In some ways, it’s comforting to see an announcement coming from the camp of Roadburn Festival — this year putting forth the virtual Roadburn Redux owing to circumstances that need not be recounted here for the thousandth time — and to find it completely overwhelming. Roadburn, in years past, has meant hard choices. You can only be in one place at one time. Do you leave in the middle of one set to catch the beginning of another? Do you REALLY need to take a break for dinner? Certainly not. Such human weaknesses.

I don’t know how Roadburn Redux will be organized/presented. Is it an artsy-looking website with a bunch of streaming embeds or links? A sort of choose-your-own-adventure excursion into a weekend of mindbending screentime? I am deeply curious to find out, and I suspect I’m not alone in that. My ignorance, however, isn’t preventing me from looking forward to the thing, which in festival tradition is set for next month. There will be a Weirdo Canyon Dispatch, the daily ‘zine. I was instructed to work on a new name for it. Might go with ‘Dispatch Redux,’ we’ll see.

Here’s the announcement from the PR wire:

ROADBURN REDUX: New additions for 2021 edition

Redefining heaviness with exclusive performances and premieres – wherever you are in the world.

Following on from last month’s announcement launching Roadburn Redux, this month sees another line up of exclusive performances and commissioned music. Always seeking to redefine heaviness and champion bands from a multitude of interconnecting underground scenes, Roadburn Redux will deliver cutting edge content available to be experienced digitally from anywhere around the world.

Artistic Director, Walter Hoeijmakers, comments: “I’m delighted to be able to continue our relatively new tradition of commissioned music this year. Having already heard some of what’s in store – I can confidently say that there are going to be many reasons to tune in for Roadburn this year, with unmissable performances and exclusive new music premiering across the weekend. We may be apart this year, but the spirit of Roadburn is alive and well!”
Roadburn Redux will take place online between April 16-18. Roadburnredux.com for more information.
New Additions

COMMISSIONED MUSIC: Mizmor presents Wit’s End
We were due to welcome Mizmor back to Roadburn in 2020 – a reunion and a celebration of this wonderful and ever-evolving creative outlet for one of our favourite, forward thinking musicians. But life had other plans and that got put on ice. However, we’re delighted to announce that A.L.N agreed to work on a specially commissioned piece of music that will premiere during Roadburn Redux.
Titled Wit’s End, this brand new, fifteen minute track will make its debut accompanied by an original video made specially for the release by Zev Deans. The track will make an appearance on an upcoming Mizmor release via Gilead Media later this year, but for now details of that remain under wraps.

COMMISSIONED MUSIC: Primitive Man
We’re thrilled to announce that we commissioned Primitive Man to compose and record all-new, original material to make its debut during Roadburn this April. Having made their mark in such an unforgettable way with each release so far, we have no doubt that the material we have the honour of presenting this April will follow suit.

Primitive Man’s Ethan Lee McCarthy comments:

“We have spent the last year writing these songs in spite of everything that has been going on. We have no other choice but to be tougher than the darkness that surrounds us. And these songs reflect not only times of extreme darkness but the need to persevere. Long live extreme music, long live friendship and long live Roadburn.”

COMMISSIONED MUSIC: Many Blessings
As well as fronting the formidable Primitive Man, Ethan Lee McCarthy has another outlet for his creativity in the form of Many Blessings. Understandably sharing much of the same DNA as Primitive Man, Many Blessings offers a goosebump-inducing ominous atmosphere.Always hungry for more of those foundation-shattering creations, we commissioned Ethan to create new Many Blessings material that will premiere during Roadburn Redux.

PARADOX PRESENTS: AUTARKH III
Having already announced an Autarkh performance for Roadburn Redux, we’re thrilled to announce a second, very different performance from this up and coming Tilburg-based band, under a slightly different guise: Autarkh III. The trio consists of Autarkh-members David Luiten (vocals / guitars), Michel Nienhuis (vocals / guitars) and Tijnn Verbruggen (live electronics) and aims to represent an alternative timeline of Autarkh’s debut album Form In Motion.

Gallops
Back in 2018, Gallops made their debut at Roadburn Festival – the Welsh trio brought the party to Het Patronaat with a late-night showcase of pulsating electronica and sweeping experimental rock. Now they’re back for Roadburn Redux, and will be beaming their out-there beats to wherever you are in the world with a virtual live performance.

SVART SESSIONS: Haunted Plasma
Teased last month we can now reveal the secret project that will be part of the Svart Sessions at Roadburn REDUX. The phantoms at the beating nucleus of this unearthly machine are Juho Vanhanen (Oranssi Pazuzu, Grave Pleasures), Timo Kaukolampi (K-X-P, Op:l Bastards) and Tomi Leppänen (Circle, Aavikko, K-X-P), transmitting a music form evolved from a life of redefining sonic boundaries in their respective projects. Also featuring guest vocals from Mat McNerney (Hexvessel, Carpenter Brut, Beastmilk) and Ringa Manner (Ruusut, The Hearing) Haunted Plasma promises an extraterrestrial experience from some of the foremost contemporary musicians at the heart of the Finnish heavy and avant-garde musical underworld.

Inter Arma Covered in the Compound: Live at Chesterfield East
Being fans of Inter Arma in any and every guise, we’d booked them to perform Sulphur English in full for the ill-fated Roadburn 2020 – and now we’ve asked them to perform a covers set at Roadburn Redux. Although we’ll not be able to experience it up close and personal, if anyone can communicate an after-party vibe through the airwaves and in pixel form, it’s these guys.

Maggot Heart
Maggot Heart made their Roadburn debut back in 2018, and despite only having one EP, 2017’s City Girls, to their name at the time, they drew in the masses who were eager to see what this exciting new project had in store. Maggot Heart didn’t disappoint – getting the packed-out Green Room grooving to their raucous late-night show. Latest album, Mercy Machine, will provide the material for their Roadburn Redux set, filmed at Urban Spree in Berlin; we can’t wait to welcome Maggot Heart back to Roadburn in this digital format.

Offermose
Craving tidal waves of shape shifting sounds that open wide the hidden portal of the mind and the twisted trails to the distant light within thyself? Look no further – from the bottomless depths of murky forest lakes to the unfathomable reaches of primordial cosmos, Offermose will rise with yet another dark ritual of sacrifice, this time exclusively for Roadburn Redux.

ALBUM PREMIERE: Regarde Les Hommes Tomber performing Ascension
There’s no denying that Regarde Les Hommes Tomber’s Ascension left a mark on us and the wider Roadburn community. We’re thrilled that they’ll be performing the whole thing for us in its entirety, their intoxicating amalgam of genres brought to life especially for Roadburn Redux.

ALBUM PREMIERE: The Devil’s Trade performing The Call of the Iron Peak
A little way outside of Budapest you’ll find the Tárnok Quarry – a place that has been the source of many fruitful and historic endeavours over many centuries. Now this magical location will host The Devil’s Trade – for a very special performance of The Call of The Iron Peak recorded specially for Roadburn Redux. We’re thrilled to be the conduit for such an evocative and unusual performance.

Wayfarer
Wayfarer will be making an appearance at Roadburn this year with a virtual live set, where the Denver-based quartet will perform tracks from their latest album A Romance With Violence for the very first time. Wayfarer’s Shane McCarthy comments:
“We are honored to be invited by Roadburn to take part in this event. We’ve been eager to bring material from ‘A Romance With Violence’ to the stage, and as the insanity of the world rolls on there is no better place to do so than here. Roadburn have always set a high water mark for creativity, innovation and connection through music – and it is great to see them continue to do so even as this whole industry is in tumult. We look forward to kicking off the performing cycle for ‘Romance’ on your screens this April.”

TICKETS & INFO
Roadburn Redux will be available to access between April 16-18 with a full programme of content online for free (or pay what you like).

Already announced is commissioned projects from Die Wilde Jagd, Dirk Serries, GOLD, Jo Quail, Neptunian Maximalism, Of Blood And Mercury, Radar Men From The Moon, Solar Temple, TDC Inc, and The Nest, plus album premieres from Autarkh, Die Wilde Jagd, Emptiness, Plague Organ and Wolvennest, and a series of sets recorded under the banner of The Svart Sessions – highlighting the best of the Finnish label’s roster.

Roadburn Redux has been made possible due to the support from Brabant C, Gemeente Tilburg, Fonds Podiumkunsten, Provincie Noord-Brabant, Bavaria 8.6, Ticket to Tilburg.

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Inter Arma, Garber Days Revisited (2020)

David Eugene Edwards. Solo. Acoustic. Every year I’ve been fortunate enough to go, there’s been one keeps-you-alive-until-April Roadburn set, from Saint Vitus with Wino in 2009 and Garcia Plays Kyuss in 2010 to Sleep playing Sleep’s Holy Mountain this year. There’s always one. At least. In 2020, for me, that’s David Eugene Edwards of Wovenhand and 16 Horsepower playing by himself on stage. Whatever else gets added, whoever else is playing, hell, even if Wovenhand end up playing, this is the one that got me. Well done, Roadburn 2020.

Also featured in this massive lineup addition are PH (whose announcement I wrote), Elizabeth Colour Wheel, familiar faces Primitive Man and a host of other, of course widely varied, incarnations of badassery. I’m not trying to take away from anyone else or anything like that, or anything that might still come by saying the above, you understand. Roadburn 2020’s already primed to push well beyond the common bounds of heavy. It was before this announcement, frankly. But from here on in, my schedule already has its circle, and whether we do the Weirdo Canyon Dispatch or not (every year I kind of wait for the shoe to drop on that like it’s something we’ve been getting away with for the last six editions), I’m there, and I don’t care who he’s up against or who’s on next on what stage. If I have to sleep in the gutter of Weirdo Canyon in order to be there, I’m not missing a minute of David Eugene Edwards‘ set. Period.

From the fest:

Roadburn 2020: new announcements, more curator picks, and a showcase!

– Less than 10% of 4 day tickets remain
– David Eugene Edwards joins Emma Ruth Rundle’s curated event
– James Kent picks a special collaboration for his curation
– The Flenser will present a label showcase

Less than 10% of 4-day tickets remain for Roadburn 2020, and single-day tickets will go on sale on December 10.

Artistic Director, Walter Hoeijmakers comments: “As we edge closer towards selling out Roadburn 2020, I am excited that we still have so much more to announce. This year we are putting an emphasis on the context and creativity of the artists we’re announcing and knowing that we have still more up our sleeves means I am delighted to see where Roadburn 2020 is heading.”

EMMA RUTH RUNDLE’S THE GILDED CAGE:

DAVID EUGENE EDWARDS
At Roadburn, David Eugene Edwards has graced us with his presence on two occasions as part of Wovenhand. Each performance pulsated with energy and elevated the sets to be highlights of each respective edition of the festival – in no small part due to David’s electrifying presence. We’re delighted to bring him back to Roadburn, this time as part of Emma Ruth Rundle’s curation, The Gilded Cage. David will perform an acoustic, solo set that promises to showcase the diversity of his delivery and the nuances of his craft. Emma comments:

“It’s been a secret wish to see DEE playing solo and delivering his songs in their most bare forms. This was the very first thing that came to mind when I was asked to co-curate Roadburn and it’s going to be a rare and precious jewel of a performance.”

JAMES KENT’S CURATION:
REGARDE LES HOMMES TOMBER
A product of the burgeoning French underground scene that has produced so much incredible music in the past few years, over the course of two records so far, Regarde Les Hommes Tomber have used scraps from the most sinister subgenres, from black metal to sludge to build up truly frightening epics. Always apocalyptic in feeling, emotional and ruthless in equal measures, drenched in religious imagery and references, and creating a sonic depiction of the fall of mankind… and its subsequent rising to replace the cruelty of the established gods. Not only will we be expecting all of this maelstrom of fiery feelings, but also a healthy measure of the unexpected as well, since Regarde Les Hommes Tomber will be playing their new not-quite-announced-yet album in its entirety.

HANGMAN’S CHAIR X REGARDE LES HOMMES TOMBER
Regarde Les Hommes Tomber will join forces with Hangman’s Chair for a collaboration at Roadburn 2020. Hellish, sludgy black metal will clash horns-first with cold, despondent doom, and the result will surely transcend even the most delirious of descriptions that we can come up with at this point. Originally commissioned by Red Bull, this unholy collaboration has occurred just once previously, in Paris. That performance lasted 45 minutes, but for Roadburn an additional 15 minutes of material will be debuted just for us.

PLEBEIAN GRANDSTAND
Plebeian Grandstand are a band that have morphed from a core of quite technical, hardcore charged metal to be the hulking beast of black metal fury we see before us today. The creative journey they have been on has led to an infusion of influences from outside the black metal sphere, resulting in nuance and depth that can sometimes be hard to find within the genre. On top of that, they eschew the cartoonish elements of extreme black metal – you’ll find no burning churches here – in favour of something rooted more firmly in reality. After all, what’s more nightmarish than the real world?

TRUE BODY
With a calculated sense of tension and just enough human touch to cut through their own cold post-punk atmospheres, Virginia’s True Body has built a following with their urgent and impassioned music. Instead of falling into melodramatic excess or disconnected affectations, the band manages to bring the best of each realm for something that leaves audiences rapt and thrilled. With this masterful take on such a beloved sound, we’re honored to announce that True Body will be performing at Roadburn 2020 as part of James Kent’s curation.

THE FLENSER SHOWCASE
In 2020, The Flenser will celebrate the tenth anniversary of the label’s first release. The San Francisco based label has been committed to releasing experimental, avant-garde music for a whole decade – which – naturally – has not escaped our notice here at Roadburn HQ. To celebrate this milestone and to acknowledge the impact that The Flenser has had on our record collections and the broader musical landscape we have invited several of the label’s current artists to perform at Roadburn 2020.

The Flenser label manager, Jonathan Tuite comments: “Roadburn is my absolute favorite festival in the world. The lineup is always diverse, the audience enthusiastic, and the curation is second to none. I can’t think of a more appropriate place for The Flenser to celebrate our ten years of existence.”

GILES COREY
For over ten years Dan Barrett has been cementing his role as a visionary in dark music history.Perhaps none of this work has resonated with more intimacy than Giles Corey, his acoustic guitar led, ghost noise-soaked songwriting vessel. While on paper an acoustic led-project sounds like a potentially low-key affair, Giles Corey is bursting with electric energy–recordings are awash in swirling organs, reverberating choirs, striking horns, and blown out drums. While Giles Corey has performed as a solo-act, Roadburn 2020 will mark the project’s first appearance as a full-band. Members of Have a Nice Life, including central figure Tim Macuga, will help bring the album’s haunted sounds to life: expect the stage and audience to be left in a scorched earth state of desolation.

ELIZABETH COLOUR WHEEL
“Otherworldly” is a description often applied to artists that evoke the ethereal, and whilst that is occasionally applicable to Elizabeth Colour Wheel, the otherworldliness they invoke is more to do with the fact that it’s not always clear if they really inhabit the same world as we do. Their debut album, Nocebo, laughs in the face of genre descriptors, forging a new path that may be tricky to describe but that offers a wildly enticing prospect.

DROWSE
Drowse is an outlet for Kyle Bates to explore his place in the world; his music echoes what he experiences on the varied paths of this internal-reflection. Sometimes those paths lead to extraordinary places – this year’s Light Mirror LP was inspired by an isolated trip to northern Iceland where he took up an artistic residency in 2018. The melancholic results are the sonic equivalent of a sliver of sunlight permeating an otherwise bleak and drizzly morning. The weight of Bates’ reflections is mighty, but it never quite succeeds in suffocating the shards of harmonious hope that glint in the winter sun.

MAMALEEK
Mamaleek have been unearthing truly uncategorizable sounds from the catacombs of black metal since 2008. Founded by two anonymous brothers, the Bay Area project has become known for both its wild experimentation and aesthetic cohesion. The use of left-field samples threads their discography together, with sound sources growing more bizarre with each release. The current lineup mixes childhood friends and total strangers. Their participation is an outgrowth of the core duo, an experiment in a live setting, using instruments and sounds that highlight experimentation and flout genre conventions. Who knows how long this iteration will last before the next metamorphosis.

MIDWIFE
As a multi-instrumentalist, Madeline Johnson AKA Midwife has sculpted a fuzzy take on experimental dream pop, drenched in melody and punctuated with distortion. Despite a central theme of “devastation” Midwife makes for nuanced and evocative easy listening that can’t help but feel like something of an audio honey trap. We’ll have to wait until April to find out exactly what lurks beneath the surface…

ALSO ANNOUNCED…

PRIMITIVE MAN
It is with great anticipation that we’re delighted to announce that Primitive Man will be playing twice at Roadburn. One set will be a business-as-usual, throat-ripping, bone crushing display of what makes them a must-watch band. And one set will be a run through of their 2017 album, Caustic. This is the kind of endurance test we relish – an audio pummelling so intense that there’s no way to come out the other side without a shift in our worldview.

LANKUM
When The Livelong Day – the latest offering from Dublin four piece, Lankum – passed over our desks, our ears pricked up and we knew we had to invite them to Roadburn next year. It’s not uncommon to find us feeling effusive about noise, drone and ambient projects in the Roadburn world, but it’s a much rarer prospect to find such tonal qualities on what is undoubtedly, most definitely a folk album. Uilleann pipes and harmonium come together to create a cinematic soundscape that many Roadburners will feel right at home with. The album makes for an appropriate gateway for those attending Roadburn, regardless of which side you’re approaching from – a folk fan heading towards darker territories, or a heavy music fan lured by the promise of a genre steeped in history and countless traditional flourishes.

HILARY WOODS
Hilary Woods wrote her debut full length, Colt, alone – before before taking her recordings to Berlin to work with James Kelly (Wife, Altar of Plagues). The solitude is palpable, and listening to what she has made feels like a cautious invitation into a quiet place that she has created. Imagine a soft cocoon of sound, enveloping you as you step through into the netherworld of her making.

FÖLLAKZOID AND ATOM TM
Spearheading Chile’s vibrant psych scene, Föllakzoid will transport Roadburn 2020 on an all-encompassing voyage. Joined once again by German electronic artist and producer, Atom TM, the band will make their Roadburn debut, aiming to, “modulate the gravitational waves in order to alter the temporality perception and get sucked into the timeless space continuum,” as guitarist/singer Domingæ Garcia-Huidobro aptly puts it.

TORPOR
Rhetoric Of The Image showcases Torpor’s confidence; lengthy post-metal tracks smoulder whilst shorter, more experimental cuts punctuate the album. The three piece will expand a little for Roadburn in order to do justice to the full fifty one minutes that make up Rhetoric Of The Image as they perform it in full for us at Roadburn.

SUM OF R
The current incarnation of Sum of R already sees Reto teamed up with Jukka Rämänen (Dark Buddha Rising, Hexvessel, Waste Of Space Orchestra), which has allowed them to forge even more adventurous paths from their dark ambient/drone of yore, but now yet another figure from that particular Finnish scene will be adding his own very particular twist to the proceedings and giving them a new voice, quite literally, as it is none other than vocalist Marko Neuman (Dark Buddha Rising, Waste Of Space Orchestra, Convocation, Ural Umbo).

PH
Earlier this year, PH released Osiris Hayden, their second offering through Svart Records and fifth overall in their prolific decade together. Their latest work finds them embracing new reaches of the cosmic infinite, taking on electronic charge as they never have before and exploring the connection between organic and inorganic audio experiences.

MANY BLESSINGS
Those of you familiar with Ethan McCarthy will know him as the formidable frontman for Primitive Man. Under the banner of Many Blessings, Ethan performs a much less frenzied kind of music – and yet somehow it manages to be no less disturbing and spine-chilling. Many Blessings has seeped into our consciousness – a slow, creeping threat of sonic menace. Whilst the ferocity we are are perhaps more accustomed to is not present, the wordless missives are brooding and visceral.

EYE FLYS
After listening to their blistering debut album Context, and considering the fact that guitarist Spencer Hazard was already roped in for Roadburn 2020 as a member of one of our artists in residence, the wonderful Full Of Hell, how could we ever pass on Eye Flys? The Backslider rhythm section of Jake Smith – here on guitar and vocals – and Patrick Forrest plus Triac’s Kevin Bernsten complete the line-up.

ROADBURN 2020 TICKETS

Weekend tickets for Roadburn are on sale now (3-day tickets are sold out, 4-day tickets remain on sale). Single day tickets will be on sale on December 10. More information about tickets and accommodation options can be found HERE.

Already announced for Roadburn 2020 is: Emma Ruth Rundle and James Kent as curators, commissioned projects from James Kent & Johannes Persson, Jo Quail, and Vile Creature & Bismuth, the return of Julie Christmas, Red Sparowes, Russian Circles, Torche, Brutus, Bada, Dool, Health, Hide, She Past Away, and two Artists In Residence: Full of Hell and Lingua Ignota. Check the full line up HERE.

EUROPEAN FESTIVAL AWARD NOMINATION

Roadburn has been nominated in the best small festival category (less than 10,000 visitors) at the European Festival Awards 2019. Votes can be cast HERE. Votes and spreading the word are appreciated as it would be a huge honour for us to win such recognition.

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David Eugene Edwards, “Straw Foot”