RUSSIAN CIRCLES + HELMS ALEE (Chicago, Seattle, ZDA – post-rock, metal) RUSSIAN CIRKLES (USA) Russian Circles is a three-piece post-rock/post-metal band from Chicago, Illinois. The band plays epic, sprawling music which runs the gamut of heavy discordant metal to soft delicate passages. They are also known for their energetic live shows, having toured with Isis,
RUSSIAN CIRCLES + HELMS ALEE
(Chicago, Seattle, ZDA – post-rock, metal)
RUSSIAN CIRKLES (USA)
Russian Circles is a three-piece post-rock/post-metal band from Chicago, Illinois. The band plays epic, sprawling music which runs the gamut of heavy discordant metal to soft delicate passages. They are also known for their energetic live shows, having toured with Isis, Tool, Red Sparowes, Pelican, Minus the Bear, Daughters, amongst various others. They have also taken part in the 2006, 2007 & 2008 SXSW festivals.
Formed in late 2004 by guitarist Mike Sullivan and bassist Colin DeKuiper (both formerly of another instrumental band Dakota/Dakota), they quickly recruited Dave Turncrantz, formerly of St. Louis band Riddle Of Steel. In 2007 DeKuiper departed the band and Brian Cook (These Arms Are Snakes and Botch) took on the role of bass player for the writing and recording of their album, entitled Station, recorded in Seattle with Producer Matt Bayles. Station was released on May the 6th, 2008 on Suicide Squeeze Records. On October 20th, 2009, the band released their third album entitled Geneva The album featured the same lineup as Station, with Brian Cook taking a much larger role in the writing and creation of the album. Brian Cook described the band’s take on the new album being “less concerned with making sure we could replicate the material live as we were with making a compelling album.”
In 2011, Russian Circles signed to Sargent House who had previously only exclusively released the band’s albums on limited edition vinyl. Their fourth studio album Empros was released on October 25, 2011. A supporting tour with Deafheaven followed the release. In May, 2013 the group began recording their fifth studio album, produced by Brandon Curtis. Memorial was released at the end of October 2013 and featured a guest-vocal by Chelsea Wolfe. Together they embarked on a co-headlining UK/European tour in the fall.
Russian Circles – Website
Russian Circles – Facebook
Russian Circles – Twitter
Russian Circles – BandCamp
Support act: HELMS ALEE (USA)
Helms Alee’s music is exactly the sort of mutant, fantastic hybrid that used to only occasionally erupt out of small, isolated scenes, uninformed by trends of the day — instead inspired by the band’s own collective contributions. The Seattle trio’s unique amalgam of metal, art rock, pop and punk is charmingly reminiscent of the fertile creativity that groups once had before the Internet seemed to instruct bands to only copy one another. Helms Alee’s third album, Sleepwalking Sailors sounds like many styles combined into one, and none of it concerned with any notion other than creating vital, urgent and uniquely characteristic music.
Bassist/vocalist Dana James, drummer/vocalist Hozoji Matheson-Margullis and guitarist/vocalist Ben Verellen combine a vast array of ideas within a single song, while still sounding entirely cohesive. Their songs are undeniably heavy, but also freely roaming through icy post-punk and warm melodic haze at any given moment. Any given song can be pummeling one moment and then subtly shift into triply harmonies without the listener even realizing what has happened.
“The weird thing about it,” Verellen muses, “is that we’ve got three different people contributing lyrics, parts and melodies to each song. So, they end up being disjointed by our individual input. We spent 3-1/2 years writing the songs for this album, so it’s thematically all over the place.”
Sleepwalking Sailors was recorded with engineer Chris Common (These Arms Are Snakes, Pelican, Chelsea Wolfe) in Seattle, with intentionally built-in limitations. “We recorded the album to tape in order to confine ourselves from ProTools refining every detail. We ended up with something that sounds really big, but also a bit more aggressive.” Helms Alee’s previous album Weatherhead was released in 2011 to much acclaim by their longtime label HydraHead just before it went under. Undaunted, and as a testament to the band’s strong fan base, Helms Alee originally crowdfunded Sleepwalking Sailors, eventually raising an impressive recording budget. Upon hearing Common’s early mixes, Sargent House quickly offered to bring the band onto their management roster and release the new album. Throughout the course of the album’s creation, the band’s independent aesthetic becomes clear: a dedication to truly representing themselves, regardless of trends and outside influence.
Album opener “Pleasure Center” kicks off with churning riffs and staccato drums that repeat and morph in a constant build that’s equal parts Gang Of Four as it is early Soundgarden. The slithering and perfectly meshed distorted rattle of James’ bass with Verellen’s climbing, chiming single notes on “Tumescence” lead off with Neurosis style heft, but soon give way to compelling minor-key vocal harmonies laid over the proceedings. Elsewhere, James’ and Matheson-Margullis’ even more pop-hook leaning vocal harmonies lend a transcendence to the proceedings. “Pinniped” pits near chamber-pop group vocal harmonies against screaming, wailing guitar blasts and thumping tom drum beats. Throughout the album, Helms Alee prove that their unique creative spark is its greatest asset in creating incisive and insightful music.
Sleepwalking Sailors was released on February 11th, 2014 via Sargent House.
Helms Alee – FB
Helms Alee – Twitter
TICKETS:
15€ presale / 18€ walk-up
Tickets PRESALE:
– Info Škuc (Stari trg 21, LJ), odprto vsak delovni dan med 12:00 in 18:00.
– Škuc Metelkova (Metelkova 6, LJ), odprto od pon. do pet. od 9:00 do 14:00
– Eventim Si: (Tivoli Ljubljana, Citypark Ljubljana, Kino Šiška Ljubljana, Križanke Ljubljana, Mestni trg Ljubljana, Hiša Športa Ljubljana, Europark Maribor, Citycenter Celje); Call Centre: 1977 in 01 420 5000; other official tickets sellers: Petrol, Pošta Slovenije, Big Bang, (K) kiosk, Kompas, 3DVA Trafika, Mercator Hipermarket, M holidays, KC Svet Knjige, Palma Travel Agency, Alpetour.
– Online Tickets
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