Heavy blues bruisers Bushfire make their home in Darmstadt, Germany. It’s the same town that produced stonerly trio Wight, with whom Bushfire took to the road for the “Malakas of the Universe” tour at the end of 2011. To date, Bushfire’s self-issued Black Ash Sunday (2010; more recently put out on vinyl) is their only official release, following three demos with nearly an hour’s worth of thickened riff rock and burly tones. The five-piece have undergone some lineup changes since, but on Black Ash Sunday, the unit of guitarists Miguel Pereira and Marcus Bischoff, vocalist Bill Brown, bassist Thomas Glaser (since replaced by Nick K.) and drummer Tom Hoffmann works well together, clearly having learned something about their sound and what they wanted to accomplish musically through their extensive demoing process. Taken as a whole, the album is cohesive, if long at 13 tracks, and showcases a marked Clutch influence, both in Brown’s vocal patterning and in the riff work of Pereira and Bischoff, whose bouncing fuzz prevails on songs like “Black Ash Sunday,” which follows the swamp blues intro “Midsummer Porch View.” The overall sound of the band is full, and as a standalone singer, Brown earns his spot, even if he gives way every now and again to the lower-mouth “stoner rock voice,” which ups the dudely quotient in the band’s overall vibe and ultimately takes away from the musical variety.

Germany being a hotbed of heavy psychedelia, one might expect those elements to show up in Bushfire’s sound, but they don’t. Even though a cut like “The Fiend” has a slower, groovier, more open feel to its verse, it’s grounded stylistically, and that current runs strong throughout Black Ash Sunday. That has its ups and downs as regards the overall listening experience, in that even a song like “Hundredsixtysix,” which has a break in the middle from the forward-pushed riffing, is back to it soon enough, and though Bushfire prove to work quite well within the formula – in that song in particular adding a kind of Helmet-style crunch to the overall sound without sacrificing melody in the chorus – it’s too easy as the record plays out to lose sight of which tracks stand out for what reasons. Fans of Washington D.C. heavy rockers Borracho will recognize a lot of what Bushfire are doing here, tonally and in terms of approach – though it’s worth noting that Borracho’s Splitting Sky was a 2011 release and this is 2010 – and ultimately, Black Ash Sunday falls prey to a similar first-album misstep as that record did: too much of a good thing. The ripping biker metal solo on “Little Man” wastes not one move in kicking as much ass as possible, and the late-album boogie of “Forget Regret” is a high point of the whole listening experience – one of the best riffs here, hands down – but getting there feels like twice the trip by the time you arrive. It’s not necessarily a question of songwriting as one of abundance.

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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:

The German four-piece also announced some new jackets, but the album seemed the most headline-worthy inclusion. My Sleeping Karma, whose third full-length, Tri, was a 2010 highlight, sent over word today that they’ve begun the writing process for the follow-up, due out sometime before the end of this year. 2012 wasn’t exactly lacking for killer album prospects, but I won’t complain about the chance to hear new stuff from these guys, and they’ll also be playing a slew of European summer fests, on which you can find more info at their website.

Straight from the PR wire to your very eyes:

We hope that all of you had a peaceful start into the New Year.

Here is the latest news from The MSK Camp.

New Record 2012:
We are busy writing on new material for our 4th studio album. The release is planned for summer/fall this year. We don’t know the exact date yet, but it will happen in 2012, promised!

New Merchandise:
Our new zip jackets (colour: chocolate/gold) were sold out during the last tour. You will find them back in our shop during the next week as well as some other new shirts and items… do yourself something good during these cold days.

http://www.mysleepingkarma.com

The other day in my post about Lord Vicar and Sigiriya being added to the London lineup (Roadsaw has also joined the bill — stoked), I mentioned that Elvis Deluxe also signed on to play the Berlin Desertfest — website here — as well. It dawned on me after that that I haven’t really had the chance to talk much about the Berlin fest.

That’s probably at least in part because I can’t go. Much as I’d love to take three weeks and dick around Europe going from show to show — sandwich the weekend of Roadburn with the two Desertfests — it’s just not feasible. I have a job, and without it, no money to do the dicking around already planned, so at some point, I need to go back to it. Too bad, given the lineup already announced (see above) and the reportedly more still to come.

In any case, Berlin Desertfest (put together by Sound of Liberation) has some cool stuff in the works, and I thought it would be a good time to find out more about it. Here’s the info I got sent, so that if you’re like me and unable to go, you can also be jealous of anyone who is:

We plan bands from all over the world: we still have quite a few to announce! It will happen on Thursday 19th April in Festsaal Kreuzberg / Berlin and in Astra Kulturhaus / Berlin on 20th and 21st April, 2012.

Orange Goblin will headline the 19th.
Motorpsycho on 20th and Colour Haze on 21st.

We also have a Theatre Bizarre planned with two movies: Fuzzomentary ( doc about Truckfighters band) + Black Mass Rising (visions of a bunch of bands from various genres about the thematic: darkness, mysticism and apocalypse).

Also a couple of artist playing acoustic as well as DJ in this small theatre. The place will be fully redecorated by artists to bring a special atmosphere to the Theatre Bizarre. Artwork exhibit is also scheduled, as well as a “hippie corner”: market with labels, artwork designers, food, craftsmen, etc.

If stonerly German trio Wight have anything in their favor at all — other than riffs — it’s charm. The Darmstadt three-piece just today released a new video for the song “Shaman Woman” from their Wight Weedy Wight debut. They reportedly made the video in homage “to all the awesome live videos of the TV show Beat Club! Beat Club was produced by Radio Bremen from 1965 to 1972.” Anyone who’s seen the classic Black Sabbath clip for “Iron Man” should have some idea of the style they’re talking about.

As ever for these dudes, it looks like they’re having a blast. If you missed the Six Dumb Questions with the band, it’s here. Enjoy the video:

It is as caustic as it is melodically rich, and Agape, the third album from post-black metallers Lantlôs, masterfully blends melancholic solipsism with gripping aggression. Released like the French/German duo’s second album, .Neon (2010), through Prophecy Productions, Agape is best understood through the lens of collaboration. Lantlôs brings together Alcest’s Stéphane “Neige” Paut on vocals and multi-instrumentalist Markus “Herbst” Siegenhort, and each has a pivotal role to play in the overall atmosphere of Agape, for which Felix Wylezik also handled session drum work. Herbst, who also comprised the one-man black metal outfit of the same name and drummed for Impavida, is the driving figure behind the music of Agape’s five tracks, and is more concerned overall with setting a mood and an atmosphere than executing verses and choruses in succession. The songs are linear for the most part, or cyclical in some way, but even when parts repeat, they do so having changed somehow, so that the lushness of the melody behind the distortion at the beginning of closer “Eribo – I Collect the Stars” changes as the song develops and moves into and out of its ambient stretch. Long breaks find Herbst experimenting with guitar, bass and keys, as on opening cut “Intrauterin,” in which underwater guitar lays on top of far-off melodic echoes, or “Bliss,” which splits itself from the blasting of its first half to proffer winding-smoke jazz in its second, Wylezik adding personality to each tap of his ride cymbal in a way that wholly justifies his presence alongside Neige and Herbst.

As for Neige — who has seen the profile and cross-genre appeal of Alcest rise over the course of its two (soon three) full-lengths – his vocals will no doubt surprise many who approach Agape expecting something similar to the soft, wispy melodicism of his recent work. The slow, doomly march of “Intrauterin” is made all the more abrasive by his deep-seated screams, and though the song opens with two solid minutes of manipulated noise, there’s little to prepare the listener for either the heaviness of Wylezik’s crashes or the whine in Herbst’s guitar once the track actually gets going. Neige comes right in as well and sounds like his throat is trying to tear itself from his neck, and for the next two minutes, Lantlôs emit blackened doom of terrible ferocity, taking a pause after 4:30 as fading feedback gives way to the aforementioned melodic break. Around 7:45, they revive the plod and Neige reenters with screams, but the melody line skillfully interwoven, and it’s less a switch back and forth than a joining of the two sides into a cohesive and complementary whole – much like the band itself. At 9:52, “Intrauterin” is the longest song on Agape (immediate points there), and does a decent job of laying out the scope of the album, but “Bliss” immediately expands and somewhat works itself against those expectations by launching from the guitar line into a flurry of d-beat sub-blast drumming and drawn-out screams that seem to set up the slowdown that arrives at 1:23.

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German outfit Vibravoid are a hard band to keep up with. Since their 2001 debut was released on CD in 2000, they’ve gone on to become wildly prolific, working with labels like Nasoni, Sulatron, Fruits de Mer and Herzberg Verlag. In 2011, the Düsseldorf natives had their busiest year yet, with three 7” singles/splits, their second live album recorded at the Burg Herzberg festival (their 2010 set was also released last year), and the Minddrugs studio full-length on Sulatron (CD) and the Greek imprint Anazitisi Records (LP). Between that, their stake in the Timezine print fanzine and their affiliation with the ultra-retro Chenaski clothing line, the band has so much happening at any given moment that it’s hard not to get lost somewhere along the way. Even their lineup is nebulous. There’s no info included with the Minddrugs CD in that regard, except that the guitars, bass, mellotron, “stylophone” and theremin are played by Vibravoid, and depending on where you try to find the info, they’re either a trio or a four-piece, the only consistent member of which seems to be band founder/guitarist/vocalist Christian Koch. This can be frustrating if, say, you’re a stickler for including that kind of information in your reviews (cough cough), but ultimately, it stands in accord with Vibravoid’s propensity for mind-bending. Everything they do is steeped in a swirling, surreal psychedelia. What’s most surprising about Minddrugs is the varied forms that psychedelia takes.

Arguably, Vibravoid are best known for the kind of upbeat, late-’60s psych pop that hones in on the era before ballsy riffs took over in rock and it was more about the organ, the swirl, the echoes and the danceable feel. Even unto 2008’s The Politics of Ecstasy, that was the core of their style, and though those elements show up on Minddrugs as well, Koch and his fellow players are not at all limited by the confines of pop. In six tracks’ time, Vibravoid eases their way from the friendly garage fuzz of opener “Seefeel,” on which the vocals echo their verses and choruses bordering on indecipherability, to an epic closing rendition of Pink Floyd’s “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun,” which comes in at nearly 23 minutes and boasts expansive sections of effects play, tripped-out singularities and, finally, cosmic triumph. In between the two extremes, cuts like “What You Want” and “You Keep on Falling” (the latter released as a 7” earlier this year) offer balanced space rock/pop, the 12 minutes of “What You Want” seeming to pass quickly through its undulating midsection jam for the strength of the hook surrounding, and shorter excursions “Do it Allright” and “Lost Intensity” offering deconstructed and surprisingly abrasive noise and subdued, well-executed sub-drone atmospherics, respectively. Minddrugs is every bit the journey its title and artwork suggest, but even as “Do it Allright” devolves into a long fadeout/in that immerses the listener in painful static and echoplex noise, one doesn’t get the sense they’re out of control or unaware of what they’re doing.

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Included at the bottom of this post is a live clip of German stonerly trio Wight performing in their native Darmsdadt. Taken from the band’s upcoming DVD Wight Home Weedio (get it?) and the same audio source as their split 10″ with Stone Axe, the song is the title-track from their 2011 Wight Weedy Wight debut (review here), which was self-released through Fat and Holy Records and among the most sincere executions of unabashed stoner groove I heard all year. If you watch the video, you’ll notice the band has trails.

Now, that could be an effect put on in editing, but I prefer to think that wherever Wight go, they have those trails with them. They’re just that stoner rock. So, if Wight goes to the cash machine? Trails. Wight orders a sandwich for lunch? Trails. Wight lets loose some awesome languid riffing and heady jams? Trails. In fact, even if that’s not the case, don’t tell me. I’d rather live with my fantasy, however contradicted by the fire and sundry psychedelic visuals that come up later on as the song progresses.

Wight Weedy Wight followed a simple and familiar enough formula for crafting cool and natural sounding heavy psych, and though it was still obviously a first album and pretty rudimentary in terms of style, it rocked and showed potential for righteous jams to come. Having already previewed the follow-up sophomore outing — to be titled Through the Woods into Deep Water — with a free download of a new demo called “You!” (streaming here), Wight look to already be developing the classically spaced-out side of their sound and balancing it with their organically jammed mentality. Right on.

Before Through the Woods into Deep Water hits this coming spring, I wanted to bug the three-piece with Six Dumb Questions just to get some basic idea of what they’re all about and what went into making Wight Weedy Wight, and caught them just as they were hitting the road with Bushfire on their “Malakas of the Universe” tour.

Wight is guitarist/vocalist Rene Hofmann, bassist Peter-Philipp Schierhorn (also of black metal outfit Fallen Tyrant) and drummer Michael Kluck. Please enjoy the following Six Dumb Questions:

1. Tell me about how the band got together. What was it that first sparked the idea for Wight, and how did the three of you join up?

Rene: When I came to Darmstadt, I wanted to found a new band because I had a lot of ideas. In all of my previous bands, I was only the vocalist, and this time I wanted to play guitar too in order to combine my ideas for vocal and guitar melodies.

Peter and I met in late 2007, and after some months of searching we found a drummer in April 2008. We started with some of my ideas, and with the input of the other two band members we developed a heavy, doomy style. On our first demo and a lot of unreleased material you can hear that. We played a couple of gigs in 2009 before we parted ways with our old drummer. Michael and I knew each other from working in a record store. Michael joined the band in February 2010, and we really started all over from there. We developed a really awesome workflow and wrote, arranged and recorded Wight Weedy Wight within a couple of months.

2. How much of Wight’s songwriting comes from jamming out on the riffs? How are the riffs pieced together, and if that’s the way it goes, how are the songs kind of carved out of those jams?

Peter: Rene usually comes up with the riffs, we start jamming on them in the practice room and Michael and I develop our parts. Usually, Rene also has some rough ideas for the structure, and we refine them together. On one or two occasions, we also started from a drumbeat or a bass line, but usually Rene‘s guitar riffs are the base for our compositions.

3. Tell me about recording Wight Weedy Wight. How much of the album was recorded live, and as your debut, how much does it show what you want the sound of Wight to be?

Rene: We recorded the album live, together in a 200sqm studio. It was a cool experience recording that way. Our engineer Jorge [Medina] also helped a lot with that. I recorded some guitar overdubs afterwards, as well as all of the vocals.

It is important to know that we recorded Wight Weedy Wight after only about half a year together as a band. So the songs have a kind of impulsive vibe to them, which really forms the sound. It’s always that way when we write new songs, and you will hear that on future recordings.

4. How did the split with Stone Axe come about? When were those jams recorded, and will any of that material make it onto Through the Woods into Deep Water? Do you know yet when the next record will be out?

Michael: Yeah, man, ask Tony.

Rene: Michael and I saw Stone Axe at Roadburn 2011 and were blown away by the performance. I took out my camera, filmed two songs and sent the videos to Tony [Reed] later. I told him about Fat & Holy Records. Together, we had the idea to release a split because I told him we had recorded a jam session during the Wight Weedy Wight sessions – the “Cosmic Rhythm #2.” He said he was about to record three jams in the studio with his band for the B-side. The other Wight track on the split LP is a live version of “Wight Weedy Wight” which was recorded in Darmstadt early this year.

Peter: The tracks are exclusively released on the split, they will not be included on the new album. We will release Through the Woods Into Deep Water in March or April, but we do not have a fixed date yet.

Rene: It all depends on how soon the mixing and the layout are done.

5. You guys have signed on to play the Berlin Desertfest. Will you tour around that, or do other strings of dates in Europe for the new album? Any chance you’d hook up with Wiht from the UK and do a “Wight on Wiht” tour?

Rene: We don’t have any tour dates confirmed for the new album. We will play a couple of gigs in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands in February and March together with our friends from Bushfire, though. We hope to play some more gigs around or after Desertfest. The Wiht guys seem to be nice, I hope to see them live or even play with them some day. Like they said, a “Missing G Tour” … ;-)

6. Any other plans or closing words you want to mention?

If you ask something like that, we go Darkthrone on you and just drop a bunch of names of bands and friends you should check out: Bushfire, Fallen Tyrant, Black Lizard, Godless Funk of Bonanza, The Wolves, Manges, Burden, The Gasoline Disaster, Okta Logue, 1000mods, Sun of Nothing, Cherry Choke, Coogans Bluff, Hyne, Toner Low, Broken Spirits, Negativvm, Robotnik.

Wight’s website

Wight on Thee Facebooks

Agape is the third album from the German/French collaboration Lantlôs, which unites Markus “Herbst” Siegenhort of Herbst and Stéphane “Neige” Paut of Alcest in an emotional torrent of atmospheric post-black metal. Joined by session drummer Felix Wylezik, Lantlôs is more a band than ever on Agape, which follows 2010′s .Neon and has already seen its European release through Prophecy Productions, weaving swiftly through searing black metal and contemplative, evocative ambience.

Today I’m fortunate enough to be able to premiere the song “Bliss” from Agape — which you can stream on the player above — and on it you’ll find Herbst and Neige working in tandem to express a singular but complex emotional ideology. Herbst in the multi-instrumentalist role on guitar and bass, Wyleszik providing drums and Neige contributing distant but still prominent screams, the song begins with guitar before launching into its blasted-out aggression, which in turn gives way toward the midpoint (listen to the bass there; it’s in the background, but not to be missed) to soft piano and a jazzy drum beat.

The build and climax that ensues from there is befitting the journey on which Lantlôs take the listener throughout the course of Agape, which like other Prophecy releases over the last couple years by bands like Alcest, Arctic Plateau, Les Discrets and others, pushes the boundaries of musical darkness and melancholy while also remembering that the core of a lasting song is its melody. Lantlôs does this and holds firm to its heaviness and abrasion as well, making it all the more impressive.

North American release is set for Jan. 7, 2012. For more info on Lantlôs, check out the band’s website. Prophecy Productions‘ catalog is available for viewing at this location.

 

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 : )

Things have been pretty busy for stonerly trio Wight since they last checked in with their Wight Weedy Wight debut full-length (a whole month and a half ago that it was reviewed). They’re getting ready to release a jam-centric split 12″ with Stone Axe on their own Fat and Holy Records imprint, and at the start of next month, they’ll be embarking on a weekender tour through their native Germany with fellow riff-minded Darmsdadters Bushfire that’s been dubbed the “Malakas of the Universe” tour. Good fun.

Perhaps the best of all, though is that Wight are set to release their second album in the first part of the imminent New Year. February/March 2012 will see the release of Through the Woods into Deep Water, both on CD through Fat and Holy, and also on vinyl through Bilocation Records. Wight will celebrate in April with a performance at the Berlin Desertfest.

To help spread the word about Through the Woods into Deep Water, Wight have made a demo of the new song “You!” available for free download through their website. The sound is rough, but still plenty clear to give an idea, and the blues jam that ensues is unmistakable. To complement the killer soloing of guitarist Rene Hofmann, guest vocal spots from Bill Brown (of Bushfire) and Sami Isin (of Jamie’s Backyard) add to a loose, grooving atmosphere worthy of the second The Kings of Frog Island record.

The band offered me the chance to host the track for streaming and after taking a listen and nodding my way through “You!,” the choice seemed obvious. You’ll find it on the player below. Hope you dig:

Wight‘s Through the Woods into Deep Water is expected to release in early 2012. The free download of the “You!” demo is available from Mediafire here. To keep up to date on all Wight‘s many doings, check out their website.

You know, I was listening to Hypnos 69‘s Legacy just yesterday, by coincidence, and I still feel like that record is lightyears beyond me. Maybe I wouldn’t feel that way if I was ever so fortunate as to see the band live, but that doesn’t do me much good now. As it stands, Legacy is one of probably two records (I can’t think of another, but will allow for the possibility) that I’ve reviewed since starting this site that I still feel like I’m learning more about with every listen. Simply brilliant.

And if you’re lucky enough to be in Germany for the end of 2011, you can catch those Belgian prog wonders with Dutch fuzz upstarts Sungrazer (whose Mirador is pretty high on my list for this year) and Glowsun from France, whose split with Electric Moon was recently reviewed. Brash German hardcore punkers DxBxSx will guest on the first three of the four “Santa Psychedelica” tour dates, which Sound of Liberation was kind enough to send over. Behold:

Xmas is coming soon and we have some sweets for you as well…

Hypnos 69 (BEL), Sungrazer (NL) and Glowsun (F) combining their psychedelic spirits to deliver you some outstanding After-Xmas–Shows!

Special Guest for the “Punkedelica” After Show Parties in Cologne, Munich and Dresden are DxBxSx from Berlin… well know for their wild Party Rock n Roll!

Santa Psychedelica Vol. 1
27.12 Cologne Underground w/ DxBxSx
28.12 Munich Feierwerk w/ DxBxSx
29.12 Dresden Sektor E w/ DxBxSx
30.12 Berlin Lido

A little while back, I reviewed a Sulatron Records split between German heavy psych jammers Electric Moon and similarly-minded French act Glowsun. The first comment received with the review was a request for a full-stream, and, well, it didn’t seem like such a bad idea.

But I figured instead of doing the split on its own, might as well go all out and tackle something truly massive, like Electric Moon‘s Flaming Lake full-length, released earlier this year also on Sulatron. The four tracks are a bit like staring into the raw nebular elements of creation — just extended jams, recorded live by guitarist Dave “Sula Bassana” Schmidt. Everything is unpolished, everything sounds made up on the spot. It’s fantastically spontaneous and freaked way the hell out.

Joined by drummer Alex and bassist Komet Lulu (also Philipp of Daturana on drums for closer “Burning Battenberg”), Bassana leads Electric Moon through these four massive jams, leaving structures open but a clear direction ahead, so that although immersive, the jams are also intricate-feeling, and hold up whether you want to rake your mind over each groove or let it wash over you.

And with just under 80 minutes of material, Flaming Lake provides plenty of wash. Or maybe I should take the ‘s’ out of that and just have it read “wah.” Either way, get ready for some ultra-spaced psychedelics and weighted instrumental exploration, courtesy of Sula and the rest of Electric Moon. The whole record is streaming on the player below. Hope you enjoy:

Flaming Lake is out now on Sulatron Records and is limited to 250 physical, jewel case copies with art by Komet Lulu  that are available here. The latest info on Electric Moon can be found at their Thee Facebooks page as well. Special thanks to Sula Bassana for allowing me to host Flaming Lake.

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.