RB2010 - Ancestors

Joining Ancestors on both the UK / Euro tour and at Roadburn will be Los Angeles-based rock quintet Night Horse. The band shares in common with Ancestors guitarist Justin Maranga and have caught the ears and eyes of critics and fans alike with their unique ability to blend the greater aspects of rock music with a much needed breath of contemporary fresh air. Night Horse will enter L.A.’s Infrasonic Sound with producer Matt Bayles (Mastodon, Isis, Murder City Devils) later this month to record its sophomore LP, due for a summer release via Tee Pee Records.

European tour with Night Horse:
April 9 – Essen, Germany – Cafe Nova
April 10 – Belgium, TBC
April 11 – Segrate, Italy – Magnolia
April 13 – Wien, Austria – Arena
April 14 – München, Germany – Sunny Red
April 15 – Tilburg, Netherlands – Roadburn Festival
April 16 – London, UK – South of the Border
April 17 – Plymouth, UK – White Rabbit

In case you missed it, the band recently posted new song  ‘Antler Wings’ from a split 7″ with Swedish labelmates Graveyard. Here it is again (courtesy of The Obelisk):

JEX THOTH, with siren Jex at the helm, play a distinctive kind of psychedelic doom that encompasses Black Widow, Pentagram, and Amon Duul II. Thriving on occultism and alchemy as well, they’ll take the Roadburn attendees on an extremely interesting doom-odyssey.

“Rural as fuck, and Heathen as a Cunt and thrice as mysterious, Jex Thoth’s is a strange ministry. I imagine this quintet’s audience dwelling in scattered & out-of-the-way homesteads, rarely coming together as a community, and so obliging this itinerant quintet to spread their barbarian information out to their congregation by any means necessary; for their music contains few highs or lows of the Urban variety, and replaces obvious hooks with insidious melodies that emerge then take over our melting plastic minds.  Not for Jex Thoth the Metallic K.O. Instead, their Very Rudimentary but extremely evocative and primal sound is circular, beating-the-bounds, ever-returning to earlier themes, pummelling their audience not with a single punch to the head but through a series of muffled and hazy blows to the lower torso… a war of attrition.”

“It’s as though the music of Jex Thoth is designed to be heard only in brief snatches as though the musicians had been expected to hawk it from farm to farm, day after day, month after month, their hoary themes gradually… ever so gradually intoxicating their recipients for want of any other tunes to be had in the neighbourhood. But, while it’s good work for the Trolls when they can get it, it’s damned peculiar that such a divine chanteuse should have chosen – of her own free will – to hook up with such a gang of ne’er-do-wells” – Julian Cope, Head Heritage.

Norway’s SHINING is indisputably one of the most hard-hitting and  progressive bands from that kingdom. They are constantly pushing musical boundaries, whether avant-garde metal, jazz, prog-rock or  psychedelia. The band excels at melding these disparate musical elements into a unique genre of their own, called Black-Jazz. Over the  top and sophisticated at the very same time, Shining (NO) create energetically original and thrilling music.

There’s nothing common about the music of Los Angeles quintet ANCESTORS. To peg or try to pigeon hole the art they create would be missing the point.  Ancestors weave an unorthodox mixture of sonic textures, down-tempo riffs and rhythms, accented with well-crafted melodies and at times full-throttle assaults.  Their music is a journey through the past into the future; a signpost for a quickly emerging force of musical power and creativity.

A two-headed minstrel eagle bearing a tentacle shroud, EAGLE TWIN is Gentry Densley (Iceburn, Ascend) and Tyler Smith (Form of Rocket, Hammergun).  Prophets and worshipers of myth and riff.  Densley suspends several octaves of pitch in the air at once with singular doom-tools of his own crafting: acrylic baritone guitars bastardized with bass strings and bull entrails, sinewed to an all-tube seawall of wattage.  His voice thick with rust and lichens.  Telling tales; telling the future.

Eagle Twin

Smith is himself the hammer, and orange lucite is his fearsome, resonant forge soon reduced to a shattered-hardware, splintered-stick, fist-smashed-drum nest of his own making night after night. Doom blues roots rock backing a new mythology of old testament proportions. Born of Crow, Eagle Twin growls, ‘I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.’ – Job 30:29

LOS NATAS, hailing from the land of the gauchos and the pampas, spent  their early musical career trying to shed the label of being the  “Argentinian Kyuss”. While they undoubtedly absorbed the musical  spirit of Kyuss, they used it as a jumping-off point and turned it  into their own style of well-crafted stoner rock. Over the last several years, the band have refined and expanded their sound to include prog and kraut rock as well as Argentinian music.

They now stand firmly in their own unique place in the musical spectrum, taking  their listeners on grand journeys where beautifully intricate guitar parts swirl, entwine, tantalize and then finally give way to seriously heavy riffage. Los Natas is here to bring unadulterated stoner rock back to Roadburn.

At their inception, Switserland’s MONKEY3 sounded somewhat deriviate of 35007’s aural soundscapes, but their sound has matured into something unique. The band has a deft ability to weave a myriad of sonic tapestries together, drawing from such diverse elements as potent metallic riffs, massive grooves and layers of exhilarating synthesizer effects.

Monkey3 create their own interpretation of kaleidoscopic acid rock with great zeal –drawing the listener deeper and deeper into their multi-faceted mindscapes, until it becomes a fairly daunting task to adequately describe their extended live jams. However, all you need to know is that Monkey3’s instrumental patterns will form, dissolve and swirl euphorically in your cerebellum, and definitely keep you oscillating between mellow chill-out and furious air-guitaring.

NIGHT HORSE exploded on to the Los Angeles rock scene in 2008, playing their first live show ever, while mixing their debut EP  The Dark Wont Hide You for Tee Pee Records.  Night Horse has caught the ears and eyes of critics and fans alike with their unique ability to blend the greater aspects of rock music with a much needed breath of contemporary fresh air.  “If Sonic Youth had been immersed in an ocean of Allman Brothers inspiration, or Soundgarden had been steeped in late 60s Fleetwood Mac, then they might have turned out something like this. Night Horse take traditional blues-rock, spark it up with riotously noisy flashes and drag the rhythms through an early-90s grunge experience.  Moreover, they’re cohesive, charismatic and compelling.”

Night Horse has hardly stood still in the last year.  Gaining notoriety with a rollicking and visceral live show they have released 3 split singles since their debut, and show no signs of slowing down.  Night Horse plans to enter to the studio with Matt Bayles (Mastodon, Isis, Pearl Jam) to record an EP and full length for Tee Pee Records to be released in early 2010.

Ancestors - Of Sound Mind

Lovingly pinched from The Obelisk: With last year’s demo-turned-LP Neptune with Fire, California epic rockers Ancestors immediately positioned themselves in the upper echelon of contemporary stoner metal. Their deceptively intricate jams and massive sonic scope made Neptune with Fire one of 2008’s most satisfying listens, and following it up a year later with their second Tee Pee Records release, Of Sound Mind, the L.A. five-piece continues to show remarkable promise and a strong sense of diversity in their sound.

The central distinguishing factor between Neptune with Fire and Of Sound Mind is the production, which took a more straightforward, definitively stoner bent with the former and now presents rich layers of guitar, bass and organ across four grandiose tracks all over 13 minutes of ‘70s-influenced prog metal spliced with shorter instrumental pieces to allow breathing room.

Continue reading:  The Obelisk » Blog Archive » Ancestors and the Sound of Mind.

Night Horse – The Dark Won’t Hide You

Lovingly pinched from Blogsandiego.com: From riff one to the final note this disc is a heaping helping of great, greasy and bottom heavy ROCK! The grooves are so thick and meaty here you find yourself not so much looking at the liner notes as checking for a cattle brand.

Night Horse is comprised of some folks (and friends) from the mighty LA band Ancestors whose dirge mythology infuse debut came out on TeePee earlier this year. Whereas Ancestors deals in extended epics which ebb and flow with mysterious grace, Night Horse comes straight to the point. And what point is that you might say? Well it’s a heavy blast of early 70’s Blues Rock mainlined through a modern punkish sensibility.

Please read the full review at: Night Horse – The Dark Won’t Hide You.

Ancestors

Ancestors have announced they will release the follow up their critically acclaimed debut album Neptune With Fire on October 6th. The brand new album will be titled Of Sound Mind.

Recorded, mixed and mastered at Infra Sonic Sound by Pete Lyman, known for his diverse work with Mars Volta, Qui and No Age. Ancestors, including contributions by notable Los Angeles artists David Scott Stone (Melvins, Unwound, Slug), Sera Timms (Black Math Horsemen) and cellist Ramiro Zapata have created an album truly Of Sound Mind; a refreshing and aptly named experience of incredible proportions.

Please read full newsflash at Tee Pee Records.