Dark Brown album out now -- feat. guitar legend Dick Dale, Brad Wilk (Rage Against the Machine), Jon Theodore (QOTSA), Donita Sparks (L7) and more

L.A. based composer/musician Bryan Lee Brown releases his new album American Instrument today under the Dark Brown moniker. Each song features guest collaborators, including surf guitar legend Dick Dale, Rage Against The Machine drummer Brad Wilk, Queens of the Stone Age drummer Jon Theodore, L7 leader Donita Sparks, Battles' John Stanier, Alfredo Ortiz (Beastie Boys, Gogol Bordello) and more. Hear/share American Instrument via Bandcamp and all DSPs HERE. 

Watch the complete 12-episode series of mini-documentaries Backtrack: Stories and Inspirations Behind Making of American Instrument in which collaborators discuss their involvement in the album via YouTube HERE. 

The previously released lead single, "Rhythm Surfer" features one of the last recordings of guitar icon Dick Dale -- lending his legendary and oft-imitated "Machine Gun Staccato" style to the track, alongside L7 guitarist/vocalist Donita Sparks on the entrancing tune. 

American Instrument is conceptually just as expansive and ambitious as the lush soundscapes within. An 18-song album featuring an array of legendary guest musicians, its theme likewise embodies a profound meditation on selfhood and the Other.

Dark Brown is the creation of Los Angeles composer and musician Bryan Lee Brown. American Instrument is the fifth album under that pseudonym, but Brown has an extensive life-long career in music: Scoring Dave Grohl’s HBO series Sonic Highways (2014) and documentary film What Drives Us (2021) as well as countless other films, TV shows and commercials, drumming for Dick Dale, as well as numerous stints as a session musician.

The album was recorded over a 12-year period at 7 different studios. It features guest appearances by surf guitar innovator Dick Dale, John Stanier (Battles, Helmet), Brad Wilk (Rage Against The Machine, Audioslave), Alfredo Ortiz (Los Lobos, Beastie Boys), Eric McFadden, Jon Theodore (QOTSA), Donita Sparks (L7), marching percussionist Marcus Joyner, Dave Catching (Desert Sessions), Jose Medeles (The Breeders, Author) and more.

The predominantly drummer-heavy line up is another element of the album's exploration into Brown's relationship with drumming, both musically and socially. Brown has a personal connection to almost everyone who played on the album. In a way, the album unites many common threads (personal and philosophical) throughout the musician’s life.

Slated for release in Fall 2024, American Instrument combines abstract minimalism with melodic psychedelia to create a vast ranch of soundscapes. Brown’s now signature sounds of melodic percussion, droning guitars, tremolo and propulsive rhythms permeate the tracks, with each guest musician’s personality leading the songs in many directions with each of their unique personalities shining through. Case in point, Dick Dale’s unmistakable guitar pyrotechnics on 2 album tracks, recorded in 2013 at Rancho De La Luna in Joshua Tree, bring all of his larger-than-life sonic imprint into a completely new world where the surf guitar meets counterpoint rhythms, post-rock ethereality and anthemic hooks. “Spacetime (feat. Brad Wilk)” finds the Rage Against The Machine drummer’s powerful backbeat driving a psychedelic haze of Hendrix-style guitar warped through haunting sounding tubular bells. “Miami Rute (feat. Jon Theodore and Alfredo Ortiz)” juxtaposes Latin percussion with soaring Pink Floyd-ian drones and ominous vocal chants. Throughout, a wide variety of sounds and musical styles explore the very meaning of rhythm and impact of the uniquely American instrument, the drum set, and its place in the course of human history.

American Instrument is available digitally via Memory Bulldozer Records on October 4th, 2024. Order/Save HERE. 

Artist: Dark Brown
Album: American Instrument
Record Label: Memory Bulldozer
Release Date: October 4th, 2024

01. Night Bloom
02. Maximum Effect I
03. Time Vector II
04. Restoring Force
05. Miami Rute
06. Great Plains
07. Rhythm Surfer Intro (ft. Dick Dale)
08. Rhythm Surfer (ft. Dick Dale, Donita Sparks)
09. American Instrument
10. Passage
11. Jose In The Hole
12. Side Drum
13. Spacetime
14. Time In My Mind
15. Walking with Louis Bellson
16. Inside The Set
17. Skyhook
18. Fabric Of The Universe

VOLUME (ex-Fu Manchu, ex-Monster Magnet, Nebula, w/ Dave Catching) drop cover of Swedish classic in interview, announce Western US tour

 

“Pure, unadulterated desert rock by masters of the genre.” – Decibel Magazine

“Beefy, noisy, crunchy primal glory.” – Metal Injection

"Feels like an acid trip in a sandstorm." -- Psychedelic Baby

Twentynine Palms, CA band VOLUME shares a new single from their forthcoming album Joy of Navigation (A Trip Through the Eternal Unknown) today alongside an in-depth interview with It's Psychedelic Baby Magazine. The single, "The Golden Age" is a spot-on cover of a classic track by 90s Swedish punk/stoner band Union Carbide Productions (members of which later went on to garage-psych band The Soundtrack of Our Lives.) Hear the song & read the discussion HERE. (Direct to DSPs and Bandcamp.)

Metal Injection previously launched the video for title track "Joy of Navigation" HERE. (Direct YouTube.) Decibel Magazine premiered the lead single prior HERE.

VOLUME also announce Western U.S. tour dates in support of the album. See all dates below. 

The band is VOLUME and it deals primarily in density: Thick and weighty as the abundant sand surrounding their Twentynine Palms, CA hometown, but also comprised of a mass of fine grit that can sear the skin with a gust of wind, and quickly dissipate into the ether. 

Yes, that is to say, VOLUME are purveyors of Heavy Acid Rock. Doomy psychedelia, but with more raw 70s punk brash than masquerading metal. VOLUME draw musical influences from bands such as The Stooges, MC5 and Black Flag to name a few, while also crafting their own distinctive heavy psychedelic identity. And, with Joy of Navigation, the band ventures into heavier, more psychedelic tones, while also keeping powerful hooks as the focus. 

Originally formed in 1993 by ex-Fu Manchu singer Patrick Brink, the band has featured a revolving set of collaborators, with ex-Monster Magnet guitarist Ed Mundell playing leads on the forthcoming Joy of Navigation mini-album. David Catching (QOTSA, Arctic Monkeys, Iggy Pop) co-produced the tracks with Brink, as well as playing synth on the recording. Mike Amster (Nebula, Mondo Generator, Spoon Benders) plays drums on the mini-album. The current live lineup includes Mingus on drums, bassist Jason Hernandez and lead guitarist Derek Christensen. 

Brink founded the band in order to take the lead and steer the musical reins down psychedelic rocking routes. Having performed with a number of acts including the aforementioned vocals for Fu Manchu in their early days, VOLUME offered Patrick a new creative outlet. Over their career the band has shared stages with Queens of the Stone Age, Mastodon and Goatsnake, and performed at festivals including Emissions of the Monolith and Stoner Hands of Doom (SHoD). 

Brink’s upbringing in the secluded desert town east of Joshua Tree and 60 miles north of Palm Springs had a huge impact on his songwriting. It is a place of beauty and harsh realities, and those contrasts are present throughout Patrick's lyrics and songs. After getting into punk rock by accident in high school Patrick started his first band a couple of years later with the only other punks in town. This early love of punk rock inadvertently led him to the heavier bands on SST Records such as Wurm, SWA, DC3 and St. Vitus. 

 

Heavy As Fuck (1996) and Love Is A Mountain And Heavy As Fuck (1998) were the band's first recordings. In the Fall of 1998, the seven inch Check This Planet I’m Gone... was released on Superkool Records. Requesting Permission To Land (High Beam Records) was recorded with the help of Mike McHugh (Train, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion). Each song was recorded in one or two takes to retain the original heart and soul of the piece. 

“It’s rock and roll. Not brain surgery,” says Patrick of the recording process. The end result is a potent blend of thirty-plus minutes of psychedelic fuzzfest freakout and perhaps some of the rawest riffs you're likely to hear. 

 

VOLUME draw inspiration from a time when music was truly experimental and free. They see themselves as rock'n'roll torch bearers whose duty it is to bring the flame, intact, into the future. They invite you to join in that endeavor, for the Joy of Navigation. 

 

Joy of Navigation will be available for download/streaming on November 1st, 2024 via Golden Robot Recordings, and on LP via Kozmik Artifactz. Pre-save HERE, Pre-order HERE.

VOLUME LIVE 2024:

11/01 Las Vegas, NV - Red Dwarf (Record release show)

11/02 Reno, NV - The Cellar Stage at Alturas Bar 

11/03 Salt Lake City, UT - The DLC

11/04 Spokane, WA - Jackson St. Bar and Grill 

11/05 Seattle, WA - El Corazón / Funhouse

11/06 Portland, OR - The Hawthorne Hideaway

11/07 Medford, OR - Johnny B’s

11/08 Santa Cruz, CA - The Jury Room

11/09 Oakland, CA - The Golden Bull Bar

Artist: VOLUME

Album: Joy of Navigation

Label: Golden Robot (digital) / Kozmik Artifactz (vinyl)

Release Date: November 1st, 2024

01. Joy of Navigation

02. Mercury

03. Heavy Sunshine

04. Golden Age

05. Space Baby