I feel like Duna Jam, the semi-official festival at which the above Yawning Man clip was shot this very year, represents the ultimate rock and roll pipe dream. Here are a few truly special, truly great bands — 2011′s incarnation featured the desert rock progenitors among some of their more celebrated offspring in Colour Haze, Sungrazer and Highway Child, among many others — getting together in an environment that’s completely intimate, but still totally open and probably among the most beautiful spots on the planet. Looking at the video from this year and the photos and clips that have emerged from years past, it’s not just a matter of being jealous of those fortunate enough to attend and wishing I was there, but of wishing I was there and was one of those people, was someone worthy of witnessing that, which I know completely that no matter what I do, I will never be.

Back here in reality, this week caps off with the start of what’s sure to be a beery kind of weekend owing to sundry unrelated social obligations throughout the course. Whatever. If all I was using those brain cells for was wishing I was at Duna Jam, they weren’t doing me any good anyway. Nonetheless, provided survival, next week we’ll do the numbers for July (I haven’t looked, so I can’t give some clue as to how they are), as well as reviews of Blut, Sleestak and, hopefully, Freedom Hawk.

I’ll also have an email interview I conducted with the dudes in Borracho, in which they provided some insight into how the band came together from the remnants of Adam West and Assrockers, as well as hopefully some new audio from a certain British heavy rock band getting ready to land an impressive self-titled debut full-length on an increasingly well-reputed label. Apologies for the vagueness, but I don’t want to leave myself on the hook for something and not deliver, as I did last week when I promised a review of The Re-Stoned without remembering I’d already written up the album. Boy, is my face… dumb?

But enough of this ultra-self-aware, semi-intoxicated me-bashing. It’s well after two in the a period m periods, and I’m late for sleeping. I hope wherever you are or whatever you’re up to, you have a safe and air conditioned weekend, and I hope to catch you on the forum and back here Monday for more zany fun. Dig yourself, Lazarus.

A mere two weeks ago, I posted notice that the kind souls at the All That is Heavy webstore were having a mega-sale with discs and t-shirts at 25 and 50 percent off. I also confessed that I did this only after going in and solidifying my own purchase. Well, the box showed up Wednesday and I’ve been making my way through the goods ever since. Here’s what I picked up:

The Body, All the Waters of the Earth Turn to Blood
Paul Chain “The Improvisor,” Cosmic Wind
Church of Misery, The Second Coming (Diwphalanx reissue)
Leif Edling, The Black Heart of Candlemass
The Gates of Slumber, Villain, Villain
500 Ft. of Pipe, Dope Deal
500 Ft. of Pipe, The Electrifying Church of the New Light
Masters of Reality, Pine/Cross Dover (American version)
Mustasch, Parasite!
OJM, The Light Album
OJM, Under the Thunder
OJM, Volcano
Ponamero Sundown, Stonerized
Raging Slab, Raging Slab (2009 Rock Candy reissue)
Sgt. Sunshine, Black Hole
Sin of Angels, In the Grip of Despair

Stuff like the 500 Ft. of Pipe and Mustasch I’d had my eye on for a long time. The psyched-up Fu Manchu fuzz of the former has been a delight long awaited. With The Body, I felt like I was finally giving into the hype, but at the sale price, decided it was now or never. Ponamero Sundown I wanted to listen to again before reviewing the new one and couldn’t find my old sleeve promo — apparently I’ve never heard of YouTube — and Masters of Reality I bought solely for the different label name on the side of the disc. It’s not the first time I’ve done that with them.

OJM I wanted to backlog since reviewing Volcano, and I included Volcano too because I didn’t have a full copy. The Raging Slab I very much enjoyed last night after work, imagining what new wave/no wave New Yorkers must have thought of them busting out those songs in 1989 and seeing the old pictures of drummer Bob Pantella, now of The Atomic Bitchwax. Sgt. Sunshine‘s a little stranger than I expected, but still pretty cool, and listening to it now, I think I might’ve already owned this Sin of Angels CD.

The rest I haven’t gotten to yet, but it’s worth noting that even with the drastically slashed prices, Dan and Melanie — the above-noted kind souls — included a freebie in the form of Black Materia, by Black Materia, which is rife with Anathema-style sorrow and metallic melody, in addition to being a Final Fantasy reference. Dig it.

The sale’s still on, but I don’t know for how long or anything like that. Hopefully I’ll have time to recoup some funds for another round before it ends, but even if not, I think I did alright the first time. If you missed the link above, check out the list of goods here.

Listening to Rodeo Eléctrica, Stockholm rockers Ponamero Sundown’s second offering through Transubstans, I had to go back and make sure I had the right band. From what I recalled of the four-piece from their Stonerized debut (review here), they were gleeful in their stoner-rockingness, a little boozy, and primarily fuzzed out in the Swedish tradition. Rodeo Eléctrica, on the other hand, is slick and almost commercial sounding in its overall affect, the band forsaking the unassuming good times of “Alcoholic Deathride” and “Doctor of Evil” for the straightforward crunch of “1025” and the processed-sounding drums that launch the album on opener “Evil Wand.” It’s a shock, but had I not heard Stonerized, Rodeo Eléctrica probably wouldn’t sound so different from a lot of the less-fuzzed end of European stoner rock. Certainly the post-Colour Haze extended jam ethic that’s taken hold south of Scandinavia in Germany and The Netherlands doesn’t apply to Ponamero Sundown, but what they’re doing on Rodeo Eléctrica’s 13 tracks should still be familiar enough to anyone who’s heard their labelmates and countrymen Abramis Brama or Stonewall Noise Orchestra.

What Rodeo Eléctrica most has in common with Stonerized and with the above-noted Swedish acts is its consistency of songwriting. In a way the album feels very pieced-together from necessary components – they have the softer cuts in “Sorrows” and “Fathomless Nothingness,” the interludes in “Rodeo Eléctrica Part I” and the acoustic “Not the Time,” the slower, more contemplative “The Ghost” and plenty of upbeat rock in between on songs like “Sorrows,” “The Dice,” “1025” and “Shot for Glory” – but however familiar these elements might be, Ponamero Sundown put them to excellent use and place them precisely where they need to be for the record to work. The production is a major factor in the sound shift and in a lot of ways, it sounds like they had a checklist of what a heavy rock album needed and then set about filling it in their writing. As the final moments of “The Ghost” pick up and the song leads into Rodeo Eléctrica’s most memorable cut, “Goddess of the Sun,” I won’t deny they pull it off, but it’s worth acknowledging that Ponamero Sundown – guitarist Anders, bassist Oliver, vocalist Nicke and drummer Peter – sound conscious of every move they’re making here, and no matter how crisp the recording is or the quality of the songcraft, that the inevitable sacrifice is a feeling of spontaneity and novelty in the finished product.

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The comic book influence that Southern Californian artist Sean “Skillit” McEleny mentions in discussing his origins as a designer is readily apparent in his work. Whether it’s a giant bubbling worm creature on a poster for Stone Axe and All Time High or a team of three battleships taking on a giant robot in the middle of the ocean — as on the cover of Admiral Browning‘s latest (and recently-reviewed) album, Battle Stations — his figures and landscapes seem to be perpetually in motion.

Part of that has to be McEleny‘s use of bright, vivid colors. Where most think of heavy music as something dark, McEleny has tuned directly into the sweetness of tonality in desert rock and — as one can see in his series of posters for “Desert Rock at the IPAC” at the Indio Performing Arts Center — has managed to build an aesthetic that’s as much bathed in sunshine as it is held in check by thick borderlines.

As McEleny has aligned himself in recent years with the likes of Fatso Jetson, Dali’s Llama, House of Broken Promises and — perhaps most pivotally — Yawning Man, his posters and album covers have helped shape the visual concepts of desert rock, but he also maintains touch with his roots on the East Coast in his work for the aforementioned Admiral Browning, as well as several poster designs for fests and shows held in Maryland, near his former home in Washington D.C. Whoever is calling on his services, though, he maintains a consistent style while also serving the needs of bands and venues as only someone truly passionate about the music can.

In the conversation that follows, McEleny talks about growing into his own as an artist, his use of color, his deep-felt appreciation for the desert scene, and much, much more. Included with the Q&A are poster and album art images. As always, click on any to enlarge.

Please enjoy the interview after the jump.

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At this point, Orange Goblin‘s holiday shows and tours are the stuff of legend. Like rehab in reverse. I’ve never been fortunate enough to attend one myself, but my understanding is they keep a cooler nearby with a few spare livers, just in case anyone’s should give out before the night is through.

It’s a little bittersweet this year, though, since as a semi-proud Jersey Boy, I’m used to seeing Solace taking part in the debauchery. Nonetheless, the show must go on, and joining Orange Goblin at the Underworld in Camden, are Gentlemans Pistols and Sigiriya, who’ve also confirmed a September release for their recently-reviewed album, Return to Earth. More to come on that, but in the meantime, here’s the flier for the show:

Traditional doom heathens will recognize the names Gábor Holdampf and Kolos Hegyi, or at least the formidable Hungarian outfits from which they come — Wall of Sleep and Mood. Re-teamed in the four-piece Magma Rise, they follow last year’s Lazy Stream of Steel full-length with the track “Five” on a multi-continental split 7″ with North Carolinian rockers The Asound.

And while we’re talking familiarity, The Asound should ring bells with anyone who stops by this site regularly, since they’ve been reviewed twice now (here and here). It’s seems like a curious pairing at first — a Hungarian doom outfit and American heavy rockers — but both bands make off with some righteous riffery, and The Asound even slow their tempos a bit from their past offerings and match Magma Rise for doomly stomp. Seriously, “The Baron” pretty much marches.

The split is a joint release between Tsuguri and PsycheDOOMelic, and since I have reviewed The Asound twice in the span of 13 months, I thought hosting the tracks for streaming might be time well spent for anyone who hasn’t yet checked them out. If you’ve missed Magma Rise too up till now, you’ll definitely want to hit up “Five” on the player below, as it also rules. Dig it:

The Asound/Magma Rise split is out now in a limited edition of 500 7″ vinyl. Special thanks to Tsuguri Records (website here) and PsycheDOOMelic (website here) for letting me stream the tracks.

German trio Grandloom follow a stylistic course that seems to be hitting some kind of new echelon of prominence in 2011: namely, instrumental heavy psychedelia. The Cottbus threesome – guitar, bass, drums – rest in an in-between spot on the spectrum. They’re not as progressive as was 35007, not as riffy as Karma to Burn, not as desert-minded as their countrymen in Colour Haze, but one could just as easily argue they take influence from all three of those acts as well as some of Kyuss’ more spontaneous moments. The six mostly-extended tracks of Grandloom’s self-released debut studio full-length, Sunburst (which was preceded by 2010’s 5 Dollar Jam EP and 2009’s Live at Bautzener Tor), finds the Stoned From the Underground veterans following semi-plotted courses to meandering heaviness, occasionally relying on build structures or repeated parts, but not being afraid to throw a song into the ether and seeing how far out it goes. Though Sunburst begins straightforward with the opening movement of “Orbit Wobbler,” that soon proves to be pretty far out.

Without a vocalist and without any other kind of synth or noise contributions to fill out their sound, the onus is really on the three members of Grandloom to carry across their tracks with chemistry and fluidity – otherwise Sunburst simply falls flat. The record isn’t without its wandering moments, and occasionally in listening I’m left feeling they haven’t quite been able to pull a song like 12-minute closer “Earthvalley” as far back as they need to, but for the most part, they seem aware of the balance between quality jams and songwriting, and are able to walk that line well. The shortest inclusion here is second cut “Woodbridge” at 4:20, and it follows “Orbit Wobbler” with relatively straightforward stoner riffing that would have been no stretch to fit verses over, despite guitarist Thomas’ liberal soloing. It’s here though that bassist Hans begins to make his presence known in the rhythm section alongside drummer Rischi, offering fills that not only run alongside Thomas and contrast in the Butler/Iommi tradition, but are genuinely responsible for much of Sunburst’s character as the album develops. Hans’ playing becomes a major factor in the sound of the band, and much to both his and its credit.

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My only complaint with the long-running Italian print ‘zine Vincebus Eruptum is that it makes me want to spend money. I’ve written before about their unwavering dedication to underground heavy rock and psychedelia, but man, every time I’m fortunate enough to get an issue from these dudes, I find something else I want to buy.

In their new issue — #11, which they premiered at this year’s Stoned From the Underground fest in Germany — they cover some of the standard stuff. There are interviews with The Atomic Bitchwax and Blood Ceremony, Black Pyramid and Quest for Fire, among others. Good bands, and cool interviews, but names you’ve probably seen around.

Then there are the reviews, and it’s the reviews that always kill me. Bands I’ve never heard before, like Wight, Electric Moon, La Cuenta and Oyabun mocking me, saying, “Come on, motherfucker, you haven’t heard this shit yet! Get it! Get it!” All this cool music taunting me, and damned if I don’t go for it every time. Nobody knows the European underground like Vincebus Eruptum. Issue #11 is available through their website, and as always, it comes highly recommended.

Priding themselves on their genre-blending approach, all-caps double-guitar Aussie four-piece AVER start off psychedelic on their self-titled, self-released full-length. Don’t be fooled, though: it’s not long before they’re kicking into some riff-driven grunge, vocalist/guitarist Burdt digging in deep and coming out with Nirvana-style vocals and the occasional well-placed scream. The sound resulting is vaguely stoner — if the first Snail album was, anyway — and cuts like “Real Eyes” set the varying elements of their sound directly against each other without coming off like an indiscernible mash.

The moody “Retreat to Space” is underscored by far-back drumming and ambient guitar lines before picking up into one of AVER‘s more potent grooves, and the payoff in the later “Stoneage Wasteland” proves to be worth the wait of the build prior. Their ’90s feel might be the most cohesive element in AVER‘s sound — right down to the mostly-unplugged closer “Phantom Limb” — since everything else they do comes across as building off that, but the blend is most definitely their own, and as a fan of rock from corners of the planet far from my own, it was a thrill to have them reach out and ask me to take a listen.

And since I’m digging their tunes this afternoon, I thought you might as well. They have some songs streaming on their Thee Facebooks page, but I hit up their Soundcloud and came back with this:

There’s something unassuming about Mammoth Grove’s Mammoth Grove EP. Tracked completely live in one session and released by the band in conjunction with Lazyman Records, the five-track offering has a humble, soft psychedelia to it, vaguely indie, but altogether more grooving and without the lofty apathetic posturing that seems to make up so much of the fashionista scene. Mammoth Grove is raw, and one can hear in listening the room that an organ or some other manner of psych swirling might fill, but that’s also part of the appeal of the release – where so much psychedelia is hell bent on lush noise and sounds so full they border on overwhelming, this Canadian trio has been able to affect a soothing and natural atmosphere with just guitar, bass, drums and vocals. Their material isn’t especially complex, but it has a calming effect that works well with the organic-mindedness the band shows in their name and in closing duo “Black Ocean” and “Deep Cove.”

Opener “Generation” (which is listed second on the CD) immediately links Mammoth Grove to a late-‘60s feel with the lines, “It’s about that time again/A generation’s sick of war again.” Guitarist/vocalist Devan Forster never really goes into full-on fuzz with his tone, but his bluesy lead work is both technically fascinating and grooving, and his voice, free of any discernable effects apart perhaps from some reverb, is well balanced in the songs. He clearly strains his voice in singing “Mammoth Grove,” reaching for some of the notes, but given that the EP is live and given the overall mood of the tracks, it works.

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Venerable Boston rockers Roadsaw have a new video for the track “Weight in Gold” from their self-titled full-length, released earlier this year. In it we see the four-piece alternating between rocking in a small room and traipsing through the snowy woods wearing gold rush garb and finally coming upon what I can only assume is Marcellus Wallace‘s soul. Good song, good times.

And my goodness, but vocalist Craig Riggs looks just like Orange Goblin‘s tour manager from their shows back in May. That must’ve been some party.

Enjoy the clip:

Thanks to cheech for posting this on the forum.

Today, July 26, marks the release of Premonition 13‘s full-length Volcom debut, 13. The album finds legendary guitarist/vocalist Scott “Wino” Weinrich pairing with guitarist/vocalist Jim Karow and filling the bassist role as well in the studio for what would be (and has been) a four-piece live. Together, Weinrich, Karow and drummer Matthew Clark forge a sound that’s at once in line with Weinrich‘s past work in his various trios — Wino, The Hidden Hand, Spirit Caravan — but a step away as well for the interplay between the two guitars and vocalists.

And it’s that interplay that’s at the core of Premonition 13‘s 13. I’ve already reviewed the album, so I’ll spare the longwinded opining, but suffice it to say that fans of Weinrich will be as much thrilled by what’s familiar about 13 as they will by what’s different about it. The record is raw and natural, but still has that essential core of classic doom riffing that has made Wino the influential figure he is, and the balance works.

Volcom was kind enough to give me permission to host the nine-minute album opener “B.E.A.U.T.Y.” for streaming, which you’ll find, followed by some info from the label, on the player below.

The Premonition 13 debut album, 13, is now available for purchase in all formats (LP and CD orders come with an immediate digital download). The pre-orders for this album came in fast and heavy, so the limited edition orange LPs are close to being sold out. T-shirts are indeed sold out, but when you scroll to the bottom of the offers page you can view the bundles and individual items still available.

It’s hard to get a handle on Cleveland doom rockers Threefold Law. Embroiled in a curious mysticism, and not exactly forthcoming in the totality of their thematics, the four-piece seem old school in more than just their sound, working to restore some of the mystique to bands that social networking and immediate accessibility have undone. Their latest (and recently-reviewed) release, Revenant, went so far away from today’s lack of emphasis on physical product as to include a printed novella by guitarist/vocalist J. Thorn.

But there’s more to Threefold Law than just reaction against trend and interesting packaging. The music of Revenant, broken up into five tracks named for the classic elements (earth, air, fire, water) with an interlude splitting the middle, follows a surprisingly varied course. Their shifts in sound are subtle, but Thorn and his cohorts — none of whose names are a matter of public record — unfold a gradual growth in complexity so that, by the end of the album, the beginning is far less recognizable.

There’s a lot to ask an outfit like Threefold Law, about why they do what they do and why they do it how they do — or even just who they are — but I figured this would be a good place to start. J. Thorn was more than accommodating, as you can see, and I hope you enjoy the following six dumb questions.

1. Tell me about how you were exposed to the concepts behind Threefold Law? What is your relationship to wicca? Did the band come together around those ideas, or were you playing first and the themes came later?

We relate to many Wiccan themes, such as the Rule of Three. It basically says that whatever you do comes back to you three times over, a variation on the “Golden Rule.” The idea that we’re accountable for our actions, good and bad, is really a universal concept. Wiccans recognize it as a rule of the universe, sort of like gravity.

2. What inspired the story for Revenant? Do you do a lot of fiction writing? How do you feel the story complements the music and vice versa?

A relative of mine passed away last year and we were cleaning out his attic when I came across a dusty copy of Omar Khayyam’s The Rubaiyat. I could tell the book was pretty old and saw that someone scribbled “1904” on the inside cover. I sat on the floor and read it from start to finish. Edward Fitzgerald translated the poem in Victorian England and it has this flowery, epic tone that really drew me in. I immediately began formulating a concept around the piece, which in turn inspired the music. When I brought the idea to the band, they ran with it. At that point, Revenant took on a life of its own. The story and the music are intricately tied together. The vision was to have our fans read the story while listening to the album, from start to finish. It’s a throwback to the days when bands tried hard to create a piece of art instead of a single for iTunes. If you remember reading liner notes while listening to a band’s new record, you’ll appreciate Revenant. We’ve included the entire album and story on our website which is free to listen and read. You can purchase it from our merch page.

In addition to Threefold Law, I write novels. I currently have one novel on Amazon.com in their Kindle store titled The Seventh Seal. I have five more that I’m in the process of formatting for the ebook readers. My writing tends to fall into two general genres. The Seventh Seal and my new novel, Preta’s Realm (coming Fall 2011) are both contemporary horror/suspense stories in the style of Stephen King or Richard Laymon. My other novels are epic fantasy (three of which are a series) that have the same vibe as Revenant.

Like music, I’m a compulsive writer. An addict. After sending dozens of queries to agents with the hopes of having a publisher pick up one of my novels, I abandoned the idea. Agents and publishers want mass appeal. I write what I love to read, and that’s a highly specific target audience and it ain’t soccer moms or beach paperbacks. With the demise of booksellers (Borders just announced it’s closing all stores), I felt it was time to embrace the future and prepare to sell my novels directly to readers in an electronic format. I know who they are and I don’t need a publicist or an agent to find them.

3. Between the CD/book combo and the double-EP collection/USB key, you’re building quite a catalog of special editions. What’s the appeal of that for you? Are you a collector yourself?

We’re really thoughtful about everything we do. The blessing of the mp3 age is that anyone can get music directly to fans. That’s also the curse. There is no question that the music is the priority, and it has to be killer. But there are a lot of bands making killer music. We want to create an experience for our listener, something that will resonate, something that connects. By offering releases that are all “special editions” we’re providing a unique product in an otherwise oversaturated market.

I own over 1,500 CD’s, cassettes, and albums. I’m a collector and purchasing the “special editions” has always been a blast. I remember searching record stores for import versions of my favorite albums, just for that bonus track or different artwork. One of my favorite release mediums was the “box set.” I own the first edition Led Zeppelin box set and the original Live Shit: Binge and Purge released by Metallica in the early ‘90s. Even though it was shitty Black Album-era Metallica, the box set has live performances of early Metallica and tons of cool extras in it.

4. What was behind structuring Revenant with the titles of the four elements? How did that play thematically into the story (acknowledging that the story was also broken into chapters that way), and how closely related were the lyrics of the songs to those elements?

Again, the Rubaiyat gave us a loose structure for Revenant, but we created our unique take on it. There isn’t anything directly connected to the elements in Khayyam’s work, but we felt it lent a signature vibe to each track. “Earth” and “Fire” are heavier, more grounded tunes while “Air” and “Water” have a lighter, more fluid feel. “Interlude” gives the listener context and something very different from everything else we’ve recorded. We care greatly about dynamics. I get fatigued by a recording that is 10 tracks of double-bass drum at 180 bpm. The elements in the story, as chapters, help to push the themes through different written dynamics as well.

5. Any chance you’ll reveal the identities of the rest of the band? Is there a philosophy behind keeping proper names out of it?

No. Yes.

6. What’s next for the band? Any more recordings this year or anything else you want to mention?

We’ve been writing material for our next record, which we’d like to have done by the end of 2011. We have a concept, but we haven’t fully developed it yet. We’re also in the process of scoping out studios in Cleveland. Chances are we’ll track the next record in a commercial studio.

As your readers are probably aware, we won the Soda Shop/Heavy Planet March Bandness contest this past spring. “Earth” is featured on the second Soda Shop Compilation coming out soon. We’ve just struck a deal with a Swedish distributor who is getting our product into over 1,400 record shops in Europe, and we’ve had interest from one of Cleveland’s finest metal bands to collaborate on a project in the near future. This fall we’re considering a regional tour with another killer Cleveland band that could take us through Chicago, Columbus, and Cincinnati. Eventually we’d love to head east through Pennsylvania and into the New Jersey/New York metro area. I used to live in your neck of the woods and know there is an appreciation for heavy music in the Garden State.

Threefold Law is keeping us very busy.

Threefold Law’s website

Threefold Law on Thee Facebooks

Sometimes bands lay it all on the table, and you know exactly what you’re getting before you even put the disc on. Such is the case with UK collective Wizard’s Beard, whose vicious sludge coats even the name of their PsycheDOOMelic debut, Pure Filth. If ever the tag “as advertised” applied anywhere, it applies here. The Leeds four-piece top nasty, sometimes angular, riffing and crashing with throat-burning screams, and seem to keep the Pure Filth ethic in mind at all times. In the case of centerpiece track, “Parasite,” their abrasiveness borders on unlistenable, but there seems to be just enough underlying groove throughout the album to keep Wizard’s Beard from tipping over into absolute mayhem. That’s not to say they’re writing songs with catchy choruses or hooks to draw the listener in, or even meeting accessibility halfway somehow – because they’re not – just that if you follow the riff, you might be able to come out of these five tracks with your face still attached to your skull.

The last several years have seen a new league of sludgers take influence from the Southern progenitors of the genre – you know the list – and push the sound into more extreme territory, and Wizard’s Beard seem to do likewise, most especially in the screaming of vocalist Chris Hardy. Where elder sludge had its basis in hardcore punk or crossover, Hardy’s wrenching shout – one can almost hear the phlegm curdling in the back of his mouth – is more purely metallic, or might not sound out of place topping some blastbeat-laden grindcore instead of the numbingly slow Pure Filth closer “The Albatross.” The hate-fest begins immediately with opener “Paint the Skies,” as Hardy tops the beer-chugging riffs of guitarist Craig Jackson and bassist Neil Travers leads a break with drummer Dan Clarke that’s hardly long enough for one to recover from the pummeling Wizard’s Beard have just delivered. Like a lot of Pure Filth, “Paint the Skies” relies on one central figure riff and bases other parts around that, but the repetition is all the more setup for the bridge here, which is slower, more rung out, and finds Travers adding a growl to Hardy’s screams that only bolsters the extremity.

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Admittedly, it’s kind of cheap for me to post this press release, since I wrote it, but what the hell, it’s Lo-Pan. The fuzzsome foursome are headed out on the road again, this time hitting the Midwest with some killer bands — when, oh when, will Bloodcow put out a new album? — and they’ll be bringing the new vinyl edition of Salvador with them.

To be fair, it did come in on the PR wire. Here goes:

Ohio rockers Lo-Pan have unveiled their latest slew of tour dates in support of their Small Stone Records debut, Salvador. After scores of shows across the country with the likes of Truckfighters, Dixie Witch, Gypsyhawk and Fight Amp, Lo-Pan’s “Let Freedom Ding” tour – allegedly named for the many bells that mysteriously occupy the dashboard of the band’s van – will find the outfit bringing their fuzzed-out soul rock bliss to the Midwest alongside heavy hitters like Chapstick, Bloodcow and Droids Attack.

In addition, Small Stone’s 180-gram vinyl pressing of Salvador is available now in white and red/blue clear swirl. Whatever flavor you choose, it’s delicious, and available now at smallstone.com/store. The band will also have copies with them on the road, and they take credit cards. Seriously.

Lo-Pan‘s “Let Freedom Ding” Tour:
08/17 Iowa City, IA The Mill w/ Snow Demon
08/18 Omaha, NE The Waiting Room w/ Bloodcow
08/19 Denver, CO Tennyson’s Tap w/ Low Gravity, Black Lamb
08/20 Salt Lake City, UT Burt’s Tiki Lounge w/ Muckraker, Dwellers, Top Dead Celebrity
08/23 Fargo, ND The Aquarium
08/24 Minneapolis, MN Triple Rock Social Club w/ Droids Attack
08/25 Lacross, WI JB’s Speakeasy w/ Droids Attack
08/26 Madison, WI Club Inferno w/ Droids Attack
08/27 Chicago, IL Red Line Tap – w/ Heaving Mass, Droids Attack
08/28 Detroit, MI Small’s w/ Chapstick, Knife