They’re ultra electric. They’re mega galactic. And in just a couple days’ time, The UEMG — or The Ultra Electric Mega Galactic, if you’re not into the whole brevity thing, man — will begin a European tour alongside fellow Californian heavy rock mavens Sasquatch, launching the shindig at Desertfest in London before hopping over to Berlin and taking the show on the road from there for more shows in Germany as well as Italy, Austria, France, Switzerland and Belgium. To mark the occasion, the trio of guitarist Ed Mundell (ex-Monster Magnet), bassist/sometimes-vocalist Collyn McCoy (ex-Trash Titan) and drummer Rick Ferrante — the latter of whom will be pulling double duty on the road in Sasquatch — put a new EP to tape with Snail‘s Matt Lynch at his Mysterious Mammal Studios that they’re calling Through the Dark Matter.

For anyone who may have caught (solar) wind of The UEMG‘s self-titled debut last year (review here), the five-track/26-minute Through the Dark Matter takes a somewhat different approach. Sandwiched by the spaced-out feel of the shorter “Small Megallanic Cloud” and longer “Large Magellanic Cloud,” the three middle cuts present distinct takes on the three-piece’s when-in-doubt-jam-it-out methodology, blending heavier space rock thrust from Ferrante and McCoy with Mundell‘s storied leads in acid jazz profundity. “Spoonful,” the centerpiece, is a cover of Willie Dixon and boasts a suitably bluesy boogie, Mundell stepping in to deliver funky start-stops that bring Clutch to mind while McCoy — for the first time recorded in The UEMG — takes the mic to handle vocals, which he does with a gravelly but not overly affected style. As he seems to hint in discussing the EP and Euro tour plans below, he won’t be the only vocalist for The UEMG, but “Spoonful” proves he could be.

“Through the Dark Matter” preceding and “Day of the Comet” following show the development in dynamic at the heart of The UEMG. The EP’s title-track puts Mundell‘s guitar front and center, while on “Day of the Comet,” it seems to be McCoy‘s bass at the fore — Ferrante ever-steady behind and not shy to step up and hold down the proceedings on his own when asked — while the guitar wails out noisy leads in cosmic echoing form. However you might approach the EP, The Ultra Electric Mega Galactic continue to wow with their fluidity, and their motion into and out of “Spoonful” is as seamless as one could ask. It’s like they hid a party behind a moon deep in their own solar system.

As they get ready for Desertfest and more, I’m fortunate enough today to stream the title cut from Through the Dark Matter and “Spoonful” for your listening enjoyment. Please find them below, followed by some words from McCoy about the recording, the tour with Sasquatch and future plans for The UEMG.

Dig:

[mp3player width=480 height=250 config=fmp_jw_widget_config.xml playlist=the-uemg-dark-matter.xml]

The EP – “Through the Dark Matter” – was recorded at Mysterious Mammal earlier this month with engineer/studio honcho Matt Lynch (of Snail).

Track list is as follows:

1. Small Magellanic Cloud
2. Through The Dark Matter
3. Spoonful (Willie Dixon)
4. Day of the Comet
5. Large Magellanic Cloud

Artwork by Brad Moore (who did the cover for Morpheus Descends’ “Ritual of Infinity” and a lot of other death metal classics). We chose this particular piece for its Bitches Brew/Abraxas vibe.

Includes the first UEMG track to feature vocals. A cover of Willie Dixon’s “Spoonful.” We aren’t doing the Cream version, we’re actually are doing the Howlin’ Wolf version from his first (and only) “psychedelic” record, 1969’s “The Howlin’ Wolf Album.” Wolf hated this album, but we love it! For the five people who remember my band Trash Titan, you’ll remember that I do croon a bit.

In addition to singing (which I’ve been doing live with UEMG for a while, as the mood strikes) I played upright bass and Fender Rhodes electric piano.

Will be limited to 500 CDs and 200 cassettes. These will debut at the merch table of DesertFest London and we will (at least initially) sell them exclusively on tour. Also, as it turns out, the EP will be available online at CD Baby (today, I’m told) as well as on the merch table in Europe. But once they’re gone, they’re gone. No reprints!

While it still rocks, there’s more of a late 60s/early 70s jazz fusion influence on this record, which can be heard on the long jams (side B of the cassette). Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew, Mahavishnu Orchestra, and “Sextant” era Herbie Hancock were some touchstones.

The cassette artwork is printed in blacklight sensitive ink. They’ll also be hand-numbered in blacklight sensitive ink. Includes a download code for people who don’t want to risk wearing it out in the tape deck of their ’86 Nissan.

We’ll also be bringing a small number of bootlegs for the merch table. We’ve got a buddy, Scrit, who tapes all of our shows. The sound quality is pretty great for field recordings. Eventually (by this summer), we hope to have a number of these bootlegs available for download through our website.

Which reminds me…fans, feel free to tape our shows! We try to play a different set every night, and we try to play the songs a little different each time.

We’ll also be doing some jamming with Sasquatch, and vice versa. These guys are our brothers from way back –  shit, we share a drummer. Ed’s been playing with them and Keith’s been playing with us for years.

Tour Dates are below. We plan on making each show special in its own way, so fans should feel free to follow us around like we’re frickin’ Phish or something.

25.04.14 FRI UK London Desertfest
26.04.14 SAT GER Berlin Desertfest
27.04.14 SUN A Vienna Arena
28.04.14 MON GER Wiesbaden Schlachthof
29.04.14 TUE GER Munich Feierwerk
30.04.14 WED ITA Montecchio (VI) E20 Underground
01.05.14 THU ITA Milano Lo-Fi
02.05.14 FRI A Millstatt Bergwerk
03.05.14 SAT GER Hohenstein 15 Jahe Voice of Art
04.05.14 SUN GER Cologne Underground
05.05.14 MON GER Hamburg Markthalle
06.05.14 TUE GER Stuttgart Goldmarks
07.05.14 WED CH Pratteln Z7
08.05.14 THU BEL Leuven Sojo´s
09.05.14 FRI F Paris Glazart
10.05.14 SAT CH Winterthur Gaswerk

We hope to have some special guests joining us on stage at DesertFest Berlin. Who could it be? Ed has a lot of friends in the stoner rock music community, that’s all I’m gonna say.

Which reminds me, our next full length will feature some guest vocals. It’ll still be mostly instrumental, but we’re going to include some guest singers on a few tracks. Again, I can’t say who, but rest assured, if you’re reading this blog, you know who they are.

The Ultra Electric Mega Galactic on Thee Facebooks

The UEMG’s website

 

Tags: California, The UEMG, The Ultra Electric Mega Galactic, The Ultra Electric Mega Galactic Through the Dark Matter, Through the Dark Matter

This entry was posted on Monday, April 21st, 2014 at 11:05 am and is filed under audiObelisk. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.