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 Bongzilla, Pelican, Stinking
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”
