Cough, Kongh and Sinister Creation- Loppen, Christiania 4/9/11

I was not sure how many people would show up for this night of very heavy music but it was around 100 people. Jens was the DJ and playing a lot of NWOBHW stuff people were digging it. A lot of the people I go to Roadburn with were there: Jens, Jakob, Nils, Nanna, Ole, Martin, Rhona, and even Finn! Sinister Creation (Denmark) started just after 10 and played for about 35mins I think. Their songs are short and sound very much like 80’s rock and metal. A bit of UK NWOBHW and St. Vitus, etc.. Not many guitar solos and if so, very short as were all the songs. The band is young and fresh and not confident enough to really jam yet. They ended the set with a Witchfinder General cover track. Someone snagged the set list, so I don’t have it. Think they need a new name as there is at least one other established band with that name. I look forward to seeing them again. Martin was a good front man and sings with passion but I am not sure how good a voice he has. It was hard to hear where I was. Here is a link to a youtube video of the 2nd to last song. 

          Kongh (Sweden), changed out all the cymbals and made an Orange stack and after 45mins was ready. I had seen them once before at Lades with Ocean Chief (who I really liked) and was not really grabbed by this Swedish doom band. They opened with a pretty cool song and like the guitar player, who wears a YOB shirt, I feel they would like to be like YOB but I don’t much like the vocal or his guitar riffs. They are a bit boring and don’t really grab me at all. This band is only riffing and there was not a single guitar solo in their hour long set up 5-6 long tracks. No doubt they are heavy but they did not interest me that much. Bass player only plays the E string as most of these bands seem to but not all. Their last song was their most interesting and complex with a lot of different arrangements. Ok band.

          Cough (USA) was the first band of the night with two guitar players and it was after 01:00 in the morning before they started their brutal assault. They were in a good mood and when I asked the guitar player who also sings if they ever improvise he said no, they played the same thing each night. Every one of their 5-6 songs was like 10 mins long and they played one new one called Fuck UP. The one after called Acid Witch, was pretty cool and they are mostly pretty slow heavy as hell doom, but then they have these guitar breaks to do like solos but they are not your traditional guitar solos, they are more like some wah and effects and to make a psychedelic atmosphere, sometimes it was very cool and just what you really needed to break the slow wall of deadly DOOM they laid down. The singer was more or less unintelligible, the way he sang. Brutal HEAVY DOOM stuff..

  

          A fun night but I was tired and blasted by the end. If I had not had earplugs I would have been in bad shape as it was very loud…  See some of you at Roadburn! The rest of my pics are below. 

https://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=287032&id=668857671&l=cd58123a7d

Seven that Spells- Acid taking and Sweet Love Making (Hau Ruck !98)

Well, the amazing Croatian band, STS is back with another record. This has just come out despite having been recorded back in 2006. I really love the erotic digipack artwork and the great song titles the band comes up with. The opening track, Let’s go to San Francisco starts off like some old acid rock from their very early days but then sadly ends a bit too quick with a strange twist as we head into the Acid mothers temple vortex with Hell from Jazz. This was just rips your head clean off over the 16 mins. The next track has a lady singing for nearly the entire track and this one is pretty damn cool and starts with a slight off guitar riff based on the Led Zeppelin song, Immigrant song and is thus titled, Emmigrant Song. It goes for around 11 mins. Easy Drugs and Hard Women is next and is a bit more spacey and starts with some more basic not so psyched out easy strummed guitar and lets the analog synths sort of float over the track in a dreamy way. It is not long before Niko starts to solo and things get more psychedelic but he plays very melodically on this track and not so freaked out. Noi Noi ends this trip with an uptempo repetitive groove and some spacey female vocal layered into the sound that just builds and builds and builds.

http://www.7thatspells.com  http://www.hauruck.org/

Today is a Good Day- Live at Burg Herzberg Festival (Herzberg verlag)

Herzberg Festival has released another compilation CD with tracks from 9 different bands from 1996 to 2010.  It is quite diverse but mostly pretty uptempo stuff starting off with new Model Army playing the title track of the CD. A bit rocking and punky. An Italian 70’s style hard rock band called Electric Swan play a great song with the same title as the band. White Cowbell Oklahoma really rock the place with Tear you a new one. I reviewed the full length CD of their concert released by the festival. The Brew is listed next on the CD but actually comes before WCO on the CD have a great jamming track with a tease of Dazed and Confused. They are from the UK and play heavy blues rock. Vibravoid play Your minds at Ease, the longest track at 11½ mins and a nice more laid back and psychedelic track after some rocking stuff. Ax Genrich (Guru Guru) plays a blues track that was recorded back in 1996 (all other bands are from the last 4 years). Two German bands are next. Krabat play a track called Niemals Nirgends from their 2007 concert and this is a great and really cool dynamic prog rock track with female vocals. Orange, also from 2007, play Feuerbaum, which is a very tribal groovy track with didgeridoo. Roger Chapman from the Byrds closes the CD with the old blues track, Blind Willie McTell. A pretty solid compilation CD from one of the best festivals in Europe.

http://www.herzbergverlag.de http://www.burgherzberg-festival.de

The Triumph of the 16 Deadly Improvs (Rosemont Recordings)

This is a New Jersey based project that has produced 5 records over the last 15 years. This CD was put together from one 2½ hr session on June 28^th, 2008. While it is not totally improvised, there are no bass or drum overdubs, mainly vocals, some guitar on tracks 12 and 15 and piano (track 6) and Glock on 13, otherwise it is what was recorded. They also inserted some public domain samples as well. Some of the 16 tracks are long and some short like the first track, which is under a 2mins and starts as if you are ending a concert! Spirit or Matter is next and a cool songs with some beautiful melodies and male and female singing as the track glides along and the spacey keyboards melt into the melodic guitar playing. Torpedo is mainly lead by a cool bass line and Talking Heads like rhythm guitar while a quite space lead guitar takes the lead part in this cool instrumental track. Bugbear Blues is just what is says, a short jazz blues rock track with some very melodic and very jazzy lead playing. Invincible Pole Fighters has a sort of darker thread to by one guitar and the other plays a more melodic line. It is quite a surprise when the vocal sample cuts through. Into another Time is a slow track with some special keyboards, singing and a good chance compared to the other tracks. The melodic guitar line is quite spacey and has some nice delay. It gets quite dreamy at the end. Gargantua is another one with a kind of dark theme with a keyboard that sounds like a haunting voice as the guitars play more melodic lines. I should mention that the drum and bass playing is very solid and I like the drum sound. Sand Palm V is a under 3 min piece that sounds like it came at the end of a longer jam but is pretty intense to start and I like the sound sample and the heavy almost doom guitar riff they use at the end, while the other guitar is very spacey. Dear Me has a flangy guitar and the vocals tell a short story. The drumming is more uptempo and contrasts the slow pace of the rest of the track. You’d make a lot of Money, one of the few tracks over 5 mins, and has some really cool guitar playing that is once again quite jazzy but with some effects on it and pushed to the right corner speaker before the other guitar trys to come in from the left side as they both solo away, making for a cool track. Death to Disco starts with an uptempo bass line and drum that some spacey keyboards float into the soundscape before the guitar player really enter the picture. The guitar player on the right plays some great leads while the one on the left makes a lot of far out sounds. It makes for an interesting contrast. Mag 3 has a funny hop to it and some spacey stuff and cool xylophone like parts and word samples. The Burrowers Beneath is nearly 9 mins and is slow and spacey track unlike anything else on the CD. Fading of my memories is the last of the person moments before the Sand Palm Vi and heavy ending track that takes us back to the beginning of the this album and has a quite hard and heavy sound and riff. Interesting CD…

http://www.16deadlyimprovs.com

Val Denham and C. Paradis- Transform Myself (Hau Ruck !99)

This is a very strange album that I received with the new Seven that Spells. Val appears to be gender dysmorph (Man who has become a woman). There are 16 tracks and some of the music reminds me of Legendary Pink Dots and other times, more mainstream.  All the music is by Val’s boy, Demian and it features basic programming of rhythms, layers of keyboards, occasionally some guitar, bass and other instruments like banjo. The lyrics are actually quite personal and a bit surprising. Some quite strong statements on a wide range of subjects. It is not really for me but I am glad to see that people like this are not inhibited from creating art and being themselves and allowing others to accept it or not.

http://www.hauruck.org/   http://www.myspace.com/valdenham

Olekranon- Bilal (Inam Records)

I have no idea how many CDs this project has produced but I have reviewed a few of them. This is probably some of the more intense stuff. This sort of dark, noisy, industrial music is quite hard to describe but I will give it a try. I might not get through all the tracks for you though. There are 10 tracks in 42 minutes and only 500 copies made. Adamkam starts melodically for a brief period before the intense industrial sounds overtake the soundscape. This has a very uptempo beat and low fi sound and is quite intense with a repetitive noisescape that occasionally fades into bliss and back. Engles starts slow and spacey with the electronic buzz hiding in the background but ready to leap out and attack the senses quite soon. The programmed drums-beats enter in and then the sound evolves as the layers of noise rise to the surface. A very cool track. Brng yvwh is a short track but I really quite like the melodic spacey thread that runs through this one as the intense noise gets louder and louder and a almost voice like electronic screams out at you. Deka is back to a darker almost scary theme. Bilal is a very noisy track with what sounds like a very highly distorted voice trying to cut through the distortion and frantic drum track and then it changes direction and cool bass line kicks in. Might be a bit like Chrome? Mouths Flame is almost 6 mins long and has many different levels of intensity, starting quite slow and spacey in a deep space electronic hell of sorts. Half way through it is like someone turned the channel on the deep space probe and now we enter into another alien world. Cool track. Sunblind is a spacey electronic piece that slowly builds into a quite intense end. Daisycutter has no beats but just aural intensity floating back and forth through the speakers. Master Swine actually starts like a proper track with a clean beat and repetitive ringing and someone electronic frequencies are being adjusted and slowly take over the soundscape as it repeats over and over and the high frequencies really space your head out in this track. Be careful. The CD ends with Deitus.  I am not at all sure what instruments the guy making this music uses but he creates his own special universe of sound for sure. I review very few things sounding anything like this!

http://www.housepig.com

The Soulbreaker Company- Itaca (Alone Records AR033)

I have never heard of this band but they play some pretty cool songs and fans of the Black Crowes might want to discover these guys as the vocalist is very inspired but their style and sound. The CD starts off with It’s Dirt and a spacey synthesizer track as the track slowly builds and the rest of the band enters into the music. A nice sax is the first lead instrument (reminds me of the Univerzals) followed by a nice lead guitar solo and then the rock picks up and you hear the singer for the first time and he has a fantastic and powerful voice. The track remains very melodic floating and spacey, which is cool. Oh Warsaw is a more uptempo and hard rocking track with good dynamics between the organ and intense singing. Man he is intense. The guitar player is also excellent at playing very melodic and beautiful solos like the one on this track that leads into the intense sax solo. Sow the Roses starts with an acoustic guitar and then the melodic lead guitar comes in and the singer really reminds me of Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes. Rude Perfume is a more hard rocking track with a nice interaction with the organ and guitar riff in this quite complex track. The singer Jony is very intense and the guitar solo very cool in this track but then it is followed by a melodic piano solo. Lots of nice solos on all these tracks and the band stay in a quite melodic range. Colours of the Fire has a nice female vocalist singing along with Jony as this track builds up and has a killer guitar riff in this excellent and spacey track. By now in the CD the band is already using some of the same ideas as on earlier tracks and while these songs are still great, many of the same themes are used and Jony’s singing style can start to push you to the edge. He is incredible though. Where Mermaids sing Loud is probably the radio track but still pretty rocking despite being a ballad. Take a seat on the Moon has a great wah guitar solo (a bit short) and I love the middle section with the piano and sax solo. Saviours is another melodic hard hitting track with a thumping bass line and a special synth and not the organ that is used on most of the tracks. Sandstorm ends this very good record and is a more organ based track. This is a very good band and if they jam live I could really like this band.

http://www.alonerecs.com http://www.myspace.com/thesoulbreakercompany

http://www.thesoulbreakercompany.com

Nick Riff- The Universe is Mental (Riff Disc 004)

Nick is back with another record. I really liked his 2009 Photon Shift record but here he has made a mostly instrumental and really psychedelic electronic record. There are 9 tracks in 58 minutes and Nick plays all the instruments except some saxophone (on Forever) and woodwinds (on Heaven) by Jhaz Sigeret (what a cool name- Jazz Cigarette!). The opening track starts with a very repetitive kick drum that does not change the whole track but is not also tribal enough for me and layers of spacey synths and nice delay guitars. Ok track but it did not evolve much. Paled Vision is nearly 7mins long and starts with some synths looping and Nick comes in with some vocals here and there and a very spacey synth also goes in and out. Spacey stuff. Where are we Now has some drums but they are not adding a whole lot as they are pretty uninteresting and is mostly synthesizer based as well and very spacey. There is some very cool guitar in this track or at least I am pretty sure it is guitar that is highly effected. The limits of Perception starts with a repetitive synth loop from which the track develops and he has some piano like playing as well but again, it is very similar to the other tracks. Forever is a short 4 min track that Nick plays on the piano and vocals and features some percussion (which kind of disrupts the track) and saxophone. Sumerian Spacefort has some basic drum percussion and multiple layers of spacey keyboards and the lead keyboard has a sort of eastern flute like sound to it which is cool. Snake Charmers Ritual has some pretty cool synths and a totally different type of percussion-drum sound than the other tracks. Some of the synth sounds are really panned out to the sides and it sounds cool. Implant Procedure Explained starts with some very spaced out stuff and an highly effected vocal, maybe suppose to simulate an alien speaking to you about being implanted. Trippy stuff.  The track Heaven, ends your hour long journey into nickriff world with another piano track with Nick singing. Nick describes the record like this, “it is a collection of vibrations and frequencies arranged to connect on a quantum level with the omni-energy field, entering into the infinite mind, transcending the illusion of time.” Enjoy..

http://www.nickriff.com

Fuzz Manta- Opus II (Bad Deal Records)

The Danish 70’s stoner rock band Fuzz Manta is back with the 2^nd and very different release. First off, I am much happier with the sound production on this record than the last and they have come up with a really strong set of 8 songs in 45 mins. The release is pressed only on vinyl right now in 500 copies. The LP starts off with a slow, heavy but very catchy track called Motumann. Freddy plays a really good guitar solo. Man with no Face is next and a very Deep Purple inspired and excellent number with Jesper Bo playing some cool organ. He plays on two other tracks as well. Quiet Monday is a slow acoustic, electric blues track that sounds as if it could have been recorded in the mid 70s. Freddy could have played more solos on this one as the last 1½ mins is mostly strumming guitar and light singing. Lithia’s Box is a track that is not on the vinyl record and is 8½ mins long. It has a heavy rock riff and some good dynamics. Freddy has a long solo section on this track and plays a bit of Robin Trower like stuff. Turn Around is one of the tracks that will remind people more of the band’s first record, with it’s basic riff, taken from the stoner genre but the rest of the song is more melodic. Cool and different song. White and More has a pretty complex song structure compared to most of their songs and a lot of great dynamics. Corrosion is a foot stomping rock and roll number including Jesper on the piano. Let me Walk closes the record and is a fantastic 11 min track where the band really stretches out and explores heavy blues rock and it even included a drum solo. Very 70s…. I think this Danish act have made an excellent record. They are one of the few bands in Denmark making this kind of music and the only with a great female vocalist. The plays a local concert at Dragens Hule tomorrow night (April 2nd) if you are free.

http://www.myspace.com/fuzzmanta

Dark Budda Rising- Abyssolute Transfinite (Waste of Space 2011)

The amazing Finnish band, Dark Budda Rising is back with their 3^rd double vinyl record. Again, one record is 45RPM and the other is 33RPM and one track per side. They play their own version of Kraut DOOM. Side A and B are two parts of one long track called Asktakra and this is a damn intense number to start but it is more uptempo and really spacey with the way it progresses and floats in space over the ever increasing pace of the drums as they keep building and driving the track forward, until is slows down for a small section and then come pummelling back with. Wow…  Asktakra II is a track you can hear on the bands web site for the last few months and I have heard this one many times and love this slowly building track. It has a very special vocal track in the beginning that is used like you would use a didgeridoo or throat singing. When the intensity decreases a synth drone modulation begins and the track heads towards the very intense climax. Cool song..

            Chonyidt starts side C. As always with DBR, the tracks start slow and this has some feedback guitar, bells, and eerie spoken words on each side of the speakers as the feedback and intensity grows. The rest of the track ends up being a pretty standard melodic DBR track and does not evolve that much but at the beginning the vocal is more dominant and clear than on the other records (until the end section) and a cool organ comes in at the end. I would really love to hear this band do some killer spaced guitar solos, just once, well, much more often than once but it would be a nice addition. It is pretty spaced out the way the vocal and organ is mixed at the end of this track.

            Sol-Yata is a very slow building track that has some like Gregorian Chanting during the slow dark, spacey beginning and then the bass, guitar and drums kick in after like 8 mins and the chanting continues but the vibe is totally different now. As it builds a low organ sound slowly floats into the sound as a bit more tension and pace accumulates. They even have some flute at the end. Cool track and quite different from anything on any of the other records. A good ending to this trip. You can pick up their records from Kozmik Artifactz in Berlin on line or from the band site below.

http://www.varjotila.org/dbr/ 

Vokokesh- Dr. Hofmann’s Bicycle Ride (Phonospera Records ph02)

Great to see Richard Franecki and the guys back with a new Vokokesh album and what a cool one this is. The CD features 7 new tracks and one improvisation. Born Losers is a 3½min track and features a potent fuzzed out guitar that leads the track and the rest follow. The Texas Asphalt Blues is really a slow spacey track with some totally killer space guitar by John Helwig and some synth sounds entering into the soundscape every now and then. Richard plays a sort of country blues guitar line underneath. Cool stuff. The Cruising Song is more laid back and spacey with a floating pad synth part and some great guitar. Kesh #10 is a long 11 min long improvised track that is very searching and spaced out and Rusty is never really given a chance to start up the drums until late in the track and he plays mostly some fills here and there and some percussive parts. Pretty acoustic piece, is more or less what it says but it has some spacey electronics filtering in and out of the soundscape as well in this most melodic track. The Highway Song is back to a more heavy and fuzzed out guitar riff and has a dissonance used to great effect. The guitar soloing is quite freaked out at times. 1000 Pictures in one Word starts slowly with a prominent bass line and some nice spacey electronics and guitar. Dr. Hofmann’s Bicycle Ride is a 15 min space out that reminds me of Pink Floyd at the start but then it just floats away with really spacey stoney guitar. A great instrumental space rock CD….

http://www.myspace.com/vocokesh http://www.myspace.com/phonosphera

White Hills- Live at WFMU (Who can you trust WHO-07)

 This is the latest new (old) release by White Hills. It is two radio shows recorded on WFMU, NY. The A side is recorded on May 4^th, 2010 and side B of the cassette is from April 10^th 2007. Both have fantastic sound and the A side is mostly material from DEAD and really heavy guitar space rock stuff with lots of effects. Super cool stuff. Side B is way more spaced out and exploring. The highlight is the 17 min version of Don’t be Afraid. There is a really nice interview with the band at the end of the side A of the tape. Only 150 copies made of this release. Cool stuff..

http://www.myspace.com/whitehills  http://whocanyoutrustrec.wordpress.com/

Three Seasons- Life’s Road (Transubstans Records TRANS 079)

This is the new band from Sartez, former singer in Siena Root and Mouth of Clay. I love both of these bands so I was very excited to hear this record. How Transubstans decided to call this Stoner-Doom metal has completely lost me, as this is totally classic 70s rock with bands like Govt Mule, FREE, Siena Root, Led Zeppelin much more the roots of this sound, with strong guitar, organ and vocals. The record starts off with Too many Choices, a song that closely resembles old Siena Root. Cold to the Bone is a more bluesy foot stomping track with some nice organ. Each to their Own is a fantastic 11 min song with some great guitar and organ interaction (a blues jam!). Feel Alive is another track with a great riff and groove, killer vocals and some excellent guitar. An endless Delusion is another really excellent track with harmonica, cool organ and a great guitar riff. Since our first Day starts slowly with some nice bluesy guitar and the bass slowly comes in as does the vocals as the track builds up. Life’s Road is another amazing track with such great dynamics. Fans of Siena Root, especially the album, Far from the Sun, will want to explore this release. I just found out this will be out on double vinyl soon on Clear Spot. 

http://www.transubstans.com http://www.myspace.com/threeseasons

Vibravoid- You keep on Falling 7” (Nowhere Street Music)

This is the latest limited edition release by Vibravoid. It is released in association with the Greek psych magazine Gew Gaw. It comes in black, green and purple swirl vinyl. The title track is a 33RPM 5½ min pretty psyched out track with a repetitive vocal, highly distorted up front guitar with the drums almost not there at all. It is pretty mind heavy stuff. I guess this is a taste of what the new record they will release in May called Mind Drugs will be like?  The B side is two live tracks from Bari, Italy October 2010. Vivid Vision and Christmas on Earth, which have been standard in the bands live set for some time now. Cool 7” release.

http://www.gew-gaw-fanzine.gr http://www.vibravoid.com

Graveyard- Hisingen Blues 7” (Nuclear Blast Records)

Graveyard is back after a very long break between records. This is the first single from the record and it is very promising. The record is a pretty cool picture disk on thick vinyl and starts with the title track, which I would say you can hear it is Graveyard right away and they have a pretty 70s production on this one and Joakim’s voice is a bit harsher sounding but still cool. A good hard rocking and catchy number with a spacey intro before heavy stoney riff and vibe kick in. Some nice guitar soloing as they bring the spacey sounds in again at the end. The unreleased B-side, Granny and Davis is a very uptempo rock and roll track that sounds a bit like it came out of a jam and even has a bit of piano hidden in the background towards the end. Cool stuff. I look forward to the full length record.

http://www.myspace.com/graveyardsongs