#ripple music

[doomedandstoned]

‘90s Vets DEAR DECEASD Run “Traffic” Ahead of Ripple Music Full-Length

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

Cali stoner metal vets DEAR DECEASED stretch back into those exciting experimental days of the early 1990s, when they band broke away from a stereotypical corporate sound and got, well, grungy.. Everything got heavier, it seemed, and much, much more down to earth.

Active in the San Jose area, Dear Deceased members went on to be involved in influential acts of the day. George Rice (rhythm guitar, bass) was the original bassist for High on Fire, for example, and Mitchell French (bass) fronted Operator Generator. Rounding out the group: the husky vocals of Erik Kliever, commanding guitarist Ryan Landes, and bulwark drumming from Chris Musgrave.

Recently, the group announced the special reissue of their early material as part of Ripple Music’s Beneath The Desert Floor vinyl series. The band's forthcoming full-length is a brawny collection of 8 tracks, a mix of grunge, blues, and some thumping low end. It captures the spirit of an era, with a sound that's big, sweeping, and audacious, as you'll hear from the lumbering new single we're premiering today, opening number "Traffic."

Look for 'Beneath the Desert Floor: Chapter 7 - Dear Deceased' (2024) on Ripple Music, with the album dropping December 9th (pre-order here). A must for fans of Nirvana, Godsmack, Temple of the Dog, and Core-era Stone Temple Pilots.

Give ear...

SOME BUZZ

Californian 90s stoner metal veterans DEAR DECEASED (with former High On Fire, Operator Generator members) are set to issue their early recordings for the first time on vinyl and digital this December 9th, as part of Ripple Music's "Beneath The Desert Floor" special series.

Dear Deceased formed in San Jose, CA, in 1990. Their heavy, rhythmic sound and complex arrangements took form out of the ashes bands whose members were influenced by everything from West Coast crossover thrash to post-punk, glam rock, industrial, grunge, British heavy metal and especially, Black Sabbath.

The material flowed from the quartet, but they lacked a frontman. So the band continued to play instrumentally until one pivotal show when the audience got a surprise. Nobody in the crowd knew Dear Deceased had invited a vocalist to join them onstage to have a go at singing live. Emerging from the audience, clutching the mic, the unknown singer belted out a song. His soaring vocals meshed perfectly with the band's angular riffs and pummeling rhythm section. They now had their vocalist.

Beneath the Desert Floor: Chapter 7 - Dear Deceased by Dear Deceased

With the lineup complete, Dear Deceased immediately booked a recording session at House of Faith, the Bay Area studio known for punk and metal run by the masterful Bart Thurber. Initially distributed as cassettes, these recordings soon became coveted cult items among fans. Before long, the band was selling out shows with their intense, live performances. Dear Deceased’s remarkable sound soon caught the attention of record labels. Yet despite the interest, the band dissolved before a label deal could materialize. Lacking the widespread distribution of the pre-streaming era, the music faded into relative obscurity.

Fast forward to years later, when Thurber came across the master tape in his archives. This find led to a revival of Dear Deceased's music, with Ripple Music stepping in to give the songs a proper release. A new rendition of the band’s art, has been re-drawn by long-time friend Rob Klem in keeping with the band's original vision and includes an insert with archival photos by Brandy Bennet Jordan.

"Dear Deceased" is the seventh chapter of Californian music label Ripple Music's "Beneath The Desert Floor" series, which unearths long-lost treasures from the golden days of stoner and desert rock, such as releases from Fireball Ministry, The Awesome Machine, Glitter Wizard, Witch White Canyon, Rollerball and the Sabians.

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[lesdeuxmuses]

Doublestone - Devil's Own/Djaevlens Egn (Ripple Music, 2017)

[falkonryderz]

Fire Down Below - "Airwolf" (Visualizer Video) | Ripple Music - 2023

[gbhbl]

Album Review: Duskwood - The Last Voyage (Ripple Music)

The Space Cowboy tale may be over but The Last Voyage is an album that you will be listening to again and again as the year goes on. It’s that damn good. It’s an album of the year contender.

Duskwood, the UK-based desert/stoner rock band are back with part 3 of their Nomads Saga. Called ‘The Last Voyage’ and following on from Part 1 – The Long Dark, released on 20/04/2019 & Part 2 – The Lost Tales released on 28/02/2020, it will be released on May 12th, 2023 via Ripple Music. The album continues the story of a Space Cowboy who travels alone through space and time, observing and…

[maplebitts]

Thinking about thunder bringer

[ltwilliammowett]

Stern of HMS Victory

Source

[scatterbrainedart]

Some Aphrodite designs

[botanicallyinclinednerd]

have you ever thought about how out of all the gods/powerful people Odysseus has met throughout epic, Circe is the only one who respected his no

This genuinely just stopped me in my tracks and caused me to stop breathing for about 5 seconds. No, Fluffy, I have not thought of this. What the fuck. Circe is also the only powerful being he met that encouraged the good in Odysseus

[doomedandstoned]

FOSTERMOTHER Return with 3rd Full Length ‘Echo Manor’

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

As of today, there are 30 days remaining until Autumn, and you can feel a certain wistfulness that mirrors the changing moods of the season in new album, 'Echo Manor' (2024) by FOSTERMOTHER. Though it was undoubtedly composed and recorded over a more extended period of time by the Houston trio, it fits the mood of right now. This is melancholy music for melancholy times. We find ourselves in this strange, mad world and it's comforting to find a sound like this that literally echoes our despair.

That's not to say this is angsty or angry music, just that it expresses a certain kind of longing for something better, a nagging emptiness, with elements of stoic acceptance in the singing. There's a haunting surrealness to a song like "In The Garden of Lies," for example. It's as atmospheric as walking into an abandoned building that has been overtaken by nature once again. In fact, the album begins with a reference to ghosts in "Wraith." Lyrics are fittingly vague, yet touch on something authentically felt: "Everyone is nothing, lonelier than we thought."

Keyboards have always added something special to the Fostermother sound, doubling down on the emotive punch of their sound, as on "Empty One." Both vocalist/guitarist Travis Weatherred and bassist/guitarist Stephen Griffin are credited with keyboards on this album, so I imagine a lot of thought was given to creating these misty, transient sonic environments.

The sweet spot of the album for me is right at "All We Know," one of my favorite tracks of the album for its those poignant bittersweet guitar harmonies. It's pure doom on the order of those moving riffs in Trouble's "The Tempter," but disguised in the vein of heavy rock. Deep and engaging, the vibe pierces right through you and tugs on those emotional heartstrings.

It keeps getting better too, with the infectious rhythmic groove of title track "Echo Manor" which feels like a dreamstate in which we're are sedately growing apart from ourselves. "This ghostly intrusion, a haunted illusion."

"Rituals Unknown" continues the lyrical emphasis on shadows and the immaterial realm. "I feel reversed," Travis sings. "I am reversed." The twin guitar harmonies are once again quite compelling. In the days following the pandemic, we have awakened to new realities about being human and in many ways perhaps we also feel like a ghost tossed about in the ether, with nothing really real to anchor ourselves to. Fostermother seem to suggest that everything is changing, constantly changing.

"King To A Dead Tree" is like a magic blend of dark rock, gothic rock, and doom metal, and features a guitar solo from fellow Houston musician Rusty Miller of High Desert Queen.

"Carry Me" is another standout, not for anything bombastic, but for its sense of melancholy. Fostermother has a knack for finding those moments to elevate to the forefront of our consciousness, with effective writing -- sometimes just the way one word is sung (here the song builds up to a release in the chorus "nowhere to go, feeling blue.").

"Watchers" brings us back to the grungy doom glory of vintage Fostermother with a brooding, stormy feel and some explosive guitar work. Some of the harmonies produced by the guitar and bass are so deeply moving that you can feel the psychic pain so keenly, as in "Lighthouse."

Fostermother's Echo Manor is an enigma in contemporary heavy music and for that reason alone it deserves hearing. Eerie, nostalgic, and deeply felt, with appealing vocal moments and warm, blanketing harmonies that really stay you. It comes out on Ripple Music on Friday, August 23rd on vinyl, compact disc, and digital formats (get it here). Stick it on a playlist with Pallbearer, Foot, Young Hunter, and Pinky Floyd.

Give ear...

Ripple Music · Fostermother - Echo Manor

SOME BUZZ

Fostermother are back! Long acclaimed by international critics for their catchy take on doom metal, the Texan trio takes a substantial turn in their career by revealing a more multi-faceted, atmosphere-driven facet of their music on "Echo Manor."

The band made an impression within the stoner and doom scene with their massive-sounding 2020 self-titled debut, "hitting both soft and hard in all the right places, leaving oddly-comforting destruction in its wake" according to Everything Is Noise. Signed to Ripple Music in 2021, the pair released their sophomore album "The Ocean" which reached #20 on the Doom Charts Top 100 albums of 2022.

Echo Manor by Fostermother

With drummer Jason Motamedi officially rounding out the lineup, Fostermother recorded their third album "Echo Manor", pushing their sound into heavy psych territory with hints of post-rock and progressive rock. It was produced, mixed and mastered by Travis Weatherred, with artwork by Kimberly Weatherred.

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[lesdeuxmuses]

Foghound - Awaken To Destroy (Ripple Music, 2018)

[forseokgyu]

[231105] ‘Seventeenth Heaven’ Music Plant Fansign

GLEAMING RIPPLE 🐕 don’t edit/crop logo.

[falkonryderz]

Összefogás Tom Daviesért (Nebula)

[gbhbl]

Album Review: Dunes - Land Of The Blind (Ripple Music)

It might not be the freshest, but there’s no debating its potency.

Newcastle, UK, stoner rock trio Dunes will release their new album, ‘Land of the Blind’, on January 17th, 2025, via Ripple Music. An album that deals with topics of anxiety, the passing of time, relationships and dealing with the general horrors of the outside world… while sprinkling them with glimpses of humour and hope. Fuzzed out to the point where the teeth are set on edge, but with lashings…