s corresponding vocals are pushed deeper back in the mix to emphasize those tones. Much of the second half of “Yonder” is given to a single, rolling purpose, but the band cleverly turn that into a build as they move forward, leaving behind the gallops of the first few minutes of the song, but making the transition from one side to another smoothly via midsection crashes and ably setting up the ring-out finish that will draw the song to its close. Not without ambition, “Yonder” crushes with a sense of physical catharsis while affecting an atmosphere that is no less broad. They make it easy to hope for more to come along these lines.
Joe Freedman, also of Banshee, first saw Telepathic Radio released as the debut full-length from Mirage in 2021 through Misophonia Records on tape. There are still a few of them left. That version runs 30 songs and 90 minutes. The Cardinal Fuzz/Centripetal Force edition is 50 minutes/20 tracks, but either way you go, get your head ready for dug-in freakness. Like freakness where you open the artwork file for the digital promo and all three versions are the cover of a Rhapsody album. Ostensibly psychedelic, songs play out like snippets from a wandering attention span, trying this weird thing and seeing it through en route to the next. In this way, Telepathic Radio is both broad-ranging and somewhat contained. The recordings are raw, fade in and out and follow their own paths as though recorded over a stretch of time rather than in one studio burst, which seems indeed to be how they were made. Horns, samples, keys, even some guitar, a bit of “TV Party” and “TV Eye” on “TV Screens,” Mirage howls and wails out there on its private wavelength, resolved to be what it is regardless of what one might expect of it. By the time even the 20-track version is done, the thing you can most expect is to have no clue what just happened in your brain. Rad.
With its first, self-titled release, An Evening Redness basks in morose Americana atmospheres, slow, patient guitar drones, warm bass and steady rhythms giving way to periodically violent surges. Founded perhaps as a pandemic project for Brandon Elkins of Auditor and Iron Forest, the six-song full-length explores the underlying intensity and threat to person and personhood that a lot of American culture just takes for granted. The name and inspiration for the project are literary — ‘An Evening Redness in the West’ is the subtitle of Cormac McCarthy’s 1985 novel, Blood Meridian — and An Evening Redness, even in the long instrumental stretch of 12-minute opener/longest track (immediate points) “Alkali,” treats the subject matter with duly textured reverence. Elkins isn’t alone here, and the vocals of Bridget Bellavia on the brooding “Mesa Skyline” and the closing pair of “Pariah” and “Black Flame at the Edge of the Desert,” as well as the contributions of other guests in various locales around the world up to and including Elkins‘ native Chicago should not be downplayed in enriching these explorations of space and sound. Bands like Earth and Across Tundras warrant mention as precursors of the form, but An Evening Redness casts its own light in the droning “Winter, 1847” and the harmonica-wailing “The Judge” enough to be wholly distinct from either in portraying the sometimes horrifying bounty of the land and the cruelty of those living in it.
Brothers John and Marc Beaudette — who if they aren’t twins are close enough — comprise New Hampshire’s Cryptophaser, and XXII is their first demo, pressed in an edition of 50 purple tapes. Dudes might as well just open my wallet. Fair enough. In what’s a show of chemistry and musical conversation that’s obviously been going on longer than these songs — that is, I highly suspect the maybe-twin brothers who drum and play guitar have been playing together more than a year — they bring an adversarial bent to the conventions of heavy fuzz, and do so with the proverbial gusto, breaking away from monolithic tones in favor of sheer dynamic, and when they shift into the drone in “October 83,” they make themselves a completely different band like it isn’t even a thing. Casual kickass. At 13 minutes, it flows like a full-length and has a full-length’s breadth of ideas (some full-lengths, anyway), and the energy from one moment to the next is infectious, be that next part fast, slow, loud, quiet, or whatever else they want it to be.
The Bearer of Light is Atala‘s fourth full-length. Issued by Salt of the Earth Records, it follows 2017’s Labyrinth of Ashmedai (review here), 2016’s Shaman’s Path of the Serpent (review here) and a 2015 self-titled debut (review here), and while its predecessor seemed to follow a pattern set forth by the second album, in style as well as method, The Bearer of Light‘s seven-track/43-minute run is marked by a few notable changes. The production is a big one. The self-titled was produced by Scott Reeder, and the next two by Billy frickin’ Anderson, so the fact that guitarist/vocalist Kyle Stratton (who also did the cover art) took the reins himself this time around with a purposeful intent toward rawness is not to be overlooked. Indeed, The Bearer of Light is largely cloaked in its barebones recording, with Stratton‘s distorted guitar leading the charge cut through by Jeff Tedtaotao‘s sometimes-tinny snare and the dirt-coated low-end in Dave Horn‘s bass.
There’s still some opportunity for melody to shine through, as happens on the 3:45 side B cut and shortest track overall, “Venomous Lure” — also one of several songs to begin with a spoken sample, very much in ’90s sludge fashion — or even opener “Desolate Lands,” but much of the character of the record overall derives from movements like “Upon the Altar” and the threat-conveyance in “Won’t Subside,” which stretches to 11 minutes and layers its vocals in blown-out shouts over a lumbering, grueling central riff, like if earliest YOB had disappeared in the Mojave and come back hallucinating monsters from the exposure. Born of and depicting a harsh but beautiful landscape, the Twentynine Palms, California-based three piece indeed still qualify as a “desert band,” but their take on what that means is a noted departure from the laid-back punk-derived fuzz that has become typical of desert rock as a genre. Their trip is meaner on the whole, and particularly in the crashes of “Naive Demur” and the gutturalism of “Upon the Altar” is more kin to Crowbar than Kyuss. So be it. Some bands are suited to being contrary, and Atala hit that mark well on The Bearer of Light.
Though also structured for vinyl — kind of a given these days for heavy music — one can find summary of the point of view through which The Bearer of Light is working in its trailmarker tracks, by which I mean its opener, centerpiece and closer. Launching with “Desolate Lands” and closing with the acoustic “Dark Skies,” Atala puts “Sun Worship” at the heart of The Bearer of Light, which would seem to be no coincidence given the flow of the release overall. And while that view doesn’t necessarily account for the perceived sociopolitical reckoning of “Won’t Subside” or “Naive Demur,” or even “Dark Skies” somewhat, it stresses the importance of the desert itself as part of the character of the work, which it is, whatever other topics might be discussed in the not-always-easily-deciphered lyrics.
“Sun Worship” begins with a sample of George Carlin from 1999’s You are All Diseased talking about becoming a sun worshiper as opposed to following Christianity and then undertakes a massive intro roll with far-back semi-spoken, maybe throat-sung vocals before a count-in transitions to the verse riff proper, clean vocals there meeting head-on with a meaner chorus soon enough. There’s a kind of chant in the second half of the song, which seems to purposefully devolve ahead of its fadeout, moving into the more structured “Venomous Lure” and subsequently the long-gone-not-coming-back foray of “Won’t Subside.” Certainly the stage is set for these transitions earlier in The Bearer of Light throughout “Desolate Lands,” “Upon the Altar” and “Naive Demur,” but at the same time one finds footing in the beginning, middle and end, the willfulness with which Atala dig deeper into their approach in this batch of material isn’t to be understated. Though somewhat obscured by the production — which is as close as I come to a qualm with it — that breadth is there in the material, in the interplay between melody and outright nastiness, and in the coherence of their craft and general reach of their sound. Stratton‘s fuzz lead alone in the opener is enough of a hook to capture the listener’s attention, never mind the rumble and roll that surrounds.
Subtle volume swells back the acoustic guitar of “Dark Skies,” with a rhythmic strum taking the place that otherwise might be held by percussion and soulful vocals overtop, reminding that one element Atala have never lacked has been conviction. They present that perhaps most boldly of all on The Bearer of Light, finding a way to commune with the desert without giving themselves over to stylistic cliché or losing the progressive thread of their work to this point, keeping that feel of searching for something in themselves and in their songs that has helped define them up to now. With the turn of production, it becomes more difficult to see where Atala might head next time around, if they’ll return to work with someone else at the helm or take the lessons of this collection forward and continue in the fashion of DIY recordmaking. I don’t know, but what feels most essential to stress is that The Bearer of Light is more than a test of a new production method.
It’s that too, to be sure, but it also brings out Atala‘s widest range of songwriting, and sees them able to handle themselves no matter which direction a given piece might go, whether it’s the extremity of “Upon the Altar” or the relative accessibility of “Venomous Lure” and the organically delivered finish of “Dark Skies.” Their output remains considered and rife with perspective instrumentally as well as lyrically, and their chemistry has never sounded as fluid as it does on The Bearer of Light, which is doubly impressive given that the sound of the album is so clearly intended to lean toward live performance. Four records deep over a five-year span, Atala are still growing, still pushing themselves to places they haven’t been, and one suspects that might just be the case no matter how long and how far they go.
Posted in Whathaveyou on April 18th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
I haven’t even had a second to check out the video below for “Desolate Lands” yet, but trust me, I’ll get there shortly. New Atala, and new Atala on relatively short notice, is only good news. The desert-dwelling atmosphericists remain aligned to Salt of the Earth Records for The Bearer of Light, which is out May 21, and preorders for the record open this very weekend. If you didn’t hear last year’s Labyrinth of Ashmedai (review here) — also on Salt of the Earth — well, it’s not too late to get into that, but these guys never fail to move forward as a matter of course, so The Bearer of Light is one to anticipate for sure. I’ll hope to have more to come as we get closer to the release.
Guitarist Kyle Stratton had a few choice things to say about it, as per the PR wire:
ATALA: West Coast Desert Doom Trio To Release The Bearer Of Light Full-Length Via Salt Of The Earth Records; “Desolate Lands” Video Now Playing, Tour Dates Announced + Preorders Available 4/20
West Coast desert doom trio ATALA will release their The Bearer Of Light full-length via Salt Of The Earth Records on May 21st.
Returning to their DIY ethos, the seven-track desert voyage was captured and self-produced in just five days at Gatos Trail in Joshua Tree with engineer Jeff Thomas. “It’s a true roller coaster of emotions: sad, angry, confused, lost… but, you can’t help but feel hope as you follow the journey,” notes founding guitarist Kyle Stratton.
“After working with producers who I admired,” Stratton continues of the decision to record The Bearer Of Light on his own, “I felt it was my time to do it my way while implementing some of the tricks they used. I wanted to record live and not overthink the process. I just wanted to capture the moment take by take. It was a learning process for both the band and myself as a producer. I literally had no idea what I was doing but I wanted the record to have a ’90s DIY feel like the stuff I grew up listening to and I think we achieved that.”
In advance of the release of The Bearer Of Light, ATALA is pleased to unveil their video for first single “Desolate Lands.” Issues Stratton of the clip, “‘Desolate Lands’ was written spontaneously in a jam and it was devastatingly heavy. Lyrically, it’s about the desert and our connection to the surrounding landscape and creatures. It’s about understanding that nature is the only true connection we have to any kind of a god or higher power. The video was created by our friend Zak Kupcha at Circulation Media. He did a great job.”
The Bearer Of Light comes swathed in Stratton’s striking cover art and will be available on, CD, LP, and digitally. Preorders begin this Saturday, 4/20 via Salt Of The Earth Records at THIS LOCATION or the ATALA website HERE.
The Bearer Of Light Track Listing: 1. Desolate Lands 2. Upon The Altar 3. Naïve Demure 4. Sun Worship 5. Venomous Lure 6. Won’t Subside 7. Dark Skies
Catch ATALA live in support of The Bearer Of Light on a near-three-week US tour this June alongside Sixes. See all confirmed dates below.
ATALA w/ Sixes: 6/14/2019 O’Malley’s – Mountain View, CA 6/15/2019 Mummer’s – Sparks, NV 6/16/2019 Beehive – Salt Lake City, UT 6/17/2019 Streets Of London – Denver, CO 6/18/2019 The Riot Room – Kansas City, MO 6/19/2019 The Lift – Dubuque, IA 6/20/2019 Reggie’s Music Hall – Chicago, IL 6/21/2019 Mohawk Place – Buffalo, NY 6/22/2019 Café 611 – Frederick, MD 6/23/2019 The Drunk Horse – Fayetteville, NC 6/24/2019 Alabama Music Box – Mobile, AL 6/25/2019 Come And Take It Live – Austin, TX 6/26/2019 Bond’s 007 Rock Bar – San Antonio, TX 6/27/2019 Rockhouse Bar & Grill – El Paso, TX 6/28/2019 House of Bards – Tucson, AZ 6/29/2019 Yucca Tap Room – Phoenix, AZ 6/30/2019 Slidebar – Fullerton, CA
ATALA: Kyle Stratton – guitar, vocals Jeff Tedtaotao – drums Dave Horn – bass
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 28th, 2018 by JJ Koczan
With three shows in Arizona, one in New Mexico, one in L.A., and a last one in Mexico, I think it’s fair to call Atala‘s upcoming November tour one of the Southwest, but there are also dates in Salt Lake City, Denver and Wichita, Kansas, so there’s some geographical reach there as well. It’s a nine-date trek, all told, for the desert-dwelling atmosludge three-piece, who go supporting early 2018’s Labyrinth of Ashmedai (review here), released by Salt of the Earth Records, and the tour is presented by the label and Dropout Media. I haven’t heard much about Atala‘s plans for 2019 either way, whether they’ll do shows, write, or record, or lay low and/or continue to herald Labyrinth of Ashmedai, but if they’ve got new material, they’re not shy about showing it off, so there’s always the chance, and either way, I can tell you from experience at both Maryland Doom Fest and Roadburn that they deliver live. The first time Jeff Tedtaotao blows out your eardrums with his crash, you’ll be happy you showed up. I wouldn’t try to steer you wrong.
The PR wire brings the dates and the whathaveyous. Goes like this:
CA Desert Doom masters, ATALA, announce West Coast tour
After a short hibernation, ATALA is ready to devastate the west coast when they embark on their upcoming “Destroy Yourself” tour. This string of dates in support of their recent release “Labyrinth Of Ashmedai”(Salt Of The Earth Records) will see the California Hi-Desert natives bringing their brand of dark and heavily emotional doom metal to new areas and regions in an effort to spread the gospel of heavy… in other words, they are firing up the van and bringing the music directly to the people.
No strangers to roadwork ATALA have been featured performers at festivals far and wide such as The Maryland Doomfest, The New England Stoner and Doom Fest, SX Stoner Jam, and the true Mecca of riff worship: ROADBURN (Tilburg, Netherlands)!
ATALA has shared the stage with acts such as The Obsessed, EARTHRIDE, Baroness, Pallbearer, Coven, Buzzard Canyon, Chelsea Wolfe, to name just a few… the time is coming, you have been warned… Do not miss ATALA when they hit a city near you!
November 1st – Los Angeles CA – The Blvd November 2nd – Salt Lake City UT – TBA November 3rd – Denver CO – The Bar Bar November 4th – Wichita KS – TBA November 5th – Santa Fe NM – Boxcar November 6th – Flagstaff AZ – The Green Room November 7th – Tuscon AZ – Hotel Congress November 8th – Tempe AZ – Yucca Tap Room November 9th – Nogales Mexico – Roots Bar
ATALA is: Kyle Stratton (Guitar and Vocals) Jeff Tedtaotao (Drums) Dave Horn (Bass)
