Posts Tagged ‘Exiled’

Playlist: September (Aligator Descartes)

Posted on Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

The Roadburn playlist is a monthly update from the Roadburn staff reflecting what we are spinning here in the head office. These are the records that get us through the day as we work on Roadburn Festival business and our blog.

Much as you’d expect, our playlists feature heavy rock, drone, psych, doom and space rock from the 60’s to immediate present. We also will feature guest playlists from knowledgeable contributors like long-time Roadburn cohort Aligator Descartes amongst others. Please share your personal Top 5 in the comments box below.

“Been a long time,” said Robert Plant. Never a truer word with a massive hiatus from writing for Roadburn which hopefully this set of micro-reviews will begin to rectify. This is a completely non-inclusive list of “recent-ish” stuff that’s I recommend!”

Isis -- Wavering Radiant (LP / CD -  Conspiracy / Ipecac)

The latest release from Isis has them ploughing a similar furrow to, well, everything since Oceanic redrew the map. There are no surprises in Wavering Radiant with the expected ambient / loud sequences and a mix of
Aaron Turner’s roaring / quiet vocals.
The record seems slightly more instrumental than the previous In the Absence of Truth but less focussed, in my opinion. Not as critical an album as Oceanic or In the Absence of Truth but still an excellent record hitting all the right spots.

Low Sonic Drift -- Shadow of the Titan (LP -- Theoretical Records )

Shadow of the Titan is the debut release for Glasgow-based power trio Low Sonic Drift.  Shadow of the Titan is a 5-track mini-LP clocking in at a respectable 32 minutes. Awesomely, the opening track is a sprawling 9
minute stoner / thrash / prog epic which lays out the LSD manifesto of complex shifting riffs, grooving heaviness and excellent musicianship. A highly recommended release.

Misericorde -- S/T (Demo)

An interesting release this one from UK’s Misericorde, a three-piece doom trio from various locations around the UK. Recorded in a fairly basic manner, this three song demo (with an intro and outro) still manages to impress with sheer power and some interesting riffage.
The overall vibe I can only describe as “remember that sort of sound you got off Noise Records releases in the 80s?”. If you’re nodding, a bit like that. If you’re not nodding, it’s heavy doom with half spoken vocals occasionally floating across the thunder. With some better production, Misericorde’s trip would sound shakingly huge.

Note: Misericorde are now on hiatus, which is a shame given the promising nature of the tracks on offer here.

Ozric Tentacles -  The Yumyum Tree (CD -- Snapper)

The Yumyum Tree is the latest album for UK psychedelic stalwarts, the Ozric Tentacles. For anyone familiar with the output of the Ozrics, the new album has no surprises covering a variety of instrumental space rock,
pulsing techno-tinged guitar workouts and whooshing psychedelia.
The record, as with several of their more recent albums, is light on the “band” moments favouring a more Ed Wynne solo album feel, but is still a solid release in the Ozrics canon.

Ozric Tentacles -- Sunrise Festival (CD / DVD -- Snapper)

In between their two most recent studio outings, the Ozrics did a UK tour featuring two members from their early days, Merv Pepler and Joie Hinton (who later formed psytrance duo Eat Static). This DVD is the highlights
from their set at the Sunrise Festival and features tracks mostly from the Erpland and Jurassic Shift era (early 1990s).
The sound quality here is excellent and the visuals also good. The DVD still manages to capture the obvious energy and general glee about having three members of the “classic” line-up on stage and Brandi Wynne also plays a blinder on the bass. In short, if you like your spacerock, this is an essential purchase. The DVD also comes with an audio CD which makes it very good value for money!

Sons of Otis -- Exiled (CD -- Small Stone Records)

The Sons of Otis return with their latest release since 2005’s  X.  Exiled sounds like classic Otis with soulful blues playing coupled with crushingly heavy riffs and drones and echo-soaked vocals. Several tracks here stand out including the opening  ‘Haters’ which drones with vicious vocals and the more upbeat, but still crushing, ‘Lost Souls’. ‘Oxazejam’ is a re-recorded (and improved) jam originally on the split with Queen Elephantine.
The remaining tracks are a fairly conventional cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s ‘Bad Man’, a spacey cover of Motorhead’s ‘Iron Horse’ and the droning ‘Tales of Otis’, again originally off the Queen Elephantine split but re-recorded. As a bonus, a heavy, ambient drone track from Ken’s OX project hides at the end of  ‘Iron Horse’…

Another solid release from Sons of Otis, athough not as essential as Templeball or X.

Masters of Reality -- Pine/Cross Dover (CD -- Brownhouse / Mascot)

Chris Goss finally returns with the latest Masters of Reality album after the slightly patchy Give Us Barabbas (which was bits and pieces + a bunch of disjointed tracks from the unreleased, but amazing, ‘Ballad of Jody
Frosty’). Pine/Cross Dover is yet another progression for the Masters sound (if you can categorise it at all now!) with a blending of psychedelic jams, insanely catchy tracks and full on rock-outs.
Goss’ vocals are as smooth as ever and there’s not a low, or even medium, point on the entirerecord. A class listen from beginning to end. Buy it now!

Gong -- Unconvention 2006 (DVD -- unGONG)
Steve Hillage Band -- Live at the Gong Family Unconvention (DVD -- G-wave)

A pair of related DVDs both drawn from the very succesfull Gong Unconvention mini-festival at Melkweg, Amsterdam in 2006 which reunited many past members of  Radio Gnome-era Gong plus many of the offshoot bands spawned from Gong over the years.

The DVD focusses on Gong’s lengthy and amazing set with fabulous sound and overall trippiness. The only negative to this very watchable DVD is the silly sparkly effects dropped in here and there.
The visuals are good enough, leave them alone! If you’re an afficianado of the strange Gong universe, this is a very very good release.

The Steve Hillage Band DVD is slightly less visually interesting, but has an excellent set-list covering a good chunk of his classic  Fish Rising album plus other tracks throughout his career. Hillage (and band) are on
form and it’s an excellent purchase. The DVD also comes with the set on audio CD which is a handy and worth extra for the very reasonable price.

Tags: Exiled, Gong, isis, Low Sonic Drift, masters of reality, Ozric Tentacles, pine/cross dover, Shadow of the Titan, sons of otis, Sunrise Festival, The Yumyum Tree, Theoretical Records, Unconvention 2006, wavering radiant
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