US / THEM: October 2024

Thursday, October 31, 2024

VOLUME (ex-Fu Manchu, ex-Monster Magnet, Nebula, w/ Dave Catching) album streaming via Metal Injection, US tour starts 11/1

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

“Beefy, noisy, crunchy primal glory... One hell of a trip you should take.” – Metal Injection

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

Twentynine Palms, CA band VOLUME are streaming their forthcoming album Joy of Navigation (A Trip Through the Eternal Unknown) early today via Metal Injection. Hear & share the full album HERE. The album is available everywhere on November 1st. Hear the full album now on DSPs.

It's Psychedelic Baby Magazine recently featured an in-depth interview with frontman Patrick Brink HERE.

VOLUME launch Western U.S. tour dates tomorrow, 11/1 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 - Fat Cat (Record release show)

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

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

Wednesday, October 30, 2024

Antarctica (ex-Christie Front Drive) share single from forthcoming reissue of 1998 EP '23:03', rare album precursor remastered & first time on vinyl via Solid Brass Records

Photo: Chrissy Piper

“Essential Dream Pop: Blending the saccharine pop pleasures of mid-era OMD, the hearty gloom of Comsat Angels, and the dizzying hooks of The Ocean Blue, 81:03 is far ahead of its time in scope.” — Post-Punk

Solid Brass Records today releases the reissue, and first time ever on vinyl, of 23:03, the 1998 precursor EP to the sprawling full length debut of NYC synth/dream pop band Antarctica. The short lived band achieved cult status for the 3-song 23:03 and 1999 album, 81:03, both originally released on File 13 Records. Hear/share the single "Closetful of Churches" on all streaming platforms HERE.

Earlier in 2024, guitarist Chris Donohue tragically passed away. Solid Brass Records was honored to work with the rest of the band on a vinyl release of their EP as a way to honor Chris' memory.

After the breakup of popular Denver band Christie Front Drive singer/guitarist Eric Richter moved to Brooklyn and started Antarctica with other members from the local scene.

After touring in the summer of 1997 in support of their CD/EP 23:03, the band sequestered themselves for several months as they dove deep into the sounds of the NYC electronic music scene, revisited some of their favorite musical output from bands like The Church and Slowdive, and worked to meld the two musical aesthetics into something new and interesting.

In 1999 they enlisted Alap Momin (Dälek, The Lapse) to engineer and produce 81:03 in a way that both captured their electronic explorations and paid homage to their indie heritage. The result was extraordinary! The swooning, syncopated pop of New Order, the dark chill of Pornography-era Cure, the hypnotic pulse of Underworld, and the guitar harmonies of Ride and For Against. Originally released as a 2xCD in 1999 on File 13 Records, 81:03 is an expansive and textured example of electronic-infused shoegaze music. It is dark, contemplative, and at the same time eerily uplifting. Almost 25 years later, 81:03 still feels fresh; like a modern soundtrack for those seeking moments of beauty in an increasingly troubled world.

Remastered in 2023 by Collin Jordan at The Boiler Room in Chicago, IL. This is the first time any Antarctica material has appeared on vinyl.

23:03 will be available on Limited Edition Coke Bottle Clear 12" vinyl on December 13th. 81:03 is available on limited edition 2xLP on opaque white vinyl and digital, released on September 15, 2023 via Solid Brass Records. Pre-orders & bundles are available HERE.

Artist: Antarctica

Album: 23:03

Format: 12” EP

Label: Solid Brass Records

Release Date: December 13th, 2024

Tracklist:

A1: Drown The Days

A2: Full Crescent Crusade

B1: Closetful of Churches

Artist: Antarctica

Album: 81:03

Label: Solid Brass Records

Release Date: September 15th, 2023

A1: Absence

A2: Tower of Silence

A3: The Velvet Flood

B1: Return to Omma Dawn

B2: The Chrome Selected

B3: Ultra Norsk

C1: Hallucinus

C2: Tektur the Water

C3: Exisis

D1: 7759-60784-1-E

D2: Arctikal

On The Web:

solidbrassrecords.com

instagram.com/solidbrassrecs

linktr.ee/antarctica_8103

Pleasure Forever (Sub Pop, Red Sparowes, ex-The VSS) share first single from 2 early album reissues

"They don't sound like much you've heard before... This is not rote, predictable stuff." 8.4 -- Pitchfork

“Soliloquy meets psychedelia as the SF semi-goths ‘timely rip’ us a new album, Distal, genre-blended and aged like a fine Zinfandel. Solid gold via Solid Brass.” — Echoes & Dust

“[Taps] into the haunted atmosphere of their early recordings while imbuing them with a hypnotic, psychedelic glow… A thrilling return that marks a new era of creativity for the group.” — Treble

Former Bay Area trio Pleasure Forever announce reissues of their early catalog and rarities, all of which is for the first time on streaming services. The first single "An Exact Seance" premieres via TrebleZine today HERE. Hear/share "An Exact Seance" on all DSPs HERE and Bandcamp.

The band’s two debut 12” EPs (1997 and 1999 respectively) were originally released in 1999 as The Devil’s Pleasures on CD via TroubleMan Unlimited. On December 20th, 2024, the band releases those 11 tracks, remastered and with reconfigured artwork, for the first time on streaming services.

In 2007, the band released an LP & CD called Bodies Need Rest, which compiled rare and unreleased tracks via Conspiracy Records. Those tracks have never been available on streaming services, until now. Bodies Need Rest has an updated master and hits streaming services on November 8th, 2024. Pre-save on Spotify HERE.

in 2023, 20 years after the band’s last proper album Alter was released on Sub Pop — with the catalog number Sub Pop #666, no less — Pleasure Forever released a new mini-album titled Distal via Solid Brass Records.

Pleasure Forever remains as hard to characterize as they’ve always been. Moments of heavy hitting rock tendencies tie together their continuing exploration of spooky 60s psychedelia and their peculiarly warped feel of classic rock from an alternate universe, dashed with hypnotic and minimal rhythms reminiscent of heady Krautrock. Distal will appeal to fans of Roxy Music, The Doors, The VSS, CAN, Amon Düül II, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds…

Pleasure Forever is vocalist/keyboardist Andrew Rothbard, drummer Dave Clifford and guitarist Joshua Hughes. The band is not currently active or playing any live shows.

In the two decades between proper albums, Rothbard has released multiple solo albums under his full name Andrew Douglas Rothbard, Clifford played drums in instrumental post-metal band Red Sparowes, as well as Emma Ruth Rundle vehicle Marriages, Jail Weddings and more, Hughes sang and played guitar in Relapse Records sludge metal trio Rabbits and currently in Ssold. The three members formerly played together in synth-punk pioneers The VSS in the mid-90s.

The Devil's Pleasures will be available for download and streaming on December 20, 2024, Bodies Need Rest will be available for download and streaming on November 8th, 2024 via Permanent Teeth Records. Pre-orders are available HERE.