Big Business Karaoke Monday!

Today's Big Business karaoke clip is "Always on My Mind" by Pet Shop Boys. Jared takes the mic, with Toshi and Coady backing him up on tambourine!



By the way, the inventor of karaoke never patented his idea and has missed out on about $100,000,000. Woof. Sounds like something we would do.

FYF Fest Tickets at discount through end of Saturday.

We just noticed that FYF Fest (which Torche are now playing!!) have tickets at mega discount now through end of day tomorrow. Regular price is $20, but you can get them here for $8 now through tomorrow. Nice!

TORCHE added to Fuck Yeah Fest!!

We're pleased as punch that FYF Fest just added Torche to their line up for this year. The event has become a staple here in town with the cool kids...(so the fact that us old farts are psyched about it probably means the hip kids are totally over it now)...but no matter, the more the merrier we say, and from the looks of it Sean and co. are putting on a beast of an event next Saturday September 5th at the Los Angeles State Historic Park just outside of LA's Chinatown.

Not only are we psyched to see Torche for the second time in a month, but we also get to see Converge (hopefully) play a shitload of stuff of their new album. Shit, we'll be psyched even if they only played the stuff of their demo tape from like 40 years ago. Word on the street is that Dillinger is gonna be added, Mark is giddy about seeing Har Mar Superstar, and we gotta admit we're curious as hell to see Cold Cave after finding out Wes from American Nightmare and Dominick from Prurient are both in it.

Way way back in the day we used to set up shop at fest's our bands would play...like Krazy Fest, and that one in Burlington, VT that Simon from Drowningman used to do that we can't remember the name of...so we figured we'd give the ol' merch booth thing a go just to get our chops back up into fighting shape or whatever. Except this time out we've got the new regime behind the wheel...namely, Chel Vanin. If yr reading this then yr probably on Chel's List, and if yr reading this then you've probably also seen Chel on our youtube channel, and if yr reading this AND going to FYF Fest then yr probably definitely gonna stop by to see if he's real. We assure you, he is. But come and see for yrself. We're thinking of setting up something on the side like, "Kiss Chel Vanin For $1" or perhaps even "Tickle Chel Vanin For $1". We'll see...

Word on the street is that we'll a new release available....and it'll probably be limited...and those that don't go and get it will probably be pissed and whine about it not getting it....but more on that later!

FYF Fest tickets are available on their site and also through our store Vacation.

James O'Mara is ticklish

Here is videographic proof from the trip to SXSW 2007.



If you feel bad for him, he is looking for a G.I. Joe Stormshadow (second version) figure. If you have one to spare, email him at james@hydrahead.com and he will trade you for some Hydra Head stuff that Mark would not want him to give away.

CAVE IN "Planets of Old" review up at Scenepointblank

Scenepointblank posted up a smooth review of CAVE IN's Planets of Old. Here is a sampling:

Pounding drums and a rumbling bass hold the guitars to earth as they harmonically wail through the din; this is Cave In mixing the aggressive nature (even the brutish bellowing and screaming vocals make a dramatic appearance) of their earlier material with the more spacey sounding material (think Jupiter era), and it is wholly impressive.

Chel has a few left to sell y'all, so hit him up at chelvanin@hydrahead.com to get yourself all set up. Our webstore proper also has the goods.

Here is a direct link to the review.

Will Scharf of KEELHAUL interviewed over at Metalsucks

Check out this interview with KEELHAUL drummer, Will Scharf, at Metalsucks.net. Here is an excerpt, which happens to be about us, cause this is our blog and we can be egotistical if we want.

Tell me about your long term love affair with Hyrda Head?
Hydra Head is the only label that is cool enough to keep putting out our stuff... They’re great guys, and for whatever reason, we get along with them. They’re good guys... This label wants to put our shit out. Okay. I don’t know if we’re worthy.

Here is that link again.

New PELICAN Song Posted!

PELICAN have posted a new track from their upcoming album on their official MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/pelican.

The song, entitled "Strung Up From The Sky", is one of the eight tracks encompassing the band's upcoming full-length What We All Come To Need, being released on October 27th, their first for Southern Lord Recordings.

Chel Face Wrap

This is why your Chel's list package is a day late.

Chel Sells Shirts Well....

Well, we're not entirely sold on the idea that he actually sells them well, but he's trying hard, so what the hell.

The top image features shirts we have have just recently uncovered in our storage.

The bottom 2 images are altered versions of the ones we posted last week. If our intern Ryo has done the job that we don't pay him for correctly, they show the pictures and sizes of the remaining shirts in stock here at HHR.

These shirts are overstock, extras and ones that for one reason or another end up here at our offices rather than on the backs, boobies, and guts of the their fans. We have very limited quantities of these shirts, and are selling them on a first come first serve basis.

They are only available through Chel, our in howes merch man. Contact him via e-mail. Chelvanin@hydrahead.com He'll reply with pricing info, and get you on his list of people to e-mail when we have something new, exciting or interesting come through our doors.

These recently uncovered shirts should go fairly quickly, so if you think you might want one, let Chel know in your first e-mail so that you get first dibs on it.

Keelhaul: Record Release, Stream & New Tour Dates!

Release and Stream New Album, "Keelhaul's Triumphant Return to Obscurity," Today On Hydra Head Records!



Keelhaul absolutely fucking killed it, their furious Coalesce-on-steroids onslaught leaving me wondering how this band had slipped beneath my radar for so long. -MetalSucks

Unlike so many lesser bands, the Cleveland quartet explores the extremes of heaviness and complexity without skimping on either element. - Time Out NY

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 palKeelhaul knows what he's doing and he has no clue what a Williamsburg is, 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 damn good breath of fresh air if you ask us. 

Stream "Triumphant Return" here!

Keelhaul's Triumphant Return to Obscurity Track Listing: 
1. Pass the Lampshade
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 21 2009 Grog Shop Record Release Show Cleveland, Ohio w/Gluttons, Doktor Bitch 
Sep 12 2009 Melody Inn Indianapolis, Indiana
Sep 25 2009 Smalls Detroit, Michigan w/ Yakuza
Sep 26 2009 Beat Kitchen Chicago, Illinois w/ Yakuza 

Nihill Announce Second Album in Trilogy, "Grond," out October 13th on Hydra Head!

This is some seriously blackened music. - ChronicYouth.com

GROND, chapter two in a trilogy, is an album wholly immersed in abstraction. The instrumentation renders a forceful merging of massive celestial bodies, each a whirling cacophony exuding a unique sonic trembling. After digesting the lyrics in accordance, what used to sound like the swinging of a pendulum, rather depicts a birth of unintelligible base... a spectral achievement even. Nihill, an outfit still very new to the American public, travels freely from one metal sub-genre to the next. The reflexive nature with which Nihill makes these connections might lead one to consider them genreless. GROND, for example, is at once: drone, doom, noise, industrial, and black metal; arriving at something resembling a sort mechanistic dark ambient more than anything else.

If anything this unique need suffer comparison for the sake of cognition, Nihill's nearest contemporaries are the likes of Sunn O))), Blut Aus Nord, Deathspell Omega. Moreover, If realized as an experience, rather than confining the moods and ideas therein to the nulling constructs of a conventional metal record, GROND offers the listener the opportunity to perceive things beyond physicality...

Grond Tracklisting:

1. Aard

2. Antimoon

3. Vacuum

4. Pulsus

Stereogum premieres PYRAMIDS WITH NADJA track!

If you go over to Stereogum you can sample the track "Another War" off the forthcoming Pyramids with Nadja co-lab CD. Here is what the 'gum had to say about it:

Across four extended soundscapes, psychedelic Denton post-metallers Pyramids team with seemingly everywhere/highly collaborative Toronto duo Nadja to create expansive ambient dirges that feel both fragile and heavy. You get the blast beats and wraithlike black metal vocalism of Pyramids' gorgeous self-titled debut on the airily pummeling "The Sound of Ice and Grass" and for sections of the highly triumphant closer "An Angel Was Heard To Cry Over The City Of Rome," but elsewhere the Texas quartet meld with Aidan Baker and Leah Buckareff to create something entirely new: A spacious, darkly illuminated naturalist drone. The collection includes well-chosen guest spots from Cocteau Twins/This Mortal bassist Coil Simon Raymonde, Albin Julius of Der Blutharsch, and Mineral's Chris Simpson. The Mineral/Gloria Record frontman provides the haunted vocals for "Another War," a track you can lose yourself in right now.

so go here and take a gander.

Florida Names

We here at Hydra Head don't speak Floridian, as we have as little experience with those swamp boats with giant fans on the back as we do with hanging out with Swamp Thing himself (little to no experience, although one of us still has some Swamp Thing action figures and a VHS tape of the cartoon). Ricky from Torche helps us out and explains how people in Florida address band members. Also, he succinctly describes his opinion of Morbid Angel.



PS If you have a Bio-Glow Swamp Thing action figure that you don't want anymore, email sugarbear@hydrahead.com and he will probably trade you some Hydra Head goodies for it.

Big Bizaoke

You may have already seen this if you are subscribed to our youtube channel, but here is the Hydra Highlight reel of the Big Business Karaoke party at Vacation Vinyl.



Almost every Hydra Head staffer makes an appearance. Not Chel, he didn't show up because he doesn't do well in confined spaces, and not Cox because he is (almost) always behind the camera catching the rest of the crew's idiosyncratic mannerisms.
Also, Big Business is in it.

Pyramids With Nadja Write Up On xlr8r.com

The latest collaboration to come fresh out of the pressing oven over at Hydra Head Records will soon come thundering down the side of the mountain with a magnitude that's sure to tip the scales. Pairing up for an October 27 release in CD and double-LP format will be none other than Canada's ambient dream-metal titans Nadja with the Texan psych-doom destructos in Pyramids.

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Harvey Milk: Photos From Lee's Palace

More Photos Here...

Thanks Jeremy!

Pyramids With Nadja: Full Length Collaboration out October 27th on Hydra Head!

PYRAMIDS:

Pyramids just redefined grimness for a generation... this is music you lose yourself (and your sanity) to... I wanna hear more. - Decibel

...[an] unapologetic post-rock assault... a formidable talent... - Pitchfork

Located at the point where ecstasy tips over into terror, 'Pyramids' is a beguiling nightmare of an album. - Terrorizer

NADJA:

Their ambient shoegazer metal is deep and expansive, best experienced unhurriedly. A deluge of it only suggests it is easier to make than focused pop songs. - Pitchfork

[Nadja] play deep droning Ambient Metal where vague, indistinct sounds evolve or mutate into something altogether more solid, if not monolithic...It is crude but also oddly dreamlike. - The Wire 

Almost every girlfriend I've ever had (ask anyone here... they'll confirm I've had a pants-load) has asked me to be better with their friends, family, co-workers, pets, belongings, feelings... you name it... to which my reply has always been, "kiddo... I only know one speed." And that ploy usually works well enough until some Pyramids With Nadja shows up, spoiling everything with his devilishly versatile demeanor and extensive list of notable musician friends... 

Let me explain further. This guy Pyramids With Nadja is like a massive collaborative effort between Pyramids, Nadja and a number of otherwise established musicians. His instrumentation might be described as an energized ambient, infused with an intelligent ear for avant-garde metal and an almost indiscernible adherence to a sort of pop sensibility. PWN is the kinda guy who would successfully meld the still unparalleled compositional methodology developed in Pyramids' "s/t" album with Nadja's trademarked dirge-like shoegaze on a record and then chalk up the favorable outcome to the fact that all members of Pyramids (f. coloccia, m. dean, m. kraig, r. loren, d. william) and Nadja (Aidan Baker & Leah Buckereff) perform on all four tracks on the record. 

And his friends... His friends are all well-known artists, such as: Simon Raymonde of Cocteau Twins and This Mortal Coil (performs bass on track one and four), Albin Julius of Der Blutharsch (performs vocals on track four), Chris Simpson of Mineral (performs vocals on track two), Colin Marston of Dysrhythmia and Behold the Arctopus (co-produced/engineered track one) and James Plotkin of Khanate, Khlyst, O.L.D. Phantomsmasher (mixed and mastered the entire album). And if that weren't enough I heard he knows Ulver and Lustmord (each band remixed the track, "Into the Silent Waves," for a limited ancillary product) So, how can I, just one man, compete with a dreamboat captained by a crew of such diverse and artful virtuosos like Pyramids With Nadja (drum roll)... I couldn't possibly... because when all is said and done, Pyramids With Nadja is a far more suitable mate for my girlfriend than I could ever be... he's clearly better with friends and family, his creativity exhibits a natural flexibility, and you know what, thats ok... I want her to be happy. 

Pyramids With Nadja Tracklisting: 

1. Into the Silent Waves

2. Another War

3. The Sound of Ice and Grass

4. An Angel Was Heard to Cry Over the City of Rome

Chel's Summer Shirt Sale Extravaganza!

We’ve had Ryo, our well dressed Japanese intern busy for the last few days. Really? Yes Ryo, really busy.

He has put together the above two images for your perusal, which include just about every t-shirt, and long sleeve shirt we have here at the Hydra Head offices as well as listing the sizes we have available.

Many of these shirts we only have ones or twos of. They are going to be sold on a first come first serve basis via Chelvanin@hydrahead.com

If you are already Chel’s List recipient, you end up with first crack at these beauties because the e-mail that he shortly will be sending out will have all the pricing and delivery info. If you want in, drop him a line and he’ll send you out his latest e-mail.

Oxbow: Upcoming Tour Dates

8/20 San Francisco CA @ the Eagle

9/31 San Francisco CA @ The Victoria Theater

11/09 Brighton UK @ The Engine Room

11/10 Manchester UK @ Star and Garter

11/11 Birmingham UK @ Vivid

11/12 London UK @ Corsica Studios

Cave In: Footage From Recent Show on Metal Sucks!

See More Footage here

Nihill "Krach" Write Up on Chronic Youth

Two years after its original release on Monumentum Records, the album Krach, by Norways’s Nihill, is finally seeing a domestic release. Although the album’s arrival is certainly welcomed, it is curious that it took quite so long. Fans of black or doomy metal should consider this required listening, and you can start here.

read more

Oxbow Fuckfest Reissue Out On September 15th

Reissues "Fuckfest" Album Out September 15th on Hydra Head!



There’s a curious romance at the heart of Oxbow. Curious, because you might not initially equate such a notion with a band who first introduced themselves to the world via an album entitled Fuckfest. - Decibel

The Oxbow discography - six albums, starting with 1989’s Fuckfest and building to 2007’s The Narcotic Story - is a compelling and powerful journey through one man’s obsessions with sex and violence, told through throbbing, occasionally quite noisy post-blues art-rock. - The Wire

Can you believe OX BOW has been a band for 20 fucking years? Neither can we - mostly because they appear to be so young and good-looking (and because at least one of them will beat us up if we don’t say that). And yet our reissue of the band’s 1990 debut proves that they were once much younger and even better-looking. Originally released on CFY/Pathological, the aptly titled Fuckfest is a pornographic snapshot of a burgeoning musical force in its formative years; a raw, naked display of desperate humanity and abject terror; a decisive collision of Midwest noise, and all-American trepidation. 

Fuckfest Tracklist: 
1. Curse (5:52) 
2. 30 Miles (5:48) 
3. The Valley (5:50) 
4. Bull’s Eye (4:03) 
5. Yoke (6:13) 
6. Hunger (9:19) 

Oxbow is one of the rare bands that exhibits such a glacial lack of compromise, from the start settling into a style that's harsh at best, and using music outside of their bubble as base componentry rather than outright influence. A personal colleague of mine and vocal critic of modern blues declared in a moment of exasperation that the two best bands working in that idiom were/are Arab on Radar and U.S. Maple. Compile that list for real with Oxbow on top and you might have a reasonable argument. - Dusted Magazine

Best known for vocalist Eugene Robinson's cathartic live performance (which includes stripping, howling, and pelvic-gyrating), Oxbow has carved a very unique place for itself in the post-rock scene. - XLR8R

Armando Humor: Hydra Highlight #105

An explanation of what Armando finds funny (it involves transsexual postal workers).



Armando, if you are out there, please come home. We miss you, especially Chel, because he has to do work if you are not doing it for him. We know you could live off the money you made on tour for the next three years, but we've got boxes to ship, and Chel is too busy googling "kitler" to get them all out.

Khanate: 3 Classic Shirt Designs Available Again On Webstore!

Because you've gotten fatter, stopped washing after every wear, eat with a slouch, and your ex-girlfriend stole it... we've made these designs available for you all again. 

Your welcome. 

click here to start over. 

Keelhaul Record Release Party

Keelhaul Pre-Ore is Up!

Buy it here! 

And Don't Forget... the GREYMACHINE Pre-Order is Still Running!

The GREYMACHINE-"Disconnected" CD pre-order is still going on! click here if your interested... Also, every individual who purchases this CD through our webstore will receive a free Cassette... only a few left I'm told... That is all 

GREYMACHINE "Disconnected" Streaming Now!

Release and Stream Debut

 Album, "Disconnected," Today on Hydra Head!

We're long time fans of the very ground Justin Broadrick walks on, so his latest collaborative effort with Isis' Aaron Turner certainly captured our attention. 'Disconnected' is surreal, atmospheric, heavy and doomish at once. Godflesh fans will do well by adding this to their collections since the album paints a picture in your mind and each note brushes more detail to the canvas, resulting in a well-crafted masterpiece. - AOL Noisecreep

Over seven years have gone by since Godflesh disbanded, and as Justin K. Broadrick’s Jesu project has long ceased to fill that void, moving further and further away from its post-metal roots into something suspiciously palatable to a wider audience. As such, many of those curmudgeons (myself included) longing for the man’s return to nasty, vicious industrial metal wait with baited breath for the August 4 release of Disconnected, the debut album from Greymachine, the vicious supergroup that combines Broadrick with Isis dude Aaron Turner. - Metalsucks

GREYMACHINE is, without a shadow of a doubt, the most realized collaborative effort between Justin Broadrick (Jesu, Godflesh, Napalm Death, Final, Techno Animal, Head of David, God, Curse of the Golden Vampire etc..), Dave Cochrane (Head Of David, God, Ice), Diarmuid Dalton (Jesu, Godflesh) and Aaron Turner (ISIS, House of Low Culture, Mamiffer, Jodis, Old Man Gloom, Lotus Eaters, Drawing Voices, The Hollomen, Union Suit etc..) ever! If you’re a fan of Godflesh, or have even a fleeting interest in the band, this bud's for you; if you subscribe to The Aural & Visual Art of Aaron Turner this shit's a pool party. 

Disconnected, the album in question, is at once jarring and ethereal.... which is, as you may already know, the kind of combination that results in entire city blocks bobbin' their heads to dis... In summation, GREYMACHINE sounds like a serious case of cyberbullying through the mind of an extremely autistic child living in an ever-shifting hadean landscape thronged with mindless militants, dilapidated cityscapes and ephemeral phantoms... so to summarize the summation, Disconnected is haunting and modern sounding... In a good way.

Stream "Disconnected" here!

Disconnected Track Listing

1. Wolf At the Door

2. Vultures Descend 

3. When Attention Just Ain't Enough

4. Wasted 

5. We Are All Fucking Liars 

6. Just Breathing 

7. Sweatshop 

8. Easy Pickings 

Mamiffer: Limited Items on Dead Accents

First up: Mamiffer/Oakeater Split Cassette. Only three more available through the Dead Accents site. Click here if you want to purchase one or just want more info. Also, I'm told that Faith will have a few on her persons on the upcoming European Mamiffer tour... 

Next Up: Dead Accents is now taking pre-orders for the Mamiffer/Oakeater 2xCassette box sets. According the the Dead Accents blog this thing is not going to be easy to acquire. More info/pre-order here. 

Big Business Karaoke Postgame Recap

On August 4th, 2009 Big Business entered Vacation Vinyl on a mission: to placate a vinyl storefull of people wanting to hear them sing songs that are nothing like the head battering heaviness that they usually play while bathed in the cool glow of a television screen displaying lyrics. Here is their version of Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car, led by a guy named Preston.



We should have more clips soon.
Also, Big Biz totally destroyed last night at the free show with Torche. Just so you know.

Xasthur 2xLP featured in LA Weekly's Vinyl Column, INCHES

They say you save the best for last. Hydra Head Records, co-owned by Mark Thompson and Isis singer Aaron Turner, specializes in a particularly dooming brand of heavy metal, but the label's vinyl releases are nothing if not the very embodiment of class. Xasthurhimself (it's technically a one-man band fronted by the corpsepaint-sporting Malefic) hails from Alhambra and hews out blacker than black ambient skronk. Malefic, nee Scott Conner, has toured as a member of Sunn O))), but Xasthur doesn't play live, and hence reserves his strange magic for his records, wonderful things that seep despair from every crevice. All Reflections Drained is no exception.

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Big Business Karaoke @ Vacation Vinyl Tonight!