I can only think of one kind of person who wouldn’t be excited at the prospect of new material forthcoming from Miami two-piece Holly Hunt, and that kind of person is a straight-up jive turkey. For the rest of us, word of a new single pressed to a 12″ platter is nothing but good news, to be sure. The instrumentalist duo had a glut of releases a couple years back and it was easy to get spoiled, but it’s been a while as we move deeper into 2017, so the arrival of preorders for The Wait / Bowling Green — even at just about seven minutes between them — is fine by me. It’s not an album, but, you know, it’s not nothing either. And it’s been nothing for a while now, so don’t be a jive turkey about it.

Jive turkey.

The May 18 release of The Wait / Bowling Green coincides with the May 20 start of a run up the Eastern Seaboard that Holly Hunt will undertake alongside Crud as the latter make their way to and through Maryland Deathfest 2017 at the end of this month. Dates follow the release info below:

Holly Hunt – S/T 12”

May 18, 2017, Holly Hunt return with a new two-song, self-titled 12” single released by Sonic Titan. Both songs were recorded, mixed and mastered by Rat Bastard at Dan Hosker Studio in Miami Beach. A side, “The Wait” (4:00) is a melodic, melancholic song, and the B side is a heavy rager called “Bowling Green” (3:09). The record will be available through the band’s Bandcamp page, select record stores, as well as on their upcoming tour with Crud May 20th – May 31st.

Drummer Beatriz Monteavaro and guitarist Gavin Perry capture the meditative power of repetition; the ecstatic joy of tempered variation; infinitely undulating riffage; psychedelic drone paired with rock n’ roll rhythm in full splendor. Though stripped down to the most bare essentials, Holly Hunt produces a sound and style far beyond rudimentary tags like “heavy,” “hard,” or “brutal.”

Preorder now at hollyhunt.bandcamp.com
Photo credit: Walter Wlodarczyk.
Front cover illustration by Beatriz Monteavaro.

CRUD and Holly Hunt will be greasing through the East Coast in May. Catch the filth in your city.

5/20 Savannah, GA at The Jinx w/ Gaul
5/21 Raleigh, NC at Slims w/ Gaul*
5/22 Richmond, VA at McCormacks Irish Pub
5/23 Brooklyn, NY at Lucky 13
5/24 Philadelphia, PA at Century Bar
5/25 Baltimore, MD at Maryland Deathfest*
5/26 Columbus, OH at The Summit
5/27 Lexington, KY at The Green Lantern Bar
5/28 Murfreesboro, TN at Autograph Studios
5/29 Asheville, NC at Static Age Records
5/30 Atlanta, GA at The Earl w/ Junior Bruce
5/31 Gainesville, FL The Atlantic w/ Junior Bruce
*CRUD only

https://www.facebook.com/HOLLYHUNT.LTD/
https://www.facebook.com/events/1245418958872759/
https://twitter.com/HollyHunt666
hollyhunt.bandcamp.com

Holly Hunt, “Bill Ward”

Having recently had the pleasure of seeing Florida’s Holly Hunt live, their upcoming EP, Prometheus, will arrive all the more anticipated. The Miami-based duo of guitarist Gavin Perry and drummer Beatriz Monteavaro made their intent clear on their Year One debut, embroiled in a sonic demolition of big riffs and big stomp that hopefully continues its tide of destruction on the new release. I’m looking forward to checking it out.

Time and the PR wire shall tell:

Holly Hunt – Prometheus (Other Electricities/Sonic TITAN) Out April 29, 2014

Following their highly lauded full-length album Year One, Holly Hunt returns with a 3-song, 12’’ EP, Prometheus. Recorded by Jonathan Nuñez of Torche and mastered by New Alliance East, the record builds on the two-piece’s reputation for metal that’s crafted with the heaviest alloys, and a most magisterial patterning – the type that drones vehemently and drowns in the blues.

Drummer Beatriz Monteavaro (Floor, Cavity) and guitarist Gavin Perry have demonstrated themselves as a loud and lumbering giant of the Miami music scene. The visceral impact of sound – the raising heart rate, neck chills, the warmth spreading throughout your torso – this is Holly Hunt’s raison d’être. Prometheus manages to transmit an almost perfect rendering, delivering listeners to a heightened physical (and mental and spiritual) state. The record conjures the image of an approaching behemoth, striking paranoia and fear until the final, exhilarating sweep of humanity’s total destruction.

Where Year One established the bedrock of Holly Hunt’s punishing sound, Prometheus thunders with the clarity of a crack of lighting. It establishes a supremely balanced, critical distance between amp worship and riff devotion, rising and falling with ecstatic highs and sublime lows. And while Year One represented the genesis of the band’s existence; Prometheus stands as a churning, threatening hint of things to come.

https://www.facebook.com/HOLLYHUNT.LTD
https://www.facebook.com/SonicTITAN.ltd
http://other-electricities.com/

Holly Hunt, “Meano” from Prometheus (2013)

Some bands have a tone that just goes beyond fuzz. So it goes with Boston-based space-psych trio Sonic Titan, who play with such distortion as to make you think their guitars have beards. The trio digitally released their second full-length, Even Higher, last March and it flew under my radar, but I’ve been digging its quirky interludes, fast-paced changes, and yes, its hairy tonality, and wanted to take a second to highlight it in case anyone else had yet to check it out.

Steve McCaul‘s bass warrants a headphone listen on its own, but there’s a lot of intricate work going on in Tom Symes‘ drums as well, while guitarist/vocalist Shaun Anzalone leads the charge with classic riff rock and vocals that strike a balance of impeccably mixed modern shouts and the swaggering soul of yore. “No Illusion” works in a Never Say Die-era Sabbath mold, at least initially, and “Esoteric Warning,” despite the severity of its title, has a bit of funk to its pulse. There’s a lot to immerse yourself in, and I’ve really just been introduced to the aptly-titled cosmic strangeness and guitar solo glory of “Weird Forest,” but Even Higher is an album I’m looking forward to getting to know better, and I’m glad to have the chance to add it to regular rotation on The Obelisk Radio.

The band are on Thee Facebooks here, and if you’re so inclined, you can get the album from the Sonic Titan Bandcamp, as I did, or listen on the player below. Either way, enjoy: