Posted in Bootleg Theater on December 30th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Since first encountering the title “Mellow Knees” on Darsombra‘s 2023 album, Dumesday Book (review here), I’ve made the phrase a part of my personal lexicon. That is to say, on a personal level, I aspire toward ‘mellow knees.’ If you’ve ever done yoga — and I’m pretty sure Darsombra‘s Brian Daniloski is certified to lead your class if you haven’t — it’s the kind of idea you might encounter there as gentle encouragement not to be kicking your own ass while forcing your body into a pose in some way it doesn’t want to go. I like yoga. I like Darsombra. And I have knee problems. Such confluence of interest and circumstance is rare.
Will “Mellow Knees” put the mellow in your knees? It might. It’s a rain-on-the-windshield tour through highway Americana. Some roads you’ve seen, some just in videos like this one, and some you don’t know. I’m pretty sure that, like George Washington, they cross the Chesapeake, which is fitting for a Baltimorean band to include. “Mellow Knees” is the sixth clip to come from Dumesday Book, and this isn’t quite a premiere, but it isn’t quite not either. You might recall exactly one year ago it was “Everything is Canceled” being unveiled. The band’s situation, with the loss this Fall of Ann Everton (synth, vocals, percussion, projections), who made this video as part of an ongoing project for the whole record, is obviously different than it was a year ago today.
Daniloski, who is the lone remaining member and founder of Darsombra (which began 20 years ago), is posting the video in Everton‘s honor today, Dec. 30, and has recently announced the initial lineup for Transmission (posted here), which will be a two-day festival Feb. 28 and March 1, also dedicated to Ann‘s memory. Of course, that context, and thinking of the Dumesday Book visual album as unfinished, brings grief into the context of the video’s arrival, but as you watch the two-and-a-half-minute twisty droner, slow your brain down if you can and take in the footage you’re seeing. This country is home to some of the most beautiful landscapes on this planet. Environmentally and aesthetically, that’s worth preserving.
If you need me, I’ll be over here trying to mellow out my knees so I don’t end up with a mellow cortisone shot into the bone. Thus harshing the mellow.
Enjoy the clip:
Darsombra, “Mellow Knees” official video
“Mellow Knees” by DARSOMBRA from the album Dumesday Book
2023 Pnictogen Records Filmed and edited by Ann Everton
In loving memory of Ann Everton
This video was completed in 2024. It is the ending sequence of what was supposed to be the Dumesday Book video album. Ann wanted to create a video for every song on the 75 minute album and have them all connect its pandemic-tymes storyline, from when we were all told to “Shelter in Place” in spring 2020, to its conclusion about a year or so later, which, for Darsombra and this video, meant being able to leave our home to go back out on the road and tour again. She had completed videos for over half of the album, including this one, before her passing in October 2025.
Confirmed locations: Black Willow Siphon – Oregon White Mountains – New Hampshire Badlands National Park – South Dakota Joshua Tree National Park – California Factory Butte – Utah Death Valley – California Maryland Diablo Canyon – New Mexico US Pacific Northwest
Unconfirmed locations: Colorado and/or Montana and/or Canada US Pacific Northwest and/or Atlantic Northeast Four Corners US Florida Keys Pennsylvania Tabernacle Hill Lava Tubes – Utah and other places
Darsombra, Dumesday Book (2023)
Darsombra, “Shelter in Place” official video
Darsombra, “Gibbet Lore” official video
Darsombra, “Call the Doctor” official video
Darsombra, “Nightgarden” official video
Darsombra, “Everything is Canceled” official video
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 17th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Perhaps you, like me and a whole bunch of others, were blindside-gutpunched by the loss of Darsombra‘s Ann Everton in a vehicle accident early in October. In a year where human cruelty and horror perpetuated on a daily if not hourly basis, the presence of someone like Everton on the planet was akin to a source of light in a bitter, almost liquid darkness. Her partner in music and life, Brian Daniloski, has announced the lineup for Transmission — also the name of Darsombra‘s 2019 LP (review here) — which is a two-day event that will serve as homage and celebration of Everton‘s contributions in music and art.
The Ottobar in Darsombra‘s hometown of Baltimore — where I guess they still spent some time despite nomadic touring across seasons and years and the world — will play host to Transmission, which features the likes of tourmates Stinking Lizaveta, the heavy psych rockers Holy Fingers, Cultic and a slew of others I don’t know, which only makes it more rad as far as I’m concerned. There are apparently also more to be announced, so expect it to be a packed two days. No doubt Daniloski has had an easy time convincing anyone who knew Ann to take part. How would you not?
Info follows, as posted on socials:
Darsombra presents TRANSMISSION- A Celebration for Ann Everton
Feb 28th & March 1st at the Ottobar
Save the dates and join us to honor Ann’s legacy in art and music, as well as her colorful, effervescent spirit. We’ve got over two dozen bands, here are some of the kind folks scheduled to perform over two days. More bands and schedule to be announced very soon.
Celebration Stinking Lizaveta Quattracenta Curse War On Women acoustic Height Mrs. Paintbrush (Jackson from Grand Buffet) Holy Fingers Cultic Moth Broth Glorian Ala Muerte Curving Tooth Consumer Culture 50’♀ & the Worms
Just a moment here to remember Ann Everton of Baltimore’s Darsombra, who passed away this weekend. The duo — Everton on synth, vocals, percussion visuals, etc., and Brian Daniloski on guitar, synth, the odd megaphone, and so on — were at the beginning of their Fall tour in Canada, with dates in the US Midwest/Southeast to follow, and details are scant, but there seems to have been an accident somewhere between one show and the next. Daniloski’s condition is unknown at this time, but reportedly he’s alive. His brother and former Meatjack bandmate, Jason Daniloski, posted the following on social media:
Words cannot convey how devastated we are. Ann Everton was truly one of a kind. A creative, wild, intelligent, kind soul. She will always be missed. I still can’t believe this is real. I feel so much pain for my brother. Please give him time to deal with this horrible tragedy. Please hug your loved ones and don’t let the day end without telling them how much you love them.
I won’t claim to have known Ann well, but she remains among the most gleeful weirdos I’ve ever met. Somebody who didn’t fit into society’s expectations for what she was to be, and who by all appearances, was just fine with that. She joined Darsombra around 2010, and the project flourished. Her role initially was more toward the visual aspect of their live presentation, and honestly, that was what always seemed to count the most to Everton and Daniloski — doing the thing live. As the band’s experimentalist bent pushed further and further into psychedelic drone and madcap oddballism, their outsider status held firm, and they continued to tour, and tour, and tour. Together, they became freedom in a van.
No matter what time of year it was, the safe bet was Darsombra were on the road, somewhere. They crisscrossed the United States together I don’t know how many times, and the band was always just the two of them, Everton and Daniloski. I was lucky enough to see them earlier in 2025 in the Netherlands at Roadburn Festival, and aside from being the most outright joyous moment I had over the course of my days in Tilburg, I was even more fortunate to sit down and have a real, human catchup with the two of them, to talk like people do, like friends do, about places and things in general, music and not. I feel privileged to say I knew her at all.
Both members of Darsombra — Ann and Brian — took the Obelisk Questionnaire in 2021. Thoughtful in her answers throughout (that’s my way of saying you should read it), Everton reflected on her creative journey, saying:
“In my own life as an artist, I have been cheered to see one thing hold true for the artist who keeps making art — the longer you stay at it, the better it gets, the more people are familiar with your work, enjoy it, get it, the more opportunities you get… the trick is, you’ve gotta keep doing it. In 2007, I did a short artist residency in rural Hungary, on lake Balaton. There was a Hungarian artist there that my 25-year-old self had such a crush on. So, of course, I was all ears to his very good advice, which was, “Keep making art. See where it goes. Never stop making art.” Very simple, so right — the world will give you a million-and-one reasons to stop being an artist, but if you just sort of keep doing it… I agree with his beautiful Hungarian ass! Keep making art and see where it goes!”
Brian Daniloski posted the following Sunday night:
Hello friends. I’m out of the hospital and in the care of Ann’s family who have flown up here to New York. It looks like we may be stuck here for a few days dealing with stuff. I have a working phone again and I have been getting all of your kind messages. If anyone wants to call it would be great to here from people. I don’t know what to say or do with myself. I’m devastated. My heart is so broken and I’m not sure how continue on, but I’m going to try. Ann was the sweetest person I ever knew and I always felt like the luckiest person on earth that she chose to spend her life with me. I should be back in Baltimore in the next few days and I would love to see anybody when I get back. This is such a loss for all of us. I love you all.
Darsombra didn’t need lights on stage because there was Ann. On behalf of myself, this site and anything else I might be able to put behind it, all love and condolences to Brian Daniloski, his family, Ann’s family, their many, many friends and anyone whose life she touched, which was a lot of people, including me. She will be deeply and sincerely missed.
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 19th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Look, is it news that Darsombra are touring? Existentially, no. They tour. It’s what they do. They are the object in motion, tending to stay.
BUT, these dates are new so far as I’ve seen, so technically speaking, yes, this is news, even if it’s the kind of news you see coming from a ways off. I got to see the Marylander two-piece last Spring at Roadburn (review here), and oh, the weirdo joys palpably strewn about the room. The celebration of the absurd, of the all-in, of the gyrational sounds and physicalities of guitarist Brian Daniloski and keyboardist/whathaveyouist Ann Everton, who open as they are nonetheless stand as a nation of two in the underground. Nothin’ else out there quite like ’em.
In that spirit, I turn you over to the dates, which came through a Bandcamp email as follows:
Now announcing most of our show dates for the rest of 2025!!!! Americans and Canadians of the Eastern and Central time zones, prepare yourself for some of that delicious sonic and visual synesthesia soup we’ve been dishing out for the past decade or two! Aaand, we have a new t-shirt design now available at www.darsombra.com and our bandcamp merch store.
DARSOMBRA SUMMER / FALL 2025 TOUR DATES
SEP 4 Providence RI @ Myrtle w/ Dyr Faser SEP 5 Harwich Port MA @ Christ Church Episcopal w/ MINIBEAST, Hypnagogue SEP 6 Parsonsfield ME @ Festival – DM for address w/ Mome SEP 11 Manchester NH @ House of Goings-On w/ Dyr Faser, Ehrdz, Abdul Sherzai, Millennial Pause SEP 12 Littleton NH @ Loading Dock w/ Dyr Faser, Run Don’t Walk SEP 13 New London CT @ 33 Golden St. w/ Freq Scene, Strega Dada SEP 20 Great Cacapon WV @ Shadow Woods Reunion Campout w/ Curse, etc. OCT 3 Montreal QC @ Turbo Haüs OCT 4 Ottawa ON @ Avant Garde Bar w/ The Burningtree, Bella Donna OCT 5 Toronto ON @ Junction Underground w/ Super Psyched, Sundecay, Spanned Canyons OCT 10 Sault Ste Marie ON @ Downtown Plaza w/ Mean Bikini OCT 11 Marquette MI @ The Crib OCT 14 Duluth MN @ Jade Fountain w/ Bellerpuss, Throw Me The Remote OCT 15 St. Paul MN @ White Squirrel w/ Comets ov Cupid, PLVS VLTRA OCT 16 Chicago IL @ Reggie’s w/ Bruce Lamont, William Covert OCT 17 Ypsilanti MI @ Dreamland Theater w/ Mother Behemoth OCT 18 Detroit MI @ RHAD OCT 22 Cleveland OH @ Dunlap’s w/ Axioma, Awesome Quest OCT 23 Pittsburgh PA @ Brillobox w/ Mrs. Paintbrush OCT 24 Cincinatti OH @ Northside Tavern w/ Grief Counseling, Sculptor, Denis Ozani OCT 25 Knoxville TN @ Corner Lounge OCT 26 Charlotte NC @ Milestone w/ Crunk Witch OCT 29 Athens GA @ Ciné OCT 30 Hattiesburg MS @ Fat Cat NOV 2 Houma LA @ Intracoastal Club NOV 4 New Orleans LA @ Fred Hampton Free Store NOV 6 Birmingham AL @ True Story Brewing w/ HEXXUS, Hiraeth NOV 7 Atlanta GA @ Boggs NOV 8 Asheville NC @ Static Age w/ YAWNi, Exfoliator, Psych War, Mockery
Posted in Bootleg Theater on December 30th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Should it strike you as an ambitious undertaking for Darsombra to assemble a full visual album around their pandemic-themed, finding-freedom-in-lockdown 2LP, Dumesday Book (review here), well, it is. But the truth is that the Baltimorean experimentalist two-piece of guitarist/noisemaker Brian Daniloski and keyboardist/sparse-vocalist/video-artist Ann Everton are already well on their way. “Everything is Canceled,” which is premiering below, is the fifth clip they’ve unveiled around the 10-track record, even if “Call the Doctor” (premiered here) and “Nightgarden” predate the release itself and were for those songs as singles.
They DIY it with Everton directing, always manage to come up with something fun and/or visually interesting, and by now seem pretty comfortable applying their abstract approach in a multimedia context. Plus they did one in 2020 for their last album, Transmission (review here), so they’ve got practice at it as well. It’s Darsombra, folks. They may sound as weird as the day is long, but you can trust that whatever shenanigans they’re getting up to has genuine heart behind it because they pour everything they have into everything they do and they never fail to express a feeling, mood, or atmosphere or evoke a thought, even if it’s by putting Daniloski in a lizard mask and running the footage of him noodle-shredding backwards in one of the various domestic and foreign castles that serve as a visual backdrop.
“Everything is Canceled” (the filming wasn’t) was mostly captured on July 13, which was about a month after Darsombra‘s 2024 European tour ended — the 2025 dates with Stinking Lizaveta are below, with TBDs; help if you can. The casting call for it read in-part as follows:
“…all you need to do is to pretend to be a scholar who is driven to temporary hysterics/distraction/mania/religious fervor/anger/annoyance/strong-emotion-that-is-unpleasant by looking at/through a book on a lectern in a great hall setting. Dress is “scholarly”, especially medieval scholarly, whatever that means. Bonus points if you have your own graduation/scholar’s robe! Think many-sheets-of-paper-flying-through-the-air pandemonium. (Double bonus points if you have many sheets of paper with writing on them to throw around and recycle afterwards.)…”
You can see in the video, they did manage to get folks out for it, paper and robes and all, and they’d have had a good deal of recycling to do. Fair enough. In addition to that motif, Daniloski‘s delightfully over-the-top solo and the chants of vocals less often featured in Darsombra‘s work up to now, watch out near the end as there’s a quote that appears on screen. It reads like Chaucer, but I couldn’t trace it directly. In any case, it becomes one more part of the absurdity overarching and whatever the source, the fact that you don’t get to know feels like part of the artistic statement.
Darsombra have a southbound January run along the Atlantic Seaboard coming up in addition to the aforementioned European stint in Spring with Stinking Lizaveta — again, help out if you can; no, it’s not surprising they’d have two tours announced and the year hasn’t started yet — and all of those dates follow the “Everything is Canceled” premiere below and some words from the band that includes the reveal of the visual-album plan they’ll work on over the course of this year. Keep an eye out for casting calls.
And please enjoy:
Darsombra, “Everything is Canceled” video premiere
Darsombra on “Everything is Canceled”:
“Everything Is Canceled” is a more unusual offering for us, both in sound and vision — but also in how it came together. As part of our 2023 album, Dumesday Book, the song’s sound is enveloped in the energy of the pandemic. Ann wrote the lyrics and their melody while turning the compost in mid-March 2020, shortly after quarantine was announced, and Brian poured out the guitar solo in an inspired moment after days of having nothing to do but jam — the raw recording is featured on the track, digital glitches, a sneeze, and all. You’d think these were pretty ideal conditions for songwriting, but as we all remember, any superficial gift of time in 2020 was accompanied by a profound sense of grief for a lost reality and longing for the “before times”. Everything was canceled.
The storyboard to the video came to Ann in a dream in 2023 — one of those really vivid dreams that keeps you living in its world even after you wake up. She realized her subconscious vision by shooting on location in castles both near (in Baltimore) and far (in the EU and UK). The video also serves as a scene from a larger work, which is a feature film to our 75-minute album “Dumesday Book”. The film is about 60% finished; we expect to have it out in 2025 or 2026.
DARSOMBRA WINTOUR 2025 JAN 4 – Philadelphia PA @ Johnny Brenda’s w/ Stinking Lizaveta, Eye Flys JAN 8 – Durham NC @ Rubies w/ Dazzling Durham Dancers Burlesque, Berry Bueno Brigade JAN 9 – Wilmington NC @ Reggie’s w/ Street Clones, ARKN JAN 10 – Jacksonville FL @ The Walrus w/ Severed+Said, Ian Chase, Ducats JAN 11 – Miami FL @ The Club w/ Erratix, Dania Sixto, Robert King, DJ Nuke Em All JAN 16 – Orlando FL @ Lil Indies w/ Bryan Raymond, Dougie Flesh and the Slashers JAN 17 – Savannah GA @ Wormhole w/ Bathsh3ba JAN 18 – Greenville NC @ Alley Cat Records w/ Paper Skulls, Bitter Inc., Faith Kelly, Caswyn Moon, HYPER-VCR
DARSOMBRA / STINKING LIZAVETA EUROPE TOUR May 25 – Berlin GERMANY @ Desertfest Berlin May 29 – Wroclaw POLAND @ Kalambur May 30 – Krakow POLAND May 31 – Kosice SLOVAKIA @ Collosseum June 3 – Vienna AUSTRIA @ Arena June 5 – Nuremberg GERMANY @ Kunstverein Hintere Cramergasse e.V. June 6 – Potsdam GERMANY @ Archive June 7 – Dresden GERMANY @ Veränderbar June 11 – Brno CZECH REPUBLIC @ Kabinet Muz June 12 – Berlin GERMANY @ Schokoladen June 13 – Brandenburg GERMANY June 20 – Herzberg GERMANY
More dates TBA – Please get in touch if you can help.
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 15th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
When you think about, how could Darsombranot announce January touring? Wouldn’t it kind of be counter to the exploratory ethic of the band in the first place? They go everywhere, and the experience of going is part of the thing. It becomes part of their music, not just on the next record when Brian Daniloski and Ann Everton transpose their nomadic and freaked-out adventures onto expansive slabs of synth-soaked psych-drone. And at heart is always a willful experimentalism, so yeah, Darsombra heading out on Jan. 4 (my mother’s birthday) for a round of shows spread out across the Southeast, at a time when most people are home tucked under their snuggies or whathaveyou, makes a very particular kind of sense. If you let it. You should let it.
Of course, Everton and Daniloski are never too far from the road either way. A couple weeks ago, they wrapped a Fall tour that started at the end of August and covered both US coasts, points between and stops in Mexico. Earlier this year, they were in Europe, where I was fortunate enough to see them spreading joy in the Netherlands at Roadburn Festival (review here). They don’t really ever come off touring for more than a month or two, so don’t be surprised when more is announced for their 2025.
For now, though here’s where they’ll be. Note Stinking Lizaveta and Eye Flys on the Philly date. Nice one:
Now announcing Darsombra’s next tour! We’re heading south for the winter!
DARSOMBRA WINTOUR 2025 DATES
JAN 4 – Philadelphia PA @ Johnny Brenda’s w/ Stinking Lizaveta, Eye Flys JAN 8 – Durham NC @ Rubies JAN 9 – Wilmington NC @ Reggie’s JAN 10 – Jacksonville FL @ The Walrus w/ Severed+Said, Ian Chase, Ducats JAN 11 – Miami FL @ Miami Music Archive JAN 16 – Orlando FL @ Lil Indies w/ Bryan Raymond JAN 17 – Savannah GA @ Wormhole JAN 18 – Greenville NC @ Alley Cat Records
Along with all of the show announcements this week, I also want to let you know that we are booking a European tour for Darsombra and Stinking Lizaveta for May/June 2025 around several confirmed festival appearances (more details of that TBA). We are looking for contacts in Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, and Denmark. Please get in touch if you can help! ROCK ON!!!
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 29th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
I’ve seen a decent number of bands play so far this year and Darsombra are among those whose sets I least regret watching. The mostly-nomadic experimentalist drone/noise/joy purveying two-piece are headed out once more in continued support of both 2023’s Dumesday Book (review here) and the betterment of the universe more broadly, and starting this weekend, they’ll voyage across the United States and head into Mexico for a few shows.
Some particularly notable ones here. The [DM for address] in Joshua Tree — well that’s bound to be a good time. And golly it would be awesome to see Darsombra sharing the stage with Alma Sangre, which is Antonio Aguilar and Meg Castellanos of Totimoshi and All Souls, in Los Angeles or anywhere else in the cosmos. A stretch through Texas and Oklahoma with Cortège is a likewise righteous pairing, and meeting up with JD Pinkus in Asheville, North Carolina, is bound to be rad as well, though I guess you could say the same of all these dates, which kick off in earnest later in August after a fest appearance in the band’s native Baltimore, and run through October with a few days’ break here and there intermittently. Very much a Darsombra tour. Get to a place, maybe weird-out for a couple days, continue on. Righteous unto themselves, both in concept and the on-stage reality of what they do. If they’re coming to your neighborhood — and there’s a genuine possibility they might be; DM for address — you should go.
From the PR wire:
DARSOMBRA: Baltimore Transapocalyptic Galaxy Rock Duo Announces Dumesday Book 2024 US/Mexico Tour Running From August Through October
Following several other expansive tours throughout North America, Europe, and the UK – including performances at Roadburn Festival, Exile On Mainstream 25 Festival, Desertfest London – in support of their Dumeseday Book album, Baltimore, Maryland-based transapocalyptic galaxy rock duo DARSOMBRA will embark on another massive tour this year.
The Dumesday Book 2024 US/Mexico Tour will be led by a performance at Subscape Festival in the band’s hometown on August 3rd, and the full tour will kick off on August 29th in Lexington, Kentucky. They’ll traverse Southwesterly across the country and into Baja Mexico for three shows, after which they’ll wind back up through the Southwest, Southeast, and up the East Coast, ending the tour on in Littleton, New Hampshire on October 26th. See the confirmed routing below, and, as always, stand by for additional updates to post.
DARSOMBRA – Dumesday Book 2024 US/Mexico Tour: 8/03/2024 Subscape Festival – Baltimore, MD 8/29/2024 Green Lantern – Lexington, KY w/ Jeanne le Fou, Whomp That Sucker 8/30/2024 Platypus – St. Louis, MO w/ Graeme Ronald, Radiator Greys, Eric Hall 8/31/2024 miniBar – Kansas City, MO w/ The Philistines, The Moose 9/01/2024 Replay – Lawrence, KS 9/03/2024 Squirm Gallery – Denver, CO w/ Witch Baby, Graveyard People, Equine 9/04/2024 What’s Left Records – Colorado Springs, CO 9/06/2024 Revolt Gallery – Taos, NM w/ Daily Winter Crow, DJ Bonehead 9/07/2024 Guild Cinema – Albuquerque, NM w/ Train Conductor 9/12/2024 The Eagle – San Francisco, CA w/ Veils 9/13/2024 Satellite Of Love – San Luis Obispo, CA w/ Frequent Weaver 9/14/2024 [DM for address] – Joshua Tree, CA 9/15/2024 The Redwood – Los Angeles, CA w/ Alma Sangre 9/19/2024 Tower Bar – San Diego, CA 9/20/2024 Moustache Bar – Tijuana, BN w/ Astral Azif 9/21/2024 Black Dog Bar – Ensenada, BN w/ Astral Azif 9/22/2024 Malgro Cervecería – Mexicali, BN w/ Astral Azif 9/24/2024 Groundworks – Tucson, AZ 9/26/2024 13th Floor – Austin, TX w/ Cortège 9/27/2024 Paper Tiger – San Antonio, TX w/ Cortège, The Grasshopper Lies Heavy 9/28/2024 The 101 – Bryan, TX w/ Cortège, Mutant Love 9/29/2024 Black Magic Social Club – Houston, TX w/ Cortège, Unified Space 10/01/2024 Rubber Gloves – Denton, TX w/ Cortège 10/02/2024 Whittier – Tulsa, OK w/ Cortège 10/04/2024 White Water Tavern – Little Rock, AR w/ DOT 10/06/2024 Fred Hampton Free Store – New Orleans, LA w/ FatPlastik 10/07/2024 The Kelly – Wetumpka, AL 10/08/2024 Ciné Theater – Athens, GA w/ Rat Babies 10/09/2024 The Spaze – Columbia, SC w/ Burrito Wolf 10/11/2024 The Odd – Asheville, NC w/ JD Pinkus, Bad Authors 10/12/2024 Monstercade – Winston-Salem, NC w/ Emceein Eye 10/24/2024 Mama Tried @ Mama Tried – Brooklyn, NY w/ Polly Vinylchloryd 10/25/2024 Myrtle – Providence, RI w/ Dyr Faser, Wooll, Small Pond 10/26/2024 Loading Dock – Littleton, NH w/ Wave Generators, Haunting Titans
Posted in Features, Reviews on April 20th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
About a 1PM start writing. I lasted even less time at the Roadburn networking meeting than I expected to. Got my nametag for a souvenir, found Lee, said hi to like two people and split. Not that anyone was unfriendly or anything like that — I wasn’t in the room long enough for something like that to happen — I just couldn’t hack it.
I’ve never been able to conjure a decent performance of self in that kind of setting, and I’m even less able to handle crowds generally than I used to be. To be clear: I’m not saying a bad word about people who work in the same field meeting each other — it both makes sense professionally and can be a way to connect likeminded humans — but I just can’t do it. It’s on me, completely. I’d always been invited but shy about checking it out, said this was the year. Okay.
A quick run — well, mid-paced plod, really — back to the hotel to reorient, take Advil, drink water, have a bit of a cry, etc., and try to call my wife. No answer, and if she’s sleeping past what’s 7AM at home, that’s unquestionably to the benefit of her day. I was at the 013 office before the networking meeting doing a quick blurb or two while pounding espressos, so have been up for a while, but the day doesn’t ‘start’ for another hour, so I’ll breathe a minute, get my head right and head up to Hall of Fame in a few with my even-weird-among-weirdos self. Oof.
—
Light rain in Tilburg, off and on. It could be far worse. I bumped into Darsombra on my way to their show. They were on their way to lunch, which is how I knew I was early for their 2:30 start. I went to the Hall of Fame, completely empty. I’ll admit that in my head they were going at 2, but when the dude working the board said the room wasn’t opened yet, I said, “please, I’m just looking for a quiet place to sit. I’m sorry. I have a pass if that helps,” and I guess it helped because when he left the room a minute later he didn’t come back with security to kick my ass out. Thank you to him.
Turned out a few quiet-ish moments would be crucial to getting in the right frame of mind for Darsombra, who exuded joy from the moment they got on stage to explain that this was the first show on their European tour, then left and came back out with the backdrop of the video premiered here Monday for “Shelter in Place” to start their set with “Call the Doctor,” glee abounding in the prog rock vocal melodies and total other-planetary reach of their sound. Sharing vocals with themselves and everyone else in the room who knew the song, Ann Everton shifted from synth to gong to bells and clacky-clackies while Brian Daniloski reveled in tonal presence and shred, the two of them moving in their own kind of dance that was the best argument I’ve seen in a while for a vigorous stretching regimen, not that I needed convincing in that regard. Where’s Roadburn Yoga in the mornings? Completely serious about that, by the way.
Smiles on stage and off, it was a celebration of the noise itself and the ability to find one’s place in it. I dig their records and could easily provide (more) links to prove that, but it had been too long since I last bathed in their live sound. Refreshing, they were. Precisely the redirect I needed, and at just the right time. And speaking of time seeing how full the room got, I was glad to have been early, even with the more laid back Freeburn ethic I’m trying to abide by while I’m here. Once they started, time was irrelevant anyhow.
Most of my day today was at the 013 for the main stage, and that started with Mat McNerney’s commissioned project, ‘Music for Gloaming: A Nocturne by the Hexvessel Folk Assembly.’ Following on from yesterday’s full-album performance, I had been expecting a more folkish offering this time, perhaps in part because it was called a Folk Assembly, but I should’ve known better than to expect any single thing. Blackened tones and push, throaty screams and room-shaking low end pervaded amid doomly nod, quiet, ambient stretches of acoustic guitar, piano, softly intertwining dual vocal arrangements. I don’t know if it was being recorded, but it was expansive in a way that accounted for a lot of what Hexvessel have done as a band, and brought it together thoughtfully and with purpose. I’ll keep my fingers crossed it surfaces at some point as a live release, or that they decide to take it into a studio.
The room cleared a bit when they were done — there was nearly an hour before Blood Incantation were going on with the first of their two sets this weekend, this one focused on their ambient Timewave Zero LP that they’ve never played in Europe and have only done I think one or two other times live. Sounds like something perfect for Roadburn, right? How about that.
The long break post-Nocturne afforded me a chance to pop into Next Stage for a few minutes for Miaux’s standalone cinemascocpic synthery. It was low-key enough to suit my brain but I opted for a refresh of coffee and water downstairs and would not regret it as the afternoon turned to evening. I sat for a bit outside the main stage on one of the benched in the hallway — if I’m talking a lot about sitting, understand that I’m also doing plenty of standing and moving about from here to there, but that not-that is a novelty and something I consider part of finding a place for myself during these days; not actively trying to break myself is new — and ended up chatting with Timothy from Supersonic Blues, who are apparently back to being a trio and have plans to record this summer. Good news.
By the time Blood Incantation actually went on, the main stage was jammed. I’ve seen them in their more pummel-prone death metal form, but was curious to watch them explore this more ambient side. I can’t recall ever seeing a band with salt lamps on stage before, so that ticks the box of another Roadburn first for me, and in the wash of synth, loops and effects, the fog, lasers and mostly dim lights, there was no want for mood. Sitar, acoustic guitar, a gong, quiet-then-not vocals, an Attila Csihar guest spot, sampled birdsong, even a trombone that seemed to feedback a couple times became part of the procession along with a defined, slow beat and more persistent percussiveness that emerged after 40-someodd minutes to give shape later on, but the central drone never left and they never lost track of what they were building on top of as it all oozed out from the stage, not so much overwhelming, but growing into its shape in its own time. World creation, and exploratory to be sure, but even at the peak, never too kitchen-sinked or doing anything to pull you out of the hypnotic state. I was left wondering what the inevitable sequel — maybe Timewave One? — might bring. Keyboards and sonics, likewise sprawling. I watched the full set.
They said a subdued thanks and the lights came up to dissolve that reality and let the crowd make its shuffling way to wherever was next. For me that was Dool — a band I first heard and saw at Roadburn eight years ago — doing their third album, The Shape of Fluidity, in its entirety. It’s release day, so all the more a special occasion, but again there was a long break, so I hopped — note: definitely did not hop, just trying to counteract the sitting narrative above — into the Next Stage to soak in a few minutes of Forest Swords. And soaking was about it, since where I stood — look at me go! — could see little more than the flashing lights and a corner of the video screen on the stage.
I stayed long enough to appreciate what I was hearing, but my trajectory had been a repeat of between Hexvessel and Blood Incantation — water refill and then on to the next main stage set, allowing for whatever socializing between might crop up, as some did — so I left the left Next Stage to what seemed like its post-industrial vibes and did the thing. The endgame of the break was Dool (which I’ve been pronouncing wrong all this time; it’s like “dole”), who were the imperative around which I’d made the loose structure of my Roadburn Friday.
The album was fresh in my mind. I listened to it twice after getting back to the hotel the night before, and it’s been getting regular spins at home. It’s plenty heavy, but produced for more than just that, and hearing a song like “Hermagorgon” or the duly scorching opener “Venus in Flames” come through full blast from the main stage, both while I was up front taking photos and after moving up to the balcony to see the rest, was more affecting than I had anticipated.
I don’t talk about it a lot on this site because of what might happen if the wrong person read it, but as a parent trying to help guide a trans kid growing up in the United States — where it is terrifying to think that someday my child might be beaten to death for nothing more than being who she is, or might be driven to hurt herself by just moving through a world that gets off on the cruelty of its rhetoric and culture — to watch Dool guitarist/vocalist Raven van Dorst, whose experience of gender informs the theme of the lyrics throughout The Shape of Fluidity, who has grappled and maybe continues to grapple with that kind of complexity in their daily life, get on the biggest stage here and absolutely own it, own themselves, own that complexity, was powerful and moving well beyond what raw volume could hope to encompass, though there was plenty of that too. To bask in the triumph of Dool’s moment struck me hard, and it’s something I’m so, so incredibly grateful to have witnessed. To imagine along with all the horror in my mind, that kind of possibility exists, even for just a few minutes, was beautiful. I hope sometime in the future to be able to share with my daughter what it meant to me, if she still talks to me by then.
So yeah, it’s a really good record. They did it justice. Big feelings. I guess that’s what it comes down to. I watched the full set.
I missed Inter Arma’s secret show, but fair enough for them to do one after doing their own new record in full. L.A.’s Health — who are most assuredly not to be confused with Heath, who played the skate park last night and will be at Hall of Fame tomorrow — were next on the main stage. Water and a quick hey to Oeds from Iron Jinn and Timothy from Supersonic Blues as they were chatting on the main stage floor level, then to the front for that part of the thing. Am I shirking the Freeburn ideology with a routine today and similar pattern for tomorrow? Maybe on some level, but if it’s about doing what I want to do and feeling good about it — and it is — then I’ll say I’ve yet to regret any of the choices I’ve made or refused to make thus far into Roadburn. Catching Health, about whom I know precious little being simple genre categorization, would be no different.
Making a visual impact in their light and video show to go with their industrial metal — guitar, bass and drums alongside the digitized aspect — Health were loud the way you think of mountains as big. I’d heard some stuff going into the set but would in no way claim to be an expert, but there wasn’t one song they played the crowd didn’t go off for, and reasonably so with the body-volume, intensity of strobe and the breaks that let you go just long enough before the next pulse of bass frequency slammed you into the ground. The flashing lights got to be a lot after not really all that long, and since I knew I wanted my evening to end with Tusmørke in the Next Stage room following the recommendation of a good friend who’d probably rather not have his name dropped, I hit up the balcony in time to get a spot where I could both see and breathe. Not a luxury to be taken for granted.
The thoroughly Norwegian proggers assured my night finished with a smile no less wide than it started however many centuries ago this afternoon with Darsombra at Hall of Fame. Where guitar might be early on was organ and flute along with the bass and drums, and in addition to being tight enough to pull that off as a take on ’70s prog, their between-song banter was hilarious, making fun of Norway with dry humor and talking about Lord of the Rings, Norwegian children being sacrificed to elk, the proliferation of medieval reading material about how to avoid hornets, and so on. To say the room was on board would be putting it mildly. People danced to the warm groove underscoring all the wilfully-odd quirk, and the lighthearted mood on stage set the tone for their entire set, up to and including when they traded keys for guitar, having already jumped between English and Norwegian lyrics.
I hadn’t planned on staying the whole time — tomorrow is another day — and it wasn’t just the tossoff line about witches wanting to control the means of production that held me in place, but it definitely didn’t hurt the cause. I saw a dude playing air-flute. It was that kind of party.
The guitar/keyboard issue was settled when they moved the synth over to the other side of the stage — took a minute, as that kind of thing would — for the last song, but they were fluid jamming whatever anyone on stage was actually doing as part of that, funky like classic prog always wanted to be and delightfully nerdy, toying with effects and getting fuzzy or a little spacier for it, sneaking a reference to the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack into the first song and ending as a guitar/bass/drums/flute-and-keys four-piece after what felt like a genuine adventure getting there. I was glad to have gotten that recommendation, and yes, I watched the whole set. That’s how I know they finished late, which is something I’ve rarely seen a band do at Roadburn. When they neared 10 minutes over, I thought the house lights would come up, but it didn’t come to that.
Roadburn 2024 continues tomorrow and I’ll have more then. Until then, if you’re here, I hope your Roadburn has been as uplifting as mine has so far, and if not, I hope some sense of that comes through in reading. And thank you for reading.
