It’s good to know the pandemic has not dulled the ambitious nature of Roadburn Festival. Earlier this year, the long-running Netherlands-based festival held Roadburn Redux and set a high standard for the notion of a “virtual event” could be. Whether or not Roadburn 2022 will have an online component as well, I simply don’t know, and frankly, I can see arguments either way. On the one hand, it sure was nifty for everyone who couldn’t travel to a real-life Roadburn to be involved in that special community. On the other hand, for next year that’s production effort and budget that could probably otherwise go to an actual stage.

The initial lineup for Roadburn 2022 contains a broad mix of styles, as one would expect/hope, including a few carryovers from 2020/2021 and some newbies. Familiar faces and not. The recently robbed Russian Circles, whose subsequent GoFundMe was super-heartening. I hope conditions in the world are such that I can be there to see them and all their new gear.

Anyway, love this. All love. Warms my heart. I don’t know all these artists. Doesn’t matter. All love.

From the PR wire:

ROADBURN 2022: first names announced including curators and artist in residence

Redefining heaviness

Roadburn Festival has today made its first line up announcement for the 2022 edition, which will take place between April 21-24 in Tilburg, The Netherlands. The majority of tickets to the festival have already been sold, but a limited number will go on sale today (October 26) at 7pm (CEST) via Ticketmaster.nl.

Roadburn’s artistic director, Walter Hoeijmakers comments:
“After two years of not being able to host a physical festival, we’re extremely excited to actually return in 2022. Given the circumstances, everything about this has been a real challenge, but we wanted to make sure that next year’s Roadburn will be a stronghold for the forward-thinking artists we all love so much – whether genre-defining established acts or young, up-and-coming artists. We really want to reconnect them with our international community – artistically, musically and physically – and to see them do what they do best: be on stage. We want to give them a platform in front of a live audience again, as it’s time to celebrate the music they’ve written over the past two years, or the much acclaimed albums that helped us through these strange, unprecedented times.

“It’s equally exciting to have Milena Eva and Thomas Sciarone as our 2022 curators; their commissioned music project for Roadburn Redux, This Shame Should Not Be Mine, elevated GGGOLDDD to a whole new level, as it made such a huge impact – musically, emotionally, and spiritually. The intimate connection felt by everyone online will be greatly amplified at Roadburn 2022, and we could think of no one better than Milena and Thomas to get us all reconnected.”

Line Up Information

ULVER will be performing a special set to mark their return to the live arena, focussing on their most recent release, Flowers of Evil. Their headlining performance will be a continuation of Ulver’s unpredictable yet thrilling career arc and of the passion for innovative music that fuels Roadburn.

Roadburn’s 2022 curators are Milena Eva and Thomas Sciarone of the Dutch band GGGOLDDD; as well as hand-picking elements of the festival line up, they will join the rest of the band to perform the commissioned music they wrote for this year’s Roadburn Redux event – a piece entitled This Shame Should Not Be Mine.

As part of the curated element of Roadburn, LITURGY – the avant-garde black metal band – will be performing their 2019 album H.A.Q.Q in full, as well as bringing to life their 2020 album Origin of the Alimonies, performing it as an opera on the main stage in sync with a film created by Hunter Hunt-Hendrix, accompanied by a chamber orchestra. Milena and Thomas will also present the European debut of BACKXWASH – the celebrated artist fuses rap and metal, and will perform two special sets at Roadburn – and performances from DIVIDE AND DISSOLVE, and MIDWIFE.

Further commissioned projects – originally planned for 2020 – will finally see the light of day as JAMES KENT (PERTURBATOR) joins forces with JOHANNES PERSSON (CULT OF LUNA) to perform Final Light. Cellist JO QUAIL will perform her commissioned piece, entitled The Cartographer, and VILE CREATURE and BISMUTH will unite to perform A Hymn of Loss and Hope.

Elsewhere on the bill Roadburn welcomes back some familiar faces such as RUSSIAN CIRCLES and PRIMITIVE MAN, whilst also inviting some new and mysterious members to the Roadburn family, such as underground black metal bands LAMP OF MURMUUR and KOLDOVSTVO. For full details of what has been announced so far, please see the links below. Stay tuned for more line up announcements in the coming weeks.

ALCEST – performing Écailles de Lune

BACKXWASH – performing two special sets; European debut

BIG BRAVE

BLAK SAAGAN – performing Se Ci Fosse La Luce Sarebbe Bellissimo

DIVIDE AND DISSOLVE

DÖDSRIT

FACELESS ENTITY

FULL OF HELL – Artists in Residence, performing four sets

GGGOLDDD – performing commissioned music, This Shame Should Not Be Mine

GREEN LUNG – performing Black Harvest

HELMS ALEE

JAMES KENT & JOHANNES PERSSON – performing commissioned music, Final Light

JO QUAIL – performing commissioned piece, The Cartographer

KOLDOVSTVO – performing Ни царя, ни бога

LAMP OF MURMUUR – European debut

LILI REFRAIN

LITURGY – performing H.A.Q.Q and Origin of the Alimonies

MIDWIFE

MILENA EVA & THOMAS SCIARONE – Roadburn 2022 curators

NOTHING

PRIMITIVE MAN

RUSSIAN CIRCLES

SÓLSTAFIR – performing Svartir Sandar

SPIRTUAL POISON

THE HOLY FAMILY

TRIALOGOS

ULVER

VILE CREATURE & BISMUTH – performing commissioned music, A Hymn of Loss and Hope

https://www.facebook.com/events/964112394348925
https://www.facebook.com/roadburnfestival/
http://www.instagram.com/roadburnfest
http://www.roadburn.com

Actually-experimentalist three-piece Trialogos will make their full-length debut on June 18 with Stroh zu Gold. Issued as the 100th release for respected purveyor Exile on Mainstream, the project’s first offering brings together a range of seemingly disparate elements, styles and methods, propelled by the willfully-off-the-wall creativity of multi-instrumentalists Kiki Bohemia, Sicker Man and Conny Ochs. And while the latter’s singer-songwriter stylings might be familiar to those who’ve followed his work either as a solo artist or in his Wino & Conny Ochs duo, Trialogos departs such traditionalist structure — there’s guitars in here of various kinds, but from opener “Lavu Santu” onward, the idea is so much more about texture than strum — and the eight-song/39-minute offering varies direction on a per-track basis, ready and willing to go where a given piece might lead.

In the opener, that’s to a droning wash. In the subsequent title-track, it’s key-backed dance-groove night-vibing. In “Batdance” — sadly not a Prince cover — it’s harsh-industrial blast turned to ’80s popmaking turned to ambient noise twists. And in “Il Terzo Sogno,” which I’m going to assume is the wrap for side A, there is some acoustic drum in a modernist-classical-feeling progression; it feels like a lifeline considering the ground Trialogos have covered. And side B mirrors the intent, with “Mali:Berlin” progressing early into a buildup of string sounds around a central rhythm before dropping to drone wash and malevolent churn in its final moments, “Rip Current” renewing the mechanized feel that the opening of “Batdance” hinted at but pushing it into willful aural drudgery, and “Wellenreiter” boasting a few Ulver-style lyrics sung over a desolate soundscape that comes to life in consuming fashion, the voices no more expected than anything by that point but no more out of place.

It is a drifting, floating presence Trialogos create, but Stroh zu Gold is satisfying in its exploration. “Wellenreiter” gives way to the immediately wistful “Hikikomori,” which presents a lonely vision for a lonely time in its arrangement of strings, guitar and effects. Its shorter run recalls the cinematic touch of “Il Terzo Sogno,” and it rises and recedes subtly into the keys and loops that finish in a fade. The band performed “Hikikomori” (among others) in March at WUK Halle/Saale in collaboration with a dance performance by Ellen Brix, and it’s from that footage — suitably manipulated and mirrored, etc. — that the video below comes. There’s also a link where you can see the original dance pieces if so inclined.

Stroh zu Gold isn’t going to be for everyone, and it isn’t meant to be, but it’s a personal expression on the part of Trialogos and resonates in a very real and emotional way for something that so readily leaves the straightforward behind. You would call it evocative for its ability to take you from one place to another.

Please enjoy:

Trialogos, “Hikikomori” official video premiere

Experimental/cinematic rock collective TRIALOGOS – formed by Conny Ochs, Sicker Man, and Kiki Bohemia – presents a new video for the track “Hikikomori,” from the trio’s impending debut LP, Stroh Zu Gold.

The album is available here: https://shop.mainstreamrecords.de/product/eom100

Hikikomori: (jap.) also known as acute social withdrawal, is total withdrawal from society and seeking extreme degrees of social isolation and confinement. Hikikomori refers to both the phenomenon in general and the recluses themselves.

The actual video footage used in the “Hikikomori” video is taken from a performance involving the dancer and choreographer Ellen Brix. In March 2021 Ellen Brix and TRIALOGOS worked together on a dance performance at WUK Halle/Saale in Germany. Brix had developed and constructed a special moving floor on which she danced, while the band supported her with music and sound. The “Hikikomori” video was filmed by Lutz Kretschmann with final editing handled by Tobias Vethake.

The actual dance video can be found here and appears courtesy of Ellen Brix: https://fb.watch/5wTP9JjsP_/

Sicker Man comments on the creation of the track, “TRIALOGOS is a project that was formed during the lockdown of the Coronavirus crisis and the character of this pandemic also defined the way we worked on this album. We were sitting secluded in our studio and improvising structures and musical elements. We interrupted the stream of sound only to eat and drink or to play cards while listening to our recordings. The music was a kind of campfire we sat around to keep us warm and sane. And as ‘Hikikomori’ was part of the session, that was recorded on our very first day; it really represents the atmosphere and process of Stroh Zu Gold.”

Conny Ochs describes the performance as a special experience: “The session at the WUK Theatre space in Halle was our first glimpse at something that came close to an actual live performance. When we were offered the chance to improvise together with Ellen, we sure said yes to the chance to gain access to such a space and play at a high volume finally after weeks of isolation. The experience was truly cathartic, both frightening in the sense of feeling that isolation still after all and facing the gaping void where an audience would supposedly be, but also healing, through simply letting the music reverberate between us, and the longing of each of us to share it. That is why we chose to release some of the material that was shot that day. Having in mind the idea that it can accompany this tune about loneliness and hope in a way that will transport our experience at WUK. That healing comes through sharing.”

Conny Ochs: Acoustic & Electric Guitars, Vocals, Bass, Drums, Percussion
Sicker Man: Acoustic & Electric Cello, Guitars, Juno 6, Moog, Lapsteel, Beats, Effects
Kiki Bohemia: Rhodes, Vocals, Bass, Dictaphone, Autoharp, Effects

Trialogos website

Trialogos on Facebook

Trialogos on Instagram

Exile on Mainstream Records website

I probably would have posted this yesterday, but to be honest with you I was hoping that the press release would be shortly followed by a download of the album or some streaming sample or something to hear to give some idea of what Trialogos sounds like. I didn’t see any A/V on their Facebook, and when you click the link to their website, it asks for a password I don’t have — which, if you ever wanted to know what I’m like at a party, I’m like the guy who just clicked the link to site with a password I don’t have; that’s me all the way. But anyhow, no audio there either. I gave it the extra day, but with Trialogos‘ debut at Roadburn Redux coming up on Saturday, I guess they figured that as a good time to do the unveiling. Can’t argue.

And, as I’ve said on numerous occasions, I trust the taste of Andreas Kohl from Exile on Mainstream implicitly. We don’t always align 100 percent in sound, but whatever that label is getting behind is at least going to be worth a shot. Plus Trialogos has Conny Ochs, and who doesn’t like Conny Ochs?

Goons, that’s who.

Enough yammering. Preorders are up for Trialogos‘ Stroh Zu Gold if you’re even more the dive-right-in type, and that’s ahead of a June 18 release. And while we’re here, congrats to Exile on Mainstream on the 100th release.

From the PR wire:

TRIALOGOS: New Act Formed By Conny Ochs, Kiki Bohemia, And Sicker Man Presents Stroh Zu Gold Debut, Exile On Mainstream’s 100th Release; Band Plays Roadburn Redux This Week, Releasing A Special LP Edition

Exile On Mainstream excitedly announces the label’s 100th release, today unveiling the news and details of new experimental/cinematic rock collective, TRIALOGOS. Formed during the pandemic over the past year, the band will issue their newly completed debut LP, Stroh Zu Gold, in June. The details for the album have today been issued alongside news of the band’s participation in Roadburn Redux this week.

During the Roadburn performance, fans will be able to order a strictly limited, pre-release vinyl version of the album via a secret website that will become available as the show is streamed. Limited to 50 copies, the special edition will feature a special, manually screenprinted sleeve with different artwork and will be hand numbered.

TRIALOGOS’ exclusive Roadburn set will premiere this Saturday, April 17th 13:00 CEST and remain available on demand until April 20th at 23:59 when the Roadburn site will be taken offline. See the full schedule HERE: https://roadburn.com/

TRIALOGOS’ Stroh Zu Gold will be issued June 18th in a four-panel mini-gatefold CD, 180-gram pure virgin black vinyl LP including a download card, and digital platforms. Preorders are now available at the Exile On Mainstream’s webshop HERE: https://shop.mainstreamrecords.de/product/eom100

The performance will be streamed from the stunning location of Leipzig’s UT Connewitz, one of Germany’s oldest cinemas that was established in 1912 and home to a lot of mind-blowing performances by Exile On Mainstream-related acts before, among them the EOM20 festival in 2019. Roadburn regulars will likely be familiar with Conny Ochs, who has brought his haunting folk to the festival’s stages numerous times – both in a solo capacity and alongside collaborator Wino – and joined by Sicker Man and Kiki Bohemia, this performance promises to deliver something vastly different and equally memorable. Following Tony Conrad’s concept of maximalism in minimal music, TRIALOGOS’ widescreen Super-8 soundscapes and occasional haunted house vocals conjure up visions of winter lost beaches, bats dancing upside down, and sojourns in permanent dawn.

Conny Ochs states, “Now we have the chance to play our debut set of Stroh Zu Gold alongside so many astonishing artists and in the realm of the magnificent Roadburn Festival, that to me has always been a symbol of artistic freedom. This is a great honor to us. It feels like exactly the right place for this, a place to get together again on the playground. What a trip.”

Also taking part in Roadburn this week is Andreas Kohl. Almost becoming a regular sit-in for the fest, Kohl, Senior Manager at Optimal Media and Exile On Mainstream’s head of noise, will bring his expertise to Roadburn’s side program again this year. With hampering growth such as pressing capacities, new machinery now being widely available but still facing issues like shortage of well-trained and enthusiastic personnel vinyl records remain one of the most discussed topics in the music industry and among fans. Kohl has been holding Q&A sessions and lectures on these topics three times now at Roadburn with different focuses each time. In 2021, he will again give an insight on new technology hitting the market and the current state of manufacturing the black gold in general. The short lecture and update on the current state of things will be held as a Q&A session with fellow Jose Carlos Santos, a no less prominent face among Roadburn’s acolytes. Kohl’s talk will be live on Sunday, April 18th at 15:30 CEST.

TRIALOGOS:
Conny Ochs – acoustic/electric guitars, vocals, bass, drums, percussion
Sicker Man – acoustic/electric cello, guitars, Juno 6, Moog, lapsteel, beats, effects
Kiki Bohemia – Rhodes, vocals, bass, Dictaphone, autoharp, effects

https://www.trialogosofficial.com
https://www.facebook.com/trialogos
http://www.mainstreamrecords.de