DREW’S VIEWS
With the year of fucking 2020 in the rear view mirror, take a moment to think about all the shit we’ve had to sit and watch going on. From the crumbling state of world affairs, socially and economically, to the disconnect with our of loved ones and the ever present touch of humanity – all of it dissipated on a dime, leading to the mandate of dehumanizing our very faces for the sake of saving each other from one another. It’s crippled many industries in unimaginable ways, although we’ve adapted (still kicking and going strong) in ways that match the perseverance that our community has always carried without question. A pertinent reminder that we can prevail, overcome, and unify – even when the subject matter is at its darkest.
This is the introduction to a variety segment, where I can provide poetic rhetoric based on the work of musical masterminds that connect with me sonically. It’s an attempt to go over the top and paint the absolute most vivid picture for listeners that are looking for something new, different, and fresh – maybe even busting any preconceived notions of how a musical piece sounds, in the process. I sure as fuck ain’t the typical writer with pen and quill in hand.
With the news that Bandcamp will be extending their popular “Bandcamp Fridays” well into 2021, I hope this column will shed light and understanding on new music that really does deserve your ear. Follow me now as I guide you through what I feel are a few of the most impactful compositions released over the past year.
Lord Buffalo
Tohu Wa Bohu
I can’t place a finger on my whereabouts upon hearing this. Roaming a desolate plane on a far off planet, perhaps. What I can say is that this album perfectly depicts what that would mean. ‘Tohu Wa Bohu’ (2020) is the latest composition from Austin’s LORD BUFFALO. It is, to me, the story of acting on nothing but instinct in search of an entity – a higher being, perhaps – with writhing and erratic behaviour, as well as the search for closure, perhaps even a stoic warrior soul of sorts at the brunt of an epic journey. Smooth, ambietic delivery, instrumentally and vocally – as seamless as the fiddler at hand.
Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou
May Our Chambers Be Full
Consider this a kind of 'David and Goliath’ soundtrack of the mind. It tends towards tales of self-indulgence, the disparate perspectives of those who live together intimately, and the dead experience of life. At times, it presents as a kind of duality – the siren’s cadence on the one hand, the wretched guide tugging at the pathos of one’s sense of spiritual direction on the other. One can liken all of the tracks to an experience of being dragged into catacomb under a spell, with the subtext of battle between the gold or filth that lies deep in the gulch of human will. All throughout, backed by an ever flowing orchestra that projects the feeling of being drug down to the deep deep, soothed into an acceptance of fate, and given the yearning to rise again to the surface.
Primitive Man
Immersion
Defining depths of wrought horror, Immersion is like a gulch liquid that creeps up the walls and consumes every ounce of hope one could possibly aspire to. PRIMITIVE MAN casts the setting of being totally and absolutely lost in a space, coupled with a sense of anxious foreboding in the pursuit of hopelessness. It’s as if I’m getting coaxed into comfort, but through entrapment. A claustrophobia path set beneath the weight of a constricting tunnel, absolutely void of return.
Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol
Burger Babes…FROM OUTER SPACE!
Right out the gate, there’s a build of energy and speed in the latest adrenaline shot from RICKSHAW BILLIE’S BURGER PATROL. Like an otherworldly abduction, the almost surgically executed rhythms are enough to sweep you off your feet and violently whiplash your headspace into orbital lift off. The transitions leave my body feeling completely weightless and calm, with the occasional feeling of explosive confrontation with an alien onslaught – writhing in vacuum, however, prevailing with defiant persistence! All of this on a machine of exquisite fortification, forged thick, riveted precise, and equipped to destroy, with the capability to ward off the gnarliest of foes until the bitter end!
ROADBURN
It was Doomed & Stoned’s first official year at The Big Dance, though we’ve previously had team members attend Roadburn Festival, the now decades-long underground heavy music fest in The Netherlands. Famous for its collection of avant garde, doom, sludge, black, and death metal each year, I was pleasantly surprised when Sally Townsend told me she wanted to document it all for Doomed & Stoned this year. So for the 2019 edition of Roadburn Festival, Sally was dispatched to Tilburg, a city that traces its roots back to at least the Middle Ages, becoming a major producer or and trading post for wool.
“The challenge with Roadburn, as compared to say Psycho Las Vegas,” Sally tells us, “is there is six stages so it’s impossible to capture everything, you need to make some tough decisions! There’s clashes and one venue is a 10 minute walk from the other, and the small rooms fill up quick so if there was someone I wanted to shoot on a smaller stage I’d need to line up about half hour before the set started to make sure I could be in the front to get shots. Only two stages have a photo pit. This is why I only got 4/5 bands a day. That being said, know that I know this it’ll be easier to plan my days next year definitely hoping we can make this and annual thing!”
Following are the sights of Roadburn Festival 2019, as witnessed by Sally’s always insightful lens.
Day I
HEILUNG
LINGUA IGNOTA
MOLASSES
CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX
VILE CREATURE
Day II
FAUNA
GOLD
EMMA RUTH RUNDLE & THOU
THROANE
TRIPTYKON
Day III
SUMAC
BISMUTH
CAVE IN
MORNE
THOU: MISFITS SET
Day IV
DAUGHTERS
OLD MAN GLOOM
SLEEP
THOU