Death Valley Girls: Street Venom 2014 (Deluxe Edition 2021) + Under The Spell Of Joy 2020

 

Describing their music as "California doom boogie," Death Valley Girls are a garage punk band whose

tough, fuzzy sound melds bad-trip psychedelia and biker-soundtrack drama with lyrics celebrating a rich variety of questionable behavior. Buzzy lead guitars, muscular and primitive drumming, and Bonnie Bloomgarden's bold vocal stylings were the hallmarks of early albums like 2014's Street Venom and 2016's Glow in the Dark. As the group matured on 2020's Under the Spell of Joy and 2023's Islands in the Sky, their attack gained a bit of refinement, hard rock influences became more audible, and echoey atmospheric production added new layers to their music.
              

Death Valley Girls was formed in 2013 by Patty Schemel, her brother Larry Schemel, Rachel Orosco, and Bonnie Bloomgarden after the group needed "something safe to do that wasn't AA". The initial

lineup featured drummer Patty Schemel (who had worked with Hole and Juliette and the Licks), her brother Larry Schemel on guitar (previously of Lucid Nation), bassist Rachel Orosco, and lead singer Bonnie Bloomgarden (a former member of the Witnesses). They made a low-key debut with 2014's cassette-only release Street Venom, which was issued without credits. Later that year, they released a single, "Electric High" b/w "Gettin' Hard," by which time Patty Schemel had left the band, and Laura Kelsey (ex-Flytraps) took over on drums.
                       

Their second full-length release, 2016's Glow in the Dark, documented more lineup changes -- Alana Amram replaced Rachel Orosco as their bassist, and Jessie Jones came aboard to share vocal duties

with Bloomgarden. 2018's Darkness Rains was the group's first album for Suicide Squeeze Records, and included the song "Disaster (Is What We're After)." The video for the song included an impressive endorsement from punk pioneer Iggy Pop, who eats a fast food burger while listening to the tune. In 2020, they released a limited-edition live cassette, Levitation Sessions, that was recorded during a set at the Cone in Los Angeles.
                         

2020's Under the Spell of Joy featured Larry Schemel and Bonnie Bloomgarden joined by Nicole "Pickle" Smith on bass and Rikki Styxx on drums, while Laura Kelsey moved from percussion to

keyboards. Street Venom was given an expanded reissue in July 2021, making the cassette available in vinyl and digital formats. In early 2022, Death Valley Girls released a split single with Le Butcherettes, with the former performing "When I'm Free" and the latter doing "The Universe." The following April, "When I'm Free" was issued again in a remix from electro-rap pioneer Peaches. Issued in February 2023, Islands in the Sky was the Death Valley Girls' most polished effort to date.
               

For these sessions, Sammy Westervelt took over on bass and vocals from Nicole "Pickle" Smith, and

Laura Kelsey dropped out of the band, with Bonnie Bloomgarden serving double duty on vocals and keyboards. The album also featured guest appearances from Gregg Foreman on additional keys and Gabe Flores on sax. Death Valley Girls' music is characterized by a blend of garage rock,[4] punk, psych rock, gothic rock, and elements of surf rock and 1960s girl groups. The band's live performances focus around Bloomgarden's vocals and on-stage theatricality.
               

DEATH VALLEY GIRLS - STREET VENOM 2014 (DELUXE EDITION 2021)

                             

Street Venom was originally released in 2014 as a limited series of cassettes and is now getting a new

release from the excellent Suicide Squeeze Records. Time has not cooled the heat that pours off these tracks and if you are feeling in a quiet reflective mood then maybe hold off on listening to this for the time being. However, if you want an ear-grating, cone warping wall of abrasive fuzz then jump on in.
              

This is Patti Smith meets The Cramps in a relentless bulldozer of heart-warming noise on both the fast

and slow tracks. Far-away vocals are sung/screamed over the waves of fuzz with all the force of a hand grenade, and there are bagful’s of hooks and pyrotechnic choruses with the stand-outs being ‘Sanitarium Blues’ (sic), ‘Arrow’ and ‘Shadow’ (with its stellar opening drum beat).
             

This is a blistering hot-rod of an album, decked out with a bleached animal skull hood ornament and it

would tear up the desert floor and send lizards scattering in all directions. So, paint flames on my thighs and hook me up with chrome exhausts, NOx propellant and a parachute and fire me down the Death Valley Girl’s drag strip.
                

Even as the deluxe edition is a balancing act between the familiar and the new, what remains a constant

in this release and others from Death Valley Girls is the troupe’s gift of delivering good old fashioned rock and roll. Street Venom is a record to sing along with, dance and head-bang to, and ultimately get lost in with the ecstatic feeling it inspires. That’s what Death Valley Girls do best, and it’s what they bring back to the deluxe edition of their debut.

 

 

 

Death Valley Girls – Street Venom
Label: Suicide Squeeze Records 2021
Format: CD, Album
Country: US
Released: Feb 11, 2014
Genre: Rock
Style: Garage Rock, Punk

TRAXS

               

01. No Reason    2:41
02. Sanitarium Blues    2:12
03. Arrow    3:40
04. Get Home    3:03
05. Shadow    2:53
06. Getting Hard   3:13
07. Paradise Blues    5:06
08. Run Run Rocky    3:24
09. Red Glare    2:26
10. Girlfriend    3:57
11. Electric High  3:29

NOTES

              

Recorded and mixed by Mark Rains at
Station House Studios, Echo Park, CA.
All songs written by Death Valley Girls
(Bloomgarden, Orosco, Schemel, y Schemel)

NO REASON LYRICS

                         

Lightning can strike twice
Or as much as you like

[Verse 1]
The sky's no limit
As far as I can see
It’s the ground underneath my feet

[Chorus]
No one can tell you why
Don't let them even try
Everything happens for no reason
Or not at all

[Verse 2]
They got so many shiny pretty things
All around this world now
To make you believe

[Chorus]
No one can tell you why
Don't let them even try
Everything happens for no reason
Or not at all

MP3 @ 320 Size: 101 MB
Flac  Size: 241 MB

DEATH VALLEY GIRLS - UNDER THE SPELL OF JOY 2020

                        

Chicks so cool they got the stamp of approval from Iggy Pop, which as it turns out still means

something. The Death Valley Girls have got the goods. They manage the impressive trick of making vital sounding rock 'n' roll that sounds at once timeless and current. Sure, they draw on garage rock and psych and proto-punk, incorporating plenty of heavy keyboards and psychotic sax (clearly, they learned the lesson of the Stooges), but none of it sounds like a preservation project.
                    

These are their weapons of choice and their influences, but they make it all their own with attitude and

with a sense of ease. The songs not only sound great and make you want to tap your foot, pump your fist, or pump your foot, but they also have some smart lyrics with moments of wit and deep feeling. I don't have the time to get in the weeds here, but overall, a really good album that sounds way more fresh and unaffected than you could hope for 40+ years after most of these ideas were laid down.
                

"Under the Spell of Joy" is an alchemy of earworms, shimmering with hypnotic vocals, a ghostly

children’s choir, swirling keys, garage-rock guitars, propulsive drumming, droning saxophone, and rumbling bass. Ultimately, the album is a grand success, and it’s impossible not to bliss out while this is playing. So put it on and enjoy your out-of-body experience.
                      

Death Valley Girls – Under The Spell Of Joy
Label: Suicide Squeeze – SSQ174
Format: CD, Album
Country: US
Released: Oct 2, 2020
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock, Garage Rock, Punk

TRAXS

                  

01. Hypnagogia
02. Hold My Hand
03. Under The Spell Of Joy
04. Bliss Out
05. Hey Dena
06. The Universe
07. It All Washes Away
08. Little Things
09. 10 Day Miracle Challenge
10. I'd Rather Be Dreaming
11. Dream Cleaver

LINE - UP

                  

Bass – Nicole "Pickle" Smith
Drums – Rikki Styxx
Guitar – Larry Schemel
Organ, Vocals – Laura "The Kid" Kelsey
Vocals, Guitar, Organ – Bonnie Bloomgarden
Saxophone - Gabe Flores
Keyboards - Gregg Foreman

10 DAY MIRACLE CHALLENGE LYRICS

                       

Be the biggest star in sight
Don't let them get into your mind
Follow guides into the light
Do it all until you die

Potential is the race
You can win it everyday
Believe everything you say
Don't let goals fade away

                           

Don't get distracted
Just take some action
Let your greatest fears implode
Don't get distracted
Just take some action
Make your biggest dreams explode

There's no time to dеny
The needs you have in your life
Grab thе horn and let it loose
Do what you want to

                  

Don't get distracted
Just take some action
Let your greatest fears implode
Don't get distracted
Just take some action
Make your biggest dreams explode

Don't get distracted
Just take some action
Let your greatest fears implode
Don't get distracted
Just take some action
Make your biggest dreams explode

MP3 @ 320 Size: 101  MB
Flac  Size: 257 MB

The Smell Of Incense: Discography 1994 - 2007

 

The Smell Of Incense are a Norwegian psych band with roots in the mid eighties and a long, sordid

history that includes connections to such hardcore and obscure Scandinavian D.I.Y. acts as THE NEW INCREDIBLE HEADCLEANERS, FAMLENDE FORSØK, YM-STAMMEN, and DØVE MUNKER. Smell have existed as a fluid and sporadic lineup for years, issuing just three studio albums along a handful of singles and collaborations in since 1986.
                

Drawing their name from the 60’s LSD induced psychedelic single “Smell Of Incense” by The

West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, Smell Of Incense, a psychedelic progressive band, float aimlessly down that same lysergic laced stream, where their music blossoms and ebbs with warm hypnotic musical meanderings and vocal harmonies, in a fashion that implies that they have something extremely important to bely, that the essence of their presentation is one of a guru dispensing life’s keys … though perhaps from a life lived under the influence, where every step, without a guiding hand could be a perilous adventure.
                           

Smell of Incense are a Norwegian music collective with sketchy roots back to somewhere around the mid-eighties; with a handful of their members going back even further to the seventies in the form of a

minor new-wave act known as the New Incredible Headcleaners, and even earlier as an even lesser- known punk act called the Impotents. It seems a fair number of Smell’s current lineup date all the way back to the Impotents, and most of them have been together since at least 1986. Despite the long history, the band have only released a total of only three proper full-length albums in that time, and apparently have appeared live only on very rare occasions over the past ten years or so. So I guess you would call this a part-time studio band.
              

The band's debut album, the now out-of-print 'All Mimsy Were the Borogoves' consisted mostly of a

number of little-known as well as irreverent covers, while their later releases focused more on original material blending pop, folk, trip-hop and heavy psych for a unique sound reflecting both the psychedelic traditional and experimentation present in much of modern Scandinavian progressive music. Smell's albums were all limited-release issues, and most are difficult or impossible to find today except from the occasional on-line reseller. The band deserves a place in ProgArchives for their unique and interesting history, not to mention for their highly creative and experimental psych-folk sound.
                 

                      
Smell of Incense don’t really do anything original in their music, particularly if you only consider musical styles or innovative arrangements. But there are few bands that so completely embrace their musical heritage, or integrate it so wholly into their own sound. The Tangent is one of those bands; some say Marillion was another. Musically I wouldn’t put these guys into the same category as either of those two. But for a noteworthy commitment to immersion in what they do I would lift up Smell of Incense as a group whose music is well worth investing a bit of your time in.
               

THE SMELL OF INCENSE - ALL MIMSY WERE THE BOROGOVES 1994

              

Obviously this is a sixties psych-inspired album (a sixties psych-inspired band for that matter) as evidenced by their name, the album title (taken from the Jabberwocky poem in Lewis Carroll’s

‘Through the Looking-Glass’), and the record’s artwork. Other not-so-subtle clues (if you need them) are the heavy use of sitar and an early Pink Floyd cover. That being established, this is (like their other full-length album ‘Through the Gates of Deeper Slumber’) a total blast to listen to. The band clearly had fun making it, and it shows in the energy applied to every track. Unlike their follow-on this album includes a handful of covers, but like their second release it also houses some literary tribute pieces that tend to reveal the group’s non-musical influences, as well as the contents of their bookshelves.
                     

This is pure Psychedelia. "Alice" refers to "Alice In Wonderland" of course. It's a little silly to open but when the main melody comes in with drums, bass, organ and guitar it's all forgotten. Male vocals

except for some brief female ones on the chorus. The guitar is angular before 5 1/2 minutes as organ plays on. Great way to end it. "Faerie Emerald" is laid back with dual vocals and acoustic guitar. I like when the sound gets fuller, especially the electric guitar and female vocals. Great sound 3 1/2 minutes in when the organ arrives. I like this better than the opening track. "Fancy" is a KINKS cover. It opens with the birds chirping away as sitar and percussion come in. The birds stop 1 1/2 minutes in as the sound gets fuller. Dual vocals after 2 minutes. This is so trippy for the rest of 7 plus minutes.  Just love it !
                         

                    
"Christopher's Journey" has this beat as male vocals come in. Female vocals join in with a fuller sound. A nice acoustic guitar / bass section 2 1/2 minutes in. Electric guitar and organ take over. Dual vocals

return. Original melody follows. "(The Smell Of) Intersteller Overdrive" is a PINK FLOYD cover of course. Bass and organ lead the way early before electric guitar and drums join in. A psychedelic calm before 2 minutes before it kicks back in around 4 minutes with bass, drums and a spacey background. Nice. Cello 5 1/2 minutes in. Amazing sound here that goes on and on. "Witch's Hat" is a THE INCREDIBLE STRING BAND cover. Female vocals and a catchy melody on this one. I like the electric guitar 2 1/2 minutes in. "Shrine" is actually a Peter Hammill poem that they put music to. A gong opens the proceedings as male vocals and a full sound arrive. It picks up a minute in. Female vocals join in as the tempo continues to shift. It ends with a sample (music) of the Alice In Wonderland movie.

The Smell Of Incense – All Mimsy Were The Borogoves
Label: Colours  – COSCD 018
Format: CD, Album, digipak
Country: Norway
Released: 1994
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock, Prog Rock

TRACKS

              

01. No Title    0:20
02. Alice    6:37
03. Faerie Emerald    9:37
04. Fancy    5:43
05. Christopher's Journey    4:23
06. (The Smell Of) Interstellar Overdrive    11:43
07. Witch's Hat    4:57
08. Shrine    9:03
09. No Title    0:39

LINE - UP

Dave Jørgensen / lead vocals, lead, glissando & rhythm guitars, sitar, tambura
Jørn Raknes / lead & rhythm guitars, e-bow, mandolin, bass, harmony vocals
SigneLine Lundstrom / lead & harmony vocals, viola,
Hans Olav Sandåker / bass, organ, Mellotron, electric piano
Kool Kat / drums, Chinese gong

WITH:

Hans Petter Christensen / alto & tenor saxes
Philippa Clark / cello
Tom Rudi Torjussen / djembe
Øyvind Bjørnsen / harmony vocals
Dr. Brt Blaster / synth

NOTES

Tracks 1 & 9 are not mentioned on the release. These track lengths are the actual play length. The rest are from the digi-pak cover. Please note the times for 'Faerie Emerald' and 'Fancy' are switched (i.e. the latter is 9:37 and the former 5:43), but the timings above reflect what is on the digi-pak itself.
Recorded now and then Nov 92 - July 93.
Mixed July - Aug 93.

MP3 @ 320 Size: 130 MB
Flac  Size: 373 MB

THE SMELL OF INCENSE - THROUGH THE GATES OF DEEPER SLUMBER 1997

                 

This is an album that I count among my favorite discoveries of the past year or so, and a band that is

rather mysterious and intriguing in their relative obscurity. This is their second album, issued like their latest on the German September Gurls label, and both are rather hard to find. The band’s main inspirations have clear roots in both psychedelia and fantasy literature as evidenced right away in the lengthy opening song, “A Floral Treasury”. This is a twenty- five minute psych and trance epic of five parts, with the three middle stanzas each based on one of three literary meadow fairies invented by the reclusive pre-Raphaelite British artist the late Cicely Mary Barker.
               

I can’t say for sure where these guys belong as far as their overall musical style, but on this album they manage to wander effortlessly between middle-eastern, British folk, psychedelic trance and flower- power hippy sounds. The whole thing is a blast to listen to, and one can’t help but come away feeling better about life in general. The epic 25 minutes track has a lot of sitar and oriental flavors and lyrics

about fairies and fairy tales. The hypnotic rhythm and the bass line playing on a major chord have a relation with Krautrock. This is clearer in the psychedelic part after the 10th minute, subtitled "The Song Of The Nightsmade Fairy". Here the song changes drastically. No more sitar and oriental flavors. Electronic drums and keyboards make it closer to Ozric Tentacles or some instrumental pieces of Porcupine Tree. When "Bumble B" sings we are in a sort of dark chill-out. It's like 30 years have passed between part 1 and 2 and this. Part 4 is different again. A section of progressive electronic with a lot of keyboards to bring the 70s back. It's "The Song Of The Queen Of The Meadows Fairy". This part is "broken" by an interlude made with sound from a carnival, then there's another space-rock moment. The epilogue fades out and it's done.

The Smell Of Incense – Through The Gates Of Deeper Slumber
Label: September Gurls – SGCD15
Format: CD, Album
Country: Germany
Released: 1997
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock, Prog Rock

TRACKS

                

01. A Floral Treasure    25:08
1a. Overture    2:32
1b. The Song Of The Winter Aconite Fairy    9:27
1c. The Song Of The Nightshade Fairy    7:25
1d. The Song Of The Meadow Fairy    3:48
1e. Epilogue    1:53
02. Columbine Confused    5:37
03. A Word In Season    5:23
04. From The Third Hemisphere    13:36
4a. Atlantis    2:49
4b. Kraken    2:54
4c. Slumber    4:45
4d. Kraken (Slight Return)    3:06

LINE - UP

          

Dave Jørgensen / lead vocals, lead, glissando, rhythm & Classical guitars, sitar, tambura, cornet
Jørn Raknes / lead & backing vocals, lead & rhythm guitars, e-bow, baglama, bass
SigneLine Lundstrom / lead & backing vocals, electric violin & viola
Hans Olav Sandåker / bass, organ, Mellotron, backing vocals
Kool Kat / drums

WITH:

Hans Petter Christensen / drum machine, synthesizers, tape
Vidar Ersfjord / Mellotron, Hammond, Fender Rhodes, harmonium, synthesizer, harpsichord
Dr. Brt Blaster / synthesizer
Einar Krafft Myhren / soprano & tenor saxophones
Tom Rudi Torjussen / tabla, djembe, percussion
Bjørn Fløydstad / backing vocals, producer
Ida / bird flute
Joakim / bird flute
Ty / bird flute

MP3 @ 320 Size: 121 MB
Flac  Size: 344 MB

THE SMELL OF INCENSE - OF ULLAGES AND DOTTLES 2007

                   

This is The Smell Of Incense's third studio album but it's been ten years since their last one which

was called "Through The Gates Of Deeper Slumber" which was a masterpiece. "Bumbles And Dragons" really surprised me the first time I heard it with the opening distorted guitar and guitar solo that follows. So unlike this band. Vocals and the main melody arrive a minute in. Some aggressive guitar continues to come and go. It turns light before 4 minutes. "Laughing Songs" is pleasant enough and it does have this Folk attitude to it. It ends with samples and experimental stuff. "Where Forlorn

Sunsets Flare And Fade" opens with what sounds like Spanish guitar and bass. Marching style drums join in then vocals. Sitar follows. A calm with flute and vocals after 3 1/2 minutes. Themes are repeated.Vocal melodies and mellotron before 8 1/2 minutes followed by flute. "Song" opens with birds singing, in fact I don't think they really leave this song. Light drums, flute and vocals lead the way. This is the song you put on when you want to frolic and prance around in the backyard with your tights on (haha).

The Smell Of Incense – Of Ullages And Dottles
Label: September Gurls – SGCD 34
Format: CD, Album
Country :Germany
Released: 2007
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock, Prog Rock

TRACKS

                   

01. Bumbles And Dragons   4:08
Lyrics By – Cicely Mary Barker
Music By – Lumpy Davy
02. Laughing Song   4:10
Lyrics By – William Blake
Music By – Lumpy Davy
Piano – Lawrence Scott Hansen
Snare, Percussion – Lars Pedersen
Vocals [Ompa-vocal] – George Ngegu, Katrine Kjenndalen
03. Where Forlorn Sunsets Flare And Fade   10:39
Congas – Lars Pedersen
Lyrics By – William Ernest Henley
Music By – Bumble B., Lumpy Davy
04. Song   2:04
Lyrics By – Richard Watson Dixon
Music By – Bumble B., Lumpy Davy
05. The Golden Knot   5:48
Lyrics By – George MacDonald
Music By – Han Solo
06. The Haunted Chamber   2:24
Lyrics By – Henry W. Longfellow
Music By – Bumble B.
07. Well In It   9:32
Lyrics By – Lady June
Music By – Lumpy Davy
Vocals, Congas – Lars Pedersen
08. Of Pygmies, Palms And Pirates   9:48
Lead Vocals – Jørund Valandsmyr
Lyrics By – Dr. Brt Blaster, Mervyn Peake
Music By – Lumpy Davy, Mickey Moog

LINE - UP

                  

Dave Jørgensen / lead & rhythm guitars, e-bow, sitar, tambura, electric mandolin, bouzouki, tapes, backing vocals
Jørn Raknes / lead, rhythm & lap steel guitars, backing vocals
VIdar Ersfjord / Mellotron, Hammond, Fender Rhodes, harpsichord, Fx
SigneLine Lundstrom / lead & backing vocals, electric violin & viola
Hans Olav Sandåker / bass, bass pedals, piano, backing vocals
Kool Kat / drums, percussion, Theremin, backing vocals

WITH:

Dr. Brt Blaster / synth & vocals (2,7,8)
Lawrence Scott Hansen / piano (2)
Lars Pedersen / percussion & snare (2), congas (3,7), vocals (7)
George Ngegu / vocals (2)
Katrine Kjenndalen / vocals (2)
Jørund Valandsmyr / lead vocals (8)
Dag Lothar Kanestrøm / concert flute (3,4,7)
Egil Ødegård / Classical guitar (1,3)

MP3 @ 320 Size: 121 MB
Flac  Size: 314 MB