Neon Christ, the Atlanta hardcore luminaries founded by Alice in Chains singer William DuVall have announced the official release of 1984 for September 17th. This collaboration between Southern Lord Recordings/DVL Recordings was originally released on Record Store Day, now to be made available more widely. Pre orders for limited black and clear vinyl are available now via Southern Lord, the Southern Lord Europe store and Bandcamp. 

To mark the occasion, the band have shared an in-conversation video tracing their beginnings right through to their collaboration with Southern Lord conducted with Atlanta journalist Chad Radford. The band comments, “We gathered at the famed Wuxtry record store in Atlanta to discuss the formation of Neon Christ, the all-analog remastering process for the ‘1984’ album, and much more. It’s a revealing look at the band and an illuminating glimpse into the earliest days of the Atlanta hardcore scene.”

See Neon Christ discuss their new 1984 anthology album, the formation of the band, and the early days of the Atlanta hardcore scene here on YouTube.

Neon Christ formed in the fall of 1983 with William DuVall on guitar, Jimmy Demer on drums, Danny Lankford on bass, and Randy DuTeau on vocals. They made their debut in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day 1984. That March, they recorded their eponymous debut 10-song EP. Released in June ’84, the EP’s songs exemplify the band’s signature musical diversity, from DRI-style thrashers like “Parental Suppression” to the atmospheric improv of “After.” A short east coast tour followed. On Labor Day 1984, the band recorded four tracks in the home studio of Nick Jameson, of Foghat fame. A few months later, “Ashes to Ashes” was included on the International Peace/War compilation released by MDC’s R Radical Records, bringing the band worldwide exposure.

Neon Christ shared the stage with the luminaries of 80s hardcore including the Dead Kennedys, Circle Jerks, and Corrosion of Conformity. In 1985, the band added Shawn Devine on second guitar, as their sound and songs became slower, heavier, and more melodic. DuVall wrote an album’s worth of songs in 1985, but only “Savior (Drawn In)” was ever recorded in what would be the band’s final studio session on December 26, 1985 (the master tapes were lost). Returning to the four-piece original lineup, the band played a handful of Atlanta shows and then took a break in March of 1986. A few months later, William moved to Santa Cruz, CA, to join BL’AST!, and Jimmy, Danny, and Randy formed Gardens of…William later founded jazz/punk/world improvisers No Walls. In 1999, he would form Comes With The Fall and move the band to Los Angeles, where he struck up a friendship and musical collaboration with Jerry Cantrell. William joined Alice in Chains as vocalist and guitarist in 2006. On February 2, 2008, Neon Christ reunited to headline the Ratlanta Punkfest 2.

To this day, the band members maintain a close friendship, as well as a desire to honor the legacy of the group. So when longtime fan Greg Anderson of Southern Lord contacted them about reissuing a deluxe edition of Neon Christ’s 1984 sessions, “1984” quickly came to life. To remaster the original tapes using an all-analog process, William DuVall made multiple trips to Nashville to one of the few remaining studios maintaining the vintage technology to play and process the audio. Side one of “1984” features the original Neon Christ 7″ EP, and side two contains the four songs of the Labor Day session, all on heavyweight vinyl at 45 RPM for maximum fidelity.

The package includes a full-color gatefold sleeve and a 12-page oral history booklet featuring dozens of never-before-seen photographs.

NEON CHRIST 1984 TRACK LISTING:

1. Parental Suppression
2. The Draft Song
3. Winding
4. Bad Influence
5. Neon Christ
6. We Mean Business
7. Yoof
8. It’s Mine
9. Doom
10. After
11. The Knife That Cuts So Deep
12. Ashes To Ashes
13. Blind Patriot
14. The Death They’ll Give You

REVISIT “NEON CHRIST” OFFICIAL VIDEO

NEON CHRIST 1984 TEASER VIDEO

NEON CHRIST ON SOUTHERN LORD | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM

The ever-evolving and adventurous collective Iceburn offer another preview of their upcoming album, Asclepius (Southern Lord, June 25) – “Healing The Ouroboros” is one of two long-form tracks on the album, driven by monolithic riffs, swirling harmonies, and a wicked groove, with lyrics that reference classic mythology.

Much like the mythical ouroboros that appear in their music, Iceburn have come full circle, embracing early influences and tapping into the foundations of their sound, as Gentry Densley comments, “Iceburn had always been about progressing and pushing the boundaries, pushing the music ahead of ourselves so we had to work to catch up. This new record comes from a place of rediscovery of who we are deep down, a place that with all its challenges and comforts, ultimately feels like home.”

Watch (+ share) Iceburn’s “Healing the Ouroboros” (excerpt) teaser video on YouTube.

Revisit the teaser video for companion track “Dahlia Rides the Firebird” here.

The line-up on Asclepius represents the core of Iceburn through the early formative years.  Iceburn, later the Iceburn Collective, initially existed from 1990 to 2001.  Later reuniting in 2007 with this current lineup again at the core.  The band’s initial output slowly evolved from hardcore and metal to free improvisation and noise,  The 10 year arc saw the band following their own path and becoming more and more obscure as they got deeper into unknown musical worlds.  By 2000 the cycle seemed complete and Iceburndid their final tour in Europe 2001.  In 2007 this early core crew reunited to play a local anniversary show focused on the earliest material. Every few years since they would get together for another ‘reunion’ until that word became more of a joke, it was clear the band was back, getting together every week, and working on new material. 

ICEBURN LINE UP:

Joseph ‘Chubba’ Smith – drums, founding member of Iceburn from 1990-’93 then 2007-present

James Holder – guitar, was also a founding member from ’90-’95 and ’07 to present

Cache Tolman – bass, ’91-97 off and on, and ’07 to present

Gentry Densley – guitar and vocals, 1990 to present

Asclepius was recorded and engineered by Andy Patterson (SubRosa, INVDRS, Insect Ark, and The Otolith) a collaborator also for Gentry’s other band’s Eagle Twin and Ascend. 

Asclepius, Track Listing:

1) Healing The Ouroboros 

2) Dahlia Rides the Firebird

Pre-order Asclepius via BANDCAMP, SOUTHERN LORD & SOUTHERN LORD EUROPE

Neon Christ, the cult hardcore luminaries featuring William DuVall (BL’AST!, Comes With The Fall, Alice In Chains), Jimmy Demer (Gardens of.., Accidents), Danny Lankford (Gardens of.., GoDevils, Accidents) and Randy DuTeau (Gardens of) share the entertaining new video for “Neon Christ“ which features the band’s children, and gleefully conveys the appreciation of this music across generations. The band comments: “We all had a lot of fun making this video with the kids. They did a fantastic job. It was a wonderful full-circle moment. And much hilarity ensued on set.”

Watch (+ share) the “Neon Christ” Official Music Video on YouTube.

On 12th June, Southern Lord and DVL Recordings co-release a deluxe edition of their 1984 sessionsfor Record Store Day. Digital format will also be available via Bandcamp only, and non-Record Store formats will follow at a later date via Southern Lord Europe. 

To remaster the original tapes using an all-analog process, William DuVall made multiple trips to Nashville to one of the few remaining studios (Welcome To 1979) maintaining the vintage technology to play and process the audio – his account of this is documented below. Side one of “1984” features the original Neon Christ 7″ EP, and side two contains the four songs of the Labor Day session, all on heavyweight vinyl at 45 RPM for maximum fidelity. The package includes a full-color gatefold sleeve and a 12-page oral history booklet featuring dozens of never-before-seen photographs. 

About the remastering process, William reveals:

The studio I went to in Nashville to remaster the audio is called Welcome To 1979, aptly named because it’s like entering a time warp in the best possible way. It’s becoming increasingly rare and miraculous to find a facility anywhere in the world that can do all-analogue audio mastering for vinyl LPs. What’s additionally amazing (for all my fellow audio nerds out there) is that Welcome To 1979 also does lacquer plating right there on-site. I know of no other place in America that does recording, mixing, mastering, lacquer cutting, and lacquer plating all under one roof. As if that’s not enough, they also manufacture and refurbish tape machines. Pretty incredible.  

Remastering the 1984 Neon Christ recordings has been very enlightening and fulfilling. I hadn’t listened to that music in a studio atmosphere since back when it was originally recorded. It was nice hanging out with those kids again. I was sixteen writing those songs. Neon Christ is quintessential youth music from a tumultuous time, both in our own lives and in the world at large. It documents the birth of a new music and culture that would influence everything that came afterward. We loved being a part of that emerging scene. We’re even more proud now of the contributions we and so many of our friends made. The energy and emotions we captured remain timeless.

I had planned to do a proper Neon Christ reissue through my label, DVL Recordings, this year. It must have been the right time because, as soon as I’d made up my mind to do it, Greg from Southern Lord reached out about doing exactly the same thing. I suggested we join forces. I admire what the Southern Lord label has achieved. Suffice it to say, all of us in Neon Christ are extremely honored that there’s any interest at all in what we did so many years ago.

Revisit the Neon Christ ‘1984’ Teaser Video on YouTube.

About Neon Christ:

Neon Christ formed in the fall of 1983 with William DuVall on guitar, Jimmy Demer on drums, Danny Lankford on bass, and Randy DuTeau on vocals. They made their debut in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day 1984. That March, they recorded their eponymous debut 10-song EP. Released in June ’84, the EP’s songs exemplify the band’s signature musical diversity, from DRI-style thrashers like “Parental Suppression” to the atmospheric improv of “After.” A short east coast tour followed. On Labor Day 1984, the band recorded four tracks in the home studio of Nick Jameson, of Foghat fame. A few months later, “Ashes to Ashes” was included on the International Peace/War compilation released by MDC’s R Radical Records, bringing the band worldwide exposure.

Neon Christ shared the stage with the luminaries of 80s hardcore including the Dead Kennedys, Circle Jerks, and Corrosion of Conformity. In 1985, the band added Shawn Devine on second guitar, as their sound and songs became slower, heavier, and more melodic. DuVall wrote an album’s worth of songs in 1985, but only “Savior (Drawn In)” was ever recorded in what would be the band’s final studio session on December 26, 1985 (the master tapes were lost). Returning to the four-piece original lineup, the band played a handful of Atlanta shows and then took a break in March of 1986. A few months later, William moved to Santa Cruz, CA, to join BL’AST!, and Jimmy, Danny, and Randy formed Gardens of…William later founded jazz/punk/world improvisers No Walls. In 1999, he would form Comes With The Fall and move the band to Los Angeles, where he struck up a friendship and musical collaboration with Jerry Cantrell. William joined Alice in Chains as vocalist and guitarist in 2006. On February 2, 2008, Neon Christ reunited to headline the Ratlanta Punkfest 2.

To this day, the band members maintain a close friendship, as well as a desire to honour the legacy of the group. So when longtime fan Greg Anderson of Southern Lord contacted them about reissuing a deluxe edition of Neon Christ’s 1984 sessions, “1984” quickly came to life. To remaster the original tapes using an all-analog process, William DuVall made multiple trips to Nashville to one of the few remaining studios maintaining the vintage technology to play and process the audio. 

NEON CHRIST 1984 TRACK LISTING:

1. Parental Suppression

2. The Draft Song

3. Winding

4. Bad Influence

5. Neon Christ

6. We Mean Business

7. Yoof

8. It’s Mine

9. Doom

10. After

11. The Knife That Cuts So Deep

12. Ashes To Ashes

13. Blind Patriot

14. The Death They’ll Give You

NEON CHRIST ON SOUTHERN LORD | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM

For the first time in her career, Anna von Hausswolff is to embark on an ambitious solo pipe organ tour across Europe in November and December of this year, presenting the latest work, All Thoughts Fly on 17 different organs – dates below.
About the tour Anna comments, “These beautiful organs all have different manuals and dispositions, they are big and small, old and new, and they live in different spaces, holy and unholy. I’ve had some technical requirements and it is impossible to create a tour like this without compromise but that’s also where the charm lies; some things are beyond my control, for better or worse. As a result each and every concert will be unique in terms of sound and volume. So, I hereby invite you to take part in this huge experiment of mine where I befriend these instruments for the first time and present “All thoughts fly” for organ and 12 speakers. Go to church, be embraced by the sound and let your thoughts fly.”

ALL THOUGHTS FLY SOLO PIPE ORGAN TOUR DATES
17.11 DK Aarhus @ Sankt Lukas Kirke (tickets)
19.11 DE Berlin @ Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirche (Kiezsalon) (tickets)
20.11 DE Leipzig @ Philippuskirche (tickets)
22.11 CZ Prague @ Church of the Holy Saviour (Salvátorská Street) (tickets)
24.11 SK Bratislava @ Slovak Radio Large Concert Hall (tickets)
26.11 DE Munich @ St. Matthäus Church (tickets)
27.11 AT Kufstein @ Heldenorgel (KlangFarben) 
29.11 IT Bologna @ S. Basilica di S. Maria dei Servi (TANK Serbatoio Culturale) 
1.12 CH Bern @ Church Of The Holy Ghost (Dampfzentrale Bern) (tickets)
3.12 CH Lausanne @ Église Saint-François (tickets)
5.12 FR Montpellier @ Église Les Saints François (tickets)
7.12 FR Nantes @ Église St. Clément (le lieu unique)
9.12 FR Paris @ Église St. Eustache (tickets)
11.12 NL Nijmegen @ Stevenskerk (tickets)
13.12 BE Bruxelles @ Église Saint-Dominique de Bruxelles (tickets)
16.12 DK Copenhagen @ Organ Sound Art Festival 2021 (Koncertkirken)
18.12 SWE Helsingborg @ Gustav Adolfs Kyrka

Anna von Hausswolff is passionate about the pipe organ and its capabilities, and in September 2020, Southern Lord released the solo instrumental album, All Thoughts Fly which embodies the exploration of any and all possibilities.  The album radiates a melancholic beauty, and is distinguished by fluid transitions of contrasting elements; calmness and drama, harmony and dissonance. The organ on All Thoughts Fly is situated in Gothenburg and is a Swedish replica of the Arp Schnitger organ in Germany. It is the largest organ tuned in Quarter-comma Meantone temperament in the world. With its four manuals, one pedal and 54 stops, it was built as part of a ten-year research project reconstructing 17th Century North German organ building craft. The tuning temperament is an important detail to note here, as it deeply affects the sound and tuning, and thus radically changed the process of creating this album.

REVISIT THE VIDEO FOR “SACRO BOSCO”  (Directed by Gustaf and Ludvig Holtenäs)  

All Thoughts Fly is out now on LP, CD and digital formats, available via Bandcamp, Spotify and iTunes, and via the Southern Lord US and European stores

Engine Kid, the 90’s post hardcore collective featuring Greg Anderson (Southern Lord label owner, also in Sunn O))), Goatsnake & Thorr’s Hammer) share the previously unreleased track “Angel Dust“ appearing on their special Record Store Day 6 x LP box set release Everything Left Inside.  

About this track Greg Anderson comments, “during the process of unearthing ‘Angel Wings’ master tapes, a previously unreleased/unheard track from the session was discovered.  Our recollections of this song were extremely foggy and the reason it was left off the full-length album remains a mystery! Vitality was injected into the track by wizard producer Brad Wood.”

Listen to (+ share) “Angel Dust” on Bandcamp.

The Everything Left Inside box set includes other unreleased/unheard recordings as well as hard to find/sought after albums including the “Novocaine/Astronaut” 12”, Bear Catching Fish 2xLP, Angel Wings 2xLP and Split w/ Iceburn / Everything Left Inside 12” – all remastered and with an extensive 12-page booklet.  A black vinyl version of the box is set for RSD on June 12th (not available outside the US) with additional versions of the record for the rest of the world to arrive at a later date. Digital for the time being is available via Bandcamp. 

Watch the Everything Left Inside Unboxing video on YouTube.

Almost 30 years since the inception of Engine Kid, and the trio find themselves comprehending the enormity of their creation, honoring and celebrating the mountains they formed and the canyons they created.

Engine Kid was born in Seattle, WA in 1991.  The band’s original lineup consisted of guitarist/vocalist Greg Anderson (Southern Lord, Sunn O))), Thorr’s Hammer, Goatsnake), drummer Chris Vandebrooke & bassist Art Behrman.  The three had all been in hardcore/punk bands around town and all had a burning desire to create a sound that was unlike anything they had done in the past.   After just a few months of existence they quickly recorded and self-released the Novocaine 7”.  Circa 92’ a close friend and bassist Brian Kraft (Krafty) replaced Behrman, and at that moment the entire aesthetic and execution of sound became heavier, darker and extremely dynamic.  The power trio was picked up by local label C/Z records and set out upon recording the new music they were quickly creating. In 1993 the band had two releases on C/Z.  Their first offering was the Astronaut five song EP recorded by John Goodmanson.  The songs were primitive and exemplified the bands worship of Slint and their loud/quiet song dynamic  In the summer of 93’ the band drove all the way to Chicago to record with their hero Steve Albini in the basement of his house. They emerged with the eight song album they called: Bear Catching Fish.  Albini intuitively captured the band exactly as they were at that moment: RAW, VULNERABLE, & MAMMOTH.

Shortly after the albums’ release Jade Devitt replaced Vandebrooke on drums. This transition was extremely crucial in the “second phase” of the group. Devitt was an absolute beast and his power helped launch the band miles beyond where they had ever been before.  The sound of “The Kid” started to transform into a sound much more of their own.  The three dudes were hellbent on pushing the bounds of sonic exploration to its absolute fullest.  Suddenly there was an abundance of depth within the sounds they were creating. Eclectic influences of punk/hardcore (Black Flag, Die Kreuzen), Metal (Entombed, Carcass)  and even jazz (Mahavishnu Orchestra, Miles Davis electric era) were in a full collision course with the already dynamically heavy foundation of the band.  The levee had broken and the resulting flood of sound completely saturated everything in its path.

Engine Kid toured relentlessly.  They were constantly on the road playing every nook and cranny they possibly could.  Any moment not spent on the road was instead spent focused on making their new material as potent as possible. Early in 94′ the band decided to pay homage to their mutual love of jazz/fusion and recorded three instrumental pieces that would become a split album with like minded powerhouse Iceburn. The Engine Kid/Iceburn album showcased each group’s love of jazz loosely framed by the intense enthusiasm of underground music.  The album was released by Revelation records in 1994.

During the summer of 94’ the band reconvened with producer John Goodmanson at Bad Animals & AVAST! studios to record the new material that was literally bleeding out of the reinvigorated trio.  These recorded songs were much more progressive, heavier, harder and more focused than past works.  They even tackled John Coltranes’ “OLE” adding saxophone and trumpet from their brothers in Silkworm.  In March of 1995 Revelation records released these recordings as the Angel Wings album.  Unfortunately “the Kid” flew too close to the sun and broke up very shortly after the album’s release.

Everything Left Inside 6xLP box set (RSD release) includes: 

LORD 288.1 Engine Kid-“Novocaine/Astronaut” 12”

LORD 289 Engine Kid – Bear Catching Fish 2xLP

LORD 290 Engine Kid – Angel Wings 2xLP

LORD 288.2  Engine Kid – Split w/ Iceburn /Everything Left Inside 12”

Asclepius is the new album from the ever-evolving and adventurous collective Iceburn, who return with their first new material in twenty years, which Southern Lord will release on June 25th on LP and digital formats. 

Sample the track “Dahlia Rides the Firebird” in this teaser video on YouTube.

Much like the mythical ouroboros that appear in their music, Iceburn have come full circle, as Gentry Densley comments, “Iceburn had always been about progressing and pushing the boundaries, pushing the music ahead of ourselves so we had to work to catch up.  This new record comes from a place of rediscovery of who we are deep down, a place that with all it’s challenges and comforts, ultimately feels like home.” 

He continues, “In recent years Iceburn basically became four friends hanging out and working on music.  After all going in different directions for so many years we found ways to embrace our earliest influences and the foundations of our musical selves.  We basically cycled back to the way we made music in our heyday, our salad days, and it felt right once again.”

The rawness of Asclepius harks back to the days of their early records (such as Hephaestus), and fuses elements of metal, jazz, psychedelia, and rock with a seamless flow, monolithic riffs, swirling harmonies, and a groove that are the cornerstones of their sound.

Asclepius comprises two long-form tracks, “Healing The Ouroboros” and “Dahlia Rides the Firebird“, the latter is based on an old traditional Greek tune. With some members majoring in classics/philosophy, music/composition and studying ethnomusicology – classic mythology has always been a key reference point for the themes of their music. That the new record is named after the god of healing and medicine and arriving at this moment in time is coincidence, as the band comments, “It felt like we needed healing even before this pandemic hit.”

The line-up on Asclepius represents the core of Iceburn through the early formative years.  Iceburn, later the Iceburn Collective, initially existed from 1990 to 2001, later reuniting in 2007 with this current lineup again at the core.  The band’s initial output slowly evolved from hardcore and metal to free improvisation and noise,  The 10 year arc saw the band following their own path and becoming more and more obscure as they got deeper into unknown musical worlds.  By 2000 the cycle seemed complete and Iceburn did their final tour in Europe 2001.  In 2007 this early core crew reunited to play a local anniversary show focused on the earliest material. Every few years since they would get together for another ‘reunion’ until that word became more of a joke, it was clear the band was back, getting together every week, and working on new material. 

Iceburn Line Up:
Joseph ‘Chubba’ Smith – drums, founding member of Iceburn from 1990-’93 then 2007-present
James Holder – guitar, was also a founding member from ’90-’95 and ’07 to present
Cache Tolman – bass, ’91-97 off and on, and ’07 to present
Gentry Densley – guitar and vocals, 1990 to present

Asclepius was recorded and engineered by Andy Patterson (SubRosa, INVDRS, Insect Ark, and The Otolith) a collaborator also for Gentry’s other band’s Eagle Twin and Ascend. 

Pre-order Asclepius on BANDCAMP or via SOUTHERN LORD.

Asclepius track list:  
1) Healing The Ouroboros 
2) Dahlia Rides the Firebird

ICEBURN ON BANDCAMP | SOUTHERN LORD | SOUTHERN LORD EUROPE

Nadja reveal another track “Starres” from their forthcoming album Luminous Rot, which will be released on CD and Digital formats via Southern Lord on May 21, with the LP version arriving on August 13. Luminous Rot pre-orders are live today, and info can be found on the Southern Lord store and via Bandcamp.

About the track and video, Nadja comments: “‘Starres‘ is about both inner- and outerspace, a conflation of the internal neural-network of the human brain with the external cosmos, and how the act of observation might alter those, both from the viewpoint of the observer and the one observed. The video attempts to replicate something of that feeling of cognitive dissonance in the observer, taking a mundane image of houses and warping them, both through reflective filming and digital effects.”

Watch and share the official video for “Starres” on YouTube.

On Luminous Rot, Nadja have refined their signature sound which combines the atmospheric textures of shoegaze and ambient/electronic music with the heaviness, density, and volume of metal, noise, and industrial. The duo retain their overblown/ambient sound, and explore shorter and more tightly structured songs reflecting their interests not only in metal, but post-punk, cold-wave, shoegaze, and industrial.

Thematically, the album explores ideas of ‘first contact’ and the difficulties of recognizing alien intelligence. This was in part inspired by reading such writers as Stanislaw Lem and Cixin Lui — in particular, theories on astro-physics, multi-dimensionality, and spatial geometry in “The Three Body Problem” — as well as Margaret Wertheim’s “A Field Guide To Hyperbolic Space,” about mathematician Daina Taimina’s work with crochet to illustrate hyperbolic space and geometry.  The album was recorded between their home studio, Broken Spine Studios, or Nadja’s live rehearsal studio, both in the district of Lichtenberg, Berlin.

Luminous Rot marks the first album mixed by someone else, who in this case was David Pajo. The band comment, “as big fans of Slint, we thought he might fore-front the more angular, post-punk elements of our music – the mix is quite different from our previous albums. But, as usual, we had James Plotkin (Khanate, OLD, etc) master the album as we trust his ears and aesthetic, as he’s mastered numerous records of ours.

Luminous Rot track list:
1. Intro
2. Luminous Rot
3. Cuts On Your Hands
4. Starres
5. Fruiting Bodies
6. Dark Inclusions

Additional bio:  
Nadja has released numerous albums on many different underground labels—Alien8 Recordings, Daymare Records, Robotic Empire, Hydrahead Records, Gizeh Records, and Important Records, to name a few—including their own imprint, Broken Spine Productions.

The duo has toured extensively around the world—including performances at such festivals as SXSW, FIMAV, Roadburn, Donaufest, Le Guess Who, Incubate, and Unsound—and sharing stages with the likes of Earth, OM, Khanate, Tim Hecker, Ben Frost, and Godflesh.  

Originally from Toronto, Canada, for the last decade the duo has been based in Berlin, Germany.

BANDCAMP | INSTAGRAM | FACEBOOK | NADJA WEBSITE

Nadja share special video footage recorded at The Black Lodge in Berlin, which originally premiered exclusively for Roadburn Redux last Friday – now available to view here. About this new material, Nadja comments: “Early in 2021, the Black Lodge and Salon Oblique invited us to participate in their series of filmed performances by Berlin artists. For this session, we chose to perform a new composition, Seemannsgarn, an extended, meditative piece we wrote about a liminal and tranquil green space/urban waterway in our quiet corner of Berlin, now in flux and with an uncertain future, threatened by gentrification and development.”

Watch Nadja’s “Seemannsgarn” performance on YouTube.

This standalone piece does not appear on their forthcoming album Luminous Rot, which shall be released on CD and DL formats via Southern Lord on May 21st, with the LP version arriving on August 13th. Pre-order information incoming soon.

On the new album, Nadja have refined their signature sound which combines the atmospheric textures of shoegaze and ambient/electronic music with the heaviness, density, and volume of metal, noise, and industrial. The duo retain their overblown/ambient sound, and explore shorter and more tightly structured songs reflecting their interests not only in metal, but post-punk, cold-wave, shoegaze, and industrial.

Thematically, the album explores ideas of ‘first contact’ and the difficulties of recognising alien intelligence. This was in part inspired by reading such writers as Stanislaw Lem and Cixin Lui — in particular, theories on astro-physics, multi-dimensionality, and spatial geometry in “The Three Body Problem” — as well as Margaret Wertheim’s “A Field Guide To Hyperbolic Space,” about mathematician Daina Taimina’s work with crochet to illustrate hyperbolic space and geometry.

The album was recorded between their home studio, Broken Spine Studios, or Nadja’s live rehearsal studio, both in the district of Lichtenberg, Berlin.

Luminous Rot marks the first album mixed by someone else, who in this case was David Pajo. The band comment, “as big fans of Slint, we thought he might fore-front the more angular, post-punk elements of our music – the mix is quite different from our previous albums. But, as usual, we had James Plotkin (Khanate, OLD, etc) master the album as we trust his ears and aesthetic, as he’s mastered numerous records of ours.”

Revisit the title track, “Luminous Rot”(also streaming on Bandcamp, Apple and Spotify)

Luminous Rot, track list: 
1. Intro
2. Luminous Rot
3. Cuts On Your Hands
4. Starres
5. Fruiting Bodies
6. Dark Inclusions

Additional bio:  
Nadja has released numerous albums on many different underground labels—Alien8 Recordings, Daymare Records, Robotic Empire, Hydrahead Records, Gizeh Records, and Important Records, to name a few—including their own imprint, Broken Spine Productions.

The duo has toured extensively around the world—including performances at such festivals as SXSW, FIMAV, Roadburn, Donaufest, Le Guess Who, Incubate, and Unsound—and sharing stages with the likes of Earth, OM, Khanate, Tim Hecker, Ben Frost, and Godflesh.    

Originally from Toronto, Canada, for the last decade the duo has been based in Berlin, Germany.

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Record Store Day Release Available June 12, 2021 With Additional Format Arriving Later From Southern Lord.

Engine Kid, the post hardcore collective featuring Greg Anderson (Southern Lord label owner, also in Sunn O))), Goatsnake & Thorr’s Hammer) announce a special Record Store Day 6 x LP box set release Everything Left Inside, featuring the Novocaine/Astronaut 12 inch, Bear Catching Fish 2xLP, Angel Wings 2xLP and Split w/ Iceburn / Everything Left Inside 12 inch.  A black vinyl version of the box is set for RSD on June 12th (not available outside of the U.S.) with additional versions of the record for the rest of the world to arrive at a later date. Digital for the time being is available via Bandcamp. 

Watch (+ share) the Everything Left Inside trailer on YouTube.

Almost 30 years since the inception of Engine Kid and the trio find themselves comprehending the enormity of their creation, honouring and celebrating the mountains they formed and the canyons they created.  

Engine Kid was born in Seattle, WA 1991.  The band’s original lineup consisted of guitarist/vocalist Greg Anderson (Southern Lord, Sunn O))), Thorr’s Hammer, Goatsnake), drummer Chris Vandebrooke & bassist Art Behrman.  The three had all been in hardcore/punk bands around town and all had a burning desire to create a sound that was unlike anything they had done in the past.   After just a few months of existence they quickly recorded and self-released the Novocaine 7”.  Circa 92’ a close friend and bassist Brian Kraft (Krafty) replaced Behrman, and at that moment the entire aesthetic and execution of sound became heavier, darker and extremely dynamic.  The power trio was picked up by local label C/Z records and set out upon recording the new music they were quickly creating. In 1993 the band had two releases on C/Z; their first offering was the Astronaut five song EP recorded by John Goodmanson.  The songs were primitive and exemplified the bands worship of Slint and their loud/quiet song dynamic  In the summer of 93’ the band drove all the way to Chicago to record with their hero Steve Albini in the basement of his house. They emerged with the eight song album they called: Bear Catching Fish.  Albini intuitively captured the band exactly as they were at that moment: raw, vulnerable and mammoth.

Shortly after the albums’ release Jade Devitt replaced Vandebrooke on drums. This transition was extremely crucial in the “second phase” of the group. Devitt was an absolute beast and his power helped launch the band miles beyond where they had ever been before.  The sound of “The Kid” started to transform into a sound much more of their own.  The three dudes were hellbent on pushing the bounds of sonic exploration to its absolute fullest.  Suddenly there was an abundance of depth within the sounds they were creating. Eclectic influences of punk/hardcore (Black Flag, Die Kreuzen), Metal (Entombed, Carcass)  and even jazz (Mahavishnu Orchestra, Miles Davis electric era) were in a full collision course with the already dynamically heavy foundation of the band.  The levee had broken and the resulting flood of sound completely saturated everything in its path.

Engine Kid toured relentlessly.  They were constantly on the road playing every nook and cranny they possibly could.  Any moment not spent on the road was instead spent focused on making their new material as potent as possible. Early in 94′ the band decided to pay homage to their mutual love of jazz/fusion and recorded three instrumental pieces that would become a split album with like minded powerhouse Iceburn. The Engine Kid/Iceburn album showcased each group’s love of jazz loosely framed by the intense enthusiasm of underground music.  The album was released by Revelation records in 1994.

During the summer of 94’ the band reconvened with producer John Goodmanson at Bad Animals & AVAST! studios to record the new material that was literally bleeding out of the reinvigorated trio.  These recorded songs were much more progressive, heavier, harder and more focused than past works.  They even tackled John Coltranes’ “OLE” adding saxophone and trumpet from their brothers in Silkworm.  In March of 1995, Revelation records released these recordings as the Angel Wings album.  Unfortunately “the Kid” flew too close to the sun and broke up very shortly after the album’s release.

Everything Left Inside 6xLP box set (RSD release) includes: 
LORD 288.1 Engine Kid-“Novocaine/Astronaut” 12”
LORD 289 Engine Kid-Bear Catching Fish 2xLP
LORD 290 Engine Kid-Angel Wings 2xLP
LORD 288.2  Engine Kid-Split w/ Iceburn /Everything Left Inside 12”

Look for the co-release on June 12th (RSD) from Southern Lord & DVL Recordings. Non-RSD versions to arrive later.

Neon Christ, the cult hardcore luminaries featuring William DuVall (BL’AST!, Comes With The Fall, Alice In Chains), Jimmy Demer (Gardens of.., Accidents), Danny Lankford (Gardens of.., GoDevils, Accidents) and Randy DuTeau (Gardens of), announce a co-release between Southern Lord and DVL Recordings for Record Store Day (June 12th), reissuing a deluxe edition of their 1984 sessions. Digital format will also be available via Bandcamp only, and non-Record Store formats will follow at a later date via Southern Lord. 

To remaster the original tapes using an all-analog process, William DuVall made multiple trips to Nashville to one of the few remaining studios (Welcome To 1979) maintaining the vintage technology to play and process the audio – his account of this is documented below. Side one of 1984 features the original Neon Christ 7″ EP, and side two contains the four songs of the Labor Day session, all on heavyweight vinyl at 45 RPM for maximum fidelity. The package includes a full-colour gatefold sleeve and a 12-page oral history booklet featuring dozens of never-before-seen photographs. 

Watch (+ share) the Neon Christ – 1984 teaser video on YouTube

About the remastering process, William DuVall reveals:

“The studio I went to in Nashville to remaster the audio is called Welcome To 1979, aptly named because it’s like entering a time warp in the best possible way. It’s becoming increasingly rare and miraculous to find a facility anywhere in the world that can do all-analogue audio mastering for vinyl LPs. What’s additionally amazing (for all my fellow audio nerds out there) is that Welcome To 1979 also does lacquer plating right there on-site. I know of no other place in America that does recording, mixing, mastering, lacquer cutting, and lacquer plating all under one roof. As if that’s not enough, they also manufacture and refurbish tape machines. Pretty incredible.

 Remastering the 1984 Neon Christ recordings has been very enlightening and fulfilling. I hadn’t listened to that music in a studio atmosphere since back when it was originally recorded. It was nice hanging out with those kids again. I was sixteen writing those songs. Neon Christ is quintessential youth music from a tumultuous time, both in our own lives and in the world at large. It documents the birth of a new music and culture that would influence everything that came afterward. We loved being a part of that emerging scene. We’re even more proud now of the contributions we and so many of our friends made. The energy and emotions we captured remain timeless.

I had planned to do a proper Neon Christ reissue through my label, DVL Recordings, this year. It must have been the right time because, as soon as I’d made up my mind to do it, Greg from Southern Lord reached out about doing exactly the same thing. I suggested we join forces. I admire what the Southern Lord label has achieved. Suffice it to say, all of us in Neon Christ are extremely honoured that there’s any interest at all in what we did so many years ago.”

About Neon Christ:

Neon Christ formed in the fall of 1983 with William DuVall on guitar, Jimmy Demer on drums, Danny Lankford on bass, and Randy DuTeau on vocals. They made their debut in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day 1984. That March, they recorded their eponymous debut 10-song EP. Released in June ’84, the EP’s songs exemplify the band’s signature musical diversity, from DRI-style thrashers like “Parental Suppression” to the atmospheric improv of “After.” A short east coast tour followed. On Labor Day 1984, the band recorded four tracks in the home studio of Nick Jameson, of Foghat fame. A few months later, “Ashes to Ashes” was included on the International Peace/War compilation released by MDC’s R Radical Records, bringing the band worldwide exposure.

Neon Christ shared the stage with legends of 80s hardcore including the Dead Kennedys, Circle Jerks, and Corrosion of Conformity. In 1985, the band added Shawn Devine on second guitar, as their sound and songs became slower, heavier, and more melodic. DuVall wrote an album’s worth of songs in 1985, but only “Savior (Drawn In)” was ever recorded in what would be the band’s final studio session on December 26, 1985 (the master tapes were lost). Returning to the four-piece original lineup, the band played a handful of Atlanta shows and then took a break in March of 1986. A few months later, William moved to Santa Cruz, CA, to join BL’AST!, and Jimmy, Danny, and Randy formed Gardens of…William later founded jazz/punk/world improvisers No Walls. In 1999, he would form Comes With The Fall and move the band to Los Angeles, where he struck up a friendship and musical collaboration with Jerry Cantrell. William joined Alice in Chains as vocalist and guitarist in 2006. On February 2, 2008, Neon Christ reunited to headline the Ratlanta Punkfest 2.

To this day, the band members maintain a close friendship, as well as a desire to honour the legacy of the group. So when longtime fan Greg Anderson of Southern Lord contacted them about reissuing a deluxe edition of Neon Christ’s 1984 sessions, 1984 quickly came to life. 

NEON CHRIST 1984 TRACK LISTING:
1. Parental Suppression
2. The Draft Song
3. Winding
4. Bad Influence
5. Neon Christ
6. We Mean Business
7. Yoof
8. It’s Mine
9. Doom
10. After
11. The Knife That Cuts So Deep
12. Ashes To Ashes
13. Blind Patriot
14. The Death They’ll Give You

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