The Awesome Machine to Reissue It’s Ugly or Nothing in January on Ripple Music
There are a ton of records like this. Issued in the aughts, or right around the turn of the century, largely forgotten as bands and/or labels have phased out, trends have shifted, and the infrastructure through which audience communication has shifted. But now as then, The Awesome Machine kick ass. The Swedish heavy rockers are a band who will make a few things clearer about what was happening in heavy rock around the country at that time, beyond the formative days of Witchcraft or the by-then-manifest charge of Dozer, and deeper into the underground.
Going deeper into the underground would seem to be Ripple Music‘s direct intention as it unveils It’s Ugly or Nothing as the first part of a series called ‘Beneath the Desert Floor’ that will reportedly hone in on albums like this that are at risk of being lost to time. So much the better with the catalogs of imprints like Nasoni, Elektrohasch, People Like You (which originally released this album), This Dark Reign, Molten Universe, or PsycheDOOMelic, among many others, so ripe for a new generation of listeners to explore. Then you get into reissuing comps and we could be here all day filling out installments of ‘Beneath the Desert Floor’ on behalf of Ripple, who it should be noted continue to plumb the modern underground as well with their ‘Turned to Stone’ split series and constant stream of ‘regular’ offerings.
And The Awesome Machine have had a couple rare-tracks collections turn up on vinyl through Ozium Records in the last couple years, so this isn’t completely out of the blue, though frankly even if it were it’d still be cool.
From the PR wire:
Ripple Music launch “Beneath The Desert Floor” series with special reissue of THE AWESOME MACHINE’s stoner rock classic “…It’s Ugly Or Nothing”.
Ripple Music is proud to launch the “Beneath The Desert Floor” series — unearthing long-lost treasures from the early days of stoner rock — and team up with Swedish scene veterans THE AWESOME MACHINE for the reissue of their cornerstone album “…It’s Ugly Or Nothing” this January 2024.
The legend says that the stoner rock genre was born under the baking sun of Southern California in the mid-80s, somewhere between Palm Desert and Orange County. A sun-baked, punk-infused and largely psychedelic-driven response to the Pacific NorthWest’s grunge movement, its most iconic torchbearers were named Kyuss, Fatso Jetson, Fu Manchu or Sleep. Way before social media existed, it didn’t take long for the first cassette tapes to cross the pond and spark an inextinguishable fire in what would become the cradle of European stoner rock: Sweden. Among the scene forefathers Dozer or Lowrider stood a myriad of hyperactive bands, among which THE AWESOME MACHINE.
An indestructible mass of fuzz-drenched heft, their 2000 cornerstone album “…It’s Ugly Or Nothing” is eleven tracks of uncompromising stoner rock goodness for the ages. An authentic classic of Swedish-brewed mastery that old and new fans of the genre will welcome with open arms and ears in their record collection!
About the “Beneath The Desert Floor” series, Ripple Music founder Todd Severin says: “There were so many amazing albums released in the underground heavy stoner/doom/desert/heavy psych during the late 90’s, early 2000’s that have gotten lost in the passage of time. These albums, from incredible bands, came out in a time before social media was fully formed to help push public awareness before the vinyl resurgence happened so they were never pressed to wax before digital channels existed to spread the music far and wide. My goal is to do our part to change that. To look beneath the desert floor and see what gems and treasures lay there. And spread them with the world.”
THE AWESOME MACHINE “…It’s Ugly Or Nothing” reissue
Out January 12th, 2024 via Ripple Music (vinyl only)
International preorder – https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/album/beneath-the-desert-floor-chapter-1-its-ugly-or-nothing
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