Proffering thicker-than-thou tones and churning filth-laden plod, the debut cassingle from Hands I Annul Yours – despite being instrumental but for a couple samples — makes no attempt to soften its perspective. With just the two tracks, “Asking for Death” and “Grind Humanity,” the limited-to-100-copies red-tape release on Major Destroyer Records nests itself in the bowels of misanthropic sludge riffing, raging in a way that would seem to contradict its lumbering pace but winds up fitting right in with it.

The two-piece outfit of Kyle Anderson and Blake Jette (Mike Mulen seems also to have been involved in production and art) recorded Asking for Death/Grind Humanity. Beginning with a sample of cult leader Michael Travesser from the documentary Inside a Cult, “Asking for Death” lunges for the eardrums with tonal largesse and formidable crash, gradually unfolding to what actually winds up being the more accessible of the two central instrumental progressions on the tape before devolving into noise and more sampling. “Grind Humanity” is slower and begins more straightforwardly, but winds up mired in noisy, droning fuckall that even more than Travesser‘s disparaging the empty frivolities of modern living speak to Hands I Annul Yours‘ feelings on the subject.

Notes are held and droned out and crashes are well-timed. Before the halfway point, an echoing sample provides transition into the faster second half of the track, a build that climbs to a righteously heavy peak before cutting back to washes of feedback noise that last over the course of a long minute-plus fade. The whole thing is over in just about 10 minutes (unless you’ve got your tape player set on continuous), but Hands I Annul Yours leave a lasting impression nonetheless. Info on the band is sparse — they recorded in Minnesota and this is a one-time-only pressing — and no real bio pops up on Major Destroyer‘s page or Bandcamp site, so their overall presence is minimal, and likely on purpose. It would almost be out of character with the music if Hands I Annul Yours wanted to be found.

But if you’re telling me you’ve got a red, 100-copies-only one-time pressing of a killer obscure sludge band’s demo, and it gives me an excuse to type the word “cassingle,” I’m telling you sign me up. So yeah, sign me up. Tape also comes with a download. This shit rules:

Burly Iowan five-piece Superchief and Minneapolis fuzz contenders Red Desert have teamed up for five gigs together in the Midwest. Superchief’s ultra-dudely Corporate Dynamite came out last year (review here) and Red Desert will have in tow their new one, Damned by Fate, which is their first outing since 2008′s 18 Wheels. Here’s what the PR wire has to say about it, raw copy-style:

Superchief and Red Desert Announce 2012 Midwest Tour Dates

The two Midwestern powerhouse bands join forces in August 2012 for Summer Tour! Red Desert and Superchief team up for 5 dates in August 2012 for a regional, Midwestern tour.

Dates are:
August 21st – Iowa City IA (Blue Moose Tap)
August 22nd – Indianapolis, IN (Indy’s Jukebox)
August 23rd – Chicago, IL (Quenchers Saloon)
August 24th – Madison, WI (The Wisco)
August 25th – Racine, WI (Bar 525)

Red Desert loads up the van in support of their brand new release, Damned by Fate. The album is a nine-song, fuzz-infused masterpiece of the highest order. Red Desert is determined to get the music out in front of new listeners across the Midwest. Damned by Fate is currently available for purchase on Bandcamp.com and Red Desert will have physical copies available on the tour.

Brolester Records recording artists, Superchief, have been relentlessly touring their current release Corporate Dynamite for the past year and a half. After a successful stint at SxSW in 2012, Superchief has been itching to get back out on the road. The band is excited to be heading into new territories on this tour, as well as returning to old favorite locations. Building a fan base takes work and consistency and Superchief has this in abundance.

Both bands, having played several times together in Iowa and Minnesota, felt it was their duty to bring their brands of rock n roll to the masses. Musical brothers-in-arms traversing the back roads of the Midwest together, with instruments in one hand and a cold beer in the other; both Red Desert and Superchief would not have it any other way. Through solidarity and perseverance they will convert those that are unaware, and solidify those that are; that rock n roll is not dead.

http://www.reverbnation.com/superchief

http://www.reverbnation.com/reddesert

http://brolesterrecords.com/

Rest assured, I’m not trying to get away with anything here. Space is the Corpse of Time — the fourth album from Minneapolis, Minnesota, instrumentalists Zebulon Pike — was released a while back, and I’m not trying to pass it off as something brand new or something you probably can’t download by whatever means it is the kids are using these days. However, it being a self-release from the band, I thought it was still worth featuring here, and since it is out now, the best way to go seemed to post the whole record rather than a single track.

If you’re unfamiliar with Zebulon Pike, the prog-doom explorers formed in 2002 and are veterans of the old Emissions From the Monolith festival. A double-guitar four-piece, their sound hones in on elements of space rock, but the performances as captured on Space is the Corpse of Time aren’t loose in the way one might expect when thinking of modern instrumental heavy. Rather, songs like “Echoic Worlds” and the sprawling “Powers of the Living/Manifestations of the Dead” are always moving somewhere, however long they might rest on a single part or theme.

The music is evocative, and apart from the title track, long. Each of the other four cuts tops 10 minutes, and that’s par for the course for Zebulon Pike, who’ve been known to double that span on occasion. They use their time wisely, though, so that even as Tom Berg‘s bass rumbles in the final minutes of “Powers of the Living/Manifestations of the Dead,” it does so in a way that feels purposeful in creating an atmosphere and mood. Album opener “Spectrum Threshold” also boasts some effective doom chugging from guitarists Morgan Berkus and Erik Fratzke, and well-timed, adaptive drumming from Erik Bolen, so right away, the band lets you know you’re in more than capable hands.

So again, you don’t have to tell me, because I know Space is the Corpse of Time has been out for a while now. I just thought it was worth hosting the record for anyone who hasn’t yet had the chance to hear it, and if that’s you (and I suppose even if you’ve heard it and you’re listening again), I hope you enjoy:

Zebulon Pike‘s Space is the Corpse of Time is available now. For more info, check out the band’s website or find them on Thee Facebooks here.

It’s always hard to speculate on what motivated a band to get together, but if the ultra-visceral EyeHateGod-style sludge of Witchden is anything to go by, the Minneapolis foursome are clearly upset at Joe Mauer‘s lack of homerun production at home over the last couple seasons. On the four uploaded tracks from the upcoming full-length, Consulting the Bones, Witchden vent their frustration amid dank riffage and the burnt-throat screams of aptly-named vocalist Jason “Herb Headie” Micah.

Micah is joined in Witchden by guitarist Adam Alexander Rivkin and bassist Andy ‘The Machine” Green, both of whom also handle backing vocals, but it’s drummer Jeff “Kong” Moen whose name is likeliest to be familiar. Moen is also a member of Sourvein in the band’s latest incarnation, and though there’s no word on how exactly he handles the commute from Minnesota to North Carolina or if in fact he’s still in Sourvein at all, he brings a characteristic crash and thud to Witchden tracks like “All Just a Lie” and the punishing “Ossuary.”

The album is listed as “coming soon,” which could mean two weeks or five months, but if the songs Witchden put on their ReverbNation page are anything to go by, they’re at least worth checking out. The band is also on Thee Facebooks, if that’s your druthers.