Godspeed You! Black Emperor

Godspeed You! Black Emperor are the ultimate post-rock outfit. They influenced as many musicians into defying their own limitations, as they led some to quit repeating the same formulas over and over again. Bottom line, the Canadian collective are nothing less than one of the most important bands of the last two decades – and their legacy, imbued in a revolutionary dream, is a fire starter, leaving no man untouched. They’ll play for the most intense two hours of your lives.

Bohren & Der Club Of Gore

Bohren & Der Club of Gore is for calm and dreams what characters are to words. You cannot describe their sounds in other adjectives – and these adjectives are best personified by their sonic endeavours. The German outfit engage on jazz with a drone-like tempo and the dark melodic sense of metal in an hallucinated, unique sound.

Amenra

Amenra have been rising in the punk influence doom metal, which Neurosis led since its very start. With Mass V, the fifth full-length release from the Belgian outfit, Neurosis’ legacy is about to be challenge by one of the most brilliant students. Amenra are about to get as big and massive as their riffs.

Ufomammut

Italy is no land for doom and stoner metal. Or so we thought. Ufomammut challenge the odds as one of the most creative, heavy and psychedelic names out there, having earned the Neurot Recordings seal of approval. The power trio from Tortona are not only on the verge of their 15th year on the road, but they’re on their best form so far with the latest full-length, Orus.

Six Organs of Admittance

Ben Chasny has been around for over ten years now and he hasn’t stopped. That’s why Six Organs of Admittance, his band, is one of the most prolific bands in modern music. And there’s no catch here – Chasny’s music is as good as ever, no matter how many records he puts out a year. Ascend, another proof of Six Organs of Admittance’s undeniable quality, will be presented at Amplifest as a trio.

Barn Owl

Everything about Barn Owl is imbued in rationality, even though they sound as ritualistic and cathartic as imaginable. Jon Porras and Evan Caminiti are nothing less than this empirical and sonic approach of the unknown to the human mind and ears. Every chord, every note they pluck in their guitars is the sound of what we all fear, as women, men and believers. Amazingly, they embrace it as any scientist regards doubt – and all that is dark becomes bright to the listener, living an induced dream.

Black Bombaim

This power trio is as expansive as cohesive. Black Bombaim can most surely jam your head to outer space as easily as they make it bang with some of the sickest riffs you’ll ever listen to. They’re heavy as Sleep and psychedelic as Earthless – and they’ll do it just for the sake of needing. How a so down to earth band was ever able to make such an astonishing effort like Titans, their latest record, is just something to be behold live – and even Roadburn folks know it, that’s why they’re playing 013 venue in Tilburg, next April 2013.

Necro Deathmort

Necro Deathmort are amazingly able to summarize in their music a whole movement and more than three decades of industrial sounds. Of course, no good book would come from a simple librarian – this guys study and their approach is a step towards a new way of doing industrial. Necro Deathmort is as aggressive as it ever was, the fastest it ever got and heaviest it could possibly be. Its death in every way – and it’d make a dead man dance.

Oxbow Duo

Oxbow is intense, no matter how they play their act. It could be with an orchestra, it could be just Eugene S. Robinson with a microphone and Niko Wenner with an acoustic guitar – they’ll leave their blood and sweat on stage. And well, Niko and Eugene will do it, because that’s how they’ll play: a mic, an acoustic guitar, a stage, and lots of guts. Do you have them?

White Hills

Everything about White Hills has this smell of something frying deep in their guitars and amplifiers. That’s because they’re just fuzzing their way in the listener’s brain with their psyched-out grooved-in music, the perfect mix of Hawkind with some good ol’ Funkadelic. Ego Sensation and Dave W are just up to rock your brains out, without stopping and without questions. Full on ahead.

Jozef Van Wissem

In Jozef van Wissem’s music, experimenting is essentially about time travel. For the Dutch composer, fingerpicking the lude is more than an exercise; it’s an action towards a time-lapsing approach of music. Thanks to that, van Wissen is as drone-esque as folk can be, as modern as baroque can sound, and as broad as a unique, liberated lute can embody. For his concert, we prepared a special venue in of the historic churches of Porto – prepare to get lost in dreams and time travel experiments with a lute.

RA/Löbo

Playing every sound in RA and synths in Löbo, Ricardo stands out as the linking point between to not so similar projects, despite being, unarguably, a product of the same mind. RA, or Rei Abutre, actually stands for “vulture king” and it sounds as agonizing as its names points out. Straight electronic music with a doom like tempo and frequency approach, it has a industrial vibe which works as a bridge to Löbo’s ambient metal..

Process of Guilt

FÆMIN is the sound of a great band making a point, taking a stand: for Process of Guilt, great doesn’t cut it anymore. So, fuck it, they are damn good, they are heavy as hell and they’re not filling anything up anymore. We’ve already acknowledge it – that’s why they’re on this years’ line-up of Amplifest, after tearing apart the main stage in the 2011 edition –, Roadburn will do it in 2013, and you have the chance to do it next October.

Jem Cohen "Instrument – 10 years with Fugazi"

Fugazi is to DIY what water is to the human body – an enormous amount of it. To be fair, Fugazi is DIY: Mackaye, Picciotto, Lally and Canty live every portion of their band to the extent of having, with director Jem Cohen, edited Instrument, the film documenting the band’s first twelve years being active. The film is mainly composed of footage of concerts, interviews, practices, tours, and time spent on the studio and even its soundtrack was scored by Fugazi. It’s a precious document.

ISIS "The Videos"

ISIS will always be missed – as a band, as a concert to witness, as artists who wrote some of the best songs in the most recent years. Unfortunatly, Amplifest will never have the chance to welcome them on stage, so we found a way to have them in our festival: ISIS: the videos is the DVD part of the new rarities and b-sides, Temporal. We will screen it exclusively before its official release in November, via Ipecac.

William Farley "In Between the Notes: A Portrait of Pandit Pran Nath"

Pandit Pran Nath is a major influence on artist whose approach on music is about drone, about texture and spirituality. Pran Nath, as the last in a long line of north Indian vocal masters of Kirana and a devoted musician, is of undeniable importance to modern music, which is taking India seriously in its roots (OM, Grails, Secret Chiefs 3, Master Musicians of Bukkake, etc.). In Between the Notes trace Pran Nath’s journey to make true, free and sincere art.

Malleus

Malleus Rock Art Lab will leave its office in Italy for a weekend to take over Hard Club’s mainfloor. Malleus have worked with bands such as Grails, Muse, Neurosis, Mogwai, Nine Inch Nails and The Black Keys, designing posters and artwork for over a decade of hard work. During Amplifest, the main hall of Porto’s historic venue will exhibit the works of Malleus, one of the most interesting music-oriented design labs in the world today.

Neurosis "Honour Found in Decay" Listening Party

For over 25 years, Neurosis has been a leading act on creativity and on heaviness. It would be unfair to say they’ve been less that one of the most influencing outfits of the modern music scene, having no borders whatsoever to their sound. Every Neurosis’ record is a statement towards a new and amazing direction and Honour Found in Decay shall aim for no less. We’re proud to announce that Neurosis’ 10th record will be first listened to in its entirety in Amplifest’12, in an exclusive listening party at Mercedes, Amplificasom’s first concert venue.

AMPLIKIDS

To set their minds to Amplifest’s spirit, kids will have access to special activities in a reserved space, supervised by Fernanda, a professional sociocultural-animator.

Some of the activities are the short story hour; plastic expression, where they shall create their own musical instrument; face painting; balloon modelling; and a surprise which will end up being a souvenir.

Amplikids will take place on October 27th and 28th, from 5p.m. to 8p.m., and will be limited to ten kids with ages between 5 and 12.

To sign your kids up to Amplikids you have to e-mail us to amplificasom[-at-]gmail.com with the following data:

Parents names; Phone number; Child’s name; Child’s age; number of Amplifest’s ticket, and which day do you want your kid to take part of Amplikids.