Black Elf Speaks :: Creation Story
War, famine and genocide have remained a constant throughout history. As Americans, we tend to avoid serious consideration of these things, instead choosing to live in microcosms of daily habit, entertainment, and consumer culture. As a nation, we are more learned on the subjects of celebrity gossip than we are on our own government’s devastating foreign policy, the state of the war (over 1,193,000 Iraqi deaths due to the US invasion, not to mention the ever-growing number of American deaths: 4,000 and counting!), or the genocide currently happening in India and Africa.
Of all our atrocities against humanity, perhaps the most oft-overlooked is the genocide of indigenous Americans in our forefathers’ conquest and subsequent development of the 48 contiguous states. Thomas Hollman is the genius behind Black Elf Speaks, a sorely underexposed band whom at their core, served as a dedication to native American culture and spirituality.
Black Elf Speaks was a short-lived project founded by Hollman in 2001 (they once played Chicago’s back-in-the-day-mainstay the Fireside Bowl in October 2002!). They disbanded shortly after their first and only album, Elvish Presley (Bulb Records, 2002, BLB094), a brilliant concoction of Thrones/Melvins-influenced sludge, Native American heritage, elvish lore and 60’s American folk. Hollman currently plays in the brilliant-but-hard-to-swallow USAISAMONSTER.
The Elf in a nutshell: myth, forests, ethnocide, leather thongs, gregorian chant, peace pipes, J.R.R. Tolkien, feathers, long hair and a purposeful detachment from our insipid society. It’s not a joke, it’s just a lot ballsier than you’re used to. To quote Black Elf Speaks, “Imagination wears no yoke.”
Creation Story
Black Elf Speaks (label site, sort of…)
joshua said on wednesday, april 02nd, 2008
johnny said on thursday, april 03rd, 2008
i was gonna use this song. great f-ing song.
Final boarding call for the last train to Weirdsville. This is so great. I love how heavy it is, with the overblown drums and the gang vocals and how it feels like a mini-opera. Oh and the late drum breakdown and the totally sloppy change when everything comes back it. Strange and rich. Nice one Robbie!