Amorphous and transient doom experimentalists Queen Elephantine have never been an easy act to nail down, and even as the 26-minute two-track sample of their upcoming fourth album, Scarab, commences an extended, droning and patient build, I can tell immediately that’s still the case. Nonetheless, an uptake in production value over their 2011 third offering, Garland of Skulls (posted here), and the patience with which “Veil” unfolds speaks to some solidification and maturity in the band, ever-shifting their modus and their lineup. One more to look forward to, I guess.

Here’s the cover art, info, links and tracks, sent along the PR wire:

Announcing Queen Elephantine’s fourth album Scarab, to be released in April on CD by Heart & Crossbone Records (Israel) and LP by Cosmic Eye Records (Greece).

“Delirious and psychedelic threnodies, abysmal doom observances and mild invocations, offering deep, heavy sounds straight from the soul-realm woven through the geometries of the cosmos – A funerary procession danced by a mighty double-trio of two axes, two drumsets, and two insectoid drones…”
Longer description beneath links.

Preorder/Info:
LP/CD/Digital
http://queenelephantine.clfrecords.com/scarab.html

Heart & Crossbone Records description:

“Formed in Hong Kong in 2006 and relocated to the United States a few years later, Queen Elephantine has produced some of the finest doom albums and splits (with Sons of Otis, Elder, and Alunah) in recent years, driven by sheer originality and mystical force embodied in resplendent shrines of sound.

Mastered by the omnipotent Billy Anderson (Melvins, Neurosis, Sleep and so many more), Scarab is Queen Elephantine’s 4th album: A work of grandeur which finds the band digging even deeper into delirious and psychedelic threnodies, abysmal doom observances and mild invocations, offering deep, heavy sounds straight from the soul-realm woven through the geometries of the cosmos – A funerary procession danced by a mighty double-trio of two axes, two drumsets, and two insectoid drones.

Opening track “Veil” is the sound of a Mercurial navigator galloping through epochs, a coarse voyage through unspeakable ancient rites. “Crone” is up next, revealing a shadowy affinity between minimalistic tribal-doom and elusive math-psych. Third track “Snake” is an 11-minute squirm of primordial suspension and reproach with sonorous and radiant vocalizations, swallowed by the caliginous doom wreckage of “Clear Light of the Unborn” which takes this masterpiece to its end in a chariot of headless horses heaving a monolithic obsidian temple across the dense, lightless extremes of space.”

Queen Elephantine, “Veil” & “Crone”

I guess the headline pretty much says this one. Avant-garde Rhode Islander doomers Queen Elephantine have a new record out and some tour dates booked to support it. Kind of undercut myself this time around.

Anyway, here’s the news, the Bandcamp stream of the three-song album, and the jpeg of the cover art, which rules:

Queen Elephantine, modal psychedelic doom, presents their third album: a long song in three parts, Garland of Skulls. They have also released several EPs, including splits with Sons of Otis and Elder. Formed in Hong Kong in 2006 and migrated to USA, the band is currently based between NYC and Rhode Island.

Queen Elephantine & Fashion Week August Tour:
08/16 Philadelphia, PA M-Room w/ Human Shield
08/17 Pittsburgh, PA Howler’s Coyote Cafe w/ Chrononaut
08/18 Youngstown, OH The Royal Oaks
08/20 New York, NY Saint Vitus (Fashion Week only)
08/24 Fairfax, VA The Old Firestation #3 (Queen Elephantine only) w/ Ancient Astronaught
08/25 Wilmington, DE Frottage Cottage w/ Bubonic Bear, Pagan Wolf Lord and Chromelord

Ever adventurous, New York (for the moment, it seems) experimentalists Queen Elephantine have decided to post their entire new album, Garland of Skulls, on the Tubes of You for streaming with accompanying public domain documentary footage. Sure, the record’s still in the process of being mastered — by Billy Anderson, no less — but that’s not about to stop these dudes from getting the word out in advance of the touring they’re looking to do this August. As always, their shit is heavy, expansive and unpredictable. Here it is in three parts:

Prolific-as-fuck youngins Queen Elephantine (MySpace here) have announced they’ve got a new live album out via France‘s Ruralfaune/Faunasabbatha (MySpace here) that was recorded in Brooklyn way back in 2008. I was just thinking to myself how it had been a couple weeks since Indy and Co. had put anything out, so I guess they were due. Here’s the info:

We’re very honored to have a live CDR and cassette released by the great French label Ruralfaune/Faunasabbatha.

The artwork is done by Emil Tibell. The show was on November 8, 2008, at the Meat Wallet. The documentary Such Hawks Such Hounds was screened and also playing that night were Naam, Weird Owl, and Bad Dream. The show was put together by Tiffany Ang and Death by Drone. Many thanks to everyone.

In and out in a little over 12 minutes, this split 7” between British rockers Alunah (whose ending ‘h’ seems a recent addition) and multi-continental experimental droners Queen Elephantine is a quick trip, but a satisfying one nonetheless. Limited to 250 copies and issued through Catacomb Records, each side of the vinyl features one song just past six minutes long and though the two bands work in different atmospheres, there’s a far-off echo that permeates both pieces and builds cohesiveness between the styles.

With “Song of the Sun,” Alunah offer comparatively straightforward riff-based heavy rock, set apart from the pack by the lead vocals of Sophie (no last name given), for whom Acid King comparisons can’t possibly be anything new. Nonetheless, the band spend their time wisely, fading out and back in at the end for an additional few seconds of riffing and lead lines. The four piece aren’t really breaking any new ground for stoner rock, but neither are they offensive. They’re recording a new full-length this year, and I’d be interested to check it out, so if the idea of “Song of the Sun” was to get people interested in the band by giving them a small taste, then it worked.

Whether they’re hailing on any given day from New York, Providence, RI, or Hong Kong, the prolific Queen Elephantine always seem up for a little mind expansion. Somewhat ironic is that by keeping their contribution, “Mephistopheles,” to around six minutes, they’re actually more reigned in than usual. I get the feeling there’s a half-hour version of this song out there somewhere. As it stands on the split, though, the band, led by Indy Shome continue their progressive journey through deconstructed psychedelia. In contrast to Alunah, Queen Elephantine care little for structure and ride their song out to wherever it takes them. In the context of an LP, this can be challenging, but here they keep it relatively on track, which makes for a fascinating balance.

For Alunah, this is their second release following the Fall to Earth EP (also on Catacomb), and Queen Elephantine seem to have a new split or online-only release every few months, so it’s a fair bet we’ll be hearing more from both bands. Going by the tracks included on this 7”, that’s just fine, since they each have something of their own to offer but don’t stray so far from the other as to make for incongruous listening.

Alunah on MySpace

Queen Elephantine on MySpace

Catacomb Records

Psych-metal wunderkind Indy Shome, guitarist/vocalist of the Providence-by-way-of-New–York-by-way-of-Hong–Kong outfit Queen Elephantine and sometime label head of Concrete Lo-Fi Records, returns with his band’s second full-length to be released through a yet-undetermined imprint, Kailash. Named for the Himalayan peak on which Hinduism says resides Lord Shiva, the album was mastered by Billy Anderson, who joins the ranks of Sons of Otis and Elder (with both of whom Queen Elephantine has released splits) on the growing list of names associated one way or another with the band.

With Shome on the experimental outing is vocalist Rajkishen Narayanan, former Agnosis/Tides Within bassist Andrew Jude Riotto, The Cutest Babyhead Ever multi-instrumentalist Brett Zweiman on tabla and other percussion and drummer Chris Dialogue, but contrary to what the personnel might suggest, Kailash relies mostly on a minimalist aesthetic, with few parts that would qualify as conventional doom. Instead, Shome and the band offer sparse, loosely-structured excursions into a spontaneous, improv-sounding creative dimension. There is obviously a plan, but it’s written down on 30 separate pieces of paper and it’s up to you to put them in the right order to find out what the hell it is.

Take the hypobaric drone of opener “Search for the Deathless State,” which, led along the cliffside by a thick Riotto bassline, finds itself falling deep with a spoken word movement and slowly encompassing noise. At 15:39, it is a song almost entirely void of payoff — that is, if you sit through the whole thing expecting Sleep-style guitars to kick in and for Kailash to become an entirely different kind of Holy Mountain, you’re going to be disappointed — but the sense I get is they were going for unsatisfying in the traditional sense.

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