I really, really don’t have a spare grand-plus lying around at this point, but golly that’s a cool lineup posted for Stoned from the Underground this year in Erfurt, Germany. It seems Lowrider‘s reunion — they were a highlight of the London Desertfest in a one-two punch of Swedish awesomeness completed by a set from Dozer immediately following — continues, which is unmistakably good news, and along with the likes of Earthless, Acid King, Troubled Horse, The Gates of Slumber, Pelican and the many others listed below, it seems like it’s going to be a killer weekend July 11-13. The kind of weekend I’d like very much to see, let’s say with a camera and laptop in tow. One of these years, maybe.

Indulge a bit of escapism with me, won’t you?

Welcome to the Mother of all German Stoner Rock Meetings

July 11th , 12th & 13th – Alperstedter Lake near ERFURT

Festival founded in 2001 and located in the very geographical center of Germany, in the area of Erfurt (Thuringen): Stoned From The Underground grew from a one day indoor event with 400 visitors in 2001 to a 3 days outdoor event with 3000 visitors last year !

Located a few kilometers away from the city, in a nest of nature bordered by the Alperstedter Lake, the festival is the perfect location for a very first relaxing summer weekend !

Whether you want to sit in the grass, puffing up clouds of smoke, sipping a beer while checking out the best Rock & Stoner acts of the moment,

Or whether you want to chill out laying on your belly on the sand of the beach with your toes cooling down in Lake’s water…..

STONED FROM THE UNDERGROUND is the place where all your dreams will come true.

LINE- UP 2013:
EARTHLESS ( Usa)
MUSTASCH (Swe)
POTHEAD (Ger)

TRUCKFIGHTERS (Swe)
THE GATES OF SLUMBER (Usa)
BEEN OBSCENE (At)
LOWRIDER (Swe)
HORISONT(Swe)
TROUBLED HORSE (Swe)
ISOPTERA (Ger)
LORD VICAR (Fin)
MIRROR QUEEN (Usa)
ACID KING (Usa)
PELICAN (Usa)
THE OPERATORS (Ger)
THE ATOMIC BITCHWAX (Usa)
FIVE HORSE JOHNSON (Usa)
SARDONIS (Bel)
HYNE (Ger)
DEVILLE (Swe)
BLACK BOMBAIM (Por)
HERKULES PROPAGANDA (Ger)
TRECKER (Ger)

Stoned from the Underground 2013 Trailer

In addition to performing as the headlining act with The Obsessed, Wino joined Conny Ochs last September at the 2012 South of Mainstream fest for a set of material from their Heavy Kingdom album, released earlier in the year. That they’d appear at the German fest is only fitting – Wino & Conny Ochs‘ Heavy Kingdom came out on Exile on Mainstream, the imprint which also curates the festival, and it was the label that brought the two together for a tour in the first place, when Wino was out in Europe supporting his Adrift solo acoustic debut. Alongside labelmates Black Shape of Nexus, Darsombra, Stinking Lizaveta and many others, the duo took part in an eclectic three-day happening that, by all the accounts that I’ve seen, lived up to its name. Right on.

By the time they played “Crystal Madonna” on Sept. 7 at South of Mainstream, Wino & Conny Ochs had already given the new song — that is, written after the release of Heavy Kingdom or at very least not included on the album — considerable road time on their US tour. They played it when I saw them in Brooklyn, and its ultra-moody vibe was certainly palpable then. It would seem the couple weeks since that gig didn’t diminish the spirit of the song any, if the video of the South of Mainstream performance is anything to go by. The sound is just a little blown out — just a little — but especially in washed out black and white, both the classic songwriting and the depressive spirit of the piece really shine through. I heard rumors kicking around not too long ago of a second Wino & Conny Ochs album, and hopefully that materializes sooner or later. If this is a look at what a sophomore outing might entail, it seems like a worthy undertaking.

Enjoy and have a great Wino Wednesday:

Wino & Conny Ochs, “Crystal Madonna” Live at South of Mainstream 2012

I consider myself fortunate to have seen Berlin heavy psych purveyors Samsara Blues Experiment live the two times that I have, as both of their full-lengths to date – 2010’s Long Distance Trip (review here) and 2011’s Revelation and Mystery (review here) have shown the band becoming increasingly distinct within the European sphere. The second album in particular demonstrated a maturity in the four-piece’s approach that found them able to blend open jams and straightforward songcraft, tracks like “Hangin’ on the Wire” and “Into the Black” proving memorable as much for their hooks as for the wandering instrumental arrangements and feeling at any moment, the band might fly completely off the rails. Both of those songs, as it happens, find inclusion on the new, limited Rockpalast live recording – released on guitarist/vocalist/sitarist Christian Peters’ own Electric Magic Records – which was caught on tape while filming in October 2012 for the long-running German rock program of the same name. Alongside such jam-heavy pieces as “For the Lost Souls” and “Center of the Sun” from Long Distance Trip, a balance is struck throughout Rockpalast that finds Samsara Blues Experiment able to unite the varying sides of their approach, Peters and fellow guitarist Hans Eiselt, bassist Richard Behrens and drummer Thomas Vedder shifting with suitable ease from one side of the sound to the other without missing a step along the way, holding onto a wandering mentality even as they hit on some of their most structured parts and never quite letting go of the idea of the song as they play naturally off the chemistry they’ve built on stage over the last several years. In that way, Rockpalast captures Samsara Blues Experiment at their best, and though because it’s pulling from both albums and because it totals just under 80 minutes long, it’s probably going to be a richer listening experience for those familiar with the band than the previously uninitiated, it’s never been quite so easy to get lost in Samsara Blues Experiment’s hypnotic exploration as it is on the 17:51 version of “Double Freedom” included here.

That song – the amorphous nature of which is revealed in the fact that it was 13 minutes on their 2009 demo (review here) and 22 on Long Distance Trip – wasn’t included in the original broadcast of the show, but it closes the live set here as the eighth song and precedes and acoustic bonus track, a sitar-laden studio reworking of “Singata Mystic Queen,” which is shorter than the one that opens the set at 5:45, but still no less immersive than Samsara Blues Experiment has ever been, i.e., plenty. Peters’ voice comes very much to the fore on the live recording, and where one might expect that to provide an undue grounding effect on the material, there’s enough echo on him and his position is varied enough around the two guitars, bass and drums, that it’s not a distraction to the overall flow from one song, or indeed one part, into the next. Doubtless Samsara Blues Experiment’s consistent focus on the instrumental aspects of their sound deserves partial credit for that – for those who’ve heard them, they can make a driving verse riff like that of “Singata Mystic Queen” just as memorable as the more potent chorus of a song like “Hangin’ on the Wire,” which follows – but I think it’s also due to the fact that Rockpalast essentially mirrors and melds the flows of Long Distance Trip and Revelation and Mystery in how the set is put together. They open, as noted, with “Singata Mystic Queen,” which also opened the first album, and answer it immediately with “Hangin’ on the Wire,” the second track from the second album. “Army of Ignorance” and “For the Lost Souls,” the second and third cuts from the first album, follow in succession, and “Into the Black” follows them, the third cut from the second album. Already we see that the foursome are progressing down both tracklists of their studio outings, and they continue the pattern with “Center of the Sun” (album one, track four), “Outside Insight Blues” (album two, track five) and “Double Freedom” (album one, track six), closing with their most extensive piece to date before shifting into the acoustic bonus.

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Some pictures had surfaced a bit ago from Kadavar‘s video shoot for “Come Back Life” — I don’t think the German trio goes anywhere without a camera following, and neither should they — so the desert theme and the old car had been given some short preview, but that was ultimately little hint of the good use Kadavar would put both to in the clip itself. Kadavar‘s second album and Nuclear Blast debut, Abra Kadavar (review here), is out May 14. They seem to describe some hard times for their first US venture playing SXSW in March, but hopefully that’s not the last time Lupus Lindemann, Tiger and Mammut decide to make the trip over.

Here’s “Come Back Life,” followed by some info from the PR wire:

Kadavar, “Come Back Life” official video

Berlin-based classic rockers KADAVAR proudly present the official video clip for “Come Back Life”! The song comes from their upcoming Nuclear Blast debut Abra Kadavar, which will be released on May 14th in North America. The clip was shot, directed and edited by Nathini van der Meer and Annikki Heinemann of Oddisee Films (www.oddiseefilms.com) during the band’s journey through the USA in March 2013.

“It was the trip of our lives, swaying between heaven and hell,” commented KADAVAR about the experience. “Our baggage got lost and neither did we have a place to sleep for the time of the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, nor a backline or money. As if this wasn’t enough, the ’64 Ford Galaxy that we had bought after a long search blew up in our faces after ten minutes on the highway. Still we met many kind people whose help made it possible for us to reach San Francisco in the end. Our friends Nathini and Annikki have accompanied us during the entire three weeks and have captured footage that’ll stick in our memories forever. After this trip, one of the song’s lines fits even better: Come back life, all is forgiven now…”

Edging ever closer to the molten core at the very heart of psychedelic jamming, German trio Electric Moon are heading out on a tour starting this Friday that will see them hit Tilburg for the Roadburn Afterburner on Sunday, where I’m stoked I’ll get to see them after not being able to catch their set last year. I expect much bliss to ensue, and it’s even better that they’re coming through not, since they’ve got a new 10″ of studio recordings (they’re pretty prolific, but most of their stuff is concert material) called You Can See the Sound of… as well that you can hear a track from below. Could that be Sula Bassana joining Komet Lulu on those super-effects-laden vocals? I guess I’ll have to let you know when I know.

The You Can See the Sound of Electric Moon 10″ is only available at gigs and it’s limited to 499 copies pressed to white vinyl, so if you’re in Europe throughout May or June, you might want to run into Electric Moon here or there. They’ll be playing the following:

ELECTRIC MOON:
19.04. GER-Krefeld, Kulturrampe
21.04. NL-Tilburg, Roadburn Afterburner
03.05. GER-Lippstadt, LiLu
04.05. GER-Itzehoe, Atzehoe
05.05. DK-Nyborg, Muzirkus
09.05. N-Oslo, Café Mir (+Wind)
10.05. S-Gothenburg, Truckstop Alaska
11.05. DK-Copenhagen, Dragens Hule (+ØSC)
19.06. UK-St. Albans, The Horn
21.06. UK-Liverpool, Blade Factory
22.06. UK-Builth Wells, Wales, Sonic Rock Solstice
23.06. UK-Leicester, The Musician
27.06. UK-Cambridge, Man On The Moon
28.06. UK-London, The Shacklewell Arms
29.06. UK-Dover, The Louis Armstrong
11.08. AT-Vienna, Rhiz
13.08. HU-Szeged, Club Noir
15.08. RO-Alba Iulia, Dark Bombastic Evening

Electric Moon, “No Escape from Now”

Electric Moon on Thee Facebooks

Sulatron Records

Friday tickets for the Berlin-held Desertfest have apparently sold out, but there’s still room for Thursday and Saturday. At the end of last week, the fest announced three movies they’ll be showing in addition to the performances, and a live painting to be done by French graphic artist Aurelio Deville.

These mark the last announcements for the 2013 Desertfest Berlin, so I’ll say quickly thanks and it’s been fun keeping up with the updates (or trying, anyway), and that if you’re lucky enough to wind up at the Astra Kulturhaus from April 25-27, it’s sure to be a killer time. Here’s how they have it on the Desertfest Berlin website:

AURELIO DEVILLE (FR)

Today we are proud to present to you a multidisciplinary French artist who will come to DESERTFEST to paint a fresco in live, on the Theatre Bizarre’s walls : AURELIO DEVILLE. As you may have noticed, the Theatre Bizarre will receive several kinds of events during the festival. Sheyk Raleph will bring his orientasian improvisations. We will show 3 movies whose the first one has already been presented few days ago. Now it’s time for you to get to know AURELIO DEVILLE, that you will be able to see painting a fresco in live on Friday and Saturday (15h40 – 21h).

BEYOND THE INFINITE (CH)

We are extremely proud to welcome at Desertfest Berlin the WORLD PREMIERE of Sandro Müntener’s “BEYOND THE INFINITE” !!

On Friday 26th and Saturday 27th, you will be able to enjoy a selection of three movies in the Theatre Bizarre. We already introduced to you the first one : LAST HIPPIE STANDING (17h – 45min). Here is the second one : BEYOND THE INFINITE – A Journey Into European Underground Rock Music (21h40 – 53min).

“If you make Rock music and smoke weed, then you get Stoner Rock, that’s basically it.”
Nothing more to add ? Well, Sandro Müntener’s BEYOND THE INFINITE does. Not by pigeonholing a musical style or trying to explain everything out there. But by drawing a portrait of a vivid underground community going its own way. It’s not only a film about music, but about dedicated people all over Europe wanting to create something all together.

We are very proud to welcome this world premiere at DESERTFEST BERLIN, and really happy to get you a chance to see this documentary as it’s really a great piece !

MY SLEEPING KARMA – A TOUR VIDEO (GER)

Here we are. This is the last announcement for the DESERTFEST BERLIN, but not the least ! We are proud to present you Tim Bohnenstingl’s “MY SLEEPING KARMA – A TOUR VIDEO” !!

On Friday 26th and Saturday 27th, you will be able to enjoy three movies, and you already know two of them : LAST HIPPIE STANDING (17h – 45min) and BEYOND THE INIFNITE (21h40 – 53min). Here is the last one : MY SLEEPING KARMA – A TOUR VIDEO (19h40 – 20min) !

This 20 minute tour documentary was filmed over six days on tour, following My Sleeping Karma non stop. Hamburg, Paris, London, Manchester, Stuttgart. It focuses on the live shows, but also allows the audience to experience one day of a normal band on the road : Driving long distances, soundchecks, press interviews, photoshootings, load outs, jamming and just being yourself. All this is combined with interviews by the band commenting on the tour life and the “Flow” which My Sleeping Karma are kind of famous for in the underground scene.
Seppi, Steffen, Matte and Normen finally playing the Desertfest, months after their tour with Monster Magnet, makes this the perfect opportunity to present the video to all of you guys out there.

“It’s was not only a pleasure and honour to be on tour with Monster Magnet, the band which brought me to the so called Stoner Rock, but much more so: My Sleeping Karma, one of the bands which still keeps me so interested in this flourishing genre. I had a lot of fun with the nicest people, I hope you will too while watching the movie. I feel very lucky that the movie will be screened and I am looking forward to meet you and talk about: My Sleeping Karma – A Tour Video”. Tim, stonerrock.eu

My Sleeping Karma, A Tour Video (Trailer)

Berlin trio Kadavar have worked quickly to become one of the most prominent acts in the European heavy underground. Their 2012 self-titled debut sounded so organic that even the mp3s had an analog hiss, and while they carried their songs across with an ultra-natural feel, it was the confidence in the material and the spontaneous feel of the performances that made Kadavar’s Kadavar such a watershed release. It was my pick for the year’s best debut; a lean but frighteningly cohesive 34-minute full-length that showed potential as much as it made an impact on its own. Touring and a split with Aqua Nebula Oscillator followed later in 2012, and Kadavar – vocalist/guitarist Wolf Lindemann, Rivoli bassist Mammut and drummer Tiger — were picked up by Nuclear Blast to join the ranks of Graveyard, Orchid and Witchcraft in the label’s growing stable of tube-amped heavy rockers. Thus it is that their second album, Abra Kadavar, arrives with no small measure of anticipation. Some immediate differences: the sophomore outing is three tracks and about eight minutes longer than the first one, clocking in at a still-vinyl-ready 41:16. The distinctive drum sound of Tiger’s kit – the sort of fuzz that came off his snare with each tap – has abated, though the snare hits hardly sound punched in and an overall natural, live feel has been maintained between both the drums and Mammut’s bass, which was a standout element of the first record and remains so on Abra Kadavar. As regards Lindemann’s vocals, they are forward in classic rock tradition, but more assured and mature for the band’s road time, and he skillfully follows his own lead lines in the second half of opener “Come Back Life,” the trio having already enacted a formidable shuffle en route to the closing solo. Throughout, there is clear, resonant stylistic growth and as much as Abra Kadavar proves the first album wasn’t a fluke, it also shows the three-piece aren’t necessarily limited to the driving ‘70s heavy rock that they nonetheless so effectively convey on the single, “Doomsday Machine.” The self-titled ended psychedelic and extended with the eight-minute “Purple Sage,” but though they’re shorter, the closing trio of “Liquid Dream,” “Rhythm for Endless Minds” and “Abra Kadabra” show a nascent sonic diversity in Kadavar’s approach that incorporates rocking organ, psych swirl, and a heavy jamming sensibility that underlies much of the band’s work to-date, but has yet to be so blatantly expressed.

Evolution is clear too from the start of “Come Back Life,” which gives Abra Kadavar a no less effective initial groove than “An Industry of Murder” brought to Graveyard’s 2012 third album, Lights Out, despite having little in common in terms of sound. Immediately, Mammut’s bass offers rich, warm low end playing off Lindemann’s guitar, though it winds up being the energy in Tiger’s Bonzo-type fills that propels the track. They arrive quickly at a hook with a build and the lines, “Hello darkness my old friend/I won’t talk to you again,” (or somewhere thereabouts) and repeat the progression twice, but then suddenly it disappears in favor of a return to the verse, Lindemann’s lead lines acting as a riff while Mammut and Tiger hold the rhythm together, and subsequent build into a stop-start stomp progression in which the title line is delivered. It’s a rich, near-irresistible groove, fit to open the album, but I keep wondering when that Simon & Garfunkel referential part will return – perhaps as transition out of the last verse into the final solo – and it never does, leaving the structure more open than it might’ve been on the last album as “Come Back Life” crashes to its finish and fades to give way to the start of “Doomsday Machine.” Certainly the single has all the chorus potency one could possibly ask from Kadavar, but even its placement as the second track instead of the first – the debut having opened with its strongest chorus in “All Our Thoughts” – shows the band are trying something new with their second outing. Mood varies throughout on an almost per-track basis, though songs are consistent in general sound and production, but “Doomsday Machine” is a straightforward highlight, its task and structure simple in execution of a tension-building verse and a payoff chorus of driving riffs and classic heavy grooves. “Doomsday Machine” is almost immediately familiar, true to its intent, and offers few frills to a decades-tested formula, an extra layer of Lindemann’s guitar toward the last verse seeming like a grand addition. Following a final chorus, Kadavar end the single instrumentally, the guitar and bass intertwining leads leaving room for a transitional drum fill that’s a standout, two-second solo hinting of something much more lasting perhaps when delivered on stage.

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Polish heavy rockers Satellite Beaver are no strangers around these parts, going back to 2010 and hearing some tracks from their MySpace page (a simpler time!), and on through an exploration of their 2009 Trip Outside Your Mind demo (review here) and subsequent 2012 EP, The Last Bow (review here). Now the Warsaw foursome have been tapped to kickoff this year’s Desertfest in Berlin on April 25.

They’re the second to last addition — one more to come later this week — to the fest, the website for which posted this announcement of the rock to come once Satellite Beaver take the stage:

Desertfest Berlin – SATELLITE BEAVER (POL)

We are thrilled to announce that Polish Stoner/Sludge Metal quartet SATELLITE BEAVER will open the festival on Thursday 25 !!

Formed in Warsaw, Poland, in 2008, SATELLITE BEAVER are a hard rocking Sludge/Stoner Metal Band composed of Szymon (Guitars/Vocals), Tomek (Guitar), Michal (Bass) and Robert (Drums).

Inspired by traditional grunge and stoner rock genres, SATELLITE BEAVER came a long way through different influences what in practice means searching for thickest guitar strings and biggest crash cymbals ever created. The fuzz and distortion are at maximum levels, producing some truly earth shattering sounds, an eclectic hybrid of sludge, psychedelic and grunge. It hits hard, dripping with atmosphere, as otherworldly sounds clamber over the lumbering riffs to brilliant head-banging effect.

Their latest EP, “The Last Bow” contains tracks recorded through 2010 and 2011, summing up the bands creative journey and giving you an inclination of where they might be headed. Currently, SATELLITE BEAVER are preparing brand new material for their debut album release, which is about to be recorded and released in the second half of 2013 and promoted through an European tour in September. It will contain massive, down-tuned trips to the land of fuzz, which you will be able to hear live at DESERTFEST BERLIN !

Satellite Beaver on Thee Facebooks

Desertfest Berlin website

Hot off their tour and split release with like-minded countrymen Sungrazer, Lebowski-loving Dutch fuzz jammers The Machine have been added to take part in London’s Desertfest next month. Native to Germany, the genre-defying duo Dÿse will bring new material and an experimental edge to Berlin’s own Desertfest, which they’ll play ahead of the release of a new album later in 2013.

As ever, here are the announcements courtesy of the London and Berlin Desertfest websites:

Welcome To The Machine

Welcome to The Machine……..a three-piece from Rotterdam who specialise in extended jams and improvisation. The best way to describe them is to go into detail on their live skills as that is really what they are all about. Using the base of their album tracks, every Machine show becomes a brand new experience and it’s own entity. Even though their sound is rooted in modern stoner rock, they channel the spirit of the late 1960s and as you sink into the performance you get some idea of what feelings may have been aroused in a tripping hippy standing aghast at The Grateful Dead on one of their acid-fuelled excursions.

David Eering is shamanistic in his position as the frontman, he dials-in the controls with his pulsating riffs and astronomic solos. The rhythm section of Davy Boogaard and Hans van Heemst are right behind supplying the propulsion to David’s showcase and together the band weaves a seamlessly holistic experience.

Since their conception in 2007 they have released 4 albums, the last two on the esteemed Elektrohasch label, and played at many of Europe’s premier psych festivals including a captivating performance at last year’s DunaJam. They have just completed a successful European tour with Sungrazer, and you are invited to explore new psychedelic realms with them at Desertfest 2013, you won’t forget it.

Words Courtesy of Rich After Sabbath

Desertfest Berlin – Dÿse (GER)

Hi Guys ! We are pleased to welcome the German noise rock duo Dÿse at DESERTFEST BERLIN !!

Formed in the spring of 2003 and named after the Dysecatmotel in Amsterdam where they first met, DYSE began as a fun, drunken side project for Jari and André to try new things with music they enjoyed, writing songs with no limitations or expectations from anyone.

The main compositional feature of their sound is alternating sections of heavy, metallish guitar-laden rock and quiet, doodling, rhythmic writing. The vocals are delivered in a mixture of virtually-shouted German and English, and the listener is challenged by the compositional changes and the different sonic textures.

In 2004, the first in a trilogy of 7 inch singles was released called “Honig” (Honey), followed by dozens of gigs as they perfecting their live show and became tighter than tight. The second single “Aga Ragnag” came out in 2005, followed by the third and final instalment “Houthakkertje” in 2006. To promote the completion of the 7 inches, Jari and André booked themselves a gruelling four-week tour across Europe and the UK. The response to each show was overwhelming as audiences everywhere were blown away by this unique, energetic and incredibly entertaining duo.

When they returned home from the tour, the band were approached to join the Exile on Mainstream Records family. June 2007 saw the release of DYSE’s self-titled debut album, which was followed in 2009 by their second one “Lieder Sind Brüder Der Revolution”.

At this year’s DESERTFEST they are proud to present their new single “Sag Hans zu mir” (You can call me Hans), which will be a teaser for their new album which you can expect by the end of this year !

“Radical as punks, clever as the avantgarde, loud as a hellicopter and fast as Michael Schumacher racing money to Switzerland” DYSE have hits in the bag and a reputation as one of Europe’s best live duos, so don’t miss them !!

We ended last week with news about Desertfest in London, so it seems only fair to start this week with news about the Desertfest in Berlin. Replacing Radio Moscow, heavy psych groovers My Sleeping Karma have been announced as taking part in the German fest, which is set for April 25-27 at Berlin’s Astra Kulturhaus.

My Sleeping Karma have been on a roll since releasing their excellent fourth album, Soma (review here), last fall, so one imagines they’ll be greeted as liberators when it comes to their Desertfest set. Good times.

Get hip to the announcement below:

Friends ! We are extremely pleased to announce that German instrumental heavy psych quartet MY SLEEPING KARMA is added to DESERTFEST line-up ! You should be happy, many of you demanded them !

MY SLEEPING KARMA combines the organic aspect of psychedelic groove with emotional shades of aphasian landscapes. That was the intention of their self-titled debut album (Elektrohasch, 2006) and it still remains.

From 6 years now, they proffer the incomparable tonal smoothness and instrumental heavy psych groove that made their success, focusing on various aspects of Buddhism (“Satya”, Elektrohasch, 2008) and Hinduism (“Tri”, Eletrohasch, 2010) theologies.

Last year, the band makes a jump to Napalm Records for the released of their fourth album, “Soma”, bringing them to the attention of a wider audience. This release was followed fall 2012 by a bir European tour supporting legendary Monster Magnet !

So, following the meaning of the last album title (“Soma” is the nectar of the gods), we can only advise you to come at DESERTFEST BERLIN to share a pint of this mystic drink that will lead you to a journey from which you may never want to come back !!

More word from the Desertfest camp in that UK monoliths Latitudes will play the Black Heart in London and that Germany’s Oddjobmen — not to be confused with the Italian outfit OJM, who share the initials Oddjobmen use for their logo — will play in Berlin. The hits just keep coming.

Here’s the latest from the fest sites (London, Berlin):

Latitudes to play Desertfest

“Monolithic and intensely captivating are just 2 descriptions that don’t even come close to representing the immense sound of LATITUDES, who have been hand picked by human_disease_promo to be the latest addition to the bill for DesertFest 2013. Huge, soaring riffs layered in a masterful fashion, cut into with spacey atmospheric synth, create a sound hovering somewhere in the realms of part shoegazer / post metal, part hammering sludge, part dark prog. Latitudes have never been a band tied to a stringent set of rules which has enabled their sound to flourish into the cacophony of noise and ethereal influences found within the latest release Individuation (2012), an album which has received much praise from press though to peers and fans alike, finding its way quite justifiably into Terrorizer’s top 50 albums of the year segment. This latest offering follows on from previous album – Agonist, a piece of work held in particularly high regard for its versatile heaviness and powerful melodic crescendos that saw the band likened to the much missed Capricorns and also the likes of Isis and Cult Of Luna. Latitudes are certainly not newcomers though to writing deep steamrollering riffs. Debut EP ‘Bleak Epiphanies In Slow Motion’ saw them hone in on a powerfully driving sound back in 2007, a direction the band had been working towards for a time prior to this too. A well balanced, yet monstrously heavy live show, known for demanding the attention of all ears (and the and the nodding in unison of every head in the room) sought to give the band a strong reputation and respect all over the UK, solidified further by shows over the years with Kruger, Minsk, A Storm Of Light, Nachtmystium, Baroness, and even Cathedral. Latitudes are most definitely worth taking the time to catch when they play The Black Heart stage on the final day of this year’s DesertFest here in London town, as they’ll be certain to create a colossal tide of swirling and dynamic heaviness.” Words – Staggerin’ Matt

Desertfest Berlin – ODDJOBMEN (GER)

Hey friends, today we are announcing something special, a fresh new project from Berlin : ODDJOBMEN !!
We are very pleased to welcome them as they will play their very first shows in April !!

For those (many of you) who dont know them, the four ODDJOBMEN are former and active members of Sissies, Rotor, Gods of Blitz, Samavayo, Hutchinson & Pothead… I named : Kozik, Baale, Alavi, and Meyer !

Based on the soul-material they rocked out a bass driven, grease-groovin, hunger-striking, finger licking riff-o-rama with a twist of cain… Imagine Sly and the Family Stone vs. Black Sabbath, Stevie Wonder vs. Soundgarden, Queens of the Stone Age vs. Beach Boys, James Brown vs. Fugazi, and you get a hint of what conjuration is coming to get ya !

The band is currently working on their debut EP “Hook, Line and Sinker”, and will play some festivals this summer.
Stay tuned !

Why, it doesn’t seem that long ago that German retro rockers Kadavar were posting a clip for “All Our Thoughts” from their self-titled debut. Oh wait, that wasn’t that long ago. Only about two weeks ago, in fact. Nonetheless, time and album cycles invariably march on, and the band has unveiled a video for the charming, bouncing new single “Doomsday Machine,” taken from their sophomore outing and Nuclear Blast debut, Abra Kadavar. The snare sound may have changed, but the overall ethic seems to have remained the same.

Abra Kadavar is out April 16. Dig:

Kadavar, “Doomsday Machine”

A young, organ-heavy four-piece out of Potsdam, Germany, Stonehenge make their debut with Bunch of Bisons, a mostly instrumental collection showing influence culled from classic rock jams and modern heavy psych. The four-piece, comprised of guitarist/vocalist Enrico Semler, bassist Michael Paukner, drummer Ole Fischer and organist Johannes Walenta, lock into some righteous if mostly familiar grooves, but what really stands them out is Walenta‘s organ work, the natural production of the album’s seven component tracks and the band’s occasional touches of flourish, such as the handclaps and vocals on opener “Arctic Brother.”

The requisite Deep Purple influence mostly shows up in the straightforward guitar-and-organ riffing of “Sun on the Asphalt,” on which Semler (also of the Potsdam sax-infused foursome Minerva), far back in the mix, seems tempted to start in with a verse but thinks twice and just tosses out a couple Cactus-style lines here and there for bluesy affect. Can’t say I blame him, since the instrumental portion of “Sun on the Asphalt” delivers enough of a hook and the songs themselves — not a one of them comes in under seven minutes — are jammy enough that when there isn’t singing, it doesn’t seem to be lacking. A series of “Hey!” gang shouts on “Concrete Krieger” is enough to get the point of a chorus across.

Tonally, they hint at heavy psychedelia, as on the opening of closer “Delay,” but even when Semler‘s guitar seems at rest and Paukner‘s bass is at its richest, Stonehenge – contrary to their moniker, which has earned its reputation by essentially sitting still over a great stretch of time — never come to a halt, switching from one groove to the next to the next, switching up who’s playing what and, in Semler‘s case, belting out soulful vocals way off-mic so as to barely be heard in the riff-rocking rush. That makes Bunch of Bisons a more energetic listen than one might think for something with extended tracks, and as “Delay” moves in its second half to a slower, building progression, one can only wonder how Stonehenge might approach a follow-up to Bunch of Bisons and if their next outing won’t find them a more patient band.

Not that they need to be — they hardly sound winded at the finish of their debut — just that their instrumental dynamic seems to be in its beginnings and could lead to any number of interesting evolutionary paths, particularly as Semler develops his vocals and Stonehenge continue to toy with the balance between the guitar and Walenta‘s organ, which adds melodic depth to these arrangements and is a clear focal point of their sound at this stage. Could be some fascinating things to come.

Stonehenge have made Bunch of Bisons available for streaming, and you can listen on the player below courtesy of their Bandcamp:

More news from Desertfest 2013 to round out the week. Fresh off their run in the US with Graveyard, Cali stoner-skaters The Shrine will be playing as part of Desertfest‘s London lineup, and traveling from Greece, heavy psych rockers 1000mods will make an appearance at the Berlin fest.

Here are the official announcements, culled from their respective websites (London, Berlin):

The Shrine to Shine at Desertfest

Smashing their way straight into Desertfest, L.A. young bloods The Shrine are set to bring their in-your-face and to-the-point brand of hardcore desert rock. Not many bands out their can claim to mix the tripped-out echoes of fuzz with the rough and ready aggressiveness of early punk, but the upcoming three piece of Josh Landau (guitar/vocals), Courtland Murphy (bass) and Jeff Murray (Drums) make it effortless.

Last year’s Tee Pee Records debut, the appropriately titled Primitive Blast, is a lightning paced wall of sound that blows off your ears. Traces of almost everyone, from Truckfighters, to Misfits, to MC5, are there to find within an all too short 35 minutes of raw, chugging stomp.

It’s no surprise to see that they’ve already notched up some impressive support slots with, among others, Kyuss Lives!, Graveyard and Desertfest headliners Pentagram. No doubt at Desertfest The Shrine will be some of the heaviest fuzz you’ll ever hear.

Desertfest Berlin – 1000MODS (GR)

Today, we are thrilled to welcome the first Greek band at DESERTFEST BERLIN : the striking 1000 MODS !!

1000 MODS is a 4-piece psychedelic/stoner rock band from Chiliomodi, Greece, formed in 2006. They play an impressive and highly addictive piece of downtuned, fuzzed up and hard hitting stoner rock, hone in a serious groove.

In the beginning of 2007, they released their first (self-financed) EP “Blank Reality”, and in December 2009 they stroke back with a brand new 7” EP titled “Liquid Sleep”, on the Greek label CTS Prods. In may 2010, they released a split tape with the German psy-doomsters Wight, and few months later, they recorded their full-length debut album “Super Van Vacation”, produced by the almighty Billy Anderson, and released by German label Kozmic Artifactz (vinyl) and CTS Prods (Digipack) in September 2011. Last December, the band released their latest EP “Valley of Sand” on Lab Records.

Since their beginning, they have played over 100 live shows, including openings for Brant Bjork, Colour Haze, Karma to Burn, My Sleepin Karma, Radio Moscow and many others. In October 2011, they toured in Europe playing 25 gigs in 12 countries, with an appearance as special guests at Up In Smoke 3, and in August 2012, they played at Aquamaria Festival.

This year, it’s time for them to play at DESERTFEST BERLIN ! “Super Van Vacation” vinyl re-issue is scheduled in April 2013 by CTS Prods, just in time for the festival, so get in the van, and come to Berlin !!

Stages are starting to take shape and lineups are being finalized, so we must be getting close to the kickoff of this year’s Desertfest. Still, with just under two months to go until the 2013 fests launch in London and Berlin, more bands are being announced for both. As London digs into the UK’s ultra-fertile underground to add the likes of Blackstorm, Wodensthrone and Mother Corona, Berlin has announced that Swedish rockers Free Fall, who will be on the road with Witchcraft and Orchid (both also playing), have joined the lineup for at the Astra Kulturhaus.

Here’s a wrap-up of the latest announcements:

Desertfest Berlin – FREE FALL (SWE)

We are very pleased to announce that retro-rock band FREE FALL is added to DESERTFEST line-up !!

From Stockholm, Sweden, FREE FALL was formed in 2009 by guitarist Mattias Bärjed (The Soundtrack Of Our Lives) who felt the urge to form a classic 4-piece band playing a straight up heavy rock ‘n roll. He was joined by long time friend and bass wizard Jan Martens, drummer Ludwig Dahlberg (International Noise Conspiracy) and lead vocalist Kim Fransson.

Sweden really seems to be the current spiritual home of the ongoing Retro-Rock revival, and FREE FALL don’t need occult lyrics, don’t need LSD driven imagery to convince any fan of 70′s music. The band let their tunes speak for themselves. Together, they have formed something that swings hard with an energetic, authoritarian and powerful sound they called “Freedom Rock”. A huge slice of grooving rock that is very much inspired by the greats of the 70′s.

After signing a deal with Nuclear Blast in October 2012, the band recorded their debut album “Power and Volume”, which was unleashed all over Europe few days ago ! Last Friday, they have also been confirmed to be touring Europe in April/May alongside fellow Nuclear Blast label mates WITCHCRAFT and ORCHID. As they both take part in DESERFEST BERLIN, it was logic for us to also welcome FREE FALL, and help them to succed their “quest to liberate people through Freedom Rock” !

FREE FALL’s “world domination through Power and Volume” is starting now !!

Wodensthrone Complete Seven Churches Stage at Desertfest

We are please to announce Wodensthrone will be playing the Seven Churches stage at Desertfest. Wodensthrone was formed in Winterfylleð of 2005, in the Sundered Lands of North Eastern England, by founding members Brunwulf, Wildeþrýð, Gerádwine, and Hréowsian.

In these formative days, the clan’s sound was raw and primitive, but still hinted at a sense of sorrow, with lyrics focusing on the darker aspects of England’s history.However, by Eostremonað of 2006, the clan’s music had developed both technically and melodically, and so Æðelwalh was recruited on synths. It was at this point that Wodensthrone truly began to resemble their current incarnation, growing both musically and conceptually.

However, the clan still felt incomplete, and so comrade Eldbeorn joined the clan on guitar in the Blotmonað of 2006, completing the line-up and adding further depths of melody and savagery to the clan’s sound.

THERES A STORM A’COMIN FOR DESERTFEST!

The final band to be added for the HDP/WPC stage are the mighty Brighton rifflords BLACKSTORM. Like the most powerful and destructive of storms this hardened troop of musicians rarely appear and this will be the 2nd ever London show since their creation, but when they have made an appearance it has been with powerful intent alongside the likes of Cancer Bats, Kruger, Lesbian, Saviours, & Orange Goblin. Featuring the amazingly talented vocalist Karl Middleton (of Earthtone9 fame) alongside side a fair few other familiar faces of the Brighton Music scene including guitarists Neil Kingsbury (ex- fall of Efafra) and Gez Walton (ex The Ghost of a Thousand, This is Menace).

They have been described as combining elements of drone, stoner, down-tuned sludge with classic rock and the vitality of hardcore and punk, Blackstorm combines crushingly heavy, catchy-as hell riffs with juggernaut proportioned rhythmic grooves and killer hook laden vocals. And their most recent release ‘The Darkness is Getting Closer’ was released in November last year showing a much more melodic and groove driven beast. If you like you your riffs served up with a nice juicy sing-along chorus then these guys are for you, just remember that rumble you hear is the sound of an oncoming storm, a BLACKSTORM!!

Words Courtesy of Gareth Kelly

Mother Corona Play Desertfest

Oxfordshire’s Mother Corona began their mission to eclipse the UK stoner rock scene in 2008 and have made two records to date. The most recent was last year’s “Out Of The Dust” LP. If we suggested “, and Into The Void” would be a good adjunct to that title, you’d be getting a good idea of where these guys are coming from.

If Ozzie’s mob had stayed on that rocket for longer they’d probably have reached the vicinity of where Mother Corona are now; fat riffs and cosmic doom of the highest order. They also add a welcome soupcon of psychedelic shimmer into the sound which helps to give it that all-important element of individuality, as do the melodious flanged croons of singer Daveo.

Come join the crew at Desertfest 2013 while they set the controls for you. Mother Corona have played with a host of scene favourites like Trippy Wicked, Enos, Alunha and fellow Oxfordians Desert Storm so you know you’ll be in good company during your travels to the outer-reaches.

Words Courtesy of Rich After Sabbath