Combining elements of jazz, progressive rock, funk, and math rock, GRANITE HANDS started off in San Antonio, TX as a one man solo project, marked by the “eventhorizon” EP and the “Don’t Do It” LP. Since 2019, the band has grown to incorporate 4 new members, including members from other Texas acts like Sunrise & Ammunition and Somewhere in Between. Currently, the band is based out of Austin and Denton, TX, and they have recently premiered a captivating new record called “Void“, a dark and surreal themed 5-tack EP that surprises with its seductive, soulful, nuanced, and sophisticated form that proves the band’s continued progress. We caught up witht GRANITE HANDS to celebrate this adventurous release and give you some more insights about their amazing work.
Granite Hands is Sorush Ranjbar (guitars, ableton, misc instruments, vocals) , Cesar De Los Santos (drums, vocals), Ashton Roberts (sax, vocals) , Lane Galloway (bass, vocals) & Tyler Saucier (guitar, vocals). “Void” was mixed by Scott Evans of Kowloon Walled City and mastered by Brad Boatright, and we recorded it at Sonic Ranch.
This past summer we recorded an EP at Sonic Ranch studios called Void.
It is themed around surrealism, dystopian futures, and geopolitics.
In a way, it is the first record we’ve made that demonstrates what we sound like as a full band because it features the performance of our drummer, Cesar De Los Santos. Void is by far the most ambitious thing we’ve ever done musically – we tried things like singing, playing synths, Iranian folk instruments, featuring our saxophonist Ashton Roberts, and screaming through a guitar pickup which is picking interference from a computer graphics card processing a Deep Learning algorithm to simulate a sentient AI killing its owner (…long story). The EP was mixed by Scott Evans (Kowloon Walled City) and mastered by Brad Boatright (From Ashes Rise).
Plans for 2020
We plan to do a tour of Texas in April in support of Void (provided we are able to with this coronavirus pandemic). In June, we are planning our first potential U.S. tour run.
Texas math / alt / jazz scene
Texas is considered a hot spot for this umbrella of music, and luckily the whole state is a pretty close knit community. Musicians here are really friendly and support each other, and I think Texas in general is known for that kind of approach.
Other bands and artists worth a check
These aren’t 2020 releases per se (admittedly, I am horrible at keeping up to date with new music myself), but here is what I’ve been listening to lately: Mohammad Reza Shajarian, Owane, McMeta, America, Nobuo Uematsu, Masashi Hamauzu, Bad Snacks, Stage Kids, Car Bomb, Toto, Kowloon Walled City, Town Portal, System of a Down, The Mars Volta, Pomo, Oddisee, Rob Araujo, Mac Miller, Tigran, Hamasyan, Esperanza Spalding, Anderson .Paak
