Alabaster Tongue and Aural Warfare proudly present the second Philly appearance by NYC space rockers White Hills (Thrill Jockey). Label and tour mates Pontiak are also on the bill, as well as locals Kohoutek and Far-Out Fangtooth.
Wedensday, December 7
O'Reilly's, Kensington
Frankford and Lehigh (2672 Coral Street)
$7, 21+
Doors at 8pm, show at 9pm sharp!
White Hills (NYC, Thrill Jockey)
Pontiak (VA, Thrill Jockey)
Kohoutek (Philly/DC, Prophase)
Far-Out Fangtooth (Philly, Siltbreeze)
White Hills
http://www.myspace.com/whitehillsWHITE HILLS is an ever changing entity always striving to push the envelope. Their music weaves in and out of anthemic chants, deep space bleeps and otherworldly madness for a mix that proves to be intoxicating. Since the release of their debut album, the press and listeners have been praising their originality and unique brand of heavy space rock.
Musically, H-p1, White Hills' second full-length for Thrill Jockey, expands on the explorations of previous albums in ambience, noise, and space rock all led by guitarist Dave W.’s blistering guitar solos. This is the most fully realized White Hills album to date and the one that takes them furthest from their pure space rock roots. It is also their most angry record. It is a reaction to what White Hills sees as government co-opted and controlled by corporations. It is a wake up call:
"We can barely pay our rent each month but we are willing to pull out our credit cards and go into debt each time a new iPhone promises a better connection. The joke is on us. Our greater connectivity has caused us to disconnect from our humanity. We have been sold the religion of consumerism to feed the corporate machine. We have been tricked into believing that wanting our tax dollars to pay for our own health care is treacherous to the ideals of a democratic society. H-p1 is symbolic of the simplification of complex ideas to keep the masses from questioning the system." – Ego Sensation
The cover is a stark, colorless landscape, a metaphor for the status quo, while the inside and the record are an attempt to break free from this bland existence. The music and the photo inside are loud, colorful, exuberant, and alive.
H-p1 was recorded at the Ocropolis in Williamsburg, Brooklyn on September 7th & 8th 2010 by Shahin “Showtime” Motia (guitarist of Oneida) and mixed by Dave W. & Pierre Auntour in NYC and by Antronhy in Nottingham, UK. The album was mastered by Heba Kadry at the Lodge. A notable difference is the addition of synthesizer player, Shazzula, for the recordings. Shazzula has performed with the group in Europe on and off throughout the last year. There was no compression used on the record. Instead distortion boxes were used to enhance the natural dynamics of the songs. “The recordings captured a natural ebb and flow of the instruments within each song. For this reason I did not ride the faders while mixing the record to bring out certain instruments over others. It is the way it happened when it was recorded,” said Dave W.
H-p1 is the cry for the disenfranchised, the exposure of the ills that the corporate-controlled governmental system has put in place. This seventeen minute song is the summation of the album, the point when the protagonist delivers his realization and vision of a solution to the masses. There is another way. You don’t have to be a drone.
"[White Hills is] one of the years gnarliest psych slabs – a schizophrenic trip through Acid Mothers Temple riff bludgeon, Boris chug, shaggy pseudo-grunge, and tender bursts of formless noise." – Village Voice
"I found my infinite headbang in White Hills, a relentlessly heavy psych-rock band with scorching wah-wah and fantastic outfits." – NPR All Songs Considered (Lars Gotrich)
"A perfect space-rock storm of drone, mind-melting psychedelia, overdriven guitars and heavy bass, White Hills is the rightful heir to Hawkwind's massive legacy." – Goldmine
Dave W. – Guitar // Vocals // Synth
Ego Sensation – Bass // Vocals // Synth
Lee Hinshaw – Drums
Pontiak
http://www.pontiak.net/"Pontiak's Comecrudos, which is due for release on Thrill Jockey in June 2011, was created as a soundtrack to the bold landscape the band encountered on a drive from Phoenix to the Big Bend area of Texas. The brothers; Van, Lain, and Jennings, were captivated by the sprawling landscape, the immensity and complexity of the geology and the beauty. They camped in an old volcano crater under a full moon and hiked ridges alongside the Rio Grande. Comecrudos is a soundtrack for the drive on Route 385 southbound from Marathon, Texas.
The band recommends listening to the album whilst driving, windows rolled down, music at full volume, the dust hanging in the air. Or on the subway – imagining you are in a car driving with the widows rolled down, music at full volume, the dust hanging in the air.
Pontiak finished recording Comecrudos in January of 2011, at their studio in Virginia. No distortion or overdrive pedals were used in the making of this record. Pontiak kept their gear bare, reflecting the landscape itself.
They are currently in the studio recording a full-length that will be released in early 2012. They will be playing periodic shows in the US and Europe throughout the summer." (Thrill Jockey)
Kohoutek
http://www.claviusproductions.org/kohoutekFormed in Washington DC in 2003, Philly-based experimental collective
Kohoutek plays improvised psychedelia, ranging from unsettling, discordant noise to delicate melodies, inspired by such varied musical entities as Can, Amon Duul 2, Ash Ra Tempel, Trad Gras Och Stenar, Dead C, Skullflower, Sun City Girls, Hawkwind, This Heat, Sonic Youth, Bardo Pond, Ghost, Taj Mahal Travellers, Sun Ra, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Pink Floyd, King Crimson, and Van Der Graaf Generator. They inhabit a world where drone, musique concrete, and noise coalesces with cosmic folk, where doom and sludge metal merge with polyrhythms. All Kohoutek performances are rituals channeling untapped energy transmogrified through pure expression and response to the immediate environment.
"Lossless Loss," their second studio album released on Prophase in 2009,
covers most of the dynamic stylistic stylistic range Kohoutek is known for:
abstract and textural sound, atmospheric rock, harsh noise freakouts,
clattering percussion, guitar heroics, and alien electronics congealing to form a multihued psychedelic extravaganza. Recorded deep in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia in September 2007, the five members embarked on a psilocybic twilight journey, and this 44-minute aural excursion is the result. No overdubs and minimal editing create an experience as close as possible to a Kohoutek performance. With longtime core members Scott Verrastro (percussion, flute), Craig Garrett (bass) and Scott Allison (electronics) augmented by Vic Salazar (electric guitar) and Damian Languell (vocals, harmonica, clarinet, didgeridoo, Space Echo), Kohoutek forge their own path in the improv universe, and "Lossless Loss" is another burning fragment of this fleeting sonic comet.
“People interested in music that defies the pop song convention, music that challenges that part of your brain that lies dormant during most aural experiences, need a band like Kohoutek. This quintet began their wildly meandering journey across the more peripheral realms of free-form psych rock a few years back and from the very beginning they seemed determined to try to cross swathes of interstellar drone, guitar squall and loose, slowly evolving improvisations of drum and bass grooves and squelchy electronics with tapestries of gravitationally flowing darkness. What we get is a sonic bag that is raw, gorgeous, loud, dreamy, dissonant and mystical at the same time, somehow managing to transcend all sorts of seemingly limited genre barriers. Dedicated followers of bands such as The Spacious Mind, SubArachnoid Space and Ash Ra Tempel will for sure want to check these cats out, with a musical style that at its best rarely goes wrong in the live setting."“ (Mats Gustafsson)
Far-Out Fangtooth
http://faroutfangtooth.tumblr.com/Existing in the musty shadows of the Philly scene, Far-Out Fangtooth have built a most unique foundation of sound, mixing early Cramps swamp/garage blackout, nascent Bauhaus post-punk/quasi-goth bleakness as well as an uncanny nod to the witchy, ethereal leather glam of first-generation Blue Öyster Cult. Their debut LP, Pure & Disinterested (on Siltbreeze Records), follows a limited-edition 7-inch for local label Ian! Records. In recent months, Far-Out Fangtooth has seen live action on bills with the likes of Times New Viking, Circle Pit, Blank Dogs and R. Stevie Moore.
The Philly four-piece loves its ambience. Crash cymbals sound like rattling sheet metal, double-tracked guitars rumble like an amp on the fritz, and vocals wander in a nervy, unsteady baritone. Fangtooth's sound hits a raw nerve in a way that surface descriptors can't sum up.
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