New releases in the Hydra Head Shop!

FLOOR - Oblation
2xLP, CD, and Cassette (Season of Mist)

Miami rock juggernaut FLOOR returns with 'Oblation', their first new album in over 10 years. The follow-up to their ground-breaking, cult-classic, self-titled album, 'Oblation' delivers on the highest of expectations. From start to finish, the drop-tuned, down-tempo trio mine the power of the riff, their signature melodies, and patented "bomb-string" attack. Instant FLOOR classics like "War Party", "Sister Sophia", "Find Away" and the title track prove beyond doubt that FLOOR 2014 is their legacy writ large and that the band is as vital as ever.

Torche has a new music video directed by our very own Andrew James Cox (aka Sugarbear, also responsible for the Helms Alee - "8/16," and Torche - "UFO" videos). It premiered yesterday on Stereogum.

Sugarbear put in some time and popped a pile of new items and bundles onto RealTomatoKetchup, just in time for there to not be enough time to ship before Christmas. Real (tomato) talk, though, this isn't stuff you want to give someone else, anyway. These presents are for you, gifts to tell yourself, "Hey, good going on sticking it out through the pre-apocalypse. Here's a little something for you, sport."

And so, here is what you have to choose from to reward that special someone on your private "Me" list:



Get on it, though, most of these have single digit quantities in stock.


Also, to check out our actual webstore (not the slipshod one where we sell our office leftovers) head over to www.HydraHeadShop.com

We have some new items up on www.RealTomatoKetchup.com including:
-Jesu poster pack (4 posters - s/t, Silver, Lifeline, and Conqueror)
- Melvins A Senile Animal Box Set (4xLP, belt buckle, and comic in a silk-screened box. Only 1!)
- Neurosis Sovereign LP (clear vinyl, dinged jacket - vinyl tore through edge during shipping)
- Torche Meanderthal LP repress (simplified standard gatefold jacket)
- Pelican poster pack
plus a bunch of other stuff. Have a look, and check back regularly. There are always new items that we have limited quantities of.

In a shocking new development Torche have actually updated their website! The streak between posts was finally broken after 17 months.

Also, they have a new member. His name is Andrew Elstner.

Check their site for more info and an update from Rick about writing for their next record.

The Torche - Healer / Across the Shields 12"+DVD is once again available on two new vinyl colors: clear and pink!

A few signed copies have been mixed in randomly at the Hydra Head Shop, so order it there and you might be one of the lucky recipients. They were signed by all four members who appeared on the release, during their L.A. tour stop with Clouds a couple years ago.

via Dirty Laundry:

This week on Dirty Laundry, Torche fluff, fold and even get Malia to reveal some of her own dirty little NSFW secrets.Torche bare all about playing heavy music, coming out and taking a punch.

After years of toiling away in obscurity, followed by years of escalating interest during their hiatus, the legendary Florida band Floor reunited for a handful of shows in April 2010.  Three different drummers.  Three different sets.  Over two hours of material spanning their early dirgey/noise singles to their landmark psych/drone/pop self-titled masterpiece.  Filmed over two nights at the EARL in Atlanta, Georgia.  "Sight & Seen" is truly something that needs to be seen to be believed.   

A multi-camera performance coupled with professionally recorded and mixed audio, "Sight & Seen" is an enveloping, droning wall of guitars.  Floor's two guitarists, Anthony Vialon and Steve Brooks (of TORCHE fame), spend over two hours on stage with their various drummers.  Their three drummers, Betty, Jeff and Henry, rotate through the band's lineup: crashing through their early singles, smoking the viewer with their mid-period haze and ending with the cathartic and anthemic final album.  

Disc #1 of "Sight & Seen" also includes a 20 minute featurette that documents the band's history with never-before-seen live footage, photography and interviews.

Disc #2 is intended to lure in both massive fans and completists alike.  A data disc (which means you pop it in your computer), includes: 

High quality audio files of both Atlanta shows (not just the one shown on disc #1)  

- the complete and edited film of Floor that ended up on the cutting room floor (which clocks in at over 2 hours of video)

And in addition to this, the band has opened up their video vaults to include:

• over an hour of archival footage spanning Floor's career from 1993 at Churchill's in Miami to their final shows in 2002.

"Sight & Seen" is also housed in an elegant package which was initially used on Chunklet's landmark "Anthem" 2xDVD release by Harvey Milk in 2006.  All designed by Chunklet's in-house designer, Henry H. Owings.  

Track Listing:
Disc 1: (Dual Layer Disc)

1. Throttle
2. Chelsea Girl Blues
3. Leasing Winona
4. Meaning Its Over
5. Sunday
6. KTel Presents
7. Chelsea/Pigs
8. The Pulse
9. Dove
10. Namaste
11. Floyd
12. Dead Wrong
13. Goddard
14. A Bun In The Oven
15. Figbender
16. Scimitar
17. Return To Zero
18. Downed Star
19. Iron Girl
20. Night Full Of Kicks
21. Twink
22. Sneech
23. Assassin
24. Kallisti
25. Ein
26. Figured Out
27. Tales Of Lolita
28. Bombs To Abbadon
29. Loanin'
30. // Song
31. Diamond Dave's Are Forever

Disc 2: (High quality audio files of both Atlanta shows)

1. Throttle
2. Chelsea Girl Blues 
3. Leasing Winona
4. Meaning Its Over
5. Sunday 
6. KTel Presents
7. Chelsea/Pigs
8. The Pulse
9. Dove
10. Namaste
11. Floyd 
12. Dead Wrong
13. Goddard
14. A Bun In The Oven
15. Figbender
16. Scimitar
17. Return To Zero
18. Downed Star
19. Iron Girl
20. Night Full Of Kicks
21. Twink
22. Sneech
23. Assassin
24. Kallisti
25. Ein
26. Figured Out
27. Tales Of Lolita
28. Bombs To Abbadon
29. Loanin'
30. // Song
31. Diamond Dave's Are Forever

Plus entire edited video of the night NOT on disc 1 (Same set order as above)

From their in-store at Vacation Vinyl in Los Angeles, September 28th, 2010. We'll be posting more of these in the coming weeks.

Gets Endorsed by Former Presidential Candidate and Governor Mike Huckabee on Fox News' Red Eye

New Album, Songs For Singles, Out Now on Hydra Head!

 

Watch Part 1 of Torche on Fox Red Eye here! // Watch Part 2 of Torche on Fox Red Eye here!

"It's Black Sabbath meets U2 mixed with a vat of delicious chocolate sauce... it's Jane's Addiction, only louder and scarier... it's Nirvana without the depression... it's the Foo Fighter with, you know, songs... it's heavy, thunderous, melodic, exhilarating, and most of all, huge. That's Torche." - Mike Huckabee on Fox News' Red Eye

Check out the video from Monday night's episode of Fox Red Eye featuring Torche's Steve Brooks and Jonathan Nunez above!

The first video includes an intro by Red Eye's resident doom metal expert, former presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee, who, extolling the many virtues of Torche, says they're "the world's greatest band" and "heavier than something really heavy like a tractor or something."

In the next video, Gutfeld interviews the band members, asking the openly gay Brooks "Do you get lots of groupies?" at one point and later adding, "I could smell David Lee Roth coming out of you." See how it's handled (above).

* Text courtesy of our friends at the

Broward Palm Beach New Times

11/11 Vienna, AT @ Arena
11/12 Bologna, IT @ Blogos
11/13 Mezzago, IT @ Bloom
11/14 Lyon, FR @ L'Epicerie Moderne
11/15 Barcelona, ES @ Sidecar
11/16 Madrid, ES @ La Boite
11/17 Lisbon, PT @ Santiago Alquimista
11/18 Porto, PT @ Plano B
11/20 Toulouse, FR @ Furia Antistatic
11/21 Paris, FR @ Nouveau Casino
11/22 London, UK @ The Garage
11/23 Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club
11/24 Glasgow, UK @ Stereo
11/25 Birmingham, UK @ Hare & Hounds
11/27 Utrecht, NL @ Le Guess Who
11/28 Gent, BE @ Decadance
11/29 Koln, DE @ MTC
11/30 Hamburg, DE @ Hafenklang
12/01 Lyngby, DK @ Templet
12/02 Berlin, DE @ Cassiopeia
12/03 Leipzig, DE @ Zoro
12/04 Innsbruck, AT @ Pmk
12/05 Prague, CZ @ Klub 007

The video for Torche - "U.F.O." (directed by our very own Andrew James Cox aka Sugar Bear) premiered this morning on Pitchfork! Check it out on Pitchfork.tv or watch it below!





Here's the info from the press release:

Everyone's favorite Miami-based hard rock heroes, Torche, have just premiered the first video from their pulverizing new album, Songs For Singles, for said album's lead-off track "U.F.O." over at Pitchfork.com.

Video creator and resident Hydra-Head Andrew Cox (www.andrewjamescox.com) knew the production for the pummeling new track had to be pretty awe-inspiring, and so he drew his inspiration from the classic and cult worshipped kaiju giant monster / robot movies of yester-year. "I watched Godzilla: Tokyo SOS on Netflix streaming a year or so ago and was kind of enamored with the kitschy effects. I didn't have that much experience with Adobe After Effects, so going into the project knowing I wanted it to look sloppy made things less daunting."

"I started the video on my own, without any solicitation, for an entirely different song by an entirely different band (Daughters' "The Theatre Goer"). But it was taking too long and that band broke up before the record dropped, so I switched it to the Torche song."

Cox created this beast entirely on his own, including drawing out all the designs and storyboards, on a shoe-string budget while listening to the song on an endless loop for days. "If we had done everything by the book as a real production, the budget would have exceeded ten grand easily, but I think I ended up spending about $140, including the wrap bbq."

Buy Torche - Songs for Singles on CD, LP, or MP3.

Torche on tour-
10/11 Bloomington, IN @ Bluebird w/ High On Fire, Kylesa
10/12 Columbus, OH @ The Summit w/ Lo Pan
10/13 Newport, KY @ Historic Southgate House w/ High On Fire, Kylesa
10/14 Detroit, MI @ Majestic Theatre w/ High On Fire, Kylesa
10/15 Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop w/ High On Fire, Kylesa
10/16 Rochester, NY @ Water Street Music Hall w/ High On Fire, Kylesa
10/17 Northampton, MA @ Pearl Street w/ High On Fire, Kylesa
10/19 Halifax, NS @ The Paragon Theatre (Halifax Pop Explosion) w/ High On Fire, Kylesa
10/21 Portland, ME @ Port City Music Hall w/ High On Fire, Kylesa
10/22 Providence, RI @ Club Hell w/ High On Fire, Kylesa
10/23 Cambridge, MA @ Middle East w/ High On Fire, Kylesa
10/24 New York, NY @ Webster Hall w/ High On Fire, Kylesa
10/26 Philadelphia, PA @ Starlght Ballroom w/ High On Fire, Kylesa
10/27 Carrboro, NC @ Cat's Cradle w/ High On Fire, Kylesa
10/29 Gainesville, FL @ Common Grounds (FEST 9)

If you live in L.A., be sure to check out TORCHE tonight at the Bootleg Theater, with Mountains of Blow.  Doors are at 10, show is 12 bones.  Sick ass flyer above by Ben White.  See you there.

Cartoon Network's Adult Swim put together a compilation of rare and unreleased tracks from a bunch of awesome bands including Torche, Isis, Jesu, Pelican, and Boris. You can download it for free here!

You can now listen to the new Torche record, Songs For Singles, in its entirety on their MySpace, through Monday. 






SPOILER ALERT! It's good.

Vacation Vinyl has all colors of the new Torche LP 'Songs For Singles' available for pre-order now...including their exclusive color 'teal' (ltd to 100!)
Yeah, we previously said in-store only, but things change. No whining if you don't get one. You should have been checking our blog more.

Do it here!

So Torche has this new record coming out in a few weeks and it's called Songs For Singles. You knew that. Today, though, you can have your first nibble at the aural feast that I have been wrecking my car speakers with since we got the first demos here at ol' HHR. The first track and single off of Songs For Singles, "U.F.O." is now available on iTunes and streamable via Sterogum. Now go take care of that business!

Preorder Songs For Singles on our webstore here!

Torche's Songs For Singles is now currently available in preorder status at Los Angeles' VACATION VINYL. Flyer is below, but the most important points are the fact that VACATION will have their own (almost) exclusive vinyl color, and this is only available for in-store customers (sorry internet trollers). We are hoping that the exclusive color comes out to be Teal, but more than likely it will be a marble mess of blue, green and white; still cool though. Also, it should be noted that VACATION has moved! New location is in Sunset Junction at 3815 W Sunset Blvd. Brings some extra nickels for next store neighbor, Secret Headquarters.



Oh, and you can win a test press of Songs For Singles, but thats not important.

and one last note, Torche have added two more tour dates to their steady diet:
9/22 New Orleans, LA @ The Big Top Three Ring Circus w/Haarp
10/23 Cambridge, MA @ Middle East w/High On Fire, Kylesa

Our pal Steve Brooks teaches how to play "Tarpit Carnivore" from In Return (Robotic Empire. We have copies of the 10"+CD in the webstore) in this youtube guitar lesson. Maybe you've seen this before, but if not, now you can steal Torche's tuning! Because the world needs more rumble.



PS Only five weeks until the new Torche record, Songs For Singles is out!