I’ve been listening to the band Spirit Caravan for a while now, they were my first introduction into the “stoner rock” genre. I got their “Jug Fulla Sun” album which was released on Fugazi bassist - Joe Lally’s Dischord Records imprint label, Tolotta Records.

The album pretty much has a typical stoner rock sound, very Black Sabbath of course. Something about it though makes it endearing, it has a sincerity to it that you hear in most of lead singer Wino’s other work as well. This album was the first I heard though to make me aware of a lot of other bands within this genre as well as Wino’s previous band the legendary Obsessed, who with a handful of others arguably created the template for the stoner rock genre. Anyway, it is something worth checking out…

The Obsessed

Spirit Caravan

I’ve been listening to the new Earth album, “The Bees Made Honey In The Lion’s Skull” a lot, and it is pretty amazing. If you haven’t heard of Earth, they could arguably be credited with starting a sub-genre called “Drone”, (really long, simple passages usually played slowly with a lot of effects). They formed in Olympia, WA, in the late 80’s and were signed to Sub Pop, they put out a bunch of records and took a fairly long hiatus. After which, they started to release records on Southern Lord, starting with Hex in 2005 and then Hibernaculum in 2007.

This new record though, builds on the themes and sonic ideas featured on their last two releases, but features a very different overall sound. It sounds like a weird mixture of slow gospel, yet its also psychedelic, very uplifting, and features heavily multi-layered and effected guitar tracks. It achieves this sound with the help of accomplished jazz/guitar effects wizard - Bill Frissell (featured on tracks 1, 4 & 5). It also features slow, yet soft, brooding drums, (played with brushes), and piano. The songs at their core are somewhat simplistic, but thats not what is important on a recording like this, all the little details add up to create an intense and airy atmosphere, where you can totally get lost in the music. It is interesting to see how the songs evolve and flow together seamlessly. This is definitely my favorite album by Earth. I highly recommend picking this up when it comes out.

Earth: “The Bees Made Honey In The Lion’s Skull”

1. Omens And Portents I : The Driver (mp3)
2. Rise To Glory
3. Miami Morning Coming Down II (Shine)
4. Engine Of Ruin
5. Omens And Portents II: Carrion Crow
6. Hung From The Moon
7. The Bees Made Honey In The Lion’s Skull

Earth @ Southern Lord Records