Retro is sometimes viewed as a dirty word in music, bands taking a sound and style that has been used successfully in the past and recycling it for today's market. Some bands though can take those past influences twist them round, turn them over and come up with something new and exciting, retaining the grooves of the past but injecting something of themselves into those grooves. Cybernetic Witch Cult are one of those bands and on their debut " Morlock Rock" they show that "retro" can be a good thing ...in the right hands.
There is no doubt that "Morlock Rock" has its roots set firmly in the 70's, both musically and lyrically, its lyrics mirroring a love of sci-fi and horror b-movies and its music nodding its head towards Sabbath and Pentagram and their ilk. Cybernetic Witch Cult are no clones though and manage to avoid the trap of trying to sound like their heroes by injecting a feeling of fun and a sense of humour throughout the eight songs that make up this album. Songs like "Tyrannosaurus Hex" and "Cybernetic Witch" rock out with a dark doomy edge, infectious, well played and full of hooks but you can't help but feel that the band had their tongues firmly stuck in their cheeks while writing them.
Lead vocals and guitar are handled by Alex Wylde his vocal tone clean and slightly nwobhm in style and his guitar tone dirty and distorted, ripping out wah drenched solos and fills as well as thrashing out monster riffs. Kale Dean (bass,vocals) and Liam Stocks (drums) work like shire horses filling out the sound with their respective instruments, plugging the gaps with booming bass lines and thunderous percussive work. Together these three musicians are a force to be reckoned with and in "Morlock Rock" have produced an album that although blatantly "retro" in flavour has enough of "today" in its grooves to placate any of those naysayers.
Hailing from Dublin, Ireland and consisting of five members, Mother Mooch are one of those bands that once you hear them you will never forget them,
In March this year, after a few years of changing line-ups and gigging the circuits, the band finally found a sound that worked for them and decided to release their first EP "Preludes"
"Preludes" consists of three tracks of superb occult-ish desert rock, fronted by the sultry and warm tones of Chloë Ní Dhúada and backed up with some superb musicianship and super tight grooves from the rest of the band, Sid Daly - Guitar and vocals, Farl - Guitar, Barry Hayden - Bass and Danni Nolan - Drums.
Opening track "L.H.O.O.Q" kicks off proceedings with a pure desert rock groove, fast paced and with one of those chugging riffs that us stoners find irresistible. Short sharp and to the point and containing enough hooks to fill a fishermans basket this ROCKS!
"Into The Water" begins with a single picked guitar arpeggio over which the second guitar lays beautiful psychedelic tinged colours. Ms Ni Dhúada's vocal, haunting and seductive, floats above and around the music, smooth and with no histrionics she compliments the arrangements never overpowering them. This is my favourite track on the EP
"Sinners" sees the band get a little up -tempo bluesy with a riff Led Zep's Jimmy Page would be proud of. Ni Dhúada is no Robert Plant so instead she employs a little more swing to her vocalising and in doing so brings a Celtic vibe to the bluesy groove that takes the song from the southern swamps of the USA to the muddy bogs of Ireland with startling effect.
The blurb at the bottom of Mother Mooch'sBandcamp page states this EP is a sampler for a forthcoming album so fingers crossed there will be more coming from this band very soon!
Detroit trio Shayk are not a band who are likely bust out a few country tunes about losing your woman/farm neither are they going to write some beard stroking contemplations on the meaning of life and man's place in god's great scheme. No Shayk's sound and groove is more akin to concrete pavements, tall buildings and dilapidated warehouses, in other words Shayk's sound comes from the street.
Made up of Scott Cox; Guitars and Vocals, Larry Patrick; Bass and Scott Switzer; Drums (although Dave Arney plays drums on the album) Shayk have just released their new EP Volume 1, a collection of sleazy urban anthems shot through with bluesy grooves mixed with a touch of funky swagger.
Cox's vocals, a mixture of stoner grit and street savvy arrogance are delivered with an almost rap like rhythm and are superbly complimented by his incendiary fuzzed out guitar playing, laying down infectious funky riffs and bluesy solos. Scott Switzer must be a hell of a drummer to have replaced Dave Arney as the latter is all over these tunes, working his kit like a whirling dervish on amphetamines .At the bottom end we have Larry Patrick, his bass locking in tight with Arden's drums yet loose and sassy when the dynamics dictate.
Together these guys have produced an EP that takes the hard rock blueprint of the 70's, dirties it up with some fuzzy stoner rock and then smears it all in a large dollop of street corner funky blues.
Enjoy!
Sludge, i've got to admit, is not really my thing but from time to time I like to dip my toe in to its dirty waters and have a little paddle. It was on one of these little wades through Bandcamp's sludge pages that I came across this little gem from Portugal's Dollar Llama.
Grand Union is an album that gives no quarter, if your looking for something with elements of light and shade, with subtle nuances, maybe a power ballad or some psychedelic ambience then STOP reading now! This is foot to the floor, take no prisoners sludge shot through with a thick swampy southern metal edge. Vocals are raw and full on, bellowed in tune rather than sang but with no hint of accent and avoid going into the arena of black metal guttural by retaining a sense of melody. Musically the band has a looser feel to their groove than say a Baroness or a Kylesa, whose sludge noodling's rely on a tighter more studied approach, that's not to say Dollar Llama's approach is sloppy, far from it these guys can play. This looseness suits the southern edge to Dollar Llama's sound perfectly and when they need to get tight they lock in tighter than a pythons coils.
If you like your music hard, fuzzed to the max with a touch of Lynyrd Skynyrd's twin guitar attack mixed with Planet of Zeus's swampy stoner bite then you will love Dollar Llama.
Time to step into the time machine again and this time we are going back to 2012 for what was one of my first, and still one of my favourite, purchases from Bandcamp. Ladies and Gentlemen I give you "Road To Kurti" from Oxford,UK'sCaravan of Whores.
Recorded in Wales in 2012 and hot on the heels of their debut EP " A Cosmic Interlude", "Road To Kurti" is a tour-de force of dusty desert doom grooves that is reminiscent, in some ways, to Kyuss' "Blues For The Red Sun" having that same fuzzed out desert vibe mixed with the doomy heaviness that made that album such a seminal release.
The EP opens its account with an absolute monster in "Drug Queen" which begins with a swirling drone over and around a short movie soundbite that then morphs into a glorious eastern sounding heavy fuzzed, doomy riff. Vocals then enter the fray courtesy of bassist and vocalist Pete Smith, not stoner growled or raw whiskey soaked as you might expect, from the heavy down tuned mayhem, but surprisingly clean and harmonious. The song ends with a delicious psych workout with all three members going hell for leather up until the final swirling fadeout.
"Mister Bendy Man" is up next with a dark stuttering groove that sees the John Slaymaker (guitar) and Smith riffing in perfect unison against a backdrop of stunning sticksmanship from drummer Jamie Gillett, Slaymaker also peels off a gem of a solo here, superb choices of note and with buckets of tone and emotive feel.
"Your God Is Dead" has a definite Sabbath feel to it, especially in the up tempo mid-section but that all disappears in the final third where CoW show us their jazzier, bluesier side, albeit with a healthy dose of Hawkwind psych/space in its groove. Slaymaker shows again here that he's a lot more than just a riff machine with yet another stunning solo. "Waiting" closes the EP in style with a killer of a tune, Slaymaker on his own playing a dirty circular riff before Smith's filthy distorted bass and Gillett's furious drums enter and blow the roof off! This track also see Smith getting a little more gnarly vocally, finding a little more grit in his delivery and sounding quite angry, a tone that really suits the song.
Not a lot has been heard from these guys of late and their Facebook page seems to have been shut down so I have no idea if they are still together, there was a rumour that they were working on something new last year but nothing has materialised since. If anyone has any information concerning their current position i'd love to know what they are up to.
Some bands like to surround themselves in a cloak of anonymity , giving out very little information allowing their music to speak for them instead, Year Of The Cobra are one of those bands.
This is all well and good and gives a band an air of mystery and intrigue but when it comes down to the humble blogger trying to write a review it can be a nightmare.
Their FB page describes them as "Two individuals who play heavy music" and going by their photo's Year Of The Cobra are a male (drums) /female (bass and vocals) duo from Seattle,Washington who are influenced by Black Sabbath, and that's about it information-wise. Their music though DOES speak for itself.
"The Black Sun" is a wonderful three song EP of stripped back occult/lo fi doom carried by the sweet, haunting, ethereal voice of the bassist, who also lays down some utterly infectious, deep distorted four string grooves Her male counterpart meanwhile keeps the rhythm tight and solid underneath and on the third and final track "Wasteland" really shows that he's not just there to keep time but that he's also an integral part of the YOTC sound, pounding into the skins, cymbals crashing and sticks flying all around his kit, driving the sound with feral abandon.
Year Of The Cobra may like to play it a little coy and close to their chests but if they carry on making music this good it won't be long before everyone knows who they are.
The Cosmic Nod hail from Cardiff, Wales and contain among their ranks two members of The Witches Drum, Mat Warren (guitar) and Owen Griffleson (bass) plus Luke Llewellyn (drums), With a little help from Tom Rees (keyboard,voice) and Grant Jones (voice on Black Rubber) they have just released "The Cosmic Nod EP" a spectacular near 30 mins of psych soaked instrumental mayhem that'll just blow your mind.
If you dig the guitar heavy noodlings of Earthless or the instrumental interludes of Dead Meadows then The Cosmic Nod are going to be right up your street. Never being one to shy away from taking the lead role in a band Mat Warren's six-strings are the dominant force in these recordings, whether its wah drenched soloing, ambient psychedelic arpeggios or just riffing out with his foot on the fuzz pedal the man never ever falls into the trap of soulless shredding, every note is played with passion and feel. Griffleson and Llewellyn's contributions should not be ignored either, the bassist laying down some exotic deep rumbling lines on quieter passages and going toe to toe with the guitarist on heavier ones Llewellyn too is awesome using every part of his kit to good effect, shimmering cymbals, tinkling jazzy percussion or just pounding the hell out of his skins. Tom Rees's keyboard should not go ignored either adding texture and filling the gaps with lysergic colour
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I'm not sure whether this is just a Witches Drum side project or whether this is a new chapter for Warren and Griffleson but I'm liking what i'm hearing and i'd most definitely like to hear more.
