Can we talk honestly about Desertfest Berlin 2017 for a minute? You want to know the terrible truth? Of course you do. You love terrible truths. The terrible truth is I should’ve gone to this fucking festival years ago. I should’ve been there when Gozu went from London to Berlin. I should’ve tagged along with Lo-Pan on their European run. I should be campaigning to go over and embed myself with Lowrider or somebody this year, and even now I’d be about four years late in getting there. At least. Stupid. No money, no time. My loss. Always.

These lineups get stronger and stronger and I sit my fucking cubicle and daydream. That’s what happens. That’s the terrible truth. I’m gonna miss Desertfest Berlin again this year, and London, and Freak Valley, and Duna Jam and Desertfest Belgium and Athens, and Keep it Low and the fests Heavy Psych Sounds is throwing, and a bunch of cool shit in the US — Desert Generator, all that stuff happening in Colorado, Montana, Oregon, the Days of Darkness this fall in Baltimore — because basically I suck. There you have it. The terrible truth. I’m terrible.

Oh yeah, and Desertfest Berlin 2017 has new lineup adds. Here they are:

As promised, here come 5 new bands that we are proud to add to the DesertFest Berlin 2017 line-up! On Friday 28th, Desert Mountain Tribe (Uk), Elephant Tree (Uk) & Bellhound Choir (Dk). On Saturday 29th Domkraft (Swe) and on Sunday 30th, Avon Desert Rock (Usa). 3-day passes and Saturday tickets are sold out, but we still have a few for Friday and Sunday! Hurry up if you want to be part of this year’s Desertfest Berlin: http://www.desertfest.de/tickets-desertfest-berlin

Desert Mountain Tribe got off to a flying start with early standout track ‘Coming Down’, which was featured on Reverb Conspiracy Volume 2. The band quickly progressed to perform at leading festivals within the psych community and finally released their debut album “ Either That Or The Moon” in the spring of 2016 to a wealth of positive notices. They are now about to release new material…

Desert Rock trio Avon is Alfredo Hernández (Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age, Yawning Man), James Childs (Airbus, Little Villains) and Charles Pasarell (WAXY). They made their debut early in 2016 with “Mad Marco”, a full-length collection distinct in its still-inimitable Californian style. The music is psychedelic, raw, melodic and has something to say. So if you like heavy desert rock, then you have come to the right place. They will be back with new tunes in April.

Elephant Tree are a relatively new band blasting a combination of ballsy blues rock and heavy riffs, who, after cutting their teeth in the London metal scene, have established a place within the current growing Stoner Metal genre. Their self-tilted sophomore released in April 2016 is spaced out, bizarre, unafraid to expand what doom can be, and featured in many “top of 2016” lists… You guys don’t know them yet, check it out now!

Bellhound Choir is songwriter, singer and guitarist Christian Hede Madsen (ex Pet The Preacher). He released his debut album “Imagine The Crackle” last year, and is now about to release his second effort, “Worried Kid”: a contemporary blues album dealing with the struggles and winding roads of the soul… A record comprised of songs in their most basic form, without filter, without vanity; songs that leads the way into a very human universe, that will unfold, as one gives back.

Domkraft, whose name combines the Swedish “DOM” for judgement and “KRAFT” for power, blasts forth towering dirges of annihilating doom, mindbending psychedelia, and hypnotic minimalism. Their first full-length “The End of Electricity” was released in November 2016 and is a spacious yet crushing mix of grinding riffs, syrupy warmth, blistering power and inexorable motion. Check out their unique vibe as soon as possible !

Also confirmed for our 2017 edition: SLEEP, SAINT VITUS, JOHN GARCIA BAND, BONGZILLA, SAMSARA BLUES EXPERIMENT, MARS RED SKY, STONED JESUS, LOWRIDER, FARFLUNG, WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM, DEATH ALLEY, TOUNDRA, MAMMOTH MAMMOTH, 1000MODS, SUMA, RUBY THE HATCHET, ECSTATIC VISION, THE COSMIC DEAD, TUBER, SATAN’S SATYRS, PONTIAK, WUCAN, GIOBIA, DUEL, GOLD, VENOMOUS MAXIMUS, THE WELL, GLITTER WIZARD, BASK, ODD COUPLE, RIFF FIST, TSCHAIKA 21/16 + more acts still to be unveiled.

http://www.desertfest.de/tickets
https://www.facebook.com/DesertfestBerlin
http://woolheads.com/shop-2/festivalmerchandise/desertfest-berlin-2016-early-bird-ticket-action-1/
https://shop3.ticketscript.com/channel/html/get-products/rid/4MGC3S6H/eid/327518/validity/any_day/language/en

Elephant Tree, “Attack of the Altaica” Live, Feb. 8, 2017

Danish singer-songwriter Christian Hede Madsen made his debut under the Bellhound Choir moniker with the 2015 EP Stray Screech Beast (review here), which marked a radical departure from his band at the time, Pet the Preacher. Where the band had a hard-driving heavy rock foundation, Bellhound Choir turned toward darker country and folk vibes, blues and so on.

He signed to respected purveyor Bad Afro Records for the ensuing first full-length, Imagine the Crackle, which you can stream below, and in April will release his quick-turnaround second outing, Worried Kid, having also formed his own label in the new Salbar Records. Oh yeah, and dude has a novel out. Some people just like to stay busy. I can respect that.

From the PR wire:

BELLHOUND CHOIR TO RELEASE BRAND NEW ALBUM!’WORRIED KID’ COMING APRIL 28th!

On April 28th 2017, singer, songwriter and guitarist Christian Hede Madsen aka BELLHOUND CHOIR will release his second solo album ‘Worried Kid’ – a contemporary blues album dealing with the struggles and winding roads of the soul – and now he announces a special release event at this year’s SPOT FESTIVAL in Denmark.

Bellhound Choir is the sound of where it all began as well as the sound of now. Bellhound Choir is contemporary blues, a kind of folk music that with an eternal voice exposes the trouble of the soul as well as its hopes. Bellhound Choir is songwriter, singer and guitarist Christian Hede Madsen. Madsen is primarily known for his music, partly from his former band Pet The Preacher and now with the solo project Bellhound Choir, which released the debut album “Imagine The Crackle” through Bad Afro Records last year.

Apart from being a musician, Madsen is a man of many other talents – an artist ever interested in finding new ways of expression. He experiments with film, interactive media and not least litterature, which occupies an essential part of his music and beyond. Madsen just recently released the debut novel ‘Mørkeræd’ (‘Fear of the Dark’), which is yet another take on his description of the existential conditions of mankind.

These conditions are equally described on Bellhound Choir´s second album ‘Worried Kid’ – eight songs about being shrouded in darkness, with the shadows chasing you, on the way to something better. An album that revolves around the eternal struggle of being alive and preserving hope. ‘Worried Kid’ is produced by Sebastian Wolff, front man in Kellermensch, who besides producing also contributes with vocals for a duo with Madsen on the album. ‘Worried Kid’ will be released through Madsen´s own label Salbar on April 28th 2017, and the album will be accompanied by a string of cinematic, fictional live-sessions presented on an interactive online platform ahead of the release.

It is ‘Worried Kid’, its stories, the interplay between different media and off course Madsen´s intimate, stripped down performance, which is the heart of the acoustic performance that Bellhound Choir will deliver on the primary Danish showcase event SPOT FESTIVAL in Aarhus, Denmark on May 5th.

More info on the album and additional dates will follow in the time to come.

www.facebook.com/bellhoundchoir
https://soundcloud.com/bellhoundchoir

Bellhound Choir, Imagine the Crackle (2016)

I’ve been listening to a lot of The Obelisk Radio this week, so it seemed only fair to do a round of adds to the server. Might just be what came up in the selection process, but it’s seemed pretty off the wall of late. Yeah, there’s plenty of heavy riffs and whatever else, but a lot of sludge and noise stuff too. I like that because hopefully it appeals to a wider variety of listeners, though part of me thinks I should cut out everything that isn’t Goatsnake, Kyuss, Electric Wizard and two or three of the stoner-flavor-of-the-month types and just let it roll with that. One tries to quiet the cynical impulse. You know how it is.

In all seriousness though, at some point I’m going to have to trim down what’s on there. It’s only a three terabyte drive and I have neither the know-how nor the cash to expand it further, so yeah. But that’s not this week. This week, 11 new records joined the playlist — see them all at the Obelisk Radio Playlist and Updates page — and that includes those that follow here.

The Obelisk Radio adds for Feb. 25, 2015:

Yama, Ananta

While definitely rooted tonally in heavy rock, there’s an underlying current of metal flowing through Yama‘s debut long-player, Ananta. The four-piece, who hail from the home of Roadburn in Tilburg, the Netherlands, offer plenty of driving riffs and nodding grooves on songs like the opening title-track and the slower centerpiece “Migraine City,” nonetheless take a sharper approach than some to the style. It comes through in the vocals, which get pretty gruff by the end of the aforementioned “Migraine City,” but also over ascending notes of classic metallic soar late in “Ruach Elohim” — a song that, it’s worth noting, also starts out with harmonica — and push the John Garcia impulse to more guttural range on “Hollow” and “Swordsman of the Crossroads I.” The latter also kicks into some blastbeats, to further the metallic edge. Still, Yama — the four-piece of Alex Schenkels, Peter Taverne, Joep Schmitz and Sjoerd Albers — wield the blend well throughout and keep a solid balance. “Swordsman of the Crossroads I” and the subsequent “II” are the arguable pinnacle here, but the acoustic-led closer “Vy” seems to hint that Yama haven’t quite yet shown all their cards. Yama on Thee Facebooks, on Bandcamp.

—

Bellhound Choir, Stray Screech Beast

As per the immortal words of Monty Python: “And now for something completely different.” Bellhound Choir is a solo-project from guitarist/vocalist Christian Hede Madsen, also of Copenhagen-based rockers Pet the Preacher, but there’s little in common between one and the other, and Bellhound Choir‘s debut release, Stray Screech Beast, finds Madsen exploring folk and particularly country stylizations, a sense of brooding pervasive throughout the album’s eight tracks. It’s a dark vibe that pervades “Stuck (Old Song)” and the electrified, spacious blues bombast of “Bless Me,” and as a later, relatively minimal cut like “Black Spot” shows, Madsen isn’t afraid of delving into guy-and-guitar singer-songwriterism. His voice and playing is strong enough to carry the material, though one wonders how he got that Southern twang, and Stray Screech Beast doesn’t overplay its hand at 27 minutes. There may be fire and brimstone beneath, but Madsen isn’t quite there yet in bringing it out for righteous proclamations, though I wouldn’t be surprised to find him taking on a preacherman quality on subsequent outings, as well as pushing into more complex arrangements as the experiment continues. Some rocker heads might be put off by the country vibe, but I suspect plenty will feel right at home amid the moody atmosphere and plucked guitar of “God’s Home.” Bellhound Choir on Thee Facebooks, on Soundcloud.

—

Atala, Atala

Desert-dwelling trio Atala recorded their self-titled/self-released debut with Scott Reeder (Kyuss, The Obsessed, Fireball Ministry, etc.), and its eight songs break easily into two halves — the end of each signaled by a cut north of the 10-minute mark — of raucous, occasionally surprisingly aggressive heavy rock. Opener “Broken Glass” positions Atala somewhere near Fatso Jetson sonically, but less punk in their roots, guitarist/vocalist Kyle Stratton and bassist John Chavarria having previously played together in metallers Rise of the Willing while drummer Jeff Tedtaotao is a former member of punkers Forever Came Calling. Stratton‘s vocals veer into sludge-metal screams from cleaner territory and seem comfortable in the back-and-forth, and that, blended with the fullness of sound, and pop in Tedtaotao‘s snare — a hallmark of Reeder‘s production; see also Blaak Heat Shujaa — makes the meandering jam in “Labyrinth of Mind” seem all the more like a standout moment of varied impulses working to find their balance. By the time they get down to the chugging “Virgo Moon” and the ebbs and flows of closer “Sun Worship,” Atala seem to have it worked out for the most part, and while there’s still growth to be undertaken, the chemistry between the three players comes across as plain as the sands they call home. Atala’s website, on Thee Facebooks.

—

Astralnaut & Weed Priest, Split

Irish outfits Astralnaut and Weed Priest team up for a split single, and while it’s just one song from each, there’s plenty of substance between them. Thick, gooey substance, if their tones are anything to go by. Both Astralnaut‘s “Parasitic” (9:20) and Weed Priest‘s “Graveyard Planet” (7:42) are big, lumbering riffers marked out with a sludgy feel, but there are subtle differences between them as well, the former being more forward vocally and meaner in-tone and the latter more fuzzed-out and obscure in a kind of Sons of Otis-via-Electric Wizard fashion. No real mystery why they’d pair up, though, with geography and a penchant for riffy bludgeoning shared, and their split should make a fitting introduction for anyone who might be running into either band for the first time, or maybe caught wind of Weed Priest‘s lumbering 2013 self-titled debut (review here) or any of Astralnaut‘s prior short releases. First timer or not, “Parasitic” and “Graveyard Planet” tap into amp rumble and slow-motion nod that should please any riff-worshiping head looking for a sample of the bands’ wares, Astralnaut spacing out a bit in the second half of their selection as though to smooth the path into Weed Priest‘s heady, darkened roll. For the converted, a reminder of why and how they got that way. Astralnaut on Thee Facebooks, on Bandcamp. Weed Priest on Thee Facebooks, on Bandcamp.

—

Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard, Nachthexen

I’ll give the UK stoner surge one thing: It wins on band names. I don’t think per capita there’s any country in the world with more stoned-as-fuck monikers than Britain. To wit, Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard. The Wrexham unit make a churning debut on Tape Worship Records with the half-hour-long “Nachthexen,” a single-song EP that moves smoothly between droned-out space exploration, crush-prone doom riffs and stoner metal gallop. The latter comes to the fore just past the midsection of this mammoth, weedian, wizardly bit of bastardism — one wonders how they got their name in the first place — but by then, “Nachthexen” has already careened through cosmic doom psych-osis early on, like roughed-up YOB with droney underpinnings, and teased a thrash influence in their Slayer-style interplay of chugging guitar and ride cymbal. Of course, the most satisfying build is the last one, which builds over the song’s final seven minutes from ambient noise and sparse guitar strum to suitably huge and suitably doomed payoff. This is the kind of shit that if you played it for actual human beings, they’d look at you and wonder just what the fuck species you belong to, and that’s clearly the idea. For their psychedelic elements, I can’t help but wonder if a more colorful artwork approach isn’t called for next time out, but beyond that, there’s little about Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard‘s take that brooks any argument whatsoever, instead drowning it out in deep low end and otherworldly, malevolent vibes. Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard on Thee Facebooks, on Bandcamp, Tape Worship Records.

—

Like I said, this is less than half of what was added to the server today. Recently-covered records from Mansion, Stoned Jesus, Blut, Skunk Hawk and others also went up, hopefully adding to the diversity of sound and overall strength of the playlist. For the full line on everything that went up, check the Playlist and Updates page. If you wind up checking out any of this stuff and take the time to dig in, I hope you enjoy.

Thanks as always for reading and listening.