True, the first SOL Sonic Ride (info here) hasn’t happened yet, as European heavy booking company Sound of Liberation mark their 20th anniversary with a growing series of all-dayers, but this June in Wiesbaden, Germany, SOL Sonic Ride Part II will bring a fine sampling of touring acts to the proceedings, including King Buffalo, Brant Bjork Trio, the resurgent My Sleeping Karma, Valley of the Sun, Daily Thompson, The Machine and Einseinseins. Wait, that’s everybody. Well I guess it’s a pretty solid bill then.

Note that if you’re dividing the year into quarters — which is something I do around here every now and again; every couple months — this still only covers half of 2025. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if there’s more to come before the year’s out. 20 years, especially 20 years booking heavy music in a time that’s seen the rise of the internet, a global pandemic, and unprecedented instability generally, is a triumph. They should have a party every weekend if that’s what they want. If it ends up being four throughout the rest of the year, well fucking earned.

From socials:

⚡️20 YEARS OF SOUND OF LIBERATION – SOL SONIC RIDE PART ll⚡️

Hey friends,

The celebration continues! 🪩

Join us for SOL SONIC RIDE PART II on June 28, 2025, as we mark two decades of heavy riffs with another epic festival day!

Expect mind-blowing performances from a killer lineup, including:

KING BUFFALO • BRANT BJORK TRIO
MY SLEEPING KARMA • VALLEY OF THE SUN
DAILY THOMPSON • THE MACHINE • EINSEINSEINS
& more to be announced soon!

This time, we’re taking over Schlachthof Wiesbaden for a day packed with electrifying energy.

Get your tickets online at www.sol-tickets.com.🎫

Hardtickets are also available via www.sol-records.de.🎫

🗓️June 28, 2025
📍Schlachthof Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden, Germany

Let’s ride the sonic wave once more! 🖤

Cheers,
Your Sound of Liberation Crew

Artwork by @branca_studio

https://www.facebook.com/Soundofliberation/
https://www.instagram.com/soundofliberation/
https://www.soundofliberation.com/
http://www.sol-tickets.com

King Buffalo, “Cerberus” live in Queens, NY, 01.17.25

The cultish etherealities of Daevar‘s doom, transcendentally murky in the spirit of Windhand but with an energy to its roll that the band owned vibrantly on 2023’s debut, Delirious Rites (review here) — which paired the Cologne-based outfit with producer Jan Oberg, also of Grin et al — will be on display at the 2024 edition of the legendary German fest Stoned From the Underground. Daevar, as well as The Pighounds, Einseinseins, Tommy and the Teleboys, Heckspoiler and Rýr — sorry, I couldn’t find a band called ‘ut,’ though they may well exist — feature in the second round of lineup adds from the event, which got its start in 2001 and is among Europe’s most consistent and influential heavy underground festivals.

You can see below the lineup these acts are joining. Did you hear that new Skraeckoedlan single yet? Their new album will be out by the time July gets here, and the same could be true for High Desert Queen, or even Greenleaf, who were in the studio last month. There are a lot of possibilities here and more bands still to be added. Some of these are appearing elsewhere — Daevar will also be at Desertfest Berlin and Freak Valley — as the ecosystem of Sound of Liberation and other bookers does its best to assure that everyone is/can be everywhere all the time, but Stoned From the Underground remains a pilgrimage I feel like I need to make at some point. It’s like metallers going to Wacken, only as I understand it with about 100,000 fewer people and thus infinitely more pleasant.

Here’s word from the fest:

As promised, here are more bands for 2024 Stoned from the Underground – Festival

Look forward to The Pighounds , Daevar, Einseinseins , HECKSPOILER , ut , Tommy and the Teleboys and rýr

Tickets are available at: www.events.design-erfurt.de/produkt/sftu2024

Previously announced: Greenleaf, Hippie Death Cult, Earth Tongue, Psychlona, ​​Earthbong, SKRAECKOEDLAN, High Desert Queen, Glasgow Coma Scale, ZERRE, Lucifer Star Machine

Stoned From The Underground 2024 will take place from July 11th. take place until July 13th, 2024 ! Cheers!

Event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/312293734774337

http://www.facebook.com/stonedfromtheundergroundfestival
https://www.instagram.com/stonedfromtheunderground
https://www.sftu.de/

Daevar, Delirious Rites (2023)

Am I taking this entire Desertfest Berlin 2024 announcement as an excuse to put on Ruff Majik‘s Elektrik Ram yet again even though I was playing it approximately 40 hours ago while writing the best-of-2023 post? You bet your ass I am. 40 hours is about as long as I’ve made it all year. Less if you count hearing the songs in your head when the music isn’t actually on.

Elsewhere here, check out Masters of Reality confirmed for both flagship Desertfests. Another record might be too weird for planet earth, but I’m not sure that’s a bad thing. And I’ll note that this is the first I’m hearing of a farewell tour from Pentagram to take place in 2024/2025, but apparently that’s going to be a thing. Call it a low-level surprise? Nobody’s gonna say Bobby Liebling didn’t put in his time, even if you only count since the band got going again in 2009, never mind the better part of four decades prior.

I’ll be expecting tour announcements from Mondo Generator and Ruff Majik — maybe they’ll be out together; that would kind of rule as a pairing — Daevar, Pentagram, Arthur Brown, etc., and will post accordingly when I see what I see.

From the PR wire:

DESERTFEST BERLIN confirms PENTAGRAM, MASTERS OF REALITY, MONDO GENERATOR & many more new band names for 2024!

Desertfest Berlin has announced new names for their eclectic 2024-edition, and confirms iconic PENTAGRAM (last Berlin show ever!), MASTERS OF REALITY, THE CRAZY WORLD OF ARTHUR BROWN, MONDO GENERATOR, RUFF MAJIK, DAEVAR, APTERA, ZAHN, ZERRE and EINSEINSEINS! Get ready for THE riff party of the year – aside a wild and high-class blend of finest psychedelia, stoner rock, doom, desert punk blues, sludge and all that is metal, this is also going to be your last chance to see PENTAGRAM live in Berlin on their final Farewell Tour in 2024/2025!

Desertfest Berlin will take place between May 24 – 26, 2024 at Columbiahalle and Columbia Theater. Tickets, that would also make some perfect Xmas gift, are on sale at: www.desertfest-tickets.de

AMENRA | OSEES | PENTAGRAM
MASTERS OF REALITY | ACID KING | BRANT BJORK TRIO
THE CRAZY WORLD OF ARTHUR BROWN | TAMIKREST
PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS | MONDO GENERATOR
MONKEY3 | SIENA ROOT | DŸSE |EARTH TONGUE
DIRTY SOUND MAGNET | THRONEHAMMER | RUFF MAJIK | FULL EARTH
NEÀNDER | APTERA | ZAHN | DAEVAR | ZERRE
EINSEINSEINS | PRAISE THE PLAGUE
& MANY MORE

TICKETS ON SALE NOW: www.desertfest.de

www.desertfest.de
www.facebook.com/DesertfestBerlin
www.instagram.com/desertfest_berlin

Ruff Majik, Elektrik Ram (2023)

The lineup for Keep it Low 2023 is finished with the last additions of Zeal and Ardor, a stopthrough from the Howling Giant and Heavy Temple tour, as well as a trio of bands from Germany in Morast, Instrument and Einseinseins. The former rest atop a wild bill, and anyone who would accuse heavy underground music of all sounding the same should go ahead and listen to the first five bands listed here in succession. Zeal and Ardor, Colour Haze, Mantar, The Obsessed and King Buffalo — it wouldn’t work as a Spotify playlist, or maybe it would, but it will make for a killer festival.

This is the ninth Keep it Low Festival, the vibe of which I’ve always found particularly alluring from a distance, and for what started as a kind of humble event, this looks pretty huge. It’s still at Backstage in Munich, so the amount of tickets available will be the same as ever, but even as the names get harder to read on the poster below, there’s good stuff to be had. I see The Moth and Lucid Void and Swan Valley Heights down there. It would be far too easy to do worse.

Sound of Liberation sent the following down the PR wire:

Hey friends,

We’re super stoked to present you the last bands for our beloved Keep It Low festival in Munich 2023, including the last headliner! (#128121#)

And alongside we must warn you: our 2-day-passes are almost sold out and you need to be fast if you want to enjoy the full weekend experience!

Please welcome:
ZEAL & ARDOR (CH)
HOWLING GIANT (US)
HEAVY TEMPLE (US)
MORAST (DE)
INSTRUMENT (DE)
EINSEINSEINS (DE)

We can’t wait for October to come!

Two days of heavy rock music, aftershow DJs, outdoor beergarden, “Doom Frühschoppen” & more!(#128640#)

06. – 07. Oct 2023
Backstage
Munich (DE)

Grab your tickets at:
www.sol-tickets.com

This is our last call for weekend tickets!

https://www.facebook.com/keepitlowfestival/
https://www.keepitlow.de/
https://www.soundofliberation.com/
http://www.sol-tickets.com

Howling Giant, Glass Future (2023)