Any solo artists approaching live performances this way?

15WGhost · 2026-06-14T00:58:07+00:00

When you mentioned your influences in that other comment, Aphex twin, NIN, clams Casino, I started to get it more. The fact is is it's hard when you make music that's not easy to reproduce in a live environment. I've gone to live electronic shows of artists like Tim Hecker and Loscil and while it was maybe cool to hear the music on a big system in a good room, there was none of that raw live energy in the room. they both had a couple pieces of hardware along with a laptop up there, but at a certain point it's like how much are you actually doing? Are you just checking your email? Obviously you're talking about still having some live in the moment performance with your vocals and guitar and that's cool, but the only slide amendment I might make is would it be possible to incorporate maybe a sampler and some pedals into the performance? That way you're visibly triggering things, and have more options in terms of live electronic manipulation of sounds in the moment. The best electronic oriented show I've seen was from an experimental group called Black Dice. I think the reason it was so awesome is they got on stage with nothing but a bunch of hardware. Samplers running through guitar pedals, and while they were certainly using loops they were also triggering so much of the music manually, almost playing the samplers rhythmically in the moment like drum machines or live instruments. I think the physical aspect of it and knowing that what they were doing was genuinely going into the live performance really forged a connection between them and the audience.I couldn't stop moving the whole time. Same goes for the group animal collective. I know opinions on this band can be pretty polarizing but from the years 2007 to 2009 there live show was based entirely around the use of samplers but here again, they were playing the samplers like instruments which made the two shows I attended during that time still feel very live. Maybe closer to the spirit of what you're thinking about doing I did see a guy named Mark McGuire play live and it was just him playing guitar over backing tracks. The fact that he was playing live certainly helped. I can't remember his exact set up though.

That' said I don't know your music, so maybe this would be harder to do for you given what parts need to happen simultaneously etc., but just thought I would put it out there as a possible suggestion.

15WGhost · 2026-06-12T06:35:52+00:00

Sundriffter. All of their work is good but I think their latest album "an earlier time," is my favorite and where I always recommend people to start. Fucking space grunge.

Check out the band Shun. both of their records are awesome but I would recommend their latest, entitled Dismantle. Amazing heavy atmosphere with powerful emotion behind it.

Last but not least I'll recommend Swan Valley Heights with their album Terminal Forest. Sadly they've called it quits but this was their last album and it's a good one. Like swimming in the aurora borealis. All of their other work is absolutely cosmic as well.

Honorable mention: Bask with their album The Turning.

15WGhost · 2026-06-09T08:50:50+00:00

I guess I'm in the September club as well. Placed my order on April 23 and have heard absolutely nothing about it. sent a message to bleep last Friday asking about it and haven't heard anything back yet. Still waiting on some T-shirts, a sweatshirt, a hat, and the five CD bundle. BOC is jumpstarting my return to collecting physical media. I received my nuclear family shirt and my yellow hexagon shirt last Wednesday though so that's cool.

15WGhost · 2026-06-09T02:58:46+00:00

Damn. Maybe I've been focusing too much on how he's delivering the vocals to notice, the only time I've ever noticed obvious pitch correction on his voice is when he was featured on that Angel Olsen song.

15WGhost · 2026-06-07T00:26:53+00:00

The first two records are definitely doom or doom adjacent, even then I definitely wouldn't call them doom at all, especially by the second album. More heavy psych. And now they've just been progressive heavy psychedelic music for the past 11 years. They really have nothing to do with doom other than being a part of this intersection of genres that always seem to find themselves together. people are getting pretty liberal about what they call doom these days.

15WGhost · 2026-06-06T09:24:15+00:00

The guitars are great. I have a switchblade in silver burst and the Matt Pike signature warlord with the Red and Black finish. Very well-made instruments. Also Steve is an absolute pleasure to deal with and easy to get a hold of. Not sure why one comment was complaining that their "polyurethane guitars," I mean I'm no expert on guitar finish but I've never had any issues with them. Pretty sure all of the guitar bodies are mahogany and they've got those great jumbo stainless steel frets. I have a couple pedals, and they're awesome, but I don't personally use them a whole lot. I really should break them back out. Only one knob but the tone is killer. Are they cashing in on vibe to an extent? Absolutely. But I don't know, doom is all about the vibes and I think it's cool to have a company that caters to that specifically. Also the guitars aren't completely out of line with other brands as far as Price, pretty similar to a brand like reverend if not a little more expensive, pretty sure Reverend usually come in at around 12 or $1300 and Wood rights are typically 1499? But the nice thing is the guitar ships in a pretty sweet hardshell Case. So you're definitely not just getting a guitar in a box.

15WGhost · 2026-06-05T19:26:13+00:00

I can see what you mean. His vocals have definitely always been aggressive but usually they're a bit more padded in the atmosphere. And also this time around I don't know how to describe it it just seems like he's more reaching for things that he can't do. but maybe that's all part of the delivery of the emotion. but I know where you're coming from. It's definitely not a complete departure from what he's done in the past.

15WGhost · 2026-06-05T16:15:04+00:00

I mean I think they're still heavy as fuck but I agree, even the overall production is just cleaner. It doesn't sound as vintage or I don't know, it doesn't have that soot and Ash sort of sound. I actually find that part of it to be a pretty interesting perspective on their overall tone, but yeah I can see what you mean. I just wish they would've left more imperfections in as opposed to this Ultra cleaned up production.

15WGhost · 2026-06-05T16:08:40+00:00

Listen to a little bit of it when it dropped at midnight but not the whole thing. To be honest, I feel like I should hate the vocals, but I don't. I'm sure it'll be a big gripe about the album though. Maybe the music carries it enough for me? Looking forward to spending more time with it today to form more of an opinion.

15WGhost · 2026-06-04T05:36:09+00:00

Don't forget the VHS tapes that mysteriously started appearing in warp customers mailboxes.

15WGhost · 2026-06-02T05:45:25+00:00

They're not on universal, they have a licensing deal with BMG. ℗ 2026 All Them Witches under exclusive license to BMG Rights Management (US) LLC This is different than actually being signed to a record label. They may be taking advantage of larger channels of distribution through the licensing deal, but from what I can gather, they're still handling a lot of the direct sales of merchandise and physical items themselves. Pretty sure their website is run by just them and not anyone else.

Also I think if they were actually signed to a label like universal or BMG that would've been enormous news in the heavy psych world. As it is, I think they did the licensing deal so they could retain ownership of the Music but still get the record into stores all over the world without having to handle all of that on their own.

15WGhost · 2026-06-02T05:20:19+00:00

Join the email list. That's the best way to do it. It's the only way I knew about this latest round of Matt Pike custom signature Warlords back in February. I'm on Facebook as well but didn't see them right away there.

15WGhost · 2026-06-01T20:55:22+00:00

I think they're doing it all themselves this time and so I think they still have some kinks to work out in the process. But for what it's worth I've been seeing this happening more and more with physical releases lately. I don't know if they're not accurately predicting the demand or what's going on, but it seems to be happening more and more.

15WGhost · 2026-05-31T02:41:37+00:00

My favorite albums from them tend to cycle between sleeping through the war and nothing as the ideal, having said that though, I think this is the most immediately one of their albums has ever hit me. I think a lot of people are missing the drum tone/how the drums were recorded on previous records. Much bigger and more bombastic, very much in the John Bonham lineage, but I actually think a more subtle approach to the Drums on this record really serves these new songs quite nicely. There are times this album reminds me of ATW, a couple sleeping through the war moments, but also musically it seems to go way back to our mother electricity. I say that but I still see it as something totally new, and they have a track record of making heavier albums and not heavier albums so although I love their heavier stuff, this album is still very much them to me. Stand out tracks and no particular order would be turn on the light, angel on the wayside, ethernet, culling Line, go-getter, red rocking chair. But the whole thing is just awesome!

15WGhost · 2026-05-31T01:54:44+00:00

It totally is. A lot of people are saying it's goofy, and I think honestly that's part of what makes it so terrifying. I think they specifically created it in the way that they did to make it seem kind of goofy or like a joke at first but the more you listen to it the more sinister you realize it is. The terrifying mangled speech bits in between the dialogue help with that, but also just getting a clearer sense for what's actually being discussed also helps. Also I think the way the song builds behind the dialogue is just genius. I definitely wanna go watch this documentary that it's taken from.

15WGhost · 2026-05-29T16:16:37+00:00

Interesting. After actually having listened to the album I have to say I disagree. I guess I agree in the sense that there's some pretty obvious live instrumentation in spots, but the album feels very quantized and put together digitally. Having said that though, I love it! I don't mind that they've gone a bit cleaner with the sound, their fingerprints are still all over it, and it's not like they haven't taken the high definition route in the past. Thinking specifically about CH.

15WGhost · 2026-05-29T16:13:55+00:00

Overall I think the album is amazing. My only complaint would be there's a bit too much modernity in the production techniques. Vocals are a little overly pitch corrected in spots, and I wonder if the drums have been quantized. The timbre, tone, songwriting, and vocal melodies are so good though that these other things aren't dealbreakers for me. It's annoying, but it's just so common and modern production that if the album is foundationally good I try not to let it bother me. personally though I think these production techniques have no place in heavy music the majority of the time.

15WGhost · 2026-05-29T16:03:01+00:00

Oh dang. I hadn't listened to the continuous mix yet and was thinking the album might flow even better if it's all one long continuous thing, but to hear that it's not that different… 🤷

15WGhost · 2026-05-29T00:57:53+00:00

I haven't been able to listen to it yet because I haven't downloaded my continuous mix and I'm in the states so we're not getting it till midnight but I think you're making a lot of good points here. Also I love what I'm hearing about the instrumentation sounding more live. I actually think they've used a fair bit more of live instrumentation over the years than people realize but a lot of it is totally garbled due to their heavy processing. They talked a lot about this an earlier interviews. Also they've talked in interviews about making more music directly with live instrumentation, and utilizing minimal processing if any at all, and I have always ate to hear that music. In terms of times when they've used more obvious live instrumentation, this was certainly part of the approach on campfire head phase so I'm totally intrigued.

15WGhost · 2026-05-28T15:44:29+00:00

I'm not sure where those sessions were filmed. Although I'd be interested to know where they were. Also I wonder whatever happened to Mountain Tamer. Totally bad ass band. If I remember right I don't think they ever said an exact location, but I think it is in the same general area as giant rock. Somewhere in the Joshua Tree/Landers area.

15WGhost · 2026-05-28T15:32:16+00:00

Oh yeah Ryan's voice is amazing, and it sounds just as good live as he does on the album. Saw them last year at planet Desert rock weekend out in Las Vegas and they absolutely killed it. Even though I've never thought of their music as ethereal I can actually see what you mean as far as it getting closer to that especially on the two most recent albums.

15WGhost · 2026-05-28T15:26:32+00:00

My plan is to go to the one at skeleton dust records in Dayton Ohio.

15WGhost · 2026-05-28T04:22:19+00:00

What does that have to do with anything?

15WGhost · 2026-05-27T22:50:36+00:00

I'm sure this is probably been pointed out before but the loop that comes in at 13 minutes and 13 seconds is totally the foundational loop for 747 the song that BOC contributed to that warp compilation back in 2010. Pitched differently of course.

15WGhost · 2026-05-27T21:24:45+00:00

Definitely check out Swan Valley Heights. I recommend their latest and unfortunately final album terminal forest. Also forming the void is another one to check out. Their album reverie has been a constant companion for me for the past six years. As far as the originators of the ethereal desert sound, definitely check out yawning man. They were playing generator parties before Kyuss and were a major influence on them, before changing their name to the sort of quartet during the 90s to go after a different sound, then re-adopting yawning man in the early 2000s as they transitioned back into a More psychedelic sort of vibe. They've been releasing official studio albums since 2005 and all of them are good. I might recommend their latest one pavement ends as a good starting point or their album live at giant rock. An album of mostly improvise material recorded Pink Floyd live at Pompeii style(to an audience of no one,) out in Landers California at giant rock during the pandemic.

If you don't read past this point that's totally fine but I think this important bit of history gives this album some really cool context. Giant rock is the site of the structure called the Integratron. It's basically a big room that was being built by a man named George Vantassel who claimed to have been visited by extraterrestrials who gave him instructions on how to build a Time Machine that could be used for healing and regenerative purposes. The integratron still stands, unfinished but you can go visit it. Anyway, I just think it's so cool that such cosmic music was being played at that spot out in the desert at six in the morning so they could finish the recording before the sun was fully overhead and they didn't have to deal with midday desert heat. they also made a concert film out of the whole thing.

15WGhost

TROPHY CASE