Posts Tagged ‘The Sleeping Shaman’

Album of the day: White Hills – Live at Roadburn 2011

Posted on Sunday, January 8th, 2012

Lovingly pinched from The Sleeping Shaman: Watching KISS dominate the Download Festival in 2009 in all their tickertape-drenched glory is the greatest show I’ve ever seen. After watching their mammoth 2-hour set on the Saturday night, I returned to the arena for the Sunday action unfazed by the to-be-expected throngs of KISS t-shirt wearers. What did make me sit up and take notice however was the perfectly-positioned stand in the merch village already selling overnight-pressed CDs of the previous night’s show, complete with prepared packaging, artwork and set-lists!

In getting my head around the actionability of this all-too exclusive piece of profitability, I realised just how important the nature of branding is to a music industry struggling to cope with declining album sales. Roadburn Records have begun to truly come of age by taking once-in-a-lifetime performances from some of the world’s greatest underground acts and immortalising them in living rooms and iPods the world over with an elegant, but not excessively vast, catalogue of ‘Live at Roadburn’ releases.

From Wino to Church of Misery to the stunning Yob 2010 CD / DVD combo, and now the very first live record from New York’s masters of psyche-rock White Hills, this small label is slowly branching out on the fruits of a festival set-up which rightly refuses to expand beyond its beloved core followers. And what an addition to the catalogue this is!
White Hills truly are a scintillating live band and then some. Having been introduced to their live experience at Supersonic Festival earlier this year, I was blown away by their swirling hypnotic boogie, the technical perfection of the fuzz-rock sound and a mesmerising display of light and visuals complete with costumes both wacky and retro enough to make Robert Plant look like a tracksuit-wearing poser.

All of the above comes sailing across my stereo speakers in terrific clarity on White Hills Live at Roadburn. New tracks from the epic 2011 release H-p1, namely the title cut and ‘The Condition of Nothing’, utterly dominate the senses, mists of cosmic guitar, juggernautical basslines and solid beats blast the listener into a higher realm of sonic delight. Dave W’s outer-galaxy cries wail across sounding like the MC5 playing a gig in a cave on Mars; quite simply epitomising the very meaning of heavy psychedelia

Continue reading: White Hills ‘Live at Roadburn 2011′ CD/DD 2011 review | The Sleeping Shaman.

Tags: Album of the day, burning world records, Dave W, Ego Sensation, Live at Roadburn 2011, Pete Green, psychedelica, Roadburn, Roadburn Festival, Roadburn Records, space rock, Stoner Jam, The Sleeping Shaman, white hills
Posted in 2012, Album of the Day, Roadburn Recommended | 1 Comment »

Album of the day: Samsara Blues Experiment – Revelation And Mystery

Posted on Wednesday, December 21st, 2011

Lovingly pinched from The Sleeping Shaman: When I reviewed Samsara Blues Experiment’s previous album, Long Distance Trip in 2010 I wasn’t fully convinced I have to admit. I could sense that here was a band with genuine talent but had yet to fully harness their skills. It was a decent ...read more

The Sleeping Shaman: An Interview With Dave W From Psychedelic Warlords White Hills

Posted on Thursday, December 15th, 2011

Lee Edwards of  The Sleeping Shaman recently conducted an interview with Dave W from Psychedelic Warlords White Hills. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below. LE: You’re currently working on your new album, can you tell us a little bit about this, where it’s being recorded, who’s engineering ...read more

Album of the day: Wino & Conny Ochs – Heavy Kingdom

Posted on Tuesday, December 6th, 2011

Lovingly pinched from The Sleeping Shaman: You have to wonder if  Wino wakes up in the morning confused as to which hat he should be wearing on any given day. The man is a human dynamo, a non-stop workhorse of creativity and performance. From the straight up doom of St ...read more

Album of the day: Noothgrush – S/T (Reissue 2011)

Posted on Tuesday, November 29th, 2011

Lovingly pinched from The Sleeping Shaman: An interesting one, this; independent label Fuck Yoga have gotten their grubby mits on one of Noothgrush’s very first recordings – a self-recorded demo that was only ever released on a handful of cassettes – and are releasing it on limited edition CD and ...read more

Album of the day: Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. – The Ripper At The Heavens Gates Of Dark

Posted on Wednesday, November 9th, 2011

Lovingly pinched from The Sleeping Shaman: There are many uncertainties in life but you can always be sure that Acid Mothers Temple will continue to crank out album after album of claustrophobic, psycho-psychedelia from atop their Japanese mountain retreat, like crazed astronomers sending out distorted signals into the vast expanse ...read more

Album of the day: Dixie Witch – Let It Roll

Posted on Tuesday, November 1st, 2011

Lovingly pinched from The Sleeping Shaman: Twelve years and four albums into their career and five years since the last album, Smoke And Mirrors it’s very much business as usual for Dixie Witch. Even the departure of founding guitarist Clayton Mills in 2009 and subsequent replacement by JT Smith has ...read more

Album of the day: Yob – Live At Roadburn 2010

Posted on Monday, October 17th, 2011

Lovingly pinched from The Sleeping Shaman: “We’re gonna play four songs and that will be one hour” says Yob mainman Mike Scheidt at the beginning of this Roadburn 2010 set, thus letting the audience know exactly what to expect – cosmic, sprawling psychedelic doom of the highest order (no pun ...read more

Album of the day: Noothgrush – Live For Nothing

Posted on Monday, September 26th, 2011

Lovingly pinched from The Sleeping Shaman: San Jose’s lovable sludge slackers Noothgrush are a difficult band to follow – in their seventeen year career they’ve released a handful of demos and split 7 inches, a rarities collection and one album, all of which are pretty hard to get hold of ...read more

Album of the day: Queen Elephantine – Garland Of Skulls

Posted on Tuesday, September 6th, 2011

Lovingly pinched from The Sleeping Shaman: There comes a point when listening to a record becomes more of a religious experience than a musical one. Queen Elephantine’s 10th release is one such experience. Indy Shome and his merry musicians from the NYC have once again crafted a singular flowing piece ...read more