Posted in Whathaveyou on January 27th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
So I guess Sacri Monti just kind of live in Europe now? Don’t get me wrong, I get the appeal. But the ostensibly San Diego-based band have kept their focus when it comes to touring decidedly on the other side of the Atlantic, and they’ll be there for more than a month solid this Spring as they continue to support last year’s right-on Waiting Room for the Magic Hour (review here), so yeah, at some point don’t you legally establish residency? Have to wonder where taxes are cheaper.
There are dates to fill in and a new tour poster reportedly in the works, but with the tour freshly announced and no shortage of dates anyhow, this one seemed worth highlighting as it is. If the worst that happens is I follow-up with another post when a proper press release goes out, at least they earned it.
Here’s their post:
Sacri Monti – Europe 2020
Tour dates for May and June still a few more dates TBA. Once all squared we will announce with new artwork.
EUROPE/UK 2020 30.04.20 NL Tilburg Cul De Sac 1.05.20 NL Nijmegen Sonic Whip Fest 3.05.20 UK London Desertfest 4.05.20 FRA Le Havre Mc Daid 5.05.20 FRA Paris l’International 6.05.20 BE Ghent Kinky Star 7.05.20 NL Utrecht Db’s 8.05.20 DE Gronigen Vera 9.05.20 DK Odense Fuzztival 13.05.20 DE Berlin Zukunft am Ostkreuz (Garage) 14.05.20 CZ Bílina Kafá? 15.05.20 DE Lohr am Main Umson und Dressen Festival 16.05.20 DE Siegen Vortex 17.05.20 DE Karlsruhe P8 19.05.20 ITA Zero Branco Treviso Altroquando 20.05.20 ITA Bolzano Sudwerk 22.05.20 DE Dresden GockelScream #3 23.05.20 DE Aschaffenburg Hannebambel 24.05.20 CH Martigny Caves Du Manoir 25.05.20 FRA Clermont Ferrand Chorus 26.05.20 FRA Montpellier The Black Sheep 27.05.20 ES Barcelona Upload Club 28.05.20 ES Madrid Sala Rockville 29.05.20 PT Porto Woodstock 69 1.06.20 ES San Sebastián Dabadaba 2.06.20 FRA Tolouse L’Usine à Musique 3.06.20 FRA Bordeaux astrodøme QG 4.06.20 FRA Nantes La Scene Michelet 5.06.20 UK Bristol The Crofters Rights 8.06.20 UK London Secret place 7.06.20 UK Liverpool kazimier stockroom
Sacri Monti is: Brenden Dellar -Guitar Dylan Donovan- Guitar Anthony Meier- Bass Evan Wenskay- Organ, Synth Thomas Dibenedetto- Drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 16th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
The big name here is Sacri Monti, who move to the top billing of the poster for Esbjerg Fuzztival 2020 to rest alongside Vokonis. I don’t know if they’re headlining or what, but if they were, you’d have to believe it, as San Diego is a long plane ride from Denmark. I actually take this to mean the Cali heavy rockers will be back on tour in Europe in the Spring, which seems fair enough, so we’ll have to see where else their name pops up on festival bills and so on. Speaking of traveling significant distances, Slowjoint won’t, as they’re coming from the northern Danish peninsula Jutland, but Earth Tongue are coming all the way from New Zealand, which certainly qualifies, and the same applies to Dhidalah, from Japan.
Four bands, four different countries? Yeah, that kind of seems to be the story of Esbjerg Fuzztival 2020 through its first two lineup announcements. The first announcement had Hazemaze and Vokonis, who are both Swedish, but also Mexico’s Vinnum Sabbathi and Denmark’s own Vestjysk Ørken, who are also involved in organizing the fest, so it’s quite an international assemblage that’s coming together for the lineup. Especially for a festival that, while it’s two days, won’t be massive by the time it’s done if the one that took place earlier this year is anything to go by — that is, it’s not four days/three stages has some other events are, though I think there’s a pre-party, so that could technically be considered a third day if you wanted to push it — it shows an impressive commitment to geographic as well as sonic diversity. They make it easy to dig what they’re doing, and indeed I do.
Looking forward to seeing who else is involved once January comes around. That’s also when tickets go on sale, as they inform:
Second Band Announcement!
Thrilled to add SACRI MONTI from the US to the 2020 line-up as well as Dhidalah from Japan, Earth Tongue from New Zealand and SLOWJOINT fra Jylland! The most ambitious line-up at Fuzztival yet, showcasing the many nuances of the “stoner”-genre. We can’t wait!
Tickets go on sale in January, where we’ll also reveal the next bands!
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 11th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Going head-to-head, toe-to-toe, back-to-back, belly-to-belly with Desertfest Berlin 2020’s second lineup announcement, that of Desertfest London 2020 brings a whopping 13 bands. Witchcraft join Corrosion of Conformity and Masters of Reality among the headliners, and Naxatras, Conan — playing Monnos in full, no less — Pissed Jeans, Raging Speedhorn, Sacri Monti, Huntsmen, Monarch, Spirit Adrift, Fire Down Below, Grotto, Desert Storm, and Morag Tong have signed on for the fray in what’s becoming a quickly-packed bill. Nothing to complain about there, I guess. As noted in the Berlin post, some of these groups are shared between the two fests, but there’s a lot here that’s set for London alone, and I suspect in terms of the UK acts like Raging Speedhorn, Desert Storm and Morag Tong, it’s likely to stay that way. It’s been so fascinating to watch these festivals grow since their inception into incubators for UK/European heavy. Desertfest London has become an epicenter for one of the most packed scenes on the planet.
That’s a big deal. And you can hear in the work of bands coming out of the UK the effect it’s having aesthetically as well. It’s awesome. Keep up the good work.
From the social medias:
DESERTFEST LONDON ANNOUNCES WITCHCRAFT AS HEADLINER FOR 2020 EDITION PLUS 12 MORE ACTS ADDED!
Desertfest is honoured to be welcoming Swedish doom icons Witchcraft to London, for the first time in a decade, as 2020 headliners. Their exceptional blend of psychedelic-folk melodies and distinctly doom-laden riffs swiftly elevated Magnus’ musical coven to legendary status. The pace picks up with the bludgeoning sludge-punk sounds of Pissed Jeans, whose narrative continues to be as societally insightful as it is tongue-in-cheek. We welcome back the unholy trio Conan for a very special performance as they play ‘Monnos’ in full. Following last years unforeseen travel issues, we are thrilled to have Naxatras on the bill ready to bathe listeners in their psychedelic groove. British sludge pioneers Raging Speedhorn will provide a lesson in brutality for all who cross their path.
Celestial tones awaken as SACRI MONTI make their debut with a spectrum of far-out jams expertly pieced together for an otherworldly trip. Huntsmen will bring their diversely progressive concoction of doom metal and melancholic Americana storytelling for its first UK outing. Elsewhere we welcome experimental psych-rock champions Monarch -band, Arizona’s Spirit Adrift who effortlessly carry the torch for traditional doom with lashings of classic 80’s heavy metal. Belgium offers up an excellent fusion of fuzz from Fire Down Below, alongside space-psych drifters Grotto. Oxfordshire riff hounds Desert Storm will deliver a shock-wave of groovy stoner-metal and locals Morag Tong will showcase their dynamic take on psychedelic doom.
For more info and weekend tickets for Desertfest London 2020 hit up www.desertfest.co.uk
It’s been a sneakily long four years since San Diego’s Sacri Monti loosed their 2015 self-titled debut (review here) through Tee Pee Records, and perhaps it’s because they’ve toured steadily — going to Europe at least twice and doing regular stints on the West Coast, etc. — that it doesn’t seem so long. The five-piece also took part in 2017’s Burnout three-way split with Harsh Toke and JOY (review here), so they’ve hardly been absent, but Waiting Room for the Magic Hour telegraphs a sense of anticipation with its title, and the eight-song/45-minute outing lives up to that with organ-soaked classic-style heavy rock that draws away from some of the boogie for which their hometown has become so known as the returning lineup of guitarists Brenden Dellar (also vocals) and Dylan Donovan, bassist Anthony Meier (also of Radio Moscow), organist Evan Wenskay and drummer Thomas Dibenedetto delve deeper into proggy-rocky explorations in cuts like “Fear and Fire,” “Starlight,” “Gone from Grace” and the brief penultimate instrumental “Wading in Malcesine.”
The last of those is more of an interlude — its title referring to a lakeside village in northern Italy that one assumes was a stop on some tour or other or at least an escapist fantasy — but still brings Sacri Monti to a place the first album didn’t dare to go with its post-rock guitar drift and Wenskay‘s synth giving the sub-three-minute proceedings an otherworldly feel. That seems to arrive light-years beyond where they start out with the five-minute opening title-track, which keeps to a more straightforward style that, particularly with the vocal patterning, is bound to remind some listeners of where Earthless were on their own last full-length — also earliest Witchcraft — but still keeps its own identity instrumentally as well and sets up moments like the jabbing surge at the end of side A’s “Starlight,” with organ and guitar winding together in an exciting crescendo that touches on Thin Lizzy and rises out of a more straight-ahead hook, itself led into by the instrumental, guitar-driven interlude/shorter piece “Armistice,” to which side B’s aforementioned “Wading in Malcesine” is something of a mirror.
Flow is essential to a work like this and Sacri Monti make it sound easy. Waiting Room for the Magic Hour, though it can seem rhythmically anxious at times as it shifts through its more progressive stretches, but it’s not without its trail markers as it goes farther out, and the place it winds up in closer “You Beautiful Demon” is a genuine surprise: an acoustic and pedal steel near-twang that still derives from Led Zeppelin, but does so in a way that still serves as a ready example of Sacri Monti‘s drive toward individualism. Amidst all the shuffle and ’70s worship of their crowded scene, Sacri Monti are finding a way to both fit in and distinguish themselves in these songs. They’re establishing a richer, less-bound personality to their songwriting that feels comfortable encompassing psychedelia as much as earthy folk-blues strum — back to back, no less — and most importantly, they’re pulling it off.
Elements in “Fear and Fire” — the longest inclusion at 9:14 — and “Starlight” or even the more patiently melodic side B opener “Affirmation” will seem familiar to those with an affinity either for classic progressive rock or its modern heavy revisionists, but the fluidity of Sacri Monti‘s craft here and the lack of pretense they bring to their instrumentalism, their tonal warmth and overarching groove, help to give Waiting Room for the Magic Hour a distinguishing presence, and the take-it-as-a-whole feel of the album front to back feels not necessarily like a conceptual piece mandating it be experienced in a certain way, but an invitation issued to the listener to come in and sit down for a while and enjoy finding the places where the band end up. Songs like “Starlight,” “Affirmation,” “Gone from Grace” and even “You Beautiful Demon” — let alone the title-track — seem to speak to ideas beyond the bare physical world, and fair enough, but Sacri Monti succeed in carrying their audience along this sometimes-complex path without getting anymore lost along the way than they want to be. That’s the difference between Waiting Room for the Magic Hour being as engaging as it is and a flat mess, which it is not.
Indeed, even the name of the record seems to invite speculation as to meaning. What’s the magic hour? Where’s the waiting room? Beginning with stick clicks and a suitably live feel, the title-track would seem to hint that the show is the magic hour, and the waiting room might be the rest of life — the opening line, “Orange haze fall down on me again,” supports this — and given the place-name in “Wading in Malcesine” speaks to reflections on touring as well, but that’s a simplistic narrative to put to it and what feels more important about Waiting Room for the Magic Hour is the places the record takes Sacri Monti‘s sound, rather than the story behind it, and whether it’s the intricacies of “Armistice” and “Starlight” or the direct way the organ at the end of “Affirmation” seems to lead to the opening guitar line of “Gone from Grace,” there’s a natural vibe that ties the material here together and gives the listener all the more to dig into on repeat visits, putting emphasis on the raw dynamic not just between the two guitars or the instruments and the vocals, but the guitar and bass, the bass and keys, the guitar and keys, the drums and everything, and so on.
Though it often winds up being the guitar in the lead, Waiting Room for the Magic Hour stands on the shoulders of each member’s performance and is even more an accomplishment for what those performances produce. In a vast legion of sun-coated West Coast boogie, it builds something of its own from that foundation and highlights a potential that even the self-titled could only touch on in a tentative way. These songs feel more confident and more realized, and if they’re as much a show of potential as of their own manifestation — that is, if Sacri Monti continue to progress from what they achieve here — even if it takes them another four years to put out a follow-up, that LP will be well worth the wait. These cats could’ve played dumb and written a probably-cool-anyway record of capable ’70s-style heavy rock. They very clearly aimed higher, and they very clearly nailed it.
Sacri Monti, Waiting Room for the Magic Hour (2019)
This was the first episode of The Obelisk Show on Gimme Radio to air in the new timeslot of Friday at 1PM Eastern, and I’ll just be honest, I think it was the best one I’ve done yet. The music was right on, the rhythm of one song into the next. There’s a way to make a thing like this that carries a flow — remember mixtapes? Same deal. This one had that. It tripped out when it needed to with Kandodo3 and instead of going psych-blast at the end, it went heavy with Nomadic Rituals and Thronehammer. I loved opening with 16 Horsepower as something unexpected and apart from both the riffy and the Gimme norm, and from pairing Lord Vicar and Destroyer of Light — someone book that tour! — to Sacri Monti and Wild Rocket, everything just came together right.
Tapping Monster Magnet for a classic track (classic track! yay!) didn’t hurt either, but even aside from that, it was a cool show. I’m not sure of the timing on re-airings — they’re every Sunday now at 7PM Eastern; the old timeslot for new episodes — but Gimme also has that Brigade thing you can join and listen to their full archive of everything. I’m not trying to spend your money; just want to give you options and not be like, “Hey this awesome thing happened and you missed it!” On that thought, maybe I should start posting these playlists before the show airs. Hmm… Things to consider.
Here’s the full playlist:
The Obelisk Show – 05.24.19
16 Horsepower
Hutterite Mile
Folklore (2002)
Abrahma
Last Epistle
In Time for the Last Rays of Light*
Giant Dwarf
Repeat After Defeat
Giant Dwarf*
BREAK
Monster Magnet
Ozium
Spine of God (1992)
Vorrh
Myths
Nomads of the Infinite Wild (2018)
Kandodo3
Everything – Green’s – Gone
K3*
Lord Vicar
The Temple in the Bedrock
The Black Powder*
Destroyer of Light
Eternal Death
Mors Aeterna*
Faerie Ring
Lost Wind
The Clearing*
Ruff Majik
Speed Hippie
Tarn*
BREAK
Sacri Monti
Waiting Room for the Magic Hour
Waiting Room for the Magic Hour*
Wild Rocket
Caught in Triangle Again
Disassociation Mechanics (2017)
Slomatics
Mind Fortresses on Theia
Canyons*
BREAK
Nomadic Rituals
Face Down in the Sea of Oblivion
Marking the Day (2017)
Thronehammer
Behind the Wall of Frost
Usurper of the Oaken Throne*
The Obelisk Show on Gimme Radio airs every other Friday at 1PM Eastern, with replays every Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next show is June 7. Thanks for listening if you do.
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 17th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
I’m sitting across the kitchen table from The Patient Mrs. just now and she’s telling me about some dude she’s acquainted with in some tertiary way who has a condition whereby he passes something like six kidney stones a month. That sounds fucking awful. What doesn’t sound awful is new Sacri Monti. That sounds like organ-laced West Coast heavy boogie groovy goodness. Much preferable.
The band’s second full-length for Tee Pee Records is called Waiting Room for the Magic Hour, as previously noted, and they’ll tour Europe soon after the July 5 release. We knew that too. But the song they’re streaming — the title-track — is enough to earn its own post, and with the re-confirmed album info and tracklisting, well, yeah, I’m more than happy to reiterate a few known factoids in service to the greater good of this stuff. Album preorders are up now from Tee Pee.
Therefore, dig:
Sacri Monti to Release Sophomore LP, ‘Waiting Room for the Magic Hour’, July 5
California Heavy Psych Band Featuring Members of JOY, Monarch and Radio Moscow Expands Its Already Kaleidoscopic Sound on Electric New Album
San Diego psychedelic heavy rock champions Sacri Monti return with a vengeance on their sophomore LP ‘Waiting Room for the Magic Hour’. Recorded at Audio Design (Earthless) with producer Jordan Andreen (Joy, Arctic), ‘Waiting Room for the Magic Hour’ sees Sacri Monti firing on all cylinders, somersaulting between the spontaneous and the musically calculated. Blues rock, prog rock, proto metal, fusion; it’s all masterfully represented, as brash as it is beautiful. ‘Waiting Room for the Magic Hour’ will see a July 5 release via Tee Pee Records.
On ‘Waiting Room for the Magic Hour’, heaps of fuzzed vocals, waves of keyboards, boogie rhythms, and sick, spiraling leads merge with focus, energy and drive to send Sacri Monti soaring to a next level, riff-filled land. Proggy space rock jams erupt as melodies segue in and out, while vocals drift over the top, seemingly lost in the instrumental sea. Sacri Monti come fully charged and ready to party, adding a new twist on heavy psych while delivering the soundtrack to an endless summer with ‘Waiting Room for the Magic Hour’.
A first listen to what ‘Waiting Room for the Magic Hour’ holds in store can be heard now as Sacri Monti has released the title track to the upcoming LP. Hear it now at this location.
Track listing:
1.) Waiting Room for the Magic Hour 2.) Fear and Fire 3.) Armistice 4.) Starlight 5.) Affirmation 6.) Gone from Grace 7.) Wading in Malcesine 8.) You Beautiful Demon
16/07 UK Brighton Hope & Ruin 18/07 UK London The Black Heart 19/07 BE zottegem kaffee maboel/klsjr kllktv 20/07 DE Zentrum Zinsholz Eastfilly Fest 21/07 DE Munich Import Export 22/07 AT Wien Viper Room 25/07 ITA Lecco La Bottega d’estate c/o Lido di Casletta 26/07 ITA Sezzadio(Alessandria) Cascina Bellaria 27/07 ITA Moos in Passeier,Südtirol Crystal Mountain Festival 28/07 ITA Padova Curtarock 31/07 FRA Paris Supersonic 01/08 DE Köln MTC 02/08 DE Beelen Krach am Bach Open Air 04/08 DE Aschaffenburg – secret show 07/08 DE Berlin Zukunft 08/08 CZ Louny TBA 09/08 DE Sizendorf Void Festival 10/08 PT Moledo Sonic Blast Moledo Festival 11/08 FRA Picardie Celebration Days Festival
Sacri Monti is: Brenden Dellar -Guitar Dylan Donovan- Guitar Anthony Meier- Bass Evan Wenskay- Organ, Synth Thomas Dibenedetto- Drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 1st, 2019 by JJ Koczan
San Diego bringers-of-vibe Sacri Monti announced their new album, Waiting Room for the Magic Hour a couple months ago and noted a July 5 release for it when they put up the cover art (below; it’s the one that doesn’t say “Euro Tour”), but I haven’t seen much advance hype up to this point. I’m sure as soon as I post this something will come out to make that statement totally irrelevant — that’s usually how my timing goes — but either way, with their taking part in the 2017 Burnout three-way split with Harsh Toke and JOY (review here), having played Roadburn as part of the San Diego Takeover last year, and having impressed with their 2015 self-titled debut (review here), I’d think there’d be some decent anticipation to tap into for the new one. I’m looking forward to it, I guess is the bottom line.
They were previously announced for SonicBlast Moledo 2019 and Krach am Bach, but they’ve got a full round of tour dates up now that you can check out below, and it includes a bunch of other fests as well and club shows. They’ll be at The Black Heart in London. That place is always a good time.
Looks like a good run. Dig it:
Behold our European your dates for the Summer
16/07 UK Brighton Hope & Ruin 18/07 UK London The Black Heart 19/07 BE zottegem kaffee maboel/klsjr kllktv 20/07 DE Zentrum Zinsholz Eastfilly Fest 21/07 DE Munich Import Export 22/07 AT Wien Viper Room 25/07 ITA Lecco La Bottega d’estate c/o Lido di Casletta 26/07 ITA Sezzadio(Alessandria) Cascina Bellaria 27/07 ITA Moos in Passeier,Südtirol Crystal Mountain Festival 28/07 ITA Padova Curtarock 31/07 FRA Paris Supersonic 01/08 DE Köln MTC 02/08 DE Beelen Krach am Bach Open Air 04/08 DE Aschaffenburg – secret show 07/08 DE Berlin Zukunft 08/08 CZ Louny TBA 09/08 DE Sizendorf Void Festival 10/08 PT Moledo Sonic Blast Moledo Festival 11/08 FRA Picardie Celebration Days Festival
Sacri Monti is: Brenden Dellar -Guitar Dylan Donovan- Guitar Anthony Meier- Bass Evan Wenskay- Organ, Synth Thomas Dibenedetto- Drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 24th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
It was good lineup after one announcement, but here we are and SonicBlast Moledo 2019 has announced the next batch of acts for its bill, which, when you step back and really take it in, seems all the more formidable. Note the San Diego infusion this time around from Sacri Monti, Harsh Toke and Petyr. I can’t help but wonder if that might mean those bands will head out on tour together in Europe sometime around August. Would make sense, since they all seem familiar with each other anyhow, but of course that’s speculation.
What isn’t speculation is that one continues to daydream about a quick weekend trip to Portugal in order to see this festival. Have you ever watched videos from SonicBlast? Seen pictures afterwards? It looks pretty incredible, and somehow the thought of seeing Monolord in such a rare and gorgeous setting seems all the more fun, let alone the classic-style rock of MaidaVale.
Ah, to dream.
The announcement was posted on the ol’ social medias and looked an awful lot like this:
We’re thrilled to announce ten more bands to the 9th edition of SonicBlast Moledo!
Monolord, LUCIFER, Toundra, Satan’s Satyrs, SACRI MONTI, HARSH TOKE, PETYR, KALEIDOBOLT, MaidaVale and MAGGOT HEART will bring us some loud heavy fuzzy doom tunes!
