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BLOWN OUT LISTEN TO THIS RELEASE VIA BANDCAMP BELOW
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LIMITED EDITION DEEP CLARET COLOURED 500 ONLY VINYL LP WITH DOWNLOAD CODE. INITIAL MAIL ORDER COPIES CAME WITH A3 PROMO POSTER
LP Tracklisting
A. 'Drifting Way Out Between Suns' (20:11)
B. 'Quantum Shift On Plague
Mothership' (21:08)
ORDER VIA THE WEBSHOP OR BANDCAMP SITE (IF STILL AVAILABLE) Release Info: Following their debut release 'Sun Rot', a cassette only album on Riot Season offshoot label Swap Meat, New Liquid Power Trio Super group from Newcastle, BLOWN OUT issue their debut album proper 'Drifting Way Out Between Suns' Made from members of BONG, Drunk In Hell, Haikai No Ku, 11Paranoias, Khünnt, Lobster Priest and Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs 'Drifting Way Out Between Suns' offers up forty plus minutes of sonic bass lines, steady free form tempos, totally crushing, waster infused, head-change guitar leads. The trio evoke the psychedelic jam music of San Francisco's glory days - effects-laden guitar jamming that goes nowhere and everywhere, held down by a hypnotic groove that never misses a beat, no matter how long they play without pause. The blues-rock roots of the jamming makes for a calming experience, after the head-fuck you'll experience waiting for them. Sonically heavy rolling-thunder basslines, shaped by total head-change waster infused guitar freak-outs, gelled together with steady freeform rhythms. You have to learn to die before you die. You give up, surrender to the void, to nothingness.
BLOWN OUT
are
Mike Vest (Bong,
11Paranoias, Haikai No
Ku, Basillica) on Guitar
John-Michael Hedley
(Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs
Pigs Pigs Pigs) on Bass
Matt Baty (Khünnt & Pigs
Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs
Pigs) on Drums
REVIEWS
Blown Out assemble
members of several
already prolific UK
doom, sludge and stoner
groups, including Bong,
Drunk In Hell and Pigs
Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs
Pigs. They produce two
sides of space rock that
errs more towards the
freak out than blissed
out. The follow up to
their debut cassette
‘Sun Rot’ cements their
combination of Hawkwind
style heavy motorik and
dayglo blues rock solos.
THE WIRE
Washing off the blood from their other more feral projects, members of Bong, Drunk In Hell and Khunnt gather together to contemplate the infinite over a brace of mesmeric fuzz-drenched psych epics. The title track unfurls a stream of beatific dronescapes that are immersive in their comfort, a balm-like swathe of contemplative trio interplaying. The second side, “Quantum Shift On Plague Mothership” is a Carlton Melton-style journey through slothful languor: its seductive grooves are a head nod away from enacting blissful unconsciousness. Its rarified, unhurried pulse is a world away from their origins, but only adds more lustre to its exotic otherness”
ROCK-A-ROLLA
Ah… Mike Vest. How many bands can an axe slinger take on in any given amount of time? How many ‘waster lead, face slashing, freaked out, black-hole-psychedelic-deathtoll-car-crash-blues-jams’ can a man stand? Quite a few, it seems. In Blown Out, he’s joined by John-Michael Hedley (low axe) and Matt Baty (hammers) from the aptly named Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, whom themselves released an excellent slab of noise called Psychopomp this September.
Here’s an open secret to
the guitar work of
mister Vest: pick a
random SG, get a
Carlsbro Stingray combo
amp, then add a core
pedal line-up of
modified Big Muff,
delay, wah, and phaser.
Play all of these like
you’re a psychedelic
caveman version of
Hendrix who listened to
too many early
Skullflower records.
Vary amounts of pedals
and different studio
tricks to diversify
records. Give records
different names, use
different rhythm
sections on each. Never
forget to add a boatload
of useful adjectives
like ‘lysergic swirling
chocolate’ to describe
the noise. Pronto. Thus,
Blown Out, Bong, Haikai
No Ku, 11Paranoias and
other bands Vestorino
played in all share a
certain guitar
sensibility even though
production and rhythm
dynamics vary wildly.
Primitive psychedelic
HendrixFlower. That’s
what this album,
correctly named Drifting
Way Out Between The
Suns, sounds like. The
two Pigs on rhythm duty
aptly support Mike
Vest’s subtly changing
guitar vortexes, with
Matt on drums delivering
a single minded, ride
cymbal driven Mitch
Mitchell groove and
Johnny’s
thick-as-my-mommas-syrup
bass superbly coated
over the fluid freeform
rhythms. The two jams
contained herein each
trudge on for a full
twenty minutes, giving
the band and the
listener ample to time
to lose themselves in
the freeform waves of
singular groove and
caveman psychedelics.
Parts subtly change;
sometimes Vest grabs
hold of a passing comet
while the other two
chaps keep it locked
tight, sometimes Hedley
grabs hold of Vest’s
solo parts and amplifies
them with black hole
bottom-end while Baty’s
drums march on to the
sun.
It’s all starting to
sound a bit familiar,
isn’t it? Did I repeat
myself there, after
making fun of adjectives
in the intro? Yeah.
Stoner, doom, psych,
drone – these by now
popular genres (watch
the festival line-ups
and metal magazines, ya
nutter!) are a bit
saturated with this
kinda psych-jam thing
now, not in a small part
due to mister Vest
himself. They’re also
saturated with shitty
reviews like this, hence
my own self-parody. For
those who don’t know
Mike’s previous output
yet love freeform psych
jams, this album is a
fine addition to your
collection. For those
who do, it’s only the
twentieth iteration of
the same guitar sound
with ever-marching
jamrock rhythm section,
and not the most
extraordinary either.
Haikai No Ku, Bong and
11Paranoias will serve
you better.
Or maybe all you need is
a decidedly new slab of
noise to stick your
heads into in order to
forget about tomorrow.
But I? I need more.
Vision. Execution.
Intuition. I don’t give
a fuck, just feed me, ya
slackers! I’ve
worshipped your
dedication to liberating
noise for years!! To
quote the Big Black Ass
Steve Albini, I need it
like a fix.. I need it
to relieve my pathetic,
dilapidated urban
existence. And yet, I’ve
built up tolerance… But
alas… I digress.
Apologies. I am keenly
aware this is still a
review.
THE SLEEPING SHAMAN
Bong released the album of their career this year with Stoner Rock, the new Haikai No Ku album was frankly jaw dropping and having heard a sneak preview of the new 11Paranoias release, I can tell you it is fucking ridiculous. Mike Vest has hit a staggering rich vein of form in 2014 and if those releases aren’t enough, here is another in the form of Blown Out where he’s joined by Matt and Johnny from Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, who themselves just unleashed the stunningly original and heavy Psychopomp. At this point I would like to ask… what the fuck is happening in Newcastle? It’s become the UK’s creative hub for boundary pushing rock bands. Good on the Toon! Anyway, Drifting Way Out Between Suns is being released on Riot Season, a label that boasts a roster that shits over every other label in the universe. Let’s get stuck in!
Drifting Way Out Between
Suns is just two tracks,
about 20 minutes each,
giving us just the right
amount of time to sit in
an arm chair and be
taken to places. There’s
little build up before
we’re right in the
middle of it, what Blown
Out are all about, three
guys having a rather
laid back jam. It’s a
trip, but not a crazy
freak out trip… it’s one
that is based on
repetition and the
subtle changes to the
guitar work is all you
need for your mind to be
pulled in different
directions.
It does actually feel
like you are drifting
through space on some
kind of craft, someone
else driving though so
all that is left for you
to do is kick back and
enjoy the amazing view.
The rhythm section keep
it tight, providing an
tremendous platform for
Mike to really let go on
his guitar. There is all
sorts of experimentation
going on where he
creates all kinds of
trippy swirls and
distorted magic.
By the time the second
track ‘Quantum Shift on
Mothership’ finishes you
realise the whole thing
is deceptively
progressive, the overall
story is dramatic but
the changes happen so
slowly you don’t even
notice… like the
changing of the seasons.
Fucking wonderful, think
a slowed down version of
The Cosmic Dead. It’s
like getting a warm hug
from the universe, HIGH-ly
recommended!
ECHOES AND DUST
Right, you know that moment in sword and sorcery films where the hero climbs to the top of a peak to see what’s going on and his jaw drops because in the valley below is an orc army thousands and thousands strong? Well, this album would make a great soundtrack for one of those moments.
Two spiralling tracks of
unashamed freak out make
up Blown Out‘s Drifting
Way Out Between Suns
that will lead you
towards worlds where
ancient civilizations
once existed and where
the black lotus leads
your mind into a
drug-fuelled fug.
echo-soaked guitar plays
a whirling dervish of
Side one’s colossal
title track already
hints at its cosmic
expanse from the opening
few seconds and from its
title. This is trip-out
music, a mulch of Acid
Mothers Temple and early
Hawkwind mixed into a
blissed-out,
space-trucking guide
through galactic other
worlds. Bass and drums
churn restlessly while
wild echo-soaked guitar
plays a whirling dervish
of notes that could have
helped the collapse of
Atlantis and signalled
the rise of the sons of
Aryas.
At points the music
spirals around, and the
lead guitar gets very
Hendrix-like at times as
the band lays into a
stoner groove and the
weedian master rises
from the smoke, his
cloak of leaves
billowing about him.
Everything about the
track is designed to
take your mind to a
different landscape and
let it wander there for
a time (twenty minutes
to be exact). This is
psychedelic music for
the Rodney Matthews
poster generation.
Track (side) two is
called “Quantum Shift On
Plague Mothership” and
is a twenty-one minute
epic that starts with
doom drone notes to
which a tolling space
echoed guitar sends
warnings and portents to
the dangers of
travelling so far from
mother Earth. Here you
are so far out that
Pluto is your nearest
neighbour. This is the
kind of track you would
put on if you were
running the old RPG game
Traveller. It’s man
drifting alone in the
void in pristine
spacecraft being
separated from the rest
of humanity and letting
the endless nothing of
the cosmos enter his
mind. This is Jack
Kirby’s 2001 adaptation,
this is a multi-coloured
trip to the monolith.
The music gains a
certain amount of
urgency as the track
progresses, but all the
while the lead guitar
pushes the sound out
further and further. The
bass and drums here
still hold some
semblance of creating
rhythms by which to
reach the sky. You are
beyond the solar wind
and there’s only one
route ahead of you. It
owes allegiance to space
rock, but is more like
inner space rock. Put it
on and leave planet
Earth behind for a
while.
Whether you’re standing
at the edge of that peak
or the edge of the
universe, Drifting Way
Out Between Suns is for
you.
FREQ.ORG
Recently, thanks to Brett Savage of Dead Sea Apes, I was introduced to the sonic delight that is Haikai No Ku’s “Ultra High Dimensionality” – when I saw that sister-band Blown Out were about to release “Drifting Way Out Between Suns”, I knew I had to have more of that sound in my life.
My brain, what there is
of it, paints pictures,
usually cinematic
approximations of what I
hear, and in the case of
Haikai No Ku and Blown
Out, I am immediately,
transcendentally
conveyed to the Do Long
Bridge scene in
Apocalypse Now…
I was already a huge fan
of Hendrix when I first
saw the movie on video
as a teenager, so the
Hendrix inspired, Randy
Hansen scored bridge
scene remains indelibly
seared onto my
hippocampus.
I would however beg to
differ with the
generalisation, that the
aurality of Haikai No Ku
or Blown Out is
“apocalyptic” – at least
in the narrow sense of
the word.
What that particular
scene and this music
effectively portray for
me, is a reality so
profound that it is
often erroneously
described as surreal,
when in actuality it is
more akin to the
hyperreal.
Surreal for me is an
overused term, a handy
pigeon hole for those
too lazy to look beyond
their comfort zone.
The apocalypse has
become an imagined,
hackneyed biblical term
for the end of days. It
is in fact the prophetic
disclosure or revelation
of the here and now, to
be seen by the willing
and embraced.
As Huxley postulated,
“the man who comes back
through the Door in the
Wall will never be quite
the same as the man who
went out.”
“Drifting Way Out
Between Suns” transmits
you through that door
and beyond the realms of
inner and outer space,
it is a place of peace
and tranquility, leaving
you floating
effortlessly, soulful
and serene.
e.e. cummings, with whom
I share a healthy
disdain for the
orhtography of
capitlalisation, wrote
“the moment you feel,
you’re
nobody-but-yourself”.
Feeling is everything,
there is no light
without shade nor doom
without absolution, live
it, seize feeling for
the friend it truly is…
If you do not feel more
alive and energised on
listening to this
record, do yourself a
favour and have someone
check for a pulse.
CHROMATICISM
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