Posts Tagged ‘Stephen O’Malley’

Album of the day: Burning Witch – S/T (4LP + DVD)

Posted on Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012

Praise for Burning Witch‘s S/T (4LP + DVD) from San Francisco’s aQuarius Records: We’ve got just a handful of these expensive new Burning Witch 4LP/DVD boxes, they’re fancy and SUPER limited, so odds are once we sell out we won’t be able to get more. Seems likely that only super obsessive fans are gonna want this, but just in case, here’s the aQ lowdown on Burning Witch, via our review of the ‘complete’ Burning Witch double CD we reviewed a while back, we’ll get to the box and all the craziness it contains in a moment.

FINALLY!!!! The reissue all DOOOOOOOOOOOOOM heads have been waiting for! The monolithic Burning Witch! For those of you that don’t know, before Sunn o))), before Khanate, Stephen O’Malley, along with Greg Anderson at least in the beginning of the band, were digging a mass grave of tortured, drugged to hell, low as fuck, abstract blood smeared DOOM in the band Burning Witch.

We’re pretty sure most people knew that already and are eagerly awaiting this dark treasure. First off, this is probably one of our favorite doom bands EVER, so we’re maybe biased biased, but this record changed us forever, and we’re not entirely sure if that’s a good thing. This record makes us want to hide in our room, lower the shades, and never come out.

The sound of the Witch is everything you can hope for in a heavy band, BRUTAL guitars downtuned to the center of the earth, plodding, fucked up rhythmic patterns, twisted harmonics beating against each other, piercing feedback, noisy textures, and ANGUISHED vocals, courtesy of the ultimate goth, Edgy 59. The vocals range from high pitched,bamboo shards under the fingernail, tortured screeching, to low pitched, classic metal crooning, and even some death metal grunting to boot!

All of these songs are structured in interesting ways, the sounds stretched out to the point of transcendence, spacious and demented, but strangely melodic. Every sound on these discs is allowed its own room to live and breath/wither and die, fully resonating in your cavernous skull, until your eyes glaze over, and catatonic fugue state is achieved. So this new vinyl box set includes these 4 LPs (and we’re including all the pertinent technical details direct from the Southern Lord):

–Towers LP: Recorded by Steve Albini during the vernal equinox 1996 at Robert Lang Studios, Seattle. Originally released as a demo tape in 1996 then released by Slap-A-Ham on vinyl in 1998. 2k were pressed. Southern Lord released a CD version (including Rift.Canyon.Dreams.) in 1998. Remastered from the original 1/2″ master tape (lost until this version) by Mell Dettmer.

– Rift.Canyon.Dreams: Recorded by Aaron Evil during the autumnal equinox 1997 at Robert Lang Studios, Seattle. Originally released by Merciless Records on LP in 1998. 500 were pressed. Not only is this lp super rare the covers were very flimsy so most existing copies have a lot of cover damage! Southern Lord released a CD version (including Towers) in 1998.

– Bleeder b/w Rift.Canyon.Dreams.: Bleeder was a unreleased track from the Towers… (Albini) session. It originally came out on the split cd with Goatsnake on Hydra Head in 2000 now out of print. This song has never been released on vinyl (although test pressings for the Goatsnake split were made finished vinyl was never produced), the Rift.Canyon.Dreams track was an unfinished outtake from the Rift.Canyon.Dreams session. It was mixed / completed by Dahlquist & Randall Dunn circa 2003 and then released on a split with ASVA (BW bassists Stuart Dahlquists’ then new project). 475 copies were pressed. The track was remixed by O’Malley and Dunn in 2007 released on the Crippled Lucifer 2xcd reissue via SLR and is the version presented here.

– Live at the China Club 1996: Raw, grimm live evocation is the only Witch recording ever released with original 2nd guitarist Greg Anderson. This incantation was captured in Ballard, WA at the China Club (previously known as the Red Dragon) in 1996. The Witch was opening for At The Gates and Napalm Death. Anderson played 2 shows with Burning Witch, this being the second (and last!) This is the first time this is available on vinyl. Although not as realized as the studio recordings this give a dark vision of the horror that was to come!

Wowsa! There’s also a perfect bound 40 page 12″ X12 book that the label describes as “an aggressive visual documentation of the History of Burning Witch”, packed with rare photos and liner notes from Aaron Turner (Hydra Head Records / ISIS) and Chris Dodge (SPAZZ, Slap-a-Ham Records).

There’s also a DVD of never before released Burning Witch performances. Including the band’s first ever live show in Seattle from 1996, and features Sunn o)))’s Greg Anderson on second guitar. Also included is an infamous Burning Witch performance on Public Access television!! All the lps are 180 gram vinyl, all housed in Stoughton printed tip-on and direct to board jackets. Everything packed in a heavy duty Stoughton made slip-case. Phew. You know you want one. We sure do!

At 40 years old, Aquarius is the oldest independent record store in San Francisco. We try to only carry music we love, and we’re always searching for more new, cool, weird and wonderful music. All of which we then share with you, our loyal customers.

Tags: aaron turner, Album of the day, Aquarius Records, burning witch, Edgy 59, greg anderson, Randall Dunn, sludge, southern lord, Stephen O'Malley, Stuart Dahlquists
Posted in 2012, Album of the Day, Roadburn Recommended | No Comments »

Album of the day: Sunn O))) Meets Nurse With Wound – The Iron Soul Of Nothing (LP)

Posted on Monday, December 5th, 2011

Praise for Sunn O))) meets Nurse With Wound‘s The Iron Soul Of Nothing from San Francisco’s aQuarius Records: Back in 2007, Stephen O’Malley approached Nurse With Wound about reworking Sunn O)))’s 00Void, urging that Steven Stapleton push the sound of Sunn O))) towards the classic NWW sound of Soliloquy For ...read more

Blogging from Roadburn 2011: Still in Orbit by Walter Roadburn (A Massive Thanks!!!)

Posted on Thursday, April 21st, 2011

I’m spent and I’m numb! My brain is going nowhere. I’m no longer on Planet Roadburn but I’m not entirely here, either. I’m still in orbit. I can’t seem to adjust to daily life. What just happened during the last few days? Was there magic in the air? Did someone ...read more

Roadburn 2011 on YouTube Pt.2 (Friday, April 15th)

Posted on Thursday, April 21st, 2011

Quite a few Roadburn 2011 performances were captured on video by audience members. Here is a selection of YouTube clips handpicked by Roadburn (Day 2: Friday, April 15th). Those moments when it was impossible to instantly transport yourself from the Main Room to the Midi Theatre, Green Room or Bat ...read more

Roadburn Special on Majjem Radio: Spotlight On Sunn O)))

Posted on Wednesday, April 6th, 2011

Majjem Radio broadcasted a four-hour special about the Roadburn Festival on Wednesday, 7 April. The show featured a one-hour interview with Sunn O)))‘s Stephen O’Malley, tracks from the new Sunn O))) live album (Agharti Live 09-10), an exclusive track from Void Ov Voices, a track from the fantastic forthcoming album ...read more