Posted in Whathaveyou on March 2nd, 2020 by JJ Koczan
Heading out from their home base in Portland, Oregon, heavy rockers essay for college life online from us because our writers ensure that whatever essay work leave their desks guarantee high benefits to the clients for the smallest Hippie Death Cult will do a weekender this month headed into Washington for a couple dates that will serve as a precursor to broader ranging as Spring takes hold. They’re booked on consecutive April nights at dissertation report on capital budgeting All About Me Writing Paper custom admission essay public administration 2015 06 4691 discussion essay Electric Highway Fest and Write my http://www.swapkit.ie/?writing-help-usask really cheap! - Don't worry about your writing assignments and enjoy you college life with our trusted essay writing help agency! Rocky Mountain Riff Fest in Calgary and Montana, respectively, and they’ll continue to peruse the West Coast later in May en route to You tried to write a college essay? You will see that our Writing Essays For College Students will give you a reputation of a good student that is always well Stoned and Dusted in Joshua Tree while they and the rest of the universe await the advent of 2020’s Read and Download http://www.dbasket.es/writing-expository-essay/ Free Ebooks in PDF format - CALIFORNIA ALGEBRA 1 WORKBOOK ANSWERS JUMBLED SENTENCES WITH ANSWERS ICS 100 ANSWERS FINAL Psycho Las Vegas, which is sure to be the endtimes madness you and I and everyone we know have been craving all along. Certainly nice to seeing them do more than twiddle their thumbs until that arrives, however, as their French Paper has http://cis.kdu.edu.ua/?pay-to-get-a-research-paper-done manufacturing capabilities to match any color, weight or texture, with the lowest minimums in the industry. Learn more. Cursed Tongue Records-issued debut, Searching for a http://bmatovu.com/virginia-mfa-creative-writing? We are what you were looking for! Only expert academic writing assistance from professional writers is 111 (review here), was both well received and a cause worthy of supporting.
So get out there, you crazy kids, and do that rock and roll thing. I think it’s gonna be big. Like Hula-Hoops big.
PR wire me ASAP:
Portland Oregon’s heavy Rock N’ Roll outfit Hippie Death Cult have announced upcoming tour dates in western US and Canada for this spring and summer in support of their debut record “111” (Cursed Tongue Records).
As part of the trek, the band will be appearing at Calgary, Alberta’s The Electric Highway Festival, The Rocky Mountain Riff Fest in Kalispell, Montana, Stoned And Dusted in the Mojave Desert and Psycho Las Vegas 2020 this summer. The band will be joined by an array of local and touring bands city to city. More information regarding each line up will surface in the coming weeks and months.
Though there is no official release information at this time, the group has confirmed that they will be entering the studio intermittently between these dates to record a follow up to “111”. They have also confirmed that they will be peppering in new material during their live sets throughout the tour.
Guitarist Eddie Brnabic comments on the new music:
“We are extremely excited about this new material. Some of it is heavier and faster, some of it is more mellow and trippy … it’s definitely us, but it doesn’t sound like anything on “111”. I hope everyone else will dig it as much as we do. There’s certainly a lot of love and passion going into it and I personally couldn’t be happier with how the band is maturing and evolving together”
3.19 Chehalis, WA @ McFiler’s 3.20 Seattle WA @ Substation 3.21 Portland, OR @ High Water Mark 3.22 Eugene, OR @ Sessions 4.5 Portland, OR @ Lola’s Room w/King Buffalo 4.15 Spokane, WA @ Big Dipper 4.16 Missoula, MT @ The Badlander 4.17 Calgary, AB @ Royal Canadian Legion Branch 1 (Electric Highway Fest) 4.18 Kalispell, MT @ Eagles 234 (Rocky Mountain Riff Fest) 4.30 Seattle, WA @ El Corazón 5.1 Vancouver, BC @ East Van Live 5.2 Bellingham, WA @ The Shakedown 5.8 Reno, NV @ Jub Jub’s 5.9 Oakland, CA @ Elbo Room w/ Psychic Hit 5.10 Santa Cruz, CA @ The Catalyst 5.21 Las Vegas, NV @ Count’s Vamp’d 5.22 Anaheim, CA @ Doll Hut 5.23 San Diego, CA @ Pour House 5.24 Joshua Tree, CA @ Stoned & Dusted Fest 8.7 Portland, OR @ Star Theater w/ Elder 8.14 Las Vegas, NV @ Psycho Las Vegas 2020
Poster art by Eddie Brnabic Photo Credit : Mick Olorsky
Hippie Death Cult is: Eddie Brnabic – Guitar Laura Phillips – Bass Ryan Moore – Drums Ben Jackson – Vocals & Keys
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 12th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
Last time, when If you dream "http://infora.rs/en/author/vesna/" - custom paper writing service's experts are there to lend a helping hand 24*7! Check out our pocket-friendly options to The Electric Highway 2020 called out its preliminary lineup, I decided to roll with calling it the inaugural-ish edition of the Calgary-based festival, as it’s grown out of the If you want to Law Assignment Help Sydney, there are some effective tips that will guide you in the right direction to your academic success. 420 Music & Arts Festival of years prior, but still, there’s no question they’re doing it up for the occasion of the new name and presentation. Poster art by none other than HandMadeWritings is well known for it's Phd Thesis Methodology Sections. Choose one of the best expert editors for your thesis editing. We are 24/7 ready to help you. David Paul Seymour has been unveiled, Get top notch assistance from the best research http://tk2you.com/shop/?essay-writing-service-manchester around Edubirdie.com! We are here to help you with research proposal papers! Mothership have joined on with see it here, financial plan and marketing plan writing. We are providing professional, affordable & custom business writing service. Sasquatch, How good is it for you to find more only after you are fully satisfied with it? Our professionals will in addition teach you how to write a Wo Fat and Writing a literature review may be boring or tiresome. cheap essay writing website help from the trusted professionals and be on the road to success Duel near the top of a Texas-dominant lineup — Do you want to complete your paper with custom Essay About Travelling And Tourism? Never be concerned only hire our professionals for outstanding solutions. Sasquatch being the outlier geographically — and a pre-show has been announced with Seattle’s Year of the Cobra crossing the border to headline. These updates would seem to complete the proceedings as they’ll proceed, but of course April’s still a couple months out and you know, subject to change and all that. Still, it looks like a pretty badass time if you can make it.
Info came down the PR wire:
Festival Line-Up Announced! All Roads Lead To The Electric Highway In Calgary, AB, Canada!
Buckle up for The Electric Highway Festival, two days of killer bands, rad artists and fuzzy vibes April 17 & 18, 2020 at the historic Royal Canadian Legion #1 in downtown Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
The Electric Highway Festival has completed its lineup with the addition of the mighty Mothership from Dallas, Texas. The Supersonic Intergalactic Heavy Rock trio’s goal from the beginning has been to carry on the tradition of the classic rock style of the ’70s, updated and amped up for the modern-day. Mothership have created a unique sound that satisfies like a steaming hot stew of UFO and Iron Maiden, blended with the southern swagger of Molly Hatchet and ZZ Top, paired with a deadly chalice of Black Sabbath. Do not miss this chance to hop on board and join Mothership as they tear across the Universal Cosmos!
The Electric Highway Festival has also added Vancouver’s Empress to the lineup. Both Mothership and Empress will be performing at the festival on Saturday, April 18, 2020. That brings the total number of bands performing during the festival to 22.
The Electric Highway Festival is excited to release its official artwork created by the renowned dark surreal artist David Paul Seymour. David Paul Seymour is an internationally known illustrator based in Minneapolis, MN who has created artwork for Municipal Waste, Conan, Mastodon as well as Shadow Weaver and Wo Fat who are both performing at The Electric Highway Festival in 2020. David Paul Seymour is also a driving force behind The Planet of Doom, an Animated Tale of Metal and Art and the creator of the Kumasan comic series.
The rest of the 2020 lineup brings an electric offering of North American bands featuring headliners Sasquatch and Wo Fat laying down their brand of fuzzy, kick-ass Desert Rock & Heavy Psych. Duel from Austin, Texas will be playing Canada for the 1st time at The Electric Highway Festival along with Hippie Death Cult & LáGoon both from Portland, Oregon. Festival favorites La Chinga return from Vancouver for their 4th appearance and Calgary’s Gone Cosmic & Buzzard from Victoria, BC are just a few more of the wicked bands that will be playing on two stages over the two days of The Electric Highway Festival, the full lineup below.
The Electric Highway Official Lineup: Sasquatch (Los Angeles, CA) Wo Fat (Dallas, TX) Mothership (Dallas, TX) Duel (Austin, TX) La Chinga (Vancouver, BC) Gone Cosmic (Calgary, AB) Hippie Death Cult (Portland, OR) LáGoon (Portland, OR) Buzzard (Victoria, BC) Chunkasaurus (Victoria, BC) Bazaraba (Calgary, AB) Shadow Weaver (Calgary, AB) Father Moon (Calgary, AB) Set & Stoned (Crossfield, AB) Row of Giants (Calgary, AB) Hemptress (Kamloops, BC) Pink Cocoon (Montreal, QC) The Sleeping Legion (Winnipeg, MB) The Basement Paintings (Saskatoon, SK) Empress (Vancouver, BC) Locutus (Calgary, AB) The Worst (Calgary, AB)
The Electric Highway Festival is also getting the whole thing started with a Kick-Off Party on Thursday, April 16th, 2020 at The Palomino Smokehouse & Social Club. This killer line up features Seattle powerhouse psychedelic doom duo Year of the Cobra as they return to Calgary. They will be joined by Calgary’s Bloated Pig, Outlaws of Ravenhurst, and newcomers Falcotron along with Red Deer’s Smoothsayer.
2 Day Festival Pass holders can pick up their wristbands a day early at The Electric Highway Festival Kick-Off Party. This event will be free for festival pass holders or $13 at the door for non-pass holders. (Space is limited so make sure to get their early!) Pre-order merch sales will also be available for pick up at this event too. Beat the lineup and come for some bands, beer & BBQ at the Pal!
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 6th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
So let me get this out of the way and say that the whole friggin’ Stoned and Dusted 2020 lineup is incredible. Kudos to the California Desert Wizards Association, which is the mysterious entity putting on the festival out in the Mojave, both at Pappy and Harriet’s and in the open air itself, taking place outside with camping and all the rest of it. Whole thing, great job. Okay. But seriously, at the first night of the thing, they’ve got Los Dug Dugs from Mexico City playing, and if you’ve never dug-dug into their stuff, it’s yet another lost classic of the heavy ’70s that’s begging to be heard. That’s an impressive get through and through. Nicely done.
Now, onto the rest. Yawning Man, Brant Bjork, Corrosion of Conformity, Masters of Reality, Dead Meadow, Earthless, Mos Generator, Big Scenic Nowhere, The Well. The inclusion of all of the last three I assume means that Tony Reed of Mos Generator and Ian Graham and Lisa Alley of The Well will take part in the Big Scenic Nowhere set — could be a package tour in the making there — and it doesn’t seem unreasonable to expect Mario Lalli might be on hand to play bass either, as Yawning Man will be playing the first night.
Toss in Hippie Death Cult, Helms Alee, The Heavy Eyes, BALA, Jesika von Rabbit, Sean Wheeler, Hammer of the Ozz and a few more TBA, not to mention Mad Alchemy doing the lights, and you’ve got a three-night desert party that’s very, very clearly going to be something special for those fortunate enough to be there to witness it.
To that end, tickets go on sale Saturday, as per the PR wire:
STONED AND DUSTED 2020 LINEUP
Yeah buddy! Here it comes again! Are you ready?! Finally the scoop on this year’s Stoned and Dusted party, brought to you by your California Desert Wizards Association.
In 2020 we have THREE NIGHTS of fun: Friday May 22nd; Saturday May 23rd; and Sunday May 24th.
STONED AND DUSTED WELCOME PARTY: On Friday May 22 we have a very special lineup at California’s most famous cantina, Pappy & Harriet’s. Friday’s show is on the indoor stage and we are proud to present 1970’s psych legends from Mexico City, Los Dug Dugs, with desert legends Yawning Man and more TBA.
STONED AND DUSTED ROADHOUSE: On Saturday May 23 we are doing it up again at Pappy & Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace (outside stage), our favorite dusty, desert roadhouse. Pack your earplugs, rolling papers and bring a designated driver for this insane lineup: Corrosion of Conformity, Masters of Reality, Brant Bjork, Helms Alee, BALA and a late show inside from Jesika von Rabbit.
STONED AND DUSTED CAMPOUT: On Sunday May 24 we invite you to a generator party – a Memorial Day concert, cookout and campout at a secret desert location. You can camp on site and party with your friends and fellow desert wizards late into the night. The boulders are there; we are bringing the rock! Dead Meadow, Earthless, Big Scenic Nowhere, The Well, The Heavy Eyes, Mos Generator, Sean Wheeler Y Los Caminos, Hippie Death Cult and Hammer of the Ozz. The Mad Alchemy Liquid Light Show will light up the desert once again this year.
General on-sale begins late this Saturday night, Feb 8, around midnight into Sunday morning. Go to our website and join our email list for more information.
STONED AND DUSTED PRE-PARTY $22 STONED AND DUSTED ROADHOUSE $60 STONED AND DUSTED CAMPOUT $230
For the STONED AND DUSTED CAMPOUT, we also offer a camping gear add-on for those who can’t fly with a tent and want to camp out under desert skies.
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 30th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
Danzig doing the Lucifuge record, plus Emperor and Mercyful Fate on US exclusives. In the age of spectacle, Psycho Las Vegas stands apart from its otherwise-might-be peers. There’s a method to all this madness. A plan in action. These people aren’t stupid — this isn’t a stupid lineup, unless you mean “stupid” in an emphatic sense. That’s what Psycho Las Vegas is: emphasis realized. The chaos is the mission. How could there be a more suitable complement to this year, this moment in human history? This is happening at a fucking casino. In Las Vegas. Do you understand what I’m telling you? Do you understand you surreal that is? Repulsion are playing a god damned casino. On a bill with The Flaming Lips and Katatonia. This is your brain on… fire, I guess?
A couple weeks ago — days ago? hours? I have no idea what day it is or why I should be expected to know; I’ve actually set an alarm to post this at the right time in an effort not to screw it up which I probably will anyhow — I happened to have some quick email correspondence with the souls behind the genre-consuming beast of a festival that is Psycho Las Vegas 2020 and I made my BIG PITCH for coverage. Want to know what it was? What it basically boiled down to was, “How about you guys bring me out to the festival and put me up for four days, I take a bunch of mushrooms, maybe go see some bands and write whatever the hell I want?”
Their answer was yes, so that’s my plan. I think Psycho deserves nothing less than me ranting about I don’t know probably cultural decay, self-hate manifest as pretentious judgmentalism, and not eating for four days? Yeah, that sounds good. I’ll go with that.
The schedule isn’t out yet, but it’s clearly a choose-your-adventure festival. For those seeing HOT TIPS from an internet influencer, you’re on the wrong goddamn site. I’m the guy who spent half his morning cleaning up animal piss at his mom’s house. I’ll say though that along with the gargantuan proportion of the headliners — come on, Danzig doing Danzig II is brilliant and you know it — and all the indie, emo and post-hardcore stuff that, yeah okay, I get it, the aughts were a thing for some people (not for me; was too drunk to remember any of it), it’s righteous to see such a huge event in addition to telling Coachella to suck its ass continuing to commit to the heavy underground. My chosen adventure will include but not be limited to placing priority on Lord Buffalo, Blackwater Holylight, Fatso Jetson (of course), Mothership (the context is too good to pass up), Hippie Death Cult and… yes… Katatonia. Because they’re the wintriest band ever and it’ll be 100 degrees. The most Psycho move ever would be to put them on the pool stage. Keeping my fingers crossed that’s how it works out. Shit, put Mayhem out there while we’re at it.
That’s all provided I’m not too out of my mind to leave the hotel room.
Here’s a poster and words in blue. See you there, sort of:
PSYCHO LAS VEGAS 2020 – COMPLETE LINEUP
DANZIG (Celebrating 30 years of “Lucifuge”) MERCYFUL FATE (2020 USA Exclusive) EMPEROR (2020 USA Exclusive) THE FLAMING LIPS BLUE OYSTER CULT DOWN (Celebrating 25 years of “Nola”) BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB TY SEGALL WARPAINT MAYHEM SATYRICON WATAIN BLONDE REDHEAD HEALTH OBITUARY ULVER (2020 USA Exclusive) KATATONIA AT THE GATES POISON THE WELL TSOL CROWBAR EXHORDER WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM THURSDAY PINBACK ZOLA JESUS DRAB MAJESTY BORIS KING DUDE PAUL CAUTHEN AMIGO THE DEVIL EYEHATEGOD PIG DESTROYER REPULSION IMMOLATION MIDNIGHT MGLA WINDHAND CURSIVE BRUTUS PROFANATICA LOWER DENS BLACK JOE LEWIS INTRONAUT BOYSETSFIRE DEATH BY STEREO CURL UP AND DIE ADAMANTIUM THIS WILL DESTROY YOU KHEMMIS MOTHERSHIP GUANTANAMO BAYWATCH DENGUE FEVER KAELAN MIKLA BLACKWATER HOLYLIGHT FATSO JETSON WINO (ACOUSTIC) CREEPING DEATH MEPHISTOFELES FRANKIE AND THE WITCH FINGERS TOKE FOIE GRAS FLAVOR CRYSTALS SILVERTOMB LORD BUFFALO WARISH ALMS BOMBERS GLACIAL TOMB RELAXER HIPPIE DEATH CULT VAELMYST MOTHER MERCURY DJ SCOTT SELTZER
Psycho Entertainment & MGM Entertainment present PSYCHO SWIM
Lineup: OLD MAN GLOOM ELDER THE SKULL DEATH VALLEY GIRLS BLACKWATER HOLYLIGHT HERE LIES MAN POLYRHYTHMICS DJ SCOTT SELTZER
Tickets for PSYCHO LAS VEGAS as well as the PSYCHO SWIM pre-party, which requires a separate ticket from the main festival pass, are on sale now!
Tickets for all PSYCHO LAS VEGAS events can be purchased at VivaPsycho.com or AXS.com.
Posted in Bootleg Theater on January 17th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
The riff that opens Hippie Death Cult‘s 111 (review here) sounds so much like Alice in Chains‘ “Junkhead” to my ears that I keep half-expecting Layne Staley to start in with the “yeah-yeah”s over the lumbering guitar of Eddie Brnabic. He doesn’t, of course, but the key word there is “keep” — as in, I keep listening. To that song, to the album in general, and to the rampant praise that’s flooded over 111 before and since its release on vinyl through Cursed Tongue Records.
Usually that kind of thing is an immediate turnoff for me, and indeed, all the “holy shit!” around the work of Brnabic (who also recorded, mixed and mastered the album initially; Tony Reed did vinyl mastering, as he will), vocalist/keyboardist Ben Jackson (also of the undervalued Sioux), bassist Laura Phillips and drummer Ryan Moore (who was also in Nether Regions) had me hesitant to really dig into the record. And I’m not saying my opinion means anything one way or the other, because it doesn’t, but the fact is there is a draw to 111 that not only holds attention in the immediate, but keeps the listener coming back, in part to figure out what that draw is.
Near as I can estimate, it’s the balance of Brnabic‘s tone, which is very much at the forefront of the band’s sound and sets their range in terms of depth of mix, driving both their heaviest moments and the acoustic centerpiece interlude “Mrtyu,” etc., and Jackson‘s soulful, at times gruff, vocals. The singer brings a bluesy sensibility that, in a song like the penultimate “Treehugger,” for which you can see a video premiering below — if you didn’t already see it premiering on YouTube at midnight Pacific last night; always love getting the exclusive, thanks y’all — almost touches on country, as though Hippie Death Cult were filtering a Texas heavy rock mindset through Portland’s attention to detail when it comes to tones and riffy tradition. With subtle lyrics touching on issues of faith and politics in opener “Sanctimonious” and elsewhere, there’s all the more depth to explore for the audience.
You’ll note the rhythm section has gone yet-unmentioned. That’s because their work is an utter given. Phillips, who also did some of the camera work in the video, alongside Brnabic and Alice Kollinzas, and Moore nail down and fill out the grooves of 111 with an understated fluidity that is never overly showy but is also never anything less than it needs to be. The balance, in other words, is just right, and in the respective eight- and nine-minute side A and B finales, “Unborn” and “Black Snake,” the full band works to enhance each other’s contributions so that it’s not just about the guitar or the vocals or the bass, drums or keys. It’s all of it, together. Considering 111 is a first album as the title would seem to indicate, this accomplishment isn’t to be understated.
Preorders are up as of today for the Cursed Tongue repress of 111, and you’ll find that info under the video for “Treehugger” below, courtesy of the PR wire.
Please enjoy:
Hippie Death Cult, “Treehugger” official video premiere
CURSED TONGUE RECORDS IS DELIGHTED TO ANNOUNCE: PRE-ORDER AND OFFICIAL RELEASE DATE FOR THE REPRESS OF GRUNGY STONER DOOM ALBUM ‘111’ BY HIPPIE DEATH CULT
Due to continued high demand for the vinyl release of HIPPIE DEATH CULT’s debut album ‘111’ that has sold out completely from the label and all distros, we are thrilled to announce the REPRESS of this belter of an album!
HIPPIE DEATH CULT have been hitting it hard since laset summer both live on the stage and in the online spheres, where they have amazed many heavy heads across the globe as well as received an impressive amount of high ranking scores on a wide array of Best Of 2019 charts. Now a new year has begun and more new endavours lie at the feet of the death cult hippies in 2020.
The REPRESS of “111” on dark ‘Treehugger Green’ vinyl will see the light of day on February 14 2020 via Cursed Tongue Records with pre-orders starting later today!
This premium vinyl release boasts high quality 180 grams vinyl plated and pressed in Germany, housed in 6mm spine full colour gatefold cover with smoking hot artwork by the singer Ben Jackson in collaboration with guitarist Eddie Brnabic. This CTR Exclusive REPRESS is ltd. to just 300 copies and comes with a super rad A3 sized poster by Shane Horror Design (ltd. 100 copies) and digital download coupon for the full album plus two kickass stickers.
So if you missed out on the 1st pressing or simply want to add this sick REPRESS edition to your vinyl collection, now is time to start your engines!
Video produced, Shot & Edited By : Eddie Brnabic Additional footage shot by Laura Phillips & Alice Kollinzas
Hippie Death Cult live: Feb 07 Hawthorne Theatre Portland, OR Mar 19 McFiler’s Chehalis, WA Mar 20 Substation Seattle, WA Mar 21 High Water Mark Lounge Portland, OR Mar 22 Sessions Music Hall Eugene, OR Apr 15 The Big Dipper Spokane, WA Apr 16 Badlander Missoula, MT Apr 17 Royal Canadian Legion Branch 1 Calgary, AB Apr 17 Rocky Mountain Riff Fest Kalispell, MT
Hippie Death Cult are: Eddie Brnabic : Guitar Laura Phillips : Bass Ryan Moore : Drums Ben Jackson : Vocals/Keys
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 6th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
A little bit of Cali, a little bit of Texas, a little bit of Portland, Oregon, and a whole lot of locals — the first lineup for The Electric Highway has been unveiled and the Calgary-based festival’s mission would seem to be directed toward kickass heavy and stoner rock. Thus, Sasquatch and Wo Fat headlining with Nebula and Duel also on board. And hey man, if you threw any kind of heavy rock and roll party in the entire nation of Canada — and Canada if frickin’ huge — and you didn’t at least invite La Chinga let alone actually have them play, your ass would just be negligent. That’s a band that’s never gonna do anything but make a strong rock bill stronger.
Calling this the inaugural The Electric Highway is fair enough, since it seems to be working under its own concept — pinball tournament! — but it formerly operated under the banner of the 420 Music and Arts Festival, and had a few years to its credit in that form. Still, a new name is a new name, so alright. Maybe “inaugural” with an asterisk. “Inaugural-ish.”
The PR wire has details. The fest has a hashtag that’s probably good advice anyway:
All Roads Lead To The Electric Highway Festival In Calgary, AB, Canada!
#BuckleUp baby, The Electric Highway is excited to announce our inaugural lineup! We wanted to put something special together for our first trip on the Highway and with over 20 bands in two daze, we think we have done exactly that…
Day One, Friday, April 17th Wo Fat from Dallas, Texas will be returning with their brand of Psychedelic Heavy Blues to headline night one, and we are flying in their bro’s in DUEL to share the stage with them that night too! Also laying waste to Friday night are BC’s Buzzard & CHUNKASAURUS, coming all the way from Portland, Oregon we have Hippie Death Cult & LáGoon, joining us from Montreal is PINK COCOON, and representing our amazing local scene will be Father Moon, Locutus, Row of Giants and The WORST.
Then on Day Two, Saturday, April 18th bringing the fuzz from California, we are STOKED AF to welcome back the mighty Sasquatch to headline our whole party and are psyched to have their buds Nebula along for the ride! As for the rest of Saturday, it just wouldn’t be a party without Vancouver’s La Chinga on the bill, along with local faves Gone Cosmic, Bazaraba, and Shadow Weaver from Calgary, Crossfield, Alberta’s Set & Stoned, Hemptress from Kamloops, BC, The Sleeping Legion from Winnipeg and rounding out our first lineup, from Saskatoon, The Basement Paintings.
The Electric Highway is taking place at the Royal Canadian Legion #1 in downtown Calgary, AB, Canada on April 17 & 18, 2020. Tickets go on sale at 10am MDT on Tuesday, November 5, 2019 at https://theelectrichighway.ecwid.com/.
The Electric Highway Official Lineup: Sasquatch (Los Angeles, CA) Wo Fat (Dallas, TX) Nebula (Los Angeles, CA) Duel (Austin, TX) La Chinga (Vancouver, BC) Gone Cosmic (Calgary, AB) Hippie Death Cult (Portland, OR) LáGoon (Portland, OR) Buzzard (Victoria, BC) Chunkasaurus (Victoria, BC) Bazaraba (Calgary, AB) Shadow Weaver (Calgary, AB) Father Moon (Calgary, AB) Set & Stoned (Crossfield, AB) Row of Giants (Calgary, AB) Hemptress (Kamloops, BC) Pink Cocoon (Montreal, QC) The Sleeping Legion (Winnipeg, MB) The Basement Paintings (Saskatoon, SK) Locutus (Calgary, AB) The Worst (Calgary, AB)
Posted in Reviews on October 3rd, 2019 by JJ Koczan
I’d like to find the jerk who decided that the week I fly to Norway was a good time for the Quarterly Review. That, obviously, was a tactical error on my part. Nonetheless, we press on with day four, which I post from Oslo on CET. Whatever time zone you may find yourself in this Thursday, I hope you have managed to find something so far in this onslaught of whatnot to sink your chompers into. That’s ultimately, why we’re here. Also because there are so many folders with albums in them on my desktop that I can’t stand it anymore. Happens about every three months.
But anyhoozle, we press on with Day Four of the Fall 2019 Quarterly Review, dutiful and diligent and a couple other words that start with ‘d.’ Mixed bag stylistically this time — trying to throw myself off a bit — so should be fun. Let’s dive in.
Quarterly Review #31-40:
Total Fucking Destruction, #USA4TFD
Who the hell am I to be writing about a band like Total Fucking Destruction? I don’t know. Who the hell am I to be writing about anything. Fuck you. As the Rich Hoak (Brutal Truth)-led Philly natives grind their way through 23 tracks in a 27-minute barrage of deceptively thoughtful sonic extremity, they efficiently chronicle the confusion, tumult and disaffection of our age both in their maddening energy and in the poetry — yeah, I said it — of their lyrics. To it, from “Is Your Love a Rainbow”: “Are you growing? Is everything okay? Are you growing in the garden of I don’t know?” Lines like this are hardly decipherable without a lyric sheet, of course, but still, they’re there for those ready to look beyond the surface assault of the material, though, frankly, that assault alone would be enough to carry the band — Hoak on drums/vocals, Dan O’Hare on guitar/vocals and Ryan Moll on bass/vocals — along their willfully destructive course. For their fourth LP in 20 years — most of that time given to splits and shorter releases, as one might expect — Total Fucking Destruction make their case for an end of the world that, frankly, can’t get here fast enough.
Issued first by the band digitally and on CD and then by Cursed Tongue Records on vinyl, 111 is the impressively toned debut full-length from Portland, Oregon’s Hippie Death Cult, who cull together heavy rock and post-grunge riffing with flourish of organ and a densely-weighted groove that serves as an overarching and uniting factor throughout. With the bluesy, classic feeling vocals of Ben Jackson cutting through the wall of fuzz from Eddie Brnabic‘s guitar and Laura Phillips‘ bass set to roll by Ryan Moore‘s drumming, there’s never any doubt as to where Hippie Death Cult are coming from throughout the seven-track/42-minute offering, but longer, side-ending pieces “Unborn” (8:24) and “Black Snake” (9:06) touch respectively on psychedelia and heavy blues in a way that emphasizes the subtle turns that have been happening all along, not just in shifts like the acoustic “Mrtyu,” but in the pastoral bridge and ensuing sweep of “Pigs” as well. “Sanctimonious” and “Breeder’s Curse” provide even ground at the outset, and from there, Hippie Death Cult only grow richer in sound along their way.
Heavyweight Glaswegian space jammers The Cosmic Dead present four massive slabs of lysergic intensity with their eighth long-player, Scottish Space Race (on Riot Season Records), working quickly to pull the listener into their gravity well and holding them there for the 2LP’s 75-minute duration. As hypnotic as it is challenging, the initial churn that emerges in the aptly-named 20-minute opener “Portal” clenches the stomach brutally, and it’s not until after about 12 minutes that the band finally lets it loose. “Ursa Major,” somewhat thankfully, is more serene, but still carries a sense of movement and build in its second half, while the 12-minute title-track is noisier and has the surprising inclusion of vocals from the generally instrumental outfit. They cap with the 24-minute kosmiche throb of “The Grizzard,” and there are vocals there too, but they’re too obscured to be really discernible in any meaningful way, and of course the end of the record itself is a huge wash of fuckall noise. Eight records deep, The Cosmic Dead know what they’re doing in this regard, and they do it among the best of anyone out there.
With just three tracks across a 20-minute span, There are More Things (on Acid Cosmonaut) feels like not much more than a sampler of things to come from Italian post-sludgers Greenthumb, who take their name from a Bongzilla track they also covered on their 2018 debut EP, West. The three-songer feels like a decided step forward from that offering, and though they maintain their screamier side well enough, they might be on the verge of needing a new name, as the rawness conveyed by the current moniker hardly does justice to the echoing atmospherics the band in their current incarnation bring. Launching with the two seven-minute cuts “The Field” and “Ogigia’s Tree,” they unfurl a breadth of roll so as to ensnare the listener, and though “The Black Court” is shorter at 5:37 and a bit more straight-ahead in its structure, it still holds to the ambient sensibility of its surroundings well, the band obviously doing likewise in transposing a natural feel into their sound born of landscape real or imagined.
Riffy Sardinians Elepharmers set themselves to roll with “Ancient Astronauts” and do not stop from there on Lords of Galaxia, their third LP and debut through Electric Valley Records. There are some details of arrangement between the guitars of El Chino (also bass, vocals and harmonica) and Andrea “Fox” Cadeddu and the drums of Maurizio Mura, but as Marduk heralds his age on second cut “Ziqqurat,” the central uniting factor is g-r-o-o-v-e, and Elepharmers have it down through “The Flood” and into side B’s classic stoner rocking “Foundation” and the driving “The Mule,” which shifts into laser-effects ahead of the fade that brings in closer “Stars Like Dust” for the last 10 minutes of the 47-minute offering. And yes, there’s some psychedelia there, but Elepharmers stay pretty clearheaded on the whole in such a way as to highlight the sci-fi theme that seems to draw the songs together as much as the riffage. More focus on narrative can only help bring that out more, but I’m not sure I’d want that at the expense of the basic songwriting, which isn’t at all broken and thus requires no fixing.
How do you recognize true misanthropy when you come across it? It doesn’t wear a special kind of facepaint, though it can. It doesn’t announce itself as such. It is a frame. Something genuinely antisocial and perhaps even hateful is a worldview. It’s not raise-a-claw-in-the-woods. It’s he-was-a-quiet-loner. And so, coming across the debut album from Los Angeles experimentalist doom outfit, one gets that lurking, creeping feeling of danger even though the music itself isn’t overly abrasive. But across the 2CD debut album, a sprawl of darkened, viciously un-produced fare that seems to be built around programmed drums at the behest of Craig Osbourne — who may or may not be the only person in the band and isn’t willing to say otherwise — plays out over the course of more than two hours like a manifesto found after the fact. Imagine chapters called “Hope is Weakness,” “Fingered by the Hand of God,” and “Uplift the Worthy (Destroy the Weak).” The last of those appears on both discs — as do several of the songs in different incarnations — as the track marries acoustic and eventual harder-edged guitar around murderous themes, sounding something like Godflesh might have if they’d pursued a darker path. Scary.
The fact that Warish are blasting hard punk through heavy blowout tones isn’t what everyone wants to talk about when it comes to the band. They want to talk about the fact that it’s Riley Hawk — of royal stock, as regards pro skateboarding — fronting the band. Well, that’s probably good for a built-in social media following — name recognition never hurts, and I don’t see a need to pretend otherwise — but it doesn’t do shit for the album itself. What matters about the album is that bit about the blasting blowout. With Down in Flames (on RidingEasy), the Oceanside three-piece follow-up their earlier-2019 debut EP with 11 tracks that touch on horror punk with “Bones” and imagine grunge-unhinged with “Fight” and “You’ll Abide,” but are essentially a display of tonal fuckall presented not to add to a brand, but to add the soundtrack to somebody’s blackout. It’s a good time and the drunkest, gnarliest, most-possibly-shirtless dude in the room is having it. Also he probably smells. And he just hugged you. Down in Flames gets high with that dude. That matters more than who anyone’s dad is.
It’s a double-dose of New England doom as Connecticut’s Mourn the Light and Boston’s Oxblood Forge pair up for a split release. The former bring more material than the latter, particularly when one counts the digital-only bonus cover of Candlemass‘ “Bewitched,” but with both groups, it’s a case of what-you-see-is-what-you-get. Both groups share a clear affinity for classic metal — and yes, that absolutely extends to the piano-led drama of Mourn the Light‘s mournful “Carry the Flame” — but Oxblood Forge‘s take thereupon is rougher edged, harder in its tone and meaner in the output. Their “Screams From Silence” feels like something from a dubbed-and-mailed tape circa ’92. Mourn the Light’s “Drags Me Down” is cleaner-sounding, but no less weighted. I don’t think either band is out to change the world, or even to change doom, but they’re doing what they’re doing well and without even an ounce of pretense — well, maybe a little bit in that piano track; but it’s very metal pretense — and clearly from the heart. That might be the most classic-metal aspect of all.
Swiss heavy rockers Those Furious Flames push the boundaries of psychedelia, but ultimately remain coherent in their approach. Likewise, they very, very obviously are into some classic heavy rock and roll, but their take on it is nothing if not modern. And more, they thrive in these contradictions and don’t at all sound like their songs are in conflict with themselves. I guess that’s the kind of thing one can pull off after 15 years together on a fifth full-length, which HeartH (on Vincebus Eruptum) is for them. Perhaps it’s the fact that they let the energy of pieces like “VooDoo” and the boogie-laced “HPPD” carry them rather than try to carry it, but either way, it’s clearly about the songs first, and it works. With added flash of organ amid the full-sounding riffs, Those Furious Flames round out with the spacey “Visions” and earn every bit of the drift therein with a still-resonant vocal harmony. You might not get it all the first time, but listening twice won’t be at all painful.
This is what it’s all about. Four longer-form instrumentalist heavy psych jams that are warm in tone and want nothing so much as to go out wandering and see what they can find. Through “Hydrogen,” “Atmos,” “Delta-V” and “Heliosphere,” Amsterdam-based three-piece Mantra Machine want nothing for gig-style vitality, but their purpose isn’t so much to electrify as to find that perfect moment of chill and let it go, see where it ends up, and they get there to be sure. Warm guitar and bass tones call to mind something that might’ve come out of the Netherlands at the start of this decade, when bands like Sungrazer and The Machine were unfolding such fluidity as seemed to herald a new generation of heavy psychedelia across Europe. That generation took a different shape — several different shapes, in the end — but Mantra Machine‘s Heliosphere makes it easy to remember what was so exciting about that in the first place. Total immersion. Total sense of welcoming. Totally human presence without speaking a word. So much vibe. So much right on.
Doing something different this time. In the past, I’ve posted playlists after the show airs, as recaps. This time, it’s before, in case, you know, you actually want to listen to the thing.
It’s a good show, and kind of back to normal as regards general methodology. A lot of new music, which makes me happy, and some Acrimony for a classic track, which I feel like I may have done before but seemed relevant to me anyway for reasons that will become clear over the next however long — ooh, intrigue! — and the title-tracks from new High on Fire and Mars Red Sky EPs. Had to get that High on Fire in there in light of Des leaving the band. Still really curious to see what they’re like without him.
A lot of this stuff has been covered around here lately — Horseburner, Pale Grey Lore, Monarch, Wolf Blood, The Ivory Elephant, Dead Feathers — but there’s more that I haven’t yet had the chance to properly write about in bands like Glacier, Sibyl, the new Book of Wyrms and Merlin releases, etc., so I think it’s a cool balance of stuff overall, and the tracks rule. And if you listen to the show, I kind of nerd out a bit about the new Mars Red Sky record, which is always enjoyable. For me, mostly, I suspect. But still.
Fun show. Glad I made it, and it’s the 20th one, which is a genuine surprise. If I was Gimme, I would’ve shitcanned me long ago.
Anyway, check it out if you can, and thanks.
Here’s the full playlist:
The Obelisk Show – 08.02.19
Pale Grey Lore
Before the Fall
Eschatology*
Horseburner
Drowning Bird
The Thief*
High on Fire
Bat Salad
Bat Salad*
BREAK
Mars Red Sky
Collector
Collector*
The Ivory Elephant
Stoneface
Stoneface*
Dead Feathers
Horse and Sands
All is Lost*
Merlin
Chaos Blade
The Mortal*
Hippie Death Cult
Breeder’s Curse
111*
BREAK
Acrimony
Hymns to the Stone
Tumuli Shroomaroom (1997)
Sibyl
Pendulums
The Magic Isn’t Real*
Wolf Blood
Slaughterhouse
II*
Monarch
Counterpart
Beyond the Blue Sky*
Book of Wyrms
Spirit Drifter
Remythologizer*
BREAK
Glacier
O! World! I Remain No Longer Here
No Light Ever*
Frozen Planet….1969
Rollback
Meltdown on the Horizon*
The Obelisk Show on Gimme Radio airs every other Friday at 1PM Eastern, with replays every Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next show is Aug. 16. Thanks for listening if you do.
