Thosar - Elementa

There are a few things I love unequivocally: 

  1. Two person sludge bands. 
  2. Two person sludge bands with no guitar. 
  3. Two person sludge bands with no guitar that you could imagine kids skateboarding to in the 90s. 
Thosar is, decidedly, all three. 

Hailing from Weiz, Austria, Thosar play a manic, energetic style of bass/drums sludge that feels like a cross between 90s groove metal bands like Unsane, Helmet, and Quicksand, and noisy, stoner skate punk like California X or Bummer. The thing I like about bands like this is they often have a shaggy sort of "hey, dude, let's start a band" vibe to them that I find incredibly endearing. There's something about two people playing sludge with just two instruments, neither of which are the instrument we most associate with the genre, that feels like the fun of a basement show distilled to its essence to me. Thosar captures that feeling very well on Elementa. The album has an almost improvisational feel to it, with the songs sounding like they were captured live in a take or two. This gives the whole record a very organic vibe, which I really appreciate. 

If you're into sludgy grooves, or heavy music that still has a lot of propulsive energy to it, I would check out Elementa by Thosar. It's good biking weather, at least where I live, right now, so this is timed perfectly. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Djunah - Femina Furens

Image
A lot of our understandings of decades or generations are deeply filtered through media. So how we represent and remember the 1980s, for example, is as much about how the 80s looked via Blade Runner as it is about actual representations of that decade. The 80s was ringer t-shirts, acid washed jeans, and moppy hair as much as it was synths and neon, and yet those sounds and images have become indelibly imprinted on our understanding of that time period because of the media we associate with the 80s.  I'm actually old enough to remember the 1990s. As such, I’m fully authorized to say that Djunah is a band that fully captures what I remember as being exciting about that time of period of music more than almost any current band.  Let me explain.  Djunah are a sludgy, two-piece post-metal band from Chicago whose new album, Femina Furens, is an early contender for my favorite album of the year. The songs are a mixture of fist pumping, driving, anthemic rock (Seven Winds of Sekhmet and Pe
Read more

Weedian - Trip to Illinois

Image
 My band Huntress of Stars is on the new comp by Weedian "Trip to Illinois," along with a whole bunch of other amazing bands. Standouts for me are Dead Sacraments, Minsk, High Priest, Our Earth is a Tomb, Wizzo, Earth Witch, Plague of Carcosa, Scientist, and Night Mother. Check out all the Illinoise.  Trip to Illinois by WEEDIAN
Read more