I know it hasn’t been that long since the last acoustic-type Wino Wednesday, but here’s the thing: Last night, after yet another late evening as work, I returned to my humble river valley and found there waiting for me a copy of the new Songs of Townes Van Zandt split tribute between Wino, Scott Kelly and Steve Von Till. I was just tired enough and just enough in need of spiritual rejuvenation that I put it right on and man, it was perfect. Von Till‘s take on “Black Crow Blues,” and Wino‘s “Rake” — just what I needed.

So for today, I wanted to use another track off that release, but then I found that at the end of their European tour together, Wino and Conny Ochs had done a Latitudes session together released in March under the appropriate title Labour of Love. Someone had told me about it before, if I recall, but I guess I put it out of my mind, because it’s not like I’d be able to get a review copy. As with all the Latitudes stuff, it’s a limited edition — CD is 500, 300 of which were bundled with a wood-box version of the Wino & Conny Ochs collaborative album, Heavy Kingdom — and this morning when I (re-)stumbled on it, I bought the thing immediately. True, I probably could’ve waited for the US tour they’re doing in August and picked it up at their merch table, but I figured better not to risk missing out. It’s not always in line with my personal taste, but I’m an admirer of the idea of the Latitudes sessions anyway.

If you want to check out the Labour of Love and other Latitudes stuff — it’s affiliated in some way with Southern Records, but I’m not sure what the relationship is — you can do so here. While you peruse, here’s “Judas” from the Soundcloud player they set up to allow for sampling. Cheers and have a great Wino Wednesday.

This is one of my favorite series of posts throughout the year, and it’s even better now because I can actually embed the players. Thanks as always to Roadburn for documenting these sets and to Marcel van den Vondervoort and his crew at Spacejam for doing the hard work of recording and putting it all together.

If you missed the first batch of 2012 streams, they’re right here, and as always, enjoy:

Conan — Roadburn 2012

Danava — Roadburn 2012

La Otracina — Roadburn 2012

Nachtmystium — Roadburn 2012

Oranssi Pazuzu — Roadburn 2012

Pelican — Roadburn 2012

Valient Thorr — Roadburn 2012

Wino & Conny Ochs — Roadburn 2012

Read The Obelisk’s coverage of Roadburn 2012 here.

Yeah, I know it was just last week that I did a clip from Roadburn for a Wino Wednesday pick. Cut me some slack, man. It’s not every weekend in your life you get to see Scott “Wino” Weinrich kill it in two different sets with two different projects, and I guess until Shrinebuilder decides to go on tour with The Obsessed and Spirit Caravan reunions (which probably won’t be happening any time soon or, you know, ever), it’s about the most we can reasonably ask for. I guess you could get Saint Vitus and Shrinebuilder on the same bill somewhat feasibly for a Wino double-dose, but it’s moot, however much fun dream lineups are to put together.

And anyway, the song “Dust,” which Wino and German singer-songwriter Conny Ochs included earlier this year on their collaborative album, Heavy Kingdom (review here) has been stuck in my head on and off since I watched them play it. I thought it was a cool track when I heard it on the album, but it’s a whole different experience hearing it live, especially since, as they both noted throughout the set, they’d been on tour throughout Europe for weeks, and were extremely tight both vocally and musically. Ochs, who takes the lead vocal on “Dust” with Wino backing, kicks a bass drum to keep a beat and soulfully belts out the song with melodic embellishments. It was one of the high points of the festival.

So, on this springtime late afternoon, I hope you enjoy this clip from Wino & Conny Ochs‘ set, making the most of the old church acoustics as they open day two of Roadburn at Het Patronaat. Maybe posting it will finally get the song out of my head and I’ll be able to move on with my life, but somehow I doubt it.

In any case, happy Wino Wednesday:

There are few punches pulled, no real instances of trickery, and more than anything else, the crux of Heavy Kingdom seems to be the joy of the collaboration between Scott “Wino” Weinrich and Conny Ochs. Perhaps the most elaborate thing about Heavy Kingdom is the gorgeous foldout artwork in which Exile on Mainstream has encased the CD. That’s not a criticism of the album itself. Rather, the first joint offering from Wino & Conny Ochs seems to be purposefully geared toward as natural a presentation as possible, which if anything only feeds into the narrative of how the project came about – that it was born of Weinrich touring Europe with the German native Ochs supporting his first acoustic album, Adrift, that the two played together on the road and decided a joint release was in order. Ochs, whose aptly-titled album, Raw Love Songs, was released by Exile on Mainstream early in 2011, is clearly comfortable in the role of singer-songwriter, and the several instances where he takes the fore on Heavy Kingdom prove it. Songs like “Dust,” “Traces of Blood” and “Here Comes the Siren” probably won’t be what draw Wino devotees to Heavy Kingdom, but offer some of the record’s strongest material nonetheless, and as the balance between the two players shifts throughout the 11 tracks, it only feeds into the natural feel. Layering is minimal – some electric guitar makes its way into “Here Comes the Siren” and the earlier “Vultures by the Vines,” as well as elsewhere – and really, it’s just about two songwriters who wanted to work together working together. It’s as unpretentious as that.

It’s a relatively short outing too at 38 minutes, and between that and the vocal tradeoffs and duets between Weinrich and Ochs, Heavy Kingdom asks little indulgence of its audience and gives much melody in return. Opening with one of its strongest choruses in “Somewhere Nowhere” – a hard strum makes the song stand out aside for more than its being the longest inclusion on the album – the collaboration feels immediately rooted in folk, and comes across as less staid than was Adrift, as though Weinrich internalized the lessons of touring acoustic for the first time alongside both Ochs and Scott Kelly. Arrangements are relegated mostly to two acoustic guitars, but there are flourishes here and there, and more active moments such as the title-track (also reportedly the first song the two wrote together) show a kind of rocking energy underlying the pace. Likewise, there are parts – the chorus of closer “Labour of Love” or “Vultures by the Vines” – that feel informed by an intensity (certainly the latter with its distorted solo) purely Weinrich’s, but the patience in “Dust” or the gorgeously melodic “Traces of Blood” offsets that side of the album with serenity and emotionally complex melody. Some of the most effective parts of Heavy Kingdom come about when Weinrich and Ochs work to complement each other in the songwriting, be it Ochs backing Weinrich in the chorus of “Dark Ravine” or Weinrich doing the same on “Dust” or “Here Comes the Siren,” which with its added sense of foreboding is an exceptional outing in and of itself.

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For this week’s Wino Wednesday, I have the absolute thrill of hosting the first track premiere from Heavy Kingdom, the new collaborative album from Wino & Conny Ochs. Ochs, a German singer-songwriter whose aptly-titled Raw Love Songs was released last year by Exile on Mainstream, toured with Wino following the issue of his own acoustic debut, Adrift, and the two reportedly hit it off creatively as well as personally. As is often the case when it comes to Wino, an album was imminent.

And Heavy Kingdom, which will be out on Exile on Mainstream Jan. 30 in Europe and March 13 in North America, captures the emotionality in both songwriters’ work. Most of its tracks are pretty bare-bones, however, so there’s an element of rawness that seems to convey the basic nature of the collaboration. They wrote them together, they play them together. Wino & Conny Ochs, as a unit, isn’t about showing off the prowess of one player or another, but about two artists who respect each other working in tandem to create something new and whole.

The album succeeds in that, and is at times almost embarrassingly honest. As a representation of the material as a whole, it’s fitting to unveil the title-track first, since it hones both that honesty and the rawness of approach that so much of Heavy Kingdom is built on. Like the collaboration itself, it deals in duality and effectively bridges seemingly disparate elements into something natural and engaging.

Please enjoy Wino & Conny Ochs‘ “Heavy Kingdom” on the player below:

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Heavy Kingdom is due out Jan. 30 in Europe and March 13 in North America on Exile on Mainstream. Special thanks to Earsplit PR and Exile on Mainstream for letting me host the track. For more on the release, check out the label’s site here and Wino‘s official page. If you’d like to see a bigger version of the cover, click here. Happy Wino Wednesday.