REVIEWDITORIAL
by Neddal Ayad
This piece was supposed to be an editorial. I had several ideas; "Why I
Hate Stoner Rock," "Everything Was Cooler In '99," "How To Spot A
Stoner," "That Dude From Is Such A
Fucking Asshole," "What's Wrong With The Scene And How It Could Be Fixed
If Only Everyone Would Listen To Me." You know, typical underground
editorial stuff [though not typical Roadburn editorial stuff, I should
point out].
After some thought, I realized that none of those ideas would
cut it. So I got to thinking about the piece I did for the 2003
retrospective. Why complain when I could put the space to a much better
use: rounding up some more records that while not necessarily
stoner, retro, sludge, psych or whatever, but share the spirit of the music
featured on the site. With that in mind, let's go:
The most recent release by The Immortal Lee County Killers
II, titled "Love Unbolts
The Dark", brings six new songs together
with a series of live tracks. For those of you not familiar with
ILCKII, singer/guitar player Chetley Weise did a studio
report about the recording of the album that serves as a good
introduction to the band.
Of the studio tracks [ five or six if you count the spoken word intro], 'Boom, Boom
(Yeah, Yeah)' and 'God Bless The Losers Who Try' are the two that will grab you
right away. The studio cover of John Lee Hooker's 'Burning Hell' isn't that hot.
The music is fine, the problem is that John Lee was a powerful
singer and Weise's can't quite convey the intensity of the song.
The live tracks are all blistering. Their live take on another
John Lee Hooker song, 'Never Get Out Of These Blues Alive', is much more
successful than their go at 'Burning Hell.' The version of 'Said I'd
Find My Way Home' which originally appeared on "The Essential Fucked-Up
Blues" is particularly scorching.
As I write this, the record has yet to be released in North
America which is a shame because despite the misstep with the Hooker cover
it rocks real hard. In the U.K. and Europe the disc is available
through Sweet
Nothing/Cargo.
I first heard Bellingham, WA's The Narrows on the
"Hits Omnibus" compilation released by Wantage USA [ more on "Hits
Omnibus" in a minute]. Their track, 'Blue Light Shade', jumped out at me
right away. The song is slow, heavy, and more than a little melancholy,
three things guaranteed to get my attention.
After a bit of digging I got my hands on their full
length, "The Skull At Life Size." The album
consists of one thirty plus minute dirge in which guitarist/vocalist Justin McIntyre chronicles the
dissolution of a relationship.
The song starts with McIntyre singing, "I've been thinking about leaving", over a
glacial riff. As the track progresses the playing becomes deliberate while McIntyre sounds like
he's struggling to get the words out. By the time the third verse comes
around, McIntyre sounds like he's about to break. By the last section
he sounds positively unhinged.
Through the shrewd use of dynamics and a tight arrangement the band never lets the song drag.
The quieter moments work off the heavier sections so that when the heaviness hits,
it really hits, dropping the weight of the world on the listener's
shoulders. Really, I can't say enough good things about this disc.
Fans of Slint, Floor, and Slow Horse would do well to seek this out.
See poolorpond.net for more
information.
Following from The Narrows, I should mention Olympia, WA's
Growing.
On their disc, "The Sky's Run Into The Sea", Growing
use guitar, percussion, and electronics to create huge, droning soundscapes that suggest vast empty
spaces.
The cover of the disc features a picture of a body of water
disappearing into fog, which is a great visual representation of the
music. Anyone who's lived by the water knows that staring out into the
horizon, the point where the sky actually does seem to meet the sea can
evoke contradictory feelings; an incredible sense of freedom combined
with more than a touch of claustrophobia.
Over the four pieces on "The Sky's Run Into The Sea" Growing do an amazing job of
conjuring that sensation through their music.
Also of interest is the compilation "Record of Shadows Infinite", released by Crucial Blast.
Roadburn readers will be all over Unearthly Trance's "Scarlet", a
spooky piece that sounds like some sort of incantation. The UT piece is just one great track on an album full
of moody, droning goodness. Anyone into Earth, Sunn 0))), and
Boris's more experimental/ambient pieces will find a lot to like on this disc.
Dipping back into The Rock, we have Big Business, The Dexateens,
Fleshies, Mico De Noche, and Starchild.
Big Business are a two
piece with Jared, formerly of Karp, Tight Bros From Way Back When, and
The Whip on guitar -and Coady, formerly of Murder City Devils and Dead
Low Tide on drums.
The music is tasty ['syrupy' if you prefer] bottom-heavy sludge rock in the tradition of
Karp, Godheadsilo, Thrones, and the Melvins. This isn't entirely surprising as Jared played with
Thrones' Joe Preston in The Whip and Coady played with Godheadsilo's
Mike Kunka in Dead Low Tide. Right now, the only thing they have
available is a "Tour EP" that
they're selling at shows and which can be mail ordered through Wantage
USA.
On their self-titled disc for Estrus Records Alabama's
Dexateens sound like the bastard
sons of Black Flag and Mick Taylor-era Rolling Stones. There's also a
touch of Skynyrd in there. Scrappy rock and roll doesn't get any better
than this.
In a perfect world, these guys would have a huge crossover hit a la The Georgia Satellites
that would unite the underground and mainstream rockers sick of the overproduced
garbage that's polluted the mainstream in the form of, well... mainstream rock, and the
underground in the hipsters' 'ironic' [yeah, sure] embrace of Britney Spears and her
ilk.
Oakland, CA's Fleshies are
good in about fifteens different ways on their latest disc,
"The Sicilian." [ Alternative Tentacles ].
They take everything that's great about the New Bomb Turks' full frontal rock and roll assault, mix it
with the twitchy, almost gothic moodiness of the Jesus Lizard, and mix it up with just
enough melody [the singer sounds a bit like Billie Joe Armstrong when he
turns down the freak-out and sings] to keep things from getting
monotonous. Plus, they have song titles like 'Maelstrom of Whirling
Bullshit' and 'This Is The City Where All The Dirty Assholes Are Safe.'
Mico De Noche should turn some
heads with their disc,"Pick-Up." [ Perverted Son Records ]. Produced
by The Fucking Champs' Tim Green, "Pick-Up" is a compendium of crushing
riffs and yowling vocals.
I keep getting the urge to call them an instrumental band, possibly because while there are
vocals and they're definitely audible, the focus is on the instrumental end of things. And
man, can these guys fucking play! Think Stinking Lizaveta or Karma to
Burn amped-up to a Slayer-like level of aggression.
I'm reasonably sure that this disc will be covered in depth elsewhere in this update [uh? -editor], so I'll
keep this short. One of the things that's guaranteed to bring a smile to my face is a huge riff
and Starchild's debut disc for 12th Records. It's
chock full of huge riffs played by guys who seem to have exactly two records in their
collection, Black Sabbath's "Volume 4" and Sleep's "Holy Mountain."
Finally, there's the "Hits Omnibus" compilation
released by Wantage USA in celebration of their
21st release.
With forty-seven bands spread over two discs there's a lot to digest, so I'll get to the highlights.
If you're reading Roadburn, you will definitely dig the following bands featured on this
comp: Drunk Horse, Oneida, Party Time, Fireballs of Freedom, The
Narrows, Federation X, Stinking Lizaveta, and Mico De Noche.
Other highlights include the tracks by Stars of the Dogon, Ass-End Offend,
Skyforger, Point Line Plane, Juanita And The Family, Le Force, Bloodhag,
Replicator, Noxagt, and The Fucking Champs.
SPACEROCK
by Walter
Following from Neddal's reviewdetorial I should mention the release of
several spacerock albums.
First off the block we have Monkey3 and they hail from
Switzerland. Their "S/T" debut is released
on Belgium’s Buzzville Records and comes as quite a bit of
a surprise.
Monkey3 sound like a more visceral 35007, and while Monkey3's debut is somewhat derivative of
35007’s aural soundscapes, the band does nonetheless have a deft ability at weaving a myriad of
sonic tapestries drawing from such diverse elements as potent metallic riffs, massive
grooves and layers of exhilarating synthesizer effects.
Monkey3 create their own interpretation of kaleidoscopic acid rock with great zeal -drawing the listener
deeper and deeper into their multi-faceted mindscapes, that it becomes a fairly
daunting task to adequately describe the extended psychedelic jams on offer.
However, all you need to know is that Monkey3's instrumental patterns will form, dissolve and swirl euphorically
in your cerebellum until you’re spent and numb.
Also of interest are the latest offerings from Marble Sheep ["For Demolition of A Spiritual Framework"], The Psychedelic Avengers ["and The Curse
of The Universe"] and Liquid Visions ["From The Cube"] on Germany's
Funfundvierzig Records.
Ranging from the Hawkwind via Black Sabbath and Saint Vitus workouts [Marble Sheep] and the cyber-delica
soundtrack of an imaginary psychotronic, porno movie [The Psychedelic Avengers] to Liquid
Vision's psychedelic rock, these albums offer the perfect antidotes against
the current virulence of generic stoner rock.
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