Hexagon Sun Collective, Mud Season, Deeply Fried Schnitzel

another pretty nice cover, don't you think?

Sloath by Sloath

Riot Season records, 2010 

Doom usually is a straining listen. The point is to go on and on, in a Terry Riley on downtuned fuzz sort of way. As many other genres with a philosophy, you see how many ways this could go wrong. To make someone actually listen to same riff, usually a thick groove-laden sludgy slab of fuzz guitar,  played over and over again at often excessive volumes, the compositions need to be clever in their minimalism and smart in their choice of sparse ornamentations.

Earth did it by getting the meanest riffs out there, and assembling them in a way that made sense, that willfully made you want to listen to the same 3 (ok, maybe 5, tops) riffs for the 32 minutes that Extra-Capsular Extraction went. When that weird anvil-being-hit sound came, followed by the longest note in rock history, creepy vocals & weird noise, well that was just the black cherry on top of the dark chocolate cake of doom.

Today, Sloath does it by mixing early style Earth riffing (maybe a tad dirtier) with a gloomy version of Hendrix feedback and vocals reminiscent of the ones mentioned above (i.e. echoed yells from far away, think flute from Hawkwind's Space Ritual era). This record should satisfy your most primary needs for monolithic 4/4 riffs played at 40 bpms, and in style.

"Black Hole", "Cane", and "Please Maintain" are the names of the 3 divisions in this creamy guitar and cymbal crash 44 minutes epic. Divisions are superfluous though, as Sloath manages to make these 3 tracks feel like just one very well orchestrated song, with interludes of feedback and the physical necessity of flipping the record. After the first half, the opening of B-side behemoth "Please Maintain" sounds surprisingly mellow. Rest assured, it's not a reassuring or nice instrumental in an Explosions In The Sky sort of way. The occasionally discordant guitar work maintains the unsettling atmosphere, which (by lack of accurate verbal description) is perfectly encapsulated in the cover of Black Sabbath's first LP:

You're thinking: "what is this?.. What's going to happen?.. Why are all the colors weird?.. And who is that person?.. " after 7 minutes, it's obvious you won't escape the sludge, and by the 10 minutes mark, the only thing you want is the sludge. An apocalypse made of over-the-top guitars. Which they give you.

I'm not sure you can call what happens at this point a solo, but a guitar adds a high pitched echoed maelstrom of notes to the general chaos. Reminiscent once again of a Hendrix or a Manuel Gottsching, but on horse tranquilizers.

I'm also not going to write what happens in the last ten minutes, you should discover it yourself. Let me just tell you how you feel after it ends: incredibly calm. If you weren't lying down while listening, you will probably want to, just for a second, and listen to the surrounding noise. It should be at a much more common volume. Birds chirping away. People talking. Maybe take a deep breath...

So what's the fuss with new age records? If there's one way to do yoga with music, it's probably with a doom record. Until better comes along, it'll be Sloath's self-titled for me, please.

Myspace

Riot Season (cool people)

Angry Chairs post about Sloath by Tim

I thought I'd add a little disclaimer about how all the record reviews signed JNCT are written: late at night, with said record on repeat. If I feel like I don't know the record well enough, I review another one.

JNCT

...

and thanks to Sandra for the title inspiration

Oh Epic Fuzziness, Oh Summer - Take it to Eleven!

Since I'm the person who started this blog (and probably one of 5 people who read it), I can pretty much do whatever the hell I want on it as long as its not too illegal. For the moment, that still includes making playlist for things I'll probably never do. Here, I'll go for the much fantasized but probably never happening Drive in the Desert. might as well be prepared, right?

Plus, it's somehow related to summer. Because it's really hot here, but you probably guessed that.

this is the view from my window. No seriously.

Eleven songs about love and girlfriends and flowers. Just kidding. Turn it up! (all the way to erm... 11)

Drive in the Desert - Summer Bash: For The Love of Fuzz

1. Mammoth Mammoth - Slacker (Mammoth Mammoth EP)

this song is pure Australian asskicking. I have no idea what the guy's singing, but it sounds awesome. Plus the cover art is glorious. Find it!

2. Kyuss - Green Machine (Blues For The Red Sun LP)
Classic desert rock. Green Machine is probably a metaphor, or not.
3. Fu Manchu - Cyclone Launch (In Search Of Space LP)
More Fuzz, more cheesy covers - I'm in.
4. Nebula - Clearlight (To The Center EP)
What I listen to when I need to clear my brain - or, how to be a stoner yet make dense, richly hallucinated work.
5. Karma To Burn - Forty-six (Appalachian Incantation LP)
Wear earplugs when you go see them. They're from West Virginia, apparently that's a good reason to get fucked out of your mind and be pissed
6. Karp - Bacon Industry (Self Titled LP)
Something about Bacon and turning you on. Don't ask, enjoy.
7. Queens Of The Stone Age - You Think I Ain't Worth A Dollar But I Feel Like A Millionaire (Songs For The Death LP)
No comment.
8. Rage Against The Machine - Down Rodeo (Evil Empire LP)
"Can't waste the day when the night brings a hearse!" what?
9. Black Sabbath - Into The Void (Masters Of Reality LP)
Off "Masters Of Reality", Sabbath writing the gloom version of Hawkwind's space epics.
10. Electric Wizard - Witchcult Today (Witchcult Today LP)
English Doomsters pick up where Sabbath left to see what you could do with synths, a.k.a. the end
11. High On Fire - 10,000 Years (The Art Of Self-Defense LP)
"Heavy... it's about being a warlord on the battlefield... Like if some dude chopped some guy's head with an axe, and you have a riff that plays the same way that way... that's Heavy." (Matt Pike, Such Hawks Such Hounds - more or less direct quote).

Hope you'll enjoy!

And Remember to drink lots of fluids. Seriously.

JNCT


...

overkill

Making compilations is like a virus. You get the hang of it, do a bunch, get over it, but know very well it might hit you again in a near future, and that time it might be much harder to get through.

This three part Heavy Psychedelics compilation was made about a month ago. Were I to make it again now, I'd probably change a few things, but the stuff here is still all good, and as usual is meant to be listened to sequentially. Except this time, you should probably do it after a day or two without sleep or something like that.
But I digress.

I've been listening to so-called psychedelic music for about 6 years. As any vague subgenre of contemporary music, psychedelic music is incredibly varied and that's part of what makes it interesting, or annoying, depending on your mood and personnality. Heavy music is of the same vein, crossing genres, imprecise, and wonderful (to me).

This is my summary of the intersection of those two genres. In no way meant to be a complete overview of this pretty specific area of music, this combination of classics and personal favorites aims to be interesting to both the open-minded newcomer and the veteran headwobbler.

More mixes to come, so visit often! Up on the list are a German Rock, Japanese Rock and Electronic Mixes. Would you dare leave in a comment which one you think I should do first (assuming anyone is interested, which is mildly unlikely)?

An Elephant Space Snowstorm Heavy Psychedelics Music Mix: The Trilogy 

Part I, The Early Years (1968 - 1979): 

1. Cherry Red - The Groundhogs (Split, 1971)
2. Let There Be Rock - AC/DC (Let There Be Rock, 1977)
3. Voodoo Child - The Jimi Hendrix Experience (Electric Ladyland, 1968)
4. Kingdom Come - Sir Lord Baltimore (Kingdom Come, 1971)
5. Sunrise (Come My Way) - Buffalo (Volcanic Rock, 1973)
6. Run And Hide - Speed, Glue & Shinki (Speed, Glue & Shinki - Tiger Album #1, 1972)
7. Archangel Thunderbird - Amon Düül II (Yeti, 1970)
8. Summertime Blues - Blue Cheer (Vincebus Eruptum, 1968)
9. Forever My Queen - Pentagram (First Daze Here, 1973)
10. Symptom Of The Universe - Black Sabbath (Sabotage, 1975)
11. I Need Somebody - The Stooges (Raw Power, 1973)
12. Limb From Limb - Motörhead (Overkill, 1979)
13. When The Levee Breaks - Led Zeppelin (Led Zeppelin IV, 1971)
14. Raging River Of Fear - Captain Beyond (Captain Beyond, 1972)
15. Stone In - Guru Guru (UFO, 1970)
16. The Night Collectors - Les Rallizes Denudés (Heavier Than A Death In The Family, 1977)
17. Orgone Accumulator - Hawkwind (Space Ritual, 1973)
18. Helter Skelter - The Beatles (White Album, 1968)

Part II,  90's Revival (1992 - 1999):

1. To The Center - Nebula (To The Center, 1999)
2. Yeah - Kyuss (Blues For The Red Sun, 1992)
3. Shit Kicker - The Atomic Bitchwax (The Atomic Bitchwax, 1999)
4. The Falcon Has Landed - Fu Manchu (In Search Of..., 1996)
5. Dragonaut - Sleep (Sleep's Holy Mountain, 1993)
6. Stone Magnet - Electric Wizard (Electric Wizard, 1995)
7. Motherslug (The Mother Of All Slugs) - Acrimony (Tumuli Shumaroom, 1997)
8. Mantra - Datura (Visions For The Celestial, 1999)
9. Most Things Haven't Worked Out - Junior Kimbrough (You Better Run - The Essential Junior Kimbrough, 1997)
10. Down Rodeo - Rage Against The Machine (Evil Empire, 1996)
11. Thirty Two - Karma To Burn (Wild Wonderful Purgatory, 1999)
12. Tallahassee - Earth (Pentastar: In The Style Of The Demon, 1996)

Part III,  Contemporary Heavy Psychedelics (2000 - 2010):

1. Cities On Flame With Rock & Roll - Church Of Misery (Masters Of Brutality, 2001)
2. Icy Row - Naam (Naam, 2009)
3. Trick Or Steal - Eternal Elysium (Spiritualized D, 2001)
4. Silent - Colour Haze (All, 2008)
5. Dyna Soar - Boris (Heavy Rocks, 2002)
6. Born To Be Wild - Slayer (The Noblest Blood: B Sides & Rarities, 2002)
7. Winds With Hands - Pelican (City Of Echoes, 2007)
8. Snakes For The Divine - High On Fire (Snakes For The Divine, 2010)
9. The Last Word - Torche (Torche, 2005)
10. Blindspots - Mudhoney (Under A Billion Suns, 2006)
11. The Stake - Acid King (Sucking The 70's II: Back In Saddle Again, 2006)
12. Sonic Prayer - Earthless (Rhythms From A Cosmic Sky, 2008)
13. Where Eagles Have Been - Wolfmother (Wolfmother, 2006)
14. Annals Of The Former World - Titan (A Raining Sun Of Light & Love For You & You & You, 2007)
15. Space Prophet Dogon - Grails (The Burden Of Hope, 2001)
16. Storm - Godspeed You! Black Emperor (Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennaes To Heaven, 2000)

And, since I usually do that, here are pictures you can use as covers:

So enjoy, i guess?

JNCT

...

I Dream Of Pink Elephants Eating Grey Marshmallows

Feeling angry? Admit it: sometimes you just want to complain, get drunk, punch a hole through your wall then go running outside and steal a police officer's hat. 

Well, hopefully this will prevent you from annoying your friends, a hangover, hurting your hand and getting arrested. Because this album was made with the angry kind in mind.

Karma To Burn: Wild Wonderful Purgatory
1999,  MIA Records

"We're All Ready For Tonight. Not Like You, Shithead"

This record starts with a woman saying those words in a cranky voice. A tone reminiscent of a grouchy grandmother mixed with a scary big-breasted vixen directly out of Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!.

That's probably the only lyrics you'll hear on this record, exception made of a couple of distant yells during the few pauses Karma To Burn allows your ear and an interesting line about the band's native West Virginia on One (which by the way is probably much better than Metallica's eponymous song).

From then on, its mostly about guitars. Loud, powerful, textured, gnarly Les Paul tones played at excessive volume, layering on a rhythm section composed of a stooge bassist with a sweet saturated sound (in that style, check out Mammoth Mammoth's self titled EP) and an ex-Nebula drummer (basically a tall skeleton with a dirty looking 'fro) whose martial drumbeating skills (at that point, its not drumming anymore - he is seriously beating the shit out of his kit)  are as impressive as he is skinny: he's really, and I mean really, memorable (do not, under any circumstance, forget earplugs if you go see them live).

People exclusive to soft melodies, or even those who appreciate occasional heaviness when contrasted with heavenly harmonies, can probably skip this. Focus is given here on providing angry people with a soundtrack to their calming down. Riffs are predictible, but never superfluous, and always delivered with masterful heaviness that will sooth everyone from the most rebellous teenager to the closet-fan-of-loud-music executive.

However, this music best showcases its soothing (annoying people might say exhausting) qualities on an album-length listening session. This is reinforced by the lack of song titles (just random non-sequential numbers), which make remembering a particular song quite difficult. Karma To Burn aren't trying to make memorable radio singles - they're pulling off something that most musicians with a sense of integrity want: coherent, powerful albums.

Of course, you can criticize these 51 minutes of music: these three aren't afraid to reach the borders of clichétown with their heavier-than-thou riffs. However, they do it quite honestly, which makes the stereotypical/unsurprising aspect of their compositions contribute positively to the somewhat phenomenal energy those songs have.

Here's what happens with Wild Wonderful Purgatory: while you listen, you will want to do the aforementioned "senseless things". You might then pause whatever song you're listening to for a couple of seconds, having actually decided to do them, then realize you probably want to go to the end of this record first. Maybe pull out the copy of Cowie's Owen Noone And Marauder you bought when you were in high school, and sit on a dirty couch with a beer, but listen to every riff these guys came up with nonetheless.

Then, when the last 20 seconds of distortion of "Eight" fade out, you'll give yourself a rest. Having totally forgotten what you were angry at, you'll pause for a bit, write down somewhere to get their 2001 album "Almost Heathen" in a near future, then pick your  < insert object that when you use, you feel like you're doing something productive > of choice and try to use it as well as you can.

...at least that's what I did...

Rateyourmusic page for this record
An Interesting Point of view from Stonerobixxx
NME review (7/10)
Allmusic review (4/5)



I Dream Of Pink Elephants Eating Grey Marshmallows: When The Giant Spiders Attack Us, Hopefully They'll Be Big Enough To Distract Them.

...

JNCT