August 22, 2008

SWEAT LODGE Cassette Available For Order
SWEAT LODGE is a new band I'm playing in, along with my friends Mike, Brendan (Brainworms, Stop It!!), and Jay (Tigershark, The Assistant). We just finished a demo recording and I've released it as a cassette on Perpetual Motion Machine, which is finished and now available for order in the store. Six totally raging, heavy, fast, stoney, noisy tunes about the woods, desert fauna, vision quests, and the end of the world, pulled off in about ten and a half minutes. Recorded and mixed by our pal JK in June and July 2008. These come packaged with a painstakingly hand-cut, double-sided fold-out insert, with some really sweet artwork by our pal Dan Owen. On black cassettes with printed labels, limited to 100 copies. Check out a photo of the packaging here and listen to two mp3s from the tape below.

Desert Song (mp3)
Last Days (mp3)

Order Sweat Lodge's Cassette
Visit Sweat Lodge's website

THE CATALYST 'Marianas Trench + 9' Reviews
The Catalyst's recently released collection cd, "Marianas Trench + 9" is now available for order in the PMM Online Store. This 13 track disc compiles songs from their "Marianas Trench" 12" EP, their split 7" with Brainworms and their out-of-print split 12" with Mass Movement of the Moth. Stores and distros can now order this from Ebullition and Dischord Direct. This disc has already received a ton of great reviews over the past couple months, including nice writeups from Rocksound, Outburn, Lambgoat, and others.

“This fuzzed out, distorted noise-fest of grueling bass, pummeling drums, and disjointed guitars is a serious headfuck.  Compiled from previous eps, it unsettles and unnerves. In a good way. Fans of (early) Nirvana and Sonic Youth should find this capable of itching a scratch.” - ROCKSOUND

“Melding a whole heap of styles and influences into their feral sound – one minute they’re a slow-burning Kyuss, the next they’re Botch on steroids and then they’re At The Drive In – we like this. A lot.” - ROCKSOUND

"Melodic noise rock The Catalyst force feeds the listener greasy slabs of ultra distorted rock that hints at melody and bulldozes into hardcore on this powerful, seething collection of tracks from various releases over the last two years, remastered here for maximum ear scorching damage. It's as of the band jumped into a cement mixer, cranked it all to 11, and was told to play for their lives while tumbled about. There's a loose limbed and free falling energy to all of the songs, from feedback squeals ripping into blubbering bass rumbles, to ragged, flailing drums that are pummeled into concussive submission by bloodstained guitars that spit out mountains, oceans, and galaxies of distortion. The vocals are appropriately harsh, growing more hardcore oriented on the latter songs. The chugga chugga guitar that opens "This Bike is a Gravity Bong" is engulfed within a vortex of rolling bass guitar. The ferocious clip of "Dunna Nanunna" is peaked by dual throat shredding vocals worthy of any grindcore band. "Thirsty like Water Thirsty" and the appropriately titled "Song With No Words" are both instrumental excursions- grungy psychedelia on the former and desert field, sunburned, and scorpion stung on the latter. Mariana's Trench +9 bristles with unrestrained intensity. Dirty, distorted, and driven! - OUTBURN

“The Catalyst's Marianas Trench offers a mix of Nirvana's rock melody and The Jesus Lizard's noisy experimentation and excels on a foundation of some fantastically gritty three piece arrangements… Those who love their rock music soaked in feedback and anchored in gritty low end will find a good match in The Catalyst.” – LAMBGOAT

“They effortlessly transition from tactfully abrasive noise rock into loose, quirky indie riffs; there's thick, grungy, fuzzed out rhythms and sludgy feedback aplenty; plus throbbing basslines and pounding, bashing percussion; while the vocals are generally lightly distorted shouts and screams.” – AVERSIONLINE

In the coming weeks I'll be announcing some exciting news on upcoming releases for the fall. Got some sweet stuff lined up!

-Paul / The Perpetual Motion Machine