Which Conan album? I’ve never really got into them, when they started I was going down a darker path, lots of EHG, Khanate, Iron Monkey’s Our Problem on near constant repeat, Burning Witch, Buried at Sea, Army of flying robots, Thou, etc & never really invested the time in Conan.
It’s not really solo stuff but back when I was in bands he was in Agent of the Morai, we played a few gigs together & being up in Leeds often bumped into each other even when not playing, their (AotM) singer started dating someone I knew too so there was a lot of crossover. They have an album called Left With nothing, I did their split, you can find it & lots of other gems / horrors here…
I’m also a fan of Thou, although they’re quite hard to keep up with. Seems like every other week there is a new release from them!
Conan I mostly like for tone tbh, just a kind of weighted blanket of syrupy, sludgy fuzz, it’s fantastic. It’s not the most complex of music (the whole caveman battle doom thing holds true imo) but the raw sound is worth the price of admission for me. I’m hoping to catch them in Manchester later in the year (having just missed Fu Manchu 😔).
Thou are sodding fantastic, how anyone can put out such a volume of work and it all be good I have no idea, their cover of Senseless Apprentice by Nirvana is astounding.
Tone is such an important thing, I used to review music (which partly led to starting the label) & so many bands were just weak, there was a band doing the rounds at the time called something like Miserycord and they were playing everywhere in front of a wall of greens from Matamp, I managed to track down a CD of theirs and was so disappointed I turned off part way through track 2, put on Black Pyramid after and was like “now we’re talking”.
Never seen Fu, they were supposed to play the Bulldog bash but their label folded so had no money to send them, I think the punk band Snuff played instead, I was maximum disappointed.
Sadly obscure. That AIS tune is great, and totally not what I was expecting from the title…
Anyway. In respect of the principles of Chekhov’s Gun, I needs must submit a Thou track for my selection this week:
Aside to being generally awesome alone Thou are almost more awesome still when collaborating. This joint effort with Emma Ruth Rundle is a case in point, an amazing range of textures and sounds in one cohesive whole. The gear change from almost-black-metal back to the clean vocals and almost folky sounds at around the 3 minute mark is masterful.
There’s am Earth’s Bees make honey in the lion skull feel to parts of that Thou EER track. I’m not sure the clean vocals do it for me, I should like it as I like both of them individually but couldn’t get into this album as much as I thought I would.
I was asked to “explain” my music to some people over a cheese & wine night this weekend… Despite trying to delve into the dynamics, the time and tempo changes, the influence & diversity of the genre, I even went into the social acceptance of music when compared to films & suggested their cheap Bluetooth speaker wouldn’t do justice to it all etc, it didn’t go well & quickly reverted to Jamiroquai & Sam Fender.
Was tempted (for a laugh) to put on Sleep’s Jerusalem
But I went for Iron Monkey’s Bad year (Had to find a Work Safe artwork for this link)
and Electric Wizard – Vinum Sabbathi
Neither of which are particularly harsh or extreme.
Ha, yes. I had a friend who was massively into music of more or less any and every sort, had an encyclopedic collection and knowledge — and whenever someone tried to ask him about a rare band he didn’t like (Pink Floyd springs to mind) his go-to response was “Not my cup of tea, sorry”.
I think there’s pretty much no point trying to explain music in that sense; you either hear it and go “Hey, that’s cool” or you say “Nope”.
Interesting question as to what would be a good “gateway drug” representative sample for a newcomer to the genre…
…and hats off for managing to sneak three tracks in for the price of one 😀
If you are into comedy films no one has a problem, if you’re into horror, no one has a problem, if you’re into action or romcom, no one has a problem but if you are into horror music then immediately everyone throws devil horns and is a nob about it… visual media doesnt bring out the same issues that audio media does.
Gateway drug is QOTSA Songs for the deaf.
Me: You know Dave Grohl? The chap from Foo Fighters?
Them: Yeah everyone knows him
Me: Well he took some time off & played drums for a band called QOTSA
Them: I think I heard them on the radio
Me: you probably did (plays them SFTD)
Me: So their guitarist produced an Arctic Monkeys album but he was also in a band called Kyuss
Them: Are they any good
Me: I’ll play you some
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…
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Them: So I quite like Sunn0))) but much prefer Flight of the Behemoth to White 1, have you anything more like that.
There are lots of bands that do the heavy instrumentation combined with sweet/singalong melodies sort of thing, but Dave Grohl as an entry point is pretty much perfect. More or less everyone has heard Foo Fighters, and Dave Grohl is so apparently likeable that it seems impossible to object to embarking on a musical journey with him.
For people of a certain age, Fu Manchu were on the Tony Hawks PlayStation game so many will have heard California Crossing & OM seem to be popping up on a few skate & BMX vids but if you are watching those you’ve probably got alternative music tastes already.
I have posted Elder before, but they released this teaser track for their upcoming new album this week just gone, which is super exciting! Kind of like a continuation of the ROAFW sound to my ears, which is welcome (Omens was good, but didn’t grab me in quite the same way).
Haven’t looked to see which other Kyuss tracks have been posted but they played this at my bandmate’s funeral last week so it’s getting my nomination for this week.
