Release of the Day: Akitsa - Grand Tyrans

Akitsa's Grands Tyrans covers a lot of territory. It shouldn't be that much of a surprise, though. Outre-Tombe (real name Pierre-Marc Tremblay) is also the brainchild of Contrepoison, Guerre Solitaire, in addition to running the Quebec label Tour-De-Garde. On Grands Tyrans, he uses his background in underground music to his utmost advantage, welding together his interests in the experimental, the electronic, the dark, the visceral, and the strange.

On select tracks, Outre-Tombe incorporates full-on, distortion-less singing. Though a song with more melodic vocals, like "Chimeres," would seem more at home on a deathrock record, it makes sense in reference to the whole. Of course, Tremblay knows this. That's why he'll follow such a song with a straight-up burner like "Noire Bete Ailee" pounding the listener with blast beats, shrieks, and cold riffs.

That's how it succeeds so brilliantly. Grands Tryans gets its strength from its variety, its brutality, and its commitment to fuck with its audience. Where black metal records often become tedious through uniformly-belabored structures, lyrical themes, and vocal style, Akitsa transcends.

Akitsa will also be performing at Berserktown II at the Observatory in Santa Ana, CA.

Interview with Sandworm

For a fan of projects like Ildjarn, Darkthrone, Akitsa and other minimal lo-fi black metal projects, Sandworm scratches a pesky itch. There's never enough of the stuff if you ask me. When I think of lo-fi black metal, I think of bands that come from mostly punk backgrounds because there's usually a distinctly DIY feel to the music, which is often notable in the recording quality. That's not a bad thing, if you ask me: it adds a layer of rawness or edge to both guitar tones and vocals while replacing a crisp drum sound with more of a rhythmic ideal.

That's what could have been said about the sonic quality in Sandworm's Demo, but their new split with the Body brings out the band with a more full range of sound and songs. Three of the songs from the demo are repeat offenders on the split, albeit with a more produced effect. Let's call it as it is: Sandworm recorded the split with better equipment, though the excellent songwriting has been there since the beginning. On this split, though, they REALLY shine. Ben Eberle's guitar is sinister, varying between quick chord changes and icy languishing behind a voice that sounds like snarling, wounded though not defeated wolf after a fight with a bear. And Patrick Reilly's drums are relentless and martial: commanding as a drill sergeant. Yeah. It's fucking wonderful.

I unfortunately missed their show at Chicago's Emporium, though I have high hopes to see them on a future tour. In the following interview, Ben alludes to writing more songs and hopefully recording more music. Here's hoping.

Jordan Reyes: Sandworm is a sweet name for a band. I personally get kind of sick of seeing Black Metal bands pick names of demons out of some grimoire, though I love science fiction. Did you get the name from Dune?

Ben Eberle: Yes. It took us a long time to think of a band name. We agree that picking 'grim' names can get exhausting, plus we aren't really that kind of band. We started the band with very little concept. Sandworm is a band name that is kind of weird but also neutral in a way. 

JR: The easy comparisons after listening to your demo for me are like Ildjarn, Bone Awl, early Darkthrone, Akitsa. Do you find yourselves at all inspired or influenced by the likes of those bands?

BE: Pat and I have very different tastes. I listen to metal more than any other genre and that is the kind of music that I identify with for the most part. I would say that Ildjarn is the biggest influence and I certainly listen to a lot of Darkthrone. I also like Bone Awl and Akitsa. Pat doesn't really listen to metal or associate with it or have any real interest in it. We have overlapping interests in other music genres. 

JR: Your original demo came out in 2011. I guess I'm a little late to the party, but do you guys have any releases other than the demo and the new split with the Body? Was Sandworm on hiatus until now?

BE: Those are the only two releases. We were once on hiatus for a short time while Pat lived in Austin but it has been pretty consistent. At one point our good friend Mindy Stock was in the band. She plays on three songs on the split. 

JR: How did you decide to do a split with The Body? I know you guys are both from Providence - did you guys know each other for a while?

BE: We had been meaning to record for a while. We have been friends with The Body for years and we always play with them when they come to town. Once the recording was in place, I asked Lee if he wanted to do a split and it went from there. 

JR: Your songs on the split sound like mixing and producing took a bigger priority. I know that three of the songs from the split were on your demo, but how different was the process of getting the ten songs from the split down as they are on the split in comparison to the demoing process?

BE: The demo sounds so different because the sound was less developed and we used different equipment and such. The split sounds like our live sound. We wanted it to sound natural and organic. 

JR: Was it weird working with Thrill Jockey? I personally love that label's outlook and output, so I'm curious.

BE: It wasn't weird at all. It was simple and straightforward. Bettina and the TJ crew are awesome. They are professional and very knowledgeable. Really nice group of people. Working with them is great. 

JR: Somewhat an insipid question, but I was an English major so humor me. What do you guys talk about in your lyrics? I can't make out a lot of the lyrics.

BE: I don't have much to say about this really. 

JR: Do you think you guys will do an LP at some time in the future?

BE: No plans yet but we certainly hope so. We already have a bunch of new stuff written. We have been playing it on tour. 

JR: How has your tour gone so far? Anything particularly surprising for you guys?

BE: It's going great. Booking the shows to and back from the west coast was tough for me and some dates fell through. Neither of us have ever been to the west coast so there was a lot of new things to explore. The shows with The Body were especially awesome, of course. 

JR: What else is in the future for Sandworm?

BE: Who knows? Maybe we will tour again in the future and make another record. For now, we'll probably just play shows in Providence and write more songs. 

JR: Anything else you'd like to say?

BE: Thanks for the interest, it was nice talking to you. 

Interview with Black Monolith

Passenger by Black Monolith is an inspired piece of epic sounds from the heavier end of the music spectrum. The one-man band from Oakland, CA had previously put out a digital demo release on Bandcamp in 2011, but hadn't released anything else until recently when Passenger came out on Derek Prine & George Clarke's (of Deafheaven) new record label All Black Recording Company. In my opinion, the label struck gold when they decided to put out Passenger - I can listen to Passenger when I run, drive to work, clean my guinea pig's cage, or really do anything.

The songs range from a blackened d-beat sound to black metal to post-rock. Gary, rather effortlessly, melds many styles of music together into one cohesive collection. This feat of songwriting, coupled with the single-handed nature of being in a one-man band, makes for something staggeringly impressive, which seems to only emphasize the pairing of the name "Black Monolith" with the music.

This album will surely make my year-end list and is well worth the price of admission. You can pick up the album and a beautiful t-shirt from the band's bandcamp page. The band has not yet planned any sort of tour or live date, so purchasing the album or a t-shirt is the best way to support great music!

Jordan: The name Black Monolith makes me think of 2001: A Space Odyssey, which is actually my all-time favorite movie. How did you decide on the name? Did Stanley Kubrick have anything to do with it?

Gary: Absolutely. I love Kubrick’s work and Space Odyssey is one of my favorite films as well. The black monolith, or TMA, in the film was always really interesting to me; as far as what it stood for and it’s role in the movie. When deciding on what to call my project, it was the only name that made sense. I never considered anything else.

J: Your music is a great amalgamation of punk, hardcore, black metal, post-rock, and more. How did you arrive at your sound?

G: I never set out to create a new sound. I have always gravitated more towards heavier music but have been greatly influenced by all sorts of genres. It has been satisfying for me to incorporate most of what I like into my music. If done well I think that many different genres can work together and often share similar characteristics even when they do not share the same family tree. It’s really a balancing act of putting my favorite parts together and it just comes out this way.

J: Similarly, how do you write your songs? Do you have to write out all the parts before you go into recording?

G: It usually starts with a riff or some chord progression. Over time I’ll build on the skeleton; adding drums, doubling guitar tracks, bass and vocals last. There is a lot of improvisation. Everything is recorded at my home,by myself. So I have a lot of freedom to lay things down on the spot and I’m able to work on my songs all at once. The lyrics start with words, phrases, or just a rhythm of vocal sounds that unconsciously pop into my head. They are almost never written beforehand. After hearing the song an exhausting amount of time, I start the mixing process.

J: Do you play live at all? How would you play a show as a one-man band?

G: Not currently. If I ever decided to take Black Monolith on the road I would prefer to have a full live band as opposed to a computer.

J: Before Passenger came out, you had released a 3-song EP in 2011. Did you put it out as a physical release at some point or was it just a digital release?

G: It was only released as a free digital download on Bandcamp. Never had any plans for a physical release.

J: The song "Dead Hand" appears on your demo as well as Passenger. Did many of the songs on Passenger come from that time?

G: Half of the album was written between 2011-2012 and the other half was written in 2013.

J: How is it being the first release on All Black Recording Company?

G: I can't thank them enough for trusting my work and putting the time and effort into releasing the record. 

J: Are there any projects you have been listening to lately that you'd recommend to people reading this?

G: WTF with Marc Maron is all i’ve been listening to lately.

J: What all is in the future for Black Monolith?

G: There’s a 7” in the works that will hopefully be released this winter. 

J: Anything else you'd like to say?

G: Thank you to everyone who has supported Black Monolith.

Interview with Noah Coleman of Oyarsa, Monument, and Sol Y Nieve Records

Oyarsa's s/t cassette was one of the first modern tapes that I picked up. I ordered it online after seeing one of the dudes at Permanent Records wearing an Oyarsa shirt and being curious about what it was. In my book, a tape is a tape - it generally doesn't hurt to buy one since it's cheap and you get a good recording. You don't have much to lose when you buy a tape. I had listened to the recording on my computer, but it sounded much better on cassette.

They played their "last show" in Chicago at the Empty Bottle on May 9, 2013. It was a free show and I went as I had been in communication with Noah and didn't want to miss out. I got to see Winters In Osaka and Sun Splitter put on great sets before Oyarsa stepped on stage. Nothing could have properly prepared me for Oyarsa, however. Noah has one of the best black metal voices I've heard. To get a better perspective on their sound, their music is available for free download on their BANDCAMP.

After the show, I picked up the cassette of Footpath's self-titled album, which was a folk-drone act that I hadn't heard. I still listen to it probably once a week as I read. I hadn't known that Noah ran a record label, but have since been consistently impressed with Sol y Nieve's output after listening to most of the releases on the label.

You can check out Sol y Nieve on FACEBOOK as well as OYARSA. Noah recently moved to Idaho, so we didn't get to hang out all that much, but we've stayed in contact and with a busy release schedule coming up, I figured it was a good time to get the word out on an excellent label!

Jordan: Tell me a little bit about your musical projects. I'm familiar with Oyarsa, your black metal band, but what else are you involved in?

Noah: Aside from Oyarsa and Monument, I've released music as Ten Thousand Miles of Arteries and He of No Name.  I have some other projects in the works, but i'd rather not reveal any names until something final comes about.

J: How did you decide to create each of your projects?

N: They happen pretty naturally.  Just about everything I do starts off as an experiment and if I like the way it develops, I go with it.  The only exception to that is Oyarsa, which is the only proper band i've been a part of.  That started out of a mutual love of heavy music and all things space related between Josh and I.  Josh is really the catalyst for making that band happen.

J: How often do you end up writing songs? How many songs would you say that you write in a year?

N: Ha ha ha.  I have no idea how to answer that question.  A lot.  It's a pretty constant thing for me.  Obviously, most of the stuff I write doesn't get used, at least not right away, but I'll go through 2 or 3 notebooks in a year that are filled with drawings, writings, lyrics, riffs, music, etc.

J: How do you write your lyrics? 

N: They mostly start as stream of consciousness writings, and then (depending on the project that they get used for) I'll edit them down, rearrange them, add to them, etc. to make them fit whatever music I wind up putting them to.

J: How important are lyrics to you in music?

N: Equally, if not more, important.  The lyrics are why I write the music.

J: I got to see Oyarsa's "last show" in Chicago. It was awesome. Do you plan on playing live more?

N: Thank you, it was a very intense and enjoyable show for us.  We do plan on playing live, but with me moving to northern Idaho and Josh recently moving to LA, performances will be few and far between.  We have a fair amount of new material so we want to record first, then hopefully plan a couple of shows around that.

J: What have you been concentrating on musically?

N: Mostly I've been working on finishing up the new Monument album.  I've also started on some new T.T.M.O.A. material, and I've been demoing material for some new projects.  

J: You seem to have a pretty wide variety of influences, and interests. What are some of your favorite artists?

N: That's a loaded question.  Current 93, Lurker of Chalice, Leviathan, Wovenhand, Swans, Portal, Mitochondrion, Prurient, Graves at Sea, Iron Maiden, The Body, Arvo Part, Yellow Eyes, Willy Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash.  I could put on anything by any of those artists at any point and not be disappointed.

J: You recently moved to Idaho. How come you chose to do that? How has that been? Seems like a pretty big transition from Chicago.

N: Without going too much into my private life, my wife and I decided a few years back that we didn't want to live the rest of our lives in a city where we felt we had no freedom to do the things we wanted to.  Northern Idaho is really beautiful and fairly inexpensive so we chose here.  It has the benefit of being pretty close to Seattle as well, so we can get our 'cultural fix' (i.e. - go to shows and eat interesting food) whenever we feel like taking a small road trip.  The transition wasn't nearly as big as we though it would be.

J: What have been some of the biggest surprises about Idaho? I've never been, so from a selfish standpoint, I just want to soak in all the knowledge I can from you haha.

N: I still haven't gotten used to seeing mountains everywhere I go, smelling fresh air and woodstove/fireplace smoke first thing in the morning, and how quiet it is at night.  

J: When/how did you start your label Sol y Nieve?

N: I started it in 2010, mostly as a way for me to release my own recordings.  When those first two tapes sold well enough, I realized that I could turn it into a real label. I started contacting bands who I really enjoyed (Teeth Engraved... and Yellow Eyes were among the first) but weren't getting the kind of exposure and physical production that I thought they deserved. It all kind of took off from there.

J: What all have you released on the label?

N: Aside from my own recordings, I've released recordings from Teeth Engraved With the Names of the Dead, Yellow Eyes, Dead Dragon Mountain, Footpaths, Golden Fawn, Nemorensis, and Hellebore.

J: How do you decide on what you're going to put out?

N: I only release albums that I would buy myself. It has to be something that I can listen to over and over again for a week and still think it's great.

J: What have you been working on in regards to Sol y Nieve? Any upcoming releases that you can talk about?

N: This year is turning out to be my busiest yet. I have two tapes currently in production: Sun Splitter - Live On WFMU and Crowhurst - Everyone Is Guilty. Those will hopefully be released late March. After that, I will be releasing the 10 year anniversary edition of Krieg's classic album "The Black House". I'm really excited about that as Krieg was one of the first black metal bands I got into. Also lined up for this year is new material by Esoterica, Dead Dragon Mountain, LOCI, and Essene. There might be more, but this is all that's confirmed right now.

J: Do you have any other artistic pursuits? Anything you're especially proud of?

N: I enjoy sewing and leather work. I also draw occasionally.

J: Anything else you'd like to say?

N: Thanks for your interest in my music and the label, Jordan. I appreciate all your support.

Interview with Surachai

After a sort of externally-enforced sabatical, I've made my return to catching concerts as often as possible. I got to see a couple great shows this week. Unsurprisingly, they've been two of the most enjoyable experiences I've had in a while. This weekend is an extension of that, as I'm trying to catch Earring/Magical Beautiful/Tim Kinsella/Talsounds on Friday at Observatory Studios and Sin Orden/Acidic Tree/Earth Girls/Cabeza Twins at the Engine House on Saturday. Monday will continue this lineage with Youth Code/Coming/Surachai/Auditor at Cobra Lounge. It's a ripper of a show. I picked up a copy of Surachai's To No Avail at Permanent Records a couple weeks back and really enjoyed it. I then listened to Embraced immediately after and was a big fan of that as well.

It's a bit of a black metal hybrid. There's a lot going on from the texturization to the ebb and flow of songs. I reached out to Surachai to see if he'd like to do an interview in lieu of the show. He said "sure" and so we got on our way with this little shindig.

The Surachai website (listed in the interview) is really thorough with everything. It's basically like a bunch of documents/documentaries (almost a dossier) of Surachai activity. The website pretty much has the answers to the questions that I asked and anything else to be honest, including a ton of detail on the recording processes of Surachai recordings. That said, it was great to hear that Surachai was recording a sort of minimal synth album, which I'm really stoked to hear. In addition, they will be performing a set more along those lines on Monday.

Jordan: What all have you released? 

Surachai: Surachai releases are catalogued at surachai.org an at trashaudio.com/surachai

J: How do you decide with whom you're going to work when you do collaborations or split releases?

S: Never done a split. Collaborations happens when you appreciate the human aspect of a person foremost and their musical abilities second.

J: What was the process of making To No Avail? How did you write and record that album?

S: Alone.

J: Surachai in the past has been a one-man band. How did you decide to have a band featured on the recording of Embraced? And how was the experience?

S: This whole process was documented here: http://trashaudio.com/2013/02/surachai-embraced/

J: Do you play live much? Do you play as one person or have a band play with you? Do you like to play live?

S: Playing out is rare. Usually for friends in town. I've always played solo and it feels cheap using a laptop for backing tracks. Never considered playing with a live band as that involves time and resources I don't have. 

J: Are there any bands or artists in Chicago that you particularly like? Anyone that you enjoy playing with?

S: There are tons of musical acts in Chicago I love. Too many to list.

J: You're playing a show with Youth Code at Cobra Lounge. Can you tell me a little bit about that? How did you get in touch with Youth Code?

S: A friend asked if I was interested, apparently he knows them or their manager. I said I'm working on minimal electronics/ noise projects and a metal performance is not possible. They said "perfect" and I got an email saying in scheduled to open. Really excited to see those two tear it up.

J: Have you been listening to anything in particular lately?

S: Surachai.org has a few massive lists of my favorite stuff from 2013/2012

J: What all is in the future of Surachai?

S: There is a new minimal electronics album coming out this year on a new label my friend Drumcell and I are starting. The album was created entirely on one synth called the Cwejman S1 mkII. The album is called RITUAL // Cwejman. The label will be called BL_K NOISE. 

J: Anything else you'd like to say?

S: Thanks for the interview. Catch you at the show hopefully.