Neurosis: "To Crawl Under One's Skin"

Earlier this year, pioneering sludge-metal band Neurosis reissued its third studio album, Souls at Zero, on its own label, Neurot. Though it sounds just as fresh today, it has been nearly 20 years since that influential mixture of heavy grooves, diverse folk instrumentation, and mammoth metal riffs first cropped up. We asked frontman Steve Von Till to compile a playlist for us, and he came up with 11 bands that were instrumental in Neurosis' formation and development.

Bands Integral to the Origin of Neurosis
by Steve Von Till of Neurosis

This playlist may contain the secrets to the origin of thousands of bands who became inspired to give it all.

1. Joy Division: "New Dawn Fades"

The driving bass. The melodic yet primitive guitar. The empty and bleak space as large as the riff. The words, “Me, seeing me this time, hoping for something else.” The emotions left behind.

2. Black Flag: My War (side B)

"Nothing Left Inside," "Three Nights," and "Scream." Slow dirge and discordant angst…perfection.

3. Amebix: "Last Will and Testament"

No Gods, No Masters, and yet a spiritual thread runs through its music. Punks informed by Crass and Killing Joke but armed with mysticism and huge metal guitars. We owe a lot to these men.

4. Pink Floyd: "Careful With That Axe Eugene" (Live at Pompeii version)

Man…that scream…I swear Roger Waters looks like he is about to transform into some beast during that performance. Heavy psych at its best.

5. Die Kreuzen: "All White"

Dissonant guitars, insane, augmented chords, melodic bass, and that voice! “Let me out!!!!!!!!”

6. Voivod: "Tribal Convictions"

Along with Die Kreuzen, Piggy (Denis D'Amour) from Voivod blew our minds with the insane, dissonant chord shapes. Psychedelic metal from space. Truly one of a kind. We miss you, Piggy.

7. Rudimentary Peni: Cacophony (entire record)

A band considered to be a group of art-damaged anarcho-punks comes out of nowhere with a completely bizarre, hypnotic masterpiece dedicated and inspired by the life of HP Lovecraft. This may be one of the strangest rock records of all time.

8. Killing Joke: "The Wait"

Even though it is overplayed thanks to a cover by an arena-rock band, it cannot detract from the fact that this track from its first record is heavy as hell — a badass new-wave anthem. Killing Joke is still intense and passionate. Huge inspiration.

9. Deep Purple: "Highway Star"

Harmonic distortion. This is what the human ear finds pleasing. I can think of no other sound that personifies those words more than this era of Deep Purple. Before I knew much about music, I thought it was Ritchie Blackmore’s guitar that was responsible for the thick, rich, tough wall of sound, but as I got older, I thought, “No, it must be Jon Lord’s distorted organ that is so heavy.” Finally I had the moment of clarity; it is the magic blend of the Hammond B3’s foldback distortion with the Stratocaster and Rickenbacker through dimed stacks of '60s Marshalls that is so damn good. My quest for my guitar tone has been chasing that ever since.

10. The Subhumans: "From the Cradle to the Grave"

The title says it all. An absolute epic of musicianship and depth of lyrics that stands leagues beyond the shallow and naive sociopolitical punk of the era. Timeless.

11. Black Sabbath: "Black Sabbath"

They say both good and bad things come in threes. This is all about three notes, which bring forth both good and bad in the mind of the listener. The triad. The ultimate, heavy, slow doom riff. I cannot count the number of times I have “written” a riff, only to realize “Damn it, I ripped off Sabbath…again.”

Harvestman: "The Watcher"

When Steve Von Till joined burgeoning metal giants Neurosis in 1989, there was a distinct change in the band’s direction. Its raw hardcore from 1987 album Pain of Mind evolved into more progressive, atmospheric music over the course of The World as Law in 1990 and Souls at Zero in 1992. The maturation was purposeful but wasn’t so radical that it denoted a conscious abandonment of the band's previous work.

Twenty years later, the band is still continuing to evolve its post-hardcore sound and has influenced an entire generation of bands that worship the so-called cult of "Neur-Isis" (a tongue-in-cheek reference to both Neurosis and its latter-day kindred spirits Isis). By 1995, the band was beginning to venture farther and farther into ethereal, ambient music.

Tribes of Neurot became an alternate moniker for the band’s more experimental work, which often supplemented Neurosis titles. Even then, some musical channels remained unexplored.

In 2000, Von Till released his first album under his own name, presenting a singer/songwriter acoustic work entitled As the Crow Flies. In addition to more intimate guitar playing, his gravelly vocals took on a more weathered, reflective tone. And as his work in Neurosis, Tribes of Neurot, and as a singer/songwriter continued over the decade, he continued accumulating ideas that weren’t quite right for any of the projects.

“I had a body of work sitting around that was really concentrated on exploring the different textures and tones that an electric guitar can produce,” Von Till says. “I wanted to the use the studio as its own instrument to distill, stealing dub techniques to take what I’d tracked and morph it into something else.”
 

"I never feel that any ideas that come from my brain are that great. When I surrender to the fact that it’s larger than me — that’s when it becomes powerful."

In 2005, he released Lashing the Rye, his first record as Harvestman. It’s a strange amalgamation of sound collages, vintage psychedelia, and folk revival.

“In a way, it’s kind of my own fucked-up folk music,” says Von Till, who takes inspiration from Germanic and Celtic folklore, stemming from the modern revisiting of folk music in the 1960s and 1970s. Add to this the sonic exploration and self-reflective themes of 1970s psychedelia and 1980s electronica, and his use of “folk music” begins to hold water.

“It’s the sound of what it’s like when I visit ancient stone circles in Europe…and it’s also my love from what I see across the ocean—Hawkwind, Kraftwerk, Skullflower,” he says, noting that his music is informed by both bloodline and experience.

The communal aspect of folk music is seen in heavy psych jam “By Wind and Sun” on Harvestman’s 2009 effort In a Dark Tongue. The song is based on sessions with DJ friends in the Santa Cruz Mountains. It’s singular in that it has vocals, specifically Von Till’s repeated chant of the title.

“It sounds cheesy, but it felt like I had this druidic moment,” he explains. “I’m meditating on the themes I meditate on, and all of the sudden, that mantra just popped in there.” This spirit captures the essence of Harvestman and a more mystical sort of collaboration.

“Whether you’re in the tracking or mixing phase, you have to obey what the music demands,” he says. “If you want to surrender to the muse, the head gets in the way. I never feel that any ideas that come from my brain are that great. When I surrender to the fact that it’s larger than me — that’s when it becomes powerful.”

Solo albums are self-indulgent by design, but that indulgence offers insight into the mind of its creator. On In a Dark Tongue, Von Till ties the spirit of his own guitar warbles and tape splicing to a John Martyn cover, a hypnotic, this-is-your-brain-on-drugs collaboration with Om bassist Al Cisneros, as well as pseudo-koto sounds curated by Grails guitarist Alex Hall.

The connection is simple: these are the sounds of musical reflection upon identity, a combination of nature and nurture. And through this process, the act of yielding to the music itself becomes a journey of self-discovery.

Von Till frames it best in words that seem to channel the hunchback musician of lore: “You really discover the power of meditation and otherworldliness, surrendering yourself to some sort of different realm [and entering] trance states through music,” he says. “Harvestman is probably the purest outlet I have for that. There’s no structure, just energy.”

Ion Dissonance: Cursed (Century Media)

Did you love Calculating Infinity? ADD got you down? Not nearly enough riffs on the last three albums you bought, combined? This Month In Metal is pleased to introduce you to Ion Dissonance's Cursed. With a heavy hardcore slant in both attitude and execution, Cursed whips right along, tosses you every which way, and then runs you down when you try to get your bearings. Trim off the last track's eight minutes of weird alien noises and insane-dude rambling and you have a 40-minute scorcher that's suitable for slam-dancing of all varieties.

Ion Dissonance: "You People Are Messed Up"

Cephalic Carnage: Misled By Certainty (Relapse)

Speaking of spastic metal with tons of things happening at once, the new Cephalic Carnage was released! These five potheads should be touring with Brutal Truth for a showcase of marijuana not impeding one's speed. Since Conforming To Abnormality in 2002, Cephalic Carnage has tested both the sound barrier as well as its weed tolerance with under-a-minute grinders and the 19-minute doom opus Halls Of Amenti.

Released this week, Misled By Certainty leans in favor of slow, heavy head-nodders but throws in some blasts and typical Cephalic weirdness (in the form of Bruce Lamont's saxophone, to name one instance) here and there. Misled continues the band's tradition of utilizing guest vocalists (Immolations' Ross Dolan and longtime Cephalic producer Dave Otero both make appearances), so the vocal performance varies quite a bit in style, but so does the band's music. I'm always up for a dose of its self-categorized Rocky Mountain hydro-grind!

Cephalic Carnage: "When I Arrive"

Ex-Animosity News

Although I'm sad that San Francisco's Animosity is no longer, its former members are keeping busy. Vocalist Leo Miller has contributed vocals to the upcoming, yet-to-be-given-a-release-date album from Drumcorps and joined the touring lineup. Drummer Navene Koperweis recorded all of the guitars, bass, and drums for the recently released Fleshwrought album but enlisted Job For A Cowboy vocalist Jonny Davy to handle the mic. Also worth checking out is Koperweis' work with hyper-technical, instrumental, and progressive Animals As Leaders.

Vinyl

In vinyl news, the beyond-amazing Italian label Night Of The Vinyl Dead has issued an LP of the 2005 live album Close Of A Chapter: Live In Quebec City. It's a double LP and limited to 600 copies, so act fast. While you're at it, you can get its latest release, Xentrix's Scourge! Also, Chicago doomsters Bongripper have just self-released their monstrous Satan Worshipping Doom on a limited-to-300 double LP! Act fast!

News & Notes

Finally, be sure to wish well to Behemoth's Nergal, who needs a bone-marrow transplant; check out the new Malevolent Creation for a nut-punch of solid death metal; pick up the reissue of Neurosis' Enemy Of The Sun and the brand-new Live At Roadburn CDs over at Neurot; and check out the previously unreleased Pantera song "The Will To Survive" on its official Facebook page!

Hailing from the Appalachian Mountains in Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee, US Christmas' sound is unmistakably heavy, at times bordering on experimental post-rock. The band has drawn comparisons to like-minded space-rock groups, though it cites the decidedly terrestrial mountains and people of North Carolina as influences.

Run Thick In The Night is the result of the band's eclectic tastes. Distorted guitars growl and gurgle mammoth riffs, while swirling atmospherics get increasingly dark and cinematic in scale. Adding vintage synths and shrieking theremins to the mix has diversified US Christmas' sound and contributes to a compelling new release.

ALARM leaves no genre unloved in our round-up of 50 albums that didn't receive enough attention in 2009.

Omar Rodriguez Lopez: Old Money (Stones Throw, 1/27/09)

Omar Rodriguez Lopez: "Family War Funding"

The first of many releases in 2009 from prolific guitarist/composer Omar Rodriguez-Lopez. Accessible and centered on rock, sounding spacey, funky, progressive, psychedelic, a little jazzy, and a little Latin.

Kevin Hufnagel: Songs for the Disappeared (self-released, 2/3/09)

Kevin Hufnagel: "Tres"

Musical themes come and go, covering swaths of Spanish and Gypsy guitar before reverting back to haunting rock melodies, on this solo acoustic album from highly technical Dysrhythmia guitarist Kevin Hufnagel.

P.O.S: Never Better (Rhymesayers, 2/3/09)

P.O.S.: "Drumroll"

Likely the year's best hip-hop album, Never Better draws on Stefon Alexander’s background in punk and rock music (he plays most of the live instrumentation on the record), making this is an album that categorically defines the indie in indie rap.

Zu: Carboniferous (Ipecac, 2/17/09)

Zu: "Ostia"

Sludgy alt-metal with complex repeated rhythms and free-jazz freakouts. Features Mike Patton on two killer tracks.

The Andreas Kapsalis & Goran Ivanovic Guitar Duo: s/t (2/24/09)

The Andreas Kapsalis & Goran Ivanovic Guitar Duo: "Shadow Thief"

A Balkan-influenced classical guitarist joins an ethically inspired finger-tapping guitarist for a disc of skill and beauty.

16: Bridges to Burn (Relapse, 2/24/09)

16: "Throw in the Towel"

Dubbed the "Unsane of the West Coast" by ALARM's Jamie Ludwig, 16 issued another hard-hitting riff fest in 2009 with Bridges to Burn, the band's best album to date.

Umlaut: s/t (3/10/09)

Umlaut: "Kitty Puppy"

Mr. Bungle's Bär McKinnon, multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire, issued one hell of an album for this new project — one that filters meticulous melodies and asinine vocals through the lens of a whacked-out lounge group.

Jono El Grande: Neo Dada (Rune Grammofon, 3/16/09)

Jono El Grande: "Oslo Coty Suite"

Fanciful music that's different around every turn. Art rock that weaves through theatrical, progressive, classical, and absurdist styles with influences from Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, King Crimson and Igor Stravinsky.

Kylesa: Static Tensions (Prosthetic, 3/17/09)

Kylesa: "Scapegoat"

Down-tuned dirge metal that rumbles with crust punk, sludge, metal, hardcore, and psychedelia, often laced with atmospheric samples. To date, Static Tensions is Kylesa's most powerful album.

(MF) Doom: Born Like This (Lex, 3/23/09)

Doom: "Cellz"

Dropping his “MF” prefix, the incomparable rapper and Marvel-inspired supervillain delivered another nearly impenetrable wall of rhymes and flow, dizzying listeners with his ever-shifting, slowly delivered lyrics.

Converge: Axe to Fall (Epitaph)

After nearly 20 years together, unconventional Boston hardcore quartet Converge adds to its eminent catalog with an album that will be one of the best heavy discs of the year.

Immediately, Axe to Fall delivers a heaping dose of full-throttle thrash metal, accelerating through push beats, high-string pull-offs, and double-bass blasts to establish a new tone for the band. "Reap What You Sow" continues the assault with palm-muted speed riffs and squealing solos that wouldn't sound out of place in Metallica's early catalog.

Guitarist/producer Kurt Ballou is at his absolute peak, creating the aforementioned mania and utilizing his usual armaments of dirge riffs, down-tuned chugging, and morose melodies. Additionally, the group's stream of one-off guest musicians continues to widen, this time sweeping guitarist Steve Von Till (Neurosis), vocalist Mookie Singerman (Genghis Tron), and three-quarters of Cave In (guitarists Stephen Brodsky and Adam McGrath and drummer JR Conners) into compelling cameos.

Ultimately, Axe to Fall makes its case to be Converge's best album. But whether or not you agree, it's another reflection of Converge at the top of its game, crushing listeners will full-bodied hardcore that isn't afraid to bust out an acoustic guitar, piano, and glockenspiel for a track.

Russian Circles: Geneva (Suicide Squeeze)

Striking a balance between the relentless riffage of Enter (Flameshovel, 2006) and the melodious restraint of Station (Suicide Squeeze, 2008), Geneva showcases a maturity of instrumental rock trio Russian Circles through complete creations — songs that equally call upon sheer beauty, ascending tension, and caustic force.

It’s not as voracious as the band’s debut, but Geneva retains a dynamic vibe through rhythmic heaviness, much of which comes via new bassist Brian Cook. A current member of These Arms are Snakes, Cook makes his “debut” on Geneva, making his presence immediately felt with a worming bass groove on album opener “Fathom.”

Cook is but one key addition to the band’s repertoire; adjunct instruments, generally stringed, augment and guide much the album’s material.

These chordophones accentuate three of the album’s first four tracks, and they lead the first five minutes of “Philos,” a 10-minute epic that closes Geneva in ruminative fashion. Just prior, distant horns utter a wordless lamentation on the album’s penultimate track, “When the Mountain Comes to Muhammad.”

In retrospect, Geneva should mark the pivot point for the band's career — a moment that marks both the band’s musical maturity and its arrival as a major player in independent rock.

Shrinebuilder: s/t (Neurot)

Consisting of guitarist Scott Kelly (Neurosis), guitarist Scott “Wino” Weinrich (Saint Vitus), bassist Al Cisneros (Om), and drummer Dale Crover (Melvins), this highly anticipated project is a four-piece heavy-psych super group that holds long-lasting intentions.

As one might imagine based on the members’ current and former bands, Shrinebuilder is based on brief, cyclical riffs that are topped with swirling effects. These give way to fuller, meditative breakdowns, which frequently revert back to mid-tempo stoner-metal wizardry.

Each member contributes vocals, which range from semi-spoken to distant, harmonic, and gruff. These different vocal styles help to individualize each track, which might otherwise run together via similarities in style and duration.

“Pyramid of the Moon” combines hymnal harmonies, high-pitched guitar synchronizations, über-echoed vocals, and a warbling synth sound into a dreamy blend. We could proclaim it to be the best selection of this five-tune full-length, but the album’s final track, “Science of Anger,” only comes with the full retail version of the album – available today.

Honorable mentions:

The Black Heart Procession: Six (Temporary Residence)
Fuck Buttons: Tarot Sport (ATP)
OOIOO: Armonico Hewa (Thrill Jockey)
Sufjan Stevens: The BQE (Asthmatic Kitty)
Themselves: CrownsDown (Anticon)

Supermachiner, the haunting, mostly instrumental side project from Converge members Jacob Bannon and Kurt Ballou, will soon have its complete 30-track, two-disc collection, Rust, available through Deathwish Inc. Listen to a few tracks here.

Big Business has announced the release of its new album, Mind the Drift, for April on Hydra Head. Listen to a new track, "Gold and Final," on the group's MySpace page.

Japanese post-rockers Mono have a new album, Hymn to the Immortal Wind, being released on March 24 on Temporary Residence. The album boasts guest contributions from a 28-member orchestra.

Seven Signs, the Southern culture documentary by J.D. Wilkes of Th' Legendary Shack Shakers, is now available on DVD.

Following the release of Old Money via Stones Throw on January 26, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez takes his group to Europe in March. Click here for a list of dates.

A new alt-metal super-group called Shrinebuilder is recording a debut album for Neurot Recordings, due this summer. The group consists of Wino (The Hidden Hand), Scott Kelly (Neurosis), Al Cisneros (Om, Sleep), and Dale Crover (Melvins) and will be in the studio with Toshi Kasai (Big Business).

Orange Tulip Conspiracy, the exceptional multi-genre new group led by Estradasphere guitarist Jason Schimmel, will play a full US tour in May. If you're involved in setting up shows, you can help Schimmel fill in dates — head here for details.

Grandaddy singer/songwriter Jason Lytle has a solo debut album, Yours Truly, being release on Anti- on May 19.

Finger-tapping indie-rock specialist Kaki King is playing a "solo guitar and no other bullshit tour" in California from January 21-31. Head here for the dates.

Post-rock/jam keyboardist Marco Benevento plays a weekly residency in February at Yoshi's in Oakland in the middle of a handful of other West Coast dates. During the stint, Benevento will be joined by special guests that include Scott Amendola, Billy Martin, Reed Mathis, Jeff Parker, and Skerik.

California math-rock trio Tera Melos has a new EP of cover songs available to download for free. Band member Nick Reinhart also has new band with drumming wiz Zach Hill, called Bygones, that has a debut album set for release in March on Sargent House.

Starting today, the new Cattle Decapitation album, The Harvest Floor, is streaming in its entirety on buzzgrinder.com. The stream will run through January 19.

Thrash/punk four-piece Trash Talk has announced a handful of shows that span Japan, California, and Georgia (the state). The shows include performances with Fucked Up, Pig Destroyer, Converge, Torche, Mastodon, and Neurosis.

Hardcore tough guys Hatebreed have posted a cover of Sepultura's "Refuse/Resist" on their MySpace page. The cover is included in the soundtrack to Punisher: War Zone.

Squarepusher: Just a Souvenir (Warp)

Under the alias Squarepusher, beastly bassist/programmer Tom Jenkinson has traversed dozens of genres, with racing melodies that cover jazzy IDM, classical guitar, funk, and drum & bass. Just a Souvenir follows the resurgent Squarepusher trend to make his releases as diverse as possible from song to song, tearing through the above genres with melody and discord.

The album starts with some of its weakest material, but after four or five songs, it masterfully plays with genre convergence. Just a Souvenir is a must-own album for fans and newbies alike.

Zakarya: The True Story Concerning Martin Behaim (Tzadik)

French four-piece Zakarya continues its unique musical mixture – klezmer-core – that filters Jewish accordion melodies through an off-kilter math-rock base. This, the group's fourth album for Tzadik, is an imaginary film score about the life of Martin Behaim, a famous 15^th-century Portuguese geographer.

O'death: Broken Hymns, Limbs, and Skin (Kemado)

Americana / alt-country five-piece O'death bubbled to the surface of indie exposure in 2007 after the re-release of Head Home, its second album, on Ernest Jenning Record Co.

Now, in an effort to capture its raucous live, O'death has released Broken Hymns, Limbs, and Skin, which covers vast expanses of musical ground-from the droning Pentecostal chants of "Grey Sun" to the plodding, anthemic chorus of "Mountain Shifts" and the syncopated breakdown on "Vacant Moan" that will have you head banging to what you thought was bluegrass.

Akimbo: Jersey Shores (Neurot)

Seattle three-piece hardcore outfit Akimbo returns with Jersey Shores, a concept record based of a real-life horror story. The album's theme is one of unprovoked shark attacks that occurred along the New Jersey coastline in the summer of 1916, and the brutal, epic music burned on the disc matches the mood.

Akimbo: "Great White Bull"
Akimbo: \"Great White Bull\"

Huntsville: Eco, Arches & Eras [2CD] (Rune Grammofon)

An experimental trio from Norway, Huntsville uses tabla, pedal steel guitar, banjo, and traditional rock instruments to prepare moody, melodic music that knows no stylistic boundaries. Using sound textures that are combined in unconventional ways, this double-disc release is half studio recording and half live album, the latter including expert guests in the form of guitarist Nels Cline and drummer Glenn Kotche from Wilco.

John Zorn: Filmworks XXI: Belle de Nature / The New Rijksmuseum (Tzadik)

Consummate compositional experimentalist John Zorn is keeping busy, releasing his third Filmworks soundtrack of the year. This release contains a pair of contrasting scores – one for French sadomasochist erotica and one for a documentary on the overhaul of the Rijksmuseum, a national museum in Amsterdam. Zorn's label, Tzadik, promotes this release as one that ranges "from baroque minimalism to a sensual fusion of harp, guitar, and bass."

Medeski, Martin & Wood

Seemingly incapable of going six months without a release, jazz/jam trio Medeski, Martin & Wood now presents the first release in its Radiolarians series. The album begins the group's experiment of meeting for brief writing sessions, testing out that new material (and only the new material) on the road, recording the material, and then repeating the process.

Medeski, Martin & Wood: \"Free Go Lily\"

Koushik: Out My Window (Stones Throw)

Ontario's Koushik Ghosh weaves choirs of strings in and out of down-tempo, old-school hip-hop beats to create a sound that's made more unique with his dreamlike singing. Mix in elements of 1960s psychedelic pop and you have a celestial mix on Out My Window, his sophomore full-length album.

Koushik: \"Lying in the Sun\" (sample)

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Look Daggers: Suffer in Style (Up Above)

Keyboardist Ikey Owens of The Mars Volta and vocalist 2Mex of The Visionaries prepare a rock/hip-hop union for their new group, Look Daggers, and the result is a catchy, original, organic album. The disc's crazy list of guests includes members of Mastodon, Breakestra, Long Beach Dub All-Stars, Thelonious Monster, and Reel Big Fish.

Look Daggers: \"Beautiful Freak\" (sample)

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Bill Frisell: Rambler (ECM) [reissue]

Jazz guitarist Bill Frisell has traversed dozens of styles in his career, and he has worked with artists as diametrically different as drummer Paul Motian and doom-drone group Earth. This reissue of his second ECM album may not be as all encompassing as his work with John Zorn's Naked City, but it's well across the atmospheric jazz map.