Posted in Whathaveyou on December 1st, 2016 by JJ Koczan
Riff Ritual Fest Vol. 3 is set for April 22 in Barcelona, Spain, and the first two acts of what I understand will be a five- or six-band lineup have been announced as Samsara Blues Experiment and Powder for Pigeons. Both based in Germany, both planning on releasing their fourth album, it doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibility they’ll travel together to Iberia. We already know that Samsara Blues Experiment will take part in Desertfest around this time as well, so it could be that a tour has yet to be revealed. Worth keeping an eye on, particularly as they’re reemerging from a period of relative inactivity over the last year or so.
Seems like it could be a cool vibe if you happen to be in that part of the world in Springtime. Here’s word from the fest:
Exactly 3 years ago, Samsara Blues Experiment visited Barcelona for the first and only time…
What’s a better way to celebrate it than announcing their appearance at Riff Ritual Fest’s third edition? That’s right, the German trio will visit us again with an exclusive show in the Iberian peninsula next April 22, 2017.
It will be the perfect chance to enjoy one of the best stoner/psych live shows around with songs off seminal records in the genre like “Long Distance Trip”, “Revelation & Mystery” or “Waiting For The Flood”.
After taking one sabbatical year, the band is back stronger than ever. We’re sure SBE’s show at RRF will be one for the ages!
Australian-German duo Powder For Pigeons will also be at Riff Ritual Fest’s third edition next Saturday April 22, 2017! PFP is Meike on drums and Rhys as vocalist/guitarist. They met in the Australian desert in 2012 and they haven’t stopped playing all around the globe ever since. In 2017 they will visit Spain for the first time ever.
PFP will be introducing their fourth album, expected for early 2017, while also playing songs from their previous albums; “Powder For Pigeons”, “Washed, Dried, Brain Fried” and “Circus Kinda Times”. A band surely to get the audience crazy with their unique blend of stoner metal and grunge.
RIFF RITUAL FEST / Saturday, April 22nd / Barcelona Samsara Blues Experiment Powder For Pigeons
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 3rd, 2016 by JJ Koczan
I guess it was bound to happen eventually, but it’s still something of a surprise to find Freak Valley 2016 rounding out its lineup. Granted, the German festival takes place later this month, and granted they’ve already announced a shit-ton of groups playing — that’s a metric shit-ton, if you’re wondering; not a king’s shit-ton — but I suppose I just assumed Freak Valley 2016 announcements would go on forever. It would just cycle through one fest to the next, trade out 2016 for 2017 and pick up where they left off. Maybe they will, who knows? But we’ve hit a definite demarcation line — the lineup for this year’s Freak Valley is complete — after months of trickling out band names one at a time and months after the fest as a whole sold out.
The final four? Baltimore’s Black Lung — whose new LP, See the Enemy, is out as of last week on Noisolution — along with Krissy Matthews Band (I’ll just assume no relation), Swedish retro rock upstarts Snowy Dunes and Powder for Pigeons, who are also veterans of Desertfest Berlin.
Freak Valley gives one last rundown as follows:
Hey Freaks – the long wait is over!! Here they are, the final 4 bands that still had to be announced:
BLACK LUNG – Doomed Black Soul Stoner Classic Rock (feat. two members of The Flying Eyes)
Krissy Matthews Band – Heavy Bluesrock at its best
BLACK LUNG This power trio came into its own in 2014 with its stately pound fully formed. Guitarist Adam Bufano and drummer Elias Mays Schutzman, both of The Flying Eyes, establish a patient rhythmic menace over which vocalist/guitarist Dave Cavalier adds distorted growls of melody and oomph. The trio’s self-titled debut on the impeccable local label Grimoire splits the difference of early Queens of the Stone Age majestic desert feel and True Widow’s hypnotic groove. After two European Black Lung will be back in 2016 with their second album.
KRISSY MATTHEWS BAND Krissy Matthews is half-Norwegian, and half-British. He is named a wonderful child of blues. His story started when he was only 3 years old and 5 years after that he received his first electric guitar. At the age of 12 he performed with John Mayal and Bluesbreakers at Notodden Festival! The legendary musician was so amazed with the young guitar player. After the festival, Krissy Matthews became more and more popular. You’ll know why very soon!!
SNOWY DUNES Snowy Dunes are a four piece psychedelic rock outfit hailing from Stockholm, Sweden. Even though created out of the love for vibes of old, Snowy Dunes is a unique blend of vintage hard rock, 60’s psychedelia and the fuzz rock of today. Their debut album will be released incl. a loooong Bonustrack by Rock Freaks Records and will be available for the first time @ FVF!!
POWDER FOR PIGEONS Powder for Pigeons is an Australian/German two piece that was founded in 2013 in the dusty regional back drop of Western Australia. Inspired by the rugged surroundings the male/female power duo has crafted a gigantic sound that fills the frequency spectrum with punchy, warm, low, fuzzy guitar riffery and thumpin drums to be heard for miles around. You’ll love them ! Blasting tracks made of really catchy riffs, you won’t have the time to breathe !
The official running-order will be public very soon now!! Stay tuned!
FREAK VALLEY FESTIVAL 2016: No Fillers – Just Killers
Line-up 2016: GRAVEYARD [SW] – Vintage Rock ORANGE GOBLIN [UK] – Heavy Metal DEAD MEADOW [US] – Psychedelic Stonerrock ELDER [US] – Psychedelic Rock / Heavy Prog SPIDERGAWD [NO] – Post-Boogie WHITE HILLS [US] – Fuzzed Out Motorik Psychedelic THE SHRINE [US] – Psychedelic Violence Rock and Roll BABY WOODROSE [DK]- Psychedelic Garagerock LONELY KAMEL [NO]- Heavy Blues, Hardrock & Stoner ROTOR [D] – Instrumental StonerRock/Psychedelic MONOLORD [SW] – Doom/Sludge MANTAR [D] – Death Metal Doom Punk TOUNDRA [SP] – Postrock FARFLUNG [US] – Spacerock for 21st Century Heads BLACK RAINBOWS [IT] – Heavy Psych KRISSY MATTHEWS BAND [UK] – Heavy Bluesrock THE GOLDEN GRASS [US]- Heavy/Funk//Psych/Freakbeat BLACK LUNG [US] – Doomed Stonerrock SPIDERS [SW] – Hard/Glam Rock V.I.C (Villagers of Ioannina City) [GR] – Post/Stoner/Folk/Rock GIÖBIA [IT] – Acid Rock THE DEVIL AND THE ALMIGHTY BLUES [NO] – HeavyBluesRock SNOWY DUNES [SW] – Psychedelic Stonerrock THE SONIC DAWN [DK] – Psychedelic Rock JEREMY IRONS & THE RATGANG MALIBUS [SW] – Space Rock/Stoner/Psychedelic GOMER PYLE [NL] – Psychedelic/Rock/Stonerrock MOTHER ENGINE [D] – Stoner/Rock/Psychedelic BUSHFIRE [D] – Heavy Blues Rock POWDER FOR PIGEONS [AUS/D] – RIff Blaster
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 29th, 2014 by JJ Koczan
Here’s a quick impression of me the last time I saw Hull. Ready? Okay, here goes: “Duh Hull are fucking fantastic and I’m an idiot for not listening to them like every day. Duh.”
I was right, actually, because even now as I put on their 2011 to-date magnum opus, Beyond the Lightless Sky(review here), I’m reminded immediately of just how righteous the Brooklyn four-piece can get. I haven’t seen much word of new material for a follow-up, though they played some live if that counts (I think it does), and they reissued their debut EP, Viking Funeral, last year, so they’re definitely still active. Really interested to hear what they turn out for a new album though, since both their albums at this point have had such a conceptual framework. Like mom says though, good food takes time.
Hull will join the lineups for Desertfest in London and Berlin (they’re also playing Roadburn), and I’ve also included recent announcements below for Ed Mundell‘s The Ultra Electric Mega Galactic and German rockers Powder for Pigeons, who’ll play Berlin.
Dig:
We are thrilled to announce today that Sludge rock conjurors HULL will play at DESERTFEST BERLIN 2014!
Hailing from the streets of Brooklyn, HULL materializes as a massive entity storming stages and immersing their audiences in a blanket of grandiose down-tuned compositions. A shifting fault line of decibel heavy harmony, this collective force converges in a collision of thrash, doom, classic rock, and formal orchestral works. Submerged in cosmic soundscapes, HULL challenges the mind with flowing, off-time fugues and powerful, dynamic movements.
Hard at work since the release of their seminal EP “Viking Funeral” in 2006, HULL unleashed in 2009 a new creation “Sole Lord” that offered a promising extension of the ambitiously psychedelic doom legacies of Neurosis and Isis. Two years after, the band’s sprawling latest saga “Beyond the Lightless Sky” emerged, and was a colossal and cohesive statement full of misdirection and surprises.
Moment of atmospheric drift, mathematical twist, and belligerent march tied together into the suggestion that this was a band to watch. Fortunately for all of us, HULL has planned to embarked on a European mission with Elder this spring, and we are proud to get them at DESERTFEST BERLIN 2014 (with maybe new songs, if we believe what we could read on their facebook page!)
Some of you expected them, and here they are : THE ULTRA ELECTRIC MEGA GALACTIC! We are proud to welcome Ed Mundell (ex Monster Magnet, The Atomic Bitchwax) at DESERTFEST BERLIN 2014!!
When he left Monster Magnet in 2010, Ed Mundell began to explore a range of psychedelic jams. Gradually, this jammy impulse led to the formation of THE ULTRA ELECTRIC MEGA GALACTIC (from now on refered to as TUEMG), and toward the end of the last decade, the band composed of Ed Mundell, bassist Collyn McCoy (Trash Titans, Otep) and drummer Rick Ferrante (Sasquatch), began playing out here and there on the American West Coast.
TUEMG play an instrumental psychedelic, heavy spaced out power rock and it’s bloody fantastic! Hard Rocking, 70’s inspired, the band bring a new fresh take on the power trio set-up and they know how to make their instruments talk. As soon as you start listening TUEMG, the atmospheric mix of terrific and imaginative bass runs, cosmic guitar sounds and fanstastic drumming takes you for a trip into the furthest reaches of the seventies flavoured psychedelic universe the trio inhabits.
Early 2013 brought their S/T debut, and if you dig space travelling, these 9 songs are a must that you European people will be abe to enjoy in live for the first-time ever at DESERTFEST BERLIN 2014!
We are pleased to announce today the German-based Australian-born rockers POWDER FOR PIGEONS!!
POWDER FOR PIGEONS are an exceptional rock duo that was founded in 2012 by Rhys Jones (vocals/guitar) and Meike Hindemith (drums) in the hot and dusty Outback of Western Australia. Inspired by the rugged surroundings, they have crafted a gigantic sound that fills the frequency spectrum with punchy, warm, fuzzy guitar riffery and thumpin drums to be heard for miles around.
After releasing their debut album “Hell outta here” in March 2013 which they recorded live in the arid Australian desert, the Power Duo has toured extensively throughout Europe with stops in Germany, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, UK, Switzerland, Austria.
Stationed in Germany for months now, with a swag full of dirty new material, the band released last week their new amazing and thriving Rock and Roll effort making quite clear that they “live and breathe” the music for/on every rocking note! We are very happy to have them bringing their brand of sweaty fuzz/grunge to DESERTFEST BERLIN 2014!
