Oh the endless parade, where were we? Asked that the time before last time, do we need a new editorial yet? And bands, musicians, what d owe do with them and endless parade indeed, Monday miring and the inbox is full of messages, pleas, can you listen to my new song? Have you listened to our album yet? We could really do with a review. I’m listening to something now, a self release, sent in by the band themselves rather than a label or an expensively hired PR company, the song is nice enough, you know they’re poured a lot into it, you know it may well make a difference to them if we do post a positive review, we are apparently taste makers, or heaven forbid, influencers. The song is well recorded, decent enough, there’s nothing wrong with it, I imagine someone on BBC Radio 6 will play it, it sounds conservative enough for daytime play if it was ever to fall into the right hands and there by hangs the problem, I know we could possibly make a difference, a small cog that may or may not get another wheel turning, there’s a pressure to be nice and say something, but hey, it just isn’t doing anything for us, you feel guilty, you feel bad, you really feel bad as your finger hovers of the delete button (although if you do write something they almost certainly won’t say thanks or share the link). Enough of that and on with this and the cherry picking of the music and the what we said last time or last week or last year or many (many) years ago. You’ve read all this already, never mind the damn editorial, cut to the chase and never mind the biscuits or the dogfish, jump down past this bit, who needs a damn editorial? Let the actual music do the actual walking and the actual talking. Exact same thing again, another five (or so) slices of musical things that have passed our way recently and however you like to slice it and of course it was the price of lemons and here comes the intro, Don’t be flippant she said, how could it ever be flippant? I can’t remember why she said that now, in one ear, out the other, we have a bad attitude here apparently, no respect for those who work in the music industry, well no poop Sherlock, have you only just worked that one out? We’ve been showing zero respect since the last century, zero flips given…

Five? There’s something rather compelling about five. Cross-pollination? Five more? Is there another way? A better way? A cure for pulling flying rabbits out of the clouds? Is there a rhyme? Is there a reason? Was there ever a reason? What do reasons make? Five more? Snake oil? Everything must go and no, we never do and the proof of the pudding is in that proof reading. When we started this thing, oh never mind, it doesn’t matter why we started this damn thing and like we asked last time, does anyone bother reading the editorial? Does anyone ever actually look down the rabbit hole or is it all just method acting? We do really try to listen to everything that comes in, we do it so you don’t have to, we are very (very) very very picky about what we actually post on these fractured pages or about what gets played on the radio or indeed what we hang in a gallery. Cut to the chase, never mind the editorial, skip this bit, there’s loads of music further down the page, well five or so pieces of music that have come our way in the last few days and what’s Wordsworth? Just the basic facts and links and those sounds (and visuals), that’s surely all you need from us?

A bag load of things of a vaguely heavy nature, heavy rock, stoner rock, punky metal and, heaviness and hey ma take a look at your boys, up on the stage with their latest toys… Here we are, in no particular order, five heavier things that have passed our way in recent weeks. all thrown together in the hope of some cross-pollination or whatever the hell it is we do here….

Here we go, five more slices of music that have recently come our way, this time we start somewhere in Santa Rosa, California before we head to South London and Holy O and her band (is it Her band, pretty sure it must be?)

1: State Faults – A track from the album Children Of The Moon, out now so it says here, they haven’t put anything out for ages have they? A new album? They’re from Santa Rosa, California, they actually put a new album out a few weeks back, this youtube thing kind of led us to it, more about the new album underneath….

…and now they’re yapping and barking and screaming at us, they are kind of doing it in an ambitious kind of way. I must admit I usually back a millionmiles off this screaming screamo beano stuff but this has something more to it, a touch of light and shade, the ten minutes of No Gospel is a highlight, worth the entry price for that track alone actually…. Bandcamp

2: Katolik have an EP called Guilt, although it isn’t clear who’s guilt they are screaming about? They also have a gig coming up at Helgi‘s on 20th August, which, for those of you who have (or indeed haven’t) been paying attention, is our beautiful local here in Hackney, East London where they’re supporting moody gothy Italian Death Rock outfit Horror Vacui. Katalik in their own beautiful words say they deal in “Kinky, noisy, garage punk”, they’re based in South London, they’re raw, they’re blistering, they’re intense, they say garage punk, they sound rather heavy to me, chained up punked up rock ‘n roll flavoured whiplashed extreme metal with more than a dark twist or two once things getting warned up (first track is a bit of a slower starter, kneel down and give it 30 seconds, it is worth the wait). Song titles like Punishment Block, Sub Drop, Boss Bitch and such will give you an idea as to where they’re coming from or at least where their more than healthy minds are at (their thank you list is rather colourful as well). Hey, go get corrupted, they sound like they’ll be good for you, it sounds like you don’t mess with Holy O and the band, blistering noise, love it! See you at Helgi’s, the pint of Roadcrew is on you, a thank you for telling you as it were…. Bandcamp

Right then, enought of glorious dark back rooms of bars in Hackney, off to Argentina..

3: Las Historias have an album of heavy psych rock, we can’t show you the video here, hey we can’t be showing things like that! More under the video we can’t show…

These demos are a preview of the second studio album House Of Pain from Argentina’s Las Historias, “after a month in the jail, I was able to see the sun again and compose this Rock and Roll album”, a raw album recorded and mixed at The House of Pain in the summer of 2023. Recorded with only two sm57 Microphones, except The Way I Am and Nomad “which were recorded with only one mic because these were the last songs composed, they are the first takes! after that I lost my guitar so I couldn’t continue recording.. tragic story but I will get that beautiful stratocaster back!”

Las Historias are a Psychedelic Rock and Roll power trio with, so they say, Stoner Rock roots, after a four year journey of trying different sounds and instruments, four years of bad and good experiences, the band are back on the road and on their way to recording their second studio album. The House of Pain demos are a preview of things to come with the second studio album from Las Historias. They sound like they might have an orgone accumulator, they sound kind of righteous, that video looks like is was shot in the aforementioned Helgi’s, here’s the Bandcamp / vinyl

4: Pharmakon, she’s from New York, she’s here with an early taste from the new album Maggot Mass, on out October 4th on Sacred Bones Records, more under the YouTube thing – links / Bandcamp

Some background from the Bandcamp page…

“Maggot Mass, the fifth full-length album by Pharmakon on Sacred Bones Records, marks the project’s return after a five-year hiatus. This album signifies a departure from the original rules and structures established by Margaret Chardiet for Pharmakon, evolving into a new form. It retains the project’s experimental roots in power electronics and noise while incorporating industrial and punk influences.

The album stems from a profound disgust with humanity’s dysfunctional relationship with the environment and other life forms. It explores the loneliness resulting from this broken bond and challenges us to acknowledge our personal and systemic responsibility.

What peace can we make with privilege when the true cost of our comfort is not measured in dollars but in death? How can we reconcile with death when we impose the same hierarchical structures on it that we do in life? Is life worth living in the isolation of this self-imposed species loneliness?

Humans often measure worth by accumulation—money, assets, objects—mistaking this for power and influence. Western heritage dictates a hierarchy, placing humans at the top, separate from the natural world. This delusion turns bodies into objects, land into property, and people into expendable tools.

If our value were instead determined by our contribution to the ecosystem, who could claim that a human is more valuable than a maggot? Maggots recycle death into life, breaking down matter and nourishing new growth. They transform into flies, pollinating plants and sustaining the Earth’s flora. In contrast, humans pollute rather than pollinate, with a select few profiting from exploitation at the expense of biodiversity and the well-being of many.

In grappling with grief and loss on both personal and global scales, Margaret sought solace in the idea of rebirth through death, celebrating the beauty of regeneration through decay. However, she had to confront the stark reality of the disconnection from the earth under oppressive systems. Pharmakon is here imagining a path where the final act is to give back what was received from creation, offering our lives and deaths to sustain existence….” Links

There’s one UK date as part of a European tour – Oct 13 – London, Underworld

Here’s some live footage for an art gallery from nine years ago…

5: Cold Gawd‘s melodically heavy new single is from the album I’ll Drown On This Earth, out August 30th on Dais Records. They call themselves a “Southern California shoegaze squad” or the press release that came with this tiny epic does. Find the album details on Bandcamp, more when we’ve heard more, if we like what we hear that is, we remain as picky as ever.

Now if you really want it heavy, if you want it dark, if you want Peter Hammill as Catholic priest, if you want witches and though Hexenhammer was intended to slay only evil, how in the year 1486, the Malleus first appeared, designed to kill all witchcraft, and end the papal fears…. The finest band ever, Van Der Graaf Generator….

More Van Der Graff or Peter Hammill or other things sung by people called Peter? Here you go, we have a list for every need…