Syracuse NY, 1981:
Small town USA, smack dab in the middle of New York State. Although only 5 hours away from NYC, Syracuse and the surrounding area might as well have been 10 years away. Conservative, reactionary, redneck. Reagan’s America. It was a pretty barren place for a young, pissed off NYC transplant and hardcore punk rock kid named Belvy to be stuck in. Teaming up with another similar minded transplant from Florida named Joe Miller, the two hit it off, started writing songs and formed what would become The Catatonics. Frustrated at not being in (and envious of) Boston, DC, LA, or NYC – the 4 teenagers that made up The Catatonics did something about it. They took DIY to heart and willed a scene: putting on shows, putting out ‘zines, putting out releases and most importantly, aggressively encouraging any and all other Upstate and Central New York kids to create scenes and start bands of their own. To put the Syracuse of 1981/82 in perspective: The Catatonics initial shows would often include street musicians to round out the bills – there just weren’t any other punk or hardcore kindred spirits running around (save Cortland’s Suburban Rebels/SFB who Belvy also drummed in). And street musicians were at least better than Grateful Dead cover bands. The original Catatonics lineup of Belvy, Joe, and Louie Arrowhead played all over the Syracuse area during late 1981 and 1982. Usually on school nights. (Belvy and Joe’s high school class mate Farmer Brown replaced Louie shortly after, with Jeff joining soon after that). Belvy, Joe and Farmer would also routinely get sent home or suspended for wearing Dead Kennedys and Circle Jerks t-shirts to school, sincerely baffled as to how anyone could find this offensive. Nights there wasn’t a show (or to celebrate a particularly awesome one), there would be spray painting, breaking and entering, hooliganism, fights, and good natured vandalism. Schools. Bars. Churches. Office Buildings. Bored Teenagers, like the song says. But also curious, ambitious, hungry-for-something-else teenagers.

Fast forward to 1984: 

Syracuse/Central New York now boasted a good dozen+ local bands, an indie record store, multiple all ages spaces for shows, and had really begun to make a mark on the national scene. The Catatonics (and crew) busted serious ass and would wind up bringing some of the best punk and hardcore bands of the era to town. Youth Brigade, Black Flag, 7 Seconds, Gang Green, Suicidal Tendencies, Scream, M.I.A, Die Kreuzen, Husker Du, Necros, GBH, Battalion Of Saints and many more all now regularly hit the previous dead zone known as Syracuse/Central New York. The Catatonics (with Syracuse dragged along) had arrived. They became a much more serious and intense band and after putting out 2 or 3 cassette only releases, recorded and self released the 5 song EP Hunted Down which would feature the classic lineup of Belvy, Joe (now ‘Jack Shit’), Farmer (switching to 2nd guitar), and new bassist Jeff Jacques. Hunted Down made dozens of ‘best of’ lists. Maximum Rock & Roll did a feature on the Syracuse scene, and then one on The Catatonics. They appeared alongside big names like The Germs and Misfits on the super influential Flipside Magazine’s 2nd compilation LP with arguably their finest moment, Descending In E. Things were looking good. The Catatonics kept gigging hard, blowing away bigger established national acts, getting zine covers and more great press. New material was written, early demos for a full length were underway, talks of a U.S. tour were amidst, and then… 

It was gone.

Both musical & personal differences led to The Catatonics breaking up. A lot of it can probably be chalked up to Belvy wanting to go out and see the world and do something bigger (going on to join 7 Seconds, UK Subs, D Generation, Libertine and many more), so who knows what would’ve happened had they stayed the course. But that was then, this is now and Southern Lord Records will soon be reissuing Hunted Down as a 12” vinyl release with bonus tracks on April 23, 2022.

The punk icon and beloved son, nephew, cousin and bandmate passed away on January 29, 2022. // A GoFundMe has been launched for his eternal rest at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

Davey Bales was a powerful frontman, a prolific writer, a dear friend and a cherished family member.  He touched and inspired the lives of so many people around the world through his music, poetry, style, sense of humor, and dedication to his craft.  

Bales passed away sadly and suddenly on January 29th, 2022.  A treasure in the Los Angeles punk scene and beyond, Davey was well-known for founding and fronting the SoCal deathrock band The Wraith.  He released his first EP with the group in 2017 followed by their debut full-length Gloom Ballet in 2019.  The group’s irresistibly distinctive sound – skeletal bass lines and tribal beats propelling Bales’ poetic, anguished bark – immediately gained a following.  Southern Lord’s Greg Anderson comments: “Our deepest condolences go out to Davey Bales family, friends and band members of The Wraith. He was an amazing singer and when I had the pleasure of being in his company his dark creative energy was infectious.  REST IN POWER.”

Members of The Wraith comment, “We are all devastated by Davey’s sudden loss and were not prepared for the high cost of creating the memorial he deserves, to honor his memory and properly say our last goodbyes.”

The group has launched a GoFundMe to help cover the cost of a glass-fronted cremation niche at Hollywood Forever Cemetery for Bales. Please consider donating, as any amount will truly help his family during this difficult time.  Link to donate is here.

The Wraith continue, “Farewell, Davey. The music and poetry you created from your struggle will live on. Your performances will never be forgotten. Be at peace now, brother.”

Screen Time is a series of instrumental guitar pieces recorded during the summer of 2020 as the world confronted the pandemic shutdown and as the people of good conscious stood up against the oppression of racist police oppression and murder. How much screen time does a parent allow a child? How much screen time does a child need to realise a world which has the means to coexist as a community in shared exchange?

The cover image of Screen Time is of a youngster curled into a book, the pages vibratory with text radiating through the skin, blood and bone – an aspect entirely missing from digital media, though the actuality of transparency in our daily lives through streaming etc we can only hope leads to the awareness of fairness.

Screen Time is in reflection to dream time, a state of meditation, hypnagogia and pillow talk. Mastered by Lasse Marhaug for Southern Lord.

Pre order via Bandcamp and via Southern Lord Europe

MORE INFO:

Thurston Moore born 1958, moved to NYC 1976, started Sonic Youth 1980, edited the fanzines KILLER, Sonic Death, and Ecstatic Peace Poetry Journal, started Ecstatic Peace records + tapes label, senior editor of Ecstatic Peace Library, and Flowers & Cream, edited books at Rizzoli and Abrams, on faculty at the Naropa University summer writing program since 2011, published through various imprints, worked collaboratively with Yoko Ono, Merce Cunningham, Cecil Taylor, Rhys Chatham, Lydia Lunch, John Zorn, Takehisa Kosugi and Glenn Branca, composed music for films by Olivier Assayas, Gus Van Sant, and Allison Anders, records and tours both solo, with various ensembles and with his own band, resides everywhere.

SCREEN TIME TRACK LIST:

1) The Station

2) The Town

3) The Home

4) The View

5) The Neighbor

6) The Walk

7) The Upstairs

8) The Dream

9) The Parkbench

10) The Realisation

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THURSTON MOORE, VISIT:

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | BANDCAMP

In late October 2019, following a successful UK tour ending in a sold-out concert at the mythical Roundhouse in London, SUNN O))) entered studio 4 of the BBC Maida Vale on invitation to record a live session for Mary Anne Hobbs to be broadcast on Samhain via her excellent radio show on BBC6. To enter the legendary John Peel studios was to enter a temple of music and experimentation, liberty in ideas and sound.

The band was nearing the end of a long touring year around the Life Metal and Pyroclasts albums (of which Anna Von Hausswolff and her band had accompanied SUNN O))) on the UK tour, and Anna joined SUNN O))) in the studio on synths and with her tremendous voice). SUNN O))) had developed their compositions extensively, embracing the formative concepts of the Life Metal album conceptually and emotionally, but actualized and evolved into vast, open and bright hyper-saturated arrangements. Particularly the pieces the band chose to perform on this recording: Troubled Air and Pyroclasts. The former enriched into a total aspect of the band’s ethos and form in many ways, and Pyroclasts had evolved to become all-inclusive radiation of O))). The radiation embraces collaboration and freedom of interpretation by each player, within a structural format of the massive monuments of sound and distortion which define SUNN O))).

The recordings of this session— Metta, Benevolence. BBC 6Music: Live on the Invitation of Mary Anne Hobbs.— were released on CD and digital formats last November via Southern Lord and today, the long-awaited double LP version is finally available.

Watch (+ share the Sunn O))) Metta, Benevolence… LP unboxing video on YouTube.

Revisit passages from “Pyroclasts F (featuring Anna von Hausswolff) here and “Troubled Air” here.

SUNN O)))
Metta, Benevolence      
BBC 6Music : Live on the invitation of Mary Anne Hobbs

1. Pyroclasts F
2. Pyroclasts C#
3. Troubled Air

Stephen O’Malley (Electric Guitar, Minimoog Model D synthesizer)
Greg Anderson (Electric Guitar, Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 synthesizer)
Tos Nieuwenhuizen (Moog Rogue synthesizer)
Stephen Moore (Trombone, Roland Junior-106 (mod) & Nord Stage (gaffed black) synthesizers)
Tim Midyett (Electric Bass Guitar, Roland Juno-106 synthesizer)
Anna von Hausswolff (Voice & Nord C2D synthesizer on Pyroclasts F & C#)

Order Links:

https://sunn.southernlord.com/metta-benevolence-bbc-6music/
*exclusive Sunn O))) band store color variants

https://southernlord.com/store/sunn-o-metta-benevolence-bbc-6music/

https://southernlordeurope.com/store/sunn-o-metta-benevolence-bbc-6music/
*exclusive EU color variants

https://evilgreed.net/collections/sunn
*exclusive Evil Greed color variant

SUNN O)))’s website/webstore sunn.southernlord.com

SUNN O)))’s album oeuvres online sunn.bandcamp.com

SUNN O)))’s live recordings online sunn-live.bandcamp.com

SUNN O)))’s recordings are released by Southern Lord Recordings

www.southernlord.com

www.southernlordeurope.com

Almost 30 years since their inception, the members of Engine Kid got together in 2021 to hang out and record new music. The result of which arrived by way of the Special Olympics EP flexi-disc/digital EP, released last December on Southern Lord.

Today, the band has unveiled a music video for the EP’s second single, “Patty:Tania” alongside a Q&A with Engine Kid’s Greg Anderson — check that out now via NoEcho (or share the video directly from YouTube).

The tracks on the Special Olympics EP are re-workings of old material which were never recorded. The music represents the sonic direction that Engine Kid were heading before they disbanded. With this EP, the band commemorates the joy of playing music together for the first time in 26 years, and pick up where they left off. As Jade Devitt comments, “The musical commitment and connection that we forged in the 90’s has held like a magnet, finally pulling us together after 26 years! The newly recorded songs were dusted off blueprints from our very last practice tapes from the summer of ’95. Now enhanced with experience & age and new arrangements. The Kid flies again.”

Earlier this year, the 90’s post-hardcore collective featuring Greg Anderson (Southern Lord label owner, also in Sunn O))), Goatsnake & Thorr’s Hammer) released a 6-LP box set of their career-spanning recordings on colour vinyl LP’s for the first time titled Everything Left Inside (find out more about that here) Engine Kid’s Brian Kraft adds, “Greg, Jade and I spent the summer and fall of 2020 gathering old photos, flyers, artwork and audio rehearsals /remixes/remasters for the Everything Left Inside box set. This remote reunion of the Kid made me realize how important Greg, Jade and Engine Kid was and is in my life. The reconnection led to recording some new material. It felt as if we were continuing right where we left off.”

Engine Kid’s first new material since 1995, the Special Olympics EP’s cover art is a symbolic metaphor about living one’s best life, and with extravagant swagger. The songs themselves continue the band’s “take on the world” attitude with restless, wild energy.

Engine Kid’s new EP is out now on flexi-disc and on digital format via Bandcamp.

SPECIAL OLYMPICS EP, TRACK LIST:

1. SPECIAL OLYMPICS

2. BURBAN ON BLADEZ

3. THE ABATTIOR

4. PATTY:TANIA

Engine Kid on Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram

southernlordeurope.com | Spotify | iTunes 

With the CD/DL formats of Anna von Hausswolff’s latest release, Live at Montreux Jazz Festival approaching imminently on January 14th via Southern Lord, the label is sharing another audio excerpt from the album, and fan-favorite “The Mysterious Vanishing of Electra (Live at Montreux).” This particular piece captures the extraordinary and commanding nature of the live experience.

Watch + share “The Mysterious Vanishing of Electra (Live)” on YouTube.

Across six pieces, Anna von Hausswolff performs sensational renditions from two beloved albums; The Miraculous and Dead Magic, with the backing of a full band including additional vocals from her sister / cinematographer Maria von Hausswolff – full credits can be found below. 

The distinctive music, as captured across five full-length albums, comes to life, shifting from hypnotic and mantra-like moods to thunderous drama, dissonance and cacophony. The musicians master playful dynamics and wield immense power.

LP formats of Live at Montreux Jazz Festival will be arriving on May 13th via Southern Lord in North America, and via Pomperipossa Records in Europe. 

Revisit the previously shared single “The Truth, The Glow, The Fall (Live)” on YouTube.

The infamous Montreux Jazz Festival is one of the largest annual jazz festivals, now operating for over 50 years. About the experience Anna von Hausswolff remarks,

“In the beginning of 2013 I was texting back and forth with my friend Albin. He wanted me to come and play at a jazz festival that he was living nearby, it was Montreux Jazz Festival. At that point I was still quite unknown outside Sweden and regardless of my friend’s many attempts to contact the festival they never returned to him with an offer. I gave up the idea, he did not. Later that same year he unexpectedly died and a few years later, in 2017, an email popped up in my inbox, it was a request to open for Nick Cave and the bad seeds at the Montreux jazz festival. The tragedy that Albin was still not around to share the excitement with me gave me sorrow.

But, through the magic of music comfort came. The show was an emotional turmoil of ecstasy and grief, shared with an incredible audience and atmosphere. And, eventually, I could see his face in the venue, floating above all others, smiling and waving towards me.  I’m so happy to have been given this moment  and I’m beyond grateful to Montreux Jazz Festival, John Harris and Mathieu Jaton who so beautifully recorded this special concert that I will keep close to my heart forever and ever.”

Live at Montreux Jazz Festival was mixed on the “Queen Neve” desk, previously owned by Queen  (thus the name ) and situated at the Mountain Studios in the casino of Montreux, now ­located at Svenska Grammofonstudion, Gothenburg – further capturing the magic.

PRE-ORDER LIVE AT MONTREUX JAZZ FESTIVAL VIA BANDCAMP, SOUTHERN LORD STORE, SOUTHERN LORD EUROPE STORE & THE LP VIA POMPERIPOSSA RECORDS.

Live at Montreux Jazz Festival (2018) track list: 

1. The Truth, The Glow, The Fall (live)

2. Pomperipossa (live)

3. The Mysterious Vanishing Of Electra (live)

4. Ugly And Vengeful (live)

5. Kållans återuppståndelse (live)

6. Come Wander With Me Deliverance (live)

Recorded at Montreux Jazz Festival in 2018, in Auditorium Stravinsky.

Live at Montreux Jazz Festival (2018), cover art:

Performed by :
Anna von Hausswolff – vocals, organ, acoustic guitar, octatrack
Maria von Hausswolff – vocals
Filip Leyman – synth, percussion
Ulrik Ording – drums
Karl Vento – electric guitar
Joel Fabiansson – electric guitar
David Sabel – bass
Justin Grealy – sound engineer  

Mixed by Filip Leyman and Anna von Hausswolff
Mastered by Hans Olsson Brookes
Illustrations by Zezeah / Zeynep Kis  
Sleeve design by Magnus Andersson and Anna von Hausswolff
Special thanks to Montreux Jazz Festival, John Harris and Mathieu Jaton

FOR MORE ON ANNA VON HAUSSWOLFF:

BANDCAMP

INSTAGRAM

TWITTER

FACEBOOK

The Special Olympics EP is out now on Flexi disc and digital EP.

Almost 30 years since their inception, the members of Engine Kid got together a few months ago to hang out and record new music. The result of which arrives by way of the Special Olympics EP flexi-disc/digital EP which was released on December 3rd via Southern Lord.

Watch a music video for “BURBAN ON BLADEZ” now.

Some fans may recognize the song “Special Olympics” which, like others on this release, are re-workings of old material which were never recorded. The music represents the sonic direction that the band were heading before they disbanded. With this EP, Engine Kid commemorate the joy of playing music together for the first time in 26 years, and pick up where they left off. As Jade Devitt comments, “The musical commitment and connection that we forged in the 90’s has held like a magnet, finally pulling us together after 26 years! The newly recorded songs were dusted off blueprints from our very last practice tapes from the summer of ’95. Now enhanced with experience & age and new arrangements. The Kid flies again.”

Earlier this year, the 90’s post-hardcore collective featuring Greg Anderson (Southern Lord label owner, also in Sunn O))), Goatsnake & Thorr’s Hammer) released a 6-LP box set of their career-spanning recordings on colour vinyl LP’s for the first time titled Everything Left Inside (find out more about that here) Engine Kid’s Brian Kraft adds, “Greg, Jade and I spent the summer and fall of 2020 gathering old photos, flyers, artwork and audio rehearsals /remixes/remasters for the Everything Left Inside box set. This remote reunion of the Kid made me realize how important Greg, Jade and Engine Kid was and is in my life. The reconnection led to recording some new material. It felt as if we were continuing right where we left off.”

Engine Kid’s first new material since 1995, the Special Olympics EP’s cover art is a symbolic metaphor about living one’s best life, and with extravagant swagger. The songs themselves continue the band’s “take on the world” attitude with restless, wild energy.

Engine Kid’s new EP is out now on flexi-disc and on digital format via Bandcamp.

Watch (+ share) the official video for Engine Kid’s new single “Burban on Bladez” on YouTube.

SPECIAL OLYMPICS EP, TRACK LIST:

1. BURBAN ON BLADEZ

2. SPECIAL OLYMPICS

3. THE ABATTIOR

4. PATTY:TANIA

Engine Kid on Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram

southernlord.com | Spotify | iTunes 

Anybody who has witnessed a live performance of Anna von Hausswolff and band can attest to the extraordinary and commanding nature of the experience. The distinctive music, as captured across five full-length albums, comes to life, shifting from hypnotic and mantra-like moods to thunderous drama, dissonance and cacophony. The musicians master playful dynamics and wield immense power.

Arriving January 14th via Southern Lord on CD/DL formats; LP to be released via Southern Lord in North America on May 13th, 2022 (via Pomperipossa Records in Europe). // Listen to “The Truth, The Glow, The Fall (Live)

Following the release of her solo pipe organ album All Thoughts Fly and an accompanying sell-out European tour (Nov/Dec 2021), this January, Southern Lord are releasing Anna von Hausswolff, Live at Montreux Jazz Festival (2018).

Across six pieces, Anna von Hausswolff performs sensational renditions of fan-favorites from the two beloved albums; The Miraculous and Dead Magic, with the backing of a full band including additional vocals from her sister / cinematographer Maria von Hausswolff (full credits can be found below). 

Watch (+ share) the visualizer for Anna Von Hausswolff’s “The Truth, The Glow, The Fall (Live) on YouTube.

The infamous Montreux Jazz Festival is one of the largest annual jazz festivals, now operating for over 50 years. About the experience Anna von Hausswolff remarks:

“In the beginning of 2013 I was texting back and forth with my friend Albin Oskarsson. He wanted me to come and play at a jazz festival that he was living nearby, it was Montreux Jazz Festival. At that point I was still quite unknown outside Sweden and regardless of my friend’s many attempts to contact the festival they never returned to him with an offer. I gave up the idea, he did not. Later that same year he unexpectedly died and a few years later, in 2017, an email popped up in my inbox, it was a request to open for Nick Cave and the bad seeds at the Montreux jazz festival. The tragedy that Albin was still not around to share the excitement with me gave me sorrow.

But, through the magic of music comfort came. The show was an emotional turmoil of ecstasy and grief, shared with an incredible audience and atmosphere. And, eventually, I could see his face in the venue, floating above all others, smiling and waving towards me.  I’m so happy to have been given this moment  and I’m beyond grateful to Montreux Jazz Festival, John Harris and Mathieu Jaton who so beautifully recorded this special concert that I will keep close to my heart forever and ever.”

Live at Montreux Jazz Festival was mixed on the “Queen Neve” desk, previously owned by Queen (thus the name ) and situated at the Mountain Studios in the casino of Montreux, now ­located at Svenska Grammofonstudion, Gothenburg – further capturing the magic.

PRE-ORDER LIVE AT MONTREUX JAZZ FESTIVAL VIA BANDCAMP, SOUTHERN LORD STORE, SOUTHERN LORD EUROPE STORE & THE LP VIA POMPERIPOSSA RECORDS.

Live at Montreux Jazz Festival (2018) track list: 

1. The Truth, The Glow, The Fall (live)

2. Pomperipossa (live)

3. The Mysterious Vanishing Of Electra (live)

4. Ugly And Vengeful (live)

5. Kållans återuppståndelse (live)

6. Come Wander With Me Deliverance (live)

Recorded at Montreux Jazz Festival in 2018, in Auditorium Stravinsky.

Performed by :
Anna von Hausswolff – vocals, organ, acoustic guitar, octatrack
Maria von Hausswolff – vocals
Filip Leyman – synth, percussion
Ulrik Ording – drums
Karl Vento – electric guitar
Joel Fabiansson – electric guitar
David Sabel – bass
Justin Grealy – sound engineer  

Mixed by Filip Leyman and Anna von Hausswolff
Mastered by Hans Olsson Brookes
Illustrations by Zezeah / Zeynep Kis  
Sleeve design by Magnus Andersson and Anna von Hausswolff
Special thanks to Montreux Jazz Festival, John Harris and Mathieu Jaton

FOR MORE ON ANNA VON HAUSSWOLFF:

BANDCAMP

INSTAGRAM

TWITTER

FACEBOOK

In late October 2019, following a successful UK tour ending in a sold-out concert at the mythical Roundhouse in London, SUNN O))) entered studio 4 of the BBC Maida Vale on invitation to record a live session for Mary Anne Hobbs to be broadcast on Samhain via her excellent radio show on BBC6. To enter the legendary John Peel studios was to enter a temple of music and experimentation, liberty in ideas and sound.

The brilliant Anna Von Hausswolff and her band had accompanied SUNN O))) on the UK tour, and Anna joined SUNN O))) in the BBC studio on synths and with her tremendous voice on the Pyroclasts pieces.  Today, SUNN O))) premieres an excerpt from the remarkable “Pyroclasts F” track ahead of the November 26 CD/Digital release date.

Watch (+ share) the visualizer for SUNN O))) feat. Anna Von Hausswolff “Pyroclasts F” excerpt on YouTube.

Also revisit the “Troubled Air” excerpt on YouTube.

Nearing the end of a long touring year around the Life Metal and Pyroclasts albums, SUNN O))) had developed the compositions extensively, embracing the formative concepts of the Life Metal album conceptually and emotionally. But on Metta, Benevolence…, the songs actualized and evolved into vast, open and bright hyper-saturated arrangements— particularly the pieces the band chose to perform on this recording: Troubled Air and Pyroclasts. The former enriched into a total aspect of the band’s ethos and form in many ways, and Pyroclasts had evolved to become all-inclusive radiation of O))). The radiation embraces collaboration and freedom of interpretation by each player, within a structural format of the massive monuments of sound and distortion which define SUNN O))).

SUNN O)))
Metta, Benevolence
BBC 6Music : Live on the invitation of Mary Anne Hobbs

1. Pyroclasts F
2. Pyroclasts C#
3. Troubled Air

Stephen O’Malley (Electric Guitar, Minimoog Model D synthesizer)
Greg Anderson (Electric Guitar, Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 synthesizer)
Tos Nieuwenhuizen (Moog Rogue synthesizer)
Stephen Moore (Trombone, Roland Junior-106 (mod) & Nord Stage (gaffed black) synthesizers)
Tim Midyett (Electric Bass Guitar, Roland Juno-106 synthesizer)
Anna von Hausswolff (Voice & Nord C2D synthesizer on Pyroclasts F & C#)

Pre-order Links:

SUNN O)))’s website/webstore
*exclusive Sunn O))) band store colour variants

Southern Lord website/webstore

Southern Lord Europe website/webstore
*exclusive EU colour variants

Evil Greed
*exclusive Evil Greed colour variant

SUNN O)))’s website/webstore sunn.southernlord.com

SUNN O)))’s album oeuvres online sunn.bandcamp.com

SUNN O)))’s live recordings online sunn-live.bandcamp.com

SUNN O)))’s recordings are released by Southern Lord Recordings

southernlord.com
southernlordeurope.com