Totimoshi: Desert Death Rock Band Plays St. Vitus on August 20th // Ltd. Edition Split 7" with The Melvins Available at Show

California trio, Totimoshi, will kick off their long-awaited North American tour tomorrow in Scottsdale, Arizona. The band will spread its unique brand of heavy desert death rock across nearly 30 cities, before winding down on September 3, 2011 in Tucson, Arizona.

The band will be touring in support of their soon-to-be-unleashed Avenger full-length, set to drop on August 16, 2011 via At A Loss Recordings. Avenger was produced by Toshi Kasai (Melvins, Shrinebuilder, Tool), mastered by John Golden (Melvins, Mike Watt, OM) and includes appearances by Dale Crover (Altamont, The Melvins, Shrinebuilder), Brent Hinds (Mastodon) and Scott Kelly (Neurosis, Shrinebuilder).

Additionally, Totimoshi will be selling copies of their new, very limited split 7" with the Melvins (released through Volcom) throughout the tour. Commented guitarist/vocalist Antonio Aguilar: "Totimoshi is honored to be sharing a 7" with one of our favorite bands in the world, the Melvins. There will only be 1000 pressed and 200 available through us, so you better get out to the venues!"



Totimoshi U.S. Tour 2011:
8/04/2011 Chaser's - Scottsdale, AZ w/ Greenhaven
8/05/2011 The Due Return - Santa Fe, NM
8/06/2011 3 Kings Tavern - Denver, CO w/ Ume, Self Service
8/07/2011 Duffy’s - Lincoln, NE
8/08/2011 Off Minor - Dubuque, IA
8/09/2011 Garibalid’s - Milwaukee, WI w/ Sleestak, Like Like The Death Deaths
8/10/2011 The Frequency - Madison, WI
8/11/2011 Ultra Lounge - Chicago, IL
8/12/2011 Mac’s Bar - Lansing, MI
8/13/2011 Stone Tavern - Kent, OH w/ Rebreather, The Unclean
8/14/2011 Hard Luck - Toronto, ON
8/15/2011 TBA - Montreal, QC
8/17/2011 O’Brien’s - Cambridge, MA
8/19/2011 TBA - Providence, RI
8/20/2011 Saint Vitus - Brooklyn, NY (Advance tickets are $10)
8/21/2011 Golden West - Baltimore, MD
8/22/2011 Strange Matter - Richmond, VA
8/23/2011 The Casbah - Durham, NC
8/26/2011 Milestone - Charlotte, NC w / Music Hates You
8/27/2011 The Drunken Unicorn - Atlanta, GA w/ Zoroaster
8/28/2011 Hi Tone Café - Memphis, TN
8/29/2011 Siberia - New Orleans, LA
8/30/2011 The Mink - Houston, TX
8/31/2011 Scoot Inn - Austin, TX w/ Vaz, Pygmie Shrews
9/01/2011 Korova Basement - San Antonio, TX
9/03/2011 Vaudeville - Tucson, AZ

Links:
Totimoshi

Hull Plays Club Europa with Pentagram in January // Sole Lord CD Review

Hull’s debut disc Sole Lord (The End) was released last year but somehow I missed this disc first time around. Getting straight to the point, this disc will be on my ‘End of Year’ best-of list.

Not to start with a diatribe about the music industry but my belief is that weak product and iTunes have done more damage than illegal downloading ever will. If you take a band like the Rolling Stones, iTunes allows you to selectively purchase the one, two or three decent songs from each of their recent releases rather than forcing you to muddle through the other nine tracks of dross on each release. I’m old enough to remember the days when music (like Pink Floyd’s Meddle and Genesis’ Lamb Lies Down on Broadway) required an active commitment. Thanks to iTunes, music is now a lot more disposable and consumed in “bite-sized” three minute chunks. Pink Floyd felt their songs weren’t meant to be consumed on a song-by-song basis on iTunes and Hull’s Sole Lord falls into similar territory.

Sole Lord takes me back to the early Pink Floyd days as the band combines the ambient psychedelic (or perhaps a better descriptor is “psychosis”) of Meddle-era Pink Floyd with the sludgy doom of bands like The Melvins. While some bands release discs that are consistent from start-to-finish, Sole Lord comes across as one body of work that just happens to be divided across ten tracks. Songs seamlessly flow into the next and some riffs are reused across songs which add to the overall impression that this is one 47 minute body of work.

I wouldn’t use the word “prog” to describe Hull but Sole Lord is a rolling opus of gentle instrumentals which segue into groove-oriented walls of distorted guitars before returning back to another instrumental. The ‘light’ and ‘dark’ elements of this disc are pretty evenly balanced as there are an equal number of instrumentals balanced with songs that make use of roared/chanted multi-part vocals. Hull’s use of contrasting tempos across this disc makes for engaging listening so this is the sort of disc that you are going to want to block some time to actively listen to.

Below is a video from Hull’s “secret show” at Public Assembly in Brooklyn. Hull is playing with Pentagram at Europa on Jan. 06, 2011. Tickets are $15.



Links:
Hull

Shrinebuilder's Self-Titled Debut Now Available on Ltd Edition Vinyl (Neurot)

Shrinebuilder's self-titled debut is now available as a 3-sided limited edition vinyl release through Neurot Recordings' web store (click on the picture). This 2LP set was mastered at 45 rpm to bring out the band's sound and one of the sides is etched (which you can sort of see in the picture).

Neurot has only have 400 copies available through its web store - 200 of the US color scheme and 200 of the European color scheme - so these are likely to go quick.

Links:
Shrinebuilder's MySpace Profile

Weedeater Supports Down on Upcoming N. American Tour / Local Show at Nokia Theatre in September

Southern Lord recording artist Weedeater have been confirmed to support Down on their upcoming North American tour. Weedeater are out with Down for all of August and September and the tour stops at Nokia Theatre on September 11th. Also on the bill for the Nokia Theatre show are The Melvins and Evil Army.

Tickets are $35 and there is an option for a $125 VIP ticket that includes a sound check with Down, Meet and Greet (includes photo with band and one signed personal item), laminate/lanyard, Down T-shirt of choice from the merch booth, $5 gift card to the Down-Nola.com store.

Weedeater posted on their MySpace blog that they were working on some new tunes and they will likely be playing some of this new material while out on tour. The band's last release, God Luck and Good Speed, was released in 2007 and Southern Lord just released a ltd. edition vinyl version of this release. The vinyl version is pressed on 180 gram gold vinyl and limited to 1,500 copies. All but one of the songs on the disc were produced by Steve Albini at Electrical Audio studios in Chicago and the remaining track, "Alone", was recorded by Mike Dean (Corrosion of Conformity). Southern Lord describes the disc as a "masterpiece of whiskey and weed-soaked doom".

Links:
Weedeater's MySpace Profile

Flipper - Gone Fishin' CD Review (Water Records)

Flipper's second studio album, Gone Fishin' (originally released in 1984), takes the original band in a more 'commercially accessible' direction. There is a lot more structure to these songs as compared to Generic Flipper, and the (somewhat surprisingly) clean and clear production and unified flow of this disc highlight Will and Bruce's lyrical and musical abilities. Mny of the songs are still anchored by a throbbing bass line, but the bass is no longer the focal point of the songs. Complementing the expected bass, guitar, drums, Flipper uses a xylaphone, synare, clavinet, congas, piano and alto sax on different tracks on the disc.

The disc starts off with the punkish, "The Light, The Sound" (and there is a live version of this song on Flipper's Myspace Profile - link below). Moving further into the disc, on songs like "First The Heart" and the headphone-trippy "Talk's Cheap", Will has a tendancy to sound somewhat like mid-80's Richard Hell. There is still the sludge/dirge sound of the previous release on tracks like "Survivors of the Plague" and the still topically relevant "Sacrifice". "You Nought Me" is a chaotic wreck (which never completely breaks down) and the last song on the disc, "One By One", starts with a long buzzing guitar riff that sounds like something lifted from Rocket From the Tombs/early Pere Ubu.

The overall production adds an intriguing dimension to the songs - "Sacrifice" starts with the marching sounds of soldiers before Steve kicks in with a military beat, Will has a 'conversation' with himself that bounces between speakers on 'Talk's Cheap' and the chaotic 'You Nought Me' has a tinkling piano in the background.

King Buzzo from The Melvins wrote the liner notes for this disc and and he sums Flipper's accomplishments as "...the most important thing is the music. If you get Flipper, no explanation is necessary".

This record has been out of print for too long...

Water Records has faithfully reproduced the original LP art so you can cut out and assemble Flipper's tour van and stand-ups of all of the band members.

Links:
Flipper's MySpace Profile
Water Records

More Syd Barrett Tribute Concerts Took Place in London This Past Weekend

From http://www.brain-damage.co.uk/

The Games for May concert, which took place at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on May 12th 1967, was one of the most significant concerts held by Pink Floyd. Described as a "Space age relaxation for the climax of spring - electronic composition, colour and image projection, girls and the Pink Floyd", the show has become one of the legendary events that many fans would love to have seen.

To mark the fortieth anniversary of the concert, a selection of musicians are recreating the concert in a pair of shows being held at the end of this month, at the venue which saw the original show.

The concert featured material from the band's debut album, "Piper At The Gates Of Dawn" (which came out later that year) and was a ground-breaking multi-media event. With a primitive yet revolutionary sound mixer, quadraphonic sound was used to wow an audience whose senses were already being assaulted by a light show, taped effects, on-stage carpentry, the distribution of hundreds of daffodils (which were trodden into the carpets) and bubbles filling the air (and stained the upholstery!).

Nick Mason once said of the concert: "I think Games for May was one of the most significant shows we ever performed".

Acknowledging this significance, a selection of "special guest artists" will be recreating the show on May 26th and May 27th, at 7:30pm each evening. The first night features Robyn Hitchcock and Graham Coxon, and the second, The Melvins.

Here is the set list for the show on the 26th and a list of the musicians who performed:

Mathilda Mother
Flaming
The Scarecrow
Jugband Blues
See Emily Play
Bike
Arnold Layne
Candy And A Currant Bun
Pow R Toc H
Interstellar Overdrive
Terrapin
Love You
Late Night
Long Gone
If It's In You
(Wouldn't You Miss Me) Dark Globe
Dominoes
Wined and Dined
Reaction in G
Astronomy Domine
Lucifer Sam
See Emily Play

Robyn Hitchcock - Guitar, Vocals
Kimberley Rew - Guitar
Paul Noble - Bass
Terry Edwards - Keyboards, Saxophone, Trumpet
Morris Windsor - Drums
Dan Woodgate - Drums
Graham Coxon - Guitar
Matthew Cullen - Guitar
Isobel Campbell - Cello