I know I’ve talked before about the amazing times and staggering drunken debauchery I’ve (allegedly) witnessed and/or been involved in at Small Stone‘s SXSW showcases. For all the years I went to SXSW, it was unquestionably the high point, and if I was going to go now, it would be just about the only reason.

The label just announced their 2012 schedule with an exceptionally well-constructed press release — I mean, seriously, whoever wrote the thing should be hired for some cushy work-from-home newsletter-writing gig at a major corporation with money to spend so he can spend his days blogging about European heavy psych records — and the lineup is enough to make me wistful for the hazy memories that could be.

Mic check!

Now entering its 17th year of operation, Small Stone Records has announced the final lineup for its 2012 SXSW showcase, set to take place Friday, March 16, on the outside back patio at Headhunters on Red River in Austin, TX. The label, home to the best in heavy and ‘70s-fueled motor rock, has assembled a roster of new and old blood for a night that’s sure to remind Austin why it loves volume so much in the first place.

Says label honcho Scott Hamilton, “We are very much looking forward to our yearly showcase in Austin. We have a great lineup that we’ll stuff into Headhunters, which is also one of our favorite little watering holes on Red River. It is always nice to tilt some back with some old friends, and some new ones too! Save the date, Friday March 16th!”

Spanning genres from the fuzz-drenched psychedelic improv jams of Austin natives Tia Carrera, who will close out the night, to the crunchy, noise-driven blues of New Orleans trio Suplecs, Small Stone’s showcase is an annual high point of South by Southwest for those who manage to remember it the next morning. The complete lineup is as follows:

Friday, March 16
Headhunters (Outside Back Patio) 720 Red River at 8th St.:
1am: Tia Carrera
12am: Dixie Witch
11pm: Suplecs
10pm: Lo-Pan
9pm: Gozu
8pm: Backwoods Payback
7pm: Dwellers

Original 18″x24″ silk screen concert poster available by New York-based artist and illustrator Joshua Marc Levy.

As smooth and unpretentious as the easy-drinking Lone Star Beer brewed in their home state of Texas, heavy Southern rock trio Dixie Witch have undergone some considerable changes over the course of their 12-year run. It’s astonishing to think it’s been five years since their stellar third album, Smoke and Mirrors, was released by Small Stone, and even more so to imagine the three-piece without guitarist Clayton Mills, who left in 2009. On Dixie Witch’s fourth album, Let it Roll (also Small Stone), dreadlocked guitarist Joshua “JT” Todd Smith makes his debut alongside founding drummer/vocalist Trinidad Leal and bassist/vocalist Curt “CC” Christensen, and as much as Mills’ tone, classic rock soloing and ability to lock in a groove with Leal and Christensen was a huge part of what made Dixie Witch the rock and roll powerhouse they were, the band hasn’t missed a beat. Smith rips through leads and lacks nothing in tonal heft, and Dixie Witch’s latest brims with the energy that has always been so prevalent in their sound.

More than energetic, though, the 10 tracks on Let it Roll are memorable, from the opening title cut – on which Smith quickly shows his hand as regards sped-up blues soloing – to the punkish late-album highlight “Automatic Lady” and on through closer “December.” Dixie Witch have always had their love of classic rock on their sleeve, and that’s definitely in play on Let it Roll as well, but the album is more a showcase of songwriting ability than ‘70s fetishism. Recorded at Mad Oak in Allston, Massachusetts, by Small Stone’s go-to engineer Benny Grotto, the balance of natural, live sound and clarity that has shown up on much of the label’s latter-day output (see also: 2011 releases from Freedom Hawk, Backwoods Payback, Lo-Pan, Roadsaw and Suplecs) is in full and righteous effect across Let it Roll. The dude knows how to make rock records sound like rock records, and Dixie Witch, for their part, certainly have some expertise in the matter as well. Leal’s drums don’t have the same kind of brightness in the hi-hat or prevalence in the mix as they did on Smoke and Mirrors (produced by Joel Hamilton), but everything is in order, and as Leal and Christensen set the tone for the several lead-vocal tradeoffs the album has on offer in the transition between “Let it Roll” and “Boogie Man,” the sense of balance is palpable.

That Leal and Christensen share lead vocal duties adds diversity to Dixie Witch’s approach, which is still relatively straightforward no matter who’s fronting at any given moment. The band’s propensity for strong choruses shines through, and “Boogie Man” shows right away that just because they’re using a consistent songwriting tactic doesn’t mean different personalities can’t be carried across. “The High Deal,” for example, follows “Boogie Man.” Leal takes over the vocals once more, and the song is less outwardly vibrant, a little slower, a little more ringing Southern note progression from Smith in the verse, and in that kind of heavy rock song of the road that Dixie Witch have always excelled at crafting without ever sounding foolish or overtly inauthentic. It’s a solid lead-in for the catchy “Red Song,” which revives the more energetic take and finds Leal putting his toms and double-kick bass drum (of which I’m normally not a fan) to excellent use setting up another engaging solo from Smith. Of all the tracks on Let it Roll, “Red Song” is among the easiest to imagine in a live setting, Christensen’s rumble adding emphasis to Leal’s persistent pedal work, and the band’s formidable charisma materializing even from just the audio.

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There’s a host of quality Texan acts on the bill alongside out-of-staters like Kylesa, Lo-pan and Naam, and all in all the Liquid Sludge Fest seems to be like a decent way to spend a weekend in Austin with probably only a fraction of the bullshit you’d encounter at, say, SXSW. Plus, Orange Goblin will be there, and that’s always a plus.

Lineup and festival info comes courtesy of the PR wire:

No Strings Attached Media has announced their first annual Liquid Sludge Fest to take place as a part of Chaos in Tejas in 2011. This festival will be celebrating the independent subgenre of metal referred to as stoner rock and sludge metal.

Headlining this festival will be Honky from Small Stone Records on June 2 and a double-feature of Kylesa and Orange Goblin on June 3. The first day will feature a highlight of Small Stone Records with Tia Carrera, Suplecs, Dixie Witch, Lo-Pan, and Honky.

Liquid Sludge at The Scoot Inn (1308 E. 4th – Navasota and East 4th Street)

June 2
Amplified Heat (inside stage)
Squidbucket (inside stage)
Honky (outside stage)
Lo-Pan (outside)
Dixie Witch (outside)
Suplecs (outside)
Tia Carrera (Outside)
Asylum on the Hill (outside)
Big Tattoo (Outside)
Doors @ 3pm

June 3
The Roller (inside stage)
Rise Thy Ruin (inside stage)
Kylesa (outside stage)
Orange Goblin (outside)
The Gates of Slumber (outside)
Naam (outside)
Sanctus Bellum (outside)
Rust (outside)
Switchblade Jesus (outside)
Doors @ 3pm

Times are tentative and may be changed. Tickets are already available at www.ticketscene.com. The first 50 tickets sold to the Kylesa/OrangeGoblin double feature are $10 and with only 19 left they’re going fast. Standard admission is $10 (advance June 2), $15 (at the door June 2nd and in advance June 3rd), $20 (at the door June 3rd), and $21 (advance 2-day).

Liquid Sludge Fest can be found on Facebook here.

“Slave Cylinder” opens with a nod to Sabbath’s “N.I.B.,” and from there, Cosmic Priestess — the second album from Tia Carrera on Small Stone Records — only gets trippier. The Austin, Texas, trio made their label debut in 2009 with The Quintessential, and while that album felt especially geared toward transposing their live sound to plastic, Cosmic Priestess seems more of a studio effort. Of course, the band relies heavily on improvisation throughout the four extended instrumental jams that make up the new collection, but it’s a different entity, a different spirit driving them throughout. Doubtless it was recorded live, the three of them in a single room, but the clean sound is thick with bass and rich classic rock drumming, and relies less on feedback to fill empty space than did The Quintessential. It’s less just about the noise and more about the interaction among players.

At least I think it is. Entirely possible I have my head up my ass and Cosmic Priestess is nothing more than three dudes ripping out good vibes for upwards of 30 minutes at a clip. Whatever the case, Tia Carrera not only manage to capture the excitement and immediacy of the best of heavy and/or stoner rock, but they do so now based on concrete ideas of what they want each piece of music to accomplish. “Slave Cylinder” wraps with the three-piece — Erik Conn (drums), Andrew Duplantis (bass) and Jason Morales (guitar) – coming together to drive home a central riff, before “Sand, Stone and Pearl” opens wide into electric piano and sustained notes from Morales. The heady psychedelia is a change from the opener, and shows Tia Carrera have more to their sound than simple jam-band pseudo-jazz crescendos or pointless noodling. Duplantis’ bass marches in time with Conn’s drumming even as it offers counterpoints to it, and as the 15-minute track plays out, it’s all the more evidence of the band’s growing chemistry and self-awareness. They’re not without their lost moments – which you expect in a live/jam setting and so aren’t out of place here – but the overall flow of Cosmic Priestess is encompassing. “Sand, Stone and Pearl” is twice as long as the opener, and in turn, “Saturn Missile Battery” is more than twice as long as it (Tia Carrera then pulls back to the eight-minute range to finish). In a way, it feels like the album is growing around you while you listen.

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Please don’t think I’m breaking any news here one way or the other about any of these releases. This post is basically just me talking about albums I’d like to see this year. Some have been formally announced, some just alluded to, but if these and the records listed yesterday were all that 2011 had in store, we’d probably still come out of it on the winning side.

Once again, the headline says “Rampant Speculation” and that’s what this is. Maybe in reading it, you’ll agree with something, maybe you’ll disagree. Either way, any comments are appreciated as always.

Let’s have some fun:

YOB: Sad as it is that Oregon doom forerunners YOB had to cancel their appearance at Roadburn and European tour, one can only hope their follow-up to 2009′s blistering The Great Cessation comes out that much sooner as a result. It will be interested to hear where the band goes stylistically. Guitarist/vocalist Mike Scheidt had plenty to be pissed about going into the YOB reunion, following all that Middian/Midian legal nonsense, but now that that’s through with, will he bring the same kind of vitriol to bare in the songwriting? Hopefully it’s not too long before we find out.

Colour Haze: They’re one of the classiest bands on the planet, and their last album, All, was hands-down my favorite record of 2008. They’ve released the Burg Herzberg two-disc live recording since then, but it’s time for new album, and according to the last Elektrohasch Schallplatten, it’s not far off. All had a more live, more organic feel than anything Colour Haze ever did before — the snare drum’s reacting to the bass and guitar rumble like a nod to everyone listening that it was done with everyone in the same room — and I’m looking forward to hearing how they try to top it.

Clutch: 2010 saw numerous reissues and the usual insane amount of touring, but in 2011, it’s time to see where the next stage in Clutch‘s ongoing development is leading. Maybe they’ll continue the blues-laden path they’ve taken on their last couple records, or maybe they’ll decide it’s time to confuse the hell out of everyone and do something completely different. Aside from being an astounding live act, Clutch are a fantastic group of songwriters, and it’ll be exciting to get to know a new batch of tunes both live and on disc.

Elder: Their self-titled was some seriously riffy business, and I haven’t heard the follow-up yet, but all accounts from those who have say it’s a more ethereal, more open and stonery sound these young Massachusetts rockers have taken on, and that’s just fine by me. MeteorCity is supposed to have the release out later this year, and I have the feeling that when ti finally hits, it’s going to catch a lot of people off guard, in a good way. Hard not to expect big things for a band like Elder, who have so much potential.

Dixie Witch: When it’ll be out, I have no idea, but Dixie Witch‘s fourth full-length will be the band’s first without guitarist Clayton Mills. His tone and natural bluesy shred was a huge part of what made Dixie Witch‘s prior offerings so killer, and by the time the album gets out, it’s likely to have been five full years since they released the excellent Smoke and Mirrors. This one’s long overdue.

Argus: True, I said I’d only list five bands, and these Pennsylvanian metallers make it six, but I’m genuinely curious to hear what they come up with for their Cruz Del Sur label debut. I dug heavily on the trad doom of their Shadow Kingdom Records self-titled debut, and vocalist Butch Ballch (formerly of Penance) never fails to deliver, so it’s definitely worth keeping an eye out.

There’s other stuff too: Olde Growth, Hour of 13, Wo Fat, Graveyard and a slew of albums that may or may not happen in time for December to roll around. Again, this is just the stuff I want to hear, so if you’ve got anything on your mind or something I should look out for, leave a comment. There’s nothing better than being exposed to new music.

You know, I just sat here and wrote out a whole angry rant about how the dude from The Roller couldn’t be bothered to even finish the email interview for this Six Dumb Questions feature, all “Next time I think it’s a good idea to take an hour out of my work day…” blah blah blah. But now, looking over the responses vocalist Mike Morowitz sent back, I don’t necessarily think it was a malicious thing that he basically blew off the interview. I think he might have just been stoned. They kind of read either way, and since I’m a bitter fuck, I automatically go for the negative, but yeah. The explanation might be that he was really, really high at the time. Hazards of the trade, dude.

The Roller is Morowitz, guitarist Theron Rhoten, bassist Miguel Veliz and drummer Jeremy Jenkins, and the below Q&A has been corrected for spelling and grammar/formatting. I also added capital letters to the beginnings of the sentences, because I couldn’t stand looking at them the other way. I left the last question blank because that’s how it came back to me.

One thing: they’re definitely a sludge band. There. I said it. Call it an internet flame war scandal and maybe I’ll get some more hits for the site.

1. Wasted Heritage sounds a lot darker than the self-titled. Was there anything specific in the songwriting or recording that might have brought that out of the band?

The only thing darker about us is our bass player’s skin. We got a new bass player. Theron wrote more of this record than the last. Bands grow over time, no one wants to put out the same album twice. Unless you are AC/DC or The Ramones.

2. How did you decide to make this release vinyl-only? I thought the art for the CD last time was killer. No chance of doing that kind of thing again?

Cyclopean Records is an all-vinyl label. It isn’t our decision but we are okay with it. We have limited edition screenprinted tour CDs with us on the road. We are really happy with the new album cover. We liked the old one too but who wants to keep recycling the same thing?

3. Texas Beer Battle: Shiner Bock vs. Lone Star. Who wins and why?

Whatever is cheapest? I am a Pearl man myself. Texas’ oldest brewery.

4. I’ve only ever seen Austin during South by Southwest, and I hear the town is completely different during the other 360 days of the year. What’s the sludge scene like down there, and how is non-SXSW Austin different?

We are just a metal band. We don’t consider ourselves “sludge.” Austin is an eclectic city with a lot of good bands in all different genres and everyone is friends. SXSW is fun for a week-long party, but who wants 80,000 extra assholes in their city? A week is long enough.

5. How’s the West Coast tour going? Any especially killer shows or road stories you want to tell? Anything you’re looking forward to seeing that you haven’t yet?

Yeah. We plan on touring any and everywhere that will have us. As long as our van and amps are working, we will be too.

6. Anything else in the works for touring? How long do you think you’ll stay on the road to support the album?

The Roller on MySpace

Cyclopean Records

As I sit here to write this review, I’ve false-started no less than four times, because my real question when it comes to Austin, Texas, sludgers The Roller is what to say first. Sure, they’re heavy, sure, they’re riffy, and sure, their second album, Wasted Heritage (Cyclopean) is four tracks/39 minutes of only the nastiest kind of nasty nastiness, but I think even more than all of that, what strikes me about The Roller is how uncompromising this material is. To imagine these guys coming from the same place as disparate acts like Dixie Witch and The Sword; it’s like the town has multiple personalities. More than that, it’s hard to imagine a place that sees so much sunshine throughout the year could produce music so hateful.

My chief comparison point for The Roller’s 2008 self-titled debut on Monofonus Press was Sourvein, and the same holds true for Wasted Heritage, but The Roller sound even meaner here, more grim, more foreboding, with an atmosphere that has more in common with Darkthrone than Eyehategod. The album is structured meticulously and with vinyl in mind: two longer tracks sandwiching two shorter ones, so that the opener and closer are over 10 minutes apiece and the middle two under seven. Still, it’s the sound that seems most thought out. Wasted Heritage was recorded by Bryan Richie (The Sword), and the guitars of Theron Rhoten sound positively filthy, cutting a jagged buzzsaw through opener “Candle Black” and managing even to dirty up the atmospheric beginning of 14-minute closer “White Wing.”

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I think what I like best about the news of The Roller‘s impending second album, Wasted Heritage, is that there are only four songs listed and nowhere does the press release even think about calling it less than a full-length album. We can only hope that one of the four songs is two minutes long and the rest are 13 or more. Hey, I like long songs.

What I remember about The Roller‘s debut: Cool art, sounded like Sourvein. Figure if they keep those two things up, it’s a win. Here’s the news off the PR wire:

Austin hesh-masters The Roller have been creating and honing their craft of riff mongering since the beginning of 2006. The band recorded their first demo that year and replaced their original guitarist Matt Sodeman with Theron Rhoten shortly after. The debut LP was released in 2008 and was praised by reviewers and metalheads alike. This year marks the release of their new LP, Wasted Heritage, an offering of earth-shaking, uncompromisingly grim doom metal.

With the edition of Miguel Veliz (Graves at Sea, Sub Oslo, Sourvein) in 2009, the band set out to write a follow up to 2008′s well received debut LP on Monofonus Press. After playing steadily in their hometown and across the country for the next two years, The Roller was ready to begin writing their new record. What came about is a massive, lumbering beast of an album. Four new songs spanning 40 minutes, recorded by Bryan Richie (The Sword) and dedicated to a limited vinyl pressing of 500 gatefold LPs.

Wasted Heritage is a ritual in abrasive meditation, an arrangement of riffs that become keys to a new dimension, for those seeking a heavier trip than most.

Wasted Heritage tracklist:
1. Candle Back
2. Of Feather and Bone
3. Passage
4. White Wing

Somewhere, at some point in time, somebody gave one of the two members of Austin, Texas, psychedelic newcomers Sungod a copy of Nebula’s To the Center, and it’s a good thing they did. The duo (doesn’t anyone have a bassist anymore?) have taken this heavy, grooving influence and stretched it out as far as it’ll go, abandoning for the most part the aforementioned band’s penchant for catchy choruses in favor of wide-breadth atmospherics on their Cyclopean Records debut, First Matter. The album’s five tracks follow a reverse-parabola structure, starting long, getting shorter in the middle, then longer again at the finish, but there’s more to the flow than nifty toying around with the track list. Sungod worship at a number of altars and their sound — in no small part thanks to liberal guitar layering — is surprisingly full for an act without a full-time bassist.

Comprised of string-section Balentine and drummer Sharp, Sungod traffic in a heady, open-spaced instrumental heavy psych, marked by guitar passages so lyrical I had to go back and double check there weren’t vocals on them. Nine-minute opener “The Key is No Key” starts with striking feedback and hard-pounding rhythms. Balentine takes this as a basis for layering reverbed guitar explorations, but keeps a solid foundation underneath. Sharp’s playing is strong whether during these freakout jams or the more straightforward intervals from which they’re birthed, and on the acoustic-led “Under the Golem,” the organic ambience of the song is only enhanced by the various bells and chimes present. On the centerpiece title-track (also First Matter’s shortest song at 3:46), the drums go on a half-backwards tape loop Dale Crover spree of intermittent hits punctuating feedback from Balentine, drones and noises of several other shapes and sizes, so you get some sense of diversity in listening to the album in more than just basic sonics.

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If your Friday night plans didn’t yet involve flying to Austin, Texas, to catch an Eyehategod show, you might want to revise your evening’s goings on, as per the PR wire:

New Orleans sludge overlords Eyehategod will be performing a special one-off show this Friday, May 7th at Emo’s in Austin, Texas where they’ll play their coveted first two full-lengths In the Name of Suffering and Take as Needed for Pain records in their entirety! IN. THEIR. ENTIRETY! It’s a damn good day to be in Austin.

Eyehategod will kick off their long-anticipated US tour alongside psychedelic black metallers Nachtmystium (from June 4-15) and a rotating roster of other killer openers on June 3 at Blackbooth in Orlando, Florida and wind down with two special shows at the Empty Bottle in Chicago, Illinois. Tickets are on sale now. Special limited VIP packages will be available on select dates, including South Carolina, Kentucky and Maryland as well as Michigan and North Carolina (both recent additions). Check details below:

Eyehategod US Tour 2010:
6/03/2010 Backbooth – Orlando, FL w/ Withered
6/04/2010 Ground Zero – Spartanburg, SC w/ Withered *
6/05/2010 Volume 11 – Raleigh, NC w/ Withered, Black Tusk *
6/06/2010 Headliners – Louisville, KY w/ Black Tusk *
6/07/2010 Fubar – St Louis, MO
6/08/2010 Muse – Nashville, TN w/ Withered
6/09/2010 Alley Katz – Richmond, VA w/ Black Tusk, Strong Intention
6/10/2010 Krug’s – Frederick, MD w/ Brutal Truth, Strong Intention *
6/11/2010 Unitarian Church – Philadelphia, PA w/ Brutal Truth, Black Anvil, Tombs
6/12/2010 Europa – Brooklyn, NY w/ Brutal Truth, Black Anvil, Tombs
6/13/2010 Club Hall – Providence, RI w/ Brutal Truth, Black Anvil, Tombs, Howl
6/14/2010 Daniel St – Milford, CT w/ Howl
6/15/2010 Rocko’s – Manchester, NH w/ Howl
6/16/2010 Bug Jar – Rochester, NY
6/17/2010 Now That’s Class – Cleveland, OH w/ Keelhaul, The Atlas Moth
6/18/2010 Blondie’s Detroit, MI w/ The Atlas Moth, Strong Intention *
6/19/2010 Empty Bottle – Chicago, IL w/ Anal Cunt, Weekend Nachos, Strong Intention
6/20/2010 Empty Bottle – Chicago, IL w/ The Atlas Moth
* Limited VIP packages available

Yeah, I’m a little behind on this one (little behind on the review as well), but here’s the new video for Broken Teeth‘s song “Blackheart.” Behold the Lemmy-ism at the beginning of the song and marvel that even in 2010 — “the future” by any measure — a black and white band-in-a-room video can still adequately get the job done as long as there are three or more cameras filming and the band in question doesn’t totally blow. PR wire says:

Austin rockers Broken Teeth have posted a new video online to the song “Blackheart” off of their latest release Viva La Rock, Fantastico that was released in January. “Blackheart” epitomizes the attitude of Broken Teeth and showcases influences that British heavy metal acts such as Iron Maiden and Judas Priest have had on the band both in the lyrics and in the riffs in the song. The video comes on the heels of the release of the band’s fifth album Viva La Rock, Fantastico on Perris Records and just in advance of several SXSW appearances with Canadian rocker Danko Jones who appeared on the album. Stay tuned for new footage with Danko Jones that the band plans to film while he is in Austin for the annual music conference!

Detroit rock favorite Small Stone Records has officially announced its annual SXSW showcase, set to take place at Encore in Austin, TX, on March 18. As a veteran of several of these affairs, I can safely say they’re always the best show at all of SXSW, and more than that, completely void of all the music industry douchebaggery that the rest of the festival seems to thrive off of. If you’ve never made the trip, this lineup looks like it might be worth it:

Thursday March 18th
at Encore (next to Emo’s)
611 Red River Austin, TX 78701 – 512-474-6688

Official SXSW Showcase
1am – Dixie Witch
12mid – House of Broken Promises
11pm – Solace
10pm – Sasquatch
9pm – The Brought Low
8pm – Throttlerod
7pm – Luder

Converse / Small Stone Day Party FREE!
Free Booze! Free Chow! Free Rock!
*Inside Stage*
6pm: Honky
5pm: Sun Gods in Exile
4pm: Tia Carrera
3pm: Magnet School
2pm: Chylde

*Outside Stage*
5:30pm Suplecs
4:30pm Gozu
3:30pm Roadsaw
2:30pm Killa Dilla
1:30pm Whitey Morgan & the 78′s

Besides this ass kicking lineup of music above, we will have a few other special things going on at this event. The fine folks at Converse are manufacturing an extremely limited run of 50 Small Stone Records Chuck Taylor’s that will be giving away at the gig only. And, to fill your belly, we will have a spread of fine Mexican grub on hand…The Day Party is FREE to enter!!! This will leave you with some extra cash to tip your bartenders and buy some merch! In the evening, you will be required to pay a small door cover charge, or show your SXSW badge and/ or wristband to enter the Small Stone SXSW Showcase.

When it comes to doom in Austin, Texas, most people will point you in the direction of either the commercially successful haircut metal of The Sword or the hipster arthouse sludge of The Roller. Well, Mala Suerte have been around longer than either of them and when it comes to pure doom execution, absolutely smoke both bands. The Austin four-piece are a mainstay at the SXSW music festival, which is how I stumbled on them a few years back, and I’ve been a fan ever since. I even bought the t-shirt. So, you know, impartiality: fuck it.

The Shadow Tradition (out through a label called Illwill, which one assumes is not the same as that owned by the rapper Nas) is listed as their first full-length, though the compilation of their Non-Serviam demo and the track “Self-Deprecation and Loathing” from their split with Coffins hit 35 minutes, and if it weren’t for the added 20 minutes of the closing title track, The Shadow Tradition would be about the same length. That’s not to discount the closer at all, I’m just trying to make a line between the two releases. “The Shadow Tradition” is a doom epic in every sense of the phrase.

Those seeking a comparison point for Mala Suerte need look no further than Cathedral at their doomiest. In both the occult subject matter and in the vocals of Gary Rosas, there’s a clear Lee Dorrian influence, but Rosas has a gruffer, shouting delivery and the music he sings over holds a masterful middle pace. Drummer John Petri is able to keep guitarist David Guerrero and bassist Mike Reed in line at a rate that’s slow compared to most of what passes for doom these days, but rarely falling into something so slow as the funereal. Of course, tempo changes come and go, but there’s always enough movement in the songs for The Shadow Tradition to keep an undercurrent of rock and groove, which works greatly to the album’s advantage.

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If you’d asked me, I’d have sworn the departure of guitarist Clayton Mills meant the end of the seminal Austin rockers, but apparently Dixie Witch are moving on with a new guy named JT and a Texas-style weekend tour. Woke up this mornin’ and saw the news on StonerRock.com, and figured if anything warranted a cut and paste, it’s this:

The mighty Dixie Witch is back and will be playing four shows this weekend through Texas with thud rockers Weedeater.

Dixie Witch will be playing new material with a shout out to new guitarist JT. DW has been working all summer with JT and will begin regional touring this fall as they write more songs for an upcoming 2010 new record! Keep posted as new pics and website overhauls are under way…

Dixie Witch/Weedeater Tour Dates:
08/27/09: Dallas, TX - Double Wide, with Blood of the Sun
08/28/09: Austin, TX - Red 7, with Iron Age
08/29/09: San Antonio, TX - Rock Bottom Tattoo Bar, with Iron Age
08/30/09: Houston, TX - Walter’s on Washington, with Iron Age

Oh feedback, you?re the greatest. You fill out songs, you give that raw rock edge, you can either be sweet and warm or harsh and jagged. Without you, there simply wouldn?t be heavy rock. You?re the embodiment of the spirit of music so often lost in today?s cookiecutter, corporate agendified radio milieu. When you?re not near me, I?m blue. Oh feedback, I love you. Here?s a haiku I wrote in your honor:

Sound waves, crashing, crest
Themselves on shores of the mind.
Six strings sitting still.

Austin, Texas, mostly improv jam trio Tia Carrera start their Small Stone Records full-length debut, The Quintessential, with a solid four minutes of softly honed feedbacking on the track ?Home,? accompanied by cymbal washes and ambient guitar notes. It?s a peaceful beginning to an active album, full of unexpected twists and changes in approach that have the band, whose live presence is a thing of dirty classic rock beauty, jamming until the tape runs out on ?New Orleans? (they bought the 15-minute tape), and pushing even further on the 22-minute ?The Unnamed Witness,? while also trying out structure and composition (and vocals!) on mostly-acoustic closer ?Hazy Winter.?

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