The first various artists release from Eolian Empire was 2013’s (We’ve Gotta) Keep Our Heads, a 26-track look at the unrealistically fertile creative ground in the label’s hometown of Portland, Oregon. Having covered Portland, all that’s left is the rest of the world, so with the promise and delivery of “Heavy Vibes Internationale,” Eolian is planning on Feb. 3 to issue (We’ve Got) Fiends in Low Places, which brings together bands from the US and Europe, Japan, Australia, Canada and elsewhere, 15 decimation-prone cuts of noise and doom that more than make for a fitting answer to Keep Our Heads thanks to inclusions from the likes of Arabrot, Meadows, The Great Sabatini, Throat and others.

It’s the 30th release for Eolian, and they don’t seem to have made it easy for themselves. (We’ve Got) Fiends in Low Places, aside from the nightmarish task of drawing together an international cast of bands toward a singular purpose, pounds and seethes with various forms of extremity and heavy, a punkish undercurrent and spirit pervading in attitude if not always in sound. There is, it probably doesn’t need to be said, no shortage of sludge, but when it comes to Turku, Finland, four-piece Throat, their “Clean Cleaner” sounds more geared toward boiling sludge down to its component punk, heavy rock and tonally-weighted doom than simply plugging in, playing slow and screaming.

What comes across initially somewhere between Rollins-era Black Flag and squibbly grunge shifts into increasingly malevolent purposes as the five minutes plays out, finally arriving — via feedback — at a thrillingly excruciating, tube-melting crawl that makes up most of the song’s second half before closing out. Most impressive is the fluidity of the tempo shift, and how Throat don’t stop, don’t play it up. How they just slow the fuck down, riff out and work hard to make it sound as vicious as possible. It’s one of more than several admirable examples of genre transmigration on (We’ve Got) Fiends in Low Places, but as a general example of what the powers behind Eolian are into, I think it works well to show there’s more to do with noise than simply beating listeners over the head with it.

(We’ve Got) Fiends in Low Places: Heavy Vibes Internationale is out Feb. 3 on Eolian Empire. More at the links and in the PR wire info that follow Throat‘s “Clean Cleaner,” which you can find on the player below:

[mp3player width=480 height=200 config=fmp_jw_widget_config.xml playlist=throat-clean-cleaner.xml]

This special collection marks a new low for the Eolian horde, since the entire roster to date has yielded only Portland-centric audio carnage, while FIENDS IN LOW PLACES features a glut of output from the Eolian clan’s caustic cronies from around the globe; a gnarled calling card, with more than fifty minutes of champions of the international heavy underground in North and South America, Europe, Australia, and Japan. Fifteen bands bash away on fifteen stark, aggressive, noise-laden tunes worked over with smarts and wicked humor on this compilation of exclusive tracks, an eclectic and electric collection of heavy, noisy, weird, outsider, and underground music from around the world. THROAT (Finland), ARABROT (Norway), HEALTH PROBLEMS (USA), MoE (Finland), THE GREAT SABATINI (Canada), DEAD (Australia), BASTARD OF THE SKIES (England), HOMBRE MALO (Norway), SAME-SEX DICTATOR(USA), TEEPH (USA), CYBERNE (Japan), TIMEKILLER (Japan), ELEPHANT RIFLE (USA), BATPISS (Australia), and MEADOWS (England) take you on a wild trip through twisted noise rock, bludgeoning sludge, psychotic metal, blackened hardcore, and damaged punk, each act’s warped worldview in full effect. Taken together, FIENDS paint an ugly, multidimensional portrait of the darkness lurking wherever you may go.

FIENDS IN LOW PLACES is the sequel and companion compilation to Eolian’s (We’ve Gotta) KEEP OUR HEADS: Heavy Vibes from Portland, Oregon, which featured twenty-six heavy Portland bands. Like on KEEP OUR HEADS, the “fiends” on FIENDS IN LOW PLACES were drawn from friends playing off-the-wall heavy music in overlapping scenes, scenes this time spread throughout the world. Interrelated through shows, tours, and friends, these bands have passed each other in the night for years, slowly worming their way through the underground via interconnected tunnels deep below the mainstream, an independent global network of heaviness beholden to no one. Comforting or discomforting, FIENDS IN LOW PLACES at least affirms that the Eolian heads are not the only ones this fucked up, and in an age when many are looking back with nostalgia for the lost and forgotten weirdo bands of yesteryear, it’s good to know we can find pigfucking goodness all around the world right now and no doubt for years to come. So find your “fiends” and support the lost underground of tomorrow, today.

FIENDS IN LOW PLACES is available for will see cassette and digital release on February 3rd, 2015.

FIENDS IN LOW PLACES: Heavy Vibes Internationale Track Listing:
1. MEADOWS “Gobshite”
2. SAME-SEX DICTATOR “Mass Krusader”
3. ARABROT “The Libertine”
4. THROAT “Clean Cleaner”
5. CYBERNE “Pozes”
6. HEALTH PROBLEMS “A Stuck Horse”
7. BASTARD OF THE SKIES “Brass Cattle”
8. THE GREAT SABATINI “Slow Jam”
9. BATPISS “Heavy Smoke (Stoned to Death)”
10. TEEPH “Church Vape Sesh”
11. HOMBRE MALO “The Fall”
12. TIMEKILLER “Sick of Myself”
13. MOE “Where’s the DJ”
14. ELEPHANT RIFLE “Frat Poison”
15. DEAD “Rabbits”

Throat on Thee Facebooks

Throat’s website

Eolian Empire’s website

Eolian Empire on Bandcamp

I don’t care who you are, a five-week tour is commendable, and for a band like Portland trio Prizehog — whose new, delightfully weird album Re-Unvent the Whool (streamed here), is available now on vinyl through Eolian Empire — all the more so. It’s not like these dudes and lady are hitting the road on the back of a hot new radio single, you know what I mean? They’re basically kicking ass with friends’ bands and bringing their strange sounds to as many heads as they possibly can. It’s not something a lot of people are willing to do, but it’s something I can respect the hell out of, and fortunate that Prizehog can make it work.

They’re playing with some killer acts along the way — Towers, Vaz, The Great Sabatini — in case you’d like to do some more digging while you’re digging this:

PRIZEHOG: Portland Celestial Space Sludge Outfit Announces Five-Week US Tour

Still riding a fresh wave of killer reactions to their walloping third LP, Re-Unvent the Whool, Portland, Oregon-based, PRIZEHOG, has announced the routing for their upcoming Spring US tour.

Embarking off of their home turf on May 2nd, the counter-clockwise path this tour makes will find PRIZEHOG winding through the entire continental US for five full weeks before closing down with the final gig in Seattle on June 8th and returning to their daily habitat. See true celestial space sludge for yourself on this massive endeavor including a short run with friends and faves, Vaz, as well as killer acts like Burnt Books, hepa/Titus, Tinsel Teeth, arbogast, The Great Sabatini, labelmates Towers and Big Black Cloud, and more throughout the itinerary.

Amidst the closing-in of this confirmed run, PRIZEHOG will be announcing their next tour lining up for this July alongside labelmates, Hot Victory.

PRIZEHOG US Spring Tour:
5/02/2014 Slabtown – Portland, OR w/ Towers, Big Black Cloud
5/07/2014 Lobot Gallery – Oakland, CA w/ Mansion
5/08/2014 The Eagle – San Francisco, CA w/ hepa/Titus, Peace Creep
5/09/2014 Redwood Bar – Los Angeles, CA w/ hepa/Titus
5/10/2014 The Tin Can – San Diego, CA w/ Ghetto Blaster
5/11/2014 C St – Flagstaff, AZ w/ New Gods
5/12/2014 Sister Bar – Albuquerque, NM w/ Fando
5/13/2014 Three Links – Dallas, TX w/ Bludded Head, Spacebeach
5/14/2014 Vinos – Little Rock, AR
5/15/2014 Springwater – Nashville, TN w/ Tijuana Goat Ride
5/16/2014 TBA – Birmingham, AL
5/17/2014 The Highlander – Atlanta, GA
5/18/2014 The Foxfield – Columbia, SC w/ Burnt Books
5/19/2014 TBA – Richmond, VA
5/20/2014 Gold Bar – Baltimore, MD w/ Vaz, Multicult
5/21/2014 Kung Fu Necktie – Philadelphia, PA w/ Vaz
5/22/2014 Cake Shop – Manhattan, NY w/ Insect Ark, Columboid
5/23/2014 Saint Vitus Bar – Brooklyn, NY w/ Vaz, Mossenek, Collapsible Baton
5/24/2014 AS220 – Providence, RI w/ Vaz, Tinsel Teeth
5/25/2014 O’Brien’s – Boston, MA w/ Vaz
5/26/2014 The Lair – Buffalo, NY w/ Fox 45, Tainted, Jerry Grind
5/27/2014 TBA – Pittsburgh, PA/Cleveland, OH
5/28/2014 Beat Kitchen – Chicago, IL w/ arbogast
5/29/2014 Quarters – Milwaukee, WI w/ Soup Moat
5/30/2014 The Hexagon Bar – Minneapolis, MN w/ The Funeral and the Twilight
5/31/2014 Trumpet Blossom – Iowa City, IA w/ Acoustic Guillotine
6/01/2014 TBA – Omaha, NE/Kansas
6/02/2014 Bar Bar – Denver, CO w/ Echo Beds
6/03/2014 The Parlor Bar – Laramie, WY w/ Unpaid Butlers
6/04/2014 Burts Tiki Lounge – Salt Lake City, UT w/ Cornered By Zombies, The Great Sabatini
6/05/2014 Filling Station – Bozeman, MT w/ Acheron Thodol
6/06/2014 Zootown Arts Community Center – Missoula, MT
6/07/2014 TBA – Spokane, WA w/ Hooves
6/08/2014 Black Lodge – Seattle, WA w/ Don Peyote, Same Sex Dictator

Orders for Re-Unvent the Whool are live at the Eolian Empire fort HERE, available in a digital package as well as 180-gram vinyl LP including a 24″ x 24″ poster of the Chris Jehly cover art and download of the album.

http://goods.eolianempire.com/product/prizehog-re-unvent-the-whool
http://www.prizehog.net
http://www.facebook.com/prizehog
http://www.eolianempire.com
http://goods.eolianempire.com
https://www.facebook.com/eolianempire

Prizehog, Re-Unvent the Whool (2014)

Having relocated from San Francisco to Portland, Oregon, psychedelic sludge trio Prizehog will release their third album, Re-Unvent the Whool, tomorrow on Eolian Empire. The bass-less trio — you’ll note no lack of low end in the record — run a spectrum of effects-laden churning, mashing together bright ambient echoes and deep, dank tonality. I wouldn’t be the first person to compare them to the Melvins, but that doesn’t really do complete justice to the psychedelic side of their sound, which shows up quickly on Re-Unvent the Whool in the eight-and-a-half-minute opener “Parradiggum” (also the longest track included; immediate points) and carries through to the Monkees-referential noise experimentation that finishes in “Direction to the Valley.” Presumably that’s the Valley of the Dolls they’re talking about.

Between the start and finish, Prizehog — that’s Rion, Veronica and Zakk — delve into downtempo explorations of clouded sonic murk, immersive and sometimes distressing. A moment of peace arrives with the twanging bounce of the penultimate “Gnumskull, the Ruler,” but prior too, Prizehog put you deep in it and aren’t exactly keen to show a way out as “Whoady,” “Shed” and “Awsme Bube” push further and further into a dark ethereality, all dream echoes and where-the-hell-am-I as “Irrevelant” grounds side B somewhat with a still-weirdo take on the metal of stone. The crux of Re-Unvent the Whool — the album’s ambitions somewhat clouded by the wordplay, but underlying nonetheless — is in its open feel, and Prizehog seem to delight in the strangeness of their own concoctions. Can’t blame them. The melody that emerges from “Shed”‘s midsection builds on some of the best impulses Zoroaster and Kylesa have touched on, but is ultimately no more adherent to those bands than it is to a preconceived notion of what “heavy” should sound like, and “Parradiggum” succeeds early in throwing off the listener with blastbeats and overlaid vocal drone. It’s bizarre but surprisingly easy listening.

Eolian Empire has Re-Unvent the Whool pressed in an edition of 500 copies on black 180g vinyl with a black sleeve, 24″ x 24″ poster of the Chris Jehly cover art. A download code is of course included, but for anyone who’d like to get a day-early sample of the full breadth of the beast itself, I’m fortunate enough to be able to have a front to back stream. Find it on the player below, and please enjoy:

[mp3player width=480 height=350 config=fmp_jw_widget_config.xml playlist=prizehog-re-unvent-the-whool.xml]

Prizehog are currently booking a full US tour for Spring 2014 in support of Re-Unvent the Whool, which is released March 4 on Eolian Empire. More info at the links:

Prizehog on Thee Facebooks

Re-Unventing the Whool at Eolian Empire

Eolian Empire

There is a burning intensity at the heart of Towers‘ II that seems to run a current through all four of the album’s tracks. The Portland, Oregon, duo issue II through countrymen imprint Eolian Empire today in a limited-to-300 vinyl pressing (with download, naturally), and from their lineup, to the album’s title, to its two sides, each with a longer piece tied to a shorter one, “two” certainly seems to be the theme with which Towers — bassist/vocalist Rick Duncan and drummer Darryl Swan — are working. I wish I could say it applied to the sound of II itself, but the truth is somewhat less convenient and more satisfying, since the aesthetic breadth the band covers isn’t so easily cut into one piece or another.

Foreboding atmospheres loom throughout “Hell” (11:52), “The Door at the End of the Hall” (6:22), “The Chosen” (5:10) and “In the Room of Misfortune” (13:57), and the more extended pieces only seem to enhance that dread with a violent bass and drum noise that emerges like a sudden temper set off. Duncan‘s voice can either drone over his own bass or shout deep-mixed echoes that would be punkish were it not for the theatricality surrounding. Swan meets the churning progression of “In the Room of Misfortune” with a devil’s brew of tom runs and cymbal crashes, the whole thing feeling un-linear, unhinged, swirling and malevolent as they bring II to its terror-grooving head. It’s been a journey already at that point, the immersive gates of “Hell” opening to consume with hypnotic low end early on only to swallow the listener whole into a void of ambient waveform droning before giving way to dirge-doom and the build of “The Door at the End of the Hall,” around which ghostly forms take shape vocally even as the song seems to cast off structure in favor of raw, aggressive pulse, pushing and tugging at the consciousness.

Towers is not easy listening, and with the apparent narrative arc of these tracks and the flow between each side, that’s even truer of II than it was of their 2012 self-titled (discussed here) or preceding 2011 demos (review here), because what arises through the chants and slow march of “The Chosen” is a realized vision. Put it to whatever apocalyptic scenario you want and it’ll likely fit, whether it’s the dreaded grey of aftermath or the wretchedness of humanity bringing about its own destruction. II‘s oppressiveness takes different forms, but what’s tying the album together most of all is a portrayal of otherworldly toxicity made real and concrete through righteously vile and unwelcoming noise.

Stream II now on the player that follows and check out more on the release below, courtesy of the PR wire. Enjoy:

[mp3player width=480 height=300 config=fmp_jw_widget_config.xml playlist=towers-ii.xml]

The second LP from Portland’s apocalyptic bass-and-drums duo TOWERS, aptly titled II, will be released next month as part of Eolian Empire’s continuing mission to foist the great unwashed Portland heavy underground on a now suspecting public.

TOWERS formed in 2010 after the demise of psych-garage act The Troglodytes, and by melding elements of doom, no wave, new wave, industrial, noise rock, and soundscapes into rough-hewn monolithic monstrosities simultaneously disturbing and tantalizing, thetwosome has dragged and scraped chunks and shards from all the darkest sonic territories to assemble a heavy monster in its own image. Both primitive and futurist, TOWERS transcends musical movements, molding Promethean monoliths out of doom, sludge, no wave, new wave, industrial, and psychedelia.

Recorded in full analog, at the same studio as the Shins and Decemberists, no less, TOWERS’ second LP IIis a Cremaster cycle of droney dirges, rapid-fire blasts, Lynchian soundscapes, and deviant hooks set off by barked orders, snarled decrees and haunting laments. The album starts off with a furnace growl, an ancient machine coming to life as each crooked limb cracks and stirs before being suddenly thrown into gear with a grinding off-kilter bass loop. Over thirty-six minutes II purposefully shifts through a procession of primal mutant grooves, oscillating hooks, sludgy crawls, cavernous experimental explorations, and haunting, swinging marches marked by the barked Teutonic invocations—Hell is coming! —and ghostly incantations of the wounded and beaten. IIis a huge, enveloping beast of a record that captures the unique crushing intensity of their live sets.

Outsider Portland label, Eolian Empire, is loading this devastating ammo into the cannons for their planned February 11th offensive for II, ready to bust out the goods on quality 180-gram wax and digital.

Towers on Thee Facebooks

Eolian Empire

Portland doomers Diesto unfurled a nastier kind of splendor earlier this year with the track “Arrows” on Eolian Empire‘s Keep Our Heads compilation (stream it here). That song is to be included as a bonus track to the digital version of the foursome’s upcoming fifth album, For Water or Blood, which is also to be released on Eolian at the end of this month. As for what the rest of For Water or Blood might hold, The Sleeping Shaman have a song up streaming that you can link to below, and the PR wire gives some idea as to the rest.

If you’ve got a second to stare too, do yourself a favor too and click the cover art by Sam Ford below to enlarge the image, because it rules. Behold:

DIESTO: Fifth LP From Portland Doom Crew To See Release Via Eolian Empire

New Track Now Playing At The Sleeping Shaman

Portland, Oregon-based powerhouse DIESTO will release their mammoth fifth LP, For Water or Blood, later this month via the hometown hellions at outsider D.I.Y. label Eolian Empire.

Comprised of guitarist/vocalist Chris Dunn, guitarist Mark Bassett, bassist Rusty Powers and drummer Devon Shirley, since the turn of the century DIESTO has ravaged the lands with their pummeling riffery through a pile of releases and countless shows, their determination heralding the band as one of Portland’s hardest-working heavy acts. While their earlier days showcased a more noiserock-built flamboyance, over time the aggro has eroded a bit, the sharper edges of their rock now worn down to a smoother doom rock style, while all of the heaviness remains.

DIESTO’s freshly completed fifth LP For Water or Blood — their first release for Eolian Empire, and their first album to be released on vinyl — finds the band continuing its journey West, its storied and troubled past dragged through the Cascadian forest to the Pacific Ocean, treading and crawling slowly but steadily ahead as it cuts a winding path of riffs deep into the heavy frontier with echoes of Zep III, Pompeiian Floyd, and Master of Reality bouncing between mountains of Sleep and Yob doom boosted by heavy hooks, chiming intertwined guitars, expressive vocals, and surprising attacks of angular noise rock and dissonance.

The recording by Adam Pike (Red Fang, Norska, Nether Regions) at Toadhouse showcases the band’s live prowess and love of pedal-free amplifier tone — the album’s hymns tracked live and straight up with minimal overdubs — making For Water or Blood an arduous but adventurous journey into the unknown using the wisdom of the ages, its enthralling cover art sanctioned to Sam Ford (Wizard Rifle, Black Cobra). Eolian is preparing to drop the new platter on 180-gram vinyl and digital download on August 27th worldwide, the digital version containing a new mix of the track “Arrows” from the label’s massive KEEP OUR HEADS comp as a bonus track.

To help spread the news, revered UK-based doom/rock outlet The Sleeping Shaman has hosted an exclusive premiere of For Water or Blood’s fourth song, “Sirens,” now playing RIGHT HERE.

With a home turf record release show confirmed to take place on Friday, August 30th alongside Fellwoods and labelmates Honduran, much more is in store from DIESTO in the coming weeks, including widespread touring in support of the album, their pending first official video and all kinds of other good stuff. Stay tuned.

DIESTO Live:
8/30/2013 Foggy Notion – Portland, OR – For Water or Blood record release w/ Honduran, Fellwoods

For Water or Blood Track Listing:
1. Trail to the Sun
2. Edge of the World
3. The Road
4. Sirens
5. Adrift at Sea
6. Dirty River
7. Arrows* (digital bonus track)

http://diesto.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Diesto/101968243187195
http://eolianempire.com
http://facebook.com/eolianempire
http://twitter.com/eolianempire

Diesto, High as the Sun (2010)

For anyone who heard Portland, Oregon, four-piece Diesto‘s 2010 sophomore full-length, High as the Sun (review here), the new track “Arrows” is going to be something of a culture shock. Sure, that album had its moments of righteously heavy crunch — “Waiting for the Fall” comes immediately to mind, but there were others — but at 4:40, “Arrows” is two minutes-plus shorter than everything the last record had to offer, and it uses its time to altogether more extreme ends, casting off some of the cleaner incantations in favor of abrasive yells set to churning riffs and impressively dueling modern solos.

Whether it’s a side-step or evident of a lasting shift in Diesto‘s approach will have to wait for their next LP to be seen — that is, they’re by no means limited to one sonic idea and they seem like a creative enough outfit to know it — but the tight, effective lurch of “Arrows” features on a new Eolian Empire compilation. Dubbed Keep Our Heads: Heavy Vibes from Portland, Oregon, it brings together a whopping 26 bands — Norska, Crag Dweller, Gaytheist, Lord Dying, Towers, and so on — to showcase not only the heaviness that’s thriving in Portland’s underground, but the many different faces that heaviness shows.

In that effort, few bands sum up the idea as well as Diesto, who both crawl and blast within the relatively brief span of “Arrows.” Doubtless Eolian Empire — helmed now by members of the also-included Rabbits (they of the creative postage) — had that in mind in having them take part in Keep Our Heads, but they’re just one of many in the impressive assemblage. The full tracklisting and more info on the release can be found under the player below. Keep Our Heads: Heavy Vibes from Portland, Oregon is due out on a limited tape run May 1.

Please enjoy “Arrows,” by Diesto:

[mp3player width=480 height=150 config=fmp_jw_widget_config.xml playlist=diesto-keep-our-heads.xml]