I suppose I should add LACE Music Products to my Xmas card list for getting these two together at their National Association of Music Merchants conference booth late last month. You’d have to figure that NAMM heard its fair share of guitar solos that weekend (Jan. 19-22), but they weren’t all played by Wino and Matt Pike, either literally or existentially. As you can hear in the all-too-short clip below, these dudes tear it up.

AresOnasis posted the video on the forum on Sunday and I’ve been through it a few times since. It’s noisy, grainy cell-phone footage, but exciting nonetheless to speculate what a Wino/Pike collaboration might look like. Certainly it wouldn’t be the first time a new Wino project was born out of his happenstance jamming with other players — see also Premonition 13 or Wino & Conny Ochs — and the combination of the riffly prowess that brought both Spirit Caravan and Sleep to bear is a heavy rock nerd’s dream. Shit, I’d pretty much have to start writing the overly-gushing review now to have it done by the time the record came out.

Alas, no reported plans for that as of yet, but the clip below is just long and just righteous enough to make you wonder what might be if these two ever sat down and really hammered out a record. Maybe Pike could sign on for a guest spot on the next Shrinebuilder. The possibilities are endless.

Enjoy the brief jam, and happy Wino Wednesday:

Enjoy:

A Eulogy for the Damned is due out Feb. 14 on Candlelight.

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.

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

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:

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

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

–

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.

–

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.

–

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.