Momentum is king in the music world, and Deafheaven has it in spades. It began with two guys and eighty-five dubs to cassette, the result of which was the Deafheaven demo (streaming below and available for purchase at their Bandcamp page), a combination of classic screamo and pensive black metal that lit up the underground. Labels came calling and the San Francisco band teamed with Deathwish Inc for a limited release of tracks from the demo, as well as their forthcoming LP.

Read the full interview with deafheaven at Brooklyn Vegan. Can’t wait for their vinyl release on Deathwish Inc!

After lunch we walked into the MediaMarkt (a european megastore of electronics, often putting local retailers out of business) because I know they’re even selling vinyl over there now. I was surprised to see that their collection had grown quite a bit since my last visit somewhere in 2008. Instead of like 50 albums they now have someting like 200 to 250 new albums on sale, ranging from The Beatles to Volbeat. The problem is that their prices are lower than the local record stores’ prices. ..

The hyped up Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest album was around 20,- euros in the MediaMarkt, it was 23,- euros in the local record store. The new Alela Diane – To Be still – was 19,- euros at the MediaMarkt, it was 21,50 at the local record store. I picked up Amy Winehouse – Frank (180gr) for 10,- euros (!!!) and left the MediaMarkt with mixed feelings. I’d like to support my local record store, but knowing that buying records from the MediaMarkt is cheaper pains my wallet…

The next step is of course comparing prices from the local record store to prices from online stores. Buying stuff online is a lot cheaper, but if nobody buys records from record stores anymore, browsing through collections and chatting with the owners will die out. And that’s half the fun of buying records, isn’t it?

First up was Signe Tollefsen, a half Dutch/American singer/songwriter who apparently loves switching guitars on stage. Is it really neccesary to keep switching guitars between each song? But anyways… The crowd got real quiet when she starting playing and with good reason: her voice is really, really beautiful. More warm and less sharp than say Alela’s voice. The audience seemed to like her and so did I, but lyrically it did not do much to me. “Things change – people change – Nothing stays the same”. Oh, really? Her debut album should be out on September 25th of this year. Looking forward to it.

Next up was Alela Diane together with her dad and co-stars (of whom her bass player Tom McGee Bevitori stole the show with his funny observations). Starting of slowly and quietly with The Rifle and Tatted Lace, later playing some of here newer songs from her latest album To Be Still and even doing a cover Heart of Gold from Neil-I can’t stand his voice-Young. Although much of Alela Diane’s songs sound the same and are quite simple, live with the band behind her, they do enough to keep the songs interesting. Ending with The Pirate’s Gospel  (in which the audience clapped out of sync with what was happening on stage – kudos to the audience) after a little more than an hour it was time to go home…

I first saw Austin Lucas play in Rotterdam with Chuck Ragan somewhere in 2008. Although I actually came to see Chuck Ragan, Austin stole the show and I’ve been hooked on his albums ever since. Though I was a bit dissapointed with his latest release Somebody Loves You (mostly because a couple of songs were released on the At War With Freak Folk 10″ before), I do like the music video for my favorite song on the album: Go West.

Austere – To Lay Like Old Ashes (released on Eisenwald)
I do need to get used to the screams here, but I really liked it after a couple of plays. Slow atmospheric black metal. I like the artwork a lot and the green vinyl looks really nice.
http://www.myspace.com/bandaustere

Lantlos – Lantlos (released on Deviant Records)
Some depressing black metal from Germany. I like the music a lot, but can’t help but wonder why the vocals are mixed so hard on top of the music, or maybe my settings on my stereo are just screwed? The german lyrics fit the music well…
http://www.myspace.com/lantlos

Arckanum – ÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞ (released on Debemur Morti Productions)
The most traditional black metal of the three bands mentioned here, but nicely melodic though. Nice gatefold cover and I got the white vinyl, pink splatter version which looks quite nice as well. Though the colours aren’t really cool for a black metal band, are they?
http://www.myspace.com/officialarckanummyspace