Japan's Ghost has always been a truly enigmatic kind of rock band. From the beginning, they've only recorded when they felt it was necessary, and only when they had something utterly new to say. In other words, there isn't a set Ghost sound. They turn themselves inside out on each recording, and no two sound the same. In Stormy Nights is no exception. It is as different from 2004's Hypnotic Underworld as it was from 1999's Snuffbox Immanence and its completely separate companion album released on the same day. Ghost can play everything from strange mystical folk music – notice the gorgeous Celtic-Asian flavor of "Motherly Bluster" that opens this set – to flipped out, spaced out psychedelic rock; give a listen to the cover of "Caledonia" by freak noise rockers Cromagnon, and get your head ripped open.
Fluid Audio and Handstitched have joined forces to release this album by Hessien entitled "Obelisk | Stelea" including exclusive reworking of the original source material by Solo Andata, Jasper TX, Zelienople and Konntinent… Surprising astrologists everywhere, Hessien continue to generate spontaneously out of the ether near the equator, somewhere between Australia and the UK. The most recent occurrence being "Obelisk|Stelea", constructed in between the north-south divide.
"Obelisk" - as Hessien's landscape evolves, the sound continues to push into an environment littered with obstacles. Although not obvious at first, there is a relationship between these objects; a focus on submerged, hazy rhythms and textures that mirror the unconventional landscapes and surrounds…
Annabel Mehran's black-and-white cover photo for Steve Gunn's The Unseen Inbetween is a portrait of the guitarist and songwriter seemingly on the move. It evokes those found on early- to mid-'60s recordings by Bob Dylan, Koerner, Ray & Glover, Jackson C. Frank, Bert Jansch, and others. Gunn has shifted his focus considerably. Rather than simply showcase his dazzling guitar playing, he delivers carefully crafted, uncharacteristically tight and well-written songs with guitars, keyboards, strings, reeds – and percussion – translating them without artifice or instrumental disguise. Gunn's also a more confident, capable singer than he was on 2016's Eyes on the Lines and it shows.
Rainer Fog marks a few firsts for the band: in addition to being their first album in five years, it’s their first album with BMG and their first time recording in their hometown of Seattle in more than 20 years (worth noting that the album title is a tribute to Seattle). They recorded at Studio X, the same facility where they tracked 1995’s self-titled Alice in Chains album (back when the studio was known as Bad Animals). The Rainer Fog recording process also saw the band spend time at Henson Recording Studios in Los Angeles and at the Nashville studio of producer Nick Raskulinecz.