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.

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.

The full title of Cherry Choke’s second album is A Night in the Arms of Venus Leads to a Lifetime on Mercury, and it’s a saying taken from the fact that mercury used to be used as a treatment for syphilis. Venus, then, is a prostitute giving you the disease. The vaguely evocative sexuality and antiqueness of the line perfectly suits the sophomore outing from the British threesome, who made their debut on Elektrohasch Schallplatten with a self-titled in 2009 (review here). A Night in the Arms of Venus, for short, collects nine vinyl-minded retro rockers the swing of which will be welcome to anyone on Graveyard’s trail, but Cherry Choke are rawer, more garage-sounding, injecting a Stooges wiriness into heavy blues grooves and ‘60s proto-psych pop. Fronted by guitarist/vocalist Mat Bethancourt (of Josiah, The Kings of Frog Island and Dexter Jones Circus Orchestra), they are a classically-directed power trio and the songs follow purposefully simple structures, Dan Lockton’s drums coming on with a casual uptempo swagger and open feel that reminds some of Blue Cheer’s early bombast, but on the whole, these songs are more melodically aware than were the San Franciscan progenitors of the genre. Bethancourt made his bones as a fuzz rocker in Josiah, but if that’s to be the object of search here, it’s found more on Gregg Hunt’s bass, which pushes the uptempo “Winchester Geese” over the line of psych rock and heavy psych rock. The guitars are cleaner in a classic combo-amp fashion and well-suited to the mod vibe of the tracks.

And the songs, for their part, are built on catchy choruses and steady execution. They feel natural and retro but not posturing or chic for the sake of being chic. A Night in the Arms of Venus varies in mood and tempo but keeps a consistent aesthetic nonetheless, even as the later “Silver Crossed My Mind” veers into backwards guitar and mellotron psychedelia, departing from the straightforward 45rpm-single-ready songwriting of “The Day She Came to Play” or the Hunt-penned “Blue Mass,” which directly precedes following side B opener and album highlight “Evol,” on which Bethancourt layers acoustic and electric guitar to ecstatic effect. It is the guitarist’s construction acumen all over A Night in the Arms of Venus, but Hunt and Lockton make for more than an enriching presence in the rhythm section, fueling a freakout of their own to contrast Bethancourt’s calmer approach on “I Need Not Know Redemption” or playing off the Who-style grandiosity of opener “Crying out Loud” with solo-worthy runs and fills later in the song. Hunt’s contributions make some of these cuts stand out, and that’s as much the case with “Crying out Loud” as it is with the more extended closer “Splinters,” which tops seven minutes and finds Bethancourt answering back with a bit of fuzzy warmth of his own while Lockton foreshadows the jam to come as he keeps time on his toms amid sub-swirl channel-pans in the guitar leads and a forward focus that seems impossible given the seemingly unhinged aesthetic in which Cherry Choke are working.

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Night o’Mine is the second album through Elektrohasch from Austrian foursome Been Obscene in as many years. Their 2010 debut, The Magic Table Dance (review here), put them in league with a steadily growing ilk of warmly-toned jam-minded European heavy psych acts – bands like Asteroid and The Machine taking fuzz and freedom from Colour Haze and Kyuss and injecting them with the fresh energy of new bands still finding their sounds. Been Obscene (also sometimes written as the one word BeenObscene) were anything but obscene on The Magic Table Dance, and with Night o‘Mine, the same lineup returns after a not insignificant amount of road time with a crisper approach and some more solidified songwriting. Like the first album, the sophomore outing is comprised of eight tracks, but guitarist Thomas Nachtigal – his name translating to “nightingale” befitting the record’s nocturnal schematic – has stepped up on the vocals and the sense of structure overall is stronger for it. Nachtigal is joined in Been Obscene by guitarist Peter Kreyci, bassist/vocalist Philipp Zezula and drummer Robert Schoosleitner, and the four work remarkably well together, the guitarists playing off each other with marked chemistry while the bass and drums solidify and add to the build of a song like “Snake Charmer,” which presents the jammier side of what turns out to be a strong balance between the straightforward and the more openly-approached.

But right away, opener “Endless Scheme” shows a definite increase in stylistic complexity. The song begins with an angular, energetic burst before transitioning into a cymbal-crashing groove that seems held up by guitar leads and Schoosleitner’s steady rhythm and finally shifting into hi-hat taps and contrasting ambience and My Sleeping Karma-esque heavy rock smoothness. There are vocals early on, and they come back at the end for a chorus return, and that works well to show how much Been Obscene have grown; The Magic Table Dance opened instrumentally and felt less structurally aware overall. Likewise, the work that Zezula adds not only through the engaging warmth of his bass, but also with vocals backing Nachtigal during the chorus of “Endless Scheme” is an example of how Been Obscene have been able to develop in just the year since their last offering. Though it starts out quiet, in its latter moments, “Snake Charmer” (7:40) finds the instruments paying off a momentum the vocals helped craft early on, and though “Cut the Rope” is so quick at 3:23 that were it not also as effectively composed and as catchy as it is, it would simply pass unnoticed, “Apathy” follows and finds Nachtigal adding his vocals to a musical drama not unlike that at the end of “Snake Charmer,” and one that works in a shorter amount of time to develop a similar vibrancy, despite a somewhat darker atmosphere. The repeated line, “Breaking down your foolish apathy,” becomes a sort of centerpiece credo the rest of Night o’Mine works around and hits especially heavy surrounded by the start-stop Queens of the Stone Age-isms of “Cut the Rope” and the title-track, on which the speaker cones sound like they’re about to catch fire for the analog push of the material.

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I may have missed it, but perhaps there was some backlash to Berlin instrumental heavy proggers Rotor after their last album – some kind of, “Yeah, but there’s no way you can do that live,” that caused them to issue Festsaal Kreuzberg (Elektrohasch) in response. Okay, probably not, but either way, if there was any doubt to the natural feel of Rotor’s latter day studio output – thinking particularly of 2007’s 3 and last year’s ultra-progressive 4 – the live album certainly puts it to rest. A solid 45-minute set recorded in their hometown at the venue for which the album is named on Nov. 14, 2009, Festsaal Kreuzberg affirms the chemistry that has developed over the last decade-plus between the three members of Rotor. The nine tracks draw exclusively from 3 and 4 and sound crisp and clear but still definitively live, and the whole of Festsaal Kreuzberg has an organic flow that matches well the band’s balance between progressive structuring and riff-based heaviness. Fans and followers of Rotor who’ve never had the chance to see them live probably won’t find the whole of the experience replicated here – never having seen them (yet), I can’t say for sure either way – but for an instrumental band who has always shown it’s the music that matters, the music continues to be what matters on Festsaal Kreuzberg.

Although 4 was still months away from being released at the time this show was recorded, more than half the material comes from it in a five/four split with songs from 3. They open with “Drehmoment” from 4, the chugging riff of which builds and crashes with stylistic nuance, opening finally into a groove that’s a fitting launch point for Rotor’s set. One of 4’s overall strengths was its sense of atmosphere that came through even its heaviest moments, and Festsaal Kreuzberg loses some of that sensibility – being comprised of different material presented in a different order, it would have to – but the live energy is a more than fair replacement, and the audience rightly cheers as Rotor dives headfirst into the winding groove of “Hart am Wind,” from 3, which also precedes the title-track from that album. “Hart am Wind” breaks momentarily into a cleverly positioned quiet moment, seeming to come to an almost complete rest – though the bass and guitar are miraculously congruous – before picking back up with its heaviness. The momentum built carries through “3,” which was untitled on the album itself but appeared third on the track listing as it does here, and if there’s one frustrating aspect to Festsaal Kreuzberg, it’s that Rotor affect such a heady vibe that one really has to work to not be completely hypnotized by it. The fuzz bass and drum interplay beneath the guitar solo at the end of “3” is jazzed out in its intricacy, but the overarching groove remains paramount. Easy to miss, in other words, but worth not missing.

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In the latest newsletter for his label Elektrohasch Schallplatten, guitarist/vocalist Stefan Koglek of German heavy psych forerunners Colour Haze — in addition to announcing the new releases from Saturnia and Ararat — gives an update on the progress for his band’s long-awaited new album, She Said. The short version: We’re not there yet. It’s pretty much been a year since the mixing was to begin (10 months at least), and one can’t help but admire the band’s persistence in the face of what must be a frustrating-as-hell series of setbacks.

Here’s the update from Koglek, and here’s looking forward to She Said in 2012:

…Shortly after my October newsletter, after once again working through my old mixing console for another week, sorting ribbon cables, changing ICs, cleaning contacts and stuff, just when everything was finished and I was about to start mixing again, when the mixer sounded as good as never before and the very same day my technician told me “if something is broken, I can come until 10 am, then I’m in holiday for 3 weeks” — my old board had another minor breakdown, nothing big or unusual for an old desk, but all the work of the week before again was for nothing — I was fed up, I didn’t want to invest any more work in a mixer I didn’t want to keep anyway — I quit — and suddenly things came in move fastly so I had the opportunity to buy my dream mixing board brand new for a very good price, of course I had to get a bank loan and of course this is a huge investment which will need further additions next year to really finish everything — but finally setting up the studio basics properly, getting out of the improvised, under-construction state seemed to be the only possibility and starting fresh in a cleared up work surrounding was the only option — so we took a complete break in the production and made the effort to get our studio finally to the basic state where it always was meant to be — buying that new mixer and other needed items, planning, furniture, a new floor, complete rewiring — all a lot of complicated details and thinking, lots of people involved — next week, just before Christmas, we’ll set everything together and we’ll have a new start to finally get out of all the endless troubles and finish the album, hopefully… So please, again: patience : )

Good news today for anyone who’s going to be in London come next Easter. German heavy prog instrumentalists Rotor are the latest band to be added to the lineup of Desertfest 2012, a fraction of which you can see in the banner above. I’ll be having more on the fest as we get closer to next April, leading up to actually covering the thing when the time comes. Can’t friggin’ wait.

Here’ the latest from the Desertfest website:

Desertfest are proud to announce Berlin-based psychedelic, stoner groove beasts Rotor. They are joining the already amazing line up at Desertfest, and we are made up to have these guys back in the UK. They are going to be playing on Friday 6th April.

Apparently my karma is the one that’s been sleeping, because while my head was turned, German psych-rockers My Sleeping Karma signed to Napalm Records for the release of their next album. No word on when that’s out yet, but congratulations to the band either way. They’re currently on the road for the “Up in Smoke Vol. 3″ tour with Lonely Kamel, The Machine and Samsara Blues Experiment.

This clip (followed by the label’s press release) has been making the rounds on Thee Facebooks, and it’s just the right kind of groove for a sleepy Monday afternoon. It’s a new song, filmed on the opening night of the tour in Siegen, Germany. Enjoy:

The German instrumental psychedelic rock band, My Sleeping Karma, is the latest addition to the Napalm Records roster. Fans should have their lava lamps and incense sticks ready to go, as something big is coming our way!

“My Sleeping Karma are very thankful and excited for the opportunity to work with one of the most important record labels in the independent heavy/rock scene. During several meetings, Napalm´s representatives always gave us the feeling of real understanding in My Sleeping Karma´s musical journey. We were impressed by their open-minded thinking, as it is surely not usual to give an instrumental psychedelic rock band a chance. The band wants to extend a big THANK YOU to all the people supporting us over the years. This step would not have been possible for us without you!”

Formed just in early 2009, Dutch trio Sungrazer have become fast veterans. Their self-released, self-titled debut got picked up for wider issue via Elektrohasch Schallplatten, the record label run by Stefan Koglek of Colour Haze, and the band hit the road backed by European mega-bookers Sound of Liberation, resulting in festival gigs like Stoned From the Underground, Roadburn and Duna Jam. Their second album, Mirador (review here), came out on Elektrohasch in the first half of 2011 and has been among the year’s best.

Their formula is pretty simple, melding jam-intensive European heavy psychedelia with desert riffing and landmark grooves. Of course that balance is much easier said that achieved, but on both Sungrazer and Mirador, guitarist/vocalist Rutger Smeets, bassist/backing-vocalist Sander Haagmans and drummer Hans Mulders sculpt laid back vibes and heavy tones from warm low end and flowing rhythms. As a band, Sungrazer are able to shift smoothly between stonerly riffs and open-ended stretches that, like the Mirador highlight “Behind,” feel so natural it’s as though you’ve known them all your life.

Sungrazer hit the road in Europe earlier this year with RotoR and Colour Haze as part of Elektrohasch‘s “Up in Smoke” traveling mini-fest, and are currently on tour with similarly-minded German purveyors Grandloom. In the meantime, they’ve also begun the writing process that will take them through the follow-up to Mirador and doubtless to another level of well-deserved recognition. They are the heralds of a new generation of European heavy psych, and their organic approach can only get stronger with more time on the road.

Prior to leaving for the shows with Grandloom, Smeets took the time to field an email interview with some questions about the inner workings and processes of the band, and some of the differences and similarities in his mind between their work on Sungrazer and Mirador, as well as their time touring in support of both albums. It’s brief, but Smeets gives some insight as to Sungrazer‘s decision making process, and, fittingly somehow, the kebabs are key.

Complete Q&A is after the jump. Please enjoy.

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Given the fact that German heavy psych progenitors Colour Haze had to go back into the studio and completely remake their album following technical difficulties, the noise you hear at the beginning of the track “Transformation” from their long-awaited new album She Said could be construed as static — a joke playing off the perils that beset them as they were recording. In fact, it’s beach ambience recorded at the semi-official festival Duna Jam in Sardinia. Much more pleasant.

Several live clips of “Transformation” have made the rounds, but cool as they were in racheting up excitement for She Said, which follows the brilliantly jamming 2008 album All, they quality wasn’t good enough to really capture the spirit of the song. The tom runs of drummer Manfred Merwald toward the end, the oft-imitated warm fuzz of bassist Philipp Rasthoffer and the subtle nods guitarist Stefan Koglek (who also handles vocals for Colour Haze, though there are none here) makes at Natas‘ “Alberto Migre” backed by Christian Hawellek‘s Fender Rhodes keys in an a brief still moment past the 10-minute mark all speak to the trio’s ongoing development, ever-present chemistry and enduring influence over both the European and the worldwide underground.

Enough of my yak. Special thanks to Koglek for letting me host “Transformation,” which you’ll find on the player below. Please enjoy:

Did you hear those horns? I debated even mentioning them for ruining the surprise, but if you’re not there yet keep your ears open for when they kick in. I won’t even say when. It’s an absolute triumph, and just one of the several ways in which Colour Haze are stepping out of themselves on She Said. They keep the brass limited to “Transformation” — arrangement by Martin Homey and Georg Weisbrodt — but according to Koglek, other tracks will feature Latin percussion, a string quartet, etc. If those experiments work as well as the horns do here, we could see the ushering in of a whole new era of Colour Haze.

This mix isn’t final, but Colour Haze‘s ninth full-length, She Said, is due Nov. 2011 on Koglek‘s own Elektrohasch Shallplatten. More to come.

Though the clip above of Los Natas guitarist/vocalist Sergio Chotsourian‘s side-project Ararat doing the new song “Caballos” rules, spliced with ’70s film footage and in high definition and quality sound as it is, it’s really just there because I couldn’t imagine putting up a Frydee post without a video at the top. The real reason I wanted to close out this week with Ararat is to post the studio version of the same song, which Chotsourian put on Soundcloud last night. Check it out:

The gorgeous psychedelic groove, synth undertones and riffy plod of it all bode very well for the follow-up to Ararat‘s 2009 debut, Musica de la Resistencia (MeteorCity). According to Chotsourian‘s Soundcloud info, the 16-minute track is serving as a preview for the next album, which will be called Ararat II and will be released on Elektrohasch Schallplatten before the end of the year. It’s a nice thought, and though early 2012 seems more likely — and if “Caballos” is any indication — it will hopefully build on the adventurous spirit of the debut, whenever it’s out.

Hope you enjoy the track, in either incarnation. If you listen to the studio version, make sure you stick around for the bass part a little after 13 minutes in. It’s killer.

And speaking of sticking around, next week I’ll have reviews of The Wounded Kings, Elder, Sandrider, Beastwars and Wiht, my interview with CT from Rwake (I’ll transcribe it if it kills me — and at an hour long, it might), new music from Lonely Kamel and the aforementioned Sandrider, plus September’s numbers and a lot more. The semester has picked back up and between that and work, I’m all kinds of busy, but since most days it’s The Obelisk keeping me sane, I’m not about to let it go neglected. Hence the 1AM Frydee post. Ha.

Oh, and before I forget: Next week the HeavyPink 7″ on The Maple Forum is going to go up for pre-sale. That’ll probably be Monday night or Tuesday, so stay tuned, because you don’t want to miss out on it.

As always, I hope you have a great and safe weekend. I’ll see you on the forum and back here Monday for more of this nonsense.

Though I’m still enamored of the Dutch trio’s self-titled debut, which Elektrohasch Schallplatten released late last year, Sungrazer’s full-length follow-up, Mirador, has nonetheless been one of my most anticipated releases for the second half of 2011. The full-bodied, semi-jammed heavy psych purveyed by guitarist/vocalist Rutger Smeets, bassist/backing-vocalist Sander Haagmans and drummer Hans Mulders balanced stoner riffing on the first outing with watery improvisation and a laid back smokiness that’s almost too real to be real. Mirador follows suit. The seven-track offering is consistent with its predecessor in terms of fuzzy heft and general approach, and while there are no radical departures in terms of sound – they returned to Maurice Huyts to record as well – a stylistic development on the part of the band is clearly underway. Their jams range further on Mirador, and while that necessarily comes at the cost of some of the structure that made songs from the first album like “Zero Zero” and “Common Believer” so memorable, Sungrazer maintain those elements in parts, perhaps even surpassing their past achievement on the excellent “Sea” and “Goldstrike,” which feel intricate as well as warm and immediately familiar.

One of the most striking aspects of Mirador – and this was true of the self-titled as well – is that Sungrazer as a unit are not afraid to sound sweet as so much heavy rock is. The three-minute instrumental “Octo,” which follows opener “Wild Goose” shows what could loosely be construed as riffy burl, but in the subdued context of the preceding cut, it’s answering back the energy that seemed to explode in that song’s chorus, Mulders remaining steady on his ride cymbal throughout. Smeets’ vocals match the rich low end from his guitar and Haagmans’ bass on “Wild Goose” and elsewhere across Mirador. The album receives a suitably soft introduction from Mulders’ ride and the guitar fading in, soon joined by Haagmans, and layered vocals show off immediate growth on the part of Smeets, whose time on the road (higher-profile appearances include the Pinkpop and Roadburn festivals and the Elektrohasch “Up in Smoke” tour with Colour Haze and Rotor) since the last release pays off in melodic range and confidence of delivery. For his part, Haagmans plays excellently off Smeets both vocally and instrumentally, using the guitar lines as a launch for fills that seem to spread and contract across the effects-laden soundscape that’s built by the end of “Wild Goose” and solidified on “Octo,” where the fuzz comes to the fore and sets up the return to jamming brought about with the appropriately flowing “Sea.”

At eight minutes and utilizing a structure that harnesses verses and choruses while also playing into an overall build and still finding room for open jamming in the middle, “Sea” is an easy candidate for Mirador’s high point. The atmosphere of the album already set by the opening duo, “Sea” is immersive and the band knows it. After “Mountain Dusk” on the self-titled so carefully tied Sungrazer’s tones to a specific landscape imagery, it’s surprising they’re equally suited to the oceanic expanse and whalesong guitar runs of “Sea”’s midsection, but they are – one wonders whether the next studio outing will carry them skyward to complete a “land, sea, air” trilogy. Haagmans’ naturalistic tone rises to prominence in the mix, and the call and response between he and Smeets in the chorus proves worthy of a first-listen sing-along, and no less so when it returns after the jam and Smeets dons a megaphone. Subtle piano (I think; that could be another layer of effected guitar) adds to the ending’s push, and when you think the song has crested, the last 20 seconds cycle through the riff one more time, and Sungrazer remind that no matter how far they may digress, they’re in complete control. It’s beautiful.

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On first listen, German outfit The Dawn Band seems a strange fit for Elektohasch Schallplatten, which over the last couple years has geared itself toward fostering the European heavy psych scene in the wake of Colour Haze’s impact thereon. The Munich duo’s debut, Agents of Sentimentality, touches on that style with some sporadically fuzzed guitar and riffy focus, but no more than it touches on classic prog, power pop or European club music. Along with the hardcore punk of DxBxSx, it represents the label stepping away from its usual fare, but it makes more sense when one discovers that Daniel Zerndl — who here handles guitar, drums, vocals and synth alongside Martin Treppesch’s guitar, bass and synth and a host of guest contributions – plays or played drums in Hainloose, whose last album, Burden State, was released via Elektrohasch in 2006. Hainloose guitarist/vocalist Haris Turkanovic, Colour Haze guitarist/vocalist (and Elektrohasch founder) Stefan Koglek and Canadian singer-songwriter Annick Michel also show up throughout Agents of Sentimentality, resulting in a widely-varied sound that’s nonetheless presented with some idea of flow.

The album is bookended by “Love is a Burglar” and the surprisingly heavier revisit “Love is a Burglar (Reprise),” and if one takes the two in a row, it’s possible to get some sense of the scope of Agents of Sentimentality. Zerndl and Treppesch play off a vast array of influences, and their arrangements are well captured in the recording by Tom Höfer, as the album immediately sets about playing its sundry styles off a base of heavy prog. There are several strong displays of songwriting – the Weezer-esque alt rock “City Lights (Shine On)” and acoustic “Boat Across the Ocean,” led by Michel’s vocals, come to mind as immediate examples – but The Dawn Band feel geared more toward instrumental exploration than working strictly within verse/chorus/verse confines. Their sound isn’t experimental in the sense of weirdness for its own sake, but one does get the sense in listening that Zerndl and Treppesch (who are joined by drummer Jan van Meerendonk in the live incarnation of the band) are pushing themselves in terms of the direction these songs are moving.

They give flashes of riff-led heaviness early on with the end of “City Lights (Shine On),” but the shorter “Lost Soul at the Night Club” comes out of somewhere else completely, sounding like an effort to organically recreate sounds one might usually hear in an electronica dance track in the earlier part of the song before Zerndl calls out the fuzz, morphing it into the kind of freakout that’s usually the highlight of a Porcupine Tree record. It’s a lot of ground to cover in 2:44, but with the eight and a half minute instrumental sprawl of “Surfing the Big Wave” following, there’s plenty of time to digest. “Surfing the Big Wave” comes on in three subtitled movements – “Bursting at the Seams,” “Out into the Water” and “The Struggle (with the Wind Against Your Face and Salt in the Eye)” – and follows an appropriate and increasingly driving course befitting those movements, though where exactly the divide between one and the next is, I couldn’t say.

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Not that I needed an excuse, but it’s hard not to be jealous of the entire European continent when stuff like Rotor tours happens there. As it happens, those German instruproggers have teamed up with Croatian outfit Seven That Spells and fellow Berliners Neume for a run of dates that’s been dubbed The Brainbangers’ Ball Tour.

Good fun. Here are the dates and some info from Prog Sphere, who seem to be sponsoring or promoting the tour — or, at very least, was who emailed me about it:

This October is going to see a real stoner/psychedelic rock explosion when on Oct. 14 in Jena, Germany, Rotor, together with Seven That Spells and Neume will start the Brainbangers’ Ball 2011 tour. With motorik grooves and instrumental soul food served by Rotor, with Seven That Spells’ psychedelic rock from the 23^rd century and Neume’s two headed noise hydra, Germany, Austria, Croatia and The Netherlands will be echoing for a while led by the waves of three most unique psychedelic/stoner/noise rock bands at the moment. Check the official tour poster and tour dates below.

There will be given free tickets away (three per city, to be precise) for those who are willing to help in spreading the word out about this tour and the gigs in particular. So if you are fast enough, if you are enthusiastic enough, feel free to drop an email to info@prog-sphere.com and we will discuss further.

Brainbangers’ Ball Tour 2011:
14.10 Jena, Rosenkeller
15.10 Maastricht, Muziekgieterij 
17.10 Hamburg, Molotov 
18.10 Würzburg, Cafe Cairo 
19.10 München, Feierwerk 
20.10 Zagreb, Tvornica 
22.10 Schwäbisch Gmünd, Dusty Brains Fest II
24.10 Freiburg, White Rabbit 
25.10 Innsbruck, PMK
26.10 Wien, Arena
28.10 Solingen, Cobra
29.10 Berlin, Festsaal Kreuzberg

Their set at the Afterburner was one of my personal high points of this year’s Roadburn fest, and though I’m not even really done with their self-titled Elektrohasch debut yet, the three-piece Sungrazer are getting ready to issue the follow-up in the form of Mirador, which is out this week in Europe. It’s always a little while before I get this stuff to review, but I’ve got hopes for this one as being one of the high points of the second half of the year, and as the all-too-short clips below show, there’s a good chance it’ll work out to be just that.

A couple live videos have made their way to the YouTubes as well, but this is a different beast entirely. Check it: