Happy 2023 from Roadburn. The renowned Dutch festival has a slew of new additions for its lineup this April 20-23, including a collaboration between Elizabeth Colour Wheel and Ethan McCarthy of Primitive Man, a label showcase from the delightful weirdos of Rocket Recordings, DeWolff jamming as they did turning so many heads during Roadburn Redux, Birth, Iron Jinn doing a release show for their debut, Body Void, Portrayal of Guilt, and so on and so forth. It’s a big one, and as the poster grows increasingly crowded (see it below), you’ll note that as ever, Roadburn remains a fest of all things and an opportunity to choose your own adventure across a weekend that, if you’ve never been, will change your life for the better no matter whose sets you actually decide to stand there and watch. I mean that.

This is the modus operandi of Roadburn. As Creative Director Walter Hoeijmakers says below, it’s about giving these artists a platform and building a community. Those two words, platform and community, are at the heart of what this thing has become. It’s not the stoner rock and psych fest it used to be, no. But Roadburn‘s commitment to the underground is unflinching, ever inspiring, and broadens the conversation about what ‘heavy’ means in ways that are only to that definition’s benefit.

That’s my two cents. I don’t anticipate being there this year, but a piece of my heart always lives at Roadburn Festival. I mean that too.

From the PR wire:

Roadburn adds 29 new names – including two commissioned projects, a second artist in residence, and a label showcase

Roadburn has today announced a further 29 names to the 2023 line up of the festival which will take place between April 20-23. Among them is a residency from Oiseaux-Tempête, a label showcase from the UK’s Rocket Recordings, and two commissioned collaborations – the first between Duma and Deafkids, the second between Elizabeth Colour Wheel and Ethan Lee McCarthy.

Roadburn’s artistic director, Walter Hoeijmakers comments:

“We are beyond happy to bring you the final commissioned music projects for Roadburn 2023 as well as our second artist-in-residence among others. With this announcement, it becomes clear that Roadburn 2023 is focusing on forward-thinking bands and those who’ve made waves in the last couple years, as we want Roadburn to reflect the underground – now and in the future. We are elated and honoured to give a platform for these incredible artists, and we are sure this year’s Roadburn will be something to remember for music, art, and community.”

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NEW LINE UP ADDITIONS:

COMMISSIONED: DUMA & DEAFKIDS

After whipping up a storm at Roadburn 2022, Duma will return to the festival – this time in collaboration with Deafkids. With one band in Kenya and the other in Brazil, this is a collaboration that transcends boundaries – both geographical and genre. Additionally, Deafkids will perform their own stand alone set at the festival.

COMMISSIONED: ELIZABETH COLOUR WHEEL & ETHAN LEE MCCARTHY

A union forged on mutual respect and a penchant for experimentation will see these two entities join forces at Roadburn 2023. In addition to the collaborative commissioned piece, Roadburn will host performances by Elizabeth Colour Wheel, Spiritual Poison, and Otay:onii.

ARTIST IN RESIDENCE

Oiseaux-Tempête will perform three sets across the Roadburn weekend as the festival’s second Artist In Residence; spanning the breadth of their back catalogue and joined by a variety of musicians to embellish their live performances.

ROCKET RECORDINGS 25TH ANNIVERSARY SHOWCASE

Roadburn is celebrating this milestone with one of the most adventurous and forward thinking labels out there – appropriate given that this showcase highlights the best of the future of Rocket Recordings!

Teeth of the Sea will return to Roadburn after a decade-long absence to deliver their eerie sci-fi psychedelia.

Del Aire – the 2022 album by J. Zunz – was in heavy rotation at Roadburn HQ, and she will now make her Roadburn debut in 2023.

Holy Scum is the ungodly merging of members of Gnod, Dälek and Action Beat – creating a (very) noisy cacophony of delirium.

Alison Cotton will perform a solo show of her ethereal, experimental folk, and later combine forces with Dawn Terry (of Bong) for a collaborative set that’s heavy on the drone.

Utilising field recordings and electronics alongside her beautiful voice, Marlene Ribeiro will perform as part of this special showcase.

The Shits are a brand new signing to Rocket – and they’ll be making their presence felt at the Wednesday night pre-festival party.

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DeWolff will reprise their Roadburn Redux set with another performance promising grit and swagger in equal measure.

Bo Ningen will be celebrating all that is weird and heavy about their sound with a special set titled Far East Electric Psychedelic.

Birth are heading to Tilburg to soak us in their psychedelic sounds and take Roadburn to another interplanetary plane.

Iron Jinn can trace their roots back to Roadburn – the 2018 edition to be precise – and they’ll be throwing a release party for their debut album at Roadburn this April, bringing things full circle.

Carefully balancing elements of black metal, ambient, post-rock, noise and drone, Yrre crafted an alternate soundtrack to the 2015 film The Witch by Robert Eggers, which will form the bedrock of their Roadburn performance.

High Vis are riding high off the back of their 2022 album Blending, and they’ll make their way to Tilburg for their Roadburn debut this coming April.

Portrayal of Guilt were another casualty of the 2020 edition, but will bring their hardcore/punk/fighting spirit to Roadburn 2023.

Right off the back of recording a new album, Body Void will head to Europe and deliver their distinctively crushing doom to the Roadburn community.

Featuring members of Amenra, Oathbreaker, Aborted, Cross Bringer and more, Predatory Void have Roadburn written all over them – and they’ll present their debut album in full at the 2023 edition of the festival.

Third time’s a charm for Bad Breeding as they’ll finally darken the doors of Roadburn with their visceral punk sound.

Lukas Frank’s Storefront Church will make their Roadburn debut with a performance of blissful, brooding songs, perfectly suited for after dark.

Antichrist Siege Machine are the musical equivalent to a sledgehammer, making their points with aggressive, anti-Christian songs that exude the joys of violent ritual butchery.

Portland’s Spirit Possession play an authentic form of black metal that is as refreshing in its erratic nature as it is triumphant in its old-school roots.

Poison Ruïn’s anarchic take on post-punk is infused with eerie dungeon synth style elements; an unlikely pairing perhaps but one that is perfectly suited to Roadburn.

OvO’s sludgy drone overlaid with eerie vocals and imbued with seriously haunting vibes will descend upon Roadburn this April.

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More information on these artists can be found HERE. They join previously announced artists including Deafheaven, Boy Harsher, Cave In, Julie Christmas, Wolves In The Throne Room, Giles Corey, Chat Pile and more.

Tickets for Roadburn 2023 are already on sale; Saturday tickets are sold out, but weekend tickets, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday tickets remain. 4-day tickets will be priced at €244, 3-day tickets at €214, and single day tickets at €79 (all costs inclusive of fees and service charges). Accommodation options are also available to purchase. All information can be found on Roadburn.com

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http://www.roadburn.com

In case you needed a bit of escapism for your afternoon, how’s about four days reveling in heavy rock and psychedelia out in a quarry somewhere out in the Czech Republic? Sounds pretty good to me. I’ll admit I don’t know much about the weather in the Czech Republic in August, but I wouldn’t mind finding out and checking out a bunch of bands I’ve never had the chance to hear before over the course of a leisurely weekend surrounded by cool vibes and heavy sounds. Shit. That’ll do nicely.

Like I said, a bit of escapism. If you happen to be in that part of the world, I submit the following:

Psy-High ’15

Psy-High is an arts and culture experience based around the interplay of music, seminars, theatre, debates, readings and workshops. We also give a lot of attention to changing the location as much as possible in accordance with the main themes and concepts of the festival.

We’ll continue the string of amazing locations: Last year’s “rocky cathedral” of the Saint Joseph quarry is followed by a wide, flooded quarry somewhere in the western parts of Czech Republic (we’re still keeping the location a secret for now, but get ready for 13 thousand square meters of five-pointed lake surrounded by seven and a half hectars of awesomeness).

The basics of why and how we make Psy-High happen stay the same: We do everything we can by our own hands, without profit and without sponsors – except for the growing number of people ready to fuel the event with their personal energy.

There are a few changes, however. The big one is that we decided to limit the number of tickets to 400, mainly due to our belief that Psy-High needs a smaller crowd in order to retain it’s unique atmosphere.

The first batch of 100 tickets will be available from May at www.psy-high.cz. From then on, the later you buy a ticket, the more expensive it gets:

The ticket price for the last 100 tickets left is 28 Euro.

In order to get the presale info in time, please consider subscribing to our rather unobtrusive newsletter at http://sdbs.cz/newsletter/, or watch out for news at the Psy-High Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/313590198850496/

The second change worth mentioning is that Psy-High 2015 will increase in length to four full days – two days just wasn’t enough to enjoy the event for most people.

As for music, you can expect a tighter line-up aimed at all kinds of psychedelia-inspired music. There will be more than 30 bands performing at P-H, here’s a small taste:

Kamni (ru, stoner doom)
Ovo (it, doom sludge ritual)
Pozvakowski (hu, exp. noise rock)
Merkabah (pl, avant-garde rock)
Narcosatanicos (dk, acid punk noise rock)
Or (cz, noise rock)
B4 (cz, psychedelic)
Saiga (cz/ru, stoner)
Sweeps04 (cz, ambient industrial doom)
At Bona Fide (cz, shoegaze)
Fetch! (cz, stoner noise rock)
Kidney Trauma (cz, noise-rock/shoegaze)
Lambda
Made by the Fire
White Wigwam
Skrze ?eku
Ursprung Trio
India
LO/VE

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www.psy-­high.eu

Psy-High 2014 Video Report

As the label is run by the members of drone overlords Ufomammut, it’s no small honor to have your band be on that label. Following on the heels of Lento, Morkobot and Incoming Cerebral Overdrive is multi-national weirduo (that’s a weird duo, if you’re unwilling to parse the word) OvO, whose album is due in the Spring.

The PR wire has this:

Italian purveyors of all things heavy Supernatural Cat Records are proud to announce the signing of experimental duo OvO to their eclectic and crushing label roster. In a brief statement from the label this week, Supernatural Cat stated: “We’re proud to announce that OvO joined Supernatural Cat. OvO is not noise, not metal, not doom, not punk, not rock and roll, even if there’s a little bit of influence from all of these genres. It’s not free, nor avant, and definitely not improv. For once, yes, we can really say we can’t file a band!”

The duo known as OvO are already well-known throughout the underground noise, doom and experimental scenes, bearing releases being released by such labels as Bar La Muerte, Blossoming Noise and Load Records. Having played somewhere in the vicinity of 600 shows since their inception at the turn of the century, the band’s travels have taken them from Europe to Mexico, from America to Israel, and beyond. OvO have collaborated, recorded and/or played live with countless notable acts including Nadja, KK Null, Thurston Moore, Jim O’Rourke, Rollerball, Thrones, SubArachnoid Space, Zeni Geva, Lightning Bolt, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Estradasphere and more.

OvO‘s upcoming album Cor Cordium is due out in the Spring 2011 via Supernatural Cat, the label who’ve brought incredible releases from Lento, Morkobot, Incoming Cerebral Overdrive, and most notably, doom trio Ufomammut, who are also some of the masterminds behind both Supernatural Cat Records and Malleus Art Rock Lab. Read more on OvO at Supernatural Cat‘s newly redesigned website.