(((O))) Tag: Stoner
This year, only able to attend for two days, I ventured out on a mission to the atypical fringes of the fest. . . Finding myself at The Dev a lot, easily the best dive bar in London and the smallest venue of the fest, I largely replaced the breezy grooves of the California desert with bruising industrial, weird and putrid death metal, and incendiary mathcore. And, dearest gentle reader, it was glorious.
American Sharks is a three-piece band hailing from Austin, TX. Their punk-metal hybrid sound blends pop hooks with blasting in-yer-face riffs resulting in something akin to if Weezer went Stoner Rock. Coupled with hook-laden singalong lyrics, American Sharks’ forthcoming 2026 album Not Dead Yet is, well, a breath-taking return.
Gavin Brown caught up with Radian drummer Derek Vaive to hear all about their new album as well as hearing about their anticipation of playing live shows with the legendary Acid Bath and The Obsessed.
Trip-tastic Radio-length single from the loudest space-rockers in the universe and some intergalactic cephalopods. Taken from forthcoming LP Beyond The Beyond via Heavy Psych Sounds.
As 2026 gets off to a truly abysmal start with world events, Weedpecker have arrived with a glorious and beautiful album to ease any troubled minds.
A slow, surreal descent through emptiness and decay. Built on suffocating tension and bleak atmospheres, the song evokes a world where life has become mechanical – a theatre of dead marionettes staring with hollow eyes. . . a reflection on numbness, loss, and the quiet horror of simply existing.
Bear Stone is a liminal zone where only the best values of the outside world still apply. When the sun’s out, it’s beach vibes all day; when it goes down, the trees seem to close in and create a fairy glade where real magic and pleasant madness can occur.
Welcome to Bear Stone Festival: a liminal zone where only the best values of the outside world still apply. When the sun’s out, it’s beach vibes all day; when it goes down, the trees seem to close in and create a fairy glade where real magic and pleasant madness can occur. It might well be the best festival I’ve attended.
Bear Stone Festival is a psych, stoner, desert rock festival set in the idyllic surrounds of Donje Primišlje, a village in Central Croatia. And it’s difficult to imagine a more perfect location to spend three days enjoying this kind of music.
Once again, twelve years down the line, Desertfest still delivers a wonderful weekend, balancing the safe, solid and predictable with plenty of surprises along the way. And it’s one of the few festivals to which I know I’ll be returning next year regardless of line-up: the atmosphere is that good.
Gavin Brown caught up with -(16)- guitarist/vocalist Bobby Ferry to hear all about their latest album Guides For The Misguided and its vision as well as discussing all things -(16)-.
With Voyager to Voyager, Dead Meadow once again affirms their place in the pantheon of modern psych rock by pushing their sound to new heights, all the while honouring the deep creative bond they have shared through nearly three decades of melting minds worldwide. . .
I feel like I’m back in time, watching a classic band like Biffy Clyro or Muse at a small show about to make it big. Lizzard’s sound has certainly moved on from the Undertow-era Tool sound of their early material, becoming a little cleaner, more nuanced, yet still heavy, still strange.
With Rage And Ruin, Slower have staked their claim to be their own band and the results speak for themselves.
Gavin Brown caught up with Kurokuma drummer Joe Allen to talk about their new album ‘Of Amber And Sand’ and lots of other Kurokuma based topics.
Almost forty minutes of pure hatred, delivered with sneering humour and a total disregard for humanity.
We thought it about time we prised open some of the the paranormal power-trio’s secrets, so we asked them to share three records that inspired and influenced All The Colours Of Darkness.
It’s true that the burning bowl at the core of Desertfest’s pipe will always be a fuggy mélange of stoner, psych, doom, drone, and all that good stuff. But – having been lucky enough to attend Desertfest almost every year since its inauguration in 2012 -– I’ve seen it move on from predictable flavours to a more diverse, heady smoke. . . We all got gloriously high on the pungent sounds and the phenomenal atmosphere of Desertfest 2024.
With Palm Reader this Texas band have set themselves up nicely for an intriguing future.
Portals 2024 is set to be the biggest and best year yet for this incredible underground, DIY festival. We’re talking guitar music of all stripes: post-, alt-, math-, prog-, psych-, shoegaze, blackgaze, metal-adjacent, all along the spectrum up to metal. I really hope to meet some of our readers there!
