Muga - There Is Nothing Eternal Exists

Awesome Japanese band I got from the heroes at Sludge Swamp. If you liked Bison's Quiet Earth you'll dig this too. The last 2 tracks are especially good.
Download: megaupload
Label/Date: self-released, 2008
Genre: stoner-metal, sludge, hardcore
From: Japan
Similar/Related: Bison BC, High on Fire, Saviours, Baroness, Torche, Buffalo, Envy, North, Mastodon
Website : Myspace(none)

El Paramo - El Paramo

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Label/Date: Alone Records, 2008
Genre: psychedelic, instrumental stoner-rock
From: Madrid, Spain
Similar/Related: Colour Haze, Los Natas, La Ira De Dios, Kinski, Kyuss, Gonga, Karma To Burn, Ancestors, Monkey3
Website : Myspace

from Wine, Women and Song:
"El Paramo is a four piece from Madrid, Spain, formed at the beginning of 2005. They are influenced by Black Sabbath, Colour Haze, Black Mountain and Kyuss among a few others, so ofcourse their sound is a mix of the desert sounds with tones of Colour Haze, Kyuss and bla bla bla. But dont get me wrong this album is fucking awesome. Dont expect something new, expect only something damn good. These guys know what they are doing, you get some of the finest instrumental heavy stoner, psychedelia you havent heared for a long time, exept maybe from Colour Haze. Sorry for my enthusiasm but the only negative thing i can think of is that this album is only seven songs and 58 minutes. Please check them out, and buy this album!
Peace; mr.A"

Dragontears - Tambourine Freak Machine

Download: megaupload Thanks Dimitri!
Label/Date: Bad Afro Records, 2008
Genre: psychedelic, drug-influenced, experimental acid rock
From: Denmark
Similar/Related: Baby Woodrose, On Trial, Ghost, US Christmas, Acid Mothers Temple, Weird Owl, Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound, 13th Floor Elevators, Syd Barrett, Niel Young, Silver Apples, Dungen, Circle, Faust, Amon Duul, Mammatus, Pocahaunted, Dr John, Black Angels, Beyond The Wizards Sleeve
Website : Myspace

The Baby Woodrose side project called Dragontears has just finished the recordings of their second album, entitled Tambourine Freak Machine. The release date is set for for November 17 and it will be available as LP/CD and download. As a teaser it is now possible to listen to the song "Sunrise" on the Bad Afro MySpace.

The album is musically quite similar to the first - 2000 Micrograms From Home from 2007 - but the band used a larger amount of electronics and the eternal quest for hallucinatory experimentation has made the music span a slightly wider range, transcending musical styles like neofolk, psychedelic, space rock and electronica. Hell, it must be the first album in 20 years to include a bona fide drum solo!

The tracklist includes the ten minute drug fantasy "The River,"which involves an impressive eight verses of illuminated spiritual delerium (and is not a Bruce Springsteen cover). Also, another eight verses of righteous anger and loathing in ?Masters of War,? which is in fact a Bob Dylan cover. Other highlights are a 16 minute dark hypnotic journey titled ?The Freedom Seed,? which features Danish punk diva Janine Neble from Alive with Worms - and the electronic experimental track ?Dreamweaver 2,? which features delicately noisy circuit bends from ex-Raveonettes Manoj Ramdas, absolutely molesting an out of date drum machine and some Japanese toy keyboard.

Sacrilege - Behind the Realms of Madness

Download: mediafire Thanks Badger!
Label/Date: C.O.R. Records, 1985
Genre: thrash metal, punk
From: England
Similar/Related: Metallica, Slayer, Razor, Exodus, Venom, Municipal Waste
Wiki : allmusic

Virus - The Black Flux

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Label/Date: Season Of Mist, 2008
Genre: progressive black metal, experimental, avant-garde
From: Oslo, Norway
Similar/Related: Ved Buens Ende, Enslaved, Ulver, Pink Floyd, Deathspell Omega, Venom, Voïvod, Coil, Arcturus, Cynic, Shining, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Swans, The End Records
Website : Myspace

"Modern psyche/rock trio VIRUS combine the post rock machinations of TORTOISE with the singular, almost autistic riffage of prime SLAYER with the twisted avant garde appeal of the THE RESIDENTS. VIRUS features the singular guitar wizardry of Carl-Michael Eide's cult ensemble VED BUENS ENDE, the unchallenged fret talents of AUDIOPAIN's Petter 'Plenum' Berntsen and the rhythmic schizo-frenetics of Einar 'Esso' Sjursø (BEYOND DAWN)."

Nahvalr - Nahvalr

Download: mediafire Thanks Alex!
Label/Date: Enemies List, 2008
Genre: experimental black metal, ambient noise, shoegaze
From: Middletown, Connecticut
Similar/Related: Have A Nice Life, Xasthur, Velvet Cacoon, Wold, Caina, Blut Aus Nord, The Angelic Process, Nadja, Leviathan, Burzum, Axis of Perdition, Alcest
Website : Myspace

"NAHVALR is the world's first open-sourced black metal project. Spear-headed by Dan Barrett and Tim Macuga (of HAVE A NICE LIFE), NAHVALR aims to create the densest, most visceral sounds possible by combining the input of a dozen collaborators, all working individually, in a coherent and intuitive way. In other words: several people, operating anonymously around the globe, have their work hacked, chopped, distorted, fused and recorded over to create something altogether new. The result is sometimes chaotic, sometimes blissful, but always striking. It verges on territory explored by bands like XASTHUR and VELVET CACOON before striking off in more melodic directions, incorporating influences as diverse as BURZUM and BRIAN ENO's "Ambient 1: Music For Airports". The resulting hour of hyper-distorted evil is uniquely the product of the internet age, and a time when physical separation can't stop people from making scary sounds together in rooms around the world. "

Körperschwäche - Broken Blades of Steel Scattered Across the Narrow Way

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Label/Date: Crucial Bliss, 2008
Genre: instrumental drone/noise rock, industrial, ambient doom
From: Austin, Texas
Similar/Related: Nadja, Asbestoscape, Boris, Godflesh/Jesu, Sunn, Atlantis, Thisquietarmy, Angelic Process, Have A Nice Life
Website : Myspace

"A thunderous new disc from Korperschwache! Broken Blades Of Steel Scattered Across The Narrow Way detours from the blackened machine-pulse hypno dirges that have appeared on recent releases on Faunasabbatha, Inam, and Public Guilt, and delivers a slab of heavy, instrumental drone/noise rock that builds even further upon the heavy influence of classic late 80's/early 90's NYC noise rock (and especially Band Of Susans) that has been juicing Korperschwache over the past seven years with six tracks of dense billowing reverb, atmospheric hypno-riffs and supreme guitar squall. The Burzum/Abruptum-esque blackness of the Ourobouros series on Crucial Bliss is absent here, and instead the music emerges as a lumbering deformed cousin of classic alt-guitar noise, huge open chords unfolding over shimmering distorted strings and multiple layers of vibrating amplifiers, with some sweet sun-scorched melodies swimming around in these lengthy riff explorations. Of course, it wouldn't be Korperschwache without the jagged, pounding beats of Doktor Omega, and each of these mechanical jams uncoil over a battery of thumping machine beats, cymbal-soaked motorik rhythms and even the odd unexpected breakbeat that kind of sounds like some spastic jungle has suddenly ripped it's way through the swirling clouds of drone guitar."

Josef K - Sorry For Laughing

I discovered this band through Spacerockmountain. Thanks!
Download: megaupload
Label/Date: Unreleased, 1980
Genre: post-punk, funk
From: Edinburgh, Scotland
Similar/Related: Orange Juice, Joy Division, XTC, Talking Heads, Devo, Minutemen, Television, David Bowie, Wire, The Police
Wiki : Website

"Sorry for Laughing was scrapped by Postcard head Allen Horne for sounding too slick and not being representative of the Josef K sound. The band later confessed that the guitar sound was unnecessarily muted and that the bass and drums were too high in the mix. Despite this, roughly 20 test pressing copies somehow left the label's office, spurring a swarm of bootleg copies and high prices paid for the originals. Ten years later, it saw official issue through Les Temps Modernes on a disc containing their proper debut and lone official LP, The Only Fun in Town. The underground mania surrounding Sorry for Laughing was well-warranted, and it's apparent years later that the decision to put the kibosh on its release was more a result of perfectionism than plugging a hole in a dam. It picks up successfully from their initial trio of singles, sounding like a less doomy Joy Division with more pop instincts. Nothing here eclipses four minutes -- most of the songs are brief, spastic shards of over-caffeinated post-punk with skittish vocals on the verge of spinning out of control." -allmusic.com

Zak Riles - Zak Riles

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Label/Date: Important Records, 2008
Genre: ambient, acoustic, folk, middle eastern
From: Louisville, Kentucky
Similar/Related: Grails, James Blackshaw, Sir Richard Bishop, Ravi Shankar, Popol Vuh, Priestbird, Ghost, Ash Ra Tempel, Earth, Secret Chiefs 3, John Zorn
Website : Myspace

"Zak Riles is a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist in the Important band Grails (as well as M.Ward’s band). His creative contributions to the group are immeasurable and can be heard clearly on this self titled debut solo outing. In fact some of the pieces on this solo record have been reinterpreted into Grails favorites. Like his band Grails, Zak Riles solo work is an elaborate mansion built of inspiration but with so much strength and originality that it stands firmly on its own. On these rocky shores come crashing waves of Sandy Bull, Mogolar, Deuter, Popol Vuh and the Ventures while Persian breeze drifts by wafting the melodies of Hossein Alizadeh. Essential listening for followers of Important Records who favor the likes of Grails & James Blackshaw.

Circle - Hollywood

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Label/Date: Ektro Records, 2008
Genre: psychedelic, krautrock, metal
From: Finland
Similar/Related: Pharaoh Overlord, Faust, Can, Neu!, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Acid Mothers Temple, Hawkwind, Hammers of Misfortune, Kyuss, Los Natas
Website : Myspace

Black Elk - Always A Six Never A Nine

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Label/Date: Crucial Blast, 2008
Genre: fierce noise-rock/metal
From: Portland, OR
Similar/Related: Jesus Lizard, Hammerhead, Racebannon, Oxbow, Pissed Jeans, Helms Alee, Shellac, Melvins, Todd, Akimbo, Young Widows, Tar, Fight Amp, Metz
Website : Myspace

The second album by Portland's Black Elk comes from a familiar enough starting point -- namely, there's something about loud guitars and aggressive yowling that will always please somebody, somewhere. Given how thoroughly any number of putatively different sounds and styles that match that description have essentially cross-fertilized into one monstrous leviathan of music, it comes as little surprise that Black Elk are almost a post-everything band -- they use lumbering metal, frenetic no wave rampages, epic solos, and distorted art noise, and that's just the opening song "My Last Shred of Decency." But if Black Elk are still arguably working towards their own sound, they're doing so with panache -- and it doesn't hurt that they've got a full appreciation of the classic '80s thrash and power metal they pretty obviously grew up on. (It's something that's even audible in the quieter moments, like the acoustic guitar start of "Brine," as any fan of classic Metallica can confirm.) Hearing the spiraling solos and chunky riffs on songs like the fierce as hell "Pig Crazy," helped by the excellent recording quality throughout the album, complements rather than works against singer Tom Glose's rasped rampage. Meanwhile, the fact that the album ends on a perfectly melodramatic note with the ever-more-intense performance of "Winter Formal" cutting off suddenly to silence further shows the band's sense of how to leave a maximum impact behind. At this rate the group's next album should be a spectacular breakthrough. ~ Ned Raggett, All Music Guide

A. Armada - Anam Cara EP

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Label/Date: Hello Sir Records, 2008
Genre: post-rock
From: Athens, Georgia
Similar/Related: If These Trees Could Talk, Caspian, Lite, Pg. Lost, Gifts From Enola, Explosions in the Sky, Mooncake, Maserati, Jakob
Website : Myspace

Hey Colossus - Happy Birthday

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Label/Date: Riot Season, 2008
Genre: noise, sludge, experimental
From: London/Watford/Somerset, United Kingdom
Similar/Related: Warhammer 48k, Cave, The Goslings, Grey Daturas, Raccoo-oo-oon, Year of No Light, Noxagt, Lightning Bolt, Mugstar, Godflesh, Todd, Psychic Paramount
Website : Myspace

From headlong infusions of psychedelic rock to the limitless furrows of doom, in "Happy Birthday" London's Hey Colossus has constructed an all conquering citadel of experimental/metal disrepair. The album is a rampaging fire-cloud of superstoked riffs and ever mounting walls of feedback, a rough house collection of battering new songs driven at sweltering pace by a band with a fearless momentum. The is the record that the band has always threatened to unleash - a pitch black album for our ever scorched earth." - Riot Season

Oaks - Bravo!

Download: megaupload
Label/Date: self-released, 2008
Genre: stoner metal
From: San Diego, California
Similar/Related: Melvins, Big Business, Clouds, Tweak Bird, Karp, Kyuss, Red Fang, Death From Above, Floor, Lullaby Arkestra
Website : Myspace

Fuck The Facts - Disgorge Mexico

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Label/Date: Relapse, 2008
Genre: grindcore, extreme metal, experimental
From: Ottawa, Ontario
Similar/Related: Pig Destroyer, Leng Tch´e, Rotten Sound, Impaled, Nasum, Genghis Tron, Cephalic Carnage, Agoraphobic Nosebleed
Website : Myspace

"Canada’s Fuck the Facts returns with their hyper-charged new full-length ‘Disgorge, Mexico’. More streamlined and direct than its predecessor ‘Stigmata Hi-Five’, ‘Disgorge, Mexico’ is an incendiary, hard-hitting grind affair. Far more than just grind bombast, Fuck the Facts has transformed into one of extreme metal’s best new bands" - relapse

Earthless - Live at Roadburn

Huge thanks to Dimitri. God-fucking-damn-it I love this band!
Download: megaupload
Label/Date: Tee Pee Records, 2008
Genre: heavy psych, instrumental/jam metal
From: San Diego
Similar/Related: Hendrix, Acid Mothers Temple, Mammatus, Kyuss, Blue Cheer, Zeppelin, Ash Ra Tempel, Iota, La Ira De Dios, Ancestors, Tee Pee Records roster, Green Milk From The Planet Orange, Boris
Website : Myspace

"Featured at the Roadburn Festival held annually in Tilburg, Holland, the heavy psychedelic trio Earthless includes Mario Rubalcaba (ex-Rocket From the Crypt, Hot Snakes, Blackheart Procession, Clickatat Ikatowi) on drums, Isaiah Mitchell (Nebula, Drunk Horse) on guitar and Mike Eginton (Electric Nazarene) on bass. The festival is a celebration of tube-driven distortion, crackling electrical guitars and the many fans that come to celebrate the mighty riff. Earthless embodies the true essence of Roadburn so it came as no supplies that the band was invited to play in the 2008 edition.

Unexpectedly, Earthless wound up on the main stage of the festival in front of 2,000 rabid fans, mere moments before they were to headline The Batcave (a room with 200 person capacity). Live At Roadburn came about not so much by default but out of sheer necessity. When the headlining band at the festival did not use their two hour time slot on the main stage, concert organizers were left scrambling to find a replacement to fill the slot.

Earthless gladly accepted the opportunity and proceeded to lay waste to all that was surrounding them for a straight hour and a half of visual mind and audio massacre! Told of the recordings, the band had a few listens and decided that it was the most honest document that they could offer, for they were caught in their natural environment - the live show.

Tee Pee Records is proud to present Earthless’ latest assault on the senses, Live At Roadburn, a double LP/CD masterpiece recorded live at this year’s Roadburn Festival."