Posted in Whathaveyou on September 28th, 2018 by JJ Koczan
A few good shows coming up for Napoli heavy psychedelic jammers Lee Van Cleef. In their hometown on Oct. 9, they’ll be a part of an all-killer bill with Naga, Messa and Dopethrone, and after that, they’ll hit the road to Germany to meet up with Child en route to Paris with Stone from the Sky and Fatima before they end out in Belgium with Naxatras. Given the busy festival season, there are no shortage of tours happening in Europe next month, and that seems to work only to Lee Van Cleef‘s benefit as they make ready to release their Psychedelic Battles Vol. 5 split with Acid Mothers Temple and the Melting Paraiso UFO on Oct. 31. That’ll be out through Vincebus Eruptum, which seems to have put its titular ‘zine to rest and started a new mag called AcidBeans, which is a righteous name for really anything.
That split is streaming in full at the bottom of this post, and you’ll find the dates here, courtesy of the PR wire:
LEE VAN CLEEF LIVE IN EUROPE 2018
Supporting the “Psychedelic Battles” album with Acid Mothers Temple.
Napoli, ITA October the 9th // First Floor with Dopethrone, Messa, Naga. Napoli, ITA October the 14th // Kestè Fribourg, GE October the 16th // White Rabbit club with CHILD Paris, FR October the 19th // Olympic Cafe with Fatima and Stone from the sky Ninove, BE October the 20th // Gonzo Leuven, BE October the 21th // Sojo with Naxatras
The project LEE VAN CLEEF was born as a joke at the end of 2015 and is the result of long jam sessions between Marco Adamo, guitarist (La polvere di Bodélé), Guido Minervini, drum (Efesto, Lamarck) and Pietro La Tegola, bass (Whiskeycold Winter). Influenced by bands like Earthless, Black Bombaim, Harsh Toke (to name a few) The first work “Holy Smoke” was recorded mixed and mastered in the Godfather studio of Naples.
Lee Van Cleef is: Marco Adamo (Guitar) Pietro Trinità La Tegola (Bass) Guido Minervini (Drums)
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 13th, 2018 by JJ Koczan
It’s been suspiciously long since we heard from Naples-based heavy jam trio Lee Van Cleef, and by that I still only mean a matter of months. The three-piece issued their latest single, Everyone Should Kill an Old Hippy(discussed here), in April 2017, played the Red Smoke Festival in Poland in July, and haven’t really been heard from since.
Why’s that uncommon?
Well, a lot of the time with improv-based or jam-style bands, it seems like every time they have a practice session they put out a new album from it. I wonder if Lee Van Cleef’s process isn’t a little different somehow, if there isn’t more writing involved at the foundations of their parts. Certainly their 2016 debut full-length, Holy Smoke (review here), which came out on White Dwarf Records vinyl, could be said to have an undercurrent of direction, rather than just being a work of 100 percent meandering jams. Maybe it’s a more involved process of carving pieces out as they go.
Last summer when I had the Q&A with the band linked above — also here — they said they’d begun work on their next record. Now, that could mean anything from finished songs to half-shaped riffs, but work had begun. One assumes by the time they hit the road in April to head through Austria, Germany and Poland, they’ll be testing out new material on the stage, because from what I hear, the plan is to hit the studio upon their return from the tour to track the awaited next album. Just going by what I’m told on that one.
Not sure on a release plan or anything like that, but one assumes we’ll get there. Till then, here’s the latest from the band:
All right folks, just announce few gigs for this spring! Spring Bufu Tour is coming:
Posted in Reviews on September 25th, 2017 by JJ Koczan
The season is changing here in the Northeastern part of the US. Leaves have just barely started to change, and the summertime haze that settles over the region for for the better parts of June, July and August has largely dissipated. It’s getting to be hoodie weather after the sun goes down. This past weekend was the equinox. All of this can only mean it’s time for another Quarterly Review — this one spanning a full Monday-to-Monday week’s worth of writeups. That’s right. 60 albums between now and a week from today. It’s going to be a genuine challenge to get through it all, but I’m (reasonably) confident we’ll get there and that when we’re on the other side, it will have been completely worth the lengthy trip to get there. Hell, you know the drill by now. Let’s not waste any time and get to it, shall we?
Quarterly Review #1-10:
The Necromancers, Servants of the Salem Girl
A noteworthy debut from the Poitier, France-based four-piece The Necromancers, whose coming has been much heralded owing in no small part to a release through Ripple Music, the six-track/41-minute Servants of the Salem Girl lumbers through doom and cultish heavy rock with likewise ease, shifting itself fluidly between the two sides on extended early cuts like opener “Salem Girl Part I” and the nine-minute “Lucifer’s Kin,” which gets especially Sabbathian in its roll later on. The album’s midsection, with the shorter cuts “Black Marble House” (video premiere here) and “Necromancers,” continues the flow with a general uptick of pace and ties together with the opening salvo via the burly vocals of guitarist Tom, the solo work of Rob on lead guitar, and the adaptable groove from bassist Simon and drummer Ben, and as the penultimate “Grand Orbiter” engages moody spaciousness, it does so with a refusal to commit to one side or the other that makes it a highlight of the album as a whole. The Necromancers finish contrasting rhythmic tension and payoff nod on “Salem Girl Part II,” having long since thoroughly earned their hype through songwriting and immediately distinct sonic persona. There’s growth to do in melodicism, but for being “servants,” The Necromancers show an awful lot of command in structure and style.
Noise is the order of things on the Tsuguri Records split 7” between New Haven, Connecticut’s good-luck-Googling aggressives Intercourse and North Carolinian sludge rockers The Asound. Each band offers a two-song showcase of their wares, with Intercourse blasting short jabs of post-hardcore/noise rock angularity on “Too Fucked to Yiff” and “Corricidin is a Helluva Drug” and The Asound bringing a more melodic heavy rock swing to “Slave to the Saints” while saving a more galloping charge for “Human for Human.” It’s a quick sampling, of course, and “Slave to the Saints” is the relative epic inclusion as the only one over three minutes long – it goes to 4:20, naturally – but boasts a surprisingly professional production from The Asound and an unhinged vibe from Intercourse that meets them head on in a way both competitive and complementary to the aggression of “Human for Human.” Fodder for the bands’ merch tables in its limited-to-300, one-time-only pressing, but there’s hardly anything wrong with that. All the more worth grabbing it if you can, while you can.
Officially called Self-Title, this two-song outing released by Tandang Records and BTNKcllctv serves as the first release from Malaysia’s Bohr, and with shouts and growls duking it out over massive plodding tones on opener “Voyager,” they seem to take position right away in the post-Conan verve of megadoom. Peppered-in lead work showcases some welcome nuance of personality, but it’s the second track “Suria” that trips into more surprising terrain, with a faster tempo and something of a letup in thickness, allowing for a more rocking feel, still met with shouted vocals but hinting at more of a melodic reach nonetheless. The shift might be awkward in the context of a full-length, but on a debut single/EP, it works just fine to demonstrate what may or may not be a nascent breadth in Bohr’s approach. They finish “Suria” with hints of more to come in a plotted guitar lead and are done in about 10 minutes, having piqued interest with two disparate tracks that leave one to wonder what other tricks might be up their collective sleeve.
It’s worth noting outright that Strobe’s Bunker Sessions was recorded in 1994. Not because it sounds dated, but just the opposite. The Sulatron Records release from the under-exposed UK psychedelic rockers finds them jamming out in live-in-studio fashion, and if you’d told me with no other context that the resultant six-track/40-minute long-player was put to tape two months ago, I’d absolutely have believed it. This would’ve been the era of their 1994 third album, The Circle Never Ends, and while some can hear some relation between that and Bunker Sessions in the shimmering lead and warm underscoring basslines of 10-minute opener and longest track (immediate points) “Sun Birth,” the drift in “Chameleon Earth,” synth-laden space rock meandering of “Opium Dreams” and cymbal-wash-into-distortion-wash of closer “Sun Death” are on a wavelength of their own. It’s something of a curio release – a “lost album” – but it’s also bound to turn some heads onto how ahead of their time Stobe were in the ‘90s, and maybe we’ll get lucky and Sulatron will use it to kick off a full series of convenient LP reissues.
While their moniker brings to mind pure stoner idolatry, Oslo instrumentalists Astrosaur acquit themselves toward more progressive fare with Fade In // Space Out, their Bad Vibes Records debut album, finding open spaces in bookending extended opener “Necronauts” and the dramatic shift between droning experimentalism and weighted lumber of the closing title-track even as middle cuts “Space Mountain,” “Yugen” and “Fishing for Kraken” balance with fits of driving progressive metallurgy. Comprised of Eirik Kråkenes, Steinar Glas and Jonatan Eikum, Astrosaur do get fuzzy for a bit on “Yugen,” but by the time they’re there, they’ve already space-doom-jazzed their way through such a vast aesthetic swath that it becomes one more stylistic element in fair-enough play. Open in its structure and building to an affecting cacophony in its ending, Fade In // Space Out is defined in no small part by its stylistic ambition, but whether it’s in the head-spinning initial turns of “Fishing for Kraken” or the stretch of peaceful, wistful guitar after the seven-minute mark in “Necronauts,” that ambition is admirable multifaceted and wide-reaching.
There’s an encouraging and decidedly pro-shop fullness of sound being proffered on Sun Q’s debut full-length, Charms, to match an immediate sense of songcraft and stylization that puts them somewhere between heavy psych and more driving fuzz rock. Vocalist Elena Tiron takes a forward position in opener “Petals and Thorns” over the briskly-captured tones from guitarist Ivan Shalimov and bassist Denis Baranov while drummer Pavel Poseluev pushes the proceedings along, and whether they’re bringing in Seva Timofeev’s Hammond for the subsequent bluesy vibing of “After This,” toying with pop playfulness on “Plankton,” giving Andrey Tanzu percussive room on “Dancing Souls” or going full-expanse on keyboard-laden centerpiece and aptly-titled longest cut “Space,” there’s purpose behind the variety on offer and Sun Q never seem to lose their sense of poise throughout. There are moments where the bite of the production hits a little deep – looking at you, “Plankton” – but especially as their debut, Charms lives up to the name it’s been given and establishes these Moscow natives as a presence with which to be reckoned as they move forward.
White Dwarf Records picked up what by my count is Holy Mount’s fourth full-length, The Drought, for a vinyl issue following the Toronto foursome’s self-release last year, and with the immersive, dense heavy psych nod of “Division,” it’s little wonder why. The seven-cut LP is the second to feature the lineup of Danijel Losic, Brandon McKenzie, Troy Legree and Clayton Churcher behind 2014’s VOL, and its moments of nuance like the synth at the outset of “Blackened Log” or the blend of tense riffing and post-The Heads shoegaze-style vocal chants on the markedly insistent highlight cut “Basalt” only further the reasoning. The penultimate “Blood Cove” returns some to of the ritual sense of “Division,” and The Drought’s titular finale pierces its own wash with a lead that makes its apex all the more resonant and dynamic. Not nearly as frenetic as its cover art would have you believe, the already-sold-out vinyl brims with a vibe of creative expansiveness, and Holy Mount feel right at home in its depths.
Over the course of its near-hour runtime, Orga, the Czar of Crickets-issued third full-length from Bern, Switzerland, ambient outfit Sum of R deep-dives into droning atmospheric wash while effectively producing headphone-worthy depths and avoiding the trap of redundant minimalism. Chimes in a song like “Desmonema Annasethe” and ringing bells in “We Have to Mark this Entrance” give a feeling of lushness instead that serves the release well overall, and these details, nuances, take the place of what otherwise might be human voices coursing through the bleak mire of Orga’s progression. One might look to closing duo “Let us Begin with What We Do Not Want to Be” and “One After the Other” for some sense of hopefulness, and whether or not it’s actually there, it’s possible to read it into the overarching drone of the former and the percussive movement of the latter, but by then Sum of R have well set the mood in an abiding darkness, and that remains the prevailing vibe. Not quite dramatic or brooding in a human/emotional sense, Orga casts its drear in soundscapes of distant nighttime horizon.
Noted graphic artist and post-metal songwriter Josh Graham – formerly visuals for Neurosis, but also art for Soundgarden and many others, as well as being known for his work with A Storm of Light and the woefully, vastly underrated Battle of Mice – makes his second ambient solo release in the form of IIVII’s Invasion on Belgian imprint Consouling Sounds. A soundtrack-ready feel pervades the nine tracks/44 minutes almost instantly and holds sway with opener “We Came Here from a Dying World (I)” finding complement in the centerpiece “Tomorrow You’ll be One of Us (II)” and a thematic capstone in closer “Sanctuary,” only furthering the sense of a narrative unfolding throughout. There are elements drawn in “Unclouded by Conscience” from the atmospheric and score work of Trent Reznor and/or Junkie XL, but Graham doesn’t necessarily part with the post-metallic sense of brooding that has defined much of his work even as the pairing of “We Live” and “You Die” late in the record loops its way to and through its dramatic apex. Obviously not going to be for everyone, but it does make a solid argument for Graham as a composer whose breadth is still revealing itself even after a career filled with landmarks across multiple media.
In some of their shifts between atmospheric patience and churning intensity – not to mention in the production of Sanford Parker – Faces of the Bog remind a bit of fellow Windy City residents Minsk on their DHU Records debut album, Ego Death, but prove ultimately more aggressive in the thrust of “Drifter in the Abyss” and the later stretch of “The Serpent and the Dagger,” on which the guitars of Mark Stephen Gizewski and Trey Wedgeworth (both also vocals) delve into Mastodonic leads near the finish to set up the transition into the 10:33 title-track, which begins with a wash of static noise before Paul Bradfield’s bass sets up the slow nod that holds sway and only grows bigger as it presses forward. That cut is one of two over the 10-minute mark, and the other, closer “Blue Lotus,” unfolds even more gradually and ventures into cleaner vocals presaged on “The Weaver” and elsewhere as it makes its way toward an album-payoff crescendo marked by drummer Danny Garcia’s thudding toms and a low end rumble that’s as much a presence unto itself as a harbinger of progression to come.
Not so far removed from their Summer 2017 split with Aphodyl (review here) or their last video-based jam-unveiling for the trippy ‘Haumea’ (posted here), and still just months out from their second full-length, Kick out the Jams (review here) behind their 2016 debut, First Fall (discussed here), prolific, hit-the-ground-running psych improvisateurs Cosmic Fall have posted yet another fresh work, in the form of “A Calmer Sphere,” a new clip and instrumental piece to coincide. The title and the soothing fluidity of the jam itself — and make no mistake, it is a jam; basic structure be damned, let’s-go-a-wanderin’-style — may be somewhat aspirational on the part of the three-piece, who would seem to be mired in a bit of drama with their former guitarist, domain name ownership, rights to prior releases, etc., all in flux at the moment, but clearly bassist Klaus and drummer Daniel still have their subtly funkified hearts in the right place when it comes to getting down to the heart of the sun itself, and as they welcome new six-stringer Martin to the fold, it’s not without a hopeful future ahead.
For example, they’re still working quickly, and “A Calmer Sphere” — at 12 minutes long as presented in the clip below of dim-lit performance footage accompanied by sundry suitable B-roll well-fitting to the effects-laced noodling, warm low end and steady-holding drum punctuation — is as much its own destination as its journey. Martin steps forward in a volume swell after the five-minute mark, but the molten vibe of the piece overall is inescapable, and neither are Cosmic Fall trying to escape it. Indeed, if anything has typified the still-and-once-again-nascent trio’s work to date (and I say “once again” because one doesn’t simply swap out members in a band like this where dynamic is everything; it’s a big change and a musical conversation that has to develop in a natural chemistry, more than just bringing in someone to play parts written for them), it’s their utter willingness to dive headfirst into their own explorations, and Martin‘s lack of holding back in the extended lead section, which recedes before “A Calmer Sphere” hits its 10th minute, bodes exceedingly well for how he, Klaus and Daniel will fare moving forward.
The drama, yeah, that’s kind of a bummer. But sometimes those kinds of growing pains happen. Some you win, some you lose, and I can’t imagine it’ll be all that long before Cosmic Fall have a slew of new diggables loaded up on their Bandcamp for the space-hungry masses in their building following. At least not if the pace they’ve worked at so far is anything to go by. Till they get there, you can enjoy “A Calmer Sphere” below, followed by the latest update from the band:
Cosmic Jam, “A Calmer Sphere”
We want to welcome Martin to the band, he’s our new guitar player and now everything is finally working out again! If you haven’t already, you can hear his cosmic guitar playing on this new jam video.
(at the end of the week, we will put this jam together with another one up on bandcamp for free download)
So now we can explain some things to you. Our old guitar player doesn’t allow us to sell our albums on bandcamp anymore, so we were forced to take everything down. We also had to delete all of the videos, photos and downloads on amazon, spotify, itunes and so on. But if you’re interested in buying a CD or Vinyl of our albums, write us an e-mail to: cosmicfallband@gmail.com
This also means, that our first 3 releases will never be reissued! But don’t worry, the vinyl of “Kick Out The Jams” will come, we will post an update with the details, soon. Now we just want to look ahead and make new music with Martin.
There’s not much mystery behind what makes a group like Lee Van Cleef work. The Italian instrumentalists debuted in 2016 with Holy Smoke (review here), releasing the album digitally at first and then on vinyl through Berlin’s White Dwarf Records, and the appeal came through loud and clear in the distorted fuzz of Marco Adamo‘s guitar, the warmth in Pietro Trinità La Tegola‘s bass and the rolling grooves propelled by Guido Minervini‘s drums. Without any of these, songs like the 13-minute “Banshee” or opener “Heckle Yuppies” wouldn’t have worked. Simple answer? Chemistry. It’s what makes the whole thing go.
Seems obvious, right?
Well, obvious it might be, but it’s also much easier said than done. At a time when Europe is awash in instrumental (or mostly instrumental) jam-based heavy psychedelic rock, for a three-piece like Lee Van Cleef to come along and manage to distinguish themselves from the pack on their first full-length is not insignificant. From the patient rollout in the aforementioned leadoff through the airy lead work that tops closer “Towelie” and the nod-ready Spring 2017 follow-up digital single Everyone Should Kill an Old Hippy (discussed here), on which watery wah borders on delivering a vocal line here and there, Lee Van Cleef emerge with a sense of spaciousness and a tonality of their own. They’ve only been around since 2015. Some bands barely pick up their instruments in their first two years of existence. Lee Van Cleef would seem to have clearly defined their aesthetic approach and already set about pushing it forward.
In light of that progression underway, it’s a great time to check in with Adamo and get a sense of the band’s origins, where they’re coming from, what was “the joke” that reportedly got them together, and what they have in store for the rest of 2017 and beyond. Before we get to the Q&A, let me just say I extra appreciate the guitarist taking the time for the interview considering the language barrier to do it in English. I know there’s no way my ignorant ass would fare nearly so well in Italian, so I am grateful for the effort.
Please enjoy the following Six Dumb Questions:
Six Dumb Questions with Lee Van Cleef
You’ve said that Lee Van Cleef formed as a joke. Can you let us in on what initially got you together in 2015? What was the joke, and at what point did you realize you had something in the jams that was really worth pursuing on a more serious level?
Maybe more than a joke it’s been something unpretentious and unplanned. We all had other projects at the time and Lee Van Cleef was born to experiment and basically have fun doing what we liked the most. I called Guido and Pietro and even if I knew they both were guitarists, I also knew they could play drum and bass. In a city like ours it’s hard to think about a project like this and hope to receive any kind of feedback. I’m not saying there’s no people who listen to this kind of music, but clubs they don’t really give much space to this music. It’s not that cool to play 10-minute jams with neverending guitar solos and just a few major chords!
But we didn’t really care and we did it. For us, mainly. We underestimated the web power, but when we realized we had something that was working we recorded it at the best we could and we put it on Bandcamp. After a while, Olaf [Angermund] from White Dwarf got in touch with us after having listened to us at the radio. The rest is history (laughs). The most important thing is that we’re still doing all of this for us and even if we had a lot of positive feedbacks, and we are really grateful to those who spent some of their time to listen to us.
Tell me about putting together the Holy Smoke album. What was the recording like? How long were you in the studio for it and how many of the songs were born from those early jams from when the band was starting out?
We recorded the tracks in a studio here in Naples called Godfather. We locked ourselves up for two days and we recorded everything live… as if it was a live session. When Olaf got in touch with us, proposed us to release vinyls as soon as possible, but at the time we only had three tracks, but after a few months we composed “Hell Malo,” “Heckle Yuppies” and “Towelie.” So than we went to the studio to record Holy Smoke. Everything was fast cause as I said everything was live. Two days to record and three/four days for mixing.
How did you get hooked up with White Dwarf Records for the vinyl release of Holy Smoke? What did it mean to you to get your first record put out as an LP?
For us it was totally unexpected as I said. We will always be grateful to White Dwarf to bet on us because it would have never happened here in Italy. For Italian labels it would have been too risky. Olaf just texted us on Facebook. Thank you dude.
You released the “Everyone Should Kill an Old Hippy” single earlier this Spring. What’s wrong with old hippies? And more importantly, will this track feature on the next Lee Van Cleef album?
Ahahahahahah I was expecting it. Actually we have nothing against old hippies. My dad was an old hippie. It’s more a joke. A provocation. A way to detach from a deeply-rooted tradition, from some attitudes. Here in Naples, at least, old hippies are that radical chic dudes who live in million euros houses. They send their children to private schools and lock them up at home because in the street there are evil people. Are those who ask you to turn down the volume if you are listening Jimi Hendrix. It’s just a provocation. I don’t think we’re going to kill anybody. Anyway, probably we could record another version in the next album, as we did with “Banshee” and “Mahana”…we don’t know yet…
Have you started work on a second record? Any idea how the material might develop going forward from the debut, and is there anything specific you want to build on or change coming off of Holy Smoke? Where is Lee Van Cleef headed sound-wise?
We’re working on new tracks, we are also preparing a Creedence cover (spoiler) and thinking about doing some experiments, like using more voice, or some synth… We will see
Will you do any touring this year? Any other plans or closing words you want to mention?
We’ll be at Red Smoke Festival in July; we’re working also for other dates. Certainly we’ll be touring in Germany, France and maybe Spain on next Autumn. We’d like to play more here in Italy and we hope to do that. I don’t deny that is pretty hard because this kind of music is not too much listened, at least in some part of the country. By the way we have no booking right now. We try to do all this shit alone and this make the work more difficult… If you add to this that we are incredibly lazy, it is a mortal mix! Probably we’ll release some other track suddenly, as we love to do.
Lee Van Cleef, “Everyone Should Kill an Old Hippy”
We’re only slightly overdue for a batch of adds to The Obelisk Radio. I need to start setting a reminder or something. By the time this post goes up, my hope is that we’ll actually be off the backup server and back on the full or at least mostly-full playlist. It’s been a long road, as the terrible opening theme to Star Trek: Enterprise once said, but I think Slevin has it ready to roll, and there’s still some rebuilding to do, but I think it can be an ongoing thing working on the new hard drive. We’ve worn the crap out of that backup playlist. It would be nice to not have to use it for a while. Fingers crossed, anyhow.
Whichever server these files wind up on, they’ll be joining some playlist as soon as humanly possible. Let’s do the rundown in the meantime.
The Obelisk Radio Adds for May 22, 2017:
Big Kizz, Eye on You
Some who take on the debut single from Swedish trio Big Kizz will find the band reminiscent of some of the rawer moments of long-running Danish garage-psych rockers Baby Woodrose, but for many, an additional draw to the three-track/eight-minute offering (delivered via Tee Pee Records) will be the lineup, which features bassist John Hoyles (Spiders, ex-Witchcraft), guitarist/vocalist Pontus Westerman (also of Lady Banana), and perhaps most notably, drummer Axel Sjöberg in his first recorded appearance after splitting with Graveyard. Turns out he’s still a fantastic drummer. His play in leadoff cut “Eye on You” and the push he brings to “Baby Boy” and the closing Roky Erickson cover “White Faces” will surely lead some to relate Big Kizz to Sjöberg‘s former outfit, if only in their earliest going (which was also on Tee Pee, remember), but the truth is the trio show themselves to be on a different trip throughout Eye on You, as they bring the aforementioned garage stylization forward amid classic boogie and, particularly in “Baby Boy,” nod toward mid-’60s psychedelia in a quick but fluid bridge. The Roky Erickson cover could hardly be more fitting, handclaps and all, but it’s the sense of movement in the two originals that shows the most potential here as Big Kizz seem to set their eyes on establishing their dynamic and building from there. Will be interested to hear what they do with the context of a full-length and if some of the psych in “Eye on You” and “Baby Boy” is relegated to flourish or if it comes to the fore as they develop, but they’re off to a rousing start.
Devotees and pilgrims of longform psychedelia will no doubt and should rejoice at Dust (on Cardinal Fuzz), the maybe-second long-player from Perth, Australia, five-piece Mt. Mountain, which from its 17-minute titular opener and longest track (immediate points) unfolds a ritual of superior immersion and conscious trance inducement. Over the course of four songs/37 minutes total, Mt. Mountain unfold a sprawl reportedly intended to capture the atmosphere of the Australian Outback — and maybe they get there, I don’t know; I’ve never been — but either way, the balance of repetition and depth in “Floating Eyes” and the shimmer of the nine-minute “Kokoti” speak to a varied ecosystem that, indeed, one might get lost in, never to return. Mellotron, organ, djembe and percussion play a central role in the overarching sense of mind-expansion along with the guitar, bass, vocals, drums, etc., but it’s the combination of elements, the variety between tracks — they’re jam-based, but distinct songs, to be sure — that really stands Dust apart from much of drift-minded modern heavy psych. One advises patience with the drones of the opener and the cautious first steps that the fading in percussion seems to be taking, as the rewards are considerable when it comes to the front-to-back experience Mt. Mountain offer, which is stark, striking, marked by underlying threat and casts a feeling of the infinite that no doubt was the very intent behind its making.
Self-released in a six-panel digipak with decidedly grim artwork courtesy of Dominic Sohor, Green is the third full-length from Leicestershire, UK, heavy rockers Mage. Last heard from with 2014’s Last Orders (review here), they retain the blend of heavy rock groove and metallic aggression that’s become their signature sound, and continue the march forward in finding a space between post-Down/Orange Goblin dude-rockery and doomlier fare. Vocalist Tom blends harsh growls and a cleaner approach on opener “Nowhere to Nothing” and the later “Primitive Drive” while mostly avoiding sounding like Phil Anselmo, and as guitarist Woody, bassist Mark and drummer Andy dig into the slower roll of “Eclipse King,” Mage seem to hit the mark they’re shooting for in terms of style and songcraft. The centerpiece title-track has a little more head-bob to its central progression — and then there’s that wah; always fun — but they’re right to mess around with the proportion of stylistic elements throughout to add variety, and the 10-minute closer “Vultures Mass” does well in taking the punch of “Nowhere to Nothing” and “Heroic Elegy” at the album’s start and pushing it outward into a satisfying apex. Straightforward in its intent, given a sense of mass via a recording job at Skyhammer Studios and executed with a clean conscience, Green is the work of a band who know what they want from their sound and know how to make it happen, which, thankfully, they do in these tracks.
Tidal Wave is the self-issued debut full-length from German instrumentalist three-piece Hypertonus, and it lands some six years after the band first got together, preceded by a semi-eponymous 2013 EP, HPRTNS. If the more-than-half-a-decade stretch seems like a while for a group to get to their first long-player, it might be, but one suspects the Bremen-based troupe comprised of guitarist Patrick Büch, bassist Arne Staats and drummer Hannes Christen spent a significant amount of that time in the jam room developing their sound, because what they cast over this nine-track/45-minute outing is a keen progressivism and chemistry that feels not at all happenstance. With shifts into and out of technically-minded parts that seem to be driven by Staats‘ bass, Hypertonus reportedly tracked Tidal Wave live, and I have no reason not to believe it, particularly given the eight-minute closer “Phantasmagoria (Improvisation Jam),” which departs from the quick psych-meditation of “Aeropause” and the almost jazzy rhythms and post-rock guitar of “Expect the Sky Below” to bring the band’s style even more to life for the listener to take on. It’s a heady release, and some of the changes come across as willfully choppy — playing with expectation in a “now we’re over here!” kind of way — but there’s a marked sense of accomplishment throughout that’s nothing if not well earned.
Pressed to gorgeous-sounding vinyl by White Dwarf Records last November, the five-track instrumental Holy Smoke is the debut LP from Naples, Italy, jammers Lee Van Cleef, and aside from its righteously striking cover art, one finds primary impressions in the gotta-hear-it bass tone of Pietro Trinità La Tegola, the molten lysergism in Marco Adamo‘s guitar and the grounding-but-not-too-grounding effectiveness of drummer Guido Minervini in anchoring a jam like the 13-minute “Banshee,” which takes the best lessons of groups like Germany’s Electric Moon and Portugal’s Black Bombaim and brings them to methodical, engagingly rumbling fruition. Nod persists through the more uptempo, Tee Pee Records-style centerpiece “Hell Malo,” but the three-piece seem even more comfortable dug into the post-Sleep riffing of the subsequent “Mah?na,” finishing that track with a standout wash of a guitar lead ahead of the brighter-feeling closer “Towelie,” which underscores an otherworldly vibe that turns out to have been in Holy Smoke all along. Lee Van Cleef have already followed Holy Smoke up with a single titled “Everyone Should Kill an Old Hippy” (discussed here) — it’s worth noting that this album starts with “Heckle Yuppies,” so they’re not fans of them either — and one can’t imagine it will be long before they answer back with another full-length offering. The question is how they’ll ultimately distinguish themselves from the crowded European jam-based heavy psych underground, but there’s nothing in these tracks to give the impression they can’t or won’t do so as they continue to grow.
Berlin jammers Cosmic Fall — guitarist/vocalist Mathias, bassist Klaus and drummer Daniel — formed last year but already have two full-lengths to their catalog in First Fall (discussed here) and Kick out the Jams (review here), and they’re showing no signs of slowing down as they move forward from the second of them. And aside from its ultra-mellow flow, 12-minute psychedelic sprawl and hypnotic outward vibe, what’s particularly cool about the new cut “Haumea” is how it’s being unveiled.
Essentially, what you’re getting in the video below is a personal invite from the German trio to spy on their creative process. It seems likely that some of the parts of “Haumea” were thought out beforehand, like its kind of bouncing, almost Southern rock-style beginning, but what that unfolds to at least has its basis in improvisation if it’s not being off-the-cuff, improvised at that moment, and as they play it, what you’re hearing is the studio version of the song being laid down live. Cameras document and capture the proceedings and it’s about as straight a line to being there as one could possibly ask for.
This, as I’ve been saying for years, is one of the deepest appeals of jam-based heavy psychedelia and/or space rock. It dispenses with what’s more commonly thought of as a “finished product” in favor of shifting the point of conversation between artist and listener to the moment of creation itself. That’s not an absolute truth, of course, but to look at outfits like Electric Moon, Øresund Space Collective, indeed Cosmic Fall and others of their ilk, that very much seems to be what’s happening. Cosmic Fall take it one step further with “Haumea,” letting us see as well as hear as the piece takes shape.
Of course, in-studio documentaries are nothing new at this point, but this is something less filtered, less compiled, and true to the nature of the jam itself, it gives the most direct glimpse at Cosmic Fall‘s methodology at work in their new rehearsal space.
Think about that while you make your way through. Some updates on releases follow, courtesy of the band.
Enjoy:
Cosmic Fall, “Haumea”
It’s recorded in our new rehearsal room (we have it since January, but this is the first time you can hear/see something from it).
We recorded the audio as always (same as the 2 albums) and it was during a normal rehearsal.
Our next release will be kick out the jams on vinyl, which will be in summer (via clostridiumrecords and white dwarf) and then later this year we will release a split lp with the band Aphodyl via psyka records.
Posted in Whathaveyou on April 7th, 2017 by JJ Koczan
Before we dig in here, I’d just like to point out that I don’t actually condone the killing of anybody — elderly, hippies or otherwise — and I sincerely doubt that if they were faced with the choice, Naples-based heavy psych jammers Lee Van Cleef wouldn’t do so either. Nonetheless, the three-piece who take their name from one of the greatest spaghetti western actors of all time and who released their debut full-length, Holy Smoke, last year on White Dwarf Records, have elected to call their new single “Everyone Should Kill an Old Hippy” for one reason or another. Sometimes someone says something in the studio and it sticks.
Whoever is or isn’t getting murdered, Lee Van Cleef nail a wah-soaked vibe on the freshly-tracked jam, which was self-recorded in their La Saleeta studio and mixed by drummer Guido Minervini. Trippy guitars flesh out over a heavy roll in the just-under-seven-minute instrumental, filling the spaces where vocal lines might otherwise be with drifting and/or swirling lead work that stays true to an improved-feeling foundation even as a second layer arrives later on. Entirely possible “Everyone Should Kill an Old Hippy” will show up on Lee Van Cleef‘s next album, as previously-issued singles “Mahana” and “Banshee” made their way onto Holy Smoke, and if that’s something that’s in progress, it’s definitely worth keeping an eye out.
True to being an instrumental band, they didn’t have much to say about the release, but their words follow, as well as the stream of the new song, hoisted from their Bandcamp page.
Dig it:
Ehi Guys! Just Release a brand new track recorded some days ago at La Saletta! We hope you enjoy it!!!
“Everyone Should Kill An Old Hippy” comes to you!
Just give some info about the recording session, we recorded it by ourself in our studio called “La saletta” here in Naples, mixed by pur drummer Guido Minervini.
Our plan is for some dates this spring/summer, and we will be at Red Smoke Festival in Poland in July.
Lee Van Cleef is: Marco Adamo (Guitar) Pietro Trinità La Tegola (Bass) Guido Minervini (Drums)
