Agenda Neurot

“Elixirs” CD

(March 10th – OUT NOW!)

Formerly at home on the Ipecac roster, London’s Guapo have just released their NR debut. Guapo is the soundtrack to your eeriest of nightmares, or acid-laden journeys into the mind’s own self, the soundtrack to the path towards greater learning and self-discovery, opening one’s third eye as it were. Highly touted and grouped w/ instrumental / experimental rock’s elite (see Battles, Sun-Ra, et al), Guapo’s signing to NR gives even more credence to the label’s status as one of the most important, influential, and groundbreaking in today’s scene.

“Return to Disrpution”

(April 21st) CD

Psychedelic noise? Minimalist-thrash? Melbourne’s Grey Daturas are brutal in the way Bastard Noise makes your ears bleed, or Merzbow makes you freak-the-f*ck out. It’s art for art’s sake, but it’s also amazing music. Give “Return To Disruption” a listen when things are mellow or when you’re pissed. It’s perfect anytime.

SCOTT KELLY
“The Wake”

(May 5th) CD, LP

Neurosis’ Scott Kelly is not your typical singer-songwriter. On his second solo recording for NR, Kelly’s voice brings to mind a stripped down Tom Waits or Chris Cornell. With an acoustic guitar and a croon that crams the lilt, lift and longing of several lives well lived into 5-some-odd minutes of every song this record would not only not have been possible at any other point in either his life, or ours for that matter, than now, it also seems to suggest the shape of beyond-now: thin and on fire.

“A Grave is a Grim Horse”

(May 19th) CD, LP

Another Neurosis member with a new solo album coming this year, is Steve Von Till. On his latest, Von Till’s originals are so immediately captivating and threadbare that they seem more familiar upon first listen than the works of the time-honored songwriters to whom he pays tribute. www.neurotrecordings.com/artists/svt

“And We Wept the Black Ocean Within”

(June 2nd) CD, DLP

A Storm of Light hails from New York City and features Josh Graham (formerly of Red Sparowes), and Unsane’s Vinnie Signorelli, automatically making them a force to be reckoned with. Their style of atmospheric doom is a pummeling, sonic assault, unleashing massive amounts of heaviness onto listeners skulls, and bursting eardrums at the same time. Seen recently opening for Neurosis and Mastodon in Brooklyn, and Neurosis and Converge in Seattle, A Storm of Light is proving they are a force to be reckoned with in 2008.

“Eat The Low Dogs”

(June 16th) CD, LP

USC has steadily evolved into a full-blown psychedelic assault. The music cannot be ignored. It hurts people – physically and mentally. It stirs intense feelings of pain, frustration, loss, fear, and occasionally – euphoria. They beat your face in with their New York debut opening for Neurosis and Mastodon. Go see this band if you need a severe dose of fast and heavy destruction.