Drag City US Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Few conversations or analyses surrounding doom metal can begin without mentioning the integral Sleep and their genre-defining opus Dopesmoker. That same analytical discussion cannot be rounded up without OM coming into the fray, as the duo of bassist Al Cisneros and drummer Chris Haikus originally worked together as Sleep's rhythm section. The hypnotic 'Gebel Barkal' single would serve as the final recording from the pair following the 2007 full-length Pilgrimage, before 2009's God Is Good would welcome the arrival of current drummer Emil Amos and signal the group's continued expansion into an eventual three-piece.

Review: A one-of-a-kind record from a one-in-a-million "state-of-mind jam band", Upstate by Prison hears five guys, four vocals and three guitars melded together in a craft that runs on its own rock & roll synergy. A self-perpetual psychosonic release, the LP consists only of five 15 to 20-minute long jam pieces, all of which seem to endlessly revel in caterwauling, hooting, Wahhing, and droning, ultimately beating the horse of contemplative psychedelia to death until both a heightened state of consciousness and a renewed music-making praxis is achieved. Sure, it goes too far! How the hell else you gonna get Upstate?

Review: Following 2022's acoustic opus - Hello, Hi - Ty Segall returns with Three Bells, his most ambitious, elastic set of songs to date. A 15-song cycle that takes the listener on a journey to the center of the self (whether that be Segall's or a projection of the listener's own self), Three Bells' arc is rainbow-like, promising a prosperious fulfilment of desire, but ever extending outwards from our reach, keeping the listener in a state of suspense. Though Ty's is a daimonic journey, it's still brimming with alternating perspectives, never once settling onto any lyrical platitude and keeping its sense of resolve open-ended.