The Elder guitarist gives us the next in our series of end-of-year lists.
1. Anekdoten — Until All the Ghosts are Gone
Mellotron heavy, brooding, melodic and emotional progressive rock from this long-running Swedish group. I love every album but have waited so long for a new one from them that it immediately made it into the heaviest rotation on my stereo.
2. Hills — Frid
I love this band for their unique brand of droney, analog psychedelic jams. They’re also from Sweden so it’s easy for me to picture a blissed out acid jam session happening in a farmhouse in the picturesque countryside, so that mental picture always makes me enjoy it even more.
3. Spidergawd — II
Members of Motorpsycho play in this relatively new and totally kick ass rock and roll group. Pretty straightforward but totally killer songs all the way through on this one.
4. Eternal Tapestry — Wild Strawberries
Another droney psych band, this time from the States, who has been putting out music for a while but this is the first I heard of them (thanks Dave Cutbush). This is exactly the kind of stuff I’m listening to a lot these days; very lush and hypnotic music without the riffs that saturate a lot of heavy music I’m surrounded by.
5. Dungen — Allas Sak
I am always listening to the entire catalog of Dungen and this album is no different. It’s jazz, psych, and folk all wrapped up into a totally unique package.
6. Dreadnought — Bridging Realms
I think this band is relatively new, but I really enjoyed this totally eclectic and very heavy release. Dreadnought mixes Graves at Sea-style doom with classical instrumentation in all sorts of interesting ways. Our own Lore got compared in a side-by-side with this album and I see some interesting parallels.
7. Kind – Rocket Science
Matt from Elder drums in this band but I really dig them for their unique take on stoner-y rock. Honestly I haven’t listened to the album as much as I’ve seen these guys jamming in their space and playing live, but I love the way they mix krautrock and freeform space jams with heavy riffs, and none of it is stock material.
