Psychedelic – Page 43 – 7th Level Music

Live: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, ORB, and Stonefield – Aragon Ballroom – Chicago, IL – August 24, 2019

I’d read that the King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard / ORB / Stonefield show at Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom was on the verge of selling out. I’m pretty sure it did, judging by the line to get into the venue.

The line was so long that the Aragon had to put an employee (guy in white shirt behind car) in a parking lot two blocks away to manage it.

People were laughing in disbelief when they reached this corner and saw the line went on for another block and a half.

The top photo there is from the back of the line, which was over two blocks from the Aragon’s front door. The second photo shows the line along the Red Line El track wall on the west side of the Aragon. I’ve never seen a line this long to get into the Aragon. As one guy put it as he walked past me to get to the end of the line, “Take that all of you who say ‘Who?’ whenever I mention this band!”

The line was so long that, unfortunately, I missed Stonefield’s set. They were so loud, however, that you could hear them outside the venue when a Red Line train wasn’t passing by. I might get to see Stonefield at this year’s Levitation Austin festival, so it could still work out okay for me.

ORB, who have added a guitarist since I last saw them, put on a solid set of stoner-psych that included a lot of fuzz, metal riffs, and avalanche drumming.

I knew King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s set was going to be nuts when people were already chanting, clapping, and cheering during the soundcheck. Plus, KGATLW’s new album, Infest the Rat’s Nest, is a thrash metal record, and I was sure songs from it were going to cause a frenzied mosh pit.

Sure enough, they opened with “Self Immolate” and “Mars for the Rich” off the new record and the crowd immediately compressed by about thirty percent as two pits broke out – one on each side of the stage. I figured they wouldn’t play too much off the new record, as thrash metal is hard to play and they had an entire show to do that would probably cover everything from psychedelic hippie music to blues.

They proved me right by following the metal with the swing of “Plastic Boogie” off the first album they released this year, Fishing for Fishies, which is a blues record. Three cuts off Polygondwanaland followed – “Inner Cell,” “Loyalty,” and “Horology.”

“We’re gonna play an old one,” lead singer Stu Mackenzie said. “How old?” said the guy behind me. “Old for them is like an album from last year.” True, considering KGATLW put out five albums in 2018. The “oldies” turned out to be “I’m in Your Mind” and “I’m Not in Your Mind” from 2014’s I’m in Your Mind Fuzz. “The Balrog” from Murder of the Universe got everyone jumping again, and I was in the pit by the time they got to “Evil Death Roll” from Nonagon Infinity. The whole crowd was jumping during “Rattlesnake,” which lead to other cuts from Flying Microtonal Banana including “Sleep Drifter” and “Billabong Valley.”

Nonagon Infinity opens the door for infinite lizards.

They swung back into a boogie set with more cuts off Fishing for Fishies and even threw in their synth-single “Cyboogie” before ending the night with a wall of death-inducing “Planet B” and “Hell” from Infest the Rat’s Nest. They began the night with metal and ended the night with metal, leaving everyone sweaty and giddy.

“Thanks for coming. Thanks for getting crazy. You guys are fucking crazy. It’s great,” Mackenzie said at one point. It was a crazy crowd, probably the craziest I’ve been in since I saw Thee Oh Sees in Austin last year. The mosh pit was friendly, too. Twice the pit I was in stopped so people could turn on cell phone lights to look for, find, and hold up dropped stuff like someone’s glasses and a wallet. A woman walked by me wearing a shirt that read, “They only walls be build are walls of death.” on the back.

That’s metal, all right, as was this show.

Keep your mind open.

[Boogie on over to the subscription box while you’re here.]

Review: Here Lies Man – No Ground to Walk Upon

Marcos Garcia, the founder / vocalist / guitarist / multi-instrumentalist of Here Lies Man says his band is “…very conscious of how the rhythms service the riffs.” That principle is indeed the driving force the HLM’s new album – No Ground to Walk Upon.

The album opens with the fuzzy, funky “Clad in Silver,” which has Garcia singing spiritual lyrics over a groove that might induce a trance in you (so be careful if you’re operating heavy machinery while listening, especially to the last third of it). “Swinging from the Trees” has wicked hand percussion throughout it, taking lead even from the strong bass riffs and 1970’s action movie guitars.

“Long Legs (Look Away)” immediately makes you feel like a bad ass in one of those above-mentioned action movies. The groove is inescapable and will have you feeling invincible. The drum work on “Washing Bones” is just as good, with a harder rock feel than previous tracks.

The Santana influences on “Get Ahold of Yourself” cannot be denied. Listen to those congas and “no need to rush” guitar licks if you don’t believe me. “Iron Rattles” rattles and rolls with a spooky feel to it that curls up next to you in the dark. The album ends with “Man Falls Down,” the title of which reflects a common theme in HLM’s work – nature will always win. Man can strut around all he likes, but in the end, nature will have the final say. Man falls down, gets up, continues on, but nature always waits to reclaim us.

Every song on this album ends by drifting into instrumental experiments, and the last one sends us away wondering what’s to come next from Here Lies Man, and for us all. There is no ground to walk upon when we are floating in a dream or away from our corporeal bodies through meditation or, yes, death. Nature is nothing to fear, as are death, truth, and disillusionment. This album reminds us of that.

Keep your mind open.

[Walk over to the subscription box while you’re here.]

A Halloween treat is coming – RidingEasy Records’ “Brown Acid: The Ninth Trip” is due on October 31st.

“So rare that diehard fuzz junkies say you’d have a better chance of winning the lottery than finding a physical 45 rpm single by one of the bands featured on their latest installment.” — Dangerous Minds

“Will do for hard rock, proto-metal and heavy psych what Nuggets did for garage rock, and bring it to a wider audience of collectors and music fans.” — The Guardian

“Mining the surprising rich reserves of heavy rock and proto-metal from the ’60s and ’70s, these collections have been crucial to understanding the history of a subgenre of rock that had far deeper roots than most fans realize.” — Paste Magazine

The forthcoming ninth edition of the popular compilation series featuring long-lost vintage 60s-70s proto-metal and stoner rock singles, Brown Acid: The Ninth Trip is set for release on Halloween 2019. The first track from the latest installment, the heavy psych groove “Pain” by Fiberglass Vegetables is available to hear and share via YouTube HERE and Bandcamp HERE.

Read an interview with the series curators via Paste Magazine HERE.

The Brown Acid series is curated by L.A. label RidingEasy Records and retailer/label Permanent Records. About the Brown Acid series: Some of the best thrills of the Internet music revolution is the ability to find extremely rare music with great ease. But even with such vast archives to draw from, quite a lot of great songs have gone undiscovered for nearly half a century — particularly in genres that lacked hifalutin arty pretense. Previously, only the most extremely dedicated and passionate record collectors had the stamina and prowess to hunt down long forgotten wonders in dusty record bins — often hoarding them in private collections, or selling at ridiculous collector’s prices. Legendary compilations like Nuggets, Pebbles, ad nauseum, have exhausted the mines of early garage rock and proto-punk, keeping alive a large cross-section of underground ephemera. However, few have delved into and expertly archived the wealth of proto-metal, pre-stoner rock tracks collected on Brown Acid.

Lance Barresi, co-owner of L.A./Chicago retailer Permanent Records has shown incredible persistence in tracking down a stellar collection of rare singles from the 60s and 70s for the growing compilation series. Partnered with Daniel Hall of RidingEasy Records, the two have assembled a selection of songs that’s hard to believe have remained unheard for so long. “I essentially go through hell and high water just to find these records,” Barresi says. “Once I find a record worthy of tracking, I begin the (sometimes) extremely arduous process of contacting the band members and encouraging them to take part. Daniel and I agree that licensing all the tracks we’re using for Brown Acid is best for everyone involved,” rather than simply bootlegging the tracks. When all of the bands and labels haven’t existed for 30-40 years or more, tracking down the creators gives all of these tunes a real second chance at success. “There’s a long list of songs that we’d love to include,” Barresi says. “But we just can’t track the bands down. I like the idea that Brown Acid is getting so much attention, so people might reach out to us.”

Brown Acid: The Ninth Trip will be available everywhere on LP, CD and download on October 31st, 2019 via RidingEasy Records. Pre-orders are available for digital (with immediate download of the first single) at Bandcamp, physical pre-orders at RidingEasy Records.

Keep your mind open.

[Subscribe. It’ll be a trip.]

Moon Duo find some “Lost Heads” on the newest single from their upcoming album – “Stars Are the Light.”

Moon Duo shares the second single, “Lost Heads,” from their new album, Stars Are The Light, out September 27th on Sacred Bones. Following up previous single “Stars Are The Light” which featured “an alien disco groove filled with gossamer synth tones and left-field strings” [Paste], “Lost Heads” shimmers with an aura that hints at The Haçienda and makes for a laid-back, airy and distinctly Moon Duo take on 90s rave.

Stars Are The Light has a sonic physicality that is at once propulsive and undulating; it puts dance at the heart of an expansive nexus that connects the body to the stars. These are songs about embodied human experience rendered as a kind of dance of the self, both in relation to other selves and to the eternal dance of the cosmos. Johnson’s signature guitar sound is at its most languid and refined, while Yamada’s synths and oneiric vocals are foregrounded to create a spacious percussiveness that invites the body to move with its mesmeric rhythms.

“We have changed, the nature of our collaboration has changed, the world has changed, and we wanted the new music to reflect that,” says the band’s Sanae Yamada.

Stream “Lost Heads” – https://youtu.be/HlBMsnPi93M

Stream “Stars Are The Light” – https://youtu.be/bYXVk4cEbkY

Pre-order Stars Are The Light – https://www.sacredbonesrecords.com/products/sbr228-moon-duo-stars-are-the-light

Moon Duo Tour Dates: Thu. Oct. 17 – Ghent, BE @ Videodroom Fri. Oct. 18 – Krakow, PL @ Malopolski Garden Of The Arts Sun. Oct. 20 – Amsterdam, DK @ Paradiso Noord Mon. Oct. 21 – Berlin, DE @ Volksbuhne Wed. Oct. 23 – Zurich, CH @ Bogen F Thu. Oct. 24 – Vevey, CH @ Rocking Chair Sat. Oct. 26 – Angers, FR @ Le Chabada Mon. Oct. 28 – London, UK @ Earth Tue. Oct. 29 – Manchester, UK @ Dancehouse Wed. Oct. 30 – Liverpool, UK @ Invisible Wind Factory Thu. Oct. 31 – Glasgow, UK @ BAAD Fri. Nov. 1 – Birmingham, UK @ The Crossing Sat. Nov. 2 – Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Sun. Nov. 3 – Gateshead, UK @ The Sage Mon. Nov. 4 – Brighton, UK @ St. Bartholomew’s Church Tue. Nov. 5 – Paris, FR @ Petit Bain Wed. Nov. 6 – Charleroi, BE @ Rockerill Sat. Nov. 9 – Utrecht, NL @ Le Guess Who Tue. Nov. 12 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg Wed. Nov. 13 – Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts Thu. Nov. 14 – Washington, DC @ Rock & Roll Hotel Fri. Nov. 15 – Kingston, NY @ BSP Sat. Nov. 16 – Montreal, QC @ SAT Mon. Nov. 18 – Toronto, ON @ Longboat Hall Tue. Nov. 19 – Detroit, MI @ MOCAD Wed. Nov. 20 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall Fri. Nov. 22 – Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room Sat. Nov. 23 – Oakland, CA @ The New Parish Mon. Nov. 25 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom Tue. Nov 26 – Seattle, WA @ Neumos Wed. Nov. 27 – Vancouver, BC @ Venue

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t get lost in the world of music news and reviews. Subscribe and stay up to date.]

Review: The Flaming Lips – King’s Mouth: Music and Songs

If you’ve ever considered writing a concept album about a mythological kingdom ruled by a giant whose rule was foretold by a sparrow, I’m sorry to inform you the Flaming Lips have already done it and I’m sure have done it better than any of us could’ve done.

Featuring narration by none other than Mick Jones, King’s Mouth: Music and Songs tells the tale of a queen who dies in childbirth and whose son, the aforementioned giant, will inherit the kingdom – as told in “The Sparrow.” “Giant Baby” is told from both the perspective of the future king’s subjects and the motherless child, who learns that “sometimes life is sad.” while the Flaming Lips play choppy electro beats and warping synths.

The instrumental (and lovely) “Mother Universe” drifts into “How Many Times” (the first single from the record), which is probably the best song about counting since something from Schoolhouse Rock. “Don’t you stop. You gotta keep on believin’,” Wayne Coyne sings as he encourages us to keep trying no matter how many times we fail.

Then, all of the stars in the universe converge on the giant baby and become “part of his giant head” on “Electric Fire.” Something like this is par for the course on a Flaming Lips record, as are the wild, sometimes dark synths. “All for the Life of the City” has the giant baby, now a giant king, preventing an avalanche from burying his subjects, even if it means his life. The bass heavy synths (and tuba?) simulate him lumbering toward the mountain. He’s eventually found in the spring with flowers growing from his toes.

They sneak a funky track in there with “Feedaloodum Beedle Dot,” in which we learn the king’s subjects have cut off his head and then carry it through the streets on the space-trippy “Funeral Parade.” The head is then “Dipped in Steel” so his former subjects will have a memorial to him and his final cry / laugh / shout before he died saving them.

“Even in death, the king seemed to be still alive,” Mick Jones says at the beginning of “Mouth of the King.” Some of the villagers aren’t sure how to move on without him, while others are taking his sacrifice and cosmic mindset as inspiration to live. “How Can a Head” do all this? Ask the Flaming Lips, or better yet, look within. “How can a head hold so many things?” Coyne asks. I once heard the Dalai Lama say the head, for being such a little space, holds many things (most of which are unnecessary for enlightenment and happiness).

The end of King’s Mouth: Music and Songs reveals we’ve been the king / queen they’ve been singing about all along. We have the entire universe within us. We’re made of stardust. It’s a miracle. Our treasure house is within.

Mind-blowing? Sure, but that’s the kind of stuff the Flaming Lips explore all the time, and so should we.

Keep your mind open.

[You can get plenty of music and songs by subscribing.]

Elephant Stone announces November North American tour.

Canadian psych-rockers Elephant Stone have announced their first tour in a few years, hitting many west coast cities in the U.S. and their home country beginning November 5th. The tour includes two festival stops – Levitation Austin (November 8th) and Seattle’s Freakout Festival (November 16th). All tour dates are below.

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe while you’re here.]

Blackwater Holylight take us on a “Motorcycle” ride ahead of their new album – “Veils of Winter.”

“An ambient blend of psychedelic vintage poppy hooks and crushingly heavy sludge.” — Metal Hammer

“This quartet has been burning up stages all around their hometown, fueled by their abrasive blend of doom metal, psych rock, goth and a tangy soupçon of pop music… They landed a spot on the 2018 Best New Band poll in alt-weekly Willamette Week, but could quickly take over the world.” — Paste Magazine

“They mesh elements of doom, Krautrock and atmospheric indie into one bewitching rock whole.” —Classic Rock Magazine

Portland, OR quintet Blackwater Holylight announce their forthcoming sophomore album Veils of Winter (RidingEasy Records) today, sharing the lead single. Hear and share the immediately classic hooks of “Motorcycle” via Bandcamp and YouTube.

Blackwater Holylight hit the road hard this Fall, supporting former RidingEasy label mates Monolord throughout the US in November, as well as Thou in September, plus a handful of hometown shows. Please see complete dates below.

Blackwater Holylight, as the name suggests, is all about contrasts. It’s a fluid convergence of sound that’s heavy, psychedelic, melodic, terrifying and beautiful all at once.

As a heavy band, their songs aren’t anchored to riffs, but rather riffs come and go in waves that surface throughout the band’s meditative, entrancing songs. It’s a hypnotic sound, with orchestral structures that often build tension and intrigue before turning the song on its head — not by simply getting louder or heavier, nor by just layering elements. They expertly subvert the implied heaviness of a part, dissecting it and splaying the song’s guts out to seep across the sonic spectrum.

Now, having toured extensively following the band’s wildly-successful breakout self-titled debut in 2018, Blackwater Holylight has honed their sound and identity to a powerfully captivating beast. Their live set is all about the slow build, seeming to combine the melodic tension of early Sonic Youth crossed with the laconic fever-dream blues of the first Black Sabbath album and wiry experimentation of post-punk and krautrock.

The lineup on this album is Allison (Sunny) Faris (bass/vocals), Laura Hopkins (guitar/vocals) and Sarah McKenna (synths), with new guitarist Mikayla Mayhew and drummer Eliese Dorsay fleshing out their sound in exciting ways.

“The process of this album was vastly different from our first record,” says Faris. “One, because we recorded it over the course of a few weeks, whereas the first record was over the course of about a year. And two, this album was a true collaboration between the five of us. Each of us had extremely equal parts in writing and producing, we all bounced ideas off each together, and we all had a say in what was going on during every part of the process.”

“One of our favorite things about this album is that because it was so collaborative, we didn’t compartmentalize ourselves into one vibe.” She continues. “It’s heavy, psychedelic, pop, shoegaze, doom, grunge, melodic and more. The whole process was extremely organic and natural for us, we were just being ourselves.”

Veils of Winter opens with fuzzed-drenched, drop-tuned bass and baritone guitar leading a dirge riff on “Seeping Secrets.” Faris’ lilting and funereal vocals drop in, adding to the mournful atmosphere until a short turnaround progression hints at changes to come, as Faris and Hopkins harmonize eerily and the tune suddenly turns into a krautrock charge. “Motorcycle” kicks off deceptively with a heavy grunge riff building up for about 40-seconds before the song abruptly shifts gears into a synth-led post-punk harmony, sounding something like Lush meets Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd. “Death Realms” is perhaps the poppiest track, based around soaring shoegaze guitars and interwoven light vocal harmonies. Soft piano notes, occasional woozy whammy bar dives and a driving tom-tom beat solidify its hooks. “Spiders” is a creepy-crawly guitar riff and counterpoint keys, while “Moonlit” explores prog-structures with a shredding guitar solo crescendo. The penultimate track, “Lullaby” is exactly that, a lulling, expansive tune exemplifying Blackwater Holylight’s genre smashing sound as it subtly moves across a vast sonic landscape atop a hypnotic 6/8 beat and repetitive 3-note motif. Throughout the album, their songs shirk traditional verse-chorus-verse structure in favor of fluid, serpentine compositions that move with commanding grace.

Veils of Winter will be available on LP, CD and download on October 11th, 2019 via RidingEasy Records. Pre-orders are available at www.ridingeasyrecs.com.

BLACKWATER HOLYLIGHT LIVE 2019: 08/24 Portland, OR @ Star Theater w/ Kadavar, Danava 09/23 Tallahassee, FL @ The Bark # 09/24 Tampa, FL @ The Blue Note # 09/26 Miami, FL @ Las Rosa’s # 09/27 Orlando, FL @ Will’s Pub # 09/28 Gainesville, FL @ The Atlantic # 09/29 Pensacola, FL @ Chizuco # 10/24 Portland, OR @ Star Theater – Album release show 11/05 San Diego, CA @ Brick By Brick * 11/06 Tucson, AZ @ Club Congress * 11/07 Albuquerque, NM @ Sister * 11/09 Austin, TX @ Barracuda – Levitation Fest – RidingEasy Stage 11/10 Lafayette, LA @ Freetown Boom Boom Room * 11/11 New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jacks * 11/12 Atlanta, GA @ 529 * 11/13 Asheville, NC @ Mothlight * 11/14 Richmond, VA @ Camel * 11/15 Baltimore, MD @ Metro Gallery * 11/16 Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church * 11/17 New York, NY @ Saint Vitus * 11/20 Chicago, IL @ Reggie’s * 11/21 Indianapolis, IN @ Black Circle Brewing * 11/22 St. Louis, MO @ Fubar * 11/23 Lawrence, KS @ The Bottleneck * 11/25 Denver, CO @ Marquis Theater * 11/27 Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom * # w/ Thou * w/ Monolord

Keep your mind open.

[Ride over to the subscription box while you’re here.]

Review: Comacozer – Mydriasis

If you’re starting a band and wondering how many songs you would need on your album to take the listener on a mind-altering journey of fuzzed guitars, reverb-drenched bass, and asteroid belt heavy drums, Australia’s Comacozer have answered the question for you: Three. You would need three songs.

Granted, they are going to last anywhere from eleven to twenty minutes each, and you will have to rock them as heavily as Comacozer do, so good luck.

The opening title track to Comacozer‘s solid new album, Mydriasis (the medical term for dilation of the pupil), opens your third eye as it drops you down a rabbit hole of face melting psych rock with little bits of doom metal sprinkled on top for good measure. The guitar work on the track by Rick Burke is particularly jaw-dropping, sliding effortlessly back and forth between psychedelic jams and battle axe-heavy riffs.

“Tryptamine” starts with what sounds like a monologue by Rod Serling, which is appropriate considering the mind-warping nature of the track’s synths by James Heyligers. These synths sneak around the entire track while Andrew Panagopoulos keeps the band (and us) from drifting out of this reality by maintaining a solid, gravity-induced beat.

I love how Richard Elliott’s opening bass line on “Kykenon Journey” is almost a sinister funk-disco lick. It promises groovy things to come, and the track certainly delivers. Kykenon, for those of you unaware, is a water and barley beverage that was popular among the lower class in ancient Greece. It was often mixed with other spices and compounds that gave it a psychoactive kick, much like Panagopolous’ beats and Burke’s riffs. The song (which takes up the entire second side of the EP, by the way) is a fine rocker for the first five minutes and then switches to an even finer psychedelic trip. It’s the kind of stuff that will make you convinced the goop in your lava lamp is dancing to it. Seriously, don’t stare at your lava lamp for too long while listening to this. It might check you out of reality without you realizing it.

It’s a solid EP of mind-warping psychedelia from Down Under. I hope these guys can do a tour of the U.S. soon. It would be great to hear these epic instrumentals live.

Keep your mind open.

[Go on a music journey by subscribing.]

Jon Spencer announces Midwest summer tour.

Jon Spencer has announced a brief summer tour with his newest band, the HITmakers, of the Midwest United States to promote his solo album Spencer Sings the Hits!

Reviews of his earlier shows mention him playing not only new solo cuts, but also stuff from his massive catalog of other material from the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Boss Hog, and Pussy Galore.

Tour dates are as follows:

Wed 8/28 – Pyramid Scheme – Grand Rapids MI Thu 8/29 – HI-FI – Indianapolis IN Fri 8/30 – Schubas – Chicago IL Sat 8/31 – H.O.G. National Rally, Harley-Davidson Museum – Milwaukee WI Sun 9/1 – Turf Club – St. Paul MN Mon 9/2 – Vaudeville Mews – Des Moines IA Tues 9/3 – Ignition Music Garage – Goshen IN

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe while you’re here.]

Here Lies Man are “Clad in Silver” on their upcoming EP – “No Ground to Walk Upon.”

“An evolutionary step forward for their sound.” – Metal Hammer

“A woozy wall of Afrobeat inspired fuzzbox riff worship and pounding circular rhythmic power, Here Lies Man connect the stoner rock underground straight to downtown Lagos.” – The Quietus

“Here Lies Man are still really, really good at making riffy, rhythmic psychedelic rock that sounds like the ’60s/’70s but still feels fresh today. Fans of anything from Nuggets to Ty Segall and King Gizzard should take note.” — Brooklyn Vegan

“This is a band ahead of their time.” — The Obelisk

Los Angeles quartet Here Lies Man share the lead single from their forthcoming 7-song mini-album No Ground To Walk Upon today. Hear and share “Clad in Silver” via YouTube and Bandcamp.

Dinked, the UK collective of independent retailers, are offering an exclusive special edition of the release that comes with a signed picture of the band, a patch, and a tote bag, on purple vinyl with orange swirl. For more information see Dinked HERE.

Here Lies Man took the music world by storm in 2017 with their self-titled debut positing the intriguing hypothesis: What if Black Sabbath played Afrobeat?

Since that time, Here Lies Man has expanded and expounded upon their sound and ideas of heavy riff rock and psych within the ancient rhythmic formula of the clave. The L.A. based band comprised of Antibalas members have toured relentlessly over the past 2 years, while also releasing a second album, You Will Know Nothing and an EP, Animal Noises, both in 2018.

No Ground to Walk Upon is due worldwide in August 2019. It continues with an ongoing concept of HLM playing the soundtrack to an imaginary movie, with each song being a scene. The lead single “Clad in Silver” is the soundtrack snippet of a journey to the imaginary place called home, which can never be arrived at. With every step, the character imagines getting closer, but it is a hallucination that fades in and out of perception.

Rough Trade named Here Lies Man in their prestigious Top 10 Albums of 2017. BBC 6 & Classic Rock Magazine deemed it among the year’s best, as well as countless other press outlets singing its praises. 2018’s You Will Know Nothing furthered the band’s reputation for genre-smashing rhythmic experimentation, topping many year-end lists as well as earning features from countless metal and indie rock outlets, plus cover stories in weekly papers. No Ground to Walk Upon is the next step in the band’s rapid ascent to what is bound to be influential upon riff based rock.

“We’re very conscious of how the rhythms service the riffs,” explains founder and vocalist/guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Marcos Garcia (who also plays guitar in Antibalas) of the band’s sound. “Tony Iommi’s (Black Sabbath) innovation was to make the riff the organizing principle of a song. We are taking that same approach but employing a different organizing principle: For Iommi it was the blues, for us it comes directly from Africa.”

No Ground To Walk Upon also includes an interesting conceptual mathematics to the entire proceedings, a theme begun on the prior album. “There are interludes between each song that are 2/3 to 3/4 of the tempo of the previous song,” Garcia says. “The reason it breaks down to 2 over 3 or 3 over 4 is that everything in the music rhythmically corresponds to a set of mathematical algorithms known as the clave. The clave is an ancient organizing rhythmic principle developed in Africa.”

Garcia and cofounder/drummer Geoff Mann (former Antibalas drummer and son of jazz musician Herbie Mann) recorded the mini-album much like they did their previous releases, at their own L.A. studio on a Tascam 388 8-track tape machine. Additional layers were recorded with former Antibalas keyboardist Victor Axelrod and other contributors in various other locations, all while the band continued its rigorous touring schedule.

Here Lies Man has already spent much of the past three years on tour, with dates supporting Antibalas, Earthless and Fu Manchu, as well as headlining treks through the EU & UK. The remaining months of 2019 and 2020 will see the band once again performing at numerous International festivals (including Austin’s Levitation Fest in November.)

No Ground to Walk Upon will be available on LP, CD and download on August 16th, 2019 via RidingEasy Records.

Keep your mind open.

[I’ll feel like I’m clad in silver if you subscribe today.]