Jesse Sykes @ Brooklyn Masonic Temple (more by Greg Cristman)

Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter will hit the road for a co-headline tour with The Sadies that will include a stop at Bowery Ballroom on November 15th. Tickets are on sale. All dates are listed below.

The co-headline dates in celebration of Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter's new LP Marble Son released on August 2nd. The LP features the axe-work of one Phil Wandscher, he of Whiskeytown fame. Stream portions of the LP (and their discography) at their website, and catch them on the road at the deates listed below.

Continue reading "Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter touring w/ The Sadies (dates)"

by BBG

Yob at Scion Rock Fest (more by BBG)

Amongst the zillions of bands playing billions of showcases, every year presents certain must-go events at SXSW. Thursday Mar 17th at Barbarella Patio will feature an incredible line-up of bands as part of the Nanotear Showcase, co-headlined by the one-and-only Yob with Agalloch, and featuring appearances from Witch Mountain, Worm Ouroboros, Amber Asylum, Arabrot, and Wizard Rifle. The show will be Yob and Agalloch's lone appearance at SXSW, and the first date of a East Coast tour for Agalloch/Worm Ouroboros that will eventually land them at NYC's Le Poisson Rouge on March 22nd. Tickets are still available.

Yob recently cancelled their appearance at Roadburn, as well as their entire European tour. While that comes as sad news, the festival has added Keiji Haino, Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter, and a performance of Eve by Ufomammut in its entirety to counteract that. Full Roadburn lineup is below.

Arabrot will hit the road with Wizard Rifle, playing dates along the East Coast. More on those dates very soon, but for now check out some video, the Roadburn lineup and all Agalloch dates below...

Continue reading "Yob playing Nanotear showcase @ SXSW w/ Agalloch, but not Roadburn (updated dates & lineups)"

photos by Greg Cristman,

Two nights after they closed out ATP NY, Altar, aka sunn o))), Boris, Jesse Sykes, Joe Preston, and others, headlined Brooklyn Masonic Temple (smack dab in the middle of two Sleep shows). The Altar show featured opening sets by BXI (aka Boris + Ian Astbury of The Cult) and the enchanting Jesse Sykes and The Sweet Hereafter. Power failures caused the headliner's show to halt ten minutes in, and the way the show ended is up for some debate, but those issues aside, anyone who was there until the end doesn't seem to be complaining...

"The experience alone of seeing these two amazing bands perform this album in its entirety was the best live performance I've ever had both physically and mentally.
While exiting the show, my comrades and I remained in silence only to make the occasional comment of "holy shit that was amazing", or "my body is still vibrating."
Now that I have been to several 'big time' events about the city which include some of my favored bands, this still remains to be the best thing to have happened in New York since I've been here, and possibly the year.

My praise to you, oh, Elder Gods. My our sacrifices be plentiful.

Blood for the blood God." [Vitamin C4]

More pictures from the show are below...

Continue reading "Altar (sunn o))) & Boris), Jesse Sykes & BXI rattled Brooklyn Masonic Temple (pics)"

by BBG

"Sunn O))) broke the Brooklyn Masonic Temple". -juddgreenstein

"power problem sideswipes #sunn #Boris #altar show. Band breaks character, lifts hoods and asks audience 10 mins to straighten out" -Robert Chow

"Power outage@ Brooklyn masonic temple: praying to the doom metal gods: let sunn o))) & Boris finish" -thejass

"Sunn 0))) blew the power to the Masonic temple. Everyone's running around trying to fix it. Having punk rock show flashbacks". -americab

"All the mobile device tweet power in here should be
routed into the amps #altar" -Toby Driver

The massive sunn O)))/Boris rig at ATP NY 2 nights earlier (more here)

After sets from Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter and BXI, two songs into last night's (9/7) sunn O)))/Boris set at Brooklyn Masonic Temple, the power blew. With the heat sweltering inside the venue and the Brooklyn Masonic staff scrambling to fix the issue, a number of people from the audience decided to hit the road. The venue later fixed the issue, and sunn O)))/Boris played in complete darkness to conserve power. Reportedly the police then showed due to noise complaints, but according to one attendant, "Saw the cops, but can you shut down a show that's already over? Or did someone give Sunn and co. the signal to stop? Either way I don't think anyone noticed. Shit was excellent." Stay tuned for more info.

UPDATE: The noise did get the police there, but they didn't shut it down.

Hopefully the power won't buckle tonight at Sleep at BMT (all went well Monday night) (and by the way, tickets will be released at the door) or at the sunn O)))-curated Roadburn 2011 with the newly added Pentagram and Swans. Swans will also play Masonic Temple on October 8th, tickets are still on sale. Their Bowery Show the next night is sold out.

BXI sat down with someone for a video interview 2 days ago (right after ATP). In it, the interviewer says that people called the last sunn O))) show at Masonic Temple, "the loudest they ever heard". You can watch that below...

Continue reading "electrical problems & then police show up @ sunn O)))/Boris"

words and photos by BBG, more photos by Samantha Marble

"Altar is a collaboration album between Japanese doom band Boris and American drone doom duo Sunn O))), released on October 31, 2006 through Southern Lord Records. A limited two-CD edition was released on October 23rd via Southern Lord with a 28 minute bonus track with Sunn O))), Boris, and Dylan Carlson, titled "Her Lips Were Wet with Venom". Inoxia Records released their own two-CD version in 2006 which features a bonus track on the first disc, "The Sinking Belle (Black Sheep)," and also features "Her Lips Were Wet with Venom" on disc 2. The triple-vinyl edition by Southern Lord contains all of the songs from their two-CD edition, additional pictures, and liner notes by Kim Thayil. The Daymare 3LP version was released March 23, 2007 and features a bonus track not found on any other version of this release: "The Sinking Belle (White Sheep)."

In addition to major players Sunn O))) and Boris, Altar also boasts an extensive roster of guest musicians/collaborators such as Kim Thayil (Soundgarden), Joe Preston (Earth, Thrones, Melvins, High on Fire), Phil Wandscher and Jesse Sykes (both of Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter) as well as long time Sunn O))) collaborators TOS Niewenhuizen and Rex Ritter." [Wikipedia]

Going into the Altar set Sunday night, I was admittedly not that excited; of all of the tracks on the LP, only the ethereal and melancholic "The Sinking Belle" featuring Jesse Sykes had left a truly indelible mark on me. Punishing and powerful, sunn o))) and Boris were joined by Sykes, Joe Preston and others, who added Moog, trombone, upright bass, and much more to the jet engine roar. Their set at Kutsher's, much like Sonic Youth the night before, was the single greatest show that I have ever seen sunn o))) or Boris be a part of.

And they do it again, in Brooklyn, TONIGHT (9/7). More pictures from the ATP show, below...

Continue reading "sunn o))) & Boris performed Altar @ ATP (pics), in NYC tonight"

DOWNLOAD: Deer Tick - "Piece By Piece, Frame By Frame" (MP3)

Jason Isbell at Bowery Ballroom (more by Fresh Bread)

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, will team up with Langhorne Slim, Jesse Sykes and Phil Wandscher, and Mimicking Birds for a Paste-sponsored tour in middle November. Tickets are on sale now for the NYC show happening at Highline Ballroom on Wednesday, October 20th (the 2nd day of CMJ 2010).

All four bands also have tour dates outside of that fatal-four-way. Langhorne Slim has solo dates leading up to and after the tour. Jesse Sykes & Phil Wandscher will play with sunn/boris at ATP and Brooklyn Masonic Temple. Mimicking Birds has dates with Cloud Cult & The Tallest Man on Earth.

And Jason Isbell & 400 Unit have dates that intersect with a newly announced Deer Tick US tour that does not hit NYC sadly (it does end in Philly though, so something is sure to be announced) (and Deer Tick just headlined Webster Hall earlier this month).

Deer Tick's LP The Black Dirt Sessions is out now and features "Piece By Piece, Frame By Frame" available above. As previously mentioned, Mountain Man joined Deer Tick on stage at some of their recent gigs. Now there's video proof. That video with all dates for all bands mentioned, below...

Continue reading "Jason Isbell touring w/ Langhorne Slim & Mimicking Birds & Jesse Sykes ++ Deer Tick announced more dates too "

by BBG

BXI

ATP NY have a plethora of exclusives upstate in early September, and now they're bringing one to NYC. On September 7th, The Blackened Music Series and ATP will combine forces for a show at Brooklyn Masonic Temple where sunn o))) & Boris will perform Altar in its entirety (a NYC first) and BXI will make their US debut! The melancholic and heart-wrenching Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter will sweeten the deal/provide awesome contrast for the rage. Tickets are on sale.

The show is one day before Sleep smokes out the same venue with Lichens and the newly added A Storm of Light (tickets still on sale for that too)...

As previously discussed, BXI is the collaboration of Boris and Ian Astbury (The Cult) who will release their debut EP in September via Southern Lord. The four song EP will feature three new tracks, as well as a cover of The Cult's "Rain". Dig on the EP cover, as well as a video of BXI in action (performing The Door's "The End") in Sydney Australia below.

Reminder, Boris plays MHOW on August 6 with Torche and Russian Circles (the day after UNSANE/Keelhaul at Santos!). Tickets are on sale.

The Altar flyer, a BXI video and cover art, below...

Continue reading "Boris will perform 'Altar' w/ sunn o))) & w/ Ian Astbury as BXI (all at the same NYC show!)"

photos by Zach Dilgard

DOWNLOAD: Black Mountain - Tyrants (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Black Mountain - Druganaut (MP3)

Psychedelic-Canadian-stoner-rock band Black Mountain and Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter came through NYC on Tuesday (Bowery Ballroom) and Wednesday (Music Hall of Williamsburg). Zach was at the first show. More pictures from that below...

Continue reading "Black Mountain - Bowery Ballroom pics & Glasslands video "

by Black Bubblegum

DOWNLOAD: Earth - The Driver (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Earth - Ouroboros Is Broken (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter - LLL (MP3)

Dylan Carlson, of Earth (ricky-oh)

Like a lone gunslinger riding off into the sunset, Dylan Carlson & Earth will bring the cowboy-soundtracky The Bees Made Honey In The Lions Skull across the badlands of the midwest and east coast. One of those stops, the Knitting Factory on May 6th (on sale now), will feature the dark chanteuse Jesse Sykes with her hand The Sweet Hereafter (mem of Whiskeytown).

How did these two seemingly dissimilar artists end up on the same bill? Southern Lord casts light where there is darkness:

Some of the alumni that gathered for this album [Jesse Sykes's Like, Love, Lust and the Open Halls of the Soul] such as Bill Herzog, Steve Moore, Eyvind Kang, and Randall Dunn have strong ties to sunn 0))), Earth and Southern Lord, so although it may seem a strange release amongst our catalog, it really makes perfect sense!

Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter are streaming a new song at their myspace and have a few tour dates of their own including a European tour with Marissa Nadler, and scattered dates with Black Mountain, The Weakerthans & Castanets. Head out and pic up a tour only EP while you're out.

Southern Lord recently sold out of the 180-gram 2LP of Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hearafter's latest Like Love, Lust And The Open Halls of The Soul, but a second pressing is on it's way. All dates below...

Continue reading "Earth, Jesse Sykes, Marissa Nadler - 2008 Tour Dates, MP3s"