Rocket Probes February Playlist

Gnod – Infinity Machines
(A stunning piece of work by Gnod...three LPs of gnew sounds from the incredibly eclectic group of musicians...their masterpiece?)

Teeth of the Sea / Oneida – Split 7"
(God Unknown records come up trumps once again)
Teeth of the Sea / Oneida

Various – Nuda per Satana
(Interesting compliation of music by bands from the current Italian psych scene! Rocketeers Mamuthones and Lay Llaymas rub shoulders with Father Murphy, Cannibal Movie, Heroin in Thaiti and many others)
Nuda per Satana

Anthroprophh – UFO
(Nice to have this great Zam Zam cassette release finaly on vinyl...from the good 'ol Cardinal Fuzz)
Anthroprophh

Hi Fiction Science – Curious Yellow

(Wonderful title track from album of the same title, haunting, psych folk electronica)
Hi Fiction Science

Negra Branca – N​.​B + Touched
(Electronic psych-pop from Gnod's Marlene Ribeiro)
Negra Branca

Dennis Young – Reel to Reel
(Kosmiche krautrock to African percussion, downtown disco, dub and avant-garde tape manipulation, hints of Tago Mago)
Dennis Young

Dawn of Midi – Dysnomia
(This is great, a slightly more krauty/dancy Necks…..from Brooklyn)
Dawn of Midi

Fire – If I took your hand
(Kalle from Hills was raving about this track by this great three piece that features the mighty Mats Gustafsson)
Fire

Dragon Fly – AM
(Lovely, sometimes drifting psych noise...in a Annapurna Illusion, Gnod, WHOK 'kinda' way.)
Dragon Fly

Cage and Aviary – Television Train
(Forgot how great this classic 'slouching cosmic disco' track from C&A was)
Cage and Aviary

Gut Und Irmler – 500m
(Members of Faust & Einstürzende Neubauten explore Krautrock inspired beats)
Gut Und Irmler

Julie's Haircut – Asbram Equinox
(More on the mid-Floyd side of psych with minimalist, electronic and some jazz nuances)
Julie's Haircut

Ty Segall – Manipulator
(Pop inspired album with good instrument separation)
Ty Segall

---

London in Stereo reviews Shit & Shine's '54-Synth-Brass 38 Metal Guitar 65 Cathedral' Album

Shit & Shines stunning new album is only two weeks away from release and here is an early review from the latest issue of London Live "Shit & Shine's BEST ALBUM":

---

The Skinny and Backseat Mafia say a few words on Gnod's new track – Infinity Machines

As reported earlier in the week, The Wire are streaming the title track off Gnods new album 'Infinity Machines'

Here are a first few reactions:

"Meanwhile Islington Mill's ever chameleonic experimental dwellers Gnod have served notice of their impending LP — unbelievably, given how busy they've been live and with their label Tesla Tapes, their first since the re-packaged Chaudelande Volumes II and II in 2013 — by streaming the title track from Infinity Machines over at The Wire. Long dismissive of the psych tag many bracketed them with following their collaborative release Drop Out, with White Hills, Infinity Machines is set to kill that pigeonhole stone dead with its meditative mix of industrial stomp, spoken word and textural drones...."

Taken from The Skinny

-

"It’s always a moment of excitement when you hear that there is something new from an act you like coming out. When it’s GNOD, the collective based around Islington Mill in Manchester, you know that it is going to be something interesting and you know, in the end that you are going to like it. This is because the only thing predicable about a GNOD release is its unpredictability. It could be heavy and relentless, it could be mediative and considered. But whatever it is it is going to get into your brain.

As I found out at last year’s Liverpool International Festival of Psychedelia, GNOD are not just a group who sit in an art space twiddling a few buttons; but a properly exciting and committed live proposition as well. They were one of the highlights of an event that was consistently high quality, and not one out partied them on stage.

So what’s the new one like?…"

Read the rest here: Backseat mafia

---

New Quietus Radio Show plays Hey Colossus

The good people at The Quietus​ have a new radio show and on their first show they feature a Hey Colossus​ track amongst other great tracks.

'An hour of new music with Luke and John. The pitfalls of arachnophobia while cycling. Why Game Of Thrones is the enemy of meditation. Luke's sandwich wrapper campaign. Have your nihilism banished for the weekend.'

Listen to the show here: the Quietus

---

Goat to play their 1st show in Greece

Goat​ have announced that they are to play their first Greek show.

The gig will be on the 17th October at Athens Gagarin 205

For tickets and further information: Tickets

---

Rough Trade / The Guardian released exclusive Hey Colossus track

Rough Trade with The Guardian have released an exclusive Hey Colossus​ track called 'Another Head'. The track appears as part of Rough Trade's weekly subscription sign up of the most exciting new music around.

This is what Rough Trade's website had to say about the band.

'London's riff heavyweights, Hey Colossus, have kindly offered us an exclusive and unreleased track from the 'In Black and Gold' recording sessions; their latest, and surely their finest record to date.'

Rough Trade

---

New Goat shirts are back from the printers

After lots of emails from Goat fans wanting Goat t-shirts we decided to do a short run (only 30 of each) of three popular designs and they are now back from the printers.

Goatman
The very popular sleeve of the first highly sought after Goat single get one LAST print.
(Red and white printed on a dark grey marl shirt)

Stonegoat
Luke Insect's stunning design for the Stonegoat single gets one LAST outing, thought this is a unique and not seen before colour way.
(Red and black on grey marl)

Commune logo
These sold out so fast on the Goat Euro tour.
(Gold print on Black shirt)

All these shirts can be bought from here: Rocket Bandcamp

BUT as said, this is the last time we are printing some of these designs, so be quick!

---

Hey Colossus to play Eindhoven Psych Lab

Hey Colossus are joining Teeth of the Sea at the great Eindhoven Psych Lab.

As said before, last years festival when Rocket curated a stage was amazing, so do yourself a favour and get a ticket!!

More info here: Eindhoven Psych Lab

---

Hey Colossus posters for Shipley show

The great people from The Print Project have once again come up trumps with a great poster for the forthcoming Hey Colossus show.

You can buy them at the show, plus from their website: The Print Project

---

Listen to title track from Gnod's new album 'Infinity Machines' LP over at the Wire Magazine

The Wire magazine are exclusively streaming the 17minute track 'Infinity Machines', taken from the new Gnod triple album of the same name.

Listen to the track here: Wire Magazine

We announced the album yesterday where we revealed a stunning trailer put together by our very own Johnny O, watch this feast for your eyes and ears here: Album trailer

'Infinity Machines' is released by Rocket Recordings on 20 April.

---

The Monitors reviews Hey Colossus 'In Black and Gold' album Launch Party

It reads:

After their show at last year’s Raw Power and the release of In Black And Gold, this feels like an exciting time to see them. Hey Colossus take the stage and don’t fuck about. Launching into songs from In Black And Gold without fuss and minimal time wasting, they create music that is at times brutal, and now with an addition of elegiac melancholy. There’s an incredible feeling of control from Hey Colossus at the moment, sombre violence as opposed to straight up bludgeoning.

That’s not to say there aren’t any moments of crushing noise fuckery as new songs ‘Hey, Dead Eyes’, ‘Up!’ and ‘Eat It’ mingle with Cuckoo favourite ‘Oktaver Dokkter’, braining the shit out of the crowd and rocking The Lexington like a giant baby slug on a seesaw. Singer Paul Sykes warns, “You can’t wake up / Turn on the lights again / Fallen asleep and won’t wake up” on the single ‘Sisters And Brothers’.

I have to take my glasses off at one point (I’m well rock ‘n’ roll me) to fully appreciate the riffing aceness of ‘Hot Grave’, guitarist Tim Farthing taking over vocal duty and screaming like a demented madman: “I got a hot grave, I dug it myself!” It’s just plain and simply fucking brilliant.

The album’s centrepiece ‘Black And Gold’ nearly brings the roof down with its spaghetti western doom sadness. It feels epic, as Sykes laments over sad guitar strums like an undead gunslinger while the song builds and builds with stomping bass and drums causing peaks and troughs, taking the song to a triumphant and euphoric end and rendering the crowd steaming mush.

During the set all six members gel together to create musical alchemy out of heavy, solid rock. Each musical element is distinctive and clear, locking together like the machinations of clockwork. Three guitars, bass, drums and voice. Each member pulls the sound towards some great sonic groove. You can hear exactly what each person is doing at all times. All of the parts click together and turn into something more. Hey Colossus have become gold.

What a night.

In reverse of Hey Colossus’ transformative music, by the end of their set I’m so blissfully rocked out that I’ve gone from, well not gold, but some sort of solid to shit. Anti-alchemy at it best. Now where did they put that elixir?

Read the full review here: The Moniotors

---

Introducing 'Infinity Machines' – the new triple LP by GNOD

Gnod announce triple album 'Infinity Machines' set for release on 20th April 2015 on Rocket Recordings

Watch/share the album teaser video above

The press release reads:

Slaves to no-one but their own psychic co-ordinates, GNOD continue their fearless voyages down pathways unknown. Operating from their base camp and spiritual home, the legendary Islington Mill - a venue, art-space and liminal zone in Salford: A space that has allowed the band the freedom to stubbornly pursue their own free-flowing aesthetic in a judgement free environment. ‘Infinity Machines’, their fifth release for Rocket Recordings, and the latest for this prolific outfit in a vibrant and diverse history, is no less than a pinnacle of achievement for a band who exist beyond all or any reductive genre pigeonholes, not to mention beyond the constraints of the everyday. A triple-album, it explores a unique vision informed by experimental élan and metaphysical intensity. 

"At the time of recording the album in the venue of the mill, there was a crazy energy kicking around the place. The concept of the album is not solely focused on the Mill , its wider in scope as a look at ourselves as people and people as "Infinity Machines". Your brain is the machine of infinite possibilities"

‘Infinity Machines’ traverses between and beyond a variety of different headspaces from the bleak to the beatific – yet whilst touching on nocturnal jazz, soothing yet unsettling ambience, menacing aggro-industrial battery and opiated bliss-out alike, it’s shot through with an undercurrent of fiery countercultural zeal and small-hours revelation, as if the hive-mind of their home collective had manifested itself on six sides of wax.

Now more than ever, In Gnod We Trust.

Tracklist:

1. Control Systems
2. Collateral Damage
3. Desire
4. Importance Of Downtime
5. White Privileged Wank
6. Spinal Fluid
7. Breaking The Hex
8. Infinity Machines

The album is released in all good shops on 3LP / 2CD / DL on 20th April 2015. 
LP pressing is ltd to 1000 copies for the world.

---

Hey Colossus to play Liverpool International Festival of Psychedelia

Liverpool Psych Fest 2015 #1 from Liverpool Psych Fest on Vimeo.

We are excited to say that Hey Colossus are joining Evil Blizzard, Fumaca Preta, Vision Fortune and many others at this years Liverpool Psych Fest.

As you all know, Rocket helped curated last year and it was one of the highlights of our 17 years as a label. And we can't wait to go again this year!!

More info and tickets here: Liverpool Psych fest

---

Teeth of the Sea offshoot Hirvikolari reveal first track

Hirvikolari a new project by Teeth of the Sea's Mike Bourne and Sam Barton have revealed their first track - a 19 minute piece simply called H01.

The duo are appearing live at this years Raw Power festival, tickets for that which also features fellow Rocketeers Hey Colossus can be bought here: Raw Power Festival

---

"25 Great Psychedelic Movies That Are Worth Your Time"

We found this great piece on some great Psych films, worth a read:

"Psychedelia in film is characterized by distortion (both in image and in sound), experimentation in narrative and editing, and sometimes drug-inspired hallucinations. Like the psychoactive drugs which produce heightened sensory perceptions and distortion, psychedelic films present to their audience an unfamiliar and/or dream-like view of reality.

The following films use cinematography, narration, editing, sound design, and music to create worlds of distortion. Whether the film is depicting drug-induced madness or creating an atomsphere of existential confusion, these films somehow experiment with the audience’s sensory perceptions in order to uproot the viewer from reality. These films welcome (or in some cases, force) the audience to interact with a plethora of psychedelic imagery, sounds, and/or narration..."

Read the full rundown here: Taste of Cinema

Gif is by Bees & Bombs

---

Anthroprophh head for 'space' at Roadburn

Anthroprophh have announced they will be playing a specially selected 'spacey' set, including never performed before tracks from new LP U.F.O. (unreleased jams from the 'Outside the Circle' album sessions) on Thursday, April 9, in the Green Room.

Spacecosmicfuzzprotopunkelectronicpsychrock.

Find out more here: Anthroprophh 

---

Hey Colossus live in Edinburgh

HEY COLOSSUS – SINKING FEELING
Bannerman's, Edinburgh, February 2015

---

Gnod to play Raw Power

The great Baba Yaga's Hut have announced more bands for this years Raw Power Festival, and amongst the new names we are excited to say are the mighty Gnod!!!

They are joining fellow Rocketeers Hey Colossus and Teeth of the Sea offshoot Hirvikolari, as well as other must see acts like Fumaca Preta, Circle, Pharaoh Overlord, Esben and the Witch, Guapo, Cosmic Dead etc etc

Tickets and more info from here: Baba Yaga's Hut

---

GOAT to play 'SOUNDS OF SURRENDER' a rare Bristol show in April

Goat have been announced to be playing a rare UK show in Bristol on 4th April as part of a multi city Red Bull Academy festival.

The Festival's press release reads:

Red Bull Music Academy invites the curious, the bold and the brave to explore the frontiers of music and identity for this sonic soiree with the Swedish alt-folk innovators.

Famed for their immersive live extravaganzas and free-form approach to music-making, Goat's focus for this very special night is on the full meaning of collective experience: ridding oneself of the ego and diving headfirst into the combined energy of 'the crowd'. In order to achieve this, the playing field must be levelled, which means saying goodbye to anything associated with social hierarchy, image, everything. Phones, cameras, money, all will be jettisoned before entering the dance, at which point everyone will mask up and shed their individual identities to become part of the whole. In this state, with Goat's rhythmic, pulsating melodies filling the floor, everyone will be free to lose their inhibitions and surrender to the music.

Goat shows in the UK are going to be very few tis year, so don't miss the chance to see one of the best live bands on the planet right now at what we have been told is going to be a very special and unique performance not seen at any other Goat show.

Tickets can be found here: Red Bull Academy

---

Hey Colossus to play Milhões de Festa

Hey Colossus have been announced to play the great Milhões de Festa in Portugal.
They are joining Cosmic Dead, Gum Takes Tooth, Bug and many others.

Teeth of the Sea played last year and said it was the best festival they have ever been too!!

See what The Quietus says about it here: The Quietus

All details about the festival including tickets etc can be found here: Facebook

---

Line of the Best Fit reviews Hey Colossus – In Black and Gold

Hey Colossus - In Black and Gold

Puzzled? After the first four minutes of In Black and Gold you might be. Was there a cock up at the record pressing plant? Isn’t this a Vangelis tune from the Blade Runner soundtrack? As it unfolds and the dreamy vocals kick in you’d be tempted to think it’s a long-lost Spiritualized song. But as the song’s title mischievously suggests: “Hold On”. It’s good advice, because aural relief is on the way in “Sisters and Brothers” – a tune that slowly throbs its way into existence with frontman and chief instigator Paul Sykes waiting in the darkened wings for the chance to pop out and snarl: “You can’t wake up! Turn on the lights again!”

As head fakes go, it’s an effective one. But for the high octane British sextet this curveball is hardly the exception on their eighth album – it’s the new rule. Yet things quickly get back to firmer and freakier footing with “Hey, Dead Eyes, Up!” as the ugly guitar licks and Rhys Llewellyn’s percussive juggernaut is whipped into a devilish frenzy as the irascible Sykes implores: “Lie / Cheat / Steal / Do what you feel / Feel / Good / Do it again,” with a worryingly large grin on his face. It may only be three short minutes, but its colossal grind and ugly final freak out are the first clues that this is the same band which created the hookah-hitting triumph of an album Cuckoo Live Life Like Cuckoo just one year ago.

Read the full 9/10 review here: Line of the best fit

---

Gnod's Dropout with White Hills II repress out in the shops today

As reported a couple of weeks back, due to a lot of hassling from Gnod fans, we have done one final repress of Gnod – Dropout with White Hills II 2LP.

There are 500 copies on white vinyl in the pink and black sleeve. And they are available in all good record shops today. 

You can also buy direct from us here: Rocket Bandcamp

Once these are gone, they are gone!!

---

Listen: Tom Furse visits 'The Planets'

Friend of Rocket Tom Furse from The Horrors has created a piece of music influenced by Holst's The Planets

This is what Tom says about the piece:

A while back I was asked by The Holst Birthplace Museum to make some music based on Holst's The Planets to celebrate the centenary of the work. Three fun afternoons with a modular synth gave birth to my own Planets, told from the point of view of a satellite.

As the likelihood of any sensible record label releasing such a work is rather low, I thought I might as well put it out myself for fun and hopefully to raise a bit of money for the museum as well, which runs music programs for kids amongst other things.

The track is available for download here 

So do yourselves a favour and download it...

---

Anthroprophh presents OTC compilation

Here is a fantastic mixed compilation put together by Paul Allen from Anthroprophh for The Quietus.

Tracklist:

01. anthroprophhsaydiscgeelbells
02. stella-l'idoles des jaunes
03. naafi sandwich-slice two
04. sam sklair-electroscope
05. graham bond- you gotta have love babe
06. catherine riberio + 2 bis- theme
07. germain hubert ales- chocolate cains
08. Maki Asakawa- Tobenai Carashu
09. Spacebox- Zonk Machine
10. Ramses and Selket- Love You
11. L'Origine
12. Dead Heat - Damnée Petite Sophie
13. Permutative Distorsion - Science-Fiction-Welt
14. A day for Atonement- Michael Garrick with Jeremy Robson
15. Tibet
16. Association P.C - Neuteboon
17. Alton Ellis- Black Mans Pride
18. Lee Hazlewood- Wait and See


Enjoy...

--

Shit and Shine go JAZZ on 'Chakin'

Shit and Shine's Jazz Tuesday Jazz Chat was the highlight of teh week for the time it ran. The band doing live improv jazz/kraut grove outs direct to YouTube. Well the Jazz label Monofonus Press has compiled these great jams onto a cassette and it is available now. The press release reads:

SHIT & SHINE CHAKIN'

Shit & Shine on a jazz label? Yes indeed. This is THE Shit & Shine with a brand new tape “Chakin” on Astral Spirits. We couldn’t be more excited about it. Craig Clouse has gained notoriety over the years for wide arrays of stylistic moves from long­form repetition & noise rock to his more recent dance/disco output on labels like Diagonal, Gangsigns, Rocket Recordings, Load, Rock is Hell, Riot Season and more. He’s worked throughout the years with many different collaborators but the list on “Chakin’” is stunning, here Clouse is joined by Ingebrigt Haker­Flaten (The Thing, Atomic, Icepick, etc), Pete Simonelli (The Enablers), King Coffey (Butthole Surfers) & Nate Cross (Marriage).

The music on “Chakin’” is true to the spirit of Shit & Shine as we see repetitive loops but with a focus on improvisation overlayed onto the grooves…layers of Wurlizter and Rhodes electric pianos, assorted percussion, acoustic bass and more permeate throughout. Half the album was recorded live in the “Chak” and some may even recognize bits from the amazing Shit & Shine Tuesday Jazz Chat series on YouTube.

“Denim Do’s and Don’ts” is the real masterpiece here though. A 17 minute free jazz meets krautrock and all zones in between journey complete with narration from Pete Simonelli & bass playing from Ingebrigt Haker­Flaten. A truly epic Shit & Shine track that builds off past accomplishments but also looks toward the future, as Clouse always tends to do.

“Chakin” is out February 10, 2015 in an edition of 250 tapes w/digital download.

Buy from here: Monofonus Press

And don't forget, Rocket are releasing a new Shit and Shine album '54-Synth-Brass 38 Metal Guitar 65 Cathedral' on 16th March, listen to the track Electric Pony 2 here:

---

NME and The FT review Hey Colossus – In Black and Gold

Hey Colossus - In Black and Gold
Hey Colossus are a band with punk ethics that make alternative, heavy rock oblivious to stylistic fashions in music, and with great consistency. ‘In Black & Gold’ is the London-based six-piece’s eighth album in a superb 11-year run and fittingly - as their first for Rocket Recordings, home of Goat – it finds them hitting a stripped-back psychedelic groove. Opener ‘Hold On’ is loose, hazy, and full of foreboding and single ‘Hey, Dead Eyes, Up!’ finds them in more typical Melvins-like sludge territory. On ‘Lagos Atom’ they experiment with dub within a post-rock setting and they end with ‘Sinking, Feeling’, a slab of heavy, half-time doom. A more diverse and calculated album than a usual Hey Colossus offering, and all the better for it.
Read more at http://www.nme.com/reviews/various-artists/15926#m1cZUqijDy72vm8E.99

See the review here: NME
–

Hey Colossus – In Back and Gold
A mix of psychedelic rock, New Age, and a bit of grunge accompanied by ambient sounds and blissful vocals

Hey Colossus open In Black and Gold gazing up at the stars, ambient sounds shimmering, blissful vocals floating off into the cosmos. But the New Age reverie buckles, drowned out by the droning riffs, drums and malevolent vocals of “Sisters and Brothers”, a vision of The Doors’ “The End” transplanted to some grungy corner of south London. So starts a commendable descent into the murkier corners of psychedelic rock, which reaches a negative peak with “Lagos Atom”, an immense 10-minute drone-rock mantra with chthonic feedback and eerie chanting.

See the review here: The FT

---

God Unknown presents Teeth of the Sea / Oneida split 7"

The great God Unknown records follow their Gnod/Eternal Tapestry and Anthroprophh/AMT with another great release, this time by Teeth of the Sea and Oneida!!!

More info about how to get a copy of this can be found here: God Unknown

---

Mamuthones to support Goat on their Italian tour

It is with great excitement that we announce that Mamuthones will be supporting Goat on three of their dates of their Italian tour.

The full dates of the Goat tour:

6 May - Roma @ Orion Club 
7 May - Milano @ Magnolia Club ***with Mamuthones***
8 May - Ravenna @ Bronson Club ***with Mamuthones***
9 May - Brescia @ Latteria Molloy ***with Mamuthones***

So, now even more of a reason to buy your tickets!!!!

More info, visit: Mamuthones or Goat Facebook pages

We just released the great Collisions 04 which is a split LP between Mamuthones and the great Evil Blizzard. You should be able to pick these up from your local record store, but they are shifting fast and there aren't many left!!

---

Skate magazine Caught in a Crossfire reviews Hey Colossus In Black and Gold

Hey Colossus
‘In Black and Gold’

Over the last 11 years, Hey Colossus have become something of an institution in the UK’s noise-rock scene. They’re absurdly prolific, this is album number nine, devoutly experimental – and heavy as a sack of spanners.

Their growing esteem and popularity likely has much to do with the band’s sharp changes in tone and style from LP to LP. Each one takes them into uncharted ground, exposing them to new audiences along the way. Recent releases have even garnered glowing reviews by broadsheets determined to assert their ‘cool’ – what more could a band so uncompromising and antisocial-sounding ask for? Yet with ‘In Black and Gold’, the follow-up to 2013’s acclaimed ‘Cuckoo Live Life Like Cuckoo’ they’ve managed to deliver a record that pulls beauty from their copious wreckage more so than ever before...

Read the rest of the review here: Caught in a Crossfire

---

Line of the Best Fit reviews Hey Colossus 'In Black and Gold' album launch

Hey Colossus
+ The Wharves & Workin’ Man Noise Unit 
The Lexington,
London 7/02/15

“The best way to release a record...” That’s what Hey Colossus had to say after they unveiled their new album, In Black and Gold, with a riff-tastic party at the Lexington. And they’re right. Not only can the far-out British rockers always be relied upon to deliver onstage, their chosen support acts made sure the party was killer..."

Read the full glowing review here: Line of the Best Fit

---

Anthroprophh announce two shows in March

Anthroprophh are heading out for some rare live shows. The band are going to be playing Newcastle on the 19th March and Glasgow on the 20th.

Tickets and details can be found on the bands Facebook page: Anthroprophh

---

Hey Colossus new album 'In Black and Gold' out today

We are excited to announce that the new Hey Colossus album 'In Black and Gold' hits the shops today.

But you can buy a copy direct from us to here: Rocket Bandcamp

The press release reads:

Emerging in a haze of demented riff science and booze-addled abandon, Hey Colossus have carved out a notable niche for themselves in the British underground’s murkier quarters. They’ve dished out a formidable array of wax over the last decade, specialising in a primordial barrage of abject noise from overheated ampstacks. Yet for all the grit and gnarl of their output thus far, it’s seemingly only been a warm-up for their latest opus, which sees their monstrous assault finely honed into an album as beguiling as it is bulldozing. ‘In Black And Gold’, their eighth album proper and first for Rocket Recordings, ushers in a new incarnation of Hey Colossus. 

Marrying malevolent attack to expansive celestial splendour, ‘In Black And Gold’ marks a point whereby Hey Colossus map out a sonic trajectory that expands on their trademark ornery overload. The songs herein may be leaner and more artful than the fearsome sound by which they made their name on albums like 2008’s ‘Project: Death’ and the monstrous 2013 opus ‘Cuckoo Live Life Like Cuckoo’, but they remain possessed of the wrath both Stoogian and Stygian that fuels their noiserock transgression. 

Yet meanwhile, and with 2015 looming large, an evolutionary process has led to their maximalist tendencies being replaced by a sharp focus on space and restraint, not to mention a refreshing stylistic diversity, resulting in a strange aural alchemy. Here, they sound as comfortable tackling electronically-fried dub mantras like ‘Lagos Atom’ as they do the Cluster-esque lullaby of the opening ‘Hold On’. Yet there’s no shortage of primal rock action to be had on ‘In Black And Gold’; on ‘Sisters And Brothers’ they summon up a swaggering, demented groove that sashays like a zombified Gun Club, whilst on the dramatic spaghetti-psych of the title-track a revelatory cinematic sprawl of sound sees The Bad Seeds and The 13th Floor Elevators engaged in a psychic duel in the noonday sun. 

The vital and Spinal Tap-approved ‘fine line between clever and stupid’ has been a location that this London-based tinnitus machine has made fine work of dwelling on for the duration of their life thus far. Yet with ‘In Black And Gold’, in a laudable leap of faith, they’ve stepped beyond, and the result is both vicious and visionary. These unpretentious underworld overlords have emerged from the shadows to create an avant-garage pièce de résistance, and moreover it turns out that the sunlight suits them better than they ever realised. 

-

Tracklist:

01 Hold On (4:14) 
02 Sisters And Brothers (4:13) 
03 Hey, Dead Eyes, Up! (3:07) 
04 Wired_Brainless (5:51) 
05 Black And Gold (5:58) 
06 Lagos Atom (9:54) 
07 Eat It (4:00) 
08 Sinking, Feeling (4:06) 

-

Don't miss the band at the following shows on their album launch tour:

Brighton - 14th February, Green Door Store, 

Birmingham - 18th February, The Flapper, 

Newcastle - 19th February, Head of Steam, 

Edinburgh - 20th February, Bannermans Bar, 

Nottingham - 21st February, SONA Studios, 

---

Mamuthones Q&A with Fame Magazine

MAMUTHONES Q&A: 
‘VIOLENT, HYSTERIC, POWERFUL AND AT THE SAME TIME DANCEABLE’

Italian psych forward-thinking trio Mamuthones – Alessio Gastaldello, Francesco Lovison, Matteo Polato, Maurizio Boldrin – have shared an intriguing video to accompany ‘I’ve Gotta Be’, the strong & hypnotic lead track from their ‘Collisions Vol.4′ split LP with Evil Blizzard, out now via Rocket Recordings. 

Band’s founder and “Italian Occult Psychedelia” connoisseur, Alessio Gastaldello, talks to FAME about scary masks, their new track ‘I’ve Gotta Be’, Holy Ghost People, cultural obscure traditions and cool bands…

First up, what’s the story behind the name Mamuthones?

I chose the name a few weeks after leaving Jennifer Gentle and before recording anything else. To tell you the truth, in that period I didn’t have any idea about my musical future. I was in Sardinia for work and I was impressed by this mask photo I saw. It was archaic, scary and intriguing all at the same time. I asked about it and I decided that my new musical project would be called Mamuthones, then I bought an air organ and I started recording…

Read the rest of the Interview here: Fame magazine

---

Crackle Feedback interview Mamuthones about their favourite records

It reads: 

Mamuthones is the latest project of Alessio Gastadello, founder member of Italian psyche pop royalty Jennifer Gentle. He's joined forces with drummer Maurizio Boldrin and Jennifer Gentle main man Marco Fasolo (who takes on guitar and production duties) and their latest release is a split 12" with Evil Blizzard entitled Collisions Vol. 4. It was apparently influenced by "a 1967 documentary directed by Peter Adair about a Pentecostal snake handling church service in the tiny mining town of Scrabble Creek, West Virginia". As you can imagine, it's quite a freaky listen. In this Borden Record interview, Gastadello talks about the records that shaped his music and his life in general.

Read the full piece here: Crackle Feedback

---

The Quietus reviews Collisions 04 LP by Mamuthones and Evil Blizzard

COLLISIONS VOL. 4
Evil Blizzard/Mamuthones 

By Nick Hutchings 

Collisions Vol. 4 is a pustulous split LP oozing forth two bands who love horror and like to drone on about it. With a soupcon of Suspiria and a ghost in the machine from The Exorcist the music of Evil Blizzard is not so much Tubular Bells as crepuscular bells. It's route one horror, which may require a defibrillator to revive you from. However, the subtler, no less effective gory grooves of Mamuthones owe more to the repetitive danceability of Warp Records' Sweet Exorcist than they do to traditional head-spinning horror scores.

This is the fourth in a series of recorded collisions between lauded, like-minded and loud spirits on Rocket Records, joining previous malevolent match-ups between Gnod and Shit & Shine, Oneida and Mugstar and The Heads and White Hills, and this is no less fearsome or feral.

Mamuthones have carved out a position at the head of a fecund Italian occult psychedelic movement, led by Alessio Gastaldello ex of Sub Pop band Jennifer Gentile. Apparently the name Mamuthones comes from a Sardinian death-masked legend about which no historian can agree. Locals dressed as these totemic figures perform haunting ritual dances at public festivals. One theory is it's a celebration to celebrate the victory of shepherds against the Saracen invaders who imprisoned the citizens of Mamoiada and led them to a cold chamber. If that is spine chilling, the music is less so as their music is warm blooded and organic rather than murderously orgiastic…

Read the rest of the review here: The Quietus

---

Hey Colossus presents 'Excellent Humans in their Field' Spotify playlist

From Hey Colossus Facebook page:

"In honour of our new LP arriving in a few days, here's a few excellent musical humans who provided inspiration along the way. Enjoy! Well, I say enjoy..."

Listen to this excellent playlist here: 'Excellent Humans in their Field'

---

Teeth of the Sea and Hey Colossus play Magasin 4 in Belgium

TEETH OF THE SEA + HEY COLOSSUS
–
MAGASIN 4
–
SUNDAY 07.06.2015
–
7:00PM

More info and tickets here: Magazin 4

---

Watch new video for Voices Call by Lay Llamas

---

Paddy Shine from Gnod mix tape for Digital Tsunami

Check out this great mix put together by Paddy from Gnod for Digital Tsuami.

Listen here: Digital Tsunami

---

Goat confirmed to play Green Man Festival 2015

Goat and Nothing is... have been confirmed to play this years Green Man festival which takes place on Thursday 20th to Sunday 23rd August 2015.

Goat shows are going to be RARE this year as apart from their tour in Italy in April they are not doing any more tours, just festivals and one off shows!!

More info and full line-up here: Green Man

---