Posted in Whathaveyou on June 13th, 2018 by JJ Koczan
In case you’re wondering what might’ve driven them-lords-o’-drone SunnO))) to release their Downtown L.A. Rehearsal/Rifftape March 1998 all of a sudden as a limited LP via Southern Lord and Ideologic Organ. here’s the hard math: 1998 was 20 years ago.
That’s right. The Y2K scare. The Clinton economic surplus and beejer scandal. The seeming impossibility that we’d soon enough be locked into an endless war from which there’s seemingly neither interest nor ability to extricate ourselves. And also the formation of SunnO))). They’re 20 years old.
And what a 20 years it’s been. Talk about a band the world had to catch up to. SunnO))) started out playing rooms full of curious Goatsnake and/or Burning Witch fans and wound up influencing a generation of amplifier worship. As one might expect, the Downtown L.A. Rehearsal/Rifftape March 1998 is pretty raw, but also as one might expect, that only works to the band’s advantage. The more caustic and unlistenable it gets, the more their sound is doing its job.
They’ll be at Psycho Las Vegas in August, as the PR wire reminds:
SUNN O))) Releases Downtown LA Rehearsal/Rifftape March 1998 Limited Edition LP
SUNN O))) has unleashed the earliest recording of the band’s monolithic tones, revamped for a limited edition pressing via Southern Lord Recordings, as the label celebrates its twentieth anniversary, as a split label release together with Stephen O’Malley’s Ideologic Organ imprint.
The Downtown LA Rehearsal/Rifftape March 1998 dates back to the earliest rehearsals during the genesis of the SUNN O))) project. The source is a C60 cassette tape recorded on a boombox, and the result is essentially an extremely raw noise/drone record. It was taped in the band’s early practice space at Downtown Rehearsal (RIP), Los Angeles, in a practice room which the band shared with The Melvins and Goatsnake at the time. The LP sees SUNN O))) founders Greg Anderson and Stephen O’Malley on guitars and stacks of amps, the original cassette was mastered by Brad Boatright February 2018.
Longtime/old school diehard listeners of SUNN O)))’s massive sound and those who have watched the collective’s transformation over the past two decades can find the brutal practice tape revamped as Downtown LA Rehearsal/Rifftape March 1998, available only through Southern Lord and directly from the band in a limited run on 180-gram vinyl LP – 900 black, 500 silver, 100 white, with machine numbering on the front cover – and digitally.
Find SUNN O)))’s Downtown LA Rehearsal/Rifftape March 1998 at Bandcamp HERE and find more purchase options at the band’s webshop HERE.
Downtown LA Rehearsal/Rifftape March 1998 Track Listing: Side A: 1. Room 206 pt.1 2. Room 206 pt.2 3. B-Witch
Side B: 1. Room 206 pt.3 2. The Grimm Robe / Black Wedding 3. Mustaine / Thorns 4. M & D I.L.F. 5. The DJs
The celebration of twenty years of SUNN O))) and Southern Lord this year will continue with reissues of the band’s lauded White1 and White2 albums in the coming weeks.
SUNN O))) will perform live at the Psycho Las Vegas festival on August 19th alongside Godflesh, Goblin, Enslaved, All Pigs Must Die, Wolves In The Throne Room, and scores more.
Watch for further updates on SUNN O))) in the coming days.
SUNN O))) Live: 8/19/2018 Hard Rock Hotel & Casino – Las Vegas, NV @ Psycho Las Vegas
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 23rd, 2018 by JJ Koczan
It’s only taken a few years for Psycho Las Vegas to establish itself as the premier underground festival in the US. All well and good. With 2018’s lineup, though, it’s time to start thinking of Psycho among the best in the world.
Sounds like too much? Consider Godflesh and Dimmu Borgir sharing a stage, both for exclusive West Coast appearances. Think of Sweden’s Witchcraft playing one of the two shows they’ll do in the US at Psycho, and ditto that for Japanese riff-madmen Church of Misery. Think of US exclusives from Lee Dorrian’s With the Dead, or Lucifer, whose Johanna Sadonis will also DJ the Center Bar. The commitment to up and coming underground acts local, domestic and foreign like Temple of Void, King Buffalo, Dreadnought, The Munsens and DVNE. Picture yourself watching Wolves in the Throne Room headline a pre-fest pool party with Elder, Young and in the Way, Dengue Fever, Fireball Ministry and Toke.
2018 is the year Psycho Las Vegas outclasses even itself and pushes further than it ever has in terms of stylistic reach (Integrity walks by and waves… at Boris) and the sheer power of its construction. If you’re looking for the future, you’ll find it in scumbag paradise.
Here’s the lineup:
Psycho Las Vegas 2018
Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Las Vegas 4455 Paradise Rd, Las Vegas, Nevada 89169
PSYCHO LAS VEGAS 2018 lineup: DIMMU BORGIR (west of chicago exclusive) HELLACOPTERS (one of two shows to be played in the USA in 2018) SUNN 0))) GODFLESH (west of chicago exclusive) WITCHCRAFT (one of two shows to be played in the USA in 2018) ENSLAVED AMERICAN NIGHTMARE HIGH ON FIRE ROCKET FROM THE CRYPT RED FANG ZAKK SABBATH CHURCH OF MISERY (usa exclusive 2018 with exception to one other show in San Diego) TINARIWEN GOBLIN CKY VENOM INC EYEHATEGOD VOIVOD BORIS COVEN INTEGRITY PALLBEARER WITH THE DEAD (USA exclusive 2018) MONOLORD LUCIFER (USA exclusive 2018) ACID WITCH SURVIVE DOPETHRONE BIG BUSINESS UNEARTHLY TRANCE MUTOID MAN TODAY IS THE DAY HELMS ALEE SPIRIT ADRIFT BATUSHKA PRIMITIVE MAN DVNE ALL PIGS MUST DIE EIGHT BELLS WORMWITCH INDIAN NECROT HOMEWRECKER BRAIN TENTACLES CLOAK BLACK MARE MAGIC SWORD UADA TEMPLE OF VOID DREADNOUGHT WOLVHAMMER ASEETHE DISASTROID FORMING THE VOID VENOMOUS MAXIMUS GHASTLY SOUND HOWLING GIANT KING BUFFALO NIGHT HORSE THE MUNSENS GLAARE
Paradise Pool Pre Party
August 16th
WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM ELDER YOUNG AND IN THE WAY DENGUE FEVER FIREBALL MINISTRY TOKE
Center Bar DJ’s Andrew W.K. Nicke Andersson (Entombed/Hellacopters) Johanna Sadonis (Lucifer)
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 26th, 2016 by JJ Koczan
Set to consume any and all light around them, as ever, SunnO))) have issued a new single as a name-your-price download and announced tour dates in the Northeastern US and Southeastern Canada for March 2017. In addition, the magnates of the form have also enacted a Bandcamp sale through the remainder of 2016 offering 35 percent off presumably as a favor to those of us whose finances are depleted as will happen circa the holidays. Some rare kindnesses on the part of SunnO))), who are much more known for the inherent cruelties and coldness of their approach, but take it either way while you can, since there are fewer darknesses out there more suited to January’s dismal stretch than that of the rumble and gurgle SunnO))) emit.
The PR wire has details, links and all that good stuff:
SUNN O))) To Tour Northeastern USA, Southeast Canada In March; Digital Bandcamp Sale And Free Track Available Through The Year’s End
The first set of SUNN O))) tour dates for 2017 sees the collective bringing their dense and arrhythmic blend of metal, drone, and minimalist music back to the Northeast USA and Southeastern realms of Canada for a week of performances. SUNN O))) will converge in Washington DC on March 12th, following with shows in Pittsburgh, Toronto, Montreal, Boston, New York City, and Philadelphia confirmed through March 18th. Support on all shows will be provided by Southern Lord labelmates, Montreal-based Big | Brave, whom have also joined SUNN O))) on their recent tours of the Southwest, Southeast and Midwest states and Europe.
This follows the recent announcement of SUNN O)))’s appearance at London’s massive performing arts venue, Barbican Centre, as part of this year’s Convergence Festival on March 21st. Support for the performance will come from Icelandic singer and cellist, Hildur Guðnadóttir, who has played and recorded with bands such as Pan Sonic, Throbbing Gristle, and Múm. Guðnadóttir also wrote the arrangements for the Wildbirds & Peacedrums session as part of the Barbican’s Nils Frahm curated Possibly Colliding marathon weekend in July.
Tickets for the East Coast shows go on sale this Friday, December 23rd at 10am local time. Tickets for the Barbican performance are available HERE.
As Winter Solstice approaches, SUNN O))) extends thanks to their fans for their support throughout 2016, and as a token of their appreciation, offer a free track as well as a digital sale through the rest of the year. Fans can now find the exclusive track «???? // ??» (aka “Aokigahara // Jukai” from the flexi 7″ which was released together with some vinyl copies of Kannon) for free download through the end of December at THIS LOCATION. To take advantage of the 35% Bandcamp discount, go to sunn.bandcamp.com or sunn-live.bandcamp.com and enter discount code SOLSTICE2016.
SUNN O))) Tour Dates: 3/12/2017 930 Club – Washington, DC w/ Big | Brave 3/13/2017 The Rex – Pittsburgh, PA w/ Big | Brave 3/14/2017 Queen Elizabeth Theatre – Toronto, ON w/ Big | Brave 3/15/2017 La Sat – Montreal, QC w/ Big | Brave 3/16/2017 The Coolidge – Boston, MA w/ Big | Brave 3/17/2017 Knockdown Center – Brooklyn, NY w/ Big | Brave 3/18/2017 Union Transfer – Philadelphia, PA w/ Big | Brave 3/21/2017 Barbican – London, UK @ Convergence Festival w/ Hildur Guðnadóttir
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 3rd, 2016 by JJ Koczan
Originally slated to appear at the canceled Levitation Festival this past weekend in Austin, Texas, drone deconstructionists Sunn O))) are touring the West Coast now, supporting their late-2015 offering, Kannon (review here), released of course on Southern Lord. As they’re wont to do, the group have announced the release of a new live outing, this time a triple-LP captured last year in Moscow, Russia, for their first performance there. Release date is May 29, by which time Sunn O))) will have wrapped this run and be preparing to head out again, this time for a handful of Midwestern dates preceding two festival stops in Canada, which in turn precede a trip back to Europe to play Hellfest, etc., etc., point is Sunn O))) are fucking busy. You get the idea.
The PR wire has details and preorder whatnots:
SUNN O))) To Release Triple Live Album From First Moscow Performance
SUNN O))) has announced the impending release of a brand new triple-LP live album, captured on the band’s first ever performance in Moscow last year, titled ??????: ?????? ? ?????? 11 ??????? 2015 (translated, NOLIFE: Alive In Moscow 11 August 2015).
In the summer of 2015, SUNN O))) was invited to perform in Moscow, Russian Federation. The experience and the concert went beyond everyone’s’ expectations…. extremely raw, punishingly loud, and ultimately transcendental. Capturing this intensity of this special show, the band’s set was recorded direct from the soundboard as well as the audience. These two recordings were conjoined and mixed by Joel Grind and mastered by Brad Boatright, both at Audiosiege. The members of SUNN O))) are grateful to the amazing audience in Moscow, all who attended, and their hosts for their gracious hospitality surrounding this performance.
Southern Lord will issue ??????: ?????? ? ?????? 11 ??????? 2015 on May 29th in a limited pressing on three slabs of 12″ vinyl housed in a Stoughton gatefold jacket with a digital download code included. Preorders are availableHERE.
SUNN O)))’s late 2015-released full-length album, Kannon, the brand new reissue of the Dømkirke live album, and other titles and merch is available through Southern Lord HERE and Southern Lord European storeHERE.
Following their massive performance at Big Ears Festival trailed by several other Southeastern US dates, SUNN O))) will travel to Austin, Texas to take part in Levitation 2016 with the likes of Brian Wilson, Animal Collective, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Sleep, and many more this weekend, followed by shows in Denver, Albuquerque, Tucson, Los Angeles, and Oakland.
SUNN O))) Tour Dates: 5/02/2016 Gothic Theater – Denver, CO 5/03/2016 Sister Bar – Albuquerque, NM 5/04/2016 Rialto Theatre – Tucson, AZ 5/06/2016 Regent Theater – Los Angeles, CA 5/07/2016 Oakland Metro Operahouse – Oakland, CA 5/21/2016 Moogfest – Durham, NC 6/06/2016 The Ready Room – St. Louis, MO 6/07/2016 Thalia Hall – Chicago, IL 6/08/2016 Grog Shop – Cleveland, OH 6/09/2016 El Club – Detroit, MI 6/10/2016 Hearn Generating Station – Toronto, ON @ Unsound Toronto at Luminato Festival 6/11/2016 Theatre Fairmount – Montreal, QC @ Suoni Per Il Popolo Festival 6/14/2016 Paradiso – Amsterdam, NL 6/15/2016 Vooruit – Ghent, BE 6/17/2016 Hellfest – Clisson, FR
SUNN O)))’s current tour will be followed later this month with the band’s participation in Moogfest in Durham, North Carolina on May 21st. In June, they will tour through St. Louis, Chicago, Cleveland, and Detroit on their way to tow major Canadian festivals; Unsound Toronto at Luminato Festival on June 10th, and Suoni Per Il Popolo Festival in Montreal on June 11th. The band then crosses the Atlantic for shows in Amsterdam and Ghent preceding their return to Hellfest in France on June 17th.
A September 2016 European tour is to be announced soon, including a performance at the Ruhrtriennale under the artistic direction of the Dutch director Johan Simons where SUNN O))) will perform in the Turbinenhalle at an old power plant called Jahrhunderthalle Bochum; The theme of Mr. Simons’ programme is “Seid umschlungen” (be embraced) – a gesture of social, political and geographical embracement. The tour will also include a special concert at “Labirinto della Masone” (Masone Labyrinth) opened in Fontanellato, near Parma in the northern region of Emilia-Romagna.
Posted in Reviews on March 30th, 2016 by JJ Koczan
The Wednesday of a Quarterly Review is always special to me. In the six, maybe seven, times I’ve done this now, Wednesday has always been the marker of turning to the second half of the week. Hump Day in a bizarre context. That said, I feel good about how it’s gone so far and I feel very good about the stuff that’s being written about in more than just that getting-it-out-of-the-way spirit. Still, we start today with something that should’ve been reviewed months ago, and I’ll admit to being glad to have such a formidable weight off my chest.
Quarterly Review #21-30:
Sunn O))), Kannon
Sunn O))) are without question among the most integral bands of their generation. I don’t feel like it’s going even remotely out on a limb to say that. With the three-song full-length, Kannon (on Southern Lord), they go back to exploring the waveforms and ritualistic atmospheres that helped their influence spread in the first place, after several years of collaborating with others like Scott Walker and Ulver. Kannon is the first Sunn O)))-proper LP since 2009’s orchestral Monoliths and Dimensions (review here), and while I understand any and everything I might have to say about it is barely a drop in the bucket compared to the from-all-sides laudits founding guitarists Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson have received, its three parts nonetheless demonstrate the fact that with Sunn O))), there is never any backward looking, and that even as they strip away elements that made Monoliths and Dimensions as expansive as it was in favor of the claustrophobic rumble and chants of “Kannon 3,” they move relentlessly forward. They remain necessary.
Hey, I like Swallow the Sun. I’ve dug the Finnish outfit since their debut, The Morning Never Came, but I gotta say, maybe a triple album, which Songs from the North I, II and III is, is a bit much? The concept is awesome – one record of light/dark, one record of light, one record of dark – but in practice it’s about a 160 minutes long and a considerable investment to ask of their audience. When it comes to repeat listens, I can’t help but continually go to Songs from the North III, the most extreme installment, which still has plenty of spacious guitar melodies to go with its death-doom emotional and tonal crush, and while I’m not sure that Swallow the Sun would’ve been doing themselves any favors if they spaced out three separate releases rather than bundling them together as they have, it’ll be years before a release of this scope can be properly digested, if it can at all, and for a band whose work is as complex and often lush as Swallow the Sun’s, one wants to absorb it in a way that such a massive offering doesn’t allow.
Italy’s heavy rock boom continues with the debut album from Roman riffers Beesus. The four-piece nod at desert grunge with “6 Ft. Under Box” and roll out thick, loosely-psychedelic vibes on the opening title-track, but The Rise of Beesus primarily tells its story in its plays of density and spaciousness – see “Waltzer” and the later “Sonic Doom/Stoner Youth” – and one is reminded a bit of Snail circa Blood in that, but a sense of variety brings moments like the quiet opening stretch of “Kusa” and the bass-led thrust of “Mata la Verguenza,” making The Rise of Beesus not as easy to predict as it might first appear. When it does indulge its heft, as on “Beesus in Dope,” it satisfies, but while consistent, it is by no means unipolar. It seems to set Beesus up for future expansion on any number of lines, but as their first outing, it also has a noteworthy sense of itself, carving out an identity from diversity of songcraft and an abidingly chaotic vibe.
Fall 2015’s Magnifier (on Sulatron Records) is the fourth LP from Italian psych/space rockers Giöbia, who launch with the ominous cosmic thrust of “This World was Being Watched Closely” and make their grandest statement on side B with the 15-minute lysergic noise excursion of “Sun Spectre.” There and elsewhere in “The Pond,” “The Stain” and the closing “The Magnifier,” Giöbia pursue shroomy sonic enlightenment through soaking reverb and wah, Moog, synth, bouzouki and so on – a somewhat kitchen sink approach resulting in a joyous front-to-back wash of spirited energy and engaging depth. The follow-up to 2013’s Introducing Night Sound (review here), Magnifier finds synth-laden prog swing in “Lentamenta la Luce Svanirà” and pushes air with the low end of its finale title-cut, a right-on dripper that’s round enough to make the world seem square by comparison. The place Giöbia inhabit between psychedelia and space rock is fast becoming a planet all their own, and for ambassadorship of their sound, Magnifier thrills.
Recorded by the band in 2014 and issued in 2015 as their debut EP, Decasia’s Decasia flows more like a long-player, with five cuts that unfold from the tanpura and didgeridoo immersion of opener “Halo,” but I won’t argue. While rawer than what one might commonly expect out of European heavy psychedelia, the French trio nonetheless cull aspects of that sound into their own, so that centerpiece “Blue Love” is right at home with its Hendrixian guitar swing, and closer “Dive” feels within rights to demonstrate a touch of Colour Haze in its initial rhythm, though on the whole Decasia are less laid back and more grunge-informed, resulting in an intriguing blend that, from the burst at the open of “Sherpa” through the crashing finish of “Dive,” shows them as a group able to play to either side at will. They’ve already followed up with the jam “Moodoo Majja,” but I wouldn’t speculate which side will win out as they continue to develop, if indeed any single one does.
The second long-player from London sludgers Sonic Mass, You People Never Learn… would seem immediately to be positioning itself as punishment. Fair enough – there’s certainly some abrasive aspect to its overriding rawness and liberal feedback – but the huge groove that pays off the build in the second half of “Butcher of Brogdael” is more righteous inclusion than it is masochistic, and even faster, shorter cuts like the blown-out punk of “Biker Satania” or “Toga”’s unhinged dual-guitar thrust feels more about a raucous vibe than putting someone off. In the title-track, they move from a wash of distortion into some caustic feedback by the end, but by then the context of You People Never Learn… is such that the nodding push of eight-minute closer “Quadranoid” is more a celebration than a beating, even if it does round out with two minutes of amp crackle, effects and feedback. If it was coming from a stage, you’d raise a pint to it.
Longform material is nothing new for Boise, Idaho-based duo Wolvserpent. Both of their two full-lengths to-date, 2010’s Blood Seed and 2013’s Perigaea Antahkarana, have found the ritual drone-doomers working in extended contexts. However, the newly-issued Aporia:Kala:Ananta EP (on Relapse) pushes that line even further. It is a single-song work running 40 minutes of spacious, sometimes grueling, thrillingly challenging heft, marked by a cinematic sense of drama in its use of violin, blackened extremity and striking depth. Drummer/violinist Brittany McConnell and guitarist/vocalist Blake Green aren’t so much taking any huge stylistic leaps from what they’ve done before, but the scope of “Aporia:Kala:Ananta,” as well as the overarching flow of the piece, its patient execution, and the masterful hand with which they guide it, cannot be called anything but progression. The only question I have is why they’re not calling it an album. Considering both its runtime and its breadth, to consider it anything less feels like selling it short.
Swapping back and forth between Spanish and English lyrics adds variety to Family, the 13-song/45-minute debut long-player from Uruguayan foursome Delouners, but they weren’t short on it anyway. Spacious, echoing guitars and a languid psychedelia-gone-heavy-blues carry across laid back blowout rolls like “Low” and the more uptempo “Secreto,” and all the more in the side A-ending “Mistery Caravan,” the lazy, hazy, take-it-way-down groove feels derived from an All Them Witches influence. There are more garage rock moments, as on the title-track, the earlier “Los Dormidos,” “Alain Delon” and closer “Mirtha Legrand,” and the shoegazing tropicality of “Sea/Side” furthers an individualized sensibility overall, but that naturalist spirit never departs completely. So be it. Delouners drench this central inspiration in their own sonic persona, and so come off influenced rather than derivative, setting themselves up to branch out their progression as they see fit on whatever they might do next.
There are five songs on the self-titled debut EP from Cleveland, Ohio’s Dead East Garden and three of them could be said to have something to do with cars – “Starting Line,” “El Camino Rock” and “Straight Burning Road.” That’s not a judgment, just a statement of fact. From the post-Pepper Keenan chug of opener “The Lurker,” one kind of knows what’s coming from the workingman’s heavy rockers, but “Mother’s Disease” fleshes out a less dudely aggro spirit with a more patient initial roll and satisfying lead work from guitarist Ryan Scheel. The beer-soaked vibes resume as “Straight Burning Road” comes on to close, vocalist Pat Homolish layering spoken and belted-out hooks as bassist John Roach (since out of the band) and drummer R.J. Drenski hold down one more straightforward groove, and Dead East Garden reinforce the plainspoken intent on display across the short release, as light on pretense as it is heavy on testosterone.
As with their 2013 sophomore outing, This Mountain Waits (review here), the third album from UK heavy blues/classic rockers Pearl Handled Revolver, titled If the Devil Cast His Net, uses synth, Mellotron, electric piano and organ to explore a wide variety of moods, from the soft-guitar blues of “Someone Like You” to the rambling “Absinthe in Adelaide.” All throughout, the band reaffirm their mastery of these styles as they go, be it the boogie shuffle of “Loverman” or the side A closing title-track, which sets forth one of the record’s most engaging bass grooves under gravelly verse before moving into an extended instrumental jam, no less poised than anything preceding or following. That plotted feel is at the core of Pearl Handled Revolver’s approach – nothing is here by accident – and it makes their songcraft all the more inarguable, taking in a post-The Doors bounce on closer “Into the Blue” as they mirror the end of the album’s first half for another striking finish.
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 8th, 2016 by JJ Koczan
Volume-as-religion drone pioneers SunnO))) aren’t exactly road dogs these days, but they pick their battles wisely. Next month, they head to Australia to play a whopping three shows, including at the Adelaide Festival, and in April/May, they’re back in the US for select dates around the Southeast ahead of a couple more fest appearances. It ain’t exactly five weeks of straight touring, road dogging it and sleeping on floors and so on, but I don’t think anyone’s about to hold that against them. It’s SunnO))). They should pretty much be playing museums and institutions of higher learning, so if it’s a fest, take it. Personally, I’d be way into seeing them and Brian Wilson back to back.
They’re out supporting late-2015’s Kannon (I’ll get there one of these days), which of course came out on Southern Lord. The PR wire had this to say about it:
SUNN O))) Announces US Live Actions Including Big Ears Festival, Levitation, Moogfest, And More
SUNN O))) has just announced a series of US tour dates for the Spring months, including several massive festival performances.
Following the band’s run through Australia, with shows in Adelaide, Sydney, and Melbourne in mid-March, SUNN O))) will tour though the Southern US in April. First, the band will perform at Big Ears Fest in Knoxville on April 2nd, appearing as one of the main acts alongside the likes of Yo La Tengo, Sun Ra Arkestra, Andrew Bird, Wolf Eyes, and more. The festival will be immediately followed by shows in Nashville, Athens, Atlanta, Jacksonville, and Tampa through April 8th. Later that month, SUNN O))) will travel to Austin to take part in Levitation 2016, playing Saturday, April 30th with Brian Wilson, Animal Collective, The Black Angels, Boris, Sleep, The Thurston Moore Group, and countless more.
SUNN O))) will assemble again in May, with a set at Moogfest in Durham, North Carolina, performing alongside Odesza, Gary Numan, GZA, Laurie Anderson, Explosions In The Sky, and many other artists. Additional live performances are also being scheduled.
The SUNN O))) touring lineup for these shows will include founding members Greg Anderson and Stephen O’Malley, as well as longtime members Attila Csihar, Tos Nieuwenhuizen, and Steve Moore (Earth, Stebmo).
SUNN O))) Tour Dates: 3/12/2016 Adelaide Festival – Adelaide, AU w/ Magma 3/15/2016 Manning Bar – Sydney, AU 3/16/2016 Max Watts – Melbourne, AU 4/02/2016 Big Ears Fest – Knoxville, TN 4/03/2016 Exit/in – Nashville, TN 4/05/2016 Georgia – Athens, GA 4/06/2016 Terminal West – Atlanta, GA 4/07/2016 Sun Ray Theatre – Jacksonville, FL 4/08/2016 The Orpheum – Tampa, FL 4/30/2016 Levitation – Austin, TX 5/21/2016 Moogfest – Durham, NC
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 30th, 2015 by JJ Koczan
Well waves of dreams bear my heart for deliverance, it’s new SunnO)))! The lords of drone have hardly been inactive in the interim, what with the embarked-on live documentation project resulting in copious digital releases through Bandcamp, as well as collaborations with Ulver and Scott Walker, but Kannonwill be their first standalone full-length since Monoliths and Dimensions (review here) was released in 2009. And if you didn’t hear that record, it was pretty much the sound of the universe being swallowed whole.
Kannon is out Dec. 4 on Southern Lord, which presumably was as close as they felt they could reasonably get to the darkest day of the year and still have it make sense to have a new album come out, and while art and audio are still forthcoming, the info on the making has come out via the PR wire, and you can find it below:
SUNN O))) To Release Brand New Studio Album, Kannon, Through Southern Lord In December
It comes with immense pleasure for Southern Lord Recordings to announce the advent of a new studio album from SUNN O))), Kannon, which will be officially released on December 4th, 2015.
Composed in the aftershadow of SUNN O)))’s most recent successes in immersive collaboration — the group having worked with Scott Walker on Soused, and Ulver on Terrestrials in 2013 and 2014 — and also from the broad and influential wake of their epitomic Monoliths & Dimensions, Kannon emerged both independently as a conceptual entity and with roots in the legacies of those projects, yet was fully realized years later in 2015. The album consists of three pieces of a triadic whole: “Kannon 1, 2 and 3.”
The album celebrates many SUNN O))) traditions; Kannon was recorded and mixed with SUNN O)))’s close colleague and co-producer Randall Dunn in Seattle, in Studio Litho, Aleph and Avast!, and the LP includes performances by long term allies and collaborators Attila Csihar, Oren Ambarchi, Rex Ritter, and Steve Moore to name a few. At the core, the composition centers around the dynamic and intense guitar and bass interplay of SUNN O)))’s founders: Stephen O’Malley & Greg Anderson.
It is possibly the most figurative album SUNN O))) has created, which is unusual as they usually dwell in layers of abstraction and subjectivity. On the other hand the album is the most outright “metal” in years, drawing personal associations and memories of cherished albums like Panzerfaust and Twilight Of The Gods again to the forefront of consciousness. Kannon is also very close to the cyclical character of mantra which the band has evolved into as a living creature, the enormity of intense sensate detail and manifestation of the live in concert element of SUNN O))), the organism that has flourished, metamorphosed and transcended tremendously over the past ten years.
The literal representation of Kannon is as an aspect of Buddha: specifically “goddess of mercy” or “Perceiving the Sounds (or Cries) of the World.” She is also sometimes commonly known as the Guanyin Bodhisattva (Chinese: ????) amongst a plurality of other forms. There is a rich lineage behind this idea tracing back through many Asian belief systems, with as many names and cultural personifications of the idea.
SUNN O))) commissioned critical theorist Aliza Shvartz to write text and liner notes around these ideas and topics. She also explores the relations and perceptions to their approach to these ideas via the metonym of music and SUNN O)))’s place/approach within the framework of music and metal overall. The band also enlisted Swiss designer/artist Angela LaFont Bollinger to create the cover artwork, an abstracted sculpture of vision of Kannon. French photographer Estelle Hanania captures portraits of the core trio (Csihar, Anderson, O’Malley) in the impressive and obscurant Emanuel Vingeland mausoleum in Oslo.
Kannon will be available on gatefold LP, CD and digital formats worldwide on December 4th, with a limited number of clear vinyl available on Black Friday RSD, Friday, November 27th.
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 24th, 2015 by JJ Koczan
I dig stuff like this. I’ve always been a fan of bootlegs, and that’s not quite what dronemasters SunnO))) are calling this raw, uncut, unmixed, unmastered, as-they-are series of live releases, but it works out to be the same anyway. They don’t seem to care about era, or recording quality, or anything of that sort and that’s just fucking awesome, particularly since you can listen to something before you shell out the $5 on Bandcamp to download. A lot of bands start out projects like this with good intentions and fall off after a while because it’s so much to keep up with. Hopefully by outsourcing the recording process to their fans, SunnO))) will be able to make it sustainable.
They’re heading to Europe in July to play a slurry of fests, and Southern Lord has some vinyl repressings out now, as the PR wire informs:
SUNN O))) RELEASE LIVE ARCHIVES OF UNMIXED AND UNMASTERED TAPER & FAN RECORDINGS ON BANDCAMP, SUMMER TOUR SCHEDULE APPROACHING & VINYL REPRESSES AVAILABLE
It is a great pleasure to announce that the cathartic reverberations of SUNN O))) have been documented and can now be accessed via their live bandcamp page. Compiled of taper and fan recordings, spanning from their 2002 show at the Blackbird in Portland up to their recent headlining show at Temples Festival 2015, these documents are presented in their raw and unedited beauty.
SUNN O))) invite you to contribute to this sonic archive…
“SUNN O))) live archives. Unmixed, unmastered raw footage grabbed by underground tapers which we now present to you. We would like to invite you to also submit your own recordings of any of our concerts (even ones already posted) to this archive. If you have photos and visuals from the posted shows, please send them too. Hail to our great fans!”
Having already announced a number of key festival appearances this summer, these offer an ample opportunity to add to this archive. Such appearances include the recently announced Le Guess Who? Festival whereby Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson will showcase their similar, adventurous musical inclinations with a very special four-day program titled SUNN O))) presents at Le Guess Who? Festival 2015. The program will include a performance by the legendary Annette Peacock, who will return to The Netherlands for the first time in over twenty tears. SUNN O)))’s full live listings can be found below:
SUNN O))) EUROPEAN LIVE SHOWS 17/07/2015 BE, Dour – Dour Festival 19/07/2015 FI, Joensuu – Ilosaarirock Festival 06/08/2015 CZ, Josefov – Brutal Assault festival 07/08/2015 PL, Katowice – OFF festival 09/08/2015 DE, Berlin – Heimathafen Neukolln 11/08/2015 RU, Moscow – PIPL (with Phurpa) 13/08/2015 NO, Oslo – Øya festival 14/08/2015 SE, Gothenburg – Way Out West 15/08/2015 DK, Copenhagen – Koncerthuset 16/08/2015 DE, Hamburg – Kampnagel 18/08/2015 UK, London – Southbank Centre, David Byrne’s Meltdown (with Phurpa) 19/11 – 22/11/2015 NE, Utrecht – Le Guess Who? Festival
Additionally, Southern Lord are repressing the following SUNN O))) titles; Black One in limited edition Clear vinyl, øø Void in limited edition Green vinyl and SUNN O)))/Ulver, Terrestrials in Black vinyl. These are now available on the SUNN O))) storesunn.southernlord.com.
