New Music: Drowning Horse -- Sheltering Sky

I'd like to send a big thank you to Steve Howe and his excellent new blog for turning me on to Australian ambient doom group Drowning Horse. Their upcoming album, "Sheltering Sky," is a journey through vast musical spaces, at once crushing, open, freeing and oppressive. This is the second time this year I've looked at an album's cover artwork  -- empty, jagged red earth punching into a delicate sky -- and thought it a perfect visual description for the music within.

Fans of the recent MAKE and Locrian releases should absolutely give this one a chance. The first single, "The Barrow Stones," can be heard on the band's Bandcamp. The band is on Art as Catharsis, a Sydney label that has a lot of cool Australian heavy psychedelic/crust/doom releases, so check them out as well.

Review: Golden Void - Berkana

Golden Void, one of several projects featuring Earthless shred master Isaiah Mitchell, offers elements of Earthless’ psychedelic freak-out style, but does so in a groovier, bluesier way, that gives the music more structure, and ultimately more might. After gaining attention with their impressive self-titled debut in late 2012, the band is finally back with Berkana, a stellar work that should only solidify their reputation as one of the best psychedelic bands in the country. Read more on About.com.

Slight Hopscotch Wrap Up

Lesser Life

Suppressive Fire

Wahya's

Soon

Shitty Boots

Solar Halos

 MAKE

Hopscotch was this past weekend in Raleigh, and even though the line up was really good, I ended up not seeing as many shows as I originally intended to see. I did manage to see the killer MAKE, Vattnet Viskar, Locrian lineup at the Metal Lunchbox day show at Neptune's on Saturday, as well as the Primitive Ways day show at the Pour House on Thursday. My favorite show may well have been Nuggets-style psych rockers Shitty Boots on Friday at Slim's. It was also cool to catch free day party sets by Guardian Alien, The Bronzed Chorus and Nest Egg (Krautrockers from Asheville).

One big thing did happen for me over the weekend: My camera's hot shoe was destroyed when it fell off a monitor while I was capturing video of Vattnet Viskar. That was pretty upsetting, but I've been contemplating upgrading for a while, so I think it's going to happen sooner than later.

Review: Kadavar's "Berlin"

German retro-rockers Kadavar have always sounded like the band who got kicked out of the commune for being too bluesy (and maybe too good), got sucked into a psychedelic space warp, then plopped right back down in Berlin just as it became the coolest city in Europe. Unlike other bands that have adopted the retro-rock mantle, nothing about Kadavar ever feels contrived. Read the rest of the review at About.com Heavy Metal. 

Photos of Helgamite at Slim's

On Saturday (Aug. 15), I had the pleasure of finally seeing Helgamite, a really fantastic psychedelic doom band from Rileyville, Va. I discovered them on Bandcamp a while back, but was reminded of them when I randomly met guitarist Casey Firkin and his wife Deanne Goode during the Ufomammut show at the Deathfest, and we all ended up hanging out for the rest of the fest. They're good people, and it was cool to see them again.