16 Horsepower

16 Horsepower

Olden (reissue)

Volkoren

***RECORD STORE DATE 2015 RELEASE!!! Recorded before their break up, Olden was originally released on Glitterhouse. The album is divided into three sections, with each section separated by two short interviews with DAVID EUGENE EDWARDS, the band's vocalist and lead musician. The first seven tracks were recorded at the Night Owl Studio in Denver in 1993, and are referred to as the "Night Owl Studio Sessions." The following six songs were recorded at Kerr Macy studio in Denver in 1994. The last six songs are live recordings from their session at the Mercury Cafe in Denver in 1994. Vinyl-only release limited to 1,000 copies. No Export outside of North America.

16 Horsepower

Secret South

Alternative Tentacles

16 Horsepower looms large in the Alternative Tentacles catalog, and over the entire alt-Americana musical landscape. Secret South is a cornerstone to this Denver band’s legacy, their first indie outing after departing A&M, recorded at Hamilton Glory Lodge outside Blue River, Colorado, in 2000. This album has long been out of print in America (originally released on Razor and Tie) and only available on vinyl in a very limited edition in Europe through Glitterhouse. As rural gothic goes, one cannot do much better than David Eugene Edwards and company, with their use of acoustic old-time instruments mixed with the impassioned vocals and fire-and-brimstone lyrics (excepting a cover of Dylan’s “Nobody ’Cept You”). Additional surround-sound mix of the album by producer Bob Ferbrache (Blood Axis, Soul Merchants) for this release is included on the DVD-audio format for both the 180-gram black vinyl LP and the CD. “... the result is a forlorn dustbowl saloon bar where Nick Cave woefully sinks bourbons with The Gun Club only moments after a loved one’s funeral parade.... The objective was to make a fucking brilliant album where the mood is king, the delivery is queen, and studied modern coolness is a jester that’s one misplaced quip away from being the lion’s breakfast. And, of course, they’ve succeeded.” —NME (9/10 rating)  “In just two songs, then, only one of them original, 16 Horsepower has made good on its promise of a “secret South,” and well before Edwards has gotten around to sticking the phrase in...

16 Horsepower

Live March 2001

Alternative Tentacles

Despite their official dissolution a few years ago, 16 Horsepower casts a long shadow that colors the gothic Americana genre today. Ex-members' bands (Woven Hand, Lilium, etc.) are engaging and critically lauded, but the demand for posthumous 16 Horsepower releases never seems to cease. Live March 2001 is a live recording of one of 16 Horsepower's classic, best recorded shows, released in North America on Alternative Tentacles and on Glitterhouse in Europe.  While live albums are often fodder for completists, 16 Horsepower's intoxicating material becomes even more potent on stage, making 16 Horsepower Live a must-have release. Their instrumentation transforms the usually lighthearted banjo and squeezebox into the loneliest choir that accompanies the smoldering voice of David Eugene Edwards. Often likened to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, 16 Horsepower definitely has that laudanum-soaked aura, but is firmly rooted in Americana. Unlike their contemporaries, however, they aim beyond popular music in the key of sad and delve right into the human condition for something weighty and substantial. The way 16 Horsepower pours themselves into writing and performing, Live March 2001, the third installation of their live material, will surely be welcomed with open arms, not with snipes about bludgeoning dead equines.

16 Horsepower

Hoarse

Alternative Tentacles

Previously very hard to find, Hoarse contains 16 HORSEPOWER live tracks from Denver in 1998, that were first intended as a bootleg, then released briefly on Checkered Past as an official live album after the powers that be heard how good it is. The band would become a four piece, more electric, more rock at times, and the reigning masters of heavy without being heavy in the metal or punk sense of the word. Here are eight of their original favorites, plus three unique takes on songs by JOY DIVISION, CREEDENCE and GUN CLUB. It could be argued that the voice, vibe and vision of David Eugene Edwards tapped an even deeper vein than Jeffrey Lee Pierce himself. Only instead of a hellhound on his trail, David’s went straight to god. Long sought-after by rabid and diverse 16 HP fans everywhere, Hoarse finds a steady and permanent home at last on Alternative Tentacles Records.