This October, Berlin progressive heavy rockers Samavayo will head out on tour with Dutch noisemakers-and-sometimes-jammers The Machine, doing a 10-show run that includes stops at Up in Smoke, Keep it Low and the Setalight Festival. Hey, it’s a busy season. There are other shows besides, of course, and as Samavayo continue to support last year’s Vatan (review here), they’ve also announced a reissue for the prior outing, 2016’s Dakota (review here), which had also been re-pressed in 2017. As that record was their first as a three-piece, the revisit seems fair enough, and to mark the occasion, the band have a new video for “Intergalactic Hunt” that, well… well… well, it’s just great.

It’s got the band wearing foil hats and using drum hardware like laser guns. There’s a threat of a freak gasoline fight breaking out, and then they do battle with all manner of trashcans, from little R2-D2-looking ones to big ol’ dumpsters in the climax. I won’t spoil the ending, but yeah. It’s all pretty awesome.

You’ll find it at the bottom of the post. Enjoy:

“Dakota” was the first album SAMAVAYO released as a trio. Oriental influences became more and more apparent on this one and for the first time the whole album was recorded all live in analog recording technique – which meant a more organic sound and far more labor involved. With this record the band made a huge step leading to up to the follow up “Vatan” (2018 / Noisolution) that made the band rise from their status as scene-veteran to a true scene highlight.

“Dakota” is and has been sought after now more than ever – which has inevitably led to it being sold out by now. Fear not though: We’ve decided to make this gem available again for you and all fellow fans – and also just in time before the band is back on the road with STONED JESUS and later this year with THE MACHINE.

The special thing about Dakota is the mix of 70s and 90s rock sound that combines progressive instrumental parts and heavy mosh parts with oriental elements and unusual rhythms. The best example is the song „Arezooye Bahar“, which is SAMAVAYO´s 2nd song in Persian language. The Iranian singer, Behrang Alavi, sings about freedom. He himself was a political refugee and experienced bomb attacks at a very young age.

As a former applicant for asylum Behrang reacts to a current European topic that effects him deeply because of his own experiences. To celebrate the second release of “Dakota” there is also a new video to an “old” track: The instrumental “Intergalactic Hunt”. A video resembling a true little Sci-Fi-Crime film well worth seeing while featuring a soundtrack so brute and intergalactically heavy it’s gonna blow your mind right up into space!

Also: The title “Dakota“ stands for the North American native tribe of the same name and translates to „friend, ally“. SAMAVAYO have been playing together for more than a decade which has also made them grow together to musical allies. They are friends who have been creating a musical unity over the years. And to come full circle, that is the translation of SAMAVAYO: „Unity“

Tour dates:
Sat, JUL 20 – TBC, Germany
Sun, JUL 21 – Welcome To The Village Festival – Leeuwarden, Netherlands Antilles
Fri, JUL 26 – Sommerschein Festival – Hofheim Am Taunus, Germany
Sat, JUL 27 – Rock im Wald – Mosbach In Baden, Germany
Fri, AUG 16 – Voice Of Art Festival – Hohenstein-ernstthal, Germany
Thu, OCT 3 – The Machine & Samavayo – Tilburg, Netherlands
Fri, OCT 4 – Samavayo @ Up In Smoke Festival – Pratteln, Switzerland
Sat, OCT 5 – The Machine & Samavayo – Vortex, Siegen, Germany
Sun, OCT 6 – The Machine & Samavayo – Deventer, Netherlands
Mon, OCT 7 – The Machine & Samavayo – Hamburg, Germany
Tue, OCT 8 – The Machine & Samavayo – Kobenhavn, Denmark
Wed, OCT 9 – The Machine & Samavayo – Dortmund, Germany
Thu, OCT 10 – The Machine & Samavayo – Chemnitz, Germany
Fri, OCT 11 – Keep It Low Festival – Munich, Germany
Sat, OCT 12 – Setalight Festival 2019 – Berlin, Germany

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Samavayo, “Intergalactic Hunt” official video premiere

Germany-based heavy rockers Samavayo are getting ready to move forward from their 2016 album, Dakota (review here). That record, their fifth overall, has served as a high-water mark for the Berlin trio as they’ve continued to refine their approach within driving riffage and Middle Eastern-inflected stylistic flourish. They have a handful of dates left for this year and then they’ll settle in and begin the writing process anew. At the risk of giving you my actual opinion on the matter, I think Samavayo are underrated as songwriters and so the idea of another record and another step forward from them is exciting. They’ve only grown more progressive over time.

Before they get down to the nitty-gritty of constructing new material — which they’ll do with an eye toward a Fall 2018 release according to guitarist/vocalist Behrang Alavi, who’s joined in the band by bassist/vocalist/Moog-ist Andreas Voland and drummer/percussionist/vocalist Stephan Voland — Samavayo will oversee a second pressing of Dakota, and it’s to mark this occasion today that you’ll find the premiere of the previously-unreleased cut “Justify” below. Recorded at Big Snuff Studio by Richard Behrens, its central riff a little bit speaks to the upbeat shove one finds from the likes of Red Fang, but even to this Samavayo can’t help but lend their own personality.

Full in tone and righteous in hook, “Justify” is one more example of the edge Samavayo bring to classic-style structures and the kind of rhythmic drive that will hopefully find its way into their new stuff as well. Alavi offered some background on the song which you can read under the track itself below, followed of course by the tour dates.

Please enjoy:

Behrang Alavi on “Justify”:

“Justify” was recorded in the same 11-day session as Dakota at Richard Behrens’ studio in Feb. 2016. We didn’t put the song on the album like our previously-released “To The Ground” because we wanted to have that as a clear, homogeneous heavy psych stoner album. We planned to release them later, but by then we didn’t have a plan how. Now we release the track with the second edition (500 pieces) of the Dakota CD after the first edition has sold out (only few few copies left).

As we did with the second edition of our first album death.march.melodies, we again changed a detail on the second edition to make it something special. In the case of d.m.m., we changed the artwork of the CD print. On Dakota, the artwork is unchanged but we added a bonus track at the end of the CD.

This month we also started writing songs for the next album planned for autumn 2018. We have a few shows left this year in Germany and Switzerland. If progress remains positive, we will record the album in spring 2018 while we play few shows. Next year we will be playing festivals where we are going to put some of the new songs into set list and then have the main tour with the new album in autumn. We are considering looking for a new label after many years releasing on our “home”-label, Setalight.

Samavayo live:
Oct 03 Forum, Bielefeld, Germany supporting Brant Bjork
Oct 12 Hirscheneck Basel, Switzerland
Oct 13 Böröm Pöm Pöm Oberentfelden, Switzerland
Oct 14 Jazzkeller Hofheim Am Taunus, Germany
Nov 18 Lindenpark Potsdam, Germany
Dec 01 Finsterwalde, Germany

“Justify” at Samavayo’s Bandcamp

Samavayo on Thee Facebooks

Samavayo website

Setalight Records website

Last spring, Berlin-based heavy rock three-piece Samavayo reinforced their willingness to cross genre lines with their fifth album, Dakota (review here). With a strong sense of drive behind their crunching tones, they brought together elements of noise rock, heavy riffing and flourish of Middle Eastern progressions that only further distinguished their material. Recorded by Richard Behrens (Heat, formerly Samsara Blues Experiment) and released through Setalight Records, it was angular in its purpose — that is, prone to sharp edges on a sonic level — but flowed smoothly throughout and brought the band to a place that emphasized the consideration put into their songwriting without coming across as navelgazing in its sound.

It rocked, in other words. I guess I’m trying to say it rocked.

The trio of guitarist/vocalist Behrang Alavi, bassist/vocalist Andreas Voland (also Moog) and drummer/percussionist/vocalist Stephan Voland haven’t been shy about getting out to support Dakota, and next month, they’ll hit the road on a tour through Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria and the Czech Republic ahead of showing up in the UK for a slot at Desertfest London 2017. Good gig to get, but it’s hardly their last. Summer festival season awaits in Europe, and July will find Samavayo back in action at the long-running Stoned from the Underground as well, and it seems likely more are to follow (also more precede, hello Hell over Esslingen).

At the same time, and perhaps to herald their departure, Samavayo have put together an artfully shot new video for the track “Cross the Line” from Dakota that is premiering today. You get to see the band playing as silhouettes and you get to see people with boxes on their heads — are they robots? — and other such fun whatnots, but of course the star is the song itself, which shows off where Samavayo are sound-wise and the penchant for working under a variety of influences that stands them out so much from their peers.

Please find it below, followed by their tour dates, and enjoy:

Samavayo, “Cross the Line” official video

Cross The Line is the first official video of the latest album Dakota from the German stoner rock band Samavayo. The song is currently also the first of their live set.
“The audience gets carried away by that song and its sound right at the beginning of our shows,” says singer and guitarist Behrang Alavi. “The song also has a message: We can’t cross the red line of humanity and decency, because there won’t be a way back from it. We need to find empathy and get rid of ruthlessness and greed.”

In cameraman and director Johannes Plank Samavayo found the perfect fit to visualize that message. He mobilized the antagonists of his upcoming movie “Eva Ost.” The “TV-Men,” whose heads are actual TVs, illustrate a society poisoned by consumption and ownership. In the video the tv screens show some cuttings that can be understood as political statements and therefore build up a new meta level. The message is: “Nobody can run from this change. Our brains are already poisoned.”

Credits:
Director / Camera / Editor / Production | Johannes Plank
Assistant Director | Florence Freitag
Gaffer | Yannick Spiess
Production Design | Mihan Torabi
Camera Assistant | Ranav Adhikari
Set Runner | Siddarth Thapa
Catering | Anne Berger
Drivers | Andreas Voland, Christian Schmalfuss
Musicians | Behrang Alavi, Stephan Voland, Andreas Voland
TV-Men (Berlin) | André Schröder, Ricardo Ziege, Richard Volkmer, Simon Höhne, Mustafa Bozbalak
TV-Men (Plauen) | Christian Dressel, Stephan Stumpf, Alexander Enskat, Rico Gemeinhardt

Many thanks to the venue “Zukunft am Ostkreuz.” MEKU Film © 2017

Samavayo “Cross the Line” tour:
Mar 16 Zentralcafé Nuremberg, GER *
Mar 17 Immerhin Wurzburg, GER *
Mar 18 Dirty+Dancing Osnabrück, GER *
Mar 24 Zukunft am Ostkreuz, Berlin, GER **
Mar 25 Spring Rocks! 2017, Wolfenbüttel, GER
Apr 03 AKK Karlsruhe, GER ***
Apr 04 L’Elastic Bar, Strasbourg, FR
Apr 05 Dr. Feelgood, Paris, FR ****
Apr 06 Café Faust, Stuttgart, GER ****
Apr 07 Gaswerk, Winterthur, CH ****
Apr 08 The Bruch Brothers, Luzern, CH ****
Apr 12 Alte Mälzerei, Regensburg, GER
Apr 14 Kramladen, Vienna, A ***
Apr 15 Kain Prague, CZ ***
Apr 16 Bajkazyl, Brno, CZ ***
Apr 28 Little Devil, Tilburg, NL
Apr 29 Desertfest 2017 London, UK
Apr 30 Hopla, Cologne, GER
May 11 Sabotage Dresden, GER
May 12 Hell over Esslingen, Esslingen Am Neckar, GER
Jul 13 Stoned from the Underground, Erfurt, GER
Jul 14 Steinbruchfestival 2017, Mühlheim, GER
* with Operators
** with Mother Engine
*** with Shotgun Valium
**** with Hellroom Projectors

Samavayo tour event page

Samavayo on Thee Facebooks

Samavayo on Bandcamp

Samavayo at Setalight Records

[Click play above to stream Samavayo’s “Cross the Line” from Dakota. Album out May 6 via Setalight Records.]

Dakota is the fifth full-length from Berlin-based trio Samavayo, and it offers a distillation of hard and heavy rock, heavy psychedelia and Middle Eastern influences that results in a vibe not quite like anything else going. With seven songs and 45 minutes split up across two sides in an LP tradition, it offers a progressive complexity and clearheaded tonal push that even as it feels rooted in classic structures pushes beyond them with semi-metallic defiance. To look at the runtimes of the tracks, between five and seven minutes, roughly, there certainly would be space enough for variety in the material, but Samavayo bring together a diversity of influence beyond expectation and Dakota is that much richer as a a result.

Recorded at Big Snuff Studio by Richard Berhens (Heat, ex-Samsara Blues Experiment), it follows Samavayo‘s 2015 split with The Grand Astoria (review here), a 2014 split with One Possible Option, and their 2012 full-length, Soul Invictus, in presenting their forward-thinking crunch even as it marks the start of a new era for Samavayo, who work here as a trio for the first time on a long-player. That’s a significant change in dynamic, but in the end, Samavayo emerge from it with their identity intact, guitarist/vocalist Behrang Alavi leading the way on Persian-language opener “Arezooye Bahar,” a song with lyrics purportedly about freedom and arriving, of course, in the midst of Europe dealing with a migrant crisis.

That the decidedly Middle Eastern “Arezooye Bahar” should start off an album with the title Dakota — very American; taking its name from the native tribe, the word meaning “friend” or “ally” — from a band operating in the heart of Europe should give some sense of the melting pot scope of influence under which Alavi, bassist/vocalist/Moog-ist Andreas Voland and drummer/percussionist/vocalist Stephan Voland are operating. The tracks likewise are a cross-continental span of mood and resonance, “Arezooye Bahar” setting up the live-recorded feel that will ultimately tie seemingly disparate spirits together as the second-half apex of the opener gives way to the subsequent “Intergalactic,” the shortest track at 5:13 and among the most straightforward in its riff-led heaviness, all the more apparently so because it’s instrumental for its entirety, playing out like a more expansive Karma to Burn while serving to push the listener deeper into Dakota‘s broader context, full of thrust as much as emotional or social comment.

“Kodokushi,” which follows, is the only other cut under the six-minute mark, and touches on some of the psychedelia that will show itself later, but keeps itself on a plotted course, taking in some of the Persian influence musically — think a less manic version of some of what Blaak Heat are getting up to these days, with more crunch — despite its English lyrics and offering one of Dakota‘s finest stretches of thrust as it moves toward its ending, Stephan getting the last word on toms as a transition into side A finale “Overrun” (premiered here), which also serves as the centerpiece of the album as a whole, rightly so for its added depth of melody, locked-in groove and the sense of command which Samavayo as a whole bring to it, shifting into a memorable and melodic chorus fluidly in the midsection before Alavi‘s wah-soaked lead and another run through the hook finish out.

There is not one song on side B that isn’t longer than everything on side A, but the three tracks on the back end of Dakota — “Dakota,” “Cross the Line” and “Iktsuarpok” — aren’t necessarily branching out beyond the point of recognition from what the likes of “Kodokushi” had to offer, even if they deepen the stylistic impact overall, the title-track adding percussion to the mix as it makes its way toward a sprinting riff-rock hook before opening to a chorus slowdown that makes an effective landmark and, as it’s repeated again at the end of the track, a suitable apex ahead of the drums-into-chug that starts “Cross the Line.” More of a swinging rhythm, but a lot of the underlying theme is the same, and when the full-toned hook kicks in, “Cross the Line” resonates with one of Dakota‘s most memorable impressions, shifting back through the verse and chorus again before spacing out a bit in the bridge and skillfully returning to the chorus to finish out, perhaps the best example here of Samavayo repurposing a classic structure to suit their own progressive purposes.

That sets up an admirable balance of intricacy and accessibility as the band makes their way into the airier opening of closer “Iktsuarpok” — from the Inuit; meaning a feeling of anticipation someone has that keeps them looking outside to see if someone is coming — which tips the balance again toward semi-psychedelia despite the earthy underpinnings of the bass and drums. I don’t know if it’s an added layer of guitar or what, but “Iktsuarpok” offers an even fuller sound than much of Dakota, and even as it chugs its way into a quiet (and momentary) break, it skillfully holds the tension that the prog metal grand finale will pay off, the last words, “You don’t know,” ringing out over a last crash of guitar, bass and drums. It’s as fitting a close as one could think of to an album so clearly intent on conveying a particular experience — of the melding of cultures, of emigrating, of seeking refuge — but perhaps most noteworthy of all, it is a fitting summary of all the things that make Samavayo who they are sonically, and it’s the clear expression of that which allows Dakota to work so engagingly as it does.

Samavayo on Thee Facebooks

Samavayo on Bandcamp

Samavayo at Setalight Records

Berlin heavy rockers Samavayo will release their fifth album, Dakota, on May 6 via Setalight Records. The record is fresh, as in brand-spanking-new — recorded just last month with Richard Behrens (Heat, ex-Samsara Blues Experiment), and it boasts seven new tracks that blur the lines between harder-edged riff rock, metal and psychedelia, beginning with “Arezooye Bahar,” which delves into Persian poetry, and pushing outward from there, the band foregoing any resettling that their shift from a four-piece to a trio in 2013, following the release of their last LP, 2012’s Soul Invictus, may have created in favor of an expansive style, rhythmically intricate and complex in its aesthetic as title-title track dips into cosmic expanse and centerpiece “Overrun” pushes forward with an insistent, almost noise rock roll.

That the three-piece of vocalist/guitarist Behrang Alavi, bassist/vocalist/Moog-ist Andreas Voland and drummer/percussionist/vocalist Stephan Voland are able to execute the turns while still offering classic vibes on the penultimate “Cross the Line” and a prog-metal thrust on “Intergalactic” gives Dakota a varied character, but one that the band carries and commands more than ably, speaking to the experience of four albums prior, even if this is their first outing in their current incarnation. Across the four tracks of side A and the three of side B, which rounds out with the patient build toward the apex of “Iktsuarpok,” they benefit from that experience and use it to forge ahead in their sound, careening from part to part while leaving a trail of memorable impressions behind.

I’m happy today to host the premiere of “Overrun” ahead of Dakota‘s May 6 release. You can find it under the album artwork and details, as well as Samavayo‘s upcoming tour dates, on the player below.

Enjoy:

Our 5th full length studio album “DAKOTA” will be released on May 6th (Setalight.Records).

Recorded and mixed by Richard Behrens (Big Snuff Studio, Berlin) in Feb 2016. Mastered by Emanuele Baratto. Artwork and paintings by Dark Jordão.

All songs written and composed by Samavayo. Lyrics by Samavayo, lyrics of “Arezooye Bahar” taken from poem by Siavash Kasraie.

Dakota tracklisting:
1. Arezooye Bahar
2. Iktsuarpok
3. Dakota
4. Cross The Line
5. Intergalactic Hunt
6. Overrun
7. Kodokushi

We are back on the road with a new album! “Dakota” is our debut full length release since Samavayo has become a trio in 2013. After three great tours with our last album “Soul Invictus” we are launching a new era in the band’s history with The Dakota Tour I in April and May 2016 including the Desertfest 2016 in Berlin on April 30th!

01. APR DE Cottbus, Blue Moon Festival
02. APR DE Erfurt + Slowmind
15. APR ::: NOCH FREI / FREE TO BOOK :::
16. APR DE Zwickau, Seilerstraße “Beltane Rocks”
21. APR DE Bielefeld, Forum + Monomyth
22. APR DE Halle, Hühnermanhattan + Swedenborg Raum
23. APR DE Leipzig, Halle5 + Swedenborg Raum
30. APR DE Berlin, Astra “Desertfest”
10. MAY DE Potsdam, Kuze
11. MAY DE Hamburg, Bar 227
12. MAY DE Erfurt, Museumskeller + Shotgun Valium
13. MAY DE Ulm, Hexenhaus
14. MAY DE Würzburg, Immerhin
15. MAY ::: NOCH FREI / FREE TO BOOK :::
16. MAY A Salzburg, Rockhouse +Deadsmoke
17. MAY A Wien, Viper Room
18. MAY CZ Brno, Bajkazyl
19. MAY DE Nürnberg, Zentralcafe + Mother Engine
20. MAY DE Leipzig, Moritzbastei + Mother Engine / Wucan
21. MAY DE Berlin, Binuu +Tschai Ka
22. MAY ::: NOCH FREI / FREE TO BOOK :::
23. MAY DE Karlsruhe, Akk + Mother Engine
24. MAY CH Basel, Kaschemme + Mother Engine
25. MAY CH Luzern, Bruch Brothers + Mother Engine
26. MAY CH Winterthur, Helvti + Mother Engine
27. MAY DE Mannheim, Mohawek + Black Rainbows
28. MAY ::: NOCH FREI / FREE TO BOOK :::

https://samavayo.bandcamp.com/album/dakota
https://www.facebook.com/samavayo/
http://www.samavayo.com/
http://www.setalight.com/

Samavayo, “Overrun” from Dakota