Gonna miss these guys. Like far too many, Baltimore’s The Flying Eyes go out never having really received the acclaim they deserved. I thought their 2017 album, Burning of the Season (review here), might finally get the job done with Ripple Music standing behind it, but I guess now we won’t even really get to know how it plays out. The Flying Eyes are done.

I don’t know if they ever toured the US completely, and even if they did the coasts, it was nothing like the road time they put in abroad. Regular fixtures in Europe and South America, it’s only fitting that their last show should be on European soil, and only fitting that they should also be the final band announced for the Freak Valley 2018 lineup.

The writeup below was written by me (see if you can spot the Star Trek reference!) and posted by Freak Valley on the social medias thusly:

This is it, Freaks!

It’s been a long road, but we’ve finally reached the last band for the bill at Freak Valley 2018, and it couldn’t possibly be more special to us.

Please welcome THE FLYING EYES to the lineup!

The Baltimore, Maryland, nomads are no strangers to those who dwell in Freak Valley after multiple European tours, but getting them to play in 2018 was a necessity once we heard they were breaking up. That’s right – after their best album yet, 2017’s ‘Burning of the Season,’ they’re calling it quits. Taking their blues rock toys and going home.

The Flying Eyes leave us at the absolute top of their game, and we know their Freak Valley 2018 set will be a special, must-see one for all you loyal Freaks out there.

“We are really honored to play our final gig at the legendary Freak Valley Festival,” says drummer Elias Schutzman. “We weren’t planning to come back after our last European tour, but festival creator Jens Heide (an old friend) made us an offer we couldn’t refuse. And we realized it would be the perfect place to say goodbye, especially since Germany has always been so important to us.”

We’re sorry to see them go, but we know we’ll love watching them one last time on the Freak Valley stage. These guys were truly something unique, and they’ll be missed. Come celebrate everything that The Flying Eyes was with their last set ever!

Freak Valley Festival 2018 // No Fillers – Just Killers

Line-up 2018:
OM, Russian Circles, Candlemass, Karma To Burn, My Sleeping Karma, The Flying Eyes, MY BABY, Mars Red Sky, SUMAC, LUCIFER, Wolf People, Yuri Gagarin, Dýse, The Freeks, SACRI MONTI, Steak, Black Bombaim, Year of the Cobra, Purple Hill Witch, Ouzo Bazooka, Ruff Majik, Toke, Humulus, KALEIDOBOLT, Rage of Samedi, Nap, No Man’s Valley, Mountain Dust.

That’s it! Lineup is complete!

Have a freaky time – your Rock Freaks

www.freakvalley.de
https://www.facebook.com/freakvalley
https://www.facebook.com/events/738782742996668/
https://twitter.com/FreakValley

The Flying Eyes, Burning of the Season (2017)

Time marches on and the lineup for Freak Valley 2018 only grows more substantial. I won’t take anything away from Wolf People (whose Ruins album currently sits in my Amazon cart awaiting purchase) or Steak or No Man’s Valley or Mountain Dust here, who’ve all joined the ranks, but the highlight here has to be the addition to doom legends Candlemass to the Freak Valley 2018 melange. If you haven’t seen them in the last few years, the Swedish innovators are absolutely dead-on on stage, and though it’s coming up on six years since they released their last full-length, they still do nothing but kill when it comes to delivering a set.

I wrote the announcement for them and everyone else that you’ll find below, as posted by Freak Valley on the social medias:

Freaks, assemble!

Gather ‘round – it’s time for the next round of adds to our already-sold-out, already-massive 2018 incarnation of FREAK VALLEY FESTIVAL! It’s got legends with ancient dreams and upstarts with tales of red rains, but before we dive in, we’d like to personally thank each and every one of you for making Freak Valley 2018 a sell-out months in advance. It warms our freaky hearts to know you feel as passionately about this as we do, and we can’t wait to welcome everyone to Freak Valley 2018 on May 30!

Alright, enough mushy stuff. Time to welcome Candlemass, Wolf People, Steak, Mountain Dust, and No Man’s Valley to the lineup!

CANDLEMASS

Since Epicus Doomicus Metallicus, nobody has doomed quite like the Swedish legends in Candlemass. Bassist Leif Edling has spent decades conjuring riffs that have become classics, and from that first album in 1986 through the new EP House of Doom coming in May, they’ve never failed to deliver Sabbath-worthy vibes and a groove all their own. There’s only one Candlemass and we couldn’t be more stoked to have them as part of Freak Valley 2018!

WOLF PEOPLE

In 2016, UK psychedelic four-piece Wolf People released their third album, Ruins, and told a tale of an earth without people. The buzz and the spaciousness through which the band created these unpopulated soundscapes were gorgeous, and still somehow tied to a folkish pulse. They’re not to be missed when they take the Freak Valley stage, and if you think you know the reaches of psychedelia, think again.

STEAK

As meaty as their name, these UK riff aficionados have been dominating Britain and beyond for years now, and their welcome to Freak Valley can only be called overdue. Their second album, No God to Save, came out on Ripple Music last year and absolutely blew us away with in following up 2014’s desert homage Slab City, as Steak came more into their own and their groove became even more lethal.

MOUNTAIN DUST

With cuts like “Evil Deeds” and “Tale of the Red Rain,” Montreal’s Mountain Dust proffered organ-laced blues across their 2016 debut, Nine Years, and blew away listeners and critics alike with the force and soul of their delivery. They’ve got a new record in the works for this year and will hit Freak Valley as part of their first-ever European tour, so don’t miss on these up and comers while you’ve got the chance to catch them now!

NO MAN’S VALLEY

Few first albums hit us as hard as the heavy blues of No Man’s Valley’s Time Travel upon its release in 2016. Like The Flying Eyes and All Them Witches before them, the interplay of keys and guitar and tales of witches gave a classic atmosphere to the Netherlands outfit’s work, and their memorable songwriting only made even more of an impression. We’re keeping our fingers crossed they show off some new material!

Freak Valley Festival 2018 // No Fillers – Just Killers

Line-up 2018:
OM, Russian Circles, Candlemass, Karma To Burn, My Sleeping Karma, MY BABY, Mars Red Sky, SUMAC, LUCIFER, Wolf People, Yuri Gagarin, Dýse, The Freeks, SACRI MONTI, Steak, Black Bombaim, Year of the Cobra, Purple Hill Witch, Ouzo Bazooka, Ruff Majik, Toke, Humulus, KALEIDOBOLT, Rage of Samedi, Nap, No Man’s Valley, Mountain Dust

More tba soon

Have a freaky time – your Rock Freaks

www.freakvalley.de
https://www.facebook.com/freakvalley
https://www.facebook.com/events/738782742996668/
https://twitter.com/FreakValley

Candlemass, Live at Rock Hard Festival 2017

How do I know the following announcement from Freak Valley 2018 is awesome? Well, for starters I wrote the frickin’ thing. That might put me in something of a position of authority on the subject, but even if not, you don’t really need to look any further than the bands themselves to realize there’s righteousness afoot. Karma to Burn — always greeted as liberators — will make an appearance, and L.A.’s The Freeks will head to Germany supporting their yet-to-be-released new album.

I wasn’t as familiar with Ouzo Bazooka, though I’d seen the name (and once you see that name, you remember it), but checked out their stuff and found it wanting nothing in its blend of psychedelia and classic surf, but I think it’s Toke who are really going to surprise a lot of people when they take the Freak Valley stage. I’ve said before that the North Carolina trio are the inheritors of a Southern sludge legacy going back to Buzzov*en and other such early/mid-90s noisemakers, but they deliver their sound with a next-generation energy and have toured hard the last couple years to refine their attack. I would not be surprised if they come back from Europe a significantly bigger band.

Just my thoughts. Here’s that announcement, which, again, I wrote, as posted by the fest on the social medias:

Freaks, gather!

The time is coming ever closer, and we’ve already announced so many killer acts from OM and Yuri Gagarin to Russian Circles, Nap, and Year of the Cobra. We could not possibly be prouder of the fact that Freak Valley 2018 is already sold out, and we thank you so much for your support both this year and in festivals past. It’s the community of freaks that lets this thing happen year after year and keep getting bigger, so thank you!

Four new bands to welcome today and they’re awesome, so pay attention! Please say hi to Karma To Burn, The Freeks, Toke, and Ouzo Bazooka!

KARMA TO BURN

Led by founding guitarist Will Mecum, KTB are pioneers of instrumental heavy rock and roll. Yeah, the first album had a singer, and they’ve brought in guests in the past – some dude named John Garcia, etc. – but as they are today, Mecum, bassist Eric Clutter and drummer Evan Devine have never been such a force from the stage, and after years and years of lineup changes, bad luck, more lineup changes and worse luck, it finally seems like Karma to Burn are ready to take their place among the top league of riffers worldwide.

THE FREEKS

Welcome to Freek Valley! Los Angeles classic heavy rockers The Freeks – with none other than Ruben Romano (Nebula, Fu Manchu) behind the kit – recently announced they’ll release a third full-length this year through Heavy Psych Sounds. Could we wait to hear what was in store after loving their 2016 offering, Shattered, so much? Obviously not. We booked them, didn’t we? Get ready for punk-funk-psych-boogie-blues like none other, because – hey, big surprise – The Freeks feel no need to fit in with the expected fare.

TOKE

These North Carolinian sludge bastards are pucking up the next generation of a legacy for filth-coated riffing and heavy-ass-those-bass-cabinets groove begun by the likes of Buzzov*en, Eyehategod, and Sourvein. Yes, that’s the league of bands we’re talking about. Their Orange LP was released earlier this year, and you might not know it yet, but Toke are very quickly getting ready to conquer every stage onto which they set their collective foot. Don’t miss the opportunity to see them prove the power of truly unhinged sludge riffing.

OUZO BAZOOKA

Look. We’re not saying you’re going to watch about 30 seconds of Ouzo Bazooka’s set and then immediately decide you need to hit the merch table as soon as they’re done and purchase everything they have for sale – but yes, that is exactly what’s going to happen. The Tel Aviv-based psych-surf four-piece issued their latest EP, Songs from 1001 Nights, at the start of 2018, and further refined their blend of Western and Middle Eastern influences to sound like nothing else out there – nuanced but familiar like a dance in some lost otherworldly dream.

Freak Valley Festival 2018 // No Fillers – Just Killers

Line-up 2018:
OM, Russian Circles, Karma To Burn, My Sleeping Karma, My Baby, Mars Red Sky, Sumac, Lucifer, Yuri Gagarin, Dýse, The Freeks, Sacri Monti, Black Bombaim, Year of the Cobra, Purple Hill Witch, Ouzo Bazooka, Ruff Majik, Toke, Humulus, Kaleidobolt, Rage of Samedi, Nap
More tba soon

Have a freaky time – your Rock Freaks

www.freakvalley.de
https://www.facebook.com/freakvalley
https://www.facebook.com/events/738782742996668/
https://twitter.com/FreakValley

Karma to Burn, Live in Paris, Dec. 23, 2017

Not taking anything away from anyone in this latest announcement from Freak Valley 2018, but for me, the find of the bunch is South African heavy-grooving three-piece Ruff Majik, who, what they lack in spelling they more than compensate for with riff-led immersive roll as well as a prolific rate of releases.

Again, that’s not to detract at all from the radness of the fact that Year of the Cobra are making the trip, or that Russian Circles will no doubt feature somewhere near the top of the bill, but I wasn’t familiar with Ruff Majik prior to this announcement and was happy to have the chance to check them out.

If you’d like to do the same, their latest EP is streaming at the bottom of this post. Go ahead and give it a shot. Maybe name your price on one of those downloads they have set up on such terms.

Here’s the full announcement from the fest, which, as it happens, I wrote:

Happy New Year, Freaks!

We’re creeping ever closer to the start of FREAK VALLEY FESTIVAL 2018, and you know what that means: More announcements, more reasons to come, and less time to plan your trip. If you missed out on tickets before they sold out, sorry, but you can’t say you weren’t warned. For everyone else, we’ve got FIVE awesome new confirmations to reveal for the lineup!

Please welcome Russian Circles, Black Bombaim, Year of the Cobra, Ruff Majik and MY BABY to the bill for Freak Valley 2018!

RUSSIAN CIRCLES

No way these guys need any introduction. For over a decade, Chicago instrumental trio Russian Circles have made themselves forerunners of heavy and psychedelic post-rock, and with their records Enter, Station, Geneva, Empros, Memorial and Guidance, they’ve become one of the most essential acts of their generation. Expect immersion like nothing else when they take the stage for all the Freaks! They might even leave the lights on! On second thought, nah, probably not.

BLACK BOMBAIM

If you’ve never experienced Portuguese jammers Black Bombaim live, you don’t even know what you’ve been missing. The raw chemistry, the dynamic turns – everything they do recalls the best of improvisational psychedelic rock. Their flow is molten and unlike anyone else’s in the style, and they come to Freak Valley as ready to explore new ground as ever in the far-out cosmic reaches.

YEAR OF THE COBRA

While the bass/drum two-piece recalled riffy greats like Sleep and Acid King on their debut album, In the Shadows Below, it was the 2017 EP, Burn Your Dead, that really showed off the diversity of sound Year of the Cobra could bring to bear. The Seattle duo hit Europe for the first time supporting the album and as they come back ahead of a new full-length in 2018, we’re thrilled to welcome them for their first visit to Freak Valley!

RUFF MAJIK

Traveling all the way from Pretoria, South Africa, the heavy-grooving trio Ruff Majik have been belting out releases at a prolific clip since their 2015 debut, The Bear. By the time they make it to Siegen this May, they’ll be riding high on the blues-psych vibes of their latest work, A Stag in the Leaves, and we can’t wait to introduce them to the Freaks and give everyone a taste of their laid back riffs and classic style.

MY BABY

Based in Amsterdam (because where else?), My Baby come to Freak Valley 2018 offering a spirit and a musical energy like nothing else on the bill. Their 2017 album, Prehistoric Rhythm, ran contrary to its name with a blend of soul, blues, funk, dance and classic rock that could only be from the future. Still, it spoke to something primitive in all of us – a basic need to move, to get up, to shake ass, and we know they’ll have the Freaks doing exactly that.

Freak Valley Festival 2018 // No Fillers – Just Killers

Line-up 2018:
OM, Russian Circles, My Sleeping Karma, My Baby, Yuri Gagarin, Dÿse, Black Bombaim, Year of the Cobra, Ruff Majik, Rage of Samedi, Nap
More tba soon

Have a freaky time – your Rock Freaks

www.freakvalley.de
https://www.facebook.com/freakvalley
https://www.facebook.com/events/738782742996668/
https://twitter.com/FreakValley

Ruff Majik, A Dragon and His Hoard (2017)

Freak Valley 2018 stormed out of the gate early last month with its first announcement, that it would be headlined by Om, and with five more band additions today, the Siegen, Germany-based festival immediately sets itself to the task of building a diverse lineup. From the progressive stylings of My Sleeping Karma and newcomers Nap to the dudeliness of Rage of Samedi, the psychedelic Swedes-in-space Yuri Gagarin and the weirdo experimentalist duo Dÿse, there’s a sense here that the fest has just begun to establish what will become its foundation in heavy and to jut outward from there in terms of actual scope. This is an exciting time in watching these things start to take shape, and whatever else comes, frankly, My Sleeping Karma and Om in the same lineup should be enough to have you booking travel plans.

Not gonna hide it: I wrote this announcement, so if you note some language similarities, that’s why. Here it is as posted by Freak Valley on the social medias:

Freak Valley 2018 – My Sleeping Karma, Yuri Gagarin, Dÿse, Rage of Samedi & Nap

Calling all Freaks!

After the rousing success of announcing OM as the first headliner of FREAK VALLEY FESTIVAL 2018, the time has come to let you know about more bands for next year’s bill!
One of the things we strive to do with Freak Valley each year is build a festival that looks at different styles and embraces artistic variety as much as fuzzy riffs and heavy grooves. The underground is a rich and diverse place and it’s our hope this round of groups brings that to mind – you know, while also kicking ass.

So here we go. Please welcome My Sleeping Karma, Yuri Gagarin, Dýse, Rage of Samedi, and Nap to the lineup!

MY SLEEPING KARMA

Do they really need an introduction at this point? The forerunners of instrumental tantric heavy psych explorat MY SLEEPING KARMA – OFFICIAL unveiled their first live album, Mela Ananda – Live, earlier this year via Napalm Records and reaffirmed how utterly vital they’ve become. If you’ve never seen them before, their live presence is as incredible as their music is immersive and they could not possibly be more welcome on the Freak Valley stage! We can’t wait!

YURI GAGARIN

The time has come for Yuri Gagarin to ascend to the stars, and among the acts we’ve so far confirmed for Freak Valley 2018, these Swedish up-and-comers are definitely poised to make a huge impression on the Freaks lucky enough to catch their set. Expect huge multiple-AU washes of space rock gorgeousness and an interstellar propulsion all their own. Meet the new order of cosmic prog!

DŸSE

It’s a big planet, but there’s only one DŸSE Band Official to be found anywhere on it. The German duo make an experimental noise unlike anyone else, and while we could sit here and tell you all about it – it’s heavy, it’s weird, it goes wherever it wants, whenever it wants and does whatever it wants when it gets there – the best thing to do is show up and witness the spectacle for yourself. Really. You might be confused at first, but you’ll be a better person for it.

RAGE OF SAMEDI

Zweibrücken five-piece Rage of Samedi released their second album, Children of the Black Sun, last Fall through Voodoo Chamber Records, blending metallic aggression, doomed atmospherics, and a heavy Southern groove to their twisted purposes on songs like “Never Obey” and “Flagg,” calling to mind Down and bands like Crowbar while forging their own path in burly, chugging riffs, brutal rasp and heavy stomp. Sure to leave bruises by the time they’re done.

NAP

We’ve been delighted with the work of progressive heavy psych rockers Nap, and after their debut album, Villa, last year and their split earlier in 2017 with Black Lung from Baltimore, we knew the time had come to invite them to Freak Valley 2018. This will be the Oldenburg natives’ first time taking the Freak Valley stage, and we know their deeply textured and forward-thinking craft will make friends and turn heads in kind. Another one not to be missed.

Freak Valley 2018 runs May 30-June 2. Ticket presales will start at the the Tuber & Papir & Kalamata live at Vortex Surfer, Siegen show (Hardtickets).

Online ticket sales will start Nov. 12, 15 pm cet!

Freak Valley Festival 2018 // No Fillers – Just Killers

Line-up 2018:
OM, My Sleeping Karma, Yuri Gagarin, Dÿse, Rage of Samedi, Nap

More tba soon

Have a freaky time – your Rock Freaks

www.freakvalley.de
https://www.facebook.com/freakvalley
https://www.facebook.com/events/738782742996668/
https://twitter.com/FreakValley

My Sleeping Karma, “Prithvi” official video

Freak Valley 2018 takes place between May 30 and June 2 in Netphen, Germany, and the venerable festival announces today that no less than Om will serve as the first of its headliners. There’s been no solid word of a new Om album for next year — though a return trip abroad in Spring is bound to fuel speculation — and 2018 will make it a full six since the 2012 release of Advaitic Songs (review here), though when you issue what continues to resonate and thrive as one of the best records of the decade, you more than earn the right to take your time on a follow-up. Yes, I mean that. If it’s not Advaitic Songs and YOB‘s Clearing the Path to Ascend duking it out in your mind for the top spot right now, you’re fucking up as regards taste.

Om have two shows currently booked in Europe for 2018. Freak Valley and a date in Greece put together by Smoke the Fuzz Gigs. Details on that are below.

I’m proud to say I wrote the following announcement and it’s looking like I may finally get to attend Freak Valley next year. Stay tuned for more lineup updates to come, since as you can see, this is just the beginning:

Call to Prayer: OM to Headline Freak Valley Festival 2018

Freaks rejoice!

Every year, Om are one of the most requested bands to join the Freak Valley lineup, and as the first band to be revealed for Freak Valley 2018, we couldn’t be more thrilled to finally welcome Om as a headliner!

Led by bassist/vocalist Al Cisneros, Om are the band who turned “heavy” into a spiritual movement. They began in 2003 after the dissolution of Cisneros’ prior outfit – a little band called Sleep; maybe you’ve heard of them – and their earliest works, 2005’s Variations on a Theme and 2006’s Conference of the Birds, are nothing short of modern classics. It was with their fifth and latest album, 2012’s Advaitic Songs, however, that Om most fully embraced their own breadth and the mystical visions their sound could conjure.

Cisneros, together with drummer Emil Amos (also Grails, Holy Sons) and keyboardist/multi-instrumentalist Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe (also Lichens) cast forth five lush, beautiful and meditative soundscapes, spiritual without being dogmatic, groundbreaking without being pretentious, and more adventurous in their arrangements of piano, table, strings, keys, flute and vocals than Om had ever been.

While it’s true we’re still waiting for a follow-up, we’d be lying if we said Advaitic Songs still didn’t offer something new every time we listened to it. Seriously. If you haven’t already, you should put on “Gethsemane” immediately. You know we’re right.

Om’s headlining appearance at Freak Valley 2018 will be an exclusive and one of only two shows so far announced that the band will play in Europe next year. The other will be June 2 at the Piraeus 117 Academy in Athens, Greece, presented by Smoke the Fuzz Gigs.

This is just the start for Freak Valley 2018! Stay tuned for more bands, ticket presales and much more info to come!

www.freakvalley.de
https://www.facebook.com/freakvalley
https://www.facebook.com/events/738782742996668/
https://twitter.com/FreakValley

Om, Advaitic Songs (2012)