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.
Darsombra released their plague-chronicle 2LP Dumesday Book (review here) last August — Crucial Blast has a double-tape out as of March — and, well, maybe it’s time to start thinking of the go-forth-from-Maryland two-piece as more of a longform art project than a band. If they were more pretentious, less inclined to roam and had more money, they’d probably be able to cast themselves as ‘arthouse,’ but the fact is their work isn’t really meant for gallery walls or any other kind. It’s too open in itself to be so contained. Free-drone.
From the sirens of “Call the Doctor (Pandemonium Mix)” and the chants of “Everything is Canceled,” from the drumless guitar prog and oddball vocals repeating the title of “Gibbet Lore” as it comes to a head to the serene reaches where the near-18 minutes of “Azimuth” end up, there’s not much that feels off limits to the duo of Ann Everton and Brian Daniloski. Synthesized, organic, programmed or pulsed, the material is defined in part by the whims it chooses to follow, and while that can at times lead to a kind of willful disjointedness — because not everything connects and not everything is supposed to; you’re not in an ’80s sitcom — Dumesday Book is an encompassing memoir of a time that at least many would rather forget than learn from. They’re not much for percussion and never have been, but neither do pieces like the empty-space strum and blown-out preach of “Plague Times” or the foreboding reprise “Still Canceled” lack movement. As they do, Darsombra are just tracing the patterns of their own math.
I won’t lie to you and say it isn’t helpful having a stated and discernible theme to latch onto in listening to Dumesday Book — the tracks themselves more ‘of the time’ than ‘about’ it — but their keys-and-guitar-based explorations have rarely been unwelcoming in the past, at least to those able to let go of expecting things like verses and choruses in their music. As regards the video premiering below for opening track “Shelter in Place,” the visual fluidity of movement of wind through the dark fabric that becomes ghostly, cosmic, colorized, and so on, is somewhat ironic given the title’s inherent stillness, but I’m not sure that isn’t the idea or that the spectral figure reminiscent of Death itself isn’t the story of the covid pandemic arriving at the shores of humanity’s collective helplessness at the outset of this downhill decade. And you know what? It’s Darsombra, so it’s also okay to not be sure. Not like they’re judging.
Everton and Daniloski begin their next European tour at Roadburn 2024 this Friday, and they’ll hook up with Stinking Lizaveta for the UK portion of the run to hit Desertfest London after playing the anniversary party for Exile on Mainstream in Germany. They’re abroad through the end of May and into June, and it likely won’t be long before they announce the next month-plus tour after this one because that’s how it goes with Darsombra‘s have-noise-will-travel nomadic tendencies. No coincidence that comes paired with such a resonant sense of sonic adventurousness.
“Shelter in Place,” at just three minutes, is the opening to the world portrayed throughout Dumesday Book. On its own, it provides a sample of Darsombra‘s aural dimensionality without necessarily encapsulating the whole. It leads you in, in other words.
Please enjoy:
Darsombra, “Shelter in Place” video premiere
Music by Darsombra Video directed and edited by Ann Everton Camera work by Brian Daniloski
“Shelter In Place” is the first track on Darsombra’s 2023 double album, “Dumesday Book”, available atdarsombra.com.
Shot on location at Assateague Island, USA. No ponies were harmed in the making of this film.
The latest video from Dumesday Book arrives with “Shelter In Place,” the album’s opening track. “Shelter In Place” is an ominous, majestic introduction to the album’s uncertain journey of the deep range of human emotions characteristic during plague times. The track is quaking, vast, and full of portent; the video, filmed and edited by Everton, gives the tsunami of precarious fear a doleful, baleful visage. Welcome to the trip.
Dumesday Book is available on CD, 2xLP, and digitally on DARSOMBRA’s Pnictogen Records. Physical formats include a twelve-page booklet, a sticker, and a download code with access to bonus material.
This week, DARSOMBRA will make their return to the Roadburn Festival alongside The Jesus And Mary Chain, Chelsea Wolfe, Khanate, Blood Incantation, and dozens more. Roadburn is followed by shows across Germany, Poland, Holland, and Belgium, on their way to play Exile On Mainstream 25 Festival dates in both Berlin and Leipzig – the 25th anniversary of the diverse label for which DARSOMBRA is an alumni act – with Ostinato, A Whisper In The Noise, Caspar Brötzmann Massaker, Conny Ochs, and many others also on the four-day/two-city bill.
In the wake of EOM25, they’ll join up with their allies Stinking Lizaveta for shows across the UK, including Desertfest London with Godflesh, Suicidal Tendencies, Ufomammut, Bongripper, Acid King, Monolord, and many more. DARSOMBRA will then make their live debut in Ireland, playing three shows across the country. See all confirmed dates below and watch for additional tour dates for the Summer and Fall months to be announced.
DARSOMBRA Tour Dates: 4/19/2024 Roadburn Festival – Tilburg, NL 4/24/2024 Kunstverein Hintere Cramergasse e.V – Nuremberg, DE 4/25/2024 Kalambur – Wroclaw, PL 4/26/2024 Lot Chmiela – Poznan, PL 4/27/2024 Awaria – Krakow, PL 4/28/2024 Mlodsza Siostra – Warsaw, PL 5/03/2024 Het Alternatief – Nijmegen, NL 5/05/2024 De Loft – Herent, BE 5/09/2024 Exile On Mainstream 25 Fest – Berlin, DE 5/10/2024 Exile On Mainstream 25 Fest – Leipzig, DE 5/14/2024 The Gryphon – Bristol, UK w/ Stinking Lizaveta 5/16/2024 Puzzle Hall Inn – Sowerby Bridge, UK w/ Stinking Lizaveta 5/17/2024 The Cellar – Cardigan, UK w/ Stinking Lizaveta 5/19/2024 Desertfest – London, UK w/ Stinking Lizaveta 5/22/2024 The Lubber Fiend – Newcastle, UK w/ Stinking Lizaveta 5/23/2024 BLOC – Glasgow, UK w/ Stinking Lizaveta 5/24/2024 St. Vincent’s Chapel – Edinburgh, UK w/ Stinking Lizaveta 5/25/2024 Tooth & Claw – Inverness, UK w/ Stinking Lizaveta 5/30/2024 Coughlan’s – Cork, IE 5/31/2024 Kasbah/Dolan’s – Limerick, IE 6/01/2024 Saturday Anseo – Dublin, IE
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 22nd, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Maryland-based-but-essentially-nomadic art-drone experimentalists and joybringers Darsombra will launch their next European tour at the ever-prestigious Roadburn Festival in Tilburg, the Netherlands, and their tour will thread from there through the 25th anniversary party of their longtime label home Exile on Mainstream in Germany before swinging through the UK to hit Desertfest London 2024 and do club shows with Stinking Lizaveta from Philly, which with those two bands together is quite a show if you’re into off-kilter instrumentalism. As of course you are.
There are dates to be filled in, which as I understand it is mostly how booking Euro tours in the 2020s goes, so if you can help out in Poland, Germany, the UK, Belgium, Luxembourg, etc., in some of the spaces between dates below, do. You won’t regret facilitating Darsombra‘s weirdoism, and everybody knows Apollo shines on those who help out experimental bands. Science has taught us this over and over. Or somesuch.
Dates from the PR wire:
DARSOMBRA: Baltimore Transapocalyptic Galaxy Rock Duo Announces New Tour Dates Including Roadburn, Exile On Mainstream 25, Desertfest, And More
After touring across the North American continent heavily last year surrounding the release of their entrancing psychedelic masterpiece Dumesday Book, Baltimore-based galaxy rock duo DARSOMBRA will spend a solid portion of 2024 on the road as well, this week announcing a plethora of new tour dates.
The Winter and early Spring months will see DARSOMBRA performing sporadic one-off and regional dates along the East Coast, including a set at film and music gathering Sleeping Giant Fest in Jacksonville on March 30th.
In April, DARSOMBRA will make their way across the Atlantic, returning to Roadburn Festival to share the stage with The Jesus And Mary Chain, Chelsea Wolfe, Khanate, Blood Incantation, and dozens more.
Following Roadburn, the band will tour through Europe with shows in Poland, Belgium, and Germany, to play the Exile On Mainstream 25 Festival dates in both Berlin and Leipzig – the 25th anniversary of the diverse label for which DARSOMBRA is an alumni act – with Ostinato, A Whisper In The Noise, Caspar Brötzmann Massaker, Conny Ochs, and many others also on the four-day/two-city bill.
And in the wake of EOM25, DARSOMBRA will join up with their allies Stinking Lizaveta for six shows across the UK, including Desertfest London with Godflesh, Suicidal Tendencies, Ufomammut, Bongripper, Acid King, Monolord, and many more.
DARSOMBRA is still seeking help booking shows throughout Europe between the Roadburn and EOM25 festivals and more UK dates with Stinking Lizaveta around the existing gigs, so anybody who wants to host this hallucinogenic duo, please contact the band directly through their social points linked HERE.
DARSOMBRA Tour Dates: 2/2/2024 2640 Space – Baltimore, MD 3/28/2024 Cobra – Richmond, VA 3/29/2024 King’s – Raleigh, NC 3/30/2024 Sleeping Giant Fest – Jacksonville, FL 4/19/2024 Roadburn Festival – Tilburg, NL 4/24/2024 Kunstverein Hintere Cramergasse e.V – Nuremberg, DE 4/25/2024 Kalambur – Wroclaw, PL 4/26/2024 Lot Chmiela – Poznan, PL 4/27/2024 Awaria – Krakow, PL 4/28/2024 Mlodsza Siostra – Warsaw, PL 5/05/2024 De Loft – Herent, BE 5/08-09/2024 Exile On Mainstream 25 Fest – Berlin, DE 5/10-11/2024 Exile On Mainstream 25 Fest – Leipzig, DE 5/17/2024 The Cellar – Cardigan, UK w/ Stinking Lizaveta 5/19/2024 Desertfest – London, UK w/ Stinking Lizaveta 5/22/2024 The Lubber Fiend – Newcastle, UK w/ Stinking Lizaveta 5/23/2024 BLOC – Glasgow, UK w/ Stinking Lizaveta 5/24/2024 St. Vincent’s Chapel – Edinburgh, UK w/ Stinking Lizaveta 5/25/2024 Tooth & Claw – Inverness, UK w/ Stinking Lizaveta
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 7th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Insert your preferred cliché about Xmas coming early, as Roadburn Festival has just loosed a massive lineup announcement that will bring more than 30 bands and solo artists to the 2024 edition set for next April in the fest’s customary home of Tilburg, the Netherlands. They’ve brought on The Bevis Frond for the first time since 2006, and Health, Torpor, Full Earth, Darsombra, Alber Jupiter, Royal Thunder, Birds in Row, Deaf Club, Blood Incantation, on and on and on for a totally overwhelming multi-day experience that’s still just a fraction of what Roadburn will have on offer by the time the next few months have passed.
While I’m here and perhaps have the relevant attention, I owe Roadburn an apology for what was a misunderstanding on my part as regards Khanate. I said when Khanateannounced additional shows that I could’ve sworn they were Roadburn-exclusive. In fact, that was never the case and my “could’ve sworn” was incorrect. I’m sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused. Not making excuses or anything, but I was definitely stoned when I put that post together. While I’m being honest, sometimes I forget that anyone might read this or that the words I say might have any consequence whatsoever. I’m doing my best, kids. The mind wanders.
Often to thoughts of Tilburg, but I guess having a dog named Tilly will do that too. In any case, permanent, unflinching, deep-in-the-muscle-tissue love to all at Roadburn out front and behind the scenes. It goes without saying there’s some stunning stuff here, and should you be attending, I hope whatever Roadburn choose-your-own-adventure you undertake is a personal landmark.
From the PR wire this morning:
Roadburn adds over thirty new names to the 2024 lineup including Health, Kavus Torabi, UBOA and a second clipping. set.
Roadburn has today added over thirty new names to the 2024 lineup. Amongst the artists announced is Health who will make a triumphant return to the festival, Kavus Torabi who will perform a specially commissioned project, and a second set for experimental hip hop group, Clipping.
These artists – and more – join Blood Incantation who were announced for the festival last week. The Denver-based four piece will perform their ambient album, Timewave Zero, in full, as well as a second set that will encompass tracks from their metal catalogue.
Roadburn’s artistic director, Walter Hoeijmakers comments: “It’s a huge pleasure to finally bring you this extensive announcement. We have been working intensely for such a long time. As we add these artists to the lineup, we can see it beginning to reflect the broad scope and feel of Roadburn 2024, truly showcasing the underground as it is today – varied, innovative and incredibly exciting.
“We are flying in a lot of these bands from all over for the festival, and we know how daunting it can be for an artist to travel halfway across the world for just one gig. With that in mind, we have asked several of them to play multiple sets. This will help make the most of their time at Roadburn, amplifying their voices as much as possible and giving them a rare chance to fully express themselves through all of their different artistic and musical facets.”
Roadburn 2024 will take place between April 18-21 in Tilburg, The Netherlands. Tickets are on sale now.
Following a mind-blowing performance at Roadburn 2022, HEALTH will return to Tilburg to bring their distinctive sound and unparalleled energy back to the festival – this time on the main stage. With the release of their brand new album Rat Wars propelling them forward, the sky’s the limit for Health.
clipping. have added a second set – the experimental hip hop trio will now play both Thursday, 18 April and Friday, 19 April, promising that “one will be more of a “party” (more upbeat, dance-floor-ready tracks) and the other will be something darker (more of our harsher, less beat-driven tracks).”
Kavus Torabi – renowned for his work with the likes of Gong, The Utopia Strong, Knifeworld and The Holy Family – will present a commissioned project titled Lion of The Lord’s Elect. This performance will comprise original material, performed for the very first time, commissioned by Roadburn.
Uboa will be an artist in residence at Roadburn – performing three distinctive sets over the course of the festival, including the live debut of The Origin of My Depression in its entirety. The Australian noise artist will showcase different facets of her creativity across the trio of performances.
Labelmates Ragana and Drowse will perform a brand new collaborative piece of music titled The Ash from Mount Saint Helens. These two artists both release music under The Flenser label, and are uniting to create a new composition that will premiere at Roadburn.
Also announced:
Alber Jupiter will release a new album in 2024 and promise interstellar kosmische missives galore.
The experimental folk and drone of Annelies Monseré is set to leave an impression on Roadburn audiences.
After biding their time, Benefits will make their presence felt this coming April..
Birds In Row will perform their 2022 album, Gris Klein, in its entirety.
Body Void will return to Roadburn to perform their new release, Atrocity Machine, in full.
After much unavoidable delay, Cult Leader will finally performA Patient Man at Roadburn this Spring.
Krautrock and misty soundscapes collide as Darsombra prepare to take to the stage.
The effervescent Deaf Club will make their Roadburn debut.
Melancholic, ambient solo artist Kyle Bates aka Drowse will perform his own show as well as the collaboration with Ragana.
Eye Flys bring their distinctively caustic sound to Roadburn.
Drawing influence from the bleak tones of a post-industrial Northern England, Forest Swords will bring his spectral soundscapes to life.
Making their first foray into Europe, Frail Body will stop by Tilburg to perform tracks from their hotly anticipated new album.
Fuck Money are an incomparable band from Austin, TX – bringing their chaotic maelstrom of transgressive audio aggression to our doorstep.
The brand new psychedelic, organ-driven sound of Full Earth is heading to Roadburn.
Having dominated Europe already this year, Home Front will return with Roadburn in their sights; expect synth-driven post-punk.
The acerbic sound of macabre grindcore will make an appearance thanks to Knoll.
Industrial beats, apocalyptic noise, and gothic flourishes will all make an appearance during Lana Del Rabies’ Roadburn set
Laster will perform their incredible new album, Andermans Mijne, in full.
Titillation and transformation are high on the agenda for Patriarchy.
Having made a huge impact with their latest album, Desolation’s Flower, Ragana will at last make their Roadburn debut.
Richard Dawson’s distinctive take on British folk is long overdue an appearance at Roadburn.
Royal Thunder will perform two sets at Roadburn; one career-spanning set titled TIME + SPACE + REVIVAL and the other being a run through of their latest magnificent opus, Rebuilding The Mountain.
Sunrise Patriot Motion offer up an alluring take on gothic post-punk
New Jersey’s Sunrot will be making their first trip to Europe, starting at Roadburn.
Shadowy three piece, Thantifaxath, will bring their angular take on black metal to the festival.
After many years, The Bevis Frond will return to Roadburn – having last appeared with their take on psychedelic sonic explorations at the festival back in 2006.
Oppressive doom trio Torpor will perform their latest album Abscission in full.
Belgian-based trio Use Knife will present their radiant energy to Roadburn.
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 5th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Two nights each in Berlin and Leipzig, on successive nights no less. This is a recipe for ‘everybody’s friends’ when it’s over, and as that’s pretty on-brand for Exile on Mainstream — founder/honcho Andreas Kohl, who knows more than everyone but, like, isn’t a dick about it, keeps the circle pretty tight — but with reunions from End of Level Boss and Ostinato, the ever-mobile Darsombra making an overseas voyage to appear, The Moth who released one of this year’s best records, Conny Ochs and Bulbul, A Whisper in the Noise and Fireflies and Gaffa Ghandi, you get a whole bunch of different styles that somehow fit under a vague descriptor like ‘prog’ just because everyone involved is super-intentional about what they’re doing.
That applies to the label as well. Congrats and much respect to Andreas on 25 years of his label and the badass celebration he’s lined up for it. Still more names TBA, as it happens.
Info follows as posted on socials. Well, not exactly as posted. It was an Instagram textblock thing and I broke it up into paragraphs to make it easy to read. Me back in 2014 would probably laugh at me in 2023 doing that. “Short paragraphs. Who ever heard of that shit?”
And so on:
25 Years Exile On Mainstream
8/9 May 2024 – Berlin, Neue Zukunft
10/11 May 2024 – Leipzig, UT Connewitz
25 years! A quarter century of Exile On Mainstream. So, let’s celebrate. In a big way. On the 8th and 9th of May, we’ll meet in Berlin at the Neue Zukunft, and on the 10th and 11th of May in Leipzig, the city where it all began for us.
Both the Neue Zukunft and the UT Connewitz are inseparably connected to the history of Exile On Mainstream, supporting us far beyond the ordinary.
As it has become a tradition by now, and because we are hopeless romantics, we have three special reunions for the festival: Ostinato, A Whisper In The Noise, and End Of Level Boss will reunite for one-time only performances bringing back memories of the early days of EOM and connecting to current sounds and tunes on the label.
But that’s not all: get ready for some collaborations between the invited bands, which are as much a label tradition.
