Episode 26 – Carnivorous Flowers (right click to download)

Our ears are still buzzing from two weeks ago. That’s noise for you. But we decided NOT to take the feet off the pedal. We just basically changed the guitar tone to something a little extra… fuzzy. There are actually a lot of things at play here, more prominently doom stuff, so you’ll find plenty to like if you been going to just some of the many psych fests being unleashed throughout the civilized world. So, not the Pagan Altar/Witchfinder General type of doom. This time we mingled with the slow pace, the thorny and the poisonous.

One other thing: it’s mostly newish stuff, meaning there is a good chance you’ll get in touch with fresh and exciting music to sink your teeth into.

Music never disappoints! Support SATAN MADE ME DO IT and come back for more exactly two weeks from now.

Click for show notes and a complete tracklist.

Episode 26 – Carnivorous Flowers

We wanted to make it clear that this is a very different episode from the last right at the start. So we forsook noise in favor of a slower brand of electronic music. Ultimately we went with a track from Röyksopp’s 2009 “Junior” LP. Downtempo’s suicide & redemption piece “Röyksopp Forever” sounds like it doesn’t really belong in that album, which is probably why it clicked with us (well, with one of us haha) and the very subtle laughing bit at the end helped its case quite a lot. Vircolac’s 2014 first demo track changes the tone of the episode. This song doesn’t really illustrate the bands’ main characteristics, but “Codex Perfida” is one of last year’s best death metal releases. If you, like us, get a kick out of cool bass presence and overall atmosphere these are people you should be listening to right now.

Heavy psych doom/stoner stuff can easily slide into a mishmash of soulless samey stuff, so we usually keep distance from that scene, especially with all the psych-brainwash out there (what godforsaken hellhole doesn’t have a “psych fest” these days?), but Moscow-based Kamni (you can also google their Cyrillic name, Камни) and dutch garage punk proto-rock Orange Sunshine (think Blue Cheer with lots of LSD and a startling cavernous voice) still hold enough sincerity to feature in a SATAN MADE ME DO IT episode. By the way, “Distortion of Darkness”, the track we picked from Orange Sunshine (played live) is a cover from The Firebirds/The 31 Flavors’ original. Also, props to our mate Sabbathian for bringing this tune to our attention.

In 1970, Exuma was probably the harsher you could do while still making something fundamentally folkish and, for the sake of simplicity, Afro-Caribbean. In retrospective it can just as easily be called psychedelic as well for better or worse. “Dambala” is the album’s brightest and heaviest track, which is probably why Saturnalia Temple covered it in two years ago for their “Impossibilum” EP. Anyway, what we have here is 100% voodoo magic and we urge you to check the whole album.

This next one is a bit obscure. “Upon Black Wings We Die” is according the Chad Davis himself Hour of 13’s “final document”. The track was released last year on YouTube believe it or not, and was written in memory of Jason McCash of The Gates of Slumber fame. It’s a poignant, emotionally heavy song – and one of 2014’s best pieces of music we’ve heard.

Funkadelic is definitely a strange choice, but this is definitely the strangest SATAN MADE ME DO IT so far, so just go along with it. This is one of the greatest guitar tracks EVER, especially when if you believe the legend that, just before recording this song and while tripping on acid, the great George Clinton told his guitarist Eddie Hazel to “play like yo’ mama just died”. Hence the “Maggot Brain” from the lead track and album title (check the iconic cover). Everything was done in a single take. Now, that’s metal. Check the guitar solo. It’s been described as a “mind-melting”, “emotional apocalypse of sound”. You’ll just have to agree. This is on par with basically anything Hendrix and anyone who has followed him has ever done.

We wanted to finish with something harsher, you know, to keep your bloodlust in shape for our next episode, so we went for Noothgrush, with the doomy “Humandemic” from their split with Coffins (we featured them on Episode 16 – Graves In The Water).

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Tracklist

1. Röyksopp Forever | Röyksopp (NOR) | Junior [LP], 2009 http://royksopp.com/
2. Codex Perfida | Vircolac (IRL) | Codex Perfida [Demo], 2014 https://www.facebook.com/vircolacdeathmetal
3. Intro / Bong of Satan | Kamni (RUS) | EP ([EP], 2010 http://kamni.bandcamp.com/album/ep
4. Distortions of Darkness | Orange Sunshine (NLD) | Live at Freak Valley 2013, 2014 http://orangesunshine.bandcamp.com/
5. Dambala | Exuma (BHS) | Exuma [LP], 1970 http://www.discogs.com/artist/231606-Exuma
6. Upon Black Wings We Die | Hour of 13 (USA) | 2014 https://www.facebook.com/HourOf13
7. Maggot Brain | Funkadelic (USA) | Maggot Brain, 1971 http://www.discogs.com/Funkadelic-Maggot-Brain/master/16158
8. Humandemic | Noothgrush (USA) Noothgrush/Coffins [split], 2013 https://www.facebook.com/noothgrushband