November 4, 2010

MORE ROADBURN BANDS CONFIRMED

The Roadburn people has treated us with more great bookings the last couple of days. We really look forward to Cough, Yakuza, White Hills and Lonely Kamel. But we are of course not complaining that we get to see Dragontears, Wolf People, Carlton Melton and Evoken. Both Evoken and Yakuza were supposed to perform this year, but couldn't make it because of some volcano... The following text is from Roadburn.com.

Hailing from New York, White Hills are nothing if not the aural  simulation of an LSD freak-out. A jammed up collision of fuzzed-out wah guitars, gonzoid bass riffs and weird electronic noises arranged in a stunning replication of the effects of Owsley’s psychotropic gift  to brains everywhere. Roadburn, please be aware that the brown acid isn’t too good, we recommend taking White Hills instead.

Since 2006 the name Wolf People has been uttered with hushed reverence amongst psych heads, record collectors and fervent music enthusiasts in the UK. Their mix of psych rock riffs, blues chops and acid folk eventually bringing them to the attention of legendary US label JAGJAGUWAR (home to Black Mountain, Dinosaur Jr, Oneida etc). The debut LP Steeple released earlier this year is fiercely proud of it’s heritage both musical and cultural, and doesn’t shy away from it’s influences, but that’s not to say it’s not it’s own beast: majestic, heavy and real.

Richmond’s Cough delivers a dirge-laden take on excessively drugged out doom (think Electric Wizard as the central point of reference). Both their albums, Sigillum Luciferi and Relapse Records debut, Ritual Abuse, feature heavy, dark, psychedelic doom that sounds like a thousand pharmaceutical-whacked zombies just escaped from Manchester morgue wailing away at an all night party after a pharmacy-raiding crime spree. At other times, Cough‘s monolthic sound is less warped and hallucinogenic, but strongly suffocationg and claustrophobic, and becomes so densely hateful it’s nearly black metal in its ambience.

San Francisco’s Carlton Melton is centered around former Zen Guerrilla’s Andy Duvall (Guitar/Drums) and Rich Millman (Guitar/Synths). They recorded their psychedelic hypno-drone rock in a genuine geodesic dome, and have created an insane psychedelic squall utilizing alien guitar swells, freaked out tribal rhythms and strange loping pulsations.  The heavy vibrations of Can and Pink Floyd suffuse Carlton Melton‘s work, and they use a bed of classic psychedelic rock as means for the guitars and organ to soar righteously through the stratosphere, before decending into trance-inducing drones which burrow deep into the earth.

Carlton Melton appeals equally to old school bong-bubblers and contemporary cosmic heads. If you prefer old SST label cassette tapes or an early Spaceman 3 or Loop cassette you recently found wedged in the back seat of your car, you need to check out  Carlton Melton‘s full length, Pass it On.

Clint Golden (formerly of Hammerdown Turpentine) will be playing bass guitar with Carlton Melton at Roadburn 2011, to round out the sound.

Dragontears, revolving around Lorenzo Woodrose and members of Baby Woodrose and On Trial rarely perform live, and besides a few shows in their homeland, the band’s only performance outside of Denmark took place at Roadburn 2009.

Dragontears has a penchant for mining the psychedelic sounds of the late ’60s (think the 13th Floor Elevators meets Syd Barrett or The Silver Apples meets MC5), as showcased on much acclaimed albums like 2000 Micrograms From Home and Tambourine Freak Machine.

Needless to say that we’re really excited about Dragontears returning to Roadburn, throwing the festival attendees into a vortex of fuzz fueled riffs, and bubbly wah-wah guitars, all manipulated to take us into a hypnotic journey through the center of the mind. Or as the band puts it on their latest album — Turn On, Tune In, Fuck Off!!

Fans of late ’60s and early 70s-era heavy blues rock rejoice, Norway’s Lonely Kamel pack so much charisma it seems they could have once  shared the stage with the likes of Cactus, Blue Cheer or even Pentagram. The band is capable of writing songs in the same style of  the aforementioned greats — and maybe even draining their liquor  stash as well!  They craft infectious stoner rock, underpinned by a thick groove and some cool psychedelia, too. For evidence, listen to  both their s/t debut full-length or their sophomore album, Blues for  the Dead, and you’d swear that they were actually formed 40 year odd years ago, only to find out that they were simply born too late… Great band!

Staying deeply rooted in a genre all its own, Yakuza’s existence lies on a metal base with progressive flair, while somehow also incorporating elements of jazz, world beat, and post-rock ambience. Picture (if you can) a mixture of King Crimson, all periods of John Coltrane’s career, Tortoise, and Napalm Death. The end result is captivating, a sound that Rolling Stone, Revolver, Alternative Press, the Chicago Sun Times, the Chicago Tribune, All That Jazz and countless others all agree is refreshingly original, technically proficient, all the while still staying very metal.

Since 1992, Evoken continue till this day combining dark, haunting, atmospheres with soul-crushing riffs and the heaviest, thickest productions within the metal genre. With each song, prepare your voyage into landscapes of misery-drowned subterranean worlds where the music of wayward souls is eternally played by avatars of Orpheus. Evoken display an unparalleled mastery of extreme doom / death metal establishing the band as one of the leaders in this genre.  Welcome to the desolation of your soul.

No comments: