Category: Stoner rock

My top 25 live shows of 2016 – #’s 5 – 1

Here we are at my top five live shows of 2016.

#5 – Earthless at Levitation Chicago March 12th

Earthless are the only band to be in my top 10 concerts of 2016 twice.  This was the second time I’d seen them and the first time I’d been close to the stage.  It was a stunning performance that nearly left me speechless.  They were also cool cats who were happy to sign my concert poster after their performance.

#4 – Night Beats at Levitation Chicago March 12th

Night Beats are the only band to be in the top 30 concerts of 2016 three times.  Their Levitation Chicago performance was downright dangerous and established the swagger and tight chops I’d see from them all year.  They, too, were also cool cats who signed my copy of their new album Who Sold My Generation for me after their set.

#3 – Deap Vally at the Chicago House of Blues October 13th

They were first on a bill with Death from Above 1979 and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and they set the bar so high that the other two bands couldn’t match it.  They came to kick ass and take names…and they were all out of names.  They, too, were cool cats who chatted with me after their set.  Everyone was still talking about their performance as we were walking out of the venue.

#2 – Gary Wilson at Levitation Chicago March 10th

I didn’t know much about Gary Wilson before seeing him at Levitation Chicago.  I walked out a devoted fan.  His show was part-lounge act, part-psychedelic freak-out, and part-performance art piece.  He creeped out a woman next to me, made others laugh, others cheers, and others stand there with a “What the hell am I seeing and hearing?” look on their face.  I couldn’t stop talking about his performance for weeks and haven’t stopped recommending him to everyone since.

#1 – Bebel Gilberto at Ann Arbor Summer Fest June 18th

Only one concert had a moment that made me cry in 2016, and that was when Bebel Gilberto and her guitarist performed a cover of Radiohead‘s “Creep.”  Seeing this member of bossa nova royalty in a great venue (The acoustics in Ann Arbor’s Powerhouse Theatre are sublime.) was a dream come true, as I’ve had a serious crush on her and her music for many years.  It was also the first show I attended on a press pass thanks to this blog, so it will always hold a special place in my memory.

Thanks for reading.  I hope to get to just as many shows in 2017.  Wish me luck and let me know about bands I need to see this year.

Keep your mind open.

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My top 25 live shows of 2016 – #’s 10-6

We’re in the top ten of the my favorite live shows of 2016.

#10 – The Flaming Lips at Middle Waves Fest in Ft. Wayne, Indiana September 17th

It was a triumphant return to Fort Wayne after nearly 30 years for them.  The show was big, bright, and full of love.  It was in the middle of the election season and just what we all needed at the time.

#9 – Earthless at the Empty Bottle in Chicago December 2nd

Earthless is easily one of the best live acts out there right now, and this was my first time seeing them in a small venue.  I don’t know how the Empty Bottle was still standing by the time they were done because it was among the loudest and heaviest sets I’ve seen there.

#8 – John Carpenter at the Masonic Temple Theatre in Detroit July 15th

“I got a movie and a concert,” my wife said after seeing a screening of Escape from New York and then John Carpenter, his son, his godson, and the rest of his band play a fantastic retrospective of his film score music.  It was also in a huge gothic structure, so that made it all the better.

#7 – Screaming Females at the Brass Rail in Ft. Wayne, Indiana June 26th

I’d wanted to see them for a couple years, and seeing them an hour’s drive away with my best friend in a venue not much bigger than the bottom floor of my house was one of my favorite memories of 2016.  They were even kind enough to let me interview in their tour van.  They crushed it, leaving most of the crowd dumbstruck.

#6 – L7 at the Metro in Chicago August 6th

Another band I’d waited years, even decades, to see was L7 and their sold-out reunion tour show in Chicago was one of the best performances I’d seen from any band in years.  They hadn’t lost a thing and showed pretenders how it’s done.

Good grief!  If these shows were so good, who’s in the top five?  Come back tomorrow and see!

Keep your mind open.

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My top 25 albums of 2016 – #’s 15-11

We’re halfway to #1 on the countdown!

#15 

The Kills released a great album for their 15th anniversary.  Ash & Ice oozes with their sweaty, smoky, whiskey-tinged rock and is one of the best albums about love and sex from 2016.

#14 

I didn’t expect a full record of shoegaze from the Duke Spirit, but Kin is the best shoegaze record I’ve heard all year (and probably of the last two or three years).

#13

All Them Witches released a live album last year (which I still need to get), teased a new album for this year, and started 2016 with Dying Surfer Meets His Maker – a great blend of stoner metal and blues voodoo rock.

#12 

Comacozer contacted me through this website and asked if I’d like to hear their record.  I’m glad I said yes, because this stoner metal album, Astra Planeta, is amazing.

#11 

The KVB make excellent dark wave and shoegaze.  It’s a bit difficult to believe at first that just two people produce that much sound.  Of Desire was recorded on vintage synthesizers and sequencers, and the rich sound produced is excellent.

Who’s made it into my top 10 for 2016?  Come back tomorrow to find out!

Keep your mind open.

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My top 25 live shows of 2016 – #’s 20-16

Let’s keep rollin’ with this countdown of great live shows from 2016!

#20 – Seal at Four Winds Casino in New Buffalo, MI August 27th.

It was just him, a DJ / synth player, and a guitarist, and they knocked it out of the park.  He even dabbled in some dark wave versions of some of his songs and he knows how to work a crowd.

#19 – Wolfmother at the Double Door in Chicago, IL July 10th

The whole show was this crazy.  It was probably the sweatiest show I attended all year as well, and completely worth it.

#18 – Jeff the Brotherhood at Middle Waves Festival in Ft. Wayne, IN September 17th

That photo, taken by yours truly, pretty much says it all.  They hammered out a loud set in the post-rain sunlight that won over many new fans.  They played a lot of new material that was quite good.  I need to get their new album soon.

#17 – Bully at Middle Waves Festival in Ft. Wayne, IN September 16th

They closed one of the Middle Waves stages on the first night of the festival and had everyone roaring by the end of their set.  They were the best act that night.

#16 – Black Rebel Motorcycle Club at the Chicago House of Blues October 13th

BRMC always puts on a good show, and this one was no exception.  They played a shorter than normal set due to some equipment malfunction (I think it was a screwed-up monitor.), but they worked around it by playing songs they hadn’t planned on playing and altering some guitar parts.  It was a great example of a band on top of their game and able to improvise if things get weird.

Who’s in the top 15?  Check back tomorrow to see!

Keep your mind open.

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My top 25 albums of 2016 – #’s 25-21.

Don’t let anyone tell you that there’s no good music anymore.  There is always good music.  You just have to find it.  I hope this list and this blog helped you discover some good stuff in 2016.

I reviewed close to 50 albums released in 2016 last year, so I’ve decided to highlight the top 25.   Here are numbers 25-21.
25.Slaves bring great British punk that skewers not only the elite rich, but also Millennial slackers and even the stupidity of drunk driving.

24.Dunsmuir is a metal supergroup featuring members of Clutch, Fu Manchu, The Company Band, and Black Sabbath.  Their debut is a concept record about a shipwrecked crew fighting monsters on a remote island.

23.

Canadian psych-rockers Elephant Stone have yet to put out a bad record, and this one added electro touches to their mix of 1960’s psychedelia and bhangra.

22. 

Birth is a fine piece of stoner rock from this three-piece Australian outfit.  I was on a big stoner rock kick in 2016 and ORB certainly fit the bill.

21. 

Klaus Johann Grobe were a delightful discovery this year, and their latest album, Spagat Der Liebe, is a fun electro / lounge record suitable for both late night parties and making out.

Who cracks the top 20?  Come back tomorrow to find out!

Keep your mind open.

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Rewind Review: The Sword – Age of Winters (2006)

Age of Winters, the debut album from The Sword (J.D. Cronise – guitar and vocals, Bryan Richie – bass, Kyle Shutt – guitar, Trivett Wingo – drums) is nothing short of a metal masterpiece. It was a bold statement in 2006 and is still just as powerful a decade later, putting many newer metal albums to shame.

What makes it different? For one, the instrumentation. The Sword can shred like a Ninja Turtles villain and jam harder than Schmucker’s equally well. Second, their lyrics are epic. “Barael’s Blade,” for example, is a song about a magic sword that starts with the lyric “Forged by the Crow-Mage from shards of darkness.” You can’t get much more metal than that.

“Freya,” about the queen of the Valkyries, hits as hard as “a sword of fire and an axe of gold.” The result of the bloody battle portrayed in the song is cursed by survivors in “Winter’s Wolves.” “The Horned Goddess,” who “sits astride mountains tall and wide,” is a heavy salute to (I think) Hela – the Norse goddess of the underworld. The song chugs along like the boots of a Viking army climbing a glacier. “Iron Swan” is a fast song about a dark boat that brings death to one’s enemies. The guitars shred like stampeding horses on it.

“Lament for the Aurochs” is the heaviest doom-metal track on the record. The bass rumbles, the cymbals crash, and the guitar solos are like battle cries. The first verse alone tells you how heavy this song is: “Laboring in the liquid light of Leviathan, spectres swarm around the sunken cities of the Saurians. Rising from the void through the blackness of eternal night, Colossus of the Deep crashing down with cosmic might.” Who else is crafting lyrics like this?

“March of the Lor” is a powerful “instrumental in eight movements” that puts about ten minutes of blistering rock into less than five minutes. “Ebethron” has a sweet drum solo in it (When was the last time you heard a drum solo in a song, metal or otherwise?) and is an epic tale of a warlord preparing for a world-shaking battle.

The whole album is world-shaking. You need this in your collection if you’re a metal fan.

Keep your mind open.

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Rewind Review: Earthless – Live at Roadburn (2008)

Recorded at Tilburg, Holland’s annual Roadburn festival dedicated to rock and metal, Live at Roadburn is probably the closest you can get to an Earthless (Mike Eginton – bass, Isaiah Mitchell – guitar, Mario Rubalcaba – drums) concert without being there. It might not entirely melt your face, but it will certainly heat it up and warp your mind.

The double-disc CD version has two songs on each disc. A four-song set is average for an Earthless show, because most songs are at least fifteen minutes long. The performance starts off with “Blue,” which is not only a stoner rock gem, but it also has elements of prog-rock sprinkled throughout (the way Mitchell’s guitar and Rubalcaba’s drums bounce off each other, for instance). Mitchell’s guitar hits definite Cream territory around the ten-minute mark.

The song rolls into the epic “From the Ages” with Rubalcaba’s near-manic drumming and Eginton’s rock solid bass. The groove they hit around the 24-minute mark is outstanding. All three of them click so well that they make it sound easy. They drop into almost a blues-rock groove around the 31-minute mark (with Eginton’s mantra-like bass). They get cosmic around minute 38 and slowly build into re-entry burn rock fury.

Disc 2 features “Godspeed” and “Sonic Prayer.” “Godspeed” begins with fuzzy distortion and rolling cymbals before bursting forth like a platoon of orcs smashing down a fortress wall. Your mind is almost in your shoes by the 16-minute mark because the song becomes a psychedelic freak-out at that point. The band is racing like a nitro-burning funny car about four minutes later when they’re into “Sonic Prayer.” It’s jaw-dropping by then (like any Earthless show).

Pick up this album if you can’t make it to an Earthless concert. It will get you into orbit. A live show will send you to the next solar system, but Live at Roadburn will at least help you circle the planet.

Keep your mind open.

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Live – Earthless, Ruby the Hatchet, Marmora – Chicago,IL – December 02, 2016

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Imagine you flew from Guatemala to Chicago to see a band and they only played four songs (including the encore), but you were ecstatic by the end of the show.  This is what happens at Earthless shows.

My friend, Paul, and I went to see Earthless, Ruby the Hatchet, and Marmora at the Empty Bottle.  It was my third time seeing Earthless and Paul’s first.  We hadn’t seen either of the opening acts.  Paul and I are big fans of Earthless and their mostly instrumental cosmic rock, and the Empty Bottle (which was sold out) would be the smallest venue in which I’d seen them so far.

We met a couple who drove in from Wisconsin to see them for the first time.  We all talked about the number of songs we’d get to hear from Earthless.  They played four the first two times I saw them, so Paul and I were betting on at least three.  The couple from Wisconsin hoped for four, and they were correct.

First up were Marmora – a Chicago four-piece that blended stoner rock with punk.  Paul knew we were in for something groovy when their lead guitarist came out wearing a “Got blunt?” T-shirt.

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Marmora – rocking hard despite having a rough day at the office.

Marmora had been through a rough day.  The lead singer had screwed up his ankle, they mentioned having some sort of vehicle trouble earlier, they accidentally set their gear in dog poop while loading the van, the drummer’s foot pedal broke (thankfully, they had another), and the lead singer broke a string on his guitar.  They put on a good set despite all that, and their rhythm section is particularly good.

Ruby the Hatchet put on a fine set of witchcraft rock with song titles like “Pagan Ritual” and “The Unholy.”  They have a great organ player who brings a cool 1960’s vibe to their power.  Their lead singer commands a room and her hand gestures as she soaks in the band’s sound might as well have been learned from Dr. Strange.

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Ruby the Hatchet casting spells on all of us.

Earthless walked on stage with no muss or fuss.  They said hello and then unleashed.  A brother-sister duo from Guatemala were next to me and told me how they’d come to the States to follow Earthless on their current tour.  They were big fans of stoner / doom metal.  The brother, David, told me he’s been reaching out to stoner metal bands in hopes of convincing them to tour in Guatemala, where there is no stoner metal scene according to him.  He and his sister had a great time, although his sister couldn’t understand why the audience wasn’t dancing more.  “American audiences are so fucking stiff,” she told me.

She probably changed her mind by the time a fight broke out in a mosh pit started by some dude high and / or drunk out of his mind.  I saw her grab the guy by the face while he was being dragged out by fans and security.  Earthless, meanwhile, were too busy detaching the roof from the Empty Bottle and rocketing into space to notice or care.  All three of them were on fire, but I must mention that this was the hardest I’ve seen drummer Mario Rubalcaba play so far.  He beat his kit like it stole his skateboard.

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That’s not a disco ball above Earthless. It’s a small moon they pulled down from the heavy gravity of their set.

Their first song, “Uluru Rock,” was 25 minutes long.  The second, “Violence of the Red Sea,” was 15.  The third, “Sonic Prayer,” was a half-hour.  They came back on for a quick encore – a blazing cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Communication Breakdown” that lasted under five minutes and left everyone stunned.  “I liked them before,” Paul said.  “I like them even more now.”

Walking back out into the low 30’s weather after getting our faces melted was jarring, but it felt great.  We’d been elevated.  I’ve always said that Earthless chose that name for their band because their music can’t be confined to this planet.  They proved that again in Chicago.

Keep your mind open.

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Fire Down Below – Viper Vixen Goddess Saint

fdb

Landing like a meteor impacting the moon, Belgium’s Fire Down Below (Kevin Gernaey – guitar, Sam Nuytens – drums, Jeroen Van Troyen – guitar and vocals, Bert Wynsberghe – bass) brings us Viper Vixen Goddess Saint – a good bit of stoner rock to get you through the coming winter.

After a short, almost bluesy instrumental intro (“El Viento del Desierto”), the band comes out chugging with “Through Dust and Smoke.” Imagine punk drumming, Wolfmother guitar licks, and prog-rock vocal stylings and you’ll get an idea of this track. They come out swinging and hit a triple.

“Roadburner” has a great heavy charge throughout it, and I love the way it breaks into a faster beat even before the first lyrics. It reminds me of a mix of Helmet and Quicksand, but with epic arena rock vocals from Van Troyen. “Universes Crumble” might refer to the eventual heat death of the galaxy, but the track is cosmic in its scope. The hand percussion throughout it is a great touch that brings a bit of a meditative aspect. The first line Van Troyen sings is “You are stars.” We are made of stars and to the stars we eventually return. A universe can crumble, but even that energy is reborn into another form. The song weaves back and forth between cosmic psych-rock and prog-metal. It’s outstanding.

“Dashboard Jesus” is quite suitable for late night pedal-to-the-metal drives along European coastlines, city highways, or dusty back roads. The guitars shred hard and Nuytens seems to have grown a third arm by the time this track comes along because it sounds like he’s hitting multiple cymbals at the same time (and the breakdown he has with Wynsberghe is sweet). After another bluesy instrumental (“Resurrection”), the album ends with the appropriately titled “The Mammoth.” It’s appropriate because it’s over eleven minutes long and is has heavy as a woolly mammoth walking across a hardwood floor. It’s an epic finish to a cosmic trip, like the aforementioned meteor smacking the moon.

I had no idea there was a stoner rock scene in Belgium, so I’m glad these guys sent me their record. You should seek them out if you enjoy stoner rock, prog-rock, or psych rock.

Keep your mind open.

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Wolf People’s new album due November 11, 2016.

WOLF PEOPLE SHARE NEW SINGLE “NIGHT WITCH”

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE

RUINS OUT NOVEMBER 11TH ON JAGJAGUWAR

Wolf People have shared the next single, “Night Witch,” from their forthcoming album, Ruins, out November 11th on Jagjaguwar. The single is accompanied by an eerie visual with direction from Marsha Balaeva and drone footage from Ivan Makarov which premieres today via CLRVYNT.

On the video, Balaeva explains, “I was born in the Soviet Union, and growing up, one of the streets in our neighbourhood was named after one of the pilots from the all-female 558th Night Bomber Regiment that operated during WWII. These women flew old biplanes under the cover of darkness and bombed the invading Germans. The planes were too slow and would have been easy targets in daylight, but at night they could cut out their engines and glide silently to their target and drop their cargo. Germans gave them the name of Nachthexen (Night Witches).”

She continues, “For this video I wanted to use stop-motion animation to depict the time when eerie shadows and flashes of light in the night brought fear into the hearts of those on the ground. The time when the setting dusk spelt the beginning of a night of terrors and vulnerability. Much of the video was filmed at night in the Lake District in the UK, but the drone footage was made in Russia, where the Night Witches flew all these years ago.”

Recorded in Devon, Isle Of Wight and London, Ruins is Wolf People’s most direct and instinctive work yet, simultaneously reaching back into a fecund past to tell us who we are today, while harnessing the power of modern technology and ideas to ponder unknown futures. Lyrically Ruins imagines how the planet might appear when society has finally fallen to dust and ash, and the creeping vines and nettles have reclaimed the land. It is the product of letting go of conceit, contrivance and, indeed, a career plan.

Influences upon Ruins come in all shapes, size, contours and hues: the discovery of proto Sabbath/Zeppelin Scottish band Iron Claw, the lesser known landscapes of rural Bedfordshire, backstage Taekwondo stretches, Scandinavian psychedelia, fleeting rural epiphanies, Dungen, Trees, Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac, a group holiday on a remote Finnish island, and Jagjaguwar flipping out after seeing them play in Bloomington, Indiana and insisting it was time they made their Back In Black…

WATCH WOLF PEOPLE’S “NIGHT WITCH” VIDEO:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmKt76_wtHs
http://www.vevo.com/watch/US38Y1627914

WATCH WOLF PEOPLE’S “NINTH NIGHT” VIDEO:
https://youtu.be/eafkYEXJKg4
https://soundcloud.com/jagjaguwar/wolf-people-ninth-night

WOLF PEOPLE TOUR DATES (new dates in bold):
Thu. Nov. 17 – Bedford, UK @ Esquires
Fri. Nov. 18 – Leeds, UK @ Headrow House
Sat. Nov. 19 – Glasgow, UK @ Sleazys
Sun. Nov. 20 – Manchester, UK @ Deaf Institute
Tue. Nov. 22 – London, UK @ Oslo
Thu. Nov. 24 – Birmingham, UK @ The Sunflower
Fri. Nov. 25 – Sheffield, UK @ Picture House Social
Sun. Nov. 27 – Bristol, UK @ Louisiana
Sat. Feb. 14 – Hamburg, DE @ Hafenklang
Sun. Feb. 15 – Leipzig, DE @ UT Connewitz
Mon. Feb. 16 – Berlin, DE @ Cassiopeia
Tue. Feb. 17 – Koln, DE @ King Georg

Ruins album art