Birds In A Row - Collected (2012)

Shit-kicking collection of Birds In A Row tracks from the great
Throatruiner Records.

This is punk/hardcore that takes no prisoners, played with passion
and heart.

I am stupidly busy at the moment, so just enough time to post
that this is some really good stuff and recommend that you check
these French brutes out!

Buy and free download Here

I'll Be Your Mirror 2012

No more posts until next week - I have drinking and ear ache abuse to occupy me!

Art As Catharsis - Compilation (2012)

Received this from Lachlan at Art As Catharsis records.

Want over 3 hours of sludge/doom/stoner tracks, all from
the seemingly fertile breeding grounds of the underground scene
in Australia? Well, your wish just came true ..... this comp
is full of heavy hitters that want to hurt your ear drums. There
is an abundance of great tracks and bands here - I have just
played it and am already searching out albums from these bands.

Highly recommended!

Here is their blurb:

A new FREE compilation of the best stoner rock and doom Australia has to offer

Dearest dronepals,

I present you with Drone from the Underside of the Earth -- a FREE digital compilation featuring Australia's best stoner, sludge, doom and drone bands, featuring the likes of Space Bong, Hydromedusa, Adrift for Days, Looking Glass, In Trenches, No Anchor, Drowing Horse, Sons of the Ionian Sea, Summonus, DEAD, Futility, Clagg and many more.

Download Drone from the Underside of the Earth for FREE, now.

I've spent a lot of hours on this project this year. I really wanted to draw attention to some our country's awesome fuzzy, droney, drug-addled groups, that perhaps don't get the attention they deserve - especially outside of Australia - because the reality is we can boast some of the most unique and varied slow music of any country. 

So I set off with intent to pull together some of my favourite artists in Australia's stoner, sludge, doom and drone scenes in order to get more people to discover great Australian underground music. But I was a little naive of quite how long it would take me!

The hard work paid off in the end. Drone form the Underside of the Earth features a selection of 26 tracks. This is a rare, eye-opening peek into Australia's rich underground music scene. At 3-and-a-half hours in length it's quite a ride, but I sincerely hope that you at least discover a few new bands as a result of this work.

Roll up a joint, download the compilation and enjoy.

Coming soon...

• Adrift for Days - new single, album details, pre-sale packs
• IDYLLS Sydney album launch gig announcement

Love and drone,

- Lachlan.

   Art As Catharsis Records  

   (e) mail@artascatharsis.com

   (w) www.artascatharsis.com

   (w) www.lachlanrdale.tumblr.com

AVAILABLE NOW: Anklepants - live at sameheads: incredible, unique IDM breakcore dubstep electronica.
AVAILABLE NOW: Battle Pope - The Holy Trinity: hypersexual stoner funk grind rock.

AVAILABLE NOW: Serious Beak - Huxwhukw: psychedelic, poly-rhythmic, discordant metal.

Upcoming Shows:

30/06 - Black Wire Records: Serious Beak, IDYLLS (QLD), Thorax, Jesus Christ Posse, Snakes Get Bad Press.

13/07 - John Curtin Hotel, Melbourne: Adrift for Days 'Come Midnight' album launch tour.
14/07 - Enigma Bar, Adelaide: Space Bong, Adrift for Days (NSW), Hydromedusa, Leather Messiah. 

10/08 - The Lansdowne Hotel: Adrift for Days, Space Bong (SA), Summonus, We Lost the Sea.

11/08 - The Pot Belly, Canberra: Space Bong (SA), Rev. Jesse Custer, Battle Pope, Law of the Tongue.

31/08 - Black Wire Records: DEAD (VIC), Battle Pope + TBA.
29/09 - Black Wire Records: Nous (VIC) + TBA.

Pigs - You Ruin Everything (2012)

Insanely good release from Pigs. Noise rock/punk harcore that
sweeps you along with the aggression and inventiveness of a
band at the top of their game.

Highly fucking recommended.

Don't take my word for it - read their own blurb and pay what you
want from Bandcamp

When Unsane bassist Dave Curran started writing songs on guitar with drummer Jim Paradise (Player's Club, Freshkills, Hellno) the name they tossed out for their fledgling project was simple: PIGS. "We figured it was short enough that press and promoters couldn't fuck it up." Producer Andrew Schneider (Cave In, Converge, Made Out of Babies, Unsane, Keelhaul) was invited to fill-in on bass for a couple of shows and, much to their delight, has refused to leave.
The sound? PIGS sound like the last forty-five minutes of that interminable haul from Portland to San Francisco when both patience and air conditioning are long gone; like a petty, early-morning drunkenargument in a gravel parking lot about the stupid, impossible math of how to divide forty-one dollars three ways; like when the left rear bearing on the van that's been squealing and then grinding for days finally gets hot enough to weld itself into the axle and the ancient Detroit Deathtrap grates to a final, shuddering halt. Pigs sound like three guys who have played countless shows in many bands for a couple of decades in several dozen countries and still can't leave it alone.
Dave Curran: Guitar, Vocals
Andrew Schneider: Bass, Vocals
Jim Paradise: Drums
are Pigs

Sun Eater - EP (2012)

Band request from Tacoma, USA.

Sun Eater play stoner/psychedelic rock - mostly instrumental
but when the vocals do arrive, they are delivered with all the
ferocity of a hardcore band.

The guitar riffs are distorted and fat with a heavy bluesy feel
that sit perfectly with the drums and bass.

There is some great soloing that has a chance to flow, due in
no part to the song lengths. Although in this genre, there does
seem to be the notion that "long" automatically means good,
all 3 tracks are about the 6 minute mark and do not seem forced.

The band have kindly provided their own mediafire link - Here

There is also a free download from Bandcamp

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Hey Colossus - RRR

Released last year on Riot Season Records, Hey Colossus
produced an album of noise rock tracks that stretched into epic
pieces of atmospheric horror.

I played this a hell of a lot but failed in coming up with a serious
description, so have decided to just  give you the bio from RSR
themselves.

Buy from Bandcamp

RRR is the seventh album for Hey Colossus, and the third for Riot Season (also home to Circle, Acid Mothers Temple, Shit And Shine, Black Boned Angel, Todd, Sloath, Ultraphallus etc). This album follows last year's Eurogrumble Vol.1 LP, which received broad acclaim as well as landing in some end of year lists also (notably in ROCK A ROLLA magazine top 50 of the year).

The band formed in 2003 as a five piece, based in London. Eight years on (and with line up changes reminiscent of The Fall) they are now a seven piece based in London and Somerset (though nine people perform on the album). RRR was recorded through the winter of '10-11 in Dropout, South London, home to analogue tape and all things loud. Mixed by Drumcunt and Basspuppy, mastered by Hamilton Industries (Part Chimp's tub thumper).

RRR is definitely more varied than previous Colossus records and it explores more subdued, quieter passages. Such moments of calm are not the only varied thing about the new record, Hey Colossus also explore the swooping filmic sounds akin to many a film score, think along the lines of Taxi Driver and Spaghetti Westerns. Some Krautrock-esque mantras also come into the fold, combined with a Nurse With Wound / DNA influence. Alongside this, 'The Drang' keeps up the one riff, one tune - like Sabbath done through NEU! that HC are hard for. There is a choice Berlusconi baiting Can inspired clangathon, 'I Am Bunga Bunga', with a rant that is buried but audible.

The result of all of these amalgamating sounds is a Hey Colossus album unlike any other, out with the old and in with the new. RRR is the perfect soundtrack for the spring and summer months, assuming you like the idea of the Butthole Surfers manning the BBQ, Faust cleaning out the pool, and GG Allin manning the bar.

credits

released 01 July 2011
ROBERT DAVIS - Electric Guitar, Vocals
TIM FARTHING - Electric Guitar, Vocals
JONATHAN RICHARDS - Electric & Acoustic Guitars
JOE THOMPSON - Bass Guitar
LEON MARKS - Synth Modulator
RHYS LLEWELLYN - Drums
PAUL SYKES - Vocals & FX
DUNCAN BROWN - Additional FX
VALENTINA MAGALETTI - Additional Vocals

Serious Beak - Huxwhukw remixes (2012)

Band request from Art As Catharsis records.

It's gonna make more sense just to let you read their press release
but there are some radical and interesting interpretations of the
tracks taken from last years "Huxwhukw"

Instrumental prog-metal reinvented as ambient/industrial/electronica?

Give it a go - it is a pay what you want from Bandcamp.

Serious Beak’s Huxwhukw and the Crooked Beak of Heaven remixes are out now!
 

Dearest pals, we have just released Serious Beak’s Huxwhukw and the Crooked Beak of Heaven remixes, a FREE collection of reinterpretations and transformations of Serious Beak's debut album "Huxwhukw", featuring submissions from Alex Wilson (sleepmakeswaves,Enkidu), Nick Soole (Slimey Things), Dylan Mitrovich (Breaking Orbit), Hinterlandt,Godswounds, Moz Troniquz, Brendan Gloag (Face Command), Redbatman, AM Frequencies and The Artists Formally Known As Gene And Tim. 

Check out the "Huxwhukw and the Crooked Beak of Heaven remixes" - available now for free download through Art As Catharsis Records.
 

In November 2011, Serious Beak released their debut album 'Huxwhukw' to critical acclaim. It received delightful reviews from the likes of Loud Mag, Music Feeds, Sea of Tranquility, Metal Sucks, Metal Obsession, Invisible Oranges, Kill Hipsters, and Metal As Fuck amongst others. 

 

The reception by Australia's underground musicians must have been similar, because when the band made the raw stems from 'Huxwhukw' available online and asked people to remix, rework and transform their debut album there was no shortage of interest.

 

After receiving dozens of submissions from Australia and beyond, the band have pieced together their favourite ten tracks into a special digital-only release: ‘Huxwhukw and the Crooked Beak of Heaven remixes’. The album spans genres as diverse as glitchy electronica, ambient shoegaze, classical film score, German industrial metal and an acoustic country hoedown.

Check out the tracks blood, they're available for FREE DOWNLOAD!
 

The submissions which didn't make the final album have been made available as b-sides on Soundcloud: http://bit.ly/KVzBZR 

Helpful links:

• Art As Catharsis Records: http://bit.ly/JanbTe
• Serious Beak on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/tODYZx
• Art As Catharsis on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/Jq5VpT

Road To Manila - Waiting For Goddeau (2012)

Band request from Denmark.

Road To Manila describe themselves as a metal/hardcore band
but this 3 track EP seems to steer pretty close to deathcore.

I am not really a fan of this sort of thing and so will not review
but trust in you, my faithful download monkeys who like this sort
of genre to make your own mind up.

Free download from band - Here


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Trippy Wicked & The Cosmic Children of the Knight - Going Home (2012)

Time to fucking rock! Trippy Wicked continue their path of
hard hitting stoner doom with no let up from the last album.

The sounds of Kyuss and Sabbath are evident but this 3 piece
put their own identity onto the resulting fuzzed-out groove.

Big fat tunes rumble along relentlessly and the solid production
really makes everything sound powerful. I have enjoyed the
previous albums but this is the one that should get them the
acclaim that they deserve.

Because they are good guys, here is a pay what you want link
from Bandcamp

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Lightning Bolt - I Found A Ring In My Ear

A treat for all you aural ear abusers!

Lightning Bolt have set a site up and plan to release various
jam sessions that they have got onto tape. These look like
being massive 20 min+ tracks of sheer malice and noise.

Listen to this monster big boy Here

Pay what you want from Bandcamp

Track info:

A 20 minute Jam recorded in the Hillarious Attic, Lair of the Lightning Bolt on 1.31.11. Straight to our trusty Tascam 420 cassette 4 track. No edits, No worries. The track might start a little discombobulated, but it congeals, soars. Swallows itself. Please download for free or send a little cash to help patch the leaks in the boat. thanks

lyrics

The lyrics are beyond us now.

And then the tape just ran out.

credits

Vagiant - Gospel According To Vagiant

Request from Domino Media.

Some more heaviness from Russia.

Vagiant play a wild mix of hardcore and noise rock using the
template of awkward sounding chords so beloved of Sonic Youth.

Among all the chaotic riffing sit some very melodic chorus refrains
which give a coherent balance to the almost math time signatures.

The frenetic yelping is helped out with the touch of female backing
vocals but at the heart of everything is a healthy dose of distortion
and frenzy. This is good shit - shame it's only an EP because
I would of liked to hear more of this. I highly recommend that you
give this a Listen

Free download from Bandcamp

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Cultura Tres - El Mal del Bien

Some heavy sounds from Venezuela.

Cultura Tres tread the murky path of doom, heavy psych, raw
stoner with a touch of sludge riffery. Big, slow and powerful,
the band create some almost post-metal atmospherics to devastating
effect.

The tracks are brooding and raw sounding, I like this a lot and
so should you - Listen

Free download from Bandcamp

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