Category: Psychedelic

A Place to Bury Strangers release new single, “Too Tough to Kill,” and U.S. summer tour dates.

A Place To Bury Strangers Share “Too Tough To Kill” Video
Watch Here

North American Headline Tour Begins This Week

Pinned Out Now On Dead Oceans

[still from “Too Tough To Kill” video]
A Place To Bury Strangers are sharing a video for new single “Too Tough To Kill” from their recently released album, Pinned. The director Colin Marchon says, “The project is a kind of America-sploitation video in response to the frustratingly stagnant state of the country. The song felt like the perfect context to speak to that. Technically speaking I don’t really consider myself an animator. It just feels really fun and cathartic to cut up images that speak to me or make me laugh and play with them in front of a camera. The editing is a little more complicated but as a full time commercial filmmaker the medium is just a very easy outlet to let out my subconscious after work.”
Watch A Place To Bury Strangers’ “Too Tough To Kill” Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jjc6-ALiRb4
 
For well over a decade now, A Place to Bury Strangers— Oliver Ackermann, Dion Lunadon, and, officially, drummer Lia Simone Braswell—have become well known for their unwavering commitment to unpredictable, often bewildering live shows, and total, some might say dangerous volume. They don’t write set ists. They frequently write new songs mid-set. They deliberately provoke and sabotage sound people in a variety of cruel yet innovative ways. They can and will always surprise you.

Pinned, the band’s fifth full-length, finds A Place To Bury Strangers converting difficult moments into some of their most urgent work to date. It’s their first since the 2016 election, and their first since the 2014 closing of Death By Audio, the beloved Brooklyn DIY space where Ackerman lived, worked, and created with complete freedom. It’s a clear and honest statement of intent, not just for everything that follows, but for this band as a whole.

A Place To Bury Strangers will tour in support of Pinned beginning this week. A full list of dates is below.

Watch:
“Too Tough To Kill” video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jjc6-ALiRb4
“Frustrated Operator” video – https://youtu.be/FMY04c8yrZE
“There’s Only One Of Us” video – https://youtu.be/ZkRebfgTLNc
“Never Coming Back” video – https://youtu.be/rij8qYpT1S0  
A Place To Bury Strangers Tour Dates:
5/24/18 Washington, DC – DC9 w/ Prettiest Eyes & Buck Gooter (tickets)
5/25/18 Baltimore, MD – Metro Gallery w/ Prettiest Eyes & Thrushes (tickets)
5/26/18 Raleigh, NC – Kings Barcade w/ Prettiest Eyes & Lacy Jags (tickets)
5/27/18 Asheville, NC – The Mothlight w/ Prettiest Eyes & Lacy Jags (tickets)
5/28/18 Atlanta, GA – The Earl w/ Prettiest Eyes & Nest Egg (tickets)
5/30/18 New Orleans, LA – Gasa Gasa w/ Prettiest Eyes & Trashlight (tickets)
5/31/18 Houston, TX – The Secret Group w/ Prettiest Eyes  & Narcons (tickets)
6/01/18 Austin, TX – Barracuda w/ Prettiest Eyes & Xetas (tickets)
6/02/18 Dallas, TX – Club Dada w/ Prettiest Eyes & Dendrons (tickets)
6/03/18 San Antonio, TX – Paper Tiger w/ Prettiest Eyes & My Education (tickets)
6/05/18 Santa Fe, NM – Meow Wolf w/ Prettiest Eyes & Heather Trost (tickets)
6/06/18 Phoenix, AZ – Valley Bar w/ Sextile & Strange Lot (tickets)
6/07/18 San Diego, CA – The Casbah w/ Sextile & Keepers (tickets)
6/09/18 Los Angeles, CA – The Regent w/ Sextile & Prettiest Eyes (tickets)
6/10/18 San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall w/ Sextile & Prettiest Eyes (tickets)
6/12/18 Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios w/ Sextile & Tender Age (tickets)
6/13/18 Vancouver, BC – Fox Cabaret w/ Sextile & Dopey’s Robe (tickets)
6/14/18 Seattle, WA – The Crocodile w/ Sextile & Haunted Horses (tickets)

10/12/18-10/14/18 – Joshua Tree, CA @ Desert Daze (tickets)

Pinned artwork
Keep your mind open.
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Here Lies Man unleash new single, “That Much Closer to Nothing,” from upcoming album.

Here Lies Man share new single from forthcoming album You Will Know Nothing
Antibalas members “if Black Sabbath played Afrobeat”
Hear & share “That Much Closer To Nothing” (YouTube) (Bandcamp)
Los Angeles quintet Here Lies Man share a new single from their forthcoming anticipated sophomore album today via Bandcamp and YouTube. The album, You Will Know Nothing will be released June 15th via RidingEasy Records.
Back in March, the band dropped the first song, “Fighting” via YouTube.
Here Lies Man play the prestigious Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona, Spain later this month before hitting the road with Earthless in June. Later in Fall, the band hits the massive Desert Daze festival in Southern California. Please see current dates below.
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?
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.
This June, the L.A. band comprised of Antibalas members quickly follow their auspicious debut with the even more thoroughly realized album You Will Know Nothing. Its 11 tracks expand upon the band’s exploration of heavy riff-based rock and psych within the ancient rhythmic formula of the clave.
“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.”
Sonically, on You Will Know Nothing the dynamic range is thicker, crisper and more powerful. It glistens as much as it blasts. The songs are even catchier, more anthemic, and the production reflects that of a band truly come into its own. Lyrically, it’s an equally more conceptualized effort that reflects upon states of being and consciousness – a driving force that carries throughout the words and moods of all of the band’s releases, interconnected to their trancelike music. Here Lies Man have honed their sound and their focus, and soon, you will truly know Nothing.
“We wanted to go deeper with the sonic experience,” says Garcia. “Even though it sounds more hi-fi than the first record, it was important that it didn’t sound too polished.”
While You Will Know Nothing certainly maintains its gritty grooves, there’s an interesting conceptual mathematics to the entire proceedings. “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.”
“We dove deep into the texture of the music, beyond the groove and the riff,” says HLM cofounder and drummer Geoff Mann (former Antibalas drummer and son of jazz musician Herbie Mann.) “Although something might sound like one instrument, there are subtle layers shifting through. It’s definitely a headphone album.”
Garcia and Mann recorded the album much like they did the debut, at their own L.A. studio on a Tascam 388 8-track tape machine. Congas were later recorded by percussionists Richard Panta and Reinaldo DeJesus. Then, Garcia went to NY to record interludes with former Antibalas keyboardist Victor Axelrod. Mixing took the most time in order to find the proper sonic space for each layer of musical detail, with first album engineer Jeremy Page mixing the drums and the band tackling the remainder while also juggling a hectic touring schedule.
Here Lies Man has already spent much of early 2018 on tour, with dates supporting Antibalas and Fu Manchu as well as a headlining trek through the EU & UK. Many summer festival dates and headline tours await later in the year as Here Lies Man continues its infectious charge onward.
You Will Know Nothing will be available on LP, CD and download on June 15th, 2018 via RidingEasy Records.
HERE LIES MAN LIVE 2018:
05/22 San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar
05/23 Visalia, CA @ Cellar Door
05/27 Palm Springs, CA @ Ace Hotel
05/31 Barcelona, ES @ Primavera Sound Festival 
06/05 Asheville, NC @ Mothlight *
06/06 Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade *
06/07 Spartansburg, SC @ Ground Zero *
06/08 Orlando, FL @ Wills Pub *
06/09 Tallahassee, FL @ The Wilbury *
06/10 Baton Rouge, LA @ Spanish Moon *
06/12 Houston, TX @ White Oak Upstairs *
06/13 Austin, TX @ Barracuda *
06/14 Ft Worth, TX @ Ridgela Room *
06/15 Memphis, TN @ Growlers *
06/26 Seattle, WA @ Nectar Lounge
06/27 Bellingham, WA @ The Shakedown
06/28 Vancouver, BC @ Fox Cabaret
06/29 Portland, OR @ Star Theater
06/30 Grant’s Pass, OR @ The Haul
07/01 Chico, CA @ Naked Lounge
07/02 San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel
07/05 Los Angeles, CA @ Resident DTLA
08/24 Hudson Valley, NY @ Huichica Festival
08/31 Los Angeles, CA @ Levitt Pavillion (MacArthur Park)
10/12-14 Lake Perris, CA @ Desert Daze 2018
* w/ Earthless

Artist: Here Lies Man
Album: You Will Know Nothing
Label: RidingEasy Records
Release Date: June 15th, 2018
01. Animal Noises
02. Summon Fire
03. Blindness
04. That Much Closer
05. Hell (Wooly Tail)
06. Voices At The Window
07. Taking the Blame
08. Fighting
09. Floating On Water
10. Memory Games
11. You Ought To Know

On The Web:

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Blackwater Holylight – self-titled

Portland, Oregon is home to many things – big, foggy forests, dark coffee, gray skies, cliffs pounded by the relentless ocean, and now sludge-psych rockers Blackwater Holylight (Allison Faris – bass and vocals, Cat Hoch – drums, Laura Hopkins – guitar and vocals, Sarah McKenna – synths).

Their self-titled debut starts with the bass heavy “Willow,” which somehow mixes goth, psychedelia, and groove rock.  The burst of drums and synths about thirty seconds in is exhilarating.  You’re grooving with them like a 1960’s super-spy / vampire two-and-a-half minutes later.  Hopkins’ guitar work on “Wave of Conscience” reminds me of early Cream, and McKenna’s synths remind me of some of Frank Zappa‘s work.

Faris’ bass takes front stage on “Babies,” and it sounds like she learned the craft from David J. of Love and Rockets.  Her vocals and McKenna’s circus sideshow synths give the track a demented touch that you can’t shake out of your head.  “Paranoia” starts out with appropriately intimidating reverb on Hopkins’ guitars, and they only get louder and creepier as the tune builds.  Everything bursts forth when Faris’ sings, “Here comes the sunrise.” on “Sunrise.”  It’s a lovely little gem in the middle of the darker previous track and the sludge metal of “Slow Hole” (which almost does sound like a sinkhole forming in the middle of a forgotten road).

Hoch’s beats are downright danceable on “Carry Her,” while Hopkins’ guitar work at first sounds like something off a mellow Cure record and then turns into a crunchy, distorted wallop.  The album ends with the kinky / creepy “Jizz Witch” – a slow burning doom track that seems to be summoning up…something, but ends before whatever “it” is can emerge.  Whew.

Blackwater Holylight’s debut is full of these shadowy moments.  It works into the back of your mind and lingers there.  It intrigues and unsettles in just the right balance, as good art often should.

Keep your mind open.

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MIEN – self-titled

Consisting of members of the Black Angels (Alex Maas on guitar, bass, and vocals), the Earlies (John Lapham on synths), Elephant Stone (Rishi Dhir on sitar, bass, and vocals), and the Horrors (Tom Furse on synths), MIEN are a psychedelic supergroup who have been at least discussing their self-titled debut album since 2004.  Now that it’s here, they (and we) can rejoice in a job well done.

Staring with the cosmic “Earth Moon,” Maas’ vocals are drenched in smoky reverb as he sings about how our beliefs can alter our reality.  Where that track is a lovely stroll through a psychedelic meadow, the second cut, “Black Habit,” is downright creepy with Lapham and Furse’s synths providing a dark drone under Maas’ lyrics about addictions.  “(I’m Tired of) Western Shouting” might be my favorite cut on the record.  The drum beats are wicked, as are Maas’ lyrics about 24-hours news cycles, angry Internet rants, and people being proud to be rude or even bigoted.  The whole band clicks on it, and it slays live.

“You Dreamt” layers on the synths and is pretty much a dark wave track (and a good one).  The instrumental “Other” floats on Furse and Lapham’s synths and could’ve easily fit into the score for Blade Runner: 2049.  “I feel so high,” Maas sings on “Hocus Pocus.”  You might feel the same as it warps into distorted madness and heady freak-outs.  Thee deep bass synths on “Ropes” fuel the urgency of Maas’ vocals about fear.

“Echolalia” is defined as mindless repetition of words or sentences as a symptom of a psychiatric disorder or as a repetition of words by a child learning to speak.  Both definitions seem appropriate for the track of the same name, as it churns with an almost frantic energy and then comes to an abrupt start that surprises you.  “Odessey” has brighter synths, and even female backing vocals, but they hide menace within them.  The album ends with a reprise of “Earth Moon.”  It’s a mellower version than the first and it creates a nice, dreamy ending to a mostly spooky record.

It’s a solid debut.  MIEN are currently on their first live tour, so don’t miss them or this record.

Keep your mind open.

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The Flaming Lips to release first greatest hits collection on June 1st.

Just in time for their latest tour, the Flaming Lips are set to release their first greatest hits collection on June 01, 2018.  The vinyl version of this contains 11 tracks from the second half of their catalogue.  The CD version is three discs for a total of 52 tracks and covers a lot of their earlier material as well.  They’re also offering shirts and posters featuring the wild album art.  I haven’t heard a lot of the cuts on the CD version of this, so I’m probably going to snag that.

Keep your mind open.

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Levitation Music Festival Recap Day Two: Scrambled eggs, scrambled brain

The second day of Levitation Austin was going to be a feast of bands from outside the U.S.  The number of international acts that play the festival every year is one of my favorite things about it.  I’ve discovered many great bands I wouldn’t have heard otherwise at Levitation Austin.

After a great brunch at the South Congress Cafe (which I couldn’t finish), the first of the six bands we’d see that day was Superfonicos – an Austin band of locals and Colombians who play a great mix of Afro / Colombian funk.  They played to a crowd that seemed to grow larger with each track, as more and more people walking by the venue came in to hear who was dropping all that killer groove.

Superfonicos kicking off the party.

Following them were musicians all the way from Algeria – Imarhan.  My wife and I have fallen in love with Tuareg music thanks to the Levitation festival, and this was our second time seeing Imarhan there.  A lot more people were hyped to see them this time than when we saw them in 2016.  It’s not that they were a bad band in 2016 – far from it.  It’s that they’ve been working hard, touring a lot, and have a fine new album (Temet) that’s getting a lot of buzz.  They had everyone moving and people behind me in the crowd were stunned by their bass player and lead guitarist.

Imarhan

Closing the night at Cheer Up Charlie’s were hometown heroes / aliens Golden Dawn Arkestra, who entered the venue through the crowd and billowing sage incense everywhere before they launched into a sun-worshipping funky freakout that had a packed crowd of dancing revelers all communing with other-dimensional beings.  GDA never disappoint, and some people we met that night (one of whom was in a psychedelic band out of Chicago) who hadn’t seen them before thought the set was one of the coolest things they’d ever seen.

We then went over to Barracuda to see Chilean psychedelic rock outfit Vuelveteloca.  Unfortunately, we missed the first half of their set, but what we did here was psych-rock as solid as the Andes.

NYC’s The Men followed, and they came out gunning.  In the first two tracks I thought, “This might be the closest I ever get to an MC5 show.”  They even played some Captain Beefheart-like stuff by the end.  They were loud and brash, which made the next set even weirder.

The final act we saw the second night was another Chilean band – Follakzoid.  I’d only heard a couple tracks by them before coming to Austin, and they were good ones that bordered somewhere between shoegaze and psychedelia.  I didn’t know what to expect from a live show, but I can tell you it about melted my mind.  They played two tracks and an encore.  The two tracks during their main set were about twenty-five minutes each of droning, repetitive (in a good way) space rock that is hard to describe.  Imagine synth bass and riffs combined with drumming from apparently a human metronome (considering how long he kept those beats going) and maybe five different notes played in different ways and with different effects and levels of distortion and reverb.  Sound weird?  It was – wonderfully so.  Sound like it shouldn’t be good?  You couldn’t be more wrong.  It was one of the best sets I saw all weekend, easily in the top three.

Up next, my wife tries to figure out the big deal about Slowdive, we bump into more musicians, and a laptop keeps giving someone fits.

Keep your mind open.

 

 

 

All Them Witches’ summer tour starts today.

All Them Witches begin them summer tour today.  They’re playing with Primus AND Mastodon May 6th – June 3rd. Tickets are on sale now.  Catch them if you can.  They’re great live.

For a full list of tour dates, head over to AllThemWitches.org
MAY 3 • Rose Music Hall • COLUMBIA, MO
MAY 4 • Slowdown • OMAHA, NE
MAY 6 • Red Rocks Amphitheater • MORRISON, CO ^
MAY 8 • The Criterion • OKLAHOMA CITY, OK ^
MAY 9 • White Oak Music Hall • HOUSTON, TX *
MAY 10 • South Side Ballroom • DALLAS, TX ^
MAY 11 • Austin 360 Amphitheatre • DEL VALLE, TX ^
MAY 12 • Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion • ROGERS, AR ^
MAY 14 • BJCC Concert Hall • BIRMINGHAM, AL ^
MAY 15 • Nashville Municipal Auditorium • NASHVILLE, TN ^
MAY 16 • Fox Theatre • ATLANTA, GA ^
MAY 18 • Portsmouth Pavilion • PORTSMOUTH, VA ^
MAY 19 • Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheater • CHARLOTTE, NC ^
MAY 20 • Red Hat Amphitheater • RALEIGH, NC ^
MAY 22 • Diamond Credit Union Theatre • READING, PA ^
MAY 23 • Artpark Amphitheater • LEWISTON, NY ^
MAY 25 • Cool Insuring Arena • GLENS FALLS, NY ^
MAY 26 • Bold Point Park • EAST PROVIDENCE, RI ^
MAY 27 • Maine State Pier • PORTLAND, ME ^
MAY 29 • Blue Hills Bank Pavilion • BOSTON, MA ^
MAY 30 • Penn’s Landing – Festival Pier • PHILADELPHIA, PA ^
JUN 1 • Stone Pony Summerstage • ASBURY PARK, NJ ^
JUN 2 • Pier Six Pavilion • BALTIMORE, MD ^
JUN 3 • Ford Amphitheater at Coney Island Boardwalk • BROOKLYN, NY ^
JUN 6 • Mascotte • ZURICH, SWITZERLAND
JUN 7 • Caribana Festival • CRANS-PRES-CELIGNY, SWITZERLAND
JUN 8 • Download Festival • NEWBURY, UNITED KINGDOM
JUN 8 • Best Kept Secret • HILVARENBEEK, NETHERLANDS
JUN 9 • Donnington Park • NEWBURY, UNITED KINGDOM
JUN 10 • Donnington Park • NEWBURY, UNITED KINGDOM
JUN 11 • AB Box • BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
JUN 13 • Backstage Halle • MUNCHEN GERMANY
JUN 14 • Nova Rock • NICKELSDORF, AUSTRIA
JUN 15 • Z-Bau • NUREMBERG, GERMANY
JUN 16 • Maifield Derby Festival • MANNHEIM, GERMANY
JUL 14 • Ballard Seafoodfest • SEATTLE, WA
OCT 14 • Aftershock Festival • SACRAMENTO, CA

^ w/ Primus and Mastodon
* w/ Mastodon and Mothership
TICKETS

Levitation Austin artist spotlight: Oh Sees

Otherwise known as Thee Oh Sees and OCS, Oh Sees are a wild psych-rock band whose lineup goes through changes seemingly with every record but the hard, driving energy of their music never alters.  Both of their Levitation Austin shows at Barracuda on April 28th and 29th are sold-out, but you still might be able to get tickets for their show at Austin’s Hotel Vegas on April 30th (which is a charity benefit show, no less).  These shows are sure to be nuts, so get to one if you can.

Keep your mind open.

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Levitation Austin artist spotlight: The Black Angels

Austin’s own Black Angels not only play Levitation Austin again this year, they also help curate the festival every year.  The psych-rock heavyweights will close Stubb’s BBQ on April 29th.  I will see them at any opportunity, and it’s rare I get to see them in front of a hometown crowd.  Their set will be one of my favorite moments of the festival, I’m sure.

Keep your mind open.

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Levitation Austin artist spotlight: The Brian Jonestown Massacre

The psychedelic rock collective known as the Brian Jonestown Massacre hail from San Francisco and have had numerous lineups throughout the years.  Front man Anton Newcombe has always been the steady figurehead of the group, and their fans are legion.  The stories of their rock and roll lifestyle are wild and border on legendary.  Their Levitation Austin set at Stubb’s BBQ on April 29th will be packed to the gills, I’m sure.

Keep your mind open.

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