Cave In: Interview @ Signal Magazine

Cave In have been gone a long time. Since their hiatus in 2006, the four members of the seminal Boston group have gone their separate ways, some forming new bands, some joining others, and most starting families and entering life outside the tour van. Bassist Caleb Scofield masterminded his doom rock project Zozobra with members of Isis and Old Man Gloom, guitarist Adam McGrath toured heavily with riff-rockers Clouds, drummer JR Conners joined Doomriders, and prolific frontman Stephen Brodsky kept himself busy with his solo material in addition to forming bands like Pet Genius and The Octave Museum, to name a few.

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Jared Warren's (Big Business) Top Ten of 2009!

1. Grand Canyon

2. Watching TV on computer

3. Smoking a ham for Xmas

4. Pizza

5. Acid

6. Snuff films

7. Losing a toe to my bookie

8. Cabo Wabo

9. The sound of my 6 kids bitching and moaning for more food

10. Getting my own reality show

Listen to Mind The Drift Here!

Big Business "The Drift" Music Video!!!

Big Business "The Drift" Music Video from Wesley Belak-Berger on Vimeo.

We realize that Big Business' most recent full-length, "Mind the Drift" came out over half a year ago... So yeah, maybe we, the record label in question, should have put together a music video for the titular track around the time of the record's release... Because, or at least it seems this way to us, record labels and bands make music videos primarily to increase sales of a record and that is never more effective than around the time of the release date... Right? Probably... but if you ask us, this feels like the perfect time to re-light a fire under this record's ass... A practice otherwise known in the music industry as "re-pulling the trigger..." Also, it turns out these things cost a bunch of money to make, so we had to find someone who was willing to create a video on a virtually non-existent, well more like fully non-existent, budget... We located a sucker by the name of Wesley Belak-Berger(www.wesbb.com)... Enjoy!

Purchase Big Business Merch Here!

James Plotkin (Khanate, Jodis, Khlyst Etc...) Top Ten of 2009

10. Rehearsal space bodily fluids

9. Gibson Les Paul 1954 Black Beauty R4

8. Masters for Table Of The Elements, Not Not Fun, Utech, Rhys Chatham, and

SMTG Ltd among others. Keep the quality sounds coming.

7. Remastering Saint Vitus and Witchfinder General

6. Bibio "Vignetting the Compost" CD

5. Jon Mueller "Physical Changes" LP/CD/DVD

4. Final nail in the KHNT coffin

3. Shield Your Eyes "Shield 'Em" master (amazing guitar acrobatics and killer songs)

2. Launching EHFX

1. Living outside the system as much as possible.

Purchase James Plotkin Related Merch Here !

Also, the Jodis-"Secret House" 2xLP will be available very very soon, so be on the look out!

Listen to Jodis-"Secret House" Here

Cody Hoyt's Top Ten of 2009

1. Pimms Cup

2. Werewolf Bar Mitzvah

3. Clark - "Totems Flare" LP

4. La Estrella taco truck (54th/York Blvd)

5. Jesus Lizard reunion tour

6. Warp20 Box Set

7. Unbroken/Swing Kids/Threadbare reunion @ The Glass House

8. Charlie Roberts @ Richard Heller Gallery

9. Polvo live @ Spaceland

10. Freschetta frozen pizza pie

http://www.codyhoyt.com/

Cave In & Harvey Milk: Release and Stream New Releases Today!

Stream Cave In's "Planets of Old" here! // Stream Harvey Milk's s/t debut here!

If this is the first time you've heard anything about this project... Planets of Old is Cave In's already acclaimed comeback EP... the first new material in nearly four years! The thing is genuinely jam-packed with bona fide jammers and the like... Discernible proof that these gentlemen haven't missed a step during their absence and that music, in the general metaphorical sense, still hasn't caught up with them... Bold, but true... Watch a live video from Planets of Old here!

Previously known, to you likely too-savvy-for-your-own-good individuals, as the famous “Bob Weston Sessions,” Harvey Milk's s/t album is the official master of the band's should-have-been debut record. The thing never received a proper release, so we over at Hydra Head decided to set the record straight... Sure, you could google search this piece now that you know it exists, but remember we got the re-re-remastered version and it sounds a hell of a lot better... Plus if you purchase a copy from your local record store, you'll sleep a lot better tonight knowing that, among other things, your not a filthy liar and a dirty thief. Look out for the band on tour this March supporting Coalesce.

Purchase Harvey Milk-"s/t" CD Here!

Purchase Cave In-"Planets of Old" CDep+DVD Here!

Harvey Milk: Review On Exclaim!

The indie music hotbed that was Athens, GA spawned many high-profile bands over the decades, though Harvey Milk were underappreciated and misunderstood. Their first full-length release was 1994's My Love Is Higher Than Your Assessment of What My Love Could Be, but before that, they recorded an album's worth of material with Shellac's Bob Weston in Chicago intended as their debut on 227 Records that was shelved inexplicably. Illegal copies have floated around the Internet for years, but now Hydra Head has stepped in and remastered the whole shebang for maximum gravity. Never formally tagged as a "metal band," "Plastic Eggs" and "My Father's Life" dredge the doom as ably as Reverend Bizarre and old Morgion, with vocalist/bassist Creston Spiers using his hangdog vocals like a dying coyote.

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Chris Smith's (Keelhaul) Top Ten of 2009

chris smith's top ten things

My wife

Nakladany Hermelin

Vasque boots

not wearing deodorant

my snow blower

Maha's falafel

not getting sick on tour

Blue Oyster Cult

the smell of bacon

Bobby

Purchase Keelhaul Merch Here!!!

Listen to Keelhaul's Latest Record Here!!!

Adam McGrath's (Cave In, Clouds) Top Ten of 2009

1.Life in NE with the Lady, Duane & Flea.

2.Pj Harvey & John Parish 6/6/09 @ House of Blues: Boston.

3.Cycling the Minute Man Trail

4.Jamaican Thanksgiving

5.Clouds @ Power Chord Academy

6.Cave In Live Revival

7.Raekwon the Chef - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx Pt. II

8.Converge - Axe to Fall

9.Jesus Lizard 11/14/09 @ The Paradise: Boston.

10.Alpine Skiing Adventures.

Purchase Cave In Merch Here!

Purchase Clouds Merch Here!

Also, the Pre-Order for Cave In "Planets of Old" CDep+DVD is still up and running! however we are running super low on the bonus Cave In Live CD... So if you want/need one of those things it would be wise to act now... like today!

Steve Brodsky's (Cave In) Top Ten Of 2009

Steve Brodsky's, of Cave In, Pet Genius, Stove Bredsky & The Octave Museum, Top Ten Of 2009

1) Cooking skills elevated beyond bachelor-pad level from working at restaurant.

2) Minuteman and Cape Cod Rail Trail bike rides; no wipe-out's.

3) Live excursions with Cave In for the first time in nearly four years.

4) Camping trip + dance party-jam with New Generation of Cave In Children at Warner NH compound.

5) Trips to Funspot in New Hampshire for lengthy old-school video-gaming sessions.

6) Getting to play on a Converge album for the first time in over ten years.

7) Doomriders "Darkness Comes Alive" sounding fantastic dubbed onto cassette for car-listening.

8) Getaway's to Maine for complete silence & starviews uncluttered by city lights.

9) Jesus Lizard, live @ The Paradise, wiping the floor with my face.

10) Stop-motion movies starring my little sister created w/the family over the Christmas holiday.

Also, Hydra Head would like you remain aware of the fact that Steve completed a phenomenal solo album recently titled, "Heres To the Future." Hydra Head will be releasing this as a limited cassette (including an awesomely illustrated novel of a booklet) and digitally late February/early March... (the sketch above is one of the many images that are being incorporated into the layout of the booklet...)

Purchase Steve Brodsky Merch Here!

Desktop Wave Show!

Upon leaving the glamourous employment of HHR, our still good friend Sarah Cake has gone on to better things. She used to name drop us, but now its the other way around if we want to get into the hottest hot spots this side of town. She is one third of KILLING SPREE, and if you have ever seen photos, James is the only guy in shorts (just another benefit of name-dropping Sarah).

Anyway, she also books shows that even we can't get into. She has a new one coming up this Sunday, so if you are in Los Angeles, or the surrounding area, you should come out. Its actually two shows. Flyer is above, so pass along all the info to all you buddies.

Steve Brooks' (of Torche) Top Ten of 2009

Top 10 movies I saw in 2009

1. Fantastic Mr. Fox

2. Broken Embraces

3. Inglorious Bastards

4. Moon

5. Zombieland

6. Up

7. Coraline

8. A Serious Man

9. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

10. Cloudy with a chance of meatballs

*Be on the lookout for the Torche/Boris lim. split 10," which will become available in a couple months... I suspect the pre-order on BCD will involve some precarious goodies as well.. If your into that kinda thing...

Purchase Torche Merch On The HH Webstore

Listen To Torche-"Meanderthal

Larry Herwig's Top Jams/Highlights of 2009

Larry Herweg (Pelican, Tusk, San Angelus)

Jams:

Isis "Wavering Radiant"
The Life and Times "Tragic Boogie"
Satyricon "The Age of Nero"
The Boston Quadruple Threat= Converge "Axe to Fall", Cave In "Planets of Old", Doomriders "Darkness Come Alive", Disappearer "The Clearing"
Jawbox "For Your Own Special Sweetheart" reissue
Alice in Chains "Black Gives Way To Blue"
Shows: "Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia"
"Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job!"
Reads: "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy

Highlights:

Touring and/or playing shows with Isis, Tombs, Wolves in the Throne Room, Sunn, Eagle Twin, Black Cobra, Sweet Cobra, Earth, Black Breath, Struck By Lightning, Disappearer
Spending almost a combined total of 4 weeks in Seattle, recording 2 Pelican records, the San Angelus album and partying/swimming at the Lake!

Ocrilim: Self Releases CD Trilogy

Some very interesting news just arrived from our pal Mick Barr... Ocrilim is releasing a CD trilogy of entirely new material! And the only way to get your hands on this thing is from the man himself! Below are the details from Ocrilim's Myspace Page:

Purging Trilogy release

And we go.

Now available for order 3 new Ocrilim releases:

1. Ixoltion, 2. Sacreth, 3. Hymns

Written and recorded mostly in the year of Annwn 2007.

10$ each.

25$ for all 3.

Throw in for postage if you can.

These are being produced on a budget with very primitive packaging.

Those familiar with "Rainbow Supremacy" or "Neerdeth" know what to expect packaging wise. Minimal hand illustrated discs. Limited to when orders stop, or when I get sick of making them.

Need to get these recordings off my back.

Support the cause, if you care.

Spread the word if you are the type of person that enjoys spreading things.

paypal demon: mithboth@yahoo.com

email me there if no paypal.

Harvey Milk: Self-Titled CD Pre-Order Has Begun!!

Hello Subscribers!

A few hours ago the Harvey Milk-"s/t" CD Pre-Order went up on the HH webstore!!!

The pre-order shirt, which is an image of the original cassette (if you don't know the history behind the release please refer to this blog post) will not be made available after the pre-order wraps up.... And therefore, this little one of a kind, athletic grey garb of the gods, is not for the laggard, loafer, the idler by, or occasional foot-dragger... Bottom line: purchase now or forever hold your peace...

R. Loren's Top Ten of 2009

R. Loren's (Pyramids/Pyramids With Nadja) Top Ten of 2009

1. Blut Aus Nord- Memoria Vetusta II/Dialogue With The Stars

2. Cobalt- Gin

3. Converge- Axe to Fall

4. Portal- Swarth

5. Katatonia- Night Is The New Day

6. Current 93- Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain

7. Antony and The Johnsons- The Crying Light

8. Hildur Gudnadottir- Without Sinking

9. Kevin Drumm- Imperial Horizon

10. Isis- Wavering Radiant

Stream Pyramids With Nadja Here!

Purchase Pyramids Merch Here!

In other Pyramids related news... Hydra Head will be releasing a limited Pyramids With Nadja remix 12" in the near near future… The 12" contains a remix of Into the Silent Waves by Ulver and a remix of the same track by Lustmord… 12" Image below... Stay tuned!

Cave In: "Planets of Old" CDep+Bonus DVD Pre-Order Is Up And Running!!!

Calling all Cave In fans... We've got some very very good news!

The Cave In "Planets of Old" CDep+Bonus DVD Pre-Order has begun!

The details on this one are smooth indeed:

Remember how these 4 new Cave In songs are packaged with the first, and only, live Cave In DVD? Well, if you pre-order the CDep+DVD through the HH webstore, we will, at no extra charge, give you a limited CD containing the audio from the show when/where the DVD was filmed! So you (and an elite group of approximately 150 savvy German dudes) will be able to cruise the 'shaw while imagining that you were actually at Cave In's sold out reunion show at The Middle East in Allston, Massachusetts… Recap: the live CD is Limited, Free with pre-order and also not illegal to entertain yourself to while operating a motorized vehicle!

Also, remember how Aaron Turner illustrated some seriously wicked graphics to decorate this release? Well, now you can get those swell illustrations on either a black or orange shirt!.. see below...

Jon Chang's Top Ten of 2009

Jon Chang, of Discordance Axis, Hayaino Daisuki and Gridlink, sent us over his top ten list for 2009, so we thought we would share it with all of you... this post also marks the first in series of top ten posts compiled by Hydra Head artists..

Chang's Top Ten:

District 9

Mephistopheles "I'm Getting Ready for the Fight"

Cat Shit One Trailer

Torchlight

Scrapyard in Modern Warfare 2

The Wrestler (movie)

Slayer "World Painted Blood"

Liturgy "Renihilation"

Star Trek

Avatar IMAX 3D

Revenge of the Fallen IMAX

In other Jon Chang related news... The Hydra Head staff located a significant amount of Discordance Axis-"The Inalienable Dreamless" LP print in storage the other day, which means we may have some "TID" LPs in stock soon! Also, don't forget, the new Hayaino Daisuki CDep "The Invincible Gate Mind of the Infernal Fire Hell, or Did You Mean Hawaii Daisuki?" is available on February 23rd!!!

Xasthur: Spotlight On Noisecreep

Dubbed one of America's "most prolific and unapproachable underground metal musicians" by Billboard, the California-based one-man-black-metal-band Xasthur has been creating dark despair since forming in 1995.

Though the first album came out in 2001, the '2005 Demo' in question is made up of two lost tracks that were completed before 2006's 'Subliminal Genocide' was released. According Xasthur mainman Malefic's label, "in a sense these two previously unavailable recordings come across like a much belated extension of 'Subliminal Genocide.' And that record rules, so that's good news, right?"

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Big Business Karaoke Finale!

Long belated, here is the final installment of Big Business youtube karaoke. The boys go out with a bang, belting out "We Are the World." It brings tears to our eyes, which roll down our cheeks and into our beards, feeling cold on the unexposed skin. It's like looking into the future, Big Business is grey haired, but still full of life and inspiration. Wait, it's 2010, it is the future. We already passed a space odyssey, judgement day, and the original transformers. Where the hell are all the robots?

Cave In: Stephen Brodsky Interview @ Alternative Press

When did the idea of you guys coming out of your hiatus first surface?
It probably happened around the time that Caleb [Scofield, bass] felt as though he was settled back into living in New England, which wasn't actually that long after he moved back. It was only a couple months before we decided to just get together and play.

Was that a difficult process?
Well, ya know, we all have our own individual managers and lawyers, so Caleb's people got in touch with my people and they battled it out... nah, I'm just kidding. [Laughs.] No, it was pretty simple, actually. All it took was finding a day when we could all get together-which was relatively easy. There's a rehearsal space in Boston that Adam [McGrath, guitar] and I have been paying rent at consistently, but it was originally Cave In's rehearsal space that we pretty much just moved all of our gear into around 2001. Since that time, we found other bands and friends to share the rent on the space with. Fast forward nine years later and we're still occupying the same rehearsal space and using the same PA we used with [signing to] RCA money. [Laughs.] So it was pretty easy to figure out the logistics of where to actually get together and play.

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Bohren & Der Club Of Gore: "Dolores" 2xLP Feature @ LA Weekly

Though the vinyl version of Dolores is currently only available for presale, this too is an older work. Originally released on CD by Ipecac Records, the sixth album by Germany's Bohren & Der Club Of Gore slowly won fans over with its gorgeous textures and unbelievable restraint, making a proper LP release a must. Hydra Head gets the job done here, giving the record the royal treatment -- thick jacket, thick wax, thick colors -- and hopefully opening a few more eyes to the strange majesty Dolores contains. Bohren's members have called what they do an "unholy ambient mixture of slow jazz ballads, Black Sabbath doom and down-tuned autopsy sounds," which is accurate enough, but does nothing to convey the pervasive brightness of these songs.

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Cable “Northern Failures Show” – Friday April 16th, 2010 @ Union Pool, Brooklyn, NY

In celebration of the 10 year anniversary of “Northern Failures” and in conjunction With the upcoming limited vinyl release of the album (via NY’s No World Order Records), Cable will be playing a very special “Northern Failures Show” in New York on April 16th. The band will play the Album in its entirety for the first and last time. Other bands TBA, stay tuned for more info as it becomes available.

Torche: "King Beef" Music Video Premiere @ Decibel's Site!!!

Check it out Here!!!

Harvey Milk: Early "s/t" Review @ The Aquarian!

Previously only available on their 2009 tour in a limited run vinyl, the Georgia act’s first statement as recorded by Bob Weston has been remastered for proper aural stimuli from the band’s master copy, rather than the merely “pretty good” version that’s circulated the intertubes. It’s a damn good set of hardcore-influenced hard rock and “alt” that so permeated the time period it sprang from—even more bizarre than the era’s commercial successes, if you could call acts like the Butthole Surfers a success)

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