Band interviews and album reviews. Stoner, metal, fuzz, desert, psych, instrumental, doom music.
Download codes for desert rock "Last Call" by FUZZY CIRCUITS on The Swamp Records.
Redeem a code to add this album to your collection at theswamprecords.bandcamp.com/yum
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Grab a code below to download and add this album to your Bandcamp collection!!
DOWNLOAD the new free album from FUZZY CIRCUITS at https://fuzzycircuits.bandcamp.com/album/ethereal-blaze
Watch the music video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiUEkRPyZMA
Dig my new instrumental stoner rock album "Lone Mountain" by my cyber stoner project, FUZZY CIRCUITS. Listen on Bandcamp at https://fuzzycircuits.bandcamp.com/album/lone-mountain
Grab a code BELOW for my new AI instrumental stoner album -- 40 minutes of smooth stoner rock on Bandcamp!
The new stoner metal album "Order, Chaos, Life and Death" from Chile's DIXIE GOAT rocks so hard it makes my head hurt! And that's the whole point! This trio keeps it fresh with every track sounding unique, and the overall effect is a fantastic album. There's a layer of keyboards, too, and they are put to good use. Start listening with a code below!
Fuzzy has always had a hankering for desert rock, and now that I actually live in the Mojave Desert, my love for this style of stoner fuzz has only grown stronger. There's something about this heavy rock style that makes it easy to imagine the hot, dusty trails surrounded by cactus and red cliffs. (Not to mention that I don't live too far from Sky Valley.) So I'm excited about the new album from the deserts of Chile called "Weird Tales" by CORMANO which drops on January 1.
"Weird Tales" is the LP follow-up to the trio's 2018 debut EP "EPXX18" and it keeps the same fuzzy desert rock sound with a dash of sinister spaghetti western overtones.
The album kicks off in grand style, with an overture with a heavy, epic riff that seems to announce, "This album is going to kick your ass." And indeed, the next track, with its eponymous title, does indeed unleash the next level of fuzz with the addition of vocals. These three dudes bang out a lot of sound for a three-piece, while keeping things tight and energetic in the way that only a trio can do it.
"Bury Me With My Money" wastes no time going political with its declaration of greed, but the real highlight is the guitar work and thundering drums in the middle of the song.
"El Caleuche" slows things down a bit, and keeps the spaghetti western flair going with the church bells, but then kicks in with the fuzz before it heads into heavy psych territory with extended guitar licks and layered effects.
"Urknall" brings back the vocals (this time in Spanish) and really gives the drums a chance to stand out, with extended drum solos and placing them near the top of the mix.
"Rise From Your Grave" has more of the heavy psych guitar work that we heard on "El Caleuche" with the addition of vocals.
"Futuere" is a flat-out rocker, and the finale "A Boy And His Dog" wraps up the album with a somewhat melancholy tale that ends with a bang.
"Weird Tales" is non-stop heavy energy from start to finish, with a variety of sonic styles to keep things fresh, so check it out on January 1 and ring in the new year with some great desert fuzz.
Fuzzy's Favorite: It's a tough choice, but I think the psychedelic vibes on "El Caleuche" make it stand out.
From the band:
"Weird Tales" is the first LP from Chilean Stoner 'N Roll band Cormano. The eight songs talk about ancient monsters, old western landscapes, and dystopian alternatives and other weird stories.
Cormano is from Santiago, Chile with members:
FFO: 3Demons, Inferous, and Electric Cult.
Follow the band on Bandcamp to find out when "Weird Tales" is released on January 1 at https://cormano.bandcamp.com
SPACELORD drops their new album "False Dawn" on November 5, and you can catch a few of the tracks right now on Bandcamp. This duo from New York will blow your mind with their unique blend of desert rock and heavy psych. A lot of time and effort went into these songs, and the result is an album full of heavy riffs and mellow melodies. Listen to the pre-release tracks from Spacelord's "False Dawn" on Bandcamp:
False Dawn draws together the band's many influences, from 70s acid rock like Zeppelin and Sabbath to the dark, heavy sound of Soundgarden and Alice in Chains. "Some of the music was written in the days and weeks that followed the death of my brother, while some others were concepts I had wanted to explore for a long while," said guitarist Rich Root. "We're taking the personal impressions of all of our influences and amalgamating them into something that makes us feel like the music we love makes us feel."
We kicked around a bunch of art direction ideas, but we didn't have a clear vision, we were just looking for something that might inspire us. There were several artists we considered working with, and we found some amazing museum photography of ancient artifacts that might have worked. In the meantime, I was messing around with this program called Artbreeder. Artbreeder uses something called a Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) to "learn" what different types of images should look like, and which ones look best. Users then collaborate with the program by setting the parameters or mixing different images or types of images together. It has an album art setting, which is what gave me the idea to go in this direction. There were some promising images from our early experiments (I've attached an example here),
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| Early version of the album cover by Artbreeder |
but the problem is, Artbreeder knows albums have word-like shapes on the covers. But it doesn't know what words actually are, so when it generates album art it creates these weird cryptoglyphs in place of the band name and album title. We'd have to either incorporate them into our concept or just put our text over them. In the end we weren't happy with what we got out of the program. Then I started playing with Artbreeder's landscape setting. By going through several iterations, it started to learn what kind of fantastical, surreal visions I liked best. When we got this one, it was instantly clear we had a winner. So this album cover is actually a crop of a wider landscape. There's also an alternate version of it that could serve as the back cover if we're ever able to do a vinyl run of False Dawn.
Ya gotta love it when a band delivers on the promise of their demo, and Germany's KYNING ("kinning") will drop their debut album this Friday (April 9) which more than delivers on the promise of their three-track demo. Fuzzy dug the demo so much that I included a track on my "Green Fuzz Ritual" comp back in 2019. The 3 songs from the demo have been re-recorded in a full studio, and along with a previous live song, are joined by 4 new tracks. Listen now to "Bury me closer" and come back on Friday to hear the full album on Bandcamp:
So what's to dig here? Kyning works from a heavy, riff-driven foundation upon which they are not afraid to build up their music with a prog energy. And the vocals -- the singing simply puts Kyning into a league of their own. The singing stands out not only for being unique, but also in its delivery. It's a challenge for a singer to keep up with the leaps and bounds of this style of music, and singer / guitarist Johannes is more than up for the challenge.
Did I mention the progressive elements going on here? And there's also a taste of jazz and improvisation, such as the extended instrumental section in "Sacred Trickster."
The song titles and lyrics suggest these songs are about an ancient king and in fact the band's name itself is a reference to that. Here's what the band says about it --
Band name as well as the album title derive from old english - kyning, the king or kind, Ân the numeral 1, but also beginning. With tha band's name and the overall aesthetics of the cover we wanted to show things old and withered, terms and symbols that had an importance long ago but today remain hollow and obsolete. Thus the withered and overgrown throne on the cover: the image of the old king is still to be seen, but the most innocent creature - once hunted - now sits on the symbol of the kingship of yore, it's reign obsolete. Ân though gives the notion of something new, the possibilities of starting anew from the ruins of old. It also marks the start of our musical journey as a band and represents the years we play and write songs together - all coming from different backgrounds musically.
Fuzzy's Favorite: "The Once and Future King" capture's the band's blend the prog with stoner riffs and the vocals and then adds a killer guitar solo on top of that, which aims for the stars but then chills out and brings you back to earth. "Yokai's Reach" is definitely the most epic song on the album. But every song on "Ān" more than pulls its weight and you won't find yourself skipping around on this album.
With its fusion of prog & stoner, "Ān" is an album that will be unique in your collection, so be sure to follow Kyning on Bandcamp at https://kyning.bandcamp.com
Kyning hails from Germany with members:
Listen to my interview with Johannes on The Fuzzy Underground Podcast at https://fuzzycracklins.podbean.com/e/ep-5-live-streaming-kyning-talks-to-fuzzy-cracklins/
Scroll to the end for a free album code! "Unostentatious" is the debut EP from POLYMERASE which delivers a very chill blend of psych and stoner. A little slower in tempo than most, and that gives the songs a chance to explore the details in the riffs. Filled with fuzz and solos, this collection of tracks is not to be missed by fans of desert / psych / stoner music. Top rate music lies within! Listen to "Unostentatious" on Bandcamp:
I really dig the guitar tone that carries the album, with the slow pace, both of which build up to some wild solos such as the one at the end of "A Night with a Succubus." These songs don't wander around -- they have a mission to lay down a riff and build it up and send it off into outer space.
Another highlight for me is the opening riff of "Lightbringer//Lightgiver" with is haunting melody that leads into a killer song.
We don't get vocals until the last song "Green Is The Color of Evil" (which it is), and they are a battle fuzzed-out and sludgy versus clean singing, and a perfect fit for the music. Also this song kinda hits some of the sounds from The Stooges -- always a good thing in my book!
I'm definitely digging this album!
Fuzzy's favorite: All 4 of these songs are excellent desert rock, but I'll pick "A Night with a Succubus" for the best title.
Polymerase band is from Quezon City, Philippines with members:
From the band:
Polymerase started in 2014 in Quezon City, Philippines with brothers Vincent and VN but because of Life, the band has been set aside. They made a couple of recordings but was eaten into the abyss when the computer with the saved files got broken. It was only in 2020 during the pandemic when VN reminded Vincent about their long-forgotten band project, so the latter immediately went riffing and made a new recording, posted it in facebook to draw out the attention of any drummer friend who has a free time. Then, Francis, a former drummer bandmate of Vincent messaged and tried putting beats for Polymerase. After exchanging emails and ideas, Unostentatious happened. The sound ranges from the genres of psychedelic-doom, sludge, space rock, stoner metal, and everything in between. The band is hoping to release an EP or a full length by the end of this year.
We don't have a lot of bands in the Underground scene from the Philippines, so be sure to follow Polymerase band on Bandcamp to keep up with their music and news at https://polymerase.bandcamp.com
Grab a code and add this album to your Bandcamp collection! Redeem at
Heavy rockers from Mexico "3 Wheeler Band" with the new official video "The Night" from "333" -- listen to the full EP on Bandcamp:
3 Wheeler Band has CDs for "Space Tribe" and "Smoke N' Groove" with shipping from either Mexico or USA -- grab one at https://3wheelerband.bandcamp.com/merch
Follow 3 Wheeler Band on Bandcamp and Instagram.
"Warped Existence" by EVEN VAST has just gotten a release on CD from MOON RELIC RECORDS, with the addition of 5 live tracks. If you missed the album during its original release, here is your chance to discover Even Vast's heavy rock sound with some elements of grunge and doom, and absolutely killer vocals. Check out "Warped Existence" from Even Vast on Bandcamp:
I did some quick research on Even Vast, and it seems they have been around a while and started off in Italy, with a relocation to the UK and a resurgence in 2018 with "Inside Your Head" and finally this album following up in 2019. Now that they have signed with MOON RELIC RECORDS and released the remastered album on CD, I am sure we are going to hearing a lot more from Even Vast!
The live tracks really push this beast over the top, both in terms of overall length and it's always great to get live versions. But what makes these so special for me is the inclusion of the saxophone. The sax is an instrument is a rare instrument in the stoner world, but if it was good enough for The Stooges, then it should be good enough for more bands! And it sounds absolutely killer here. (The sax is on the studio cuts too, and it seems to really stand out on the live versions.)
This release is really a double album. With 5 live tracks, you can't say that you aren't getting value for your money with this!
I've got a copy of the CD on the way and I can't wait to spin it!
Fuzzy's Favorite: "Imaginary Friend (Live)"
Even Vast is from Nottingham, UK with members:
Follow the band and grab a CD at https://evanvast.bandcamp.com
Visit the Moon Relic Records web site for more killer music at https://www.moonrelicrecords.com/
If you like your stoner music to land more on the desert side of things, and instrumental, with a bit of psychedelic flair, then BLACK SKY GIANT has just the album for you. "Planet Terror" is a collection of 7 songs with slow, fuzzy riffs with clean guitar solos that sound like they were recorded at the bottom of Death Valley. Add in some choice samples, with a dash of synths, and you have an album which will keep you mesmerized all the way through. Listen to "Planet Terror" on Bandcamp:
It's probably no surprise that Black Sky Giant is from Argentina. This is definitely an album to recommend highly.
Fuzzy's Favorite: "Perpetual waves to come" but don't miss "The phantom gun" and "Ulameth (endbringer)" with their killer use of samples.
Follow Black Sky Giant (and also check out their first album) on Bandcamp at https://blackskygiant.bandcamp.com
If you dig Leonard Cohen, stop reading now and immediately get over to Bandcamp to buy "At The Bottom Of The Sea" by ACHACHAK. Deep vocals, slow riffs, and lyrics that speak from the heart of an anguished soul will leave you impressed how the stoner genre can be used as the foundation for such serious and devastating music. Check out "At The Bottom Of The Sea" by ACHACHAK on Bandcamp:
The album starts off quietly enough, but "Ride All Alone" is really more of an overture than a song in the same style as the rest of the album. Because in "Truth," the tone and intent kick into high gear, and it's a menacing kick. Slow, burning, vocals with screams in the background. At this point you realize the album is going to take (drag?) you along with it, as the singer (narrator?) tells you about his burdens.
"My Inner Peace" includes a wailing guitar solo that seems to build forever until the song suddenly ends. Watch the video for "My Inner Peace" on YouTube:
"Metaphorically Speaking" starts with the sound of rain, as if the singer is sitting on his porch and decides to hit the tape player to record his music along with his anguish. And it turns into a raw, bluesy rocker.
The antagonist's self-examination continues with "Kill The Toxic Ego," but he seems to have moved on from self-loathing towards action, as the title suggest. This one might be my favorite song on the album, which is saying a lot.
The next two songs continue with the blues-infused desert rock, and the album ends with a sort of outro with the acoustic "Last Man Standing" which wraps up the narrator's story and ties together the themes set out in the album.
This is not an album which lets itself drift into the background. It grabs your attention, and holds onto it for 40 minutes. "At The Bottom Of The Sea" by ACHACHAK is a serious album and will surely impress you with its sophisticated approach, stripped-down sound, and heartfelt vocals. Really excellent music, theme, and production.
The band calls their style "Slavic Stoner Rock" or rather, "loud spiritual stoner music" which I agree with!
From the band:
Eight tracks from these young founders of a new genre called "SSR"(Slavic Stoner Rock) came from dusty and smoked studios, surrounded by three mountains, fresh and cold air, a large lake and homemade spirits.
Achachak (Achachak meaning “Spirit“, of Native American origin) is a Croatian stoner rock - metal band from Vučipolje, Croatia. Achachak was originally formed in 1999 by „Milo” (vocals & guitar) & his brother „Miro” (drums). However, the band considers 2020. as its official year of formation when the kids are releasing their debut record „At the bottom of the sea.”
ACHACHAK band is from Vučipolje, Croatia with members:
The opening of "The Oracle" really grabs me. There's something about the slow, groovy riff that seems to announce, "Yea, the rest of this is going to be really good, too" which, as it turns out, it is. The three musicians in this band have deep roots in jazz and other music projects, and their experience shines here. There's a slight melancholy running under the smooth stoner sound waves that gives these songs a depth and seriousness that I really enjoy. Overall, these songs strike me as serious without being depressing, heavy without going doom.
The first 2 tracks are instrumental, and "Burning Bridges" ends this short journey with a vocal track. I gotta say, it's an interesting mix to have some instrumental and vocal tracks, and For The Universe pulls it off. Doesn't hurt that the vocals match the tone of the music perfectly. I really dig instrumental music, but I also enjoy great singing. So when there is a mix of the two styles, that kind of presses a lot of buttons for me.
The Midwest music scene is really killing it right now! Fuzzy has heard a lot of great music from America's heartland lately, and FOR THE UNIVERSE keeps the good vibes rolling with their debut demo EP.
New bands should take note of how For The Universe put this demo EP together. More than enough music to get you hooked, and with plenty of variety to give fans an idea of what they are capable of. This is the kind of demo that gets the buzz going and grabs the attention of fans.
Fuzzy's favorite track: "The Oracle" with its opening riff is just so catchy, but "Burning Bridges" has the vocals so I guess it's a toss-up. I could just as easily pick "Surfing On The Dead Sea" as the tie-breaker.
For The Universe is from Grand Rapids, Michigan with members:
From the band:
The prog power trio includes veteran shredder, Eddie Killowatts, virtuoso Mike Bos on bass, and jazz infused, solid-rock drummer, Lauren Howard Davis. The sound takes listeners on a psychedelic trip reminiscent of Zappa, Sabbath, and Soft Machine while conjuring a sound never quite encountered before.
You can read more about the band in this recent newspaper article.
For The Universe tells me they are working on a full album, to which I say, Right on!
Follow the band to find out when their music drops at https://musicfortheuniverse.bandcamp.com