Former Synthesis Band You’ve Never Heard Of…OF THE DAY!!111, Russian Circles is up to some big shit. They’re new full length, the Matt Bayles-produced Station is basically one of the raddest records of ‘08, and after their current tour with Daughters, they are hitting the road with some random band named Coheed and Cambria. Check out an interview with the band on the front page and learn about the realest shit to come out of Chicago since Obama.

I found out about the instrumental fucking badassness that is Russian Circles the old fashioned way, at least for me. I hadn’t even ever heard their name when I got their CD submitted for review by their publicist. The sad fact about review copies is that, being that we get about A HUNDERD a day around here, very few of them actually get listened to by yours truly, rather they get farmed out to our stable of review studs, or fucked directly off into the shit pile. But Russian Circles had that certain air about their CD, it just looked like the band responsible for it didn’t give a fuck. I mean, check it out:

Plus, it was on Suicide Squeeze, a label responsible for many similar such surprise bands-that-rule scenarios in the past (including one of my fav bands EVAR, The Six Parts Seven). Sweetening the pot even further was the fact that Station was produced by Matt Bayles, who is responsible for both some of the heaviest (Mastodon, Norma Jean) and some of the most epic sounding (Isis, Minus the Bear) records around. Not coincidentally, epic and heavy would be the two adjectives I would be most likely to use when describing Russian Circles. Less stoned than Isis, but more ballsy than Mogwai, the six jams on Station are long, but not drawn out, combing molten riffs with gently tapped melodic passages to create a musical backdrop for all sorts of gangster ass shit. Seriously, this record kicks fucking ass. Period.

Even more badass is the fact that the band’s current tour with Daughters is actually coming through Chico next month, so I get to jack them off not only in print, but in person too! Dates after tha jumppPppPppP: (more…)

Fans of grim, stoney music that drones on for days rejoice: Neurot Recordings has announced its 2008 release schedule. In addition to bands making their debut for the label (such as Guapo, whose latest album Elixirs is out now), there are also some familiar faces. Neurosis’s Steve Von Till will have a new solo album, A Grave Is a Grim Horse, out on May 19th, as will band mate Scott Kelly (pictured), whose sophomore solo effort The Wake is slated for a May 5th release.

Honestly, a lot of the Neurosis stuff puts me to sleep, but if the MP3s of Kelly and Von Till’s previous works are any indication, I’m really looking forward to their new solo albums. Really grainy, stripped down sort of singer/songwriter stuff. Check out Kelly’s “Flower” from Spirit Bound Flesh: MP3 or Von Till’s “This River” from Should I Fall to the Field: MP3

Full schedule (through June, anyway) after the jump as well as remaining West Coast tour dates for Neurot’s Red Sparrowes, who are on the road with the face-melting Russian Circles. (more…)