"Metal, Meat & Bone – The Songs Of Dyin’ Dog" is the latest album by the American art collective THE RESIDENTS, best known for their avant-garde music and multimedia works. Since their first official release, "Meet the Residents" (1974), they have released over 60 albums, numerous music videos and short films, three CD-ROM projects, and ten DVDs. They have undertaken seven major world tours and scored multiple films. Pioneers in exploring the potential of CD-ROM and similar technologies, the Residents have won several awards for their multimedia projects. They founded Ralph Records, a record label focusing on avant-garde music, in 1972.
Throughout the group's existence, the individual members have ostensibly attempted to work anonymously, preferring to have attention focused on their art. Much speculation and rumor has focused on this aspect of the group. In public, they appear silent and costumed, often wearing eyeball helmets, top hats and tails—a costume now recognized as their signature iconography. In 2017, Hardy Fox, long known to be associated with THE RESIDENTS, identified himself as the band's co-founder and primary composer; he died in 2018.
THE RESIDENTS' albums generally fall into two categories: deconstructions of Western popular music, and complex conceptual pieces composed around a theme, theory or plot. The group is noted for surrealistic lyrics and sound, with a disregard for conventional music composition.
The lineup of collaborators as featured on THE RESIDENTS' latest album, "Metal, Meat & Bone – The Songs Of Dyin’ Dog", released July 10, 2020, is as follows: Eric Drew Feldman, Carla Fabrizio, Nolan Cook, Peter Whitehead & Sivan Lioncub.
Today's tune and the first single "Die!, Die!, Die!" out of "Metal, Meat & Bone – The Songs Of Dyin’ Dog", featuring Black Francis from the PIXIES.
The French heavy metal band GOJIRA have just released their latest single, "Amazonia", taken from the upcoming album "Fortitude", set to be released April 30, 2021.
"Fortitude" stands is GOJIRA’s first album in five years and the follow-up to 2016’s Grammy nominated LP "Magma". Recorded and Produced by Joe Duplantier at Silver Cord Studio - GOJIRA’s Ridgewood, Queens, headquarters – and mixed by Andy Wallace (NIRVANA, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE), "Fortitude" is a collection of songs urging humanity to imagine a new world—and then make it happen. "Fortitude" continues GOJIRA’s career-long tradition of harnessing their music as a vehicle for environmental activism with songs like today's tune "Amazonia" and "Born For One Thing" not only surveying critical cases, but also catalyzing listeners to take action.
"Amazonia" proceeds from the song will benefit The Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB) who advocate for environmental and cultural rights of indigenous tribes in the Amazon who have suffered immensely - victims of deforestation, land loss, forced labor, violence, and harassment. A tune that brings the feel of SEPULTURA’s "Roots" into the 2020s. The band use indigenous folk instruments on “Amazonia,” adding another layer of activism upon Duplantier’s lyrics.
Monday, new week, time to introduce "Record Of The Week".
"Echoes From A Mass" is the new album with the Swedish heavy rock band GREENLEAF, like clockwork, these Swedes spread their concentrated sludgy energy to disciples of the genre by releasing "Echoes From A Mass", the successor to their 2018 epic, "Hear The Rivers".
Ten rocking pieces with a play time of fortysix minutes gives you as a listner a bombastic grooving rock album with alot of excitement that proves they dare to think outside the box and deliver a heavy roller comprised of Sebastian Olsson’s rumbling drumming performance, fuzzy guitars, Fröhlich’s haunting bass lines, Hällagård’s powerful yet ghoulish vocals and undeniable, heavy stoner, southern desert and blues vibes. "Echoes From A Mass" was recorded at Studio Gröndahl in October 2020 by former band member Karl Daniel Lidén, who also mixed and mastered the record at Tri-Lamb Studios. Lidén is recognized for his work with well-known acts such as KATATONIA, BLOODBATH, LOWRIDER and CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX, to name a few.
GREENLEAF from Sweden was formed in 1999 and is true to the roots of stoner/deseert rock but spices their songs with progressive as well as bluesy elements. Prepare for unforgettable riff-o-ramas and a mesmerizing bag of tricks!
"Needle In My Eye" opens up with Hans Fröhlich heavy bass licks and Sebastian Olssons swinging drums that gives the tune a real uplift. Blistering guitar riffs and a catchy chours in "Love Undone" will keep you moving. In the beautiful "Bury Me My Son" we get served a bluesy tune with deep and profound lyrics. Light progressive guitar picking begins "A Hand Of Might" which then develops into a bombastic catchy monster. The catchyness continues in "March On Higher Grounds", a tune that has a dusty desert vibe. In "Hang On" the dusty desert vibe has got a bit more smouldering and bluesy, with a risning theme and a chours ceremonially chants sounds like a choir in the background, really cool piece. The album closes big with "What Have We Become", southern rock mixed with country and distored guitar picking and half way true slow and rumbling drumming entres the soundscape and Arvid Hällagård’s powerful vocals repret the lyrics over and over until he falls into a chant. A big, powerful and diffrent piece from the band that ends up really good. The album "Echoes From A Mass" solid album with plenty of psychedelic, blues infused stoner rock atmosphere as it's best and shows that they still stand on fast ground and with a creatived mind can take the next step in their development, well done guys!
Sum: "Echoes From A Mass" is a very playful heavily grooving rock at its best!
Today's tune "March On Higher Grounds", filmed, directed, edited and grade by Peder Bergstrand http://www.pederbergstrand.com, taken from the new album "Echoes From A Mass", was released March 26th, 2021, enjoy!
"Faithfully" is a song by American rock band JOURNEY, and the second single from their album "Frontiers". It peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100, giving the band their second consecutive top-twenty hit from "Frontiers". Despite featuring no chorus, it has gone on to become one of the band's most recognizable hits and has enjoyed lasting popularity. In a Classic Rock article, "Faithfully" was called the greatest power ballad ever recorded.
The song was written by Journey keyboard player Jonathan Cain. He began writing the song with only the lyrics "highway run into the midnight sun" on a paper napkin while on a tour bus headed to Saratoga Springs, New York. The next day, he completed the song in full in only a half-hour. Cain connected the song's quick genesis to his Christian faith: "I'd never had a song come to me so quickly it was anointed, supernatural." Neal Schon also commented on the song's inception: "(Cain) told me he got the melody out of a dream. I wish something like that would happen to me." Cain finished composing the song on a backstage grand piano at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, where the band performed it for the first time. According to the liner notes in JOURNEY's "Time3" compilation, Cain paid tribute to road manager Pat Morrow and stage manager Benny Collins when he wrote "we all need the clowns to make us smile." He characterized the song as a "road song," remarking, "You know I'm being a good dog out here — don't worry about it."
The song describes the relationship of a "music man" with his lover. The difficulties of raising and maintaining a family and staying faithful while touring are brought up. However, he suggests that he gets the "joy of rediscovering" her, and insists "I'm forever yours... Faithfully." Cain wrote this song about the difficulty of being a married man as well as a touring musician. Soon after the song's release, he and his wife divorced. Like "Rosanna" by Toto, "Faithfully" contains lyrics delivered by the lead singer but written by another member of the band, which led many fans to believe Steve Perry wrote the song about a particular woman.
Enjoy today's tune where the music video featured a then-unique "life on tour" theme parallel to the song's lyrics, showing the band's performances in different venues and their travels around the USA. Steve Perry can be seen shaving his short-lived but talked-about moustache in the video. This video utilized footage from the documentary video Journey: Frontiers and Beyond narrated by John Facenda, voice of NFL Films, shortly before his death in 1984. The concept of the "road video" was later utilized with several other bands and artists, including BON JOVI, GUNS N' ROSES, GENESIS, MÖTLEY CRÜE, POISON and Richard Marx.
The American hard rockers CROBOT have announced the release of an EP titled "Rat Child" on June 18th. The new EP featuring some really cool guests like on today's tune "Mountain" (featuring Frank Bello from ANTHRAX), "Kiss It Goodbye" (featuring Howard Jones from LIGHT THE TORCH), "Everyone Dies" (featuring Stix Zadina from STEEL PANTHER).
Singer Brandon Yeagley shares, “We’ve grown to know the Anthrax dudes pretty well through touring and developed a working relationship in addition to our friendships. We’ve always talked about writing with Frankie because we have a lot of the same influences and that definitely shines through in "Mountain". Frankie has always lent us his ear and has been a big supporter of ours – it was a treat to work with him on something.”
CROBOT is an American hard rock band from Pottsville, Pennsylvania composed of:
Brandon Yeagley, Chris Bishop, Dan Ryan, and Eddie Collins.
Today's tune "Mountain" (featuring Frank Bello) taken from the upcoming EP "Rat Child", enjoy!
Friday, time to get up and dance a little to PATRÓN's 2nd single "Who Do You Dance For".
PATRÓN (pronounced with a Mexican accent and an "r" that rolls under the tongue like a jelly bean soaked in lysergic acid) could be the premonitory soundtrack to Roberto Rodriguez's next feature film if it were set in a post-apocalyptic and degenerative Las Vegas where the only chance of salvation would be Barry White's resurrection.
PATRÓN is a new project fronted by Lo (aka Patrón) frontman of the band LOADING DATA. The self-titled debut album was produced by Alain Johannes (QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, ELEVEN, THEM CROOKED VULTURES, Chris Cornell Band) and also happens to be the last album ever recorded in his legendary studio 11AD, in Los Angeles.
Lo had some well-known friends record the album with him: Joey Castillo (DANZIG, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, THE BRONX), Barrett Martin (MAD SEASON, SCREAMING TREES, TUATARA), Nick Oliveri (KYUSS, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, MONDO GENERATOR), Aurélien Barbolosi (ASTON VILLA) and Monique St Walker (BLACKBIRD DAYS).
PATRÓN is a melting pot of influences, a new entity, a sort of Frankenstein creature, borrowing as much from stoner rock, 50s rock n roll, the Rat Pack as from 80s pop. It’s sexy, it’s groovy, it’s loud and heavy. Heady melodies that will stick to your skin like a thirsty alcoholic tick.
PATRÓN are:
Lo aka Patrón : Lead Vocal / Guitar / Keyboard
Joey Castillo : Drums
Nick Oliveri : Bass
Aurélien Barbolosi : Guitars
Alain Johannes : Bass, Guitar, Keyboard, Vocal
Barrett Martin : Drums
Monique St Walker : Vocals
Aurelia : Vocals
Today's tune "Who Do You Dance For" was made from home during the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic. The tune was taken from the self-titled debut album, released May 29, 2020, enjoy!
"Hey Bulldog" is a song by the English rock band the BEATLES released on their 1969 soundtrack album "Yellow Submarine". Credited to Lennon–McCartney, but written primarily by John Lennon, it was finished in the recording studio by Lennon and McCartney. The song was recorded during the filming of the "Lady Madonna" promotional film, and, like "Lady Madonna", is one of the few BEATLES songs based on a piano riff.
It had a working title of "She Can Talk To Me". For many years, "Hey Bulldog" was a relatively obscure and overlooked song in the BEATLES' catalogue; it has since been reappraised by fans and a number of critics and musicians as one of the band's best rock songs.
Today's version is taken from the 2006 the compilation "Butchering The Beatles" was unleashed featuring a slew of heavy metal BEATLES' covers, including Alice Cooper's version of "Hey Bulldog" with Steve Vai on guitar, Duff McKagen on bass, and MOTÖRHEAD madman Mikkey Dee on drums. Cooper's version of "Hey Bulldog" is a nice crunchy riff on the original thanks to the talent of this one-off supergroup.
SWEET OBLIVION has a new album in the pipeline and a new single/video "Another Change" is out now taken from the upcoming album "Relentless", a record that is produced by Aldo Lonobile (SECRET SPHERE, ARCHON ANGEL, TIMO TOLKIIS AVALON) and will be released on April 9, 2021.
"Relentless" is the hotly anticipated sophomore album from the new metal project SWEET OBLIVION, which showcases former QUEENSRYCHE vocalist Geoff Tate. The self-titled debut album caused quite a stir in the international hard rock and metal scene since it brought Tate back to a musical landscape akin to the sound of the stone cold classic metal albums he released with QUEENSRYCHE during the ‘80s. But what made the album work so well was that instead of being a simple throwback, other different musical influences were thrown into the mix, allowing fans to hear Tate in a simultaneously familiar and new musical setting.
While the production and main songwriting on the previous record were handled by Simone Mularoni of DGM, this time the production was instead handled by his fellow Italian metal maestro Aldo Lonobile.
Not only does Aldo have producution and songwriting credits on the album, he also features on guitar. Other musicians appearing on the album include Michele Sanna on drums, Luigi Andreone on bass, and Antonio Agate on keyboards.
This time around, Tate is more involved in the songwriting and asked Aldo to draft a very special song for him, which he would ultimately sing in Italian. The song, "Aria", also features guitars from Walter Cianciusi and Dario Parente, who are now in the Operation: Mindcrime live band with Tate.
"I have been spending more and more time in Italy over the last few years and the people and culture have captured my heart. I truly enjoyed working with my Italian counterparts to create this classic metal album," says Tate.
Canadian rockers DANKO JONES have released a music video for their brand new single, "I Want Out", which is the first track revealed from their forthcoming album. The tune is about life as isolated, a true pandemic song. See it below.
The new record, the band's 10th studio album, will be entitled "Power Trio" and is set to be released on August 27th. It also sees the band returning to their original label Sonic Unyon Records.
"Power Trio" was produced by Eric Ratz, who also worked with the band on their 2017 release "Wild Cat and 2015 album "bloodlusty Fire Music". See the tracklisting and watch the new video below:
Included in the video is none other than the hard rock profile and my friend Biffen Jansson from Gothenburg, who has worked with almost all Swedish bands that are something. Of course, he has also been on Danko on tour.
Enjoy today's tune "I Want Out", Video directed by: Patric Ullaeus @ Revolver Film
Monday, new week and it's time to introduce "Record Of The Week".
"Sonic Mantras" is the second album from Melbourne heavy psych/shoegazers THE BLACK HEART DEATH CULT (TBHDC).
Sparkly magic mountain-drops fall from the outer cosmic reaches in the re-imagined mind-forest of The Flower Captain. Gloom/doom singer/songwriter Sasha L Smith envisions a brave new dark age of droney bliss in the sonic bazaar. Domenic Evans fret wizard, Deon Slaviero bass dealer, Andy Nunns time machine & Gabbie Potocnik Italian keys are on the magic bus they call “The Black Heart Death Cult”.
"Sonic Mantras" is an album about the heart felt frustration of humanity and how badley we take care of our planet "Earth". And when you spin the record you can hear how it's crying.
The album opens up with in a dark and beautiful manner of "Goodbye Gatwick Blues", where we get a drifty and droney piece that flows forward like the smoke of a nag champa incense. Followed up in the psychadelic "Cold Fields", where the vocals gives a chanting feel, that continues on the psych-drone-rocker "One Way Through", a very groovy tune. On the track "Trees" the band hit the brakes and bring in some 60's psych with a catchy chorus and some western guitars. Next turn comes on the first tune on the flip side, "Death From Above", gives us half paced shoegaze journey with some lovely organs by Gabbie Potocnik. "The Sun Inside" and "Dark Waves" follows the more typical layout and have some nice guitars by Bill Patching on the first one. The album ends with the first single "Sonic Dhoom" where we get serverd some psychedelic vocal and sitars that gives a world music flare. The sitar is played by David Balaban and he is giving a marvelous solo in a true spiritual mood, great track that ends this magnific album which stimulates your mind beyond our troubled times.
Sum: An excellent space glazed mantra for these troubled times, don't miss this!
Recorded & mixed at Newmarket Studio by Julian McKenzie. Mastered by Don Bartley at Benchmark Mastering. Artwork by Adam Pobiak. "Sonic Mantras" will be released on March 26, 2021 out through Kozmik Artifactz.
Pre-orders is open over at Kozmik Artifactz, and be quick, they’re already moving fast.
There’s a mailorder exclusive Gold/Black Dust variant of 150 and a White vinyl of 250 copies, all vinyls plated & pressed on heavy high performance vinyl by Pallas Group in Germany. There was initially a Deluxe 2xLP set of 100 copies which included the mailorder variant and a ltd repress of their debut album, but that is already sold out.
Sunday, time for a classic and time for wrapping the worldmusic up with a real classic. The Zambian finest psychadelic zamrockers WITCH, a Zamrock band formed in the 1970s. Widely seen as the most popular Zambian band of the 1970s, WITCH (an acronym for "We Intend To Cause Havoc"), was headed by lead vocalist Emanuel "Jagari" Chanda. The band formed during Zambia's post-independence golden days, but by the late-1970s, economic collapse and increasing government authoritarianism saw WITCH, like most Zamrock bands, fading away.[1] The band was revived in 2012 after reissues of their records became popular abroad.
WITCH formed during Zambia's post-independence golden days, but by the late-1970s, economic collapse and increasing government authoritarianism, saw WITCH, like most Zamrock bands, playing daytime shows to avoid curfews, fading away. This prompted Jagari to leave the band and pursue his career as a teacher.
After Jagari's departure, WITCH recruited Patrick Chisembele and Christine Jackson as lead vocalists. During this time, the band moved away from rock, and towards disco music. After the departure of Patrick Chisembele and Christine Jackson, WITCH's sound again shifted, now to further incorporate elements of Zambian music. This later iteration, led by Chris Mbewe, largely played kalindula music, exemplified in tracks from this era such as "Janet" and "Nazingwa".
After the mid-1980s, the band faded into obscurity and stopped playing live until 2012, when Chanda was invited to the US to revive the band. As of 2013, WITCH is touring again, with the new lineup including Jagari, alongside new members from the Netherlands, Germany, and Switzerland. The band's previous discography has also been re-released digitally and on vinyl. Since 2006, the group's music has been featured on several compilation albums curated by international tastemakers including Rolling Stone, Rough Trade, and Now-Again Records; Now-Again has included WITCH on multiple releases including the popular compilation Welcome to Zamrock!.
Today's tune "Lazy Bones", the title track from thier third album "Lazy Bones!!", released 1975. Today's video clip is when they performing "Lazy Bones" at Endless Daze Festival, South Africa, enjoy!
Saturday and we're nearing the end of this worldmusic week. For today I thought we would increase the pace a bit with
COMBO CHIMBITA, a quartet of first-generation New Yorkers whose backgrounds are Colombian and who grew up loving heavy metal, psychedelic funk and soul.
Their debut release is a futuristic concept album called "Abya Yala" where we find her folkloric mystique, otherworldly psychedelia, and a dash of enigmatic punk "No Regreso", today's tune! Enjoy!
Friday and let's continue in the world music vein and play some kora music from Gambia.
Sona Jobarteh is a unique and pioneering musical icon of her time whose renown has been rapidly flourishing globally. Born into a Griot family from the Gambia, a tradition that dates back 7 centuries, she is the first female within this tradition to become a professional virtuoso on the Kora. Her music is uniquely poised between the preservation of her rich cultural heritage and an accessible, modern style that relates to the current era and to audiences from all over the world. At the heart of her success as an artist is her dedication to humanitarian activism in the areas of social development and educational reform on the continent of Africa.
Sona Jobarteh is the cousin of the well-known, celebrated kora player Toumani Diabate as well as the sister of the renowned diaspora kora player Tunde Jegede.
Today's tune "Gambia" is the debut music video by Sona Jobarteh, in celebration of the Golden Jubilee of Independence for the Gambia in 2015.
This video features the traditional Mandinka Drum called the 'Seruba', an instrument no longer featured much in Gambian mainstream society. By featuring the drum in this song, Sona aims not only to resonate with the deep history of the Mandinka people, but also to boost and promote awareness of this instrument both in the Gambia and internationally.
Featuring: The Fab Team, Gambia (Dancers), Musafilly Jobarteh (Percussion), Mamadou Sarr (Percussion), Sekouba Bambino, Students of the ABJ Music School, Gambia and Lamin Suso
"Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" is a song written and recorded by James Brown. Released as a two-part single in 1965, it was Brown's first song to reach the Billboard Hot 100 Top Ten, peaking at number eight, and was a number-one R&B hit, topping the charts for eight weeks. It won Brown his first Grammy Award, for Best Rhythm & Blues Recording.
Consolidating the rhythmic innovations of earlier James Brown recordings such as "I've Got Money" and "Out of Sight", "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" is considered seminal in the emergence of funk music as a distinct style. As Brown sings the praises of an old man brave enough to get out on the dance floor of a nightclub ("brand new bag" meaning new interest, taste, or way of doing something), his band provides a horn-heavy backdrop with a prominent rhythm and an electric guitar riff for a hook. Both singer and musicians place overwhelming emphasis on the first beat of each measure ("on the One"). The song is Brown's first recording to feature Jimmy Nolen on guitar.
The taped recording of "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" was edited and sped up for its single release, increasing the tempo and raising the pitch by a half step. In 1991, the recording was released in unedited form at its original speed on the box set Star Time. The track includes lead-in studio chatter, with Brown throatily (and presciently) shouting "This is a hit!" just before the drum and horn intro.
In 1971 a Moroccan musician Fadoul, covered the song in Arabic. The late Fadoul and his accompanying three piece band played energetic & aggressive funk songs in 1970s Casablanca. After a stint in Paris spent soaking up the music of James Brown and other American funk groups, Fadoul returned to Morocco to release records under Fadaul et les Privileges and other monikers.
"Sid Redad" is an Arabic funk version with a punk attitude of "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag", very diffrent but still very danceable, enjoy!
LOS PIRAÑAS are an instrumental group featuring three musicians from across the country's musical landscape.
The three members of LOS PIRAÑAS can all remember when they were in high school together in Bogotá, Colombia and just beginning to play music. Back then, the joy of a riff, the heavy beat and a ripple of guitar noise were all they needed to make life worthwhile. Twenty-five years on and they’ve become internationally well-known musicians, spread across different bands, traversing multiple continents.
"Historia Natural", their third album, released October 11, 2019, recapturing the spirit that moved them as teenagers. Yet it’s a record that’s anything but basic. That youthful desire has been filtered through the prism of knowledge and time. Now it’s fuelled by a wily sophistication in the sound, and a deep, ingrained understanding of the rhythms that power their homeland. It’s innocence plus experience. And all through the album, Alvarez’s guitar is a shapeshifter, constantly mutating sound and texture. It rarely sounds straight up, but there’s never a doubt that someone is plucking the strings and bending the notes. Alvarez darts around and through the lines created by Ojeda and Galeano, leading or snapping at their heels. This is a band bristling with ideas, where the unspoken communication is so acute that all three of them can swerve together or turn on a dime.
“To me, this album is going back to where we were in high school,” says drummer Pedro Ojeda, also known for his work in ROMPERAYO. “We didn’t have so many goals back then. We wanted to play riffs, to express ourselves, to find that rough spirit.”
“We’re looking back, but with all this experience,” agrees guitarist Eblis Alvarez, who’s been part of the MERIDIAN BROTHERS for two decades. “We were too much in a comfort zone, we were getting lazy about what to do next. So we talked and came up with some concepts. The three of us have a soul bond and a long history together.”
Although they’d played music together when young, LOS PIRAÑAS only came into being as a band 10 years ago. It gave them the chance to explore the complex vitality of Colombian rhythms mixed with Alvarez’s unique blend of computer and guitar. A combination of past and future, and a power trio unlike any other.
A swirling, electric universe of music, created right in their own neighbourhood. That’s the real Historia Natural of LOS PIRAÑAS.
Eblis Alvarez: electric guitar, computer
Mario Galeano: bass
Pedro Ojeda: drums, percussion
Today's tune "Palermo’s Grunch", is a surf trip along Colombia’s Caribbean coast powered by a vallenato rhythm that suddenly dives into deep, rippling dub, enjoy!
We stay in Tucson, Arizona where we find another Latin music band called ORKESTA MENDOZA. It was founded by singer and guitarist Sergio Mendoza in 2009. Through the use of Latin percussion, accordion, brass, and steel guitars, the band's style, dubbed "indie mambo", is a combination of ranchera, cumbia, psychedelic and indie rock.
Sergio Mendoza formed Sergio Mendoza y La Orkesta in 2009 out of a one-off tribute project to the Cuban mambo king Pérez Prado, which proved too much fun to stop. Later renamed the band's name to ORKESTA MENDOZA.
Border music without borders.
Sergio Mendoza (a longtime member of CALEXICO) grew up on both sides of the US/Mexican frontier. On the band’s 3rd album, “Curandero”, his musical melding of that experience explodes from the speakers.
“You know,” Mendoza says, “I made Curandero based around boogaloo, but really, it was just an excuse to rock out. Boogaloo is the root, but Rock’n’Roll, that’s my love, too.”
“Curandero”. It’s border music, without borders. The album was released April 10, 2020
Monday, a new week and it's time to present "Record Of The Week".
"Genesis" is the sophomore album by the mystic desert rock XIXA. Formed in the heart of the deep American Southwest, XIXA is a guitar-slinging six-piece, uniquely attuned to the desert and their Latin roots. Combining gritty guitars, the bumping grind of chicha, and desert blues into a mesmerizing stew. They're also a band whose time had come to define what they call "The New Southwest"-intense, sun-bleached music shot through with an inky gothic horror that scans like the long-lost soundtrack to a cult, macabre B-movie Western.
Their debut record, 2016 "Bloodline," saw them inject heavy fuzz guitars and Latin pulses into sandy rock and roll, a potent mix that took them all over the world for two whole years. For 2019s EP "The Code" they blended psych-rock, cumbia, goth rock, cowboy folk, and windswept desert blues into a dark, simmering occult.
On "Genesis" we find that XIXA delving deeper into their admiration for Peruvian chicha, extracting and refining their core, and giving voice to their most primal instincts. Informed by the band's rich history as songwriters and storytellers, they've carved a wider space for their psychedelic rock to swell, a place where scoundrels and coyotes roam free, and magic runs deep in the earth. It is the ultimate desert trip.
"Genesis" contains ten magical tunes with a playtime of forty-two minutes. It's a wonderfully sprawling story, Morricone feeling that lies over the album like a piece of silk, from the opening tune "Thine Is The Kingdom" that serving an atmospheric and epic landscape, soaring and summoning vocals. Throughout the album, the band has a great balance in the musical roots of the modern Americana and the Latin rhythms where they serve us a "smörgårdsbord" of liveliness, dance-friendly rhythms, with very great creativity that gives a wide and innovative result. "Land Where We Lie" gives us some singing by the Uummannaq Children’s Choir, the summer Latino inspired "Eclipse", the psychedelic rocker "Soma", the high tempo world music piece "Eve Of Agnes" featuring Imarhan (Algerian Tuareg desert rock quintet), that species of the tune with some Saharan desert vibes. "Velveteen" is a far-out psych beauty that follows up by the Latino galloping "May They Call Us Home", a spaghetti Westerns with Morricone floating in the space. The half-paced Tom Waits-sounding piece "Nights Plutonian Shore" is a real beauty of the blackened post-apocalyptic world and the vocals from Gabriel Sullivan are so deep and powerful and with Sergio Mendoza on piano. The album closes up with the country's slow-burner "Feast Of Ascension" in the best possible way. The album is a thrilling ride for those rockers and poppers with open minds. I really dig this and I have always been weak for bands that dare to take the turns a bit. So I do recommend this!
The lineup of XIXA consists of twin percussion (Winston Watson on drums and Efrén Cruz Chávez on Timbales and percussion), keyboards (Jason Urman), bass (Hikit Corbel), alongside twin guitar leads (Gabriel Sullivan and Brian Lopez who both share lead vocals).
Sum: This is the long-lost soundtrack to a cult, macabre B-movie Western.
Today's tune "May They Call Us Home", taken from "Genesis". Written and Directed by Charlie Stout - http://www.charliestout.comFeaturing Howe Gelb as The Enlightened OneMystic Bolo-Ties by Heliotrope - http://www.heliotropemetal.com, Enjoy!
