Yes, German genre-engulfing post-whatever troupe are heading out on another round of tour dates this Fall. Killer. They’ll be out through most of October and into November, and while they don’t seem as yet to have come to the attention of the Euro festival circuit — something which I imagine their next album will correct — they’ve amassed a significant run between cities across their home country and reaching into neighboring nations.

All well and good. Great, in fact, since touring is exactly what they should be doing at this point, both to build their fanbase and refine their own processes. But I have an issue that I was wondering if you could help me with:

As you scroll down to the tour dates, you’ll notice they’re in bold. I didn’t bold them. The band did. And it’s not done in any kind of html or whathaveyou that I can strip out. I’m sure this makes me old and ignorant — both of which I’ll cop to being — but I don’t know how to make it the plain old text that I turn PR wire blue. So yeah, if you know how to do that, and you could tell me, I’d appreciate it. This isn’t the first time I’ve run into that, but I’m trying to teach my kid to ask for help when she needs it, and so am also putting that into practice for myself. I can’t even find the right phrasing to Google it, and when I ask the Bing AI, it has no clue what I’m talking about. I just don’t want it to be bold, and I want the fonts to match, and I can’t do that in WordPress, apparently.

Thanks if you can help. If not, still good for Coltaine going on tour. Here’s the info:

We’re hyped to announce our next three-week adventure through Europe:

Forgotten Ways European Tour 2023

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✠: with @allochiria.the.band
◆: with @vampyresband

This will be our first time in Poland, Belgium, and Luxembourg. During the first half of the tour, we’ll be joined by post-sludgers Allochiria from Athens, Greece. And for the second half of the tour, our long-time friends ‘Vampyres’ from Austria will join. It’s going to be a lot of fun!

We look forward to meeting each and every one of you on the road!

Coltaine:
Julia Frasch – vocals
Moritz Berg – guitar
Benedikt Berg – bass
Amin Bouzeghaia – drums

https://www.facebook.com/coltaineband
https://www.instagram.com/coltaine/
https://coltaine.bandcamp.com/
https://linktr.ee/coltaine

Coltaine, “Gorit” (2023)

On Aug. 4, which is tomorrow, German post-genre rockers Coltaine will release their new digital single “Gorit.” The song runs five and a half minutes and was captured live in June along with the video premiering below, following a second round of touring the band had done alongside Russian-born dark folk singer-songwriter Kariti earlier this Winter/Spring. It has enough scope to fill a full-length. With elements of sludge, post-rock, post-metal, heavy rock, noise, black metal, psychedelia, doom and some genuinely admirable brutality from vocalist Julia Frasch after its feedback-barrage of a break, “Gorit” finds Coltaine in their element manifesting a progression all their own. Here they pummel more than soothe — and I’m not complaining about that; we all gotta take a beating sometimes — but as their most recent album, 2020’s Afterhour in Walhalla (discussed here), demonstrated, the band are capable of great aural kindnesses as well and just because they’re doing one thing in a given track, part, etc., doesn’t necessarily mean that’s also where the next song is headed.

The unpredictability, then, is part of the appeal going into “Gorit,” and Coltaine — Frasch on vocals, Moritz Berg on guitar, Benedikt Berg on bass, Amin Bouzeghaia making his first studio appearance here on drums — offer crush beyond what one might have expected anyhow. With its still-catchy chorus screamed in Russian and a trajectory that shifts from its initial post-sludge push through an ambient pullback into a mellow part made tense by the toms, slowly building through the measures of the pre-chorus before surging back with the hook itself at full volume/impact. Just before two minutes in, they swap out for a stoner rock riff — don’t tell anybody; I think it’s a secret — and Moritz takes a plotted lead over it, not flashy but effective, and the mid-paced insistence of that riff is more fervent for his return after.

You don’t know it yet, but the band are about to throw down. With his headstock on the floor first and then the drop ceiling, Moritz squeals out harsh amplified noise as Benedikt and Bouzeghaia dig into the slowdown with vital force. In the video premiering below, Frasch kneels in front of the drums and makes ready to unleash the above-noted punishment. Laced with echo enough to be cavernous, she joins the lurch and lends the crescendo the destructive presence it has earned before the final minute gives over to a noise-wash comedown, ending in feedback as the clip fades out, somehow seeming short at 5:39 when one considers the amount of ground Coltaine cover. And not just cover, but bring together, because while the band might flash an element of this or that stylistic particularity along the way, their sound is cohesive all the while, purposeful even at its most unhinged. They’ve got a new video now to (further) prove it.

And you’ll find it below, followed by some more comment from the band, recording info, upcoming shows, and so on.

Please enjoy:

Coltaine, “Gorit” live in studio premiere

Benedikt Berg on “Gorit”:

“‘Gorit’ was written by us during a very difficult time. We always played the song last on the ‘Tales of Southern Lands’ tour. However, by now, we also associate positive feelings with the song. Even though the world has still darkened, the many different people we encountered at our concerts in Europe have given us a lot of strength and hope. It is the first song we recorded with Amin Bouzeghaia, who joined Coltaine on the drums during the ‘Summer Death Anthems’ tour in September 2022.”

Spotify, Bandcamp and Youtube release date: August 4th

“Gorit” is a powerful and diverse song that explores themes of burning pain and Weltschmerz. It delves into various subjects, including closure, loss, emotional burden, adaptation to authority, remorse, and the pursuit of reconciliation. The lyrics are written in English and Russian. The live session for “Gorit” was filmed in one continuous take, capturing the raw energy of the band’s performance. The song was recorded in Coltaine’s rehearsal room in Karlsruhe, Germany.

Formed by the Berg brothers, Moe and Benedikt, in 2014, Coltaine emerged in the Black Forest of southern Germany. Channeling their emotions into a unique sound, their music blends 70’s rock, black metal, and ethereal melodies with powerful rock and metal arrangements. Fronted by the versatile singer, Jules, their atmospheric sound spans from soulful harmonies to the darkest growls. With Amin’s relentless drumming, Coltaine’s lineup promises an exciting future.

Lyrics:
This whole canon is final.
Burning into the sky.
The fallen, your child is haunting.
You can’t forget all those fights.

горит, горит
душа горит
сердце болит

(engl.: Burning, burning, the soul is burning, my heart aches)

Adjust to leaders.
Soul lost for real.
Tell my careless trait.
I’ve hurt your soul.

– “Gorit” recorded on June 30th in Karlsruhe, Germany by Coltaine.
– Audio captured by Jables.
– Mixed & Mastered by Alex Pojda at Holodeckstudio.
https://www.holodeckstudio.de
– Live session video filmed and edited by Jonas Berg.

Coltaine’s next shows:
13/08 DORTMUND Junkyard Rock with Messa
15/08 MUNICH Backstage München with Messa + Crowbar

BAND MEMBERS
Julia Frasch – vocals
Moritz Berg – guitar
Benedikt Berg – bass
Amin Bouzeghaia – drums

Coltaine, Afterhour in Walhalla (2020)

Coltaine on Instagram

Coltaine on Facebook

Coltaine on Bandcamp

Coltaine on Spotify

Coltaine on Songkick

Coltaine links

In September, German post-maybe-not-everything-but-definitely-a-lot-of-things rockers Coltaine teamed up to tour in Europe alongside Italy-based/Russian-born dark folk singer-songwriter Kariti. It was, to say the least, a tour with a decent amount of backstory, as well as Kariti‘s first time on the road, and I guess everyone got along pretty well because they’ll do it again this winter, picking up for a three-week stint that’s markedly longer than the last one in February and carrying into March.

I kept up with the last tour on socials, as one does, and it sure seemed like they were having a good time. Touring in an underground band can be tough in the best of circumstances, so finding a partner to do it with goes a long way. Best wishes to Coltaine and Kariti as they head out once again.

The following came down the PR wire from Coltaine:

Coltaine & Kariti Tour 2023

In February/March we’ll be back on the road for a massive 3 weeks tour.

We’ve had such a blast touring together in September that we decided to go on an even greater adventure. We look forward to meeting each and every one of you on the road! Both bands will be bringing new songs, never heard before neither live nor on record. Considering everything that has been going on in the world, we feel extremely lucky to be able to tour for 3 week, playing over 20 shows in 11 different countries all over Europe. Come hang with us, we cannot wait!

Coltaine + kariti ‘tales of southern lands’
European tour 2023
17/02 DE STUTTGART / Schwarzer Keiler
18/02 DE FREIBURG / Artik
19/02 FR STRASBOURG / Le Local
20/02 CH Zürich / Ebrietas
21/02 FR DIJON / t.b.a
22/02 FR LYON / Le Farmer
23/02 IT MILANO c.i.q.
24/02 IT BOLOGNA / Circolo dev
25/02 IT SCHIO / csa Arcadia
26/02 IT TRIESTE / Round Midnight
28/02 SI LJUBLJANA / Channel Zero
01/03 HR ZAGREB / MoČvara
02/03 HU BUDAPEST / Riff
03/03 SK BRATISLAVA / Kulturak klub
04/03 AT VIENNA / Rhiz
05/03 CZ PRAGUE / Balada Bar
06/03 PL WROCLAW / t.b.a.
07/03 DE BERLIN / Tommyhaus
09/03 DE KIEL / Schaubude
10/03 DE DORTMUND / Rattenloch
11/03 DE KARLSRUHE / P8

https://www.facebook.com/wtchfckr
https://www.instagram.com/coltaine/
https://coltaine.bandcamp.com/

http://facebook.com/karitimusic/
https://www.instagram.com/karitimusic/
https://kariti.bandcamp.com/releases

Coltaine, “When Tigers Used to Smoke (Live)” official video

https://youtu.be/tYH2am028HI

Kariti, “Cairn to You” official video

It was late — but not that late; there was work to be done after all — on one night or another of this year’s Freak Valley Festival in Germany, which I was electrified with gratitude for witnessing. I was catching a ride back to the little hotel where I was staying who first didn’t, then did, have a room for me, and chatting to the volunteer driving the shuttle about the day, music, and so on. I am rarely “chatty,” but it had been a very good day, and I feel comfortable saying that without remembering specifically which day it was. Her name was Jule, short for Julia Frasch, and over the course of the seven minutes or so, I found out she was the lead vocalist in Coltaine on the band’s 2020 album, Afterhour in Walhalla. I had the Bandcamp page on my phone before I even opened the door to get out of the vehicle, and made the investment more or less immediately upon entering my room. That was June, and I’ve been working to get my head around the record one way or another since.

Based in Karlsruhe, Coltaine would seem to have made crossing genre lines central to their purpose since the outset. Founded by guitarist/vocalist Moritz Berg, and bassist Benedikt Berg under the somehow-less-memorable-but-hey-witches-gotta-get-some-too moniker Witchfucker, the band’s first outing in 2014, Üntrve Bläck Metäl — pressed in an edition of 30 CDs; there are five left as of this post — immediately engaged with the idea of knowing the rules and standards by which styles are designated and shirking them. The personnel and name of the project may have changed, but listening to the psychedelic ritualized char of Afterhour in Walhalla‘s periodically-saxed 11-song/47-minute run, the core intention would seem to be the change. With Michelle Langer on drums, Frasch on lead vocals, and flutist/saxophonist/percussionist Stephan Schimassek in the six-piece lineup, plus guests Julie Grimmer (vocals, percussion) and Fast Fred (percussion), the pulling together, mixing, separating, reconfiguring of aesthetic is central to what Coltaine do.

Songs occupy spaces minimal or overwhelming, beginning with the procession-into-the-water of “Surfing Skeleton Undead,” which gathers itself over the course of its first minute and comes to a swell of blackened heavy psych rock and atmospheric density. Wherever the album goes thereafter, whether it’s the intertwining melodies and shouts and swirls of “God is Nature, God is Dead” or the three-minute mood-guitar/croon of “Berge,” it remains decisively not-metal, and basks in the freedom of movement allowed for that. Afterhour in Walhalla is the band’s sophomore full-length following 2016’s Mutter Morgana — they have a slew of other live offerings, EPs, two-songers, and so on as well, before and after this record — and while I don’t know over how long a period its material came together, the prevailing vibe is expansive enough, especially as the album proceeds into its second half, to make me think it was spread over some time. “Berge” begets the sharper tension of “Verlust,” a different version of which appeared on the first LP, and the flute, acoustics, chimes and chants of “Green Table,” the ritualized psychedelic aspects of which speak to the spirit of everything that surrounds even as they come to purposeful contradiction in the “eins, zwei, drei, vier” count-in at the start of the buzz-toned, dual-vocal, oh-and-a-tambourine-because-of-course blackened punk rock of “Kreative Freiheit” that ends side A in such a manner as to highlight the point that Coltaine — or Witchfucker as they were at the time — have loosed the reins of their aural inhibitions and that the fire-on-the-hillside-at-dusk vibe as depicted on the cover art is very much alive in the music.

That becomes even more true (or ‘trve,’ perhaps, at least to itself) as the whoops and howls in the early going of the nine-minute “Warsong” make an especially ethereal launch for side B. A significant achievement unto itself, “Warsong” is rife with art-rock pulse, Grace Slickian vocal declarations, psychedelic jazz and echoing tremolo guitar, a bit of mouth harp at the end as it comes apart making it feel as though somehow the jam was just starting even as it finished. Interludes play more of a role on the second half of the album than the first, with “Wüstling” renewing the chimes and flute of “Green Table” amid some added shaker, light percussion and fingers sliding on guitar strings before “Reflections,” and the penultimate “Waterfallout” with its toy piano or whatever that is and deep-mixed fuzzy electric guitar ahead of the finale “Intergalaktische Mondzuckerpiraten,” which raises the crucial question, if Coltaine aren’t intergalactic moon-sugar pirates, then who is? Certainly I have no idea.

The back and forth aspect of Afterhour in Walhalla‘s latter half, thankfully, does not come with a loss of focus on the part of the band. “Warsong” is a marked accomplishment in vibe and spaciousness, and “Reflections” solidifies around impulses toward psychedelic and progressive black metal shown earlier but dispenses with the harsher shouts and screams, leaving a fluid-sounding ghost of extremity in their place amid the saxophone, rolling groove and forward-thinking arrangement. “Intergalaktische Mondzuckerpiraten” follows suit in closing the record, so that, having eaten whatever ayahuasca-esque lysergic plant — organically grown, no pesticides — was on offer with “Warsong,” the listener then careens into and out of lucidity through the final four cuts. It is Coltaine‘s willful defiance of the rules of genre that make this world-building possible, and as much as one so often is tempted to compartmentalize music, they show what can happen when the mission becomes to encompass, not to limit, various styles and methods. It is refreshing how individualized Afterhour in Walhalla ultimately is.

Aside from the name change, Coltaine have continued to stay busy in terms of music as well. 2021 wrought the lockdown jams collection, Bäd Vibez Önly – Aufarbeitung einer Krise, and earlier-2022 brought the live single “When Tigers Used to Smoke (Live)” as a 10-minute preview of what reportedly will be the opening track of their third full-length. That may or may not change as Coltaine move toward that eventuality, but the song is an adventure just the same, and with the band recently announcing tour dates alongside mournful folk singer-songwriter Kariti, one way or another, they’re clearly starting to think about moving past this record and on to the next.

So be it. What will come will come when it comes. I’m just glad I got to hear this one, and as always, I hope you enjoy too.

Thanks for reading.

—

5:49AM. Kid is expected awake any minute now. It’s been at least a week, maybe two, since he slept this late. We went to the zoo yesterday and I guess I kind of ran him into the ground. Good. He needs that. Was falling asleep on the couch next to me during end-of-day-comedown tv time yesterday evening, which is also rare. No fever, if that’s your next question. It’s usually mine at this point, even though we’re all vaccinated and so on.

It was a hard week. In the continuing saga of me being off my meds, I feel a bit more even this week but am generally speaking from a lower place in myself, and I think if you look around here at some of what I’ve written over the last few days, you can see that.

Ah, here he comes down the stairs…

I emailed a friend yesterday about burnout. I rarely do that kind of thing. Most of my relationships are transactional. My “friends” are my friends when they have new albums or tours coming. But I have been feeling hard exhaustion, before and after coming back from Psycho Las Vegas, and am somewhat at a loss how to handle it. I’m tired. Tired of emails. Tired of Facebook. Tired of tour announcements for European bands hitting the road in October and tired even more from caring about it. He told me he meditates for half an hour in the morning, has his routine, tries to find time to relax during the day. I’m not really in a place where I can do that kind of thing, the routine notwithstanding. If I have a spare minute, and even if I don’t, if I’m sitting on my phone during the aforementioned tv time, I’m trying to write. The sad truth is I need this. I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a part of me who feels pathetic knowing that.

Homeboy, who would perhaps raise an eyebrow at being referred to as such, expressed faith that I’d sort my shit out. Based on my 40-plus years of very much not, I have my doubts, but the sentiment was appreciated.

Nonetheless we proceed. Burnt or not. Next week is packed, the week after is packed, and the two weeks after that are the Quarterly Review. I told that to The Patient Mrs. last night as she was talking about going to Montreal for a conference the week of the 15th and she said, “happy anniversary baby,” because that’ll be the second week of the Quarterly Review. I said give me a fucking break. She said she was just joking. I said in that case, give me two breaks. We went to bed. That’s life.

Anyway, The Pecan starts school next Tuesday, so that will help get me more time to work and take some of the edge off that has built up over the course of this Summer of Pivot. The Patient Mrs. starting her semester, first full week this week, is added stress, so these things balance out, but we keep going. That’s the thing, keep going. Someone told me this week I was doing a good job as a parent. I damn near cried. No one who actually knows me says that. Certainly not anyone who’s actually seen me parent. I’m fucking awful. I hover. I over-parent. I get mad. I get sad. I grab him and move him and threaten to take shit away because that’s basically the only time he’ll listen to me and, say, stop pushing a 45-year-old woman out of his way at the touch-tank at the zoo. All your bullshit, there it is. I knew going into becoming a father that I would be the source of this kid’s emotional baggage owing to the circumstances of his birth, the donor sperm, all kinds of families, however else we reframe the narrative of ‘daddy shoots blanks so we had to bring in outside help’ to make it palatable/livable for all, but adding to that baggage because I can’t let go of my own crap is a downward emotional spiral that I’ve been riding for the better part of the last five years. Longer even. It’s all part of the same, thoroughly fucked, thing. Me. I’m the problem. Always. So much old shame.

I’m trying. I’m doing my best. Every day, I’m doing my best. And I’m failing all the time.

Oh yeah, fuck Scott Kelly though. At least I’m not beating anybody or trying to convince anyone I’m anything other than a fucking mess. Low bar, perhaps. Fine.

Monday is Labor Day in the US, which is fucking laughable since anytime someone starts talking about supporting worker’s rights or helping poor people in this country on any level more than a snarky tweet, they get assassinated. Happy Labor Day. Here’s a bullet in your face. I’m surprised we still get the day off. The sad American progressive left, waiting for the day when being right about a whole bunch of shit will be enough to actually convince anyone to support a cause. Don’t hold your breath.

I’m gonna go before this gets any worse. Gimme show today, 5PM Eastern. I say “fuck” a few times in the first voice track. I got frustrated. I don’t know. It’s been a hard week. It’s been a hard summer. I’m ready to be done with it and shift into a different routine. I doubt I’ll have time to meditate then either, but I’ve stopped getting high every day, which I was doing for a few weeks there in my I’ll-make-a-habit-of-anything lifestyle (see also this site), and I treated myself to a new Pelican shirt, so if you want to end on a positive note, at least the shirt’s comfortable for now before it goes in the wash.

Have a great and safe weekend. Gonna go to a wedding on Saturday which will be fun and I’ve got two nights of shows in a row next week — Rammstein and Stöner — that are both in New Jersey. One I’ll write about. The other is Rammstein. Both will be awesome. Hope to see you out there, and thanks for reading in the meantime.

FRM.

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Germany’s Coltaine and Italy’s Kariti will tour together next month, in their own countries as well as Slovenia and Switzerland, and I have to think that somewhere along the line before the nine-date run is done there will be an onstage collaboration between them. Honestly, if you’re anywhere near where they’re going to be, the prospect of Kariti — yes, I know it should be written all-lowercase; forgive me the capitalization, please — joining Coltaine onstage should be enough to get you out, and I think if you listen to “When Tigers Used to Smoke” below and kariti‘s — there, fine — “Cairn to You,” both at least partially black metal-adjacent but neither actually black metal in the slightest, you’ll have a better idea of why. There’s common ground beneath the surface, around which each outfit offers something distinct and individual.

I was lucky enough to get put onto Coltaine‘s 2020 album, Afterhour in Walhalla at Freak Valley Festival in June, and their having posted the aforementioned more recent single offers a glimpse at the shifting dynamic there, while Kariti‘s 2020 Aural Music debut, Covered Mirrors (review here), also proved rich in its mournful folk identity. There’s a swath of possibility for where they both might go, and that too is a unifying factor for what might at first seem like an odd pairing. But also, odd pairings are kind of awesome, so maybe just roll with that.

Poster, dates and quotes follow, as per the PR wire:

SUMMER DEATH ANTHEMS TOUR 2022 COLTAINE + KARITI

Dates:
16/09 KARLSRUHE (DE) Kohi
17/09 VARESE (IT) Black Inside
18/09 ZERO BRANCO (IT) Altroquando
19/09 LJUBLJANA (SL) Channel Zero
20/09 AUGSBURG (DE) Neruda
21/09 ULM (DE) Hexenhaus
22/09 TBA
23/09 FREIBURG (DE) Crash
24/09 ZÜRICH (CH) Ebrietas

“We were looking around for bands for a festival that we are organizing in the fall and we became aware of kariti. We fell immediately in love with her music so I picked up the phone and together we came up with the idea of going on tour together, since we were planning to play in northern Italy anyway and got ourselves a big van this year.” – Benedikt, Coltaine

“Since live shows returned after the pandemic, I started looking for gigs to play and instead of just one, I get to join Coltaine on their September European tour, which will be my first run and I’m super stoked about it! I instantly loved the raw, untamable energy of their music and can’t wait to witness it live for many nights in a row and share this adventure with them.” – kariti

https://www.facebook.com/wtchfckr
https://www.instagram.com/coltaine/
https://coltaine.bandcamp.com/

http://facebook.com/karitimusic/
https://www.instagram.com/karitimusic/
https://kariti.bandcamp.com/releases

Coltaine, “When Tigers Used to Smoke (Live)” official video

https://youtu.be/tYH2am028HI

Kariti, “Cairn to You” official video