In the Garden of Digital Delights with CHELSEA WOLFE, HUMAN TEOREMA, ISAURIAN, NEKUS, ORNAMENTAL, SKYJOGGERS, SNAKES DON'T BELONG IN ALASKA, STARFORCE, SULA BASSANA and TORI AMOS

Promos of upcoming or already released stuff, digital-only releases, gifted download cards... but I just don't have the time to do a proper in-depth review of everything. So here's a quick run through what has recently accumulated in my digital collection without a physical copy (yet)!

Let's begin with the arguably laziest release of the bunch:

So TORI AMOS has released an anniversary version of her 2014 album "Unrepentent Geraldines", which is not the lazy part. No, I just didn't feel like spending my money on that and there's also this digital EP "White Telephone To God" out there, which includes at least two of the three bonus tracks of that reissue, the EP title track and "Dixie". Nothing spectacularly new, just two beautiful voice and piano only Tori ballads. What's not to love?
The dissappointing part is that the following three songs of the EP are just one more regular "Geraldines" song and just two tracks from the 2017 album "Native Invader". As if this artist didn't have an endless archive of rare or unreleased original songs, covers or live recordings at her disposal. Still makes a neat EP if you just judge it on the music on its own, but come on!

The latest EP of the second female solo artist here makes a lot more sense. On "Undone" we get six tracks from CHELSEA WOLFE's latest album "She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She" in radically remixed versions by Electronic artists like Forest Swords and Boy Harsher, but also harsh brutalists like Full Of Hell and the Godflesh/Jesu/Techno Animal legend himself, Justin K. Broadrick.
Every single one of these versions changes the appearance of the song drastically. And while some tracks like "Whispers In the Echo Chamber" become much more abstract, others like "House of Self-Undoing" develop a whole new level of danceable hit potential. Nothing feels like aimless noodling around with the knobs and faders. This could all be original material and would have deserved a physical release. And I'm saying that as a remix sceptic.

A vinyl release with - déjà vu! - three bonus tracks is on its way for the 2018 EP "Age of Nano" from Finnish Synthwave project STARFORCE. Ok, it's probably a little early to mention this now proper album here, but guys, just make a note or pre-order this stuff now already! Because if you love that pure 80's Carpenter feeling with all the vintage original sounds served under neon lights and lasers while roller-skating on chrome wheels around a disco ball: this is for you! If you don't check this out yourself, the nanobots inside your body will make you do it. This shit delivers on the promise of its cover in the best way. The bonus tracks are ace too, especially "Paralyzed Worlds". This doesn't add anything revolutionary to the genre, but yeah, it's fun!

Another upcoming album (but you only have to wait until Friday) is the so far digital-only "The Pulsing Rush" by the Brazilians ISAURIAN.
Sinistro, Alcest, Type O Negative, Avatarium and Wang Wen are only some of many names which come to my mind when I listen to the seven tracks of this album, without the band actually carbon-copying other artists. It's an interesting Doom Metal release with much male and female vocal variety, dreamy melodies, subdued Gothic vibes here, belting bombast and grand Post Metal guitars there. Isaurian are throwing a lot of pieces on the wall and not everything sticks as good as the rest. The band could still use a little more edge and recognizable identity, but that being said "The Pulsing Rush" all in all is a very good album, which I will surely revisit from time to time.

Coming a little bit later, on November 15th, Sentient Ruin Laboratories dig deep in the foulest muds of Germany to bring us the next beautifully abhorrent strike from Blackened Doom Death squad NEKUS. If you already loved last year's "Sepulchral Divination" you can rejoice, because "Death Apophenia" continues just as undercrofty, mucid and clad in spiderwebs as its predecessor. Cavernous - and it's a very grand unholy cave -, with an infallible intuition for primitive but deadly old school riffs, Nekus excel in summoning the spirit of early Morgoth for a new crawling and raging generation of Death Metal disciples. Deliciously dark!

While we're already at it - can I please describe the next album for Death Metal fans? HUMAN TEOREMA are a band from France, whose new album "Le Premier Soleil de Jan Calet" (out on vinyl this Friday via Sulatron Records) for at least two thirds of its playing time sounds exactly like Blood Incantation's "Absolute Elsewhere"! ... Well, if you take away all Metal (but not Rock) elements from that one of course.
But seriously: This is just that kind of hypnotic Kraut Rock, which has those waves of Ambient sounds, mellotron vibrations, but also old school Prog parts melting together in a perfect swirl of colours. Of course there's also some other stuff, like their own take on guitar freakouts or the Dub influences and very fresh sounding Orientalisms in the twenty-three minute multi-part track "Spedizione". Yes, that's Blood Incantation format, haha. This might very well be one of the best (full-on) Psychedelic Rock releases of the year!

Due on November 8th is the next Sulatron record, featuring SULA BASSANA himself, for the first time on an album with his new full live band, and the wild Finnish Psych trio SKYJOGGERS. Both sides of this Split LP have been recorded live on the second day of the cozy and excellent Dazed & Spaced Festival in Hamburg's Bar 227, where I was lucky enough to be in attendance.
So of course it comes with a nice dose of "Nostalgia" to now revisit the addictive main riff of "We Will Make It" and the brand-new cosmic improvisations in "Come With Me" from Sula's show, as well as the energetic hyperdrive and heavy Space Blues in the three tracks from what happened to be Skyjoggers' hundredth live show. Yeah, I'm pretty sure now that this night must have been even better than I remembered it.

Ok, the next two albums have both been out there for a while and I had actually considered reviewing "ORNAMENTAL's "Verwandlung im Schlaf" ("Transformation During Sleep") on Veil of Sound for a while, but somehow just didn't find the time for it. Which is a pity, because that review would have included a long excursion about Germany's kraftwerkian / neubauty / Neue Deutsche Welle / Proto-Techno legend Fraktus, actually a mockumentary band (and movie) and brilliant counterpart to Spinal Tap, which you should seriously check out if you're not familiar with it yet!
Now Ornamental actually is a Heavy Psych group with a lot of danceable forward motion and tasty guitar noise, brought together in a great robo-krauty way, but also with that special late 70's / early 80's charme, which includes slogan-like German lyrics - remarkably reminiscent of said Fraktus. Which is a very good thing in this case, just to be clear. Quiet short, but an awesome entertaining record! 

And last but not least - we remain in trippy territory -  here are two extra-large improvised jams: the twenty-seven minutes long "Live Snake" and the twenty-one minutes big "War Room", both appearantly taking place on a "Dead Moon". Even though the album was recorded without an audience, this leaves no doubt why the British Psych Rockers SNAKES DON'T BELONG IN ALASKA have a reputation as a fantastic live act. Too bad there's no chance to see them any more, as they have called it quits for the foreseeable future in August. Shame, because these tunes induce some serious rapture.  

IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT - Vile Luxury (Redux 1924)

Too soon? Only six years after its original release Imperial Triumphant are revisiting their groundbreaking "Vile Luxury" album with a fresh remix / remaster and new cover artwork.

IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT - Vile Luxury (Redux 1924) (CD) (2018/2024)

I don't want to rehash my complete German review of this album (which I can still stand behind except for some minor details), but I think it's still noteworthy that my first contact with Imperial Triumphant was a Decibel article in which they chose their five all-time Jazz favorites. Not a thing Death/Black Metal bands are asked to do everyday, so I was intrigued.

The trio's number one was Miles Davis' 1967 album "Nefertiti". Only recently I added this gem to my collection during a record store shopping tour in Copenhagen on A Colossal Weekend. And listening especially to the title track it makes so much sense: A huge portion of the sound these New York Avantgarde Metal maniacs perfected on "Vile Luxury" seems to be based very specifically on this Miles period: wonky rhythmic ideas, bass, the grand yet also dark brass flourish and the strong compositions behind it... It's all there, but disguised in a mantle of obliterating Extreme Metal that even makes many self-proclaimed metalheads weep in terror and confusion.

The unique way in which these Jazz cats channeled their enormous instrumental skills into a monstruous uncompromising sound here, how they made Jazz, Progressive Black Metal, Dissonant Death and sheer chaos melt together and spiced it with trombones, trumpets and tuba, piano and distinct guest vocalist was - and still is - absolutely amazing from start to finish. "Vile Luxury" put Imperial Triumphant on the map as one of the most relevant Metal bands of the present. Which is almost odd given how much of their style's foundation actually comes from a world outside of Metal.

"Vile Luxury" live at Roadburn 2019

This album is bonkers, it's genius. And I still don't even know if it's actually my favorite Imperial Triumphant album, because everything which followed was so fantastic, too. But the memory of experiencing it live in full as the spectacular very last show in the location Het Patronaat at Roadburn Festival 2019 certainly gives it a very special place in my jazzy blue and metallic blackened heart.

But now that we have established my love for "Vile Luxury" - what's the deal with this "Redux 1924"?

I'm not a hundred percent sure to be honest. I have the origial version on vinyl and I was just looking for an item to get over the free shipping threshold while ordering other stuff. So the CD being in the right price range was kind of convenient.

The cover artwork isn't bad, but I prefer the more interesting old two-tone comic style.

Soundwise of course the different formats make a direct comparison harder. But even if I listen to the digital versions the original and remix are so close to each other that when quizzed about it I don't think I would always guess right which one I'm listening to. The remaster feels a wee bit clearer, especially in the bigger and more chaotic parts with many harmoni-cacophonic layers.

So the overall experience of the album didn't change much for me. Without sacrificing the original glorious, sick and overwhelming vibe, the musicianship shines through a little more now.
But if you're not an obsessive collector and already own the album, this re-release doesn't need to be at the top of your shopping list. On the other hand the purchase won't hurt you either. I cannot make this life decision for you. Unless you don't own "Vile Luxury" at all. In that case you must of course order this masterpiece as soon as possible!

If you're doing that via Bandcamp I'd also recommend checking out their digital EP with various cover versions they released last year. One of those five songs is a Wayne Shorter composition, known from the Miles Davis album of the same name. Yes, you know which one: "Nefertiti", obviously.

cassette craze chronicles XX - KING NADJA & THE VAMPILLIA MIDWIFE

While I still haven't figured out the right place keep my oversized Wormrot box, which I reviewed in the last edition of this series, I already got myself another multiple-album collection from the merch table at the Nadja show in Hamburg. Thankfully this one's sized a bit more reasonable. This box plus a double cassette in a butterfly case and one just normal tape makes already six tapes again, so damn, this write-up is really overdue.

NADJA + VAMPILLIA - Trilogy (3MC box) (2021)

including:

NADJA + VAMPILLIA - The Perfect World (2013)

NADJA + VAMPILLIA - Imperfection (2014)

NADJA + VAMPILLIA - Artificial Act of God (2018)

"The Perfect World" is a fitting title for the 2013 collaboration between the two prolific bands Nadja and Vampillia. The Canadian drone metal/shoegaze/industrial duo and the Japanese "brutal orchestra" melted guitar, bass and drum machine from one side and piano, strings, occasional extreme vocals and more guitars from the other side together to a ginormous wall of beautiful droning emotion. Jesu meets Subrosa? That works as a hinto into the direction, but the magnitude of this sound goes beyond any comparison of this kind. I get that the partially long lingering on rather formless ambience isn't everyone's cup of tea, but still - rightfully this record, which brings brutal slow motion riffs, cold electronic drums and breathtaking classical elements together so seemigly effortless, should be huge in doom and adjacent scenes! It's no wonder that the collaborators came together for more again.

Where "The Perfect World" finished with the twenty-four minutes large mammoth track "Icelight" its successor "Imperfection" carried the torch with two similarily huge instrumental chunks. Both "Imperfect World" and "NeuPrimitive" present the formula of the joint collective in an even bigger and more consequent way, adding more layers of bombast and brutal Sunn O))) rumbling.
With a much longer time between releases "Artificial Act of God" perfected the sound to its grandest form, added the element of partly unexpectedly grind-jazzy live drums and finished the trilogy with touches of even more avant-garde and Mono post rock. Larger than life!

Which album ultimately is the best remains an open question I don't even want to try to answer. But all three together, as compiled by Bad Moon Rising in this box, which is limited to a hundred copies, provide an experience of swansy proportions.   

MIDWIFE - Luminol (glitter MC) (2021)

A shorter and much more intimate sound embraces us on Madeline Johnston aka Midwife's mini album "Luminol". Her stripped down singer/songwriter shoegaze sounds exactly like I remember it from her mesmerizing appearance on this year's Roadburn Festival. Minimalistic and veiled by an eery haze, yet ultimately endlessly beautiful this half-way stop between doom and dream pop never fails to pull you close to the artist's soul.

KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD - Live in Brisbane `21 (Needlejuice red glitter + blue glitter 2MC) (2022)

Let's end this thing less melancholic with a sonically rather light and jammy side of the hardest working band in Australian psychedelic rock (and beyond)! Can anyone still count even their studio albums? With the material free to use as official bootlegs it gets even harder to comprehend. Well, at least this live recording in itself doesn't present any hard challenge for the listener.
Performing mostly pre-"Nonagon Infinity" material (except some songs from the last of the five 2017 albums "Gumboot Soup") King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard go unplugged in this chill live performance, so besides drums, bass and acoustic guitars it's all harmonica, flutes, piano, mellotron and saxophone here.

Fourteen tracks already sound like something, but if you consider that there are also a couple of long jams like the opener "The River" (sixteen minutes) or "The Bitter Boogie" (twelve minutes) in here, it almost seems like a no-brainer to release this gem on double-cassette. I'm not brave or stupid enough to call this my favorite Gizz release of 2022 yet, but being a live show recording it plays in another category then the five studio albums - yes, they're doing that again! - of this year anyway.
So just let me conclude this text by saying that "Live in Brisbane '21" is super enjoyable to listen to, the only live album of the band so far, which immediately rang my must buy alert after listening to just one song online. Relaxing good times galore!

 

WV Sorcerer Rituale mit OTAY:ONII, 若潭 RUÒ TÁN und SENYAWA

Wo ich hier doch gerade beim Thema Senyawa bin, ist dies ein guter Zeitpunkt, wieder einmal dem chinesisch-französischen Label WV Sorcerer Productions zu huldigen, war mein letzter Einkauf dort doch eine neue Schallplatte des indonesischen Duos. Und zwei weitere LPs warten nun auch schon länger darauf, hier kurz vorgestellt zu werden. 

SENYAWA - Rehearsal Session 2019 (smoke vinyl LP) (2022)

Mehr Understatement als dieser Albumtitel wäre wohl kaum möglich gewesen. Auch wenn er faktisch natürlich korrekt ist. Tatsächlich hören wir hier nur Vokalakrobat Rully Shabara und Experimentalinstrumentalist Wukir Suryadi, wie sie vor dem Eintritt ins Songwriting für "Alkisah" Stücke der vergangenen zehn Jahre proben. Die makellose Performance und großartige Produktion machen dies allerdings von Anfang an zu einem absolut vollwertigen Album der Folk/Noise/Drone-Geschichtenerzähler, welches sich weder vor dem aktuellen Studiowerk, noch vor "Sujud" oder der Kooperation mit Stephen O`Malley "Bima Sakti" verstecken muss. Fabelhaft!
Die transparente Scheibe mit Raucheffekt kommt in einem stilvollen Gatefold mit atmosphärischen Fotos der Probelocation, sowie (wenn man zu den ersten achtzig Käufern gehört) einer Replika der Setlist.

OTAY:ONII - NAG (gold vinyl LP) (2018/2022)

Ein weiterer Griff in die jüngere Vergangenheit ist die Wiederveröffentlichung des bisher nur 2018 auf Kassette erschienen Debüts von Elizabeth Colour Wheel-Sängerin Otay:onii, die hier wie auch auf dem grandiosen Nachfolgewerk "冥冥 Míng Míng" ebenso komplett für alle Kompositionen und Arrangements verantwortlich ist.
Ihre Mischung aus moderner Elektronik und fernöstlicher Tradition, gepaart mit aus parallelen Traumwelten herüberschwebendem Gesang zwischen Lisa Gerrard, Björk und Yoko Ono ist auch hier bereits eine überwältigend epochale Erfahrung. Was für eine gnadenlos inspirierte Solokünstlerin!
Dass die Schallplatte in Gold daherkommt, ist nur angemessen. Und auch sonst sind der Tonträger und seine Verpackung (Gatefold + Obi-Streifen) optisch wie haptisch gelungen.

若潭 RUÒ TÁN - 石 Stone (amber vinyl LP) (2017/2021)

Zu guter Letzt wenden wir uns einer Wiederveröffentlichung von Ruò Tán, seines Zeichens Labelgründer von WV Sorcerer Productions, zu. Aufgrund der anderen von ihm veröffentlichten Künstler sind seine musikalischen Interessen ja bereits bekannt, und somit is die Ausrichtung dieses Albums auch keine Überraschung. Der spirituelle Bruder von Guillaume Cazalet präsentiert mit "Blood", "Mist", "Moon" und "Soil" vier Tracks, die alle genauso sehr Musik wie schamanistische Beschwörung sind. Sprechende Trommeln, singende Flöten, alles durchdringende Glocken, brummendes und kratzendes Dröhnen und urige Kehlkopflaute finden zu einer minimalistischen und doch verdammt mächtigen Geistreinigung zusammen, die für alle Fans von Senyawa, Mong Tong, Dolpo, Czlt, Otay:onii... naja, im Grunde von drei Vierteln aller Künstler im Katalog von WV Sorcerer, höchst ansprechend sein sollte. Experimentell, speziell und doch voller universell verständlicher Ursprünglichkeit.
Als Beigabe zum farbigen Vinyl im Gatefoldcover gibt es neben dem Obi wieder einmal drei hochwertig matt gedruckte Fotos.

Ja, ganz davon abgesehen, dass alle drei hier vorgestellten Platten inhaltlich brilliant sind, machen physische Tonträger, in deren Gestaltung so viel Liebe steckt, einfach eine Freude, die sich mit streambaren Datenklümpchen nicht reproduzieren lässt.

BANDCAMP DAY November 2021 mit CLARA ENGEL, GONÇALO ALMEIDA / YEDO GIBSON / VASCO FURTADO, NADJA und SWITCHBACK

Warum habe ich diese Rubrik eigentlich nicht Bandcamp Friday Haul o.ä. genannt? Denn eigentlich ist es ja meistens nur das erste, noch gar nicht allzu sehr mit der Musik vertraute erste Überfliegen der virtuellen Einkaufstüte. Kuck mal, was ich mir gekauft habe!

Heute fasse ich mich mit Details auch wieder kurz, weil ich in drei meiner vier Einkäufe erst so richtig eintauchen möchte, sobald die CDs bei mir eingetroffen sind.

Zum einen wäre da "Thaumagenesis" aus der unüberschaubaren Diskographie der experimentellen Doom/Drone-Experimentalisten Nadja, ein einstündiges Single-Track-Album aus dem Jahr 2007. Solch ein Brocken atmosphärischen Gewummers, Gedröhns und Geknarzes von Aidan Baker und Leah Buckareff - da ist das Siegel für allerhöchste Qualität eigentlich schon in die Bassfrequenzen gestanzt!



Bassist Conçalo Almeida kenne ich vor allem durch seine heavy Avantgarde-Mathcore/Jazz/Metal-Band Albatre. Auf "Multiverse" einem gemeinsamen Album mit Sopransaxophonist Yedo Gibson und Schlagzeuger Vasco Furtado aus dem Jahr 2018, nimmt der Portugiese allerdings nicht den E-, sondern den Kontrabass zur Hand und huldigt ganz offen und unüberhörbar dem Giganten John Coltrane, spezifischer dem späteren, komplett ungezügelten, spirituellen Freejazzer. Gibsons Saxophonspiel verschiebt oft ganz im Sinne des Meisters die Grenzen des mit dem Instrument physikalisch Machbaren bis in alleräußerste Winkel, während der Bass diesem brillianten Tribut z.B. gleich im tief brummend unterlegten Opener "Chanty" eine zusätzliche sehr moderne Note einhaucht.

Eigentlich hatte ich vom selben polnischen Label Multikulti Project schon seit Monaten auch noch ein weiteres, eine ecke kaputter orientiertes Album Almeidas auf die Bandcamp-Wunschliste gesetzt, mich dann aber spontan doch für eine 2016 veröffentlichte Aufnahme "Live In Ukraine" des amerikanisch/polnisch/deutschen Quartetts Switchback entschieden. Einfach weil mir nach einer meisterhaft dynamischen, alle Stimmungen der klassischen Free-Jazz-Tradition auslotenden Killershow war. Großartiges Zeug!



Und zu guter Letzt habe ich mir noch eine gerade Ende Oktober erschienene, eine rein digitale Do-It-Yourself-EP gegönnt. In den "Cicada Sessions" spielt Clara Engel vier Songs (drei davon vom letzten Album "Dressed In Borrowed Light") in noch reduzierteren Interpretationen, bei offenem Fenster mit Nebengeräuschen; deswegen auch der Titel. Wie schon auf "Dressed", so musikalisch entkleidet vielleicht sogar noch mehr, transportiert die Musik der kanadischen Modern Folk-Singer/Songwriterin vor allem reine, transzendente Schönheit. Zum Genießen!

 

Resterampe 2020 (mit BLUES PILLS, JESU und MIZMOR)

Ok, die Überschrift klingt jetzt ein wenig despektierlich. Ist aber gar nicht so gemeint. Hier frühstücke ich einfach noch ein paar Musikveröffentlichungen des letzten Jahres ab, die erst kürzlich in meine Sammlung eingegangen sind.

Den Anfang macht ein Bündel aus vier Wiederveröffentlichungen des Black/Sludge/Funeral Doom- Metal-Projekts Mizmor:

MIZMOR - Mizmor (Tape) (2012/2020)

MIZMOR - Mishlei (Tape) (2018/2020)

MIZMOR - Yodh (Tape) (2016/2020)

MIZMOR - Cairn (Tape) (2019/2020)

Das überwiegend auf Kassetten spezialisierte Label Tartarus Records hat letztes Jahr alle drei Studioalben von Mizmor in luxuriös anzuschauenden Versionen im schwarzen Karton inklusive Booklet mit Texten und Artwork neu herausgebracht. Dazu kommt die erstmals 2018 erschienene Compilation "Mishlei", welche alle Tracks der Split-Releases zwischen Debüt und "Yodh" vereint und faktisch auch ein vollwertiges Album darstellt.

Alle vier zusammen gibt es mit Rabatt und inklusive Logo-Patch als Set. Und weil mein bisher einziger Mizmor-Tonträger die "Yodh: Live at Roadburn 2018"-CD gewesen ist, war der Versuchung, hier zuzuschlagen, einfach unmöglich zu widerstehen. Zum Glück!

Denn diese räudig mächtig epochale, musikalisch so bösartige, aber inhaltlich durchaus sehr ernsthaft durchdachte Diskographie, hat einfach keinen Schwachpunkt. "Cairn" ist ganz klar das krönende Meisterwerk, doch alles davor zeigt schon sehr deutlich den Weg dahin.

Wer sich in Black Metal getunkte Yob, Conan und Bell Witch vorstellen mag, auf Longtracks und auf extreme Vocals mit Wiedererkennungswert steht (diese aus einem hohlen Baumstamm zu kriechen scheinenden Growls klingen, wie das ikonenhafte Cover von "Yodh" aussieht), der bekommt mit Mizmor eine wunschlos beglückende Vollbedienung.

Und dieses Tape-Quartett ist natürlich ein Juwel in meiner jungen Sammlung.

JESU - Never (blue in white vinyl 12" EP) (2020)

Neulich im Review des neuesten Jesu-Albums "Terminus" hatte ich ja noch zu Protokoll gegeben, die vorangegangene Comeback-EP des Justin-Broadrick-Projekt ausgelassen zu haben, da es mir zu effektüberladen experimentell war und ich mich einfach noch nicht hineinhören konnte.

Inzwischen habe ich mich dann doch mal getraut, das immer noch in Farbvarianten erhältliche Vinyl zu bestellen. Anders als die als Beikauf mitgenommene Final-CD "Reading All The Right Symbols Wrong" von 2009, die mich auf Anhieb abholte, bleibe ich auch dabei, dass es sich bei "Never" zumindest für mich um das vielleicht bislang schwierigste Werk Broadricks (in meiner Sammlung; ich bin weit davon entfernt, Komplettist zu sein) handelt. Das Ding musste ich mir schon relativ mühsam erarbeiten.

Nicht, dass es sich hier um besonders komplizierte Musik handelt. Allerdings wurde die an sich auch emotional sehr direkte und eingängige Basis der vier Stücke dermaßen durch den Pixelschieberfleischwolf gedreht, dass der Mix aus Shoegaze und Elektro schon einen sehr fragmentarischen und künstlich distanzierten Eindruck macht.

Jetzt, da der Knoten geplatzt ist, kann ich den surreal träumerischen Charakter von "Never" auch voll genießen. Für Newbies, die nicht eh schon Fans sind, halte ich die EP allerdings für sehr herausfordernd. Da erschließt sich das stilistisch deutlich geerdetere Full-Length-Album mit Sicherheit trotz des langsameren Durchschnittstempos schneller.

BLUES PILLS - Holy Moly! (2CD Digibook) (2020)

Zum Abschluss nun noch ganz andere Töne. Die Gemeinsamkeit zu Jesu ist, dass ich auch hier zunächst skeptisch war und lange mit dem Kauf (bzw. dem Hinzufügen auf meine Geburtstagswunschliste) zögerte.

Blues Pills ohne die naturtalentiere Wundergitarre von Dorian Sorriaux? Fehlt da nicht eines der wichtigsten Markenzeichen?
Dazu kommt die Neigung der Band, sich als erste Single gerne Stücke auszusuchen, die sehr formelhaft und on the nose sind und mich für sich erst einmal nicht allzu mächtig umhauen.

Letztendlich waren hier aber alle Sorgen müßig.

Der seit jeher für die zeitgeistige Authentizität verantwortliche Musiknerd und Hauptsongwriter Zack Anderson wechselt vom Viersaiter auf die Gitarre, was natürlich - in gar nicht so dramatischen Ausmaß - nicht mehr ganz so filigran und brilliant daherkommt, allerdings u.a. durch mehr direkten Dampf ausgeglichen wird. Sehr schnell wird klar, dass "Holy Moly!" das bisher am stärksten rockende Album der Band geworden ist.

Die von mir so hochgeschätzten Motown/Soul/Gospel-Elemente von "Lady In Gold" sind allerdings nicht verloren, sondern blitzen hier und da weiterhin hervor. Und wie!
Elin Larsson wird ja gewohnheitsmäßig von Album zu Album (und wenn live gespielt werden darf auf den Touren dazwischen) immer besser, und das gilt hier besonders für die hohen Soul-Schreie wie in "California", einem der Songs, die aus dem vorherrschenden Powertrio-Uptempo ausbrechen.
Zu jenen gehören auch das dunkle "Dust", das bittersüße "Wish I'd Known", der mit Piano und Streichern zu unerwarteter Größe wachsende "Song From A Morning Dove" und die abschließende Bluesballade "Longest Lasting Friend".

Moment! Habe ich da etwa tatsächlich "Trio" geschrieben? 

Technisch ist das für "Holy Moly!" korrekt, denn Neu-Bassist Kristoffer Schander posiert bisher nur auf Bandfotos und in Videos. Bis auf die überschaubaren, aber stets umso wirkungsvolleren Gastmusikereinsätze hören wir hier also tatsächlich das Trio LarssonAndersonKvarnström.

Vermutlich war es für die Band auch wichtig, im kleinen Kreis an diesem Ding zu werkeln. Das Resultat zeigt auf jeden Fall eine eng zusammengeschweißte und gewachsene Gruppe. Das Wunderkinder-Image früherer Tage ist komplett abgestreift und weiterer Souveränität und Songwritingqualität gewichen.

Ein großartiges Album. Vielleicht sogar das beste der Blues Pills. Allerdings  müsste man die Songs wohl live erleben, um diesen Eindruck zu verifizieren.

Eine deutliche Steigerung zur Debüt-EP "Bliss" von 2012 ist "Holy Moly!" ohne Frage. Komische Aussage, ich weiß. Darauf komme ich auch nur, weil eben jenes vergriffene Teil der Digibook-CD-Version des Albums als Bonus beiliegt.

Angesichts der vielen Neuaufnahmen und Liveversionen der hier vertretenen Hits "Bliss", "Astral Plane", "Devil Man" und "Little Sun" halte ich das Ding nicht zwingend für den allerheiligsten Gral, aber es ist halt wie es ist: Auch wenn man ein Blues Pills-Song schon neunundneunzig mal gehört hat, ist er halt beim hundertsten Durchlauf noch super.

Ok, "Devil Man" war mir in der Vergangenheit durchaus schon mal über, haha.

just a bunch of 2018 vinyl (re)releases (from DAVE BRUBECK, STAN GETZ & CHARLIE BYRD, THE END, KANAAN, KHEMMIS and LOUISE LEMÓN)

As you may or may not already know, I commonly only review music which I have obtained and which has been released during the same year as the review. Otherwise it would just be too much. Of course I make some exceptions for stuff I really want to say something about. And I decide from case to case whether I do write-ups about re-releases or represses.

That being said here are a couple of recommendations for albums from last year which I only bought maximally a couple of weeks ago. And yes, other than being released (or re-released) in 2018 that's the only thing all records in this seemingly random set have in common.

THE DAVE BRUBECK QUARTET - Time Out (orange vinyl) (1959/2018)

Ok, I've had this one on CD for years, but I wanted to hear it on vinyl too and liked the orange. Probably my first coloured jazz record. If you prefer black, just choose among the bazillion other pressings which are out there!

This Waxtime In Color pressing has a strange unexplained bonus track ("Audrey") from five years earlier. The band had different members on bass and drums and there's no connenction to the album concept. But somehow the mood fits and the saxophone on this track is especially beautiful.

Needless to say much about "Time Out", since it's not only one of the most important albums in the history of jazz, but in modern recorded music in general, since like the crucial works of Miles Davis it probably had repercussions on as good as everything which followed after.

Remember the time when jazz was the undisputed popular music, but it was stuck in 4/4 beats (and the occasional waltz) for decades? That was before Dave Brubeck (piano) and Paul Desmond (sax) dedicated this whole album to odd time signatures, which are now pretty commonplace in many genres.

In fact the 5/4 Desmond composition "Take Five" became on of the most famous jazz tunes of all time and it still sounds fresh. Listen to the arrangement of "Blue Rondo à la Turk", where the quartet borrowed from Turkish folk music, and you'll finde structures which sound very much like what prog rock or metal groups would create years later.

Essential as fuck.

STAN GETZ & CHARLIE BYRD - Jazz Samba (transparent yellow vinyl) (1962/2018)

Play this to my early 1990's self and he would probably say nah, thanks. That was of course the time when I really got into death metal and shit. And so my personal gateway to jazz - albeit with a very long pause until I actively followed the interest further - had been a small selection of extreme advantgarde stuff and some jazz rock / fusion albums a couple of years later.

This classic by saxophonist Stan Getz and nylon string acoustic guitar player Charlie Byrd  however is a rather easy listening which doesn't really translate in any way to teenage angst. And of course it's also way too commercial, haha. Even if you neglect jazz as a whole, you will probably have heard everything on here somewhere in some context. Especially the opener "Desafinado", which has been interpreted in countless instrumental and vocal forms is a parade example for a household tune.

The album title "Jazz Samba" is pretty self-explanatory, because that's exactly what you get. It was the first Bossa Nova album by North American jazz musicians, with each song based on a traditional Samba, on top of which the soloists play their improvisations.
It's an astonishingly great sounding album (recorded in just one day in a church) on its own, but it also has a huge significance as the primordial cell for all forms of latin fusion.

The performance with a double rhythm section (two drummers and two bass players) to achieve the right Brazilian swing has also been seen many times since then. Just think of Santana, whose body of work seems unlikely without this early predecessor.

Like "Time Out" this transparant Waxtime In Color pressing of "Jazz Samba" also comes with a bonus track, which makes more sense in this case, since it is a big band version of the album track "Samba De Uma Nota Só".

THE END - Svärmod Och Vemod Är Värdesinnen (LP) (2018)

Fast forward more than five decades of musical evolution and what the holy fuck what has happened?

Well, tons of fusion, experimentalism, advantgarde. And also the whole history of rock music so far, including nifty subgenres like noise rock or grindcore.

The debut album of Swedish saxophonist Mats Gustafsson's band The End seems to pick from all the all the sickest, most experimental forms of either jazz and rock music and melts them into a surprisingly consistent whole. Ninety-nine percent of listeners would probably call this "not music anymore", but who cares, this is not meant for everyone. My before mentioned early 90' self would have loved this, and I love it too, just as I did, when this amazing ensemble played at Roadburn Festival this year.

There's no way I can even get close to thoroughly descibing all the chaotic stylistic twists and turns the two saxes, guitar and drums go through on this albums. It's mind-melting, brutal, amazing musicianship on all levels. Let's just leave it at that.

But as if the instrumental insanity wouldn't be enough, there is singer Sofia Jernberg, who comes across like a mixture of Diamanda Galas, Mike Patton and Youn Sun Nah. From soft soothing traditional vocal jazz over operatic voices to weird overtone singing and all kinds of mad screams, screeches and noises, her performance is a tour de force you can only believe when you hear it.

Her endless jazz rant about the state of the world in "Don't Wait!" alone is worth owning this album. This passage makes we wish that Kendrick Lamar would record a full-blown experimental jazz album and invite her as a guest.

Fuck yeah, this record is absolutely bonkers in all the best ways. Had I bought this last year, it would certainly have made it onto my 2018 album top list.

KANAAN - Windborne (transparent blue vinyl) (2018/2019)

Too much challenging whatthefuckery? Ok, let's dial the crazy back a little bit - but not too much.

My new favorite El Paraiso Records band (which admittedly is a very fluctuate title given the label's quality roster) Kanaan is strongly inspired by the early days of jazz rock while also featuring elements of kraut rock, power trio hardrock and seriously heavy doom.

More than anything else "Windborne" clearly is a rock album, yet there are only few moments on its five instrumental tracks without at least some kind of jazzy sensibility shining through, and be it only the almost constantly wild drumming of Ingvald Andre Vassbø, who drives the music forward with a billy cobhamish energy, which perfectly compliments the sometimes quite john mclaughliny lead guitars.

Following that observation the easiest formula to pin down Kanaan is to say that they are a crossing of Mahavishnu Orchestra and the Danish psych trio Papir. That doesn't give a complete picture, but it aptly describes chops, energy and feeling inherent in this young band.

As a bonus to the awesome music El Paraiso design guru Jakob Skøtt has once again outdone himself with the cover artwork.

Sadly the postage from Denmark is ridiculous, so if you see this somewhere for a good price - don't hesitate! And of course catch Kanaan live if you get the chance. I just recently saw them on the very first date of their first European tour and it was a spectacular blast!

KHEMMIS - Desolation (LP) (2018)

In case you are really not into jazz at all: Congratulations that you've made it this far! As a reward you surely deserve some pure metal. I hereby swear that Khemmis' "Desolation" is a hundred percent jazz-free. Promised!

It's strange that I could do without this album for such a long time. But with so much good stuff being released all the time it comes easy to dismiss a new album - even if you loved the previous works of the band - for rather minor reasons.

I guess in this case it was the choice of the first single and its video which rubbed me the wrong way. Or was it that Nuclear Blast Records isn't my most favorite record label these days?
It surely has something to do with the once-in-a-lifetime-experience that was the Waste Of Space Orchestra show at Roadburn last year. Because after that - even though they were not bad at all - the straight-forward melodic doom of Khemmis just fell a little flat.

Now that I finally gave "Desolation" the listens it deserves I must admit that the third album of the US band has absolutely no reason to hide from their previous efforts "Absolution" and "Hunted".
It starts with Sam Turner's unmistakable fantasy artwork, which features the same characters at another stage of their story. All three album artworks together really work like covers of an ongoing comic series. At this point you really wouldn't even need the band logo on the cover of the next record to recognize them.

The general musical direction hasn't changed either, but their mixture of heavily distorted doom with  Thin Lizzy hard rock / Iron Maiden metal twin lead guitars and occasional shredding has become so dense that it ultimately transcends subgenres. Khemmis are just really damn good fucking metal band. With sad themes, very charismatic and never overdone melodic lead vocals, and some harsh black and death metal screams here and there, that is.

But first and foremost the six songs on "Desolation" are just rippers!

Not sure if I would place this album above "Hunted", but without a doubt it's great and among the best metal records of 2018.

LOUISE LEMÓN - Purge (LP box) (2018)

So much for metal. But no, not back to jazz, so please bear with me! We're keeping it quite doomy and gloomy as we finish this with death gospel, as Louise Lemón self-describes  her music.

Released just one year before her current masterpiece "A Broken Heart Is An Open Heart" her first album "Purge" has a lot in common with it. Starting with the slightly excessive packaging in a box, even though there's no other content than the LP and a photo/lyric sheet. But at least it is graced with an interesting cover artwork.

But also the dark soulful songs - somewhere between Chelsea Wolfe, the darkest Lana Del Rey tunes and even some Florence And The Machine upbeat ("Let Me In") - are almost equally as strong as on the successor. The choruses are not all as compelling yet, but then music isn't all about the chorus, right?

"Purge" presents at times maybe a bit formulaic, but always supremely beautiful dark music with a singer who reaches right into the listener's heart.

Just like on "A Broken Heart" the production was helmed by Randall Dunn, certified expert for everything droning, so that a super rich low end is guaranteed.

With this album and the next Louise Lemón has accumulated an astonishing amount of hits within a short span of time. Rightfully this material should make her a star. So us friends of small clubs and overseeable stages - let's be glad she is not.

Yet.

BONG - Live At Roadburn 2010 - 2012 - 2014

This release has been out for a while now. But even though I wanted to have it since the first time I heard about it, its (fair, yet still hefty) price plus shipping always made me prioritize other things.

Finally in the Roadburn merch hall I couldn't resist any longer. And oh you Wizards of Krull, do I not regret it!

BONG - Live At Roadburn 2010 - 2012 - 2014 (3LP + 3CD box) (2018)

Bong, meditative doom high priests from the United Kingdom of Drone, have played live at Roadburn three times between 2010 and 2014.

I had the pleasure of witnessing at least the last show (it was my personal second Roadburn) and I  still hold it dear as a very formative experience in the development of my musical preferences during my Roadbeginner years.

The 2010 show had already been put out before - with a different cover including the old band logo -, so one third of this new release isn't totally fresh. But first: it has been remastered. And second: Come on, what a lame reason would that be to forgo this box?

The box contains all three shows on CD in simple cardboard packaging and on vinyl, each one in its own cover with protective inner and outer sleeve. Each cover artwork is derived from the studio album which was performed in full in that particular night, being the self-titled "Bong", "Mana-Yood-Sushai" and "Stoner Rock".
(Admittedly it was helpful for my buying decision that even though I own several Bong albums on vinyl, these three are the ones I only had on compact disc.)

Bong live at Roadburn 2014

It looks glorious and it sounds even better. With three of the in total only seven tracks hitting and even going beyond the thirty minute mark, it's a small wonder that one record per show was enough. But don't expect to hear long applause after those tracks. They fade as soon as it's possible.
And as I said: The pressing not only almost defies physics, it also sounds really rich and deep and good!

I had a working day in the field this week where I had to drive a couple hundred of kilometers, so I just listened to this whole three hour affair in one go. It didn't bore me for one moment.

Just as each Bong song is about slow, almost unnoticed progressions, until you are in the middle of a boosting supernatural storm without any idea how the fuck you got there, since time seemed to be standing still forever just a heartbeat ago, just as that these three shows build upon each other: While the mightily droning undertone and the mystical sitar-like wailing of the shaahi baaja never cease, each show gets more monolithic by not only introducing one more additional guitar player, but also by the growing skill of writing and arranging these mammoth compositions.

This whole thing is a giant cosmic flow, always getting closer and closer to the event horizon. Among the whole amazing discography of Bong this might very well be their holy grail. My small mortal self by all means will worship the shit out of it!

Essential doom drone perfection.


"Live At Roadburn 2010 - 2012 -2012" is also available as a CD box or digitally on the bandcamp site of Roadburn Records.

SULPHUR AEON - The Scythe Of Cosmic Chaos

Fuck, yeah! Sulphur Aeon!

Mit einem anderen Veröffentlichungstermin hätte es das neue Album der deutschen Deathmetaller sicherlich an die Spitze von mehr Polls und Best-of-2018-Listen geschafft. Doch dafür, dass es erst ein paar Tage vor Weihnachten erschienen ist, ist es in jenen doch schon erstaunlich präsent. Und das aus gutem bösen Grund.

SULPHUR AEON - The Scythe Of Cosmic Chaos (dark green smoke vinyl 2LP) (2018)

Ich mache es mal kurz: Alles, was Sulphur Aeon zuletzt 2015 auf "Gateway To The Antisphere" richtig gemacht haben, trifft so oder zumindest sehr ähnlich auch auf "The Scythe Of Cosmic Choas" zu.

Ein komplett auf H.P. Lovecrafts mythischer Alptraumwelt aufgebautes, brutales, über so ziemlich jeden musikalischen Zweifel erhabenes Death-Metal-Meisterwerk auf drei LP-Seiten (vierte Seite mit Etching), in bester Ván Records-Tradition edel verpackt, inklusive großzügigem, stimmungsvoll illustrierten Zwölf-Zoll-Textbooklet. Das Ganze kredenzt mit einem epischen Coverartwork. Jenes ist ist zwar diesmal eine Stufe unepochaler (mehr ginge ja auch kaum) als zuletzt und auch kein aufklappbares Panorama, aber dafür gibt es halt noch ein zweites, mit der Front beinahe ebenbürtiges Bild im Inneren des Gatefolds.

Für die noch luxuriösere Edition kam ich zu spät, doch auch mit dieser Standardvariante, welche auch schon dunkelgrünes Vinyl beinhaltet, bin ich durchaus schon sehr glücklich.

Das Gesamtbild des Albums könnte nicht stimmiger sein. Die Texte rund um die Großen Alten und ihre Weltuntergangskultisten harmoniert einfach perfekt mit dem im schwarzen Herzen oldschooligen, sich in der Ausführung jedoch neuen Einflüssen gegenüber nicht verschließenden Death-Metal-Inferno voller gewaltiger Riffs, rübenabschraubender Blasts, kranker und erhabener Leadgitarren.

Es gibt kleine Neuerungen im Sound. So kommt neben den dominierenden Grunts und gelegentlichen Spoken words auch ab und zu cleaner, beschwörender Doom-Metal-Gesang zum Einsatz.
Und während der zweiten Albumhälfte, in der das ohnehin schon schwindelerregende Niveau der Platte mit Overkrachern wie "Sinister Sea Sabbath" oder dem Finale "Though Shall Not Speak His Name" auf eine noch gewaltigere, bombastischere Ebene gehievt wird, sind auch in den Gitarrenriffs mehr Doom-Anleihen und in den Leads Einflüsse aus postrockenden Sphären zu spüren.

Die Einbettung dieser Elemente ist allerdings so natürlich, dass sie auch einem fundamentalistischen Death-Metal-Puristen kaum aufstoßen dürften. Keine Sorge, das hier ist konzeptionell, ästhetisch, musikalisch Death pur der Extraklasse, wie ich ihn in dieser mystischen, Chaos beschwörenden, Höllentore öffnenden Intensität aktuell vielleicht nur von Grave Miasma ähnlich überzeugend finde.

Fuck, yeah! Sulphur Aeon!