December 18, 2013

Neurot Recordings Confirms Songs Of Townes Van Zandt Vol II For Stateside Issue

Mike Scheidt, Nate Hall, John Baizley, Katie Jones, Stevie Floyd and Dorthia Cottrell Contribute To Tribute Album


Following the 2012-released Songs Of Townes Van Zandt—the tribute album to late folk/country music icon, with covers from Saint Vitus/The Obsessed's Scott "Wino" Weinrich and Neurosis' Steve Von Till and Scott Kelly—this week Neurot Recordings proudly confirms the upcoming second installment of homage to the artist.

Once again through a partnership with their cohorts at Germany's My Proud Mountain Records, who envisioned the pair of tribute albums to Townes Van Zandt and will again handle the release for Europe and all international territories, Neurot will release Songs of Townes Van Zandt Vol II stateside in March of 2014. The second wave of tunes contained on the new volume complimenting this legendary but often overlooked American singer-songwriter will feature nine more TVZ covers, with contributions from a variety of artists who not only front full-time bands but whom also forged their own solo and collaborative works, including Mike Scheidt (YOB, VHÖL), Nate Hall (USX), John Baizley (Baroness), Katie Jones, Stevie Floyd (Dark Castle, Taurus) and Dorthia Cottrell (Windhand).

The cover art and track listing for Songs of Townes Van Zandt Vol II have been unveiled, with an official street date, music from the album and more to be released early in 2014.

Songs of Townes Van Zandt Vol II Track Listing:
1. To Live Is To Fly (Mike Scheidt)
2. Pancho & Lefty (Nate Hall)
3. St. John The Gambler (John Baizley & Katie Jones)
4. Rake (Mike Scheidt)
5. Waitin' Around To Die (Nate Hall & Stevie Floyd)
6. For The Sake Of The Song (John Baizley & Katie Jones)
7. Highway Kind (Mike Scheidt)
8. Our Mother The Mountain (Nate Hall & Dorthia Cottrell)
9. If I Needed You (John Baizley & Katie Jones)

"It happens every now and then. I'll be in a bar, some guy will declare that Townes Van Zandt is his favorite, settle in to a well-rehearsed, perfectly tuned and meticulously finger-picked rendition of .................whatever. I'm gone, I can't take it. I'm not buying anybody's domesticated, presentable, un-slurred, smiley faced and emasculated version of the man. And I ain't selling it either. If I'm going to play one of Mr. Van Zandt's songs, it's going make anyone in earshot a little uncomfortable. It will harsh some mellows, trigger some bad memories, some tears, bring it.....way down. Hell-fire man, play them in that hazy, beautiful, dangerous, wild and unreasonable place that birthed them! Forget you played it and play it twice! Botch the chords, miss some words, fall down off the chair. Man, he's up there, out there, under the bar and in your guitar laughing his guts out! Never forget, we're talking about a man who would walk across the Texas desert with only a bag of records, sniff some glue, steal his best friend's girl, make up a lie that was way better than any truth, and then write a better song in his sleep than any rational person's waking pinnacle. I love Townes for the beautiful, low-down, disaster of a genius that he was. And God help you if you run him down around me. Trust me, it's happened before - I am not afraid to make a scene. And by God, you'll know you just saw something then. I believe that Townes is still very much alive, more alive than you and me. We are living in the shadow world right now, all of us soon to move on. Don't fear it, don't water it down. Listen to these songs and then cuss me for the fool I am, run out and scream at the moon. Have one for the man, then move on down the road and don't look back."
 - Nate Hall, 2013



December 9, 2013

STEVE VON TILL: Seminal Debut Solo Album Makes Maiden Vinyl Appearance

After resurrecting As The Crow Flies — the seminal debut solo outing from Neurosis’STEVE VON TILL, initially released in 2000, and brought back into print on CD in May of this year — Neurot Recordings is proud to also release the first-ever vinyl edition of the album.

What was the first non-Neurosis recording to see release as part of the Neurot family, this year’s reissue of As The Crow Flies has been unveiled precisely thirteen years after its initial release. Bearing a vast contrast to Neurosis’ massive, plodding riffing and percussion, the album instead feels more like a mental excursion into the outer realms of consciousness; an ambient, eclectic, organic and overall honest harvest from the mind of its creator. Bearing slightly updated artwork and packaging like the CD version, VON TILL’s maiden solo release will now see a proper vinyl pressing, available on deluxe 180-gram wax, in a pressing limited to 500 pieces direct through Neurot only. Both versions are available HERE.




The album is streaming in its entirety at Decibel Magazine joined by some insight on the inception and lifespan of the LP’s seven songs by their creator. Listen to all of As The Crow Flies and more RIGHT HERE.


December 6, 2013

STONEBURNER: Portland Sludge Metallers Join The Neurot Recordings Family

The Neurot Recordings family is pleased to welcome the audio devastation that is Portland's STONEBURNER to their expanding roster of forward-thinking music.

Featuring four members with a compelling musical ancestry that winds through Buried At Sea, Buried Blood, Heathen Shrine and more, STONEBURNER -- named after a subterranean weapon from the novel Dune -- spews forth a groin-churning orchestration of crust-strewn, hypnotic, sludge metal, their torrid odes glazed with pain and distress. The band will unleash the follow-up to their 2012 debut full-length, Sickness Will Pass, which The Sludgelord fittingly crowned, "an ugly, visceral and truly terrifying beast of an album," via Neurot Recordings this Spring. Titled Life Drawing, the offering promises to take their sonic crush to entirely new levels of heaviness.

Notes the STONEBURNER collective on their union with Neurot: "We've been working on the material for this album for a long time now and couldn't feel better about how it's come together. We're humbled and honored that Neurot have asked to be involved. Since the band formed, we've always done our best to work with people we respect and know personally, signing to Neurot is an extension of that...another step in combining our personal and musical lives and bringing it all full circle."

STONEBURNER was spawned in early 2008 though the bands' familial roots reach back two decades. To describe STONEBURNER's music one need only look to the list of bands with whom they've shared the stage: Yob, Sleep, Eyehategod, Neurosis, Buzzov-en, Weedeater, Saint Vitus, Watain, Tragedy, Noothgrush, Graves At Sea, Lord Dying, Drop Dead, Whitehorse, Wind Hand, Bastard Noise and so on.

For STONEBURNER, it's all about domination through amplification and soul-cleansing catharsis.

STONEBURNER personnel:
  • Elijah Boland - guitar
  • Jason Depew - guitar
  • Damon Kelly - bass/vocals
  • Jesse McKinnon drums/vocals

Further STONEBURNER intel, including Life Drawing release date and track listing, to be announced in the coming weeks.

December 4, 2013

CORRECTIONS HOUSE: Nihilistic Collective Announces Stateside Takeovers; March Through Europe Underway

Having just begun their march through Europe, today the CORRECTIONS HOUSE legion — Mike IX Williams (Eyehategod), Scott Kelly (Neurosis), Bruce Lamont (Yakuza), Sanford Parker (Minsk) and their minister of propaganda, Seward Fairbury – announce a short run of Stateside takeovers to usher in 2014. Set to commence January 2nd in Seattle, CORRECTIONS HOUSE will pillage their way through Portland, Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco, leaving souls in torment and stages in ruins.

CORRECTIONS HOUSE are currently touring in support of their Last City Zerodebut, issued via Neurot Recordings in late October. Produced by Parker at Electrical Audio, Soma Studios, 60 Psycho Hum and Nodferatu’s Lair, Last City Zero is an audio product of societal ruin and psychological decay. At once beautifully hideous, graceful and terrifying, the record travels far beyond the confines of any one specific genre and continues to reap the applause of exploratory fans and critics globally. In a perfect 10/10 review of the offering, Crave boasts, “CORRECTIONS HOUSE have created something wholly original, incredibly touching, and most likely alienating. Bravo gentlemen, bravo.” In a 9/10 score, Exclaim! agrees, “Featuring dark, depressing atmospheres and exceptionally negative, apocalyptic vibes, Last City Zero is brooding, raw and corrosive, as well as breathtakingly beautiful.” The Sleeping Shaman notes, “The coming together of CORRECTIONS HOUSE seems like one of those moments where the protagonists caught lightning in a bottle, a project designed to explore the diseased, dark underbelly of the American Dream, like the soundtrack to a David Lynch film… It’s not perfect — at times it is ugly and raw — but it is something special and a captivating project delivered with complete conviction by its cast of players,” while About.com adds, “On Last City Zero,CORRECTIONS HOUSE survey the world with a bleak outlook, as much with scorn as sadness. The industrial/mechanical side feels indicative of how the soul is being ripped from the chest of society, whereas the cleaner side represents the need to hold on to our own individuality. The angry screams voice the fight to maintain what is ours and to retake what has been taken, and the spoken voices of reason and honesty instill reflectiveness and a lack of ignorance…”

In related news, CORRECTIONS HOUSE recently premiere a video for the track “Bullets And Graves,” upon unsuspecting masses via MTV Hive. Directed by Brian Sowell, “Bullets And Graves” is a flagrantly violent, roadside nightmare dominated by shady characters, vicious beatdowns and nameless destinations. Shot completely in black and white, the production is as captivating as it is disconcerting. Check out it out below.

CORRECTIONS HOUSE Live Actions 2013/2014:
12/03/2013 Hafenklang – Hamburg, DE
12/04/2013 Loppen – Copenhagen, DK
12/06/2013 Srattbad – Berlin, DE
12/07/2013 DB’s – Utrecht, NL
12/08/2013 VK Club – Brussels, BE
12/09/2013 Patronaat – Haarlem, NL
12/10/2013 La Fleche D’or – Paris, FR
12/11/2013 Le Sonic – Lyon, FR
12/12/2013 Le Romandie – Lausanne, CH
12/13/2013 Dachstock – Bern, CH
12/14/2013 Cycle Club – Calenzano (Florence), IT
12/15/2013 Garage – Saarbrücken, DE
12/16/2013 Feierwerk/ Hansa39 – Munich, DE
12/17/2013 Arena – Vienna, AT
12/18/2013 Klub Pilot – Prague, CZ
12/19/2013 Dürer Kert – Budapest, HU
12/20/2013 Kitsch Off Scena – Krakow, PL
12/21/2013 Pod Palacykiem – Wroclaw, PL
1/02/2014 The Highline – Seattle, WA w/ Wrekmeister Harmonies
1/03/2014 Tonic Lounge – Portland, OR w/ Wrekmeister Harmonies
1/05/2014 Echoplex – Los Angeles, CA w/ Wrekmeister Harmonies, Author & Punisher
1/06/2014 Soda Bar – San Diego, CA w/ Wrekmeister Harmonies, Author & Punisher
1/07/2014 Great American Music Hall – San Francisco, CA w/ Wrekmeister Harmonies, Sutekh, Hexen
4/10/2014 013 Venue – Tilburg, NL
4/11/2014 Het Patronaat – Tilburg, NL





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