Parasol Caravan / Cachimbo de Paz split - Use The Fuzz (album review)

Cover artwork by Johan Jaccob (Glowsun).

Recently, I had the pleasure of discovering Parasol Caravan's 2010 debut EP and was impressed with their funk-slathered groove riffs and the soulful vocals of Alexander Krietchbaum.  So I was pleasantly surprised when Bertram Kolar, one of the funk-slatherers himself, contacted me about saying a few words towards this split album.  I'm not sure exactly how it slipped under my radar for a whole year but it shows up on screen now and hopefully, this will be an introduction for any readers like myself, who has suffered from radar deficiency for the past year.

Parasol Caravan come bounding onto the stage on "The Barbers Snake".  It shows a band ready for their trip in the spotlight.  Complex dynamics with virtuosic performances by the band's twin guitarists, Kolar and Richard Reikersdorfer combine with Krietchbaum's soulful vocals to make a big impression on the listener.  This is a band that has an encyclopedia of tricks up their sleeve and will pull out all the stops to get the point across.

Parasol Caravan use their time on this split wisely, slicing their four cuts down the middle showcasing their various moods.  The songs all remain identifiably stoner rock but the band finds time to stitch together a crazy quilt of ideas and influences.  The opener is a straight-up high energy blast of stoner rock while "Psychotic Fever" pulls on some more contemplative strings, tinged with blues and booze-fuelled regret.  Something only really hinted at on "The Barbers Snake" is the group's jazz funk gymnastics which speak fluently on "Big Kahuna".

Parasol Caravan

Parasol Caravan's final contribution comes in the form of "Chinese Eyes" which features a world-beating riff that somehow manages to combine elements of Black Sabbath, Tool, Kyuss and Led Zeppelin all in one shot.  The riff and the rough and moody vocals makes the song one of the true standouts of the record.  Not to be forgotten in the mix of course is the drumming of Vincent Böhm, who has his work cut out for him by the aforementioned complex dynamics of each song but simply slices and dices the band's four appearances with complementary and syncopated rhythms.  Never a background figure, Böhm puts on a clinic on his way out the door leaving a distinctive impression, letting the world know that Parasol Caravan is home to a mad scientific and concussive drumming force.

Cachimbo de Paz's side of the record starts off tentatively enough.  Guitarist / vocalist Chu noodles around on the guitar, searching for a riff.  But when the fuzz pedal is depressed and the band finds their groove ... look out.

Cachimbo de Paz was completely off the radar until I received this split in the mail.  The first thing that strikes the listener upon hearing this band's opening statement "Stare Into the Sun" is the devastatingly slow simmering fuzz.  I was never a guitarist so I can't tell you exactly how the effect is achieved, but it sounds like one of the frequency nobs is turned down slightly and the fuzz channel is opened up and allowed to breathe creating a slow pulsing static effect.  The sound is brilliant and heavier than lead mountains.  The next thing that strikes the listener is the distinctive voice of Chu.  It's a deep, low growl, a whiskey-toughened vocal that may bring to mind Tom Waits.  Less raw, but deeper.

"Cachimbo" is the band's shortest number, somewhat of an introduction (even though it comes second) or vision statement.  It's a mostly instrumental number with a single spoken verse in Spanish.

Typically, Chu rumbles and shambles through his vocals but finds the will to explore melody in "Lady" to strong results.  Cachimbo de Paz takes the time to explore the forests of funk first felled by Parasol Caravan on closing track "Coyotes on Peyote".  The music is as demented as the title suggests, feedback whines and speedfreak break beats running around in a panic atop a solid bass groove that underpins and grounds the entire affair, keeping one foot in reality.

Cachimbo de Paz

While both bands on this split hail from the city of Linz in Austria, there's not much to tie their sound together.  Parasol Caravan is a high energy, almost carnival-like brand of heavy funkin' southern groove, Cachimbo de Paz is closer to dark space rock.  Indeed, the very title of the split 'Use The Fuzz' should give listeners somewhat of a clue as to what to expect on this disc with Parasol Caravan dedicating themselves to The Light Side of the Fuzz, while Cachimbo de Paz are the Sith Lords of the affair, given over to The Dark Side of the Fuzz.

'Use the Fuzz' is an excellent showcase for both bands whose distinctive sounds are punctuated further by the presence of the other.

Highlights include: "The Barbers Snake" and "Stare Into The Sun"

Rating: 4/5




Total Run Time: 45:21

From: Linz, Austria

Genre: Stoner, Psychedelic

Reminds me of: The Bad Light, Cube, DSW

Release Date: February 12, 2012

Suggested listening activity for fellow non-stoners: Aerial battles with the fate of a galaxy hanging in the balance.

Better Reviews:
Parasol Caravan on Stoner Hive
Cachimbo de Paz on Stoner Hive

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Cachimbo de Paz facebook

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Torso - Inside (album review)

Colonnades of odd meter timing and syncopated rhythms line the halls of Torso's Inside EP, creating an aura of strength and a powerful sense that one is lost in a funhouse.  Other passages are relaxed and laidback giving off the aroma of quiet confidence.  Klaus Gulyas' floor tom blasts shake the walls, the dual guitar haze unleashed by Michael Jandrisevits and Bernhard Gager clouds the senses and waters the eyes while Thomas Pint's effortless bass grooves hold it all together.

The band step up confidently on opening blitz, "One", swaggering and strutting through a four and a half minute blast of stoner rock built with proggy-pausey building blocks around a catchy slide guitar riff.  From there, the band continue to evolve and expand upon this foundation, getting a fair bit of mileage from the potent stop-go dynamics which infuse their power-packed compositions with a high level of energy.  "Black Man" further expands the band's dynamic approach, slowing things down then building back up again.  This track starts out as a Led Sabbath or Black Zeppelin type workout but the band quickly asserts their own identity and puts their own stamp on some long-revered styles.

The mere fact that the guys in the band have decided to call this 40 minute release an 'EP' tells you all you need to know about this band, their vision, where they're coming from and where they're going.  If the epic territory covered in the seven tracks and forty minutes of 'Inside' is an EP, duck and cover when it's time for them to release a full-length album, because chances are it's going to be mad.  The territory they tread upon is massive and expansive indeed, at times mind-twistingly proggy, at others ass-scorchingly hard rocking, and at still other times they are like "red chinese eye(d)" (a line from "Room") calm and emotionally detached gurus on a psychedelic headtrip to parts unknown, all the while carrying their stoner rock passport, never leaving home without it, as it were.

This predilection for expansive sonic landscapes comes through in the coda of the eight minute "Voices", in the eldritch open spaces between riffs on album closer "Haunting Witches" and in the lengthy corridors of title track "Inside".  As signature as these moments are the band know when to simply put their heads down and rock  out, always incorporating pausey rhythms and dynamics, always infusing their creations with an extra little spark.  "Haunting Witches" is a great example of this as well.  The song starts out as a riff-heavy, straight-ahead rocker, but soon becomes intellectually detached from the physical word and goes off on a final tangent.

Torso share a lot in common, sonically with German groups Heat and Kadavar but are not so much a retro act as the spiritual descendants of the original progenitors of prog.  Always looking to do things a little different, a little more interestingly, putting more in than they have to.  Odd time signatures, syncopated rhythms, experimental structural elements and furthermore a 'feel' that can't necessarily be quantified put this band into the top flight of neo-prog acts on the market today.  It probably helps that they wouldn't necessarily see themselves that way.

Highlights include: "One" and "Black Man"

Rating: 4/5

Total Run Time: 40:33

From: Vienna, Austria

Genre: Stoner, Prog, Hard Rock, Psychedelic

Reminds me of: Heat, Kadavar, Three Seasons

Release Date: May 1, 2012

Suggested listening activity for fellow non-stoners: In an infinite realm outside of time walk down the colonnaded corridors to arrive at the chessboard to play the Grandmaster of the universe, the heavens themselves the only shelter above your head.

Better Reviews:
The Soda Shop
The Ripple Effect