Dreams of Consciousness

Here is episode 122 of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring an interview with Dan Sefcik of Bone Church. No need to guess who influenced the slow and heavy retro style of Connecticut's Bone Church. The New England band's music is filled with nods to Sabbath, Zepplin, and Skynyrd, and unabashedly so. I spoke with Bone Church founder and guitarist Dan Sefcik about how a backpacking trip th...

Here is the 121st episode of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring an interview with Jim Coleman and Chris Spencer of Human Impact. You could say that Human Impact is a noise rock "supergroup", bringing together Jim Coleman (Cop Shoot Cop), Chris Spencer (Unsane), Chris Pravdica (Swans) and Phil Puleo (Cop Shoot Cop/Swans). Their first album, set to be released this week, takes elements o...

Here is the 120th episode of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring an interview with Steve Austin of Today Is The Day. Steve Austin is one of the most influential figures in the world of heavy music. He helped shape the modern metal style heard in heavyweights like Converge and Mastodon through his work as a producer/engineer, as well as the confounding music of his band Today Is The Day....

Here is the 119th episode of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring an interview with James "Vortigern" Young of Lychgate. The London-based band Lychgate are difficult to categorize. Their avant-garde death/black metal draws from influences as diverse as Emperor and Radiohead, as well as classical music and the films of Fritz Lang. I spoke to Lychgate's founder and main songwriter James Yo...

Here is the 118th episode of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring an interview with Johan Bergström of Deranged. Since the beginning of their decades-long career, Deranged had little in common with other Swedish death metal bands. Eschewing the Sunlight Studios and melodic styles that dominate the Swedish scene, Deranged shares the musical and lyrical brutality of American death metal ba...

Here is the 117th episode of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring an interview with Enver Koneya of Disastroid. Hailing from the San Francisco Bay Area, Disastroid could be considered a "retro" band - albeit an atypical one. Their heavy sound is rooted in Seattle's Nineties heyday, with plenty of nods to the stoner and noise rock bands of the same decade. I spoke to vocalist/guitarist En...

Here is the 116th episode of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring an interview with Nicholas Pentabona and Morgan Berns of Bedtimemagic. Boston duo Bedtimemagic's music is as uniquely their own as the outfits they wear onstage. Their sound, which they refer to as "trash rock", revolves around Nicholas Pentabon's rumbling bass and Morgan Berns' frenetic drums, and draws comparisons to noi...

Here is the 115th episode of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring an interview with Rory Conder of Lunar Mantra. As part of the roster of the late Fallen Empire Records, Scotland's Lunar Mantra should be on the radar of anyone with an interest in avant garde, atmospheric, or unique metal. Their atmospheric death/black metal spans from blastbeats to Eastern percussion and throat singing....

In this bonus episode, the Musket Hawk guys and I bond over forgotten bands we grew up on, and reflect on the differences between the metal scene then and now. TRACKLIST: Musket Hawk - Hexagon Cattlepress - And The Sea Gave Us Its Dead Devourment - Xenoglossia Social Infestation - Helpless/Hopeless Circle of Dead Children- 10 Fingers (My Last 10 Minutes) Meatjack - Falling Down Musket Hawk - A Ste...

Here is the 114th episode of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring an interview with Musket Hawk. Musket Hawk don't discriminate when it comes to "heavy". The Baltimore trio blend of sludge, grind, hardcore, and death metal, keeping their songs brasive and unpredictable. I spoke to the band about their history, their song writing process, and how their latest album Upside of Sick ended up...

Here is the 113th episode of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring an interview with V-Rex of Arvas. Emerging from Bergen in the early Nineties, Örth was part of a wave of Norwegian bands who trafficked in speed, blasphemy, and zero fucks. Resurrected and rechristened Arvas at the turn of the millennium, the project took on elements of death metal and eighties thrash. I spoke to founder a...

Here is the 112th episode of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring an interview with Jarboe. Jarboe is unlike any other musician. As a solo artist, she's touched on just about every genre - her varied discography weaves through jazz, rock, noise, and electronica. And during her time with Swans, she redefined the parameters what heavy music could be. This podcast is unusual, in the sense t...

Here is the 111th episode of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring an interview with Dan Alderson of Horrified. Hailing fron Newcastle (where Venom come from), Horrified are part of a surging UK death metal scene. Though their early releases were largely in the old school style, their music has taken on more progressive and melodic flourishes since then. I spoke to Horrified vocalist/guit...

Here is the 110th installment of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring an interview with Shawn Knight of Child Bite. Michigan's Child Bite draw heartily from Black Flag and the Dead Kennedys, as well as the golden years of Amphetamine Reptile and SubPop. In a lot of ways, the band is a throwback to a time when a band could make a hellacious racket without getting pigeonholed into reductiv...

Here is the 109th installment of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring an interview with Jon DeRosa of Aarktica. Jon DeRosa's work with Aarktica has spanned over 20 years, starting with his time at NYU. Since then, the project has encompassed post rock, drone, and ambient music. I spoke to Jon about how he moved to the ambient drone of Aarktica, his pre-Aarktica musical history, and the c...

Here is the 108th installment of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring an interview with Johannes Persson of Cult of Luna. "A mix of Sigur Rós, Black Sabbath and death metal" is how Johannes Persson describes his band Cult of Luna. Like Neurosis and Isis before them, Cult of Luna's music is as indebted to post-rock atmospherics and dynamics as it is to slow, heavy doom metal. I spoke with...

Here is the 107th installment of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring an interview with Nathan A. Verrill of Fyrhtu. A collaboration between Leila Abdul-Rauf and Nathan A. Verrill, Fyrhtu is a far cry from the metal bands that the two are known for. Defying categorization, the music combines ambience, drone, noise, and Eastern music in a way that - while still dark - eschews traditional...

In this bonus episode, I spoke to Leila Abdul-Rauf of Vastum about her new experimental/ambient project Fyrhtu, which is about to release its debut No More Days In The Light. A full episode about Fyrhtu (featuring an interview with Leila's partner Nathan A. Verrill) will be online soon. TRACKLISTING: "Ritual" "Far Above, So Below" (excerpt) taken from the album No More Days In The Light Interviews...

Here is the 106th installment of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring an interview with Leila Abdul-Rauf of Vastum. Vastum emerged from Oakland at a time when old school death metal was regaining popularity, but the band has maintained a sound and identity separate from the jacket-patched revival hordes. If anything, they represent the resurgence in the Bay Area metal scene, which has gr...

Here is the 105th installment of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring an interview with Nicklas "Terror" Rudolfsson of Runemagick. Sweden's Runemagick were ahead of the curve when it came to ultra heavy and slow death metal. Prolific throughout the Nineties and Aughts, the band suddenly went quiet in 2007. That quiet was broken by the release of Evoked from Abysmal Sleep - their first al...

Here is the 104th installment of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring an interview with Dan Burchmore of Alunah. Birmingham's Alunah are no mark on their city's proud metal history. Despite the preponderance of slow and heavy bands that get sent my way, it was immediately clear that there's something special about the band's psychedelic take on doom. I spoke with Alunah bassist Dan Burch...

In this short bonus episode (featuring a segment of my conversation with Cynic's Paul Masvidal that was cut for time), I explain how the Dreams of Consciousness podcast got started, my original goals, and why I keep doing it. [Short answer: What else am I going to do?] My thanks again to everyone who has supported this show - whether you're a listener, or an artist who took the time to speak with...

Here is the 103rd episode of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring an interview with Paul Masvidal of Cynic, Onward With Love, and Aeon Spoke. It's hard to overstate Paul Masvidal's influence on metal's development. Alongside Chuck Schuldiner, he planted the seeds of technical and progressive death metal with Death's Human album; seeds he cultivated with his own band Cynic, whose influenc...

Here is the 102nd episode of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring an interview with Lord Gore vocalist Gurge. Portland's Lord Gore were both behind the times and ahead of it when they emerged 20 years ago with their blend of Impetigo, Autopsy and Carcass. Like old school death metal in general, the band has been experiencing a resurgence: This year saw the re-release of their first two a...

Here is the 101st episode of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring an interview with Jon "Necromancer" Woodring of Chicago death metal band Bones. "Filthy", "dirty", and "crusty" is how Chicago's Bones are usually described. The band's style of punky death metal hearkens back to the early years of the genre, when bands were more interested in making a satanic racket and the music could ne...