photos by Alysse Gafkjen, words by BBG

DOWNLOAD: La Otracina - "Raze The Sky" (MP3)

La Otracina

With the band's new LP Reality Has Got to Die out today (9/21) via Holy Mountain, Brooklyn trio La Otracina (Adam Kriney, Evan Sobel, and Philippe Ortanez) played an album release show on 9/16 at Union Pool with help from Cloudland Canyon, Main Street Gospel, and Mondo Drag.

Says Kriney, "It's our first album to feature our current line-up and also the first to feature the new vocal-based music we have been working on, being that we were an instrumental band to begin with when we started. We're really excited about the musical dynamic throughout the album shifting between classic hard rock, early-metal, and prog, but also including forrays into free-jazz, cosmic synthesizer music, and even free-folk. We think this really represents the high level of musicality of the band and shows our ability to bring all of these seemingly disparate genres together in a seemless ball of connected sonic bliss. As I see it, LA OTRACINA does not play any 'type' of music, we play ALL music, and it just ends up sounding like US, no matter what style or genre we receive influence from. Lyrically, we're very excited that we can present themes to enhance the already sky-bound music to further destinations of mythological and fantastical worlds, creating poetry based on our own real experiences and our response to the insane world around us and our lives as artists struggling through it. So on many levels this album is a major work of catharsis for us and we are proud to share it with the listener in hopes that it will propel them into the future or past or whenever/wherever they'd like to be. Its a sweet ride mama, hold on."

If you missed them due to being ravaged by The Body at Acheron or by the hurricane, never fear, the Brooklyn band is scheduled to play Cake Shop on 9/26 (SUNDAY) and (so far) 10/8 at a TBD Brooklyn venue with Dead Stars. Full tour itinerary, along with more pictures from Union Pool, below....

Continue reading "La Otracina played Union Pool (pics), touring (dates) "

by BBG

DOWNLOAD: La Otracina - "Raze The Sky" (MP3)

Incorporating elements of hard rock, punk, and metal, La Otracina still know how to lock into a heavy-psychedelic groove, and they do it well. The retro-leaning band will show off some of those XL riffs on a new LP Reality Has Got to Die out now digitally via Holy Mountain Records. Hard formats are due in September. Spacey but not meandering, gently melodic but with cojones, La Otracina pummel on burly tracks like "Raze The Sky" available for download above.

La Otracina's genetic make up is similarly awesome, featuring members of Titan, Children, and the dearly-departed Nebula (who played the BV day-party at Fontana's last year). The trio will show off their chops at a number of NYC shows in the coming weeks including Coco 66 Wednesday (7/28) with Telecult Powers & La Big Vic, August 27th at Union Pool with a killer teaming of Bezoar, Naam, and Wizardry, and September 16th at Union Pool with Mondo Drag and The Main Street Gospel. Full tour sked and some videos are below...

Continue reading "new La Otracina LP (MP3) & upcoming shows (dates) "

words & photos by BBG

Matt Pike of High on Fire @ the Mohawk

Want to make my life simple? Put two killer showcases in the same venue. Well, unfortunately it wasn't three showcases in the same venue (Relapse was going on over at Red 7 - pics coming soon). Following the big bang of the BrooklynVegan day party at Emo's, I hightailed it over to the Mohawk on 3/17 (right next door to our quieter official BrooklynVegan showcase going on at Club DeVille...) (editor's note: ...that was often drowned out by the metal sounds blaring over the wall while bands like the The Middle East were playing soft sets...) for a double bill of mayhem with the Action PR Showcase on the outdoor stage and the Prosthetic Records showcase on the indoor. The night at the Mohawk show was marked by competing headlining sets: the great Landmine Marathon (who played the BV day party that day) and none other than High On Fire (one of their only appearances at the fest).

Also along for the ride were such notable greats as The Gates of Slumber, Withered (who also played Emo's), Zoroaster, Naam, Priestess, The Funeral Pyre, and many others. Not a single bad apple in the bunch. Of those, I had never seen The Funeral Pyre or Clinging To The Trees of A Forest Fire - both were impressive. TFP did blackened death with such intensity, it was hard to not be compelled to head nod. Clinging did abstract and atonal grindcore in the best way.

Although I missed Landmine Marathon (who would probably be in the running), best performance of the night goes to High On Fire who blazed through new material and old including the epic "Baghdad" (!) from their debut The Art of Self Defense. As their set progressed, it seemed that the band got looser on their instruments, and as a result, much tighter and more cohesive.

In related news, High On Fire recently dropped the new video for "Frost Hammer". View it, as well as other vids and some pics from the epic show, below...

Continue reading "new High on Fire video, pics from the Action PR & Prosthetic Records SXSW showcases, more "