Blues Control Australia & New Zealand Tour Poster.

Revolver Guide To CMJ 2011.

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 19th  

BARRERACUDAS
Brooklyn @ Knitting Factory    CMJ Showcase, set time 10:30 PM

DAVILA 666
Brooklyn @ Knitting Factory    CMJ Showcase, set time 11:20 PM

WEEKEND
New York @ Cake Shop    CMJ Showcase - Spaceland Productions, set time 1:00 AM

New York @ Puma Store    CMJ Showcase - Puma/Spin, set time 2:30 PM

THURSDAY OCTOBER 20TH

BLUES CONTROL
Brooklyn @ Littlefield    CMJ Showcase - WNYU, set time 9:30 PM

FRANKIE ROSE
Brooklyn @ Littlefield    CMJ Showcase - WNYU, set time 12:00 AM

WEEKEND
Brooklyn @ Cameo Gallery    CMJ Showcase - MTV Hive's Weird Vibes/PopGun, set time 12:30 AM

FRIDAY OCTOBER 21ST

DROP THE LIME   
New York @ Public Assembly (front room)    CMJ Showcase, set time 10:00 PM
New York @ Mercury Lounge    CMJ Showcase - Windish, set time 2:00 AM

ROYAL BATHS   
New York @ Bowery Ballroom    CMJ Showcase, set time 10:00 PM w/ Crocodiles, Dum Dum Girls
New York @ Cake Shop    CMJ Showcase - Kanine, set time 11:20 PM

WEEKEND   
New York @ Stratosphere Sound Recording Studios    Unofficial CMJ party - Insound/Fred Perry, set time 1:00 PM
Brooklyn @ Music Hall of Williamsburg     CMJ Showcase - Brooklyn Vegan, set time 11:00 PM

SATURDAY OCTOBER 22ND

KYLESA
New York @ Santos Party House    CMJ Showcase - True Til Def, set time 10:00 PM

WHITE FENCE
Brooklyn @ Public Assembly    CMJ Showcase - Panache, set time 10:30 PM

Blues Control Show This Wednesday.

Blues Control / Tropa Macaca EU Tour Poster 2009

Killer Show Just Announced!

Saturday, Nov. 20Th

 9:00pm - 11:30pm

 

Live at the Pyramids

32D S 1st St, at Kent Ave

Brooklyn, NY

With Black Dice, Blues Control, Mcdonalds, DJ Avey Tare

Revolver USA Podcast #20 Is Ready.

Bang a gong, the first Revolver / Midheaven podcast of the year is ready for your enjoyment. In Podcast #20 Captain Uli and Pots-dawg bid farewell to the year '09 with some lovely tunes by: Blues Control, Flower-Corsano Duo, Pinch, Nurse With Wound, Black Meteoric Star, Summer Cats, Ty Segall, Champagne Socialists, Bad Secrets, Bloody Panda, Robert Pollard, Octopus Project, Milanese, James Curd, Spider Bags. You can stream or download an AAC file of this podcast and all other Revolver podcasts at the Revolver pod-page: http://www.midheaven.com/audio/podcast/

It also appears in the free downloads page on the newly improved Midheaven Mailorder site.

For those who track podcast updates using RSS readers, here's our feed: http://www.midheaven.com/audio/podcast/podcast.xml

On iTunes, you can find our podcast at: itpc://http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=281174094

Blues Control Tour - The Whole Enchilada.

10/10 - Oberlin OH - THE 'SCO w/ Kurt Vile, Puffy Areolas

10/11 - Ypsilanti MI - DREAMLAND w/ Tyvek
10/12 - Princeton NJ - WPRB - in-studio 3pm EST
10/16 - Philadelphia PA - PILAM w/ Watery Love, Puerto Rico Flowers
10/18 - New Haven CT - BAR
10/19 - Ithaca NY - THE SHOP
10/20 - Scranton PA - THE BOG
10/21 - Pittsburgh PA - GARFIELD ARTWORKS w/ Puffy Areolas, Centipede Eest
10/22 - Cincinnati OH - ART DAMAGE LODGE w/ Wild Gunmen, Puffy Areolas
10/23 - Louisville KY - LISA'S OAK STREET LOUNGE w/ Sapat, Raw Thug
10/24 - Chicago IL - EMPTY BOTTLE - early show w/ Ga'an, Axis:sovA
10/25 - Madison WI - GOOD STYLE SHOP
10/26 - St Paul MN - TURF CLUB w/ Chinese Stars
10/27 - Kansas City MO - RECORD BAR
10/29 - Salt Lake City UT - KILBY COURT - early show
10/29 - Salt Lake City UT - URBAN LOUNGE - late show
10/30 - Boise ID - NEUROLUX
10/31 - Olympia WA - THE NORTHERN - Halloween w/ Little Claw, Tyvek, Christmas
11/1 - Seattle WA - FUNHOUSE w/ Little Claw
11/2 - Vancouver BC - LITTLE MOUNTAIN STUDIOS
11/3 - Portland OR - SOMEDAY LOUNGE
11/5 - San Francisco CA - HEMLOCK TAVERN w/ Hank IV, Celine Dion 2013
11/6 - Oakland CA - CONTINENTAL CLUB w/ Sic Alps, Jaws
11/7 - Sacramento CA - LUIGI'S SLICE w/ The Duchess and the Duke, Greg Ashley
11/8 - Santa Cruz CA - CREPE PLACE w/ Lucky Dragons, Javelin
11/9 - San Luis Obispo CA - CROSSROADS
11/10 - Irvine CA - UC IRVINE w/ Pocahaunted
11/11 - Los Angeles CA - SYNCHRONICITY w/ Pocahaunted
11/12 - San Diego CA - SODA BAR w/ Spirit Photography
11/13 - Phoenix AZ - TRUNK SPACE
11/16 - Denton TX - J&J'S PIZZA w/ Fungi Girls, Darktown Strutters, Silver Shampoo
11/17 - Austin TX - THE MOHAWK
11/18 - Houston TX - MANGO'S w/ The Wiggins
11/19 - New Orleans LA - ALLWAYS LOUNGE
11/21 - Nashville TN - DINO'S w/ The Cherry Blossoms, Ttotals
11/22 - Asheville NC - HARVEST RECORDS
11/23 - Chapel Hill NC - NIGHTLIGHT

Rest On Water Video.

Blues Control's "Rest On Water" from the album Local Flavor on Siltbreeze. Video by Fingered.

Blues Control Practice Space Session.

Russ and Lea of Blues Control filmed at their work stations for ViceTV.

Blues Control Review On Dusted.

Our man Doug Mosurock reviewed Blues Control's latest album Local Favor on Dustedmagazine.com today. John Cale & Terry Riley’s Church of Anthrax, Michael Rother, along with Daryl Hall circa 'Private Eyes' are referenced in this review.... undoubtedly a sign of excellence.

"....opener “Good Morning” is by far their most straightforward offering yet, with unswerving two-beat and cowbell stampeding across enormous reinforced puffball riffs concussing against the delay pedal, while Kurt Vile and Jesse Trbovich zoom all around the foundation on trumpet and sax. Leading into the album’s most docile track, “Rest on Water,” those two additional instruments provide an emotional lift that’s merely been implied on their past works. There’s a lineage of finding worth in the obscure in this track that starts with John Cale & Terry Riley’s Church of Anthrax album, zips through Michael Rother’s early solo efforts, and beelines straight to Blues Control..."

Read the full review HERE.

A Couple Dead C Show Previews.

Philadelphia Citypaper
The Dead C
Sun., Oct. 12, 9 p.m., $12, with Blues Control and Pink Reason, Johnny Brenda's, 1201 N. Frankford Ave., 215-739-9684,
by Brian Howard

The Dead C are largely unknown in the U.S. (and throughout most of the world). I could say you sound like the Velvet Underground's most scabrous feedback blown up and improvised into mantras of morbid malevolence, crossed with the early Fall's relentless repetition and ramshackle production values. But that may be oversimplification. How do you describe your sound to people who've never heard the Dead C?

You really can't do this easily. I think your reference points are good enough, if you are talking to a well-schooled music fan. I try to explain that we look and sound like a rock band making the most cacophonous racket you can imagine—but really we're something else. Our music is pretty well 100-percent improvised using rock instrumentation, but it's almost completely unmusical, certainly devoid of melody. If you imagine rock music is like landscape painting, our work is extreme abstraction.

Time Out New York
The Dead C + Sightings + Northampton Wools + King Darves
Bowery Ballroom
6 Delancey St (between Bowery and Chrystie St)
Lower East Side
212-533-2111

Prices
Tickets: advance $15, day of show $18

Description
Dead C's new Secret Earth is the New Zealand sludge trio's most satisfying outing in years. The group finally banishes the ambient laziness that tarred its past few releases and breaks a sweat, submerging simple chords and rock-steady percussion in vats of choleric feedback and low-fidelity crud. Lots of bands bury their tunes beneath scuzzy feedback, but Sightings is unique in that neither element seems primary: Its music could just as easily be termed rock-tinged noise as vice versa. Also playing are Northampton Wools—that's Bill Nace and Thurston Moore—and New Jersey's King Darves, who crafts fine little handmade songs.
When
Mon 7:30pm .

Full Dead C US Tour:
10/12 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s (w/ Blues Control, Pink Reason)
10/13 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
10/15 Seattle, WA @ Nectar Lounge (w/ Six Organs Of Admittance)
10/16 San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall (w/ Six Organs Of Admittance)
10/19 Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle (w/ Wolf Eyes)

Dead C Review in Village Voice

Reviews
More Slow, Indecipherable, Brutal Beauty From the Dead C
By Mike Wolf
Tuesday, September 23rd 2008

What does it mean to say that a band has returned to form, when doing away with form was kind of the point to begin with? The Dead C's 2007 album, Future Artists, found the New Zealand trio mainly immersing themselves in electronically generated tones 'n' drones (with a few metal scrapings for flavor), and while it's hard to begrudge a 20-year-old group their indulgences, it's far from the most thrilling excursion in their bulging, misshapen catalog. Secret Earth, though, is the stuff: the largely improvised anti-rock that characterized their '90s output, which brought them to the attention of Sonic Youth and, subsequently, the rest of the Northern Hemisphere underground.

Nothing moves like this band's music: rolling and roiling, inexorable yet indifferent, an unstoppable object impelled by unreasonable forces. Think of the creeping lava that created the Dead C's country thousands of years ago, horrific in its time but resulting today in beautifully fractured terrain, like the islands in Otago Harbor, pictured on Secret Earth's cover. Don't let any TV biker-hippies fool you—this is real freedom rock, free of the codified mannerisms and looks (and chords, structures, and sales figures) that make up late-capitalism-era rock music.

As any Iraqi will tell you, though, freedom ain't always pretty. Bruce Russell's guitar never met a note it didn't—well, it's possible that roaring, keening guitar has never met a "proper" note at all. Michael Morley's mostly indecipherable vocals drift between moaning and wailing. Drummer Robbie Yeats is closest to convention, his spare but crashing work marking the disorienting darkness of Secret Earth's four long songs. The songs stubbornly refuse to develop; their rewards lie not in where they go, but rather in the way they just go. "Plains," which simply smokes for nine minutes, most immediately resembles rock, but it might take a dozen listens for the riffs of "Stations," the album's longest piece, to begin to define themselves as some other-dimensional blues. (Do people stick with an album that long anymore?) Two-thirds of the way through the track, a line that I want to believe goes, "It is such that I'm unsuuure . . ." drips out of Morley's mouth, offering as much justification as there could be for the Dead C.

Secret Earth streets on October 14th. Upcoming US live dates are as follows:
10/12 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s (w/ Blues Control, Pink Reason)
10/13 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
10/15 Seattle, WA @ Nectar Lounge w/ Six Organs Of Admittance
10/16 San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall (w/ Six Organs Of Admittance)
10/19 Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle

Blues Control Video.

The story goes that NYC designer/animator Tara Sinn randomly took it upon herself to make this sweet video using an excerpt of Blues Control's 'Boiled Peanuts'. It's roughly two and half minutes of Robert Palmer references, cats lip-syncing to guitars, space ballerinas, and other wild amazements.





Upcoming live shows:
09/30 Albany, NY @ Valentine’s
10/01 Montreal, QC @ Le Divan Orange (w/ Psychedelic Horseshit, Pink Reason, Sic Alps)
10/03 New York, NY @ Cake Shop
10/12 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s (w/ Dead C, Pink Reason)
11/12 Brooklyn, NY @ The Charleston

Eat Skull Interview On Population Doug Blog.

Now that it has hit the archives over at Agitreader I thought I would post the Eat Skull interview. Many thanks to the band and especially Rob for putting up with all the emails and such. Great people! Here it is:

It's rare for a band less than two years young to surprise with their debut album, but that's just what Eat Skull have done with Sick to Death, released this month on Siltbreeze Records. After a pair of exuberant, limited-run singles and a slathering of praise (guilty!), the gang in Portland raised the bar for the lo-fi pop set with an album full of bizarre, touching and often hilarious anthems. Eat Skull pick at the corpse of '80s hardcore, the scruffier wing of the Flying Nun discography and British DIY, laughing all the way. Sick to Death is immediately jarring and a tough cookie to crack, but after a week it will be that friend you've needed in these tough times. I caught up with singer/guitarist Rob Enbom as he gears up for their first nationwide tour later this Summer.

Lets begin with pre-Eats Skull. Which members were in bands previously, and what did they sound like?

Rob Enbom: Rod (Meyer) and I were in the Hospitals. He started the band with (Adam) Stonehouse and left broke and destroyed, later to rejoin for the four-person line-up and leave again broke and destroyed. I was in the band for awhile on second guitar with the excellent Ned Meiners (the third person to play guitar). I remember we played Columbus once in a basement with Sword Heaven. I was wearing flip-flops. I quit after that tour, and then Ned quit and I rejoined and we started recording Hairdryer Peace. Later Rod and Chris Gunn joined, and that's how I met Rod. Rod was in some '80s hardcore bands in the Dixon/Sacramento area like Necromancy and Puppet Show and also some '90s bands. Most of the numerous weird bands I played in don't have much to do with Eat Skull. But I spent years playing in different projects with a couple of dudes who always deserve mention: Randy Lee Sutherland in San Francisco and John Benson in Oakland. Both are completely wonderful and insane and very active and inspirational. For a while Beren was playing drums in practically every band in Portland, but eventually she settled down with us. Scott (bass player Scott Simmons) was a deejay at this place called Tube.

Eat Skull seemed to take form not long after you left Columbus. How quickly did it all happen?

RE: While in Europe with the Hospitals, Rod and Chris told me I should move to Portland because I was totally broke and didn't know where I wanted to go when we got back. We talked about playing music there, and Rod said he would let me stay at his house. So we got back and all that happened and was really cool, except that it was cold and rainy as shit and I had holes in my shoes. It can be a depressing atmosphere and that comes through in the music. It's bittersweet, I think. We started the week after we got back and the first batch of songs came very fast. The name Eat Skull came fast too. Once we got Beren and then Scott we practiced once or twice and recorded the first 7-inch and the song "Dead Families." Then we started playing shows in town.

Did you have a specific idea of what you wanted the band to sound like or was it a more of a progression?

RE: We wanted to start two bands and write tons of songs and record ourselves. One would be a sick California-style hardcore band and the other was going to be a sick California pop band. We knew the hardcore band was going to be called Eat Skull, but we couldn't figure out what the other was called so it turned into one band. More than anything we're trying to make a classic California band while exiled from California in a green hell.

Did what was going on in Columbus at the time affect your approach to songwriting or the band's sound? Was forming Eat Skull in any way reactionary to the scene in the Midwest?

RE: I do enjoy the Midwest's whiskey-and-wings vibe, but it doesn't specifically have much to do with what we're doing. A couple of songs we play were written when I lived there, but I think they were looking forward to this time here more than being of that time and place. What we do is more about the sun being missing from our lives right now. The songs and sound come about naturally and very quickly from drinking a lot of beer and walking around here in Portland. Rod and I grew up on punk and acid in California. That's where the roots are.

Was it the band's intention to introduce a more hardcore approach (or at least a hardcore influence) into the lo-fi pop sound?

RE: Hardcore factored in because it makes sense when you are going crazy. It's also probably my and Rod's first real musical love. A good hardcore song is just as infectious as anything else. A good hardcore song is an undeniable assault. That kind of energy makes sense to us.

After the first (self-released) single came out it didn't take long for the collective slobbering to happen. How quickly did Mr. Lax (Siltbreeze Records mastermind) lock Eat Skull into a long-term deal. Did he make any of his infamous threats, or was the signing with Siltbreeze amicable?

RE: He got in touch some time after the first 7-inch came and went and during the six-month wait for "Dead Families" to come out. He came out and barbecued some octopus and acted like a dick. He's not a first impression kind of dude. He drunkenly made fun of us all while eating food I can't pronounce. Pretty much a class act.

I hear the song "No Intelligence" has an interesting back-story to it, something about a disastrous trip up to Seattle. Care to discuss the relationship between Portland and Seattle, or your opinion of Seattle?

RE: Seattle is a stupid place full of idiots. Every time I've ever played there there has been some kind of psycho drama. It's a place full of rich brats who think they are activists and are obsessed with the WTO riots and nitpicking. Either that or drug addicts. We drove up there last summer to play a show and immediately the shit began to fly. It was absolutely ridiculous and all sorts of these Seattle people should be ashamed of themselves. "No Intelligence" is actually about Scott. We did recently decide to give Seattle one more chance and it was really fun, so maybe all that hatred is paying off. Scott is a real sweetheart, by the way, that's why I get to make fun of him so much.

With the new album, I think it was Scott who told me it was intended to have two distinct sides, the first half more "difficult" and the second more "pop." Was this just an easy way to break up the different types of songs you guys have? It seems like the singles are split up that way as well.

RE: The idea was to have a "sick" side and a "death" side, like the tape 94 Mobstas by C.I.N. (a gangster rap group from Richmond, California). I used to listen to them back in Cali around that time with my dumb friends. C.I.N. loved MGD, but I'm more of a High Life kind of guy. That's where the name of the album came from. But really it was more about making the songs flow in a way that made sense. We picked 14 out of about 25 songs and figured out where they went. We didn't really argue about it much, they just sort of popped into place. I think it's the sort of album where side one doesn't really hit you right until you flip it back after side two. I like records like that.

What do you plan on doing with all the other stuff you have recorded?

RE: We put a song on the Worlds Lousy with Ideas, Vol. 6 7-inch, which should be out any day now. There's a split 7-inch coming out this summer probably with the Ganglians, who are a bunch of delinquents from Sacramento. They rule, and we're going to be touring with them in July. Other than that, I think we're just holding off on stuff. Maybe we'll use some of those extra songs on something. I don't know. New material is piling up and we've recorded some of it, but we're getting better at recording and want to spend a little more time on the new stuff to achieve different results.

One of the greatest things about Sick To Death is the lyrical content. You seem to tap into a very youthful dialect: confusion, "Punk Trips," licking spiders. Where does it all come from? Do the lyrics come before or after the music?

RE: Thanks Doug. Usually the song title comes first. There is no separation between the lyrics and day-to-day life here in Portland. The lyrics describe or predict what is already happening. Sometimes they come before and sometimes they come after the music. They always eventually feel predetermined and make more sense than I think they do at first. My uncle told me that Willie Nelson said that when he needed a song he pulled one out of the air above his head. It's kind of like that, but less evolved probably.

Does Eat Skull as a band have a favorite food to eat on tour?

RE: Tacos Sinaloa on International Boulevard in Oakland.

Do you all agree on the music in the van? What are some albums and songs Eat Skull love that most wouldn't expect?

RE: Scott puts on shit like Sun City Girls or Blue Cheer. He's a record collector and has an iPod. I prefer Rupert Holmes' "Pina Colada Song" for roadtrips. I think we all fucking love Buckingham era Fleetwood Mac (except maybe Scott). I love all his solo albums too. None of that Peter Green shit though. The blues suck. The stereo is broken actually, so I guess we can agree on conversation. I don't know what music people wouldn't expect. I guess people might find it weird that for most of the winter, when we were writing the tunes that ended up being on the LP, all I really listened to in my room was DRI's first stuff and TSOL's Dance With Me. People might expect that another big one is GBV's Same Place The Fly Got Smashed. I have, however, never listened to the Axemen.

I am also a huge fan of Lindsay Buckingham. If Eat Skull were to cover a Fleetwood Mac or Buckingham song, which would it be?

RE: "That's How We Do It In L.A."-definitely.

So, a big tour coming up later in the summer. Any fun tourist spots the band plan on hitting or ir is this tour one hundred percent business?

RE: One hundred percent business. Except the beach down in San Diego. Probably Encinitas. Should be cool to hang out at Carabar (in Columbus), maybe have a drink before the show at Bourbon Street.

Summer Skull Shows:
08/09 Portland, OR @ Rotture
09/05 Portland, OR @ Satyricon
09/06 Missoula, MT @ The Palace
09/08 Omaha, NE @ O’leaver’s Pub
09/09 Iowa City, IA @ House Show
09/10 St. Paul, MN @ Big V’s
09/11 Chicago, IL @ Hozac party @ Cobra Lounge
09/12 Detroit, MI @ UFO Factory
09/13 Columbus, OH @ Carabar w/ Psychedelic Horseshit
09/14 Cleveland, OH @ Now That’s Class
09/15 Toronto, ON @ Sneaky Dee’s w/ Blues Control
09/16 Montreal, QC @ Zoo Bizarre
09/17 Northampton, MA @ Pearl Street w/Thurston Moore
09/18 Poughkeepsie, NY @ Vassar college
09/19 Brooklyn, NY @ Dead Herring
09/21 Brooklyn, NY @ Market Hotel w/ Psychedelic Horseshit
09/22 Brooklyn, NY @ Death By Audio w/ Psychedelic Horseshit
09/27 Memphis, TN @ Gonerfest
09/28 Lawrence, KS @ Replay Lounge
09/30 Salt Lake City, UT @ Red Light

Dead C Tour The U.S. - Pitchfork Hears It First.

Legendary kiwi noise rockers, The Dead C, return to the states for a limited run. Details below were taken from a Pitchfork news article that was posted earlier this week.

The Dead C Reveal Rare U.S. Tour, New Album, Reissues...and tour-only 12"!

Fun fact about the Dead Sea: it has a lot of salt and stuff.

Fun fact about the Dead C: the Earth has circled the Sun some five times since the long-running experimental New Zealand combo last toured the U.S., and 13 times since their most recent visit to the East Coast.

That all changes this October, as the Dead C have announced a brief Stateside visit, kicking off in Philly on the 12th and wrapping just a few days later in the Chi. All kinds of noiseniks and other weirdos are coming out of the woodwork to support the Dead C on this trek, including Thurston Moore's Northampton Wools project, Wolf Eyes, Six Organs of Admittance, and Sightings.

So what's the occasion for this rare overseas voyage? Why, a new Dead C record, naturally. Secret Earth packs in four presumably long tracks and arrives October 14 on CD and vinyl thanks to Ba Da Bing.

But that's not all! Ba Da Bing is also teaming with Jagjaguwar to reissue on vinyl a pair of Dead C classics originally released by New Zealand's legendary Flying Nun label (the Clean, the Chills, the Bats, the Verlaines, etc). Eusa Kills and DR503 are due to hit shelves in mid-fall in double-LP form, and each packs in the extras. The former boasts a pair of cuts from the "Helen Said This" 12", while the latter crams in six jams off the The Sun Stabbed EP.

But wait, there's more! When the Dead C barnstorm the States this fall, they'll have with them a new, limited edition, tour-only 12". Take that, giant pool of brackish water.

Secret Earth:
01 Mansions
02 Stations
03 Plains
04 Waves

DR503 (vinyl reissue):
01 Max Harris
02 Speed Kills
03 The Wheel
04 Three Years
05 Mutterline
06 Country
07 I Love This
08 Polio
09 Angel *
10 Crazy I Know *
11 Fire *
12 Bad Politics *
13 Sun Stabbed *
14 Three Years *

Eusa Kills (vinyl reissue):
01 Scary Nest
02 Call Back Your Dogs
03 Alien to Be
04 Phantom Power
05 Now I Fall
06 I Was Here
07 Children
08 Bumtoe
09 Glasshole Pit
10 Maggot
11 Envelopment
12 Helen Said This *
13 Bury (Refutaio Omnium Haeresium) *

* bonus track

C-span:
10-12 Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's #
10-13 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom ^
10-16 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall %
10-19 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle $

# with Blues Control, Pink Reason
^ with Northampton Wools, Sightings
% with Six Organs of Admittance
$ with Wolf Eyes

Holy Mountain Label Profile In NME.

Holy Mountain bands on tour this summer:

BLUES CONTROL
05/22 Evanston, IL @ Block Museum of Art
05/31 Brooklyn, CA @ Grasslands (w/ Harry Flynt)
06/15 New York, NY @ Cake Shop
06/28 Toronto, ON @ Rancho Relaxo
06/29 Montreal, QC @ Casa del Popolo (Suoni Per Il Popolo Festival)

LESBIAN
0613 Seattle, WA @ Funhouse

OM
05/30 Barcelona, ESP@ Primavera Festival
06/04 Tokyo, JAP @ Shibuya O Nest
06/05 Nagoya, JAP @Huck Finn
06/06 Osaka, JAP @ Sunsui
06/08 Niigata, JAP @ Z-1
06/10 Tokyo, JAP @ Shibuya O Nest

SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE
05/21 Zagreb, HRV @ Teatar & Td
05/22 Padova, IT @ Unwound
05/23 Ravenna, IT @ Bronson
05/24 Torino, IT @ Spazio, 211
05/26 Milano, IT @ La Casa 139
05/27 Geneva, CHE @ Kab de L'Usine
05/28 Grenoble, FR @ E.V.E.
05/29 Toulouse, FR @ La Brasserie Pierre
05/30 Barcelona, ESP @ Primvera Sound Festival
06/04 Paris, FR @ Villetet, Sonique Festival

SUISHOU NO FUNE
05/21 San Diego, CA @ Dream Street
05/22-25 Jacumba, CA @ Telemagica 2008 Art & Music Festival
05/26 San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill
05/27 Oakland, CA @ 21 Grand
05/28 Austin,TX @ Emo's
05/29 Philadelphia, PA @ Khyber
05/30 Brooklyn, NY @ Death By Audio
05/31 Washington, DC @ Velvet Lounge

WHITE/LICHENS
05/21 Manchester, UK @ Tiger Lounge
05/22 Nottingham, UK @ Bunkers Hill Inn
05/23 Northampton, UK @ The Racehorse
05/24 Coventry, UK @ Taylor John's House
05/25 London, UK @ Cafe Oto in Stoke Newington
05/27 Paris, FR @ Mains d'Oeuvres

WOODEN SHJIPS
05/23 Big Sur, CA @ Henry Miller Library
06/19 Louisville, KY @ Melwood Arts Center (Terrastock 7 Festival)
07/12 Birmingham, UK @ Supersonic Festival
07/13 London, UK @ Cargo
07/18 Brighton, UK @ Barfly
07/19 Bristol, UK @ Croft

Blues Control Gets Foxy.

Brooklyn's dynamic noise-rock duo Blues Control scored a killer review on Foxy Digitalis yesterday. For those in the greater NY metropolitan area, check out some live blues with Rahdunes (Emperor Jones) tonight and tomorrow.

09/13 Annandale-on-Hudson, NY @ Bard College (w/Rahdunes)
09/14 New York, NY @ Cake Shop (w/ Rahdunes)
09/19 Brooklyn, NY @ GlassLands

Blues Control
Holy Mountain
Online review

In a homemade submarine below the surface of a tropical sea Blues Control lurk. They have managed an escape from the expectations associated with any prescribed sound or scene. Many bands over the years have been eager to take their “rock” to outer space, but as you can see Russ and Lea have opted for something different, instead of putting the tin can into the cosmos, they lowered it into the sea. I know what you are thinking “The cover of this album contradicts everything you are saying,” but perhaps none of us have just never gone deep enough in the sea.

Deadened hypnotic loops of percussion push their fuzzy low-end frequencies through beaten old speakers, the only sonar the good ship Blues Control needs. The prerecorded magnetic tape that sets the course are soaking wet and the beats sound as if they are being pounded out on a damp cardboard box drum set. Reminiscent of the steady rhythm that would be found holding down an epic side-long psychedelic rock compositions, these loops serve as a ready made foundation upon which Blues Control over lay virtuosic spaced-out piano and infectious damaged guitar leads. Along the way synths, flutes, harmonicas, and manipulated vocals all make appearances in walk-on roles. All structures created for and within these compositions are calculated devices for reaching a more pure level of expression and shared freedom. Freedom is a quality so quickly (and perhaps wrongly) associated with improvised music. While Blues Control are by no means an improv group, their songs are built loosely enough for subtle continual reinvention to take place. It is also through these slight and subtle “imperfections” and “inventions” that the listener is able to develop a closer relationship to the music and it’s makers.

These songs cannot adequately be described in pre-existing genre definitions. There is a hazy feeling of familiarity one gets when listening to the tracks contained here within but any immediate point of reference will not have a name. We could throw terms around until we are blue in the face, but I promise you the moment we settle on a definition, no matter how concrete or vague, Blues Control will make a move to contradict all the conclusions we just arrived at. You see, Blues Control are not afraid of stylistic contradictions that may arise within their process, in fact they embrace them, understanding that the richest territory to mine is that which is not defined, and what better way to get the listener to walk the path with them then by giving the listener something vaguely familiar to hold onto.

As I listen again and again I can’t help but think of, what I imagine to be an, unintentional bond this album shares with German Oak and their self-titled album released 35 years earlier. Though Blues Controls, spaced-out tin can party vibe couldn’t be further from the dark brooding of German Oak, the recordings present on both albums share a similar sense of production and through that production succeed at creating a very specific space in which the music exists. There is an honesty and sincerity that can be heard through the music, a quality that can not be assumed, that truly makes this album a gem to be treasured. Blues Control are not afraid to commune with the ghosts of rock past but be aware their reference to the groups of the past goes hand in hand with a wary critical edge and an eye to the future. 9/10 -- Ryan Brown (12 September, 2007)

Blastitude Gives Holy Mountain the Full Treatment.

The not easily impressed Blastitude.com spares some kind words for all the latest and greatest releases on the Holy Mountain label.
Full online article.

An Unholy Fountain of CD Albums From HOLY MOUNTAIN
That's right, so far in 2007, Blastitude HQ has received SEVEN brand new CDs from the Portland, Oregon based Holy Mountain label. I could be totally predictable and say that the best one of the bunch is the s/t by Blues Control, because everybody loves Blues Control, and it is another goddamn good album by them. It's not as perfect as Puff, of course, but that's a good thing, because not having to be perfect allows the band to goof around a little, have fun, change things up. Not only are they are able to open this self-titled album with the self-titled title-track "Blues Control," a 2-minute broken/stupid distorto bass and drum sample groove with absurd imitation-talk-box fog-vocals, they are able to follow that goofery up with one of their finest works ever, the languid and utterly pleasant instrumental murk-pop of "Boiled Peanuts," a perfect '2nd album' lead-off single. (See the band's MySpace page for other 'singles' and 'B-sides.') They're having so much fun on this album that they not only title a song "The Blue Sheep," they make it sound like the kind of keyboard-led cheese sandwich that someone would sing karaoke over at a restaurant/bar actually called The Blue Sheep -- and it's still a killer psych track. "Frankie's Problem" shows up again, maybe or maybe not the same version that was their MySpace 'debut single' and/or on their first cassette. Is this song gonna follow 'em around forever? Has it always had those insane clocktower bells in it? And just when you think they've tried everything, along comes album-closer "No Sweat," a 9-minute multi-suite epic in which they try everything else, complete with surprise two-minute astro space drums coda. So yes, out of all these new Holy Mountain releases, Blues Control covers the most ground -- but it's the self-titled disc by White Lichens that digs the deepest. This band is the Chicago trio collabo between Lichens, the heavy drony solo guise of Robert A.A. Lowe, and White Light, the absurdly heavy drone duo of Matt Clark and Jeremy Lemos. Not that the results are summarily heavy on this disc -- the musicians are smart enough to pull back a little and let the bombs detonate in slow motion. Take the moment from the track "Stolas, or Stolos" (don't ask, they're all named after demons from an occult book, with entire pages reproduced for the track listing) when, after almost a minute of huge silence, someone plays a chilling and crawling slide guitar riff that kinda makes the whole album all by itself as a sort of centerpoint, a locus of control for everything before and after. Too bad the track is only 4 minutes long, but at least opener "Cimejes, or Simeies, or Kimaris" and closer "Bael" are both well over the 15-minute mark, and both made up of exquisite low amp burn tone blend, with more where that came from..... And for a whole different way of mining the vein of extended heavy rock jamming, there's the Zodiacs and their album Gone, so raw-fi and obvious in its lack of pre-composed music that at first I was surprised that an actual label released it. But on my second listen, I could no longer deny that what the guitar and organ were doing had some serious burn/fire/damage metaphorical capability. The sound is basically maxed-out biker blues and who cares if the players (James "Wooden Wand" Toth, Keith "Hush Arbors" Wood, Clay "Davenport" Ruby) actually ride motorcycles or not, there is metaphorical motor acid in this music and it will fuck you up when you metaphorically drink it..... The Shining Path (San Diego, CA) and La Otracina (Brooklyn, NY) have also served up albums of fried and heavy mega-extended jams for Holy Mountain this year, but where Zodiacs come at it from 'biker rock' these two are more 'krautrock' and 'fusion prog', respectively. The Shining Path are the "rock" guise of the experimental duo Monosov/Swirnoff (who have records on Eclipse), and from the experimental world they import a lot of twisting thickets of strange electronics. Of course it's mostly backed up by plenty of pedal-to-the-floor highway-star drumming, because this is a "rock" project. That's why the LP edition also comes with a free copy of the CD inside, because "it's what you'll want to listen to wielding a golf club with your upper body outside the sunroof of your car as you steer with your feet." Their music does fly the freak flag, with memorably loud electronic settings driven by various rockin' beats, edited into five or so medium/long crusher/scorchers, no problem there -- it just errs on the side of 'great sounds, no songs', without the frothing commitment of the Zodiacs. La Otracina, on the other hand, have got the sounds, songs, and the froth, and they've really gone for something massive with their album Tonal Ellipse of the One. Not only is it far more composed than the Zodiacs and Shining Path CDs, it's composed in an extended/exploded 'fusion jazz' sense that ends up being just as wrecked. These five long tracks are credited to the duo of Adam Kriney on drums and Tyler Nolan on guitar and bass. They are joined on every track by Ninni Morgia on guitar (if I'm understanding this interview correctly, his parts were overdubbed later), and a couple other musicians on a couple other tracks, but it all really rolls together as one constant duo/trio prog jam, with the band taking great care to develop its transitions, and also willing to play around with some rather thrilling Teo Macero-style edits. Nolan's bugged-out heavy echo-bass guitar plays slowed-down Keith Emerson riffs that grow into melodic-prog drool crescendos, which Morgia wails over like some sort of wild Richard Pinhas Jr on a made-for-cable film soundtrack. Meanwhile, Kriney bats it all along with unflagging fiery-muso free-jazz drum accompaniment, and it builds and builds into a big oceanic bubblebath of prog excess with appropriate titles like "Nine Times The Color Red Explodes Like Heated Blood" and "Sailor of the Salvian Seas," and I'm telling you, it all really grows on you. 3rd best of the batch, to say the least.... and two more to go, both in a more classic song-based style: Mammatus with some progressive hard rock songwriting from the Santa Cruz scene, and DJ Cherrystones, aka Gareth Godard of London England, with a DJ mix of various bad-ass pop/prog/psych eclecticities from the last 30 years. These are both very enjoyable albums, though The Coast Explodes, the second album by Mammatus, did take a couple listens to grow on me. At first I was comparing 'em to their wild and loose neighbors Comets on Fire and Residual Echoes, and they sounded a little stiff to me, their long and weighty compositions requiring more rigor and patience than I expected. But pretty soon I caught on to the intelligent intricacy of their songs, and how they balanced it with a steady beach-stoner rock undertone that stoked the familiar. And finally, as you may have guessed, the Cherrystones Word compilation by DJ Cherrystones is tons of fun. His liner notes are great fan testimony, like when he talks about playing some Lard Free during one of his sets and making the on-tour Wolf Eyes guys do double takes. There are also lovingly selected tracks on here by Dead Moon, The Deviants, Chrome, Nosferatu, 1980s George Brigman (just to prove that it's as good as 1970s George Brigman), and other epic progressive bands that I've totally never heard of before, like Fusioon, Roger C. Reale & Rue Morgue, Kontakt Mikrofoon Orkest.... you get the idea. Hot stuff from one record lover to many others, and the same goes for all of this generous fountain from the Mountain. (And for some more Holy Mountain-related record love, i.e. fan testimony, dig all the 'playlist' style record reviews Mr. HM has been posting in the "news" section over at holymountain.com....)

Hurrah, The Fourth Revolver USA Podcast Is Ready For Your Listening!

On the fourth installment of the Revolver USA Podcast you can hear up and coming tracks from such righteous artist as; A Hawk And A Hacksaw and the Hun Hangar ensemble, Black Devil Disco, Blues Control, Chris De Luca vs. Phon.o, Daedelus, Dead C, Mansbestfriend, Michio Kurihara, Neurosis, and Spider Bags.

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