If you’d asked me, I’d have sworn the departure of guitarist Clayton Mills meant the end of the seminal Austin rockers, but apparently Dixie Witch are moving on with a new guy named JT and a Texas-style weekend tour. Woke up this mornin’ and saw the news on StonerRock.com, and figured if anything warranted a cut and paste, it’s this:

The mighty Dixie Witch is back and will be playing four shows this weekend through Texas with thud rockers Weedeater.

Dixie Witch will be playing new material with a shout out to new guitarist JT. DW has been working all summer with JT and will begin regional touring this fall as they write more songs for an upcoming 2010 new record! Keep posted as new pics and website overhauls are under way…

Dixie Witch/Weedeater Tour Dates:
08/27/09: Dallas, TX – Double Wide, with Blood of the Sun
08/28/09: Austin, TX – Red 7, with Iron Age
08/29/09: San Antonio, TX – Rock Bottom Tattoo Bar, with Iron Age
08/30/09: Houston, TX – Walter’s on Washington, with Iron Age

Trafficking in pure audio oppression, French post-doom outfit Overmars are the heavy?s heavy. Their second full-length, Born Again, follows a path of bleak sludge, painting an atmosphere of horror and violence and inner turmoil with multiple vocals, male and female, screamed and clean, and a sonic reach that goes well beyond the usual smartypants would-be artistry. Into somewhere that hurts.

Born Again, manifesting aurally all the pains of the process as it happens the first time in its natural state, was originally released in 2007 by Appease Me Records, the label founded by avant black metallers Blut Aus Nord. There isn?t much sound-wise to link the two bands, but Overmars? capacity for unnervingly doomed ambience is clear from the outset, and as the different movements of the album?s lone, 39-minute track come and go, the crush they provide is obviously hewn from a variety of styles, from industrial to death to post-metal and so on. They mostly play slow, though, so for lack of a better word, we?ll call it ?doom.?

Read more »

Though somewhat less musically foreboding than the album art would have you believe, the four very-extended tracks (plus an untitled secret track) joining forces to make up the MeteorCity debut of young German trio WhiteBuzz are no less stoned. Zagging around a bee line to hypnotic riff repetition and Om-style spiritual communion, Book of Whyte is one psychedelic shift after another, offering quiet ambience one minute (two minutes, three, four, five) and forceful riff metal the next. Definitely graduates of the School of Cisneros, WhiteBuzz maintain a casual, flowing atmosphere wherever the song takes them.

Perhaps the most Om of the four main tracks of Book of Whyte is the 16-minute ?A Journey through the Orchestral Labyrinth of the Wide Plateau,? the beginning, bass-led moments of which could have easily come off of Conference of the Birds. The subtle touches of guitar from Cris, who also handles vocals, make all the difference, however, and as the song rolls onward, WhiteBuzz jam their way to an individuality still based on a familiar foundation, but split into different means of expression. That is to say, you feel kind of like you?ve been there before, but with WhiteBuzz driving, you get a chance to look out the window at a new angle. The track ends with whispering and birdsong that largely serves as an intro for the closer ?Antipocalypse,? itself a considerable presence on the disc at just over 12 riffy minutes.

Read more »

Straight out of the “Why the hell haven’t I interviewed this band yet?” file, Floridian duoomo (that’s a doom duo; ? The Obelisk, 2009) Dark Castle are hitting the road with Black Cobra-esque regularity. Well, maybe not quite that much, but they’ve still done a good bit of touring this year and as the PR wire informs, it ain’t over yet. Looks like they’re playing with some pretty good bands too, so right on. Here are the dates:

9/05/2009 *TBA – Charlotte, NC
9/06/2009 The Triple – Richmond, VA w/ Windhand, Akris
9/07/2009 Lit Lounge – New York, NY w/ The Body, Orphan, Malkuth
9/08/2009 Machines with Magnets – Pawtucket, RI w/ The Body
9/09/2009 Daniel Street – Milford, CT w/ The Body, Sea of Bones
9/10/2009 Evacuate Warhouse – Roxbury, MA w/ The Body, Gigan, Lecherous Nocturne, Closed Casket
9/11/2009 Geno?s – Portland, ME w/ The Body
9/12/2009 *TBA – Amherst, MA w/ The Body
9/13/2009 Lost and Lulu Gator Bar – Brooklyn, NY w/ The Body, Tournament, Ramps
9/14/2009 Basement Show – Philadelphia, PA w/ The Body, Bubonic Bear
9/16/2009 *TBA – Louisville, KY
9/17/2009 Wise Guys – Somerset, KY w/ Old One, Alegionnaire, Eyelid Conspiracy
9/18/2009 Little Hamilton – Nashville, TN w/ Salome, Hull, Sacaea
9/19/2009 *TBA – Fayetteville, AR w/ The Unbeheld, Sons of Tonatiuh
9/20/2009 Buccaneer – Memphis, TN w/ The Unbeheld, Sons of Tonatiuh, Supercollider

It was a three-night tour and I, being a colonel among the weekend warriors, missed Friday night in Boston, but hopefully made up for it Saturday and Sunday in Maryland and Connecticut, respectively. Afforded a chance to catch the likes of Cortez, Ichabod and When the Deadbolt Breaks live two nights in a row, it was not an opportunity I was going to pass on. They called it the Amped for the End tour. Pristina was on the bill as well, but fuck Pristina. They blew Saturday, played their wannabe Meshuggahcore first and then split before the next band even went on. It’s not there were so many people there; it was basically the bands playing to each other and a few sporadic others. Splitting was a dick move.

Sunday they didn’t even show up. They live in Connecticut. Screw those guys. Who names a record Boner Jams?

The other three bands, by contrast, were killer. The sound at Krug’s Place in Frederick (where Stoner Hands of Doom X will be held next weekend) was a little muddy, but everyone seemed to be having a good time anyway, and it’s not like Deadbolt was about to break out the catchy corporate number that required absolute clarity. This is doom. Muddy works. It was clearer at the El n Gee in scenic New London the next night anyway, so in watching the three bands, you got a taste of both worlds.

Read more »

The limited acoustic Starve the Dead EP aside (and that’s not one you actually want to push to the side, because it rules; see “Hate this Town” for irrefutable proof), the 10-year story of Virginia‘s Throttlerod has been one of going from noisy to noisier. Over the course of their four full-lengths — including the latest and recently reviewed Pig Charmer (Small Stone) — the Richmond trio has become continually more aggressive and more streamlined, sounding at last as though they’ve stripped their music of any and all frills and honed their most effective balance yet of melody and anger.

Guitarist/vocalist Matt Whitehead, bassist Andrew Schneider (also the Brooklyn-based producer for Cave In, Puny Human and many others) and drummer Kevin White have seen their reputation grow in tandem with their shifting sonic approach, and though they’re a decade into their career, their music has never sounded fresher than it does now. Whitehead took some time out over his lunch break to answer the email interview that follows the jump. Enjoy.

Read more »

Even since before the release/non-release of Trouble?s would-have-been comeback album, Simple Mind Condition (it?s a non-release if you?re in the US, thanks to Escapi Music biting the proverbial big one), there?s been no small amount of teasing for the release of their unplugged EP. For a while there, it grew into one of those, ?Yeah, that?ll be out one of these days? phantom albums, until the legendary Chicago outfit finally made it available in limited numbers on their website, late 2007. The first 100 pre-sold were signed by the band.

Now seeing wider issue via Germany?s SAOL imprint, Unplugged boasts four bonus demos with the original six tracks, making it a full-length compilation-type release. Two of the original six songs are ?new,? and two of the bonus tracks were previously available on the Demos and Rarities Pt. 2 (1984-1994) collection, so there are four presumably yet-unheard cuts, two of which were on the prior Unplugged, four alternate versions and the two other bonuses, ?Waiting for the Sun? (not the Doors tune) and the Yardbirds cover, ?Heartful of Soul.?

Read more »

They’ve got one. It’s up on their MySpace, and it comes off their new record and Southern Lord debut, What We all Come to Need, due out Oct. 27. Song is called “Strung up from the Sky.” Go forth and dig it. When you’re done with that, you might want to check their merch page and grab a copy of the limited edition Ephemera CD. Just putting it out there.