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BACKGROUND

Artist Bio: Methadone Skies is an independent psychedelic rock group from Timisoara, Romania. Active since 2009, the instrumental quartet has released 5 full length records so far. Each LP shares its own musical direction, often leaning into stoner, post-rock and doom metal territories. There were never any boundaries set, so each affair is the sum of various influences and constant sonic exploration. Retrofuture Caveman is the latest album, released in May 2021. The LP mainly blends post-rock with stoner alongside doom metal touches. It is perhaps one of the most calibrated and cohesive efforts so far. Although we are not a heavy touring band, we managed to play over 100 gigs in our country and Central-Eastern Europe over the past decade. We shared the stage with multiple bands in the genre such as Yawning Man, Samsara Blues Experiment, Motorpsycho, My Sleeping Karma, Stoned Jesus, Acid Mothers Temple, Toner Low, Stonebride, 1000MODS and Zaum among others.

Genres: Stoner Rock/Psychedelic/Progressive

Band Lineup: Alexandru Wehry (guitar), Raul Stanciu (guitar, E-Bow), Mihai Guta (bass), Flavius Retea (drums, percussion, keyboards)

Website: https://methadoneskies.bandcamp.com

Most Recent Release: Retrofuture Caveman (LP, May 2021)

Sputnik User: insomniac15

INTERVIEW

I caught up with Sputnikmusic staff member Raul Stanciu (insomniac15) about Methadone Skies’ latest LP…

Hello and welcome back to our ongoing sexification of Staff past and present and hopefully present-and-future by way of deep-diving casual-reading power-lifting interview posi-sharking antics: Sputnik’s very own Meet the Spartans. Steel yourself as impossible questions are posed and the Staffers you wish you’d had the courage or attention span to acknowledge surpass your wildest expectations.

Today we speak to a mav, a gonz, a true salt, a vagrant wordsmith. He will scratch your back, make you hungry, cook you dinner, steal all your houseplants, and win a big rusty bronze prize for it because he is just that good. He has never been sober. He will never drop the ball. He has the flow; everything is flowing. Is he a true disciple of Heraclitus, or the Dionysian we’ve all dreamed we could be? Don’t ask him – he don’t fuckin know! What do we know?

Yes this is MiloRuggles!

Milo.

J-Johnny? Is that you?

Hi.

Where are we? Can you loosen these straps on my wrists?

You tell me. This is an interview. You have the answers. Give them to me. But first, Sowing gave me a stop-and-search warrant: I’m going to need to see your three most recent jams and last meal itinerary before we can go any further.

You’ve caught me at a hell of a time. I might even seem cool! Check these out:

1) Gal Gosta – Não identificado: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6khZzKCSomE

Look at this! This was recommended to me on our very own website…

Are you a member of Sputnik? Are you also a musician? Drop a message here for a chance to get your name out there to the community!

BACKGROUND

Artist Bio:  Spaghetti western/Americana black metal from Missouri

Genres: Black Metal / Americana / Spaghetti Western

Band Lineup: Hodag (Brett Tharp), Parker Maertz

Website: https://darkwatcher.bandcamp.com/

Most Recent Release: Hymns of a Godless Land (EP, April 2021)

Sputnik User: Gameofmetal

INTERVIEW

I caught up with Sputnikmusic staff member Brett Tharp (Gameofmetal) about blending black metal with spaghetti western, Dark Watcher’s 2 EPs, collaborating with Allelic, and more.

Give us the story behind Dark Watcher. How and when did the project start? What obstacles were encountered? At what point did you know it was definitely something you wanted to pursue?

Dark Watcher came about sometime around the beginning of 2019. I was living in Arkansas and going to college. Music had been on the wayside for a while, it had been difficult to continue practicing regularly within a schedule that busy and my creative focus had been turning towards writing in recent years, still doing some reviews and testing the waters on a few short stories. As silly as it sounds, the renewed interest in music coincided with the release of the game Red Dead Redemption 2, which had a really fantastic and often unorthodox score. I think one day I…

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BACKGROUND

Artist Bio:  O’summer Vacation is a guitarless, bass-heavy noise punk/mathy new wave band from Kobe, Japan.

Genres: Punk, Hardcore, Math Rock, New Wave

Band Lineup: mikiiiiii (Bass), Ami (Vox), Manu (Drums)

Website: https://osummervacation.bandcamp.com/

Most Recent Release: Wicked Heart (LP, June 2021 [Re-release on Damnably Records along with vinyl edition])

Sputnik User: Dewinged

INTERVIEW

I caught up with Sputnikmusic staff member Dewinged about how his band O’Summer Vacation formed and what touring is like right now, all before receiving some very important nuggets of De-wisdom.

Tell us a little bit about how o’summer vacation formed. Is there a story behind the band name? When did you join the group, and what sparked your interest in making noise/math punk?

o’summer vacation goes way back to that time in 2009 when our band’s dear leader mikiiiiii didn’t have money for a guitar, so he bought a cheap bass instead and started jamming with a couple of friends. He was a big fan of the Touch and Go label bands and early 00s math rock by then. For some reason, probably just laziness, the band never got a guitar player, so they started playing gigs as a trio of bass, drums and vocals. I’ve heard the…

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BACKGROUND

Artist Bio: A one man ambient/experimental outfit from British Columbia.

Genres: Ambient/Dark Ambient/Noise

Band Lineup: Scott Krasman

Website: https://kannatama.bandcamp.com/

Most Recent Release: Hell Debris (LP, February 2022)

Sputnik User(s): Scoot

INTERVIEW

I caught up with Scott Krasman to discuss his ambient project Kannatama, and his debut LP “Hell Debris”.

You’ve been involved in a number of projects, from Dropped Flyer (Trip Hop) and Consumer Death Proposal (Hardcore/Thrash) now to Kannatama (Ambient). What is it like moving between genres with such widely varying aesthetics, and what ultimately led you to your most current project, Kannatama? Do you see one genre as more “you”, are you still searching for your preferred style, or are you just a musician who enjoys dabbling in as many musical landscapes as possible?

I’ve been officially making music since 2011, when Dropped Flyer grew from the influences of DJ Shadow’s Endtroducing. Those EPs were largely created using Audacity and some simple reversing/editing techniques – looking back now, a lot of it comes off as unpolished but ambitious. Some of the tracks on Lowlife are a glimpse into what Kannatama eventually became, especially the opening…

Earlier this week and much of last week I had the opportunity to do something I’ve not done before (yay!). I reviewed Skin Tension’s latest…um, full length, which has a pretty daunting runtime of twenty-seven hours. You can read the review here. On the back of that I caught up with half of the duo responsible, (which naturally got me the whole lineup) to chat about the new album, the band’s influences and what’s next.

Hi guys, thanks for putting up with me this weird and wonderful afternoon, or is it a balmy breakfast time in Nashville?

Josh: Totally, kind of chilly here.
 
 
Cool. Cool. More to the point…who are you and what are your roles in Skin Tension?

Josh: I’m Josh Byrd, I play drums
Edward: I’m Edward Longo, I do guitar, vox, and keys.
Josh: Sometimes all three at once, no joke
 
 
Right. To the elephant in the room then. Or something just as big. Why an album with a runtime of 27 hours?

Josh: It’s a bit of a long story, fitting I guess.
 
 
We’ve got the time.

I bought a cheap mixer in September of 2020 to try out some no-input mixing and solo noise stuff, just for fun. I started recording it as an archival sort of thing at first, and after one month, I had about 30 hours of noise recorded. Around this…

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BACKGROUND

Artist Bio: Telescopium is a prog rock/prog metal outfit currently based in New York.

Genres: Progressive Rock, Progressive Metal

Band Lineup: Parthan Shiv (Guitars/Vocals), Michael Liberatore (Drums), Lenny Trinceri (Bass)

Website: https://telescopium.bandcamp.com/

Most Recent Release: Signs of Life (EP, November 2019)

Sputnik User(s): SitarHero

INTERVIEW

I caught up with Parthan Shiv (SitarHero) about what makes good prog, Top Gun, and the impact of COVID-19.

…

Hello and welcome back to our ongoing sexification of Staff past and present and hopefully present-and-future by way of deep-diving casual-reading power-lifting interview posi-sharking antics: Sputnik’s very own Meet the Spartans. Steel yourself as impossible questions are posed and the Staffers you wish you’d had the courage or attention span to acknowledge surpass your wildest expectations.

Hide your kimonos and prepare your most shrewd takes, for today we vie for forum dominance with a veritable king of typed discourse, a reformed metalhead, and a bloody cheeky wee jokester to boot: JohnnyoftheWell!

*quickly dons Joe Pesci voice imitation* Hey cutie. How does it feel, huh? Not so easy on the other side of the Google Doc, is it?

Who gave you this number I must relieve myself immediately hello.

Staff Wars is your baby yes and a chance to get to know your fellow co-conspirators and staff writers, but are there any particular colleagues you’d fear would turn this interview back on its maker? Why? 

I wouldn’t call this my baby! I was all for anyone else on Staff stepping in, similarly to what we’re seeing with Sowing’s freshly founded singles blog series. Needless to say, no-one (apart from you!) wanted to, and here we are. 

If you mean having the interview declined outright, then I had a hunch that Rowan would step further into the Mr. Robot brief and get camera-shy. This technically proved half-correct; he passed it up due to Covid last I asked, but…

Are you a member of Sputnik? Are you also a musician? Drop a message here for a chance to get your name out there to the community!

BACKGROUND

Artist Bio: Spieglass is the solo project of Josh D. based in Austin, Texas.

Genres: Post-Rock, Metal

Band Lineup: “Just little ol’ me on guitar and piano, and performing/programming all other instrument samples”

Website: http://spieglass.bandcamp.com/

Most Recent Release: Toward My Hand (LP, February 2022)

Sputnik User(s): Josh D.

INTERVIEW

I caught up with Josh D. of Spieglass to discuss his intimidating discography, his intent as an artist, and the Sputnik community.

You are the sole member of Spieglass, a post-rock/metal project. What have you found to be the pros and cons of being a solo musician? Would you ever aspire to be in a band (or to add other musicians to your project) if the opportunity presented itself?

Of course the best thing about solo work is complete autonomy. The only thing I feel like I’m missing most days is a pro-level mixer/producer. I would love to work with other people, although maybe under a different project/name. That way Spieglass is something I can have as my own, sort of like how Toby Driver has his distinct projects and solo material. I don’t think I’ve actually played…

Hello and welcome back to our ongoing sexification of Staff past and present and hopefully present-and-future by way of deep-diving casual-reading power-lifting interview posi-sharking antics: Sputnik’s very own Meet the Spartans. Steel yourself as impossible questions are posed and the Staffers you wish you’d had the courage or attention span to acknowledge surpass your wildest expectations.

Today we speak to an old hand, a hand so seasoned and so shrewd that I was frankly at a loss as to where to start with him. How do you attempt to grill an entity for whom your imagination can conceive neither beginning nor end. It’s like interviewing God, but not – for he is no God,  just a chill dude who, in his time, has written more reviews than you will ever read and deleted more than you will ever write. His presence still casts a long shadow over the site as we know it today, and so please give a hero’s welcome to: mynameischan! 

Channing Freeman. Settle, baby. What’s up, how are you?

Pretty good, thanks for asking. Going through some health issues that are yet to be diagnosed, but we’re getting there.

Yikes, hope that worked out okay! How was your Christmas?

Very quiet and uneventful. We sold our condo and bought a house this year, so presents were light given the amount of money that we’ve been putting into the new property. 

What’s the best-received present you’ve ever given?

You’re probably talking about Christmas, but I indulged in the cliche…

Are you a member of Sputnik? Are you also a musician? Drop a message here for a chance to get your name out there to the community!

BACKGROUND

Artist Bio: Black/doom metal from the UK formed in 2013 by Joseph Hawker whom handles all the instrumentation, songwriting, performances, artwork and production (unless otherwise stated!). No live shows. Anti-fascist and angry at the world.

Genres: Black Metal, Doom Metal

Band Lineup: Joseph Hawker

Website: https://etherealshroud.bandcamp.com/

Most Recent Release: Trisagion (LP, December 2021)

Sputnik User: DarkNoctus

INTERVIEW

I caught up with Joseph Hawker about his sudden ascent to relevance, the emotional impetus behind his music, and his future as an artist.

In December 2021, your album Trisagion received quite a bit of attention. Not only did it receive a glowing review from our own Kyle Ward, but it also placed #24 on the Staff’s 2021 Top 50 Albums of the Year. In addition to recognition on Sputnik, Trisagion received high praise from many other publications, graced the front page of Rate Your Music, and was even a featured download on iTunes’ metal page. How does it feel to suddenly receive this kind of recognition?

It was honestly very bewildering. ‘Trisagion’ was a record I held onto for a very long time and I felt it could have gone two ways –…

Are you a member of Sputnik? Are you also a musician? Drop a message here for a chance to get your name out there to the community!

BACKGROUND

Artist Bio: Domestic Terminal is an indie rock band from Lake Forest, Illinois.

Genres: Indie-Rock, Emo, Alternative Rock

Band Lineup: Tim Hotchkiss: guitars, backing vocals / Jack Mancuso: lead vocals, additional guitars / Kyle Waggoner: bass, keys, backing vocals / Matt Ackman: drums

Website: https://domesticterminal.bandcamp.com/

Most Recent Release: I Could See Midnight Sky (LP, October 2020)

Sputnik User(s): YoYoMancuso (Jack Mancuso), Bilbodabag (Tim Hotchkiss)

INTERVIEW

I caught up with Jack Mancuso and his fellow bandmates to discuss their debut album, their aspirations, and this little corner of the internet we call Sputnikmusic.

Tell us a little bit about the band — what’s the vibe like? Is it chill and laid back, or serious and meditative? Was there a lot of pressure to fashion a representative debut out of I Could See Midnight Sky, or was it treated as more of a sampler plate for ideas to see what worked out the best?

MATT: Out of all the bands I’ve been in, I’ve felt the least amount of pressure in this one. The meditative part of me comes out in the lyrics…

Hello and welcome back to our ongoing sexification of Staff past and present and hopefully present-and-future by way of deep-diving casual-reading power-lifting interview posi-sharking antics: Sputnik’s very own Meet the Spartans. Steel yourself as impossible questions are posed and the Staffers you wish you’d had the courage or attention span to acknowledge surpass your wildest expectations.

Today we speak with the man with the pan: a gnarled veteran of the features tab and a primary culprit behind the Staff tab’s oversaturation of metal reviews. Is his bite as big as his boil? Please bow your heads and clean your kitchens for: Gnocchi/Nocte! 

Hi.

Hi there Mr. _Well

What’s the time?

Ah, 4.44pm. I am sunburnt. The Ashes are on and I’m drinking sparkling shiraz.

Who are you?

It’s hard to pin down exactly. Mostly I just feel like an everyday Aussie who’s life rotates in three’s: work, family and food. “Who I am” seems like a deep dive especially when I’m really no one special, really.

Who are your people?

I have a family, so I guess they have to put up with my shit right? That would make them my people – but mostly I’ve forgotten how to make conversation with people face to face. Sure, I can have a professional conversation, getting things done that pertain to things that need to be done but when it comes down to it, dialogue between people I would make “my people”…awkward silences come easier than most lines.

What I’m trying to say is that…

Hello and welcome back to our ongoing sexification of Staff past and present and hopefully present-and-future by way of deep-diving casual-reading power-lifting interview posi-sharking antics: Sputnik’s very own Meet the Spartans. Steel yourself as impossible questions are posed and the Staffers you wish you’d had the courage or attention span to acknowledge surpass your wildest expectations.

Today we embrace the softest boi of all the bois. He is wonderful, we all love him, and I am now going to think deep thoughts about hugging him instead of beefcaking up an uncomely introduction. Pleae make some candid noises of appreciation for… BlushfulHippocrene! 

Hello! 

 Salam.

 Who are you, and why does your name begin with Blushful? 

My username, BlushfulHippocrene, is a Keats reference (from ‘Ode to a Nightingale’: ‘O for a beaker full of the warm South, / Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene’). Pretty embarrassing, but aptly so I guess. I don’t remember what my thinking was; but I’d been studying Keats in high school literature, I probably thought the phrase was interesting, I forgot the p/w to my old account, I was dying of boredom in Pakistan, and I wanted to 5.0 a Bon Iver album. Hence, the first thing I could come up with: BlushfulHippocrene. I’m glad people started calling me Blush; I wince when I have to read the full thing. 

You’re one of the most floaty huggable chillpeople on the interspace. I love this, but I also love bursting balloons: what’s something unexpected that makes you lose your cool,…

Not long ago most of us death-nerds found ourselves listening to the new Obscura record. ‘A Valediction’ came out in a particularly busy release week alongside other names such as Adele, Converge and Chelsea Wolfe, Exodus, Swallow The Sun, Pathology and many others. Naturally I thought we’d make the band’s release week just a little busier and singled out Obscura personality, head-honcho and guitarist, Steffen Kummerer.

Here’s how it went.

Hello, Steffen, and welcome to the obscure reaches of the internet we like to call Sputnikmusic[dot]com. We’re home to a myriad of peoples and argue constantly over which albums are the best of their respective years — sometimes we even agree. Maybe you’ve heard of the site before?

There is nothing better than arguing about which band, album or song might be better than anything else with people you don’t even know. Yes, I am aware of the page and especially the well-written reviews on Sputnikmusic.

While the site looks like it hasn’t crawled out of the early-to-mid 2000s we at least try to keep up with as much modern music as we can get our fingertips to. Some of us feel quite spoiled with the quality of music being released during 2021. Are there any releases that have tickled your fancy this year?

Every year, new great albums see the light of day. In 2021, Hypocrisy, Nestor, Unanimated, Archspire, Lucifer and many more released new records I listen to constantly. A while…