Usually, I’d wait to wrap up the week until tonight, when, probably at least mildly intoxicated, I’d pull my laptop up off the floor onto the bed while The Patient Mrs. sleeps and post the above fullscreen-worthy Been Obscene clip from the On the Rocks festival in the band’s native Austria. The track is one of two that drummer Robert Schoosleitner was kind enough to bring to my attention this week — the other, “Endless Scheme,” is here — and the laid back grooves from their latest offering, Night o’Mine (review here), are just the thing to wrap up a hectic few days. Well, that and a couple office beers, anyway.

But like I said, under general circumstances, this would all — including the beer — be happening much later tonight. Fact of today, however, is that there’s too much going on next week that I want to plug and I don’t want to forget anything, so here we are, wrapping the week with the work day. Granted, in going for maximum consciousness, I’d probably have been better off three hours ago, but I’ll do the best with what I’ve got. I think you’ll agree it’s a pretty considerable list.

Barring any emergency gotta-review-it-now-type of intrusions (Stubb walks by and waves, charmingly), the plan is to write up records from Bushfire, Fire Faithful, Venomous Maximus and Pallbearer, along with that Hail!Hornet/Zoroaster/Slow Southern Steel show in Brooklyn. I’ll hopefully be interviewing Joey Toscano of Dwellers early in the week, and if that comes together, I’ll have it posted by the end of Friday, and on Tuesday, I’ll have a track premiere from Snail‘s excellent new album, Terminus. The band let me take my pick of the songs and, of course, I chose the longest one of the bunch. I think you’ll agree when you hear it that my decision was justified.

There’s more. Tommy Southard‘s beer column, which is to be called “Drinking with the Devil (Dick),” will go live on Wednesday and boldly blaze a trail into territory The Obelisk has never covered before, and I’ll both announce the winner of the King Giant giveaway and have a new giveaway for copies of the Rising album, To Solemn Ash, which was streamed a couple weeks ago. Couple that with the prospect of news, videos, audio and whatever else I forgot to write on my little post-it note here, and you’ve got a pretty busy few days. You see, I hope, why I didn’t want to forget anything.

And before I go, let me add too that if you haven’t checked it out, there’s a whole slew of news that’s gone up on the forum in the last couple days. Everything from Antigama re-signing with Selfmadegod to Tenacious D putting out a new album to the new Saint Vitus single and more. Worth investigating if you’ve got a couple minutes, anyway.

Whether you do or not, I hope you have a great and safe weekend. I’ll see you on the forum and back here Monday for more space truckin’. We do it every day.

Well, it’s been like three months, right? I guess it’s time for some new Larman Clamor. The German duo-turned-solo-project of the mysterious V has unveiled the title-track of the band’s follow-up to Altars to Turn Blood (review here), which has been dubbed Frogs. Fortunately, the swampy backwoods psych boogie modus remains intact.

The album is due this spring. Until then, dig “Frogs” and what I presume is its awesome cover:

In the grand scheme of Scott “Wino” Weinrich‘s influence, Probot really isn’t that big a deal in itself, but at the time, the profile was huge, and it led many to go back and discover the likes of Saint Vitus and The Obsessed. It’s easy now to look at the Dave Grohl-masterminded project as a kind of indulgent homage to underground metal, and the lone 2004 self-titled as a vanity piece on which Grohl let himself write for and promote some of his favorite singers and guitarists. It’s an enduringly fascinating footnote in the catalogs of Eric Wagner, Tom G. Warrior, Lemmy Kilmister, Cronos, Mike Dean and of Southern Lord, which released it, and I can’t imagine the time and effort it took to put together.

Because of Grohl‘s success in Nirvana and Foo Fighters, as well as his drum contributions on 2002′s Songs for the Deaf album by Queens of the Stone Age (and of course, he’d pair again with Josh Homme in Them Crooked Vultures), anything he touched would’ve been given a certain amount of attention and acclaim, and to his credit, he used that to grant exposure to an underground scene that helped shape him into the songwriter he became. Probot‘s Probot couldn’t really establish an overall flow with so many players, but among the 11 tracks, there were several standouts, and “The Emerald Law” was definitely one of them.

And while Grohl was young when he joined D.C. punk outfit Scream, he would’ve been kicking around some of the same territory as Wino was in The Obsessed at that point, playing shows together and knowing the same people. “The Emerald Law” isn’t definitively in the style of The Obsessed or Vitus, but in a kind of compressed in-between space. Wherever it rests sonically, though, Grohl‘s heart was clearly in the right place, and Wino‘s performance on the song is spot on perfect.

Hope you enjoy “The Emerald Law,” and have a happy Wino Wednesday:

Tree-tagging or other forest-based graffiti is a lost medium in these days of city-based arts. Fortunately, Belgian duo SardoniS are bringing back the bygone days of taking a permanent marker, jogging through the woods with a hood up and writing shit on fallen trees for hikers to see and probably be confused by later. Their video for the song “Entering the Woods,” from an upcoming album that may or may not share that title, keeps the band’s thrashy and aggressive edge while also being tonally pummeling.

SardoniS‘ prior offering and self-titled debut for MeteorCity, released in 2010 (review here), was a treat, and I look forward to hearing more of the follow-up, but for now, here’s “Entering the Woods”:

UK mega-doomers Conan filmed the above clip for “Hawk as Weapon” from their forthcoming album at the Buffalo Bar in Cardiff. As you’ll find out less than a minute into the song, it’s unbelievably fucking heavy. That’s what Conan does. Whatever they decide to call their next record, which will be their Burning World Records debut and follow-up to 2010′s epic Horseback Battle Hammer (review here), I expect nothing less than total devastation.

If “Hawk as Weapon” isn’t enough Conan for you, I’d recommend hitting up their Bandcamp site where you can hear and download the whole show. Or, if you don’t feel like clicking the link, here’s the Buffalo Bar gig in its 47-minute entirety:

If you’ve managed to make it through that much low-end marauding with your bowels still intact, kudos. You’ve done better than I think most do at Conan shows. They are, simply put, one of the heaviest bands I’ve ever heard.

Next week: A stream of the whole new King Giant record and hopefully an album giveaway to accompany. Also my interview with Selim Lemouchi of The Devil’s Blood and reviews of Caveman Voicebox, Earth, Bushfire and others, plus some Buried Treasure and the latest news on the Desertfests in London and Berlin, so plenty to look forward to. I hope you have a great and safe weekend. I’m plum tuckered from this week, but I’ll still be dicking around on the forum, so feel free to say hi if you get a minute.

Pending that, I’ll be back here Monday with more zany fun.

Red Fang‘s building up an awful lot of pressure to keep making hilarious videos. “Hank is Dead” is their third in a row, and what starts with awkward junk-glances in the shower ends with a PBR-fueled (PBR being the thread that unites the to-date trilogy of Red Fang clips) rager/air guitar championship. Spandex is had, blood is spilled, invisible necks are licked — in short, Red Fang‘s specific brand chaos ensues, and as always, it looks like a blast to have put it all together.

Enjoy “Hank is Dead,” followed by some PR wire info and European tour dates:

Portland, Oregon’s Red Fang are premiering their new video today on YouTube for “Hank is Dead”, which is taken from their critically acclaimed release Murder the Mountains. Red Fang worked with director extraordinaire, Whitey McConnaughy on the video.

Drummer John Sherman spoke about the “Hank is Dead” video:

“Another great concept from the brilliant mind of Whitey McConnaughy. This one came together super quick with the help of some insane Portland locals and their sick air guitar skills. We basically just threw a big party and had a blast while a bunch of cameras ran. That is my shower Aaron and Bryan and Bobcat are in at the intro, btw. It still has a weird ring around it…”

Red Fang are currently on tour in Europe with Mastodon. The tour runs through Feb. 11 in London and includes Red Fang headline dates in addition to the shows with Mastodon.

Red Fang European tour with Mastodon
01/27 GER, Stuttgart Juha West*
01/28 SWI, Zurich Xtra
01/29 GER, Frankfurt Batschkapp
01/30 GER, Munich Backstage Halle
01/31 GER, Berlin C-Club
02/01 GER, Osnabruck Bastard Club*
02/02 GER, Cologne Essigfabrik
02/03 HOL, Tilburg 013
02/04 FRA, Le Havre Le Mate L’Eau*
02/05 ENG, Bristol Academy
02/06 ENG, Manchester Academy
02/07 SCO, Glasgow Barrowland
02/09 Norwich, UEA
02/10 ENG, Birmingham Institute
02/11 ENG, London Brixton Academy

*Denotes headlining dates

If it was just two new clips I’d seen in the last 24 hours, they’d probably each get their own post, but three would feel cheap spacing them out that way. Plus, this way you can watch them next to each other and pick a winner. Not a clue what the prize is, but I do know that between the three videos below, all the bases are pretty much covered. Crippled Black Phoenix‘s surprisingly politicized clip for “Laying Traps” has gasmasks, King Giant‘s “Appomattox” has zombies, and Samsara Blues Experiment‘s “Into the Black” has a sad-looking girl doing a kind of stop-motion Curly shuffle. Good fun all around. Here they are, in that order, which also happens to be alphabetical. Go figure.

–

Crippled Black Phoenix, “Laying Traps”

The song is taken from the British outfit’s new album, (Mankind) The Crafty Ape, and finds the band — their faces obscured by gasmasks and bandannas — attempting the rare feat of making anthemic post-rock. I’ve never tried it, but it can’t be easy, though it seems their often mournful sound has been given a kick in the ass somewhere along the line. The spirit of protest suits them well, and there’s also a free download of “Laying Traps” here.

Watch for: The banker-looking dude with the screwdriver sticking out of his head.

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King Giant, “Appomattox”

I give much respect to Arlington, Virginia’s King Giant for making a zombie video. As prevalent as zombie’s are in today’s weirdo media culture, it seems like an easy move, but the ubiquitous nature of zombies these days actually makes it that much harder to get right, and I think the band does that here. We start out with tattooed hottie and a bloody baseball bat and a decent The Walking Dead-style chase ensues. “Appomattox” comes from King Giant‘s sophomore album, Dismal Hollow.

Watch for: The zombie in the Red Fang t-shirt.

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Samsara Blues Experiment, “Into the Black”

The German band’s second album, Revelation and Mystery (review here), pushed their sound in a surprisingly straightforward direction, moving away some from the heavy psych jamming of the first record. “Into the Black” was among the songs that most displayed this shift, though as you watch the video below, you can see the psychedelic element is nowhere near gone from Samsara Blues Experiment‘s sound. It’s just blended with a killer boogie riff.

Watch for: Orange amps, the stop-motion Curly shuffle and the big comfy chair.

It’s basic and self-directed drunken cruelty that has me closing out this week with an awesome Swedish band that will likely never come to the States. I don’t really feel like getting into it, but the short version is I applied for a Fulbright to go to Sweden and write about rock bands and didn’t get it. Wait. No. That’s the long version. The short version is I’m going to live in New Jersey forever. There you go.

Ugh. What a week.

I didn’t even get to post the Black Pyramid interview. I’ll do that Monday. White Hills is playing Manhattan on Tuesday, but I don’t know if I’m actually going to make it out. They’re the Eastern Seaboard’s Farflung and all, but still, they might be too cool for me. Feeling awfully outclassed by life lately. Not sure if it’s the being old, the balding or the fat, but something’s doing it. At least I finally wrote on that Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats record. Great to be part of the crowd on that one.

Reviewing Alcest this week and I don’t know what else. Packages came in today from Electric Moon and Bushfire, so maybe them, but I’ve got a backlog of stuff and a bunch of digital-type promos that need organizing. Every CD I get is appreciated. Links less so. It’s a hard truth, but there it is. I can have 30 folders on my desktop from bands who want their shit written on, but if I can look at a cover like on The Hedons‘ disc, I’m gonna reach for that every time. Effort is met with effort. That’s science.

I’ve also decided to stop bolding place-names as of right now. Tired of seeing “Brooklyn” in bold on this site, and I’m pretty sure when I say “UK” people know I’m talking about the United Kingdom and it doesn’t need to be bold to get the point across. Either way, I’m sure you were very concerned about my fucking stylistic decisions.

New music this week from Brokaw (a full album stream on Monday) and something very special for Wino Wednesday that I’m not even gonna say yet because I don’t want to jinx it. It’s going to be really cool though, so tune in for it.

And the week after this one coming, if all goes to plan, I’ll be premiering a series of new columns written by people who aren’t me. More on that to come.

Alright, enjoy the weekend and be safe. See you on the forum and back here Monday for more Jersey-based hopelessness.

The crux of the idea behind Premonition 13 and what separates it from the slew of other Scott “Wino” Weinrich projects — especially on stage, as I myself saw at the Saint Vitus bar in Brooklyn not so long ago — is the interplay between Wino and fellow guitarist/vocalist Jim Karow. On the band’s debut full-length, 13, Karow‘s solos and vocals added much to the personality of the group and the record as a whole, however overshadowed he might have been by Weinrich‘s legacy and profile. More than that, on stage, those two jammed. I mean, they went for it, and thinking back on that show, that’s what I remember most.

This week’s Wino Wednesday clip, however, finds Premonition 13 at the abrupt end of their European tour as a three-piece with just Wino on guitar. Karow reportedly had to split back to the US on the double — and not knowing the situation there, I won’t speculate except to say I hope everything’s alright and that the group can get out again as a full band at some point if not sooner than later — and though a couple shows were canceled, they went through with Berlin, where they shared the stage with Fuzz Manta, Voodooshock and Burn Pilot at Cassiopeia on Dec. 6, 2011.

Some intrepid soul (presumably YouTube user jomawe74, whose account the clip was uploaded by) filmed the songs “Hard to Say” and “Deranged Rock ‘n’ Roller” with just Wino on guitar and vocals, and since the single guitar gives a rawer feel than those who saw Premonition 13 in its full incarnation on this tour might expect, I thought it might be cool to make a Wino Wednesday of it. Special thanks to Billy Brett who brought my attention to the following:

I was fortunate enough last night to be invited to Brooklyn to check out a Kings Destroy practice and hear some of their new material as it’s coming together for their next record. If you’ll recall, their first album, …And the Rest Will Surely Perish, was put out on The Maple Forum, and I’ve dug on their stuff since their Old Yeller/Medusa debut 7″ came my way back in 2010. They’re good guys and a killer band.

They recently recorded a few new demos in Hoboken with Mike Moebius at his Moonlight Studios, and in their practice space, they ran through that material — songs like “The Toe” and “Holy Dice of Thunder,” which I’ve seen them do live a couple times, and “Pain Trade” — as well as some others still under construction. The new tunes are better than they know, and even though some were still pretty formative, I feel like I got a decent picture of where they’re headed.

One real look at Aaron Bumpus playing bass and you can tell almost immediately he’s the kind of player who could fit anywhere. Sure, his Sunn amp may have filled the room with the smell of melting tubes, but I swear, put that dude in a suit on stage with a jazz trio and he could probably handle it. He’s really just beginning to make his presence felt in Kings Destroy, and I think there’s room for him to add more to his fills, but he works really well with Rob Sefcik‘s drumming.

As for the songs, “Pain Trade” cops the beginning progression of the “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” riff just enough to nod to the converted, but on the whole, they feel much less limited to genre and more self-assured. The first record, killer as it was (and it was) was very purposefully doomed. Doom was the mission. From what I could tell as I grooved out to the new songs, the doom is happening more naturally now. One riff that Chris Skowronski and Carl Porcaro ran through that was still basically skeletal reminded me of the chorus to “Love Hate Love” from Alice in Chains‘ Facelift, but they were able to make it work in the context of what they were doing, and Steve Murphy‘s vocal cadence took it somewhere else entirely. It was awesome to watch and I felt lucky to see it.

They have a lot of work ahead of them yet, but they could easily play four or five of those songs live and pull them off, and progress is being made. As a show of same and a way to preview the direction of the yet-untitled second Kings Destroy record, the band recently cut a video with director Lucia Grillo for the demo of “The Toe.” It’s pretty foggy, but they’re all in there, trying their damnedest not to look at the camera. I hope you dig it:

I haven’t yet heard the new Black Rainbows album, which bears the awesome title Supermotherfuzzalicious, but if “Behind the Line” is anything to go by, the Italian stoner rocking Duna Jam veterans may have just earned the distinction of being the Fu Manchu of Roma. Their into-focus/out-of-focus video for the track features the trio (and their amps) against a plain white background and is more fun to watch than you’d ever think based on that description.

Rock and roll.

The UK scene is so fucking good. Whether it’s Orange Goblin leading the charge, or bands like Trippy Wicked and Stubb‘s rocking riffs, Serpent Venom‘s killer old-school doom, Conan‘s mighty thunder, Groan‘s smoked-out haze, or Dopefight‘s unbridled contempt, I’m in awe of the stuff coming out of there these days. Dopefight reportedly have a new album in the works, and over the weekend, they put up a video for the song “Fake Hippies,” which carried this explanation:

Why our forefathers and mothers upheld a movement that meant something, nowadays meaningless empty vessels try to stand for something they have no concept where their origin began.

Fake Hippies – Sponging off our hypocritical systems and their affluent parents that their governments financially protect.

Don’t get me wrong, fuck those people and everyone else. But while I can’t really argue with the reality of the point or the vitriol (not to mention the riffs) with which Dopefight present it, the notion of “our forefathers and mothers” upholding a movement that “meant something” strikes me as a little off base when one considers the fact that they were the same generation who also turned 40 in the mid-’80s and sold the planet up a river of three successive decades of corporate greed and warmongering (so far) — resulting in a complete undercutting of the “countering” cultural norms they claimed to be doing and actually failed to change in any substantive way — wahoo, we can show tits on tv; call me when there’s an equal rights amendment — or the fact that many of the participants in the original hippie movement, much like the privileged “Fake Hippies” Dopefight names this song after, were also part of the upper or upper middle class.

The real difference seems to be they had Jimi Hendrix and we have John Mayer, which by itself is more than enough to justify Dopefight‘s frustration.

I don’t like listening to self-important 20-year-old leftists whose moms and dads pay their rent either, but they’re kids, and at least they’re on the right side of the argument for the time being until they, like their parents, grow up and continue to spiral our existence into oblivion as each successive generation’s “revolutionary” ideals have done in the past. However, I will say that if things are to be utterly hopeless (and they are), then I’m glad as hell to have Dopefight as the accompaniment to that hopelessness, because they fucking kill. Here’s “Fake Hippies”:

Go figure, here I am kicking around various options for who to close out the week with, and lo and behold on Thee Facebooks, along comes word that Dutch heavy psych trio The Machine have just — today — uploaded a new song from their fourthcoming opus (the extra ‘u’ because it’s their fourth album), which bears the awesomely Lebowski-referential title, Calmer than You Are. Given some of the subdued atmospheres they got down with on last year’s charmingly-fuzzed Drie (review here), they might just be calmer than everyone, but as you can hear on “Sphere (…or Kneiter)” above, there’s more to them than just Hendrix noodling and a killer pedal collection.

There’s heavy jamming, for crying out loud! And given how all over the place this past week was, starting with an Amebix review and capping last night by seeing Monster Magnet perform Dopes to Infinity front to back in Brooklyn, I can see no better way to chill out on a Saturday afternoon than basking in The Machine‘s heady approach. Dig these guys. Glad to have seen them twice now, and though I didn’t know they’d have a new record so soon, I’m glad it’ll be hitting this year. Something else to look forward to.

Speaking of, we’ll kick off Monday with that Monster Magnet review, and even before that, I will have a new podcast up this weekend. It probably won’t be until tomorrow night, but it’ll be up, anyway. If you missed the notice, I’ll be talking on this one, and I decided the theme will be the best of Buried Treasure so I can chat a little bit (with myself) about different record stores and buying albums. Incidentally, that’s pretty much my topic in the world. I don’t know how it’ll turn out, but even if it sucks, it’ll be fun, and you’re more than invited to mock me as you see fit. I can take it.

Or, more likely, not. But anyway, goes with the territory on that whole internet thing. There’s more coming too aside from the podcast. I’ll have new music posted from heavy-hitting Danish riffers Rising, whose album by no coincidence is out this week on Exile on Mainstream (we’ll give a couple of those away), as well as a track from Swedish doomers Anguish, whose debut is due out in February on Dark Descent. If that’s not enough — first of all, seriously? It’s not? — I’ll be revealing the three winners from among the many entries in the C.O.C. vinyl contest and I’ll have my interview with Clay Neely from Black Pyramid posted.

And somewhere in there, I’ll also find room to stop by Kings Destroy‘s practice on Tuesday to hear their new material — I’ll write something about it, not sure yet what exactly — and to review records from The Hedons, The Devil’s Blood and a couple others, so stay tuned, because as you can see, there’s a ton going on.

In the meantime, I hope you have a great and safe weekend. I’m gonna go start putting together the podcast playlist, but I’ll be checking in on the forum, so feel free to say hey.

In case you haven’t seen it, I’ve been making my way through watching the entire original Star Trek series and keeping a log of each episode in the TV discussion forum. As such, I’ve become especially attuned to phrases with “space” at the front of them — like “space madness,” “space hottie,” or, in the case of this track from amorphous Danish/Swedish jam collective Øresund Space Collective, “space police,” as in “Chased by the Space Police,” which happens to be the name of the song. Bad ass.

Pretty heavy on the videos this week, I know, but 12 minutes of previously-unreleased psych jamming from this outfit (in 1080p, no less!) and I just can’t help myself. Here’s the clip, followed by some info about the recording.

“Chased by the Space Police” originates from It’s all about Delay studio session. Recorded March 10-11, 2006 at the Black Tomato Studios, Copenhagen, DK. The lineup was as follows: Sebastian – guitars, Søren – drums, Michael – bass, Mogens – synthesizers, Dr. Space – synth, Ola – synths, Magnus – guitars, Kasper – congas, Jocke – bass. The track was not previously released.

For more hours of space-chasing jams than you can possibly imagine, check out Øresund Space Collective at Bandcamp.

No lie, this isn’t the first time I’ve come upon a Wino Wednesday and fired up the YuberToubs to look for The Hidden Hand‘s “Sons of Kings.” The song is my favorite from 2004′s Mother Teacher Destroyer and seems miles away stylistically from a lot of the post-Spirit Caravan trio’s other work, particularly the rawer, faster debut, Divine Propaganda, released just the year prior.

Looking at the record in hindsight, I have a hard time separating it from the political context surrounding. Songs like “Desensitized,” “Travesty as Usual” and “The Deprogramming of Tom Delay” are blatant social commentaries lyrically, but even “Magdalene,” which isn’t, has an air of sadness about it that seems weighted down by war and the hopelessness that seemed to pervade the American progressive thoughtscape around President Bush’s reelection. It was a fucked up time to be alive and aware of what was happening around you (though not nearly as bad for Americans as for the people we were bombing), and as much as Mother Teacher Destroyer worked in two threads and coated some of its themes in epic imagery, picture thinking of your country by the three descriptors in the title. It was kind of like that.

Maybe that made The Hidden Hand‘s sophomore outing unbalanced, but I don’t think so. Wino, bassist/vocalist Bruce Falkinburg and drummer Dave Hennessy hit on a musical flow that stayed consistent whoever was doing the writing and wherever the lyrics may have gone. It’s an underrated album in the Wino canon, and I was glad someone finally put it up for streaming so I could share it here.

Please enjoy, and happy Wino Wednesday: