Black Bombaim/Titans

Been meaning to get to this one for a while, but this is one monolith of a record packing a wallop upside the cortex that takes more than a few spins to consume fully. Titans hits hard right out the gate…relentlessly. Portugal’s Black Bombaim suck the air out of the room with 4 whopping cuts that are equal parts widescreen and wind shear. Hands down in every way, this mountain of heavy psych not only earns the title Titans, but owns it. Black Bombaim take off from, and take aim at, titans that came before—Blue Cheer, Sabbath, Hawkwind…—and scale their own pinnacles that lovingly rival them in every way. Wonderfully, and deftly, sidestepping a punch of nothing but a wall of sound, Titans is also surprisingly nimble. Side A: Noel V. Harmonson, Adolfo Luxúria Canibal, Jorge Coelho, Shela puts its boot in your teeth from the get go, but by the end oozes into its own brand of leisurely amble; think Leviathan tiptoeing…. B Side: Tiago Jónatas, Guilherme Canhão is a slow-burning space-rock crusade that cuts through the vacuum leaving a spinning, whirling vapor trail that challenges everyone to follow. It could be the soundtrack to a universe expiring or a cosmic lullaby to the Old Ones’ newborn. Probably both. C Side – Steve Mackay, Isaiah Mitchell with, yep…Steve Mackay…does much the same, but with a loose and unhinged vortex that sucks everything in, while Mackay blows your brains out. Mackay isn’t the only added weaponry on Titans. Joined by local guests, along with Isaiah Mitchell of Earthless and Comet on Fire’s Noel V. Harmonson, they compliment and wrench Black Bombaim’s assault into a twisted mass that is both bone-crushing, exhilarating and liberating. If they didn’t have a firm grasp of where to steer this massive ship, the whole thing would end in a disappointingly deflated , and exhausting, wreck. But they do, and D Side: Ghuna X, HHY, Tiago Pereira brings Titans to a rousing finale. Wispy fog banks coalesce into thundering storm clouds around the peaks, pushing them further up by sheer force of will; pure psychedelic plate tectonics. The whole record is. Black Bombaim need copious amounts of room to maneuver in, and what isn’t available on this planet, they create…hewing endless caverns to exist in and command. Titans is a daunting record, not easily digestible in a handful of sittings, but the returns and rewards are bottomless and boundless. If ever a record lived up to the promise of its name, this is the one.

B Side: Tiago Jónatas, Guilherme Canhão :: Black Bombaim :: Titans (2012, Lovers & Lollypops)

Eidetic Seeing :: Drink the Sun

Brooklyn’s Eidetic Seeing return after their s/t EP with the voracious long-player Drink the Sun. Produced by Evan Sobel of La Otracina, Drink the Sun is a blissed and blitzed attack of controlled squall and ‘acid drenched’ pyrotechnics. Though Eidetic Seeing’s assault was recorded live and uncut, Drink the Sun still captures their abrasive and distorted heft, but with slightly more focus and drive that does nothing to temper their assault. If anything, it makes it clearer and all the more jagged. Where Eidetic Seeing delivered on the promise of their name, Drink the Sun does the same with the foundation laid down by that debut. Even on the more moderate cuts like No Pilot, the key is their grind, or the threat of it. Drink the Sun chews up the playing time, and itself in some places, churning out waves of heavy, raw psych. Paul Feitzinger (drums/synthesizer) and Danilo Randjic-Coleman (bass) provide a backbone and a guard rail to hold onto as Sean Forlenza’s solar-flared guitar implodes and explodes. The guitar is right up in and slapping your face, and may seem too prominent at first, but after you get the gist of the mission, it all pools together into a tasty psych stew. Like No Pilot, it’s not all in the red or out of control, though if you blink you might lose that place to catch your breath. The title cut goes for a more subdued and controlled campaign, while the revisited Variations on a reinterpretation of Lord Śiva gets a new leg up slowly edging out any obstacles and building up. It’s Brick Out is a tight barn-burner with Forlenza’s guitar carving and hewing out a mountain of sound and creating a space for the bottom-end to take root. The fantastic Deep Falafel Pocket returns as well for round two, still in fighting shape and sending surges out poking holes in the ether and filling up the vacuum with its own kind of mass. Even down in the deepest nooks of the furnace, with everything cooking and the wall of sound crashing down, Eidetic Seeing are steering Drink the Sun right where they want it to go and where it can leave the biggest footprint…here on their scorched Earth or elsewhere…out there…

Primeribneon/Waves and Radiation :: Eidetic Seeing :: Drink the Sun (2011, Eidetic Seeing)

Eidetic Seeing :: Eidetic Seeing

Brooklyn’s Eidetic Seeing say “Deep, Heavy… Space.” You bet. Brooklyn’s Eidetic Seeing lay down the acid drenched psych rock on their debut self titled EP. Captured live in one take, it’s potent, swirling stuff…sure to conjure up your own mental images, in vivid color…and detail. If you like your space out there where it starts to fray around the edges, opener Hebrew Scrabble/Hush is your ticket to ride. A 14+ minute slow burn scorcher that lays down the gauntlet while tiring you out for the unhurried Deep Falafel Pocket. It’s Brick Out is a short furnace blast of buzzing grind before the closer, Variations on a Reinterpretation of Lord Śiva. Variations takes its time rolling out, building up tension as the bottom ends bubbles and the guitar sends out signals searching for something to bounce off of, or poke a whole through. A stoned and saturated calling card, Eidetic Seeing delivers on the promise of their name.

Deep Falafel Pocket :: Eidetic Seeing :: Eidetic Seeing (2010, Eidetic Seeing)