Neurot Recordings   Page 2

Stoneburner

Life Drawing

Neurot Recordings

Stoneburner is one of the mainstays of the Portland, Oregon, underground scene. Formed in early 2008, the band’s familial roots reach back two decades. Drummer Jesse McKinnon (ex-Buried Blood) and guitarist Jason Depew (Buried at Sea) have rocked together in many incarnations. Though their other bands had similarly earth-choked names (a stone burner is a subterranean weapon from the novel Dune), it gets even more incestuous—McKinnon went to school with bassist Damon Kelly’s (Heathen Shrine) stepmother. Years later, McKinnon’s father would be Kelly’s high school government teacher. Today, most of the band shares a house and a musical outlet for their worldly frustrations. To describe Stoneburner’s music, one needs only look to the bands with whom they’ve shared the stage: YOB, Sleep, Eyehategod, Neurosis, Buzzov•en, Weedeater, Saint Vitus, Watain, Tragedy, Noothgrush, Graves at Sea, Lord Dying, Dropdead, Whitehorse, Windhand, Bastard Noise and so on. It’s all about domination through amplification and soul-cleansing catharsis. Stoneburner does not put on airs for anyone. According to guitarist Eli Boland, playing in Stoneburner “cleanses my soul, eases my demons, and fills my heart in a way that keeps me high for a good long while.” Life Drawing is the band’s second album and third overall release following closely in the tradition of 2012’s Sickness Will Pass (Seventh Rule). Once again, the tracking was done at Haywire under watchful ear and red-rimmed eyes of producer Fester “the fifth Burner,” and the same mastering engineer and cover artist were similarly re-employed. What’s new is the Neurot logo on...

Baizley, John / Nate Hall / Mike Scheidt

Songs Of Townes Van Zandt Vol. 2

Neurot Recordings

Although highly respected by his peers and other songwriters, Townes Van Zandt never reached significant fame during his lifetime. The mood and atmosphere of his music, coupled with his sometimes dark and sarcastic nature, was not suitable for the commercial country industry of Nashville. Van Zandt’s songs did, however, reach popularity in his day through other artists; within his circle of outsider singer-songwriters, he was adored, though ultimately depression and alcoholism overshadowed his life. Van Zandt passed away in 1997, and the fact that artists as diverse as Robert Plant, Mudhoney, Norah Jones, Lyle Lovett and Bob Dylan have kept his songs alive and vital is a testament to the influence and impact of his music. Neurot Recordings presents the second installment of their homage to this great artist, following 2012’s Songs of Townes Van Zandt from Saint Vitus / The Obsessed’s Scott “Wino” Weinrich and Neurosis’ Steve Von Till and Scott Kelly. Praise to the great artist and his brokenhearted love songs and gloom-ridden tales now emerges through John Baizley (Baroness), Nate Hall (U.S. Christmas) and Mike Scheidt (YOB, VHÖL), in another beautifully dark tribute: Songs of Townes Van Zandt Vol. II.

Corrections House

Last City Zero

Neurot Recordings

Corrections House is the collective compulsions of Mike IX Williams (Eyehategod), Scott Kelly (Neurosis), Bruce Lamont (Yakuza), Sanford Parker (Minsk) and their minister of propaganda, Seward Fairbury. A mysterious cooperative of lost souls, forged unwittingly by the impetuous forces of nature and altered states of consciousness, Corrections House is without control of their destiny.  Debut album Last City Zero conjures an impossible-to-pinpoint kaleidoscopic synthesis of mechanical decomposition, atmospheric abnormalities, and poetic putrefaction. Embracing the unkind, the diseased, the forgotten, the morose, the group’s lush anti-soundscrapes and shadowy verses—at once beautifully hideous, graceful and terrifying—are a direct manifestation of societal ruin and psychological decay.  The transformation of time and space; death begetting life and veils being torn; an imposing dissonance too penetrating to dismiss—Corrections House systematically creates and destroys through audio disease and transcendent musical deconstruction. All things in all ways. There is nothing else.  “[U]nique and devastating” —Invisible Oranges  “It’s both heavy and definitely dirty” —Dig Boston

Iron Tongue

Dogs Have Barked, The Birds Have Flown

Neurot Recordings

“The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve. Lovers, to bed; ‘tis almost fairy time.” —Bill Q. Shakespeare   The Iron Tongue of Little Rock, on the other hand, hath told about 4:53 A.M. Fairy time’s come and gone, and spurned lovers toss and turn and sweat out the sleepless night’s chemical indulgences in lonely beds all over town. They’re not singing of magical, moonlit escapades. These are songs of pain, regret and motherfucking heartache that recall everything from the proto-metal stomp of Blue Cheer and Grand Funk to the darkest hours of Kiss, Deep Purple, Buddy Guy and Skynyrd. The band formed when a group of veteran players with diverse musical backgrounds found a common interest in the need to get down and dirty and way, way gone.  Iron Tongue has spent the last three years and change playing its soulful, heavy-amp blues steadily around the South, touring the Midwest and East Coast with Memphis kindred spirits The Dirty Streets, and sharing bills with Black Tusk, Scott Kelly, The Sword, High on Fire, Crowbar and Lita Ford, as well as fellow Arkansans Pallbearer and The Body. Neurosis’s Steve Von Till called Iron Tongue’s debut “a solid slab of balls-to-the-wall shameless rock, with a power and an edge and soul that rarely exists in music today.

Amenra

Mass V

Neurot Recordings

***BACK IN STOCK!!!  Formed in 1999 in the forsaken fields of West-Flanders, Belgium, Amenra has conjured unholy masses and paved their own headstrong way ever since, spreading their vision of a world of unseen mystique that’s out of touch with the past, present and future. The last few years have shown the group to be an extremely confident and focused unit; besides touring on their own and with Neurosis, the band has branched out with an acoustic record, a book, and several art exhibitions. Amenra forges their path while constantly gaining followers—members of The Church of Ra, a sect, now thousands in numbers.  Amenra’s confounding and compelling sound mixes surreal melodies and warped subtleties with churning rhythms, pummeling riffs and crushing dynamics. Having found a home with Neurot Recordings, the group sets ambitions and expectations high for their fourth full-length album Mass V. Their postmodern vision of music, consisting of droning, repetitive chords alternated by gut-wrenching howls, make experienced listeners renounce their definitions of music, perhaps even their whole belief systems. Amenra puts heart and soul into every note, word and image, changing the course of peoples’ lives in the process.

Neurosis

Honor Found In Decay

Neurot Recordings

It is said that great art has the power to take us outside of ourselves and bring us closer to ourselves simultaneously. Few bands have accomplished this rare feat on a more profound and consistent basis than Neurosis. For nearly three decades, their music has touched the hearts and minds of young men and women seeking contact with something beyond the physical world, something intangible, something that expresses the inner tumult of the human condition in a way that transcends time and space. Something that not only provokes questions but maybe even hints at answers. The music on Honor Found in Decay is both torturous and transcendent. It is the ongoing exposition of a vast internal dialogue that seems to carry the weight of eons. With the right kind of ears and eyes, it can seem like the trials and tribulations of mankind are being channeled through five individuals: Steve Von Till, Scott Kelly, Noah Landis, Jason Roeder and Dave Edwardson. And yet they will be the first ones to tell you that they are just regular people trying to make sense of the world around them. Aided by Josh Graham, their resident visual guru, they transmit their interpretations through multiple sensory planes. The degree to which Neurosis allows them to step out of their everyday lives is the distance between one and zero, the distance between thinking and doing, the distance between this minute and the one that may or may not follow. Which is to say: Neurosis takes...

Neurosis

(Ltd Version) Honor Found In Decay

Neurot Recordings

LIMITED EDITION PACKAGING IN MINI-LP STYLE SLEEVE *** * It is said that great art has the power to take us outside of ourselves and bring us closer to ourselves simultaneously. Few bands have accomplished this rare feat on a more profound and consistent basis than Neurosis. For nearly three decades, their music has touched the hearts and minds of young men and women seeking contact with something beyond the physical world, something intangible, something that expresses the inner tumult of the human condition in a way that transcends time and space. Something that not only provokes questions but maybe even hints at answers. The music on Honor Found in Decay is both torturous and transcendent. It is the ongoing exposition of a vast internal dialogue that seems to carry the weight of eons. With the right kind of ears and eyes, it can seem like the trials and tribulations of mankind are being channeled through five individuals: Steve Von Till, Scott Kelly, Noah Landis, Jason Roeder and Dave Edwardson. And yet they will be the first ones to tell you that they are just regular people trying to make sense of the world around them. Aided by Josh Graham, their resident visual guru, they transmit their interpretations through multiple sensory planes. The degree to which Neurosis allows them to step out of their everyday lives is the distance between one and zero, the distance between thinking and doing, the distance between this minute and the one that may or may...

Ufomammut

Oro: Opus Alter

Neurot Recordings

Italian psychedelic sludge purveyors Ufomammut present Opus Alter, the second half of their new album Oro. Divided into ten massive movements overall, the two-chapter work is an expansive and multi-faceted exploration of the concept of knowledge and its power—the magical stream controlled by the human mind to gain control of every single particle in the surrounding world. The title itself is Italian for “gold,” and Oro is the alchemical process to transform human fears into pure essence—into gold. Although Oro’s two chapters were released months apart from each other, they must be considered as a single track in which the musical themes and the sounds appear and reappear, mutate and evolve, progressively culminating in Opus Alter’s crushing final movement. Since their inception in 1999, Ufomammut perfected a monolithic mix of hypnotic riffing attitude and visionary psychedelia. The group has toured extensively, and crossed the ocean to the United States for the first time in 2009 for a tour of the West Coast. They’ve performed at renowned international music festivals including Roadburn, Hellfest, Ieper, Stoned from the Underground and Asymmetry, sharing the stage with Neurosis, Down, Amen Ra, Baroness, Sons of Otis, Motorpsycho and endless more along the way. The band’s live show is supported by the internationally acclaimed video and graphic art of Malleus, a rock artists’ collective, who conjure the entirety of Ufomammut’s visual impact. 2012 will see the band expanding their touring circles across the face of the planet in support of Oro. Stay tuned throughout the year...

Kelly, Scott / Steve Von Till / Wino

Songs of Townes Van Zandt

Neurot Recordings

*** NOW IN STOCK ON GOLD VINYL - Townes Van Zandt never reached significant fame during his lifetime. Although highly respected by his peers and other songwriters, the mood and atmosphere of his music, coupled with his sometimes dark and sarcastic nature, was not suitable for the commercial country-industry of Nashville. Van Zandt’s songs did, however, reach popularity in his day through artists such as Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard and Emmylou Harris. Within his circle of outsider singer-songwriters, he was adored, though ultimately depression and alcoholism overshadowed his life. Van Zandt’s friend, singer Steve Earle, has been quoted as saying, “Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world and I’ll stand on Bob Dylan’s coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that.” Van Zandt’s passed away in 1997, and the fact that artists as diverse as Robert Plant, Mudhoney, Norah Jones, Lyle Lovett and Dylan himself have kept his songs alive and vital is a testament to the influence and impact of his music.  So now do Steve Von Till, Scott Kelly and Wino stand and sing his tribute, each focusing on the essence of Van Zandt’s music and lyrics in his own personal way. The result is a great homage, whose intensity lies in fragility and elementary human truths. Van Zandt’s broken-hearted love songs and gloom-ridden tales are most deserving of this tribute and praise. “Townes Van Zandt’s music is not only brutally honest, he has an ability to paint a picture with his words...

Ides Of Gemini

Constantinople

Neurot Recordings

Ides of Gemini is a collusion of musical forces precipitated by the haunting and inimitable vocal prowess of singer / bassist Sera Timms, also of Los Angeles dark-psych alchemists Black Math Horseman. The compositions are the long-simmering mental fallout of veteran music and film journalist J. Bennett (guitar / backing vocals), who has spent most of the last fourteen years writing for such publications as Decibel, Terrorizer, Revolver, Alternative Press and Thrasher. The third and final corner of the triangle is Kelly Johnston, whose martial drumming techniques and soaring backing vocals brought Ides of Gemini to life as a performing entity.  Last year, Timms and Bennett recorded and self-released the four-song Disruption Writ EP, which was anointed “My Favorite Demo of 2010” by the highly influential music blog Invisible Oranges. Lyrically, the songs detailed the terrifying permanence of dismemberment in all its unsettling forms: psychological, emotional and physical. Musically, though? Someone on the internet called it “dream doom.” Nobody likes to be pigeonholed, but Ides of Gemini will gladly take up temporary residence in that particular nook for the sake of shorthand. Which is to say that “dream doom” will do the trick for now. And now is nothing if not fleeting.

Hall, Nate

A Great River

Neurot Recordings

The debut solo release from Nate Hall, the driving force behind US Christmas, A Great River captures a brief, impulsive moment. Recorded in a single March evening, it is as pure and honest as music gets. The songs are regretful of the bad times, hopeful of times to come, and respectful of the great power that causes all thing to be.  Reflecting a lifetime spent with the echoes of Dylan, Young, Petty, Springsteen and Van Zandt, A Great River draws from the rich musical history of America and the melancholy of Appalachia, and harnesses the “electric vacuum roar” of guitar slingers past and present.  “The first time I heard Nate Hall’s voice I knew that I was hearing something that would haunt me forever. The unmistakable sound of mountains’ wind and the desperation and anguish of truth and experience. Authenticity isn’t something you can acquire. Either you are or you are not. Nate’s work shows a depth of heart and a pure channeling that you won’t come across ten times in your life.” —Scott Kelly (Neurosis)

Ufomammut

Oro: Opus Primum

Neurot Recordings

Ufomammut, Italian sorcerers of supernatural and obliterating doom, have completed their sixth full-length, and first as part of the Neurot Recordings family. This is the mammoth follow-up to their 2010 full-length Eve, the band’s most devastating piece of magic to date... until now. Oro is divided into ten massive movements, which are to be delivered in two separate pieces over the coming year—the first chapter, Opus Primum, arrives in April, and the second, Opus Alter, in September. This is the third project Ufomammut recorded with Lorenzo Stecconi. The band is also in the process of crafting a full video / visual version which will accompany the audio. As with all previous Ufomammut albums, the concepts behind Oro are expansive and multi-faceted, mutating the Italian palindrome which translates to “gold” with the Latin translation of “I prey.” Oro explores the concept of knowledge and its power; the magical stream controlled by the human mind to gain control of every single particle of the world surrounding us. Oro is the alchemical process to transform the human fears into pure essence—into gold.  Although Oro’s two chapters will be released months apart from each other, they must be considered as a single track in which the musical themes and the sounds appear and reappear, mutate and evolve, progressively culminating in the crushing final movement. Oro is an alchemic laboratory in which substances are flowing, dividing and blending themselves in ten increments from the alembics and stills, culminating into the creation of gold.

Neurosis

Sovereign Remastered

Neurot Recordings

For the last 26 years, Neurosis has tapped into the elusive wellspring where resonance and dissonance collude, circling emotional poles where nothing is withheld, where the psyche screams for answers to Earth’s ancient mysteries. Originally unveiled in 2000, the four-song, 32-minute Sovereign EP was the first Neurosis release issued through the band’s own Neurot Recordings, with the vinyl appearing via Hydra Head. In chronological terms, Sovereign served as a millennial segue between two of the band’s most revered full-lengths, 1999’s Times of Grace and 2001’s A Sun That Never Sets.  Opener “Prayer” sets the omnipotent tone for all that follows. A master-class in deep dynamics, the song ascends from its quiet beginnings into a rolling, hypnotic power-dirge couched in a bone-rattling rhythm. “An Offering” brings arsenic visions of Eden—or at least of the ruinous snake and the tree of knowledge around which it infamously coiled. The instrumental “Flood” is a veritable drum cannonade. And, clocking in at over 13 minutes in length, “Sovereign” offers perhaps the widest variety of textures, tones and instrumental undulations. Under headphones, it is a psychotropic experience of the highest order. —J. Bennett (Decibel)

U.s. Christmas

Valley Path

Neurot Recordings

US Christmas hails from the Appalachian mountains in Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee, and plays a brand of psychedelic, high-volume blues rock that evades easy classification. Founded in Marion, NC, in the summer of 2002, the band now approaches a decade of playing, recording and evolving. Their fifth album, Run Thick in the Night, was released in Fall 2010, and the band follows it up with an epic, single-track full-length, The Valley Path.  “A true idea must be made real. When the idea for ‘The Valley Path’ was imagined, all involved agreed it was true and went forward. Forward in thought, forward in vision, forward in action. We achieved what we wanted to achieve, and whatever is said about ‘The Valley Path,’ it will stand. “A song does not have to be a part of a collection. It is more important for music to take the path it chooses, and an artist must be willing to let this happen. ‘The Valley Path’ is one song.” —Nate Hall, December 25, 2010

Across Tundras

Sage

Neurot Recordings

Birthed in the open spaces of the western United States and now nestled in Nashville, Tennessee, Across Tundras combines a wide variety of influences for a unique and original sound. In the six years since the massive, unrelenting dirge of their debut album Divides, the band has been pigeonholed into all sorts of micro-genres—the simple truth of the matter is they fit in everywhere and nowhere at once. Sage, their fifth full-length, is their most personally artistic yet. Cohesively incorporating the classic vibes of Johnny Cash and Neil Young, the ominous heaviness of Black Sabbath and Neurosis, and all points in between, it’s organic, progressive and heavy as hell. The power trio of guitarist / vocalist Tanner Olson, bassist Matt Shively and drummer Nathan Rose have delivered an honest and powerful statement of new American music, layered with the ghosts of those who never escaped the perils of the Badlands, or were strung up and hanged for the deeds of more powerful men. Rest assured, Across Tundras continues to remind us of the struggles endured by those who stood before, as we struggle now, and ahead.

U.s. Christmas

Run Thick In The Night

Neurot Recordings

Hailing from the Appalachian mountains region of western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee, US Christmas's unique brand of psychedelic, high-volume blues rock evades easy classification. The band was founded in Marion, NC, in the summer of 2002, and played biker bars, art spaces and house shows all over the Southeast dirt circuit for years, self-releasing albums in CDR form. Scott Kelly of Neurosis heard their third album Salt the Wound via his radio show Combat Music Radio / KMBT, which lead to the release of 2008's Eat the Low Dogs on Neurot Recordings.  US Christmas now approaches a decade of playing, recording and evolving, and continues to blur the boundaries of heavy music with earsplitting rock that is by turns jangly, crushing and dark. The group has often been associated with space rock, and Rolling Stone even included them in an article / compilation CD on the history of that genre. However, while they recently collaborated with Minsk and Harvestman on a three-way tribute album to the British space-searchers Hawkwind, US Christmas is influenced by a wide variety of music from all eras and origins. And though many have focused on their use of vintage synthesizers and theremin, the band does not rely on any one instrument to create its bizarre sounds--proof that brains are a musician's most important tool.  US Christmas toured Europe with Oakland thrashers Saviours in the spring of 2009, and played Neurosis's third Beyond the Pale at the Roadburn Festival in Tillburg, Holland. In...

Neurosis

Live At Roadburn 2007

Neurot Recordings

Neurot Recordings proudly unveils a brand new live album from one of the most influential bands of metal's experimental underworld: Neurosis! Their first release since 2007's Given to the Rising, Live at Roadburn was recorded that same year in Tilburg, Holland, at the annual Roadburn Festival, where the band headlined to a diehard audience. The monstrous 78-minute album captures the monolithic flow and gut-level strength of Neurosis's renowned and sonically devastating live performances. This iconic band surges through hymns from their last few albums, including Given to the Rising, The Eye of Every Storm, A Sun That Never Sets and Through Silver in Blood. The Live at Roadburn 2007 release accompanies the reissue of Neurosis's classic Enemy of the Sun album, both part of this year's ongoing celebration of the legendary band's 25th anniversary.

Neurosis

Enemy Of The Sun

Neurot Recordings

Originally released in 1993, Neurosis's crushing Enemy of the Sun LP takes their pulsing, hypnotic monoliths down to darker and much, much heavier territory. A mesmerizing, pressurizing, dirge-driven display of brutal riffing, thick with haunting samples, layered vocal tracks, raging multiple-member percussion contributions and some of the most mammoth build-ups ever, the album leaves a sense of anguish in one's soul long after its final notes ring out. To this day, critics and fans of heavy and experimental metal consider this spine-chilling release one of the harshest and most mind-warping of all time, and countless acts cite it as "the one that changed everything." Neurot Recordings is proud to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Neurosis by making this classic album available once again. 2010's Enemy of the Sun reissue includes two tracks not on the original release and bears a fully redesigned package by visionary artist and Neurosis live visual master Josh Graham.

Harvestman / Minsk / U.s. Christmas

Hawkwind Triad

Neurot Recordings

The Hawkwind Triad album is a fitting tribute to the British band that somehow seems to be simultaneously unheard by the majority of the world's rock listeners, while also one of the most influential psychedelic bands of all time. The Triad is unique, as it is a set of covers by three separate artists that essentially flows like an album. Each band--Harvestman (Steve Von Till of Neurosis's psych-guitar-based project), Minsk, and U.S. Christmas--approaches these eleven iconic songs with respect, and reinterprets them in a new space and time. This full-length psychedelic feast not only captures the feel of Hawkwind's individual songs, but also that of their classic albums. Even the artwork by Boston artist Thomas Saraceno provides trippy surrealist scenes common to many albums from the '70s. Most of all, Triad venerates a band that laid a solid foundation for every heavy weirdo band that exists now--as well as for those who will freak out in the future. Do not panic!

Harvestman

Trinity

Neurot Recordings

Trinity is a limited-edition issue of the soundtrack to the Italian horror film H2Odio (English title: Hate2O). Under his psych-guitar moniker Harvestman, Steve Von Till of Neurosis has composed a compelling backdrop to this psychological thriller. Inspired by the film's picturesque remote-island landscape and the tormented psyche and tension of its plot, this soundtrack projects its own epic imagery in the mind of the listener.  In 2005, critically acclaimed Italian director Alex Infascelli (Almost Blue) received a Harvestman album while beginning his edit of his new film. Captivated by the record's pace, variety, rich soundscapes and hypnotic nature, he contacted Von Till to ask if he would be willing to score the film on short notice. The guitarist had just relocated to North Idaho and was about to complete his home studio, so the timing was perfect. Within weeks, the entire score was finished and Infascelli flew from Italy to Von Till's home to go over the material.  The sounds vary from lush, hopeful, and beautiful guitar-based landscapes to sinister visions of psychic turmoil.  "[Hate2O's] strange events begin when Olivia and her four friends hold a purifying water fast at her secluded cottage. Docile and introverted, Olivia is easy prey for her deceitful guests, who ridicule her and her long-lost twin--an unborn child 'absorbed' by Olivia during the childbirth that killed her mother. Tormented, Olivia ferociously removes the only palpable link she has with her dead twin--a tooth lodged beneath the skin of her shoulder. But discarding it down the drain...

Skullflower

Strange Keys To Untune Gods' Firmament

Neurot Recordings

"All must bow before the pagan wall of drone..." So reads the opening line of Skullflower's website. Hearing their tortured, distorted, and eerily shamanic sounds emanate from the stereo for the first time in the early '90s was truly a revelation. IIIrd Gatekeeper and Obsidian Shaking Codex are two of my all-time favorite albums and have been extremely influential on the way my brothers and I approach guitar-based heavy music. To grab an instrument, drive a loud amplifier to its physical limit, and ride the drone into oblivion is ecstasy, and Matthew Bower has been showing us all how it is done for 20-odd years.  Strange Keys to Untune Gods' Firmament evokes Wagnerian sonic bombast, a Nietzchean worldview, and a warlike cry of rebellion against the false, encased in a whirlwind both psychotropic and psychoacoustic. Each spin brings new themes to the forefront. Not easy listening by anyone's standards, Strange Keys is not for the faint of heart--but those willing to submit and immerse themselves in the deep, thick waters of self-transformation will be greatly rewarded. --Steve Von Till (Neurosis / Neurot Recordings)

Shrinebuilder

S/t

Neurot Recordings

***BACK IN PRINT!! Note new price.  It's not so much a band name as a statement of intent. Not a one-off supergroup, but rather the first chapter in what promises to be an epic narrative. More to the point, though--Shrinebuilder is the meeting of musical monoliths, the Justice League of underground heaviness: Scott "Wino" Weinrich of Saint Vitus, The Obsessed, Spirit Caravan, and The Hidden Hand on guitar; Al Cisneros of Om and Sleep on bass; Dale Crover of Melvins and Altamont on drums; Scott Kelly of Neurosis on guitar. And all four of them on vocals. With these four living legends in the room, the term "highly anticipated" doesn't even come close.  Recorded in just three days, a sufficiently superhuman time-frame for a group of musicians who often pass for superhuman themselves in certain circles, Shrinebuilder delivers on the tacit promise of a riff-roaring Wino + Neurosis + Om + Melvins power-psych explosion, but it also delivers a sum that no one anticipated. "It's like a crazy experiment that actually worked," Crover enthuses. "I don't think we could have asked for something better."  "It's one of those things that I would have never thought of or dreamed of," Kelly concludes. "It doesn't always sound like a collaboration between members of these four bands. There's something else that happens within that structure. It's about music as a religion, as a belief system, as a means of communication--and in the end I think the music speaks for itself....

A Storm Of Light

Forgive Us Our Trespasses

Neurot Recordings

Brooklyn's A Storm of Light is back with their second full-length and the follow-up to 2008's And We Wept the Black Ocean Within. The record's power comes from a dense melding of melodies, moods, and textures. As heavy and cataclysmic as fans would expect, the devastating effects rely on interwoven melodies and graceful shifts in timbre instead of a stream of identikit riffs. A Storm of Light is comprised of Josh Graham (Red Sparowes), Domenic Seita (Tombs, Asea), Andy Rice, and Joel Hamilton. On Forgive Us Our Trespasses, they are joined by a host of carefully chosen collaborators that includes vocalist Nerissa Campbell (Primitive North) and Jarboe (Swans, World of Skin, J2); the otherworldly spoken word segues of singer / poet / author Lydia Lunch, and the mournful strings of Carla Kihlstedt (Book of Knots, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum) and Marika Hughes (2 Foot Yard) only enhance the richness. "[A] rawer attack of a power trio [and] an admirably well-realised, soul-crushing vision of despair." --Kerrang (4K rating)  "... My Bloody Valentine-style ground-zero volumes with reverberating drums and clanging guitars that sound like ocean liner horns. A powerful and moving experience indeed." --Metal Hammer (9/10 rating)  "... trappings of crushing guitars, a percussive cymbal wash, and penetrative, slow-motion aural violence that simultaneously tugs at your eco-conscience." --Terrorizer (8/10 rating)

Chord

Flora

Neurot Recordings

Chord was formed at Dr. Wax, a once-thriving Evanston, IL, record store that was a gathering place for musicians and music aficionados alike. Amid endless musings about the finer points of texture, tone, and Jimmy Eat World's rousing single "The Middle," Kyle Benjamin (guitarist for Chicago's Unfortunaut), Jason Hoffman (a.k.a. darkwave composer Anatole), Trevor de Brauw (of Chicago instrumentalists Pelican) and Phil Dole (of ueber-dronists X-Bax) devised an outline for Chord that lived for many months in the realm of conversation. With a shared appreciation for the works of Tony Conrad and Glen Branca, the group formulated a collective vision: exploit and explore the sonic depth of a single chord.  Chord first performed in February of 2004 at Evanston's Nevin's Live, stunning a sold-out crowd who had gathered on a combination of word-of-mouth and appreciation for the other folk-rock acts on the bill. A few select shows followed, including coveted opening slots for Jakob, Savage Republic, Growing, and The Austerity Program, as well as a headlining appearance in Brooklyn at a benefit for The American Red Cross. Flora is the band's debut release.

Harvestman

In A Dark Tongue

Neurot Recordings

Harvestman is the brainchild of Neurosis vocalist/guitarist Steve Von Till, who considers In a Dark Tongue a venture into an imagined past. The album is inspired by Hawkwind, Fairport Convention, Tangerine Dream, Pentangle, Steeleye Span, Skullflower, Caspar Brotzman, and Loop, among others. It is a massive meeting point of styles and influences, all of which boil down to a surreal and inspired sound.  Long known for blazing guitar trails in the heavy music realm, Von Till once again turns his attention to a world of pure yet abstract psychedelic rock guitar. This second record as Harvestman is even more loosely hung upon the framework of traditional music--these pieces are distilled and distorted into something else entirely. Traditional melodies and tunes lie lovingly wrecked and ruined in the wake of rediscovery. It may be blasphemous to folk purists, but this odd brew is sonic heaven for heads that dream to the drone of fuzz guitar. While these recordings contain a heavy dose of the subtle sounds and textures that are distinctly "Neurot" in tenor, they are window on the inner working of Von Till's psyche--or at least some of what goes on in his private studio late at night.

Mgr Y Destructo Swarmbots

Amigos De La Guitarra

Neurot Recordings

Last year, Mike Mare of Destructo Swarmbots and Mike Gallagher of MGR and Isis fell in love.   From across the room at The Toolbox, Gallagher's rakish grin and platinum-plated construction helmet caught Mare's ever-discerning eye. Gallagher was similarly impressed with Mare's state-of-the-art hairdo and glistening pecs. "I was immediately impressed with Mike's state-of-the-art hairdo and glistening pecs," Gallagher recalls.   "Mike's rakish grin and platinum-plated construction helmet caught my ever-discerning eye from across the room," Mare adds.   In the months that followed, the Mikes played a few shows in Brooklyn, held hands in public, and took a romantic carriage ride around Central Park. The civil procedure was performed hastily at Boston City Hall in August 2007, with a more elaborate ceremony (for friends and family) performed by Robert Goulet in Las Vegas shortly before his tragic passing.   Once officially wedlocked, the two Mikes decided to consummate their vows the only way they knew how: With their guitars. They lovingly recorded a single 42-minute song entitled "Amor en el Aire" at Deadverse Studios in glamorous downtown Union City, New Jersey, with Alap Momin, a.k.a. Oktopus from hip-hop revolutionaries Daelek.

Null, Kk

Oxygen Flash

Neurot Recordings

K.K. Null (a.k.a. Kazuyuki Kishino) was born in Tokyo, Japan. The composer, guitarist, singer, mastermind of Zeni Geva, and electronic wizard is one of the top names in Japanese noise music and, in a larger context, one of the great cult artists in experimental music since the early '80s. Throughout his career, he has collaborated with musical innovators such as Merzbow, Z'ev, Chris Watson, Daniel Menche, Keiji Haino, Seiichi Yamamoto, Jon Rose, Bill Horist, Philip Samartzis, Alexei Borisov, Zbigniew Karkowski, James Plotkin, Jim O'Rourke, Fred Firth, John Zorn, to name a few.  After playing the guitar as his main instrument for some twenty years, K.K. Null has gradually moved toward a more electronic approach. In recent years, he has concentrated his efforts on his solo and collaborative recordings, exploring the outer territories of electronica via intense, clashing waves of noise, structured electro-acoustic ambience, broken-down rhythmics, scattered pitch sculptures, and droning isolationist material which one could loosely describe as cosmic noise maximal/minimalism.  At present, K.K. Null has appeared on more than 100 titles. The nine-track Oxygen Flash is the most recent addition to this remarkable catalog.

Neurosis

Souls At Zero

Neurot Recordings

Souls at Zero, originally released in 1992, was Neurosis’s first flash of true brilliance. Retaining their concussive and visceral punk roots, the band took their first solid steps into previously uncharted territory—employing non-traditional instruments, tribal chants, radically slower tempos and densely layered, folk-influenced melodies, essentially creating a post-metal blueprint in the process. “Sterile Vision” breathes with a barbaric folk tinge, while the menacing industrial rhythms of “Flight” and “The Web” steamroll the senses. The maniacal trepidation of “Zero” acts as the ying to the melancholic yang of “Empty.” Neurot Records is proud to keep the flame burning with this deluxe reissue. Adding demo versions of “Zero” and the title track along with a bonus live cut, the updated Souls at Zero is a vital document of one of the most influential bands in heavy music. Redesigned artwork by the revered Josh Graham completes a package worthy of timeless worship.

Akimbo

Jersey Shores

Neurot Recordings

Akimbo are back with another hearty ass-kicking that will remain a paramount moment of their recording careers.  Inspired by the infamous and bizarre legacy left from a string of shark attacks that occurred in the Garden State in 1916, Jersey Shores isn't just metal, hardcore, or punk rock. Instead, it reminds us why rock and roll was so hated and loathed in when it first arrived. Loud, riotous, rebellious, and defiant are just a few reasons that come to mind.  Recorded over a three-month period at Headbanging Kill Your Mama Music in Louisville, Kentucky, with Chris Owens (Coliseum, Breather Resist) while the band subsisted on a diet of ramen, frozen pizzas and, of course, beer, Jersey Shores isn't the heavy/loud music that one would steal from the tape deck of an older brother's '87 Ford Escort. Nor is it simply an abrasive assortment of gliding guitar riffs on steroids and guttural growls--it's also a hideous hybrid of doom and noise-core that takes no prisoners while its big hairy balls hang out. Make no mistake--history will see Jersey Shores as the moment where Akimbo joined the elder statesmen of heavy music.   There can be no more suitable home for a band like Akimbo and a record like Jersey Shores than Neurot Recordings, a label representing all that is loud and untamable in music.

A Storm Of Light

And We Wept The Black Ocean Within

Neurot Recordings

A Storm of Light is the eponymous debut album by the new Brooklyn, NY band featuring Josh Graham, Neurosis visual director and former member of Red Sparowes and Battle of Mice. The esteemed guitarist/vocalist is joined on this recording by bassist/vocalist Domenic Seita (ex-Tombs, ex-Asea) and drummer Pete Angevine of Satanized. Since then, rhythmic pugilist extraordinaire Vinny Signorelli (Unsane, ex-Swans) signed on as second drummer.   As one would guess by the pedigree, A Storm of Light is brutally hard-hitting. However, the group's haunting harmonic drone meshes with guitar, vocals, and subtle keyboard layers, giving listeners more a sense of suffocation by drowning than a simple pummeling.

U.s. Christmas

Eat The Low Dogs

Neurot Recordings

Originally formed in the summer of 2002, U.S. Christmas has steadily evolved into a full-blown psychedelic assault. The music cannot be ignored. It hurts people, physically and mentally. It stirs intense feelings of pain, frustration, loss, fear, and--occasionally--euphoria.  The band always plays at deafening volumes, and guitarist Nate Hall frequently uses multiple amp setups for a thick, layered sound. Rhythm section Tim Greene and John Presnell hit the low-end, and Matt Johnson often mans guitar and theremin simultaneously. Chad Davis is able to handle any musical duties at any time. Shows are chaotic and unpredictable, riddled with sythesizer and theremin spasms. Images are projected onto the stage, the ceiling, or performers themselves. Many a drunken bystander has been drawn to the theremin's magic antennae.  Their first recording, Prayer Meeting, authentically captured the sound of the band at the time, and the same can be said for Bad Heart Bull, Salt The Wound, and U.S. Christmas's latest full-length, Eat The Low Dogs. All four albums were recorded live, by the band, either in stifling heat or nut-shriveling cold. Snare drums rattle, amps hum and pop, dogs bark in the background. But that's the way it always sounds, and the band doesn't see any point in changing a method that works.  U.S. Christmas has shared bills with some of the world's best heavy bands, including High on Fire, Weedeater, DOVE, Place of Skulls, Orange Goblin, ATP, Graves at Sea, Scissorfight, Red Sparowes, Atomic Bitchwax, and Kylesa.

Von Till, Steve

A Grave Is A Grim Horse

Neurot Recordings

Steve Von Till's third solo outing maintains his allegiance to folk traditions, but A Grave Is A Grim Horse is a much more personal and confident effort. The Neurosis singer/guitarist intertwines interpretations of songs by Nick Drake, Townes Van Zant, Mickey Newberry, and Lyle Lovett with his own powerful yet subtle, graceful originals, which stand on par with these time-honored songwriters. On songs like the title track and "Looking For Dry Land," Von Till comes into his own as a composer and arranger, perfectly adorning infectious songs with flourishes of swooping strings, pedal steel, organ, et al.  Where his previous releases showed reverence for the past, A Grave Is A Grim Horse peers directly forward, envisioning a path where others see fields.

Grey Daturas

Return To Disruption

Neurot Recordings

Melbourne, Australia's Grey Daturas are an improvisational, instrumental trio with no songs or melodies; they don't rehearse, yet maintain a touring ethos that matches early hardcore pioneers. Drawing influence from a vast ocean of musical styles including free jazz, the avant garde, psych, punk, metal, industrial, and noise, the band's blend of harsh and dark psychedelia unmistakably their own.  From their nihilistic, sheer-noise-based beginnings six-plus years ago improvising soundtracks to silent horror classics and '60s physics animations, Grey Daturas have morphed into a surreal auditory nightmare, blending dark, pulsating drones, slow, low-end sludge riffs, crushing percussion, and walls of ear-torturing noise. Three and a half years after the release of their globally acclaimed second album, Dead in the Woods, and following numerous EPs, split and collaborative releases with the likes of Yellow Swans, Monarch, Bardo Pond, and Wolf Eyes, Grey Daturas unearth their finest and most challenging work.  Between Dead in the Woods and Return to Disruption, the most obvious difference is the improved production values. Where Dead in the Woods took a modest month to complete on eight-track/quarter-inch tape, Return to Disruption spanned a lengthy eighteen months on 24-track/two-inch tape. The band once again teamed up with Melbourne-based recording engineer Neil Thomason to track and mix drums, guitars, bass, and various other sounds and objects such as contact-microphone feedback, scrap metal, hardware materials and tools, violin, saxophone, and electronics. Following three months with Thompson, the remaining fifteen months (between numerous tours of the USA, Europe, and Australia) were spent painstakingly post-producing...

Guapo

Elixirs

Neurot Recordings

Three years have passed since Black Oni (Ipecac). Four years since Five Suns (Cuneiform). The new album by Guapo is finally here and thus concludes the recondite triptych. Each record has taken on new musical hues and offered disparate ideas and perspectives. However, an upheaval in the line-up, which has been anchored most recently by Daniel O'Sullivan, Matthew Thompson, and David Smith, triggered a change in course when Thompson left the band just prior to the release of Black Oni in 2005.  In the interim O'Sullivan and Smith have been active with an abundance of other projects. Both members perform in the antique-prog band Miasma & the Carousel of Headless Horses (Mimicry). O'Sullivan's work with AEthenor (VHF), Mothlite (Southern), Grumbling Fur (Aurora Borealis) as well as moonlighting in the live line-up of Sunn O))) has been keeping him extremely busy. Smith created a large-scale multi-media installation for which he made a soundtrack with O'Sullivan and Antti Uusimaki under The Stargazers Assistant moniker. Smith also plays with members of Coil, Cyclobe and Shockheaded Peters in the Amal Gamal Ensemble. Despite these distractions, Guapo has maintained their focus, and Elixirs has been three years in the making. It is unequivocally their most poignant and powerful work to date.  The album transcends any musical antecedents for which Guapo have been acknowledged in the past. Instead, the music here explores the outermost regions of psychedelic composition. Flickers of Popol Vuh, This Heat, Magma, Third Ear Band, Moondog, and early-'70s Miles Davis are present, as the dense...

U.s. Christmas

S/t

Neurot Recordings

Formed in the summer of 2002 in the wilds of North Carolina, U.S. Christmas has steadily evolved into a full-blown psychedelic space rock assault. The band makes music that cannot be ignored. U.S. Christmas hurts people--physically and mentally. The music stirs intense feelings of pain, frustration, loss, fear--and occasionally, euphoria.  U.S. Christmas was one of the first unsigned bands to send a CD to Combat Music Radio, the internet music show hosted by Neurosis's Scott Kelly. It wasn't long before the band heard from Kelly, who frequently played their songs on KMBT. This friendship lead to a release agreement with Neurot Recordings.  This four-song vinyl EP precedes the band's full length Eat The Low Dogs, currently set for a March 2008 release.  "Those who appreciate the heavier, tripped out side of music should give these guys a shot. They bring something unique to the table." --Stonerrock.com

Buried At Sea

Ghosts

Neurot Recordings

Buried At Sea is a flowing wave of trance-like massiveness. They combine elements of doom, space rock, and experimental noise to create a sound of thick and heavy textures that migrate from quiet to an Earth-rattling assault. The band has been compared to the likes of SUNNO))), Eyehategod, Burning Witch, and Neurosis, but definitely carry a unique sound that’s all their own. With tidal waves of hatred, Buried At Sea shatters speakers and eardrums. The weak need not apply.  Guitarist Sanford Parker (Minsk) records and produces bands at his Volume Recording Studios, where all the Buried At Sea material is realized. Some noteworthy customers include Pelican, Lair of the Minotaur, the Last Vegas, Tyrades, Debris, Inc., Venomous Concept, and Rwake.  “A thoroughly disturbing experience … the future of sludge. Heavy as hell riffs, excellent drumming, a brooding tone … extensive use of samples, and gruesome vocals … make this a modern sludge masterpiece.… [T]he riffs here are the non-stop throbbing backbone … [with] the best authentic drumming in the entire sludge/drone genre. Every fill, crash, and snare break down … accentuates the album's glory … [and] sets the perfect sluggish pace.” —Encyclopaedia Metallum

Savage Republic

1938

Neurot Recordings

Los Angeles art-punk pioneers Savage Republic have come roaring out of obscurity with 1938, their first full-length album of new material in 18 years—hot on the heels of this spring’s powerful Siam EP—both on Neurot Records. Throughout the ’80s Savage Republic was a deep-underground phenomenon, playing highly unorthodox shows in remote desert locations, abandoned factories, skid-row parking lots, and grimy bars across the US and Europe with such luminaries as Einstürzende Neubaten, Minutemen, Sonic Youth, and Live Skull as well as hardcore-punk slugfests with the likes of Bad Religion, Angry Samoans, and Final Conflict. Known for their oddly tuned guitars, tribal beats, shouted vocals, metal percussion (typically 55-gallon oil drums and items gleaned from dumpsters and junkyards), and Morricone-meets-Dick Dale melodies, their performances were at times ritualistic and occassionally involved fire and explosives.   In their current incarnation, Savage Republic core members Thom Fuhmann, Ethan Port and Greg Grunke are joined by UK punk-rock veteran Val Haller, whose resume includes stints with Wayne County, Flying Lizards, Lords of The New Church, and X-Ray Spex, and noted drummer and percussionist Alan Waddington, known for his tenure with The Unforgiven as well as live and studio work with everyone from Willie Nelson to Gwen Stefani. The album also features contributions by guest artists including multi-instrumentalist Tara T. Tavi, classical violinist Julia Zuker, and drummer Bryan Taylor.  While staying true to their roots, Savage Republic have updated and expanded their singular Mediterranean-surf-soundtrack-folk-noise blend into a musical hybrid both contemporary and timeless....

Neurosis

Given To The Rising

Neurot Recordings

Now in its third decade of innovative noisy psychedelic-metallic thunder, Neurosis is more than a just a powerful band—it’s a religious experience. As such, personal epiphanies are repeatedly told both by those who’ve been converted by Neurosis’ sensory overloading live show and by those who’ve felt transformed while listening to the legendary quintet’s recordings. Given To The Rising is both reflective of the aggressive pummeling for which Neurosis is known, as well as an exploration into psychoactive prog-rock and eviscerating symphonic heft that moves well beyond what we’ve all come to recognize as the “Neurosis note.” Given To The Rising is like being submerged in an isolation tank—it envelops, subverting the senses with surreal visions we’d swear were our own, cleverly jarring and disorienting consciousness beyond any footing in reality. Just as any diehard Neurosis fan will tell you, there’s a moment with every new record and live show at which the band stops as if the world has frozen in position, then suddenly kicks into a behemoth wail that forces one’s head and shoulders to lurch and sway uncontrollably. Given To The Rising is a sound borne of that captivating and transcendent moment.

Mgr Vs Sirdss

Impromptu

Neurot Recordings

MGR, short for Mustard Gas and Roses, is Isis guitarist Mike Gallagher’s solo vehicle for ambient instrumental experimentation. His 2006 debut, Nova Lux, a critical success that drew comparisons to K.K. Null and Robert Fripp, featured contributions by members of the Red Sparrows and Dalek. MGR has recently shared the stage with the likes of Pelican, Mono, and Destructo Swarmbots. David Scott Stone, who adopted the moniker SirDSS after doing time in the ’90s with Slug and Get Hustle, has recently recorded with Big Business and the Melvins. A musician not afraid to take a long, hard step outside of how music is normally created and interpreted, Stone uses both conventional (modular synthesizers) and unconventional (micro-phoned sheet metal and bowed cymbals) to create unique and disturbing sounds. Impromptu, previously only available on a limited-edition CD-R, is a beautiful, compelling collage of instrumental improvisation and flowing soundscapes.   “Long slowly unfurling whorls of abstract steel string tangle, huge slow burning electric guitar shimmers, drifting amidst glistening sonic cobwebs, silver streaks of minimal feedback, while in the distance some sort of industrial apparition grinds and clangs, creaks and keens, beneath an outerspace world of dreamlike ambient guitarscapes, radiant sine waves and thick luminous layers of crumbling melody. So nice.” —Aquarius Records

Christ On Parade

Sounds Of Nature

Neurot Recordings

Rising from the ashes of early-’80s East Bay punk bands Treason and Teenage Warning, Christ On Parade took the sound in new directions, combining to-the-point political lyrics and an unwavering DIY spirit with a driving hardcore assault. With the support of Maximum Rocknroll’s Tim Yohannan and others in the Bay Area punk scene, the band quickly gained a strong local following. Their debut LP, 1985’s Sounds of Nature, was originally released on legendary punk artist Pushead’s Pusmort label (Poison Idea, Septic Death). The liner notes state: “You can’t change anything by waiting for the “revolution” - you have to start living it today, creating a real community amongst the sterility of our modern world, and eventually the system will wither away.” Christ On Parade can also claim the honor of headlining the first ever show at Berkeley’s long-running 924 Gilman venue.  This 19-track CD reissue collects the Sounds Of Nature LP, both the band’s tracks from the Thrasher Skate Rock vol. 3 compilation, the Isn’t Life a Dream EP from 1986 - all long out-of-print - and a previously unreleased Avengers cover. It comes beautifully packaged with the original cover art. Vinyl version to be released by Prank Records.