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Emerging onto the metal scene from Savannah, GA in 2005, Black Tusk specialize in a brand of sludgy metal they call “swamp metal.” The band, consisting of members Andrew (guitar/vocals), Athon (bass/vocals), and James (drums/vocals), combines the drive of fellow Savannah residents Baroness with the thick and murky stoner sludge of High on Fire. In 2005 the band self-released its first demo, Demos and the Demons, as well as the album When Kingdoms Fall, which was released on Wrecked Signal. Two years later they self-released another album, The Fallen Kingdom, and kept their prolific release schedule going the following year with Passage Through Purgatory, released on Hyperrealist Records. Taking what for them is a long break from recording, Black Tusk gained attention through tours with bands like Weedeater, Pentagram, and Eyehategod. The band eventually signed on to Relapse, and in 2010 released its first album through the label, Taste the Sin, featuring cover art from Baroness singer John Baizley.

BLACK TUSK have completed recording their upcoming EP which is scheduled to be released later this Spring via Relapse Records. The EP, recorded with producer Phillip Cope (Kylesa, Baroness) at the Jam Room in Columbia, SC, will serve as a gateway between 2011′s Set The Dial and the band’s next full-length. The band recently hit the road for a short run of headline dates, followed up by a month long run of shows with Today is the Day, KEN Mode and Fight Amp then a two week run with Kvelertak and Cancer Bats.

BLACK TUSK  appeared at this year’s SXSW Music Festival in Austin, TX. The group will be headlining both the Rock of Ages Tattoo Showcase at Yellow Jacket Social Club on Friday March 15th with label mates Howl and True Widow and the Official Relapse Records / Chaos in Tejas Showcase with ASG, Royal Thunder, Howl, Inter Arma and Call of the Void on Saturday March 16th at Red 7.

BLACK TUSK Tour Dates:

Mar 05 Reading, PA Reverb

***All Dates w/ Today is the Day, KENMode, & Fight Amp***

Mar 06 Brooklyn, NY Saint Vitus Bar
Mar 07 Cambridge, MA Middle East Downstairs
Mar 08 New York, NY The Studio at Webster Hall
Mar 09 Washington DC Rock and Roll Hotel
Mar 10 Millvale, PA Mr. Smalls
Mar 11 Atlanta, GA The Masquerade (Upstairs)
Mar 12 Tampa, FL The Local 662
Mar 13 New Orleans, LA Siberia
Mar 14 San Antonio, TX Korova (SXSW Tone Deaf ) No Fight Amp
Mar 15 Austin, TX Yellow Jacket Social Club (Rock of Ages Tattoo SXSW Showcase)
Mar 16 Austin, TX Red 7 (Relapse Records / Chaos in Tejas Official SXSW Showcase)
Mar 17 Dallas, TX The Double Wide, Spillover Fest, No Fight Amp
Mar 19 Albuquerque, NM Launchpad
Mar 20 Tempe, AZ Rocky Point Cantina
Mar 21 San Diego, CA Brick By Brick
Mar 22 Los Angeles, CA Satellite
Mar 24 Santa Cruz, CA Atrium at The Catalyst
Mar 25 San Francisco, CA Elbo Room
Mar 26 Portland, CA Rotture
Mar 27 Seattle, WA The Highline
Mar 28 Bellingham, WA The Shakedown
Mar 29 Vancouver, BC Rickshaw Theater
Mar 31 Edmonton AB Pawn Shop
April 01 Calgary, AB The Palomino
April 02 Saskatoon, SK Amigos Cantina
April 04 Winnipeg, MB Pyramid
April 05 Fargo, ND The Aquarium
April 06 Minneapolis, MN Triple Rock Social Club
April 07 Chicago, IL Empty Bottle

***All dates with Kvlertak and Cancer Bats***

April 22 Detroit, MI Shelter St. Andrews
April 24 Cleveland, OH The Grog Shop
April 25 Columbus, OH Ace of Cups
April 28 Lawrence, KS Granada Theatre
April 30 Denver, CO Larimer Lounge
May 01 Salt Lake City, UT In The Venue
May 11 Houston, TX Fitzgerald’s (Downstairs)
May 12 Dallas, TX Club Dada
May 13 Austin, TX Red 7
May 15 Nashville, TN Exit/In
May 18 Philadelphia, PA Underground Arts
May 21 Montreal, QC Les Katacombes
May 22 Toronto, ON The Wreck Room

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Infamous New York City street punks The CASUALTIES have debuted a new video for the song “My Blood. My Life. Always Forward.”. The clip, directed by Lewis Smithingham (EXMORTUS, A GLOBAL THREAT).

The CASUALTIES recently announced a massive, four-part North American headlining tour . The first will see them tour the east coast before meeting up with GOATWHORE for the second portion, which travels through the western U.S. From there, The band headlines a cross-Canadian tour with support from legendary punk band DAYGLO ABORTIONS. The last leg, which beings on May 17th, sees the band touring between several festival appearances including Punk Rock Bowling, Chaos in Tejas, and another festival TBA.

The CASUALTIES are touring in support of their latest album, ‘Resistance’. The Zeuss-produced effort is their ninth, and arguably best, full-length album and can be streamed here in it’s entirety.

Tour dates are as follows:

FIRST STRIKE: US FRONT w/ In Defence

Sat. Mar. 16 Cleveland OH @ Now That’s Class
Sun. Mar. 17 Dayton OH @ Rockstar Pro Arena
Mon. Mar. 18 Richmond VA @ Strange Matter
Tue. Mar. 19 Roanoke VA @ Growlers
Wed. Mar. 20 Charlotte NC @ Tremont
Fri. Mar 22 Jacksonville FL @The Pit
Sat. Mar. 23 Tampa FL @ The Brass Mug
Sun. Mar. 24 W. Palm Beach FL @ Respectable St. Cafe
Mon. Mar. 25 Pensacola FL @ The Handlebar
Tue. Mar.26 New Orleans @ Siberia (18+)

w/ Goatwhore, Havok (except April 5)

Wed. Mar. 27 Houston TX @ Fitzgeralds
Thu. Mar. 28 Corpus Christi TX @ Zero’s
Fri. Mar. 29 San Antonio @ Korova
Sat. Mar. 30 Dallas TX @ Club Dada
Mon. Apr. 1 Albuquerque NM @ Launchpad
Tue. Apr. 2 Tempe AZ @ Rocky Point
Wed. Apr. 3 Santa Ana CA @ Observatory
Thu. Apr. 4 Los Angeles, CA @ The Vex
Fri. Apr. 5 Tijuana MX @ You Revolution Electronic Bar
Sat. Apr.6 Oakland CA @ Metro
Sun. Apr. 7 Reno NV @ The Alley
Mon. Apr. 8 Portland OR @ Branx
Tue. Apr. 9 Seattle WA @ Studio Seven

CANADIAN ASSUALT: w/ Dayglo Abortions

Wed. Apr. 10 Victoria BC @ Club 9one9
Thu. Apr. 11 Vancouver BC @ The Rickshaw
Fri. Apr. 12 Kelowna BC @ Habitat
Sat. Apr. 13 Red Deer AB @ Cheers Pub
Mon. Apr. 15 Edmonton AB @ Pawn Shop
Tue. Apr. 16 Calgary AB @ Dickens Pub
Wed. Apr. 17 Saskatoon @ SK Amigos
Thu. Aprl 18 Winnipeg, MB @ The Osborne
Sat. Apr. 20 Minneapolis MN @ Triple Rock Soc. Club (18+) (No Dayglo Abortions)
Sun. Apr. 21 Madison WI @ Knuckle Down Saloon (No Dayglo Abortions)
Mon. Apr. 22 Toledo, OH @ Frankie’s (No Dayglo Abortions)
Tue. Apr. 23 London ON @ Rum Runners
Wed. Apr. 24 Toronto ON @ Sound Academy
Thu. Apr 25 Hamilton ON @ Club Absinthe
Fri. Apr. 26 Ottowa @ Mavericks
Sat. Apr. 27 Montreal QC @ Caberet Underworld
Sun. Apr. 28 Quebec QC @ Le Cercie Yannic

BRICKWALL INVASION: w/Violent Affair

Fri. May 17Trenton @ NJ Championship
Sun. May 19 Baltimore MD @ Ottobar
Mon. May 20 Columbus OH @ Ace of Cups
Tue. May 21 Newport KY @ Thomson House
Wed. May 22 St. Louis MO @ The Fubar
Thu. May 23 Kansas City MO @ Record Bar (18+)
Fri. May 24 Denver, CO @ The Marquis
Sat. May 25 Salt Lake City UT @ Salt Haus
Mon. May 27 Las Vegas NV @ Punk Rock Bowling Festival
Tue. May 28 Flagstaff AZ @ The Orpheum
Wed. May 29 El Paso TX @ Badlands Billiards
Thu. May 30 Austin TX @ Chaos in Tejas Fest
Fri. May 31 Oklahoma City OK @ The Conservatory
Sun. Jun. 2 Indianapolis IN @ The Hoosierdome

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A Place To Bury Strangers have announced they will tour with Japandroids on a string of US dates in May. The band will visit several cities in the midwest and south following their SXSW performances in Austin, where Strangers will play Psych Fest’s showcase with the legendary Zombies and FILTER’s day party with Surfer Blood. A Place To Bury Strangers will also release a special EP of covers of Portland punks Dead Moon’s songs, called “Strange Moon.” The disc will be available in stores only, for Record Store Day, on translucent “Waxing Gibbous” yellow vinyl. Strangers will play several festivals this year including the aforementioned SXSW, Austin Psych Fest‘s Kickoff Party with METZ and Psycho de Mayo with Black Mountain.

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White Lung are a four-piece indie rock group from Vancouver, B.C. Influenced by riot grrrl, post-punk, and hardcore punk, singer Mish Way, drummer Anne Marie Vassiliou, bassist Grady MacIntosh, and guitarist Kenny McCorkell formed the band in 2006, and the Local Garbage 7″ was released in 2007. Vancouver’s furiously melodic punk band, White Lung, hit the road today on an extensive spring tour. They hit most major cities which include dates at this year’s SXSW, Tree Fort Music Fest, Middle of the Map Fest plus shows with Iceage, Pissed Jeans and Merchandise. Their second LP, Sorry (Deranged Records) was released last year and pushed the band to a wider audience receiving critical acclaim from SPIN, Pitchfork, Bitch and gained Rolling Stone’s “Top 10 Albums Of The Year” for 2012.

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“Jamaican Queens is one of the most unique bands I’ve heard so far this year.” – Black Book

“Wormfood is a deliciously schizoid album, as whimsical and as chemical as love itself. As a debut it’s fearless.” -TinyMixTapes

Detroit duo Jamaican Queens has offered an exclusive stream of their debut album, Wormfood, out March 5th on Notown, with the Hype Machine. Recently selling out their first New York show, the band is making their way down to SXSW, performing with Javelin, Dustin Wong and more, after releasing a series of unique music videos, including the band’s docu-style Detroit horror film for first single “Kids Get Away,” which has been played on KCRW, and received praised from NYLON, Noisey, Impose and FILTER among others, saying, “the trippy collaboration of upbeat guitar and synth provides some bone-chilling beats alongside Ryan Spencer’s expressive, shrieking vocals and creepy lyrics.”

The partnership of Jamaican Queens’ Ryan Spencer and producer Adam Pressley was conceived in late 2011. Pressley moved to Detroit to join Spencer in his former band Prussia, and shortly after his arrival the group dissolved. The two decided they worked better as a pair and spent that winter writing and recording Wormfood, which was mixed by High Bias Recordings engineer, Christopher Lazlo Koltay (Akron/Family, Dirtbombs). The fusion of Spencer’s melodies and Pressley’s knowledge of underground music and production gave birth to their unique “odd pop” or as it’s being called, “trap-pop.” Influenced by the southern rap beats of Three 6 Mafia, Gucci Mane, and Young Jeezy, as well as the experimentation of Brian Eno and Lee Scratch Perry, Wormfood draws from electronic, dub, downbeat, and folk influences, creating an erratic canvas overlaid with radiant pop hooks.

Here is their new music video for “Water”, which premiered at IFC.com. It was directed, edited, and produced by Adam Michael Perzanowski.

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Big Deal, the London based duo of Kacey Underwood and Alice Costelloe, unveil the first single “In Your Car” from their forthcoming album, June Gloom. The single officially drops April 23rd, while the record comes out June 4th.

After last year’s thunderous introduction, “Teradactol”, new single ‘in your car’ further showcases the dramatic expansion of sound since their critically acclaimed debut album Lights Out (2011).

‘in your car’ was born when Costelloe hummed the melody while the band cruised down the California coastline and sure enough, its carefree sunshine pop perfectly evokes endless summer. “That fun, road trip kind of a song doesn’t happen a lot with English rock bands because it’s just not in the culture,” explains Underwood.

Thoughtfully arming you with a soundtrack for those tempestuous summer days June Gloom,like any good summer romance, will leave you enraptured. Fleshing out their delicate, nocturnal tones Kacey and Alice take their sound to deeper, darker and more intoxicating height, courtesy of producer Rory Attwell (Veronica Falls, PAWS, Male Bonding) and a full band featuring bass and drums.

More news and live dates expanding on this to come…Stay tuned!

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Toronto-based industrial surfgaze trio Odonis Odonis share their new single “Better,” from the upcoming EP of the same name, out April 16 on Buzz Records, which premiered on FADER. Fusing shoegaze, surf rock, garage rock, industrial, and punk into a distinctive sound and topping it with tidal waves of noise, Odonis Odonis began in 2010 as the solo project of Toronto, Ontario’s multi-instrumentalist/filmmaker Dean Tzenos. Introduced to ‘80s and ‘90s alternative rock such as the Jesus and Mary Chain, Big Black, and the Pixies by his older sisters, Tzenos converted his den into a home studio and recorded dozens of demos within a few months. Inspired by the name of his friend Adonis Adonis, he christened the project Odonis Odonis. The band will be hitting the road in Spring providing main support for METZ, as well as playing this year’s Austin Psych Fest (w/ A Place to Bury Strangers) and 35 Denton festival (w/ The Soft Moon). Full tour dates below.

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The Pitchfork Music Festival, happening Friday, July 19-Sunday, July 21 at Chicago’s Union Park, is excited to expand on the 2013 lineup. On Friday, in addition to Björk, the festival welcomes
Joanna Newsom, Angel Olsen, and Trash Talk. Saturday will see performances by The Breeders playing Last Splash, Rustie, Swans, …And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead, and Mac DeMarco, in addition to previously announced headliner Belle & Sebastian. And joining R. Kelly on Sunday will be Chairlift, TNGHT, Sky Ferreira, Killer Mike, El-P, Foxygen and Tree. There are still over two dozen more artists to announce in the coming weeks. Read more

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The Joy Formidable are extending their recently announced headline tour to include additional stops along the east coast and southern US.. The band have also confirmed performances at a number of festivals, including the Norman Music Festival in Norman, OK; the Beale Street Festival in Memphis, TN; and the Shaky Knees Fest in Atlanta, GA. The tour begins on March 18 in Santa Ana, CA before hitting up major cities on the west coast, including a March 21 show at the Fonda Theater in Los Angeles. The band are also playing shows in Chicago, Minneapolis, Canada, and others before shows on April 17 at Brooklyn’s Music Hall of Williamsburg and April 18 at New York City’s Webster Hall. For a full itinerary, please see below.

The Joy Formidable’s are touring in support of their latest album,Wolf’s Law, which was released in January via Canvasback Music / Atlantic Records. Wolf’s Law is the second album from The Joy Formidable and the follow-up to their breakthrough debut The Big Roar which saw the band praised by the likes of The New York Times, SPIN, and NME as one of the most exciting new UK bands to emerge in 2011. Wolf’s Law was mixed by the legendary Andy Wallace (Jeff Buckley, Sonic Youth, Nirvana). Read more

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Grindcore masters Pig Destroyer have released a never before heard EP entitled Mass & Volume. This EP is dedicated to the memory of Pat Egan and to the loving family he left behind. The EP is a Doom EP and the artwork was created by Arik Roper. The EP is available for purchase at http://patlapse.bandcamp.com/album/mass-volume. This is the only format that this EP is available in and all proceeds of this recording will be donated to the college fund of Pat Egan’s daughter Katie.

The band spoke about Pat and the EP release:

“Pat Egan was a friend and a keystone member of the Relapse family for many of the years we have been involved with it. He devoted his life to supporting underground music and he immeasurably helped develop the bands he worked with. His untimely passing on February 18 2013 shocked the many people that his life and work had touched.”

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