Released Today, But An Instant Classic

 BRANT BJORK: 

ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE DESERT

Stoner rock legend Brant Bjork has teamed up with stoner rock legend Mario Lalli on bass, and soon to be stoner rock legend Ryan Güt to produce an instant contender for stoner rock album (and album cover!) of the year.  Brant has always surrounded himself with great musicians, but this lineup may be his greatest ever.  I recognize how strong a statement that is, but stand by it.  For me, "Once Upon A Time In The Desert" exceeds the Ché album, which happens to be one of my favorite albums of all time.

You be the judge:

This one reminds me of "Avenida del la Revolucion", another favorite of mine.  Just shows that Brant never forgot what it felt like to be a teenager.

Rock Legends:

Graham Bywater Releases New Music

 NEW TORSO COMING SOON

Graham Bywater, driving force behind the band Possessor, is soon to release his second solo project.  The first Torso album was excellent, if a bit too short, and this second effort promises to be even better.  Check out the second pre-released track: 

"Brain Cells" will release in September, on Friday the 13th, and you can pick it up here.

Happy Labor Day Weekend

Released Today

 THIS JUST IN:

MAMMOTH VOLUME:

RAISED UP BY WITCHES

A new Mammoth Volume album is an automatic purchase for me, but I am confident it will take me weeks to get my head around this one.  This is definitely their most ambitious album, as they enter lots of new territory.  No single track could hint at the variety of songwriting ideas on this album, but this song is an early favorite:

Mammoth Volume are Swedish.

Thay are:

Jörgen “Aston” Andersson: vocals 

Daniel Gustafsson: guitars and keys

Kalle Berlin: bass

Nicklas Andersson: drums, percussion, vocals

Also released today.......

DELVING: ALL PATHS DIVERGE

Delving is a solo project by Nick from Elder.  Another album with a multitude of musical ideas that will take lots of time to fully comprehend.  I will also say that I purchased this album by the end of the first song I heard, which was Sentinel:

When you were younger, weren't there albums for which you'd plant yourself perfectly between the speakers, stare at the album cover and listen to the entire thing in one sitting?  This is one of those albums for me.

All Paths Diverge was written entirely by Nick DiSalvo, originally from Massachusetts

Nick also performed the entire album, with help from 

Fabian de Menou on the Rhodes and upright pianos, and

Michael Risberg adding guitar ambiance on "Zodiac"

An Island Playlist to listen to during the Dog Days of Summer.

 

Stranded Island Heavy Metal, Hardcore and Dark Music Playlist

It's the "dog days" of summer in the US and I've been thinking a lot lately about what my playlist would be if I found myself stranded out in the sea. Of course the image above was hastily created with Perchance's AI. Good ole Tom Hanks has seen some shit. Anyways, I'll keep this brief. 

Here's my top 10 Island Playlist. 

1. Woods of Ypres - Woods 4 - The Green Album

2. Thrawsunblat - Canada

3. JESU - JESU

4. Keelhaul - Keelhaul II

5. Deadoy and The Elephantmen - If This is Hell, Then I'm Lucky

6. Groundwork - Today We Will Not Be Invisible or Silent

7. Tool - Fear Innoculum

8. Agolloch - Mantle

9. SAOR - Aura

10. Spectral Tower - Spectral Tower

This is a playlist designed for weeks of sustenance. Enjoy and feel free to comment with your own Island playlists.

Desert Rock Classic

 

FREE RIDE: ACIDO Y PUTO

It's Old, It's New, It's An Instant Classic:

Ten Out Of Ten

If you play this album for stoner rock fans who are unfamiliar with Free Ride, every one of them will guess this band is from California, and a few may even think you're playing a Fu Manchu or a Nebula album they've never heard of.  This is why I say it's old; it is reminiscent of the early "desert rock" bands.  But this is no rip-off or re-hash of any classic tunes.  Rather, it's a set of nine flawless tracks that pay homage to that old sound while being one hundred percent fresh and new.

I had "hearted" every single track on this album after just the first listen, and still can't get enough.  Easily one of the very best albums of the year for me, but check out a couple of these for yourself:

Here's "Outsider":

And here's the trippy album opener, "Space Nomad":

Free Ride are from Spain, and are:

These are by no means the best tracks on the album; the rest are equally great, and you can order this gem here on Bandcamp.

New Playlist

 

STONER ROCK #55

After a lot of older playlists, here's a more recent one. As usual, you can catch the Album/Artist/Track info during the first 15 seconds of each song. Again, just sharing music I like in an order that sounds nice. You likely also know that I like to provide the country of origin for each band. While showing the limitations of my musical familiarity, this also attests to the variety of places on earth where we can find people who share our taste in music. Here we have bands from: Argentina Belgium Italy Norway Poland United States

Gnu Gnome!

 

TWO NEW GNOME TRACKS

Gnome's "King" album was one of the great surprises of 2022 for me, and was one of my top ten albums for that year.  Two years later we get two more tracks, both matching the excellence of that album.  Perhaps these new tracks will be part of an upcoming album, but I couldn't wait to find out, and purchased them as soon as I heard them.

Released on June 28:

And released today:

Don't let the antics in the videos distract you from just how heavy, ass-kicking, and catchy both of these songs are.

Gnome are from Antwerp, Belgium, and are:

Rutger Verbist: Drums

Geoffrey Verhulst: Bass, Vocals

Egon Loosveldt: Guitar, Vocals

You can find these gems here on Bandcamp.

That's all for now, but if you'd like another recommendation, I've been really enjoying the new Duel album and just haven't gotten around to a quality post on it yet.  You can investigate it here.