Gram Rabbit – Miracles & Metaphors

Gram Rabbit – Miracles & Metaphors
Cobraside – 2010
Electro/Pop/Rock/Psychedelica
Waardering: *****

How silently can a majestic album be unleashed upon the world? The fourth full-length album called Miracles & Metaphors of the Palm Desert / Joshua Tree pyscho-electropop formation Gram Rabbit has appeared a few weeks ago without any press whatsoever. (Or as they like to call the music themselves: desert-space-rock-tronica.) Without any doubt Miracles & Metaphors is their best album yet; and their earlier ones were already pretty damn incredible. What is that magic that that little part of the desert seems to do? Every band hailing from that little place in the world or at one point recorded an album out there; seems to carry a part of that experience with them forever and they also carry it out. On Miracles & Metaphors you can again hear that capricious, mystical and spacious sound. Josh Homme and Chris Goss would be extremely proud of the gentlemen and their frontwoman Jessika von Rabbit. It grates, shaves and bumps but it is also extremely sexy, sensual and other worldly. It’s enough to give you red red bunny ears!

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Floodstain – Slave To The Self Feeding Machine

Floodstain – Slave To The Self Feeding Machine
BadMoonMan Records – 2010
Stoner/Metal/Sludge
Waardering: ****

Our Dutch friends of the band Floodstain hailing from the beautiful village of; kuchkuch, Hellevloetsluis have delivered their fourth album named Slave To The Self Feeding Machine. Their second with BadMoonMan Records; the label of those crazy Russian freaks who know where to put the vodka! They also know where to find the righteous stoner, metal, sludge en powerful rock! The record starts out heavy, soggy and juicy after which they explore most every corner of the different genres. Even though it has been recorded with limited means; the album’s production sounds great, rough and ferocious. The only true way for Floodstain to sound. Let’s head to the big stages with these guys and Slave To The Self Feeding Machine might just be the right vehicle to get there!

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Asylum On The Hill – Passage To The Puzzle Factory

Asylum On The Hill – Passage To The Puzzle Factory
Mine’s Bigger Than Yours / Suburban – 2010
Rock/Stoner
Waardering: *****

Shamelessly praising a record all the way up to heaven is my forte; honoring my heroes my only goal. Even so; I will still always mention if the record is in fact as good as I claim it to be. Now that the album Passage To The Puzzle Factory of hero Dave Angstrom’s new band Asylum On The Hill has finally arrived; I can state without any sweat of my sack that it is even better then I had dared to dream! The humor and sheer fun of making the record crackles right through the speakers; nowhere do they take themselves too serious and it is obvious the guys are here to rock as hard as they can. Counting interludes and hidden tracks they do this rockin for eighteen songs on end. Danko ‘The Mango Kid’ Jones also drops by to do a soft little ditty on the song Last Ride and there are two calmer moments to enjoy. But otherwise we have an album that has logically been filled with grinding, steaming stonerrock, odd breaks, massive riffing, incredible drumwork and Dave’s versatile, emotional and overwhelming voice! You would almost start hoping that Hermano is now a thing of the past…

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Tricorn – Tricorn

Tricorn – Tricorn
Self released – 2009
Stoner
Waardering: ****

You have to attend a show performed by the band originating from Portsmouth England called Tricorn for a lesson in how to bring pure stoner with an awesome groove. Recorded in sunny Greece, their self titled debut album sounds like a true ode to how it all got started. The foursome have already made a name for themselves in the earlier named Greece and also Germany with their explosive mix of old school stoner, interlaced with some grunge and metal influences. Think Fu Manchu, Kyuss and of course Sabbath. A dash of Alice in Chains and an occasional reminder of Orange Goblin. Think raw, smokey and smelling of whisky and beer type vocals over aggressive riffing and a driving force. Crunchy, tasty and the absolute right choice for any begin of a memorable night. Let’s hope these guys come our way real fast… Or perhaps are invited to perform at Roadburn 2010? Grin!

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Gozu – Locust Season

Gozu – Locust Season
Small Stone / Bertus – 2010
Stoner
Waardering: ****

Well; we can be short and sweet about this one: Gozu is incredible! Okay, let’s add a little bit of information then. The American born Gozu treated us to a wonderful piece of music back in 2008, but with their new album Locust Season we can write home to mommy or Santa Claus if that tickles yer fancy more. Testosterone stoner of the top shelf, a slightly less ingenious version of early Queens of The Stone Age, but not slightly less tasty. The straightforward muscle rock is unforgiving and rough. Add to this the powerful and diverse throat of singer Marc Gaffney and you are ready for a hardy kick under your Gozu!

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Nosfell – Nosfell

Nosfell – Nosfell
Polydor/V2 – 2009
Rock/Alternative/Folk/African/Arabic/Scat/Beatbox
Waardering: ****

Strange creatures; those guys that hide behind the name Nosfell. Cause it is not only the name of the Frenchy who besides Nosell also refers to himself as Labyala Fela Da Jawid Fel; which means something along the lines of ‘The Man Who Walks And Heals’. It is also the name of the trio comprised of a cellist; a drummer and multi-instrumentalist Nosfell himself. But this is not the only reason we can call these guys strange or maybe weird; cause they also claim to hail from the planet Klokochazia. That’s why most of the lyrics are of course sung in Klokobetz; the mother tongue. Well, enough with all the silliness; let’s leave that on some stool somewhere or maybe a dressoir. Produced by Alain Johannes their third self titled record in a wonderful piece of music. Different, diverse and enthralling. Besides Alain we also hear Josh Homme and Brody Dalle doing a little ditty; in a song reminiscent of something Waits called Bargain Healers; which by a matter of fact is the first song in which husband and wife both do a first voice bit. We get pulled down the waterfall of musical emotion that sounds like pure rock, inspires with jumpy funk and captivates the soul with folkballads. Tres gracieux!

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Hytest – Dishing Out The Good times

Hytest – Dishing Out The Good times
Impedance / Sonic Rendezvous – 2010
Rock/Punk/Stoner
Waardering: ***

When you get approved by Nick Oliveri; get to be the pre-show for his band; get hired to play in his band and get invited to scour the dirty streets of the continent with the man you must be damn freaking good or errrr bad. The trio hailing from the industrial Wollongong Australia has that dubious honor. On their third release and first full sized record Dishing Out The Good Times you get what these facts would lead you to expect. An eclectic mix of different rough styles. Wild punk, beaten garage and fuzzy stonerrock. Even the voice of one of the two singers Mick Curly or Luke Armstrong’s sounds a little like Mr. Oliveri from time to time. But this is no watered down version of Mondo Generator. On the contrary; the pure rawness and unpretentious directness are majestic and extremely tight. Twenty-eight minutes of stiff rock sheer perfection for the hasty individual!

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Alain Johannes – Live at Lowands

Alain Johannes – Live at Lowands
2010
Rock/Accoustic
Waardering: *****

Finally! A solo record of Alain Johannes is set to appear very soon. The potentate is mostly known by his work with Queens of The Stone Age and Them Crooked Vultures. But his career has already had many other high points. His first band Anthym featured members of what would become Red Hot Chili Peppers and with the love of his life he formed Eleven a bit later on. He worked with among others Chris Cornell, Silverchair, Puscifer, Arctic Monkeys, Spinnerette, Nosfell, Gutter Twins, Unkle, Mark Lanegan, Mondo Generator, Millionaire, Eagles of Death Metal and was part of the famed Desert Sessions. He is, if you will, part of the famous Rancho De La Luna studio furniture. Grieved by the loss of his love Natasha Shneider he started writing and writing. The result is the soon to be released album Spark. Which we was ‘ordered’ to record by his friends, even though he found it much to personal and therefor hard to do. During his performance on the Lowlands festival we were already treated to a few of those genuine sparks… Preciously fantastic and unbelievably pure!

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Peter Pan Speedrock – We Want Blood

Peter Pan Speedrock – We Want Blood
Suburban – 2010
Speedrock
Waardering: ****

The trio from Eindhoven Rockcity, which has been making name for themselves under the aptly chosen moniker Peter Pan Speedrock, is back with a new album. We Want Blood is their tenth full album and was recorded in their very own studio. Thirteen heavy rocksongs that put the pedal to the metal and race to the finish line. Only the song Just Another Day takes the foot of the gas and the instrumental Bakkerburg seems to be the perfect pit stop for beer and gasoline. On other fronts it’s all hard, tight, dirty, mean and incredibly good. Hatseflats bass, hopsakee drums and swaydragging guitar! Peter Pan once again provides the daily needed dose of adrenaline and the right freakin festive energy. I for one cannot wait till Speedfest motherfuckers!

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U.S. Christmas – Run Thick In The Night

U.S. Christmas – Run Thick In The Night
Neurot – 2010
Rock/Psychedelica
Waardering: ****

The gentlemen and woman of U.S Christmas chose an incredibly awful name for their band. Luckily; this is nowhere near any reflection of the music the group produces. On their new record Run Thick In The Night the seven-headed monster displays a wonderful combination of a multitude of music-genres. Slow, wrecking psychedelic bluesrock interchanged with slicing guitars and walls of sound not alien to bands like Neurosis. After which the sound is brought down again and they intersperse some Americana, folk or country after which the tempo rises once more and so does the volume. And this continues on, for more then 76 minutes! The mostly melancholic and gloomy timbre needs to be experienced, not just listened. A darkened room, headphones and doors locked so nobody can disturb. Damn fine record for these early evenings during this rainy fall…

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