Primitive Man Announce October Tour Dates

Posted in Whathaveyou on September 30th, 2013 by JJ Koczan

One thing about the Denver trio Primitive Man: They are fucking heavy. They’re that kind of heavy that when it seems like nothing’s ever going to be heavy enough, that’s what you put on. Their Relapse Records debut album, Scorn, was streamed here last month, and it’s one I’ve gone back to a few times since then for just the aforementioned purpose. When nothing seems like it’s going to be heavy enough, Primitive Man come through with no problem. They’re never going to be everybody’s thing, but clearly accessibility wasn’t what they had in mind when they started putting Scorn together and recording with Dave Otero. Probably they were going for that whole “super fucking heavy” thing. Mission accomplished.

They’re hitting the road and coming to the East Coast, as the PR wire informs:

PRIMITIVE MAN: Autumn Live Assaults Announced

Denver’s favorite blackened doom derelicts, PRIMITIVE MAN, will wage war upon the ears of the innocent this autumn with a short run of live assaults. Set to begin October 13th in Kansas City, the band will spread their negativity eastward through nine cities including an appearance at Invisible Oranges’ CMJ showcase at Brooklyn’s Saint Vitus Bar.

Comments the band: “We can’t wait for this tour! We are playing with some amazing bands and hanging out with some old friends this time around. See you in the cut.”

Featuring current and former members of Withered, Clinging To The Trees of A Forest Fire, Death of Self and Reproacher, PRIMITIVE MAN will be touring in support of their critically adored Scorn full-length. A physically and psychologically eviscerating sound excursion, Scorn was recorded by Dave Otero at Flatline Audio (Cephalic Carnage, Catheter, Cobalt, etc.) and boasts seven hymns of hate, anguish and rampant planetary discontent. The record was initially unleashed earlier this year via a collaboration between Throatruiner and Mordgrimm Records before being reissued by Relapse late last month and continues to reap media hails both nationally and abroad for a “totally malignant sounding record … that will consume you whole if you’re not careful” (Cvlt Nation).

Scorn is currently available via Relapse Records on CD, LP and digitally. Order your copy HERE.

PRIMITIVE MAN Autumn Live Actions:
10/13/2013 The Sandbox – Kansas City, MO
10/14/2013 The Vault – Madison, WI
10/15/2013 Gooski’s – Pittsburgh, PA
10/16/2013 The Millcreek – Philadelphia, PA
10/17/2013 CMJ Invisible Oranges Showcase @ Saint Vitus – Brooklyn, NY
10/18/2013 The Depot – York, PA
10/19/2013 Strange Matter – Richmond, VA
10/20/2013 Haymarket Whiskey Bar – Louisville, KY
10/21/2013 St. Fubar – St. Louis, MO

http://primitivemandoom.bandcamp.com
http://www.primitivemandoom.com
http://www.relapse.com
http://relapserecords.bandcamp.com
http://www.facebook.com/RelapseRecords

Primitive Man, “Rags” from Scorn (2013)

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Summoner Post Behind-the-Scenes Footage Making New Album Atlantian

Posted in Bootleg Theater on September 30th, 2013 by JJ Koczan

Summoner‘s second LP under that moniker, Atlantian, is set to be released in November through Magnetic Eye Records. The Boston-based outfit issued their debut, Phoenix, after changing their name from Riff Cannon, whose own debut was 2009’s Mercury Mountain, and whose approach was different enough to justify the switch in name. A double-guitar four-piece, the band documented the making of Atlantian and have begun to post clips in an apparent series of three behind-the-scenes looks at the making of the album, which will be a vinyl-only 180 gram pressing (of course with a download available via the usual suspect list of purveyors) and will feature the following tracks and art:

SIDE A
01 The Gatekeeper
02 The Prophecy
03 Horns of War
04 Changing Tides

SIDE B
05 Into the Abyss
06 Crystaline Sky
07 Atlantian
08 Taken by the Sea

I dug these guys when they were Riff Cannon and both times I saw Summoner last year, they killed. Going by the descriptions they give of some of the differences in approach this time around — and even more importantly, by how excited they seem to be taking on the task of making a new album — Atlantian is one I’m looking forward to hearing. If you happen to be in the Boston area at the end of November, they’ll be playing a release show at The Middle East on Nov. 30 with Rozamov, Jack Burton vs. David Lo Pan and Second Grave. I’ve already got my calendar marked. More info is here.

Hopefully I’ll have more to come on Atlantian as we get closer to the release, but in the meantime, check out the first behind-the-scenes episode below and enjoy:

Summoner, The Making of Atlantian Ep. 1

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Live Review: Clamfight and Thee Nosebleeds in Connecticut, 09.27.13

Posted in Reviews on September 30th, 2013 by JJ Koczan

I was on my way back north after seeing Vista Chino in New York the night before, embroiled in an all-too-familiar stretch of I-95. I’d left New Jersey following dinner with my mother and grandmother just past 8PM, and was hitting the 70s exits on the highway well after 10. It was right around then that my brain — clever devil — remembered Maple Forum alums Clamfight had a show in New London at The El ‘n’ Gee as the first of two nights they were doing with Philly rockers Thee Nosebleeds. New London is exit 83 headed northbound on I-95, and I remembered from Stoner Hands of Doom last year that The El ‘n’ Gee is about five minutes off the highway. I called Clamfight drummer/vocalist Andy Martin to ask him if they’d played yet. They hadn’t. Thee Nosebleeds were just going on. It looked like I’d make it.

Indeed, Thee Nosebleeds were on stage when I rolled into the club, hurried and haggard and my blood that specific kind of tense that comes from sitting in the car for a couple hours. At the door, I had to pay two dollars of the eight-dollar cover in quarters because I didn’t have that many singles, but it wouldn’t have made much difference in how much of Thee Nosebleeds I caught anyway. They were well into their set by the time I got there. In my experience, they’re a raw joy to watch once they’re warmed up, and that proved to be the case at The El ‘n’ Gee as well. The show wasn’t crowded, and there were four bands on the bill, but though my timing wasn’t perfect, I probably couldn’t have planned it better if I tried. Thee Nosebleeds are an underrated rager of a band. They don’t get out of Philly much — for that matter, neither do Clamfight; or at least not enough — but in the couple times I’ve seen them, they’ve impressed. I was glad I made it in time to catch their shots-of-something-brown toast at the end of “Crackula.” It was apparently the rhythm section’s birthday. Right on.

The two acts have done more shows together than I think either could be bothered to count — toss in Wizard Eye and you’ve rounded out a three-band bill of dude-on-dude appreciation whose match you’re not likely to find in that City of Bro’ly Love — but it was good to see as they heckled each other that the spark hasn’t gone out. Them Clams loaded onto the stage quickly and proceeded to play their first gig in several months, Martin having taken the summer off to embark on an archaeological dig in Scotland. Yes, that’s true. Rejoined with guitarists Sean McKee and Joel Harris and bassist Louis KobleClamfight proved as riotous as ever on the large stage of The El ‘n’ Gee, the sound echoing off the back walls of that cavernous space and creating an even more vicious wash of noise and distortion to go along with their heavy riffing through “Mountain” and “Sand Riders” from earlier-2013’s I vs. the Glacier. Even with Martin‘s ride cymbal winding up broken and looking like Cookie Monster took a bite out of it, they were plenty, plenty loud.

New song “Block Ship” was aired with its insistently nodding groove, and I vs. the Glacier finale “Stealing the Ghost Horse” was given an extended and classically rocking instrumental intro that brought a whole new feel to the track and gave McKee a chance to show off some of his growth as a lead player, able to affect swagger as much as belt out burly, chugging riffage. Dipping back to 2010’s aptly-titled debut full-length, Volume I, they broke out “Ghosts I Have Known,” with Martin pushing into cleaner singing as called for, but ultimately it was the hyper-aggro “Rabbit” that finished out the set, shouted out by Martin (ever the gentleman) to yours truly. That song goes a long way to portraying the central penchant for groove that makes Clamfight such a special act, and it’s interesting that it endures in their live sets where more immediate cuts like “Fuck Bulldozers” and “Viking Funeral” have been put to rest. I’m sure it doesn’t hurt the cause that it looks like they’re having so much fun playing it.

Empty Vessels were still to come in finishing out the night, but it was getting on midnight and I still had about two hours to go on my trip back to Massachusetts, so I rushed back to the car and back to I-95. As far as driving breaks go, however, I certainly won’t complain. I should be so lucky to have such satisfying detours every time I make that journey. Between this show and Vista Chino the prior evening, I had seen a lot of really good people in a short span of time and it was nice to be reminded that just because you leave a place doesn’t mean you don’t still have friends there.

More pics after the jump. Thanks for reading.

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Sun and Sail Club Interview with Bob Balch: Construction of Planets

Posted in Features on September 30th, 2013 by JJ Koczan

Whatever your expectations might be for the new trio Sun and Sail Club — which is comprised of guitarist/vocalist Bob Balch (Fu Manchu), drummer Scott Reeder (also Fu Manchu) and bassist/recording engineer Scott Thomas Reeder (Kyuss/The Obsessed) — chances are the finished product of their debut album, Mannequin, will offer some level of surprise when it’s released early in November. The 31-minute first outing from the Balch-led outfit was constructed over a period of at least two years, as riffs began to pile up as a result of Balch taking inspiration from his work with PlayThisRiff.com, interviewing the likes of Death Angel and The Red Chord and beginning to reach beyond the sphere of what might even at their most expansive fit with Fu Manchu, whose riff-grooving aesthetic leaves room for periods of showing off their SoCal punk roots, but has essentially been set over the course of their 25-plus years.

And whether it’s the progressive ambience of “I’m Not Upside Down,” which is marked by Reeder‘s starts and stops on bass and atmospheric vocals, or on the more metallic “Whites of Your Eyes,” Mannequin immediately demonstrates that it’s well justified sonically as being separate from Balch‘s main group. What began as experiments in guitar technique and a drive on Balch‘s part to explore his instrument even as he continued to teach others how to better their own playing and interview other players for PlayThisRiff leaves a much different impression, parts like the opening “Lagrimas de Dios,” centerpiece “La Muerte de un Planeta” and closing “La Risa de Satanas” honing on solo-jazz composition while the use of vocoder on all vocals save for Reeder‘s on “I’m Not Upside Down” lends an experimental air to the album overall, also serving as a major uniting factor for the otherwise richly diverse material, ranging from thrash to more intricate and precise heavy metal.

It had been Balch‘s intent to hire out vocals for Sun and Sail Club initially — he likens the original idea to what Dave Grohl did with Probot, sending it out to different singers — but after laying down the original vocoder ideas in the studio with Reeder, who was not yet in the band, which was just the duo of Balch and the drumming Reeder (I know it’s confusing; there are two Scott Reeders, one on drums, one on bass; imagine how they feel), the decision was made to keep the vocoder parts. After the guitar and drums were on tape at Reeder‘s The Sanctuary studio, Reeder asked Balch who was playing bass and wound up taking the job himself, chipping away at the material over a series of months and sending the finished tracks to Balch in a process that the guitarist says made every week “like Christmas.”

In the interview that follows — the first for the new project — Balch discusses that recording situation and how Sun and Sail Club came to be from the ether of unplaced riffs exchanged between himself and his drummer, the possibility of doing live shows, how Sun and Sail Club, Fu Manchu and PlayThisRiff all tie together for him, a potential vinyl release for Mannequin and much more. The album is expected in early November through Satin Records.

The complete Q&A with Balch follows the jump. Please enjoy:

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audiObelisk: Black God Premiere “Washington” from New EP Three

Posted in audiObelisk on September 30th, 2013 by JJ Koczan

Unsurprisingly, the six-song Three is the third in a series of No Idea Records EPs from Louisville, Kentucky, noise punkers Black God, whose affinity for subversion bleeds into every one of the new release’s 10 minutes. That’s right. 10 minutes, six songs. The longest cut on Three is opener (immediate points) “Ghost in You,” which hits two minutes on the dog, but everything else is a straight A-to-B shot of efficient and conscious aggression. They are not a band who doesn’t know why they’re angry. Comprised of vocalist Rob Pennington (By the Grace of God, Black Cross), guitarist Ryan Patterson (Black Cross, Coliseum, The National Acrobat), bassist Nick Thieneman (Black Cross, Breather Resist, Young Widows) and drummer Ben Sears (Prideswallower, Mountain Asleep), Black God draws on the decades of experience of its members to craft a sound that’s bullshit free and laser focused.

Yet like the best of the Louisville hardcore scene from whence it comes, Three still sounds natural and not at all over-produced. Its social commentary comes across not as pretentious ramblings that assume ignorance on the part of its audience, but as a classical populism that’s managed to avoid being coopted by corporate influence. The songs — which are what really matters — are fast and aggressive, but not at all without swing or groove, whether it’s the initial rush of “Ghost in You” or the more winding guitar-led “The Trick.” Even closer “Won’t Kiss the Ring” — the shortest track at 1:30 — holds firm to a sensibility that doesn’t sacrifice flow to pissed-offery, rounding out Three with quick gang vocals that call to mind the earlier catchiness of “Washington.”

Blink and you’ll miss it, but “Washington,” as the start of the second half of the release is among its highlight moments, with two strong hooks and no letup in the intensity of the first three pieces. Pennington‘s vocals are have a classic punk edge but are clean and discernible, and the steady thud of Sears‘ drums gives a forceful shove and bounce to verse and chorus alike. The call and response chorus, “In Washington/The night creeps in,” is a defining moment of Three, and true to the no-frills ethic they’ve proffered to this point, once they’re done, they don’t waste any time in cutting right into the subsequent “Womb to Knife.”

Today I have the pleasure of featuring “Washington” as a stream from Three, maybe as a way to mark the impending US government shutdown (which if it weren’t for all the workers and poor people getting shit on might actually be a good thing) or maybe just to wake up at the start of the week. Either way, find it on the player below, and please enjoy:

Black God‘s Three is available now on 7″ from No Idea Records in a variety of limited colors. More info at the links below.

Black God on Thee Facebooks

No Idea Records

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Friday Full-Length: Om, Conference of the Birds

Posted in Bootleg Theater on September 28th, 2013 by JJ Koczan

Om, Conference of the Birds (2006)

2:14AM — Yeah, it’s pretty late. I left North Jersey at almost precisely 8PM to head back up here to Massachusetts, but made a stop off in New London, Connecticut, at the El ‘n’ Gee to catch Clamfight play a set. They were starting that weekender with Philly’s Thee Nosebleeds, whom I was also fortunate enough to see some of, and were killer as always in that cavernous room. I was only there for about an hour — the timing was absurdly good — but that hour was the difference between getting back to Abington at 12:30 and 1:30AM. So here I am. It’s good to see The Patient Mrs., even if she has a pillow over her head while I’m playing Om‘s 2006 sophomore outing, Conference of the Birds, which I consider one of the best late-night albums ever made.

It must’ve been a trip for Al Cisneros to put out this and Variations on a Theme through a label named Holy Mountain — “So, your records are out on a label that just happens to have the same name as an album you put out over a decade ago?” “Yup.” — but very cool. I like where Om are at now sound-wise very, very much, but I remember hearing the first two records when they came out and you just knew they were something special. I don’t listen to Variations on a Theme as much as Conference of the Birds, admittedly, but still, what a pair they make. And High on Fire was putting out Blessed Black Wings and Death is this Communion at that point. And then a couple years later Sleep got back together and started doing shows again. Sometimes time is beautiful.

Tomorrow is my anniversary, or later today or whatever it is. My wedding anniversary was the other day as well — I left in the evening to head south in order to catch Vista Chino on Thursday (ever the romantic), but tomorrow’s the one we celebrate more, which is when we first got together, a whopping 16 years ago. I’m 31, which means The Patient Mrs. and I have been together more than half my life. It’s awesome and it blows my mind. I’m so stupid for her and I’m so lucky she has yet to kick my ass to the curb; she casts off the constant bombardment of reasons to do so like meteors burning up in the atmosphere, and for that I consider myself blessed.

So I’m looking forward to some sort of celebration — we’re light on cash these days, but we’ll have a meal, anyway — and then Sunday I’m interviewing Fu Manchu‘s Bob Balch about his new Sun and Sail Club project (info here) with Scott Reeder (Fu Manchu‘s drummer) and Scott Reeder (The Obsessed/Kyuss) and I’ll have that posted on Monday, along with hopefully a review of the Clamfight show I hit tonight and a track premiere from Louisville noise punkers Black God. Lots of audio to come next week, actually. Hoping to hook up a Gonga stream for Tuesday, and then Wednesday is also a track premiere from Brooklyn trio Blackout, whose album I’ve been digging plenty. Between all that and reviews of The Freeks and Luder, it’s going to be a busy one. You’d think I might want to rest up.

There was more I wanted to get posted today, but with the drive north looming, writing the aforelinked Vista Chino review and some spiritually restorative family time — hard to tell your 98-year-old grandmother you gotta cut short hanging out with her so you can go post somebody’s tour news and I wasn’t going to try — the hours went quickly. Wish I could say the same for the drive north, but so it goes. The good news is I made it eventually and I’ll get caught up this weekend on email and whatever else. For now the eyelids are heavy, the album’s over and it’s time to turn in.

As always, I wish you a great and safe weekend. I’ll be back with more Monday at the latest and in the meantime, please hit up the forum and the radio stream:

The Obelisk Forum

The Obelisk Radio

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Live Review: Vista Chino, Black Pussy and Kings Destroy in Manhattan, 09.26.13

Posted in Reviews on September 27th, 2013 by JJ Koczan

I had a pretty set vision in my head of how the night was going to work. Having left Massachusetts the evening prior and spent the day at work like so, so many others, I left the office early to get into the city. Traffic was anticipated and delivered, but I still arrived at Bowery Ballroom in Manhattan well advance of doors opening for Vista Chino — the time limit on needing to put “formerly Kyuss Lives! after their name seems to be running its course now that they have an album, Peace (review here), out — Black Pussy and Kings Destroy. The plan was simple: Get up front and plant. Take pictures of the bands and then, a little while into Vista Chino‘s set, drop back, relax and enjoy the fuzz. I’m happy to report that more or less that’s exactly how it went.

No joke, it was Kings Destroy who sealed the deal on my hitting New York instead of Philadelphia to catch the tour. There was no Boston date, and if I’m already driving four hours south, what’s another two? But when Kings Destroy got added to the bill as openers, that made the decision much easier. I knew I’d manage to catch them somehow before they headed north next month, and I don’t regret doing so. Their set, as has been the case the last couple times I’ve seen them, emphasized just how far they’ve come in their sound, opening with “The Mountie” from the first album but nestling into its real groove with cuts like “The Toe,” “Blood of Recompense” — an early highlight of the show — and the always gleefully bizarre “Turul” from this year’s A Time of Hunting.

That’s nothing new. The change was the size of the stage they were playing on. Now, I know Kings Destroy has done runs through Europe, that they played the Getaway Rock festival in Sweden, that they’ve done Chaos in Tejas and others — not to mention the shows some of these guys have done in bands like Killing Time, etc. — I’m not shocked they can hold it down on a big stage. Hell, the stage at the St. Vitus bar is pretty sizable and they kill it there on a regular basis, but it was particularly awesome to watch Kings Destroy deliver a pro-grade and unbelievably heavy sampling of their material — Rob Sefcik‘s drums came across especially loud and were welcome, and I stood in front to the side of the stage by bassist Aaron Bumpus and guitarist Chris Skowronski with no regrets; Carl Porcaro‘s solos had no trouble cutting through — with vocalist Steve Murphy not making mention of the fact that he, Sefcik and Porcaro played with Kyuss at C.B.G.B. nearly two decades prior, working at the time under the banner of Mind’s Eye.

The changeover between Kings Destroy and Black Pussy was quick enough, though honestly it didn’t matter if the Portland, Oregon, five-piece took the stage and delivered the stoner rock equivalent of “Raining Blood,” there was no way their music was going to make a bigger impression than their name. I’m not sure how you get five guys to agree on calling a band something like Black Pussy, but okay. Never mind the fact that “pussy” is one of three words in the English language I wouldn’t say in front of my mother, the group says that they took “Black Pussy” from the working title of The Rolling Stones‘ “Brown Sugar,” and that they don’t condone any kind of racism or sexism or whatever else. All well and good dudes, but whether you condone it or not, you still called your band Black Pussy and here I am talking about it instead of your music, which was actually pretty cool in that ultra-groovy and relaxed heavy psych kind of way.

It wasn’t long before white dudes in the crowd were doing DaveChappelle-as-RickJames voice saying the band’s name between songs, and the whole thing was both a bum-out and a distraction from their material, which again, was quality: Thick guitar and bass filled out with analog synth and Korg swirl, pusher-manned by classic rock attitude-soaked vocals and drums that were both theatrical and precise. As a privileged white guy whose only experience with cultural discrimination has been getting called fatass by, well, everyone ever, it was easy enough for me to look past the racial element and get lost in the dense fog of immersive nod, but the simple fact that it was there to be looked past seemed needless. I’m not going to pretend it’s cool just because they played well. Saying you’re not racist doesn’t undo racism, and if you need to go out on a limb and put it out there that, “we’re not racist,” maybe a harder look is needed at the reasoning pushing you to do that. If you want to say I don’t get it, fine. They were a better band than their shitbird moniker. I didn’t have cash on hand to buy a record, but I would have picked one up if I had.

Brant Bjork produced their forthcoming second album, Less Info More Mojo, so that they’d wind up on the road with Vista Chino made sense — certainly their first album, last year’s  On Blonde, which was dedicated to Bjork, owed him a sonic debt as well — but the night belonged to the headliner. I saw Kyuss Lives! twice during their run with that name, in New Jersey and in Philadelphia, but with the new songs from Peace and Mike Dean of Corrosion of Conformity on bass in place of Nick Oliveri standing opposite on the stage from guitarist Bruno Fevery, the appeal of Vista Chino was fresh despite the added appeal of seeing the four-piece play Kyuss songs as well. I won’t discount the value of hearing John Garcia sing “Gardenia” and “Thumb” and “Freedom Run” live, especially as someone who never got to see Kyuss during their original run, but I was just as happy to hear him absolutely nail “Sweet Remain” from Peace and make a home in the laid back groove of “Adara,” which opened their set leading into “One Inch Man” from Kyuss‘ 1995 swansong, …And the Circus Leaves Town.

Presumably, the hope is that as Vista Chino continues to develop as a new band apart from Kyuss and Kyuss Lives!, they’ll work more original material into shows. As of now, there’s only so much they have to put into a 90-minute set. The ratio was six Vista Chino to 10 Kyuss songs, but the division was equitable, bouncing back and forth initially only to deliver a one-two-three of classics to finish with “Thumb,” “Green Machine” and “Freedom Run” before coming back out for an encore that included the new song “Planets 1 & 2,” on which Bjork shared vocals with Garcia as he does on the album. Frankly, new or old, it all rocked. The frontman made one mention of the lawsuit from former bandmates Josh Homme and Scott Reeder that forced him and Bjork to give up the Kyuss name last year, working it into the lyrics of “Supa Scoopa and Mighty Scoop,” but other than that, it was encouraging to see Vista Chino pairing their own work with the Kyuss songs and having Mike Dean on bass takes them to a whole new level.

I won’t say anything against Scott Reeder or Nick Oliveri. Not a fucking chance. They are tremendous bassists and hugely influential songwriters. I know it’s easy and fun for fans to pick sides in that kind of thing, but that’s not what I’m about. I like music. So to watch Mike Dean live in those parts — not just play them like a recital, but to crawl inside the new and the old material and actually make it his own — was vividly exciting, and it made Vista Chino that much more of its own entity. He owned “Hurricane.” And he made the shuffle in “Dark and Lovely” positively irresistible, Garcia‘s voice cutting through front and center of the Bowery‘s P.A. while Fevery‘s guitar seemed to fluctuate in prominence but ultimately settled in nicely. Bjork, who said recently in an interview here that Dean was his favorite rock bassist, was clearly enjoying sharing the rhythm section with him, and the swing the two concocted felt righteous and invigorated. I shudder to think what those guys and Fevery would/will be able to come up with when it comes time to jam on new material for a follow-up to Peace.

“Planets 1 & 2” fit well in the encore with a medley of “Whitewater” into “Odyssey” from Kyuss‘ genre-defining Welcome to Sky Valley and at the end of the set, Garcia offered a heartfelt applause for the crowd who stayed till the end. It had dwindled some as they pushed past midnight — nothing like a late Thursday to turn Friday into an utter blur — but for me, however long and far they go and however many times I’m fortunate enough to see these guys play, I don’t want to miss any of it.

More pics after the jump. Thanks for reading.

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Ufomammut Interview: Mastery and Mastery

Posted in Features on September 27th, 2013 by JJ Koczan

As they begin to celebrate 15 years together, Italian cosmic doom trio Ufomammut find themselves working under two coinciding principles: They always surprise and they’re consistently voraciously forward thinking. Perhaps it’s somewhat less surprising than it might initially seem that eventually these impulses would run into each other. Their Magickal Mastery Tour began this week in Europe, with the band — bassist/vocalist/keyboardist Urlo, guitarist/keyboardist Poia and drummer Vita — putting together a setlist that spans their career from 2000’s Godlike Snake debut all the way up to last year’s mind-expanding Neurot Recordings two-parter, Oro (reviews here and here). The impulse to surprise remains strong.

Ufomammut have had no shortage of triumphs throughout their career to date, whether it’s their landmark 2004 second outing, Snailking, or the growth of their visual-arts enterprise, Malleus as helping bring to life the vivid color and classic form of the European heavy psychedelic underground. From forming their own label, Supernatural Cat, to never failing to refine and develop their sound across 2005’s Lucifer Songs, their 2006 collaboration with Lento, as well as 2008’s Idolum and 2010’s masterpiece, Eve (review here), Ufomammut have continued to go bigger and deeper, creating a psychedelia that’s as crushing tonally as it is atmospheric and influencing countless others in their wake. Their style has never been anything but their own, and as far as I’m concerned, they’re one of the most pivotal and essential acts in heavy music today.

That being the case, as Ufomammut embark on the Magickal Mastery Tour, it seemed reasonable to hit them up for a few brief reflections on their time together these last 15 years, how things have changed for the band and where they might go following Oro. Having interviewed the band before, I know they’re men of brevity and the Q&A certainly follows that course, but two days into the run, here are the remaining Magickal Mastery Tour dates should you be fortunate enough to be someplace in the world that also happens to be in their path:

MAGIKAL MASTERY TOUR DATES:
27 sept – Kulturpalast – Wiesbaden (D)*
28 sept – Het Depot – Leuven (B)*
29 sept – Vera – Groningen (NL)*
01 oct – The Fleece – Bristol (UK)*
02 oct – Brudenell social club – Leeds (UK)*
03 oct – The Underworld – London (UK)*
04 oct – 4AD – Diksmuide (BE)*
05 oct – Römer – Bremen (D)*
06 oct – KB18 – Copenhagen (DK)
07 oct – Blitz – Oslo (NOR) (w/ Tombstones)
09 oct – Luttako – Jväskyla (FIN)
10 oct – Kuudes Linja – Helsinki (FIN) (w/ Suma)
11 oct – Yo Talo – Tampere (FIN)
12 oct – Nuclear Nightclub – Oulu (FIN)
17 oct – Progresja – Warsaw (PL)
18 oct – Bii Nu – Berlin (D)
19 oct – Keep it Low Festival – Munich (D)
*all dates with Zolle in support

The complete Q&A with Ufomammut follows after the jump. Please enjoy.

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