Posted in Whathaveyou on December 28th, 2015 by JJ Koczan
It hasn’t yet been a full month since it was revealed that Mantar had signed to Nuclear Blast to release their sophomore LP, Ode to the Flame, in Spring 2016, but already we’re getting a sense of how the Bremen duo will support it. They’ve been added to the lineup for Freak Valley 2016 and presumably that’s the first of many such appearances to come. Mantar got behind their 2014 debut, Death by Burning (review here), pretty hard, what with touring the US alongside Conan and all, so it’s easy to imagine Ode to the Flame will get much the same treatment. And by that I mean driven forcibly into the ears of audiences in various parts of the world.
They found a good place to start:
Hey Freaks!
We think you deserve a later but heavy X-mas present!!
Here you are: German two-piece wall of Noise and Doom MANTAR are confirmed to play FREAK VALLEY FESTIVAL 2016!!
Ugly, slimy, bumpy and brutal, yet at the same time contains some of the catchiest riffs and melodies you’ll hear this side of the Ganges. If High On Fire, ‘Bleach’ era Nirvana and Darkthrone had a meth fueled orgy this would be it’s offspring.
MANTAR manages to sound heavier than most five piece bands you may know, in spite of the fact that no bass guitar is used. Just drums and guitar set for destruction. Forget about Rock ‘n Roll. This will hurt. Flogging beats and blackened melodies meet feedback orgies and doom mayhem.
Please share this amazing cover art by Headbang Design
Line-up 2016: DEAD MEADOW [US] – Psychedelic Stonerrock SPIDERGAWD [NO] – Post-Boogie WHITE HILLS [US] – Fuzzed Out Motorik Psychedelic BABY WOODROSE [DK]- Psychedelic Garagerock LONELY KAMEL [NO]- Heavy Blues, Hardrock & Stoner ROTOR [D] – Instrumental StonerRock/Psychedelic MONOLORD [SW] – Doom/Sludge MANTAR [D] – Death Metal Doom Punk FARFLUNG [US] – Spacerock for 21st Century Heads THE GOLDEN GRASS [US]- Heavy/Funk//Psych/Freakbeat SPIDERS [SW] – Hard/Glam Rock SONS OF HUNS [US] – Heavy Riffin Rock LÉ BETRE [SW] – Bluesy Hardrock
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 1st, 2015 by JJ Koczan
Punishing Hamburg duo Mantar will release their second album, Ode to the Flame, in Spring 2016 via Nuclear Blast. The sophomore outing will be the follow-up to 2014’s much-lauded Death by Burning (review here), and though that record came out on Svart and Brutal Panda — both respected imprints — it’s hard to imagine the new one won’t grab a whole bunch of new ears with Nuclear Blast behind it. As a band that blends elements of raw punk, extreme metal and doom, Mantar would seem to embody numerous reasons to turn a label’s head. Still, if you’d asked me — and you didn’t — I’d have guessed Relapse at least 10 times before Nuclear Blast.
Kudos and congrats to all involved. It’s a safe bet Ode to the Flame will pummel accordingly. Here’s the announcement from the PR wire:
MANTAR sign to Nuclear Blast!
Northern Germany’s infernal extreme metal duo MANTAR have inked a worldwide record deal with Nuclear Blast.
Commented the band: “We never had any plans to think this big with the band, but for some strange reason people seem to dig it. Within just two years we got the chance to play shitloads of shows all over Europe and the USA and meet people from all over the world. Actually, we were not even 100% sure if we wanted to do another record, but there were so many people out there who were begging for more that we just gave it a shot. Well, here we are… Glad to have found a powerful partner that puts trust in the band, respects our DIY background and is able to finally poison the whole world with our records. Never stop the madness!”
Added Nuclear Blast head of A&R and label manager Andy Siry: “MANTAR is the band we’ve been waiting for. Their sheer brutality and passion for honest and deep darkness just blew us away from the get-go. When we met it was just love at first sight. MANTAR is as genuine as it gets – on a musical as well as on a personal level. So, in today’s musical environment of copycats and polished plastic recordings you can tell we’re super excited to be working with a band that is as unique as visionary!”
MANTAR are currently working on the successor to 2014’s critically acclaimed debut album, »Death By Burning«. The band’s second full-length album will be entitled »Ode To The Flame« and is tentatively scheduled for a spring 2016 release.
Ever since their inception in 2013 and the release of their first album in 2014 the band has been recognized as one of the hardest working in the German extreme metal underground. Melting the most sinister elements of styles like black metal, doom and punk, representing unfiltered pure primal rage, MANTAR have proven to be one of a kind. Their extremely intense live shows have been seen all over the world and blown away unaware audiences with their extremely tight and brutal performances. MANTAR is pure evil elemental force captured by only two uber passionate artists that strife for ultimate raw sonic power.
Make sure to catch MANTAR live on their last shows in 2015 this December.
MANTAR 10.12.2015 Essen (DE), Turock 11.12.2015 Haarlem (NL), Patronaat 12.12.2015 Arnhem (NL), Willemeen 13.12.2015 Antwerpen (BE), Kavka 15.12.2015 Stuttgart (DE), Juha West 16.12.2015 Zürich (CH), Dynamo 17.12.2015 Bern (CH), ISC 18.12.2015 Nürnberg (DE), Zentralcafé 19.12.2015 Berlin (DE), Cassiopeia
MANTAR is: Hanno – vocals, guitars Erinc – drums, vocals
The final day of the Quarterly Review is upon us. It has been one hell of a week, I don’t mind saying, but good and productive overall, if in a kind of cruel way. I hope that you’ve been able to find something in sifting through all these releases that you really dig. I have, for whatever that’s worth. Before we dig into the last batch, I just want to thank you for checking in and reading this week. If you’ve seen all five of these or if this is the first bunch you’ve come across, that you’re here at all is appreciated immensely.
Quarterly Review #41-50:
Lucifer, Lucifer I
Vocalist Johanna Sadonis, who burst into the international underground consciousness last year with The Oath, resurfaces following that band’s quick dissolution alongside former Cathedral guitarist and riffer-of-legend Gary “Gaz” Jennings in Lucifer, whose Lucifer I eight-song debut LP is released on Rise Above Records. Joined by bassist Dino Gollnick and drummer Andrew Prestidge, Sadonis and Jennings wind through varied but thoroughly doomed atmospheres across songs like opener “Abracadabra” – the outright silliness of the “magic word” kind of undercutting the cultish impression for which Lucifer are shooting – or early highlights “Purple Pyramid” and “Izrael.” A strong side A rounding out with “Sabbath,” Lucifer I can feel somewhat frontloaded, but on repeat listens, the layered chorus of “White Mountain,” “Morning Star”’s late-arriving chug, the classically echoing “Total Eclipse” and the atmospheric finish of “A Grave for Each One of Us” hold their own. After a strong showing from Lucifer’s debut single, the album doesn’t seem like it will do anything to stop the band’s already-in-progress ascent. Their real test will be in the live arena, but they sustain a thematic ambience across Lucifer I’s 44 minutes, and stand ready to follow Rise Above labelmates Ghost and Uncle Acid toward the forefront of modern doom.
Drone-prone Philadelphia post-metallers Rosetta return with Quintessential Ephemera, the follow-up to 2013’s The Anaesthete and their fifth LP overall, which resounds in its ambience as a reinforcement of how little the band – now a five-piece with the inclusion of guitarist Eric Jernigan – need any hype or genre-push to sustain them. Through a titled intro, “After the Funeral,” through seven untitled tracks of varying oppressiveness and rounding out with the unabashedly pretty instrumental “Nothing in the Guise of Something,” they continue to plug away at their heady approach, relentless in their progression and answering the darker turns of their prior outing with a shift toward a more colorful atmosphere. At 52 minutes, Quintessential Ephemera isn’t a slight undertaking, but if you were expecting one you probably haven’t been paying attention to the last decade of Rosetta’s output. As ever, they are cerebral and contemplative while staying loyal to the need for an emotional crux behind what they do, and the album is both dutiful and forward-looking.
Pressed up by Brutal Panda Records for Stateside issue following a 2014 release in Europe on Svart, Death by Burning is the debut full-length from sans-bass Hamburg duo Mantar – vocalist/guitarist Hanno, drummer/vocalist Erinc – and as much as it pummels and writhes across its thrash-prone 10 tracks, opener “Spit” setting a tone for the delivery throughout, there are flourishes of both character and groove to go with all the bludgeoning throughout standout cuts like “Cult Witness,” “The Huntsmen,” the explosive “White Nights,” “The Stoning” and the more lumbering instrumental closer “March of the Crows,” the two-piece seamlessly drawing together elements of doom, thrash and blackened rock and roll into a seething, tense concoction that’s tonally weighted enough to make one’s ears think they’re hearing bass strings alongside the guitar, but still overarchingly raw in a manner denoting some punk influence. Bonus points for the Tom G. Warrior-style “ough!” grunts that make their way into “The Stoning” and the rolling nod of “Astral Kannibal.” Nasty as hell, but more subtle than one might expect.
Though it seems King Giant’s fate to be persistently underrated, the Virginian dual-guitar five-piece offer their most stylistically complex material to date on their third full-length, Black Ocean Waves (released on The Path Less Traveled Records and Graveyard Hill), recorded by J. Robbins (Clutch, Murder by Death, etc.) as the follow-up to 2012’s Dismal Hollow (streamed here). Still commanded by the vocal presence of frontman Dave Hammerly, the album also finds moments of flourish in the guitars of David Kowalski and Todd “T.I.” Ingram on opener “Mal de Mer,” the leads on “Requiem for a Drunkard” or the intro to extended finishing move “There Were Bells,” bassist Floyd Lee Walters III and drummer Keith Brooks holding down solid rhythms beneath the steady chug of “The One that God Forgot to Save” and “Blood of the Lamb.” Side A closer “Red Skies” might be where it all ties together most, but the full course of Black Ocean Waves’ eight tracks provides a satisfying reminder of the strength in King Giant’s craftsmanship.
The 14 single-word-title tracks of Si Ombrellone’s Horns on the Same Goat were originally recorded in 2006, but for a 2015 release, Connecticut-based multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Simon Tuozzoli (Vestal Claret, King of Salem) took them back into his own UP Recording Studio for touch-ups and remastering. The endeavor is a solo outing for Tuozzoli, styled in a kind of post-grunge rock with Frank Picarazzi playing drums to give a full-band feel, and finds catchy, poppy songwriting coming forward in the layered vocals of “Innocence,” while later, “Forgiveness” and “Darkness” offset each other more in theme than sound, as “Love” and “Hate” had done earlier, the album sticking to its straightforward structures through to six-minute closer “Undone,” which boasts a more atmospheric take. It’s an ambitious project to collect 14 sometimes disparate emotional themes onto a single outing, never mind to do it (mostly) alone – one might write an entire record about “Trust,” say, or “Rage,” which opens – but Tuozzoli matches his craftsmanship with a sincerity that carries through each of these tracks.
Boasting a close relationship to Duster69 and Mother Misery and featuring in their ranks Daredevil Records owner Jochen Böllath, who plays guitar, German heavy rockers Grand Massive revel in commercial-grade Euro-style tonal heft bordering on metallic aggression. 2 is their aptly-titled second EP (on Daredevil) and it finds Böllath, lead guitarist Peter Wisenbacher, vocalist Alex Andronikos, bassist Toby Brandl and drummer Holger Stich running through six crisply-executed tracks of catchy, fist-pumping riffy drive, slowing a bit for the creepy ambience of the interlude “Woods” or the more lurching tension of “I am Atlas,” but most at home in the push of “Backseat Devil” and closer “My Own Sickness,” a mid-paced groove adding to the festival-ready weight Grand Massive conjure. Word is they’re already at work on a follow-up. Fair enough, but 2 has plenty to offer in the meantime in its tight presentation and darker vibes, Grand Massive having been through a wringer of lineup changes and emerged with their songwriting well intact.
Carlton Melton Meets Dr. Space, Live from Roadburn 2014
If you guessed “spacey as hell” as regards this meeting between NorCal psych explorers Carlton Melton and Scott “Dr. Space” Heller of Danish jammers Øresund Space Collective, go ahead and give yourself the prize. Limited to 300 copies worldwide courtesy of Lay Bare Recordings and Space Rock Productions, Carlton Melton Meets Dr. Space’s Live from Roadburn 2014 is a consuming, near-100-minute unfolding, Heller joining Carlton Melton on stage for four of the total seven inclusions, adding his synthesized swirl to the swirling wash, already by then 26 minutes deep after the opening “Country Ways > Spiderwebs” establishes a heady sprawl that only continues to spread farther and farther as pieces unfold, making “Out to Sea” seem an even more appropriate title. It will simply be too much for some, but as somebody who stood and heard the sounds oozing from the stage at Cul de Sac in Tilburg, the Netherlands, as part of the Roadburn 2014 Afterburner event, I can say it was a special trip to behold. It remains so here.
According to El Paraiso Records, Sela was held up as so many releases have been owing to plant production having been overwhelmed by Record Store Day and will be out circa August. Fair enough. Consider this advance warning of Danish improve collective Shiggajon’s first outing for the Causa Sui-helmed imprint, then, and don’t be intimidated as we get closer to the release and people start talking about things like “free jazz” and dropping references to this or that Coltrane. The real deal with Shiggajon – central figures Mikkel Reher-Lanberg (percussion, drums, clarinet) and Nikolai Brix Vartenberg (sax) here joined by Emil Rothenborg (violin, double bass), Martin Aagaard Jensen (drums), Mikkel Elzer (drums, percussion, guitar), Sarah Lorraine Hepburn (vocals, flute, electronics, tingshaws) – is immersive and tipped over into music as the ritual itself. One might take on the two 18-minute halves of Sela with a similarly open mind as when approaching Montibus Communitas and be thrilled at the places the album carries you. I hope to have more to come, but again, heads up – this one is something special.
“The Spell” proves right away that Alps-based heavy rockers Mount Hush (I love that they don’t specify a country) have the post-Queens of the Stone Age fuzz-thrust down pat on their debut EP Low and Behold, but the band also bring an element of heavy psychedelia to their guitar work and the vocals – forward in the mix – have a bluesier but not caricature-dudely edge, so even as they bounce through the “Come on pretty baby” hook of “The Spell,” they’re crafting their own sound. The subsequent “King Beyond” showcases how to have a Graveyard influence without simply pretending to sound like Graveyard, even going so far as to repurpose a classic rock reference – “Strange Days” by The Doors – in its pursuit, and the seven-minute “The Day She Stole the Sun” stretches out for a more psychedelic build. Most exciting of all on a conceptual level is closer “Levitations.” Drumless, it sets ethereal vocals and samples over a tonal swirl and airy, quieter strumming. Hardly adrenaline-soaked and not intended to be, but it shows Mount Hush have a genuine will to experiment, and it’s one I hope they continue to develop.
Joined for the first time by drummer Bas Snabilie (apparently since replaced by Aletta Verwoerd) Amsterdam heavy art rockers Labasheeda mark four full-length releases with Changing Lights on Presto Chango, the violin/viola of vocalist/guitarist Saskia van der Giessen and guitar/bass/keyboard of Arne Wolfswinkel carrying across an open but humble atmosphere, touching here on Sonic Youth’s dare-to-have-a-verse moments in “My Instincts” and pushing into more blown-out jarring with the slide-happy “Tightrope.” They bring indie edge to a cover of The Who’s “Circles,” and round out with a closing duo of the album’s only two tracks over five minutes, “Cold Water” and “Into the Wide,” van der Giessen’s croon carrying a sweetness into the second half of the former as the latter finishes Changing Lights with a rolling contrast of distortion and strings as engrossing as it is strange. Labasheeda will go right over a lot of heads, but approached with an open mind it can just as easily prove a treasure for its blatant refusal to be pinned to one style or another.
I had almost forgotten the glorious trials that NYC traffic could provide. The opportunities to see oneself as being on a great, grueling journey, near-Homerian. A quest undertaken on foot, dragging a cart on your back, covered in shit and mud, sweltering in the sun. Maybe an extreme vision, but the A/C in my car was on the fritz, and it’s summer south of the wall, so it wasn’t exactly an easy drive. Got to Brooklyn in time to have a burrito at the Acapulco Deli next to the Saint Vitus Bar, however, ahead of the start of a four-band bill with Albany five-piece Hush (also stylized as Hush., with the punctuation), Portland, Oregon’s Black Pussy, German duo Mantar and UK destroyers Conan, the latter two wrapping up a coast-to-coast tour that also included stops for Conan at Psycho California and, just the night before, at Maryland Deathfest.
Brooklyn was the second to last stop on the tour, with Philly the next night and then flights out, but I didn’t get a sense of any post-MDF comedown from the band. The Vitus Bar has enough of a reputation at this point that it has become a destination in itself for bands on tour, and for me, seeing Conan there was no less an event. This was their first time in the States, and while I had an advantage in having seen them twice at Roadburn (in 2012 and in 2014) and at Desertfest London in 2013, the prospect was still exciting, not the least because it was a new lineup. I parked myself near the front a couple minutes before Hush went on:
Hush.
One could probably call Hush.‘s style death-doom, but I always ascribe a certain sense of emotional drama to that, and the Upstate fivesome were light on that and heavy on just about everything else. More megasludge than death-doom, but plenty extreme one way or another. Vocalist C. Cure set up in front of the stage, and no wonder. Space was at a premium with the mountain of amps backlined, and Hush.‘s own contributions to that pile of equipment were as considerable as the tones that emanated from them. Slow-sounding even in their faster stretches, their lurch was pervasive and Cure‘s growls met the tide head-on, spit or some other manner of regurgitation flying out of his mouth as he headbanged near the front of the stage such that I thought it might be hitting guitarist Jeff Andrews (also of heavy rockers Ironwweed) in the leg. If he did, Andrews gave no sign of it. With an emphasis on tonal crush running throughout, they tossed in some new material along with “We Left Like Birds” from last year’s Unexist debut full-length, and while they were somewhat unipolar in their overall affect — that is, all heavy, all the time — they gave the evening a vicious, intense start and bludgeoned ferociously as if throwing down a gauntlet to anyone who might dare pick it up, earning their punctuation all the while.
Black Pussy
To be perfectly honest, I was kind of dreading seeing Oregon’s Black Pussy again. Not because they suck. Actually, just the opposite. If they sucked, fine. You write them off as a shitty band with a shitty attention-grab of a name and you move on. But because they’re actually good, and because they put so much attention into the details of their presentation — from drummer Dean Carrol‘s near-manic smile as he plays to the all-Sunn backline, to bellbottoms and vintage shirts on guitarist Ryan McIntire, organist Chief O’Dell and bassist Aaron Poplin, to guitarist/vocalist Dustin Hill‘s sunglasses and apparent unwillingness to keep his tongue in his mouth while he sings — you can’t just ignore them. I decided early in the set that from here on out I’d refer to the band as Five White Dudes in a Band Called Black Pussy, and so I will. Five White Dudes in a Band Called Black Pussy were solid, and I recognized several tracks from earlier-2015’s Magic Mustache (review here), the Queens of the Stone Age-style bounce and warm but still heavy roll, but you pretty much have to put a douchebaggery-filter on to watch them and get any sense of enjoyment out of it. At least if they’d called themselves White Cock you’d be able to say it was vaguely subversive. As it is, they’re just a bummer, and the more I see of them, the more that becomes a palpable reality. Don’t think it’s a racist or sexist name? Think it’s cool and ironic and not at all reinforcing white supremacy or the colonization of black bodies? Think the internet is populated by overly PC “social justice warriors?” Fine. You’re wrong and I don’t give a fuck. Think for a second about what you’re defending. Or don’t. Start your own website instead, and pine for the days when white people could be blatantly racist without being told they should feel bad about it. Have fun with that.
Mantar
Hamburg duo Mantar — vocalist/guitarist Hanno and drummer/vocalist Erinc — arrived in Brooklyn having already made an impression on this tour. I’d heard from several people in other cities who’d been pleasantly surprised by the two-piece’s blend of thickened doom tone and raw metal. They had some technical difficulties at the beginning of the set, something about the power cable into the D.I. box, but once they started, they were zero-to-100 almost immediately, Hanno spitting his lyrics at Erinc from across the stage while the drummer, arranged with his side to the crowd, crashed and slammed away a propulsive course. There were elements of Celtic Frost at their roughest, and a touch of High on Fire and the Melvins in “Astral Kannibal,” but wherever they went sonically, the core of what they were doing was the punishment of their delivery, veins popping out on Hanno‘s neck as he shouted up to his microphone. With just the two of them on the stage, there was plenty of room to thrash around, and Hanno took advantage, switching between different channels in the backlined rig, Orange heads and cabinets set up on both sides of the stage, revealed when Five White Dudes in a Band Called Black Pussy removed their Sunns — it was an evening of expensive-looking gear — used to get both bass and guitar tones out of the guitar. It was unfortunate that their set got cut short and they were visibly frustrated, but assured the room they would be back and would hopefully be able to play longer next time around. I couldn’t imagine it had been an easy tour with routing that basically took them across the country and back, but Mantar did well in the direct-support slot and the punk-rooted dynamic between Erinc and Hanno was evident even as I was relatively unfamiliar with the band.
Conan
Word was that at least some of those Orange stacks had been used in Sleep‘s recent Atlanta show. To have them subsequently carried by Conan on their first run through the US — it surely won’t be their last — seems a fitting inheritance. Conan guitarist/vocalist Jon Davis is the sole remaining founder of the band, and over the course of 2014, he brought on bassist/vocalist Chris Fielding, also producer for not only Conan but also the likes of Electric Wizard, Primordial, etc., and drummer Rich Lewis, so while Conan released their second album last year in the form of their Napalm Records debut, Blood Eagle (review here), they’re essentially a new band. Lewis, who is a man of many cymbals, is the latest addition, but they’ve toured with this lineup before, and coming toward the end of this stint as well, they were duly crisp in their delivery of what has developed into one of the heaviest aesthetics in the world. Hyperbole? Yes, but Conan warrant speaking in absolutes. Opening with “Crown of Talons,” they immediately set the place to a steady rumble and did not relent for the duration of their time on stage, Blood Eagle cuts like “Foehammer” and “Total Conquest” joined by “Hawk as Weapon” from 2012’s Monnos (review here) and “Satsumo” from their landmark 2010 Horseback Battle Hammer EP (review here), as well as a new song that worked in a middle pace to further the overbearing impression of their riff-led pummel. Davis and Fielding traded shouts, the latter almost with a Godfleshy burl, and managed to cut through the tones while Lewis nailed the snare work and quick changes in “Foehammer.” My usual modus is to hang out up front for a couple songs, take pictures and then fall back and enjoy the rest of a set from in back of the crowd, but Conan held me front and center for the duration, headbangers to the left of me, drunken staggering to the right, volume over top and crushing down. It was a brutal push through some of the highlights of their growing catalog, but their set also got cut short on curfew accounts. They wrapped up amid calls for one more song, thanked the crowd, said they’d be back, and took centerstage for a quick photo to mark the occasion, urged by some jerk who’d been taking pictures the whole time.
—
Speaking of, I owe a particular thanks to respected videographer Frank Huang. At the start of the show, I turned on my camera only to find I had no memory card in it, and Frank came to my rescue by letting me borrow a spare. When the show was over, I immediately dumped the photos onto my laptop, which I had in my car because I was slated for a post-gig two-hour drive to Connecticut, where I’d be crashing for the night to continue to Massachusetts on Saturday. Epic in a whole different way. I got in around 3AM with the lumbering “Crown of Talons” still stuck in my head, where it has remained since.
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 6th, 2015 by JJ Koczan
If you feel the ground shaking for the next couple weeks, don’t sweat it. That’s just Conan on their inaugural US tour. Just hang out and wait for your eventual destruction. They’ll get there sooner or later. Unless you live in Boston. Ha.
The tour starts tonight, which seems like an occasion worthy of note, given just how badly the US is in need of the ass kicking that Conan is about to deliver upon it. Support comes from Mantar and Samothrace, and includes stops at Psycho California and Maryland Deathfest. Conan are of course supporting last year’s pummeling Blood Eagle (review here), a record the devastation of which is still being tallied. If you haven’t heard it yet, shame on you. Have you learned nothing from all the hyperbole?
Tour dates follow here. One can only hope that when they find the ruined cities left in Conan‘s wake, future archaeologists give credit where its due:
CONAN North American Tour Starts Today – New Dates Added
Support Coming From Samothrace and Mantar
Latest Album Blood Eagle Available Now on Napalm Records
The English CONAN follows the ideals of their namesake and continue their path without compromises. The second album Blood Eagle is a Doom Drone Metal monument filled with monolithic riffs, hypnotic melodies, brutal drumming and an archaic atmosphere. Blood Eagle was released last March in North America via Napalm Records. The album can be ordered iTunes and Amazon.
CONAN will be kick off a North American headline tour tomorrow May 6th in Atlanta, GA and will wrap up May 23rd in Philadelphia, PA. Support on the tour will come from Samothrace and Mantar. Additional dates have been added in so be sure to check out the entire list below. Support on the tour comes from Samothrace and Mantar. Press opportunities are available at all shows!
CONAN 5/6: Atlanta GA @ The Earl # 5/7: New Orleans LA @ Siberia # 5/8: Austin TX @ The Lost Well # 5/10: Ft. Worth, TX @ Lola’s % # 5/11: Denver CO @ Marquis Theater % # 5/12 Salt Lake City UT @ Area 51 % # 5/14: Oakland CA @ Oakland Opera House % # 5/15: Santa Ana CA @ Psycho CA, The Observatory 5/16: Tempe AZ @ 51 West % # 5/18: Oklahoma City OK @ The Conservatory % # 5/19 Memphis TN @ Hi-Tone % # 5/20 Johnson City TN @ The Hideaway % # 5/21: Baltimore MD @ Maryland Deathfest # 5/22: Brooklyn NY @ Saint Vitus Bar # 5/23: Philadelphia PA @ Kung Fu Necktie % #
% with Samothrace as direct support # with Mantar (direct support on dates without Samothrace, 1st of three on dates with Samothrace)
Posted in audiObelisk on May 21st, 2014 by JJ Koczan
I’m not gonna tell you to only listen to one of these sets, because frankly, there’s a lot of really awesome stuff in this first batch of audio streams from this year’s Roadburn festival, which took place the beginning of April in Tilburg, the Netherlands. What I am going to say instead is that if you’re lost for a place to start, definitely dig into the Lenny Kaye & Harsh Toke jam. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to see the name of the band without thinking of Kaye saying, “Harsh Toke makes good smoke,” but I haven’t been able to get them out of my head since, to the point that I went back and revisited their 2013 Tee Pee debut, Light up and Live, just to hear them jam out some more. Kind of a specialty appeal for a physical pressing, but I can’t imagine there was anyone in that room who didn’t leave that set wanting it pressed to vinyl or CD. I’d take either.
And in the meantime, the audio stream is doing well to suffice. “Harsh Toke makes good smoke,” as Kaye is handed a joint passed up from the crowd. Fucking awesome. Hopefully when they put that out, they call it Good Smoke: Live at Roadburn 2014. Got my fingers crossed on that one.
In the meantime, huge respect as always to Roadburn for preserving all these sets and the many that are sure to come for posterity. As with years past, these were helmed by Marcel Van De Vondervoort of Torture Garden Studios, whose new band, Fire Shrine, I’ve been digging. They’ve got an EP on Bandcamp if you get a second to check it out between all this madness.
Enjoy:
Lenny Kaye & Harsh Toke – Live at Roadburn 2014
The Shrine – Live at Roadburn 2014
Ron van Herpen’s Jam Session: Louisiana Voodoo Centre – Live at Roadburn 2014
Mantar – Live at Roadburn 2014
11Paranoias – Live at Roadburn 2014
Papir – Live at Roadburn 2014 (Friday, April 11th)
The Great Old Ones – live at Roadburn 2014
Goatess – Live at Roadburn 2014
Thanks as always to Roadburn for letting me host the streams.
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 24th, 2014 by JJ Koczan
The Roadburn 2014 lineup got dealt a considerable blow yesterday when it was announced that The Heads wouldn’t be taking part as planned. KENmode also bowed out, but particularly as The Heads were to be the artists-in-residence, playing multiple sets including a collaboration with Carlton Melton at the Afterburner the Sunday after the fest proper, they leave a sizable hole in their wake. It’s a bummer, since along with fest-headliners Loop, The Heads were typifying so much of Roadburn 2014’s psychedelic vibe, but already the search for a replacement has begun, and in the meantime, Mantar, Terra Tenebrosa and Grime have joined the bill.
The Mysterious Terra Tenebrosa To Devastate Roadburn 2014
Hot on the heels of our announcement that The Heads have had to step down from performing as Artists in Residence at Roadburn 2014, comes the announcement that mysterious avant-metallers Terra Tenebrosa will be stepping in to replace The Heads spin-off Kandodo.
Rising from the ashes of much-beloved post-hardcore outfit Breach, Stockholm’s Terra Tenebrosa have brought forth two albums of dark, brooding avant-garde hardcore-influenced metal, 2011?s debut The Tunnels and 2013?s The Purging, and we couldn’t be happier to have them onboard.
Terra Tenebrosa will be bringing the fear on Friday April 11th at Het Patronaat in Tilburg, The Netherlands.
Roadburn Festival 2014 will run for four days from Thursday, April 10th to Sunday, April 13th 2014 at the 013 venue in Tilburg, The Netherlands.
Mantar To Bring The Fire To Roadburn 2014!
You can’t keep a good festival down, and so no sooner have we announced the unfortunate cancellation of KEN Mode than we are overjoyed to be able to announce that the mighty Mantar will replace them!
The heavier-than-a-concrete-elephant gruesome twosome from Hamburg dropped their killer ‘White Nights’ seven-inch not so long ago and are about to let loose with their devastating debut full-length album Death By Burning through Svart Records in a few short weeks. We at Roadburn are super excited to be able to add them to the already stellar line-up for Roadburn 2014.
Mantar will play Roadburn 2014 on Thursday, April 10th at the 013 venue in Tilburg, The Netherlands.
Grime To Crush Your Moral Compas at Roadburn Festival 2014
Roadburn is pleased to announce the addition of Italian sludge-meisters, Grime. The band channelled their utter despair, emptiness and aggression into one of the filthiest records of 2013, Deteriorate, a vile and repulsive outlook on humanity.
Roadburn will be playing host to Grime‘s negativity and hatred on Saturday 12th of April, at the Cul de Sac in Tilburg, The Netherlands, when they bring their filth-laden journey into the ugliest recesses of your depraved mind to life.
Roadburn Festival 2014 will run for four days from Thursday, April 10th to Sunday, April 13th 2014 at the 013 venue in Tilburg, The Netherlands.
Tickets for the traditional Afterburner event on Sunday, April 13th at the 013 venue in Tilburg, The Netherlands are still available. Get in on the actionHERE!
