KOOK ~ II ..... review

Kook, Troy Aschenbrenner (vocals), Eric Wilkins (drums), Jeff Wilson (bass) and Karl Larson (guitar), came into being from a variety of different directions the four members having played in numerous bands and projects. In Kook the quartet bring all those experiences and knowledge acquired elsewhere together in one place to create a groove unlike anything you may have heard before, a groove that is forever shifting and changing in both direction and dynamic. It is a sound that they first explored on their excellent debut "Kook" and is honed to perfection on this their second album "II".

So what is your musical poison of choice? Are you doomster looking for darkness and dankness, are you a stoner/hard rock aficionado looking for crunch and swagger or are you a lover of the lysergic wanting to get off on swirling lead breaks and flights into the musical cosmos? Well if you answered yes to any or all of those questions then "II" is all your Christmases and birthdays' come together, if you cannot find something here that does not float your particular musical boat then my friend your boat has sprung a leak and should not have been on the water in the first place. "II" is a smorgasbord of styles, grooves and genres seamlessly weaved together in a tapestry of sound that not only incorporates all those elements mentioned but also manages to nod its hairy head towards heavy blues, indie flavoured goth-rock and good ol' fashioned heavy metal. Kook do not recognise musical borders and routinely criss-cross through and over genres and styles, a band who are as likely to tug at your emotions with a bluesy torch song ("Left Behind") as they are to have you creating your own solitary mosh-pit with the raucousness of their riffs ("Chased By Monsters") while at the same time unafraid to take a risk and set off into dissonant lysergic tinted waters ("Frequency 8").

"II", we are told, is based around a concept of "the fight for survival...of the individual and the species...in an insane galaxy filled with monsters", well if this album is the soundtrack we walk into battle hearing then ….we might just have a chance.
Check it out ….

© 2019 Frazer Jones

EnFire ~ JUNIPER LANDING ..... review

New Zealand's underground rock scene may not be the biggest but that does not mean we should ignore it in favour of music from more prolific countries. NZ bands such as Beastwars, Mothra and Arc of Ascent have been turning out consistently excellent underground rock for some time now and have garnered interest not only from the rock press of their home country but also from further afield. Today Desert Psychlist are pointing our calloused fingers in the direction of a trio from Christchurch going by the name EnFire, a stoner doom outfit consisting of Nik "The Woods" Ward (drums), Dave Van Eerden (bass) and Cameron Taylor (guitars/vocals) who have recently released their debut album "Juniper Landing"

We did describe EnFire as "stoner doom" in this reviews opening piece but to be honest that is not strictly true, yes there is plenty of stonerized doom to be found on "Juniper Landing" but there are also elements drawn from the full spectrum of the underground rock scale, we are talking everything from swampy sludge to spacey garage psych here. Crunching downtuned guitar riffage, grizzled low slung bass and a bombardment of percussion are EnFire's tools of trade and they wield them with unerring levels of skill and aptitude, the band utilising a blend of clean and harsh vocal tones to add the finishing touches to their dark, dank musical constructs. From opening track "Dark Dungeon", with its droning fed back intro and dark throbbing proto -doomic groove, through to the excellent cover of Haunted's "Silvercomb" that closes the album (featuring Moonflower's Nicole Schaap on vocals and Josh Fairless on guitar) EnFire never miss a chance to dazzle, delight and entertain their listeners with their relentlessness and drive the band only dropping below incendiary for the excellent trippy and Planet Caravan-esque "Goodbye, You Great Fool", the song a moment of calm in an otherwise gloriously chaotic onslaught.

Unruly and anarchic would be a good way to describe the grooves EnFire bring to the feast with "Juniper Landing", there is an underlying sense of turmoil and disarray prevalent throughout the albums eleven tracks that sees the band walking a precarious razor edge width between discord and harmony, an edge that, to their credit, they manage to negotiate with consummate ease.

Check it out ….

© 2019 Frazer Jones

HEAVY TRAFFIC ~ GARAGE: BAD DREAM ADVENTURE ..... review

Back in 2016 Brooklyn's Heavy Traffic released "Plastic Surgery" an album that was hailed in some quarters as the perfect combination of heavy psychedelic stoner rock swagger and shoegaze melody. A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then and along the way the band have slimmed down to a trio, a move that has seen vocalist Tav Palambo, alongside Ian Caddick (guitars) and Dan Bradica, taking up the vacant bass duties. Heavy Traffic may have lost a member but that loss has in no way diminished the hazy psychedelic impact of the bands music, in fact it on the evidence of their latest release "Garage: Bad Dream Adventure" it seems to have galvanised them as a unit.

When reviewing Heavy Traffic's "Plastic Surgery" we compared them, in part, to defunct psychedelic rockers Quest For Fire, there was a similar element of lysergic haziness and heavy psychedelic grooviness to what Heavy Traffic were trying to achieve that ran along similar lines to that of the Canadian psych outfit. Those similarities can still be found on "Garage: Bad Dream Adventure" but this time around Heavy Traffic have added to their hazy acid drenched refrains an air of left of centre vocal quirkiness and off kilter musical dissonance. Desert Psychlist is not going to pretend that "Garage; Bad Dream Adventure" is an easy listen , it's not, and it is not made any easier by the albums flow being interrupted by its weird array of off the wall musical interludes, but the vibe you get from this quite stunning and unconventional album is one of a band challenging all the usual rules of structure, form and melody, a band allowing their music go where it needs to go with just the minimum of steerage.

Weirdly wonderful and wonderfully weird is probably the best way to describe "Garage: Bad Dream Adventure" an album that is as loose and free as it is solid and tight!.
Check it out …..

© 2019 Frazer Jones

KHOX ~ MOTEL SEX ..... review

Aggression is something frowned upon in polite society but in music, and especially amongst the  metal community, aggression is something we tend to gravitate towards. Now Desert Psychlist is not suggesting metalheads, doomsters and stoners are people to be avoided due to their aggressive natures or dangerous personalities because that would not be true, we are talking strictly in musical terms here. Hard, fast. loud  and aggressive music has a way of getting the blood flowing, if you've ever witnessed or been part of a mosh-pit at a live metal gig you will totally understand what we mean, the pace, the power and heaviness of the grooves just speaks to something inside us that other music's just can't reach.
Khox, a five piece from Quebec, Canada consisting of Maxime Gelinas (guitars), Francis Beausoleil (guitars), Dzemal Trtak (bass), William Lapointe (vocals, keyboards) and Alexandre Savard (drums). play their grooves with a feral eyed ferocity that could not be described as anything other than aggressive. The band drawn together from members of such notables as Unfallen, Sandveiss and The Aftermath have just released their debut "Motel Sex".

 "Snakecharmer" erupts out of the speakers like a fledgling xenomorph bursting out of John Hurt's chest and sets the tone for an album that gives no quarter and takes no prisoners. Hard rocking guitar refrains are the order of the day throughout "Motel Sex" pushed hard by a combination of growling bass and incessant percussion over which wild eyed, throat shredding vocals of furiosity and anger are not so much sang but are spewed out with venom. Subtlety is not something  high on Khox's musical agenda this is a band whose modus operandi is one of attack attack ,attack and they do so with a relish that would make a Viking Berserker shed a blooded tear of pride. If you are coming to this release hoping for moments of serene ambience and elements of trippy lysergic navel gazing then maybe you better look elsewhere as what Khox deliver to the ear canals is a full on assault to the senses, the band crashing through twelve songs that never let up in either their intensity or pace. From the raucous riffage of the aforementioned "Snakecharmer" to the chugging metal groove of final track "Dominatrix" Khox never let the temperature drop a degree below searing, scorching the earth before them with a sound that although may not kill you will leave you with life changing injuries.

Filthy mouthed, hard, loud and totally unrelenting Khox's "Motel Sex" is everything your mothers warned you against, and for that reason alone you should...
Check it out ….

© 2019 Frazer Jones

PATHOS ~ RAPTURE ..... review

Prog rock can send a shiver of horror up the spines of those that prefer their grooves heavy, brutal and loud but if its done right and manages to avoid the traps of over-complexity and self-indulgence it can be a thing of true beauty. Gone are those days of overblown stage shows and band members comically dressed in capes and cowls, replaced instead by musicians dressed in denim and t-shirts whose only interest is in the music itself.

Pathos are one such band , the quintet from Minas Gerais, Brazil made many new friends with the release of their 2015 debut "Elixir", prompting Doomed and Stoned's Paul Rote to exclaim "Reminds me of some obscure late seventies masterpiece". It's been a while but the band return this year with a whole new album, "Rapture",  and in keeping with the nature of the music they play it's an album that shows a true level of progression.

Title track "Rapture" gets the ball rolling, a song with a bluesy, almost funky vibe, Ricardo Marliere's guitar, dialled to warm and fuzzy, adding a stoner rock like slant to the early proceedings. This stoner(ish) vibe is short lived however and around the halfway mark the band take a trip down paths of a more jazz fusion nature with Luiz Henrique Andrès' lush keyboards bringing an almost Steely Dan feel to the party, a feel made even more Steely and Dan-ish courtesy of JP Viera's smooth clean vocal tones which are beautifully framed by Lucas Guida's exquisite booming bass lines and Hugo Moutinho's intricate jazzy percussion. The song takes off again into harder territory's as it nears its conclusion, the band showing that they have lost none of that rockiness that made their debut such a joy to listen to. That "rockiness" of the previous tracks finale flows into next track "Coniunctio", it's growling heavily strident groove, driven by Marliere's equally heavily strident guitar, is enhanced by expertly delivered lyrics that alternate between Portuguese and English. Nothing is a given in "Pathosland" however and the band close out the song with a dance inducing Latin fusion groove that had Desert Psychlist recalling times spent listening to Brazilian artists like Antonio Carlos Jobim, Flora Purim and Azymuth. "Cartel" follows and begins with a quote from philosopher/social critic Noam Chomsky, narrated over a backdrop of swirling Latin-esque prog before segueing into a medium paced, heavy but not brutal, hard progressive rock groove pushed by Marliere's crunching riffs and underpinned by a solid bass and drum performance from Guida and Moutinho, Viera's superb vocals providing the dressing, Andrès keyboards the texture. "Eve's Dropping Apples" blends gentle balladry with prog rock muscle while "I Don't Dream With Gods" shape shifts between being an atmospheric torch song and a no holds barred prog workout. "End of Spring" closes "Rapture" by bringing all the threads weaved on previous songs together in one place with Latin texture, prog complexity and good ol' fashioned bluesy swagger all raising their heads proudly above the parapet.

Those who regularly read the pages of Desert Psychlist might now be thinking "Latin Fusion! Steely Dan"! Where are the raucous down tuned riffs, growling bass and pummelling drums?" Well they are there you just have to look a little harder for them but while you are looking you might just find that those Latin textures, prog nuances and jazz colourings Pathos also bring to the table, on "Rapture", are subtly imbedding themselves in your psyche and your foot is involuntary beating out a Latin rhythm.
Check it out ….

© 2019 Frazer Jones

ELECTRIC BELT ~ NEVER SEEN THE DEVIL .... review

It always comes back to the blues, it has to, the blues is the most emotive of genres ever invented, it can make you dance, it can make you cry, it can be vitriolic and it can be complimentary, the blues is all things to all men (and women).

Sebas Bautista (guitars), Miguel Ortega (drums), Javyer López (vocals) and Pablo García (bass) are Electric Belt a quartet, from Jaén, Spain, who have a mojo and are not afraid to use it, a blues based band with a penchant for salting their delta grooves with a healthy dose of fuzz, as can be heard on their new album "Never Seen The Devil" (Discos Macarras Records).

"Never Seen The Devil" comes straight outta the traps with " Tavern Sinners Lament" a down home country blues romp complete with sliding guitar and a stomping bass drum accompaniment with López's big soulful bellow giving the song an authentic field hollerin' gravitas, a sound and groove that recalls the delta attack of USA's Left lane Cruiser. "Werewoolf Woman" follows and takes the form of a more modern blues rocker with Garcia's bass and Ortega's drums holding down the groove while Bautista fills the spaces with crunching chords and searing lead, López incredible voice proving to be the cherry on the cake his vocals bringing just the right balance of gritty might and measured soulfulness to proceedings. Next up, "The Liar Goes To Church", sees the band adding a little funkiness into the mix with Bautista's choppy guitar refrain driving the songs groove. Things take a drastic change in direction on "Hacia la Cueva de los Muñecos" the band sliding into a lysergic instrumental replete with tinkling bells, plucked bridge strings, hand percussion and jazzy six-string noodling before segueing into a bass heavy psychedelic Latin fusion groove, Normal service is resumed on title track "Never Seen The Devil" an epic twelve minute plus heavy blues that is the perfect vehicle for each member to showcase their instrumental and vocal skills both as individuals and as part of an ensemble.The band finish with another visit to the country blues of the first track with "Tired and Bored", it's tub thumping percussion, call and response vocals and superbly executed slide guitar ensuring you leave this album with a broad and cheesy grin spread across your face.

Superb from its opening note to its last "Never Seen The Devil" is an album that goes a long way in explaining why, when other music's may fall by the wayside, the blues remains still as relevant today as it has ever done.

Check it out …. 

© 2019 Frazer Jones

HHOOGG ~ EARTHLING, GO HOME ...... review

Musical Improvisation (definition) : performance given extempore without planning or preparation.
To put that definition into layman's terms would be to say... music that can go in any direction at any given time, music steered only by the whims and imagination of the musicians executing that music.
Boston, Massachusetts collective Hoogg's third release "Earthling, Go Home" is an album of improvisational music, the band having entered into the studio with no preconceived ideas and in effect just pushed the record button and gone for it! This off the cuff approach can sometimes be risky and fraught with failure but we at Desert Psychlist think Hhoogg's  "Earthling, Go Home" manages to pull off playing the "improv" card without suffering any significant injuries.

"Space,the final frontier" were the words that introduced each and every episode of TV's original Star Trek franchise and space is the theme running through all seven of this albums jams. Space may have frontiers but the music Hhoogg bring to the party however seems not to have, Hhoog are fearless in their improvisations the band unafraid to go wherever the groove takes them, be that swirling and lysergic, brutal and heavy or serene and ambient. "Earthling, Go Home" is an album drenched in diversity, a place where complex chord progressions can just as suddenly be replaced by crunching powerchords as they can be by intricate jazzy noodling, keyboards that can swoop as much as they can swirl, bass lines that can growl or flow like liquid mercury and percussion that can be as shimmering as it is pummelling. There are no rules here apart from the ones being made up on the spot, the band confusing, confounding their listeners as much as they dazzle and delight them.

Improvisation is not an exact science, as legendary Norwegian jazz saxophonist Jan Garbarek once said "Sometimes it works, sometimes it fails, but that's what we face when we're dealing with improvisation". "Earthling, Go Home", although a little meandering and wayward in places, works.
Check it out …..

© 2019 Frazer Jones