The Obelisk – My go to information website for Stoner/Fuzz/Doom/Riff Rock/Psychedelic/ etc
I officially started the Jam Yeti Music Blog on September 3rd, 2024. I began writing album reviews a few months earlier in June but I had to figure out how to create this blog and format it to be user friendly. My intention is to make it easy to navigate from a mobile phone and set up menus and a search bar to easily find the information provided. I actually thought of doing this over a year ago but wanted it to be “perfect” before I could even start. Luckily, I got over myself and just got it going with flaws and all. I really am super passionate about the music I listen to and write about and decided to just get this thing going.
Theobelisk.net has been my source of information for the most current news on heavy riff rock music for many years now. JJ Koczan started The Obelisk website in January of 2009. I believe it was before the Stoner Rock Dot Com site vanished that he took the reins and began his own site. I remember he was involved in writing tons of album reviews for the stoner rock site, under the name H.P. Taskmaster. The site was directly connected with the distribution store, All That’s Heavy. JJ provides some of the most in depth reviews and information on stoner rock, psychedelic, doom, and everything in between. His daily posts on releases, new bands, live shows, and touring schedules has continued to be my go to place for all of this information. His knowledge of the bands and labels is so valuable to me for my quest of becoming more familiar with newer bands and artists.
The Obelisk site was especially helpful for me this past year when I took a long break from all social media. I was still well informed, thanks to him, because of his timely information about new bands and album releases that were coming out. His reviews are generally out before the record is released and provides a great overview and detailed information of the music on the album, along with links to a band’s past releases. JJ has introduced me to a lot of bands (without his knowledge of doing so) and I’m really thankful for everything that he does. His time and dedication to his site are very much appreciated.
I really enjoy his reviews when he travels to the bigger festivals overseas and provides the low down on the so many great bands performing. His photos are always very good also. I also dig his full length Friday reviews of older recordings that he writes about. Anyways, I just wanted to give props to JJ and The Obelisk because it’s inspiring to me, having just started my own music blog. The fact that he has been doing this for so long and continues to not take any breaks, is pretty amazing. I’m not out to copy The Obelisk because there’s no way to replicate what JJ is doing. However, I think it’s important that this community knows about the wonderful work he does (I’m sure most people already do.) I understand that he makes no monetary gains from his site but he supports the bands and labels more than anyone I know. My goal too, is to provide some value to the bands and record labels that release their material, and try and spread the message of this awesome riff rock music to the masses.
