It might seem a little strange sometimes that I post the info for fests taking place halfway around the world. Truth is, it’s my version of escapism. I don’t know all the bands playing the inaugural Kiarama next month in Finland — names like Sink, Mansion, Acid Elephant, Abbot, Mr. Peter Hayden, Sons of Kings, Renate/Cordate, etc. are familiar enough, but there are plenty of others that would be new to me — but I think that’s awesome. I’d love to be able to get to Pori, which is a place I’ll probably never be fortunate enough to see, and go to a show like this in a foreign land among strangers. I like that kind of thing. I think it would be fun.

I won’t make it to Kiarama, but I appreciate the spirit the fest seems to be working under, and if nothing else, it’s a good list of bands to check out. The fest sent the following info down the PR wire:

KIARAMA – a DIY celebration of all things slow and low

A new DIY festival for all things low and slow in Finland In mid-September, on Friday the 13th, the two-day long Kiarama festival will open the doors of Annankatu 6 and release the doom over Pori. It’s lineup covers almost 30 names, e.g. internationally reknown Mr. Peter Hayden and Mansion, which has been scheduled to play at Roadburn 2014. Twoday tickets for these heavy bacchanalia cost 22 euros now and 25 euros from the door – that is only 95 cent per orchestra!

Offering low frequencies almost more than one can handle, Kiarama has been founded to fill in a huge, dark gap in Finland’s festival offering, that is one for a festival organized by the DIY principles and celebrating all low and slow music, the likes of stoner rock and doom, and other related forms of culture. Those who have visited Roadburn in the Netherlands or Heavy Days in Doom Town in Denmark will know the concept, and now inspired by these torchbearers a bunch of artsist from the scene are finally brought under one roof to form a mischievous psychedelic bacchanalia. In addition to mindblowing bands these orgies sport so burlesque as well as reptilians – so you don’t want to miss this!

The festival will gather up together not only a bunch of heavy domestic names, but also a few international surprises: in addition to the Roadburnvisitor Mr. Peter Hayden Friday’s line-up includes e.g. brilliant acts of Finnish post-rock, like Baulta and All Will Be Quiet, as well as the Icelandic power ambient greatness Stafrænn Hákon; Hisko Detria, the new star of Finnish kraut; Sons of Kings, the Messiah of Poseidon-hugging ambient doom; Domovoyd, who even played at Ilosaarirock festival earlier this year alongside with the likes of Witchcraft and Hexvessel; and an Estonian progressive act TNVVNüM.

On Saturday Annis will be blown away not only by Mansion, but also by Sink’s holy drone, the psychedelic acts Octopie and Astral Bazaar from Helsinki; Laserdrift, a desert rock orchestra from Tampere playing music much in the vein of the legendary Fu Manchu; Acid Elephant, the erotic desert drone orchestra from Pori as well as the Swedish guests Ponamero Sundown, who’ve entertained the audience in Desertfest London, among others.

Performing:

Abbot
Acid Elephant
Alaneuvosto
Astral Bazaar
Baulta
Blind Architect
Domovoyd
Fuzzifer
Gangrened
Hisko Detria
Laserdrift
Macchia Nera
Mansion (I Am The Mansion)
Mr. Peter Hayden
MS Hornblower
Octopie
renate/cordate
Revival Hymns
Sink
Smokebender
Sons of Kings
Stafrænn Hákon (ISL)
TarpitOrchestra
TNVVNüM (EST)
Veil of Isis

+ Lucky Star Reptiles – oriental dance show and a DJ!

Two-day Tickets 22€ – order by e-mailing kiaramafest@gmail.com – and do it now, for the price at the door is 25€!

Timetables TBA 9.9.2013 – bare with us ’til that!

Tickets to Kiarama 2013 – a DIY celebration of all things low and slow – festival can be bought by e-mailing kiaramafest@gmail.com or calling +358 50 376 4593. Look up additional information and news from the Kiarama facebook event. Keep it low and slow!

Acid Elephant, Defenestration of a Dying Mammoth (2012)

“Maybe Time” is the debut single from Backwoods Payback guitarist/vocalist Mike Cummings, who with it departs from the heavy and sometimes brash Southern-ish rock of his main outfit in favor of a more subdued, traditional singer-songwriter approach. Leading with an acoustic strum, Cummings gradually incorporates electric guitar, strings and drums, but even so, the feel is a departure from Backwoods. Cummings is hardly the first frontman of a heavy act to explore aesthetics beyond those confines — and he’s shown a range of expression before, as the poetry book Confessions of a Lackluster Performer can attest — but even in its rough mix form, “Maybe Time” bodes well for a breadth of influence to come when Cummings makes his solo debut with the upcoming full-length, Get Low.

When exactly that album will surface has yet to be revealed. Backwoods Payback were last heard from earlier this year with the issue of their Live 2012 EP (info here), which was a digital release following up on their 2011 Small Stone debut, Momantha (review here), and it’s clear the band’s tour-heavy/tour-often approach is carrying over to Cummings‘ solo work, as he reportedly has a stint in the works for the fall. As a first taste of Get Low, however, “Maybe Time” takes Cummings‘ already proven songwriting acumen and adds to it a prevailing focus on arrangement that quickly shows considerable depth. What form “Maybe Time” and the other material might take in a live setting remains to be seen — he’s done solo acoustic shows in the past, but I wouldn’t speculate that that’s what in store without knowing for sure; the song features members of Heavy Temple, All Else Failed and The Boils — but if “Maybe Time” demonstrates anything, it’s that it’s worth finding out.

Cummings, who’s also chosen to go by his full name for the project, has made the rough mix of “Maybe Time” available for streaming via Bandcamp and you can find it on the player below. Please enjoy:

Michael Rudolph Cummings, “Maybe Time” (2013)

Michael Rudolph Cummings on Bandcamp

Backwoods Payback website

The story goes that Buenos Aires-based desert rockers Picaporters recorded their apparently-self-released, apparently-debut full-length, Elefantes, live over the course of two days in March 2013, and I’ll admit that I don’t know much more about them than that. Their sound is heavy, full of swing and ultimately geared toward a brilliantly effective laid back atmosphere, but as to their origins, how the trio of Juan Pablo Herrera (bass), Lucas Barrué (guitar) and Juan Pablo Vázquez (drums) got together (they seem to have lost a member or two along the way), if in fact Elefantes is their debut album, or even if it’s been or will be pressed physically, it’s as yet a mystery. All that leaves, then, is the music.

And to that, I’ll say I broke one of my own rules when it comes to Elefantes. An email came in from the band with little more than, “Hey, listen to our record here’s the Bandcamp link,” and where nine times out of 10, that note gets little more effort in a response than that which was put into the initial contact — i.e., next to none — I checked out Picaporters on a whim and was immediately consumed by the slow unfurling of 11:40 album opener “Hijo de Gaia,” which captures an in-the-studio vibe that still manages to be so relaxed that I couldn’t help but go with it. Some stuff just grabs you. Moments of burst early on do little justice to the flow the band creates, and though they’ll soon enough get up to some grunge-type riffing in the first half of “Idea RAM,” throughout “Hijo de Gaia” and “Emergiendo en Ondas,” a heavy psych groove pervades and sets a calming, engaging tone for the rest of Elefantes to come. “Idea RAM” winds up blending its early-’90s rush with effective jamming explorations, with sets up cool ’70s feel of “Lluvia de Metal,” the beginning of what seems to be a trilogy with “Sol de Metal” and “Eclipse de Metal” to follow. The bass emerges here with standout fills amid airier guitar lines and bouts of reinterpreted Sabbath-meets-Graveyard groove, vocals staying collected throughout en route to an echoing blues solo. The “de Metal” portion might be some of Elefantes‘ most effective material, but really it’s just one portion of the record’s diverse and universally switched-on course.

“Lluvia de Metal” finishes out with a touch of boogie built around quick rhythmic turns, and “Sol de Metal” picks up from silence to spend its first two minutes or so in humble desert guitar exploration before a heavier rock riff breaks down the door and pushes forth with significant thrust. A change in the vocal approach finds Picaporters tapping into echo that reminds of earliest Jesu — could be coincidence, could be on purpose — even as they hit on a relatively straightforward progression. That contrast makes the Elefantes centerpiece all the more intriguing, but as it becomes increasingly clear throughout, the real highlight moments are to be found in the instrumental interplay between the band members and the overall mood of the songs themselves — not dark, not pretentious, not trying too hard to fit with genre. The solo on “Sol de Metal” is almost too active to pair with the longer-held vocals that precede it, but it’s a minor gripe and the band soon breaks to bass and drums to reset the jam for what seems like a more fitting, improvised build before they fade back into the soft guitar line that opened the song for an unexpected show of symmetry. Though it’s less than half the length of its predecessor at 3:10, “Eclipse de Metal” ends the sequence fading up to find Picaporters in medias res on another warm instrumental excursion, the guitar wandering around lead lines while the bass and drums hold together a straightforward, classically heavy groove that seems to be in direct conversation with that of “Lluvia de Metal.” Seems only fitting.

Gradually, they fade “Eclipse de Metal” back to the silence from whence it came — another show of symmetry that gives a “slice of life” touch to the song — and shift course to the sweetly Hendrixian “Alternative Girl.” Also instrumental, it feels like the beginning process of what might’ve come out on the other end as a complete, structured song, but here winds up being an unabashedly pretty stretch that of course finds contrast to its brief two-minute pulse with the brash heavy rock return of “Amantes Instantes.” With Elefantes‘ most insistent heavy groove, the penultimate track stretches over eight minutes and meets early verse/chorus tradeoffs with a solo-led jam that, among other things, also accounts for the best basswork on the album. A sudden break after three minutes in is a surprise, but the bass leads the rebuilding process and just past minute four, they surge to life again, dynamic and with multiple layers of vocals where everything else seemed to be singularly delivered. Crashes and stops add a sense of chaos, and they break again, with soft vocals over quietly plucked guitars. This time, when they return with just about two minutes left, it’s with a slower, more low-end-driven part, pushed along, it would seem in its own miniature ebbs and flows.

How else to end such a thing but with a raging thrash breakdown in the last 30 seconds? “Amantes Instantes” is one of those songs that has more twists to it than some other bands’ whole albums, and it was clearly intended to be the culmination of Elefantes since what follows is a cover of Led Zeppelin‘s “Rock and Roll” that presents the Led Zeppelin IV single as a handclap-inclusive blues stomper, complete with jangly shuffle, soulful solo, drum breaks and repurposed “ooh yeah”s that groove the record out with a lighthearted sense that’s not quite a return to the unassuming start that “Hijo de Gaia” provided, but is nowhere near as severe as it would’ve been had they closed with “Amantes Instantes.” The whole album is available for free download through Picaporters‘ Bandcamp, and though they’re not exactly forthcoming on their backstory, sometimes the music does all the speaking that really needs to be done. However long they’ve been around, whether it’s two years or 10, Elefantes impresses with its cohesiveness, natural vibe and shifts in tone.

You can hear it now as part of the regular playist for The Obelisk Radio and stream it on the player below:

Picaporters, Elefantes (2013)

Picaporters on Thee Facebooks

Picaporters website

I dug Geezer‘s Handmade Heavy Blues pretty well, but the loose, live atmosphere of the Gage EP (review here) stuck out to me even more. The Kingston, NY-based trio managed to capture an ultra-natural, tossed-off, we-do-this-every-day-like-all-the-time-man vibe and laid back feel that not only gracefully displayed their instrumental chemistry, but highlighted especially well the bluesy vibe that has underscored all their work to date. Good news from the band then that they’ve signed a deal with STB Records to release a limited vinyl edition of Gage. 100 copies will be pressed and the record will arrive in a hand-screened burlap jacket with two newly-recorded bonus tracks included.

The PR wire sends word:

Geezer to release Gage (EP) on vinyl through STB Records!

Geezer and STB Records are proud to announce that we have joined forces to release Gage (EP) as a special Limited Edition Vinyl Release.

Pat says of STB, “Up until now, Gage has only been available as a digital download. Our main goal has always been to press it up on vinyl. Ever since I saw their first release, the Die Hard Edition of Dopethrone’s Demonsmoke, I knew STB was the label I wanted to work with. STB Records is reinventing how vinyl is packaged, marketed & sold.”

Steve from STB Records says, “I have been a fan of the Electric Beard Of Doom podcast for a while now.. Once I met Pat and started talking to him it was only a matter of time that we started to collaborate on ideas. One night he let me hear the new Geezer EP and I was sold. The rest is history.. STB is truly honored to be a part of the US Doom revival alongside Geezer and The BEARD!!

Gage is the follow up EP to Geezer’s debut full length album, Electrically Recorded Handmade Heavy Blues, which is being released via Blues Blvd. Records (Belgium) on Sept. 15th, 2013.

Specs:
Geezer: Gage (EP)
Limited Edition of 100 (color vinyl)
Hand numbered, hand screened cover in a hand sewn burlap outer jacket which will then be hand screened
Artwork, colors, and other details are still being developed

*The EP will include 2 previously unreleased tracks that are being specifically recorded for this Ltd. Edition release.

https://www.facebook.com/geezerNY
https://www.facebook.com/pages/STB-Records/471228012921184

Geezer, Gage EP (2013)

I know I’ve gone on about the persistent undervaluing of The Hidden Hand in Wino‘s catalog again and again. How they’re constantly overshadowed by Spirit Caravan, which came before, and subsequent acoustic work, the Wino trio, the Saint Vitus reunion, and so on. The fact remains that particularly with their last album, 2007’s The Resurrection of Whiskey Foote, the trio began to hit on a progressive, conceptual sound unlike anything else Wino played on, before or since. Obviously things weren’t good in the band at that point, or they’d probably have kept going, but considering that The Hidden Hand got three full-lengths out during their time, that puts them on numerical par with Wino‘s run with The Obsessed and it’s more than Spirit Caravan ever got out.

Although a reunion seems unlikely at best, the progression with The Hidden Hand is of special interest because the collaboration between Wino and bassist/vocalist/producer Bruce Falkinburg — however bitterly it may have ended; I’ve heard some stories — was among the most successful of Wino‘s career. The only other people he’s worked with consistently enough to get three records out are Saint Vitus‘ Dave Chandler, Mark Adams and Armando Acosta (R.I.P.). With them, he produced three full-lengths between 1986-1990 (and other singles as well) and with the former two, reunited for last year’s Lillie: F-65, which if you saw the news last week, you know they’re continuing to support with touring.

So while the profile wasn’t quite the same as The Obsessed or Spirit Caravan or certainly Saint Vitus, The Hidden Hand remains a fascinating section within the Wino canon and the progressive spirit that emerges makes one wonder what might have been had some of the other bands, Spirit Caravan come to mind first, been able to keep going, or what a reformed act like The Obsessed might be able to do now on a studio album. We’ll see if they get there.

Until then, here’s The Hidden Hand early into their run, about a decade and a month ago, performing “Sunblood” from the first album, Divine Propaganda, on July 23, 2003, at Schwimmbad Musik Club, in Heidelberg, Germany, taped for Underground Live TV. Happy Wino Wednesday:

The Hidden Hand, “Sunblood” Live in Heidelberg, Germany, 07.23.03

Here’s one for your “Coming Soon” file. By the time it comes out on Sept. 20, Skrogg‘s full-length debut, Blooze, will follow almost two years to the day behind the band’s 2011 demo EP, Raw Heat. The demo (review here) was an awesome opening statement from the Troy, New Hampshire, beer rockers, and from its Roberta Pedon artwork to the beardo swagger of “Cajun Lady” and Sabbathian dirt of “Evil Eye,” it stood Skrogg out immediately from a pack of similarly minded bringers of burl. The trio of guitarist/vocalist Jeff “Reverend Goathead” Maxfield, bassist Jason “Jasper Gloom” Lawrence and drummer Felix “Killabrew” Starr seem to have kept the vibe heading into their first album.

So it would seem from the sound of “Kentucky Bourbon in 80 Grit,” anyway. Skrogg — who also killed at SHoD last year in Connecticut — posted the audio from the track on YouTube today and though in terms of production, it smooths out some of the rougher aspects of the demo, as you’d have to expect, you’ll find it’s got no lack of rolling groove and put-it-on-a-forklift tonal weight. It’s more than enough to make one look forward to the record’s release Sept. 20, which was likely the idea in putting it out ahead of time in the first place.

Enjoy:

Skrogg, “Kentucky Bourbon in 80 Grit” from Blooze

You can still check out Skrogg‘s Raw Heat EP at their Bandcamp page.

Click Here to Download

[mp3player width=480 height=175 config=fmp_jw_widget_config.xml playlist=aot29.xml]

Been a while, right? Tell me about it. Although I love, love having The Obelisk Radio streaming 24 hours a day, seven days a week, I’ve been wanting to bring back podcasting for a while now. I always thought it was fun, it just got to be time consuming and to be perfectly honest, the response over time took something of a shit.

Well, the idea here is to start with a clean slate. Anyone who’s listened to audiObelisk podcasts before will notice this one doesn’t have a title. There’s no theme running throughout — though I wanted to keep it focused on new stuff as much as possible — and though others ranged upwards of four hours long, this one clocks in at just under two. I gave myself some pretty specific limits and wanted to start off as basic and foundational as possible. I haven’t done this in a long time, and it seemed only appropriate to treat it like a new beginning.

Something else I’m keeping simple is the intro, so with that said, I hope like hell you download at the link above or stream it on the player and enjoy the selections. Here’s the rundown of what’s included:

First Hour:

Mystery Ship, “Paleodaze” from EP II (2013)
Carousel, “On My Way” from Jeweler’s Daughter (2013)
Ice Dragon, “The Deeper You Go” from Born a Heavy Morning (2013)
Black Mare, “Tearer” from Field of the Host (2013)
Beast in the Field, “Hollow Horn” from The Sacred Above, The Sacred Below (2013)
11 Paranoias, “Reaper’s Ruin” from Superunnatural (2013)
Vàli, “Gjemt Under Grener” from Skoglandskap (2013)
Beelzefuzz, “Lonely Creatures” from Beelzefuzz (2013)
Dozer, “The Blood is Cold” fromVultures (2013)
Toby Wrecker, “Belle” from Sounds of Jura (2013)
Shroud Eater, “Sudden Plague” from Dead Ends (2013)
Luder, “Ask the Sky” from Adelphophagia (2013)
Eggnogg, “The Once-ler” from Louis (2012)

Second Hour:

Colour Haze, “Grace” from She Said (2012)
Borracho, “Know the Score” from Oculus (2013)
The Flying Eyes, “Raise Hell” from Split with Golden Animals (2013)
Demon Lung, “Heathen Child” from The Hundredth Name (2013)
Vista Chino, “As You Wish” from Peace (2013)
Across Tundras, “Pining for the Gravel Roads” from Electric Relics (2013)
Black Pyramid, “Aphelion” from Adversarial (2013)
Church of Misery, “Cranley Gardens (Dennis Andrew Nilsen)” from Thy Kingdom Scum (2013)

Total running time: 1:57:54

Thanks for listening.

Download audiObelisk Transmission 029

Floridian trio sans-connerie Shroud Eater have announced that they’ll take to the road in their native Southeast for a handful of tour dates next month. The run comes in support of the Miami three-piece’s destructive 2013 EP, Dead Ends, which as fate would have it is available this very minute on Primitive Violence and The Path Less Traveled in a variety of physical and digital formats. You may recall I found the tape particularly alluring, though whatever delivery system it arrives by, Dead Ends is worthy of a fervent nerding-out. Mark my words when I say that one of these days I’m going to actually get to see this band play. On a stage. At a place. Where I am.

While I carve that bold declaration in the particleboard of my desk with my Lord of the Rings letter opener, please go ahead and peruse the tour dates below, making changes to your calendar as need be to allow for travel. On Sept. 8, Shroud Eater will join with The Body, Deadbird, Pallbearer, Rwake, The Dirty Streets and Black Oak Arkansas at the Mutants of the Monster fest. You know you always wanted to visit Little Rock in the fall.

Behold:

SHROUD EATER is excited to announce a Southern tour September 5-10, taking them to Little Rock, AR for a performance on the Mutants of the Monster Fest III. The band is touring in support of their highly  acclaimed 2013 EP “DEAD ENDS”, out on The Path Less Traveled Records and Primitive Violence Records and Visual.

SEPTEMBER 2013 TOUR DATES:
Thursday 9/5/13 MIAMI, FL @ Churchills Pub
Friday 9/6/13 ATLANTA, GA @ The Masquerade (Purgatory)
Saturday 9/7/13 NASHVILLE, TN @ The Owl Farm
Sunday 9/8/13 LITTLE ROCK, AK @ Mutants of the Monster Fest III
Monday 9/9/13 BIRMINGHAM, AL @ The High Note
Tuesday 9/10/13 JACKSONVILLE, FL @ Warehouse 818

Shroud Eater, Dead Ends EP (2013)