Color Haze

I can't remember if I wrote about Color Haze here. Their 2008 release All  in my opinion is one of the most refreshing modern takes on what used to be called Stoner Rock in the 90s. Elements of psychedelic, jam, stoner are brought together perfectly, on top of an almost Indian-Classical like underlying rhythm. Enjoy the journey on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tz_trYy_Fgo

Agalloch - The Mantle

Agalloch is a band from the US. The Mantle can be described using any number of tags like folk, black, doom, stoner, psychedelic or even post-rock, as the wikipedia page suggests. This is a rare piece of work - a dark primeval sound created using atmospheric effects and amazing acoustic guitar melodies. The guitar work is quite minimalist and that makes the album sound beautifully space rock-ish, at the same time creating a desolate but strangely peaceful mood. If you are into any of the genres I mentioned above, get this.

The Great Doom

I like Kyuss a lot. Their style of groovy rock and roll has been growing on me ever since I first listened to the mother of all stoner/rock/doom/desert albums “Welcome to the Sky Valley”. It is a collection of 10 mammoth tracks which are driven by a relentless rhythm section comprised of Brant Bjork on the skins and the mighty Scott Reeder on the bass. The guitarist Josh Homme is a god of desert-blues guitar playing, always walking the line of groove and craziness. John Garcia, the vocalist, achieves what I call one of the best vocal performances in the history of rock and roll. Listen to the tracks “Supa Scoopa & Mighty Scoop” and “Odyssey” and wander off into the burning desert. Naturally I began searching for all things doom. This led me to a bluesy land of music called The Great Doom, where I found other bands like Sleep, The Obsessed, Greenleaf, Earth, Eyehategod, Goatsnake, Unida, Acrimony, Electric Wizard, Melvins, Neurosis, Old Man Gloom, Wolf Eyes and many more. “Tumuli Shroomaroom” by Acrimony has to be one of the greatest stoner/desert albums released after Kyuss disbanded. The Melvins is an other three member mad clown carnival. It will take forever to listen to their entire discography and their music is noisy doom rock which is essential for anyone interested in the said genre. The ambient/noise/sludge/doom band Wolf Eyes introduced me to a few noise freak Japanese bands like The Boredoms and Acid Mothers Temple. I discovered post-punk or whatever people want to call it. Steve Albini’s genius projects like Big Black, Shellac, Rapeman are about raw, garage punk. 

I don't know why I feel so tongue tied

Radiohead's Hail to the Thief has become one of my all time favourites. Its up there in my top 5 of all time. The lyrical brilliance combined with Yorke's voice is just too much to take. If you are already a Radiohead fan, you know what I'm talking about. Otherwise, listen to any of their albums with the lyrics sheet in front of you. My favourites are Kid A, Hail To the Thief and Amnesiac.