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Elf is the first studio album by Ronnie James Dio's blues rock band called Elf. Produced by Ian Paice and Roger Glover of Deep Purple, the record was released in 1972. In this album, Dio is listed by his birth name Ronald Padavona.
Though Dio had used "Padavona" for songwriting credits on earlier singles, Dio explained in an interview in 1994 that he used his birth name on this album as a tribute to his parents so that they could see their family name on an album at least once.
After this album, Steve Edwards replaced David Feinstein on guitar, and Craig Gruber took over bass duties, leaving Dio solely as the lead singer. This future lineup, minus Edwards, became the first incarnation of Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow when guitarist Ritchie Blackmore formed it after leaving Deep Purple.
By the time he came to prominence as the lead singer of Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, Ronnie James Dio had accumulated an extensive rock & roll résumé (longer than he'd like to admit, actually) performing with a number of groups, ranging from doo-wop in the late '50s to psychedelic rock in the '60s.
But it wasn't until he founded Elf in the early '70s that Dio, or Ronald Padavona as he was then called, took his first tentative steps toward hard rock. Still, with the honky tonk piano playing of Mickey Lee Soule dominating many of its songs, Elf's self-titled Epic Records debut (produced by Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover) hardly qualifies as a bona fide heavy metal record.
In fact, tracks like "Hoochie Koochie Lady," "First Avenue," and "Sit Down Honey" sound more like the Rolling Stones than Black Sabbath, and it's only occasionally ("I'm Coming Back to You," "Gambler Gambler") that the band produces truly stripped-down, gritty hard rock. "Never More" is perhaps the album's most interesting track, starting with lilting piano and a dramatic delivery from Dio (sounding rather like Freddie Mercury) before launching into a driving hard rock riff in the vein of his best work with Rainbow and Sabbath in later years. A must-own for Dio fanatics.
The band was formed in 1967 when the members of Ronnie Dio and the Prophets transformed themselves into the Electric Elves and added a keyboard player, Doug Thaler.
In February 1968, the band was involved in an automobile accident which claimed the life of Nick Pantas.[3] The accident forced a shuffling of the band member roles as original keyboardist Thaler moved to guitar (after recovering from his injuries) and the group hired Mickey Lee Soule to take over keyboard duties. Upon leaving the group in 1972, Thaler moved to New York and got a job as a booking agent — Elf was one of the bands he booked.
Elf's self-titled debut album was produced by Deep Purple members Roger Glover and Ian Paice, who happened to see Elf auditioning in 1972. For the next few years, the band enjoyed mild success as an opening act for Deep Purple.
Dio both sang and played the bass guitar until, following the release of Elf's first album, Craig Gruber was asked to join as bass guitarist. In August 1973 Feinstein quit the band and was replaced by Steve Edwards. In 1974, Elf released its second album, Carolina County Ball. That same year Dio was asked by Glover to sing on his solo album, The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast. Dio's voice gained the attention of Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, who was beginning to tire of Deep Purple and was looking for musicians to record a solo album.
Apart from guitarist Steve Edwards (and percussionist Mark Nauseef), he decided in early 1975 to use the musicians in Elf for this album, and the band Rainbow was soon formed. Though Elf had been writing and recording its third album, Trying to Burn the Sun at the same time, following the completion of that album and the Rainbow album, Elf was no more. Trying to Burn the Sun was eventually released in the U.S. in June 1975.
Personnel:
♫♪♪ Ronald Padavona (later Ronnie James Dio) – vocals, bass guitar
♫♪♪ David Feinstein - guitars
♫♪♪ Micky Lee Soule - piano, organ
♫♪♪ Gary Driscoll - drums
01. "Hoochie Koochie Lady" 05:32
02. "First Avenue" 04:23
03. "Never More" 03:50
04. "I'm Coming Back for You" 03:27
05. "Sit Down Honey (Everything Will Be Alright)" 03:48
06. "Dixie Lee Junction" 05:09
07. "Love Me Like a Woman" 03:47
08. "Gambler, Gambler" 04:26
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Size: 128 MB
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Collection of tracks from this early 70s post-Jerusalem UK hard rock group also managed and produced by Ian Gillan (Deep Purple). Includes songs from their lone single for the Deram label plus 14 other previously unreleased recordings!
The band was formed immediately after the break-up of Jerusalem by its founding members Paul Dean & Ray Sparrow along with Bob Cooke, who was eventually replaced by Brian Goff. They made the decision not to continue with the name Jerusalem out of respect for what Jerusalem was all about at that time in musical history, after all Jerusalem was a one-off moment in time creation and could never be recreated.
Although the musical direction of Pussy was very different to Jerusalem, which is surprising as Paul was the main writer for both bands (although his liking for riffs is still prominent in places), they continued to keep that raw, no rules edge which set them apart from many of the bands of the period
Gillan was far more proactive with Pussy and was actually responsible for many backing vocals on the songs (also played piano on Feline Woman version 2, some percussion and came up with the idea for 'Place in the Sky'). Pussy were a good-time band with no pretensions of being super musicians or technical geniuses. If it seemed like fun it was worth a try, which explains a lot about their sound and direction. On stage anything could happen, no rules of course! They gigged all over the UK and Germany as a main and support act, very much in the same way as Jerusalem had done.
After the disbanding of Jerusalem - (the rumors over the years said there was a second unreleased Jerusalem album - this is not true - it was actually the Pussy album) - Decca (Deram Label) decided to continue the Jerusalem contract for Pussy. The first and only Pussy release on Deram was a single entitled 'Feline Woman'. The recordings found here represent what was to be the Pussy debut album plus other various tracks all recorded between 1972 and 1973.
Rockadrome unearths another lost early 70's gem! Formed out of the ashes of Jerusalem (they made one record, I think it's way overrated), this one has a completely different sound. Glammy vocal (it's from 72, the peak of the glam era), but musically it's straight forward hard rock.
Tight, locked in drumming, Gibson guitars and some really catchy riffs make this an A list lost classic.
The music reminds me a bit of the First Daze era Pentagram stuff minus the doom elements. Some cool leads and even a slide guitar solo thrown in. The first track sounds a lot like Three Man Army but after that these guys really have their own sound.
Produced by Ian Gillan, he does a much better job than he did on the Jerusalem record. That one sounded like it was recorded in a garage. This one sounds good turned up, in no small part due to the great remastering job. Really cool packaging too.
The first 10 songs are the original album, after that there are some re-recorded demo versions of most of the songs with a different guitar player from a year later. The bonus stuff is pretty useless except for the 2 tracks that aren't part of the original album. Too bad the band didn't continue, they were really onto something with this album.
I would say if you like early Pentagram, Hard Stuff's first album, Budgie, or early Sweet, you can't go wrong picking up a copy. I hope Dennis digs up more of this kind of stuff!
Vinyl LP pressing. Jerusalem is well known among '70s hard rock enthusiasts thanks to their stone-cold classic 1972 Deram label debut album. After that record was released, the band made the bold decision to not to continue with the same name-for them, Jerusalem was a one-off moment in time and could never be recreated. And so, three-fifths of Jerusalem (founding members Paul Dean and Ray Sparrow along with Bob Cooke), became Pussy.
The new band were still managed and produced by Ian Gillan (Deep Purple). Pussy recorded and released one single on Deram and then went on to record tracks between 1972 and 1973 with Brian Goff taking over for Bob Cooke on guitar, for their debut album-which was never released. Pussy was a different beast from Jerusalem, despite Paul being the main writer for both bands. There seems to be a touch of Ziggy Stardust crunchy space glam in the mix-although Pussy kept the raw, no rules edge from Jerusalem which sets both bands apart from many others of the era.
Gillan was far more proactive this time around; he played piano and percussion, and was responsible for many backing vocals on the songs. Pussy were a hard rocking band with no pretensions of being super musicians or technical geniuses. If it seemed like fun, it was worth a try, which explains a lot about their sound and direction. On stage, anything could happen-no rules of course! They gigged all over the UK and Germany as a main and support act, very much in the same way as Jerusalem had done.
Rockadrome are proud to present here what was to have been the Pussy debut album, plus bonus tracks from the original Pussy single and a studio track recorded in 1972 with Jerusalem guitarist Bob Cooke. Features more than 40 minutes of never-before-on-vinyl material taken directly from the original master reels.
★ Drums, Backing Vocals – Ray Sparrow
★ Engineer – Louis Austin, Paul "Chas" Watkins*
★ Guitar – Brian Goff (2)
★ Guitar, Tin Whistle [Penny Whistle], Backing Vocals – Bob Cooke (tracks: 11 to 16)
★ Lead Vocals, Bass, Backing Vocals, Liner Notes – Paul Dean (3)
★ Producer, Backing Vocals, Percussion, Piano – Ian Gillan
★ Written-By – Cooke* (tracks: 2, 3, 7, 11 to 14, 16), Paul Dean (3) (tracks: 1, 4, 5, 6, 8 to 10, 15), Dean* (tracks: 2, 3, 7, 11 to 14, 16), Sparrow* (tracks: 2, 3, 7, 11 to 14, 16
Notes
Tracks 1 to 10 are from an unreleased album. Tracks 11 & 12 are from a single released in 1972. Track 13 from a single session in 1972. Tracks 13 to 16 from a 1973 session with Bob Cooke.
01. The Knife
02. Feline Woman
03. Pig Mansion
04. Man of This World
05. Take Me Home
06. Riding Down the Red Flag
07. I Keep Remembering You
08. Lady Ella
09. I. F. O.
10. Moonshine
11. Feline Woman (From Original 1972 Single With Bob Cooke)
12. Ska-Child (From Original 1972 Single With Bob Cooke)
13. Pig Mansion (From 1972 Single Session, Unreleased Version With Bob Cooke)
14. A Place in the Sky (From 1973 Session With Bob Cooke)
15. Lady Ella (From 1973 Session With Bob Cooke)
16. I Keep Remembering You (From 1973 Session With Bob Cooke)
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Size: 210 MB
Bitrate: 320
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Recorded in the late '70s and early '80s by Juan Arkotxa, Leslie MacKenzie and Carmeta Mansilla, and previously only (partly) issued on cassette, 'The Book Of Intxixu' basically is the follow-up to the magnificent 'Book Of Am'. Once again, 'Book Of Intxixu' is a combination of illustrations and ethereal trip/acid-folk. For this project the trio recorded about three hours of music, from which the highlights (some heavier and more electric than probably expected!) are now brought together on this DOUBLE-LP.
Among the guests we find Daevid Allen and Gilli Smyth, while Cosmic Trip Machine's Will Z, oG, Majnun and Sammy helped Juan and Leslie to rescue the material and shape it into this gorgeous set. The accompanying illustrations are included in a 24-page booklet. This release is manufactured in an edition of 500 units.
The Book Of Intxixu is the follow-up to the magnificent The Book Of Am. Originally recorded in the late '70s by Juan Arkotxa in the Sant Mateu church (Ibiza) with the collaboration of Daevid Allen, Jerry Hart, Carmeta Mansilla and Gilli Smyth, and newly arranged and recorded in 2016 by Will Z. who has helped, with Cosmic Trip Machine, Juan and Leslie to rescue the old material.
Juan Arkotxa, Leslie MacKenzie and Carmeta Mansilla were the creators of The Book Of Am. The Book Of Intxitxu was another of their works, they began working on its songs and illustrations just after they finished the four parts of The Book Of Am in the late 1970s. It contained, again, a collection of illustrations plus three hours of music. The book was first published in 1982 by Desclee de la Brouwer (Bilbao) in a bilingual Basque-Spanish edition. In 1983 IZ issued a cassette containing a selection of the songs sung in Basque by Juan. A part of it was later performed with mime artists at the short-lived Stonehenge Festival in 1983. Conceptually it is again influenced by ancient myths and cults, you can find references to Sumerian hero Gilgamesh, the Meditarranean Moon Goddess cult, the hallucinogenic mushroom taker and healing woman from Oaxaca Maria Sabina, the works of Robert Graves, etc.
Musically, it follows the ethereal folk path set by their previous works, with an acid atmosphere and a progressive appeal that offers some heavier psychedelic passages due to a higher use of electric guitar pyrotechnics. Daevid Allen and Gilli Smyth guested as musicians, so here's one of his last recordings, as are also the last by Carmeta Mansilla, since sadly she also past away recentlyl. Will Z, oG, Majnun and Sammy helped Juan and Leslie rescue the old material and shape it into this gorgeous 2LP set with a 24 page booklet containing all the illustrations made for the Book. Please note it is a limited edition of only 500 copies, do not miss it and complete your Book Of Am saga collection!
✪ Juan Arkotxa - vocals, flute, fiddle, sitar, tanpura
✪ Leslie MacKenzie - percussions
✪ Carmeta Mansilla - vocals
✪ Will Z. - vocals, acoustic guitar, bass, synthesizers, sitar, percussions
✪ oG - bass, glissando guitar
✪ Majnun - electric guitar
✪ Sammy Goldstein - drums
✪ Brian Abbott - glissando guitar
Disc 1
01. Triple Personality And The One Mind 04:51
02. Dream Vision 02:36
03. The Pass Through The Set Of Squares 05:35
04. The Hot Bath 03:59
05. The Cromlech 03:09
06. Finding Immortality 04:14
07. Through Desert Wastes 03:51
08. The Master Of Dancers And Singers 02:22
09. The Old Man 03:57
10. Transmuting Immortality 02:42
11. Crossing The Great Waters 03:05
12. Ocean Moon 05:20
13. Epilogue 02:38
Disc 2
01. Start Here 02:40
02. Awakening The Organic 07:03
03. Imagination 03:52
04. Take Off 02:55
05. On The Other Side 07:06
06. Come Join The Mountain 08:49
07. Grandmother Moon 04:56
08. God Says But The Moon Says 03:13
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Size: 146 MB
Bitrate: 320
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Found in OuterSpace
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"Canyon is a psychedelic blues rock band from beautiful Philadelphia... steeped in blues and soaked in psych. High voltage psychedelic acid rock, steeped in blues...soaked in psych."
At four tracks and just under 19 minutes, the self-titled debut EP from Philadelphia three-piece Canyon give listeners just enough of a glimpse of where they might be headed to emphasize the potential at work. Canyon is their first outing since getting together in 2015 with the lineup of guitarist/vocalist Peter Stanko, bassist/vocalist Dean Welsh and drummer/vocalist Anthony Bove and after an initial digital self-release and tape through Anvileater Records, the short outing shows up as a full jewel-case CD with a picture of the band out front to emphasize the classic ideas they’re working from. I would not be surprised if some of the root jams out of which opener “Mashriq” was formed were some of Canyon‘s earliest, as there is definitely a formative aspect to their approach, vocals following the riff closely in a bouncing rhythm that, even compared to what follows on the palpably airier “She Comes to Me,” seems straightforward in a we’re-a-new-band-getting-our-footing kind of way.
That process itself, honestly represented as it is, can be and is refreshing to hear, and in the context of Canyon‘s style, which benefits greatly from an organic warmth of tone in the guitar and bass along with the interplay of vocals, it makes a particular sense that they would showcase where they’re at in this early stage of their progression. Their sound, captured here by Alex Santilli, who engineered and mixed at Spice House Sound while Mark Trewella at Full Circle Mastering handled the finishing touches, is raw, but still offers plenty to the curious listener, and even more so on repeat visits.
After some initial thud, “Mashriq” starts off with a righteously fuzzed impression. Philly has seen no shortage of heavy psych come through the last couple years, from Ruby the Hatchet and Ecstatic Vision to Meddlesome Meddlesome Meddlesome Bells, but right away, “Mashriq” positions Canyon as having a more earthbound take — fitting enough for their name, I suppose — given to roll and straightforwardness in structure. At just under three and a half minutes, it’s the shortest of the four inclusions on the EP and as “She Comes to Me,” “Radiant Light” and “Tell Me Mister” play out behind it, it becomes something of an outlier stylistically for that. Where Stanko, Welsh and Bove soon enough dig into a languid blend of heavy blues rock and, in the case of “Radiant Light” particularly, find a niche for themselves in dreamy vocal melodicism to complement a shimmer in Stanko‘s guitar, the leadoff cut seems more about establishing a context on which the subsequent material builds.
The Deep Purple-referential Mk II title of Canyon‘s second EP, also the follow-up to their 2017 debut LP, Radiant Light, refers to the lineup change that’s seen Dean Welsh move to drums so that he and guitarist Peter Stanko can welcome bassist/vocalist Fred Frederick to the fold. The three included songs, the hooky “Mine Your Heart,” expansively fuzzed “Morphine Dreams” and bouncing “Roam” make a hell of a first offering from the reconstituted trio, who capture classic heavy naturalism in a chemistry between players that’s mirrored in the songwriting itself. Canyon‘s 2016 self-titled debut EP held marked promise, and even after the full-length, that promise would seem to be coming to fruition here. Their tones and craft are both right on, and there’s still some gelling to do between the three of them, but they leave no doubt with Mk II that this incarnation of Canyon can get there. And, if they keep up like this, get there quickly.
Maybe that’s Canyon‘s way of easing the listener into their world, and that’s certainly valid, even on a short offering like this one, but “Mashriq,” while a strong opener and memorable in its hook, ultimately does little to account for some of the fleshed-out vibes that follow, even as “Tell Me Mister” rounds out with a return to a more energetic push and the gotta-hear-it buzz-tone that begs to be turned up even louder than it starts. How one accounts for that will depend on the listener, but if we look at the concept of a “debut EP” doing the work that a band’s “demo” used to do, then Canyon‘s establishes them as an outfit with an immediately varied approach of craft, however nascent it might otherwise be.
Could that be the work of multiple songwriters? I don’t know, but I’d believe it based on how the progression plays out front to back. Most importantly, however, Canyon offer intrigue and show several potential avenues for future growth and where their sound might go, toying with pop elements in their use of backing vocals in a kind of garage-grunge mindset — this happens in “Mashriq” as well — and dedicate themselves to a breadth of approach that stays apparent even in this abbreviated context. As to how that growth might manifest, it hardly seems fair to speculate, but as the self-titled plays out with increasing complexity almost on a song-by-song basis until “Tell Me Mister” bridges the gap in summarizing what the band has been putting together all the while, it’s easy enough to foresee Canyon stabilizing their approach to songwriting in a way that allows them to construct a full-album flow.
This, of course, is essential to the work of an initial outing like this one — to give the band lessons to learn as they move forward, and I hear nothing in the tracks to make me think Canyon won’t do precisely that. On the most basic level, it’s a quick debut outing — a demo by any other name — that shows potential in tone and in trading between bounce and blues and drift and thrust all while holding to identifiable markers and avoiding a direct, blatant flag-bearing of its influences. This already is more than one might reasonably ask of it, and it is not by any means the sum total of what is delivered.
♦ Fred Frederick - Bass, Lead Vocals
♦ Welsh - Drums, Percussion, Vocals
♦ Peter Stanko - Guita
01. Mashriq
02. She Comes to Me
03. Radiant Light
04. Tell Me Mister
05. Anytime Secrets
06. Ballad of John Gallagher
07. Soon
08. Brother
09. Under Her Spell
10. Outerlude in A Major
11. Mine Your Heart
12. Morphine Dreams
13. Roam
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Size: 93.2 MB
Bitrate: 320
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Welcome to Whatsoever!
A carefully compiled album of unreleased stuff, live and compilation tracks from 1998 - 2018. It contains outtakes from all 3 albums, most of it has been issued almost 10 years ago on the freakishly limited "The Flag" CD but as almost nobody owns this and some other stuff piled up in the vaults - here comes this baby containing all the goodies restored and remastered - especially for you....
01. Madman (Alternate Version) 01:38
02. Dial "R" For Revolution 01:56
03. The Flag 02:15
04. Burning Down The Neighborhood (7") 03:21
05. Deutscher Girls 01:47
06. Dangerous 03:30
07. Down On The Street 03:16
08. Rouse (Alternate Version) 01:39
09. Full Ann Arbor 04:42
10. Hey Hey Let´s Get Shot In L.A. 02:00
11. Livermore Drone Pt 1 05:38
12. I´ve Been Around (Alternate) 03:52
13. Sick Me (Demo) 02:43
14. Sailor Man (Live) 02:07
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Size; 83.1 MB
Bitrate: 320
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Ripped by: ChrisGesRock
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Raw Rock ‘N’ Roll power-trio. Hard Rock riffing, Punk wildness, Psychobilly voodoo rhythm with wide and edgy backing vocals. The missing link between Bo Diddley and Slayer !!!
After an album with The Heavy Manic Souls, Chris Rolling decides to continue the adventure and creates The Chris Rolling Squad, a raw Rock ‘n’ Roll power-trio.
Hard Rock riffing, Punk wildness, Psychobilly voodoo rhythm with wide and edgy backing vocals, the band is the missing link between Bo Diddley and Slayer!
A 5 tracks EP was released in 2016 and received reviews from the whole world, they played many shows in bars, clubs and festivals and opened for bands like Ten Years After, 2018 seen the band started to play overseas with a couple of German shows.
This record contains 12 songs of awesome fast paced, high energetic, fuel octaned metal/punkabilly with great melodies, anthemic choruses and also raw and dirty rock n roll riffs in the basics of their song structures. The production is superb, but they still retained that dirty garage almost demo edge and you can feel the vibe of live shows on this record while listening. To me, the favorite songs on this record are Back on the horse again, psychobilly vibed Nothing we can do about it, and also We can be one. This is a great record for fans of metal, punks and billy´s too!
The Chris Rolling Squad is
Chris Rolling : Guitar, Lead vocals
Brice Duval : Bass, Backing vocals
Thib' Adlersend : Drums, Backing vocals
01. Back On The Horse Again 03:00
02. Piece Of The Action 03:07
03. Crash And Burn (Vanishing Point) 02:09
04. Go Fuck Yourself 02:38
05. The Life You Waited For 02:34
06. We Can Be One 03:12
07. Tremors 02:10
08. The World Is Going Down 02:13
09. Nothing We Can Do About It 02:42
10. Get Back There 03:27
11. Devil Freak 02:10
12. The Sharpest Knife 03:58
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Size: 168 MB
Bitrate: 320
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Found in: Bandcamp Land
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Halcyon Daze is Brooklyn based, heavy psychedelic trio River Cult's debut effort. The band's style comes from a range of influences, starting with the heavy sounds of the past, then pushing them into the future with a modern sensibility.
The album moves fluidly through a range of emotions but still holds together as a cohesive whole; refusing to be burdened by a single genre. Though undeniably rooted in stoner rock and psychedelia, the subjects of River Cult's songs set the band apart by discussing feelings of angst and a struggle with the human condition.
Though undeniably rooted in stoner rock, Brooklyn-based heavy psychedelic trio River Cult fluently weave a far wider array of sonic touchstones into an enveloping amalgamation that offers constant surprises – what may sound familiar at first heads rapidly in unexpected directions.
Debut full-length Halcyon Daze ranges through retro-fuzz, sweeping psych-doom and stark, almost post-metallic soundscapes.
The core of spacious heaviness remains throughout, but to hear a band channel (at any given moment) elements of Blue Cheer, ISIS, Ty Segall, Pentagram and Earthless, all while maintaining a vibrant originality, is truly a singular experience.
Making pigeonholing a further impossibility are River Cult’s lyrics. Themes of disillusionment, angst, alienation, addiction, and the mutual exclusivity of rightness and victory are just some of the personal and philosophical considerations that surface.
Metal Sucks called River Cult’s 2016 EP, “a fuzzed-out psych rock quest that sounds like it was recorded in a ’70s rec room in outer space.”
New York Music Daily described it as, “a roaring, psychedelic envelope of sound that’s a lot more propulsive than your typical stoner metal or postrock band.”
Halcyon Daze moves fluidly across sounds and emotions, a cohesive whole that refuses to be burdened by a single identifiable genre. The album’s tracks were recorded live in the studio, with minimal overdubs and edits, flowing together seamlessly to create an immersive aural voyage.
I didn’t wind up writing nearly enough about it, but the 2016 Demo from Brooklyn trio River Cult was one of my favorite short releases of 2016, and one to which I’ve continued to go back periodically since. It’s only ever good for general international relations when a US band attracts the attention of Nasoni Records, as River Cult have apparently done, but to find them releasing their debut album, Halcyon Daze, through Pittsburgh’s Blackseed Records as well speaks to a multi-pronged approach that one hopes is a portent of how they’ll support the offering on tour.
Oh, and not that I’ve heard it yet or anything like that, but the record smokes. It’s out March 15 and I’m happy to be able to premiere a teaser video for it below. Fingers crossed I’ll have more to come about it before the release date as well.
Bursting on to the scene with a highly acclaimed self-titled EP in 2016, Brooklyn NY’s River Cult are amassing a loyal following with their unique style. Pulling inspiration from Sleep, Neurosis, and Pentagram, River Cult’s songs are modern, yet authentic hunks of Heavy Psych, Doom/Stoner rock.
Fusing atmospheric jams, gritty vocals, and garage rock eminence, River Cult are poised to keep riding the wave of their heavy jams to further praise in 2018, with a recording reminiscent of the Led Zeppelin, Hawkwind oeuvre. In collaboration with Blackseed Records, the independent heavy underground label based in Pittsburgh, River Cult will unleash their debut full-length, “Halcyon Daze”, on March 15th, 2018.
Blackseed Records will release “Halcyon Daze” on both CD and limited-edition cassette. A harmonic release to coincide with a vinyl issuance on Nasoni Records (Berlin), these limited black-matte cassettes are capped at 50 hand-numbered copies.
Getting and having one’s house inorder are two very different things, but River Cult seem to manage both on their Blackseed Records and Nasoni Records debut album, Halcyon Daze. The five-track long-player, on which not one song is under seven minutes long, follow a promising 2016 demo that was among the year’s best short releases, and takes a tack of exploring a variety of different styles and moods, all of them heay in one way or another and drawn together by an overarching sense of tonal heft that permeates whether it’s the tense build-up-leading-to-rolling-fuzz-wall of centerpiece “Seething” or the dreamy, drifting end of 11-minute second cut and highlight “The Sophist” just prior.
Either way, River Cult — the Brooklyn-based trio of Sean Forlenza, Anthony Mendolia, and Tav Palumbo — sound like they’ve definitely been to school when it comes to their influences, and whether it’s the Acrimony-style grit, roll, drift and nod of “The Sophist” or the West Coast boogie into spacious slowdown in opener “Likelihood of Confusion,” which only minutes prior to hitting the cosmos proffered softshoe-worthy wah swirl and swing and the first of the album’s many jammed-out-feeling leads. At various points throughout they ask aesthetic questions about what might’ve happened if Thrasher magazine had taken over the world circa 1997 and, particularly on the title-track, what might’ve happened had Chris Hakius taken on a role drumming for Acid King. These issues, along with shades of Dead Meadow-style shoegazing on closer “Point of Failure,” are met with workaday lyrics and a loose-swinging vibe that, at less than a moment’s notice, is prone to kick into explorations of full-on Man’s Ruin-style fuzz overdrive.
The key word there might be “explorations,” and that’s because although Halcyon Daze sets itself purposefully to the work of proffering earthy tonality and a classic stoner fuckall in its looseness of structure and willingness to depart from verses and choruses into more open jamming, River Cult by no means sound set in their ways, and the 41-minute album carries the spirit of a band in the process of discovering who they are together as players and where they want to go in terms of their sound. Having first gotten together in 2015, it’s not entirely surprising they’d be at this stage on their first full-length, and it’s much to their credit that they capture the moment with the obvious commitment to sonic organics they show here.
To wit, after unfurling a groove of such deeply-weighted fuzz, the title-track moves easily into a soundscape of vast, drifting post-rock guitar drones that work on a long fade into the garage-via-Stooges riff that starts closer “Point of Failure.” That they’d cover such a swath of ground on their first long-player is impressive enough, but to do so with the kind of fluidity they bring out of the patient opening minutes of “Seething,” for example, or the confidence on display as “Likelihood of Confusion” begins its pivot almost exactly at its midpoint before, at 4:30, crashing through the door of its next sonic dimension. They’re an East Coast band, to be sure, and “The Sophist,” “Halcyon Daze” and the crunchier, grunge-minded sections of “Point of Failure” show that edge, but there’s little here one might consider confrontational, and rather, River Cult invite their listeners along with them on their journey of discovery as they feel their way ahead into what one hopes is the just the beginning stages of a longer-term sonic development.
And to its credit and to the band’s credit, where that development might ultimately bring River Cult feels like a secondary consideration in comparison to the groove here, which at points recalls earliest Fu Manchu and other such before-stoner-rock-had-a-name rawness.
Taking advantage of the room in each track to flesh out their parts and ride the riffs to hypnotic and repetitive effect, as on the title-track’s outward trajectory or what seems to be a switch from otherworldliness to personal criticism on “The Sophist,” the first chorus of which brings the standout lines, “Sophistry/Yeah, you talk too much.” This perspective, somewhat disaffected but not necessarily raging, is writ large throughout Halcyon Daze, and it helps River Cult find their balance between more weighted, riffier fare and more atmospheric psychedelia.
It’s also worth noting that, while I have little doubt that Halcyon Daze was put together with a vinyl release in mind — “Likelihood of Confusion” and “The Sophist” on one side, “Seething,” “Halcyon Daze” and “Point of Failure” on the other — the album works perhaps even better in linear form, taken as one whole work unfolding in different stages in ups and downs of energy, pace, volume and emotion, weaving its way into and out of jams whole always keeping its ultimate trajectory forward, as shown when the feedback and noise wash of “Seething” gives way into “Halcyon Daze” or the effects loops of “Likelihood of Confusion” seem to dive into the airy tones that spread themselves over the initial going in “The Sophist.”
The bottom line is there’s a lot happening on Halcyon Daze when it’s taken front-to-back — which is how it feels like it was meant to be taken — and while one might imagine or expect River Cult to continue solidifying their approach in style and structure, what they’ve crafted in the meantime stands among the most promising Brooklynite heavy psychedelic debuts since Naam‘s Kingdom EP and should be commended for its level of craft, naturalism of execution, and unbridled flow. It’s a good one to get lost in, so go ahead and get lost in it.
The Band:
Sean Forlenza: Guitar, Vocals
Anthony Mendolia: Bass
Tav Palumbo: Drums
Released February 9, 2018
01. River Cult - Likelihood of Confusion
02. River Cult - The Sophist
03. River Cult - Seething
04. River Cult - Halcyon Daze
05. River Cult - Point of Failure
Released July 7, 2016 (Recorded live at WFMU)
06. River Cult - Temps Perdu
07. River Cult - Shadow Out Of Time
Released February 4, 2016
08. River Cult - A Drop In The Ocean
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