If you haven’t come across Kanaan yet, then I think their
Facebook description hits the nail on the head with “A young Norwegian power
trio, playing their signature blazing psychedelia, drawing inspiration from
Krautrock and pre-jazz fusion”. You must be interested by now?
As they are currently on tour in Europe I think this video
was done to promote it but is also a bit of a treat for those (me included) who
live in a country that’s not included this time.
Looking the part, stood in a 60’s/70’s looking room with all
the retro curtains and furniture, you’re treated to nearly 6 minutes of Kanaan
at their finest. Fuzzed out rock with a real deep groove that swaggers along to
a baseline Geezer Butler would have been proud of.
I will let the video speak for itself…..
If you don’t already own the LP, CD or digital version of
their debut album “Windborne”, get yourself toEl Paradiso Records.
Cosmic Fall have been rather quite lately, possibly the
quiet before the storm? After a steady stream of quality releases came “In Search of Outer Space” that left me wanting more and more of their psychedelic space
jams.
TheCircle of the Sun album that Daniel (Sax – Drums)
dropped in 2018 was something rather special, reminding you how good each
member of the Berlin based trio are individually as well as together, and now
the time has come for new Cosmic Fall in the form of newly released single “Lackland”.
The 8:32 jam kicks off with a real raw live sound to it and
it doesn’t take long for Marcin’s guitar to walk off in the direction of many
heavy rock riffs transported from the 70’s. It flips between the fuzzy sound of
European sounding heavy psych and the wah-wah style that made San Diego a
musical mecca. The guitar this time does have a buzz to it that makes me think
of Hendrix or Cream. Again, if you had to make a reference point for someone,
then Earthless is the band, which is a huge compliment to anyone.
The track doesn’t come up for air once it starts, so no
trippy psych jams this time, but I can’t wait to hear “Lackland” played live as
I can see it extending into a 20 minute jam quite easily.
As for the recording, like I mentioned earlier it sounds as
though its live to tape, Klaus’s bass has the ability to hold the song together
whilst still sounding loose and Daniel’s love of hitting cymbals tops it off.
Hopefully this is the first track from and album that cannot
be far away. “Lackland” is a digital only single that can be found on the
normal musical platforms.
Looking back (probably too) many years, living in the UK and
getting to see Yawning Man often seemed like a mirage. Many hours of time and
travel have gone under the belt over the years, but as time has moved on and
Desert Rock hero’s hitting a rich vein of form lately, I kind of expect to see
them play the UK at least once a year. And after last night I can honestly say
that they just get better and better.
After 4 hours of traffic hell covering close to 170 miles I
manage to just get to the venue as the band are tuning up. Again, a decent
rabble of the weird and wonderful turn out in the usual Mancunian summer rain,
with them all knowing they made a better choice than the 50 thousand down the
road watching Metallica.
I have managed a couple of full listens of “Macedonian
Lines” which I’m halfway through trying to review and knowing how good it
sounds, live they should be a real treat.
With Bill Stinson back behind the drums, keeping the
chemistry going with Gary Arce and Mario Lalli, “Macedonian Lines” kicks of the
evening with its guitar that elevates and takes you to places above and beyond
and the familiar live jam of the desert takes over. “Melancholy Sadie” follows
with such an awesome baseline that helps expand the track and it builds and
builds into one of those spine tingling moments already.
“Skyline Pressure” starts off with that hypnotic baseline
that hooks you in and carries you away, followed by two more new tracks, “Bowies
Last Breath” crawling along with the drums and such a good baseline that
compliments Gary’s guitar that dances and slides all around it, unlike anything
other bands can do, and “I Make Weird Choices” that dips and roles and glides
in that classic Yawning Man style.
“Ghost Beach” follows and stands out as such a magical and
float away sounding track which is deservedly a song that’s always on their set
list now.
“The Black Kite” roles in and lifts the crowd towards
another level, sounding better than ever live.
After a few technical issues with Gary’s pedal board, most
of it is disconnected so that the show can go on, and on it does with the final
15 minutes of the meandering “The Revolt Against Tired Noises”. Again, as a 3
piece playing in harmony with everything melting together. With this, the night
drive back home didn’t seem so long.
With the band already hitting their groove and this being
show number 5 of a huge European tour, if you’re seeing them in the next few
weeks, you’re in for quite an evening. Hopefully the recording of the show does it some justice.
There’s usually a 2 year gap between Elder releasing new
music and knowing that time was nearly up again and that “The Gold & Silver
Sessions” was on the horizon had gotten me a bit twitchy of late. With the Postwax
series running slightly late, receiving the initial copy early (knowing the
special edition is probably at the pressing plant now) has made every last
minute of the wait worth it. Where do I start? 3 songs, 34 minutes of absolute
magic.
From the evolution of Dead Roots Stirring to Lore to
Reflections of a Floating World, Elder’s music has grown and grown with the
ability to create an atmosphere that lifts you far beyond a conventional song
before elevating it to levels very few bands can take you to and then hold you
there long enough before the comedown.
Recorded in Berlin in October 2018, live in the studio,
there’s a slightly different feel to it being an Elder record, which I only see
as a positive thing with its hypnotic atmosphere.
Side 1 starts off with “Illusory Motion”. The song slowly
begins to roll in like Colour Haze are ever so good at, and after a couple of
minutes, as the song starts to pick up pace, Nick drops in some guitar work
that is signature Elder. You can feel that this is played live in the studio and
the song grows, sounding like a jam but not like how you would expect a jam to
sound as it has structure. It builds then it slows down, then with just over 2
minutes left that riff kicks back in with a driving, even slightly buzzing feel
to it. The riff is pure Elder and it takes over the rest of the song.
“Im Morgengrauen” starts with some gentle sleepy keyboards
that melt away into Pink Floyd territory. Matthew’s drums and Michael’s
keyboards create an atmosphere of prog with a hint of jazz as Nick’s guitar
walks off in a way that makes me think of Dave Gilmore playing at dusk in a
warm dusty Amphitheatre in Pompeii.
The whole of side 2 consists of the 18+ minute “Weissensee”.
This shows the pure musical chemistry that the 4 member have. Jack’s bass ties
everything in together so well as riff after riff drop in then slip away as
another takes center stage. Again, I’m feeling the proggy parts of Pink Floyd
but this time it’s a lot more hypnotic and trippy. I can also here the Yawning
Man melodies of Gary Arce in there. Reading the sleeve notes, the song is based
on a series of jams that reflect the suburb of Berlin the album was recorded
in. The repetition of daily life in the city is shown through the basslines
that roll on and on. As the song draws to a close, that Krautrock influences
also show and I definitely see the odd glimpse of Electric Moon.
These 3 songs take you on a journey that Elder have not
really been on before and possibly won’t take again, but think about them being
in a warm dusty place looking towards the heavens. This is pure musical genius.
If you have this because you’re a member of the Postwax
series or have caught them touring parts of Europe, lucky you. If not, July 12th
is the day for you when Blues Funeral give it a full release.
The record I have here looks absolutely stunning and with
the Postwax limited version with some special packaging due soon, you know what
to do.
Not being that far up the road from me, I’ve been following
Newcastle’s Dunes over the last couple of years and have seen them grow as a
band through their Dunes EP1 and Dunes EP2. Over this time they’ve also
supported the likes of Monster Magnet, Red Fang, Idles, The Picturebooks and if
you follow them on social media you will see they’re always out playing shows.
Now after spending time in the studio at the back end of
2018 writing songs, everything has now come together in the form of their debut
album “Take Me to The Nasties”.
The album kicks off with the title track, a 3 minute rocker
that has a real hook of a riff that drives like a QOTSA“Era Vulgaris” track.
The song flips between the big riff and some crunch guitar work, then rolls
straight into a chorus that rocks like a classic rock tune, then that riff
kicks back in and boom! This will set the place alight played live for sure.
“SOS” continues in the Queen’s vein with another hook of a
riff and that “Hey, Hey, Hey” chant incorporated in a track that doesn’t stop
rolling. There’s even the first signs of John throwing in some guitar solos.
There a good thick bluesy riff that kicks off “Been
Expecting You” in the vein of Clutch and “Release the Clowns” has that robotic rock feel to it.
It slows down with “Phantom Head” and the band really show
off their song writing skills. It starts off sounding a bit like a Screaming
Trees track and it progressively gets heavier and heavier with a riff that
crawls like a hurricane. Lots of a cymbals and a bass line that feels nice and
dark. Definitely my recommended track from the album.
Like in various moments throughout the album, “Lantern” and
“Denim Casket” draws from the 90’s Grunge era and throughout many of the songs
I can pick out something that sounds like Death From Above 1979, which can only
be a good thing.
The album finishes off with the longest song “Everything is
Blue” which mixes a bit of all their sound nicely. Probably their most stoner
rock sounding track and it makes me think of the late 90’s Swedish stoner bands
and the vocals have that echo like Josh Homme feel to them. The more I listen
to it the more I long for more tracks like this.
For their debut album, there’s some really good stuff on
here. “Take Me to The Nasties” has that early stoner rock in parts, robotic
rock in others, even a bit of 90’s grunge in there, and it’s all mixed
with some big riffs that hook you in. The album will make the Toon Army proud!
“Take Me to The Nasties” is out September 7th 2019 on Sapien Records.
I did this interview with Gary Arce at the end of 2017 when
Yawning Man did a week of shows in the UK. It was supposed to be published in
something else I did which never happened, so here it is. It was mid December in Newcastle and we were in the middle of some really bad winter weather. It
took some doing getting through all the snow and ice to get to the Cluny in
Newcastle and as I got out the car the temperature was -6. It didn’t stop
people from showing up though. In a lot warmer bar with a couple of drinks, Gary was kind enough to give me a half hour of his time. TH: When you think of a Yawning Man show, this is not the weather you imagine? GA:No I did not expect this weather but I’m kind of liking
it actually. Back home in the high desert we get snow every couple of years but it's nothing like this. TH:At least you managed to get over from Manchester due to
the snow drifts. GA: Yeah, luckily we didn’t get stuck and the travelling has
been good at the moment. TH: It’s good to see Yawning Man all over the UK this time. GA: We’ve played the UK on the last few tours and usually
we’d only play London and everyone kept asking us, when are you playing more
shows in the UK and we kind of went outside of our usual booking circle and
talked to some friends and booking agents and kind of did it ourselves with
little help and did it punk rock DIY stile. The audiences have been really good
and the shows have been packed the last few nights. I think last night in
Coventry there was around 150 people there on a cold Sunday night which was really
cool. TH: So your back to being a 3 piece on this tour. GA: Well we’ve always really been a trio but last time we
had a fourth person which was Dino which was cool but this time he’s in college
and we had our friend Justine(Ruiz) play which was cool but we feel as a trio
we have much more time and room to jam and experiment live together. TH: Like the other day with your early jam session in London at The Dev? GA: Yeah, that was trippy because we started at like 5:30 in
the day and it just went from there and I think people really appreciated what
we did there. I think we often feel a bit more afraid when there is a fourth
person and I kind of find myself not playing as much but when it’s a trio it’s
like a wheel to me with the bass, drums and guitar and it just flows and flows
and flows. TH: So have you had a chance to take in much of the UK? GA: Manchester was really beautiful and was probably the one
place I got the most to check out. London to me is cool because there is a lot
of people, and being from the desert, I’m not used to it seeing people running
about all over and in front of the cars and just the general mayhem. The thing
I do like about the UK is that everyone is super nice, cool and everyone is so
chilled out and friendly. There’s no attitude. Even people who aren’t at the
shows but just in the streets and shops are super friendly.
TH: Now I know that you like English music and punk rock. GA: Yeah I love punk rock. Amebix, Discharge are one of my
favorite bands. I remember from the first time I saw them as a kid they were
my favorite punk band. I also really like Bauhaus. TH:The Beatles? GA: No, I’m not a fan. TH: Morrissey? GA: I really like The Smiths but not so much the solo Morrissey
stuff. I remember when that record “Meat is Murder” came out and I was really
digging the guitar player (Jonny Marr) and the stuff he was playing. But punk
rock to me has always been close to my heart. TH: You’ve been few a few venues this week which most of
these bands have probably played. GA: I’ve seen quite a few old punks around that look like they’ve
been here since the 70s that look like they’ve played in the UK Subs. I
remember seeing The Exploited back in 82 in Los Angeles and there was a huge
riot and I think Wattie was the one who incited it. It was scary but cool at
the same time. TH: Ha, you still see him wandering the street of Glasgow
walking his dog with a bottle of cider! TH: You’ve been touring a lot lately. The US, South America,
Canada. You’ve certainly done some miles over the last 12 months. GA: Yeah, we toured the US twice this last year. The US can
be a tough gig and I probably like Europe better and I really like Canada.
Canada is beautiful and the people are like the UK. Super cool, super friendly,
great music scene. You hit the US and it gets a little different. Some parts, well
you get to the south and it gets interesting. The south is a hard fuckin place
to tour. TH: Have you been to Australia yet? GA: Not with Yawning Man but with my other band Ten East
which was me, Billy Cordell, Bill from Yawning Man and Bryan Giles.
TH: And you played as Ten East the other night? GA: Yeah we did but Ten East is a project I started that was
usually more an improv thing and to be honest I wasn’t even sure who was
playing. My friends in the Netherlands were like “hey dude do you wanna do Ten
East tonight?” and I’m like “sure” so they just brought their guitar amps and
bass and off we went. It kind of just evolves every time. TH: Any more plans for Yawning Sons? GA: Yeah, with Yawning Sons we actually recorded the other
day but I’m not sure what’s happening with it yet. TH: What about doing it live again? It’s been a few years
since the Desertfest thing happened. GA: Yeah I remember that, it was cool but my amp kept going
out and the sound guy was being all weird and shit. TH: I remember watching Mario saving the day though. GA: Yeah, Mario basically took over and acted as my roadie.
It could have been a real disaster but the crowd seemed to dig it.
TH: There’s enough people here that want to see it here
again, or even Ten East playing a Desertfest? GA:Ten East is fun, the version I liked was, well there’s
been so many versions, but the first one was be and Brant and Mario and Bill,
and the second version was me and Bill and we brought in Scott Reeder, the guy
from Red FangBrian Giles played guitar and Greg Ginn played guitar and bass,
from Black Flag. And the third version was me and friends from the Netherlands
and that was the version we played the other night as I was in the Netherlands. TH: You probably just missed the Red Fang guys as they’ve been
in Europe the last few weeks. GA: Yeah, they are such good musicians live. TH: So a new song dropped the other day. GA: Yeah, “Ghost Beach” came out the other day. We went into
the studio as we got some free time. TH: Was it intentional or a spur of the moment thing with
the free studio time? GA: Well what happened was, somebody offered us a few hours
in the studio and we had the day off so we went in there, very Yawning Man
style, very natural, Mario started a bass line and I came up with a guitar
melody and it just flowed out live. It was written there and then in the
studio. We just pieced together everything. Part 1 then part 2, pressed record
then off we go. TH: And where are you at with a new album? GA: We’re in the process of coming up with new songs. There’s
three new ones written. One is very different for Yawning Man which you’ll hear
tonight. It’s got a very repetitive riff, quite an up paced one. I’m not sure
when we’ll record yet. When we get back to California everybody is busy with
their families and jobs and getting back to regular life. But it will be coming
sooner rather than later. TH: What about Zun, any more plans for that? GA: I really want to try and do more Zun. Me and Sera keep
in contact and John lives where I live. It’s just a matter of trying to get
everyone on the same page at the same time. It’s usually me actually getting
off my ass and doing it. TH: You must have been happy with finally seeing the record
get released as “Burial Sunrise”? GA: Yeah, what it was, was Yawning Man songs that never got
release so we worked more on them and the label dug what we did. TH: The actual release also just appeared out the blue with
no build up. GA: What happened was that me and Bill got in the studio to
start a new Yawning Man record and I recorded like 6 songs on guitar and then
Bill wrote his bit and we had it all there with no bass. We had it sat there
for 2 months and Mario was busy, so the engineer was like you have to come down,
these songs are really good and you just play bass on it. So I went in there
and I started playing bass on some of the songs and Mario got in there finally
and played bass on one songs and I played bass on the rest. Then we did some
keyboards and experimenting with it, then he goes “let’s call John” and I go, “I
got a friend called Sera from Black Math Horseman, let’s call her”, so like everybody’s
like yeah this is cool. John says he can do 3 and Sera says she can do 3, perfect
and it worked. TH: Do you ever think you’ll have a chance to play it live? GA: I tried to and we got offered some tours and some big
festivals, especially the European ones. The minute the record came out I was getting
emails. I contacted Sera who was busy with her own band and John was busy so it
was unfortunate we couldn’t as Zun is one of the better albums that I would
have loved to play live. Sera’s schedule was more lenient but John has music
and work and family, so is always super busy. TH: You’ve also been doing some stuff with Toby Wrecker who
has put out a series of 4 EP’s over the last few months. GA: I met Toby when I travelled Australia with Ten East. Him
and his brother have a band who played with us as a duo and they were really good,
the Hotel Wrecking City Traders. I did stuff on a couple of their records and
Toby’s solo album. TH: Did you record over there or vice versa? GA: No, it was through files which was kind of weird for me
as I’m so used to just jamming it out live. They sent me the files whilst in
the middle of another album and the engineer was cool to say I’ll give you like
4 hours for free. So for the next 4 hours Toby and his brother sat drinking
beer sending file after file through. It was a strange experience doing it but
it came out really cool. TH: You must now look back at the last 4 or 5 years to see
the desert music scene take off. As you’re one of the first names on the Desert
Rock team sheet you must get all sorts of requests? GA: Haha, i’m so busy when at home as I got my own life to
the point, sometime I won’t even play my guitar for weeks as I just get wrapped
up in normal life stuff. The emails come and go and I know Mario looks after
that stuff more than I do, and someone will contact me going “hey dude did you
read that email” and I’ll be like “err no” and they’re like “it’s super
important that you have to read your email”. TH: What’s coming up after this tour? GA: Well we’re going to finish up a few more shows then
start properly writing a new Yawning Man record which is the number 1 priority
as we need one (**Note - This interview was done just before "Revolt Against Tired Noises" was released**). We’re than planning on going to South America. We have some
festivals coming up next year but I can’t really say anything about them yet. Website Bandcamp Facebook Twitter Instagram
Friends! Some of you have desperately waited for this:
The legendary The Machine are going to hit the European roads in October together with the fabulous Samavayo, who just returned from their one-week tour with Stoned Jesus! Just one word: U.L.T.R.A.H.I.G.H.E.N.E.R.G.Y.
Do not miss this!
DATES:
03.10.19 Tilburg | 013 (NL) 04.10.19 Pratteln | Up In Smoke Festival (CH) 05.10.19 Siegen | Vortex (DE) 06.10.19 Deventer | Burgerweeshuis (NL) 07.10.19 Hamburg | Hafenklang (DE) 08.10.19 Copenhagen | Stengade (DK) 09.10.19 Dortmund | Junkyard (DE) 10.10.19 Chemnitz | AJZ (DE) 11.10.19 Munich | Keep It Low Festival (DE) 12.10.19 Berlin | Setalight Festival 2019 (DE)
Folks! We are thrilled to announce that the fabulousLo-Pan will return to Europe this fall! As if that were not enough: They are going to team up with Elephant Tree + Steakfor this tour! HELL YES, what a kick ass package!
Some more news to follow for the TBA dates, keep your eyes peeled!
DATES:
30.09.19 TBA 01.10.19 Bristol | The Old England (UK)* 02.10.19 Swansea | The Bunkhouse (UK)* 04.10.19 Paris | Gibus (FR) 05.10.19 Pratteln | Up In Smoke Festival (CH) 06.10.19 Salzburg | Rockhouse (AT) 08.10.19 Linz | Stadtwerkstatt (AT) 09.10.19 Freiburg | Slow Club (DE) 10.10.19 Leipzig | Werk2 (DE) 11.10.19 Berlin | Setalight Festival 12.10.19 Munich | Keep It Low Festival 14.10.19 Wiesbaden | Schlachthof (DE) 15.10.19 Cologne | Helios 37 (DE) 16.10.19 Hamburg | Hafenklang (DE) 17.10.19 Bremen | Zollkantine (DE) 18.10.19 Leuwaarden | Into The Void Festival * 19.10.19 TBA
Today we are more than stoked to present SOL's new roadshow: "SONIC RIDE". Three outstanding bands tour your favorite European venues! Now clap your hands cuz...
Instrumental hypnotic rockers My Sleeping Karma will present their long awaited new album. Stoned Jesus will be playing exclusive "greatest hits"-set every night, celebrating their 10th anniversary and Somali Yacht Club will open the nights with their unique mix of psych, shoegazing and post rock.
Gee! This gonna be a hell of a ride! Make sure not to miss & get your tickets early! See ya's in November, folks!
DATES: 15.11.19 Cologne | Live Music Hall (DE) 16.11.19 Neunkirchen | Gloomaar Festival (DE) 17.11.19 Brussels | Botanique (BE) 18.11.19 Paris | Alhambra (FR) 19.11.19 Rennes | Antipode MJC (FR) 20.11.19 Toulouse | Rex (FR) 21.11.19 Geneva | L’Usine (CH) 22.11.19 Bologna | Freak Out (IT) 23.11.19 Salzburg | Dome of Rock Festival (AT) 24.11.19 Budapest | A38 (HU) 25.11.19 Munich | Feierwerk (DE) 26.11.19 Vienna | Arena (AT) 27.11.19 Leipzig | Werk2 (DE) 28.11.19 Hamburg | Markthalle (DE) 29.11.19 Berlin | Festsaal Kreuzberg (DE) + Belzebong 30.11.19 Stuttgart | Hallschlag (DE) + Belzebong
