 Written by: The Administrator
In the vested interest of promoting Cool Shit that Fucks™, it is high time, methinks, to bring back a Sleeping Village feature that has been unfairly relegated to the ash heap of history. That's right, dear reader. It's time to reignite On The Horizon. Not a review per se, and not an album announcement, but a third secret thing that lurks awkwardly betwixt the two. The forthcoming project in question? Earthbong's third album, the appropriately entitled Church of Bong, which drops August 25th on some fun formats via Black Farm Records and Evil Noise Recordings--see below for release details. If the name sounds familiar, you may this trio's 2020 album Bong Rites, which we reviewed within these humble halls.
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Written by: The Administrator
It's been quite some time since today's project in question was released, but god-tier stoner riffs are always gonna get the time of day 'round these parts. Moreover, when they are this damn enjoyable, you can bet your ass they'll be stuck in rotation for a good long while. When it comes to god-tier stoner riffs, the subtly monikered ROBOT DEATH MONKEY have decidedly got the goods, delivering a cheekily flippant EP with rough 'n' tumble component parts aplenty. Intergalactic Party Powder is chock full o' groove, a crude sense of humor, an apparent love for the swagger of Orange Goblin's catalog, and a healthy dose of Neil Fallon's phlegm nasty sneer. The riffs are big. The attitude is off the charts. Let's party.  Greetings, dear reader. It is once again listmas 'round these humble halls. Time, then, to look back the music that has defined our collective year. The non-exhaustive AOTY smorgasbord hath begun.
My personal EP and album lists shall follow in (less-than) good time, but before we get to that, the community speaks. This list is a collaborative effort, with ten distinct music writers, musicians, and fans lending a few words. Hopefully the variety of perspectives results in a list containing at least one or two releases that speak to you! This, of course, is far from exhaustive--indeed, every single one of ye could undoubtedly highlight a vast number of deserving albums not appearing here. A massive thank you is in order to everyone who contributed words and energy to this lil' project. As always, we couldn't have done it without ye! Please check out the writer's respective projects and links. This list constitutes the first five entries, with another five to follow. Read on! This year, in an attempt to cover more music that would all-too-oft slip through the very large cracks, we're trying something new and novel around these parts. Namely, we're gonna actually publish the little one-off reviews that were previously (and arbitrarily) deemed too short for publication. In that spirit, here's a mini-review of a swampy single worth checking out.  Written by: The Administrator There's a lot that I love about the intrinsic qualities of stoner doom, but perhaps my favorite aspect is the fairly constant relationship between quality and simplicity. More often than not, stoner music striving to complicate the formula loses me, whereas the tunes that stick to a core motif with a grimy dogged stoicism tend to win me over. Despite a catalog only boasting six tracks, Chatanooga's own Dope Skum fall soundly into the latter category. They know their strengths, they play to them. Their tracks aren't overly complex, and that's the damn point. This new single, "Folk Magic," is the first new music from the Appalachian trio since the release of their debut EP in 2020. While several of the tracks on that project felt slightly long, I quite liked Tanansi, and was excited to see something new from the Dope Skum camp hit the ol' inbox. And let me tell ye: if you're in the mood for some swampy fuzz, "Folk Magic" will hit the damn spot. This is a great track. Plain and simple. From a riffcraft perspective, the comparisons are honestly fairly endless, but in my mind, Dope Skum's approach particularly recalls the heft and organic appeal of Bongzilla. There's a tangible weight behind the bluesy central riff, a plodding-through-the-mire. An homage to a long Appalachian tradition of generational folk magic, the track itself has a very strong sense of place, pulling both from the grounded instrumentation and the atmospheric cicada-laden intro. The vocals, which are bellowed more than sung, stick to a single simple refrain of the track's title. It's a simple approach but, illustrating the aforementioned tenet, one that succeeds mightily. One does not need a hooky chorus when repeated howls of "Folk Magic!" serve, in and of themselves, as an earworm of significant proportion. I can only hope that "Folk Magic" serves as a harbinger of more great music from Dope Skum. Give it a listen and consider snagging it from bandcamp here! |
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