"Keelhaul's Triumphant Return To Obscurity" Out Aug. 18th on HH

Announces New Album, "Keelhaul's Triumphant Return to Obscurity," Out August 18th On Hydra Head Records * Plays Pitchfork's Show No Mercy Series August 2nd at The Public Assembly in New York!

Complex, chaotic, heavy, and never dull - Punknews

A band you've ignored for far too long. - Scenepointblank

Kellhaul have written an album that not only moves the band to the next level but the whole genre that they represent. - Apeshit.org

Keelhaul is like the one friend that you're actually looking forward to seeing when you fly home for the holidays... Still smoking weed in the parent's basement, but, try as you might, you can't fault him for doing it because ultimately you're fucking convinced he's got some shit figured out that you're still years away from. Basically, this guy Keelhaul is a solid dude and maybe part of you wants to be him, no shame in it... most people are susceptible to societal pressures... you wanted to be an adult and you thought you knew what that meant... trips to the wine store... you should kick your own ass. 

Keelhaul's Triumphant Return to Obscurity, is not just a clever name for an album title marking a band's return from obscurity, it's an album title for a band's release marking that same band's return from obscurity. init? Chris Smith, Aaron Dallison, Dana Embrose, and Will Scharf have been at it as Keelhaul for over ten years and it shows. This record picks up on the band's progression as if they were steadily releasing records throughout their six year hiatus. The pace is precise, the instrumentation is masterful and the guitar tones are absolutely appropriate. Look, your old pal Keelhaul knows what he's doing and he ain't affiliated with no williamsburgers, so he feels no need to overcompensate by adding strings, vibes, horns, boners (well maybe boners), harps and/or electric flutes... to his compositions... which is a god damn breath of fresh air if you ask me. 

Keelhaul's Triumphant Return to Obscurity Track Listing: 

1. Pass the Lampshade * download exclusively @ BrooklynVegan.com!
2. Glorious Car Activities 
3. Everything's a Napkin 
4. High Seas Viking Eulogy 
5. THC for one
6. The Subtle Sound of an Empty Milkshake 
7. El Matador 
8. Kirby Wurm 
9. Bandolero de Perros De Maiz 
10. Waiting for the Moon to Speak 
11. Brady's Lament 
12. KFB

Keelhaul Live!
Aug 2 2009 Public Assembly Brooklyn, NY part of the Show No Mercy series w/ Minsk, STATS, + Special Guests
Aug 3 2009 Great Scott Boston, Massachusetts w/ Doomriders 
Sep 12 2009 Melody Inn Indianapolis, Indiana

New KEELHAUL MP3 on Brooklyn Vegan

If there is such thing as justice, maybe Keelhaul's ironically titled new album, Keelhaul's Triumphant Return to Obscurity will have just the opposite effect. Due via Hydra Head on August 18th, Triumphant Return (is what I am calling it) marks their fourth LP in their ten years as a band, and their first LP since 2003's Subject To Change Without Notice.

Read More...

Kayo Dot Recording New Full-Length Album!

Enter Studio/ Begin Recording Fourth Full-Length Album To Be Released on Hydra Head Records!

Led by Toby Driver and Mia Matsumiya, the NYC sextet just released their third album Blue Lambency Downward on Isis man Aaron Turner's Hydra Head records. The opening, title track is a mysterious 10-minute meandering of bells like crickets, bursts of patient guitar, jazzy drum fills (kept to a toppling spaciousness), electronic pulses, and chiming vocal melodies. It kinda feels like a psychedelic boat trip piloted by Ghost, albeit it with bigger "pop" tendencies. - Stereogum

Fresh off of a US tour opening for Trey Spruance's amazing SECRET CHIEFS 3, KAYO DOT has arrived in Seattle to begin recording their second full length release for Hydra Head Industries. 

Throughout the tour, they performed and refined the new compositions, bringing them to new audiences and honing them for the upcoming recording, with Toby Driver also picking up bass duties for SECRET CHIEFS 3 each night. The new music features another sonic shift in the ever-evolving sonic lexicon of KAYO DOT. Expect a more visceral rhythmic sound with overdriven chorus basses, cave-echoed horns, vocals and strings, tuned struck metal, and a purveying melodic darkness threaded delicately throughout the sound of the music. Once again, the record will be recorded by Randall Dunn (Sunn O))), Earth, Six Organs Of Admittance) who also recorded KAYO DOT'S critically acclaimed Hydra Head release from 2008, BLUE LAMBENCY DOWNWARD. Expect the release of the new music on Hydra Head in Fall of 2009, with a September / October European tour and US tour to follow the album release! - Toby Driver / Kayo Dot

Stream Kayo Dot's 2008 album, "Blue Lambency Downward," here!



For more information, visit:
www.myspace.com/kayodot
www.hydrahead.com

ねたみ / Jesu 新聞発表!!!

Envy / Jesu 

Release and Stream "Split" Out Now on Hydra Head!

Stream Envy / Jesu "Split" here!

Hydra Head proudly presents the official North American edition of Envy / Jesu's split release, out now on CD and in the fall on 2x10." Originally available exclusively via our pals from the land o' the rising sun, Daymare Recordings, this release features brand new tracks from both bands. Our boy JKB does his good deed for the day and unloads a whole pile of beats up on this piece, while Japan's Envy balance the scales with a smoothness we never knew they had up in 'em. Nice.

You can listen to the entire record streaming via Hydra Head's very fancy media player linked up above. In case we missed something, here's what our favorite Japanese counterpart had to say about this release:

説明的なテキスト: 

日本からの最も有能な、最も受け入れられた生きている行為の1つは、羨望決してずっと重い postrockの宣誓の感情的に不安定な経路を残していないが、再度それらはそれを、コアそれに除 去した音をであるずっと叙事詩の本質開けている. 常に熱情的、耐久性がある、ほとんどの動機上 の製品は非現実的な期待を作成するが、霧で盲目にとどまる. この3つの歌は前のクラシックより さらにもっと多様である. 単に優雅、およびまだ精力的; 音楽的に暗黒面の原因となる無慈悲な部 分を運ぶ後本格的なギターの塵の厚い雲を通って深く、さまよう. 

JESUの首謀者ジャスティンK. Broadrickは2008年5月までの1月からなだれで新たにこれら二つの トラックを書き、記録し、混合し、そして作り出した. 音楽的に、それはダビングのステップからの非 常に冒険的、より多くの影響音によって方向づけられる音である. この新しい平板で彼は downtempoのheavynessの旋律のツイスト破裂音の要素を組み込む、 硬直した織り目加工の容器 を作成することは冷たいtechnoの戯曲のミニマリズムによって酔わせた. JESUは永遠、現代日の flymachineである、けれども決して一時的な視力を失う酒造機の感じにしがみつかない。 

ENVY 

1. 存在の結論 (5:08) 

2. の結論。 (6:26) 

3. の生命の冬の探求は雨でつかまえた (4:27) 

JESU 

4. 懸命に達するため (13.40) 

5. あなたの上でハングする星 (7:37) 

* Stay tuned for news on the debut full length from Justin Broadrick's new project, GREY MACHINE (also featuring Isis frontman Aaron Turner), coming soon!

Noise Creep Respectin' the Hell Out BERGRAVEN!

Black metal has always been about individualism and not being "one of the sheep, " yet more and more albums seem to be coming out of the woodwork with the obligatory forest scene artwork, indecipherable band name, buzzing lo-fi guitars and tortured screams. Sweden's Bergraven -- aka sole band member and multi-instrumentalist Par Gustaffssons -- has shunned such cliches to make some of the most evolved, compelling and expressive extreme music we've heard in a while. In a sea of misanthropic music makers, Bergraven stands alone as a band that truly adheres to the black metal ideology. Ironically, Par rejects the black metal tag entirely.

READ ON!!!

METAL SUCKS Reviews New BERGRAVEN Full Length

Like mother always said, "Four hands, posed to resemble the devil's horns, out of five... ain't too shabby..." 

Sweden’s Bergraven fit under the black metal umbrella just at the edge, enough to keep part of its shoulder dry while the rest is soaked with outside influence. And while 2007’s Dödsvisioner fooled around with the genre enough to warrant attention (and not to mention make a great, complex, dense metal record), the band’s followup – Till Makabert Väsen – features only fragments of black metal, and even those are diluted by mainmanonlyman Pär Gustavsson bottomless pot of strangeness...

READ ON

ok... so if this review didn't strike your interest, we've got one more trick up our sleeve(s)... you regular subscribers can stream the album here: www.TillMakabertVasen.com... Enjoy!!

ISIS Tour Poster Series!

Tonight is the last night of the ISIS Wavering Radiant North American Tour, which means alot of things around the HHR office. It means Mark will have to tell Aaron that Andrew works here now. It means Chel will have Armando back. It means new interns, June and Tyler, will be fired. It means James will have to move back home. It means there will be an official ceremony declaring Wes the Golden Child. And it also means that Aaron will bring back a pile of silkscreen tour posters and let the staff fight over them. We'll pick and pull and jealously criticize, but everyone will go home with more paper to add on top of the "stuff to frame" stack in our living rooms.

But, now, if you go here, you too can be the proud owner of many unframed ISIS tour posters. The good people at Broken Press are selling poster packs as well as individual posters from the tour. Alot of kick-ass artists participated in the series; Mackie Osborne, Seldon Hunt, Stephen Kasner, Faith Coloccia, Adam Jones, and many others all contributed art. Our boy, Tom Neely, did the LA poster. Check out these examples below:

XASTHUR Review in the New York Times!!!

The California black-metal project Xasthur is one guy, Malefic is Scott Conner. Scott Conner makes music that sounds as if it has gangrene. "All Reflections Drained, "Xasthur's largely instrumental new record (Hydra Head) is misery on misery: unapologetic cardboard-box drums, background muttering, disorienting echoes, a guitar sound like cold, granular gas, and, yeah, there's something to it.

READ MORE!!!

HELMS ALEE & MAMMIFFER on tour with ISIS!

6/18 Portland, Oregon @ Hawthorne Theater w/ Helms Alee, Mamiffer
6/19 Vancouver, British Columbia @ Commodore Ballroom w/ Helms Alee, Mamiffer
6/20 Seattle, Washington @ Neumo’s w/ Thrones, Mamiffer
6/22 San Jose, California @ The Blank Club w/ Helms Alee, Mamiffer
6/23 San Francisco, California @ Great American Music Hall w/ Helms Alee, Mamiffer
6/24 Los Angeles, California @ Henry Fonda Theater w/ Helms Alee, Mamiffer

If your unfamiliar with these supporting Hydra Head outfits, let me do you a solid and do you some familiarizing... we here at HH don't want you looking like a wet blanket at the big social south of something street this saturday. right!


MAMIFFER is kinda like the new and improved EVERLOVELY LIGHTNINGHEART, in that its led by a key member of ELLH (Faith Coloccia) and the song structures are more deliberate/solidified. Aaron Turner (of ISIS) and Travis Rommereim (also of ELLH) are the other permanent fixtures in the group... Aaron do guitar, Travis do percussion, Faith do piano. MAMIFFER's HH debut, "HIRROR ENNIFFER," features a revolving cast of seasoned musicians: Brian Cook (THESE ARMS ARE SNAKES), Hozoji Annie Matheson-Marqullis (HELMS ALEE, LOZEN) Chris Common (THESE ARMS ARE SNAKES) and Ryan Frederickson (THESE ARMS ARE SNAKES). "HIRROR ENNIFFER," maintains the artful ambiguousness of an EVERLOVELY LIGHTNINGHEART release while walking the line of musical tangibility... and that ain't easy.

Check out Mamiffer's-"Hirror Enniffer" here:
http://www.hirrorenniffer.com/


"NIGHT TERROR," HELMS ALEE'S debut full length on Hydra Head, is the kind of record, that upon first listen, irks at you for not having heard it already... You know... hearing it immediately makes you think to phone your savvy boatsman of a buddy, thinking maybe you can be the first in-the-know this time. so you do... and he says he saw em play the other week... but us, the omniscient readers, know that he hadn't seen em the other week or heard of em for that matter... he was at home watching arrested development like the rest of you local blowhards, which is acceptable, maybe.. either way, looks like its high time to move out of your hometown... anywhooo, back to Helms Alee: Ben Verellen (HARKONEN), Hozoji Annie Matheson-Marqullis (LOZEN) and Dana James exudes a brilliant range of vocal and guitar tonalities on, "NIGHT TERROR. It is as heavy as it melodic and nothing is lost in the exchange.

Check out Helms Alee's-"Night Terror" here:
http://www.helmsalee-nightterror.com/

BERGRAVEN "Till makabert väsen" CD release!

On June 23rd, of 2009, Hydra Head will be releasing the third full length (second for HHR) from Sweden's BERGRAVEN. The album has been an office favorite for months, so to mark the festivity, we have launched a new BERGRAVEN t-shirt to coincide with the preorder of the album proper. The shirt is pretty smooth, so check out the image I stole above from our webstore. You can order the shirt here.

Billy Dee Williams digs our style

Colt 45 caught wind of our youtube clip and put it up on talesofcolt45.com and their blog!


Next thing you know, Billy Dee Williams will be dropping off more tall boys in person! That's Lando Calrissian, suckas!

Khanate "Clean Hands Go Foul" CD, Ltd. CD+DVD

Now available - Khanate - "Clean Hands Go Foul" on CD, and limited CD+DVD that includes a 40+ minute live performance filmed in Chicago in 2005 on the END:CAPTURE AND RELEASE LIVE DVD in an edition of 1000. This should have been posted sooner, but some of us are bad at remembering. One of our sisters' birthdays is tomorrow, and we haven't bought a present yet. Shit. I guess she is getting one of these, even though the music will terrify her and we will get yelled at by our mom.

Khanate - Clean Hands Go Foul CD, front and back



CD interior, unfolded booklet


Khanate - Clean Hands Go Foul Ltd. CD+DVD, front and back


Limited DVD and Sleeve


Also available: Clean Hands Go Foul mug, t-shirt, and vinyl LP.

Pick them up at our webstore

Colt 45: Hydra Highlight #106

Jimmy starts drinking at 2:00pm.

Chel's List Volume 7: Champions of Sound 2008 feat. Kayo Dot

Here is the new Chel's List video touting the Champions of Sound 2008 2x7", Oxbow - "Lover Ungrateful" 7", and more Torche - "Meanderthal Demos" cassettes. Also featuring an appearance by members of Kayo Dot.



Email chelvanin@hydrahead.com to get on his exclusive mailorder list.

Torche - "Meanderthal Demos" cassettes

We just got a bunch more Torche - "Meanderthal Demos" cassettes, since we are now the exclusive distributor for Ricky's label Rotting Chapel Propoganda. The first handful we got disappeared instantly. We even had to sell personal copies because some of us suck at counting. We are getting our own this time around, and you should too, if you haven't already.




Email chelvanin@hydrahead.com

Oxbow "Lover Ungrateful" 7"

We just got a handful of the Oxbow - "Lover Ungrateful" 7" from Midmarch records. They are from a run of 500. The 7" features acoustic renditions of the songs "Stallkicker" and "Frankly Frank".

Front cover, A: Stallkicker


Back Cover, A: Frankly Frank


You should need no encouragement to purchase. Your fear of Eugene should do the job.

Champions of Sound 2008 2x7"

It's here, and not a moment too soon. "Champions of Sound 2008" 2x7", featuring one unreleased song apiece from Pelican, Kayo Dot, Stove Bredsky, and Zozobra. Available on either black or clear vinyl.

Unfolded screen printed cover

Black vinyl

Clear vinyl


Assembly is underway. Pelican and Kayo Dot have copies on tour.

ENVY/JESU split CD preorder launches!

So, on June 23rd, Hydra Head will be releasing the North American version of the ENVY/JESU split CD, originally birthed by our Japanese pals, Daymare Recordings. To commemorative this glorious union, we have launched a timely preorder that allows our loyal customers to finally choose sides and pick either an ENVY shirt or a JESU shirt. I am not going to throw my two cents into this debate, since I am special and get both. But enough about me, here are the designs:



You can order these shirts here. The JESU design should be available on our webstore indefinitely, but the ENVY design will only be available for the next two weeks, so act accordingly.

Hydra Head +VinylBMX Video Contest

Vinyl, and HydraHead Records are putting together a video contest. You can create any type of film you would like, it can be anything from bike riding, nature, lifestyle, ect… We provide some music that you have a choice of using but not madatory. The video needs to be 30 seconds - 4mins long. Video is Due july 2nd. Click here to view the Prize pack.

Mare Reunion?

We wish. However, Mare will be playing a reunion show on June 20th at Coliseum Stage in Mississauga, Ontario. :):):):):):):) !!!!!!! No word if additional shows will happen or not :(:(:(:(:(:(

James Plotkin interview on Way Too Loud

"I’ve always been a fan of Khanate for awhile now, and I was saddened to hear about their breakup in 2005. I’d been awaiting the new album hoping to hear it in 2007, and it’s finally here today.

If you go looking for Khanate interviews on the net, you might be disappointed, as most people seem to ask the members about all their other projects, but no one seemed to focus on one band. Derek at Solid PR was cool enough to hook me up with Khanate bass player James Plotkin - though he did much more than just play bass in the band.

Way Too Loud!: How did “Clean Hands go Foul” come about?

James Plotkin: We had a bunch of time left over from the recording session for “Capture and Release”. At rehearsals we’d improvised before, so we were interested in recording and seeing what would happen, and we had the tape and we had the time, so we figured we’d fill up all the tape we had and see if we could come up with anything usable. That’s basically the core of the record. We didn’t record anything that we didn’t use, so everything we did is on that record. It was strange, because I think that sound quality come off better than “Capture and Release” as far as I can tell. It was much more conducive to mixing and getting a better live sound, and a nice crisp sound

We recorded it within a day of “Capture and Release”, so it wasn’t what some people though, like an after the fact recording or lost tapes or something. I was glad we did it.

I was actually going through some old hard drives a couple of weeks ago and found a handful of improvised records from our very first session that we recorded our first album from. I don’t know if that’s a possible release for the future, but it’s funny because I completely forget they existed, and I’m sure everybody else did too..." Read the full interview on Way Too Loud