Cyber Monday @ BCD!!!

Hello All,

We Just received word that BCD, the company that operates the HH webstore, is offering 15% off on all orders over $20... The deal is going on TODAY ONLY, so if you have any Hydra Head items (or items from another store operated by BCD) sitting in your BCD basket, it'd be wise to checkout immediately. just saying. Oh yeah, and the coupon code is GARFIELD

Hydra Head Store

BCD Terminal

Belated Birthday

A couple weeks ago it was Mahk Thompson's birthday. A year and a couple weeks ago Sugarbear shot this video at the party at Mark's house. Cameos by members of Torche, Clouds, Helms Alee, Minus the Bear, and Isis. Also, Mark shows up in a Pelican video on Headbanger's Ball.

Cave In: Great Photos On Brooklyn Vegan From The Knitting Factory!

Check em' all out here!!!

Chel's List #13 - Friends and Family Edition

In this very special edition of Chel's List we have a score of different items to offer, most of which come from the friends and family of Hydra Head Records. There's a few older pieces of Hydra Head vinyl that we uncovered in the deepest depths of our storage facility, one of which is the very first Hydra Head release. We are also introducing 'Chel Cash' which is basically a virtual gift card that you can buy as a gift for your friends, family or loved ones. Better yet, tell them to send Chel an e-mail and they can purchase 'Chel Cash' as a gift to for you. For more information about Chel's List,'Chel Cash' or chelvanin.com send an e-mail to chelvanin@hydrahead.com

Cave In: Retrospective on Self-Titled Mag.

Forget Master of Puppets and the ever-evolving D&D discs of Mastodon for a minute. If there’s one metal record we reach for on a regular basis, it’s Cave In’s first proper full-length, the decade-old Until Your Heart Stops. A dizzying array of chord-climbing riffs, speaker-rattling vocals and traumatic time changes—not to mention the anvil-dropping rhythm section of drummer J.R. Conners and bassist Caleb Scofield—it’s a prime example of masochistic pop music, catchy but chaotic stuff that wouldn’t sound out of place while driving your car off a cliff.

Read More...

Cave In: Leak Video Clip From Planets Of Old CDep + Bonus DVD on Boston Phoenix

This morning the Boston Phoenix exclusively debuted a video clip from Cave In's Upcoming CD/DVD release, Planets of Old.. See it HERE!!!!

Have you ever dreamed of running a record label?

This guy did, and his dream came true. Yours can too...

But just like this guy, you have to start small. How about being an intern?

We're looking for a few (1 or 2)good men(or women)to come lend their able bodies here at the Hydra Head offices. We prefer it if you are actively in college and will receive credits for your participation. Although we make no guarantees, aside from getting to work along side our crack staff of music enthusiasts, interns usually will receive a free lunch and albums.

Send an e-mail to chelvanin@hydrahead.com with any pertinent information if you are interested.

Jodis "Secret House" reviews, LP news etc

above: a recent review of the jodis album as printed in UK magazine rock-a-rolla (click to enlarge).



above: preview of alternate artwork for the forthcoming LP version of the jodis album. LP will include a track not included on the CD.

below: review from aquarius records:

JODIS "Secret House" (Hydra Head)
What might you expect from a band made up of two parts Khanate, and one part Isis / Grey Machine / House Of Low Culture? Probably nothing as pretty and haunting as this. That's right, we said pretty. We were definitely expecting some crushing slo-mo heaviness, figured if that much of Khanate was involved it would have to be screechy and torturous.
And while Jodis is doomy, it's also moody, and atmospheric, slow and spare, spacious and strangely lovely. Occasionally the guitars rev up and get way louder, and it sounds like the band might explode into some sort of bellowing dirge, but instead, they sprawl into an ominous creep, the guitars shimmery, the notes spaced way out, as much about the decay and overtones as the initial note or the overall melody. The vocals are weary and washed out, reverbed and down in the mix. If anything this reminds us of some classic slowcore, maybe Codeine or Seam, albeit a little more abstract, a little less indie rock, but the same sort of moody drift, the same kind of minimal melody, emotional and dark and haunting and dreamlike.
Surprisingly, the drums are super restrained, in fact, the first few tracks sound almost drumless, minus a few cymbal shimmers, some flares and accents here and there. On "Secret House" the drums are active, flurries of fills all over the kit, but not for bombast, again for texture, almost like playing chords on the drums, there are some harsh vox on "Secret House", and they almost sound out of place, disrupting the strange slow tranquility. But once we move on to the next track, we're back to that gauzy melodic drift, the drums again super skeletal, the guitar drifting in the ether, the vocals choral, almost monk-like, super meditative and ethereal.
And the rest of the record plays out in a similar fashion, long drawn out slow burning epics writ small, the three exploring the space around the notes, finishing off with the gorgeous 9 minute "Slivers", the guitar unfurling a fuzzy blurry drone, the drums more active, a bit tribal, but still muted, and the vocals a falsetto off in the distance, the track, heaving and pulsing and shimmering, before slipping into a more abstract drone and then blinking out.
Some seriously gorgeous stuff, a surprise new favorite for sure, getting lots of play late at night, lights turned low, consciousness at rest, on the cusp of some other plane...

Steve Brodsky Interview!

There is a pretty kick-ass interview with CAVE IN duder, Steve Brodsky, over at Exploding in Sound. Alot of straight talk answering all the questions you would want to drunkenly ask him after a show. Read the interview here.

Chel's List #12 - Oxbow 'Songs for the French' 12", Everlovely Lightningheart 'Sien Weal Tallion Rue' ltd CD and RCP Tapes

You may be asking yourself why Chel is dressed up like a cow in this latest edition of Chel's List. We are asking ourselves the same question.

You may be asking yourself how you go about getting the Oxbow vinyl, Everlovely Lightningheart CD or RCP cassettes. We can answer that for you. E-mail chelvanin@hydrahead.com and he will send you information about these releases and how to make a purchase from us directly using chelvanin.com

The Austerity Program Play APEX Fest III on Friday the 13th

If you reside in or expect to be near NYC on November 13th, we strongly suggest... nay, insist! that you attend the APEX Fest... The reasoning behind this endorsement is quite simple... The Austerity Program, our bestest buds in the whole wide world who also rarely perform live and are of course phenomenal at it when they do, will be there... performing live!!! Word on the street is The Austerity Program will be playing a hell of a lot of new material.... so don't blow it!

On top of all that good Austerity Program News: James Plotkin will be dj-ing a portion of the fest and Gnaw (Alan Dubin of Khanate's new band) will be performing as well. Lastly, we are told admission comes with a poster and a shirt... Tickets sales are limited to 50 per day... get em' here!

Eugene S. Robinson Releases First Novel, "A Long Slow Screw," Out Today on Robotic Boot / Hydra Head Records!

Buy "A Long Slow Screw" at Amazon.com or a signed copy direct from Robotic Boot!

The first novel from OXBOW's EUGENE S. ROBINSON, and the second publication after the release of his 2007 book FIGHT: EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT ASS KICKING BUT WERE AFRAID YOU'D GET YOUR ASS KICKED FOR ASKING [Harper Collins], A LONG SLOW SCREW is a two-fisted hardboiled crime saga set in 1970s New York that closely follows a diamond heist gone right and then murderously wrong. Featuring a passel of punks, tough broads, shysters and homicidal homos, A LONG SLOW SCREW draws heavily on Robinson's real life involvement with elements partially detailed in his best-selling FIGHT, weaving a fictional story of the chaotic pre-9/11 world of New York City. A native New Yorker himself, Robinson's novel reads like a travelogue to the business end of a bunch of very, very bad things.

And following OXBOW's 2009 band tour, as well as A LONG SLOW SCREW's release on the tail of the successful 2008-2009 U.S./European tour for FIGHT, Robinson, Mammoth Booking, Conspiracy and Tone Deaf Booking are offering A LONG SLOW SCREW spoken word European / UK tour for 2010. An evening of song, sex and short readings, Robinson'sA LONG SLOW SCREW tour will cover America's twin obsession with fucking and killing both up close AND personally.

Oxbow Announce New 12" And European Tour

SONGS FOR THE FRENCH

A limited edition tour-only 12" release of the highest order

What you will read and how you will read it - these words off of an actual physical artifact - will be an experience shared by increasingly fewer of you given the quickly shifting relationship between art and commerce; but we are entrusting you with this dictum: explain it to the rest. That: thisSONGS FOR THE FRENCH is a highly conscious effort to do things exactly as we ourselves would never do them in order to create a compelling bridgework between THE NARCOTIC STORY of yesterday and THE THIN BLACK DUKE of tomorrow. Lyrically, musically, thematically this march into intuitive mind has been Russian rouletted into existence, with OXBOW ceding control where control has never been ceded. [Song order? Chosen by Golden Mastering. Intervals? Also Golden Mastering. Some lyrics penned in an in-studio state of fugue.] All randomized and all pointing purposefully toward everywhere. Or specifically: an untoward level of clarity. Of this we are clear. Yes, of this we are clear: the ship is sailing further from land. And truer words have never been spoken.

Songs for the French Tracklisting:

Side: HERE

Oxbow + Philippe Thiphaine

1.2 P.M.

2.Coalking

3.Well-Dressed Man

Side: THERE

Oxbow [live recordings]: Europe 2008

4.Frankly Frank [London]

5.La Luna [London]

6.The Duke: A Gentleman's Gentleman [London, Extempore]

7.Yoke [Rotterdam]

OXBOW LIVE!!!
11/06 Metz, FRA @ Salle Ochs
11/07 Delemont, SWI @ Sas
11/08 Paris, FRA @ La Maroquinerie
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
11/13 Diksmuide, BEL @ 4AD
11/14 Nantes, FRA @ Barakason
11/15 Orleans, FRA @ Astrolabe
11/16 Lyon, FRA @ Grrrnd Zero
11/17 Milan, ITA @ Magnolia
11/18 Verona, ITA @ Arci Kroen
11/19 Geneva, SWI @ Le Kab
11/20 Colmar, FRA @ Le Grillen
11/21 Brussels, BEL @ Magasin 4

Last minute Pelican show tonight!

If you are in Oklahoma City, Pelican is playing a last minute show at the Conservatory tonight. Also playing are Sweet Cobra and Struck By Lightning. Spread the word.