I don’t care who you are, a five-week tour is commendable, and for a band like Portland trio Prizehog — whose new, delightfully weird album Re-Unvent the Whool (streamed here), is available now on vinyl through Eolian Empire — all the more so. It’s not like these dudes and lady are hitting the road on the back of a hot new radio single, you know what I mean? They’re basically kicking ass with friends’ bands and bringing their strange sounds to as many heads as they possibly can. It’s not something a lot of people are willing to do, but it’s something I can respect the hell out of, and fortunate that Prizehog can make it work.

They’re playing with some killer acts along the way — Towers, Vaz, The Great Sabatini — in case you’d like to do some more digging while you’re digging this:

PRIZEHOG: Portland Celestial Space Sludge Outfit Announces Five-Week US Tour

Still riding a fresh wave of killer reactions to their walloping third LP, Re-Unvent the Whool, Portland, Oregon-based, PRIZEHOG, has announced the routing for their upcoming Spring US tour.

Embarking off of their home turf on May 2nd, the counter-clockwise path this tour makes will find PRIZEHOG winding through the entire continental US for five full weeks before closing down with the final gig in Seattle on June 8th and returning to their daily habitat. See true celestial space sludge for yourself on this massive endeavor including a short run with friends and faves, Vaz, as well as killer acts like Burnt Books, hepa/Titus, Tinsel Teeth, arbogast, The Great Sabatini, labelmates Towers and Big Black Cloud, and more throughout the itinerary.

Amidst the closing-in of this confirmed run, PRIZEHOG will be announcing their next tour lining up for this July alongside labelmates, Hot Victory.

PRIZEHOG US Spring Tour:
5/02/2014 Slabtown – Portland, OR w/ Towers, Big Black Cloud
5/07/2014 Lobot Gallery – Oakland, CA w/ Mansion
5/08/2014 The Eagle – San Francisco, CA w/ hepa/Titus, Peace Creep
5/09/2014 Redwood Bar – Los Angeles, CA w/ hepa/Titus
5/10/2014 The Tin Can – San Diego, CA w/ Ghetto Blaster
5/11/2014 C St – Flagstaff, AZ w/ New Gods
5/12/2014 Sister Bar – Albuquerque, NM w/ Fando
5/13/2014 Three Links – Dallas, TX w/ Bludded Head, Spacebeach
5/14/2014 Vinos – Little Rock, AR
5/15/2014 Springwater – Nashville, TN w/ Tijuana Goat Ride
5/16/2014 TBA – Birmingham, AL
5/17/2014 The Highlander – Atlanta, GA
5/18/2014 The Foxfield – Columbia, SC w/ Burnt Books
5/19/2014 TBA – Richmond, VA
5/20/2014 Gold Bar – Baltimore, MD w/ Vaz, Multicult
5/21/2014 Kung Fu Necktie – Philadelphia, PA w/ Vaz
5/22/2014 Cake Shop – Manhattan, NY w/ Insect Ark, Columboid
5/23/2014 Saint Vitus Bar – Brooklyn, NY w/ Vaz, Mossenek, Collapsible Baton
5/24/2014 AS220 – Providence, RI w/ Vaz, Tinsel Teeth
5/25/2014 O’Brien’s – Boston, MA w/ Vaz
5/26/2014 The Lair – Buffalo, NY w/ Fox 45, Tainted, Jerry Grind
5/27/2014 TBA – Pittsburgh, PA/Cleveland, OH
5/28/2014 Beat Kitchen – Chicago, IL w/ arbogast
5/29/2014 Quarters – Milwaukee, WI w/ Soup Moat
5/30/2014 The Hexagon Bar – Minneapolis, MN w/ The Funeral and the Twilight
5/31/2014 Trumpet Blossom – Iowa City, IA w/ Acoustic Guillotine
6/01/2014 TBA – Omaha, NE/Kansas
6/02/2014 Bar Bar – Denver, CO w/ Echo Beds
6/03/2014 The Parlor Bar – Laramie, WY w/ Unpaid Butlers
6/04/2014 Burts Tiki Lounge – Salt Lake City, UT w/ Cornered By Zombies, The Great Sabatini
6/05/2014 Filling Station – Bozeman, MT w/ Acheron Thodol
6/06/2014 Zootown Arts Community Center – Missoula, MT
6/07/2014 TBA – Spokane, WA w/ Hooves
6/08/2014 Black Lodge – Seattle, WA w/ Don Peyote, Same Sex Dictator

Orders for Re-Unvent the Whool are live at the Eolian Empire fort HERE, available in a digital package as well as 180-gram vinyl LP including a 24″ x 24″ poster of the Chris Jehly cover art and download of the album.

http://goods.eolianempire.com/product/prizehog-re-unvent-the-whool
http://www.prizehog.net
http://www.facebook.com/prizehog
http://www.eolianempire.com
http://goods.eolianempire.com
https://www.facebook.com/eolianempire

Prizehog, Re-Unvent the Whool (2014)

Having relocated from San Francisco to Portland, Oregon, psychedelic sludge trio Prizehog will release their third album, Re-Unvent the Whool, tomorrow on Eolian Empire. The bass-less trio — you’ll note no lack of low end in the record — run a spectrum of effects-laden churning, mashing together bright ambient echoes and deep, dank tonality. I wouldn’t be the first person to compare them to the Melvins, but that doesn’t really do complete justice to the psychedelic side of their sound, which shows up quickly on Re-Unvent the Whool in the eight-and-a-half-minute opener “Parradiggum” (also the longest track included; immediate points) and carries through to the Monkees-referential noise experimentation that finishes in “Direction to the Valley.” Presumably that’s the Valley of the Dolls they’re talking about.

Between the start and finish, Prizehog — that’s Rion, Veronica and Zakk — delve into downtempo explorations of clouded sonic murk, immersive and sometimes distressing. A moment of peace arrives with the twanging bounce of the penultimate “Gnumskull, the Ruler,” but prior too, Prizehog put you deep in it and aren’t exactly keen to show a way out as “Whoady,” “Shed” and “Awsme Bube” push further and further into a dark ethereality, all dream echoes and where-the-hell-am-I as “Irrevelant” grounds side B somewhat with a still-weirdo take on the metal of stone. The crux of Re-Unvent the Whool — the album’s ambitions somewhat clouded by the wordplay, but underlying nonetheless — is in its open feel, and Prizehog seem to delight in the strangeness of their own concoctions. Can’t blame them. The melody that emerges from “Shed”‘s midsection builds on some of the best impulses Zoroaster and Kylesa have touched on, but is ultimately no more adherent to those bands than it is to a preconceived notion of what “heavy” should sound like, and “Parradiggum” succeeds early in throwing off the listener with blastbeats and overlaid vocal drone. It’s bizarre but surprisingly easy listening.

Eolian Empire has Re-Unvent the Whool pressed in an edition of 500 copies on black 180g vinyl with a black sleeve, 24″ x 24″ poster of the Chris Jehly cover art. A download code is of course included, but for anyone who’d like to get a day-early sample of the full breadth of the beast itself, I’m fortunate enough to be able to have a front to back stream. Find it on the player below, and please enjoy:

[mp3player width=480 height=350 config=fmp_jw_widget_config.xml playlist=prizehog-re-unvent-the-whool.xml]

Prizehog are currently booking a full US tour for Spring 2014 in support of Re-Unvent the Whool, which is released March 4 on Eolian Empire. More info at the links:

Prizehog on Thee Facebooks

Re-Unventing the Whool at Eolian Empire

Eolian Empire