Posted in Whathaveyou on March 6th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Over the last several weeks, the inaugural Desertfest Oslo has piece-by-piece announced the remainder of the lineup for May 10 and 11, and the list is substantial. Wolves in the Throne Room, Weedpecker, Kadabra, Steak, Crippled Black Phoenix, Earth Tongue, Apostle of Solitude, Orsak:Oslo, Margarita Witch Cult, REZN, Bongzilla and Slomosa joined the bill one at a time, broadening the scope exponentially in terms of style from searing black metal thrust to sad post-goth to stoner rock of progressive and willfully unprogressive strains and outright ambience, older and newer bands, and geographical range. It’s kind of stunning how commonplace this standard has become for the Desertfest brand over the last decade-plus.
Tickets for each day are also on sale now — in case, what you want to see Acid King and not REZN? it’s okay, I’m not judging; I know people have lives and things to do — but it’s pretty clear looking at the full roster of who’ll play that Desertfest Oslo 2024 is all-in on the thing. And with Kadavar, Monolord, Crippled Black Phoenix and Eyehategod headlining, they’ll rely on a multifaceted draw from the top down through the entire lineup. This feels both like a festival brand reaching into new territory and new collaborations — which it is, absolutely — and a righteous start to what could become a staple of the Spring touring circuit. Do I really need to go on about Norway’s underground boom? Probably not when a hand-picked selection of those responsible are present below to remind you.
Bottom line here is I look forward to seeing how this unfolds even from a distance, but whatever Desertfest Oslo does in the longer term, this is a monster. Behold:
Finally the day splits are here!
As well as day splits we’ve also made single day tickets available from february 29th.
Friday: KADAVAR Monolord Wolves In The Throne Room Acid King Slomosa Weedpecker Håndgemeng Orsak:Oslo Kadabra Earth Tongue Bismarck Karavan Superlynx
Saturday: CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX Brant Bjork EYEHATEGOD REZN The Devil And The Almighty Blues Bongzilla Full Earth Margarita Witch Cult Steak Agabas Saint Karloff Apostle of Solitude Suncraft
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 28th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
I have every intention of being at Freak Valley Festival 2024 when it takes place next May into June, and given the first 11 acts to be announced for its lineup, I’m already glad for that. Yes, no doubt Monolord will crush and I just saw 1000mods like a week ago so I know they’re killing it, but the chance to see the likes of Daevar or Fuzzy Grass, Speck, Mouth, Full Earth (begat by Kanaan) and Slomosa, the young Norwegian outfit at the potential spearhead of a new generation of Euro heavy rock — the kind of band who’ll be headlining in a few years if they keep putting the work in like they are and the songs hold up. Already there’s stuff I never thought I’d see, stuff I’ve seen and know will be awesome, and stuff I haven’t seen that I want to see. Call that a win for a first announcement.
I wrote a decent portion of the below, but some was added, so I’m not gonna take full credit or anything like that. Nonetheless, as posted on socials:
Freak Valley Festival 2024 Lineup Announcement!
Ladies and gentlemen, freaks of all ages, get ready to rock your world at Freak Valley Festival 2024! We’re thrilled to unveil the first part of an incredible lineup featuring some of the most electrifying bands from around the globe. Freak Valley 2024 is set for May 30 – June 1.
You’ve already seen that Early Freak Tickets are on sale for Sept. 30 at Vortex Surfer in Siegen, and Regular Tickets again Oct. 2. Online sales start Oct. 3 and tickets hit local shops on Oct. 4. But enough about that!!
You’ve been waiting, we’ve been waiting, and the first band we’re ready to unveil for Freak Valley Festival 2024 is MONOLORD.
The Swedish kingpins of plus-sized riffs were last with us in 2019. Will they be back with a new album next summer? It’s cool to hope so, but either way, you can’t go wrong when Monolord come to crush, which they always do.
They’ll be joined by Greek heavy rock kingpins 1000MODS, Norwegian upstarts SLOMOSA — whose second record will be out by June — and ALEX HENRY FOSTER who you might remember was supposed to play in 2023, as well as DŸSE, SPECK, DAEVAR and FUZZY GRASS from France.
Newcomer Kanaan-offshoot FULL EARTH will join us from from Norway and long-running Chilean sludge outfit DEMONAUTA will grace our stage for the first time.
Rounding out this first announcement closer to home, we’ll bring Köln heavy prog stalwarts MOUTH on board, heralding this year’s ‘Getaway’ LP, which is must-hear if you haven’t!
(#128266#) Here’s the star-studded lineup:
Monolord – 1000mods – Dÿse – Slomosa – Alex Henry Foster – Mouth – Speck – Demonauta- Full Earth- Fuzzy Grass – Daevar
All killers, no fillers. That’s how we do it, freaks. Get your tickets now because they’ll be gone before you know it.
Prepare for an unforgettable weekend filled with mind-blowing performances, heavy riffs, and an atmosphere that’ll keep you rocking all night long. Freak Valley Festival 2024 is set to be an absolute musical extravaganza!
Ahead of making their Stickman Records label debut sometime early next year, Slomosa will spend a decent portion of the remainder of 2023 on the road, with a swath of festival dates this and next month and more of those and club shows besides as they swap out touring with King Buffalo at the Lazy Bones Festival in Hamburg for touring with Elder the next at the end of October. This continues a streak of road work for the Bergen, Norway, upstart heavy rockers, who’ve been reaping praise all the while since issuing their self-titled debut (review here) in 2020.
They toured with Stöner last year and have been making the rounds at events like Kristonfest, Sonic Whip, Høstsabbat, Desertfest, and so on since 2021 when such things became possible, proselytizing their not-fancy-on-its-face-but-deeply-memorable brand of heavy rock, dug into the roots of post-Kyuss stonerism but cast with the inimitable vitality of a fresh generational interpretation. If we’re lucky, they’ll be the shape of riffs to come. At least from Northern Europe, if not the continent more broadly.
The song is a big-hook riff and rocks its way back to the roots of modern heavy fuzz in the early ’00s. Catchy, melodic, excellently composed, organically produced; it is a herald to the converted who either did or didn’t hear the first record of the growth that (hopefully) typifies the second to come. To coincide, the video has a computer-animated claymation-esque storyline about two characters stuck together who may or may not actually be the same person, and it feels like something one might’ve stumbled onto in the weirdest moment of an episode of Headbanger’s Ball circa 1994. That’s nothing to complain about, of course, and it suits the track well, is wild enough to hold attention, and speaks to the aesthetic of the band more generally, as well as the aforementioned progression in their sound.
“Cabin Fever” is the first single from the upcoming LP — yet untitled, at least so far as I know — and may or may not be the only new music Slomosa unveil before their Fall touring and the end of the year afterward, but they certainly justify anticipation in this track, and I suspect the closer we get to the release, the more than anticipation will grow. It’s fun to be excited about a new band, young, hungry, willing to tour like mad and loaded with forward potential as Slomosa are. They set a high standard for themselves with the self-titled, and “Cabin Fever” lives up to it in terms of craft and execution.
We’ll leave it there for now. Video, which is by Andreas E. Lund, and copious tour dates follow, as per the PR wire.
Please enjoy:
Slomosa, “Cabin Fever” video premiere
Since their sudden appearance on the scene with the self-titled debut album in 2020, Norwegian up-and-coming desert rockers SLOMOSA have hit the ground running with relentless tours alongside bands such as Orange Goblin, Sasquatch and Stöner. Now, following their recent signing with Stickman Records, the four-piece has shared a brand new song taken off their upcoming, second full-length, which they recently recorded at Polyfon Studio in their hometown of Bergen!
As SLOMOSA singer and guitarist Benjamin Berdous recently said:
“The feel good vibes of our first album were apparent in the music, even though the lyrical themes were more serious and angry, but also in some sense comforting for me personally. Since then more of life has happened and things have gotten more serious, and as always this reflects on the music. It’s still important to me that we continue to offer something fresh in an at times homogeneous genre. Catchy vocal hooks and heavy guitar riffs is our recipe, and we don’t plan to mix up our diets!”
To shorten your wait for the band’s new album, slated for an early 2024-release with many more details to be revealed in the months ahead, make sure to catch SLOMOSA live at the following dates:
22.07.2023 – Vang i Valdres (NO), Vinjerock 28.07.2023 – Michela (DE) , Rock Im Wald 29.07.2023 – Aschaffenburg (DE), Colos-Saal w/ Sasquatch 30.07.2023 – Breitenbach (DE), Herzberg Festival 01.08.2023 – Dresden (DE), Chemiefabrik 02.08.2023 – Hannover (DE), Faust 04.08.2023 – Beelen (DE), Krach Am Bach 05.08.2023 – Cernoy (FR), Celebration Days Festival 11.08.2023 – Kortrijk (BE), Alcatraz Festival 25.08.2023 – Voss (NO), Hedleberget
with KING BUFFALO: 05.10.2023 – Berlin (DE), Lido 06.10.2023 – München (DE), Keep It Low 08.10.2023 – Dudingen (CH), Bad Bonn 10.10.2023 – Barcelona (ES), Razzmatazz3 11.10.2023 – Madrid (ES), Nazca 12.10.2023 – Lisbon (PT), RCA Club 13.10.2023 – Porto (PT), Hard Club 14.10.2023 – Hondarribia (ES), Psilocybenea 15.10.2023 – Toulouse (FR), Connexion Live 22.10.2023 – Deventer (NL), Burgerweeshuis 24.10.2023 – Köln (DE), Club Volta 25.10.2023 – Amsterdam (NL), Melkweg 26.10.2023 – Eindhoven (NL), Effenaar 27.10.2023 – Frankfurt (DE), Zoom 28.10.2023 – Hamburg (DE), Lazy Bones Festival (w/ Elder, King Buffalo & many more!)
with ELDER: 29.10.2023 – Copenhagen (DK), Pumpehuset 31.10.2023 – Amersfoort (NL), Fluor 01.11.2023 – Oberhausen (DE), Kulttempel 02.11.2023 – Nijmegen (NL), Doornroosje 03.11.2023 – Leuven (BE), Het Depot 04.11.2023 – Paris (FR), La Maroquinerie 05.11.2023 – Lille (FR), Black Lab 07.11.2023 – Bristol (UK), The Fleece 08.11.2023 – Brighton (UK), Patterns 09.11.2023 – London (UK), Electric Ballroom 10.11.2023 – Glasgow (UK), Slay 11.11.2023 – Leeds (UK), Brudenell Social Club 12.11.2023 – Manchester (UK), Gorilla
SLOMOSA are: Benjamin Berdous – Vocals/guitar Marie Moe – Vocals/bass Tor Erik Bye – Guitar Jard Hole – Drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 28th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Bergen, Norway’s Slomosa started a round of summer shows last week that are likely as much a herald for their second album as continued support for their 2020 self-titled debut (review here). They’ve been touring steadily since such a thing became possible, signed to Stickman Records earlier this year, and have already been confirmed for Lazy Bones Festival and Keep it Low this Fall.
As both of those festivals take place in Germany — Hamburg and Munich, respectively — on different ends of the month of October, one might infer that more tour dates are likely to be announced, and further, that a Fall release for the album is also a distinct possibility. Upstarts as they are, and as successful as the first record was, there’s a lot riding on Slomosa‘s sophomore full-length, and whether it ends up coming out in the second half of 2023, during or after the Winter touring lull, it is highly anticipated. Much of the live activity listed below is festivals, and Slomosa have quickly become regulars on that circuit. One hopes that the momentum they’ve built from the work they’ve don’t to this point remains on their side.
Sound of Liberation posted the following:
SLOMOSA – SUMMER 2023
Hey friends,
we’re super stoked to present the @slomosa summer dates 2023!(#128165#)
It was basically impossible to miss this fresh “Tundra Rock” sensation from Norway last year, when they blew us away with their catchy tunes and immersive live shows. We’re so happy to have them back on the road!(#128293#) & shhhh: there is more to come! (#129323#)
Check out the tour dates below, grab your tickets and join the party!(#128640#)
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 20th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
And so the Fall tourscape continues to unfold. King Buffalo heading abroad again is news, I think. They’re playing RippleFest Texas at the end of September, and between Keep it Low 2023 on Oct. 6-7 and the also-Sound–of–Liberation-affiliated Lazy Bones Festival in Hamburg, for which they were confirmed last week, it looks like they’ll once more spend at least the better part of a month on the road. Good to know these things.
Joining them in this whopper of an announcement is the e’er aggro Mantar, reinvigorated doom legends The Obsessed — who seem to be hitting the touring circuit that much harder with their revamped lineup — the reliably-unhinged Eyehategod, upstart rockers Slomosa, and Humulus, Dirty Sound Magnet, The Moth (who rule and hopefully have a new record coming), Eremit, Lucid Void and masked marauders Iron Walrus. It’s a busy one, but check out the generational blend between the likes of Colour Haze, The Obsessed, Eyehategod and Alabama Thunderpussy and the likes of Slomosa, King Buffalo, and Lucid Void.
Seems to me like we’re in a pretty killer moment of established acts still getting out and releasing quality material (The Obsessed have a new album that hopefully will be out concurrent to this tour) and newer bands on the rise. As the 2020s play out post-pandemic, this may be the shape of the next few years. Let’s learn from the past and support the shit out of the next generation of bands, hmm?
Here’s the latest:
NEW BANDS ADDED TO KEEP IT LOW FESTIVAL 2023
Hey Keepers,
we’re super stoked to present you the latest additions to our Keep It Low line up!
Please welcome to the bill:
MANTAR The Obsessed King Buffalo EYEHATEGOD Slomosa Dirty Sound Magnet Humulus THE MOTH Eremit Lucid Void IRON WALRUS
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 17th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Last year was the first Lazy Bones Festival in Hamburg, Germany. Put on by Sound of Liberation — which also maintains Keep it Low in Munich and Up in Smoke in Switzerland while featuring artists on their booking roster prominently at Desertfest Belgium — it’s set for Oct. 28 and if the first eight names were the entire lineup, it would be an all-dayer well worth traveling to see. Elder and King Buffalo, Greenleaf and The Atomic Bitchwax, Slomosa, Daily Thompson, and Gnome. Any one of those bands, on their own, is a good night.
Together, they make up what is referred to below as a “first batch,” so I guess there’s more coming. I’ll keep an eye out for a second one, to be sure, because in looking at this I’m not entirely certain what else you might need. Shit, this lineup should just tour. Package touring fests have to be due for a comeback, don’t they? Put these acts on the road for a couple weeks in the summer hitting major markets and I bet the shows sell out. You could do five dates in Germany alone.
As of now, however, it’s Hamburg-only. Info follows as per the PR wire:
LAZY BONES FEST in Hamburg Announces ELDER, KING BUFFALO, GREENLEAF, SLOMOSA & many more!
2023 will see the LAZY BONES FEST return to Hamburg, Germany, with an eclectic line-up that doubles down all expectations within the heavy stoner, psych, doom and fuzz rock scene! While the first edition of the indoor festival, presented by SOUND OF LIBERATION, was taking place in the summer of 2022 at Grünspan, LAZY BONES FEST has moved to iconic venue Markthalle in Hamburg.
A first batch of bands has just been announced, and October 28th will see the following, high class line-up rocking the stage of LAZY BONES FEST 2023:
Elder King Buffalo Greenleaf The Atomic Bitchwax Slomosa Daily Thompson Gnome
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 24th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Just what do Slomosa have up their sleeves for a second album, I wonder. Their self-titled debut (review here) came out in 2020 on Apollon Records and made a splash and basically as soon as they could be they were on the road for it. I think they played every European festival last year except the three I was lucky enough to go to — which has had the sad effect of making me probably even more eager to see them live — and that album continues to spread via word of mouth even as the Bergen, Norway, four-piece are confirmed for more gigs. And now they’ve signed to Stickman Records; a home for heavy that matters.
So what’s it gonna be with Slomosa? Are they the forerunners of a new generation of heavy rock? Are they the vanguard? I don’t know, but I think the next album is going to tell us an awful lot one way or the other. And I think this signing is big enough news that I’m posting about it on Friday even after I already closed out the week. So yeah, I’m at least open to the idea that they’re the real deal and are going to be leaders of that next-gen of heavy that’s so badly needed, make an impact and be influential. That potential is there. It’s exciting to think it could happen.
This is why you sign up for record label newsletters:
SLOMOSA Sophomore LP to be released on Stickman – new single coming soon
We are proud to announce that SLOMOSA and Stickman are joining forces for the band’s upcoming second full-length, which they recently recorded at Polyfon Studio in their hometown of Bergen, Norway. A single from the album will be released in the coming months, so stay tuned!
Since their sudden appearance on the scene with the self-titled debut album “Slomosa” in 2020, the band has hit the ground running with relentless tours alongside bands such as Orange Goblin, Sasquatch and Stöner.
Singer/guitarist Benjamin Berdous says of the upcoming record:
“The feel good vibes of our first album were apparent in the music, even though the lyrical themes were more serious and angry, but also in some sense comforting for me personally. Since then more of life has happened and things have gotten more serious, and as always this reflects on the music. It’s still important to me that we continue to offer something fresh in an at times homogeneous genre. Catchy vocal hooks and heavy guitar riffs is our recipe, and we don’t plan to mix up our diets!”
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 26th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
A few different tours coming together here, right? Stoned Jesus, Greenleaf and Somali Yacht Club on the road together. Elder, Pallbearer and Irist. Hippie Death Cult out there on their own now that their would’ve-been-tourmates High Reeper dropped off. Naxatras making the rounds. Sasquatch doing like they do on a stretch with Orange Goblin before continuing a longer European run (you should always stretch first; ain’t nobody getting younger). Electric Citizen out with Fu Manchu. All of this is organized, mapped out ahead of time, and a lot of it is starting this weekend at Up in Smoke 2022 in Pratteln, Switzerland, as though to save you the time, money and effort necessary to hit up all these individual tours, which may or may not be routed everywhere to start with.
You can see the final lineup below with Fu Manchu, Orange Goblin and Elder getting top billing, and as the first of Sound of Liberation‘s Fall festivals in Europe — Keep it Low in Munich and Desertfest Belgium will follow in the coming weeks, and there’s a bunch of others besides — Up in Smoke is distinguished by vibe even more than timing. I’ve always been curious what it would feel like to sleep in the venue after a show. Indoor camping. Are there showers? Could be a pretty smelly affair by the third day; Up in Stink Lines, if you will. But more about the mindset. Are you so locked into the experience at that point that you wake up, find breakfast and are ready to roll as a part of the thing? I’m not sure I’d ever actually be brave enough to do it — not exactly the camping type in any context — but it could be interesting. Sound of Liberation has also posted the time-table, if you’d like to know more about what time to wake up.
The lineup below is final final final, and the day splits make it look like one hell of a festival. If you’re going to be there, I hope it’s a blast. I’d love to hear about it:
UP IN SMOKE 2022 – DAY SPLIT & DAY TICKETS – UP IN SMOKE FESTIVAL Z7 Pratteln 2022
