Sleep - The Clarity

So today ("today" being a month or so before you all see this post) I was casually browsing through The Graveyard (what I call iTunes on my PC since Spotify came along) and I stumbled across this forgotten relic; it had completely slipped my mind that Sleep had done a $neaky little EP for Adult Swim, and top it off, I find out this shit came out in 2014! 2014!!?? Holy fuck...

Anyways, on with the review! At first The Clarity strikes me as a bit of a self-parody with lyrics like "the dealer is my refuge" and "back patch / Iommic life complete", and that doesn't do much to add the reek of cashing in that this one-track EP gives off (go peep the price of the vinyl for this shit, and also the prices for those ridiculous Sleep action figures and pillows. What is this, fucking Kiss or something? I'm just surprised it wasn't released on green wax and limited to 420 copies).

That being said however, Sleep are rather well known for spacey riffs and silly lyrics about smoking weed, so really, I shouldn't complain. Musically, this release treads the middle ground, and somehow ends up sounding like an inoffensive mashup between Om and High On Fire, rather than like a genuine Sleep song. That might sound rediculous, but have a genuine think about that statement for a second.

It just seems to me that everybody involved with Sleep is now so far removed from it musically, that revisiting it with the hope of reviving it for future releases seems like a bad idea. It is incredibly sad that Sleep's legacy only truly began posthumously, but with Om and High On Fire being fantastic bands in their own right, I can't help but think that Sleep should be left where it belongs: sleeping.

Om - Variations On A Theme

Without getting too cringe there is something magical about Om's music. Perhaps it's the chanting, trance-like rhythm of the majority of their songs, or perhaps it's the seemingly perfect balance that Al Cisneros strikes between riff and distortion. Either way, Om can turn a 20 minute song into what feels like one of those daydreams that has lasted only seconds but in your head you have traversed entire worlds. "Shit, how long have I been out?"

I've recently started a new job with a lot of early starts, and as much as I love grindcore and death metal, it quickly became apparent that half 5 in the morning is not the time to listen to something that is so aurally abrasive. This continues to give me ample opportunities to catch up on genres that I usually push to the side, and whilst I feared that listening to Om would put me back to sleep whilst tanning it down the M4 and result in my fiery death, I actually just caught up on a band that I forgot existed and had a banging time listening to something that wasn't intentionally trying to blow my head off.

Press play, you will. 

Sleep - Dopesmoker

I've been holding off buying this fucker for a long time, mainly because I was plagued with the dilemma of getting it on vinyl (far superior format) or on CD (song plays through in one go). As collectable as the vinyl pressing of Tee Pee's release might be, I forever shyed away from it due to the fact that the hour-plus trip that is Dopesmoker would be broken up into bits. That just wouldn't do! Anyway, I never got around to buying it on CD either because I'm lazy like that, and in 2012 Southern Lord snuck this reissue upon us; remixed and remastered to absolute fucking audible ecstasy, causing stoners around the world to blaze socially-retarded amounts of da 'erb in celebration.

 

above right: it's so fancy that even the inside of the of sleeves are printed on.

I was a few website clicks away from purchasing the CD when I happened upon this vinyl version, in all it's shiny fucking beautiful glory. Southern Lord do not fuck about when it comes to vinyl. I caved, and I went for the vinyl version, rather than the CD, even though the journey was broken into three parts. And do you know what the best part is? That turned out to be a good thing! In an interview that I read recently, Matt Pike revealed that Dopesmoker was recorded on reel-to-reel tape - THE fucking medium that translates godly to wax. Good news yes, but there's something else. Do you fuckers know the MAX recording time on a reel-to-reel tape? No? Well it's fucking 22 fucking minutes. Holy fuck. That means that Dopesmoker was recorded in THREE seperate parts; coincidentally the same number of sides that Dopesmoker is split across here. So what you can hear on this pressing is the three original reel-to-reel tapes, mixed to perfection. Why am I making such a big deal over this? Well, mainly because this is one of the greatest record packages I have ever bought.

 

 

When I first read about another version of Dopesmoker I was sceptical, but the mix here is far superior to any other version; it's just so clear! I'm not sure exactly what was done to clear the whole thing up so much but the guy who did it, Brad Boatright, deserves a fucking medal. Dopesmoker is a fucking monolith in the stoner / doom genres, and this is the absolute, definitive version that simply must be heard by all metal fans and/or stoners. An absolutely huge achievement in modern music, this is the version of Dopesmoker YOU should own!

Warning: Listening to this record may make you a better person and/or a wizard.
(Unfortunately the new 2012 version isn't available on Youtube but if you got Spotify go sneak that shit there. This video is the Tee Pee mix for Dopesmoker.)