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The Heavy Eyes Premiere “Saint” from He Dreams of Lions

Posted in audiObelisk on October 28th, 2015 by JJ Koczan

the heavy eyes

Memphis fuzz rock trio The Heavy Eyes will release their third album, He Dreams of Lions, Nov. 13 on Kozmik Artifactz. The band, who are to be confused neither with Baltimore’s The Flying Eyes nor Indiana’s The Heavy Company, dig deep into modern-styled fuzz boogie throughout the crisp, straightforward 11 tracks/47 minutes, with bluesy flourish adding further heft to the righteous fuzz of Tripp Shumake‘s guitars and Wally Anderson‘s bass while Eric Garcia propels the roll of a track like “Old Saltillo Road” while going more all-out on a faster piece like “Smoke Signals,” a Fu Manchu-style wall of fuzz built up around laid back vocals.

The Heavy Eyes are efficient and conscious of what kind of noise they want to make at any given turn, but hardly unipolar, setting a back-country mood with nighttime insect noise at the start of opener “Shadow Shaker” before unloading the first of many rock solid and solidly rocking riffs, Shumake‘s penchant for highlight hooks taken a step further from the band’s impressive 2012 sophomore outing, Maera, on the subsequent “Saint” and “Z-Bo,” two shorter groovers that seem to pull in the listener before they even realize it, He Dreams of Lions building considerable momentum right from the start and holding onto it until they get to the Queens of the Stone Age-esque riffing of eight-minute closer “Modern Shells.”

the heavy eyes he dreams of lionsPeak-era Queens isn’t a bad comparison point for the album as a whole, but The Heavy Eyes are more inclined to nestle into a groove, as they do on “Old Saltillo Road” and move into the title-track, which trades echoing, spacious verse lines for a more intensely-distorted chorus, an edge of grunge working its way into their sound on the sly before “Hail to the King, Baby” brings back the megafuzz and seems to layer in some organ deep in the left channel mix, ending up in an open, beery groove that rolls right into an extended finish of organ and amp noise, “Smoke Signals” picking up with Garcia‘s toms to keep the pace high as they make ready to move into the end section of the record with the particularly Fu-ey “The Fool.”

Their ability to switch up vibes is pretty well encapsulated between “Smoke Signals,” “The Fool” and “Somniloquy,” but they stay within a fuzz rock context throughout while effectively toying with one side or another of genre convention, not reinventing the wheel so much as reminding how smoothly it can roll when pushed just right. Groove is the unifying factor, and remains so as “Somniloquy” and “Littlefinger” prepare the ground for the finale, the latter rounding out with some coming-apart chug as the beginning of the closer serves as an underscoring to the point of how much Anderson‘s tone has been a highlight factor all along, even though it’s the guitar out front for another hairy lead.

It’s a party front to back, but again, not necessarily beholden entirely to one mood or another to get there — that is, not everything on He Dreams of Lions is exhaustingly uptempo — and that proves much to the album’s benefit. Still, one of its great strengths lies in the early momentum it mounts, and as a part of that (and as a means for demonstrating what I mean about Anderson‘s bass above), I’m thrilled to be able to host the premiere of “Saint.” You’ll find it on the player below, followed by more from the PR wire on The Heavy Eyes.

Enjoy:

Tripp Shumake on “Saint”:

“Saint is a frenzied blues groove layered under the frantic screaming of a mad man. As pounding drums and slinky bass surge through the speakers, the chaos builds and swells until it breaks. Leaving the listener with more questions than answers but nodding along just the same.”

Following on from their 2011 self-titled debut, and 2012’s successful Maera album, Memphis trio The Heavy Eyes return to the fold this November with their most accomplished record to date. Over eleven tracks, amidst the unbridled rawness of ‘Saint’, the sheer weight of ‘Z-Bo’ and R’n’B shake appeal of ‘Smoke Signal, hypnotic hard rock riffs are delivered thick and fast through distorted fuzz boxes, gnarled bass lines and levee breaking drum beats. This is an album that draws heavily from the heaviest (Led Zeppelin, Humble Pie, Mountain) and in doing so turns out new ideas with a punishing authenticity and honesty in line with their Memphis blues heritage.

This is The Heavy Eyes, one of rock and roll’s best and brightest, and He Dreams Of Lions will be released via Kozmik Artifactz on 13th November 2015.

The Heavy Eyes:
Tripp Shumake – Vocals, Guitars
Wally Anderson – Bass
Eric Garcia – Drums

The Heavy Eyes on Thee Facebooks

The Heavy Eyes on Bandcamp

The Heavy Eyes on Instagram

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Kozmik Artifactz website

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The Heavy Eyes to Release He Dreams of Lions Nov. 13

Posted in Whathaveyou on September 17th, 2015 by JJ Koczan

the heavy eyes

The first taste of The Heavy Eyes‘ third album came earlier this summer when the track “Somniloquy” was included as part of the Kozmik Artifactz sampler, Home of the Good Sounds Vol. 2 (streamed here). Based out of Memphis, Tennessee, the trio will issue He Dreams of Lions on Nov. 13 via the aforementioned German imprint, and to complement the album artwork and details, they’ve unveiled the title-track, which to the surprise of just about nobody, rocks.

These guys have been a pretty well kept secret to this point in their career. Should be interesting to see how the album does upon its release and how much they’re able to get out and support it. Could a European tour be in the works?

PR wire info on the record follows, with the stream of “He Dreams of Lions” at the bottom:

the heavy eyes he dreams of lions

THE HEAVY EYES announce release of new album He Dreams Of Lions | Stream and share new track ’Somniloquy’

He Dreams Of Lions will be released via Kozmik Artifactz on 13th November 2015

Kozmik Artifactz – Europe’s leading purveyor of heavy psych, blues and stoner rock – is pleased to announce the release of He Dreams Of Lions, the brand new album from heavy psych rockers The Heavy Eyes.

Following on from their 2011 self-titled debut, and 2012’s successful Maera album, the Memphis trio return to the fold this November with their most accomplished record to date. Over eleven tracks, amidst the unbridled rawness of ‘Saint’, the sheer weight of ‘Z-Bo’ and R’n’B shake appeal of ‘Smoke Signal, hypnotic hard rock riffs are delivered thick and fast through distorted fuzz boxes, gnarled bass lines and levee breaking drum beats. This is an album that draws heavily from the heaviest (Led Zeppelin, Humble Pie, Mountain) and in doing so turns out new ideas with a punishing authenticity and honesty in line with their Memphis blues heritage.

This is The Heavy Eyes, one of rock and roll’s best and brightest, and He Dreams Of Lions will be released via Kozmik Artifactz on 13th November 2015.

The Heavy Eyes:
Tripp Shumake – Vocals, Guitars
Wally Anderson – Bass
Eric Garcia – Drums

Track Listing:
Shadow Shaker
Saint
Z-Bo
Old Saltillo Road
He Dreams Of Lions
Hail To The King, Baby
Smoke Signals
The Fool
Somniloquy
Littlefinger
Modern Shells

https://www.facebook.com/TheHeavyEyes/
http://theheavyeyesmemphis.bandcamp.com/
https://instagram.com/theheavyeyes/
https://www.facebook.com/kozmikartifactz
http://kozmik-artifactz.com/

The Heavy Eyes, “He Dreams of Lions”

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Kozmik Artifactz Streams New Label Compilation Home of the Good Sounds Vol. 2; Free Download Available

Posted in audiObelisk on June 9th, 2015 by JJ Koczan

home of the good sounds vol 2 front

Over the last couple years, Kozmik Artifactz and its close cohort, Bilocation Records, have assembled one of the most enviable label rosters in the world for heavy rock and roll and psychedelia. Their commitment is to vinyl releases in limited quantities, and their stuff usually goes. It’s harder to get in the States with import prices, but their reach includes American acts like Ruby the HatchetBison MachineValley of the SunSpace God Ritual and The Dirty Streets, all of whom are featured alongside European groups Somali Yacht Club (Ukraine), Earthmass (UK), Sonora Ritual (Germany) and Domadora (France) as well as Australia’s Child on the new 18-track Home of the Good Sounds Vol. 2 label sampler, which is out today.

With new music from The Heavy Eyes — “Somniloquy” is the first I’ve heard of their upcoming third LP, He Dreams of Lions — as well as Buzzard, the new project from Place of Skulls and Pentagram drummer “Minnesota” Pete Campbell, and home of the good sounds vol 2 backUK trio Mammothwing, the sampler should have no trouble piquing interest among the converted while more familiar cuts from The Kings of Frog Island and Valley of the Sun reinforce a solid mixtape feel. I won’t belabor the point that you’re probably about to spend a decent portion of your afternoon head-to-head with these songs — it’s 18 tracks, after all — but there’s a decent flow from one to the next and it’s clear the label was looking to do more than just toss together something haphazardly. Anyone who’s ever held a piece of their vinyl can probably tell you that’s not how they roll.

Plenty of variety, plenty of heavy, and some brand new stuff to preview what they have coming hopefully before the end of 2015, there’s really no way to lose. If nothing else, you can’t beat the price. Kozmik Artifactz was kind enough to let me announce the comp’s arrival, and you’ll find it on the player below, courtesy of their Bandcamp, followed by their official word on today’s release.

Please enjoy:

Kozmik Artifactz and Bilocation Records are very proud to offer to their new and old followers the second label compilation ‘Home of the good sounds – Vol. 2’. The sampler features 18 bands from all over the planet including 12 tracks that are not published on vinyl yet, three of them are exclusively to be heard here: new stuff from The Heavy Eyes from their forthcoming third album ‘He dreams of lions’, mighty Buzzard (featuring Pete Campbell from Pentagram) with ‘Is you Is’ and Mammothwing with a new track from their upcoming epic album ‘Morning light’.

For further informations to bands and releases visit our website www.kozmik-artifactz.com and our shop at http://shop.bilocationrecords.com/.

Thanks to our artist for creating so exciting music and to our customers and friends for their endless support – It is the music that matters!

The Kozmik Crew.

Kozmik Artifactz on Bandcamp

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Kozmik Artifactz website

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