Song of the Day-Spacebeast-"The Cruiser"

"The Cruiser" is taken off of the latest 5-Song EP from this instrumental sludge unit from Portland, Oregon. Clawing at you with it's sharp claws and hairy knuckles, the Spacebeast takes you on a cosmic ride filled with a colossal mass of thoughtfully planned out tempo changes, gargantuan riffs and intergalactic sludge metal madness. Yet another amazing band from Portland. For more information, please check out the following links: Facebook | Bandcamp

Quick Hit-Artifact-"2015 Demo"

Artifact is a four-piece band from Portland, Oregon. The band has just released their 3-song demo and it totally caught my ear, mainly because it sounds like something from days gone by. In these three songs, the band has managed to incorporate elements of seventies prog-metal with early eighties NWOBHM. Three glorious little nuggets of melodic retro-metal. Other than the vocal being a little too forward in the mix, the band has managed to capture that truly vintage sound. You won't find too much information on this band other than Bandcamp and here, but they are worth checking out. Especially the track "Winds of Doom" which I have provided below. Very nice demo fellas!

Stumpfest 2014: An Interview with High Priestess Rynne Stump

Take a glance at the lineup for Portland's Stumpfest 2014 and it's difficult to make sense of how such a staggering three-day bill came together. Spend just moments speaking with the event's founder and organizer, Rynne Stump, and it's immediately evident how easily she can pull off such impressively heavy company. Words like friends, magic, and love dominate her vernacular more than fans or money, and a disarmingly genuine nature bleeds through each sentence.  Heavy Planet enjoyed an opportunity to gush as Rynne opened up about the annually-expanding Stumpfest and its past, its future, and its purpose.

Heavy Planet: This is the third year for Stumpfest, right?

Rynne Stump: Yep, third year!

HP: What are some of the origins of the festival?

RS: It just kind of came to me. I used to do booking in Portland and I did production there with my best friend, Chantelle Hylton, back in the early 2000's. And I used to do my own little shows around town. I guess the origins would be from that and moving to L.A. and not really having much of a scene down here. Some people could argue that with me, but I've lived here ten years and if you wanna go to a heavy show you've gotta drive to Pomona or somewhere on God's green Earth out there. A lot of my friends I met in Portland who do play in heavy bands, they'll come stay at my house when they're in town but usually they don't have a good venue to play down here. So a couple years back, YOB was doing their first stint out with Tool and I asked them on the last show, "What if I had a festival? Would you guys play it? If I booked a gig up in Portland, would you guys headline?" And Mike (Scheidt) was like "Absolutely!" And I thought, Well how cool would THIS be? Do a show every year with my friends, bands that I like, bands that I don't get to see. Maybe my friends from down here come and play up there, we'll just get everybody connected. So really it was just the idea of bringing my friends together and actually getting to see all these amazing bands that I'm missing living in Los Angeles. That's probably not a very nice answer, but it's the truth! [laughs]

YOB

HP: 2012 was one night, 2013 spanned a weekend, and this year's three day lineup is fucking killer! How big is this thing gonna get?

RS: I don't know! This year I was like, Maybe we'll go back to one night. Then I just had an outpouring of requests from bands that I really love, bands that played the first two years and I can't say no to. They're my brothers. The Rieseberg's in Norska, my best friend Mark (Bassett) in Diesto...  "Of course you guys are gonna play because I wanna see you! I never get to see you!" So aside of that, Ancient Warlocks came outta the woods and I love them, I love their record. Bands like Drunk Dad, who I just got turned onto a couple months back. I wanna see them, y'know?! One of my friends from elementary school, Kevin Spafford, is the drummer in Honduran. He sent me their album a while back and I was like "Oh my God, you guys have to play!" I got excited and I cast the net kinda broad and wide because bands like Trans Am, you don't know if they're gonna say yes or no. You don't know where they're at in their creative process. They haven't played shows in a while. The last time I saw them was actually at Mississippi Studios. A year and a half back they did a show for their record label, it was like an all day thing. They've been friends of mine for years, we worked together and booked them at Berbati's a long time ago. I reached out to those guys and it just so happened they finished their tenth record (Volume X) and they're lookin' for a show. The only thing was Sebastian (Thomson) is now drumming in Baroness. So I was like, "Can we get Seb out?" And Seb said "Yeah, we can do it." And he's gotta fly back for Moogfest in Asheville (NC) like the day after. They're friends and they wanna be a part of it and it's really exciting, but I had NO idea they would say yes. Red Fang, we were negotiating with them last year. Pretty much everyone that plays this knows me or is one degree away from a close friend.

Ancient Warlocks

HP: It seems so tightly knit, the entire thing...

RS: Absolutely! It's a total family affair. I had a lot of requests from bands I've never heard of or don't know and that's really exciting that people wanna play it. That makes it awesome for me because I get a chance to discover new music and see new bands myself and that's exciting. But for right now, it's really just... family. [laughs]

HP: I keep seeing the term "Bro-love."

RS: It's SUPER bro-love! And that's the cool part! If you're there, it's cool. You can experience it and be a part of it. It's really an intense thing. People in the crowd, the audience, they feel like they're a part of something, they feel connected to the musicians, they feel connected to the vibes that are being procured. Every band, so far, has brought an incredible set. It's insane, it's leveling! Everyone is rehearsing, getting prepped; they really take it seriously and I think that's the inspiration of love, friendship. It's not a competitive thing, it's not like we wanna sound better than anybody else. To me, it's Stumpfest. We all just wanna get a quality thing together. And I love that! It's happening naturally, it's something I can't explain. It's magic. That's the magic and power of love and friendship. And I have no idea what's gonna happen in the next couple of years! [laughs] It's its own animal, it seems like it just keeps morphing and evolving into this bigger, cooler thing. Hey, I'm just holdin' on for dear life here!

HP: Our readers are familiar with Norska, Black Pussy, everybody loves Red Fang. I'm not even able to attend and I was stoked to see the lineup, especially when Ancient Warlocks were announced. Are there any bands there people would be foolish to miss? You'll probably say all of them...

RS: That's such a tough question. That's the reason I set it up, these are ALL bands I would NEVER miss. Trans Am, who's gonna argue with that? They're one of the best bands on the entire planet! Unequivocally, Trans Am is one of the best of the best. It's been over fifteen years they've been together and they still just deliver. If you miss Trans Am, you should just... [sighs] That would be the one for me. I would NOT miss Thursday night. That's a hard question, that's not funny! [laughs]

Trans Am

HP: Sorry!

RS: I don't know, YOB? Red Fang in a 300-capacity venue? When I first saw Mastodon in 2001 or 2002 in Seattle, they were playing at this tiny club up there. It was mind-blowing! Seeing YOB in a small place, Black Cobra, I just can't say enough about this year. I don't even know how I did it. I have no idea.

Black Cobra

HP: When I first saw the bill, I think it was on Cat's instagram or something, I thought, You've gotta be kidding me! But it seems so much a celebration of the Pacific Northwest and an increasingly prolific scene, if you wanna call it that. What would you say is special to the area compared to other hotbeds of heavy music like New Orleans or Savannah?

RS: What I think is of utmost importance to these musicians is that they care, they give a fuck about what they sound like. And like I said, not in a competitive format. Not in a "We wanna make it big" format. They care because the music means so much. The tone, y'know? The carving of the tone, the heaviness. They respect the heavy. They respect their craft and, as you well know, anyone who respects what they do has the integrity to do BEYOND. You wanna evolve. You wanna transform, right? Isn't that the idea of art? To transform, to transcend. THAT'S what comes out of the Pacific Northwest. Transcendence through quality. These guys work jobs. They go home and work jobs. They take care of their families, they take care of this or that. But they can tell you exactly their pedal board systems, their handmade cabinets from dudes that MAKE cabinets in the Pacific Northwest. It's just such a beautiful place, it's like a garden. A garden for quality, heavy music and rock n' roll. I just believe all that rain, all those clouds...

HP: There's something about it!

RS: There's something about it, right!

HP: I've been told not just Portland, but the Pacific Northwest in general, is a strange and special place.

RS: They know how to cultivate sound, and that's the beauty. It's the respect, it's that respect for the craft. And that's art, that's the DEFINITION of art. It's not to bastardize and make thousands of dollars being a jerk, not knowing what the hell you're doing.

HP: And a lot o' people make a lot o' money doin' that shit...

RS: I know, I KNOW! You see bands like Yes and old school bands that are still doin' it for the love. They're not out there tryin' to make money, and I doubt they ever were. It's the integrity of the art.

HP: And you've got bands coming out retirement because they have bills. And it sucks.

RS: It depends on what band you're talkin' about! You know what I mean, we gotta watch it! [laughs] But there's nothing wrong with making money, either. The money is not the evil. The evil comes with how you're motivated by the money. It's what you choose to sacrifice to make that money. If you just so happen to be completely devoted to your craft and you happen to be able to make money on it, fuck... more power to you! And if you happen to make money without that? More power to you, but I'm not gonna listen to your shit. Good music is good music, it doesn't matter what it is. I listen to EVERYTHING! I listen to MUSIC, I'm a MUSIC lover. I sang bluegrass when I was a little kid and I still listen to bluegrass. But, like I said... with anything, with art, when it's really, truly there....people know it. And that's the beauty of being a human. ONE of the beauties.

HP: Yeah! I was raised on my dad's old Mountain and Allman Brothers records and it's funny now, I love this heavy stuff, this sludge and doom. But I was fed a lot o' good music as a kid. And like you said, good music is good music. It doesn't need to be categorized.

RS: No, it doesn't! It can, but it's not necessary. You know when something's good, you know when it hits you right in the sweet spot. I think that's one of the beauties of this year's festival: every band has a sweet spot. Every band that's on this bill has the potential to be headliners. Or ARE headliners!

HP: Right! I could ask which of these bands are primed to explode, but I look and I can answer my own question. ANY of them!

RS: Yeah, any show could have been developed over any number of these bands. I got lucky. The powers that be aligned and here it is. The beauty is that when things are right in the world, everything just works. It's a problem when you try to force things. Fortunately, the magic was in the air and everyone said yes! Everyone I asked said yes. Except Sandrider, because they were having a child or something. And I was like, We need to get some more days at Mississippi, because we love it there and they take great care of us. And I feel like if we have to move to a larger venue at some point, maybe for a night, we might do that in the future. But Mississippi should and will always be our home. I like the intimacy and I don't wanna have to start charging people a lot of money for tickets. That's another huge point of contention. I'm trying to keep the cost of the festival livable so people can come.

HP: And the tickets are modestly priced.

RS: I want everybody to have a chance to come to all the nights. It's all about the whole picture. Maybe some people don't wanna come to the same venue every night. But the people who ARE gonna be there all three nights are gonna experience something really special.

HP: Looking through photos from the first two years, there's nobody there that isn't smiling and loving the shit out of their life at that point.

RS: [laughs] Well, yes! It's fun! Everybody gets paid, everybody gets fed. I give a free t-shirt to every member of the bands. Usually I screen-print the t-shirts by hand but this year I'm gonna actually go down to a shop in town and have them do it because it's red and black and really intense with a red washout. I'm a printer, by the way. That's my college degree, printing. I have my own little set up here at my house but this year's artwork demanded a little more attention than I could provide with the time frame because I just got home from tour with Tool and I didn't have enough time to actually screen-print the number of t-shirts I'll need. So that's kind of a drag. I just went down and had a meeting with the printers yesterday and they said, "Come on down, you can help us!" So I'm actually involved, but I won't be doing them all by hand. But everybody gets a little love. My sister and I make handmade laminates out of nudie magazines for all the bands. High Times, Playboy, National Geographic... little collages for each band member. It's fun! Everybody is involved because they want to be. Our artist who's done the artwork every year, one of my dear friends, Gabriel Shaffer out of Asheville, North Carolina... he's done artwork for us at our home, and naturally he was the first person I asked to help me with this because it's a family affair! It gives us all a reason to get together. It's easy when it's just all your friends. [laughs] Everybody just likes to see each other and it's like a big reunion. And we get to bring other people into the fold. We make new friends, new relationships get forged, bands meet each other that maybe otherwise hadn't in the past. I know Floor is taking out Hot Victory, that happened because they all met last year. I think that's why it happened, at least. It's just cool. New bonds are made, that's the whole idea.

Hot Victory

HP: I wish more festivals were like this one. The way it's presented, the way it's arranged and delivered. It's difficult for me to describe as an outsider. I won't ask you to sell the festival, it seems to sell itself. But is there anything people may not know about Stumpfest that you feel they need to know?

RS: Not really! They just need to be armed and prepared to open their hearts, connect, and have a blast!

HP: Can they get in if they don't have a beard?

RS: [laughs] Absolutely! I don't discriminate! There's a lot o' hair goin' on, it's amazing! John Theodore, when I asked Life Coach to come up... We already had Phil (Manley) from Trans Am, and I was like "Come on, Johnny! You gotta come up!" And he was like "Man, Stump! That's a lot o' heaviness there, I don't know!" I told him he'll be fine! Because I want each night to have its own identity. What's a festival if it's one big clod and everybody sounds in the same ilk? It kinda gets to you after a while. So it's nice. That's maybe one thing that I'll leave you with. Each night crafts its own sound, its own style. And I've tried to cultivate it that way. We have one night that's different to keep it fresh for everyone who does want to come for three days. You ARE getting a different vibe on stage each night!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Don't sleep on this one, kids. It seems there's no over-stressing the heart that goes into Stumpfest at every angle. From Ms. Stump, through the bands, and directly into the lucky few in attendance runs a stream of unity and passion. If only the rest of the world would catch on, eh?

Stumpfest 2014 | Facebook | Southern Cross PR | Trans Am | Red Fang | YOB | Federation X | Lord Dying | Black Cobra | Black Pussy | Life Coach | Norska | Diesto | Drab Majesty | Ancient Warlocks | Drunk Dad | Hot Victory | Chron Goblin | Honduran

Sunday Sludge: Stoneburner: "Life Drawing"

I know it's early, but who's up for a little detachment? There's more to it than putting down your smartphone or staring at linoleum as you stomp through a nearby grocery store buying frozen pizzas. Oh, long leather duster. Oh, piercing stare. Oh, greasy 2am banana-room strokebook commitment. Fuck you, man. Stop mistaking your creepiness for something it's not. Be what you are. If you're gonna creep, just creep. And when YOU detach, just keep drifting. You're not my audience and I'm a shade embarrassed we got this far to begin with.

I'll seek sweet separation in a nobler form. I can adapt and press the flesh enough to get a paycheck, but weekends require a staunch approach to release. Today's Sunday Sludge grinds convention and chokes out apathetic acceptance as Portland sludge quartet Stoneburner offer their sophomore full-length, Life Drawing, due April 15th. Spitting the stick after 2012's Sickness Will Pass is no small cuttings, and these nine tracks readily illustrate the band's commitment to an endless tension designed to breed questions more than generate sales.

There's a near-triptych formed here, ambitious and not easily attainable among unseasoned acts. Stoneburner patiently weave through three chapters and sixty-four minutes of progressive dooming sludge metal without ever repeating themselves or scratching an itch so much that it bleeds. The violent pangs and churns of Some Can's introduction permeates without the benefit of a vocal, at least for a while. So jagged, so cantankerous, attacking dark themes under thick layers of tar and weather... Whew. Frets scale and descend as bones crunch with never-ending suffering. The Molotov piss-bottle angst just won't suit the layman as he enjoys his morning paper. And THIS is why we're collected here.

Slow and bass-driven is Caged Bird, a pensive teem of jittered vein-slaps and thickened pop-and-hiss almost-throwbacks. Jesus, imagine a slick comic book detective staggering toward your city's seediest nook with an abrasive unease and you just might capture the feeling of this song. The muffled, pus-coated vocal is hardly a sidecar as shrill, jagged guitar allows no time for blood to clot. Doom upheaval blankets such trivial worries, chortling and contorting as the descent snaps softened bones like sun-dried twigs. Let's be fair, dudes... this shit was far more jarring than initially advertised!

If nine tracks span a trio of stunning sludge chapters, there's likely a breath or two, eh? The brief peace of Drift is a mortal, sodden whisper of green that's smooth, unrefined, and entirely necessary. Jaking an abrupt stumble is the imminently cold exploration of An Apology To A Friend In Need. Cavernous diversions and smooth commutes won't heal your pierced abdomen, but evident damage to your vitals is riding in the back seat. And just as Drift set us dizzy, so does Giver Of Birth. Swelling after a quick approach, we're given little time to construct a calm. The fleeting, out-of-reach peace seems to sting colder than these other tracks, don't they?

The band serves a criticism here. A focus on the zombification of what was once vibrant. Clones in cars and avatars in your heads, you fuckers. Pale New Eyes is one slow crawl of an example, underfoot stones growing sharper and sharper, advising against the hollow future you were promised. It's a sludge-groove explosion, timbersticking the sway meter with brazen vengeance only until you realize The Phoenix is a track that deserves a review all on its own. Swelling and swooning for eighteen minutes, listeners drone toward a lush soundscape bubbled with regrets. Back-masking, neck-ratcheting, mouth-gaping, this closer trims at excess and expertly pares with patience and discipline until only a fat thumb can hope to maneuver. When the skin breaks, the sludge flood is fully realized and the death rattle leave its trail. Ashes settle. Life awakens. The stir of every pregnant pause creepy-crawls between passages until the viscous denouement resolves under peppered guitar razors. This rebirth has commanded its welcome, swarming with outstretched arms and ignoring the fade.

At times quite spooky, at others downright teeth-grinding, Life Drawing is rough and seething. Repeated thrusts of your face into the soft moss of a dying log somehow protect you from the obvious: Hope and promise aren't merely stained. They've been properly diluted and washed out with thick piss. The truest of sludge deliveries opens a rusty door, but Stoneburner have invited us into our own nightmare. The deceptive lounges hardly provide comfort, and you're better off just cooperating when the rhythms crash. Get in the van and stop with the fucking questions. Yes, there IS a world this ugly.

For fans of: Buzzov*en, Ufomammut, -(16)-
Pair with: Mudpuppy Porter, Central Waters Brewing Co.

Facebook | Neurot Recordings

Sunday Sludge: Sioux - "The One and The Many"

One collateral consequence of featuring new, untapped acts is never hearing from them again. I've got a library of albums from bands who will never see a sophomore effort. But perhaps even more disappointing are those bands who bring a wild rumpus on their debut, only to follow-up glimmers of brilliance with an avalanche of horseshit. Few bands manage to improve, many try to maintain, and most simply should have hung it up to fuckin' begin with.

Not even ten months ago Heavy Planet featured Portland's Sioux, a psyched-out sludge quartet whose self-titled EP is still buzzing somewhere at the base of my skull. March 8th marks the release of The One and The Many, a six-track full-length that separates Sioux from their influences and themselves. Demonstrating both an improved range and an expansion of prowess, this release is more than a step forward. It's a glazed, cosmic bootprint on an already leathered sludge metal landscape.

No time is wasted in administering spoonfuls of sludge-doom porridge on Let In The Night, the somber, dejected opener. Breaking into a chuggy plod is nothing new for Sioux, but the sonic smack of timber as if it were a cloud of pesky gnats is daunting and impressive. The vocal scratches free and echoes through caverns until listeners enjoy a break of apocalyptic calm before the shit storm. Plucks lull your senses on a mislead, and when the stomp returns, it's brought along scorches and splits atop an avalanche of mire. Shrieks lead into a scrape toward violent heaves of stuttered tempos on Faithless, a track that cleans up, shaves, and promises calculated vengeance. Trotting uneven ground, the sound manages to hold its structure through staggers, and blitzing licks ascend to draw your eyes due North.  

The midsection's duality is a notable highlight, with Ad Astra's cosmic sludge dragging us across a bed of broken glass and following with torrid crank turns. It's trippy, chippy, and scorches through riffs until hollow plucks provide a reprieve, though the breaths are chilled and lonesome. Imagine a slowed tumble down a steep staircase with a trickle of blood leaving your ear as you greet bottom. And you can't even just lay there for a minute, as the epic warp of the album's title track is star-gazed and mud-kissed. Sioux fail to trip over their own ambition and nail the album's purpose on its planetary head. Here these sluggers cut through senses using instruments as precision tools. Quite simply, the dudes honed their shit.

Ascension offers a return to down-tuned lament, pounding and splicing via tempo shifts and intermittent thrash peppers. Gruff pipes and rusty guitar barbs are gonna leave you scythed. Abrasions can only spread as the track presses into flaming thickets and napalm-coated bass threads. Sticky malevolence points our attention toward Scapegoat, an effective bookend to the album's sullen opening moments.  Swaying, drawing ever-closer, and blanketing with a numbness laced over every note, this flame catches and burns exponentially. The cracks spread and the closing swell of all-encompassing sludge denouement imposes nothing short of rattled awe.

Sioux no longer benefit from tags like "promising" and "inspired." Fortunately, scene-swiping psycho-slag achievement accompanies the lumbered strides. The One and The Many showcases Sioux's pugnacious approach to early praise. The album clubs the senseless and denounces doubters via six stumps of accomplished, assured psychedelic sludge. Sorry Sioux, you fuckers just upped your own ante. Turns out mediocrity just wasn't your thing. But we knew that. Stand stout with greatness, strut a strong chin, and grind it home. Thumbs the fuck up, fellas. This one resonates!

For fans of: Melvins, Red Fang, Mastodon
Pair with: Satin Solstice Imperial Stout, Central Waters Brewing Co.

Facebook | Bandcamp

Sunday Sludge: Sioux

Growing up, I'd cringe when my mother would say "Seth, you look so much like your grandfather." Maybe I wondered how it made my dad feel. Or maybe I couldn't appreciate the genetic link between myself and an abusive drunk who abandoned thirteen kids in favor of pissing away the family business at local bars. On a slightly different but slightly similar note, I don't like saying bands sound like other bands. Many do. Most do, in fact. But I try to reach for what sets them apart from either their influences or their contemporaries.

We're products of our environment, which doesn't help explain how Portland's Sioux squeezes snugly between bands from more than 2,000 miles away. Where many acts rehash ideas or steal riffs from their predecessors, Sioux manage to spread their swampy toes and sink into the mire with a sticky nod that would make John Baizley proud. You'll detect whispers of Georgia (or Voices of Omens), but you won't be distracted. On their four-track self-titled EP, Sioux showcase their musicianship and jump in with both feet, doing more to expand on metal's finest niche rather than put a cap on it.

From the onset of Bezoar, of course, the rhythms are thick and the guitars are jagged screeches dodging between Bald Cypress moss factories. Churning and scorching, intermittent with buzz and wail, the sound moves on all fours, never willing to fully pull away from the soggy filth. Kirk Evans growls with the seasoned dissonance toward cheerful tones and buries himself between low-slung bass plucks. All the while, guitars bake in the heat, never escaping the light slivered among the timber.

Countering with a slow-motion plod is Rheap, where you can leave the bog but the bog can't leave you. Ryan McPhaill's drums are just plain fucking nasty here, despite pacing a rhythm that finds a shamed melodic cadence. Dusty plucks and layered vocals hardly keep the grind from poking back. You'll start to notice the awesome electricity dancing off the strings as Sioux trail into skyshots toward fading constellations. Is night falling or are they just happy to see us?

Following suit, Aegeless bounces with fuzz coating, swinging a rusty stoner pendulum via the steadiest of churns. Matt Pike must've snuck up from behind and bitten these dudes, but the poison is more inoculative than toxic. Oh, the soft rain breaking the furry storm of mud and shit is a perfect reprieve, brief as it is. These dudes work perfectly together (two-thirds of them played in Salvador, bro!) on every thump and every skullsplit as the track unravels and expectations are tossed at concrete walls.

Sioux find a gentler, cleaner moment on In Tongues. Wait, nevermind. Somber tones give in to a flurry of drums and the rhythm knocks you on your sweaty ass. Evans' vocal here steps into a distant fog, demonstrating a range we hadn't previously heard. When Juan Carlos Caceres spits fire and the track shakes its head, the ritualistic deception is unmasked, crafting a delicious and captivating sound. The plateaus of sullen musings, with no foothold to stop the sinking, set apart this closer. Whew.

What traps many bands is derivation, being so enmeshed in the sounds crafted by fore-bearers that it's inescapable. Sioux shed a new skin and crash a party that's unforgiving and relentless. Add to this the accomplished musicianship soaking these sounds and you've got a prescription of promise. While boxing ears and shredding speakers isn't enough these days, it's also annoying to find bands attempting something they don't understand. Luckily, Sioux know a thing or two about crafting heavy stumps of sticky sludge with a straightforward, varied approach. Trust me, you'll dig it.

Bandcamp | Facebook | Eolian Empire

Nuclear Dog's Atomic Split: Dwellers - "Good Morning Harakiri" / Sun Gods in Exile - "Thanks for the Silver"

What is the very best thing about Stoner/Doom/Psychedelic rock, the thing that sets this music apart more than anything else, that makes it worthwhile and meaningful and incredibly joyful to hear and play? It has to be the unanimous recognition by the thunderous hordes of practitioners and their insatiable devotees that guitar is king. Obviously there is no musical style that reveres the guitar more than rock and roll, and I'm a firm believer there is no rock and roll genre, or set of genres, that places the guitar up on the exalted altar of total glory than those espoused on Heavy Planet: Stoner, Doom, Psychedelic, Sludge, Fuzz, High Desert Rock, New Grunge . . . True Rock.

It's no secret that Stoner Rock, Doom Rock, Psychedelica, are all legitimately classified as underground music due to a lack of mainstream recognition, be it through airtime, album sales, or inclusion as theme music on thousands of Hollywood productions, large or small. But that, perhaps, lends itself to the freedom of artists who conjure forth such incredible music week in and week out, year in and year out, until there is so much of it, and so much of it excellent, that it's nearly impossible to discover as much great music as exists. Besides your daily visit to Heavy Planet, where great music is eternally available, there is one other sure place to go for a compendium of some of the finest True Rock available in one place, and that is Small Stone Records, a label that puts forth a tremendous effort to find and sign musicians that create a sound worthwhile as a lifetime go to source.

Today, Nuclear Dog once again visits Small Stone Records and introduces you to two bands, two gifted groups of artists, that truly understand that guitar is king.

DWELLERS - "Good Morning Harakiri"

Rare is the band that can create a sound unique enough to call its own without paying heavy homage to some sound of the past, near or distant. Dwellers could very well be such a band. I cannot purport to be any sort of musical historian, so I could never say their music isn't at least somewhat derivative of something somewhere, isn't all music?, but for me the sound this threesome create is incredibly unique, and immensely enjoyable. Each song is relentless in its delivery, melded with inexplicable moxie out of ethereal musings and exhibiting guitar work that soars and churns with dexterous ease, riding a plasma wave of unyielding energy borne of the fiercest joy. Vocals strike an incredibly perfect chord, combining a near perfect rasp to an athletic and capable range, lending themselves to the classification of perfect True Rock vocals.

The abilities of the threesome that make up Dwellers is perhaps the result of prior experiences in previous and alternate bands combined with innate ability and passion that has set the course for all three long ago. Iota member Joey Tuscano takes credit for guitar, vocals, and song writing, bringing his considerable talents to the fray from years of playing in the trenches. Zach Hatsis on drums and Dave Jones on bass, formerly of Subrosa, complete the trio by bringing their own years of trench warfare into the mix. The recipe here has worked often in the past, where talent is forged with experience for several years until karma plays its hand and brings together musicians that seem to experience an epiphany and revelation for significant and noteworthy music that makes its indelible and eternal imprint upon the universal tome of True Rock.

"Old Honey" is a perfect example of the quiet fury of their music as it builds from low intensity to an unyielding guitar encased by the onslaught of the drums beating out a path and a rhythm that always hits its mark in perfect unison with the merciless and malleable bass. It is a psychedelic journey of intrepid emanation and power, laying bare the soul of those who listen just as it had done to those that played, delivered with the wet thump of bloodletting vocals that twist the visceral and primal core held subservient to its almost hypnotic power. 

There is a wonderful and slight distortion of the riffs that ride roughshod over "Lightening Ritual", while the drums play a prominent role out front of the tune and the vocals are harmonized for a powerful, primal effect. "Black Bird" carries out more distorted riffage, powerful in delivery, and accompanied by the wide stance of booming bass and backed again by the heavyweight hooks of champion drums.

"Good Morning Harakiri" has been released for several months and perhaps has flown under the radar of too many lovers of True Rock. This is music at its absolute finest and is now compiled in one place that could very well find its way onto several top music lists of 2012.

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SUN GODS IN EXILE - "Thanks for the Silver"

Sun Gods in Exile play rawk n' roll. It's rowdy, it's loud, it's abrasive, it's relentless, it's tinged with a Southern sound reminiscent of a dozen great bands, from now and down through the decades. It still brings its very own, bourbon inflected sound that you simply cannot sit still for. It moves you, it relates to you, and it pleases you to no end, because this is both fresh and exciting at the same time as the music you grew up with. It is all the great bands past and present you cannot get enough of. The songs are melodic and familiar, and easily sung to. There may not be a more listener friendly set of songs than on "Thanks For the Silver", and we're talking about a sizeable set of songs, with ten incredible tracks that could quite likely burn your place down if you don't pay attention while playing. You will not be able to get enough of "Thanks for the Silver".

There is a strong blues rock component to SGIE's sound, reminiscent a bit of The Black Crowes, among others, with a considerably heavier dosage of guitar riffs ensconced within a huge phalanx of bass, drums, more guitar, and various other fun sounds that create the larger than life sound this furnace blast band emanates with an obvious joy. These guys go all out when they play and it's obvious they have just as much fun playing as you will listening. 

Band members include:

Tony D'Agostino - Guitar

Adam Hitchcock - Guitar, Vocals

John Kennedy - Drums, Percussion

Chris Neal - Keys, Slide Guitar, Harmonica, Backing Vocals

"Climb Down" is a prime example of the classic and fresh sound SGIE have created on this album, hitting a reminiscent sound to the aforementioned Black Crowes. "Since I've Been Home" will rock you all the way to point it then pulls on your heart strings in the chorus, reaching down through the tunnels of time to one of those smoke filled, whiskey splashed joints of past times and fuzzy memories. If you want scorching solos check out "Broken Bones" where fire is a likely outcome and Molly may bring out her hatchet for a second or two. "Nobody Knows" is a dance hall summer storm, blowing through at a quick and catchy clip, blowing up skirts in its wake and likely wearing out a hole or two in shoe leather to boot. For sheer beauty it's hard to beat the title track, "Thanks for the Silver". 

You can't help but have a good time when you play through "Thanks for the Silver". Sun Gods in Exile are a tightly knit fivesome that know how to deliver music that tugs at the ol' heartstrings while providing the homage to the Guitar Gods we pray to daily.

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Sunday Sludge: Rabbits - "Bites Rites"

We all let our nerves get the best of us. We all tend to grow impatient now and then. I simply didn't have it on this Sunday. Whatever it is that awakens me before the sun, sending me out into the world to find the slowest, filthiest, most drawn-out breed of taxing dirge the misty morning offers simply wasn't there today. I needed caffeine. I needed something quick, something to the point, and something uncompromisingly jarring. I went looking for trouble... and I found Rabbits.

Portland's sludge-noise punks will release their hardly-sophomoric second effort, Bites Rites, on September 18th. Wasting no time with niceties and hardly scrubbing clean their blood-matted fur, Rabbits here spew nine brazen, scathing attacks to the consciousness on a hot, rusted rail. Blending the blistering rhythms of punk with sludge's muddled undergrowth, this trio makes their case for 2012's most vitriolic piss & vinegar-stained album by stripping down to animosity's bare ass and pointing middle fingers at every turn.

From the numbing buzz of We and Zoo to the groovy, sand-coated Husker Dü-cover What's Going On, Bites Rites pulses with more angst and strange chaos than a Harmony Korine film. Zoo is a 2nd gear hum-fest, dragging its knuckles on cracked Tensionhead-era Nick Oliveri vocals. Riffs sail beyond the steady dirge and this opener gives birth to isolation and division, electrically mocking unity throughout. Noise pairs with stoner-sludge on the hovering Fight Right. KG's drums are barely-controlled chaos, countering the steady shuffle of bruised feet. Rabbits warp to a cloud of wet noise, while these screams will surely invade your already-drubbed psyche.

Dipping hillbilly metal in a tub of thrash, the hollow Move Her Body is quick, frightening, and downright filthy. The hardly detectable Southern influence is more clearly flexed on the slow-rolling 2_35, a Spacemen homage. The track screeches and plugs with the urgency of a homeless sloth, characterized by noisy warble. Drunk, bored, and increasingly pissed, the blips and pops roll downhill until they catch themselves in a slow fire.

A scathing drone grinds at your senses on Suck It or Blow. The sarcasm of "What do you think about life, boy?" is laid thick and sticky, building and swelling on an expansive churn. The album's loaded with overt aggression at every turn, however. Screeching and stomping on the indulgently orgasmic Lame in Vain, a drunk townie contends "Everyone knows you're so lame!" after being kicked out of a Friday night kegger. Aggression and anger come with this package deal. And the most sludge-laden moments appear on Meth Valley 99, a choppy and rhythmically alarming dig toward hell. Guitars slice and poke, eventually slowing toward a bad trip of unsettling, drowning screams. Ugh.

There's a brief but excellent moment of clarity here, though. On Mars II echoes chains, breaking a vacant corridor's eerie industrial drone. The broken halogen lights will slowly drive you insane, fading to an empty earth and even emptier existence. And moving toward the aforementioned What's Going On, Rabbits enter groove and harmony more than ever. Strangely melodic beneath the knotted stomach pangs, the inconceivable patterns of noise-chaos are awesomely spacey and caked in shit. This nod forms quite the closer, warm and trickling down your leg as Bob Mould proudly looks on.

You won't find the progressively unfolding layers of smoothed-out soundscapes here. Bites Rites challenges and antagonizes via immediate, in-your-face hardcore bullying. Rabbits are direct and all ambiguity is checked at the rotting, unhinged door. You don't have to wallow in the mud; sometimes you need to jump in and throw it at others. And if Rabbits don't manage to catch your attention with flaming piles of loose earth, they'll just gnash their teeth and rip off your face. And that rabies vaccination won't do shit!

Lineup:

Sethro - Vocals/Guitar
Booze - Vocals/Guitar
KG - Drums

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New Band To Burn One To:THE MOSS (Now FELLWOODS)

The Moss (now Fellwoods) is today's "NEW BAND TO BURN ONE TO".

Bio:

The Moss formed in the Summer of 2009 with Adam Burke and Ben Spencer. Adam and Ben had met in college in North Idaho and played in a couple bands together for about 7 years. The longest running was a garage punk band called The Real Pills. They moved to Portland, and split up after a couple years, with Adam going on to start a family while Ben played in noise/garage masters The Hunches. In spring of 2009, Adam and Ben were chatting about their love of heavy, diabolical riffs and started forming the idea for a band. The earliest influences were bands like Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Leaf Hound, Captain Beyond and Sir Lord Baltimore. Beth Borland started playing with us on a lark, but we realized she fit in perfectly. We set about finding a “tasteful shredder”, and after turning down quite a few, found Tony Pacific and his excellent shredding and writing skills. The band started to gel immediately with the songs pouring out. Personalities fit nicely too, so we got together a set and started playing around town. The influences expanded to include lesser known bands like Il Balletto di Bronzo, Nightsun, Hairy Chapter, Highway Robbery and many others. We recorded a 12 song demo surrounding the theme of an innocent maiden turned vengeful forest witch. We are shopping this demo around to labels while continuing to play and write. The current songs are themed more around a space saga, and maybe be released as an ep in the not-too-distant future.

Review:

"Immensely inspired by late 60s early 70s hard rock, Portland, OR band The Moss scorch a path of blistering retro prog rock guaranteed to blow your mind. The tight murky grooves twist around a steady but profound rhythm as the nasally tenor protrudes through the garage-rock sounding mix.  These pych-blues nuggets exude everything great about that period of rock, right down to the production.  The music is raucus, captivating and best of all fun. Give these dudes a listen today and hear for yourself."~Reg

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New Band To Burn One To (Morning Buzz): GIANTRIDER

GIANTRIDER is today's "NEW BAND TO BURN ONE TO" Morning Buzz...

Bio:

Formed from the remains of the metal outfit known as 'WEAPON', giantrider started as a side project whilst searching for a new drummer to fit their specs. In the mean time cHrist moved his 6 string shredding abilities over to bass/big ass amps duty and vocals. Silent Mike put down his bass and sat down at the throne behind the skins. giantrider is most widely known for their live shows.

"Proudly wearing their influences on their sleeve, Giantrider are a raw, stripped-down minimalistic Stoner/Doom band from Portland,OR/Fargo,ND. When I say minimalistic I say it in the truest sense of the word. The band consists of only two members and two instruments: Chris (Bass) and Silent Mike (Drums). The bass tone absolutely sizzles as uber-fuzzy tones protrude through the amplifiers all while cymbals crash amongst a steady rhthym. This shit is Goddamn electric. Listen now! "

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New Band To Burn One To (Morning Buzz): Root Jack

Today's Morning Buzz edition of "New Band To Burn One To" features Root Jack.

Bio:

Common to the American life is the story of an un-educated man needing to support a family.

When the man is in Appalachia, he might mine coal, and if it is Mississippi, he might have picked cotton. In the North-West, those men might cut down trees.

Root Jack comes from those same Pacific NW woods, and sings of that universal desire to do right, but sometimes choosing wrong, often framed by mill town’s and logging camps.

There is a long tradition of the bohemian laborer that works during the day to support his family, then comes home at night to write songs, and often those songs are about his struggle.

Root Jack sings songs of that same struggle. Joy and exhaustion, satisfaction and disappointment, poor choices and the consequences of them.

Roots-rock, steeped in Truth.

Root Jack's "In The Pines" is the debut full-length produced and recorded by Jon Burbank (My Life in Black and White, ICANLICKANYSOB, Runaway Boys).

If Cream had been listening to the Carter Family, instead of Robert Johnson, it might have come off like this. Kris Stuart (former of Moonshine Hangover), Kevin Cowan (former of Lewi Longmire Band, Dylan-Thomas Vance) and drummer Chris Hutton (former of Lewi Longmire Band, Wooden Nickle) are a tight, 70's rock inspired roots-music band.

I was a bit hesitant when I first got the submission from this band as the first statement from band member Kris Stuart states "Let me start by saying I in no way think we are stoner metal". Well, they in no way are Stoner, but they do have a nice retro boogie groove with a nice mix of Americana country. I always liked bands like the Jayhawks and Whiskeytown because they were twangy but still rocked out. The tune "All I Need" has a very slow killer riff and needs to be heard. I must admit I couldn't stop listening to these guys. Great vocals, and great melodies that got stuck in my head and couldn't get out. Root Jack is the perfect morning buzz. Check them out. The band has currently finished some West Coast dates supporting Radio Moscow.

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Album Of The Day-Trees-"Light's Bane" (2008)

The Album Of The Day is "Light's Bane" by Trees.



Review:

As scenes subdivide beyond recognition, calling Trees' debut release metal is both perfectly accurate and also limited. Anybody who loved Gravity Records at its height in the mid-'90s will probably find as much to love here as do fans of sludge monsters and whatever the heck "stoner rock" is meant to signify now, not to mention hordes of classic indie level metal from the '80s and beyond -- the larger point being that Trees are plenty loud, given to anguished screams, and think nothing of putting the figure of a beautiful woman that's mostly a rotten skeleton on their album cover. Lights Bane consists of two long tracks clocking in at around a quarter of an hour each, and both move with the slow, deliberate pace that early Black Sabbath blue printed, but L. Smith's distanced, heavily echoed explosive screeches would have disturbed even young Ozzy. Both "Nothing" and "Black" feel likes two parts of a larger whole -- the division between the two is so quick that it's easy to blink and miss it -- but they do have their differences, with the latter having a high point in the sudden, shuddering grind and drum roll about seven minutes in while Smith's voice turns into a barely heard, guttural rasp and gurgle. It's a good start at the least, but there's still some way to go before Trees fully find their own sound. (Ned Raggett, AMG)

Track Listing:

01. Nothing 15:21
02. Black 12:24

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