Tag: experimental

An Interview with Vaibhav Bhutani of IOISH

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Indian experimental project Ioish, formed by songwriter Vaibhav Bhutani, has just launched a new single taken from the upcoming release. Bhutani talks for Progarchy about new music, challenges, and more.

You are to launch a new full-length album entitled “In Waves”. How do you feel about the release? 

Thanks for asking! Well, I am too excited for it as this I the first time I am making something as big as this, in terms of collaborations with other musicians and producers.

Where does the new record stand comparing to your previous releases?

Well, its more organic in terms of the instrumentation of the whole track. This song is based more on “real” instruments whereas the previous one was more inclined towards this electronic space but still inclined towards the progressive music space.

How much of a challenge was it to work on the newly released single “What You Need It For”?

It was not a challenge but more of a rush, a feeling of being nervous in the starting as the whole line up was new but as things unfolded I started realising what my expectations really should be so I started focusing on that and that is when the fun part started. It’s like you wake up just to do that not because you have to but because you want to.

Speaking of challenges, have you set any in the early phase of what has become the final result?

Well, The past decade has been hard. I had unreal expectations out of music, especially the kind we make, in a country like India where listening to music is a luxury to be honest. Doesn’t matter if its Bollywood or if its western. If you can choose what music you can listen to in this part of the world, I am sure you’re doing pretty well. So making a space and getting accepted by the people here was obviously a challenge but now I don’t see music as a service that I am providing to everyone but I rather see it as something that I can use to let my train of thought out. Apart from that, I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid arthritis about a decade ago when I was 20 but that actually helped shaped the sound of the band so I is it really a problem?

What is your opinion about the progressive rock/metal scene in 2022? 

In India? I haven’t heard many progressive bands that I can personally relate to, rather there are some other bands that sound HUGE. Overall around the world, well we have bands like The Ocean who we got to share stage with which is a band that I love. I got to watch tool at Download Festival 2022 which is an experience I cant ever forget. I mean music in its nature should be progressive in my opinion the verse chorus-formula is for marketing.

Let me know about your influences—the artists that in a way shaped and continue to shape the music of Ioish.

Oceansize, Vessels, 65daysofstatic and Toe mixed with a lot of pop music ranging from Kanye West to Taylor Swift, I love sounds. Everything is inspiring if the intent of the sound resonates wtih you and I believe if you listen properly, and pay attention, there is no way it wont resonate with you until your ego is holding on to something that’s not letting you be a part of that space. That is my belief. For example some people hate bands like Coldplay but they don’t even know why. Maybe its not the band but the memories you keep locked away in their music

What are your top 5 records of all time?

Oh wow! The top position is shared amongst two bands. Here it goes:

  1. 10,000 days, TOOL / Frames – Oceansize
  2. Meteora – Linkin Park
  3. Graduation – Kanye West
  4. Crack the Skye – Mastodon
  5. Colours – Between the Buried and me / Continuum – John Mayer

Besides the release of the album, are there any other plans for the future?

We plan to take this live! I am working on a visual part of the songs too. I am also a huge fan of Amon Tobin and VR/AR stuff so I am trying to incorpate technology and arts like no one has ever done before. Starting off with a projection mapping set which would include some AR elements, fingers crossed!

IOISH online:

Website
Facebook
Instagram

IOISH Plans on Hypnotizing You with “What You Need It For”

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Indian instrumental experimental act IOISH has launched a new single from the forthcoming album “In Waves.” The music video for “What You Need It For” is streaming now. You can watch it below.

The single, mixed and mastered by Brett Caldas Lima, marks the 10th anniversary of IOISH.

Commented the founder Vaibhav Bhutani: “I always had a vision to make an audio-visual themed album, but I did not have the resources for it. Now that I am done with my degrees, I can just go for it. For this album, I got some of the best people in India and around the world, like Shantanu Sudarshan, whom I’ve known since more than a decade, and I’ve always considered him as the best drummer in the country. On the bass is Nikhil Rufus Raj, a veteran in the local music scene. I’ve looked up to his music since I started playing. He’s a brilliant musician and a great guy! On this particular track we have Meredith Moore who plays for giants like Paul McCartney, Mumford and Sons, Robbie Williams, and Josh Groban to name a few. I came up with the basic structure of the song and send it to other musicians to add what they can to it. I believe that collective effort is what makes something grow! Also, we have Brett Caldas Lima on the mixing/mastering duties, he’s just an overall legend.”

As a sound therapist Bhutani realized the importance of music in its purest form which is to be instrumental in its existence. 

He goes on saying: “I believe that as there is nothing or rather no one else that can distract one from their thoughts while listening to music without lyrics. Interestingly enough, I noticed how many people are actually scared to feel something and use certain type of music to escape. I just want people to know and acknowledge what they are feeling as that awareness can help us grow a lot as humans, as a collective group of individuals.”

Bhutani already plans on the next single.

He admits: “As I earn from my day job I do need some time in between releases to earn back the investment. The next song is almost ready. Also, this album is divided in three parts (three songs each). This part of the album deals with the emotions that I had to let go of. The next part will be of the emotions I hold on to, and act up in the moment. And the final one will be about the stuff that makes me want to get up and do something with this thing called life. I am working on the projection mapping material for the live set. As I am a huge Amon Tobin fan, you can expect something along the lines of what he does combined with Sigur Ros.”

The new single “What You Need It For” is streaming now. Watch the video below, or stream in on SoundCloud, Spotify or Apple Music here.

IOISH online:

Website
Facebook
Instagram

Background:

IOISH’s sound is a mix of soulful guitars layered with atmospheric textures that are soaked in melodious grooves and riffs evoking a progressive rock feel. The combined elements make for an immersive and moody trip for the audience. One that they can immediately engage with.

Over the years IOISH has played alongside bands like Tides From Nebula, I Am Waiting For You Last Summer, The Ocean Collective, Intervals and As I Lay Dying during their Indian tours. 

Album Review: Parliament Owls – A Span Is All That We Can Boast

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Parliament Owls, a quintet from Canada, have quite a challenge as with any new band playing this stylistically demanding music. They either need to add something exciting and original to the genre, or be so bloody good at delivering captivating rock (that visits quite a few genres) in its conventional form that they stand head and shoulders above the oceans of ordinariness that surround them. While they will not win any awards for innovation, the debut full-length release “A Span Is All That We Can Boast” does in fact rise most convincingly from the latter category, and has enough variation in its six tracks to keep interest levels high.

A Span Is All That We Can Boast

Beginning with “Cocobolo,” Parliament Owls expertly marry the math rock histrionics of The Dillinger Escape Plan to the noise rock sensibilities of Melvins. The band doesn’t joke about with long intros, and like to get on with the business at hand, with only one track clocking at almost seven minutes. This makes for a more urgent and also provides a much more organic feel to the band’s playing.

In addition to The Dillinger Escape Plan and Melvins you can undoubtedly hear the massive influence of Cult of Luna, Mono, Mastodon, Between the Buried and Me, all the major names, but Parliament Owls somehow manage to put a unique stamp on this rather derivative framework.

Parliament Owls have risen far above the sum of their influences, and delivered a very fine rock album. Check it out!

Follow Parliament Owls on Facebook.

Review: Subnoir – A Long Way From Home

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Subnoir - A Long Way from Home

Prejudice. It’s something all of us have. As a product of human error, all of us sometimes unfairly judge based off stereotypes and predetermined opinions, musical or not. I have always had a prominent discrimination against something many people love. That something is metal music. My opinion on metal music was harsh and unfair, quickly dismissing it as shallow and insignificant. To me, metal always consisted of repeated chugging chords and strange animal noises replacing actual singing, with cheesy and soft sections interspersed. I thought of metal as a self-indulgent form of music, that served only to please the ostentatious and overblown bands and their ridiculously loyal fans. It was a brutal criticism of a genre I didn’t know well at all, and it served only to damage my listening experience. The worst part was, I believed myself for the longest time. That is, until I listened to Subnoir’s debut masterpiece A Long Way From Home. Rarely can a single album give you a completely different outlook on an entire genre, but the album did it, and if I have one regret about it, it’s not listening to it sooner.

What makes ALWFH differ from other metal albums A.D. is that it’s simply a way in for anybody who doesn’t warm to metal easily. It effortlessly mixes elements of indie rock, sludge metal, post-rock, progressive, and even ambient into its own unique hybridization of genres. However, it’s still recognizable as metal (and some damn good metal at that): its rich and heavy chords and growling vocals are staples of the genre done one better, and its unconventional song structure recalls progressive metal bands such as Opeth or even Mastodon. However, Subnoir remember something so many metal bands seem to forget: to make their music beautiful. When not pounding out chords so rich they seem tangible, the band are creating softly meandering interludes that are nothing short of gorgeous (if in a subtly menacing way). 

Subnoir

In addition to improving on already-established standards of metal, Subnoir constantly find new ways to innovate and expand the genre’s depths. The album is “progressive” in every sense of the word. Subnoir also constantly show restraint on the album; instead of taking the “easy way out” and constantly letting the songs devolve into sludgy jam sessions, the band choose to take longer musical paths and let the songs build themselves to beautiful apexes. The band constantly discard conventional structure in favor of an infinitely more interesting way of building their songs: sometimes subtly disquieting passages will suddenly give way to triumphantly blasting guitar chords, or the band will introduce an unexpected riff, or even give ad-lib nods to other genres. Whatever it is they end up doing, the band always excite and are never predictable, giving the album an impulsive edge.

While they show brilliance in the songwriting category, the band’s members also make it known that they sure as hell know what they’re doing with their instruments. Frontman Kenneth Mellum is the best of both worlds: his singing has a gruff yet affecting edge, while his growling never feels forced or laughably indulgent, like so many others do. His voice fits perfectly with the astoundingly rich chords played on the guitars, and, both his voice and the guitars acting as instruments, the pair is one you won’t likely see bettered in almost any metal band. Subnoir excel in other instrumental fields as well: the drumming is consistently strong, while the atmospheric tones that complement the quieter sections are always placed to near-perfection.

A Long Way From Home is not an album that can be taken apart track-by-track. While each track makes for a fascinating individual listen, the album is best taken as a whole. The length of the album’s songs (the album spans eight songs and 50 minutes) may seem a little daunting for the uninitiated, but the album is easily welcoming for anyone willing to give it their undivided attention. The album is a seductive experience, trading in structure and melody for overall sound and tone. It may not be the most accessible metal album on the market, but it should have any listener quickly scrambling for their future works. I know I will.

Until then support Subnoir by checking out A Long Way From Home on Bandcamp.

Review: Deus Omega – In Absentia of Light

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Deus Omega - In Absentia of Light

The Sydney-based Progressive Death/Black Metal project Deus Omega — managed by singer, multi-instrumentalist and producer Alex Moore — released its new album titled “In Absentia of Light” on March 20th. It includes, wait for it, whooping 23 songs in total, and remains true to the project’s genre description which borders on experimental in every kind of meaning. Sudden rhythm changes, crushing guitar riffs, combination of growl, scream and clean vocals, and blast beats are some of the parts that make up this release. 

Whole album has a cinematic, dark vibe what is easily derived from the title. That also adds a bit of avantgarde to the mix. Moore’s vocals are outstanding, and they certainly deepen the atmosphere making everything more meaningful. The only remark here is the album’s length; not that I’m complaining but there is enough material here for three separate releases what just speaks about the talent of this Australian musician.

It is a good thing to see that Deus Omega is keen on exploring different elements in their music. “In Absentia of Light” is a success, and is truly one of the 2018 albums that surprised me the most so far. Hear it on Spotify.

Review: Glaston – Inhale / Exhale

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Glaston

Calling Swiss band Glaston post-rock does this Zurich / Basel four-piece a bit of injustice. They do include plethora of post-rock elements on “Inhale / Exhale,” the group’s first full-length album, but it’s definitely much more than that. Welcome to the soundtrack of emotions, free form and complexity.

Jumping on a bandwagon in 2014 with the release of the “Setting Out” single, the quartet spent next three years in honing and redefining their sound, reaching its climax with the 2017 release. Ten songs of “Inhale / Exhale” show that there is much to the of post-rock than delay-engaged tremolo riffs, what’s ultimately proven with the album opener and one of the strongholds “Game of Tones.” This polarising piece flows manually from very minimal to complex, never exuding any feelings of fatigue. And that is the biggest hallmark of Glaston and this release. Where many bands from the post-rock branch get stuck in proverbial mud of repetitiveness, Glaston manage to beautifully arrange different structures that form their songs. Be it the almost 10-minute epic contender of “Sunnar” or the shortest interlude “This Isn’t Happening.”

Even at their most repetitive, “Ihale / Exhale” doesn’t feel like that at all, as the music here is carefully put together and measured with microscopic precision. It is not to say that Glaston get mathematical, but rather it is the free-form factor of their composition skills and senses that allow them to be methodical and random at the same time.

“Ihale / Exhale” is available on Bandcamp.

 

Review: Choral Hearse – Mire Exhumed

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ChoralHearse bandphoto72

Here comes an album that really surprised me. Choral Hearse is a Berlin-based all-female four-piece who are having their debut full-length album “Mire Exhumed” released on April 16th. The group creates what they call Progressive Doom Metal, which is then impeccably mashed with Experimental Rock and Folk elements.

The album flows seamlessly from track to track, carrying the listener through dark and disturbing soundscapes. The opener, “Chronic Departure,” acts as the perfect overture to the album, opening with a very simple, ominous melody, then carrying that melody through a consistent, driving beat with singer Liaam Iman’s haunting vocals adding the third layer. In many ways, this track takes the primal beats, presents them to the listener, and then shows the ways in which they have been altered and developed to produce this record.

Continue reading “Review: Choral Hearse – Mire Exhumed” →

Album Review: TerraTerra – TerraTerra

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TerraTerra - TerraTerra

TerraTerra, an instrumental post/progressive metal one-man band from Russia comprised of multi-instrumentalist going by the name Ayli K., has quite a challenge as with any new band playing this stylistically demanding music. TerraTerra either needs to add something exciting and original to the genre, or be so bloody good at delivering captivating instrumental rock (that visits quite a few genres) in its conventional form that it stands head and shoulders above the oceans of ordinariness that surround the project. While TerraTerra will not win any awards for innovation, the self-titled debut release does in fact rise most convincingly from the latter category, and has enough variation in its eight tracks to keep interest levels high.

Beginning with “Just Once,” TerraTerra expertly marry the sludgy histrionics of “Panopticon” era Isis to the noise rock sensibilities of Melvins. Ayli K. doesn’t joke with long intros, and likes to get on with the business at hand, with only three tracks passing the 6-minute mark. This makes for a more urgent and also provides a much more organic feel to the musician’s playing and performance.

In addition to Isis and Melvins you can undoubtedly hear the massive influence of Cult of Luna, Mono, Mastodon, all the major names, but TerraTerra somehow manages to put a unique stamp on this rather derivative framework.

TerraTerra has risen far above the sum of  its influences, and delivered a very fine instrumental rock album. Check it out!

Review: PuzzleWood – Gates of Loki

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Gates of Loki

The “Gates of Loki” album and its music is a desolate, introverted place of darkness that summons broodingly melancholic images of angst and tension, and it’s all been dreamt up by Russia’s PuzzleWood.

The music on this debut album, I have to say, doesn’t immediately reward you as a listener. However, the lush melodies that are imbedded deep within the ten songs found on this recording grow, swell and expand the more you explore them, and soon the shadowy lyrical themes of alienation that exist between the individual and society as a whole draw you in to the all encompassing world that PuzzleWood have fashioned.

The album kicks off cleverly with “Intro (Gates of Loki)”. Its light but sinister musicality builds over time and you find that your attention never wanders, however laid back the music feels to you; the song sweeps over your senses, taking them hostage, and its (almost) hypnotic, trance-like melody keeps you chained to the song like a prisoner, but a prisoner who doesn’t want to escape. “Remember My Name” has an almost Riverside-like feel to it. “Tyrant Who Fall in Love” is again trance-like in the extreme, but the way the song is nurtured and allowed to grow is an amazing thing to hear, and it is for me the album’s standout composition.

“To the Void” feels intricate, incorporating varied instrumentation by the three members, as well as a bouzouki performed by guest Dmitry Ignatov. There is a number of ethnic instruments that can be heard throughout “Gates of Loki,” what gives this record its specific flavour. Basem Al-Ashkar’s arabic oud on the closing “Road Will Lead” is beautifully dissonant, making for a perfect ending.

It’s not an easy album to like initially, but given the right amount of time that this weird style of Prog needs to work its magic on you, “Gates of Loki” soon becomes an impressive, thoughtful release that has all the tools needed for it to become a minor classic amongst those who frequent the shaded borderlands of the Progressive Rock World.

Stream / buy “Gates of Loki” from Bandcamp.

Review: The Mercy Stone – Ghettoblaster

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Ghettoblaster

There is music that I can’t relate to. Sometimes it’s because the song is plainly stupid, trite, or obnoxious that I just wish it would be sent into the sun. It’s like your friend who posts way too much personal stuff on Facebook, you just want to scream “Stop”. Then, there is an even more perverse music, a music that speaks like a man half-way through a Xanax withdrawal, a music that both baffles the mind and produces a near awkward laughter in the listener. This is the music of lunatics, music that I would say (in the most professional of instances of course) has gone “completely bananas”.

And here we are with just an album, The Mercy Stone’s debut experimentation Ghettoblaster. An album I am sure my closest friends are sick of hearing and hearing about in the last coupe of weeks, yet it took me some time to write about it because — life.

If you are someone who actually was alive to see the prog spectacle of the ‘70s you may remember the slightly nerdy King Crimson or even the lord dorkdom of the cape wearing Yes. While there are many genuinely cringe worthy moments from those bands nothing — and until I can be proven wrong I genuinely mean NOTHING compares to the awkward vibe you get from Ghettoblaster.

The Mercy Stone is a new project; it’s been around for a few years and was assembled by composer and guitarist Scott Grady — who has a master’s degree in music composition — and who assembled a 12-piece group to “to put his composition chops to work within a project that would have the substance and sophistication fitting for a contemporary-classical concert stage as well as the accessibility that would be palatable to rock audiences.” Going simply-said for an extraordinary amalgam of Classical Music, Jazz and Rock, the group presents a large body of work with their full-length debut Ghettoblaster. Large as in bringing together Stravinsky, Led Zeppelin, Nirvana, Radiohead, Bach, Nine Inch Nails, Pink Floyd, to name but a few.

The music on Ghettoblaster is very well composed and performed. Grady tends to pull together a strong cast of performers for his musical circus act. These fine tunes tend to be something to marvel at. It is this dichotomy that provides more of the head scratching moments. The album progresses in a peculiar, but fairly typical fashion during the majority of its run time. You might find the music endearing and charming as it blends rock, jazz, and classical qualities.

The ‘70s were a glorious period in music because people were getting paid way too much money to do all sorts of crazy projects, and even though some of the end results were complete disasters there was a sincerity to them. There was no sense of irony or pretentiousness in the attitudes of the musicians, they just wanted to make weird and complicated music. With Ghettoblaster, this ensemble does exactly that. The Mercy Stone are driven by the love of music, and it pays back — maybe not filling their pockets, but rather something on a higher, more spiritual level. Highly recommended.

Follow The Mercy Stone on Facebook.