More big things to come from desert-by-way-of-Paris (which is the way to go if you’re gonna go) rockers Blaak Heat Shujaa. The band have announced that their Tee Pee label debut full-length will be preceded by an EP titled The Storm Generation that’s due out early next month. Waste no time. No doubt their youthful impatience will prove to the benefit of all parties involved.

The PR wire sounds the alert:

Heavy Psychedelic Rock Band BLAAK HEAT SHUJAA to Release New EP “The Storm Generation” on December 11

Los Angeles Trio Completes Work on “Mind Expanding” Sophomore LP

“Heavy Mental” psych rockers BLAAK HEAT SHUJAA will release The Storm Generation, their debut EP for Tee Pee Records on December 11. On The Storm Generation, thick, colorful bass lines coexist with flying reverb guitars, ethereal chants and loud, tribal drums. Produced by Scott Reeder (Kyuss, The Obsessed) in the Mojave desert, the EP features a guest appearance by Nobel Prize-nominated gonzo poet Ron Whitehead, adding even more color to BLAAK HEAT’s signature psychedelia. The EP is a precursor to the band’s new full length The Edge of an Era, which is set for a March 26, 2013 release.

BLAAK HEAT SHUJAA’s enticing blend of genres has been called “a dissonant symphony unveiling visions of great natural expanses” and is unlike anything you’ve likely heard before. The band’s transcendental tension between its heavy rock roots and an organic inclination to drift towards psychedelia pays homage to the vast collection of mind-expanding sounds the trio grew up on: neo-psychedelia, surf rock, spaghetti westerns, Middle Eastern scales and Far Eastern melodies!

“We spent all summer at our LA studio working on the new record,” comments BLAAK HEAT SHUJAA guitarist / vocalist Thomas Bellier. “The creative vibe was unbelievable, and the music just kept flowing. Soon we had way more than needed for a full-length record, so we talked to Tee Pee Records about doing an EP before the album, which they agreed to. The EP has something for everyone: hints of surf rock, massive basses, psych solos, shades of metal…it unleashes the uniqueness of the Blaak Heat sound.”

The Storm Generation track listing:

1.) The Revenge Of The Feathered Pheasant
2.) Incident At Stinson Beach
3.) Helios
4.) The Manifesto
5.) The Storm / We Are The Fucking Storm
6.) Fusil Contra Fusil

Click here to go to The Maple Forum store.

The fifth release on The Obelisk’s in-house label The Maple Forum, New Jersey riff-thrashers Clamfight will draw forth I vs. the Glacier on Jan. 22, 2013. I know we’re still a ways off from that, but I firmly believe that when 2013 is over, Clamfight‘s epic second album will stand not only among the year’s strongest releases, but also perhaps one of the greatest cultural moments Western Civilization has yet produced. Needless to say, if that doesn’t turn out to be the case, I’ll be severely disappointed.

Bill Shakespeare, George Carlin, Black Sabbath, Shatner and Clamfight. I’m dead fucking serious.

I have 95 copies of the album to sell, and they’re up for pre-order now. Each Clamfight pre-order comes with a handwritten thank-you card (not pictured because I haven’t bought them yet, but they’ll be nice) [PLEASE NOTE: Due to the volume of pre-orders, I had to can the thank-you cards. Not that I appreciate your order any less — quite the opposite — but I’ve only got so many hours to fill these things out.] and a couple of the brand new Obelisk stickers with the octobeliskopus design by Skillit, as seen in the site’s header. They are $10 domestic American and $12 international, shipping included, and available to purchase at The Maple Forum Official Store.

All pre-orders will ship out Jan. 10, some 12 days ahead of the release date, to make sure everyone who ordered ahead of time gets the record early, and if I wound up having to write out 95 thank-you notes, well, that would just be awesome as far as I’m concerned. Maybe if they all go that quickly I’ll ship them out before the New Year hits to celebrate or something. Just floating ideas.

In another fit of “let’s try awesome,” I’ve also cut the price on the HeavyPink 7″, the fourth release on The Maple Forum. As you can see in the store, it’s now just $8 domestic/$12 international.

Thank you for your continued support of The Obelisk and of The Maple Forum. It means more than I have words to say.

And in case none of the other links did the job, click the album cover to buy:

Driving past the homogenized “warmth” of the brick retail chains that have appeared since I was last down on the outskirts of Baltimore’s Fell’s Point neighborhood, I couldn’t help but think of John Brenner from Revelation discussing the inner harbor in that interview that went up last week. These places with all the trappings of economic stimulus except any investment back into the community that hosts them the way feet host blisters. There for a painful while and then gone. Pop.

It was different once I actually got into Fell’s Point. Not that the neighborhood wasn’t gentrified from its working class harbor roots, but that at very least it was actual gentrification, independently owned businesses or at least smaller, regional chains and a most welcome onslaught of pubs, eateries, and other gastro-type decadences. Kooper’s Tavern, where The Patient Mrs. and I had lunch, had tables set up outside selling oysters and recycling the shells for use by — wait for it — other oysters. Seems nobody is immune to the economic ravages of our age. Even the oysters have to buy used.

Fitting that act of conservation would be prelude to a radical haul whose like — in what otherwise might be considered a regular ol’ record shop — I’ve not seen in some time. Sound Garden (no relation) was just down the street from the pub where we ate and several others, and it wasn’t my first time there by any stretch (seems impossible that it would’ve been over three years ago, but I guess that’s why old posts are dated), but I didn’t remember it being quite the trove it was this time around. Walking up the middle of the three aisles, I went past the metal and the midsection divide — I’d come back to the metal, no worries — something strange compelling me forward, and that’s when I saw it:

The Psychedelic section.

Oh yeah, that’s right. The monkey that lives in my head where my brain should be clicked on the dim bulb of his cavernous abode and for a moment I said a prayer to my pagan octopus god that I might win the $300 million Powerball and come back to Sound Garden to purchase every album in the Psychedelic section on principle alone. A mere celebration of the existence of such a thing. Portrait of the mouth, drooling.

What fun I had. Flipping through was like opening presents. I limited myself to two discs about which I knew absolutely nothing but what was written on the eloquent description labels — Truth‘s Truth from 1969 and Escombros‘ Escombros, from 1970. The former is a poppy, folksy thing, not bad but not quite as bizarre as I was hoping based on the cover, and Escombros is a heavier Chilean obscurity that opens with a cover of Hendrix‘s “Stone Free,” so I guessed I was pretty safe in grabbing it. Turns out I was right about that. The vocals sounded mixed too high on my office speakers when I listened, but I expect on a different system, it might not be an issue at all, and there were a couple gems there anyway. Wicked Lady‘s Psychotic Overkill was a welcome find as well, all buzzsaw-this and early-’70s narcodelia that.

I also picked up Goat‘s World Music based on the tarantula-sized hype surrounding. That hype is probably earned, and however problematic I might find European acts copping a feel on some Fela Kuti afrobeat fuzz, they’re hardly the first and they did it well enough. I wasn’t quite enchanted, but sometimes with albums like that I go into it determined not to like them and usually find I don’t. That wasn’t the case with Goat.

In the “I reviewed this and I’m annoyed at buying it” category, the newest ones from Golden Void (review here), Astra (review here) and Six Organs of Admittance (review here) were fodder enough for a grumble, even if Astra and was used. Six Organs was $15 new and the sleeve isn’t even a gatefold. Call me a privileged shit if you want — boo hoo you don’t get free stuff, etc. — but for the time and effort I put into even a shorter review, I don’t think a CD is too much to ask, especially when I know that I’m one of like three remaining motherfuckers who cares in the slightest. Apparently the music industry disagrees. Grumble grumble, man.

One might include the new Neurosis (review here) in that category as well — and the Grand Magus I didn’t even step to this time around — but the fact is on that one I was just being impatient and that a physical promo of Honor Found in Decay would show up sooner or later (it did, today). However, my wanting to hear it right that minute met with such logic on the field of diplomacy and the compromise reached was that I’d buy the digipak edition, because it’s limited and the promo would likely be the jewel case anyway. I never got the digi version of 2007’s Given to the Rising and there’s a little bit of me that still regrets it. That same part is very much enjoying listening to “My Heart for Deliverance” as he types this.

There were odds and ends as well. With Kalas on my brain after The Johnny Arzgarth Haul resulted in another promo, Used Metal paid dividends in the first full-artwork copy I’ve ever owned — and in case you were wondering why I care so much about physical media, that’s how long I remember shit like that — and over in Used Rock, the first Grinderman happened to be situated next to a special edition of 2009’s Grinderman 2, the unmitigated sleaze of which I friggin’ loved at the time, as well as Grails‘ cinematic 2012 outing, Deep Politics (review here).

I wound up with a used copy of Dungen‘s 2002 third album, Stadsvandringar, getting the band confused with Black Mountain, I think because they both used to have the same PR. Thanks a lot, Girlie Action Media circa 2005. I felt a little pathetic when I discovered my error, but I checked out the Dungen and it wasn’t bad, covering some of the same sunny psych folk territory that Barr did on their 2012 sophomore installment, Atlantic Ocean Blues (track stream here), and giving me a new context for not onlyBarr, but a slew of other acts as well. Could’ve been much worse.

Cap it off with a used copy of Lewis Black‘s The Carnegie Hall Performance from 2006 — a stellar two-disc show recorded in the depths of American hopelessness post-Katrina but for the bit about air traffic control — and when I brought it all to the counter, the dude asked me, “Are you local?” I said I wasn’t and he said, “Well, I’m going to give you a discount anyway.” It was much appreciated, regardless of the geography involved, and by the time I left Sound Garden, I was more pleased with the outcome I carried in a red plastic bag than I’ve been coming from a single record store in a long time. Probably since I visited Flat, Black and Circular in Lansing, Michigan, over the summer, and that’s saying something.

My hope is that it’s not another three years before I get back there — appropriately enough, Lewis Black has a whole section early into his show about time moving faster as you age, and he’s absolutely right — but whenever it is, Sound Garden is definitely on the must-hit list for next time I’m in Baltimore. If you want to look them up, their website is here.

My motivations for posting this video for the song “Given is Given (Part 1)” from Swedish trio I are Droid‘s upcoming sophomore album, The Winter Ward are twofold. First, it’s fuzzy and Swedish, so it’s kind of a no-brainer that I’d put up a post about it anyway. That’s kind of my thing. Second, that dude in the middle up there reluctantly removing his hood is none other than guitarist/vocalist Peder Bergstrand, former and apparently once again frontman for Lowrider.

And with the announcement a couple weeks back that those seminal Swedish stoner mavens have reunited for a one-off at next year’s London Desertfest, yeah, you could say there’s an added level of interest there. In I are Droid, Bergstrand is joined by drummer Fredrik Okazaki Bergström and bassist Jens Lagergren. The Winter Ward is due out early in 2013 on Razzia Records, and sometime in the next couple weeks, I’ll be running an interview with Bergstrand about the Lowrider reunion, how it all came about, how it plays into working with I are Droid, and so on.

As it’s nice to have a little context for that kind of thing, here’s “Given is Given (Part 1).” Please enjoy:

Originally released on vinyl in South America last year, Venezuelan four-piece Cultura Tres’ second album, El Mal del Bien, arrives on CD/LP under the banner of UK imprint Devouter Records. It is the latest in a series of impressive achievements from the atmospheric sludgers, who also made a stop at Desertfest in London this year (review here) on a European tour that might have been their first but wasn’t their last. Their La Cura debut arrived in 2008 and immediately established their aggressive take, and was well received in South America and beyond. The tracks on El Mal del Bien (“the bad from the good”) were recorded in 2010, so it may well be that Cultura Tres have already moved past the album’s atmospherically dense lurch in their writing, but as their newest release to date, it’s nonetheless relevant, particularly as the band has taken the last couple years to work vehemently on promotion with big shows, videos and so on. The most immediately striking aspect of the 10-track/51:38 outing is its overarching darkness. Cultura Tres open with their longest cut (points right there), the 7:20 “Propiedad de Dios,” which remains a memorable highlight among several throughout El Mal del Bien and does the work of establishing the creepy undertones and malevolence that seems always to be lurking within the songwriting. The guitar work of Alejandro Londono and Juan Manuel de Ferrari is unmistakably metal in its roots, and Londono’s distinct lead vocals, sometimes a snarl, sometimes Alice in Chains lower-mouth crooning, sometimes all-out screams, serve throughout as a defining factor as well. Sludge metal, with the emphasis on the latter, is rarely done in this balance. The prevalence of the US scene and its roots in Southern rock and punk mean that Cultura Tres’ metal is automatically a curio as “Propiedad de Dios” enacts its formidable lumber punctuated by David Abbink’s echoing snare, Londono working somewhere between a growl and moan while his and de Ferrari’s guitars hold steady rhythm and lead lines filled out by Alonso Milano’s bass. Milano and de Ferrari are credited with backing Londono vocally as well, and there are a few striking moments of interplay, but the band’s greatest impact is made as a whole unit and not as individual members, the mood that El Mal del Bien strikes being central to the album’s mission and, ultimately, its success.

“Purified” furthers the drama of the opening cut and solidifies the atmosphere, and from there, Cultura Tres hold tight and don’t let go. The lyrics are a mixture of Spanish and English phrases, well set in terms of cadence and rooted in a decidedly anti-Christian stance, and de Ferrari answers the unsettling vocal melodies with one of El Mal del Bien’s several excellent guitar solos, setting up the percussion that rises to feature on the instrumental “Los Muertos de Mi Color.” Guitar noise and volume swells fill out an oppressive atmosphere, and whatever else they do, Cultura Tres excellently convey a sense of the deranged in their music. It’s not the en vogue thing to do at this point – that’d probably be to take out a goat head and start playing Electric Wizard riffs in front of it (not knocking that approach, it works for plenty of bands) – but their methods don’t seem dated even if the territory they’re covering thematically will be well familiar to headbangers who encounter these tracks. The undeniable highlight of the album, “El Sur de la Fe” follows the ambience of “Los Muertos de Mi Color,” with an immediate hook of a guitar line, righteous half-time drumming and a forward, aggressive vocal from Londono. Like the best of Cultura Tres’ riffs, that of “El Sur de la Fe” has an undulating sensibility to it, a distinct nod, and the tension the song creates is made all the more palpable by the stops and starts and the echoing shouts, which, when in the last verse “the credit of god” is delivered, remind a bit of Max Cavalera’s work on early Soulfly records. I’ll allow that could be a question of accent as much as anything else, but it’s there all the same. The album has peaked before its halfway point, which is potentially troubling, but actually there’s a kind of wash effect by the time the second half of El Mal del Bien really takes hold that only confirms the disgruntled push of the first. “No Es Mi Verdad” caps the first half with a post-metal build that pays off at 4:33 into its six minutes as Abbink proffers the cymbal abuse he seems to have been advocating all along, chugging guitars driving a straightforward progression behind.

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This one is kind of a while coming. As I haven’t really had the time to put together podcasts in a few months, making the jump to a 24-hour live stream of audio seemed only natural. So here we are. The Obelisk Radio went live just over the weekend and I’m glad to say it doesn’t seem to have collapsed the site under its weight in bandwidth. There are a few kinks to work out, but we’ll get there and in the meantime, a constant source of something decent to listen to is just a click away in the sidebar.

Albums are being added all the time. To find out what’s currently in the playlist, check out the updates page: The Obelisk Radio

The root of the playlist comes from the hard drive that once served as K666 on StonerRock.com. That drive came into my possession courtesy of Arzgarth, and over the last couple weeks, Slevin has (as ever) been diligently providing much-needed technical assistance with the setup. Without either of these guys, this wouldn’t be happening, so first and foremost, thanks to both of them.

If you have an album you want to submit, or you don’t want your stuff played, or whatever other concern you might have, please just send me an email.

Doing this also adds a bit to my monthly costs in keeping the site going. In my ongoing effort to not quite break even, I’ll be offering up one underwriting spot per month at $20 basically to anyone who wants to Paypal me the money. Again, there’s only one spot, so if you’re interested, please reach out. Would be awesome to lock someone in for December as the month approaches.

Lastly, please understand this is still a work in progress. There are a lot of changes I want to implement on the back end and much to be done even more than just uploading albums to the server. If the server goes down at some point, please be patient. It could just be that it’s being worked on, updated, moved, restarted to let some change take effect, etc.

But with that caveat, I welcome you to The Obelisk Radio and hope you’ll take advantage of the resource moving forward. Happy listening.

Seems only reasonable to cap this week with The Flying Eyes, from Baltimore, as I’m situated outside the city for the weekend. The Patient Mrs. has family down here and I’ve adjourned early on what if the noise level emanating from downstairs is an ongoing evening, but yeah, I’m pretty much done with the night. I left work early to head south, we’ve got the dog with us, and there will be plenty more geniality tomorrow. Honestly, I think last night’s Thanksgiving food coma carried over into today. No amount of coffee could make me stir, and all a few glasses of wine with leftovers for dinner did was increase my longing for the comforts of pajamas, bed and laptop glow. So here I am.

The Flying Eyes have a new album in the works that I’m looking forward to hearing, and in the meantime, this full set from Rockpalast Crossroads is full-on righteous. There are a few young bands right now that make me excited for the prospects of next-gen American heavy. The Flying Eyes are one. Eggnogg are another, and bands like Pilgrim and Elder seem like a given by now, but they’re both still plenty young as well. As long as everyone remembers to turn the bass up, things should be just fine. I’m excited to hear what The Flying Eyes have in store for their next record.

Kind of wild week, but I guess that happens with holidays. In any case, I took a little shit for it, but I was glad to get that Om review up yesterday. Coincidence has it that they’re playing the Ottobar in Baltimore tomorrow night, with Arbouretum opening. I’ve never seen Arbouretum, and I’d like to, but I don’t think it’s going to happen. Kind of a hard sell to be like, “Hey, yeah, we’re coming to stay with you for the weekend but by the way we’re gonna skip out and go to a show and oh by the way do you mind watching our dog for the night she’s allergic to peanut butter okay thanks bye!” Seems a little scummier than I’m interested in being, at least this weekend.

Nonetheless, I’m hoping to get into town proper tomorrow for a bit in the afternoon, maybe get a crabcake sandwich and hit a record shop or two, as is my wont. I’ll be sure to report on any and all acquisitions, and otherwise, stay tuned next week for reviews of Kowloon Walled City‘s new one, Cultura Tres, and probably one or two others, as well as a High on Fire live review — they hit Philly on Thursday and I’m going — an interview with Dylan Desmond about the new Bell Witch album and a track stream of the Don Juan Matus/Oxido split 7″ that’s been out for a while but I wanted to feature all the same because it’s limited and because it’s cool.

And speaking of audio, it seems only fair to give you the early heads up that on Monday I’m going to be launching a live, 24-hour streaming radio station. The Obelisk Radio. I’ll have more details Monday and you’ll probably be able to check it out before then since I’ll be putting the links up and stuff over the weekend, but yeah, that’s happening. Thanks to Johnny Arzgarth, I got the hard drive that was the old K666 from StonerRock.com, Slevin essentially set up the stream, and I’ll be adding to it as we go. The first record that I put up today as a test — in addition to the hundreds already there — was Sungrazer‘s Mirador. Much more to come on that.

Until then, I hope you have a great and safe weekend. I will see you on the forum and back here Monday for a whole new league of shenanigans.

As was announced here way back in September, up and coming Dutch fuzzers Sungrazer and The Machine have teamed up for a split recorded by The Machine guitarist/vocalist David Eering. That’ll be out on Elektrohasch early next year, and to coincide, the two bands have announced a round of tour dates that starts in Tilburg on Valentine’s Day.

Continuing The Machine‘s apparent love for all things Lebowski — the trio released their fourth album, Calmer than You Are (review here) earlier this year — they’ll be calling the tour “Strikes and Gutters.” Let’s hope they can find an In & Out Burger somewhere along the way.

Here’s the info:

Sungrazer & The Machine will release a split album and go on tour in early 2013! Here are the first dates of the Strikes & Gutters Tour. Expect more info and dates asap.

The Machine & Sungrazer will at least play the following dates:

14.02.13 TILBURG,NL O13
15.02.13 BRUSSELS, B MAGASIN 4
16.02.13 LONDON, UK BORDERLINE
17.02.13 PARIS, F LES COMBUSTIBLES
19.02.13 MADRID, SP LA BOITE
20.02.13 LEON,SP EL GRAN CAFE
21.02.13 OPORTO,POR ARMAZEM DO CHA
22.02.13 OURENSE,SP SALA BERLIN
23.02.13 SAN SEBASTIAN,SP BUKOWSKI
28.02.13 SALZBURG,A ROCKHOUSE
01.03.13 LINZ, A KAPU