Posted in Whathaveyou on January 30th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
This is some of the biggest news of my year, right here, and precisely some of what I’ve been hoping for since the advent of Desertfest New York in 2019. The NYC branch of Europe’s foremost heavy festival brand is slates do the seemingly impossible this Fall and bring German heavy psychedelic rock progenitors Colour Haze to the States for the second time as well as Greek heavy rock forerunners 1000mods, overcoming the pandemic-interrupted growth after a successful 2022 edition to realize a genuinely world-class event already just with the first reveal. And that’s before you get to the badassery of Lo-Pan, Heavy Temple, bringing Duel back, Boris, and so on.
I mean that. This puts Desertfest New York on a level of scope and reach with Psycho Las Vegas,Monolith on the Mesa or Fire in the Mountains or whoever else you want to namedrop, while maintaining club-show roots in its pre-party and secondary stages. I also wouldn’t surprised if a third stage isn’t added to the fest proper, as Knockdown Center certainly has that space available.
Either way, this is a big fucking deal and I’m excited at the prospect of what’s still to come. Will Steak return? My Sleeping Karma? Perhaps even a Green Lung US debut? The doors are thrown wide here as Desertfest New York 2023 takes it to that next level. The possibilities are that much closer to endless.
From the PR wire:
Desertfest New York returns for 3rd edition this September announcing
Melvins, Boris, Colour Haze, Truckfighters & more
Leading independent stoner rock, doom, psych & heavy rock festival Desertfest returns to New York this September. Hot off the heels of their largest US event to date in May ‘22, the globally renowned festival will return to the unique space of the Knockdown Center in Queens, alongside an exclusive pre-party at heavy metal institution, Saint Vitus Bar from 14th to 16th September 2023.
Headlining the 3rd edition of the festival will be genre-defining trailblazers the MELVINS. With King Buzzo & Dale Crover at the helm ensuring their 40-year status as icons of the underground, Desertfest attendees can expect a MELVINS performance unlike any other, as they are treated to the bands’ expansive & iconic back catalogue.
Joining them on the Knockdown Center main-stage, with a rare New York performance, will be Japan’s own BORIS. An exercise in auditory marksmanship for any whom are lucky enough to bear witness, BORIS continue to redefine heavy on their own terms.
German psychedelic trio COLOUR HAZE will join the festival for a US exclusive, headlining Thursday’s pre-party at Saint Vitus Bar. A band who move beyond a space of labels, their continued evolution propels them out of any current galaxy recognised as ‘stoner rock’. Thursday night will also welcome the infectiously groovy sounds of LO-PAN & Texan goodtimers DUEL to help warm up the gears.
Long-time friends in the Desertfest-sphere, high-octane Swedish rockers TRUCKFIGHTERS join proceedings for their first New York performance in three years.
Greece’s stoner rock heroes 1000MODS also make the jump overseas, ready to bring their ear-worm worthy riffs to revellers. Local legends WHITE HILLS, raucous street doom reapers R.I.P & ‘heavy primal psych’ outfit ECSTASTIC VISION all join the bill.
Elsewhere Desertfest NYC also welcomes HEAVY TEMPLE, CLOUDS TASTE SATANIC, MICK’S JAGUAR, CASTLE RAT, GRAVE BATHERS & SPELLBOOK, with more still to be announced…
3-day passes (incl. access to Saint Vitus Pre-Party) & 2-day passes (Knockdown Center only) are on sale NOW via the following link – https://link.dice.fm/Desertfest_NewYork
Day Tickets will be released in April. There are no individual Day Tickets for Thursday’s Pre-Party.
Full Line-Up Saint Vitus – Sept 14th | Knockdown Center Sept 15th & 16th 2023 Melvins | Boris | Colour Haze | Truckfighters | 1000Mods | White Hills | Lo-Pan | Duel | R.I.P | Ecstatic Vision | Heavy Temple | Clouds Taste Satanic | Mick’s Jaguar | Castle Rat | Grave Bathers | Spellbook
It was raining last night when I left the Knockdown Center. Pouring, actually. I had parked in the venue’s lot, which I may or may not be allowed to do, but no one said no, so there it is. Two cars were parked in tight formation behind me and on either side.
Got that picture? Looking at it from above, you had two cards that were like the top of a Y, but straight, and I was the bottom. I walked out behind two dudes and asked them for the massive favor of guiding me out of that spot, which they did, in the rain. I don’t think I’ll ever forget it. Completely above and beyond. They stood there in the rain and made sure I got out without hitting either of the other cars. If it was you, and you’re reading this, get in touch, because I can’t even tell you how much that meant to me. Nothing says community more than shit like that.
Slept an extra hour or so this morning, though my body still thinks 6:30 is sleeping in even though it was nearly 2AM by the time I went to bed. Coffee, shower, shave the nascent neckbeard, water, protein bar, try to feel human. As refreshing as it’s been to live music for a couple full days, I don’t feel out of line saying I’m exhausted and will appreciate the earlier finish tonight. I finished the macadamia butter yesterday, but ground up a bunch of hazelnuts and brought that in some tupperware for the car, had a few bites on the way in. Life-giving. No salt, no nothing. Just dry roasted nuts, smoother than not — enough to bring out the oil — but still with a bit of natural texture. Beautiful.
It’s summer today. Sun’s out, it’s hot, and I’m sitting outside at the Knockdown Center by the food trucks, kind of half in the shade. I managed yesterday to hydrate really well. Today that will be even more important. I woke up this morning with a sorer throat than I expected, gave myself two covid home tests, both decidedly negative. Nice to know for sure.
Doors in about 20 minutes, first band an hour after that.
Greenbeard
This might be the perfect weather for a Greenbeard show. Sun’s out, it’s warm and humid enough to sweat but not totally overbearing, and up from Austin, the four-piece were an immediate rager. Their new record has a good mix of melodic and harder-driving stuff, riff-led but branching out in the way of desert-style heavy and soul, and they brought some of that to what was a pretty quick set, but along the way had time to list “some of their favorite things” in “Don’t Get Too Desperate,” including queso in a list that would do “Feel Good Hit of the Summer” proud. The party vibe was immediate, really even before they went on, but when they hit it, there was no warmup, no give-it-a-minute-and-see-where-it-goes. Greenbeard play heavy rock and roll like it’s this crazy new thing they just made up and you need to hear it right now. And it felt good to recognize songs from their new album, Variant, even if they were considerably rawer live.
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Left Lane Cruiser
Other than a few basic factoids like they’re signed to Alive Records and they’re from Indiana and having seen their name around a bunch, I knew very little going into Left Lane Cruiser’s set. I expected bluesy, given the chair on stage and the low drums. Washboard, slide guitar, dude rambling between songs most unintelligible. So yes, bluesy, in a hard-boogie kind of way. Fiery energy, light on frills but with a marked lean into cultural appropriation. Maybe just not my thing, but I felt like guitarist/vocalist Fredrick “Joe” Evans IV laid on the Bayou banter a little thick. Wabba dabba baggle clabby. They hit it though, and I’ll give respect to both the energy and the washboard, which was soon enough used to crash through cymbals on the drum kit. It was what it was, and maybe I’ve got race on my mind because of that terrorist shooting in Buffalo, but for as much as they burned, I was left kind of cold. It’s a packed weekend. They aren’t all going to resonate.
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Mother Iron Horse
These guys jumped from Electric Valley Records to Ripple Music for last year’s ‘Under the Blood Moon,’ and very much compatriot to Leather Lung in my mind perhaps because I saw the two together in 2019 at the much-missed Ode to Doom in Manhattan. Maybe they’re friends. Maybe they hang out on weekends, I don’t know. Even their soundcheck drew people in though, and that crowd did not dissipate when the actual set started. The band plays both kind of music, sludge and rock, and they’re unrepentant in their aggression. They made it easy though to get down with that in the side room, which grew more and more crowded as the set went on, until, finally, the heat reminded me that I very much needed to refill my water bottle. They introduced themselves though by saying, “We’re Mother Iron Horse and a woman’s body is her own fucking business.” Both true, even if the latter was less immediately relevant to the set. I have to think Samuel Alito probably wouldn’t get it had he shown up for Desertfest, but fuck him anyway. Good to know where Mother Iron Horse stand though, and more heavy bands need to be unafraid to say shit like that.
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Big Business
On the other hand, Big Business started their set by asking who was ready for a pizza party. Duh, everyone. A very West Coast foreshadow of Red Fang to come. I couldn’t tell you the last time I saw Big Business live, but it was probably a Melvins show, if that gives you a general idea. Jared and Coady — which I call them because they’re buds; we talk sometimes, and no that is not at all true — have their thing, and they’re veterans, and they played like it. I was dragging ass, admittedly, but I don’t think I’ve heard Big Business in the last decade and not felt like I need to listen to them more. Today is no different, and thinking of bands who came up around the same time in the early to mid ’00s, they’ve held up better than many and remained true to their ethic. You got an awesome bassist and an awesome drummer and if the central thesis is that’s all you need, well, there are probably a few two-guitar acts in this lineup who’d argue, but I wouldn’t, especially not after watching them play. Good band. Maybe a bit taken for granted, but they’ve only busted their ass for the last 20 years.
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Stinking Lizaveta
The band I was most looking forward to today. Knew what I was getting, have seen them on multiple prior occasions, and was still astonished. They played as a four-piece with Paul Webb on second guitar, which let Yanni Papadopoulos shred and bounce and move wherever the very precise plan that’s in a language no one else quite understands called for him to go. They’re instrumental, but he, bassist Alexi Papadopoulos and drummer Cheshire Agusta all got on mic at some point between songs. Beyond that, the only vocals were through Yanni’s pickups and various woops and shouts while they played, and they were unreal. Radiating joy all the while, they proceeded to shred common concepts like what’s a song and which way is up and who’s rock and roll anyhow like they were so much fog from the smoke machine, each of them a genuine hero on their instrument and so tight together and so dynamic that each change brought new wonders. The word is unfuckwithable, and that is what they are. Not a single second was misspent, and they were so fucking good and their energy was so infectious that by the time they were done I wasn’t even tired anymore.
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Dead Meadow
Feels wrong to think of Dead Meadow as the kings of mellow psych, if only because I doubt mellow psych is a monarchy. Whatever system of government the genre might be and whether you tag them as shoegaze or heavy psych or drift psych or anything else that might apply to a given languid measure, they’re masters of it. They eased their way into the proceedings with a jam and had some sound issues — bass cut out early, was fixed quickly — but they got into it with their trademark style, a kind of fascinated serenity set to groove. It’s still daylight, which feels weird somehow, and the weather remains gorgeous, but the crowd filed in once they got going and it was dead quiet in between the songs (after the applause, etc.) as those in front of the stage eagerly awaited the next dose of sweet fuzz that would emanate from it. Another act who’ve stood time’s test by understanding who they are and what they want to do in stage and in their songwriting. Mostly they want you to chill the hell out. And to aid in that cause, Dead Meadow are totally willing to close with “Sleepy Silver Door,” which is only right and proper. A band you always expect to be kind of a wreck based on how they sound but who are sneaky reliable. And oh, that jam…
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High Reeper
If the phrase “fucking a” was a band, it’d be High Reeper. My first time seeing them live, and they were nastier than on their records but that’s certainly not a problem at this point in the weekend. A good kick in the ass is certainly justified. Crazy one two three to this part of the day, with Stinking Lizaveta, Dead Meadow and High Reeper, who play heavy rock but have a metal middle finger in the air just the same. Hot and humid in that room even with the door open and that suited High Reeper well, as one of my earplugs came partway out and the result was immediately painful. They’re of a whole cohort on Heavy Psych Sounds — see also: Duel, maybe Hippie Death Cult who signed around the same time — and you can hear their point of view taking shape in their sound. That is to say, it has taken shape and while “refine” isn’t the right word for something so brazen, after seeing them I’m left with no doubt they’ll continue to push themselves deeper into the emergent definition of their approach. If Greenbeard were the party — and they were — then High Reeper were the fight that breaks out after everyone is smashed.
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Red Fang
Two and a half pandemic years later, you can still set your watch by Red Fang’s ability to kick ass. They launched their set with a barrage from across multiple albums and even when they “settled” into it they were explosive. Like Torche, High on Fire still to come, like Big Business earlier, this is an established act, professional, and they put on a professional show. They played “Number Thirteen,” which even with “Wires” and the requisite closer “Prehistoric Dog” would’ve been enough for me on its own, and the place went off. Of course it did. Not at all a surprise, but a definite reaffirmation of their place, which has always been on a stage. I don’t mind telling you that on an existential level, I am very much feeling the early finish tonight, but even so, having Red Fang on right before High on Fire on the main stage makes sense in a way the world hasn’t made sense in what feels like even longer than it actually has been. They’re a band that indoctrinated people into this sound in the first place, and as veterans, they reminded me at least of what a force they can be at their best.
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Telekinetic Yeti
Oh my. You like tone? Telekinetic Yeti has some tone, and I’m fairly certain it was coming through three Orange full stacks. Statistically significant weight in those riffs. Obviously that’s the idea, and the Midwestern duo, who had an ugly split after their first record that seems to have abated with the addition of a new drummer, play it chunky style. They’re signed to Tee Pee, so there’s a New York connection, and they brought flood lights to counter the encroaching night. I’ve heard a lot of heavy shit this weekend — a lot — but beyond Torche’s bomb string, I’m not sure there’s much to stand up to Telekinetic Yeti in terms of sheer heft. Gonna need a forklift for those riffs, bro. New album in July will be one to dig into. If they managed to capture half of what they used to fill that side room for their headlining spot, it’ll be the kind of thing that’ll blow your speakers. “Stoned & Feathered,” man. Frickin’ “Abominable.” Goodness.
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High on Fire
There is likely no hyperbole left that has not been said at some point in their more-than-20-year career. They are a juggernaut, they are marauders, they are both the unstoppable force and the immovable object. They are the single axe swing that takes your head off clean, first time. Speaking of first time, I’d yet to see them with Coady Willis on drums. I was always a Des Kensel fan. Dude had a style of play that was all his own. Willis, though, is a fucking monster. He not only handles the older parts but owns them, makes them his own, and executes the material with a vitality that pushes into aerobics. He and Jeff Matz as a rhythm section are well matched and crushing in kind. And what of Matt “For President” Pike? He is the master of ceremonies at the Red Wedding. High on Fire were so intense they were in a league completely of their own. Genre doesn’t matter. Nothing matters. Their volume was consuming — loudest of the day, I think, which may be by design — and their ferocity unmatched. As extreme as Desertfest got with some of the more death metal-style stuff, I feel like High on Fire added extra blast to their attack tonight and it was every bit as glorious as one could hope. The perfect ending in that nothing could hope to follow it.
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Other Random Observations:
– Good music makes life better. Great music makes life great.
– The Yankees have been away all weekend and I suspect that’s made the drives in from NJ easier. Fortunate.
– Lunar eclipse tonight. Feels about right.
– I think I might end everything I ever write about Dead Meadow from here on out with an ellipses.
– Counted no fewer than four Obelisk shirts today, including one on Yanni from Stinking Lizaveta, which was truly humbling. Sleeveless, no less.
– Thanks for reading.
I did get to watch some of that eclipse on my way home. Imagine that for a second. Incredible. More pics after the jump.
New York City’s In This House of Mourning today self-release their debut album, Penance. The record’s arrival — digital first — comes just a short couple weeks after the record was announced and the first song premiered, so yes, it is very much a DIY, this-is-a-thing-and-here-it-is kind of affair. If there’s to be hype, it will come after the fact, and though Penance is short at just 21 minutes and will probably be regarded as an EP when In This House of Mourning‘s spearhead and former member of atmosludgers Mountain God, Ben Ianuzzi (guitar, bass, synth and so on) moves on toward an inevitable next release, its impact is still noteworthy for the grim ambience it creates as well as its willingness to wholly engage the stench of NY-style death metal.
To wit, the chug that emerges in the second half of opening track “The Path Worn Down,” also the aforementioned lead single. At 9:53, it’s the longest of the three inclusions (immediate points), and with grunts and growls over slow-motion, high-density distortion, the vibe is pure death-doom. But that chug, which returns again at the end met by squiggly guitar sounds overlaid, feels like a dogwhistle to those who know from whence that rawness springs. It’s a long regional history of death metal that has refused frills or, for the most part, the prog bent that has consumed much of extreme metal’s fare over the course of the current generation of acts. Ianuzzi, with that simple chug, calls out that influence even as In This House of Mourning‘s sound grows more expansive, pulling from doomed tempos and an insular darkness that goes beyond simply playing slow.
Keyboards and various synth bring depth to the procession and are by and large responsible for the melodies, as the three-minute “Judgement” confirms in its quiet stretch of grieving. This in turn gives way to the crashing introduction of “Cruel Death,” which moves further along all lines, more fluidly shifting between the various sides, from its initial heft and keyboard-inclusive crawl to the subdued guitar that patiently leads to reinvigorated lurch before, just after four minutes in, the vocals grow somehow harsher and the pace kicks up for a time, laying a claim early in the project’s tenure to bursts of pure death that may or may not be fleshed out on subsequent outings. Before the song is done, Ianuzzi brings it back around to the melodic keys and the grueling dirge nod, but having gone there invariably casts an effect on the mood with which “Cruel Death” closes Penance, and most importantly, that seems to be a purposeful choice.
Where Penance might lead, or when, it beats me, but for In This House of Mourning, it’s clear this first offering is an exploration of sound and style on the part of Ianuzzi and a few select initials-only compatriots, and the results are morose in a way that brings to mind classic ’90s death-doom while still ready to gnash its teeth on something more distinctly brutal. For Ianuzzi, who was kind enough to give some words to the motivations behind the songs, the difference seems to be one of introspection.
Below, you can stream the premiere of Penance by In This House of Mourning in its entirety, and read more from Ianuzzi, find the order link, and all that good stuff. It’s down there in the blue. You know how this goes.
Enjoy:
Ben Ianuzzi on Penance:
I guess I’ll say this. Given the order of the songs- PWD, J, CD — it’ll be obvious in the lyrics that its kind of an attack on the kinds of people that say lovely things about someone once they die. How people sort of glorify people at the end, as if it’s somehow honorable. Death is cruel, and sometimes people live out their miserable lives and are just as miserable at the end.
They may pretend that they aren’t — and others say kind words about them to make it seem like the end was peaceful — but a lot of that is just to make the survivors feel better.
And while I wrote the music before (which I more or less played every instrument on, and wrote the lyrics) I wrote the lyrics, everything just fit. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I didn’t write about such a morose topic because I wrote funeral doom songs — it was very genuine.
Whereas Mountain God was very impersonal, and was very outward in its anger, this band is much more personal. It’s much more inward-facing.
So while everything I said in the press release was true, deeper below the surface, these songs are pretty much my innermost feelings. Less driven by exterior issues and more personal thoughts.
There’s so much death-doom out there right now, it can be hard to remember how completely oppressive the sound can be when intentionally pushed in that direction. On that happy note, big welcome to In This House of Mourning — also stylized all-lowercase: in this house of mourning — who will mark their first release with the three-song offering Penance on Feb. 28. I’m not sure if you’d call it an EP or an LP, but I’m more certain that it doesn’t matter nearly as much as the grueling affect of opening cut “The Path Worn Down,” which you can hear premiering below.
Some out there might recall Ben Ianuzzi‘s work in the plenty-o’-noise sludgemakers Mountain God. If not, uh, they were killer, you should see if you can track it down. Anyhow, In This House of Mourning is Ianuzzi‘s new vehicle for plunging into aural melancholia/miseries, and you’ll find that the comparisons tossed out with the early-’90s Peacevilleian vibe isn’t misplaced. Also nice to see Evoken get a little love, always.
You’ll find more on the themes and ideas behind Penance in the background info under the player below, from which you can immerse yourself in “The Path Worn Down.” Take a deep breath before you go.
And please enjoy:
In This House of Mourning – Penance
New York based extreme metal band, in this house of mourning, is proud to announce its debut release, penance, recorded with engineer Aady Pandit at the Underground Lair in Queens, NY.
The brainchild of Ben Ianuzzi, formerly of doom/sludge act Mountain God, “in this house of mourning” is a band devoted to the polar fringes of metal, embracing a dynamic of paying homage to the early 90’s, and pushing the envelope of what heavy music can be within the modern scene. Over the course of 24 intense minutes, songs “The Path Worn Down”, “Judgement”, and album closer, “Cruel Death”, foster an atmosphere that will draw listeners in, pummeling them with downtuned, full sounding chord progressions, short, intense moments of furious riffing, and ambiance provided by synths, organs, and melodic guitars. Listeners will recognize that penance is rooted in a foundation of funeral doom, death/doom, and even shoegaze. Artists such as My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost, Celtic Frost, Shape of Despair, Evoken, and My Bloody Valentine, served as influences and an inspiration for the band. That said, “in this house of mourning” is unique in its own right, pushing the boundaries of extreme music through textural layering and dynamic playing.
In an artistic sense, penance is focused on the hidden pain and suffering we deal with day in, and day out. So many fears and terrors have been exposed over the last few decades that it is hard to keep up with the trauma. Collectively, we have inherited a world in which political and cultural forces regularly tear at the fabric of what it means to be a united people. We’re weighed down and suffocated by the dirge of social media, and as a means of coping, people often, and willingly, expose an unreal version of themselves for all the world to see. For better or worse, people have learned to hide who they really are deep within the confines of our digital universe. penance is a reaction to this reality, and is meant to be a cathartic experience, with each listener provided the opportunity to release, let go, and immerse themselves in heaviness. Each track cuts directly to the point, unapologetically being as direct and confrontational as possible.
With future releases already in the works, “in this house of mourning” will continue to explore the different elements of heavy music, complete with undefined boundaries and a willingness to travel to wherever the music decides to go. There are no expectations beyond putting out music that is individualistic and a genuine representation of the band in that moment. Be on the lookout for news regarding the band!
Track Listing: 1) The Path Worn Down 2) Judgement 3) Cruel Death
Recorded by Aady Pandit The Underground Lair Queens, NY, 2021
