Merkaba

I won't even attempt to describe this project so I'll steal a description from somewhere else so you can see why I don't want to go to the effort of describing them.

The Desert Sessions are a musical improv series "that cannot be defined". Founded by Josh Homme in 1997. Artists such as PJ Harvey, Jeordie White, Dave Catching, Nick Oliveri, Mark Lanegan, Chris Goss, Alain Johannes, Dean Ween, and many others have contributed as songwriters and musicians.

The Sessions began in August 1997 at a place called Rancho de la Luna in Joshua Tree when Homme brought together musicians from the bands Monster Magnet, Goatsnake, earthlings?, Kyuss (his own band) and Soundgarden. The ranch is an old house filled to the brim with rare and unique recording equipment and instruments and is owned by Dave Catching and the late Fred Drake. Songs are written on the spot in matters of hours usually, and no place in the home is safe from the music. Legend after myth after story has grown around the Sessions, and most of them are most likely quite true. For example, the song "Creosote" from Volumes 9 & 10 was written by Dean Ween and Alain Johannes on the ranch's front porch immediately after meeting each other in four minutes. The first "session" was not actually a Desert Session per se, but Homme and his band at the time (The Acquitted Felons) playing for three days straight under the non-stop influence of mushrooms. Since then the ranch has grown legendary and the Sessions have only grown in intensity and artistic merit.

Take note of how many artists have at some point participated in The Desert Sessions:

Josh Homme
Josh Freese
Chris Goss
Joey Castillo
Fred Drake
Alain Johannes
Natasha Shneider
Samantha Maloney
Brant Bjork
Pete Stahl
Nick Oliveri
Alfredo Hernandez
Dave Catching
John McBain
PJ Harvey
Jeordie White
Ben Shepherd
Brian "Big Hands" O'Connor
Troy Van Leeuwen
Nick Eldorado
Mark Lanegan
Larry Lalli
Mario Lalli
Gene Trautmann
Dean Ween

This is apparently an incomplete list too

What does everyone know of the music these guys have put out over the years?

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Urban Hat€monger ?

I`ve got 9 & 10 , mainly because of peej

I`m told that 7 & 8 sound like a bad Hawkwind tribute

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PerFeCTioNThrUSileNCe

The Desert Sessions started in August, 1997 when Homme first gathered musicians from Soundgarden, Monster Magnet, Kyuss, Goatsnake and earthlings? to record at Rancho de la Luna, a unique studio-home run by Fred Drake and Dave Catching in the high desert town of Joshua Tree. Since then, even as Queens of the Stone Age have built a rabid fanbase worldwide and, with the release of last year’s justly celebrated Songs For the Deaf, ascended from cult favorite to gold-record status in America, Homme has continued holding Desert Sessions and releasing the finished songs through various independent record labels.

^stolen from the myspace page.

i enjoyed the music they have up, its different. i enjoyed "the idiots guide" and "monsters...". there is a definite similarity to quotsa, but this its definitely a lot better. good find merkaba.

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Merkaba

Well I actually plundered it from Wikipedia.

...Some dodgy tactics going on between the two sites. Conspiracy!

Johnny the Boy is a good song. If anyone wants to download it off a filesharing program.

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She thinks I'm a reclusive genius, she's going to be very disappointed when she finds out i'm a reclusive wanker

PerFeCTioNThrUSileNCe

oh..heh...i didnt realize that said the exact same thing..my mistake.

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anticipation

so, due to all the recent attention my fu manchu thread has been getting, i've decided to dedicate an entire thread to the desert sessions series.
basically, every kyuss, qotsa, fu manchu, or clutch fan should know what i'm talking about when i say that these are the epitome of stoner rock.

lucifer_sam

There's been a good bit of music to come out of the desert sessions that hasn't even been stoner rock; Eagles of Death Metal were a desert sessions project and they've most certainly swayed from this mantra. I've been there and it may be one of the strangest locations on earth for a musical renaissance.

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mr dave

i wouldn't call it the epitome of stoner rock. josh homme is a great musician and producer but he's not the be all end all of the style.

if anything the desert sessions are a perfect example of what a musical collective can create. i remember reading about some of the earlier sessions where most of the material would be written and recorded on the same day due to other scheduling issues with some of the participants.

i think the whole 'sessions' angle is a great way to setup a side project without having any of the pressure of being compared to the main bands of the individuals involved.

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