Earth Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light I
Southern Lord
Ever since they returned from their nine year hiatus with Hex; Or Printing in the Infernal Method in 2005, Earth’s patented drone doom has shown significant trending toward a dark, apocalyptic, Americana sound; they’ve long since replaced the fuzz and feedback of earlier albums with clean, mournful rhythms of a dusty and desolate gothic Western landscape. Their latest, Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light I, follows the conceptual blueprint laid out by Hex, Hibernaculum, and The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull, laying its soul bare, like an old man at the end of his days embracing death beautifully and without any fanfare. It pours (slowly, of course, like molasses) an hour’s worth of rich, hypnotic sustain — thanks in large part to the abundance of soft cello and bass — into five songs (best appreciated as a whole, as usual), punctuated perfectly by weary harmonics that you might swear are crying out to you. While not entirely memorable or new, this album is still good, and Earth’s main man, Dylan Carlson, continues to prove he’s a master craftsman, a man capable of mesmerizing and enlightening us, even when we’ve heard it all before. And yes, Earth fans, that I in the title means that II is on the way.
Listen to “Descent to the Zenith” from Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light I!
Emerging from the deep woods of Canada’s rocky west coast is Black Mountain, and not unlike the California day-glo pranksters of decades ago, they’re amped, hairy, and unpredictable, a reclusive gang armed with a mind-fuck manifesto to take you further. Black Mountain’s power and glory psych-rock is usually a strange and wonderful trip down various avenues of electric mayhem, but Wilderness Heart, their third full-length, showcases the band at their most diverse. While songs like the title track, “Old Fangs,” and “Roller Coaster” bring the Iron Butterfly-meets-Bigelf heavy organ and nightmare doom heard on 2008′s In the Future, it’s the acid-fried acoustic songs “Radiant Hearts,” “Buried By the Blues,” “The Way to Gone,” “The Space of Your Mind,” and “Sadie” that shine brightest, each one of ‘em full of stardust and soul. If that ain’t enough for ya, opener “The Hair Song” is a beautifully-crafted, Zeppelin-inspired slide shaker, while “Let Spirits Ride” is built like a hot rod, running fast on MC5 fuzz and NWOBHM riffs. There’s not one song on Wilderness Hearts that doesn’t benefit from the killer chemistry of vocal duo Stephen McBean and Amber Webber, and there’s not one song on Wilderness Heart that’s not far-out and really fucking good.
Check out two videos — “Old Fangs” and “The Hair Song” — from Wilderness Heart! Cool fact: The video for “The Hair Song” contains footage shot in and around my hometown, and my old stomping ground, Call the Office. Dig it!
Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan Hawk
Vanguard Records
Yeah, okay, so the folksy, sultry tunes of Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan don’t exactly fall in with the rank and file of doom, metal, and stoner rock that you usually find around here, but the fact of the matter is — if you don’t know this already — Lanegan is a bad-ass, whiskey-voiced deity in the Broken Beard universe. The guy could put out a polka record and I’d still tell you about it because everything he touches (Screaming Trees, The Gutter Twins, Soulsavers, etc.) turns to pure grit, which is what makes his collaborations with Isobel Campbell so great. She, former member of indie pop band Belle & Sebastian, is innocence incarnate, the Scottish girl-next-door with the porcelain voice, and he is the brooding American desperado at the end of the bar. Put ‘em together and you get an old suitcase full of black and white photographs, tear-stained love letters, faded memories, long distance calls from a phone booth in the middle of nowhere, and wordless nights on a porch swing. Hawk, their third album together, is a whole barn full o’ jukebox flare, rustling up a roving range of country-folk, blues, soul, gospel, and Americana, calling to mind the eras and auras of Cash and Carter, Dylan and Baez. Campell’s songwriting on Hawk is utterly moving, playing emotion better than any instrument on the album, and is at once light, languid, deep, and desolate. To help the mood along, the album also offers a few Townes Van Zandt covers and a couple of appearances by Willy Mason. But, as always, this is the Campbell and Lanegan show, which continues to be the strangest, most beautiful show on earth.
Check out the video for “You Won’t Le Me Down Again” from Hawk!
Earth
Black Mountain
Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan