As you MAY have noticed, I haven't posted for a while now....for a lot of reasons which I don't find necessary to mention. Anyway I decided to put Stoned Sun Vibrations on hiatus and concentrate my efforts to Downtuned Magazine ('n' Radio). Many of you probably know that Downtuned Mag is dedicated to the Greek heavy rock scene but since I've started Downtuned Radio too, I'm thinking of including posts about releases from all over the world. Apparently I'm going to keep a ratio but we'll see how it'll evolve.
From now on, you can find me on Downtuned Mag. And for any bands interested in reviewing/including them in radio's rotation etc., you can come in touch with me through the contact form over there. As I wrote above. I'll try to keep a ratio and at least in the beginning I'll try to "promote" mostly "smaller", more independent bands that deserve your attention.
So I want to thank each and everyone of you out there who supported, read, promoted and helped this blog. Also a big fat thanks to all the bands which helped SSV in their own way.
That's all for now folks! Thanks again! Maybe SSV will be back someday. Or maybe Downtuned will become better than SSV.... Who knows.
Be well and stay heavy!
Cheers,
Thanos
PS: Rock Trips Mixtapes will be back soon.... They'll be the only thing posted from now on. Perhaps some other personal comps too.
Almost two years after their demo, these Polish weed-worshipers are back with a killer EP full of raw riffs and heavy destructive tunes. They grab you and drown you in their fuzzy, sludgy, downtuned, distorted abyss from the first second.
The EP contains 4 tracks (two of them were in their demo too) and they will totally gorge your appetite for massive stoner riffs, bass heavy lines and monolithic drumming.
If you are one of the weedian-sludge pilgrims out there, you're gonna love this.
Praise the Bong!
I recently discovered this great band. Let's start with a short bio taken from Last.fm: "Gila was a German band that, like Amon Düül II and others, started out as a radical hippie commune. Springing out of Stuttgart, Germany in 1971, Gila’s sound was based around the guitar talents of Conny Veidt, who was later a member of Popul Vuh. Gila’s classic debut album, Gila(1971), is an instrumental improv spacerock extravaganza that can stand proudly alongside better-known works by Ash Ra Tempel, Pink Floyd or Amon Düül II. After much touring, Veidt disbanded Gila and joined Popul Vuh. But soon enough, he would pull Gila out of the mothballs for a second album, the less-radical-sounding “Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee”. They disbanded in 1973."
They released two studio albums and one live.
The first one "Gila" or "Free Electric Sound" (1971), consists of long improv space and acid rock jams mainly instrumental with some vocals here and there. Heavy guitar solos, solid bass and great drumming while in background an amazing spacey atmosphere is created by trippy liquid sounds and organs. Nothing excessive and tedious. Just beautiful "simple" music and spacey trips created not from anything electric but from guitar and keyboard craftsmanship.
Their second and last album "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" (1973) has nothing in common with their first one. B.M.H.A.W.K. is in the same spirit as Popol Vuh's second era. And it's not surprising at all since for this album P.V.'s Florian Fricke and Daniel Fichelscher joined Gila. Well, if you liked "Free Electric Sound" probably you'll get disappointed from this. But please be patient and give it a chance. This is a brilliant release as well. It has great atmosphere, wonderful folk melodies created by piano, acoustic guitars and more vocals along with some psych elements. As I said it reminds me of Popol Vuh. This is the best description I can give. It's an absolutely great album.
"Night Works" (1972) is a live recording from Cologne (all tracks are new and not included in other releases) and it's an amazing release (personally I LOVE IT). It's well-played, spacey, hypnotic, mesmerizing.... If you want a better description, read what I wrote for "Free Electric Sound" and add some more feeling and passion for this one. Probably, cause it's a live, it gets you to a deeper trip in space abyss. Guitar, bass, drums, organ, all come and go, bursting into a pandemonium, exploding like 1000 suns and then take you in the calm silent dark side of the moon. An astonishing release and historical document too. The only downside is that it was a live broadcast by a radio station and the last track("The Needle") was cut at 52secs by the station because the given time was up.
First release for Dead Sea Apes from Manchester, it's a 3-track EP consisting of 3 different remixes of Soy Dios and it's really great. The best description I can give is that they take you inside a lucid dream.
They have a subtle trippy drone in background which shows you the way inside the dream, then drumming is coming to build the world which you are going to live for the next minutes and finally the guitar creates the creatures you are going to meet with it's psych,fuzzy melodies while the bass-lines complete their mission by closing all exit paths from this dream to reality.
The thing is that the more you hearing it, the better it gets. I like the development and structure of their tracks (although I would like to come to a psych,more high-energy burst at the end). Furthermore, they have the ability to show the band's different aspects in just one track. You can feel their psych side, their ambient and drone effects along with the post rock feeling.
As a conclusion, I totally loved them and it managed to travel me in the back-sides of my mind. I want to believe that we'll have more news from them soon.
Here is the press bio,just to know them better: "Dead Sea Apes are Brett Savage (guitar), Nick Harris (bass) and Chris Hardman (drums). They've been creating music together since mid-2009. They're based on the outskirts of Manchester, rehearsing amongst the crumbling former mills and warehouses where the M60 meets the upper reaches of the Mersey. Dead Sea Apes have a 'Third Mind' approach to playing, possessing that strange telepathy that only a handful of bands appear to share. Their music is often epic, wide reaching and transcendent, influenced by landscapes local and non-local.
Their debut single Soy Dios was released in December 2010, a nine-minute instrumental taking its inspiration from the Mexican psycho-Western film El Topo and backed by two equally epic remixes.
As well as working as an instrumental trio, Dead Sea Apes regularly collaborate with other musicians. Recent guests have included Canadian singer-songwriter Gabriel Minnikin and Stray Light's Ellen Poliakoff. In December 2010 they performed a one-off gig with legendary CAN vocalist Damo Suzuki.
Dead Sea Apes are currently recording more tracks and arranging gigs for 2011."
*Thanks to Brett from Dead Sea Apes for coming in touch.
You can get their release just for 3₤ from their bandcamp.
Not much info around about these Swedish guys. Before 12 years they released a 10" and a 7" but nothing more since then. I didn't find anything for their present status too, so I think that they are disbanded.
What we have here is great psych stoner with a high voltage feeling (especially their 7"). I'm sure if they had continued, they would have offered us some great albums. And of course, their lives would have been awesome too cause this kind of music is to be listened live on stage.
Here is a 12" split from Ohio's Puffy Areolas and Philadelphia's Purling Hiss released on Record Store Day. Each band contributes with one track of fuzzy psych epicness. Further description is unneeded. Get it and ENJOY! Cheers.
I always have enough time for good hc/sludge like the one that Snakedriver bring to us. Coming from Little Rock, Arkansas they recruiting their downtuned guitars along with their aggressive blood-thristy vocals and their heavy sludgy attitude, just to blew up your head.
If you are into Buzzoven, 16, Iron Monkey, Cavity and this kind of stuff just dig them.
One thing before I write anything else. You should check this release! Coming from Kiev, Ukraine, this trio bring us some first quality psych stoner full of groove and huge riffs.
Great thick production, excellent atmosphere, awesome vibes blasting your eardrums and mesmerizing,ceremonial (Om-ish in a way) vocals.
The only disadvantage of this album, is the small duration (only 30min) so be prepared and put repeat-playing in your player. Highly recommended.(And please label-people, sign them..)
I have never heard anything from these British guys since now. I found this by chance, few days ago and I have to say that rocks. Distorted noisy sludgy rock with great raw production, it is made to destroy ears. Nothing more,nothing less.
Thriller surely is an exciting album to hear. It has a kind of primitive feeling coming from these fuzzy distortion-on-distortion guitars and the rumble drumming constantly blasting out the sub-woofer.
I totally recommend this one to anyone enjoying his stomach being vibrated by noisy grooves. I'm going to check their other works too and post them if necessary(hoping they are as good as this one).
Few days ago I posted about these Scottish guys here, about their new work which is going to be released in a while. And I wrote about how great they are and all these stuff. Well, yesterday I found out that they have some gig and jam recordings in their bandcamp page. So here they are (don't miss them!):
Cozmik Live Aktion (2010)
This a collection of gig recordings dated from their debut gig in April 2010 to September 2010. Grab it straight from their bandcamp page.
Psychonaut (2011)
This is a collection of early jams/rehearsal room recordings and various other ditties (Dating from February 2010 to December 2010. Get it straight from their bandcamp page.
If you don't like Om just pass this post. Whitebuzz is a trio from Hannover and obviously they adore Om and Sleep. Sometimes, I get confused and I think that I'm listening an album which Om never released.
But let's be fair. Nevertheless these guys created a multidimensional album which is a work of good songwriting. They took the sludge from Eyehategod and Sleep,the ritual feeling of Om and added some space attitude to create five monolithic psych jams of over 70min total playing time.
This is music for headphones. You have to be in a certain state of mind in order to join their ceremony. It needs time and intentness of thought to feel and enjoy their music.
Yes it isn't something original and yes it is like Sleep-meets-Om but it isn't a pesky rip-off in any way, just some great long slothful heavy stoner jams that blows your mind.
And since I'm a great fan of Om it surely fits me.Cheers!
Few days ago a new site was born and it's called Downtuned Mag. As you can see,it is made to support Creece's heavy scene. You can find info about Greek bands,their releases,lives and events in Greece(and outside of it) as well as news and stuff about bands from all over the world which will visit our country.
You're all welcome to check it out and submit your suggestions,info and whatever you want.
Today I opened my mailbox and I found an email from the guys behind The Cosmic Dead. I haven't heard anything from them before so I checked them right away...And then,WOW! Hell yeah! I was found in front of a surprise. My mind starting to melt while weird outer-space images intruded my eyeballs. I was popping-up among universes and introducing myself to weird little colorful creatures.
Back to reality now..I had quite a long time to hear a new release like this one. It's a perfect acid-soaked psych/kraut/space trip far above our universe. These space travellers from Glasgow,create one of the most astonishing releases for this year. It's inspirational,it's trippy..it's the right psych deal. Just think about that their debut will be out on the German label "Who Can You Trust? Records" which is the same label released White Hills' "Live on WFMU", Sylvester Anfang II "Buda Rehearsals" and Gnod's "Livebirth".
The cassette will be out somewhere in late April, it's a 4 track affair, 40 minutes each side, tracks 1-3 on side A, and track 4 filling all of side B! Since then check their tracks on MySpace and Soundcloud or get album's 2nd track "Spice Melange Spectrum" from here. *Thanks to the guys from The Cosmic Dead for sending their work
Coming from Spain, The Sand Collector is a stoner band and this is their first album (which is actually a re-edition of their EP plus 4 new songs). The band was formed when Julian Velasco and Miguel A. Fernandez got together in a past formation of a doom/post metal band called Nahrayan. The band completed their form with the addition of Pepe Belda, Fernando Ferre and Tano Giménez.
Now,what to expect from these guys. Furious riffs and groovy bass that will satisfy every stoner rock fan,heavy rythm section,powerful drumming and vocals that fit perfectly in band's sound. Just to mention that some of their influences are Clutch,Spiritual Beggars and Sabbath's spirit.
In my opinion.they aren't in a way unique but their riffs are so infectious and they stuck in your head at once. It's a kick-ass release for sure.They're solid,they have thick sound and clear production that designate their best parts. So,why not to love them?
If you fancy their influences then you should check them out. *Thanks to the guys from The Sand Collector for sending me their work.
Time for some French psychedelic stoner rock! Mars Red Sky's debut album (which will be out on April,11) is totally amazing. The stoner grooves are all over while psych elements build up the atmosphere. The vocals manage to get you in a hypnotic trance state (In the beginning,vocals seem a little bit strange to me but when I used to them and join the music's spirit they were just perfect). In its total,Mars Red Sky is a beautiful well-structed album like a comet in the sky,heavy,burning and at the same time mesmerizing and spacey. Cheers!
*Thanks to the guys from Mars Red Sky for sending it.
Almost a month ago I got a mail from these guys,sending me their release. I didn't have the time to post it then and to be honest it's not really my cup of tea so I didn't give it the attention needed then.
Now it's time to reciprocate these mates from Melbourne,Australia. GvK is a genre-blend band which likes to experiment in various directions. From psychedelia to jazz and from progressive to hypnotizing groovy sounds. Even, gregorian style choral has a place in their music. All these make their sound interesting and in a way "weird" at times and they manage to hook you up. I have to add,that these guys have a great sense of humor too(which you can see it in their songs) which make their music even more better.
Personally,this album fits me. Excuse me mates for neglecting you. Fans of experimental music and stuff,check it out.It's definitely worth.
Hell yeah,this is a great album and I wonder why these guys are unsigned. I think that the band's name says it all about them. Wizard Smoke.
Well,it has it all : psych,stoner,sludge,doooom and it's rock and metal at the same time. Every track is unique and at the same time the whole album is so well-structed and concrete,and with excellent production. The small touches and the emphasis in details here and there (these keyboards are so damn good) complete "The Speed of Smoke" in an excellent way.
It's a brilliant release (better and more advanced from their previous release) and I beseech you guys from labels out there,please sign them. They are far better than many major bands' releases.
"Excuse my exaggeration but this album is so damn fucking good!"
Detroit's heavy smoked rockers EP,is indicated for listeners who want their mind melted by heavy fuzz and bad-ass bass lines. Heavy piece of weedy stoner. Cheers!
