Samsara Blues Experiment - Waiting for the Flood (2013)

Samsara Blues Experiment, the ultimately fitting, possibly the most suitable name anyone could come up with for such a brain-melting belter of a union of a few humans, who may indeed be human but their music is totally out of this space.  Wanna see Buddha dancing to blues rock jams? Tie your belt. The third full length album of the band presents you their most psychedelic mediative form of rock'n'roll to date in their catalogue. Samsara, the cycles of rebirth in Hinduism and the never-ending blues jams have fused here to give birth to a stellar guitar-solos ridden record that I've happened to play so many times this week, it's unhealthy.

A few things make this band and in our case, record, very special for me, different from most bands mixing blues and stoner rock. To start with, the vocals are unique, and when I use this adjective I really mean it, you can't hear another dude to sound even remotely similar to Christian Peters. He has this empowering intensity in his voice that can throw you five miles away when he uses his voice to recite something loud like in Shringara, track one. Okay, maybe he's not reciting it in the most literal sense of the verb, but he sounds so powerful like the preaching of some high Hindu god. The guy makes the words sound like they come from the centre of the universe and they have the power to hit you hard even if you're not five miles high, resonating to the Earth and back to the black hole Scorpio where they come from. Peters's voice on "Waiting for the flood" is ranging from this slow-paced intense reciting to mellower and even slower to fit the guitar tone in the best way possible. At moments when he asks what if doom is here to stay, you really sit on your darn ass and think about it.

Another big highlight is the use of sitar and harp. Fuck knows sitar's use in stoner rock is the best instrument to make the gap between the listener and nirvana smaller. Samsara are one of the few bands that, being by the use of such instruments or whatnot, manage to invoke mountainous landscapes and the never-melting snow of Himalaya in your head, even if you just sit on your bed and stare at the ceiling. The quiet continuos presence of the sitar drone, layered with Behren's bass vibe and Eiselt's warm guitar sound create a wave that you can sleep on, waiting to be carried and awoken on some Eastern shore. Blues harmonics, double chorus, this album doesn't come short of fantastic at any point, both sides having it's more hard hitting and mellower points alike.

Just when I listened to this album ten times or more, I happened to notice that actually there is no song shorter than ten minutes. Take that, four tracks, overall length is around 45 minutes and you never notice because it all flows perfectly. But words are only harm and I can do this much to describe, check out "Waiting for the flood" for more accurate information.

Naam - Naam (2009)

I’ve been trying to keep up to date and review mainly “the records of the day” but today I pitifully remembered that I’ve skipped Naam, something I think is a criminal offense towards my tastes in music, so take a good seat, we will have to go five years in time. 

If you’re into the arts of the holy stoner doom, Om-esque bands from around the globe, you’re surely familiar with Naam. Unless you’re not here’s a quick reviewing of their spiritual genius. For a moment there I thought the band was from Sweden, having in mind how many successful bands from their caliber hail from the northern land. My guess failed, these boys come from nowhere else but good old hectic New York. Their location, however, is the only thing that links them to the States. Musically this beautiful piece of stoner only speaks of high mountains in the Middle East, clear water valleys and misty mountain tops somewhere very, very far from the familiar sight.   

Naam’s debut is extremely spiritual, very uplifting and not depressive in any way that you’re used of associating doom with. The only reason the band is described as stoner doom is because of the heaviness of their records and that’s where the “doom” bit ends. The tribal motive is present in each songs, in some more than in the others. The opener track, a sixteen minute beauty is an example of a tribal journey that in no way feels like sixteen minutes. I really like these bands that can produce the longest of tracks but you never notice because they are so good. And to be fair, not only I needn’t skip any of this music but would often have to come back to it, listening many times to only one song. The debut album reminds me a lot of Om at particular places, partly because I am a big Om fan, partly because they are of the few heavier bands that encompass eastern melodies. A note here, Naam’s sound always feels much heavier than Om and of course, there isn’t such heavy bass presence. However, it’s in no way reminiscent.  The music flows freely and unrestrained, evicting pictures in the mind – crescent moon under a silent sky and a complete inner nirvana.  

One more point to make, the songs – even thought they flow so freely and feel like one big whole, are very different in pace and structure. There are the completely tribal, almost acapella songs and there are the faster stoner tracks. Astonishingly well balanced album that you’d come back to. 

I’d very rarely find something to listen to that’s so amazingly linked to nature and epic in sound. There’s nothing too trite here and frankly, nothing earthly. 

http://kingdomofnaam.bandcamp.com/

Salem's Pot - ...Lurar ut dig på prärien (2014)

 

I am so hyped and fried at the moment; it’s hard to start this review. Be aware that the amount of fan girling might exceed the Chandrasekhar limit. If you’re someone like me, chances are that Salem’s Pot can easily be among your favourite bands. Well, not really, as they have only released a few songs so far; but you would definitely dig them. Dig them hard.

For a starter, their three songs album sounds like Electric Wizard, only if they cared what was going on. So much slow sleaze, it feels like crawling through dirt in electric colours. The vocalist is buried under five tones of smoke and blurts out lyrics like Clayton from Satan’s Satyrs. If you have listened to both bands' latest records a lot, you'd probably find a lot of resemblance in the vocal "style". The production sounds super garage, may I say, basement; and altogether the feeling is one of being in an 80s giallo horror movie.

After having listened to this album for ten times, I find myself whining it’s not any longer - and the mere fact that I was in utter joy after finding they have two other demos, can only give a hint about them being something more than your average three man down-tuned shit ass doom fuck. As a whole, the music sounds driven by drugs and psychedelia, no idea how true that is, but what matters is that it sounds rightfully in its own space and dimension. There is no ray of positivism, no female infused vocals and no retro chicks, sorry. Actually I have no idea if there are any female members, but thankfully you can’t hear any tiny voices.

 

The pace of the whole thing is real slow (wah, surprise!) and feels more like you are being dragged rather than led to somewhere. The coolest down-tuned guitar solos enter here and there, always being distorted and sludgy.

Many bands in the stoner/doom genre use vertigo for their artistic presentation (booklets, albums covers, etc.) but I can only guess most of them do it because it's considered to be retro and probably because of Black Sabbath. However, these folks here do sound mind fucked to an incomprehensible level and I think they are finally someone whose music is cool enough to use it. The fact they've decided to use Soledad Miranda is another thing I like them. People with good taste should support people with good taste.

Now go listen to them, kids, load another one. Get hype.

http://salemspot.bandcamp.com/