Before we get to all the tracks and this and that, I have to say, this double-size year-end podcast was an absolute pleasure to put together. Fun. Actual fun. I don’t know if it was the preponderance of excellent songs to work from that came out in 2015 or what, but I had a really good time making my way through the near-four-hour run, and I hope you feel that way too as you listen.
It should go without mentioning, but I’ll give the disclaimer anyway that this is in no way, shape or form a complete rundown of everything awesome produced this year. My own Top 10 has bands on it who aren’t represented here, so if you don’t see something you think belongs in the mix below — looking at you, Baroness fans — please keep in mind that it’s not my intent to offer anything more than a partial summary. Otherwise, I’d have to make it a year long.
Thanks for listening if you get the chance to do so, and if there’s something here you haven’t yet checked out, I hope you dig it. The flow is pretty easy front to back, but we get into some more extreme stuff in the third hour for a bit before going grand with Elder and the “Digestive Raga” from Øresund Space Collective, which seemed an appropriate way to end off giving everyone a chance to process what’s just been heard. Please enjoy.
Track details follow:
First Hour:
0:00:00 Acid King, “Red River” from Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere
0:08:24 Clutch, “Firebirds” from Psychic Warfare
0:11:23 Bloodcow, “Crystals and Lasers” from Crystals and Lasers
0:14:28 Stoned Jesus, “Rituals of the Sun” from The Harvest
0:21:25 Ufomammut, “Plouton” from Ecate
0:24:33 Geezer, “So Tired” from The Second Coming of Heavy: Chapter One Split w/ Borracho
0:32:36 Wizard Eye, “Thunderbird Divine” from Wizard Eye
0:37:40 Mondo Drag, “Crystal Visions Open Eye” from Mondo Drag
0:42:08 Fogg, “Seasons” from High Testament
0:48:26 Goatsnake, “Grandpa Jones” from Black Age Blues
0:53:02 Snail, “Thou Art That” from Feral
Second Hour:
1:03:17 Sergio Ch., “Las Piedras” from 1974
1:06:40 All Them Witches, “Blood and Sand – Milk and Endless Waters” from Dying Surfer Meets His Maker
1:13:54 Death Hawks, “Ripe Fruits” from Sun Future Moon
1:18:45 Colour Haze, “Call” from To the Highest Gods We Know
1:26:46 Kadavar, “Last Living Dinosaur” from Berlin
1:30:50 Spidergawd, “Fixing to Die Blues” from Spidergawd II
1:35:02 The Machine, “Dry End” from Offblast!
1:38:01 The Midnight Ghost Train, “Straight to the North” from Cold was the Ground
1:42:00 Kind, “Pastrami Blaster” from Rocket Science
1:48:29 Valley, “Dream Shooter, Golden!” from Sunburst
1:54:22 Graveyard, “From a Hole in the Wall” from Innocence and Decadence
1:58:09 Demon Head, “Book of Changes” from Ride the Wilderness
Third Hour:
2:02:50 Egypt, “Endless Flight” from Endless Flight
2:12:29 Brothers of the Sonic Cloth, “Empires of Dust” from Brothers of the Sonic Cloth
2:20:09 With the Dead, “I am Your Virus” from With the Dead
2:25:45 Ahab, “Red Foam (The Great Storm)” from The Boats of the Glen Carrig
2:32:08 Kings Destroy, “Mr. O” from Kings Destroy
2:36:37 Sun and Sail Club, “Dresden Firebird Freakout” from The Great White Dope
2:38:33 Sunder, “Wings of the Sun” from Sunder
2:42:41 Weedpecker, “Into the Woods” from Weedpecker II
2:50:50 Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats, “Pusher Man” from The Night Creeper
2:56:26 Eggnogg, “Slugworth” from Sludgy Erna Bastard split w/ Borracho
Fourth Hour:
3:02:48 Golden Void, “Astral Plane” from Berkana
3:09:34 Elder, “Lore” from Lore
3:25:24 Øresund Space Collective, “Digestive Raga” from Different Creatures
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 3rd, 2015 by JJ Koczan
Converge playing a doom set assisted by Chelsea Wolfe, Ben Chisholm, Stephen Brodsky and Steve Von Till? After they already played their massively influential Jane Doe album in its entirety for the first time ever? Yeah, that sounds about right for Roadburn. How the fest continues to come up with this stuff year after year is beyond me, but Roadburn 2016 is proving as cornucopia-esque as ever, and there’s still a long time to go before April gets here.
I’ll confess, I’m even more stoked at the thought of Brothers of the Sonic Cloth being added. I missed them when they came through on tour with Neurosis — I should put together a top 20 list of awesome shows I didn’t go to this year because of work and then shoot myself in the fucking face — and they were on my Roadburn 2016 wishlist even before that. An obvious pick, maybe, but necessary in the extreme.
Midnight have canceled, but I’m sure they’ll be replaced with something suitably chaotic, and included in the latest announcement is Black Mountain as well, word about which also came out the other day. Here’s news from the fest:
CONVERGE confirm two special sets for Roadburn 2016
CONVERGE confirm two special sets for Roadburn 2016
BROTHERS OF THE SONIC CLOTH, BLACK MOUNTAIN added to the bill
MIDNIGHT cancel European tour including Roadburn Festival
CONVERGE
To celebrate the upcoming 15 year anniversary of their legendary Jane Doealbum, CONVERGE will perform the album in its entirety for the first and last time. The album is considered a classic that defined the metallic hardcore genre as we know it today. This special set is exclusive to the Roadburn Festival and will not be played again anywhere, ever.
CONVERGE will play the Jane Doe album live in its entirety at Roadburn 2016 on Thursday, April 14.
CONVERGE “Blood Moon” is a collaboration between members Jacob Bannon, Kurt Ballou, Nate Newton, and Ben Koller and guest musicians Chelsea Wolfe, Ben Chisholm, Stephen Brodsky, and Steve Von Till. Together as a multi-instrumental group they will create renditions of existing CONVERGE material focusing on the band’s slower, more ambitious work within their legendary catalogue. CONVERGE “Blood Moon” will perform live at Roadburn 2016 on Saturday, April 16.
To find out more about CONVERGE at Roadburn, click HERE
BROTHERS OF THE SONIC CLOTH Hailing from Seattle, BROTHERS OF THE SONIC CLOTH might be a relatively recent name in our grand amphitheatre of heavy, but they have within their riffs the timeless stuff of greatness, the untraceable ingredient which permeates every band with the ability to quake your bones with the power of sound alone. It’s easy to understand why – the head of this brotherhood is none other than the mighty Tad Doyle, whom anyone over 30 and with a good record collection will instantly remember from the amazing TAD, one of the most metallic and crushing propositions to come out of the 90s Sub Pop wave.
The band has yet to play outside the United States, but they have been sharing stages with the likes of Neurosis and The Body, who will also both be present at Roadburn 2016 and who should give you a hint of what to expect from Tad and his cohorts when the moment finally comes.
To find out more about BROTHERS OF THE SONIC CLOTH click HERE
BLACK MOUNTAIN As we announced last week, five years after headlining the Afterburner, acclaimed Canadian psychedelic rock masters BLACK MOUNTAIN will return to Tilburg, Netherlands to perform at Roadburn 2016 at the 013 venue on Thursday April 14.
BLACK MOUNTAIN’s Stephen McBean comments “Roadburn is the teenage wet dream for heavy metal outcasts, the people, the party and of course, the riffs! Black Mountain can’t wait to turn up, turn on and get down with some future right on. Thank you for all the years of face melting!”
To find out more about BLACK MOUNTAIN at Roadburn, click HERE
MIDNIGHT – CANCELLATION It is with great sadness that we have to announce that MIDNIGHT will no longer be playing Roadburn 2016. The band have offered only this statement regarding their cancellation:
“Due to private reasons MIDNIGHT will not be able to play the already announced European tour in April 2016.”
We have been working closely with MIDNIGHT’s European booking agency to see if there was a way around this, but unfortunately it seems there is not, as their entire European tour (club shows and festival appearances alike) for April 2016 have been cancelled.
We – like you – are very disappointed that Midnight won’t be playing the 2016 festival. But please pack your leather jackets, bulletbelts, and facemasks, because you’ll surely need them for the rock ‘n roll juggernaut that will step in as Midnight’s replacement, and which will be announced in due course. Speedfreaks be forewarned.
TICKETING INFORMATION
Tickets to Roadburn Festival 2016 are currently on sale. Three-day tickets are available for 165 Euros (excl. service fees); four-day tickets cost 185 Euros (excl. service fees). Sunday-only tickets cost 39 Euros (excl. service fees). Camping tickets are also available through Ticketmaster. A limited number of single day tickets for Thursday, Friday and Saturday will be announced in the coming weeks.
If 2015 ended tomorrow, I think you’d still have to say it was a pretty good year for heavy rock. Doom veered into a swath extremes — its own subgenres emerging almost one by one in a growing splinter that nonetheless continues to draw water from its roots — while the neo-stoner ignition of the West Coast continued its boom of new acts proffering classic groove. The East reveled in a progressive vision just waiting to be picked up by others, and in Europe, the ’70s traditionalist movement spread ever wider, essentially defining a modern sound in organic sounding, sometimes-vintage elements. Whether you’re going for crushing, oppressive barbarism or cosmos-bound blissouts, it is, in short, a good time to be alive.
Of course, 2015 doesn’t end tomorrow, and there’s still a whole lot of year to come. About half, as it happens. So, as has been the tradition around here for the last half-decade — and seems to be the tradition in a growing number of outlets; not taking credit or claiming to have invented anything, just noting a proliferation — it’s time to count down the best records of the year so far. There have been more than a handful of gems, and since in December I’m planning on doing a top 30, we’ll mark half the year with a top 15. Seems only fair.
Please note that this isn’t purely a critical evaluation, but a personal list, and that what I’ve put on most is as crucial a factor in my ranking as how important I think a given record is. You know the drill by now. Let’s go:
Kiev three-piece Stoned Jesus have a varied stylistic history, and their third outing, The Harvest was ultimately a success in large part because of its complete refusal to be defined. Atop a foundation of quality songcraft, the trio proffered a sound that was not necessarily experimental in terms of anti-structure noise or effects onslaughts, but bold in each of its forays outward from its heavy rock underpinnings.
It has consistently taken me a while to get a hold on what Freedom Hawk are up to. The steady elements in their sound are held to so firmly that on the first couple listens, it seems to just be more of the same. But the more one digs in, the more there is to be found, and with Into Your Mind, the Virginia Beach trio overcome losing a member to create their most progressive outing to date, flourishes of psychedelia melding easily with their signature style of sunshiny riffing.
Five albums deep, Germany’s My Sleeping Karma are an act unto themselves. Their progress has been natural, fueled by a clear, varied sense of exploratory will, and the results on this year’s Moksha were nothing short of stunning. Branching out their arrangements might not be new to them, but the inclusion of horns, drones, percussion, etc., amid the central guitar, bass, keys and drums lent an almost orchestral feel to the flow between the tracks, and one can only hope they continue on their current path, because it is unquestionably the right one.
So much potential, so much vitality at the heart of this debut from Death Alley. The Amsterdam-based four-piece (interview here) stormed out of the gate with a ripper of a debut, and just when you seemed to have it all figured out, they hit the ignition on a 12-minute full-impulse space rock thrust, a guest vocal appearance from Farida Lemouchi (a former bandmate of Death Alley guitarist Oeds Beydals in The Devil’s Blood) adding both mystique and emotional resonance to what was already a stunning track. With all the riotousness preceding, Black Magick Boogieland readily lived up to its righteous title.
11. Mondo Drag, Mondo Drag
Released on RidingEasy Records and Kozmik Artifactz. Reviewed Jan. 8.
Midwestern-turned-West-Coast heavy psych rockers Mondo Drag may have taken their time in releasing their self-titled sophomore outing, which followed their 2010 debut, New Rituals (review here), and was recorded in 2012, but it’s easy to imagine that’s because they wanted the circumstances to be as special as the album itself, recorded with a fleeting five-piece lineup that included the one-time rhythm section of Radio Moscow who wound up leaving to further their then-nascent project, Blues Pills. Even without that lineup shift as a factor, the late ’60s vibe Mondo Drag brought out across the release proved eminently listenable and has held up on repeat visits.
A gorgeous, shimmering and melodically resonant debut from the Dutch four-piece Cigale, their self-titled gracefully maintained tonal presence and warmth while also enacting a psychedelic sprawl and grooving serenity that acted like the landscape in which the songs took place. It was a rich, bright vibe, and an utter joy to behold, tracks like “Harvest Begun,” “Feel the Heat” and “Eyes Wide Shut” proving as memorable as they were inviting. Having two former members of the much-missed fuzz rock outfit Sungrazer may have initially turned some heads in their direction, but Cigale‘s first album proved they’re an outfit with their own personality, their own development to undertake, and already much to offer.
The awaited return of The Machine brought the band’s fifth album and a further-refined sense of maturity in their processes, as well as intrigue as to where they might be headed, two dual modes of open-ended jamming and more structured songwriting playing off each other in the extended “Chrysalis (J.A.M.)” and “Come to Light” and the more verse/chorus stylizations of “Dry End” and “Off Course.” To be perfectly honest, I doubt The Machine will ultimately pick one side over another, since if Offblast! proved anything it’s that they can easily handle either or both, but as they continue to grow, it’s encouraging to have their style establish itself as so multi-faceted.
First time I pressed play on Gravitron was a real “oh shit!” moment. The last release from NJ stalwarts The Atomic Bitchwax was 2011’s The Local Fuzz (review here), a single-song full-length instrumental riff onslaught that had its charm but was inherently divorced from the appeal of the band’s songwriting. Not only does Gravitron re-factor that in with songs like “Roseland,” “It’s Alright,” “Coming in Hot” and “Ice Age Hey Baby,” among others, but it hits with kick-in-the-ass production force and an all-out heaviness that 2008’s TAB4 showed the three-piece steering directly away from. Just a killer record. Utterly void of pretense. No bullshit. No need to rely on anything more than chemistry, and with the Bitchwax, that’s plenty.
7. Brothers of the Sonic Cloth, Brothers of the Sonic Cloth
Right now, Brothers of the Sonic Cloth are my band to beat for Debut of the Year, and I’m quite frankly not sure how anyone is going to be able to do it, so if list time comes in Dec. and you see Tad Doyle‘s trio marked out as such, know that it’s been that way in my head for some time. The three-piece of Doyle, bassist Peggy “Pegadeth” Tully and drummer Dave French arrived with a roar, and even when their self-titled let up sonically, the atmosphere remained viscerally heavy. Six years having passed since the release of their first demo (review here), I wasn’t sure there was ever going to be an album, but then to have Brothers of the Sonic Cloth show up and enact such thorough demolition only made it more impressive.
It can’t possibly be a surprise to have Luminiferous show up somewhere on this list. The seventh long-player by High on Fire had all the rage and bombast in “Slave the Hive” and “The Black Plot” that have become the band’s hallmarks over their 17 years together, but branched out progressively as well in songs like “The Cave” and “The Falconist,” the latter of which was brazenly catchy and about as emotionally direct as the band has ever gotten, their general modus being — and in that song too, just to a lesser extent — a metaphor-laced lyrical approach. That song was a triumph and so was the album as a whole; the second collaboration with producer Kurt Ballou building on the rampaging victories of 2012’s De Vermis Mysteriis (review here) while also showing growth on the part of one of modern metal’s most pivotal bands.
Hitting more or less concurrent with a vinyl release of their prior album, 2013’s A Time of Hunting (review here), Kings Destroy‘s Kings Destroy is not at all coincidentally titled. Over the course of now three full-lengths, the New York five-piece — about whom I feign no impartiality, let it be noted — have distinguished themselves with a sound neither noise, nor doom, nor heavy rock, but drawing on elements of all three when it suits their purposes with chemistry built from years of being in bands together of various stripes and in various genres. What stands the self-titled out from their past work, in part, is that it is the closest they’ve yet come to capturing their live sound in the studio, and accordingly, it’s a volatile kind of heavy that bends aesthetic to its will rather than capitulating to expectations of any sort. I don’t think they’re done growing by any stretch, but Kings Destroy feels like an arrival front-to-back.
This one was almost a sneak-attack. German heavy psych forerunners Colour Haze released To the Highest Gods We Know, their 11th full-length, in Dec. 2014 on CD (the vinyl was in 2015, which is what we’re counting in this instance), with very, very little fanfare of any sort. There was a track premiere here that came shortly after the album was announced, but I think it was officially out less than a month after its existence was made public, which for a band of Colour Haze‘s stature and influence was surprising. Less devoted to grandeur than 2012’s 2CD She Said (review here), it nonetheless pushed the band’s sound forward and found them experimenting in their studio, particularly on the string-quartet-inclusive finale title-track, which offset jams like “Überall” and the laid back highlight “Call” with a rhythmic oddness that was somehow still Colour Haze‘s own. I couldn’t help but wonder where it was leading, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t masterful in its own right.
Goatsnake didn’t have it easy going into their third album. It had been 15 years since their sophomore outing, Flower of Disease, 11 since their last EP, and five since they first started playing shows again. Expectations? Through the roof. Among heavy rock heads, a new Goatsnake was like seeing the mountaintop. I mean, a big fucking deal and then some. Then the record hits, and there’s just about no way it can live up to the anticipation, but god damn if Goatsnake not only finally put out a third album, but one that was better than I think anyone could’ve hoped for. Hearing Pete Stahl with however many backup singers he had on “Another River to Cross” et. al. was like finding an animal in its native habitat, and between his soul, Greg Anderson‘s riffs, bassist Scott Renner‘s low end rumble and drummer Greg Rogers‘ roll, Black Age Blues won almost immediately and then spent the rest of its 47 minutes throwing itself a victory party. “Elevated Man,” “House of the Moon,” “Jimi’s Gone,” “Grandpa Jones,” almost on a per-track basis, Goatsnake added to the reasons they’ve been so heralded despite a decade-plus’ absence from the studio.
2. Elder, Lore
Released by Armageddon Shop and Stickman Records. Reviewed Feb. 19.
On the level of achievement alone, Elder‘s Lore will be the album of the year for many, and there are times (such as right now) when I listen to it and question whether or not it isn’t also my pick for that honor, but wherever it falls on whatever list, far more important is what the Massachusetts/Rhode Island/New York trio manage to accomplish across their third LP’s formidable five-track/59-minute span, songs like “Compendium” and “Deadweight” bridging a rarely approached gap between heavy and progressive rocks while maintaining a flow consistent with the psychedelic vibing of 2011’s Dead Roots Stirring (review here) but grown outward in another aesthetic direction and no sooner setting foot on the ground than seeming to master it in a flurry of blinding turns, sprawling soundscapes and clarity of mind that found perhaps its greatest expression in the centerpiece title-track, the 15-minute “Lore” itself, which I’ve no doubt will stand among if not atop the best songs of 2015 when the year is over and encapsulates the ambition and the corresponding breadth of Elder‘s songwriting, the trio of guitarist/vocalist Nick DiSalvo, bassist Jack Donovan, and drummer Matt Couto rising as one of the East Coast’s most pivotal acts, with a sound completely their own.
1. Acid King, Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere
I use the word “molten” pretty regularly to describe an album or song that seems to just ooze its way out of the speakers or shift seamlessly between its songs, but Acid King set an entirely new standard for the term with Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere. Their first outing for Svart and their first release in a decade, its 55 minutes were a riff-rolling nirvana of lurching fuzz and tonal excellence, the guitar of Lori S. at the fore accompanied by Mark Lamb‘s bass and Joey Osbourne‘s drums, the swing of which propelled a highlight track like “Coming down from Outer Space” right back into it, while elsewhere on the record, “Silent Pictures,” “Red River” and “Infinite Skies” torched stoner conventions into a new space-biker rock, culminating in the heavy psych of “Center of Everywhere,” which seemed to emanate from the place it was describing, at once empty and full. More than just a welcome return after a long dearth of releases, Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere found Acid King progressed even beyond where they were with 2005’s III, though more than anything else, what makes it my top pick for the year so far is the fact that I can’t seem to walk away from it for too long before going back, and ultimately, that’s what it all comes down to with his kind of thing. I’ve yet to find a standard to which these songs don’t live up.
—
Honorable Mention:
A few others worth noting. The Sun Blood Stories album (streamed here) continues to resonate. Also Monolord, Valkyrie, Lamp of the Universe, Garden of Worm, Wo Fat‘s live record, The Midnight Ghost Train‘s Cold was the Ground and Ufomammut‘s Ecate. The Black Rainbows was a joy, as was Spidergawd‘s second LP, and while I still feel like I haven’t given it its due, the Sumac won many over and should get a mention. Steve Von Till‘s solo outing and the latest from Enslaved are worth seeking out as well for anyone who hasn’t heard them yet.
More to Come:
The year’s only half over, which is kind of a scary thought but true nonetheless. Watch out in the coming months for new stuff from Bloodcow, All Them Witches, Clutch, Graveyard, Zun, Sacri Monti (if that one’s not already out), Snail, Uncle Acid, and Kind. The new Kadavar is a sure-fire top tenner, and between that, the potential for a new Neurosis album and stuff like Magnetic Eye Records‘ Electric Ladyland [Redux], there’s no way the book is written on the best of 2015.
So stay tuned.
And if I’ve still got your attention, thanks for reading.
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 10th, 2015 by JJ Koczan
Great googly-moogly. The full lineup — and set times, because apparently that’s how on their shit these cats are — for this year’s Southwest Terror Fest have been posted, and it’s breathtaking. Sleep and Acid King and Bongripper among the headliners, with the likes of Dropdead and Thou and the Body and Brothers of the Sonic Cloth strewn about a four-day span for the fourth edition of the festival, which in accordance with doomly mandate and the Order of Things has been dubbed Southwest Terror Fest Vol. 4. I doubt I’ll get to Tucson to witness it, but it looks like a hell of a time.
As the PR wire puts it:
SOUTHWEST TERROR FEST Vol. 4: Entire Lineup Of Annual Arizona Underground Metal Festival Announced; Tickets Available
Sleep, Thou & The Body, Acid King, Dropdead, Bongripper, Xibalba, Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth And More Confirmed
The entire itinerary for the fourth edition of the annual SOUTHWEST TERROR FEST has been disclosed, as the 2015 installment is confirmed to consume Tucson, Arizona for four days once again this October.
SOUTHWEST TERROR FEST VOL. 4 will run from October 15th through 18th, with events scheduled at three Tucson venues — The Rialto Theatre, Club Congress and 191 Toole. The festivities will begin on Thursday, October 15th with a nighttime kickoff show, followed by both matinee and late club shows on Friday the 16th, and the main events on Saturday the 17th and Sunday the 18th, and the running orders for each show has now been posted. The confirmed acts include headliners Sleep, Thou & The Body, Acid King, Dropdead and Bongripper, as well as Xibalba, Landmine Marathon, Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth, Graves At Sea, Cult Leader, Call Of The Void, Demon Lung, Immortal Bird, In The Company Of Serpents, Abstracter, Gale, and more. Additionally, soloist Amigo The Devil will perform impromptu sets throughout the weekend once again.
Tickets for all SOUTHWEST TERROR FEST VOL. 4 events have been posted and are linked below alongside the running order for the entire weekend. Additionally, there are 100 VIP passes being sold this year, which are disappearing quickly; get them before they’re goneRIGHT HERE.
SOUTHWEST TERROR FEST VOL. 4 Lineup:
Thursday, October 15th // Kickoff show at 191 Toole (All Ages): Main Stage: 10:15 – End — Thou & The Body 8:45 – 9:30 — In The Company Of Serpents 7:30 – 8:00 — Heat Dust 6:30 – 7:00 — Gale Side Stage: 9:30 – 10:15 — Dead To A Dying World 8:00 – 8:45 — Abstracter 7:00 – 7:30 — Hanta 6:00 – 6:30 — Methra
Friday, October 16th // Matinee show at 191 Toole (All Ages): Main Stage: 10:20 – End — Dropdead 9:10 – 9:50 — Landmine Marathon 8:00 – 8:40 — Xibalba 7:00 – 7:30 — Immmortal Bird 6:00 – 6:30 — Gatecreeper Side Stage: 9:50 – 10:20 — Call Of The Void 8:40 – 9:10 — Bastard Feast 7:30 – 8:00 — 908 6:30 – 7:00 — Swamp Wolf 5:30 – 6:00 — Warmonger
Friday, October 16th // Late show at Club Congress (21+): 12:20 – End — Bongripper 11:10 – 12:00 — Graves At Sea 10:20 – 10:50 — Skycrawler 9:30 – 10:00 — Naught
Saturday, October 17th // Main show at The Rialto Theatre (All Ages): 10:30 – 12:30 — Sleep 9:10 – 10:10 — Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth 8:10 – 8:50 — Cult Leader 7:20 – 7:50 — Goya 6:30 – 7:00 — Languish
Sunday, October 18th // Closing show at Club Congress (All Ages): 10:30 – 12:00 — Acid King 9:20 – 10:10 — Demon Lung 8:20 – 9:00 — Night Demon 7:20 – 8:00 — Fuzz Evil 6:30 – 7:00 — Ice Sword
Now in its fourth consecutive year, SOUTHWEST TERROR FEST was founded in 2012 by members of Tucson-based underground acts Godhunter, Inoculara, Diseased Reason and Great American Tragedy, in conjunction with local venues, vendors and businesses, in order to bring a full-bore event to underground music fans. Each year the event expands into new directions and brings a massive variety of internationally-known headliners together with incredible acts from across the Southwest and beyond.
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 27th, 2015 by JJ Koczan
Well that’s about as easy a sell for a bill as you can get. Neurosis — on their longest US run in a decade and a half — partnered with Brothers of the Sonic Cloth, with support from Isis-offshoot Sumac and The Body. It’s like a moment of clarity, almost obvious, even though it’s a surprise to have Neurosis hitting the road so hard after so long. Mark your calendars. Attendance is mandatory.
From the PR wire:
NEUROSIS To Embark On Their Most Extensive Stateside Tour In Over Fifteen Years This Summer
As their thirtieth anniversary nears, NEUROSIS will be hitting the road in their most extensive touring of the North American continent in over fifteen years this Summer, the announcement falling as the dust still settles on Baltimore following their crushing performance at this year’s Maryland Deathfest.
Not since prior to the turn of the millennium has the mighty NEUROSIS embarked on a tour of this size, as this week the band confirms more than a dozen new tour dates between the end of July and the middle of August throughout the Midwestern, East Coast, and Southern US states and the lower Eastern portion of Canada. Besides the extensive nature of the tour, they will also be playing in cities and states which they have not visited since the ’90s.
For this widespread endeavor, NEUROSIS will bring an array of excellent acts to the stage with them, including support from labelmates Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth, featuring Tad Doyle, for the entire trek, as well as eight shows with nomadic doomsday cult, The Body, five dates with expansive rock duo, Sumac (members of Baptists, Old Man Gloom, ex-Isis, etc.), and one show each with Pinkish Black and labelmates Iron Tongue. This all comes in addition to NEUROSIS’ previously announced inclusion in the massive, three-day Heavy Montréal Festival consuming August 7th-9th, where the band will perform the opening night with the likes of Mastodon, Meshuggah, Gorguts, Arch Enemy and many others.
Tickets for the impending NEUROSIS tour will go on sale for all shows this Friday, May 29th.
NEUROSIS Tour Dates: 7/31/2015 Liberty Hall – Lawrence, KS w/ Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth, The Body 8/01/2015 Mill City – Minneapolis, MN w/ Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth, The Body 8/02/2015 The Majestic – Madison, WI w/ Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth, The Body 8/03/2015 Thalia Hall – Chicago, IL w/ Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth, The Body 8/04/2015 Expo Five – Louisville, KY w/ Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth, The Body 8/05/2015 St. Andrews – Detroit, MI w/ Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth, The Body 8/06/2015 Opera House – Toronto, ON w/ Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth, The Body 8/07/2015 Heavy Montréal- Montréal, QC w/ Mastodon, Meshuggah, Gorguts, Arch Enemy 8/08/2015 Paradise – Boston, MA w/ Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth, Sumac, The Body 8/09/2015 Warsaw – Brooklyn, NY w/ Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth, Sumac 8/11/2015 Union Transfer – Philadelphia, PA w/ Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth, Sumac 8/12/2015 Broadberry – Richmond, VA w/ Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth, Sumac 8/14/2015 Masquerade – Atlanta, GA w/ Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth, Sumac 8/15/2015 House Of Blues – New Orleans, LA w/ Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth, Iron Tongue 8/16/2015 Warehouse Live – Houston, TX w/ Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth, Pinkish Black
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 30th, 2015 by JJ Koczan
My only complaint about Brothers of the Sonic Cloth going on tour is I won’t get to see them. Beyond that, it’s good to see the Tad Doyle-fronted Seattle three-piece getting out in support of their Neurot Recordings self-titled debut (review here), which was released on Feb. 17. The album slays, if you haven’t heard it, and while I keep my fingers crossed that at some point this outfit comes east, I’m glad to know at least someone will get to have their ass handed to them, even if it’s not me just yet.
The PR wire puts it like this:
BROTHERS OF THE SONIC CLOTH: Seattle Doom Trio Confirms West Coast Tour
Seattle’s BROTHERS OF THE SONIC CLOTH — featuring legendary guitarist/vocalist Tad Doyle, formerly of Tad and Hog Molly, veteran bassist Peggy Doyle and drummer Dave French (The Anunnaki) — will bring their apocalyptic tidings to the streets next month for a long-anticipated run of West Coast performances. Slated to launch on May 21st on their home turf, the trek will quake eight stages through May 30th in Boise and follows the trio’s previously announced record release show at The Columbia City Theater in Seattle with additional live dates to be broadcast in the weeks to come.
Comments Doyle, “After having done our first U.S. West Coast tour back in 2012, we are stoked to be able to bring our songs out on the road once again to a town near you. We look forward to seeing our friends and making new ones as we trudge the highways with 1,500 filthy watts of amplification and drums big enough to be heard from the other side of a mountain range.”
BROTHERS OF THE SONIC CLOTH: 4/18/2015 The Columbia City Theater – Seattle, WA 5/21/2015 Chop Suey – Seattle, WA w/ Baba Yaga 5/22/2015 Dante’s – Portland, OR w/ Atriarch, Rabbits 5/23/2015 Starlight Lounge – Sacramento, CA 5/24/2015 Parkside – San Francisco, CA 5/27/2015 Sister – Albuquerque, NM 5/28/2015 Hi-Dive – Denver, CO 5/29/2015 Metro Bar – Salt Lake City, UT 5/30/2015 Neurolux – Boise, ID
Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth is currently available on CD or LP atTHIS LOCATION.
There’s little room left for argument after all the air’s been pushed from your lungs. Six years after issuing their initial demo (review here) and subsequent split 10″ with Mico de Noche (review here), Brothers of the Sonic Cloth at long last make their full-length debut with a self-titled release on Neurot Recordings, and whatever weight is brought to Brothers of the Sonic Cloth via guitarist/vocalist Tad Doyle‘s pedigree for having fronted underrated Seattle heavy rockers TAD or work engineering at his own Witch Ape Studio, where this album was also recorded (Billy Anderson mixed), rest assured that’s still less heft than the tones on crushers like “Empires of Dust” and the churning, 11-minute “La Mano Poderosa.” Together with bassist Peggy “Pegadeth” Tully (also his wife) and drummer Dave French (also of The Annunaki), Tad leads the charge through seven rounds of atmospheric post-sludge, the record’s 44 minutes no less concerned with ambience and mood than with gritting their teeth and bashing the listener over the head with waves of tectonic nod. It is a massive, unforgiving impression that the album leaves behind, rife with churning tension, a volume-as-ritual sense of purpose and an impact that becomes undeniable by the time “I Am” shifts into the drum-led, Neurosis-style tribalism of “The Immutable Path,” but there’s also breadth to it, and even its repetitions have a reason behind them. French‘s drums alternate between doomed marching and driving propulsion, but the hitting is consistently hard, and that seems to be true just about across the board. Even in quiet stretches, like the beginnings of “Unnamed” or “I Am” or the piano-led “Outro,” which closes, there is a tense, clenched feel that never quite lets the listener be fully at ease.
It goes without saying, but that’s obviously the point. The intensity of Brothers of the Sonic Cloth‘s Brothers of the Sonic Cloth is not happenstance. It’s pervasive, and it begins with the very start of the album, on opener “Lava,” where what might otherwise have been an intro riff expands into a three-minute song topped with growled verses and crashing at full turn-this-up-now righteousness. A turn to a jagged riff sits well on some half-time drums and vocal call and response make the track an outlier compared to what follows — the next four cuts comprise the meat of the album and they’re all nearly or more than twice as long — but it’s as honest an introduction as one could ask. The only thing missing from it is the grueling and slow, and “Empires of Dust” quickly (also slowly) remedies the issue. Its first three minutes are devoted to far-back gutturalism and dirge riffing, and even after things open from there, setting up a back and forth that plays out again over “Empires of Dust”‘s 7:51 resulting in a morose but creative and semi-melodic doom, the vibe remains pummeling. Tad gurgles out lyrics obscured by the distortion surrounding and echoes of noise end out, leading to the spacious guitar line that starts “Unnamed” on a more subdued, peaceful note, as if all that swirling malevolence was just a dream. It wasn’t. In tone and vocal delivery, the quicker thrust of “Unnamed” reminds somewhat of the last Amebix as each syllable of each line seems spit out, but the churn behind is more in league with Through Silver in Blood‘s brand of chaotic atmospherics, and after five and a half minutes, the song moves into a different cycle entirely, chugging its way toward an apex met by vocals that prove the most melodic on the album. They jump back to the churn with less than a minute to go — an effective bookend — and the 11-minute “La Mano Poderosa,” a version of which also appeared on the demo, introduces its roll with the guitar, its central progression a theme from which it deviates only twice along its march, once for an angular break in the middle, and again for a bigger finish on which French once again pulls back on the drums to let the guitar and bass sound as huge as possible.
In its length and position, “La Mano Poderosa” is the centerpiece, but the following “I Am,” which was also a demo cut, is a more dynamic listen, following a build structure that starts quiet and brooding, makes its way toward its peak in the middle and, with a stop and scream just past 5:10 to signal arrival, rides out its groove for the remaining three minutes. To look at the waveform, there are clear indicators of increasing density, and the sound is no less marked out, but the flow crafted over the course of “I Am” makes it a highlight, and in some respects its the apex of Brothers of the Sonic Cloth, since neither “The Immutable Path,” on which Doyle joins John O’Connell on drums and layers a quiet vocal on top with droning ambience behind, nor the piano-led “Outro” approach the same kind of heft, though certainly each of the last two tracks has an atmospheric resonance of its own. That might be true even more of the two-minute “Outro,” which with just piano echoing has a disjointed feel that holds firm to its melody even as it begins to fade out to end the record. My understanding is “The Immutable Path” and “Outro” are both bonus tracks for the CD/DL editions of the album, but they have a function in the overarching mood of what comes before them anyway. No doubt part of the reason Brothers of the Sonic Cloth have garnered such a response is Tad Doyle‘s legacy and this self-titled being his first studio release since Hog Molly‘s lone outing in 2000, but this trio does nothing if they don’t set themselves apart from that legacy, and the spirit that pervades this material isn’t backward-looking in any way. That said, with six years between the demo and the album, I wouldn’t try to hazard a guess at when a follow-up might be in the beginning stages, let alone completed, but Brothers of the Sonic Cloth is an outing that does well standing on its own and its scope and sheer ferocity speak to a vibrant creativity at work.
I’m happy to report that of all the podcasts I’ve ever put together, front to back, I think this one came together the smoothest. No programs crashed, no uploads were interrupted halfway through. Unless I click “Publish” and the internet eats this entire site, it’s safe to say this was the easiest time I’ve had putting together a collection of tracks to be featured here. Could it be I’m getting better at it? Nah. Dumb luck all the way. As I recall, last time I said something of the sort, the next month my editing software crapped out and it was a year before I got another program that worked. You’d think I might learn to keep my mouth shut.
Keeping current with this month was something of a concern. It’s hard to fill out 2015 releases since we’re only a month into the year, but even if some of this stuff is 2014, it’s later 2014 for sure, and the vast majority of it did wind up being 2015. The second hour, which has become a sort of psych blissout over the last however-many podcasts, actually gets pretty heavy and doomed this time around. Change is good for the soul. As always, hope you enjoy:
First Hour:
Torche, “Loose Men” from Restarter
Bloodcow, “Crystals and Lasers” from Crystals and Lasers
Elder, “Compendium” from Lore
Lacertilia, “Do Something!” from Crashing into the Future
Ruby the Hatchet, “Tomorrow Never Comes” from Valley of the Snake
Carpet, “Riot Kiss” from Riot Kiss 7”
Black Moon Circle, “Supernova” from Andromeda
Desert Storm, “House of Salvation” from Omniscient
Spidergawd, “Fixing to Die Blues” from Spidergawd II
Bellringer, “Von Fledermaus” from EP
Romero, “Gold for the Hunt” from Gold for the Hunt Single
Brothers of the Sonic Cloth, “Lava” from Brothers of the Sonic Cloth
Second Hour:
Sumac, “Blight’s End Angel” from The Deal
Horsehunter, “Stoned to Death” from Caged in Flesh
The Devil and the Almighty Blues, “Storm Coming Down” from The Devil and the Almighty Blues
Saturndust, “Realm of Nothing” from Saturndust
Sonny Simmons & Moksha Samnyasin, “We are Entering a Place of That” from Nomadic
