Ghost of the Russian Empire
The Mammoth
Thirty Ghosts Records

Ghost of the Russian Empire is a quartet based in Austin Texas, and their album is the first Apocalyptic Surf Rock album ever. In other words, their debut full-length album The Mammoth sounds experimental, complex, haunting, doom inducing, and yet somehow remains hopeful and energetic. More ambient than rocking, most of the tracks evoke something natural, like the sea, and paint a primordial vastness with reverberated, barely audible and at times completely unintelligible lyrics. From beginning to end, the infamous grey sky over St. Petersburg Square slowly drifts its way across the earth toward the end of the world. It envelops everything in its wake, looms amid cities, along beaches, and over rainforests. A follow up to last year’s With Fiercest Demolition EP, The Mammoth sometimes becomes so ambient you forget it’s on, then it haunts you with drone-ish drumming and again gets your attention. Each track holds natural layers of darkness as exemplified in “The White Sea”, my favorite track. “We rose from the dirt/got off of all fours” and now we’re “just chasing at nothing” lead singer Brandon Whitten explains. Only a hollow echo remains from the animal life that was once abundant on earth – like the mammoth. – Jonathan Mendick, Mannerist Zine.

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Caterpillar Tracks
Scrape the Summer
Phratry Records

Caterpillar Tracks has followed up their 2004 self-titled album with an EP, Scrape the Summer. Though it’s a short five-song CD, it packs an emotional punch. A split release on both Phratry Records and Bacteria Lounge, guitarist Dave Cupp’s own record label, Scrape displays noise and rock. Four of five songs are rock; one of five is noise. The four rock tracks display layered guitars, screaming vocals, solid thumping bass, and adept drumming. My problem with the singing is that Shane Johnson ruins his otherwise talented voice by screaming, and in doing so, renders the lyrics indecipherable. Known to be a socially conscious band, their best statement is their lyric-less-ambient-noise-drum-n-bass epic, and my favorite on the album, “Midnight at the Taser Ground”. Also the last track, “Midnight” leaves you with a hopeful feeling, because after the rhythm-less first five minutes with simulated grenade explosions and other destruction, a triumphant, powerful lead guitar line floats lingeringly above the fray, signaling that you have survived a track written by some disturbed individuals. Only one minute later, the guitar drops out again. You are left with a death march. Then the snare drum becomes a flickering heartbeat. Then it dies. Thank goodness. – Jonathan Mendick, Mannerist Zine

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So I’ve been informed by Ella (who’s here in the states with us for a bit but from Germany) that there is a European competition where each country sends one band to compete for …well, I’m assuming the title of ‘most awesoem band in Europe’.

Geiri sent this in from the Icelandic - even though Iceland is NOT a part of Europe and they like it that way:

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Our homey Omer Saar from Universoul Productions has a dope project going on and it’s for a good cause. You don’t find too many people these days doing this, so listen up…

“THE GREEN ALBUM is a project I’ve had mostly finished for 3 years now. It’s a full-length Hip-Hop remix album over all Al Green sample-made beats. It will be the first official music project I have shared with the world. I truly love it and I want to share it with as many people as possible.Most of the songs being remixed come from hip hop’s “golden era.” Artist such as De La Soul, Mos Def, Big L, Ghostface, Method Man, Notorious B.I.G., Pharcyde, Nas, AZ, Pharoahe Monch, Fugees, Jay-Z, Das Efx, Mobb Deep, and Busta Rhymes. I added a few other artists that I’m a fan of such as MF DOOM, Saukrates, and FINALE. I will almost definitely make a few more tracks in addition to those.”

The Green Album will be released on May 27th here. Make set a reminder to check it out. 

Profits from this project go to a great non-profit foundation called STAY TRUE, which was founded by Omer’s brother Nir Saar. Their mission is to increase social awareness and engagement of those students that are most affected by the ailments of society.

Seshn fully suppors Omer and the Stay True Foundation. You should do the same! 

A few of us here at the ergo office are fans of electronic music.  If you know anything about it… you would know that Deadmau5 is killing it right now.  To make a long story short, we hooked up with Beatports man of the year.  Here are some photos of Deadmau5 from the Coachella Music Festival.  

Deadmau5 working in his office wearing the ergo “day job” walk shorts 

 Deadmau5 (on the right) rocking the “City Slicker” walk short chilling with DJ Aero, Tommy Lee, and Steve Duda. 

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Hey guys my name is Steven Spence. I’m the drummer for a band called Black Tide. Check us out if you haven’t heard of us yet. I fucking love drumming, but it’s not my whole life. I used to skate every single day before I joined the band, it was my other passion. Skating would get pretty expensive for me though because I would snap decks like crazy. Regardless, it was worth the money, there’s nothing like sporting a brand new deck with fresh grip tape.

 
Here’s a shot of our band. I am on the far left. 

Anyway, I say that I used to skate everyday, not because I got bored of it, but because I destroyed my knee. About a year ago, July 18th of last year actually, we had a show in Nashville, Tennessee, with a band called Trivium. They invited us out to open for them at a skate park / venue called Rocketown.  We were stoked because at the time, it would have been our biggest show. The turnout was pretty good, there must have been about 600 people in the audience.

After meeting some fans and signing some tits, the owner of the venue saw us fucking around outside with our boards and asked us if we wanted to skate the park. It was a pretty bad ass indoor park, and who in his right mind would pass up an opportunity to skate privately at a park? So with the entire place to ourselves, the rest of the band and I were skating around, having a blast with some friends. After a little while I decided to kick it up a notch. The problem was that not all of us had our own deck. We were rotating, and one of the boards was a lame-ass aluminum deck that I fucking LOATHE. Well, it was my turn for the metal piece of shit, and even though it was a bullshit excuse for a board, I wasn’t about to sit out on a run- BAD DECISION! To make a long story short, I got some air on that flimsy shit stick and somehow it came out from under me. I happened to do some kind of flip in the process and came down with all of my body weight and momentum on my left knee. FUCK THAT SHIT! It swelled up to the size of my head! Everyone wanted me to go to a doctor, but I told them to fuck off. I hate going to doctors. Whenever I go to a doctor, they all tell me the same shit, “Basically you’re in pain”, “Just stay off of it”, No shit! Tell me something I don’t know. All doctors are good for is prescribing pills.

Anyway, I don’t even know what really happened to my knee, although it was definitely serious considering it’s not until now, almost a year later, that I’m finally almost fully recovered. I couldn’t even really play drums properly for a while. And it’s not until recently that I’m able to even fuck around on my skateboard again without it hurting. Finally I’m back!

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One of the bands making waves for So Cal heavy music label, facedown records, is hitting the road and you can see what all the buzz is about by checking them out live. Here are the latest batch of tourdates from Kingston Falls.

May 23 - Richmond, IN @ The Outlet
May 24 - Brighton, MI @ Meijer Skate Park (Bled Fest)
(May 25 - June 7 w/ For Today & This or The Apocolypse)
May 25 - South Bend, IN @ The Underground
May 26 - Terre Haute, IN @ The THM Venue
May 27 - Evansville, IN @ Boney Jones
May 28 - Dewey, IL @ The Shed
May 31 - Spencer, IA @ New Life Worship Center
June 1 - Buffalo, MN @ The Vault
June 2 - Duluth, MN @ The Herman Town Church
June 3 - Fargo, ND @ The Aquarium
June 4 - Bismarck, ND @ The Light Club
June 5 - Grand Rapids, MN @ The Light Club
June 6 - Alexandria, MN @ Club 1
June 7 - Willmar, MN @ The Warehouse
(June13 – June 29 w/ Take it Back)
June 12 - Wilmore KY @ Icthus Festival on Edge Stage
June 20 - Jonesboro, AR @ The Commonwealth
June 21 - Joplin MO @ The Foundry
June 22 - Little Rock, AR @ Vino’s
June 23 - Springfield, MO @ Nubrew Coffeehouse
June 24 - Tulsa OK @ The Pinkeye
June 25 - Spencer IA @ Bethany Lutheran Church
June 26 - Fargo, ND @ The Red Raven
June 27 - Chaska MN - Redemption Fest @ River Alliance church
June 28 - Buffalo MN @ The Vault
Jul 3 - Bushnell, Illinois @ CORNERSTONE FESTIVAL: The Underground Stage (FACEDOWN NIGHT)
July 17- Wilmar, MN @ The Sunshine Festival
Aug 9 - Terre Haute, IN @ Lit Fest
Aug 16 - Saint Louis, MO @ Lit Fest

Three huge names have announced a summer tour, and you’re not going to believe your eyes when you see who it is: are all going to be headed to a city near you! The dates are on the flyer, and you’re in for it, as the these bands have never been billed together like this before.

‘Skateboard P’ and NERD have just released a video to their new single, ‘Everyone Nose’. Now it doesn’t take a very intelligent person to realize that this song is about the Yayo. The video features skanky girls going in and out of bathrooms, sweating and wiping their nostrils. If you have the time to watch the video, you will also notice appearances by Kanye West, Lindsay Lohan and Corey Kennedy. 

So here’s the question, is Pharrell and the NERD crew, pro or anti-drugs? It’s hard to tell but this video is LAME.

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I admit, the Dandy Warhols were cool a while back, and then I saw the movie “Dig!” and I thought the band was a bunch of lousy whining idiots. Meanwhile, I started to listen to their arch rivals, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, and then snapped out of it when the new Living Sacrifice Album came out.

But after a long stint in musical limbo, of sorts, the Warhols are back with new music and a tour of the earth that actually likes them.

The new album will be streamed first to their loyal fans via their website, and released in physical form through their very own label. If you’re interested in all that…check out the official Dandy Warhols website, and if you’re lucky see them on tour.

I saw them recently, and they aren’t half bad…which means they aren’t half good either.

05-12 Portland, OR - East End (album listening party)
07-04 Bilbao, Spain - Bilbao BBK Live Festival
07-05 Cluses, France - Lien de Musiques en Stock
07-06 Oslo, Norway - Rockefeller Music Hall
07-11 Ostrava, Czech Republic - Colours of Ostrava
07-13 Liège, Belgium - Les Ardentes Festival
07-14 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Melkweg
07-16 Zurich, Switzerland - Abart Music Club
07-19 Bodmin, England - National Trust (Lanhydrock Festival)
07-20 London, England - Lovebox Weekender
07-25 Galway, Ireland - Galway Arts Festival

news src [Pitchfork