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Desertfest Berlin 2024 Makes Second Lineup Announcement

Posted in Whathaveyou on December 22nd, 2023 by JJ Koczan

Am I taking this entire Desertfest Berlin 2024 announcement as an excuse to put on Ruff Majik‘s Elektrik Ram yet again even though I was playing it approximately 40 hours ago while writing the best-of-2023 post? You bet your ass I am. 40 hours is about as long as I’ve made it all year. Less if you count hearing the songs in your head when the music isn’t actually on.

Elsewhere here, check out Masters of Reality confirmed for both flagship Desertfests. Another record might be too weird for planet earth, but I’m not sure that’s a bad thing. And I’ll note that this is the first I’m hearing of a farewell tour from Pentagram to take place in 2024/2025, but apparently that’s going to be a thing. Call it a low-level surprise? Nobody’s gonna say Bobby Liebling didn’t put in his time, even if you only count since the band got going again in 2009, never mind the better part of four decades prior.

I’ll be expecting tour announcements from Mondo Generator and Ruff Majik — maybe they’ll be out together; that would kind of rule as a pairing — Daevar, Pentagram, Arthur Brown, etc., and will post accordingly when I see what I see.

From the PR wire:

desertfest berlin 2024 second announce

DESERTFEST BERLIN confirms PENTAGRAM, MASTERS OF REALITY, MONDO GENERATOR & many more new band names for 2024!

Desertfest Berlin has announced new names for their eclectic 2024-edition, and confirms iconic PENTAGRAM (last Berlin show ever!), MASTERS OF REALITY, THE CRAZY WORLD OF ARTHUR BROWN, MONDO GENERATOR, RUFF MAJIK, DAEVAR, APTERA, ZAHN, ZERRE and EINSEINSEINS! Get ready for THE riff party of the year – aside a wild and high-class blend of finest psychedelia, stoner rock, doom, desert punk blues, sludge and all that is metal, this is also going to be your last chance to see PENTAGRAM live in Berlin on their final Farewell Tour in 2024/2025!

Desertfest Berlin will take place between May 24 – 26, 2024 at Columbiahalle and Columbia Theater. Tickets, that would also make some perfect Xmas gift, are on sale at: www.desertfest-tickets.de

AMENRA | OSEES | PENTAGRAM
MASTERS OF REALITY | ACID KING | BRANT BJORK TRIO
THE CRAZY WORLD OF ARTHUR BROWN | TAMIKREST
PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS | MONDO GENERATOR
MONKEY3 | SIENA ROOT | DŸSE |EARTH TONGUE
DIRTY SOUND MAGNET | THRONEHAMMER | RUFF MAJIK | FULL EARTH
NEÀNDER | APTERA | ZAHN | DAEVAR | ZERRE
EINSEINSEINS | PRAISE THE PLAGUE
& MANY MORE

TICKETS ON SALE NOW: www.desertfest.de

www.desertfest.de
www.facebook.com/DesertfestBerlin
www.instagram.com/desertfest_berlin

Ruff Majik, Elektrik Ram (2023)

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Quarterly Review: Yatra, Sula Bassana, Garden of Worm, Orthodox, Matus, Shrooms Circle, Goatriders, Arthur Brown, Green Sky Accident, Pure Land Stars

Posted in Reviews on September 19th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

THE-OBELISK-FALL-2020-QUARTERLY-REVIEW

Oh hello. I didn’t see you there. What, this? Oh, this is just me hanging out about to review 100 records in 10 days’ time. Yup, it’s another double-wide Quarterly Review, and I’m telling myself that no, this isn’t just how life is now, that two full weeks of 10 reviews per day isn’t business as usual, but there’s an exceptional amount of music out there right now, and no, this isn’t even close to all of it. But I’m doing my best to keep up and this is what that looks like.

The bottom line is the same as always and I’ll give it to you up front and waste no more time: I hope you enjoy the music here and find something to love.

So let’s go.

Quarterly Review #01-10:

Yatra, Born into Chaos

yatra born into chaos

The partnership between Chesapeake extremists Yatra and producer Noel Mueller continues to bear fruit on the band’s fourth album and first for Prosthetic Records. Their descent from thick, nasty sludge into death metal is complete, and songs like “Terminate by the Sword” and “Terrorizer” have enough force behind them to become signature pieces. The trio of Dana Helmuth (guitar/vocals), Maria Geisbert (bass) and Sean Lafferty (drums, also Grave Bathers) have yet to sound so utterly ferocious, and as each of their offerings has pushed further into the tearing-flesh-like-paper and rot-stenched realms of metal, Born into Chaos brings the maddening intensity of “Wrath of the Warmaster” and the Incantation-worthy chug of closer “Tormentation,” with massive chug, twisting angularity and brain-melting blasts amid the unipolar throatripper screams from Helmuth (reminds at times of Grutle Kjellson from Enslaved), by now a familiar rasp that underscores the various violences taking place within the eight included tracks. I bet they get even meaner next time,. That’s just how Yatra do. But it’ll be a challenge.

Yatra on Facebook

Prosthetic Records store

 

Sula Bassana, Nostalgia

Sula Bassana Nostalgia

Part of the fun of a new Sula Bassana release is not knowing what you’re going to get, and Nostalgia, which is built from material recorded between 2013-’18 and finished between 2019-’21, is full of surprises. The heavy space grunge of lead cut “Real Life,” which along with its side A companion “We Will Make It” actually features vocals from Dave “Sula Bassana” Schmidt himself (!), is the first here but not the last. That song beefs up early Radiohead drudgery, and “We Will Make It” is like what happens when space rock actually gets to space, dark in a way but expansive and gorgeous. Side B is instrumental, but the mellotron in “Nostalgia” — how could a track called “Nostalgia” not have mellotron? — goes a long way in terms of atmosphere, and the 10-minute “Wurmloch” puts its well-schooled krautrockism to use amid melodic drone before the one-man-jam turns into a freakout rager (again: !), and the outright beautiful finisher “Mellotraum” turns modern heavy post-rock on its head, stays cohesive despite all the noise and haze and underscores the mastery Schmidt has developed in his last two decades of aural exploration. One wonders to what this sonic turn might lead timed so close to his departure from Electric Moon and building a Sula live band, but either way, more of this, please. Please.

Sula Bassana on Facebook

Sulatron Records store

 

Garden of Worm, Endless Garden

Garden of Worm Endless Garden

Continuing a streak of working with highly-respected imprints, Finland’s Garden of Worm release their third album, the eight-song/43-minute Endless Garden, through Nasoni Records after two prior LPs through Shadow Kingdom and Svart, respectively. There have been lineup changes since 2015’s Idle Stones (review here), but the band’s classically progressive aspects have never shone through more. The patient unfolding of “White Ship” alone is evidence for this, never mind everything else that surrounds, and though the earlier “Name of Lost Love” and the closer “In the Absence of Memory” nod to vintage doom and the nine-minute penultimate “Sleepy Trees” basks in a raw, mellow Floydian melody, the core of the Tampere outfit remains their unpredictability and the fact that you never quite know where you’re going until you’re there. Looking at you, “Autumn Song,” with that extended flute-or-what-ever-it-is intro before the multi-layered folk-doom vocal kicks in. For over a decade now, Garden of Worm have been a well kept secret, and honestly, that kind of works for the vibe they cast here; like you were walking through the forest and stumbled into another world. Good luck getting back.

Garden of Worm on Facebook

Nasoni Records site

 

Orthodox, Proceed

orthodox proceed

Untethered by genre and as unorthodox as ever, Sevilla, Spain, weirdo doom heroes Orthodox return with Proceed after four years in the ether, and the output is duly dug into its own reality of ritualism born more of creation than horror-worship across the six included songs. “Arendrot” carries some shade from past dronings, and certainly the opener before it is oddball enough, with its angular riffing and later, Iberian-folk-derived solo, but there’s a straigter-forward aspect to Proceed as well, the vocals lending a character of noise rock and less outwardly experimentalist fare. “Rabid God” brings that forward with due intensity before the hi-hat-shimmy-meets-cave-lumber-doom “Starve” and the lurching/ambient doomjazz “The Son, the Sword, the Bread” set up the 10-minute closer “The Long Defeat,” which assures the discomforted that at least at some point when they were kids Orthodox listened to metal. Righteously individual, their work isn’t for everyone, and it’s by no means free of indulgence, but in 42 minutes, Orthodox once again stretch the limits of what doom means in a way that most bands wouldn’t dare even if they wanted to, and if you can’t respect that, then I’ve got nothing for you.

Orthodox on Facebook

Alone Records store

 

Matus, Espejismos II

Matus Espejismos II

Fifty years from now, some brave archivalist soul is going to reissue the entire catalog of Lima, Peru’s Matus and blow minds far and wide. A follow-up to 2013’s Espejismos (review here), Espejismos II brings theremin-laced vintage Sabbath rock vibes across its early movements, going so far as to present “Umbral / Niebla de Neón” in mono, while the minute-and-a-half-long “Los Ojos de Vermargar (Early Version)” is pure fuzz and the organ-laced “Hada Morgana (Early Instrumental Mix)” — that and “Umbra; / Niebla de Neón” appeared in ‘finished versions on 2015’s Claroscuro (review here); “Summerland” dates back to 2010’s M​á​s Allá Del Sol Poniente (review here), so yes, time has lost all meaning — moves into the handclap-and-maybe-farfisa-organ “Canción para Nuada,” one of several remixes with rerecorded drums. “Rocky Black” is an experiment in sound collage, and “Misquamacus” blends acoustic intricacy and distorted threat, while capper “Adiós Afallenau (Version)” returns the theremin for a two-minute walk before letting go to a long stretch of silence and some secret-track-style closing cymbals. The best thing you can do with Matus is just listen. It’s its own thing, it always has been, and the experimental edge brought to classic heavy rock is best taken on with as open a mind as possible. Let it go where it wants to go and the rewards will be plenty. And maybe in another five decades everyone will get it.

Matus on Facebook

Espíritus Inmundos on Facebook

 

Shrooms Circle, The Constant Descent

Shrooms Circle The Constant Descent

Offset by interludes like the classical-minded “Aversion” or the bass-led “Reprobation,” or even the build-up intro “S.Z.,” the ritual doom nod of Swiss five-piece Shrooms Circle‘s The Constant Descent is made all the more vital through the various keys at work across its span, whether it’s organ or mellotron amid the lumbering weight of the riffs. “Perpetual Decay” and its companion interlude “Amorphous” dare a bit of beauty, and that goes far in adding context and scope to the already massive sounding “The Unreachable Spiral” and the subtle vocal layering in “The Constant Descent.” Someone in this band likes early Type O Negative, and that’s just fine. Perhaps most of all, the 11-song/48-minute The Constant Descent is dynamic enough so that no matter where a given song starts, the listener doesn’t immediately know where it’s going to end up, and taking that in combination with the command shown throughout “Demotion,” “Perpetual Decay,” the eight-minute “Core Breakdown” and the another-step-huger finale “Stagnant Tide,” Shrooms Circle‘s second album offers atmosphere and craft not geared toward hooking the audience with catchy songwriting so much as immersing them in the mood and murk in which the band seem to reside. If Coven happened for the first time today, they might sound like this.

Shrooms Circle on Facebook

DHU Records store

 

Goatriders, Traveler

Goatriders Traveler

I’m gonna tell you straight out: Don’t write this shit off because Goatriders is a goofy band name or because the cover art for their second album, Traveler, is #vanlife carrot gnomes listening to a tape player on a hillside (which is awesome, by the way). There’s more going on with the Linköping four-piece than the superficialities make it seem. “Unscathed” imagines what might have happened if Stubb and Hexvssel crossed paths on that same hill, and the album careens back and forth smoothly between longer and shorter pieces across 50 engrossing minutes; nature-worshiping, low-key dooming and subtly genre-melding all the while. Then they go garage on “The Garden,” the album seeming to get rawer in tone as it proceeds toward “Witches Walk” and the a capella finish in “Coven,” which even that they can’t resist blowing out at the end. With the hypnotic tom work and repeat riffing of the instrumental “Elephant Bird” at its center and the shouted culminations of “Goat Head Nebula” and “Unscathed,” the urgent ritualizing of “Snakemother” and the deceptive poise at the outset with “Atomic Sunlight,” Traveler finds truth in its off-kilter presentation. You don’t get Ozium, Majestic Mountain and Evil Noise on board by accident. Familiar as it is and drawing from multiple sides, I’m hard-pressed to think of someone doing exactly what Goatriders do, and that should be taken as a compliment.

Goatriders on Facebook

Majestic Mountain Records store

Evil Noise Recordings store

Ozium Records store

 

Arthur Brown, Long Long Road

Arthur Brown Long Long Road

At the tender age of 80, bizarrist legend Arthur Brown — the god of hellfire, as the cover art immediately reminds — presents Long Long Road to a new generation of listeners. His first album under his own name in a decade — The Crazy World of Arthur Brown released Gypsy Voodoo (can you still say that?) in 2019 — and written and performed in collaboration with multi-instrumentalist Rik Patten, songs like “Going Down” revisit classic pageantry in organ and horns and the righteous lyrical proclamations of the man himself, while “I Like Games” toys with blues vibes in slide acoustic, kick drum thud and harmonica sleazenanigans, while the organ-and-electric “The Blues and Messing Round” studs with class and “Long Long Road” reminds that “The future’s open/The past is due/In this moment/Where everything that comes is new,” a hopeful message before “Once I Had Illusions (Part 2)” picks up where its earlier companion-piece left off in a manner that’s both lush and contemplative, more than a showpiece for Brown‘s storytelling and still somehow that. His legacy will forever be tied to The Crazy World of Arthur Brown‘s late-1960s freakery, but Long Long Road is the work of an undimmed creative spirit and still bolder than 90 percent of rock bands will ever dare to be.

Arthur Brown on Facebook

Magnetic Eye Records store

Prophecy Productions store

 

Green Sky Accident, Daytime TV

Green Sky Accident Daytime TV

Ultimately, whether one ends up calling Green Sky Accident‘s Daytime TV progressive psychedelia, heavier post-rock or some other carved-out microgenre, the reality of the 10-song/50-minute Apollon Records release is intricate enough to justify the designation. Richly melodic and unafraid to shimmer brightly, cuts like “Point of No Return” and the later dancer “Finding Failure” are sweet in mood and free largely of the pretense of indie rock, though “Insert Coin” and the penultimate piano interlude “Lid” are certainly well dug-in, but “Sensible Scenes,” opener “Faded Memories,” closer “While We Lasted” and the ending of “Screams at Night” aren’t lacking either for movement or tonal presence, and that results in an impression more about range underscored by songwriting and melody than any kind of tonal or stylistic showcase. The Bergen, Norway, four-piece are, in other words, on their own trip. And as much float as they bring forth, “In Vain” reimagines heavy metal as a brightly expressive terrestrial entity, a thing to be made and remade according to the band’s own purpose for it, and the title-track similarly balances intensity with a soothing affect. I guess this is what alt rock sounds like in 2022. Could be far worse, and indeed, it presents an ‘other’ vision from the bulk of what surrounds it even in an underground milieu. On a personal level, I can’t decide if I like it, and I kind of like that about it.

Green Sky Accident on Facebook

Apollon Records store

 

Pure Land Stars, Trembling Under the Spectral Bodies

Pure Land Stars Trembling Under the Spectral Bodies

With members of Cali psych-of-all explorers White Manna at their core, Pure Land Stars begin a series called ‘Altered States’ that’s a collaboration between Centripetal Force and Cardinal Fuzz Records, and if you’re thinking that that’s going to mean it’s way far out there, you’re probably not thinking far enough. Kosmiche drones and ambient foreboding in “Flotsam” and “3rd Grace” make the acoustic strum of “Mountains are Mountains” seem like a terrestrial touch-down, while “Chime the Kettle” portrays a semi-industrial nature-worship jazz, and “Jetsam” unfolds like a sunrise but if the sun suddenly came up one day and was blue. “Lavendar Crowd” (sic) turns the experimentalism percussive, but it’s that experimentalism at the project’s core, whether that’s manifest in the nigh-on-cinematic “Dr. Hillarious” (sic) or the engulf-you-now eight-minute closer “Eyes Like a Green Ceiling,” which is about as far from the keyboardy kratrock of “Flotsam” as the guitar effects and improvised sounding soloing of “Jetsam” a few tracks earlier. Cohesive? Sure. But in its own dimension. I don’t know if Pure Land Stars is a ‘band’ or a one-off, but they give ‘Altered States’ a rousing start that more than lives up to the name. Take a breath first. Maybe a drink of water. Then dive in.

Pure Land Stars on Bandcamp

Centripetal Force Records store

Cardinal Fuzz Records store

 

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Arthur Brown to Release Long Long Road on 80th Birthday

Posted in Whathaveyou on March 30th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

arthur brown

In an era where the word ‘legend’ is tossed around so casually, how on earth should one designate Arthur Brown? He is a legend, and more specifically, one of underground psychedelic rock, who helped shape the face of the original movement from whence modern incarnations thereof are invariably derived. He’s the kind of figure people don’t even realize they’ve been influenced by, but they have just the same, as across generations, his work has touched artists who’ve gone on to be influences in themselves. Such immeasurability of impact can rarely be traced to one figure, and I won’t take away from other participants in The Crazy World of Arthur Brown or anyone else who’s contributed to the path the man has walked, but you wouldn’t have psych like psych is now without him.

Long Long Road, which is to be released as Brown‘s label debut on Magnetic Eye and Prophecy Productions, is out June 24, the same day Brown turns 80. If you’d like to send your birthday wishes in advance, preorders are up now, and the title-track is streaming. It is likewise sweet and unexpected.

From the PR wire:

Arthur Brown Long Long Road

ARTHUR BROWN unveils first video single of the title track and details of his new album “Long Long Road”

Preorders: http://lnk.spkr.media/arthur-brown-long-long-road

ARTHUR BROWN is now premiering the animated video single of the balladesque title track taken from his forthcoming new full-length “Long Long Road”, which has been slated for release on the very day of Arthur’s 80th birthday, June 24. The album details of “Long Long Road” can be viewed below.

ARTHUR BROWN comments: “This album as well as this song were written in collaboration with Rik Patten, a good friend and a superb musician”, explains the beloved singer. “While we were working on ‘Long Long Road’, many disturbing things were going on around the globe – just as they are happening now. Rik and I felt like asking humankind to look back along the history of our planet and to notice, how dangerous and yet at the same time full of promise human life is. We are all travelling on what appears to be a long road but that is in truth a never-ending path. It seems that we all carry our darkness and light, and that at crucial moments some deep neural pathways of darkness arise to block out the light. ‘Long Long Road’ is a song of hope, a song of love, an anthem to remind us that we actually do have choices. We determine how we behave, the stories that we listen to and what we tell ourselves, and ultimately how we act and what kind of person we are. The question is, if we as humans can be, in the eternal moment, viewing all that is, as if for the first time, an independent living whole and joined together by love?”

Tracklist
1. Gas Tanks
2. Coffin Confession
3. Going Down
4. Once I Had Illusions (Part 1)
5. I Like Games
6. Shining Brightness
7. The Blues and Messing Round
8. Long Long Road
9. Once I Had Illusions (Part 2)

Release date: June 24, 2022

Available formats
“Long Long Road” is available as a box set including a 48-page hardcover 2CD artbook, a gatefold 180g orange marble vinyl-LP, a bonus 7″ vinyl single, a wall flag, 4 30×30 cm art prints, and a certificate of authenticity personally signed and hand-numbered by Arthur Brown. The 2CD artbook is also available separately and includes liner-notes by Arthur Brown, enhanced artwork and photography, and two exclusive studio recordings. “Long Long Road” is furthermore available on black 180g vinyl LP, on transparent red 180g vinyl LP, and as a Digipak CD.

Recording at Sonic Scoops Studios UK
Produced by Arthur Brown with Rik Patten
Arrangements by Arthur Brown and Rik Patten
Mix & engineering by Rik Patten
Mastering by Marc Urselli

Artwork by Laurie Avon
Photography and imagery by Harvey Waller
Layout & design by Jean Valnoir Simoulin

Line-up
Arthur Brown – vocals, guitars, piano
Rik Patten – multiple instruments

www.facebook.com/arthurbrownmusic
http://www.instagram.com/godofhellfire_actual
http://www.thegodofhellfire.com
http://store.merhq.com
http://magneticeyerecords.com/
https://www.facebook.com/MagneticEyeRecords
https://www.facebook.com/prophecyproductions/
https://prophecy-de.bandcamp.com/
http://en.prophecy.de/

Arthur Brown, “Long Long Road” visualizer

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Arthur Brown Signs to Magnetic Eye and Prophecy Productions

Posted in Whathaveyou on January 25th, 2021 by JJ Koczan

I’m just going to assume there’s a new Arthur Brown album coming? Maybe a live record or bunch of archival reissues? I don’t know, but I don’t think, if you’re Arthur Brown — the god of hellfire, and so on — you bother signing a label deal at all if you’re not going to do something with it. And to say “good get” for Prophecy and Magnetic Eye doesn’t really begin to cover it. The guy is a legit legend in psychedelia and heavy rock, and he’s only worked to add to his legacy for a new generation over the last half-decade, embracing performances at Psycho Las Vegas and touring to a waiting audience of freaks. New record? Old records? Live record? Whatever’s coming, there will be listeners waiting for it, myself included.

The PR wire has it thusly:

arthur brown

ARTHUR BROWN inks deal with PROPHECY PRODUCTIONS and MAGNETIC EYE RECORDS

We are honored to bring you the one and only flaming helmeted “God of Hellfire”, ARTHUR BROWN. The enigmatic and iconic artist has signed a deal with Prophecy Productions and Magnetic Eye Records.

“Hi – this is Arthur Brown”, the mystical maverick sends his greeting. “I am delighted to be signing with Prophecy and Magnetic Eye. I have chosen to work with these labels, because they believe in artist development and are therefore interested in the artist’s vision of the direction of the music and overall aesthetic. They are adventurous companies. We have already started developing ideas of how we can work together. This feels like the beginning of a truly creative time in my lengthy career with companies who value both individuality and independent artistry. They are at the cutting edge of technology in the music industry and I am truly excited about getting my music out to a wide and varied music community.”

Martin Koller comments: “It is with enormous pleasure that we are able to announce the signing of Arthur Brown in our 25th anniversary year, says the Prophecy Productions founder. “It is a once in a lifetime chance to sign the veritable God of Hellfire. It is a great honour and privilege to be able to work with such a legendary and visionary artist, who has in turn inspired so many giants of rock and metal over decades and has managed the rare feat of staying fresh, forward thinking, and relevant throughout his exceptional career. We take humble pleasure in contributing to Arthur Brown’s next endeavour.”

Jadd Shickler adds: “Arthur Brown is a legend”, states the Magnetic Eye label director. “His music is all over the spectrum of psych and proto-prog across the past 50 years, but there’s a reason he has performed to throngs of metalheads and stoner doom aficionados at fests like Psycho Las Vegas over the last decade: Arthur Brown is a riveting performer and an originator, who has exactly the kind of authenticity heavy rock fans dig. We’re beyond honored to be taking part in presenting a brand new studio album from an icon like Arthur, and in helping him cement his legacy of more than a half-century making music in his inimitable style. Stoked!”

www.facebook.com/arthurbrownmusic
http://store.merhq.com
http://magneticeyerecords.com/
https://www.facebook.com/MagneticEyeRecords
https://www.facebook.com/prophecyproductions/
https://prophecy-de.bandcamp.com/
http://en.prophecy.de/

The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Live at Psycho Las Vegas 2019

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The Crazy World of Arthur Brown Announce US Tour

Posted in Whathaveyou on December 5th, 2016 by JJ Koczan

the-crazy-world-of-arthur-brown-photo-by-clemens-mitscher

Psychedelic legends The Crazy World of Arthur Brown have just announced their first US tour dates since 1969. They’ll be joined on the early 2017 run by Electric Citizen, and if you’re reading this, I doubt very seriously you need me to tell you the level of occasion this is. Aside from the sheer performance aspect of what Arthur Brown brought to music, to space rock, to heavy prog and to psychedelia, just the sheer scale of time here makes this one all the more special, as well as the fact that also taking part in the shows will be current bands answering the sonic call that Brown put out all those years ago — from freakout freaks White Hills to nod-riff legends Acid King to doomweavers Pallbearer. I’m sorry, but there’s just no way to lose out on seeing one of these shows.

Of course, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown played Psycho Las Vegas earlier this year, and sure enough, it’s Psycho presenting these shows. You’ll find the full set of their performance at the bottom of this post.

Here’s a press release I wrote, newly circled back from the PR wire:

the-crazy-world-of-arthur-brown-tour-700

The Crazy World of Arthur Brown Announces First US Tour in 47 Years!

After a highlight performance at Psycho Las Vegas 2016, hugely influential UK heavy psychedelic progressive oddities The Crazy World of Arthur Brown announce their 2017 “ZIM ZAM ZIM” tour – their first run of US shows since 1969.

The God of Hellfire himself, Arthur Brown, will be celebrating 50 years since releasing the debut single “Devil’s Grip,” which helped shape the British and worldwide psychedelic movement. Pushing theatrics to their dystopian hellscape limits would earn Brown acolytes in everyone from David Bowie and Alice Cooper to KISS, Marilyn Manson and Lady Gaga to the entire genre of black metal, and his influence continues to spread today.

“Last time I toured US with the Crazy World was early 1969,” Brown confirms. “It was our third tour there. At the time, the band had been headlining massive festivals, alongside Hendrix, Frank Zappa, Jefferson Airplane, and other top attractions of the time. Iggy Pop and Alice Cooper were still only mildly famous, somewhere down the bill.”

ZIM ZAM ZIM takes its name from The Crazy World of Arthur Brown’s latest album, released in 2014. They’ll be joined on this landmark trip by Ohio rockers Electric Citizen, and shows will feature generational sonic offspring like White Hills, Acid King, Pallbearer, Danava and Jex Thoth.

Psycho Las Vegas presents
THE CRAZY WORLD OF ARTHUR BROWN w/ Electric Citizen
ZIM ZAM ZIM – USA TOUR 2017

2/15 Los Angeles, Regent Theater w/ White Hills
tickets: http://www.theregenttheater.com/

2/16 Las Vegas, Hard Rock Hotel & Casino w/ White Hills
tickets: https://crazyworld-lasvegas.eventbrite.com

2/17 San Francisco, Slims w/ Acid King
tickets: http://www.slimspresents.com/

2/18 Portland, Star Theater w/ Danava
tickets: https://crazyworld-portland.eventbrite.com

2/21 Chicago, Reggies
tickets: http://www.reggieslive.com/

2/23 New York, Le Poisson Rouge
tickets: https://venuepilot.co/events/11217/orders/new

2/24 Austin, Barracuda w/ Pallbearer & Pinkish Black
tickets: https://crazyworld-austin1.eventbrite.com

2/25 Austin, Barracuda w/ Acid King & Jex Thoth
tickets: https://austin-night2.eventbrite.com

https://www.facebook.com/arthurbrownmusic/
http://www.arthur-brown.com/

The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Live at Psycho Las Vegas 2016

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Psycho Las Vegas Announces Initial Lineup

Posted in Whathaveyou on January 20th, 2016 by JJ Koczan

psycho las vegas banner

In the fine tradition of, well, last year’s Psycho fest, 2016’s Psycho Las Vegas has announced an overwhelmingly impressive initial group of acts for its lineup, including some of the finest North America has to offer and choice imports. Notable in that category are Candlemass, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Colour Haze, Mars Red Sky, Belzebong, Øresund Space Collective and The Cosmic Dead, and they’re joined by returning figureheads Sleep and Pentagram, who headlined the 2015 Psycho California fest, along with YOB, Down, Mudhoney, Acid King, Fu Manchu and a whole host of others listed below.

The truly insane part about Psycho Las Vegas is that, like last year with Psycho California, the lineup is staggered, so this isn’t it. On Valentines Day, the festival will announce its full lineup of acts, which I’m just going to go out on a limb and assume includes everyone else on earth, and then after that, in March, they’ll follow up again with the headliners. So what we learn today is that 2015’s headliners will have someone playing over them. I don’t know who, or how that could be possible, but you can bet your ass I’m anxious to find out.

All the details so far unveiled about Psycho Las Vegas, as well as the link to purchase tickets, appear below:

psycho las vegas poster

PSYCHO LAS VEGAS 2016

Neon Knights arrive and ignite the the city of light in a sleepless celebration of heavy culture. High rollin’ low lifes will low roll the high life at the world famous Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in “Sin City”, Las Vegas. For three straight days, from August 26th through the 28th, born losers win as Psycho Las Vegas holds a rock steady hand of bands, performance artists, tattoo artists, art exhibits, a black light chamber, custom van and chopper show, pinball arcade, and much more.

Psycho Las Vegas sins and grins two blocks south of the strip at the expansive Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. The high-octane Rock ‘n’ Roll-themed casino resort hosts three stages; The Joint, which is a main stage, Vinyl, the rock club and out under the desert night sky is the second main stage, The Pool Stage. Experience live music, 24 hours a day.

In between bands and bets, ride outside to the venue’s open lot and witness the most bitchin’ rides this side of Death Valley at Psycho’s first ever custom van and chopper show!

Psycho Las Vegas features some of the most revered screen printed poster artwork with an exclusive exhibition from commissioned Psycho Las Vegas artist David D’Andrea. D’andrea, who returns to Psycho for a second year, created all the official festival artwork. Attendees will be able to eternally commemorate the event on their own walls with signed, limited edition works from D’Andrea.

Psycho Las Vegas acts and events were co-curated with music scene stalwart Sean “Pellet” Pelletier. (“Last Days Here” documentary) “Thief Present’s ‘Psycho’ festivals are visionary and have consecutively been the number one music event I’ve want to attend since they’ve started”, said Pellet. “I’ve been dreaming about putting on a cool culture and music festival for quite some time and I jumped at the chance to help us all go psycho in Las Vegas! The event is a celebration of subculture and a spiritual gateway for all of us into sonically connected sub-genres of heavy rock that hopefully, some of which, may be new to our senses. I’m booking bands that I’ve always personally wanted to see and have requested setlists that we’ve all wanted to hear.”

Among the first string of live acts announced will be hard rock legends, BLUE OYSTER CULT with a set heavy on their early songs that have inspired so many great bands over the years. Mark Arm and Steve Turner, also both of Green RIver-fame, will remind us why MUDHONEY are heralded as essential grandfathers of grunge. English psych rock pioneer, THE CRAZY WORLD OF ARTHUR BROWN returns to America with a performance sure to highlight where groundbreaking artists such as Kiss, Alice Cooper, and Ghost may have gotten some of their ideas. We’ve reunited proto-metal masters TRUTH AND JANEY who will appear for an exclusive live set to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their underground classic debut, “No Rest For The Wicked”! “A Band Called Death” documentary film stars DEATH, pulsate the pool stage and will show us why they are finally considered one of the first Detroit punk bands. Germany’s top psychedelic stoners COLOUR HAZE have chosen the festival for a rare US manifestation that’s sure rise us all high above the neon. Swedish doom metal ministers CANDLEMASS come crushing in yet another one of Psycho Las Vegas’s special performances. Stay tuned for the announcement of even more acts, over 60 in total, over the next few months.

Thief presents
Friday, August 26, 2016 at 12:00 PM – Sunday, August 28, 2016 at 12:00 AM (PDT)
Las Vegas, NV

SLEEP
BLUE ÖYSTER CULT
CANDLEMASS
DOWN
THE CRAZY WORLD OF ARTHUR BROWN
MUDHONEY
COLOUR HAZE
PENTAGRAM
FU MANCHU
ACID KING
DEATH (Detroit)
YOB
BELZEBONG
ORESUND SPACE COLLECTIVE
DANAVA
TRUTH AND JANEY
GOLDEN VOID
JUCIFER
BONGRIPPER
MARS RED SKY
A STORM OF LIGHT
CAVE OF SWIMMERS
THE COSMIC DEAD

ACCOMMODATIONS
Join the bands and crew at the Hard Rock Hotel & use the code: Psych16 at checkout to recieve 30% off your rooms.

ANNOUNCEMENT SCHEDULE
1/20 – “Warm up” Tickets Onsale 8am pst
2/14 – Full Lineup (60+ acts)
3/15 – Headliners Revealed
5/4 – Van/Chopper & Alt Exhibitions

http://www.eventbrite.com/e/psycho-las-vegas-2016-tickets-20777507083
WWW.PSYCHOLV.COM
WWW.HARDROCKHOTEL.COM

Sleep, Live at Psycho California

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Friday Full-Length: The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown

Posted in Bootleg Theater on October 23rd, 2015 by JJ Koczan

The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown (1968)

In the vast annals of weirdo rock, there’s a special place for The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. The soul of “Child of My Kingdom,” the progressive theatrics of “Time,” the classic proto-Satanic heavy rock of “Fire,” the organ-laced social commentary groove of “Come and Buy,” and because hey, why not, covers of Sreamin’ Jay Hawkins and James Brown (no relation) — it’s an album that, at nearly 50 years old, could be read as a founding moment for what would become prog as much a watershed moment for psychedelia. Its titular figure, vocalist Arthur Brown, served as a template for the likes of Alice Cooper, and while the actual band The Crazy World of Arthur Brown were short-lived in this incarnation (at least until 1988’s Strangelands), the 1968 self-titled debut has nonetheless been a signpost for freaks lost in a sea of normalcy: This Way to Where Things Don’t Make Sense in the Best Way Possible. It’s a long sign. It would have to be.

The album — and I don’t even know which version of it is above, but it’s one of them — is rendered human by two things: Its jazzy, schooled-sounding underpinnings and the acknowledgement that the reality in which it takes place is crazy. Brown, keyboardist/orchestrator Vincent Crane, bassist Nick Greenwood, and drummers Drachen Theaker and John MarshallThe Who‘s Pete “I’m Writing a Book” Townshend as associate producer — conjured nightmares of the acid era, and these songs are as much beyond psychedelia as they are of it. But they’re not happenstance, and calling it “Crazy” proves that. While they weren’t the only ones at the time seeming to fly off the rails with sound or stage visuals, that consciousness might be The Crazy World of Arthur Brown‘s greatest contribution to progressive rock, since as the likes of Pink FloydKing CrimsonJethro Tull and of course Arthur Brown continued to delve deeper into what eventually took shape as the style, it was that sense of being in control of the moment that would be so pivotal to making it what it was. Even when control seemed impossible, which on a lot of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, it definitely does. And yeah, if they only came down long enough to name the band and record and then took lysergic flight again, it still counts. Still counts. He’s the god of hellfire. It counts.

You can take a pretty cold, academic appreciation of what it has to offer and its various , but the bottom line is that The Crazy World of Arthur Brown continues to present a vision that nothing else quite matches, and which doesn’t quite match anything else. It is warped in the truest and most satisfying of stylistic senses.

As always, I hope you enjoy.

I’m not sure I have it in me to articulate how done I am with this week.

Very done.

Okay, yeah, maybe I did have it in me after all.

Next week is already busy. Monday’s locked in with premieres from Cities of Mars and Young Hunter. Tuesday is a song from Malady; folky Finnish prog — you’re gonna love it, as I do. Wednesday a track premiere from The Heavy Eyes. Thursday a full-album stream from Sunder, formerly known as The Socks, and Friday is… something else? Well, if nothing else I’ll put up that Lee Dorrian interview about With the Dead. A lot, a lot, a lot coming up. I already have something slated for Monday, Nov. 2 as well, so yeah, pretty packed. Good thing I don’t have a full-time job or anything that includes, I don’t know, a modest expectation of my time and mental faculties. That would make everything terrible.

Oh yeah, Monday night is also the Acid King/Gozu show in Boston. Might be Wednesday before I can get a review posted of that, but as soon as I can I will. I think that will be the only show I’ve been to this month — again, this whole “having a job” thing — but I’m going to try to make the most of it. Much as one can, anyhow.

If you’ve already downloaded the latest podcast, thanks.

I hope you have a great and safe weekend. Please check out the forum and the radio stream.

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