Posts Tagged ‘Hawkwind’

Watch: ‘On The Fields Of The Moon’ by They Watch Us From The Moon

Posted: 4 May 2023 in Recommended Streams and Videos
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With touchdown imminent for Cosmic Chronicles: Act 1, The Ascension their debut album on May 12th, Kansas’ cosmic doom crew They Watch Us From The Moon are ready to fire off another track from it.

‘On The Fields Of The Moon’ is the opening number and pretty much nails the band’s unique sound and what they’re about. Cosmic space opera with heavy layered riffs ’n’ textures. Plus the fabulously melodic dual vocal harmonies of Luna Nemesis and Nova 10101001, which really take their sound to another level.

Think ABBA ‘with riffs’. It sums up the scope of their debut perfectly.

The band has this to say about the track.

’On The Fields Of The Moon’ is an epic ditty about the tide of an intergalactic battle turning against our human heroes. A war march with soaring vocal harmonies reminiscent of Alice In Chains/ABBA/OTTN-era Def Leppard.

Plus, there is a trippy and fittingly space age new video to go with it.  50’s sci-fi movies mixed with glam rock and an 80’s vibe in this psychedelic tale of alien abduction. All clashing colours and ‘Liquid Len’ (of Hawkwind fame) lightshow visuals, one can imagine that this lot are quite something to see live.

Watch the video for ‘On The Fields Of The Moon’ here:

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Watch: ‘Crows, Sparrows and Cats’ by Blacklab featuring Stereolab’s Laetitia Sadier

Posted: 17 August 2022 in Recommended Streams and Videos
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Doom metal meets dreampop on ‘Crows, Sparrows and Cats’ by Blacklab, the self-proclaimed ‘Doom Witch Duo from Osaka, Japan’. Featuring a lead vocal by Stereolab’s Laetitia Sadier, the Hawkwind riffs, motorik heavy stomp and fuzz fat guitars coupled with that cool pop vocal is a surprising combination that hits the spot.

Hot on its heels comes a new video, featuring Hanaka the thirteen year old daughter of Blacklab drummer Chia, who creates her own dance routine for the track whilst footage (from their recent stay in London) is projected ‘Liquid Len’ like, for full psychedelic overload.

Watch the video now:

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‘Crows, Sparrows and Cats’ is taken from their latest album ‘In A Bizarre Dream’ which is out this Friday (New Heavy Sounds).

Their debut ‘Under the Strawberry Moon 2.0’ saw them taking Sabbath inspired doom, mashing it with a Japanese sensibility and a fuzzed-up groove. It certainly caused a stir, but only hinted at their potential.

Album two ‘Abyss’ added to the mix. A Stooges like squalor to the riffs, dollops of lo-fi hardcore punk and loose riffing, pointing the way towards a signature sound.

So what of the ‘difficult’ third album? Not so difficult at all it seems.  ‘In A Bizarre Dream’ ups the ante considerably, to let rip and define what Blacklab are about.

The combined talents of Jun Morino on production and Wayne Adams (Big Lad, Green Lung, Pet Brick, John, Cold In Berlin) on the mix have conspired to produce a towering beast of a record. A real step forward for the ‘Doom Witch Duo’.

The drums have a humungous ‘Fugazi’ like welly, and the guitars are a boiling maelstrom of fuzz dense riffola and warped psychedelics, with added synth. Yuko’s throat shredding snarls are as mean as a pissed off Satan, and melodious, often within the same song.

This is doom meets hardcore punk, hooky melodies, and killer riffs, all cranked up to the max. Japan has always had a special take on ‘noise’ and ‘heavy’ and with ‘In A Bizarre Dream’ Blacklab add their own spin to that tradition.

Gone is the lo-fi approach, here is Blacklab in full effect.

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