Search - Grails :: Black Tar Prophecies 1 2 & 3

Grails
Black Tar Prophecies 1 2 & 3
Genres: Alternative Rock, Pop, Rock

Track Listings (9) - Disc #1
1. Back to the Monastery
2. Bad Bhang Recipe
3. Belgian Wake-Up Drill
4. Smokey Room
5. Black Tar Frequencies
6. Stray Dog
7. Erosion Blues [#]
8. More Erosion [#]
9. Black Tar Prophecy

CD Details

All Artists: Grails
Title: Black Tar Prophecies 1 2 & 3
Members Wishing: 4
Total Copies: 0
Label: Important Records
Original Release Date: 1/1/2006
Re-Release Date: 8/22/2006
Genres: Alternative Rock, Pop, Rock
Styles: Progressive, Progressive Rock
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 793447510521

Synopsis

Album Description

"Words like breathtaking, introspective, graceful, and powerful all describe their music aptly. It's for people who like their music to take them places, even within themselves, that they hadn't dared before. It's music to help you realize the beauty of a broken world around you." - INDIEWORKSHOP "I still hear a band of ragtag improvisers, engaged in a heavy channeling of Americana that fuses Henry Flynt or Tony Conrad with the smoldering remains of Black Sabbath. Who can't dig that?" - DUSTED At the start of 2005, Grails returned to the U.S. from a month-long European tour. Stepping off the plane, most of the band walked in one direction and the violinist strayed off in another. It ended up being the last time most anyone would see or talk to him again. A bandmate of five years had vanished, existing thereafter only in the form of vague rumors. As the varied reports of brief encounters and sightings grew stranger and darker, the band started a series of recordings called Black Tar Prophecies. The remaining members had particular dissatisfactions with how the band had been grouped into the innocuous, contemporary post-rock movement. This frustration, combined with newly liberated instrumental roles, introduced new possibilities for their sound. In this way, the collected Black Tar Prophecies ends up being a more idiosyncratic mission statement for future Grails recordings, revealing their fondness for the groundfloor sixties and seventies experimental artists who saw music as a process of discovery as opposed to the pre-conceived, pre-parametered, commodified sport that underground music has become. A parallel is now forming between Grails and old-school experimental bands like Faust who, rejecting their past, started over from the beginning to build new languages in music. Black Tar Prophecies is Grails' third full-length recording (and their first since leaving Neurosis label Neurot). Seven of the nine tracks were released in small, highly sought-after pressings of 12" vinyl on two European labels. Important is now proud to release Black Tar Prophecies in its complete form, including two tracks not available on the vinyl releases.

CD Reviews

Super gloomy rhythmscapes, jazzy piano, totally dubbed out d

Aquarius Records | San Francisco | 09/05/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It maybe took a little while, but folks around here finally started digging the Grails, A LOT. After their last record, their second release on Neurot, the band went through some personnel shifts, which often trigger the end of a band, but in this case, pushed the band in new directions and resulted in some of their best music to date. That Neurot record was cool, but at the time I had sort of reached my post rock, quiet-loud-quiet saturation point. It wasn't that the Grails weren't a great band, it was because I had raised my bar on moody epic post rock. It was no longer enough to just drift along post-rockily before exploding into epic metallic bombast and drifting back again. As pleasant as that is to listen to, there was SO MUCH of that going around, I just needed something more. Soon after the band released an ep of international psych covers and that was the beginning of a glorious new direction. I knew whatever was gonna come next would be a killer, and thankfully, The Black Tar Prophecies, are indeed just that.

The whole three volumes thing was a bit confusing, and still is. Regardless, this is some, dark and amazing, absolutely beautiful music. With the Black Tar Prophecies, the Grails finally shrugged off their influences and forged their own sound, never hesitating to experiment, explore, or f-ck around with songs and sound. These musical 'Prophecies' just might just be the weirdest, most subtle, least rock set of songs they've ever produced. I was definitely always a fan, but when I heard that psych covers ep, on which they covered psychedelic songs from around the world, including faves Flower Travellin Band, well, I was suddenly WAY more than a fan. They had me at Flower Travellin Band.

Anyway, Black Tar Prophecies takes their obsession with psych rock, and their deft mastery of all things post rock, and turns them inward, into a darker, doomier, moodier place. And I love it. Super gloomy rhythmscapes, jazzy piano, totally dubbed out drums, everything bathed in smoky atmospheric swirl. Reminds me a little of Bohren & Der Club Of Gore at times. Songs that wander down dark alleys, streetlights barely illuminating the murky streets, sonic ghost towns, haunting cinematic postrockscapes, like a more rock DJ Shadow, all low slung bass and shuffling rhythms, very smoky and dreamlike. Elsewhere, dreamy psychedelic guitarscapes, strummed acoustic guitars, beneath fuzzed out moody psych leads, really seventies sounding, like a more abstract post rock Hendrix / Santana thing. But the doom inclined among you will find much to love too, here and there, thick slabs of glacial sound that will have dronedirgedoom nerds frothing at the mouth, as if to prove they can throw down with the big boys (Boris, Corrupted, Isis, Pelican, Moss, etc...) the band unleash massive downtuned dirges, thick washes of slow sludge guitars woven into tarpit riffs of gargantuan proportion, distortion so blown out it crumbles like dirt clods stuffed in your ears, the recording strangely lo-fi, giving the proceedings a dreary droney, Hawkwind meets Gore sort of dirgedoom vibe. Epic and amazing."

Interesting and Enjoyable

Zachary J. Dachtler | Wooster,OH | 10/29/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This was my first Grails album, and having never heard the others I can reccommend it as a good place to start. If you are new to the Grails sound then this will be rather difficult to understand, for their music really defies any labels. It is not merely world (most generic title ever) or rock or lounge or strange and nebulous sounds which are no genre, but rather a combination of all.

Above all I would say that the Grails is good chillin' music. If you like to partake in a nice relaxing herb. ***. Than this is some excellent music to sit and smoke to. There are many layers to explore while your mind is in a liberated state. And it is accessible enough that you do not have to be stoned or trippin' to appreciate it, although In my opinion, I think that those are the conditions in which this music truly shines.

Its probably not like what you will have heard before, and make no mistake this is not something that everyone will like. However I think that those of you who will like this type of music know who you are, and that in the opinion of this humble reviewer you should definately look into the mysterious music which is the Grails. The only music I can think that at times can have a similar feel would be, at times Pink Floyd, Medeski Martin and Wood, Tortoise, and Rabih Abu Khali. However make no mistake The Grails are original and Black Tar Prophecies does not pretend.

My favorite songs on the album are: Smokey Room, Erosion Blues (#), Stray Dog. However the whole album is superb."

I second this excellent review

Luke A. Miller | AUSTIN TX | 02/24/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Its got this improv feel that is absolutely addicting. I love this album-- feels like its directly out of a David Lynch film at times."