Fascinating Things : Issue 16

Videos of previously covered things have been released so here they are for the Band of Holy Joy single (Issue 11) and a teaser for the Pure Phase Ensemble album (Issue 14)

Fronted by singer Lou Reid, Lola in Slacks exude a sexy garage swagger wrapped in a eurocentric chanson motif. Described by their promo people as an ambitious, literate gang of Francophile bohemians, they originate in Glasgow.

The rest of the band comprises guitarists Brian McFie and Martin Stuart Taggart. keyboard player Villy Karagouni drummer Lesley McLaren and  bassist Davy Irvin.

Their debut single ‘Tramlines’ is released on August 31st on Stereogram Recordings. it was recorded with award-winning producer Sandy Jones at Foundry Music Lab in Motherwell.

Reid’s husky vocal tones, and rich lyrics and complimented by a tight early VU sound of ascending chords and crisp rhythms. It will be featured on next weeks Aural Delights.  Very tasty.

Bristol in June 2016 sees the return of the Temples Festival which enters its triumphant third year, after two magnificent, sold-out events that brought patrons in contact with some of the most revered artists operating in the spheres of extreme and heavy music.  From the international headl-iners (that have included Clutch, Converge, Earth, Electric Wizard, Neurosis, Pig Destroyer, SUNN O))) and Voivod) right down to the gritty native acts, there’s a strong sense of cohesion, community and celebration at Temples that evidently goes down a treat with heavy music lovers.

Three days of unforgettable appearances and high volume antics in the heart of Bristol are already set in stone for the dates of June 2nd-5th and with lessons learned, eardrums repaired, and justified excitement, organisers have announced the following eighteen acts for the highly anticipated festival:

ALL PIGS MUST DIE
ARABROT
BONGRIPPER
CORRUPT MORAL ALTAR
DEAD CONGREGATION
DRAGGED INTO SUNLIGHT
ESOTERIC
GNAW THEIR TONGUES
GROUNDHOGS
IRON REAGAN
MGLA
PISSGRAVE
SHEER TERROR
URFAUST
VENOM PRISON
VICTIMS
VISION OF DISORDER
WEEKEND NACHOS

Organisers say that there is much more to be announced, including the three main-stage headliners as well as a vast array of bands from the international heavy underground. Tickets are available exclusively through http://www.templesfestival.co.uk, and day tickets will become available as individual day splits are announced.

“Inversum” is the forthcoming new full-length from Finnish psychedelic doom outfit, Dark Buddha Rising. Their fifth studio offering and first under the Neurot Recordings banner, Inversum is a two-track exercise in the blacker end of psychedelia, swallowing its listeners whole into a tense, brooding realm of dark atmospheres, harrowing mysticism, tormented howls and slow, ominous riffing. Considered the opening of the Third Cycle Of Dark Buddha Rising, the record was recorded, produced and mixed by the band in the bowels of the Wastement, the self-proclaimed “asylum of eternal feedback,” and welcomes the addition of new Dark Buddha Rising recruits, V. Vatanen (guitar, vocals), J. Saarivuori (keyboards) and M. Neuman (vocals).

As a precursor to its release next month, here is an edited version of opening epic peice, “E S O.”

Fascinating Things : Issue 11

Sounding a bit like Robert Forster singing with The Smiths Band of Holy Joy have a new  download single “Isn’t that just the life”  out on Stereogram on August 10th. A video accompanies the download and there will be a select number of dates across the UK. An album follows in September.

I have been hand selected by  The Working Man (lead by the hardest man in Blackburn) to listen to their  new track “Big Bad John”. They advise me that they are not going to bore me on how  they  ‘merge different genres’ and ‘can’t be put into any category’ – they  appreciate , like themselves, that I am  very busy. A fascinating melange of differing things makes for a damn fine listen. It comes from a soon to be released album called “Lancashizer”. You can catch them at the Bierkellar in that Manchester on July 30th.

Ancient River‘s new album ‘Keeper of the Dawn’ stems from band founder James Burreto’s love of Italian horror films and the music of David Axelrod – some tracks are led by the vocals, others by the drums. The latest in a string of interesting albums the overall feel is airy psychedelia with space rock, shoegaze, and touches of Americana.  Opening track “This is the Time” is a bit of a stunner.

Steve Hauschildt has  announced his first new album since the late 2012 release of “Sequitur. Where All Is Fled” . It will be released via kranky on 25th September. Titled “Although Where All Is Fled” it sonically refers back to his earlier albums such as “Rapt for Liquid Minister” and “Tragedy & Geometry”, but on detailed listening it slowly becomes apparent that it is also a divergence from those recordings.

“Both the artwork and the music on this new work were heavily inspired by surrealist landscape paintings, early alchemical emblems, and recurring visions Steve had from dreams. The result is a pristine series of cascading melodies, fantastical terrains of layered lattices, and overlapping patterns of synthesizers superimposed with orchestral instrumentation. Hidden in the crevices of the album are processed crowd sounds, re-sampled text-to-speech synthesis, piano, and animal noises which reveal themselves after repeated listens and blur together notions of artificial and natural sound. While slowly unfurling, each sound is given it’s own place and space, never hurried, never cluttered.”

Helen is a pop group from Oregon featuring members of Grouper and Eternal Tapestry. Liz Harris (vocals/lead guitar), Jed Bindeman (drums/tambourine), Scott Simmons (bass/guitar), and Helen (back up vocals).  Originally started with the intention of being a thrash band, it turned into something else entirely.  “The Original Faces” was recorded over a period of several years in Portland by the band members, their friends Nick, Chris and, largely, Justin Higgins.  The record was written together, with some songs based on Liz and Scottʼs demos.

And finally for this edition of Fascinating Things

Rock Back for Nepal is the first in a 3-part series of disaster relief compilations being released by U.S. indie label Patetico Recordings. The label is partnering with nearly 60 independent artists and several small indie labels around the globe to make this happen. They have all come together in order to raise funds for victims of the recent catastrophic earthquakes in Nepal. All money raised will go directly to the relief efforts.

The compilations are being supported by several luminaries of the independent rock and shoegaze scene, among others. “Whenever Tom Lugo reaches out to his musical family, you know it’s for a crucial and essential cause. The Rock Back for Nepal CD compilation is no exception,” explains Dean Garcia of seminal shoegaze bands Curve and SPC ECO. “I’m proud to be part of this relief effort / fund raiser for anyone affected by the recent earthquake disaster in Nepal and if I can help or contribute in some way to aid support and assistance to the many displaced people, I will without question. Please support this cause and donate as generously as you can.”

Perhaps one of the most renowned personalities in the shoegaze / noise rock spheres, Oliver Ackermann (A Place To Bury Strangers, Skywave) has also lent his support to the cause. “It is a horrible tragedy this destruction of culture and life. I feel lucky that I can use my craft and contribute a song to this fund to help them raise money for relief. If we can all do something to help and give relief for the people of Nepal we should do it now.”

“It’s great to be among this sparkling array of brilliant artists, taking action in support of a great cause,” says Marc Joy of Welsh outfit Lights That Change.  Alexx Kretov of Canadian-Ukrainian duo Ummagma is also hopeful.”May the common freebie attitude fall to the wayside for this project. We really hope that people will support a higher cause by spending a few dollars and spreading this music far and wide.”

All three volumes are being released at the same time, and will be available through Bandcamp and Amazon.com exclusively, both digitally and on CD.The album artwork and design is by Gardy Perez.

The concept of the Rock Back compilation series was born in 2011 when disaster hit Japan and Tom Lugo, owner of Patetico Recordings, acted on his empathy for charitable causes and non-profit organizations by reaching out to the community of artists in his network. They collectively put together a compilation and the profits were donated to relief efforts. The response was overwhelming, with over 100 artists from across the globe joining in the efforts. What was to be a single CD compilation grew into the 8-disc compilation Rock Back for Japan. The compilation series hit the top 10 Indie Rock releases on Amazon.com’s chart for several weeks, with certain volumes holding the number 1 spot.