Posted in Whathaveyou on July 31st, 2014 by JJ Koczan
It’s been seven long years since Virginian rockers Valkyrie issued their second album, Man of Two Visions, and wow that’s a long time. MeteorCity did a reissue in 2010, and they’ve continued to play shows every now and again, brotherly guitar duo Jake and Pete Adams (the latter of Baroness and now also guesting with the Samhain reunion) coordinating around family lives, member flux, Pete‘s tour schedule, etc., more or less gigging when able, but yeah, the years have gone quick. Valkyrie were always a killer band, and I frickin’ loved Man of Two Visions when that came out, so I’ll be interested to hear what they’ve got in store for their third long-player, which Relapse has picked up for an early 2015 release following a recording session with Sanford Parker.
The PR wire puts it like this:
VALKYRIE Sign to Relapse Records; Complete Recording New Album
Relapse Records is proud to announce the signing of Virginia hard rock riff worshippers VALKYRIE. Formed in 2002, VALKYRIE consists of brothers Jake and Pete Adams (Baroness, Samhain) on guitar and vocals, Alan Fary (Earthling) on bass and Warren Hawkins on drums. Drawing heavily from the classic eras of hard rock and heavy metal, VALKYRIE play guitar driven rock n’ roll replete with infectious solos and catchy, powerful vocals. The band has drawn numerous comparisons to greats like Thin Lizzy, Scorpions, Black Sabbath, early Iron Maiden, and Deep Purple.
The quartet has released two full-lengths along with a series of EPs and singles. VALKYRIE recently recorded their first full-length in over 7 years at Earth Analog Studios in Champaign, IL with producer Sanford Parker (Nachtmystium, Pelican) earlier this month. The eight song album will see an early 2015 release via Relapse.
Guitarist / vocalist Jake Adams commented on the signing and new material:
“We are really excited about this new record. Some of these songs we have been working on for many years and we are glad to see them have a proper release on an excellent label. This new record will be a step up in terms of song dynamics and musicianship from the previous albums. We think our fans will dig the fresh approach to the classic Valkyrie sound.”
A couple weeks ago, when The Patient Mrs. was in Athens, Greece, on one of her I’m-brilliant-so-I-get-to-do-awesome-things field trips, she mentioned over Skype that she has passed by a record store. If there’s one thing I like, it’s record shopping on foreign soil, even vicariously, so I got the name from her — Sound Effect Records — and proceeded to look them up. The second I saw that owner Yiannis Andriopoulos had the nickname “Kaleidosmoker” I knew she had stumbled onto the right place.
Turns out Andriopoulos was a former ‘zine head with a long history in Greece’s heavy rock scene. Sound Effect also runs a label out of the store and has distributed cool stuff from Montibus Communitas and others, so I immersed myself in the thousands of selections on the Discogs page and started putting together a wishlist. I kept it to CDs — traveling with vinyl yourself is bad enough, let alone asking your wife to do it — and passed it on to her, with links, and told her when she went to the shop to ask for Yiannis, figuring that he’d be able to help her out with the stuff if she couldn’t find it.
Had to get a few Greek acts in there, and Planet of Zeus were on my mind for having recently checked out their Vigilantealbum (review here), so their first album, 2008’s Eleven the Hard Way, made the cut, as did Brotherhood of Sleep‘s 2009 self-titled debut. Both bands are native to Athens, and since I already had a copy of the new 1000mods, I was glad to dip back to some older, less available releases. There was also a ready stock of Nasoni Records stuff — not the first Weltramstaunen, unfortunately — but I asked her to grab Baby Woodrose‘s Dropout!collection of covers and a reissue of The Rising Sun‘s 1969 LP, Born to be Wild, as well as the 2CD Entering into the Space Country/Phaze Your Fearscollection from Øresund Space Collective.
When she got home this weekend, she surprised me by bringing not only those, but the 2LP version of Los Natas‘ El Universo Perdido de Los Natas, filling both the Nasoni and the vinyl quotas in one fell I’m-the-luckiest-dude-ever swoop. I have the corresponding CD version that Oui Oui/MeteorCity released in 2007, but both the thought and the gatefold were beautiful, and if it’s another excuse to spend some time listening to Los Natas, I’m not going to lose. Apparently at some point in her trip to Sound Effect, The Patient Mrs. also let it slip that she was buying for her husband, explained who I was, and Andriopoulos gave her a copy of one of Sound Effect Records‘ releases, a joint issue with Nowhere Street Music from the band Drug Free Youth called A Message fromNow.
And I’m glad he did, because apart from the Los Natas vinyl, the Drug Free Youth CD might be the find of the trip. A modded-out late-’60s-style psych rocker, it’s got plenty of garage organ and guitar jangle. It’s actually a message from eight years ago, having been released in 2006, but the sound and production date back way further than that. It’s got 15 tracks in about 45 minutes, and they keep things pretty simple structurally, otherwise, but the 7:47 closer “Visions of a Gypsy Queen” — Eastern European influence in the organ and all — the buzzsaw leads in “Time is Iced in an Instant,” and the steady wash of effects and echo overall provide plenty of nuance for those who’d dig below the raw retro veneer. It’s a cool vibe and I’m glad I got to hear it.
I probably won’t get to Athens anytime soon, but I hugely appreciated The Patient Mrs. keeping an eye out for some records on my behalf, and thanks to Yiannis from Sound Effect for steering her in the right direction on the stuff I’d checked out on his Discogs. There’s a ton of vinyl as well, and between that and the store’s website itself, plenty of fodder for perusal. Obviously no complaints from my end.
Drug Free Youth, Selections from A Message from Now (2006)
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 31st, 2014 by JJ Koczan
The command of Wild Eyes‘ debut, Get intoIt!(review here), was easily enough heeded. A thoroughly kickass West Coast heavy four-piece native to San Francisco and boasting a connection to Saviours in bassist Carson Binks but on their own trip sonically, they partied hard, partied drunk and in the end, Get into It!stomped its way into the heart like the kind of happening you’d like to imagine you’d have now if you were still in your 20s, even though you — and by you, rest assured, I mean me — would still just be sitting around watching Star Trek waiting for your ship to come in. Have I gotten away from the point? Yeah, I guess so.
Fuck it. Wild Eyes — and good on them — have inked a deal with respectable Italian imprint Heavy Psych Sounds to release their next album. Even better, the label’s booking arm will take Wild Eyes overseas this November for their inaugural European tour. West Coast and Europe for tours. I feel like the only reason a band from anywhere else would want to tour the East Coast at this point is to be able to say they played the St. Vitus bar, should they actually be lucky enough to do so. Nonetheless, Wild Eyes will fly over on their way to the Continent for what I’m sure won’t be their last trip. The way I understand it, once you get a taste, you can’t have just one.
Heavy Psych Sounds makes the good news official:
HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS Records is Proud to announce the signing of ***WILD EYES***
(Acid Rock n’Rollers from San Francisco-California)
for their upcoming LP called “Above Becomes Below” out in late October..
in Vinyl and Digipack
Heavy Psych Sounds Booking is also taking care of the European Tour of the band from November 14 to December 6
..the band will rock countries as Italy,Switzerland,Austria,Germany,Netherland,France,Belgium
I guess this is the part where I complain about lack of time, blah blah blah. Last week was a mess, it’s true, as were the last couple days, but what it comes down to is I do what I can when I can. That’s been my policy all along. A couple of these discs — Cruthu, Deamon’s Child — are my own rips as well from discs that were sent in, and as ever, there’s more that went up than just what is listed here. So one way or another, activity abounds. I need to find out how close I am to filling the three terabytes of the hard drive used for the server, but until then, the additions will continue unabated. It’s good to keep busy.
The Obelisk Radio adds for July 31, 2014:
Sleep, “The Clarity”
To call the first new Sleep track since Dopesmokeran “event” would be underselling it. “The Clarity” arrives via the Adult Swim Singles Series not only as the Iommian legends’ first outing since that landmark release, but also their debut recording with drummer Jason Roeder and their first studio work since guitarist Matt Pike and bassist/vocalist Al Cisneros went on to destroy/expand minds in High on Fire and Om, respectively, for the last decade-plus. A near-10-minute stonerly sprawl finds Sleep‘s central methodology intact. Grown up some from what it was 20 years ago, expectedly, but loyal to what they were without trying to recapture a magic that’s gone with that time. Cisneros has taken some flack for not roughing up his vocals à la Sleep’s Holy Mountain, but from where I sit, his cadence and cleaner style only makes “The Clarity” more honest, and if lyrics like “Iommic life complete” and “The dealer is my refuge” are easier to understand, you won’t find me complaining. They jam out most of the song’s second half, and ultimately “The Clarity” collapses in a sudden cut, leaving you to wonder if it ever happened at all — until of course you go back to the start for another glorious hit. If this portends more to come, I’m even more excited about the prospect of new Sleep than I was before the single arrived. Sleep on Thee Facebooks, Adult Swim Singles.
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Deamon’s Child, Deamon’s Child
Even before you get to the dolphin sample in “Delfine,” and the garage thrashiness of the subsequent “Alles Bio, Immer Bio,” German trio Deamon’s Child give some hints that there’s more to what they do than the standard heavy noise rock. Comprised of guitarist Sven “Missu” Missulis (aka John Reebo of Reebosound, also ex-Psychedelic Avengers), bassist/vocalist Ana Maija Muhi (who also contributed to Reebosound‘s 2010 outing, This is Reebosound) and drummer Tim Mohr (also WhiteBuzz), Deamon’s Child debuted last year with an engaging demo and follow it with a self-titled debut of increased complexity and a sound that’s varied without the pretense, culling together punk, grunge, heavy rock and noise to create songs that feel like they could turn in any direction at once. The production plays up the frayed edges, and Muhi‘s layered vocals on a chugger like “Lutscher!” sound all the more Melvins-esque. Deamon’s Childis loaded with surprises, but doesn’t feel any more haphazard than it’s meant to, and while it may take a couple listens to catch up to it, the songs are consistent in their invitation for repeat visits. Deamon’s Child on Thee Facebooks, on Bandcamp.
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Red Fang, TeamRock.com Presents an Absolute Music Bunker Session with Red Fang
A free Red Fang acoustic EP — who’s going to argue with that? Not me, though the cumbersome and corporate-style title leaves something to be desired. Nonetheless, once you get through all the namebrandery, what you come out with are acoustic renditions from Red Fang of “Failure” from late 2013’s Whales and Leechesand “Malverde” and “Human Herd” from the preceding 2011 outing, Murder the Mountains(review here). Hearing guitarist Bryan Giles soften up his usually-rough vocal approach on “Malverde” is interesting, given how much of the album version of that track is about the impact of the thing, but “Failure” becomes a brooding plea rather than the threat it is at full thrust, and “Human Herd” a kind of meditation that makes for the highlight of the whole release. One tries not to read too much into what was clearly a one-off thing, but it would be cool to hear what an acoustic album track from Red Fang might sound like. Their songwriting clearly translates, and between Giles and bassist/vocalist Aaron Beam — let’s not forget guitarist David Sullivan or drummer John Sherman — they prove here they can pull it off sounding confident and comfortable. Kind of an unexpected turn from the chicanery-fueled rock we’re used to from Red Fang, but they’re as easy to dig as ever on (deep breath) TeamRock.com Presents an Absolute Music Bunker Session with Red Fang. Red Fang on Thee Facebooks, on Bandcamp.
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The Jackpine Snag, The Fire Tower EP
Tonally, Michigan’s The Jackpine Snag seem rooted in punk, but a strong undercurrent of the weirdo runs throughout the songs on their new EP, The Fire Tower, and whether it’s the shouting on “With Wings” or “The Missaukee Strut” or the motoring noise of closer “Gonna Wreck My Life,” the trio present an individualized approach to bruiser expression. The Fire Toweris their longest outing yet at seven songs following a four-track 2013 debut 7″, but they have no trouble changing up their take enough to hold interest, while also keeping the tracks themselves relatively lean and concise. Maybe what the EP does best is balance that efficiency with a loose, tossoff-punker vibe, but The Jackpine Snag — guitarist/vocalist Joe Hart, bassist Jason Roedel and drummer Todd Karinen — show a keen awareness of how far out they want to go and how oddball they want to get in their ragged, grungy craftsmanship. No doubt that will serve them well should they decide next to tackle a debut full-length. The Jackpine Snag on Thee Facebooks, on Bandcamp.
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Cruthu, Creation Demo
The debut release from Lansing, Michigan’s Cruthu, the Creation Democulls together an initial three tracks that sound somewhat raw but hold significant stylistic promise, blending a heavy ’70s psych-blues mentality with drearier rock tendencies and analog worship. Frontwoman Teri Brown provides a soulful lift to “S.O.S.,” as guitarist Dan McCormick leads bassist Scott Lehman and drummer Matt Fry through a subtly doomed murk, but pushes into rawer, strained-throat vocalizing on “Walk with Me” that immediately stands the Creation Demoapart from much of what claims to have been recorded live in terms of sheer honesty. And to Cruthu‘s further credit, I don’t think the tracks were recorded live. Particularly in “Separated from the Herd” and “Walk with Me,” which closes, Cruthu find some room for instrumental exploration along with Brown‘s vocals, and the path they’re on suits them well as the demo plays out. I’d be interested to hear them branch out further instrumentally, get weird with some percussion or strings or psychedelics, but there’s time for such things, and they’re off to an evocative start. Cruthu on Thee Facebooks, on Bandcamp.
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 31st, 2014 by JJ Koczan
Presumably this is the tour during which High on Fire will shake off the stage rust from writing their new album. I’m not sure if they’ve recorded yet, but 2012’s De Vermis Mysteriis (review here) was tracked with Kurt Ballou, and he’s in Salem, MA, so starting off in Cambridge coming out of the studio would make sense. Either way, it seems fair to expect a new song or two will work its way into the set as they make their run across the country with stops off at the Hopscotch Music Festival and Motörhead’s Motörboat cruise, which one can only assume they will promptly sink.
Whether they’re road-testing new material or taking it out for a victory lap, High on Fire are an unremitting stage act, so anytime they’re coming through town, that’s where you want to be. But you already know that.
Fresh off the PR wire:
HIGH ON FIRE Announces North American Tour Dates
Uber-Power Trio to Headline First-Ever Converse Rubber Tracks Live Tour; Locked in to Perform at Both 2014 Hopscotch Music Festival and Motörhead’s Motörboat Rock Cruise
Herculean hard rock heavyweights HIGH ON FIRE have announced summer tour dates. The globally celebrated heavy metal pioneers will kick off the must-see live performances on August 12 in Cambridge, MA as headliners of the inaugural Converse Rubber Tracks Live Tour. The just-announced run will continue with stops in Toronto (Aug. 14), Brooklyn (Aug. 15), Los Angeles (Aug. 19) and San Francisco (Aug. 20). Tickets for the Converse Rubber Tracks Live Tour are free (see below for ticketing links) and the jaunt will coincide with Converse Rubber Tracks “pop-up” recording studios in each city, providing opportunities for emerging artists to unleash their creative spirit.
Additionally, HIGH ON FIRE will appear among the featured acts at the 2014 Hopscotch Music Festival, set to take place September 4-6 in Raleigh, NC. HIGH ON FIRE, who feature guitarist/vocalist Matt Pike, drummer Des Kensel and bassist Jeff Matz, will headline the Lincoln Theater on Saturday, Sept. 6 as part of the festival, with Witch Mountain, Subrosa and Demon Eye opening the evening’s festivities. HIGH ON FIRE will showcase at Hopscotch alongside fellow headliners Mastodon, St. Vincent, Sun Kil Moon, The War on Drugs and more. For full details, visit HopscotchMusicFest.com.
Finally, HIGH ON FIRE will take its audio annihilation to the sea as part of the inceptive Motörhead’s Motörboat. Described as “the ultimate music festival cruise vacation”, the seafaring soiree will set sail September 22-26 from Miami, FL aboard a Carnival Cruise ship, christened as “The Loudest Boat In The Wörld”. Joining HIGH ON FIRE will be Motörhead (natch), Megadeth, Anthrax, Zakk Wylde, DOWN, Testament and more. Visit MotorheadCruise.com for full details.
HIGH ON FIRE North American tour dates:
** = Converse Rubber Tracks Tour presents HIGH ON FIRE # = Blackest supports % = Arctic supports
August 12 Cambridge, MA The Sinclair ** # August 14 Toronto, ON Adelaide Hall ** # August 15 Brooklyn, NY Music Hall of Williamsburg ** # August 19 Los Angeles, CA Echoplex ** % August 20 San Francisco, CA The Chapel ** % September 6 Raleigh, NC Hopscotch Festival (w/ Mastodon, Sun Kil Moon, St. Vincent, Valient Thorr, etc.) September 19 Tampa, FL The Orpheum September 20 Miami, FL Grand Central September 21 Orlando, FL Will’s Pub ? September 22 THE MIDDLE OF THE OCEAN as part of Motörhead’s Motörboat (w/ Megadeth, Anthrax, DOWN, etc.) September 27 Portland, OR Dantes
HIGH ON FIRE have begun work on their new, as-yet-untitled studio album. The group has convened for strategic writing sessions in both New Orleans, LA and Oakland, CA, with early reports indicating the band’s new material to be both “epic” and “sonically huge”. A 2015 tentative release date via eOne Music is expected for the new LP, the follow-up to 2012’s De Vermis Mysteriis.
“Everyone is asking what the new High on Fire music sounds like,” says Des Kensel. “Chew on some mescaline and listen to side B of Sabbath’s “Master of Reality” backwards at 78 RPM and it might give you an idea.”
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 31st, 2014 by JJ Koczan
It’s been a while since much of anything was heard from Illinois post-metallers Minsk. The Relapse troupe’s last full-length was 2009’s With Echoes in the Movement of Stone (review here) and after an appearance on the Hawkwind Triad (review here) tribute from Neurot alongside Harvestman and U.S. Christmas, they kind of faded out. They’d had a good run up to that point, working with producer-and-eventual-bassist Sanford Parker and touring the country several times over while on a seemingly relentless path of creative growth, but yeah. Then they were gone.
The PR wire informs they’re working on their first album in what by the time it arrives will have been six years. I’ve posted the Bandcamp stream for With Echoes in the Movement of Stonebelow, but I’d expect that anything Minsk put out at this point would be much different than that album was, with all the time that’s passed and whatnot. I guess we’ll find out for sure early next year when Relapse puts it out.
Till then:
MINSK: Begin Recording New Album
Band’s First Record in Over 5 Years to See Early 2015 Release
Peoria, IL psychedelic metallers MINSK have begun work on their new full-length record and first in over 5 years. After a two-year hiatus, the band has been reinvigorated and has written their most ambitious material to date. The album is being recorded at Earth Analog studios outside of Champaign, IL throughout July/August and is being produced by long-time collaborator Sanford Parker. The as-of-yet titled album will see an early 2015 release via Relapse Records.
Founding member Timothy Mead commented on the group’s rebirth:
“So much attention and care have gone into this process, this renewal. We knew that in order to really move Minsk forward in a meaningful way we would need to raise the bar all over again. This realization lit a fire within us to transcend what was. So many things had to fall into place to make it what we knew it needed to be. A new rhythm section, a second guitar for the first time since the early days of the band, additional vocalists, Sanford’s contributions moving to the realm of synth/noise for this album. Lots of changes, to be sure, and yet the results will be unmistakably Minsk… just Minsk on a whole different level this time around. We cannot wait to share the fruits of these labors.”
Founding member Christopher Bennett further elaborated:
“With each album cycle, a multitude of experiences and influences unite to bring about the cultivation of a cohesive and representative grouping of sounds. This new album will present inroads to some of the musical archetypes we initially discussed when starting this band, but ones we have not yet touched on in the macrocosmic sense. It embodies the furtherance and expansion of Minsk in ways desired in the past, but not realized until these songs began to show themselves to us. The aggregate elements combining into a solid form. We hope to reveal this process to any and all who have the ears to hear.”
Minsk is: Aaron Austin Christopher Bennett Zachary Livingston Timothy Mead Kevin Rendleman
As an American, it’s hard for me to imagine the scale of an event like Hellfest, which takes place every June in Clisson, France, but certainly easy enough to admire it. The Valley stage seems to be here Hellfest hosts its Heavy, and from the likes of Black Pyramid to Neurosis to Unida, it’s a stage that’s been graced by some of the best bands the underground has to offer. This year, as part of their European reunion tour, Spirit Caravan — Wino on guitar/vocals, Dave Sherman on bass/vocals, Henry Vasquez on drums — made a stop at Hellfest as well, which seems only fitting. Wino had played there with The Obsessed a couple years back, and after appearances this spring at Desertfest and of course across the US, it’s a natural stop.
Perhaps it’s because I didn’t get to see them on their North American tour with Pilgrim that I’m so hung up on footage from the Spirit Caravan reunion gigs this year, or maybe it’s just that there’s so much video out there that I have a lot to choose from. Either way, the more the merrier as far as I’m concerned. The clip below of “Dove-Tongued Aggressor” finds the three-piece locked into one of their most satisfying rolling grooves, Vasquez killing it on drums as he will while Sherman tilts his head back for the ride and Wino stands poised at the microphone like he’s about to fight it. Very, very cool video.
The song was featured earlier this year around the time the US dates were announced and comes from Spirit Caravan‘s swansong 2003 compilation, The Last Embrace. It’s one of the last tracks they’d record before splitting up, and echoes some of the themes Wino would later explore in The Hidden Hand, but as they showcase here, is still definitively a Spirit Caravan nod.
As I’ve tried not to do since I started making podcasts again, I kept away from a consistent theme this time around, but I wanted to at least get a blend of bands you’ve probably heard and bands maybe you haven’t. Of course the new Sleep was a given, and new cuts from Electric Wizard and Karma to Burn felt like they needed to be there as well, so they are. But there are a few corresponding inclusions of stuff I’ve been digging that I haven’t had the chance to write about yet — looking at you, USA out of Vietnam, Lewis and the Strange Magics and Deamon’s Child — and while I’ve no doubt you’re already down with those and the rest of what’s included here because you’re on it like that, putting them in here seemed a good way to feature them for anyone not yet exposed who might be interested in checking them out.
If that’s you, please enjoy. The second hour, as usual, is consumed by longer songs, but there are a few in the first hour as well (that Electric Wizard track is over 10 minutes, and the Sleep is close to it), but of the podcasts I’ve put together in the last few months, this one easily flows the best. It was pretty late as I was putting it together last night, so I had the headphones on and was working totally without distraction. I know it’s an unrealistic expectation to think anyone will be able to listen in that manner, but if you get the chance or if you don’t, I hope you have a good time.
First Hour:
Sleep, “The Clarity” from Adult Swim Singles Series (2014)
Electric Wizard, “I am Nothing” from Time to Die (2014)
Lewis and the Strange Magics, “Cloudy Grey Cube” from Demo (2014)
USA Out of Vietnam, “You are a Comet, You are on Fire” from Crashing Diseases and Incurable Airplanes (2014)
Serpent Venom, “Lord of Life” from Of Things Seen and Unseen (2014)
Deamon’s Child, “Lutscher!” from Deamon’s Child (2014)
Rabbits, “Reek and Ye Shall Find” from Untoward (2014)
Karma to Burn, “Fifty Seven” from Arch Stanton (2014)
The Heavy Co., “One Big Drag” from Uno Dose (2014)
Second Hour:
Wolf Blood, “Dancing on Your Grave” from Wolf Blood (2014)
Frown, “Harpocrates Unborn” from The Greatest Gift to Give (2014)
Merlin, “Lucifer’s Revenge” from Christ Killer (2014)
Causa Sui, “Incipiency Suite” from Pewt’r Sessions 3 (2014)
