Sunn o))) C/D, S&D.

"The whole purpose of playing live is to blow people's heads off," says Manowar bassist Joey DeMaio . "That's what we do; that's the energy of this band. We're out there to kick ass. We're out there to turn our gear on and blast. We're out there to kill. That's what metal is. Anybody who says otherwise is not playing heavy metal. We will melt your face!"

My favourite (from what I've heard) is White 2 -- it's got heavy drone, snarling black metal-ish vocals, the works.

I haven't heard the new one yet.

The new album is brutal.

The new one is too fast!

I think Sunn O))) are the Charlie Chaplin of metal

Khanate get better with each release. I never listen to the debut, but Things Viral was brilliantly death-marchy, and the new one sort of combines the styles of the two prior releases into their best effort to date. The first track is seriously terrifying; I might play it to scare off trick-or-treaters tonight.

Yeah, that was the first I heard from them as well, and very good it is.

They are a little too harrowing for home listening. But live...amazing.

???

Oh well High On Fire supporting Mastodon on their UK tour will need to suffice for now :)

i wasnt even drunk when i wrote that ;-)

it's true though, the way they exaggerate every aspect of metal in a sublime way reminds me of him....

ah! I kind of get it now. :)

Khanate = I've only heard the new record, and I like it a lot....reminds me of The Necks if they played drone metal...I definitely want to track down the earlier stuff...to anyone who has them...is it all worth getting?

btw, pdf....khanate will make those trick or treaters piss their pants...go for it!

Ah, you were there? V. cool.

From what I could hear of them through the walls, rather loud.

More amp-gazing than shoe-gazing; the time I saw them at Tonic (being gently sprinkled with dust shaken loose from the rafters the whole time), they spent the whole set facing their amps, never once turning around to look at the audience. That night there were four of them - two guitarists and a bassist, and one person on keyboards which were laid flat on the stage, so he/she was hunched on knees and elbows to play. (Still not looking at the crowd.)

upcoming shows include - whitehouse, earth, sunn o)))

http://www.artforum.com/inprint/id=9859

even though the band sights earth and melvins as their biggest influences this guy wants to make it seem like Sunn0)))'s music comes from nowhere - just these two crazy metal guys.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/28/magazine/28artmetal.html

Exactly.

Heres a David Byrne review of Sunn o)))
http://journal.davidbyrne.com/2006/05/53106_heavy_the.html

I like the music itself, but only occasionally, and my affection for the band depends greatly on their nonmusical appeal (production of collectible objects, think value, weirdness factor, etc.).

Black One is the best thing they've ever done, closely followed by the White albums and Flight of the Behemoth. Didn't like 'em so much when they were following more closely in Earth's footsteps. Earth just did the dreamlike magma-metal thing a million times better.

P.S. Haven't we passed the pull-date on their novelty value? Where does the line for the backlash start?

how long have you been here?

http://cgi.ebay.com/SUNN-O-BOX-SET-WHITE-1-2-boris-doom-earth-khanate_W0QQitemZ220011927873

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SUNN-O-BOX-SET-WHITE-1-2-boris-earth-khanate_W0QQitemZ140014886584QQihZ004QQcategoryZ306QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SUNN-O-boxset-White-Isis-drone-boris-DOOM-Record_W0QQitemZ150018570045QQihZ005QQcategoryZ306QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

- Sir Mix-a-Lot

quick Sunn 0))) question/comment

have you HEARD the new Oracle release? fucking great. Sunn, Boris, Earth/Melvins, and Mayhem collab? sure .... why the hell not?

thoughts?

Oracle is great.

wasn't into it. the jackhammer was annoying.

It's funny how you can track their influences over time. "Hey, Greg, you think anybody else has ever heard of this band Einsturzende Neubaten?" "Nah, we're still the coolest guys on the block, Steve..."

D

I like Oracle too.

dud

why?

http://www.slimsmith.com/blastfirstpetite/sunno.html

Ooohhh...

http://www.southernlord.com/index2.php

Anyone heard the Dømkirke recordings? Haven't heard one second of it, but with Attila Csihar, Steve Moore and Lasse Marhaug on the team, it must be worth a listen.

Domkirke is badass. The first side is pretty organ heavy and has Attila Csihar basically belting Gregorian chant, and the rest is pretty "standard" Sunn 0)), but still great.

I'm going to see them tonight!!!!!!!! OMGz WTF

I got my Domkirke lp yesterday. Its great.

Btw at the current gigs theres a 3xlp of Grimm Robes Demos. It has the extra tracks on vinyl that were on the Daymare cd version. $40. My mate picked me one up.
Apparently the hoodies are very in demand and are selling out very fast as theres only a ltd amount on sale at each gig.

I love em, but I have no idea how this band convinced people to buy all this expensive vinyl

Even from a sound stand point, yes the lows are hypothetically better, but to me drones sounds best without crackles and bullshit.

Some people just prefer vinyl.

crackles are different than pops -- if you keep yr vinyl clean it'll never crackle

Most people buying the vinyl do keep it clean. They never play it! It's for ebay only..

vinyl is like investing in gold for poor people.

http://cgi.ebay.com/SUNN-o-DISCOGRAPHY-MEGA-LOT-Khanate-Isis-Earth-ktl_W0QQitemZ190266295816QQcmdZViewItemQQptZMusic_on_Vinyl?hash=item190266295816&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A570|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318

black one freaked me out a couple years back and i haven't listened to dudes since.

are the white albums any less terrifying? or should i try that Earth album Hex instead?

New album details/promo hash:

SUNN O))) is proud to present their 7th studio album, after 10 years of existence, entitled Monoliths & Dimensions. The album showcases the core guitar duo - Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson - incorporating influences from a plethora of guest musicians, bringing the SUNN O))) sound to epic new levels. The band also collaborated with composer Eyvind Kang (notable for his work with John Zorn, Marc Ribot, Bill Frisell, etc.) on various acoustic ensembles, in addition to the Helios fueled electric guitars and basses. Key players on the album include Australian guitar genius Oren Ambarchi, enigmatic Hungarian vocalist Attila Csihar (Mayhem, Tormentor, etc.) and slow music godfather Dylan Carlson (Earth), as well as Julian Priester (worked with Sun Ra in the 50s, John Coltrane’s African Brass band, and Herbie Hancock’s Sextant band) and new-music horn player Stuart Dempster. There’s also an upright bass trio, French & English horns, harp & flute duo, piano, brass, reed & strings ensembles, and a Viennese woman’s choir led by Persian vocal savant Jessika Kenney.

The album is not "SUNN O))) with strings" or "metal meets orchestra" material. The band took an approach concentrating on more of allusion toward the timbre of feedback and the instruments involved, so the piece is really illusory, beautiful and not entirely linear, stating that the end product is "the most musical piece we’ve done, and also the heaviest, powerful and most abstract set of chords we've laid to tape" The album was recorded and mixed by Randall Dunn & Mell Dettmer at various points over the last 2 years, and will be released late May 2008. Monoliths & Dimensions is practice in density, gravity and momentum.

Monoliths & Dimensions track listing:
Aghartha (17:34)
Big Church [megszentségteleníthetetlenségeskedéseitekért] (09:43)
Hunting & Gathering (Cydonia) (10:02)
Alice (16:21)

MAXIMUM VOLUME YIELDS MAXIMUM RESULTS.

i hope the vinyl comes out the same time as the cd. i hate the way SL tries to make you buy both formats by waiting 6mths-year between cd and lp

8=========<3

Is that real, Ned, or is it just a ruse to get slowcoremetal dudes all riled up.

because consider me riled

" . . in addition to the Helios fueled electric guitars"

Mr. Creed? I guess that would be too good to be true.

It's real, their PR folks just sent it along.

Mr. Creed? I guess that would be too good to be true.

― Soukesian

they probly just mean "sun" fueled guitars, but yeah, that would be bonarz+

http://www.jazzage1920s.com/estherwalker/images/sm-If-The-Dreams-That-I-Dream-Come-True-1919.jpg

It's real. There was chat about it a few weeks back on DFFD(used to be the Southern Lord Board)

The band took an approach concentrating on more of allusion toward the timbre of feedback and the instruments involved, so the piece is really illusory, beautiful and not entirely linear

Does this actually mean anything, or is it just a smokescreen to cover up the fact that the record will be yet another set of empty gestures played by buffoons? I'm sure there'll be plenty of "ltd edition" versions of it though. Only $49.99 at Aquarius!

These guys can fuck right off.

what do you have against empty gestures played by buffoons?

i know. sounds poignant. like young jeezy.

Well nothing in principle, but at least make it your own empty gestures, jeez.

just ribbin ya -- i actually don't have much interaction with the whole weird collector scum culture, so it doesn't bug me all that much. I've never met anyone who's super-into all that ltd. edition psych/folk/metal/aquarius records fetishism thang -- though they must exist, right? Are they like 78 collectors?

yes, they are r. crumb

What do people actually do with a £150 (or whatever) ltd edition version of a record they already own?

play it?

Doubt it!

gaze lovingly at it?

what do people do with any of the weird shit people collect? dolls, cars, stamps, shot glasses, etc. shelve it, display it, caress it, obsess about it, buy more...

i used to buy multiples but gave up. dont think i have any multiples of sunn tho.

except for pic disk version along with the vinyl. i dont have any cds tho except for tour ones that didnt come out on vinyl.

so that wasn't a picture of your hundred and leventy million copies of the torch LP you posted? cuz i wondered...

Actually one of the cds had a bonus live disc that wasnt going to be on vinyl so i bought that. But that' not what youre talking about. I havent bought anything off ebay apart from the vinyl of white 2 which i didnt have and i only paid £20 for it anyway(sells for way over that now)

haha naw, i do have 1 of the ordinary vinyls and a pic disk. I know lots on VLV who bought the whole set though.

i do have some mastodon and high on fire doubles, but that for my pension when i retire ;)

Most people tend to buy them to ebay later once they're OOP.

I have all their vinyl up through White 2 except for Flight of the Behemoth. One of them has a big unbroken wax seal on it.

Is this stuff worth anything? The band gave me copies of everything they put out up to that point... Nice guys!

yes

i need FOTB actually. do you have the original grimmrobes? thats worth $200+

all the early stuff is worth around that actually.

is it the grimmrobes with the seal? i bet it is!

on hydrahead?

I'll have to go look. Could be on Hydrahead... I don't remember there being any info on the outside and I never wanted to break the seal because I already had the original cd with the little printed on plastic sleeve...

I mean I knew they were valuable but not $200+ valuable. Stoked!

is it a pic disk? if so thats it

I wish I had that and FOTB on vinyl

Sunn o))) on the front cover of The Wire

http://amplificasom.blogspot.com/2009/03/proxima-wire.html

and you can buy an exclusive colour vinyl of domkirke from something called Hot Topic

http://www.hottopic.com/hottopic/store/muze_new.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524442196427&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302028381&bmUID=1236783588943

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y176/edwardiii/haha.gif

what exactly is hot topic? this has caused much consternation over on dffd

ok sunn o)))'s decent i guess but the wire has been jerking them off relentlessly for the like the past 5 years

hot topics is an alterna-trendy mall chain supporting the buying habits of teen goths and emo kids

I blame the economy

Urgent and key:

http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/210827/

Just read the WIRE feature - it's top notch.

This SunnO))) album is fucking great as well. It puts paid to that myth that only record collectors buy them. I mean it's not full of humalong songs like 'Learning To Fly' by The Bluetones but what is?

Which album? Domkirke?

No 'Monoliths & Dimensions'.

I shouldn't say this, like I'm sat here with a copy of it. I went to a playback at Southern in London a few days ago.

I mention this because the playback shredded one of the bass cones!

When Atilla's vocals first came in I nearly voided.

Or should that be 00Voided?

Hot Topic is a shitty store catering to overweight mall-punks as mentioned, BUT they are also the only place near me that regularly stocks Relapse releases. So my hand is forced to occasionally duck in, as when they had the Tombs and Obscura albums for $10.99. I may have to swing by to see if they actually have Domkirke tonight.

I'm writing a big piece on them for Signal to Noise and will be hearing the album on 4/3. Consequently I've been listening to a shitload of the older stuff recently. Some of the live albums don't do much for me, but Oracle is rising higher and higher in my estimation. It deserved better than a super-limited-edition release.

There's no record stores in my town now, but even when there was I doubt they would have stocked relapse or southern lord stuff, so i'd welcome a hot topic style shop here as its better than nothing. Only supermarkets sell (top 40) cd's here.

Well, Hot Topic is weird, the one by me has a tiny, tiny CD/vinyl section. 98% of it is your typical emo/mallpunk stuff (AFI, All Time Low, etc), but they carry some decent metal there on a very limited basis. I've picked up Emperor, Immortal, old Cannibal Corpse stuff there before. The Domkirke thing is weird because I've never seen Southern Lord stuff there before.

also, the economy

And Phil OTM, I think Oracle is one of my favorite things they've ever done, but the new one sounds pretty damn promising.

The Hot Topic promo is perversely cool. I hope they use any profits to finance more deluxe reissues of impossibly kvlt rarities.

I'm afraid Oracle is actually the only Sunn project I've hear that I really don't like. Black One, on the other hand, opened the door to a whole new world of music, and totally changed my listening habits. (First Striborg long player all day today, plus the new Menace Ruine)

ppl actually listen to sunn 0)))?

I thought we were just supposed to write articles, talk about them, and buy exorbitant vinyl...

if any journalists need help, I have some sped up sunn mp3s, you can get through their whole catalog in like 20 minutes, it's great they sound like bach fugues

Black One probably ranks right behind Oracle for me.

xpost: "I have some sped up sunn mp3s, you can get through their whole catalog in like 20 minutes, it's great they sound like bach fugues"

You're saying that as a zing, but I can imagine them putting that out. And, yes, damn your eyes, some of us actually do listen to them, though I don't know about any "ppl".

ppl actually listen to sunn 0)))?

I thought we were just supposed to write articles, talk about them, and buy exorbitant vinyl...

you're supposed to see them live. their recorded stuff doesn't really compare.

S: 00Void, Black One, Oracle, and Grimmrobe Demos

re: the record collectors comment, the last london show they did recently was basically full of metalheads
and a minority of 'indie' kids. it was METAL.

It's always been older doom metal guys with beards with a few indie kids thrown in. Plus not all metal fans look like stereotypical metal fans anyway.

first and only experience with sunn o)))...

accidently walked into one of their shows after hearing strange rumblings. very high. wasn't anyone on the door. sat in the door guy's chair. closed my eyes. total fucking bliss.

that's an awesome story! I love stumbling across cool shit, to experience something with 0 preconceived notions or expectations.

also, not to stereotype, but the sunn fans seem grimm + humorless.

maybe its an american thing. i get the impression american metal fans take the genre and themselves a bit
more seriously than british ones?

also, not to stereotype, but the sunn fans seem spergin' + humorless.

Urgent and key:

http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/210827/

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 11 March 2009 20:12 (Yesterday)

what's funny is that I watch about 1 south park episode every 2 years and this is the last one I saw

also, the hot topic site is down now... victim of tru cvlt hax0rz or south park goth kids???

Sounds like the first track on Super Ae..

on sndtrk of new Jim Jarmusch film

I'm finding that I quite like Sunn o))).

Anyone else get the new Soma tape?

http://www.tapeworm.org.uk/ttw03.html

Yeah I did, only played through once so far but drones away pretty swishily

I've still to play mine.

Can't find much in the ILM archives on Ascend's Ample Fire Within album, which I understand Greg Anderson is involved with. How does this compare to Greg's other stuff -- Goatsnake, Sunn O))), Teeth of Lions..., Pentemple and anything else I'm forgetting?

s'ok

Invisible Oranges has a new interview w/ O'Malley up today -- http://www.invisibleoranges.com/2010/06/interview-stephen-omalley-sunn-o-ktl/

Ascend's album was the best thing Greg's been involved with in years until M&D

this KTL shit is deep

seriously, Theme is on a whole new level of fucking ridiculously awesome

This just in:

http://www.roadburn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/SUNN-O-Roadburn-Festival-2011.jpg

I think 'Theme' by KTL is one of my favourite sounds in all of music ever

Swag)))

I made this and I am proud.

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3xrrz9Qnf1qz6av7o1_500.png

would buy the tshirt

ha, that's great

http://www.ideologic.org/news/view/sunn_o_west_coast_december_2012

Yes!

they playing the uk any time soon? I must catch these guys.

I thought they just had a European tour actually.

they played London, Manchester and Brighton in June

bah, missed it.

BUH.

http://sunn.bandcamp.com/

o'malley heads will like this one
http://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/95284880307/st-francis-duo-stephen-omalley-and-steve-noble

Holy shit: Sunn O))) & Scott Walker -- didn't see the other thread: Scott-O -- as in Scott Walker and SunnO)))

https://sunn-live.bandcamp.com/

I was at this show. Don't think I need to hear it again, though.

I was here. That was a good tour, but can't imagine I would pull out that rather than just listen to Monoliths.

That said I like that bands do this and maybe there is a real gem out there (if so point it out :)) that's great.

The most recent one on the page, from a couple of weeks ago in Bristol, was the most brutal Sunn show I've seen out of more than half a dozen, and features a Burning Witch cover at the start.

https://twitter.com/Seinfeld2000/status/710664541663666176

Two new Sunn O))) albums this year, both recorded by Steve Albini.... first in April, second later in the fall.

YES, PLEASE!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4miK2kxrHM

Wow! That is great news.

New interview via Whiney is up on Stereogum, too.

STEREOGUM: There was a story about dead pigeons falling out of the rafters somewhere during a Sunn O))) show that could use a fact-check. Is that real or fake?

O’MALLEY: I’ve never seen a dead bird. I’ve never seen a dead creature.

STEREOGUM: That’s what separates you guys from Slipknot.

O’MALLEY: I guess so.

ANDERSON: That’s one of the things.

hell yeah

#LifeMetal Vs. #TripMetal

strong interview

i usta work with Stephen in an office. Super-nice guy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uo4Jq-_tysc

Psyched to hear this in the context of a Sunn album

That's the best news about this; that Hildur is on board.

Oh seriously? Hell yesssssss.

Yeah, it's in Whiney's interview linked up here. Super stoked.

Another interview with a bit more details on both albums: https://newnoisemagazine.com/greg-anderson-on-sunn-o-new-album-life-metal/?fbclid=IwAR1s-yVTVaKvXzbzANe6SodeeXePg7fDaBqwzuG01E6lMY2m0jITeIXHajU

Love this part (so all analog the record is not ;)

Life Metal also features other collaborations on the first song, “Between Sleipnir’s Breaths.” “The intro is actually stolen from Bathory, the [1988] Blood Fire Death record,” Anderson admits. “What happened was that Stephen and I are obsessed with Bathory, especially that record. That’s my personal favorite. In the past, on [2005’s] Black One, there is a riff from Blood Fire Death that we just slowed down. Same notes, but you can’t tell; it’s unrecognizable, because we play it so slow. I love that intro of the horses going into battle, and I just joked and said, ‘Why don’t we run that through some amps?’ It was funny, because I was thinking, ‘Albini is not going to be into this idea. He’s probably going to be like, “I don’t know, guys,”’ but right away, he was like, ‘Where can I find that?’ He looked it up on YouTube and then ran that through his board. The only computer in the room is the one that Steve uses on chat forums, but there is no recording going on there. So, there was a computer involved in that he transferred YouTube, ran it through his board, and then we ran it through some amplifiers and distortion pedals and added our own horse samples.”

looking forward to this

So, any thoughts? I like it, but it's more like a return to form than a step forward. I feel like I've heard most of it before. But it's good to have new good Sunn O)))

I like it a lot.

I've only heard one track off it, which popped up on a shuffle and it sounded pretty fucking good. I'm always waiting for one of theirs or related side projects to sound something like that Ensemble Pearl album from about 6/7 years back, which imo ruled.

Yeah that Ensemble Pearl record was so, so good. I feel like it never really got the attention it deserved.

This album is basically everything I ever wanted in a follow-up to Monoliths. The albums and collabs over the last 10 years have been great but on this they've essentially returned to form while also evolving and adding elements to the sound that they've never quite done before. "Between Sleipnir's Breaths" at times plays more like a shoegaze track (i might regret saying that). Layered more than maybe anything I ever heard them do, and at one moment we hear what I would even maybe call a solo...??? Its fucking great. Also, I got to see them a few days ago and it was the best show I've been to in years. Played for 2 hours and the lighting/fog/theatrics were amazing. A combination of the art direction in Mandy and the album artwork.

Yeah, I'm in. It's gloriously layered and expansive and, well, bright for want of a better word.

I really like it

I listened to Kannon twice and never felt the need to take it from the shelf again. Will definitely give this a chance. And I've tickets for a gig soon.

Monoliths came out ten years ago. Another I feel old moment

Flight Of The Behemoth still hasn't been bloody reissued!

Kannon was great but I agree, rarely was motivated to revisit. I have revisited Soused recently and it's still brilliant.

This most recent live show is the best I've ever seen em. One of the coolest looking shows I've ever attended.

Flight Of The Behemoth still hasn't been bloody reissued!

Didn't even know it was out of print.

vinyl i mean

I have a promo CD of it and I dont have $200 to spend on the vinyl.

Most of my Sunn o))) is on vinyl so I'd rather like to have this album on the same format as the others.

i expect i said all that way upthread years ago too when I started this thread and i'm still waiting

Maybe I'll just get one of those japanese 2CD versions if they're good quality. Do you have that, Phil?

No, the only Japanese editions I have are Kannon and Terrestrials. Didn't bother getting this new one because it doesn't come with a bonus disc like Kannon did. But the two that I do have are nice mini-LP packages, so in general I'd recommend going that route. If you decide to do that I ordered mine from the Inoxia label shop, where Flight is about 25 pounds (you're in England, right?).

heh almost (that country to the north) but the UK is being a bastard with grabbing stuff at the customs which adds on a £8.50 post office charge plus whatever the VAT is) so probably better buying within UK or the EU before Brexit. but thanks anyway!

I love this so much

I haven't listened to the Ensemble Pearl album since the year it came out. That said, it made my year-end list, and I remember fucking loving it.

They didn't seem to be offering a CD of Pyroclasts (which comes out this Friday) in the US so I ordered it from Japan, and then decided I might as well order the Japanese CD of Life Metal just so they'd match on my shelf. The CDs haven't shipped yet, but I just got WAV files of the new one from a publicist and it's pretty great. Each track is almost exactly 11 minutes long, and they're a little more minimal — there only seems to be one or two things going on at a time, rather than three or four, and they're entirely instrumental, no sound effects or anything — and droney. Definitely from the same sessions/creative mindset as Life Metal, though.

I do prefer it when they spice their sound up a bit, I must say. I love them, but I know what Sunn O))) sound like by now, so why no return to the (relative) maximal work of Monoliths?

that said, I'm listening to Life Metal for the first time now and it's really good

I'm excited to hear this, but I'm really annoyed it's not getting a domestic CD release (not sure I'm ready to pay $30 for the import). Seems odd to announce these as a pair of albums and not issue them in the same formats.

Life Metal is great. I look forward to the new one.

I'm excited to hear this, but I'm really annoyed it's not getting a domestic CD release (not sure I'm ready to pay $30 for the import). Seems odd to announce these as a pair of albums and not issue them in the same formats.

Yeah, that is a really baffling and annoying choice/gesture on their part.

I feel I've listened to enough Sunn O))) for now. Their live show a few months ago didn't inspire and I don't feel the desire to put on their records. I imagine in five years time I'll be in the mood again.

I thought the live show was pretty good, if about 15 - 20 minutes too long for my tastes. I think a prior show I'd seen at a festival was more varied but even longer, and I ducked out for part of the middle of that one.

the live show I saw was very underwhelming. they'd moved venue at last minute and I got the impression it wasn't cut out for that kind of volume.

Saw them in April and it was my favorite show of theirs I've seen. The light and fog show finally caught up to the level their sound has been on all this time. I loved it. Looking forward to this but right now im going into it like it's a bonus disc.

Pyroclasts is super good

Stephen O'Malley confirmed on Twitter that Japanese Daymare version will be "the only CD version which will be published of this album". Which means this will be the first Sunn O))) album in... ever... I won't be purchasing.

Shit, if they're gonna do region-exclusive CDs, how about a Japanese CD of Dømkirke? That album rules, and I'd buy one in a minute. As it is, all I have are the digital files from Bandcamp.

sounds like its really only a special tour album but they know people get gouged on eBay for it so to kill the JC's* of this world they make it available everywhere

*Notorious twat on the old SL and VLV boards who paid people to snap up limited editions of everything ever to sell at inflated prices on his various eBay stores then boasted about it

Just received the CD repressing of La Mort Noir Dans Esch/Alzette they released as fundraiser for Justin Bartlett's cancer fund. Had never heard this before. It's from a year before the Domkirke set, sort of similar lineup - though Malefic on vox instead of Attila, no Marhaug and adds Dylan Carlson on extra guitar. It's a pretty killer set.

So Greg Anderson has a new project with Petra Haden and they will be performing their first live (free) concert next week at [url= https://fulcrumfestival.org/exhibit/opening-reception-for-fulcrum-festival-deep-ocean-deep-space]Zebulon in LA [ /url].

It’s the kickoff event for Fulcrum Festival. The following week there will be [url= https://fulcrumfestival.org/exhibit/freq_wave-pacific-los-angeles]sound installation at Mt Wilson Observatory[ /url] that Greg also collaborated on (along with Lawrence English, Jonsi, Richard Chartrier and others).

Apologies for the distractingly bad formatting in the post above but in any case, two things coming up in the next two weeks that Greg is involved in. Full disclosure I’m involved with the org putting it together - it’s going to be a rare/great series of events!

Thanks for the reminder to pre-order that album, I dug the first Lord album well enough but the addition of Petra Haden sounds like a great move.

Is the Observatory thing just going to basically be a drone you can check out at any time that weekend?

Is the Observatory thing just going to basically be a drone you can check out at any time that weekend?

― Histoire de BradNelson (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, September 9, 2022 bookmarkflaglink

There is an event on the evening of 9/23 that will include live performances from Lawrence English and a couple others. That event is limited capacity with tix $50 or $100. The rest of the weekend you could go for free and it will be more like an art installation.

Whiney or any other writers in LA, there is also a press event on that Thursday if you’re interested. You can write me at sjtennent@gmail if you’re interested.

Do you have a link to the LE event?

https://fulcrumfestival.org/exhibit/ocean-x-space-a-special-evening-of-sounds-and-stars/

Fulcrum Arts and Mount Wilson Observatory present a very special evening of sonic immersion and star gazing with performances by freq_wave artists Lawrence English and Minoru Sato. The performances will be followed by an evening of star gazing through the 100-inch Hooker Telescope, all while immersed in the sonic landscape of CM von Hausswolff‘s freq_wave (Pacific; Los Angeles) installation.

Lawrence English will open the night with the world-premiere diffusion of his 2022 release, ‘Oseni, composed of field recordings of the Pacific Ocean, which English has captured over the past decade and a half in Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and elsewhere.

Minoru Sato will perform Half dream for an ancient harmony of three to two (2020), a piece based entirely on sine waves as the single sound source and composed using an original 25-tone scale based on Pythagorean tuning (also known as sanfen sunyi in Chinese music theory).

Due to the limited capacity of this unique venue, tickets are strictly limited to 100 concert tickets and 25 concert + observation tickets.

Ahhhh, this sounds sick

Did anyone else see the winter 2022-23 tour? I went last night to Denver and felt like my DNA had been rearranged after the show. Easily among the top five or six loudest bands I've ever seen (although this was my second time). The concert felt like a cross between a religious ritual and performance art. A mind-blowingly intense and overwhelming experience.

yeah, I saw them a month or so ago here. pretty memorable. set off the fire alarms three or four times.

At the Gothic? Yeah, that would be a rad place to see them.

I was at the Philly show, though after the first 20-25 minutes I spent the rest of the set seated out in the lobby because it was a standing affair and I was afraid the intensity would cause me to pass out.

L.A. is sold out but idk how I feel about big crowds in the post Covid era

What if it was all but impossible to see or hear the person next to you?

I was standing right behind the front-row folks and could barely see anyone around me through the insanely dense fog.

I'm guessing the show is still relatively close to the late 2019 iteration and that was intense!

I did end up taking a short hallway break. It was during a festival, though, and I'd honestly felt satiated with fifteen minutes left

The whole Life Metal/Pyroclasts/Metta Benevolence Live cycle is so good

absolutely

Agreed, fantastic run of albums there.

great excuse to dive into these this morning, thanks thread

Khanate is touring soon, right?

Yeah, just three shows I think though - Chicago, Toronto and NYC at end of May/beginning of June.

https://www.subpop.com/artists/sunn_o

Saw that last night, kind of love that they went all in Sub Pop style with Charles Peterson photographing them in a Washington forest for the cover.

new ep sounding as good as ever too

https://sunn.bandcamp.com/album/eternitys-pillars-b-w-raise-the-chalice-reverential

For those who love Life Metal / Pyroclasts / Metta Benevolence, the painter behind the cover art, Samantha Keely Smith, has a rare show of new work opening Nov 7 at Jane Lombard Gallery in NYC.

The paintings look incredible in person, highly recommended if you’re around.

https://www.janelombardgallery.com/exhibitions/83-samantha-keely-smith-in-between/

nice!

New EP is good, but this is all rather familiar territory by now. I miss when they would branch out a bit more like on Monoliths & Dimensions, incorporating the odd vocal or extra instrument here and there

agreed

I imagine they'll get back to that eventually

When was the last time they did that though? Soused? I don't follow them too closely, but I give most albums a cursory listen.

There were guests on Pyroclasts and Life Metal and the live BBC record.

I'm mostly curious why they signed to Sub Pop instead of just continuing to release their own stuff via Southern Lord. I haven't heard anything about SL folding its tent.

Bigger reach presumably.

If they really care about gaining a bigger reach at this point, I might have a few suggestions and/or some bad news for them.

not sure if sub pop is handling some of their merch, but I had an email exchange about substituting a t-shirt for one that was out of stock that I had ordered not too long ago. I'd guess that sunn o))) might be large enough at the moment that handing off some of the more annoying parts off to a larger label that has more resources to handle merch/distro for an album would be useful. obviously others have more experience with this, though

that's what I would assume, SP just has more bandwidth available for stuff

man. i would love some Sunn O))) merch, but it's spenny these days

Listened to the new EP this morning and I'm not really that into it. Just feels like a regression to their earliest material but not in a good or interesting way, and the second and third tracks end too abruptly. I still listen to Monoliths & Dimensions, Oracle, Kannon and the recent trilogy, but they're gonna need to do something really surprising, like an album with an orchestra or something, to grab my attention going forward.

Listening to this now and enjoying it. I guess it helps that I'm more of a casual fan and mostly just listened to Monoliths & Dimensions (and Soused I guess, though I don't of that as a Sunn O))) album), all their other stuff I probably listened to a handful of times. Most of their stuff is mostly indistinguishable to me, it all pretty much sounds the same, which I guess sounds like I have a negative opinion of them, but I do actually enjoy listening to it even if I can't really grasp it mentally and it all blurs together.

Yeah the new ep is fine, but it doesn't feel as crucial as the recent albums, will be interested to see if a new LP is an expanded line-up or just the duo, seems like they have been doing Shoshin duo thing for a few yrs now.

New merch is awesome though

I’ll listen to pretty much anything they put out…I actually like the EP more than at least half of what they’ve done probably, but I listen to them in large part for the trembling Radigue-like frequencies (or maybe Radigue lite is more accurate) and not any real dynamics or orchestration so I could also see how it might not appeal much to others depending on what someone’s looking to get out of their Sunn experience (and not trying to suggest there’s a right or wrong answer either)

https://stereogum.com/2485050/sunn-o-announce-new-self-titled-album-hear-glory-black/music

lol at it being self-titled. Getting back to their roots, just two guys in a room, etc.

Bonkers that they are playing Salt Shed here (around 5000 capacity).

I wonder if being on Sub Pop helped get the licensing rights to a Rothko

Instant pre-order on this one. I was hoping the single last year was a sign of a new album, but didn't expect it this soon.

Are you surprised at the Salt Shed date?

Oh definitely, but again, must be the Sub Pop thing? Would have figured Thalia Hall more likely.

This is my favourite thing I've heard from them in a good while, so I'm looking forward to hearing the rest. I like it when they expand their pallette beyond just the guitars

So awesome. Loving the new track. Love the piano.

The album's long as hell, apparently: Encyclopaedia Metallum has the track running times...

1. XXANN 18:21
2. Does Anyone Hear Like Venom? 7:33
3. Butch's Guns 14:12
4. Mindrolling 18:12
5. Everett Moses 10:54
6. Glory Black 10:25

I'm waiting to see if there's a Japanese edition with the recent EP (or something else) as bonus material.

Today I learned there is an artist that goes by ((( O ))), and I just want to say that is confusing and lame.

they need to tour with OOIOO

and play covers of Sigur Ros's ( ) album

another new track

https://sunn.bandcamp.com/track/butchs-guns

Update for desperately sad nerds like myself: there will not be a Japanese CD edition with bonus tracks, so I guess I'm just buying it from Sub Pop like everybody else.

Pulled the trigger and ordered the new CD.

CD arrived in today's mail. Listening now, having already read the cover story on them in the new issue of The Wire. Hearing just the two of them is interesting; it reminds me that one of my favorite things they do is when they change chords in a way that sounds like someone shifting gears in a giant earth-moving machine. There's lots of layered feedback harmonies, too, and a "solo" on "Does Anyone Hear Like Venom?" that reminds me of Greg Ginn circa The Process Of Weeding Out.

Haven't had a lot of time to spend with it yet but so far digging it quite a bit more than the ep

in my opinion, it's their best since monoliths and dimensions.
super psyched for the show this weekend.

If anybody’s at the Philly show feel free to say hi, I am the awkward person in a black sleeveless top, white pants and big wedge shoes who is carrying a Target bag like an asshole because they didn’t realize UTX doesn’t have a coat check anymore

I was at one of their shows a few years back, in Philly, and it was physically too punishing for me. I spent the bulk of the set out in the lobby (and even then it was very intense)

(Of course, everyone should still go)

I'm bringing a friend on Thursday who has never heard or even heard of them. Will report back ... if he survives.

The first time I saw them, I brought a date who wasn't familiar with them, but was game. We ended up leaving maybe two songs in. She was worth leaving for, but I'll always regret not going to that show solo.

We ended up leaving maybe two songs in.

Sound like you made it a good half hour!

*Sounds

Yeah, totally! She was a trooper and we have both entertained people with the "brown note" story over the years.

Just got home. Loudest show i’ve been to. Amazing. Need a sandwich and some sleep.

xps last time i saw them it was a first date
tbf that was seven years ago and we're still together so thank you sunn o))))

Even by Sunn o))) standards they were really fucking loud a couple of nights ago. I wore plugs, but the next morning I still had a real "I think I made a terrible mistake" moment.

My newbie friend told me today that he thinks the show may have changed his DNA.

tbh it probably did!

saw them a couple of nights ago and wore earplugs (which I never do, I know I know), it was loud ofc but it didn't really dawn on me how loud it was until near the end when I felt it vibrating in my chest

First time I saw them was in 2004 in medium sized club (and I think Wolf Eyes played as well?) and the volume was so much it felt like someone was pinching the bridge of my nose, next time was at a larger theater that had couches and soft chairs in one section and toward the end of show I sat down & fell asleep (complimentary)

i love a full-body ~loud~ show but in pdx they are playing at the worst venue i think i've ever been to. i don't think the place can pull off what i'm hoping. we'll see

You know it's loud when it's so loud you forget you are wearing earplugs, because it is loud.

just saw them in a relatively small theater and it was pleasantly loud but I was seated (first time I’ve seen them in a seated venue!) about 3/4rds of the way back and the noise app on my watch has them peaking at a steady 105db from that distance

I have no idea what the measurement would be on the loudest show I’ve seen, but I know swans hit 125db+ near the stage

I've seen Swans before but it wasn't loud at all, but this was also like a decade ago so

I forgot earplugs for a Swans show in 2014, they had 17 Twin Reverbs on stage in addition to the festival PA. Afterward my ears sounded like a broken AM radio, honestly thought that was going to be it for the rest of my life, but then I rallied for MBV later that evening (with plugs). Also saw a Sunn O))) / Earth show a few years later with earplugs, full body involvement and I saw my t shirt flapping at one point.

I've seen them a handful of times. Last was a few years ago in a cave in TN; the fog from the fog machines was so thick I couldn't see further than maybe 3 or 4 feet

Such a shame that when I saw them live the venue changed at last minute and it was disappointingly quiet. Well, I mean, it was loud but nothing compared to Swans or MBV who I'd both seen already

i saw them a few years back when i happened to be in Vienna for a day and a half while they were touring, it was at the Grosse Halle Arena and I could move back and forth between standing in the audience for the full experience and being in an outdoor space on a nice night with the sound still extremely audible. At the time I was getting over a cold so my stamina was a little low.

Unfortunately they're playing one of the the worst venues in Seattle on this tour.

oh man, the fog machines

luckily the venue yesterday was relatively small and they were able to mostly fog the stage, although being able to see the audience is a little bit of a distraction and I get the vibe they go for when the entire room is foggy. the custom light setup was pretty great!

the time I saw sunn o))) and tim hecker at the same festival, I was tempted to look around for what had to be industrial-sized barrels of fog machine juice

if you watch their rig run down, their fog technician, or whoever she is, talks about how the venue affects the fog. sometimes it drifts, sometimes it is stagnant, sometimes it seems to envelope you, sometimes it seems like it is carrying the sound. they played a really big place here, but by the end it was pretty dense! The machines themselves didn't seem huge, they were just pumping that shit out.

peak intensity out of the times i've seen them was Corsica Studios; so 500 capacity - smothered in fog and they also had people with censers burning incense beforehand - combo of their stacks in that room plus the PA was overwhelming. i see its actually on their bandcamp https://sunn-live.bandcamp.com/album/sunn-o-20090222-grimmrobes-presentation-corsica-studios-london-uk

Can't say I'm sold on the new album on first listen. It's all a bit workman-like and nothing particularly jumps out at me as being different or remarkable from previous outings

Can't say I'm sold on the new album on first listen. It's all a bit workman-like and nothing particularly jumps out at me as being different or remarkable from previous outings

― rameau in the main room (dog latin), Sunday, April 19, 2026 4:05 PM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

I have seen (and enjoyed) this band live on several occasions, and I would see them again in a heartbeat, but I can't imagine needing to own more than one album by them. I know "one trick pony" is generally considered a pejorative but in this case the trick is really good, so I don't intend it that way. But if ever there was a band you have to see live to appreciate, it's this one

I don’t know, Monoliths & Dimensions is one of my favorite albums ever and sounds dramatically different from this.

Yeah, all of their studio albums are very different from each other. I would say the absolute keepers are Oracle, Monoliths & Dimensions and Life Metal, but I also like Kannon and Terrestrials (their collaboration with Ulver) and this new one quite a bit, and some of their live albums, most notably Dømkirke and the recent BBC Music one with the long title, are great, too.

the second Albini sessions one feels like kind of a departure in a cool way

the first time I saw them, it was in the Hearn generating station in Toronto during a festival. the middle of that former power plant building is as tall as the statue of liberty, indoors, and the main floor, such as it is because it's open in the middle, is of proportionate scale

they got most of the stage clouded but they were cranking full volume fog the whole way

I agree the albums are quite varied despite their core MO. The ones I find myself listening to the most are White 1 & 2 for the variety and the recentish Life Metal and Pyroclasts for the superbly recorded elemental droning. (The BBC Metta Benevolence session too.)

I don't want to spoil it for anyone who is planning on seeing an upcoming tour date, but did they do an amusing intro at their other recent stops?

Yes. Brought me back to the days of long road trips with buddies.

The eponymously titled SUNN O))) was tracked at Bear Creek Studios, Woodinville, Washington with Brad Wood (HuM, Tar, Sunny Day Real Estate, Liz Phair). This location would prove crucial to the recording process.

“The vast tracking room had big windows looking out on trees,” says O’Malley. “We could go hiking and be out in the woods, spend time outdoors. That became a big part of it.”

“It was very inviting and very comfortable there,” adds Anderson. “There was no stress, no worry about the timeline or anything like that. We just let ourselves go, and let the music come out.”

I wonder how loud it is at a studio session

They just plug straight into the desk

This time they wanted to go back to the basics

Just two guys in a room