Crucial Blast Newsletter :63: OCTOBER 1ST 2007
:::::::::::::::| current blasts |::::::::::::::::
> NEW SKULLFLOWER AND WILDILDLIFE MP3s POSTED
> GREY DATURAS Dead In The Woods CD re-issue out now
> WEBSTORE UPDATE FOR MONDAY OCTOBER 1ST
> LIVE ACTIONS
www.crucialblast.net
Not a ton of stuff to report this week, but we've got an announcement regarding Year Of No Light and some free MP3's have been posted on the site from the upcoming SKULLFLOWER and WILDILDLIFE albums for you to download.
YEAR OF NO LIGHT have been confirmed to appear at 2008's Roadburn Festival, one of the preeminent heavy rock/doom
metal/psych fests in Europe. YEAR OF NO LIGHT will be performing at the festival on Saturday April 19th; more details can be found at http://www.roadburn.com/frames.html. YONL are also scheduled to open for JESU for a couple of French dates in December - very cool. Check out our TOURS page for the details. And the band is planning a European tour in April of 2008 that will take them through France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Holland, and the Czech Republic...more information as things come together.
http://www.crucialblast.net/yonlnord.html
We've just posted two full MP3 tracks from the upcoming SKULLFLOWER IIIrd Gatekeeper and WILDILDLIFE Six CD
releases that will be available to order at the end of the month. You can download an MP3 of SKULLFLOWER's "Black Rabbit" and WILDILDLIFE's "Feed" here:
::MP3:: SKULLFLOWER "Black Rabbit" www.crucialblastshop.net/audio/02_Black Rabbit_Skullflower.mp3
::MP3:: WILDILDLIFE "Feed" www.crucialblastshop.net/audio/02_Black Rabbit_Skullflower.mp3
Keep in mind that these MP3s are at a lower bit rate so the sound quality isn't anywhere as burly as the actual CD releases.
-----------------------------------------------------
GREY DATURAS Dead In The Woods CD re-issue out now
-----------------------------------------------------
"If the melbourne sunshine puts a smile on most of its native's faces, this must be compensated for by the scowls of the Grey Daturas, an improvisational three piece intent on wiping all that is bright, clean and decent from the sunkissed land and drowning it in a muddy grave in the gape of the Pacific. "Repeat Until False" rides leaden and brutal, striating and immolating all in its path. "The Hanging Man Is No Peacock" twists in the wind, Bonnie Mercer's guitar harmonics like crows picking the corpse's eye while the sullen and cruel drums and bass of Robert McManus and Robert Mayson look on with impassive, unflinching, sunken stares. Although they cite the Stooges and Sonic Youth as influences, this is altogether darker." - THE WIRE (UK), April 2005
The reissue of GREY DATURAS's crushing 2004 album Dead In The Woods is available NOW from Crucial Blast, and released just in time for the mammoth upcoming US tour from Melbourne, Australia trio. Long out of print and originally released through the Crashing Jets imprint, Dead In The Woods is a massive exhortation of lumbering metallic sludge rock, freely improvised noise, and sky-streaking psychedelia, roving the murky void between The Dead C, Hawkwind, crushing sludge metal, and Skullflower's heaviest jams. This re-issue features a full
remastering by Scott Hull at Visceral Sound, and comes in a 4-panel case printed by Stumptown Printers. For more information on this release, check it out HERE:
http://www.crucialblast.net/greydaturas_deadinthewoods.html
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEW FULL-LENGTH LIMITED EDITION CD-RS OUT NOW FROM AIDAN BAKER, LUASA RAELON, AND LIGHT OF SHIPWRECK
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The new Crucial Bliss CD-Rs have been selling fast over the past 2 weeks since the last store update, so if you're interested in picking any of these up, do so soon, as each one has been pressed in a small edition of 200-300 copies. The new Aidan Baker CD-R Exoskeleton Heart is a gorgeous hour-long slab of crunchy, rumbling ambient guitar drift, with Aidan's trademark stunning melodies wafting up from some surprisingly heavy dirge-drone and blasted climaxes that fans of Aidan's shoegazer-dirge metal band Nadja will recognize...a new disc from the Delaware one-man band LIGHT OF SHIPWRECK titled From The Idle Cylinders, which combines sheets of shimmering feedback, heavy EARTH-en dronemetal and freaked out krautrock percussion and sounds to us like an ultra-hypnotic cross between EARTH, CAN, Steve Reich, and Brian Eno (!!!)....and the galaxy-devouring ambient blackness of LUASA RAELON's Into The Void CD-R, with five tracks of colossal interstellar deathdrift, heavy HEAVY stuff from David Reed's molten synthesizers, and totally essential for fans of Megaptera, Yen Pox, Troum, Lull, Lustmord, and Gruntsplatter! Each one of these new Bliss discs also come in our new signature foldover sleeve design, and they look FANTASTIC...Chris Dodge (of Short, Fast, And Loud Magazine / East West Blast Test / Spazz fame) said that our CD-R releases on Crucial Bliss are the least "CD-R looking" CD-Rs he's seen!
http://crucialblast.net/aidanbaker_exoskeletonheart.html
http://crucialblast.net/lightofshipwreck_fromtheidle.html
http://crucialblast.net/luasaraelon_intothevoid.html
-------------------------------------------
WEBSTORE UPDATE: MONDAY SEPTEMBER 17th 2007
-------------------------------------------
Been another hectic week of getting new stuff written up and grinding away at various Crucial Blast projects while trying to catch some killer local shows...just caught Circle at the DC9 space in DC last week, after waiting for years to finally see 'em live...so amazing, and so tight, they busted out a set of tune that drew from their new Katapult album as well as some old favorites. Mika Ratto was one of the coolest frontmen I've ever seen, like a cross between Rob Halford and James Brown and a peyote shaman. The band that was touring with Circle was Endless Boogie, and they were just as killer. Their boogie was indeed endless, jamming on some vintage sounding 70's rock riffage that was stretched out into monolithic cyclical jams.
A couple of us also went to catch a grindcore show at a local VFW hall here in Hagerstown last week, and one of the bands that played was a Virginia trio called Salome. Keep an eye out for 'em if you're into the heavy doom action, 'cuz even though the band was only made up of a drummer, guitarist, and a tiny girl on vocals, they delivered an awesome set of ultra-pounding, tarpit sludge metal, and the singer was belting out some sick screams - apparently she's recently joined on as an additional vocalist for Agoraphobic Nosebleed, if that tells ya
anything. Definitely a band to watch.
But once the shows were over, it's been back to the keyboard, and as always we've got a bunch of great heavy tuneage from the most experimental, progressive, adventurous, and downright bizarre corners of the underground. The one release that we just got in this week that has been getting played over and over and over though is one that is actually pretty retro, pretty rooted in the sounds of an era of psychedelic rock gone by. I'm talking about the debut self-titled album from Kosmos, a quartet from Montreal that features Away from Voivod on drums, and who have created an utterly infectious collection of hypnotic, hard rocking tunes that take their cue from classic 70's krautrock and Deep Purple, proggy psychedelia and the sweet, sweet sounds of vintage Hammond and Moog keyboards, a feast of synthesizers that fans of Zombi are gonna bug out over, but with a solid heavy rock backbone that keeps the album grooving from beginning to end. It's classic psych/prog/kraut rock refitted for the 21st century, and one of my favorite albums of the year so far!
Akimbo are back with a new album of crushing ROCK called Navigating The Bronze and it swings harder than anything they've done before - we've got it on both CD and LP. Think AC/DC, Karp, pummeling metallic boogie, and sweaty basement shows. Awesome. There's a CD reissue of a previously sold-out cd-r from the San Francisco avant-prog band LEFT SENSORY BYPASS called Temporal Exclusion - fans of Magma, Fantomas, and Time Of Orchids need to check this out fast. The new BURNING STAR CORE album Operator Dead Post Abandoned is in stock, and BSC's C. Spencer Yeh is here backed up by members of Hair Police for a massively heavy free-drone meltdown. If yer looking for some
serious nerve ending damage, the new debut CHILD ABUSE disc will deliver - again, I'm being reminded of French prog gods Magma, but this time those keyboard-heavy prog moves are mashed with geeked out death metal and 8-bit synth jamming that's had way too much sugar pumped into it's system. Great s**t.
And there is a ton of blackened murkiness in as well, including the dreamy black drift of BLACK SEAS OF
INFINITY's Amrita - The Quintessence CD, a horrific EP of backwoods black drone and skeletal acoustic twang from DEVOID OF ALL MERCY, an excellent album from KNOX OM PAX titled Laudanum, total doomed chamber strains, at times sounding like a bleaker blacker Amber Asylum. Vomit Orchestra returns with two recently released discs of bizarre ambience, shards of distorted blackness, and gorgeous guitar instrumentals. And the new STALAGGH disc Projeckt Misanthropia is finally here, the final chaper in Stalaggh's trilogy of psychotic black industrial rituals.
Of course there's plenty of black metal and beyond-black metal weirdness in as well, like the brand new album from STROSZEK that's more dark acoustic-driven indie rock with flashes of heaviness than anything remotely black metal...a freaked out EP from primitivist black metallers STYGGELSE...and one of the rawest BM discs we carry, the L'ombre De La Solitude CD from V.A.C.K. (Vinland Anti Christian Kommand)!
I've also received batches of stuff from some of our favorite labels, new and old...a new one that we're carrying for the first time ever is the Canadian label D-Trash, which specializes in the noisiest strains of digital hardcore, breakcore, and extreme electronica. We now have their crushing albums from Schizoid (think raw black metal meets distorted breakcore!), Unitus (one of my new favorite albums, filled with super heavy breakbeats so distorted and crushing that it sounds like Godflesh gone drum n' bass), a tribute compilation to the digital hardcore legends themselves, Atari Teenage Riot, and a killer compilation CD of D-Trash affiliated artists called
Rising Tide.
The End Records have come out with some killer albums lately. The Kosmos debut made it as our featured release this week, but we also have the new album In GLorious TImes from SLEEPYTIME GORILLA MUSEUM, with some of their heaviest prog/metal music yet; the new album from the legendary avant-black metal band SIGH is here and it freaking RULES, a bombastic blast of ripping black metal and Teutonic symphonies! And an amazing new CD from Winds, featuring former and current members of Arcturus, Mayhem, and Khold, and continuing to evoke amazing
cosmic visions through their complex, virtuoistic astral black metal and classical arrangements, and backed by a string quartet!
Head over to the Crucial Blast Webstore to check out all of the new stuff.
http://www.crucialblast.net/webstore/index.html
http://www.crucialblast.net/webstore/newadditions.html
--------------------------
CRUCIAL BLAST LIVE ACTIONS
-------------------------
BLACK ELK
October 19 2007 Portland OR @ Dante's w/ U.S.S.A. (Duane Denison, Paul Barker, Gary Call, Johnny Rabb),
Weedeater, Oxbow
October 31 2007 Portland OR @ Berbati's Pan w/Pierced Arrows (Fred and Toody from Dead Moon), Red Fang
SOUVENIRS YOUNG AMERICA
Oct 12 2007 Richmond VA @ Virginia Art 6 w/ Tulsa Drone
Oct 18 2007 Pittsburgh PA @ Modern Formations Gallery w/ Microwaves
Oct 19 2007 Richmond VA @ TBA w/ Microwaves
Nov 8 2007 Richmond VA @ Gallery 5 w/ Conifer, Lesbian
MICROWAVES
Oct 18 2007 Pittsburgh PA @ Modern Formations
Oct 23 2007 Pittsburgh PA @ Garfield Artworks
WEEDEATER
10/05/07 Atlanta GA @ Lenny`s Bar w/ Rwake, Total Fucking Destruction
10/06/07 Savannah GA @ The Jinx w/ Rwake, Total Fucking Destruction
10/07/07 Birmingham AL @ The Nick
10/08/07 New Orleans LA @ Howlin` Wolf
10/09/07 Houston TX @ Rudyards
10/10/07 Austin TX @ The Mohawk w/ Jesu, U.S.S.A.
10/11/07 San Antonio TX @ Rock Bottom Tattoo Bar w/ U.S.S.A.
10/15/07 San Diego CA @ Casbah w/ U.S.S.A., Oxbow presents Love`s Holiday
10/16/07 Los Angeles CA @ Knitting Factory w/ U.S.S.A., Oxbow
10/17/07 San Francisco CA @ 12 Galaxies w/ U.S.S.A., Oxbow
10/19/07 Portland OR @ Dante`s w/ U.S.S.A., Oxbow presents Love`s Holiday, Black Elk
10/20/07 Seattle WA @ El Corazon w/ U.S.S.A., Oxbow presents Love`s Holiday
10/23/07 Tavern Denver CO @ 3 Kings w/ U.S.S.A.
10/25/07 St. Paul MN @ Turf Club
10/26/07 Chicago IL @ The Note
10/27/07 Lansing MI @ Mac`s Bar
10/28/07 Cincinnati OH @ Dirty Jack`s
10/29/07 Nashville TN @ The End
10/31/07 Cleveland OH @ Beachland
11/01/07 Columbus OH @ Ravari Room w/ Salvage
11/09/07 Raleigh NC @ Volume 11 Tavern
BEHOLD...THE ARCTOPUS
October 4 Cleveland OH @ Peabody's w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, GENGHIS TRON
October 5 Pittsburgh PA @ Rex Theatre w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, GENGHIS TRON
October 6 Chicago IL @ Subterranean w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, GENGHIS TRON
October 7 Saint Paul MN @ Station 4 w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, GENGHIS TRON
October 8 Papillion NE @ The Rock w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, GENGHIS TRON
October 9 Denver CO @ Marquis Theater w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, GENGHIS TRON
October 11 Los Angeles CA @ Key Club w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, GENGHIS TRON
October 12 San Francisco CA @ Bottom Of The Hill w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, GENGHIS TRON
October 13 Orangevale CA @ The Boardwalk w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, GENGHIS TRON
October 14 Santa Ana CA @ Galaxy Theatre w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, GENGHIS TRON
October 16 Dallas TX @ Curtain Club w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, GENGHIS TRON
October 17 Spring TX @ Java Jazz w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, GENGHIS TRON
October 19 St. Petersburg FL @ State Theatre w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, GENGHIS TRON
October 20 Fort Lauderdale FL @ Culture Room w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST,GENGHIS TRON
October 21 Orlando FL @ Backbooth w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, GENGHIS TRON
October 22 Atlanta GA @ Masquerade w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, GENGHIS TRON
October 24 Baltimore MD @ Ottobar w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, GENGHIS TRON
October 25 Cambridge MA @ The Middle East w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BGENGHIS TRON
October 26 Asbury Parke NJ @ The Stone Pony w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, GENGHIS TRON
October 27 Philadelphia PA @ First Unitarian Church w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, GENGHIS TRON
October 28 New York NY @ Blender Theatre at Gramercy w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST,GENGHIS TRON
GENGHIS TRON
October 4 Cleveland OH @ Peabody's w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BEHOLD...THE ARCTOPUS
October 5 Pittsburgh PA @ Rex Theatre w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BEHOLD...THE ARCTOPUS
October 6 Chicago IL @ Subterranean w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BEHOLD...THE ARCTOPUS
October 7 Saint Paul MN @ Station 4 w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BEHOLD...THE ARCTOPUS
October 8 Papillion NE @ The Rock w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BEHOLD...THE ARCTOPUS
October 9 Denver CO @ Marquis Theater w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BEHOLD...THE ARCTOPUS
October 11 Los Angeles CA @ Key Club w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BEHOLD...THE ARCTOPUS
October 12 San Francisco CA @ Bottom Of The Hill w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BEHOLD...THE
ARCTOPUS
October 13 Orangevale CA @ The Boardwalk w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BEHOLD...THE ARCTOPUS
October 14 Santa Ana CA @ Galaxy Theatre w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BEHOLD...THE ARCTOPUS
October 16 Dallas TX @ Curtain Club w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BEHOLD...THE ARCTOPUS
October 17 Spring TX @ Java Jazz w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BEHOLD...THE ARCTOPUS
October 19 St. Petersburg FL @ State Theatre w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BEHOLD...THE ARCTOPUS
October 20 Fort Lauderdale FL @ Culture Room w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BEHOLD...THE ARCTOPUS
October 21 Orlando FL @ Backbooth w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BEHOLD...THE ARCTOPUS
October 22 Atlanta GA @ Masquerade w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BEHOLD...THE ARCTOPUS
October 24 Baltimore MD @ Ottobar w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BEHOLD...THE ARCTOPUS
October 25 Cambridge MA @ The Middle East w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BEHOLD...THE ARCTOPUS
October 26 Asbury Parke NJ @ The Stone Pony w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BEHOLD...THE ARCTOPUS
October 27 Philadelphia PA @ First Unitarian Church w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BEHOLD...THE
ARCTOPUS
October 28 New York NY @ Blender Theatre at Gramercy w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BEHOLD...THE
ARCTOPUS
CRUCIAL BLAST
PO Box 364
Hagerstown, MD 21741-0364
www.crucialblast.net
:::::::::::::::| current blasts |::::::::::::::::
> NEW SKULLFLOWER AND WILDILDLIFE MP3s POSTED
> GREY DATURAS Dead In The Woods CD re-issue out now
> WEBSTORE UPDATE FOR MONDAY OCTOBER 1ST
> LIVE ACTIONS
www.crucialblast.net
Not a ton of stuff to report this week, but we've got an announcement regarding Year Of No Light and some free MP3's have been posted on the site from the upcoming SKULLFLOWER and WILDILDLIFE albums for you to download.
YEAR OF NO LIGHT have been confirmed to appear at 2008's Roadburn Festival, one of the preeminent heavy rock/doom
metal/psych fests in Europe. YEAR OF NO LIGHT will be performing at the festival on Saturday April 19th; more details can be found at http://www.roadburn.com/frames.html. YONL are also scheduled to open for JESU for a couple of French dates in December - very cool. Check out our TOURS page for the details. And the band is planning a European tour in April of 2008 that will take them through France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Holland, and the Czech Republic...more information as things come together.
http://www.crucialblast.net/yonlnord.html
We've just posted two full MP3 tracks from the upcoming SKULLFLOWER IIIrd Gatekeeper and WILDILDLIFE Six CD
releases that will be available to order at the end of the month. You can download an MP3 of SKULLFLOWER's "Black Rabbit" and WILDILDLIFE's "Feed" here:
::MP3:: SKULLFLOWER "Black Rabbit" www.crucialblastshop.net/audio/02_Black Rabbit_Skullflower.mp3
::MP3:: WILDILDLIFE "Feed" www.crucialblastshop.net/audio/02_Black Rabbit_Skullflower.mp3
Keep in mind that these MP3s are at a lower bit rate so the sound quality isn't anywhere as burly as the actual CD releases.
-----------------------------------------------------
GREY DATURAS Dead In The Woods CD re-issue out now
-----------------------------------------------------
"If the melbourne sunshine puts a smile on most of its native's faces, this must be compensated for by the scowls of the Grey Daturas, an improvisational three piece intent on wiping all that is bright, clean and decent from the sunkissed land and drowning it in a muddy grave in the gape of the Pacific. "Repeat Until False" rides leaden and brutal, striating and immolating all in its path. "The Hanging Man Is No Peacock" twists in the wind, Bonnie Mercer's guitar harmonics like crows picking the corpse's eye while the sullen and cruel drums and bass of Robert McManus and Robert Mayson look on with impassive, unflinching, sunken stares. Although they cite the Stooges and Sonic Youth as influences, this is altogether darker." - THE WIRE (UK), April 2005
The reissue of GREY DATURAS's crushing 2004 album Dead In The Woods is available NOW from Crucial Blast, and released just in time for the mammoth upcoming US tour from Melbourne, Australia trio. Long out of print and originally released through the Crashing Jets imprint, Dead In The Woods is a massive exhortation of lumbering metallic sludge rock, freely improvised noise, and sky-streaking psychedelia, roving the murky void between The Dead C, Hawkwind, crushing sludge metal, and Skullflower's heaviest jams. This re-issue features a full
remastering by Scott Hull at Visceral Sound, and comes in a 4-panel case printed by Stumptown Printers. For more information on this release, check it out HERE:
http://www.crucialblast.net/greydaturas_deadinthewoods.html
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEW FULL-LENGTH LIMITED EDITION CD-RS OUT NOW FROM AIDAN BAKER, LUASA RAELON, AND LIGHT OF SHIPWRECK
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The new Crucial Bliss CD-Rs have been selling fast over the past 2 weeks since the last store update, so if you're interested in picking any of these up, do so soon, as each one has been pressed in a small edition of 200-300 copies. The new Aidan Baker CD-R Exoskeleton Heart is a gorgeous hour-long slab of crunchy, rumbling ambient guitar drift, with Aidan's trademark stunning melodies wafting up from some surprisingly heavy dirge-drone and blasted climaxes that fans of Aidan's shoegazer-dirge metal band Nadja will recognize...a new disc from the Delaware one-man band LIGHT OF SHIPWRECK titled From The Idle Cylinders, which combines sheets of shimmering feedback, heavy EARTH-en dronemetal and freaked out krautrock percussion and sounds to us like an ultra-hypnotic cross between EARTH, CAN, Steve Reich, and Brian Eno (!!!)....and the galaxy-devouring ambient blackness of LUASA RAELON's Into The Void CD-R, with five tracks of colossal interstellar deathdrift, heavy HEAVY stuff from David Reed's molten synthesizers, and totally essential for fans of Megaptera, Yen Pox, Troum, Lull, Lustmord, and Gruntsplatter! Each one of these new Bliss discs also come in our new signature foldover sleeve design, and they look FANTASTIC...Chris Dodge (of Short, Fast, And Loud Magazine / East West Blast Test / Spazz fame) said that our CD-R releases on Crucial Bliss are the least "CD-R looking" CD-Rs he's seen!
http://crucialblast.net/aidanbaker_exoskeletonheart.html
http://crucialblast.net/lightofshipwreck_fromtheidle.html
http://crucialblast.net/luasaraelon_intothevoid.html
-------------------------------------------
WEBSTORE UPDATE: MONDAY SEPTEMBER 17th 2007
-------------------------------------------
Been another hectic week of getting new stuff written up and grinding away at various Crucial Blast projects while trying to catch some killer local shows...just caught Circle at the DC9 space in DC last week, after waiting for years to finally see 'em live...so amazing, and so tight, they busted out a set of tune that drew from their new Katapult album as well as some old favorites. Mika Ratto was one of the coolest frontmen I've ever seen, like a cross between Rob Halford and James Brown and a peyote shaman. The band that was touring with Circle was Endless Boogie, and they were just as killer. Their boogie was indeed endless, jamming on some vintage sounding 70's rock riffage that was stretched out into monolithic cyclical jams.
A couple of us also went to catch a grindcore show at a local VFW hall here in Hagerstown last week, and one of the bands that played was a Virginia trio called Salome. Keep an eye out for 'em if you're into the heavy doom action, 'cuz even though the band was only made up of a drummer, guitarist, and a tiny girl on vocals, they delivered an awesome set of ultra-pounding, tarpit sludge metal, and the singer was belting out some sick screams - apparently she's recently joined on as an additional vocalist for Agoraphobic Nosebleed, if that tells ya
anything. Definitely a band to watch.
But once the shows were over, it's been back to the keyboard, and as always we've got a bunch of great heavy tuneage from the most experimental, progressive, adventurous, and downright bizarre corners of the underground. The one release that we just got in this week that has been getting played over and over and over though is one that is actually pretty retro, pretty rooted in the sounds of an era of psychedelic rock gone by. I'm talking about the debut self-titled album from Kosmos, a quartet from Montreal that features Away from Voivod on drums, and who have created an utterly infectious collection of hypnotic, hard rocking tunes that take their cue from classic 70's krautrock and Deep Purple, proggy psychedelia and the sweet, sweet sounds of vintage Hammond and Moog keyboards, a feast of synthesizers that fans of Zombi are gonna bug out over, but with a solid heavy rock backbone that keeps the album grooving from beginning to end. It's classic psych/prog/kraut rock refitted for the 21st century, and one of my favorite albums of the year so far!
Akimbo are back with a new album of crushing ROCK called Navigating The Bronze and it swings harder than anything they've done before - we've got it on both CD and LP. Think AC/DC, Karp, pummeling metallic boogie, and sweaty basement shows. Awesome. There's a CD reissue of a previously sold-out cd-r from the San Francisco avant-prog band LEFT SENSORY BYPASS called Temporal Exclusion - fans of Magma, Fantomas, and Time Of Orchids need to check this out fast. The new BURNING STAR CORE album Operator Dead Post Abandoned is in stock, and BSC's C. Spencer Yeh is here backed up by members of Hair Police for a massively heavy free-drone meltdown. If yer looking for some
serious nerve ending damage, the new debut CHILD ABUSE disc will deliver - again, I'm being reminded of French prog gods Magma, but this time those keyboard-heavy prog moves are mashed with geeked out death metal and 8-bit synth jamming that's had way too much sugar pumped into it's system. Great s**t.
And there is a ton of blackened murkiness in as well, including the dreamy black drift of BLACK SEAS OF
INFINITY's Amrita - The Quintessence CD, a horrific EP of backwoods black drone and skeletal acoustic twang from DEVOID OF ALL MERCY, an excellent album from KNOX OM PAX titled Laudanum, total doomed chamber strains, at times sounding like a bleaker blacker Amber Asylum. Vomit Orchestra returns with two recently released discs of bizarre ambience, shards of distorted blackness, and gorgeous guitar instrumentals. And the new STALAGGH disc Projeckt Misanthropia is finally here, the final chaper in Stalaggh's trilogy of psychotic black industrial rituals.
Of course there's plenty of black metal and beyond-black metal weirdness in as well, like the brand new album from STROSZEK that's more dark acoustic-driven indie rock with flashes of heaviness than anything remotely black metal...a freaked out EP from primitivist black metallers STYGGELSE...and one of the rawest BM discs we carry, the L'ombre De La Solitude CD from V.A.C.K. (Vinland Anti Christian Kommand)!
I've also received batches of stuff from some of our favorite labels, new and old...a new one that we're carrying for the first time ever is the Canadian label D-Trash, which specializes in the noisiest strains of digital hardcore, breakcore, and extreme electronica. We now have their crushing albums from Schizoid (think raw black metal meets distorted breakcore!), Unitus (one of my new favorite albums, filled with super heavy breakbeats so distorted and crushing that it sounds like Godflesh gone drum n' bass), a tribute compilation to the digital hardcore legends themselves, Atari Teenage Riot, and a killer compilation CD of D-Trash affiliated artists called
Rising Tide.
The End Records have come out with some killer albums lately. The Kosmos debut made it as our featured release this week, but we also have the new album In GLorious TImes from SLEEPYTIME GORILLA MUSEUM, with some of their heaviest prog/metal music yet; the new album from the legendary avant-black metal band SIGH is here and it freaking RULES, a bombastic blast of ripping black metal and Teutonic symphonies! And an amazing new CD from Winds, featuring former and current members of Arcturus, Mayhem, and Khold, and continuing to evoke amazing
cosmic visions through their complex, virtuoistic astral black metal and classical arrangements, and backed by a string quartet!
Head over to the Crucial Blast Webstore to check out all of the new stuff.
http://www.crucialblast.net/webstore/index.html
http://www.crucialblast.net/webstore/newadditions.html
--------------------------
CRUCIAL BLAST LIVE ACTIONS
-------------------------
BLACK ELK
October 19 2007 Portland OR @ Dante's w/ U.S.S.A. (Duane Denison, Paul Barker, Gary Call, Johnny Rabb),
Weedeater, Oxbow
October 31 2007 Portland OR @ Berbati's Pan w/Pierced Arrows (Fred and Toody from Dead Moon), Red Fang
SOUVENIRS YOUNG AMERICA
Oct 12 2007 Richmond VA @ Virginia Art 6 w/ Tulsa Drone
Oct 18 2007 Pittsburgh PA @ Modern Formations Gallery w/ Microwaves
Oct 19 2007 Richmond VA @ TBA w/ Microwaves
Nov 8 2007 Richmond VA @ Gallery 5 w/ Conifer, Lesbian
MICROWAVES
Oct 18 2007 Pittsburgh PA @ Modern Formations
Oct 23 2007 Pittsburgh PA @ Garfield Artworks
WEEDEATER
10/05/07 Atlanta GA @ Lenny`s Bar w/ Rwake, Total Fucking Destruction
10/06/07 Savannah GA @ The Jinx w/ Rwake, Total Fucking Destruction
10/07/07 Birmingham AL @ The Nick
10/08/07 New Orleans LA @ Howlin` Wolf
10/09/07 Houston TX @ Rudyards
10/10/07 Austin TX @ The Mohawk w/ Jesu, U.S.S.A.
10/11/07 San Antonio TX @ Rock Bottom Tattoo Bar w/ U.S.S.A.
10/15/07 San Diego CA @ Casbah w/ U.S.S.A., Oxbow presents Love`s Holiday
10/16/07 Los Angeles CA @ Knitting Factory w/ U.S.S.A., Oxbow
10/17/07 San Francisco CA @ 12 Galaxies w/ U.S.S.A., Oxbow
10/19/07 Portland OR @ Dante`s w/ U.S.S.A., Oxbow presents Love`s Holiday, Black Elk
10/20/07 Seattle WA @ El Corazon w/ U.S.S.A., Oxbow presents Love`s Holiday
10/23/07 Tavern Denver CO @ 3 Kings w/ U.S.S.A.
10/25/07 St. Paul MN @ Turf Club
10/26/07 Chicago IL @ The Note
10/27/07 Lansing MI @ Mac`s Bar
10/28/07 Cincinnati OH @ Dirty Jack`s
10/29/07 Nashville TN @ The End
10/31/07 Cleveland OH @ Beachland
11/01/07 Columbus OH @ Ravari Room w/ Salvage
11/09/07 Raleigh NC @ Volume 11 Tavern
BEHOLD...THE ARCTOPUS
October 4 Cleveland OH @ Peabody's w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, GENGHIS TRON
October 5 Pittsburgh PA @ Rex Theatre w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, GENGHIS TRON
October 6 Chicago IL @ Subterranean w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, GENGHIS TRON
October 7 Saint Paul MN @ Station 4 w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, GENGHIS TRON
October 8 Papillion NE @ The Rock w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, GENGHIS TRON
October 9 Denver CO @ Marquis Theater w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, GENGHIS TRON
October 11 Los Angeles CA @ Key Club w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, GENGHIS TRON
October 12 San Francisco CA @ Bottom Of The Hill w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, GENGHIS TRON
October 13 Orangevale CA @ The Boardwalk w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, GENGHIS TRON
October 14 Santa Ana CA @ Galaxy Theatre w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, GENGHIS TRON
October 16 Dallas TX @ Curtain Club w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, GENGHIS TRON
October 17 Spring TX @ Java Jazz w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, GENGHIS TRON
October 19 St. Petersburg FL @ State Theatre w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, GENGHIS TRON
October 20 Fort Lauderdale FL @ Culture Room w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST,GENGHIS TRON
October 21 Orlando FL @ Backbooth w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, GENGHIS TRON
October 22 Atlanta GA @ Masquerade w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, GENGHIS TRON
October 24 Baltimore MD @ Ottobar w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, GENGHIS TRON
October 25 Cambridge MA @ The Middle East w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BGENGHIS TRON
October 26 Asbury Parke NJ @ The Stone Pony w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, GENGHIS TRON
October 27 Philadelphia PA @ First Unitarian Church w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, GENGHIS TRON
October 28 New York NY @ Blender Theatre at Gramercy w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST,GENGHIS TRON
GENGHIS TRON
October 4 Cleveland OH @ Peabody's w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BEHOLD...THE ARCTOPUS
October 5 Pittsburgh PA @ Rex Theatre w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BEHOLD...THE ARCTOPUS
October 6 Chicago IL @ Subterranean w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BEHOLD...THE ARCTOPUS
October 7 Saint Paul MN @ Station 4 w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BEHOLD...THE ARCTOPUS
October 8 Papillion NE @ The Rock w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BEHOLD...THE ARCTOPUS
October 9 Denver CO @ Marquis Theater w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BEHOLD...THE ARCTOPUS
October 11 Los Angeles CA @ Key Club w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BEHOLD...THE ARCTOPUS
October 12 San Francisco CA @ Bottom Of The Hill w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BEHOLD...THE
ARCTOPUS
October 13 Orangevale CA @ The Boardwalk w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BEHOLD...THE ARCTOPUS
October 14 Santa Ana CA @ Galaxy Theatre w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BEHOLD...THE ARCTOPUS
October 16 Dallas TX @ Curtain Club w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BEHOLD...THE ARCTOPUS
October 17 Spring TX @ Java Jazz w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BEHOLD...THE ARCTOPUS
October 19 St. Petersburg FL @ State Theatre w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BEHOLD...THE ARCTOPUS
October 20 Fort Lauderdale FL @ Culture Room w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BEHOLD...THE ARCTOPUS
October 21 Orlando FL @ Backbooth w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BEHOLD...THE ARCTOPUS
October 22 Atlanta GA @ Masquerade w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BEHOLD...THE ARCTOPUS
October 24 Baltimore MD @ Ottobar w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BEHOLD...THE ARCTOPUS
October 25 Cambridge MA @ The Middle East w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BEHOLD...THE ARCTOPUS
October 26 Asbury Parke NJ @ The Stone Pony w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BEHOLD...THE ARCTOPUS
October 27 Philadelphia PA @ First Unitarian Church w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BEHOLD...THE
ARCTOPUS
October 28 New York NY @ Blender Theatre at Gramercy w/ DILLENGER ESCAPE PLAN, A LIFE ONCE LOST, BEHOLD...THE
ARCTOPUS
CRUCIAL BLAST
PO Box 364
Hagerstown, MD 21741-0364
www.crucialblast.net
