If you’re wondering what you might expect from Absorb / Fabric / Cascade, what with its slashy title and all, look no further. Along with the preorder link, El Paraiso Records gives a pretty thorough runthrough — more like a “funthrough,” am I right??? — of the second solo album from Jonas Munk, better known as the guitarist and producer of Danish desert jammers Causa Sui. And I won’t lie, it’s an enticing description. Munk‘s bandmate, Jakob Skøtt, as tended toward progressive texturing in his own solo material, and Munk‘s 2012 solo debut, Pan, showcased krautrock leanings as well in its use of classic synth and guitar, as you can hear with the pulsating”Current” below. As these guys continue to branch out with solo offerings, I can only look forward more to what they might bring to the next Causa Sui. Whether they’re getting it all out of their system so they can return to head-down fuzz groove or whether these proggy elements will show up more in that band even than they did on 2013’s Euporie Tide, I feel like there isn’t really an option by which the listener loses out.

I look forward to hearing how or if it all ties together. Before we get there, Absorb / Fabric / Cascade is up for preorders now and will ship in March. Info follows, yoinked from the El Paraiso website:

Jonas Munk: Absorb / Fabric / Cascade LP PREORDER

Second solo LP from Causa Sui guitar player/producer Jonas Munk. These three long pieces aren’t defined by Munks signature guitar-approach, but is rather a musical vision of vintage synthesizers, organs, piano and analog electronics elegantly weaved together to create extensive formations of pure sound. The harmonic simplicity and unrestricted dedication to sonic balance and texture is something of a first in Munk’s body of work. This is pattern music, characterized by slow builds and subtle, but refined, transformations, where gradual tectonic shifts and tiny harmonic gestures generate vivid emotional responses. Instead of imposing any direct intention or meaning, it’s an album that can create a mental environment for the listener to expand and open up into.

Absorb, taking up the entire A-side, is a piece of meticulous balance, structured from techniques recalling the classical minimalists: soft-glowing analog synthesizer patterns in perpetual motion, creating new harmonic content as each bar progresses. Gradually, randomized modular effects are introduced as well as layers of white noise and detuned, heavily tube-overdriven guitar drones, slowly bathing the piece in warmly filtered fuzz.

The B-side opens with two identical organ lines played against each other. After a few minutes the organs lock into a an effortless flow, gently rolling towards a pastoral peak several minutes later, where piano and various layers of electronics enters the soundscape, recalling the blissed-out spiritualism of Alice Coltrane or Popol Vuh.

The album’s last track, Cascade, opens peacefully but soon enough crosses into multi-textural self-oscillating psychedelia – related in spirit to Munk’s previous solo album, Pan, released in 2012. Gradually the intertwined layers of sound rises to enormous billows of sonic saturation, where each drone harmonizes against layers of distorted pulses.

Music like this is perceived as incredibly simple and free flowing, but, as is the case with the biological world, reveals textural minutiae and interweaved intricacy once studied close-up. Every tiny detail serves the bigger picture. It’s music that’s practically vibrating with possibility.

http://elparaisorecords.com/releases/jonas-munk-absorb-fabric-cascade-lp
https://www.facebook.com/elparaisorecords
https://www.facebook.com/jonas.munk1

Jonas Munk, “Current”

Not to take credit where I shouldn’t or anything like that, but last month, I was talking about Ufomammut and Conan being in the US around the same time for Maryland Deathfest and how a tour with the both of them would be the heaviest thing in the universe and blah blah blah. Now here we are just weeks later and Ufomammut is teaming up with Conan for the release tour celebrating the arrival of their new album, Ecate, on Neurot Recordings — and it’s happening in Europe. Don’t get me wrong, it’s cool to be anywhere on a planet where this kind of thing comes together, but it sure would be neat to have that bill on the same continent where I live. Call me crazy.

Sound of Liberation sent word of impending destruction:

SOUND OF LIBERATION PROUDLY PRESENTS UFOMAMMUT “ECATE” RELEASE TOUR

APRIL 18TH TO 30TH 2015

Few days ago, UFOMAMMUT unveiled details about their upcoming 7th album “ECATE”, which is due out on MARCH 30TH 2015 via Neurot Recordings! Here is their PR company statement, in case you missed it:

“The Italian power trio, known for their almightily heavy capabilities and psychedelic prowess, have as many discernible similarities as they do differences to their formative roots. Never pandering to the easy classification of doom, UFOMAMMUT charge their sludgy output with inimitable energy and wild, wayfaring ambition which is matched by the tightknit musical understanding that flows telepathically between the three members; Poia, Urlo, and Vita.

On their latest album, UFOMAMMUT take a confident step forward with their craft, orchestrating atmospheric processions that take the six songs on the album to places as of yet uncharted, the only guide being that of Ecate (Hecate in English), the three-sided goddess who moves between the realms of the living, the dead, and the gods.

Traditionally associated with matters of the liminal (statues of her can be found at crossroads and city walls, where she would be believed to either bless or curse travellers), she represents the link between the past, the present and the future in a way which resonates true with Ufomammut, and with the name of the band, too.”

Given that, and knowing that you are so looking forward for more information, we are thrilled to present UFOMAMMUT’s “Ecate Release Tour”, from APRIL 18TH to 30TH 2015, highlighted by appearances at both Desertfests!

On many shows, they will be supported by Liverpool’s brain crushers CONAN, for what is going to be incredibly heavy events! Check-out the dates, and be there!

18.04 (Ch) TBA on Feb. 5th
19.04 (Fr) Paris, Glazart (+ CONAN)
20.04 TBC
21.04 (D) Bielefeld, Forum (+ CONAN)
22.04 (D) Wiesbaden, Schlachthof (+ CONAN)
23.04 (D) Munich, Feierwerk (+ CONAN)
24.04 (D) Berlin, Desertfest (+ CONAN)
25.04 (Be) Brussels, AB (+ CONAN)
26.04 (Uk) London, Desertfest (+ CONAN)
28.04 (D) Siegen, Vortex (+ CONAN)
29.04 (D) Stuttgart, Kellerclub
30.04 TBC

Watch also below the first two in a series of video trailers for the album, which we shall be revealing over the course of the next few weeks. These short videos offer a chance to explore the story behind the recording of the album and the roots of their sound, re-affirming the band’s DIY approach to everything they do.

More Info and Updates on: WWW.SOUNDOFLIBERATION.COM
https://www.facebook.com/pages/UFOMAMMUT/83336386071

Ufomammut, Ecate Recording Sessions

At 81 years old, alto saxophonist Sonny Simmons has overseen a career that spans decades in forward-thinking jazz. The Dec. 2014 Svart Records release, Nomadic, is nonetheless one of two full-lengths Simmons issued last year, the other being Leaving Knowledge, Wisdom and Brilliance on Improvising Beings. For the four songs of Nomadic, Simmons partners with sitarist Michel Kristof (also Other Matter), bassist Thomas Bellier (also Blaak Heat Shujaa) and drummer Sébastien Bismuth (also Abrahma), who form a trio dubbed Moksha Samnyasin, and explores somehow-primal/somehow-contemplative, unhindered jazz that finds further roots in heavy psychedelia, Bellier‘s bass tone and recording style a recognizable element for anyone who’s heard his band, and Bismuth‘s percussion style itching to nestle into steady grooves as a foundation for Simmons‘ extended wandering pieces. Nomadic is a powerful listening experience, with cover art that calls to mind ’60s-era Miles Davis or Charles Mingus and an aesthetic no less ambitious stretched out over “Help Them through this World” (14:45), “We are Entering a Place of That” (7:58), “I Put it in a Dark Area Where I Don’t Remember No More” (14:18) and “When it Comes, I Don’t Fight It” (8:17), all four recorded by Bellier in 2011 with a feel that, if it’s not live, it’s close enough to it that it hardly matters. A creative spirit brims at the album’s core, whether it’s the dense payoff of the opener or the saxophone’s solo finish to the final two tracks, the last of them as blazing as anything that came before it on the record. By the time they get there, that’s saying something.

Bismuth, Bellier and Kristof together can’t compete with Simmons in terms of resumé, but Nomadic finds them much more than a backing band. Very often, it’s the bass and drums setting the atmospheric foundation for a given movement — stretches bring to mind a faster Om, which Kristof‘s sitar adds to fluidly — a wash of crash cymbal in “Help Them through this World” foreshadowing the spaces Nomadic will inhabit as Simmons seems to breathe out echoing notes in another context would be the stuff of smoke-filled halls but here retain a Eastern flavor in no small part because of their playing off the sitar and the molten grooving around them. A two-sided vinyl-style symmetry holds true even on the CD release, but much of the album’s atmospheric course is set by the time the 14-minutes of the opener are done, Simmons stepping in with Bellier‘s bassline and Kristof‘s sitar atop Bismuth‘s unmistakably heavy drumming, even if its patterns are expanded upon with subsequent tracks. “We are Entering a Place of That” starts off quiet after the high-energy finish of “Help Them through this World,” Simmons easing the sax in amid cymbal wash and the steady bassline as though waking it up. A subtle and satisfying build emerges, but is driven to less of a “finale” than the preceding cut, and instead, as they approach the seventh minute, bass, sitar, sax and drums exit and Simmons talks for a minute or so about being in Egypt, the universal nature of art as a piece of what makes a culture and so on. Less a lecture than an anecdote from him, despite the weight of the theme. It’s brief, but one imagines it is just a tiny sampling of the stories told during the session.

The two sides are of roughly equal length, yet I wouldn’t say Nomadic makes a point of its symmetry. The album’s second half begins with “I Put it in a Dark Area Where I Don’t Remember No More,” a build that feels somewhat in conversation with side A’s opener but ultimately proves to be the highlight of the record, Simmons and Moksha Samnyasin finding their most engaging mesh in slower melodic drones, layers of ambient guitar-ish noise, and a gradually unfolding forward march from Bismuth‘s toms brought to full-breadth righteousness just before 10 minutes in only to have Simmons finish off the track on his own, leading to the solo-drums start of “When it Comes, I Don’t Fight It,” the bassline joining first with far-off sitar, electronic swirl and subtle sax notes to add serenity to an otherwise surprising tension. “When it Comes, I Don’t Fight It” hits its mark with Nomadic‘s slowest progression, but Simmons — clearly not fighting it — takes hold and proceeds to belt out a three-minute solo that caps the song and record with a fitting “woo!” and laugh at the end. That laugh in a way really speaks to the crux of what Sonny Simmons and Moksha Samnyasin have on offer with Nomadic, namely an experience rooted in the raw joy of creative exploration. There is a persistent improvised feel to the material, particularly Simmons‘ own parts, and it feeds an overarching spontaneity that makes both individual pieces and the album front to back all the more engaging. Given the span of Simmons‘ career, Nomadic‘s breadth is even more impressive, pushing boundaries where many would otherwise be content to rehash older ideas or rest on the laurels of past glories.

Sonny Simmons & Moksha Samnyasin, Nomadic (2014)

Sonny Simmons’ website

Nomadic at Svart Records’ Bandcamp

Svart Records

Washington D.C. trio Borracho have some pretty killer shows coming up. First off, they’re headed to the West Coast this week to meet up with Castle for two gigs ahead of an appearance at a Strange Magic Records showcase alongside The Chuck Norris Experiment and others. Upon their return, they’ll hit up a few killer regional gigs, first with Carousel and Joy in their hometown next month and then on a weekender that includes two gigs in PA with Doctor Smoke and Wasted Theory and one night in Baltimore alongside Elder. They’ve got a date in there with Lo-Pan as well. There isn’t one of those shows that isn’t a score from the standpoint of anyone who makes it out to them.

By those March shows, Borracho will also have a new split 7″ out with Brooklyn’s Eggnogg on Palaver Records. You might recall their most recent release was a shared single with Boston’s Cortez that came out last year (review here). Looks like they’re set to give another quick look at some new material ahead of their next full-length outing, whenever that might arrive.

They sent this newsletter down the PR wire:

California Bound This Week!

We’re just a couple days away from our first west coast shows. Join us at one of the shows below, or if you’re not in Cali, forward this email to a friend or five who are!

Jan. 29 – Oakland, CA @ The Golden Bull w/ Castle & Heavy Action
Jan. 30 – Los Angeles, CA @ Five Star Bar w/ Castle & Behold! The Monolith & The Love Below
Jan. 31 – Pomona, CA @ Characters w/ The Chuck Norris Experiment, PRV13, and Chango’s Psychotic Garage PLUS Jake Starr

New 7″ Single Out in March

It’s been a little while since we dropped some new music on you. This one has been a little hung up, but we’re excited to announce a brand new split single with Eggnogg on Nashville’s Palaver Records. King’s Disease will appear with Eggnogg’s Slugworth, and we’ll be celebrating its release with a hometown show in DC on March 20 at The Pinch with the riotous Lo-Pan and Against the Grain.

More Shows!

Those of you on the east coast will have a bunch of chances to catch us with some other badass bands over the next couple of months. Check the schedule below. Hope to see you out there!

Feb. 19 – Washington, DC @ Velvet Lounge w/ Carousel, Joy & Caustic Casanova
March 20 – Washington, DC @ The Pinch w/ Lo-Pan & Against the Grain
March 26 – Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie w/ Doctor Smoke, Wasted Theory & Heavy Temple
March 27 – York, PA @ The Depot w/ Doctor Smoke & Wasted Theory
March 28 – Baltimore, MD @ Metro Gallery w/ Elder, Fortress & The Convocation

http://www.borrachomusic.com/
https://www.facebook.com/BorrachoDC
https://twitter.com/borracho_DC
http://instagram.com/borrachomusic
http://borracho.bandcamp.com/

Borracho/Cortez, Split 7″ (2014)

It had been more than a month since the last time I was at a show, between holidays, injury and family stuff, and I think I needed it more than I realized until I made my way upstairs in Providence, Rhode Island’s Columbus Theatre. There were two Montreal-based bands on the bill, USA out of Vietnam and The Besnard Lakes, and I was there to catch the former, having dug 2014’s Crashing Diseases and Incurable Airplanes debut and its ambitious, progressive wash of post-rock instrumental melody, moments of doomer heft and harmonized vocals.

The room upstairs at the Columbus was seated. More of a theater space. Somewhere one might put on a one-act play or something of that sort, lots of talking, knowing nods in response, and so on. Lights were low. I took a seat behind what turned out to be the band and waited about 20 minutes for them to go on. It was early, and not that cold out, but I had the dog in the car — she’s gotten pretty bad about being left alone; it’s a longer story than fits here — so time was a factor in my mind anyway. Still, an early show, a band I’d never seen before and Providence itself as a city I’ve come very much to enjoy being in, I felt like I was winning out. Before long, USA out of Vietnam took the stage, guitarist/vocalist/frontman Son of Fogman introducing them as some other band and citing a “radical style change” to illicit the first of several chuckles from the crowd.

A five-piece with made-up names — El Tigre, Rockhard, Fogman, Blankie, Son of Fogman — and four vocalists, they were a lot for the acoustics in that room to take, but it was easy enough to get a sense of what they were going for in bringing Crashing Diseases and Incurable Airplanes to life. In the heavier moments, a song like “Asphodel I/1322” bordered on crushing, and the wash in “Leg of Lamb” (please forgive me if I have the songs wrong) was suitably consuming. Son of Fogman proved more of a frontman presence live than on the album, belting out parts where the lead vocals are mixed further behind the guitar, bass, keys and/or synth, and while the dynamic felt nascent, it was also plain to see USA out of Vietnam‘s gelling process underway in both how they approached parts of the songs themselves and how they interacted with each other on stage.

What worked primarily was the smoothness with which the fivesome made the shifts between softer moments of contemplation and nod-inducing, pedal-stomped tonal weight. They’d hardly be the first to lull listeners into a false sense of security and then clobber them over the head with a heavy riff, but there was more of a decided shift live than on the album, where everything is coated in melody, and the crunch fit them well. Son of Fogman thanked the room profusely and noted how fortunate they were to play there, some good-natured ribbing of sound-guy Ryan ensued, and they closed out with more sprawl to make way for The Besnard Lakes. It was still pretty early.

Late enough for me, however. I probably could’ve stayed and enjoyed the headliner, but particularly with the dog in the car and it being January, I thought it better to roll out. Was good to be out and about, even if for just a little while, though, and satisfying to watch USA out of Vietnam present their material live. Something tells me it won’t be the last time I run into them.

No extra pics because I wasn’t really comfortable getting up in front of everyone else seated to go up front and take them, but thanks for reading anyway.

It’s hard not to get all dorked out every time the prospect of new Goatsnake music is mentioned. Sometimes, I’ll admit, I don’t even try. But it’s been five years now since Goatsnake played their first reunion shows, and that’s no small amount of time for the band to put music together. When I step back from that so-easily-leapt nerd precipice, though, I have to wonder what this record is actually going to sound like. Nick Raskulinecz is a much different producer today than when he recorded Flower of Disease, and I guess my only apprehension comes from how special those two Goatsnake records are. It won’t be easy to add a third to that canon.

But I guess that might be part of why it’s taken half a decade for this record to come together. No doubt in my mind they can pull it off — if they didn’t think they could do it, I can’t imagine they’d bother trying — I’m just anxious to hear the results of this sessions and if the natural, easy-greasy vibe is still there. Fingers crossed we get some audio soon.

Until then, here’s Euro tour dates and some teaser text, fresh off the PR wire:

GOATSNAKE ANNOUNCE EUROPEAN TOUR; NEW ALBUM DETAILS SOON TO BE REVEALED

Los Angeles, California’s Goatsnake have announced further live dates in Europe, kicking off at the end of May with their set at Temples Festival, and taking the band through territories new to them. This comes in the light of the news of a brand new album from the band, which they have just completed recording, and will see release on Southern Lord this summer.

The new album will feature the familiar faces of Greg Rogers (The Obsessed, Sonic Medusa), providing drums, Greg Anderson of Sunn O))) taking care of the riffs, Pete Stahl (Scream, Wool, Earthlings?) on vocals, and new bassist new and Cape Fear North Carolina legend Scott Renner (Brickbat, Sourvein, Sonic Medusa). On production duties is Nick Raskulinecz, who, since being introduced to Dave Grohl during the recording sessions of Flower of Disease, has gone on to work with seminal artists such as Rush, Alice in Chains, Mastodon and Ghost, and has won Grammys with the Foo Fighters. United again, he and the band are sure to serve a menacing cut of the time-honoured ultra-heavy rock they are infamous for.

Further details of this are to come, meanwhile Greg Anderson did offer this insight, “We are beyond stoked about the new Snake album. We all rose to the occasion and with the help of Nick and the state of Tennessee delivered the fucking goods. More soul, more power, more balls.”

Here are the dates:

GOATSNAKE TOUR DATES:
30/05/2015 – UK, Bristol – Temples Festival
01/06/2015 – BE, Kortrijk – De Kreun
02/06/2015 – NL, Amsterdam – Melkweg
03/06/2015 – DE, Berlin – SO36
04/06/2015 – DE, Siegen – Freakvalley Festival
06/06/2015 – GR, Athens – AN Club

http://www.southernlord.com
http://southernlord.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/SLadmin

Goatsnake, Live at Southwest Terror Fest III, Oct. 2014

Lineup announcements have started coming through for the previously revealed The Eye of the Stoned Goat 5 festival, which will take place June 12 and 13 in Amityville, NY. It’s looking like a pretty tight assemblage of bands hitting Long Island for the fest, with Lord Fowl and John Wilkes Booth leading the charge as the first two announcements a couple weeks ago and Weed is Weed and White Dynomite just added last night to a bill that already also includes Kingsnake, Gozu, It’s Not Night: It’s Space, Brimstone Coven and Ol’ Time Moonshine.

If you’ll indulge me, I’ll get caught up on the announcements, including those for Weed is Weed and White Dynomite, just so we’re all on the same page going forward.

Here they are going all the way back:

Alright folks, it’s time to drop a couple heavy hitters on ya!

We are extremely proud to announce, appearing at this year’s festival is Massachusetts Rock n’ Roll time bomb White Dynomite!

Also, a band that truly needs no introduction, with former members of Pentagram, Spirit Caravan and Earthride… the almighty Weed is Weed!!!

We’ve been trying to get these guys on the ‘Stoned Goat for years, this year the planets all aligned in our favor.. Bringing their tough-as-nails, working class grooves to Long Island this year is none other than Philadelphia’s own Kingsnake!!!

Announcing the next two artists joining the Amityville Music Hall stage at ESG5 this June…. Small Stone Records and local New York Psych-Rock trio It’s Not Night: It’s Space!!!

Also, hailing from the depths of Toronto Canada, the demon-rock peddlers Ol’ Time Moonshine!!!

Alright folks, it’s time to kick things up a notch! Joining us on this year’s ESG5 installment is none other than Small Stone Records and Desertfest 2014 alums GOZU!!!

Next up…. We are thrilled to announce that appearing at ‘Eye of the Stoned Goat 5″ on June 12-13th is Long Island’s very own Moon Tooth and Metal Blade Records Occult Rock Dealers Brimstone Coven!!!

Eye of the Stoned Goat is proud to announce the first two bands appearing at ESG5 in Long Island, NY June 12-13th are none other than former ESG alums- LORD FOWL and John Wilkes Booth!

https://www.facebook.com/TheEyeOfTheStonedGoat
http://www.theeyeofthestonedgoat.com/
https://www.facebook.com/WeedIsWeed
https://www.facebook.com/WhiteDynomiteBoston

White Dynomite, White Dynomite (2014)

Today, Jan. 26, is an off-date for Karma to Burn‘s current North American tour. Last night, they were in Dallas for show number 18 of the 33-date run. Tomorrow, they’ll be in Albuquerque, New Mexico, alongside Sierra, with whom they’ve been touring in support of the US release of their latest album, Arch Stanton (review here). The instrumental trio, whose roots trace back to guitarist/founder Will Mecum‘s origins in Morgantown, West Virginia, have always done it the hard way, and this stint I’m quite sure is no exception.

But then, there’s always been something argumentative at the heart of Karma to Burn. Since the original lineup of the band came roaring back in 2010 with their fourth full-length, Appalachian Incantation (review here), Karma to Burn have reminded both friends and foes of their uncompromising position when it comes to straight-ahead riffing and the vision at the heart of their project. Mecum, who leads the trio now comprised of himself, drummer Evan Devine and bassist Eric Clutter, is the driving force behind Karma to Burn‘s no-frills heaviness, and half a decade after the group’s rebirth, there’s as little room for argument as ever.

Switzerland-based Snakehill Productions has put together a series of behind-the-scenes videos interviewing Karma to Burn about some of their life on tour and their general feelings and attitudes on being in the band at this point. It’s called “The Making of Arch Stanton,” but the vibe is really more about getting into what it’s like being Karma to Burn than about which amps were used to record “54” or anything like that. Either way, it’s a cool chance to hear Mecum, Devine and Clutter talk about what they’re listening to and what they dig about playing different songs, as well as their picks for the next in the band’s line of intermittent vocalists.

Remaining tour dates follow the clips below. Enjoy:

Karma to Burn, The Making of Arch Stanton Pt. 3 & 4

Pt. 1 & 2 can be viewed here.

KARMA TO BURN & SIERRA North American Tour

Remaining dates:
1/27/2015 Launchpad – Albuquerque, NM
1/28/2015 The Nile Theater – Mesa, AZ
1/30/2015 Loaded – Hollywood, CA
1/31/2015 Bottom of the Hill – San Francisco, CA
2/01/2015 Starlite Lounge – Sacramento, CA
2/03/2015 El Corazon – Seattle, WA
2/04/2015 Rickshaw Theatre – Vancouver, BC
2/06/2015 Hawthorne Theatre – Portland, OR
2/07/2015 The Shredder – Boise, ID
2/08/2015 Area 51 – Salt Lake City, UT
2/09/2015 Lost Lake Lounge – Denver, CO
2/10/2015 Replay Lounge – Lawrence, KS
2/11/2015 Fubar – St Louis, MO
2/12/2015 Red Line Tap – Chicago, IL
2/13/2015 123 Pleasant Street – Morgantown, WV

Karma to Burn’s website

Karma to Burn on Thee Facebooks