On paper, Washington’s Black Breath is not the sort of band one typically associates with Southern Lord. Dronesmiths Sunn O))), doomy stoners Eagle Twin, instrumental rockers Pelican, and black metalheads Wolves In The Throne Room all coexist comfortably together on the Californian label. Yet Black Breath’s hybrid of gutter-level punk and classic thrash metal somehow make sense, even if it doesn’t exactly seem appropriate for Southern Lord. Coupled with the August release of Seattle punks The Accused’s all new The Curse of Martha Splatterhead, it almost seems as though the ostentatiously hip imprint is slowly embracing a much less esoteric sound.

On November 10, Southern Lord will re-release Black Breath’s Razor To Oblivion mini-LP in CD format in advance of a proper debut album scheduled for early 2010. That forthcoming full-length was recorded earlier this year and engineered by Converge’s Kurt Ballou. Visit the band’s MySpace page to hear some tracks from Razor To Oblivion.

-GS

[Gary Suarez eats his pizza crust first. He usually manages the consistently off-topic No Yoko No. Say, why don't you follow him on Twitter?]

Thanks to Adam for giving us the heads up that Pelican’s new album, What We All Come to Need, is now streaming on the band’s MySpace page. And… that’s really all I have to say about that. I kinda just wanted an excuse to post my favorite clip from Scarface. Sammy O’Hagar will have a comprehensive review of the album soon.

What We All Come to Need comes out October 27 on Southern Lord.

-AR

Chicago instru-metallers Pelican have posted a new song, “Strung Up From the Sky” — from their forthcoming full-length What We All Come To Need (October 27th, Profound Lore) — on their MySpace page. Pelican quietly released a 3-song EP earlier this year called Ephemeral, and the upcoming full-length will be their first for the Greg Anderson of Sunn O)))-owned Southern Lord Records. As someone who’s never really been that into this band before, I really dug the EP and I’m very much looking forward to the new album: the EP and one new song are tighter, clearer and seemingly more structured than what I’ve heard from the band in the past. So – check that new song out now and enjoy it whilst we wait for another one to hit the ‘net before the album drops in 2 months.

-VN

So. Yesterday was a fucking whirlwind.

Salt Lick BBQ lunch, punctuated by the special rice krispie treat some guy had sold us the night prior. Kip and I were giggling like high school kids stoned for the first time as we were eating THE MOST FUCKING AMAZING BARBECUE FUCKING EVER. From there it was right back into it with a triumvirate of Peelander-Z, Rwake and proggy atmospheric rockers Maserati. Pound down a few Lone Stars, Coffee, Red Bull, keep going. We hit a quality standup comedy showcase next (Eugene Mirman, others) to break things up before indulging in delicious street tacos, then onwards to the Pelican / Dredg show at Emo’s. Once again, Dredg killed it (better sound this time), and once again I’m not much impressed by Pelican. Cut to 6am passing some bottles of cheap red wine around a hotel room with Dredg as I realized I had to leave for the airport… breakfast at Salt Lick offshoot in the airport, plane, pass out, New York.

Thank you to everyone we hung out with all weekend for making this our best SXSW yet. Fucking epic.

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Like my e-comrade Vince, I too am planning to check out Canadian stoner/doom/mammal metallurgists Bison B.C. at tomorrow night’s CMJ Metal Blade/Relapse/Lifeforce showcase at Knitting Factory (Also playing: Psyopus, Tombs, This Or The Apocalypse, Left To Remain). Now if, like me, the very thought of CMJ causes you to break out in painful hives and cold sweats, the next chance for New Yorkers to see Bison B.C. will be as part of the all-day long (4pm – 4am, apparently) Beasts Of The East festival (tickets here) on November 2nd at Club Europa in Brooklyn.

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Are you hip to Zozobra yet? Well goddammit–be the fuck down; they’re AWEZSOME with an unnecessary Z in the middle…last year’s Harmonic Tremors was really excellent, and this year’s recent release Bird of Prey is quite good, although it did take me a few listens to get really into it (and I do still need like I may need a couple more to fully dig on what the album has to offer).

The project is the brainchild of Caleb Scofield, the former bass player of an on-hiatus-for-two-years-now space-rock/alt-hardcore band that Vince will forever be on the nuts of, as well as the underappreciated Old Man Gloom (a SSTGST alum — the very first of this year, if I’m not mistaken), but Zozobra really has its own sound, a sludgy, often monotone, pedal note-heavy groove thang that keeps its riffs somewhat simple but the tone decidedly bombastic.

If you’ve never heard Harmonic Tremors, by all means track down a copy; if you dig, then move on to the recent record. If you don’t dig, I guess I’ll still be your friend, but I will openly talk shit about you behind your back.

ZOZOBRA – “The Blessing”, from Harmonic Tremors (2007)

[Visit Zozobra on MySpace]

[Read a January 2007 Boston Phoenix article on Cave In side projects (Zozobra, Clouds, Octave Museum, etc.]

Catch Zozobra on select dates of the Champions of Sound 2008 tour this fall, with Pelican, Kayo Dot and Stove Bredsky (Steve Brodsky of Cave In) also on the bill. Tour dates after the jump.

-KW

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I used to think that “Pelican” was a shitty name for a metal band. I’m not even judging the band’s music; I was just hard pressed to think of a less-metal animal than a Pelican.

Boy, was I wrong.

“PELICAN EATS DUCK”

PELICAN – “DEAD BETWEEN THE WALLS”

-AR

Normally Pelican is one of the last bands I’d ever accuse of being a nu metal act; but Nick at The Deciblog posted a link to a mash-up of Pelican’s “Dead Between the Walls” and “Pillz” by Gucci Mane* this past Sunday, and while I find the resulting track catchier than I’m comfortable admitting (okay okay okay, so I may have listened it to five or six times in a row last night), it is amazing how adding rap over Pelican’s music suddenly makes it sound remarkably like late 90s/early aughties rap metal. Seriously: check out the bouncy, fat (phat?) riff, the gentle verses that really allowing the “flowing” to, uh, flow, etc., etc.

This raises a series of questions, like: if you put rapping over any band, will it automatically begin to sound like nu/rap/whatever metal? Would Limp Bizkit have been a semi-decent band if not for Fred Durst? Is Axl Rosenberg losing his fucking mind? Discuss amongst yourselves.

-AR

*I also did some homework on this Gucci Mane fellow, with whom I was previously unfamiliar, and have since decided that he is the single most brilliant artist working in hip-hop today. Take the lyrics to the song “Freaky Gurl,” for example: “First you get her name/Then you get her number/Then you get some brain in the front seat of her Hummer.” If that’s not the greatest love poetry of the 21st century so far, then my name isn’t Axl Rosenberg.

The first time I saw the soundscape-y post-metal band Pelican play, back in the Summer of 2005, they bored me so much (almost as much as this), I had to–you guessed it–go chill out back and puff a J with a lady friend.

HOWEVER, I had been hearing some pretty good buzz earlier this year about the Chicago band’s new Hydrahead record City Of Echoes, and so I decided to give them another shot. A buddy and I puffed Le Ganj, went to go see Pelican play, and lo and behold, apparantly now they’re awesome.

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