I guess you could call Del Rey‘s Immemorial a “sleeper” since it wasn’t the biggest release in the world, but I still really dug it (review here), and it looks like the Chicago outfit are continuing their streak of doing cool stuff by providing an instrumental score to the 1973 animated masterpiece, Fantastic Planet. Not too much of a stylistic stretch for them, but a nifty idea anyhow, and I’m sure it’ll be a good time for anyone lucky enough to be there next week to catch it.

Info comes courtesy of the PR wire:

Psychedelic post-rockers Del Rey perform a live score to the animated sci-fi classic Fantastic Planet at Lincoln Hall on Thursday, May 5. They’ll be joined on the bill by drone merchants White/Light, who will provide accompaniment to a film by Chicago experimental filmmaker Alexander Stewart.

Since their inception in 1997 in the attic of a three-flat in Ukrainian Village, Del Rey has been keeping Chicago’s instrumental rock torch aflame, purveying their brand of sonic lyricism and rhythmic textuality from countless stages and speakers. In 2010, they released their fourth full-length, Immemorial, in North America via At A Loss Recordings (in Europe via Golden Antenna), which fused the punishing grace of the band’s riff- and percussion-driven sound to a more evocative, melodic sensibility.

The beautiful and surreal imagery of Fantastic Planet (1973) may be the perfect cinematic complement for Del Rey‘s cosmic soundscapes and epic odysseys. In the film, which won the Grand Prix at Cannes, humans are kept as pets by blue humanoid alien giants called Traags. Said to be based on the Soviet occupation of the Czech Republic, the story centers on a human named Terr, who escapes the Traags and incites other humans to revolt. Del Rey will also be performing the score in Spain later in May as part of a tour based around their upcoming show at the Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona.

Lincoln Hall will provide an ideal setting for the screenings – the club is a converted movie theater.

Think of this as half of an On the Radar post. Italian noise rock duo Le Scimmie (which translates according to the internets to “The Ape” or “The Monkey” — i.e. “simian”) released their album Dromomania toward the end of last year and made a video for the title track. I’m not quite sure what’s happening in the clip, but it seems to involve guitarist Angelo Xunah Mirolli and drummer Mario Serrecchia being chased by a knife-wielding man in a horse mask, who then undergoes some kind of spiritual slow-motion freakout dance and apparently decides to pursue another line of work. Interesting stuff.

Check out Le Scimmie on il Facebook here. Enjoy the video.

Originally a 2010 self-release, the self-titled debut from Boston bass/drum duo Olde Growth is given a second look thanks to MeteorCity. The 46-minute offering plays to a wide host of riffy influences, and the duo do well in carving out an identity for themselves among the melee of energetic songs. Of the seven tracks on Olde Growth, only the feedback interlude “Red Dwarf” is under five minutes long, but the cuts nonetheless move quickly one to the next, and no matter what tempo they’re working in – thrashingly fast, drearily slow or somewhere in between – Olde Growth pull off an immediacy in the music that might be their greatest asset. Parts abound in the songs, and there are both chorus-based and more linearly-structured passages (the third track is a three-parter), but as complex as bassist/vocalist Stephen Loverme and drummer Ryan Berry get, they don’t lose sight of either the thickness of tone or the subtle melodicism that finds its way into sections of Olde Growth, and that works much to the album’s benefit.

Being a duo with bass and drums and playing this genre, one would be remiss to not cite Om as an influence – conceptually if not musically. If that reference shows up anywhere, it’s in the late-album instrumental, “Everything Dies,” or the contemplative, subdued beginning of 10-minute closer “Awake.” The bulk of Olde Growth owes more to the likes of Sleep and High on Fire (if you want to stay in the same family tree of bands), with some more bombastic tertiary-feeling desert influence and a dose of Acid King’s expansive doom in the clean-sung sections of “Sequoia.” Loverme, in addition to writing inventive riffs on which the songs are based, has a good sense for varying his vocal approach. Screams, shouts and melody are all well placed over the music, starting immediately with a rhythmic/melodic interplay on opener “The Grand Illusion” that provides Olde Growth’s most memorable chorus. Lyrically centered around the occasional bit of epic stoner nature worship (see “Sequoia”), with “Cry of the Nazgul/The Second Darkness/To the Black Gate” being – appropriately enough – a trilogy based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, Olde Growth prove consistent mostly in terms of the quality of their material and the heaviness of atmosphere they affect. Everything else on these tracks feels like it could change at a moment’s notice.

In such cases, it’s often easy for a band to come across as overly angular, but Loverme and Berry avoid this with the injection of stoner groove like that which shows up in the break of “The Grand Illusion” or for the bulk of the sludge-laden “Life in the Present.” They’re not technically focused by any stretch, but the duo does work well together and that’s essential to the album’s success. Early into “Cry of the Nazgul,” Berry’s drums seem to cut through the mix more than is warranted, which, honestly, I don’t know how you avoid when Loverme is on the low end of the low-end and there’s nothing else to fill out the sound, but the abrasion doesn’t necessarily feel like it’s anything more than Olde Growth wanted it to be, and “The Second Darkness” is faster and more melodically aware, setting up one of the full-length’s arguable apexes in “To the Black Gate,” where Loverme layers his vocals over a frantic riff/crash combination. If not for what was still to come on “Sequoia” and “Awake,” it would probably be the most satisfying moment on the album.

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Occasionally, life is awesome:

Kyuss Lives! — featuring original Kyuss members John Garcia, Nick Oliveri and Brant Bjork along with guitarist Bruno Fevery — will unleash their desert rock fury on the US for the first time in over 15 years this fall. The eagerly anticipated near total return of the California rock pioneers follows the blanket success of the group’s sold out spring European tour which has proven to be a feast of recognition for the band. Due to unprecedented demand, the legendary musicians have announced two very special US shows to take place this fall in New York and California. Openers The Sword will get each evening started before Kyuss Lives! delivers its titanic grooves.

Kyuss Lives! US live dates:
09/23 New York, NY Terminal 5 (tickets HERE)
10/08 Pomona , CA The Fox Theater (tickets HERE)

There’s a host of quality Texan acts on the bill alongside out-of-staters like Kylesa, Lo-pan and Naam, and all in all the Liquid Sludge Fest seems to be like a decent way to spend a weekend in Austin with probably only a fraction of the bullshit you’d encounter at, say, SXSW. Plus, Orange Goblin will be there, and that’s always a plus.

Lineup and festival info comes courtesy of the PR wire:

No Strings Attached Media has announced their first annual Liquid Sludge Fest to take place as a part of Chaos in Tejas in 2011. This festival will be celebrating the independent subgenre of metal referred to as stoner rock and sludge metal.

Headlining this festival will be Honky from Small Stone Records on June 2 and a double-feature of Kylesa and Orange Goblin on June 3. The first day will feature a highlight of Small Stone Records with Tia Carrera, Suplecs, Dixie Witch, Lo-Pan, and Honky.

Liquid Sludge at The Scoot Inn (1308 E. 4th – Navasota and East 4th Street)

June 2
Amplified Heat (inside stage)
Squidbucket (inside stage)
Honky (outside stage)
Lo-Pan (outside)
Dixie Witch (outside)
Suplecs (outside)
Tia Carrera (Outside)
Asylum on the Hill (outside)
Big Tattoo (Outside)
Doors @ 3pm

June 3
The Roller (inside stage)
Rise Thy Ruin (inside stage)
Kylesa (outside stage)
Orange Goblin (outside)
The Gates of Slumber (outside)
Naam (outside)
Sanctus Bellum (outside)
Rust (outside)
Switchblade Jesus (outside)
Doors @ 3pm

Times are tentative and may be changed. Tickets are already available at www.ticketscene.com. The first 50 tickets sold to the Kylesa/OrangeGoblin double feature are $10 and with only 19 left they’re going fast. Standard admission is $10 (advance June 2), $15 (at the door June 2nd and in advance June 3rd), $20 (at the door June 3rd), and $21 (advance 2-day).

Liquid Sludge Fest can be found on Facebook here.

Noisy Quebecois four-piece The Great Sabatini got together in 2007 and already have a couple tours under their belt, but their new and cleverly-titled Napoleon Sodomite EP is the first I’m hearing of them. The three-song release (vinyl and download, I have the latter) is full of harsh tones, weighted low-end and the occasional in-your-ear yell from guitarist Sean Sabatini.

And in case you’re thinking otherwise, no the band name isn’t an ego trip on the guitarist/vocalist’s part. Each of the four members — Steve on drums, Joey on bass, Rob on guitar and Sean — have taken the last name Sabatini, so I’m thinking it’s like a Voltron thing. When they all come together, it’s great. If that’s the theory they’re working on, Napoleon Sodomite seems to bear it out. The three-minute opening title track hits with Converge-style bombast and modernly doomed groove, and “Helter Skeletor,” which follows, is a banjo and rhythmic chain instrumental piece that sets up the end of the last cut as well as giving the whole affair an even more demented feel.

“Trap Sequence,” the last of the bunch, is also instrumental and longer than the other two songs put together at 5:59. The pace gradually builds to a noise-laden finish before the banjo returns to ride the song into oblivion. All told, the EP is barely enough to get a sense for what The Great Sabatini are doing, but their darkened atmospheric noise should be familiar-sounding to those who take it on. There’s still an individual edge, there, however, and if the musical adventurousness that rears its head on “Trap Sequence” is anything to go by, the Montreal outfit will be well worth keeping on the radar in the days to come.

Get a sampling of The Great Sabatini‘s wares on their Facebook page, or the ReverbNation player below:

Because there’s roughly no money to be made on the road or anywhere else for that matter, longer tours are a rarity, so to see a band like North Carolinian outfit Black Skies hitting the road as hard as they are — before their album is even out — is encouraging. And they’re playing with some killer acts as well, so make sure you check out the slew of dates below and if they’re going to be where you are, show up and buy something. Hell, you know the drill by now.

If it’s news, it’s gotta be the PR wire:

Heavy North Carolina trio, Black Skies, are pleased to announce a near-month long US tour set to commence on May 12 in Charlotte, North Carolina. The trek will steamroll it’s way through 22 cities — including several East Coast locales they’ve yet to play — before drawing to a ceremonious close in Savannah, Georgia.

Said guitarist/vocalist Kevin Clark of the upcoming bout of live dates: “We are extremely pleased to be spending some time playing across the Eastern part of the country. The last several tours required us to make our way West as quickly as possible due to time constraints, so we haven’t been to some of the places we will be hitting on this tour in far too long. We are also thrilled to spend a good portion of the trek with some of our favorite bands and people: Backwoods Payback, Caltrop, Royal Thunder, and US Christmas. We hope to have a few more songs ready to go for this trip as well. Tim had just joined the band before the last tour — we literally had four rehearsals together before leaving on tour for a month — so we were limited to the same set pretty much every night. Since then, we’ve had time to rework some of those songs and write a few new ones. This will allow us to keep things fresh and interesting, while also being able to play songs we feel would be more appropriate to the audience’s energy at any given show.”

The band — Clark, Tim Herzog (drums) and Michelle Temple (bass, vocals, booking) — will be touring in support of their soon-to-be-issued new full-length, On the Wings of Time. The follow-up to 2008’s Hexagon EP, On the Wings of Time was recorded, produced and mastered by Harvey Milk‘s Kyle Spence at his own RJS studios in Athens, Georgia.

Black Skies Live – May/June 2011:
05/12 The Milestone Charlotte, NC w/ Trade, Towering Pyre
05/13 The Crayola House Harrisonburg, VA w/ Backwoods Payback, Earthling, Trade
05/14 Strange Matter Richmond, VA w/ Backwoods Payback
05/15 Mojo Main Newark, DE w/ Backwoods Payback, Holy Dirt, Bubonic Bear
05/16 AS220 Providence, RI w/ Woozy, She Rides, Villainer
05/17 O’Brien’s Boston, MA w/ Phantom Glue, The Proselyte, Jack Burton vs David Lopan
05/18 Flask Lounge Portland, ME
05/19 Elm Bar New Haven, CT w/ Atrina
05/20 Acheron Brooklyn, NY
05/21 31st Street Pub Pittsburgh, PA w/ Rogue Vessel, Oktober
05/22 Carabar Columbus, OH w/ Prosanctus Inferi, Witchaven, Nocturnal, Locusta
05/23 The Green Lantern Lexington, KY w/ Stampede, Below
05/24 Southgate House Indianapolis, IN w/ Mala In Se, New Third Worlds
05/25 The Pilot Light Knoxville, KY w/ US Christmas, Generation of Vipers
05/26 The Get Down Asheville, NC w/ US Christmas, Generation of Vipers, Caltrop
05/27 King’s Raleigh, NC w/ US Christmas, Caltrop, Royal Thunder
05/28 Will’s Pub Orlando, FL w/ Caltrop, Royal Thunder, Druid Lord, Junior Bruce
05/29 C-Level Panama City Beach, FL w/ Caltrop, Royal Thunder, Death Before Dying
05/30 Siberia NOLA w/ Caltrop, Royal Thunder
05/31 Hi-Tone Memphis, TN w/ Caltrop, Royal Thunder
06/01 The Nick Birmingham, AL w/ Caltrop, Royal Thunder
06/02 529 Atlanta, GA w/ Caltrop, Royal Thunder, Sons of Tonatiuh
06/03 Caledonia Lounge Athens, GA w/ Caltrop
06/04 The Jinx Savannah, GA w/ Caltrop

Hard to know where a split ends and a compilation begins, but in the case of Heavy Ripples Vol. 1 (Ripple Music), I’m inclined towards the former, if only because the release’s format makes you pay specific attention to each of the bands involved, rather than bludgeoning you with track after track from disparate acts. Everyone here is pretty like-minded, and there’s only four of them, so it’s not too much to handle, and the double-7” release ensures that you’re going to be really working to listen – the longest side is just about seven minutes – so Heavy Ripples isn’t something you can put on and forget about. Not that you’d want to with the likes of Stone Axe, Sun Gods in Exile, Grifter and Mighty High around anyway, but at just under 20 minutes total runtime, Heavy Ripples is an efficiently drawn beeline to the rock. Each of the bands contributes something unique to the whole, and for something you could feasibly listen to three times in an hour, Ripple’s latest split packs more memorable songs than most full-length albums. Like I say, efficient.

Stone Axe open with “Nightwolf.” The track finds the Port Orchard, Washington, revivalists in their core duo form of vocalist Dru Brinkerhoff and multi-instrumentalist/vocalist/producer T. Dallas Reed, but as usual with them, nothing in personality is lost for the lack of personnel. Brinkerhoff has enough swagger in his delivery for three bands, and I can’t think of any more appropriate way to kickoff Heavy Ripples than a non-ironic song with “night” in the title. If you know Stone Axe, you know what they’re about, and “Nightwolf” is right in line both in terms of style and quality with the bulk of their work. And excellently complemented on side B by Maine upstarts Sun Gods in Exile, whose “Over My Broken Bones” is set to appear (re-recorded) on their second Small Stone full-length later this year. Sun Gods in Exile’s Black Light White Lines was a solo-enthusiast’s wet dream, and “Over My Broken Bones” follows suit, but as was the case with that record, the guitar histrionics is backed by solid songwriting and isn’t showy just for showiness’ sake. Two strong modern classic rockers with a little over nine minutes between them, kicking out righteous jams that, even had Ripple chosen to release this as a one-disc affair, would still be worth investigating.

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