Deafheaven

DEAFHEAVEN.COM

Deafheaven’s music feels like a project of accrual—on each album they fill new songs with elements of what they’ve learned in their earlier experiments. You hear echoes of past recordings in the howls of the present: the sun-dappled screamo histrionics of Roads to Judah are more fully realized in Sunbather’s pastel star-scapes; New Bermuda doubles down on the heaviest elements of both of those records; Ordinary Corrupt Human Love threads together elements of the soft and the heavy into an especially epic statement. Infinite Granite, often described simply as Deafheaven’s record with mostly clean vocals, compressed it all into something strikingly solid. That was true, but there was much more to it than that; listening to Lonely People With Power, you can hear its echoes everywhere—and if you listen closely, you can find deeper ways back into it when you listen to it again... Ultimately, Lonely People is a record that is anti-loneliness. It’s about finding less harmful ways to escape: your chosen family, your community, and even magic.

The Midnight

Levitation Room

Their Decidedly hallucinogenic jams whisper and hum the same gentle refrains of their summer of love influences, conjuring up the cognitive imagery of sunny days at the park, spent with friends in a euphoric haze along with lyrics ad sonic mediations on life, love and self-awareness.

It just happened. Kind of like how humans crawled out of the slime and came into existence.

High On Fire

High on Fire is a sludge metal group based out of Oakland, California, US. It was founded by the guitarist of Sleep, Matt Pike, and likewise features similar musical tones such as heavy use of drone, extreme distortion, lagging pace, and a mood reflective of stoner rock.

Turbonegro

Hailing from Oslo, Norway, the wildly eccentric ‘death punk’ act, Turbonegro, have been terrorising audiences with their hedonistic live show since starting in 1989, blending their eclectic influences such as Black Flag, KISS, David Bowie, The Stooges and Circle Jerks to create their unique style.

The Casualties

Punk revivalists, The Casualties, hail from New York City, US, harking back to punk’s heyday in the late 70s and 80s, complete with their mohawks, leather and piercings.

Dead Meadow

Elder

Elder is a genre-pushing rock band that melds heavy psychedelic sounds with progressive elements and evocative soundscapes. Formed in a small coastal town in Massachusetts in the mid aughts, the band has reinvented their sound over the course of five albums to grow from a stalwart of the stoner/doom scene into one of the most unique voices in the rock underground. Their long-scale compositions unfold as journeys, running the gamut of styles from the 70’s to the present within a single song with a penchant for “sheer gatefold-era grandeur” (Rolling Stone).

Kylesa

Since this Savannah, Georgia quintet first formed in early 2001, worrying about genre limitations has never been a priority. Taking musical chances, however, always has been. While KYLESA are as heavy as any band out there, they are beholden to no one scene and no preconceived notions of what heavy music should be. "Lots of people like to stick to one kind of music," guitarist/vocalist Philip Cope elaborates, "and even with the underground, lots of people segregate themselves into small little categories and place lots of imaginary rules on these scenes." “We just like playing heavy music and we've always liked playing it regardless of what is popular or trendy,” guitarist/vocalist Laura Pleasants adds. “It’s most rewarding for us to try and push our own boundaries of what we can to do with our music and hopefully, in the end, offer something that is at least original.” Kylesa's third full-length, Time Will Fuse Its Worth, is the eagerly-awaited follow-up to 2005’s To Walk A Middle Course, which topped many year end lists and landed the band in metal and mainstream press alike. After grabbing ink in Spin, the New York Times, and metal mainstays Revolver alike, Time Will Fuse Its Worth again showcases the band as the ultimate definition of do-it-yourself dedication. With Cope lending his ears and hands for production duties at The Jam Room, and featuring comprehensive artistic layout and packaging from Pleasants, the KYLESA of current day continues to put the band’s future in their own hands by relentlessly touring Europe and North America alike. Time Will Fuse Its Worth sees the band continuing to evolve upon KYLESA’s signature sound, seamlessly flowing from track to track encompassing listeners with sounds far and wide and an utter disregard for musical boundaries. Bringing together avant-garde experimentalism with the pure fury of dirty, sludgy riffs and raw, coexisting male and female vocals, KYLESA’s ambient noise interludes, grimy rock riffs and impassioned, gruff vocals portray the doom-inspired punishment they are capable of dishing out through the power of the band’s music. Now adding to KYLESA’s signature sound and trademark triple vocal attack is the recent addition of drumming duo Jeff Porter and Carl McGinley. “When we first started the band, we had planned on having two drummers but it didn't work out, so now it feels like everything is coming together,” Pleasants says. “There is definitely a new level of intensity to Kylesa now. Since the new lineup has gotten together we have felt the strongest creative spark yet.” The band's reluctance to attach itself to one sound or scene and to not play by conventional rules, along with that strong creative spark, has ultimately made KYLESA that much more versatile. With a constantly heavy touring schedule has found the band crossing boundaries, sharing bills with bands as diverse as High On Fire, Circle Takes the Square, Coliseum, Torche, and Darkest Hour, as well as playing to enthusiastic crowds throughout Europe. "While we are no kings of one scene," says Cope, "we have, in a sense, just developed our own thing.”

Chat Pile

Throughout parts of the mid-western United States lie towering mounds of the waste residue

from early 20th Century lead mining operations. Comprised of what is known as "chat," these

hills of toxic, metallic dust dot the countryside as if they were headstones for communities

destroyed by industrialization such as Picher, Oklahoma. These effigies would come to be the

namesake for the Oklahoma based band, Chat Pile, whose grotesque and pummeling brand of

noise rock has managed to terrorize listeners worldwide in only a matter of months.

Intent on raising as much havoc as possible, Chat Pile was spawned from the bowels of the

OKC underground music scene in February of 2019. Consisting of Raygun Busch (vocals),

Luther Manhole (Guitars), Stin (Bass), and Captain Ron (Drums), the quartet brings with them a

sludgy and starkly nihilistic take on noise rock. Channeling everything from the oppressive

sludgy beat downs of Godflesh, the vulgar absurdity of The Jesus Lizard, and the rebellious,

post-modern experimentation of Sonic Youth, the works of Chat Pile are bleak, brutal and

genuinely terrifying.

Few bands have a level of self-understanding as Chat Pile. Despite the infancy of the project,

Chat Pile continues to be a standout among the sea of D.I.Y. music projects to come out in

recent memory. Their brand of crass, crushing, and poignantly cynical noise rock fills an

otherwise unaccounted for niche in today's underground music landscape.

- Evan Mester

Snapped Ankles

Frankie & The Witch Fingers

Frankie and the Witch Fingers are a rock band from Los Angeles known for their high-energy and frenetic performances. Their latest album, Data Doom, delves into themes of technological dystopia, systemic rot, creeping fascism, and the erosion of humanity. The band's sound has evolved into a darker strain, incorporating influences from proto-punk, German progressives, and funk fusionists. They have shared the stage with notable acts such as Kikagaku Moyo, Ty Segall, Oh Sees, Cheap Trick, and ZZ Top. Data Doom aims to solidify their status with its intense and socially charged rock sound.