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SS-149 :: JEREMY IRONS & THE RATGANG MALIBUS – Spirit Knife

TRACK LIST

1. Fog by the Steep
2. Wind Seized
3. Sworn Collision
4. Once Levitated
5. Clang
6. Deep Hardened Woods
7. Point Growth
8. Spirit Knife

ALBUM INFO

According to ancient lore, and cult of the antediluvian pagan deity, Ginsu the Magnificently Pointy, a Spirit Knife consists of a bone blade bonded to the souls of the Mud People. He or she that defended oneself or took the life of an enemy with the Spirit Knife became magically bonded to the blade and, thus, the only person who could touch or wield it in future battle.

Spirit Knife is also the title of the new album by Jeremy Iron & the Ratgang Malibus — a.k.a. JIRM — and we have it on good authority that every musical warrior brave and proud enough to wield it upon release this April through Small Stone Recordings will find him or herself spiritually and eternally bound to its preternatural musical goodness — just like the Mud People of yore.

Imagine, if you will, Jeff Buckley jamming with Can, and you’ll have a fair gist of the fantastic voyage that awaits the armies of the Spirit Knife: an album that finds JIRM rekindling their time-traveling communion with vintage psychedelia and Krautrock, while expanding on the sonic palette revealed by the ensemble’s past full-lengths, Elefanta and Bloom.

Once again, but more powerfully than ever before, JIRM, deliver imposing passages of torrential guitars that rattle and roll, shimmy and soar with oceanic reverb and sweaty rock and roll, partnering with thrumming keys and mesmerizing Motorik drums to incite cyclical hypnosis for protracted song-suites, ever teetering between tight instrumental control and loose vibes to achieve optimal tantric tension and release through music.

All this from a group founded in 2004, in the town of Eskilstuna, Sweden, before relocating to Stockhlm three years later, where and whence vocalist/guitarist Karl Apelmo, guitarist Micke Pettersson, bassist Viktor Källgren and drummer Henke Persson have since produced the aforementioned two albums and, now, the impending Spirit Knife.

So remember the legends of the ancients as you file into record stores (or wherever it is people get their music in these modern, troubled and godless times) to pick up your copy of Spirit Knife — on CD, digital formats, or just maybe some crazy colored LP version that could happen down the line — and shout “Hail to the Mud People!” They knew how to rock out with their bad pre-historic selves.

For fans of: Jeff Buckley, Can, Neu, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Tame Impala, Pink Floyd.

 

Credits

Jeremy Irons & the Ratgang Malibus are:
Karl Apelmo: vocals, guitar
Micke Pettersson: guitar
Viktor Källgren: bass
Henke Persson: drums

Additional Musician:
Patrik Kolar: organs

Recorded at Puch Studios, Stockholm, Sweden.
Produced by Jeremy Irons & the Ratgang Malibus.
Recorded and mixed by Viktor Källgren.
Mastered by Chris Goosman at Baseline Audio Labs, Ann Arbor, MI.
Artwork and illustrations: Sebastian Thomsson.
Design by Rickard Lindblom and Micke Pettersson.
Photography by Rajdarn.
Published by Small Stone Records (ASCAP).

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2 January 2015 Read more

SS-145 :: JEREMY IRONS & THE RATGANG MALIBUS – Bloom

TRACK LIST

1. Elefanta
2. Skin Deep
3. Tales of the Future
4. Golden Hours
5. IAOA
6. Bloom
7. Cosmo Tropic
8. Fernando

 

ALBUM INFO

The grand return of the krautrock, and other similar musical pharmaceuticals, have yet again entrenched itself in many peoples ears. It is music with a retrospective way of thinking that takes its listeners on adventurous excursions deep into ones mind. Music that aim to broaden your horizons and consciousness. JIRM will make an impact on you in the same way with their second album Bloom; an innovative and highly personal take on the psychedelic rock and the very use of its many components and elements. As the indicating seriousness of the first line of the opening track reveals; ”It’s not a joke this time. I’m leaving reality for sure”.

The band’s musical references are more in a multi-colored fashion compared to it’s predecessor Elefanta and has really taken the songs straight through the prism. Because what we hear, among a number of things, is a massive use of sweeping passages of dripping wet guitars that shake and tremble well into the morning, song dressed in an oceanic reverb that pours through the panting rock and roll, melodies that move in cycles and works that have a run time of more than nine minutes. The powerful debut of the organ can also be seen as a direct result of this change in influences, and the musical guest behind it, the gifted Patrik Kolar, whose masterful and accurate playing adds even further dimensions to an already well nuanced repertoire.

The ingredients above are all effective, both technical and musical, ways to go when making striking scenery in songs. And with a stronger and fuller soundscape it feels very vivid and intimate. Because this is an album of depth, drama and dynamics. One moment gentle and mellow, another frantic and on speed; like the sinister Tales of the Future, the sad grandeur of Fernando, the still and stylish Golden Hours versus the feverish and chanting guitars of Skin Deep and the good old ho down that is Cosmo Tropic. However, the songs’ differences actually embrace one another and make, despite their contrasting nature, a very balanced album.

As you all probably understand, Bloom holds enough space for both thought and wild rain dancing. JIRM has let their soulfully smart rock and roll wander inwards and upwards. This is music that’s aspiring to something bigger. Enjoy!

JIRM is a band from Eskilstuna, Sweden formed in 2004, established in Stockholm 2007 were the current line up of Karl Apelmo (vocals/guitars), Micke Pettersson (guitars), Henke Persson (drums) and Viktor Källgren (bass) compose most of their music.

JIRM have released 2 studio albums. The latter, Bloom, received great reviews all over the globe. And with this album JIRM finally found their path musically.
Expect a new album in early 2014 on Small Stone Records.

For fans of: Jeff Buckley, Can, Neu, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Tame Impala, Pink Floyd.

 

Credits

Jeremy Irons & the Ratgang Malibus are:
Karl Apelmo: vocals, guitar
Micke Pettersson: guitar
Viktor Källgren: bass
Henke Persson: drums

Additional Musicians:
Patrik Kolar: organ, mellotron, pianet
Viktor Holmstedt: backing vocals

Recorded at Studio Skyline, Eskilstuna, Sweden.
Produced by Jeremy Irons & the Ratgang Malibus.
Recorded and mixed by Marcus Sjoberg.
Mastered by Henryk Lipp at Music A Matic Studios, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Artwork, illustration and design by Micke Pettersson.
Photography by Johannes Gothager.
Published by Small Stone Records (ASCAP).

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2 January 2015 Read more

JEREMY IRONS & THE RATGANG MALIBUS

According to ancient lore, and cult of the antediluvian pagan deity, Ginsu the Magnificently Pointy, a Spirit Knife consists of a bone blade bonded to the souls of the Mud People. He or she that defended oneself or took the life of an enemy with the Spirit Knife became magically bonded to the blade and, thus, the only person who could touch or wield it in future battle.

Spirit Knife is also the title of the new album by Jeremy Iron & the Ratgang Malibus — a.k.a. JIRM — and we have it on good authority that every musical warrior brave and proud enough to wield it upon release this April through Small Stone Recordings will find him or herself spiritually and eternally bound to its preternatural musical goodness — just like the Mud People of yore.

Imagine, if you will, Jeff Buckley jamming with Can, and you’ll have a fair gist of the fantastic voyage that awaits the armies of the Spirit Knife: an album that finds JIRM rekindling their time-traveling communion with vintage psychedelia and Krautrock, while expanding on the sonic palette revealed by the ensemble’s past full-lengths, Elefanta and Bloom.

Once again, but more powerfully than ever before, JIRM, deliver imposing passages of torrential guitars that rattle and roll, shimmy and soar with oceanic reverb and sweaty rock and roll, partnering with thrumming keys and mesmerizing Motorik drums to incite cyclical hypnosis for protracted song-suites, ever teetering between tight instrumental control and loose vibes to achieve optimal tantric tension and release through music.

All this from a group founded in 2004, in the town of Eskilstuna, Sweden, before relocating to Stockhlm three years later, where and whence
vocalist/guitarist Karl Apelmo, guitarist Micke Pettersson, bassist Viktor Källgren and drummer Henke Persson have since produced the
aforementioned two albums and, now, the impending Spirit Knife.

So remember the legends of the ancients as you file into record stores (or wherever it is people get their music in these modern, troubled and godless times) to pick up your copy of Spirit Knife — on CD, digital formats, or just maybe some crazy colored LP version that could happen down the line — and shout “Hail to the Mud People!” They knew how to rock out with their bad pre-historic selves.

For fans of: Jeff Buckley, Can, Neu, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Tame Impala, Pink Floyd.

Copyright© Small Stone Recordings

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20 December 2014 Read more

JIRM: Heavy Psyche Rockers Unveil “The Cultist” Video; Surge Ex Monumentis Out Now On Small Stone

“Surge Ex Monumentis has a healthy psychedelic rock influence but the heavy metal undertones are undeniable. At times, the record seems to take its inspiration from Pink Floyd as much as from Iron Maiden…” — Decibel

Swedish psychedelic riff rockers JIRM released their Surge Ex Monumentis full-length via Small Stone earlier this month. Formerly Jeremy Irons And The Ratgang Malibus, JIRM has never been more themselves than they are on Surge Ex Monumentis. Even as they redefine who they are and what they do as a band, they remain singularly powerful in their delivery and completely unmistakable. The seven-track Surge Ex Monumentis was captured at Puch Studios in Stockholm, Sweden, mixed by Oskar Lindberg at Svenska Grammofonstudion in Gothenburg, Sweden, and mastered by Chris Gooseman at Baseline Audio Labs in Ann Arbor, Michigan

In celebration of the release of Surge Ex Monumentis, JIRM is pleased to unveil a new video for “The Cultist,” currently playing below alongside their previously-released “Candle Eyes” video.

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30 March 2018 News Read more

JIRM: Surge Ex Monumentis Streaming In Full At New Noise As Small Stone Release Day Nears

New Noise Magazine is currently streaming Surge Ex Monumentis, the impending new full-length from Swedish psychedelic riff rockers JIRM, in advance of its Small Stone release next week.

Hear Surge Ex Monumentis at THIS LOCATION.

JIRM, formerly Jeremy Irons And The Ratgang Malibus, has never been more themselves than they are on Surge Ex Monumentis. Even as they redefine who they are and what they do as a band, they remain singularly powerful in their delivery and completely unmistakable. The seven-track Surge Ex Monumentis was captured at Puch Studios in Stockholm, Sweden, mixed by Oskar Lindberg at Svenska Grammofonstudion in Gothenburg, Sweden, and mastered by Chris Gooseman at Baseline Audio Labs in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Surge Ex Monumentis will see release on CD, digital, and limited edition 2xLP formats via Small Stone on March 16th. Preorders are currently available at THIS LOCATION.

Sometimes in life you have to make a change. And sometimes you have to make a whole bunch of changes. So it is that JIRM is born and stands where once stood Jeremy Irons And The Ratgang Malibus. Having dropped the cumbersome moniker, the Swedish heavy rockers embark on a new era with Surge Ex Monumentis – marked as much by a tightening of sound as name.

For their first record as JIRM, the Stockholm-based four-piece of vocalist/guitarist Karl Apelmo, guitarist Micke Pettersson, bassist Viktor Källgren, and drummer Henke Persson cast off the shackles of expectation entirely. Their style is no less expansive, but it’s become entirely their own, a driving mind meld between psychedelia, classic metal, heavy rock, and individualized realms beyond. Surge Ex Monumentis brims with newfound energy at the same time it benefits from the lessons JIRM have learned since first getting together in 2004 and releasing albums like Elefanta (2009), Bloom (2011), and Spirit Knife (2014), a record Mass Movement crowned, “a blissful mixture of Soundgarden at their grooviest and Pink Floyd…a terrific album of sunny day, top down, cruising music.”

“Surge Ex Monumentis has a healthy psychedelic rock influence but the heavy metal undertones are undeniable. At times, the record seems to take its inspiration from Pink Floyd as much as from Iron Maiden…” — Decibel

“With an underpinning of space metal, heavy progressive swirl and a flourish of psychedelic reaching, the six-minute ‘Candle Eyes’ begins Surge ex Monumentis with a feel that’s both classic and vital… JIRM have their own agenda and their blend when it comes to bringing together heavy rock and prog, and by injecting a current of ’80s-style metal grandiosity — notice I didn’t say ‘glam-diosity;’ that’s not what we’re talking about here — they find a niche for themselves and begin to dig into what will likely be a continuing process of forward creative growth…” — The Obelisk

“While some psychedelia-oriented artists forget to rock and just fumble along, this record keeps rock alive while pushing the lines to space rock without meandering.” — Cosmic Rock

“There seems to be a lot of genuine emotion within the album that you can feel in the songwriting…” — Capital Chaos

“JIRM have found a strong median between ‘70s prog rock, stoner metal, and modern rock instrumentation that feels both distantly stoned and freshly modern…as cinematic as it is engaging…” — Grizzly Butts

“Expansive, atmospheric, progressive, and highly engaging, Surge ex Monumentis is an enjoyable and captivating listen.” — Wonder Metal

http://www.facebook.com/JeremyIronsandtheRatgangMalibus
http://www.smallstone.com
http://www.facebook.com/smallstonerecords

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9 March 2018 News Read more

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