Desert Eagle

This is a collection of 4-track work from about 3 years or so back. There's a fairly standard theme running throughout - darkness, at least vocals wise. The bass is big, brutal and occasionally fuzzed up. The guitars remind me of Sisters of Mercy at times. There's much, much more involved though, I detect NIN, Aphex Twin, The Prodigy and the darker side of Soft Cell. There's great use of alternate panning and delayed backing vocals, giving an eery feeling, and then we get some Beck-ed up scuzz pop via Leeds' sadly demised Baby Food. Definitely interesting and worth checking out the website for more.

- Tasty Fanzine - Summer 2005

"Inspired by the likes of Chrome and Helios Creed, the material on these two albums ranges from lo-fi, screwed-up spacerock to lsd-influenced pop rock to haunting, ambient soundscapes. There's also an early kinda-new-wave/80's industrial approach. All the while Blackloud's lyrics swirl and revolve around sci-fi and alienation. Inspiring and highly original, both "6th 6th 6th" and "Mysterious Waves"will certainly please many heads out there. Count me one of them."
- Roadburn - Summer/Fall 2005

www.blackloud.com

Blackloud is the project of bass soloist James Blackloud. The intensity and volume this one person creates is astounding. Imagine a semi truck driving through your living room and you might get the idea. But at other times, he brings everything down to a quieter level without losing any of the power. The hodgepodge of styles Blackloud creates could be called acid, industrial, or lo-fi depending on which track you are listening to. ‘Ween-esque’ is the closest thing I can come up with for a comparison or description. The speak/sing/yell vocal styling of Blackloud will not be heard on Top 40 radio anytime soon but those with an open mind will be pleasantly surprised with the originality they hear. - Demorama August 2005

" Flarden industrial, psychedelica, lo-fi, blues, hardrock, rock’n’roll en experimentele jaren tachtig pop komen voorbij. En ja, onwillekeurig denk je aan Black Sabbath, Ministry, Pink Floyd, Black Moon en The Residents. Maar lijken op die band doet Blackloud niet. " - Fadeoutmag - Fall 2005

" Bass Heavy Acidic Pop Rock & Roll Sci-Fi - that's the self-description provided by the website, and ambiguous as it is, it's as close as you can possibly get to accurate description. If you can imagine Ween with a psychedelic heart and industrial tinge, producing the soundtrack to some creepy horror film, then that might give you an idea...but probably not."
- Ninehertz - Fall 2005

" an interesting excursion into lo-fi acid folk-rock that comes across like a southern fried mix grill of Morphine, Beck, Sparklehorse, The Cure and The Crazy World of Arthur Brown using ingredients and instruments previously pickled in a jar of southern bourbon, matured in a deep sweltering swamp and finally smoked over a pile of waccy baccy."

- Whisperin and Hollerin - Fall 2005

"In a language that’s equal parts English, tongues and binary code, Blackloud – real name James Blackloud, should he be believed – unearths a corner of the music spectrum populated by Kyuss and Richard D James at his most manic, armed with a rhythm section and a complete lack of respect for his neighbours. The sound of the devil himself beating the crap out of you with a laptop. To Black Sabbath what Four Tet is to Simon and Garfunkle, in a roundabout way."
- New-Noise - Summer 2005

Last time on 6th 6th 6th mysterious acid folk stoner guru Blackloud was noisy unstable and inventive as hell. The kind of inspired chaos that hinted at the cheeky wrongness of Butthole Surfers or even a more mentally erratic Ween. Mysterious Waves is a little softer, a little more mellow, a little more fireside, where he has eschewed guitar and keyboards and does his best to soothe. Yet everything in Blackloud’s world is twisted and malleable and though these tunes are resolutely low key, focussing more on vocals the reality is he can’t help but imbue these tunes with a controlled twistedness. In some ways this assists it to succeed more than its predecessor, where as he has stripped away many of the extraneous weirdo noises and strange riffing to reveal, gasp, an interesting inventive songwriter. The strange inebriated psychedelic sounds that do remain are employed specifically within song structure where Blackloud is rasping along to some really inventive and unpredictable music. - Thermostat - May 2006

An interesting proposition, electronically manipulated beats that never overtake your hearts pace, a dark malevolent voice that equally creepy and menacing, all underpinned by spiky delay drenched guitar lines that weave and curl their way through the resulting melee… There are moments of dark psychedelia and shoe gazing melodrama throughout, but all settled by our narrators expansive sonic visuals… A dark and twisted voyage, but well worth the entry toll! - Subba-Culcha - Febuary 2006

What we have here is James Blackloud, playing bass, vocalizing (a neat-o cross between singing and speaking), using what he calls an “old school” Roland drum machine, and some harmonica as well. The music he makes belies the slim arsenal, though– things can get surprisingly dense here, without getting muddled. Or quite spare, without getting boring or sterile. Either Blackloud is a mad genius, or just plain mad, but I’m digging this a lot.

We have a psychedelic rap song (track six – sorry, trying to figure out all song titles is giving me a headache – maybe cleaner packaging next time?); an electronica/doom song (“Deep Clean”); and a song that is nearly impossible to describe, but earns my award for The First Song in History That Made Me Think Simultaneously of Henry Rollins, Devo, The Buggles, and Timothy Leary (that would be track seven). The trip ends on a nicely dusky note with “War Chief,” which makes me want to name-drop more bands, but about which I will simply say that it can be listened to several times in a row and still leave you SR folks wanting more. - Stonerrock August 2006