Friday 19 May 2017

11 IS ONE LOUDER: Telekinetic Yeti guitarist Alex Bauman chooses his Top 5 doom duos


Telekinetic Yeti is a two piece stoner/doom band from Dubuque, Iowa and their debut album, “Abominable,” was just released in March 2017 in Sump Pump Records (review here). Quite frankly, this album is a fucking monster from start to finish. 

Imagine if you will a mash up between BongzillaPelicanStinking Lizaveta, and Kadavar, and that will get you close to the same universe as the one where Telekinetic Yeti’s musical mastery is born. This duo and their 7.5 tons of beard, have delivered one of the albums of the year, it has everything you could ever want and we rated it as a perfect 10. “Abominable” is truly remarkable and is sure to go down in history as one of rock’s greatest debuts.

Today we have invited guitarist/vocalist Alex Baumann to talk us through his top 5 duos, so prepare to worship at the altar of volume, as we take our weekly trip into the extreme and turn the volume all the way up to 11.  Why do we go to 11,  because “It’s one louder, isn’t it?”


Dark Castle


This is one of the first doom bands I ever saw live and they blew my mind. They are very heavy and also very creative. They use Japanese scales in their music quite a bit which makes them pretty unique. The drumming and guitar are just awesome. (Fun fact: their guitar player/singer Stevie Floyd is also an amazing tattoo artist and she did both me and Anthony's sleeves)


Favorite track: “Seeing Through Time”



Adai


I found videos online of this band around 8 years ago, and it’s the first band I ever saw that made me want to do a 2 piece band. There was just something very inspiring about seeing 2 people making music and kicking some major ass while doing so. Great heavy almost entirely instrumental music, sort of sludgy "post metal" I guess you could say. Their songs mostly all have the vibe of going on a journey. Live they do a lot of looping of bass parts on the fly and play over the loops which is impressive.


Favorite song: “And Termination”



Beast In The Field


The way I discovered this band was after we were out playing our first shows as Telekinetic Yeti a few people here and there said that we reminded them of Beast In The Field so of course we had to check them out.  Honestly I don't think we sound that much like this band but I can see some similarity in the wall of amps, the heavy crushing guitar tones, and the 2 piece element.

These guys are quite a bit more dark and evil sounding than Telekinetic Yeti. These guys are really good and insane and you definitely have to check them out.


Favorite Song: “Wakan Tanka”



Om


These guys really need no introduction, not technically a 2 piece anymore, but amazing either way. The third member they added, Robert Lowe I am also a big fan of his solo stuff, Lichens and his old band 90 Day Men.


Favorite Song: “State Of Non Return”



The Mars Volta


Okay these guys weren't technically a 2 piece band or doom and I know that calling them a duo is a stretch, but they were a duo in the sense that their front men Omar and Cedric were the main songwriters and in charge of the vision of the band. These guys are a big inspiration of Anthony and I and the adventurousness in their song writing is something that I think we take a lot of influence from in Telekinetic Yeti. Also their first and in our opinion best drummer was John Theodore, who is also a big influence on Anthony’s drumming. Their first EP "Tremulant" and first full length album "Deloused In The Comatorium" are absolutely mind blowing.

Favorite song: “Eunuch Provocateur”