Posted in Whathaveyou on December 9th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
You’ll pardon me if I spare myself looking back to see I’ve probably said the same thing every year for the last decade or so, but Keep it Low is always a very particular kind of daydream. First of all, it’s the kind that usually includes Colour Haze, and that’s an autowin as the Munich-based heavy psych progenitors have a tendency to do the hometown party. But second, among all the busy times happening around Europe each and every October, Keep it Low has always stood out to me in having vibe as part of the mission from the go. Like it’s not just about you and the bands in the room, but how that space is being shared.
I’ve never been, which is kind of a bummer, and I’m not expecting to go anytime soon, but it’s a pleasure to see who’s going to be there and wonder at the implications for who might be on the road next Fall between the likes of 1000mods and Spirit Mother, etc. I’m pretty sure this is the first October-weekend fest announcement I’ve seen — you have to admit, it’s early — but the low-key-killer first announcement below is part and parcel to why I’ve lost so many minutes over the years wondering what it would be like to actually be at this thing.
From social media:
KEEP IT LOW #12 – ⚡️FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT IS HERE⚡️
Keep It Low Festival returns to Munich in 2026 — heavier, louder and fuzzier than ever.
📍 Backstage München 🗓️ 09 – 10 October 2026
We’re kicking things off with a massive first wave of bands:
1000MODS THE DEVIL AND THE ALMIGHTY BLUES DEATHCHANT SPIRIT MOTHER FOMIES SUCK SKYJOGGERS KOMBYNAT ROBOTRON LEBER & MANY MORE TO COME!
Two full days of heavy rock, doom, sludge & psych. Two stages, an outdoor beergarden, and all the vibes you need to get lost in the low end.
Both Colour Haze and My Sleeping Karma were both featured on the bill of Desertfest Belgium 2025 this past weekend. Not their first time sharing space, by any means, but another example of the small world the underground becomes over time. That they’d tour together — also I think not their first time doing so — isn’t a huge surprise either. The relationship goes back to probably before My Sleeping Karma existed, and when My Sleeping Karma started out, their first albums were issued through Stefan Koglek of Colour Haze‘s now-mostly-inactive label, Elektrohasch Schallplatten. Meanwhile, Matte Vandeven of My Sleeping Karma happened to found a little booking company called Sound of Liberation, which of course has booked Colour Haze in Europe for 20 of that band’s total 30 years.
Colour Haze were out earlier this year celebrating passing that three-decade mark, and My Sleeping Karma have been taking stages all year across Europe as part of their return to the stage after losing drummer Steffen Weigand to cancer in 2023. This tour — which, your eyes don’t deceive you; it is co-presented by The Obelisk; can somebody save me a physical poster if any are printed? — will see them out for much of next April and into May, ahead of the Desertfests in Berlin, London and Oslo in which Sound of Liberation always plays a central role.
I was fortunate enough to see My Sleeping Karma for the first time (frickin’ finally) at Freak Valley Festival (review here) and if all goes according to my evil plans, I’ll see them again next summer in Croatia. It was spiritual and emotional, in addition to being sonically rad. I don’t believe in ‘blessed,’ but I do believe I’m blessed to have seen Colour Haze as much as I have over the years. Maybe I’ll get lucky again next year at some point, if not on this run. The two together on stage, however, is nothing short of magic in my mind.
Thanks to SOL and the bands for having me on board as a co-presenter. Here’s the poster and the tour announcement, to make it official:
⚡️MY SLEEPING KARMA + COLOUR HAZE ⚡️
Together, the two German psychedelic rock institutions MY SLEEPING KARMA and COLOUR HAZE celebrate 50 years of heavy underground road life.
To honor this special moment, both bands will play extended headline sets, performing brand new songs each night.
Tour Dates 2026: 17.04. Karlsruhe, Substage 18.04. Wien, Arena 19.04. Kraków, Hype Park 20.04 Warszawa, Hydrozagadka 21.04. Leipzig, Werk 2 22.04. Nijmegen, Doornroosje 23.04. Köln, Kantine 24.04. Hamburg, Markthalle 25.04. Berlin, Festsaal Kreuzberg 26.04. Bielefeld, Forum 27.04. Sint-Niklaas, De Casino 28.04. Paris, La Machine Du Moulin Rouge 29.04. Tübingen, Sudhaus 30.04. Aarau, Kiff 01.05. Milano, Circolo Magnolia 02.05. München, Backstage
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 21st, 2025 by JJ Koczan
The day splits are out for Keep it Low #11, which is set for this October in Munich, and if you look at the bill, it kind of sells itself. Immediate vibe on the Sound of Liberation-associated fest, now a staple of the Fall festival touring circuit in Europe. Masters of Reality and Graveyard reside at the top of the lineup, but with Colour Haze and Lowrider and My Sleeping Karma and Kanaan and Conan and on and on to Rotor, Godsleep and Bikini Beach, who are newly added and The Vintage Caravan coming from Iceland to support their new album and Blue Heron on their first European run, it’s two days unflinching in their quality.
I’ve sweated this fest pretty much since its inception, not the least so I could go to the place on earth that has Colour Haze as the house band. Someday, maybe. In the meantime, the daydreaming helps keep my mind loose, and that’s a good thing because gawd forbid one should be able to concentrate on a thing basically ever.
From social media:
KEEP IT LOW #11 – ⚡️DAY SPLIT IS HERE + NEW BANDS ANNOUNCED!⚡️
Hey Keepers,
It’s time to plan your riffs – the day split for Keep It Low Festival 2025 is here!
Check out which bands are tearing down the stage on which day – and yes: day tickets are now available! 🔥
Friday: Colour Haze • My Sleeping Karma • Conan • Siena Root • The Great Machine • Kanaan • Bikini Beach • Thra
Saturday: Graveyard • Bongripper • The Obsessed („The Church Within“ set) • Lowrider • Mondo Generator • The Vintage Caravan • Rotor • Psychlona • High Desert Queen • Ritual Kings • Kant • Blue Heron • Hidas • Godsleep
Joining the lineup: Godsleep, Rotor & Bikini Beach – welcome to the madness!
🗓️ 10 & 11 October 2025 📍 Backstage, Munich, Germany
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 14th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Swan Valley Heights go out at the top of their game. Their Fuzzorama-delivered 2023 album, Terminal Forest (review here), was their best, and is the kind of record that people will continue to discover for years, even though the Munich-based three-piece have played their last show and gone their separate ways.
The band’s 2016 self-titled debut (review here) set them forth on a trajectory of warm heavy psychedelic rock, and 2019’s The Heavy Seed (review here) solidified that with more progressive construction and ideology in the songwriting. Terminal Forest — very much in third-record fashion — was the point where the different sides came together to create something richer than the parts comprising it. Not a moment that a band can fake, and again, they may be done, but the document remains. In light of the fact that they won’t do a follow-up (immediately; never say never on a reunion), I’m that much gladder for the realization of Terminal Forest‘s songs.
That album streams at the bottom of this post, along with the video for “My First Knife Fight” (premiered here) that they reference in their goodbye message, which appears below in blue as hoisted from social media. All my best to the members of Swan Valley Heights on future endeavours:
Friends, this is it. This is the end. The end of Swan Valley Heights’ story.
The quick, honest, and probably very unspectacular “why”: Life changes. People change. And when your focus shifts away from being in a band (which demands a lot), and the enthusiasm to write music—or to sit in a van for countless hours to play it—starts to fade for some in the band, it’s time to call it quits. That’s what happened. Very simple. That’s why you’re reading this.
But that’s okay. The journey this band had, the time we spent with each other and of course with all of you, was priceless. Swan Valley Heights has been a massive part of our lives for a long time, and we are—and always will be—beyond grateful for what it gave us. Playing beautiful festivals, wild DIY shows, meeting so, so many awesome people and bands, hearing from every single one of you who came to see us, wrote to us, supported us, offered us a place to sleep. You know who you are! <3 Over ten years is a long time. And all of it shaped us.
And the journey’s not quite over. There will be one last show — our swan song, if you will — [this past weekend] at Knispival. It’s an awesome little festival, organized by Oroboros e.V. and our dear friend Felix — roadie, merch guy, driver, motivator, and basically fourth band member (he especially has earned a lot of good karma, +6 mana, and our eternal gratitude for the last years). The festival’s also just a couple stone throws away from where this band was born, and at the same place we recorded our final LP, Terminal Forest — a bit prophetic in hindsight. One last show, in a place that means a lot, surrounded by friends.
We know this is short notice for a PSA like this, but we couldn’t imagine a better way to close the circle. And what a circle it was!
So, what’s left to say? Thanks for reading this far. And of course — thank you! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
I’ve been waiting for this one, honestly. I think I did a Quarterly Review in April, or maybe it was late March, so it hasn’t been that long, but you know how it is with releases now. Every week there’s a ton coming out, everybody’s gotta pump through content to feed the algorithm. If you like sitting with records, if you like getting to know records, it’s still a pretty good era, but you have to understand you’re not going to hear everything. The Quarterly Review is more than a catchall in my mind, but it’s definitely also a place for stuff I can’t fit anywhere else. At this point there are bands who’ve been in QRs their entire lifecycle. I don’t think anybody knows that or cares other than me, but it’s true just the same.
I like doing these, though, and I like the marathon listening sessions that are part of it. Oh yeah asshole, you like writing about music? Well here’s 10 records a day for a week. Hope you slated a single in there somewhere. You’re gonna need it.
Quarterly Review #1-10:
Miss Lava, Under a Black Sun
This fifth full-length from Portuguese psychedelic-inflected heavy rockers Miss Lava sets its own backdrop with breadth of tone. The album is called Under a Black Sun and it is their fourth outing for Small Stone Records, but even the edgiest moments throughout are more colorful than that might indicate. Miss Lava excel — whether it’s the closing title-track or “Neon Gods” earlier or the 1:15 blowout “Chaos Strain” — at creating instrumental tension underneath the forward melodic float of the vocals. From seven-minute opener and longest cut (immediate points) “Dark Tomb Nebula,” the 52-minute/11-song outing takes its time saying what it wants to say, and it might take a couple listens for it to sink in accordingly, but the fuzz in “The Bends” and the tempo-pickup swing in “Blue Sky on Mars” can be landmarks on the path, and the album is worth meeting with the attention it’s due.
To coincide with the righteous pummel of the eight-and-a-half-minute “Silver and Gold,” Los Angeles trio The Cimmerian infuse their first full-length with a thrashing sensibility in pieces like “Neckbreaker of the Mountain” and “Black Coast Tigris,” which are all the more brutal for the guttural vocals of bassist Nicolas Rocha. Guitarist David Gein crushes and slashes enough for “Mournblade” to earn its title, and the extremity is retained even in the slowdown of “Deathstalker” later on, as Gein, Rocha and drummer David Morales seem to hold another level of viciousness in reserve for 10-minute finale “Monarch.” There’s some extrapolation from High on Fire here in the basic math of the band’s makeup, but The Cimmerian push more into thrash as a genre, and come across as more metal in their assault. There’s growing to do, and streamlining the songs may become part of that process, but as an awaited debut album, An Age Undreamed Of… heralds its own devastation and that to follow.
Athenian heavy rock institution Nightstalker return with their eighth full-length in a 35-plus-year career as led by frontman Argyris “Argy” Galiatsatos, who remains a pivotal presence in the songs. There are eight of those across the down-to-business 38-minute long-player, which opens raucous with “Dust” but settles into a psychedelic meander on “Heavy Trippin'” before “Uncut” finds a catchy space somewhere in the middle, high-energy but not a shove, and welcoming all comers. The title-track follows and takes a noisier tack instrumentally and vocally in its second half, but is a four-minute kick-in-the-pants nonetheless, so one would not accuse it of being an awkward fit here, even as the subsequent “Shipwrecked Powder Monkey” (which I’m assuming starts side B) moves through quiet/loud trades toward a fuzzy surge, “Shallow Grave” basks in melancholy, “Falling Inside” follows the bassline into a shredder of a guitar solo and seven-minute closer “Flying Mode” dares a bit of funk to round out. There’s a reason Nightstalker have stood the test of time. It’s the songs. Yes, still.
Indonesian doom rollers Whitehovse released the title-track of their first, self-released full-length, The Mighty One, as a standalone single in 2020, and I don’t know that all the songs have been around that long, but every chug in “Falling Crown” sounds like it’s there for a reason and I’m not inclined to argue. Bookended by the nod of “Endless Sorrow” and the blowout, harsh-in-the-cymbals bounce of “Vile Triumphant,” the in-betweens on the eight-track/35-minute LP are light on nonsense and heavy on just about everything else as “Falling Crown” is indicative of the five-piece’s riffy foundations. They declare themselves Sabbathian early, but “Silence of the Soul” has more of a desert bounce transposed onto their own echoing palette and against the wall reminds a bit of the slower moments in whatever kind of metal it is Solace play. Their story isn’t fully written yet, but they put key aspects in place with this material.
I don’t mean this to be an insult, but if you told me Hashishian‘s Sand Dragon was AI, I’d probably believe you. The band, from parts unknown, comprised of anonymous huffer pilgrims, are so steeped in the worship of Sleep, weed, riffs, and such, that the throatsinging vocals are a fit. Sand Dragon is meditative in its way, but it’s more stoned, and that’s the whole idea. What do you do with something that is pure worship? There is an original edge to their approach, though “Sand Dragon” itself is pretty dead-on Om, but if you’re a genre head, you know to which land “Follow the Riff” is going before its meganodder of a riff even departs. But I don’t think you take on Sand Dragon if you’re looking for originality-on-purpose. I think you take it on if you want to join them in their worship, and yeah, if you know what you’re getting going in, the naked, sans-pretense-otherwise homage happening throughout, the riff of “Meggido” just might make you a convert. Hail Cisneros.
Is garage rock inherently retro? Is there a way for a sound that was ‘mod’ when mod was mod to be the sound of the great forgetful now? I don’t know, but the UK’s Scott Hepple and the Sun Band take classic elements from garage, grunge, and heavier rock, and it’s hard to argue with the results of their formula in pieces like “Velvet Divorce” or the sweet acoustic strum of “Blue Door Jimmy,” the boogie of “Lead on Sonny Brown” and “Sweet Sugar High” and the more brash fuzz of “Fake a Smile,” as the 16-song long-player packs its 41-minute stretch tight enough that even the gag interlude “A Brief Advertisement” doesn’t come through as any more in a hurry than the rest of the proceedings. And they are in a hurry. Because they’re young and such is the way of young people. But that’s how it should be, and so, so are Scott Hepple and the Sun Band as they prove you can have ‘brash’ as a defining personality feature without needing to make yourself sound like a monster.
Immediacy is the order of the moment on Blind Mess‘ six-song The Storm Within EP, as the hit-hard trio from Munich delve into burl on “The Bell” before the throw-elbows punkthrash of “On the Edge” and the angular “Mirror of My Soul” feels all the more leveled out for the shouts that top it. They’re not without atmosphere, even before the standalone guitar introduces the first 30 seconds of “The Hemlock Cup,” but the idea is for the songs to hit you direct and they do. “The Hemlock Cup” has a burner of a solo later on, and “Sick Society” has its foundation in rock but still sounds like it listened to Megadeth in the 1990s (who among us.) before the shorter closer “Bleeding Hearts” renews the shove of “On the Edge.” It’s a quick 24 minutes and they make it feel quicker with pacing, but it’s still well enough time for the band to showcase a refined attack.
Striking a progressive first impression around material still geared for an impact despite all the turns, UK five-piece Vordermann bring elements of alternative rock into the hooks of “Delirium Tremors,” one of the three songs included on their debut EP, the intentionally-slashed Feeding on Flowers/. Intertwining vocals in a quiet stretch, weirdo shifts, post-rock drift and weighted drums beneath, melodies providing the payoff where opener “Cloudpiercer” is more about the heft, and the seven-minute “Saint Banger (The Lars Ulrich Torrent Finder General Drum Circle Experience)” moving through a long, soft-guitar intro — there’s no drum circle; there are samples — before a heavier nod arrives, ebbing and flowing until the shouted vocals arrive late to put it over the top. Look out for these guys. They give a killer showing here and in no way sound like this is the limit for where they want to take their sound. One hopes for more to come. Maybe we can find out what’s on the other side of that slash in the title.
When Austrian cosmic-rocking instrumentalists — space rock, some My Sleeping Karma-esque keys, almost certainly jam-based, but with fluidity as a compositional priority either way — Aerolith sent their second album, II, in for review, I’ll admit that I didn’t know it came out late in 2017. Going on eight years ago. If you’re wondering, I think that’s the oldest release ever to feature in a Quarterly Review — the band’s latest work, Megalorama Part II, was released in 2023 — which I try to keep at least vaguely current. I don’t know why the 2017 record was sent, but they make it easy to dig the conversation happening between the keys and guitar throughout, and the mellow-heavy mindset of “Rain Walk” and “Aufschub,” that payoff in closer “Bug Nebula,” seems to still inform their sound on the newer offerings as well. I’m not about to start retconning the entire history of the underground in a Quarterly Review, so don’t send me all your old records, but I’m glad to have had the introduction to this band regardless.
Experimentalism is crucial on this apparently-years-in-the-making second full-length from Athens-based mostly-solo outfit Occult Stereo, driven by self-recording multi-instrumentalist/vocalist/programmer Alex Eliopoulos, who blends electronic and organic instrumentation — the bedroom industrial of “In Between Lines” and “Kiss My Mask,” the acoustics of “A Glow” and “Power,” the variable drones of the otherwise anthemic “New Drip” and “Burn the Manifesto,” the fuzz ultranod of “Same Life Different Face” and the avant-garage “Not Mysterious”; it is a record that sets its own context and goes — to a readily divergent affect, melding styles across genres with expressive weirdness. At 11 songs and 64 minutes, it is a not insignificant undertaking, and surely A Temporary Utopia is not without its challenging aspects, but Eliopoulos isn’t on his own here — there are even guest vocals on “Power” — and as deep as Occult Stereo plunge, the spaces occupied are individual and fascinating.
Dancing Through the Earthis the second full-length from Munich, Germany, four-piece Miss Mellow, delivered through Sound Effect Records. It comes behind an impressively funky 2023 self-titled debut, and gives an immediate impression of growth around the band’s core approach, which accounts not only for that funk, but the heavy, classic-prog backdrop against which it rests, and a scope that includes a couple takes on world music for what seems to be an expanding palette. The album runs nine songs and 46 minutes and is likewise manageable and satisfying to immerse, as the four-piece of guitarist/vocalist Joshua Lilienthal, bassist/vocalist David Stockinger, guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist Michele Loria and drummer Niccolò Schmitter proffer their own creative reach in confident style, able to carry the listener through the initial quirk of “Dancing Through the Earth I,” which leads off as the first of four-parts of the title-track, alternating between about two and a half and four and a half minutes each; one two one two.
A somewhat curious decision to split up “Dancing Through the Earth” when Miss Mellow here and in the past have demonstrated no aversion to long songs — closer “Stop the Strive” tops 12 minutes, and on the debut, “Who Abides?” was just over 10 — but each shift between the parts indeed brings a change in the movement in question. It’s weird, but actually, it’s really effective through that in telling the listener a few things they need to know going into the rest of Dancing Through the Earth, which holds to the method of changing up mood/vibe, whether that’s “Kanonen” making a fuzzy thrust over neo-psych shuffle, pairing drift and nod later on, keys and guitar intertwining for a subtly rich effect on a tune that’s still so much about movement, or the also-busted-up “Blackout I” and “Blackout II,” which also get their own “Prelude” of manipulated piano before making a run through the party en route to a kind of clearheaded yacht psych, still drawing from funk and soul, and stately and bluesy in the delivery. It’s not about heft, then, or really anywhere, but about the twists and the variety of textures and the grooving use to which they might be put.
One should not neglect to mention Alex Hartl at OGM Studios, who recorded, mixed (with David Stockinger) and mastered the album. Miss Mellow are that much more able to cast an organic persona in this material for the naturalism in the recording and the breadth being put to use in the mix. That’s not to say “Stop the Strive,” with a guest appearance from Junsuke Kondo on guitar and vocals and a tense strum in its second half that feels like it comes from Mediterranean folk, having taken off from the soothing stretch of harmonized voices — anyone who remembers Scott Reeder‘s solo album might have a context for appreciation there — followed by a bit of Eastern-tinged guitar meander. Wherever it might be coming from, it feels about half a world away from the subdued drift of the smooth-prog in “Dancing Through the Earth II,” which shifts from its highlight solo to a keyboard-led boogie before a sudden turn to blowout riffing brings the arrival of “Dancing Through the Earth III,” the various movements united as much through differentiation as by consistency. That is to say, Miss Mellow are in the process of showing their listeners who they are as a band at this point and perhaps who they’re going to be as their reach outside the heavy-psych norms continues to grow.
Though short at 2:22, “Dancing Through the Earth III” is more foreboding, with drama in the keys and guitar and a doomlier lurch met by shoutier (but still not really shouted) vocals. It isn’t chaos, but it hints toward it, so fitting of course that Miss Mellow completely pull the rug out from under it with “Dancing Through the Earth IV,” with a lighthearted instrumental stretch shifting into a quirky verse and an affect that’s either funk-prog or prog-funk; I’m not entirely sure where the line is and I like it that way. Jojo Winter guesting on percussion would seem to be a factor in that movement (for sure in the closer), but maybe there’s just a lot going on otherwise, but the point is that even as the last part of the four-parter hits a quick melodic finish, “Kanonen” is ready on a direct bleed, so part of what Miss Mellow are so successful in doing here is not only creating a space for the listener in their music, but bringing the audience with them on these changes. If you’re willing to follow where Miss Mellow lead, and they largely make doing so a pleasure, then it’s possible to find ethereal resonance even in the most earthbound of their flowing, interwoven parts. To wit, the urgency with which “Kanonen” gets underway is met later on with a slowdown bridge (they bring it back to end, no worries; a fuzzy thrust Truckfighters might smile to hear), and finishes with what seems almost like a goof of harmonized guitar, but that nonetheless confirms attention to detail through every step of the song. Nothing here is happening by accident.
Piano and voice in “Prelude” — prefacing the vocal harmonies in “Stop the Strive,” and why not — finish in a wash of synth that transitions into the initial swirl and arrival of the clear-toned strum in “Blackout I.” Again, this is the party, and if “Blackout II” is the comedown, it must’ve been a cool time. That leaves “Stop the Strive” somewhat on its own — or would, if it weren’t for another immediate change from one track to the next — but the single-part closer sums up the direction of the material preceding capably, while likewise finding somewhere of its own to go. Still purposeful, Miss Mellow do dirty-up the guitar tone for their last stretch of riffing, but it’s the fleetness of the leads around that denser fuzz that stand even more for who the band are and the manner in which they’ve honed these songs, as they not only return to the verse from what might be the blowout finish that would end so many other records, but they then turn around and find another level of distortion to unveil the real blowout in the last measures of “Stop the Strive,” making the most of one more opportunity to bask in the character so vividly portrayed in their craft.
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 12th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Don’t tell Keep it Low, but I’ve had a secret crush on the Munich-based Fall fest from Sound of Liberation pretty much since its outset. The look has gotten a little different over time, a little more in line now with the likes of Up in Smoke or Desertfest Belgium, but the vibe has always struck me as laid back even on the scale of pro-shop Euro heavyfests, and once again I find myself looking at the poster, seeing the bands getting added — in this case: My Sleeping Karma, Mondo Generator, Psychlona, Ritual King, Kant, Bikini Beach and Thra — and daydreaming of an absconding that’s not to be. Another year, another Keep it Low as my loss.
But it’s a win if you’re headed there, from Graveyard and Bongripper and Colour Haze‘s annual hometown throwdown to Blue Heron and Hidas and whoever’s still to come. You’ve got Conan and Lowrider and Kanaan and High Desert Queen and, well, yeah. Imagine taking two days of your life and dedicating them to the purpose of experiencing this thing. Just for a minute, think about it. Here’s the poster with the full list of names as it stands and the latest short announcement from the festival, which is set for Oct. 10 and 11 at Backstage, again in Munich, which does have its own international airport:
KEEP IT LOW 2025 – ⚡️NEW BANDS ANNOUNCED!⚡️
Hey Keepers,
More sonic firepower incoming – 7 new bands are joining the Keep It Low Festival 2025 lineup!
My Sleeping Karma Mondo Generator Psychlona Kant Ritual King Bikini Beach Thra
Prepare for psychedelic journeys, desert grooves, and crushing heaviness! 🔥
Hosted by Sound Of Liberation (Desertfest Berlin, Up In Smoke, Lazy Bones Fest a.o.), Keep It Low will be taking place between 10. – 11. October 2025 at Backstage.
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 18th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Five more names for the 11th edition of Munich’s Keep it Low Festival, set for this Oct. 10-11 as part of an always-busy Fall fest season in Europe. You can see the full lineup as it stands on the poster below — pretty gosh-darn sweet; good to see Colour Haze making their regularly scheduled hometown appearance at the fest; they’re kind of the unofficial house band, which is a major part of the reason I’ve always sweated attending this one — and the latest to be added to the mix are Lowrider, Bongripper, High Desert Queen, Blue Heron and Kanaan.
It’s ultimately a small contingent of the larger lineup, but a lot of fun to consider on its own, from a veteran act like Lowrider who don’t really tour at this point to the delightful contrast between Bongripper‘s malevolent crush and High Desert Queen‘s posi-outreach vibes, the jazzy instrumental prog of Kanaan and Blue Heron‘s imported-from-New-Mexico heavy desert vibes. Again, it’s part of the greater story of the diverse sounds Keep it Low has on offer for 2025, between Graveyard and The Obsessed and Siena Root and Conan, on and on, but emblematic of the whole just the same.
Confirmation came via the PR wire:
KEEP IT LOW FESTIVAL announces HIGH DESERT QUEEN, LOWRIDER, BONGRIPPER & more new band names for 2025!
Keep It Low – THE annual stoner, psych, rock, doom and sludge metal event in the heart of Munich, Germany, has announced new band names for its exciting, 10th anniversary edition in 2025!
High Desert Queen, Lowrider, Bongripper, Blue Heron and Kanaan will be joining previously-announced acts such as Graveyard, Masters Of Reality, Conan, Colour Haze, The Obsessed, Siena Root, Vintage Caravan and many more!
Hosted by Sound Of Liberation (Desertfest Berlin, Up In Smoke, Lazy Bones Fest a.o.), Keep It Low will be taking place between 10. – 11. October 2025 at Backstage.
