End of Year Round-Up for The Sleeping Shaman

It’s kind of preposterous that of all of the dedicated writers here at the Sleeping Shaman that I should be one of the ones to attempt to round up the year in heavy music on its behalf. For starters, I am one of the new kids on the block, having only joined the writing staff here in June and even I would have to admit that I’ve not been the most prolific of writers (as the Sleeping Shaman himself will no doubt attest.) But as a critic, a fan, and a member of an active band I think I’ve seen this year’s releases and events from a variety of angles, so I’ll try to summarise the year in a well-rounded and “Universal” way. As an added disclaimer, I should mention that my ‘area’ is doom, stoner and sludge so apologies in advance if your musical preferences or favourite bands get severely over-looked.

However, I think most of you will agree that it’s been an excellent year for alternative music. There have been new releases from bands like Earth, Electric Wizard, Boris, Ramesses, Weedeater, Wolves in the Throne Room, Rwake, Yob, Mastodon, 40 Watt Sun, Thou, Atlas Moth, Cave In, Cannabis Corpse, Sourvein, Sepultura, Machine Head, Premonition 13, Chelsea Wolfe, Orange Goblin, All Pigs Must Die, Hank Williams III, Primus, Anthrax, and even reunited nu-metal arse-clowns Limp Bizkit. Best of all, Lou Reed and Metallica inexplicably teamed-up to release one of the most talked-about [translation: derided] albums of the year and James Hetfield surely won “The-most-preposterously-earnest-vocal-delivery-of-a-preposterous-lyric” award for “I am the table!” As a life-long Lou Reed fan I at least got a small amount of joy out of the sheer ridiculousness of it all although it seems that a few Metallica fans now want Reed dead. At this point I don’t think either artist can sully the other’s career…

On the other hand it’s been a great year for up-and-coming bands such as Conan, Sigiriya, Slabdragger, Serpent Venom, Cultura Tres, Wiht, Wizard’s Beard, Undersmile, Grifter, Dopefight, Dead Existence, Alunah, Pombagira, Dopethrone, Windhand, Desert Storm, Tree of Sores, Five Will Die, Banda de la Muerte, Gurt, Meadows, and Bastard of the Skies who’ve all either gained praise for their recorded material or live performances, or both. Again, apologies to any of the hundreds of excellent new bands I’ve missed – it’s a good sign that there are literally far too many to mention here.

On the live front Download Festival was met with a mixed response, while Damnation, Supersonic, and Roadburn 2011 went down extremely well. The fact that next year’s Roadburn Festival sold out in seven minutes is a testament to the strength of the frankly ridiculous line-up which includes (the reformed) The Obsessed, Sleep, Yob, diSEMBOWELMENT, curators Voivod plus far too many other excellent bands to even begin listing. In short, it’s going to be fucking ace and it sucks to be you if you’re not there.

In other news, stoner-legends Kyuss returned to the live circuit (albeit under the probably legally-imposed name Kyuss Lives! and minus original guitarist Josh Homme). On the 11th of the 11th (possibly at 11.11am) heavy metal doom kings Black Sabbath announced that the original line-up was to reform to headline Download Festival 2012, to undergo a world tour and to record a new album. Whether this means we’ll get some classic Black Sabbath/Paranoid/Master of Reality/Vol. 4-era riffage or Never Say Die! era rock n’ roll drivel remains to be seen. Fingers crossed that it won’t suck a huge fat one.

Finally The Sleeping Shaman itself has gone from strength to strength, particularly since it got a revamp in July, and now has more visitors than ever thanks to you lot and an ever-expanding group of writers and music enthusiasts spreading the word. As well as new reviews appearing on the site almost every day, there have been more news stories being reported, and exclusive streams of albums by the likes of Paul Catten (Lazarus Blackstar, The Sontaran Experiment) with plenty more where that came from in the New Year. Everyone at The Sleeping Shaman would like to thank you for reading and sharing the site and allowing it to expand into a one-stop shop for all of your metal, doom, sludge and general alternative music needs. Don’t forget that you can show some Sleeping Shaman love by purchasing a Sleeping Shaman exclusive t-shirt – you know you want to stuff one in your loved-one’s stocking. Get them here!

So until the world comes to an end (possibly during Bongripper’s Satan Worshipping Doom Roadburn set), here’s to 2012 kicking as much arse as 2011 did.

[Originally published on The Sleeping Shaman, 22/12/11]

http://www.thesleepingshaman.com/reviews/articles/tom-mckibbin-reflects-on-the-year-that-was-2011/

Listing Ships - The 100 Gun Ship

(American Steam Company, 2011)

One of the musical revelations of music in Oxford in 2011 has been the emergence of Listing Ships, a band whose 90s-post-rock-leaning demo ‘Maiden Voyage’ we enthused about earlier in the year. Along with a couple of god-awful nautically-themed puns, we said that record was like “a nineties alternative and post-rock nostalgia trip, combining elements of Siamese Dream-era Smashing Pumpkins and Tortoise to create [anthemic, vast soundscapes]“.

The 100 Gun Ship is Listing Ships’ first EP and the debut release on their own American Steam Company label. Considering that the three songs from their demo appear on this EP in their original forms, there’s no point regurgitating the praise we lumped on them last time (especially when you can just go read the review here). So onto the new. Opening track ‘The 100 Gun Ship’ is the most ferocious thing the band have released so far, beginning with a driving bassline that anchors the layers of guitar and electronics, giving them free reign to expand out and muddy the atmosphere. After such a ferocious start, ‘Melusine Romance’ is, in stark contrast (and for lack of a better term), the ‘loveliest’ thing we’ve yet heard from the band; all fluttering guitars and sudden unexpected bursts of distortion. The song conjures up the various bittersweet emotions associated with the choppy waters of love, which is especially appropriate given the song name, and there is plenty of tension thrown in for good measure. ‘Then Venice Sank’ brings it all back to Krautrock territory (think Neu!) – the dominant influence on this EP.

For my tastes, the New Rose Hotel remix of ‘Equus Ager’ that closes the EP is a little superfluous; perhaps the band felt that it was a worthy or necessary inclusion because The 100 Gun Ship is essentially an expanded version of ‘Maiden Voyage’ – but for all its pleasant atmospherics, the song doesn’t particularly add to the collection besides to create a feeling of being submerged under water. Never mind, it’s a minor gripe on what is an otherwise great EP from a band who are getting better with each release.

[Originally published on MusicInOxford.co.uk, 09/12/11]
http://www.musicinoxford.co.uk/2011/12/09/listing-ships-the-100-gun-ship-american-steam-company/

Banda De La Muerte - ST

(Self released, 2010)

Argentina’s Banda De La Muerte are a testament to the strength of the growing and diverse metal scene in the South American continent, the same scene that boasts bands such as Los Natas [Argentina], Cultura Tres [Venezuela] and Avernal [Arg]. When I recently spoke to Cultura Tres front-man Alejandro Londono he spoke about the sense of camaraderie between this community of South American metal bands, bands who actively support and promote one another.

This network of like-minded musicians recently manifested a successful festival in Buenos Aires called South American Sludge, an event that brought these bands together and which helped to establish the scene as a credible and palpable entity. Banda De La Muerte are something of an anomaly, however, because they play Rock n’ Roll with a stoner twist .

Case in point is ferocious opening track “Dos Huesos” which comes across like a combination of Kyuss, Pantera and Queens of the Stone Age with the groove of the former two and the drive of the latter. It’s a great kick-start to this eight-track album and a real statement of intent from a band that may be new to many European listeners. Very soon into this quick-blast of an album it becomes apparent that while Banda De La Muerte are far from musical innovators, they’ve taken a desert scene framework and built a collection of interesting, arresting songs full of ideas, unexpected melodies and Latin flavour. “Cuando No Hay Mas Que Perder”, “De La Muerte” and “Esqueleto” all have plenty of Songs for the Deaf-era QOTSA pomp and velocity about them, which can only be a good thing, but there are also plenty of little surprises along the way.

It’s not fair to say that all of the songs on the album are desert grooves either; “Madera Sagrada” is an unadulterated hardcore punk song, thrashing along in less that one and a half minutes, kicking your teeth-in in the process. Likewise, “Los Ojos Del Diablo” starts off like Kyuss but half way through the song takes an unexpected turn, sounding like early Korn with John Otto behind the kit. In a good way, surprisingly. Many of the songs on the album would be best described as stoner-punk as they have too much passion and intensity to be straight-up stoner tunes and too much groove to be conventional punk songs. Final track “A Traves De La Sangre” is a slow-burner, a kind of ballad but packed with riffs.

Where the album might divide opinions is in the vocal delivery of singer Xon. His singing style veers between a power-rock holler and a Lemmy-style growl and some of the vocal melodies may seem a bit too familiar and middle of the road for some listeners. I must admit that at first I didn’t think much of the vocals either way, but eventually the melodies won me over and I actually found myself enjoying the unabashed retro quality of Xon’s voice. Listen to the first few songs and, just like your first taste of marmite, you’ll soon find out whether you love it or hate it.

It took a few listens for this album to click – perhaps it was the language barrier but more likely it was the subtleties in the songs that only revealed themselves after the third or fourth play. The vocal melodies that at first seemed shamelessly retro and cheesy actually became ingrained in my head, riffs slowly fell into place in my mind and lead guitar parts buried in the mix sprung forth to add a new dimension to the songs. This isn’t an album that’s going to blow your mind but it’s a solid stoner rock album that will serve you well on car journeys, whether down long, straight roads through the Palm Desert or up the M5 on a wet Tuesday morning. The quality of the performances, the crisp production and the accessible feel of the album make this a fantastic introduction to those of you wishing to dip your toes into the South American Sludge scene. But as we’ve already established, this ain’t South American Sludge, this is South American Rock n’ Roll.

[Originally published on The Sleeping Shaman, 7/12/11]
http://www.thesleepingshaman.com/reviews/album-reviews/b/banda-de-la-muerte-st-cd-2010/

Noothgrush - S/T

(Fuck Yoga, 2011)

An interesting one, this; independent label Fuck Yoga have gotten their grubby mits on one of Noothgrush's very first recordings – a self-recorded demo that was only ever released on a handful of cassettes – and are releasing it on limited edition CD and vinyl. Fans of the band will probably have heard bootlegs of this demo by now but for newcomers and collectors the vinyl looks too good to resist (check out the Fuck Yoga website for more details). Indeed, it seems like Noothgrush have had a bit of a revival this year, first reforming for a handful of gigs, then having a compilation of radio sessions released on Southern Lord – their first widely released record. So this re-release is especially timely because it gives us a chance to see how the band developed from their early days, before the final and most well-known Noothgrush line-up formed.

Recorded shortly after forming in 1994, this self-titled demo features Noothgrush vets Chiyo and Gary along with Tom Choi (of Sleep-precursor Asbestos Death) on guitar and Luis DeVilla on second bass and moog. As a result the sound is significantly different from the band's later, most well-known material. The pace is still cripplingly slow and the mood still depressing and full of contempt for life but there are more psychedelic moments and vocal melodies than in the band's later work. Final track “8d8”, for example, is twenty brutal minutes of tortured, twisted riffs, guitar feedback, tape manipulation, samples, moog and general freak-outery.

The most striking thing about the record, however, is Gary's clean, clear vocal style which, surprisingly, brings to mind Tool's James Maynard Keenan on crushing opening track “Life Shatters into Pieces of Anguish”. Not only are the vocals clean but they are multi-layered and, dare I say, tuneful. Again, “Dungeon” is classic Noothgrush – an apprehensive intro of low rumbling bass followed by suspenseful distorted guitars, and tribal drums – but where Gary's voice would normally be oppressive and guttural, here it's more commanding, harmonising with itself for dramatic effect throughout most of the song. An early version of “Deterioration”, which would later feature on their only album Erode the Person, is also present here but in a shorter and more bombastic form. I'm sure many, many bands wish that their first demo was as accomplished and well-rounded as this document to damnation.

As is to be expected of a self-recorded demo which was handed out on cassettes, the sound quality isn't that great (it certainly won't please you audiophiles) but for me the gritty quality of the recordings acts like another instrument contributing to the general musical malaise. And regardless, the songs shine through on their own merit. The main thing that you will likely take away from this record is that Noothgrush had a clear vision of what they wanted to do from the start and quickly got to making some of the most underrated sludge and doom tracks ever made. With so much of the band's recorded material out of print this is a welcome re-issue – let's hope more of those elusive EPs get the same treatment soon.

[Originally posted on The Sleeping Shaman, 29/11/11]
http://www.thesleepingshaman.com/reviews/album-reviews/n/noothgrush-st-reissue-cd-lp-2011/

[Later reposted as Roadburn Festival's 'Album of the Day', 29/11/11]
http://www.roadburn.com/2011/11/album-of-the-day-noothgrush-st-reissue-2011/

Von Braun / The Graceful Slicks / The Old Grinding Young / Seabuckthorn @ The Wheatsheaf, Oxford, 25/11/2011

Photo (c) Pier Corona

A excellent line-up of contrasting yet strangely complementary local talent gathered for Von Braun’s EP launch at the Wheatsheaf, a night that slowly built up to Von Braun’s triumphant headline set.

Starting the evening off was Seabuckthorn, an artist who has impressed several MusicInOxford.co.uk writers with his recorded output of exotic, otherworldly soundscapes. His music is somewhat lost on a mostly apathetic opening-slot crowd, and his set perhaps slightly too long and meandering to hold their Friday-night attention, but those of us who surrendered ourselves to his hypnotic music were transfixed. For the first half of the set, he was joined by Duncan Scott who provided a constant drone with a Shruti box (a kind of Indian harmonium) which proved to be the perfect grounding for Seabuckthorn to improvise around a distinctly South American framework of flamenco flourishes and moody minor keys. Towards the end of the set he began to command the attention of the audience by creating distorted loops upon which to build screeching siren calls and a constant beat with a stomp box. It’s a shame that more people didn’t give Seabuckthorn the attention he undoubtedly deserved because his warm musical excursions are the perfect cure for the winter blues.

Next up was The Old Grinding Young which is the moniker of Ollie T, formerly of ute. Although this was one of his first solo outings, you wouldn’t know it, for Ollie commanded the stage with just an electric guitar and a microphone. Oh, and a late-Movember moustache: indeed, I soon found myself surrounded by a sea of them. The first impression left by the opening song is that The Old Grinding Young sound rather like ute, and I assumed that the set would be a series of confessional, if slightly warped, singer-songwritery type songs. But the set went from strength to strength and further away from the ute sound. ‘The King and the Knave’ had a Warpaint-go-medieval feel to it, while the set reached its manic high-point with set-closer ‘Down Daddy Down’. The hushed, melancholic tone of the rest of the set gave way to a frantic, bluesy one and Ollie’s mumbled croon became crazed – like the darker side of Jeff Buckley. The crowd give him a justifiably enthusiastic response. He ended on a high note.

The Graceful Slicks came with their own lighting (a kind of lava lamp affair) and immediately set the mood for their riotous ’60s garage rock freak-out. Opening song ‘Wasted’ had an authentic 13th Floor Elevators energy, which soon gave way to a relaxed bounce on ‘Rubbernecking’ (in which the band played tribute to Von Braun by incorporating a section of their song ‘Henry’s Girl’). By the time the band came to a stomping rendition of ‘Fire’ it was impossible not to get in on the fun of it all; they may not be one of the most original bands in Oxford, but they’re one of the most entertaining live bands I’ve seen in some time. For tonight’s set, at least, they moved away from the Haight-Ashbury, drugged-out vibe in favour of a high energy collection of songs with fuzz bass and excellent drumming providing a pulsing rhythm for the majority of their set. Great stuff.

Now, when one of the singers takes to the stage with a pint and a few shots of whiskey, the set can go one of two ways. Fortunately for Dave Anderson of Von Braun, the rush of whiskey to the blood seemed to do a world of good, giving their set a loose but explosive energy. From the aptly named ‘Opener’ to encore ‘Black Saxon’, Von Braun commanded the room with a set full of songs that many other bands in Oxford and elsewhere would envy. From the angular bounce of ‘Henry’s Girl’, ‘Folk Devil’ and ‘Mustard Picasso Man’, to the sweet melancholy of ‘Mr. Seaweed’, Von Braun proved themselves to be one of Oxford’s rising stars. Breakneck renditions of the poppy ‘End of Ecuador’ and ‘Cat/Dog’ threatened to self combust (drummer Gary Atkinson giving himself a particularly hard job in the faster moments of the latter) but somehow the band managed to come through in what can only be described as a thrilling performance. At one point, I turned around to see a packed Wheatsheaf cheering and nodding along to one of the songs, even demanding an encore at the end which the band coyly agreed to. Job done, go buy the EP.

A great night that displayed the wide spectrum of musical talent that Oxford has to offer. Truly fantastic.

[Originally published on MusicinOxford.co.uk, 27/11/2011]

http://www.musicinoxford.co.uk/2011/11/27/von-braun-the-graceful-slicks-the-old-grinding-young-seabuckthorn-the-wheatsheaf-oxford-25112011/

Elliot Fresh & Legoman - Elliot Building with Lego

[Illgotit Records, 2011]

Elliot Fresh has always been a technically gifted MC with a good ear for an interesting beat (see his previous work with Jerome Alexander and Capskey) and in that sense towers above some of the stale new breed of Oxford MCs. Saying that, Elliot’s verbal dexterity can sometimes make his bars stumble out awkwardly. Thankfully on this release with Legoman both MCs are on point as they take on the Oxford scene, their own pasts and the bullshitters. When they drop the machismo act they become infinitely more endearing rappers, particularly on the soulful “Paula and Laura” in which both MCs recall unrequited schoolboy crushes. Summer tune “Poussins and Rum” contains the ingenious chorus: “Not even Flava Flav could tell us the time”. The DJ Premier-meets-Pete Rock production throughout is excellent and Elliot, Lego and guests rock the tracks with precision, humour and skill. Cop this album now all Oxford hip-hop heads.

[Originally published in Oxford Music Scene magazine, issue 16]

http://www.oxfordmusicscene.co.uk/images/oms_issue16.pdf

Listing Ships Feature from OMS Magazine

Listing Ships arrived on our shores unannounced earlier this year, making waves with their nautically themed Tortoise-inspired post-rock stylings and all-star cast of musicians. Or perhaps not. True, the original line-up of the band was made up of former members of such bands as Sunnyvale Noise Sub-Element and Witches but bassist Stuart Fowkes was more bemused than anything else by the attention this gave the band.

“The funniest thing from the beginning was a couple of people calling us a ‘local supergroup’, given that Jim’s never played a gig before this band, Mike’s last band played live about three times, and none of the bands Dave or I have been in have exactly set the world alight. Still, helped us get a few gigs...”

A few high profile gigs too, one should add. As well as doing the rounds in Oxford and London, this summer saw the band play slots at the Truck and Supernormal Festivals. As guitarist Mike Bingham recalls: “I loved every minute of Truck. It was probably our most energetic performance so far and went down really well. Such a shame it was the last Truck. I hope it re-emerges in another guise next year. Supernormal was an odd one, we didn’t all fit on the hay bale stage so we spread out all our synths on the grass in front.”

Stuart continues: “I absolutely love festivals, and playing them is a treat. Festival audiences are great, they’re all full of cider and enthusiasm so it’s a load more fun than a wet Wednesday at a shitty venue in north London.”

But they do concede that it's not always easy to play for an audience who are expecting a band with vocals. “Most music from the last 60 years or so has relied heavily on vocals so people can find it difficult to accept music without them in,” says Mike. “We have to work a lot harder without vocals though as they tend to carry a lot of musical deadweight which you only notice when they’re absent.”

“The criticism of our band I find the most difficult is ‘you need a singer’, which drives me mad,” Stuart admits. “I can understand people feeling that they personally need a vocal hook to get into a piece of music, but to suggest that instrumental music is somehow incomplete or even irrelevant is missing a trick.”

Drummer David Balch elaborates: “Writing instrumental music gives us space for the songs to be their own stories, rather than having direct exposition through lyrics.”

The band are now readying their next release, The 100 Gun Ship EP, which will expand upon the 3 tracks from their demo, Maiden Voyage, adding 3 new songs and a remix along with 2 new videos and a hand-printed sleeve. Mike says that he is “really pleased with [the new songs] and can’t wait for the launch,” while Stuart hopes that the record will be their “defining opening statement before we move on to recording our even newer stuff.” The mini-album will be the maiden release on their own American Steam Company Recordings

Before we parted ways I asked the band about their feelings on the local music scene, considering their part in it and Stuart's roles as a music writer and an organiser of Audioscope. Mike admitted that while he had “not been blown away by a local band for a while” he still tries to “see as many as [he] can.” Stuart was a bit more optimistic:

“There’s not much instrumental guitar stuff around these days as it’s not quite as in fashion. But the scene in Oxford seems to rise and fall in waves and right now it’s definitely at one of its peaks – there’s loads of interesting stuff and great bands doing things across a load of genres, and seemingly a lot of people up for doing more interesting stuff than just regular gigs. So yeah, it’s in a pretty healthy state right now.”

The 100 Gun Ship EP is released on American Steam Company Recordings on 21 November 2011.

[Originally published in Oxford Music Scene magazine, issue 16]

http://www.oxfordmusicscene.co.uk/images/oms_issue16.pdf