There’s precious little you can trust in life and I know, I know, I know I’ve said this at least several times in the past, but you can trust the taste of Exile on Mainstream‘s Andreas Kohl when it comes to finding and issuing interesting, innovative and — perhaps most importantly — actually good music. I’m not saying the label and I are always 100 percent on the same page, but in all honesty, even stuff that I’m not super-all-over, I’ve never checked out an Exile on Mainstream release and regretted it. I hold the imprint to a pretty high, almost unrealistic, standard and have for a long time now. That standard has never not been met.

Gavial — and kudos to the band on changing their name from the former Tourette Boys — will release their debut-under-the-moniker VOR through Exile on Mainstream on May 19, and that’s all I need to know to get on board. Nonetheless, I’d be a prick if I didn’t actually include the PR wire info here, you know, for good measure, so here it is:

GAVIAL: German Blues/Psychedelic Rock Quartet Formerly Known As Tourette Boys To Release VOR LP Through Exile On Mainstream In May

Exile On Mainstream excitedly welcomes German quartet GAVIAL to the label, and is preparing to release the band’s new LP, VOR.

The story of GAVIAL began nearly fifteen years ago as a project adapted from a Nirvana song and pun as “Two Red Boys.” Having released three albums as Tourette Boys, two collaborations with UK-based blues musician Tim Holehouse, and a split EP with labelmates Gaffa Ghandi, the band played countless gigs and tours with bands like Acid Mothers Temple, Dyse, Gaffa Ghandi, The Skull, True Widow and Sleepy Sun. This musical project is based on friendship even though the musicians live in different cities. The vast and untouched landscapes between Berlin and Dresden may have contributed to the inspiration for the sound of the band, which repeatedly tries to ground Psychedelic abstraction in modern blues. The result is more reminiscent of the desert rock that we know from the vastness of Arizona than the urban hustle and bustle in big cities. Shimmering soundscapes, partly dark and melancholic, then again full of hope and glaring light filled with the comforting, but nonetheless ominous heat of the desert – GAVIAL remains true masters of that.

It’s 2023, and it’s time for a turning point… on multiple levels. With VOR, the band’s fourth album is for the first time distributed on a label, uniting with their friends at Exile On Mainstream. For the recordings in 2022 the band grew from a trio to a quartet, and with that move comes the name change that was long overdue, which the band explains by stating, “In the last few years, we frequently discussed our music, videos, and name and tried to reflect on our decisions during that time. Concerning the name of the band, we have come to the decision that it is no longer appropriate to continue using it. Affected people deserve respect and we think that this band name shows a lack thereof. For that, we want to apologize.”

VOR is once again characterized by the search for a contemporary expression of the blues without questioning its authenticity. GAVIAL weaves musical inspiration from ambient, soul, gospel, and country into different threads from a carpet of sound that simply ignores the sharp cliffs of redundant categories such as retro or stoner. The music doesn’t need name dropping, but if you still want to make room in your thematically sorted record shelf, you’re welcome to make some room in the compartments in which you put your Screaming Trees, Flying Eyes, Black Crowes, or Woodcocks, so that GAVIAL can find space in them. Sorted alphabetically, VOR also cuts a fine figure between Gaffa Ghandi, Geraldine Fibbers, and Giant Sand.

Lyrically, GAVIAL is cautiously concrete, exploring the ambivalent depths of the soul where there are more questions than answers. Singer Benjamin Butter intones lyrical sketches of emotional states between melancholy, quiet anger, and hope, reminiscent of Charles Baudelaire, and turns the voice into another instrument. The interplay with driving bass lines and Americana-esque guitars results in music as it should be: melodic but not profane, accessible but with a fragile base.

VOR was recorded in the band’s rehearsal room and mixed by Benjamin Butter and Bernard Camilleri, who has become their go-to sound engineer. Bernard Camilleri did the mastering at his Xekillton Studio in Malta. The artwork is from the Flowers Of Terrible series by Berlin-based artist Hamid Yaraghchi.

Exile On Mainstream will release GAVIAL’s VOR May 19th on Black Vinyl LP and digitally, and a limited CD version will be made available at the band’s concerts.

https://www.facebook.com/Gavialband
https://www.instagram.com/gavialband
https://gavial.bandcamp.com
https://linktr.ee/gavialband

https://www.instagram.com/exileonmainstreamofficial/
https://www.youtube.com/@exileonmainstream3639
http://www.mainstreamrecords.de

Tourette Boys, Zorn (2019)

Framed by images of roaches, needles, faceless masks and other visually striking and abrasive imagery, the new video from Spanish noise-slinging sludge duo VOR tells a good portion of the tale. On May 19, the Madrid-based outfit will issue Depravador through a host of involved labels, including Third I Rex, Noizeland Records, Noorirax Producciones, Odio Sonoro, Sacramento Records, Base Record Production and Fuzz T-Shirts, the latter two of which I’ll confess I’m not even sure if they are record labels, but it’s yet more companies standing behind the band’s work and it goes to prove the overarching point that this is material and this is a band that a lot of people really believe in and are willing to support.

The bass/drum filth-revelry of the track “Cudgel,” which is the single for which the new video has been put together, justifies that, I think. It’s a quick blast of ’90s-style sludge intensity, reminiscent maybe of Buzzov*en or Eyehategod in some of their especially biting moments, but the rawness they conjure as only being a two-piece becomes part of the aesthetic in a fascinating way, feeding into the overarching rawness of their approach and making the whole affair even meaner than it started out. I haven’t heard the full record yet — so many cooks in the kitchen on a release, sometimes these things are hard to come by — but once again, it’s easy to understand why people would believe in what VOR are up to stylistically, taking the classic tenets of mud-in-your-eye sludge and bringing something of their own to it. One way or another, it’s noisy as all hell.

My go-to word for this kind of sludge always seems to be “nasty,” and the crust that outlines “Cudgel” much the same way those needles, roaches, etc. frame the video, certainly meets that standard. Depravador, one more time, lands May 19, and it’s with the permission of Third I Rex that I have the pleasure of hosting the premiere of the clip that you’ll find below, with more background beneath, courtesy of the PR wire.

Please enjoy:

VOR, “Cudgel” official video premiere

The Spanish noisemongers VOR bring to the table one of the most corrosive releases of the year. This bass and drum duo is no joke! Coming from projects such as Lazharus, Warchetype, Moho, Cuzo, The Eyes Y and more levels of filth, these guys have got something you should really take a listen to.

Their new album “Depravador” comes after another killer release, the band’s debut album “Tu Clave Es Jonàs”, pressed early in 2017 by another bunch of labels, including some of those collaborating for this new LP. Seven tracks of trippy, abrasive, odd, heavy sludge which, funneled through a punk attitude, is able to take off your face like thick tar on naked skin.

An absolute must listen to for all of the uncompromised sludge supporters, fuzzy doom sounds lovers, punk-fueled hatred preachers, and all of those people out there who wanna listen to something new after tons of boring late releases! “Depravador” will be out on May 19th!

Recorded at La Cortina Roja in 2017.
Mastered at Kadifornia Mastering in 2018.
Front cover art by Calabaza Cosmica.
Photo by Sergio Albert Aviles.

VOR is:
Iván: bass, noise & shrieks
Edu: drums & noise
Anxela (Bala): guest vocals in “Dark Fraga”

VOR on Thee Facebooks

VOR on Bandcamp

VOR on Tumblr

Third I Rex on Thee Facebooks

Third I Rex on Bandcamp