after a pretty slow '08, heavy winged will be unleashing a veritable shitload of releases in the year new.  a few of these were supposed to have come out a long time ago, but that's how things go sometimes.  don't hate the winged.  here's the info:

- just released on the music fellowship label is the long in the works collaborative/split picture disc lp/cd with the incredible windy & carl.  only 500 copies were made, so if you want to get a one, do so soon as they surely won't last long.

- to be released mid february is a cd on release the bats records featuring recordings taken from live shows in 07/08.  also limited to 500 copies with exclusive artwork and design work from the wonderful twin vixen press.

- the also long in the works full collaborative lp with inca ore is finally complete and artwork is being worked on now by eva/inca ore, for an expected release date of march/april on notnotfun records.  not sure how many will be pressed...

- coming may 4th in the uk and 2 weeks later in the us is an lp only release on aurora borealis records of recordings from summer 08, this album concentrates more on the drone than most of our releases.  artwork has just been finalized and once again, 500 copies will be pressed.

and on top of all of that, there's still the full cd/lp release coming later this year on aurora borealis a cd on archive (featuring a live collaboration from 12/08 with u.s. girls) and some other projects that are in the works.  it's going to be a BIG year to say the least.

hey people,

heavy winged is playing a few shows on the east coast later this week. we seem to be in the habit of getting together twice a year nowadays, playing 4-5 shows each time, so this will probably be your only chance to catch us on the east coast until this time next year. here's the info:

12/18 philadelphia, pa
@ kung fu necktie
special collaboration set with u.s. girls
w/ insect factory, lunch with beardo and moral crayfish

12/19 new york, ny
@ fontana's
w/ zozobra, the austerity program, hull and cowards

12/20 baltimore, md
@ the bank
w/ teeth mountain, a lexie mountain boys side project and more

12/21 brooklyn, ny
@ union pool
w/ talibam! and hell's hills

we'll also have copies of some out of print releases for sale (alive in my mouth lp, blacc lust cd and feel inside cd).
come out and say hi if you can!

thanks a lot.

"alive in my mouth" was listed second on the wire magazine's "office ambience" list, i think in the last issue? expect a full review from them soon.
alive... was also norman records' "album of the week" last week, here's what they had to say about it:

Christ almighty, this is excellent. Heavy Winged have chucked out 'Alive In My Mouth', an LP they recorded a couple of years back that's only now finding it's way into the world, lovingly pressed on to 180g vinyl and packaged with a CD including the full album plus an extra bonus track. This is probably the best new release I've heard since being drafted into the Norman army, an absolute battering ram of heavy, lo-fi, improvised noise-rock over two loooong tracks. It's just so unrestrained and primitive sounding, it gets me in some sort of indefinable tribal way.. My id feels completely poked. Like I know that a caveman ancestor of mine would be well into it too without any need for context or any of that daft stuff. He'd probably be pretty confused at what the hell the overloaded amps and feedback were but they'd inspire him to go out and do some hardcore hunter-gatherer shit and no mistake. If they started these jams in the centre of the Earth they'd probably strip away the layers of the planet from the inside until eventually there was nothing left but the band floating towards a terrified man in the moon looking his own imminent death in the eye. I imagine this is what Drum's Not Dead-style Liars would probably sound like if they completely shed their pop sensibilities and just went apeshit on shifting, drawn-out grooves and heaviness. Their reviews are usually total crud but I heard Ebert and Roeper gave this twenty thousand broken thumbs up. And rightly so. Limited to 647 copies as far as I know, so get yourself in there!


from aquarius records:

Latest from this Brooklyn trio (at least they were Brooklyn based last time we checked, they may be spread out all over the country these days, but at least one of em is still in Brooklyn!) and while they still wield some serious psychedelic heaviness, they've also gotten seriously melodic. The first of two sidelong tracks on this new lp is wrapped around a main riff and looped rhythm, that is crazy catchy in addition to being blissfully blown out and weirdly hypnotic. The trio lock into this relentlessly staccato groove, a sort of machinelike groove, super repetitive and robotic, the group pounding away, while the guitar slowly builds momentum, the sheets of high end and the streaks of feedback and wall of buzz lifting ever higher, a slow burning ascendancy, it almost sounds like some scientist took a lost Fushitsusha jam and slowed it down, it the lab, to examine it more closely, like some Discovery documentary featuring a time lapse film of a 'psych jam' captured in the wild. Until finally the main chugging rhythm drops out, the whole track becoming more and more stripped down, the drums skittering away, while some tangled buzz continues to twist and contort, into various permutations, the drums remaining the only constant, the guitar offering up strange and gloriously gnarled melodies, and the bass just buzzes and rumbles heavily. Right at the end it gets super spacious and pretty, but still without losing any momentum or lysergic energy.
The flipside is another grinding buzzy psychjam, one set of strings oscillating intensely in the low end, chugging and churning, the other locking into a woozy looped riff, all draped over another blown out motorik groove, that sounds like a more loose extension of the main A side rhythm. The track has plenty of twists and turns, eventually getting all mathy and metal in the middle, the main riff becoming super spidery, the drums going spastic and free, but still all settled on a thick bed of grinding mesmerizing buzz, finishing off with a burst of resplendent epic majesty, gradually slowing down to a weird warped outro, of lurching, skittery downtuned riffs and haunting disembodied metallic buzz, weaving back and forth and finally leaving a washed out sun baked glow to fade out quietly.
The cool thing with Three Lobed releases, is that not only do you get the lp, gorgeously packaged and pressed as always, but you also get the same songs pressed on an actual cd. Including a 17 minute bonus track only on the cd. Another weirdly looped slow motion psychedelic workout, this one even more slow and bleary than the lp sides. The drums setting the skeletal framework, locked into another mesmerizing complex loop, around which thick effected buzz, scrapes and chugs and whirls fall into step, establishing another kick as motorik groove that could go on forever as far as we're concerned, and in terms of the track, actually does, while the guitar here soars weightless high above, sounding all angelic and sun dappled, almost like a wailing voice, spread out in glistening streaks over that awesomely relentless chnnkŠ chnnk chnnk chnnk, below, so kick ass, weirdly minimal but still so heavy and psychedelically resplendent, eventually slowing down to a lysergic, buzz drenched crawl, before finishing off in a blinding chaotic crush of blinding high end, squiggly freaked out FX and chaotic drum crush.
Gorgeous black and white packaging, with a super tripped out, crazy intricate pen and ink cover image, thick sleeve, pressed on thick vinyl, with a real cd not a cd-r, and crazy limited as always, only 647 copies, each one hand numbered, we got a bunch from the band when they were here on tour last week, so not sure we'll be able to get more once these are gone...


from losing today:

You may well recall this lot getting the thumbs up here courtesy of their ultra limited outing for the incredibly cool Trensmat imprint last year. Much to our horror we've noted this Brooklyn based trio have been sneaking out with ridiculous regularity a shed load of shelf creaking releases all of which have been ultra limited and missed by yours truly.
Now after much delay 'Alive in my Mouth' finally gets to see the light of day - packaging alone makes it well worth the wait given its pressed up on heavy duty 180g slabs of vinyl housed in a thick card sleeve with bollock dropping smart artwork from Michael Canich. For those of you who foolishly shipped out their hi-fi's don't worry - tucked inside the set you'll find a CD with both the vinyl cuts with the welcome addition of an extra track which all gathered together clock in at a head shredding 50 minutes of intensely fractured no nonsense boogie. Did we also tell you there are only 647 numbered copies - ours in case you're wondering is 493 - so best get your arse into gear if you want some.
Anyhow we had a slight mishap in our gaff with this ferocious beast, having recently acquired some floor standing speakers and a restless desire to try them out - we wired everything up then eyed this beauty (well the Kikuri CD was certainly a no no not unless we wanted to leave a crater where the gaff used to be - even we aren't that stupid) and thought 'to hell with it' - what better way to push the hi-fi through its paces than a spot of heavy duty freaking out. F**k me - not advised kids - well not unless you happen to live on the moon (preferably the dark side), within seconds the floor was threatening to blister open, the vibrations alone registering well off the richter scale while the unearthly growl rippling below my chest cavity was I imagine not so dissimilar to Mr Hurt's before the screen arrival of the Alien.
Our tin hat was well and truly donned, our skull suitably bandaged and screened ready and waiting to fend of the ensuing cerebral attacks of their locked grooved grizzled goo. Hell we weren't disappointed - Heavy Winged despite their towering skrees of aural artillery are probably more distinctive for the element of endurance that they subject their listeners to, with the exception of the parting 'emak bakia' they carve out a chilling and unrelenting torched terrain, ominous blizzards of controlled fury both dense and demonic scald with an intimated threat. Not quite as caustic as that Trensmat appearance or indeed as dirty, still though a behemoth of a release. Quite where exactly you pigeon hole these dudes is anyone's guess as they appear to bestride a white hot inferno that draws upon the disciplines of slo-core, grunge, hardcore, freeform noise psyche (and for a brief moment 7 minutes into 'emak bakia' frazzled elements of post rock) all dispatched with much aplomb with a humungously heavy underpin wired through its very core.
The frenzied freeform chaos that ladens the grooves of the cacophonic glazed 'wounded crystals' make for a colossal head trip of intense butchered boogie that insidiously builds layer upon layer of repetitive coils that manifest superbly into thick molten textures whose prime purpose it seems is to fry your mind - a scathing inferno reminiscent at times of a still born creation from the dark psyche of killing joke. The atonally austere and bearing down heavily 'gruesome pillow talk' as the title hints is a festering slab of unsettling monolithic grind that looms large like some all consuming hostile no future black hole version of My Bloody Valentine with a side serving of wig flipped Sonic Youth in one of their more experimental hybrids.
As punishing as it is the bonus cut 'emak bakia' proves to be the sets centrepiece - a terra forming 17 minute odyssey of sound which admittedly shapes up to be quite sedate when compared to its accompanying bludgeoning brothers - low frequency squalls and wig flipping spaced out montages rather than trying to trepan you out of existence it provides for a more measured and carefully constructed affair by blending moments of discordant eruptions dragged from the primordial ooze and disquieting lulls that eerily radiate ominously never once letting up on their intimated threat.
An awesome thing.


from stuff to put on your toast blog:

Heavy Winged - Alive In My Mouth
The latest release from Three Lobed Recordings continues their trend of an LP on 180g black vinyl with a CD of the material with a bonus track. Heavy Winged have a previous release on TRL that featured material released on a pressed CD for the first time. That was my introduction to the trio. Since then I've bought their Archive release 'Feel Inside' and the vinyl-only 'We Grow' LP which I think is their best material to date.
Until now. Side A offers the familiar sound of Heavy Winged with a few new elements/textures to keep things interesting. Then comes Side B which contains the most crushing song they've yet to record. The first half the 16+ minute track is a wall of sound that comes crashing down half way through and then simmers until the end. The CD contains a third song clocking in over 17 minutes alternates between a frenzy of sounds and quieter, moody parts. Chalk up another stellar release from Three Lobed.


from apples and heroin blog:

Heavy Winged "Alive in My Mouth" (Three Lobed, 2008):
Last year, this Brooklyn-based three-piece melted faces with a fine tapestry of psych guitar called We Grow. In between that LP and Alive in My Mouth, the band threw some limited run release our way. None of it lived up to the heavy dose of lysergic confusion found on We Grow. The band almost reaches the majesty of that album with Alive in My Mouth. Comprised of two side-long stunners, Alive in My Mouth shifts into multiple auditory modes without sounding forced or overly loose. "Gruesome Pillow Talk," which trucks through Side A, features a flickering shoegaze guitar washing over jagged buzz-saw string scrapes. A steady, somewhat unchanging drumbeat lends the song a sort of ragged Neu quality. The mournful quality of the guitar eventually subsides for a full-on fuzz fest. The final quarter of the side features bursts of dissonant-yet-funky robot skronk being overtaken by an angelic choir of gray sound. As the song could feasibly morph into other fascinating shapes and hold the listener's interest for an eternity, the band sucks it into a void, signaling its death knell with a drum attack. A heavily distorted stoner metal riff commences "Wounded Crystals," a hazy, aggressive mind-warp. For a quarter of the song, the riff grows almost too repetitive and the song collapses under the weight of the guitar feedback smatterings. The band wanders into the self-indulgent bliss momentarily but it regains its focus with an introverted Van Halen riff blended with blurs of angelic falsetto vocals. A band exhibits its chops by moving as one through the improv swamp. For the most part, Heavy Winged's tunes fail to sound improvised, as the band transition into different portions of their jam so effortlessly. The band coalesces in a manner that suggests they can pull something like Alive in My Mouth from the fog whenever they feel like it.

we're only a couple of days away from the start of heavy winged's first voyage into the west, taking us from portland down to los angeles. here's the final show information:

6/29 sunday - portland @ valentine's w/ guest (grouper and ilyas ahmed) and bob jones
6/30 monday - davis @ old firehouse w/ the freebasers
7/01 tuesday - s.f. @ hemlock w/ barn owl and one and seven death (ettrick and oaxacan)
7/02 wednesday - l.a. @ echo curio w/ magic lantern, sasqrotch and warm climate
7/03 thursday - oakland @ 21 grand w/ modey lemon and kaiser/hsu duo
7/04 friday - portand @ 4th of july party somewhere!? maybe!?

we will have tons of stuff for sale along the way, too:
"alive in my mouth" lp/cd combo
"alive in my mouth" special tour only cd version limited to 50
"a blanket of ash" special tour only cdr limited to 50
t shirts (only 5 made, all different, one for sale at each show)
"blacc lust" cd, now out of print
"feel inside" cd, also out of print
not to mention tons of other releases from our other bands and projects.

get wingged.
hw

finally, after almost two (2) years of various delays and problems, our "new" lp, recorded in late 2005, is out now on the wonderful three lobed recordings in an edition of 647 copies. it is pressed on super high quality 180gram rti vinyl with covers beautifully letterpressed by dexterity press (aka jeff mueller from june of 44!). it looks and sounds like a million bux and we hope you think so, too. it's been a long time coming, but in the end it was most definitely worth the wait. copies are available now from three lobed for $19 postpaid in the us, or $30.00 postpaid overseas. it may seem pricey, but this isn't your ordinary vinyl release, and it also comes with a cd (not cdr) of the two songs on the record and one additional bonus track recorded around the same time. we will have copies for sale on our west coast tour in june/july, as well as direct from us.



speaking of tour, here's the full info for the west coast tour we will be embarking on in the near future. if you have any questions about anything, just give us a holler:

6/29 sunday - portland @ valentine's w/ grouper/ilyas ahmed collab and erasmus: a new piece by bob jones
6/30 monday - davis @ uc davis w/ chad stockdale group
7/01 tuesday - s.f. @ hemlock w/ barn owl and one in seven death (ettrick and oaxacan collab)
7/02 wednesday - l.a. @ echo curio w/ magic lantern, warm climate and sasqrotch
7/03 thursday - oakland @ 21 grand w/ modey lemon

hello everyone.

we’re in the process of setting up a summer west coast tour for the winged and, like our east coast tour from a few months ago, we’re trying to spread the word and get any help we can with this. here is a tentative list of the dates/cities we’re hoping to play:

6/29-PDX
6/30-davis
7/1-SF/oakland
7/2-LA
7/3-more LA probably
7/4-oakland/SF

we especially need help with the sf/bay area for those two dates, so any suggestions whether they be venues/bands/promoters/pizza/whatever would be great!

thanks.

our short tour earlier this month went as smoothly as possible, so thanks to everyone who helped set up shows or came out to see us. total funtimes were had by all, and we hope to keep doing these small tours every so often, so this was not a one time thing! europe is next hopefully, so once again, help us out here pleeeeease!

release wise, everything is now out of print, surprisingly enough. the split lp with taiga remains and the two cds are all sold out from their respective labels. there MIGHT be some copies of the "we grow" repress available from notnotfun, but that's not certain. we still have copies of both cds for sale direct from us, as well as a few copies of "we grow," but those are running out fast! we're out of the split lp, the split 7" w/ blues control and the lathe 7", so if anyone is interested in those, a distro of some sort would be your best bet.

still to come next year is:
- live lp on notnotfun, hw set on one side and collab featuring inca ore (aka eva saelens) and tunnels (aka nick bindeman) on the other, both recorded in april '06 at the first hw live show in brooklyn, ny
- lp on three lobed
- collab/split one sided lp with windy & carl
three
cd releases are also being discussed, but nothing can be confirmed as of now.
and probably a bunch more. who knows!?
thanks.

short update this time, but good things to report:
finally, our (very short) east coast tour has been finalized. thanks to everyone who wrote in with suggestions and help of any kind. originally the tour was going to be 9 dates with taiga remains, but now it is only going to be 4 shows, unfortunately with no taiga remains along the way. please send hugs and kisses to alex/tr, because we're really going to miss him. here's what is planned:
11/2 - bard college, annandale-on-hudson, ny (w/ no neck blues band and maybe others?)
11/3 - venue tbc!, brooklyn, ny (w/ religious knives, the paranoid critical revolution and maybe one more)
11/4 - please touch museum, philadelphia, pa (w/ a bardo pond side project tbc, pillars of heaven and heat conference)
11/5 - mass art college, boston, ma (w/ the body and ganja, hopefully)
11/6-11/8 - recording in vermont
and there you have it. should be tons of fun, and hopefully we'll get to meet some friends face to face along the way. if anyone has any questions about these shows, feel free to get in touch and we'll try to help out as much as possible.
since the last update, 2 releases have also come out. the aforementioned "feel inside" cd on archive records has been out for a few weeks, and at this point is down to about 100 copies left at the label. our split with w/ taiga remains has also been released on notnotfun, limited to 350 copies. i'm not sure how many are left at the label, but i know it's been selling like hot cakes! there has also been a very small re-press of "we grow," 50 copies to be exact, so those are now available from nnf. we have copies of both new releases for sale direct from us, as well as a few older releases, so please write if you'd like to order anything!
thanks again everyone.

well, that was fast. new winged already came and went. a lathe cut 7" and dvdr on trensmat records, titled "on the marble cliffs," was released last week and wound up selling out the same day!? kind of surprising, to say the least. there was a mix up on the dvdr, as the intended bonus song was mixed up with one of the songs that's going to be on our upcoming archive records cd, so unfortunately that track will be released in two different places. trensmat is pressing up a very small second issue of the dvdr with the correct song, minus the lathe cut. i'm not sure if they have all been spoken for, but it's worth asking the label directly at: trensmat@gmail.com
copies of the lathe should be available soon from norman records and piccadilly in the uk, and the second edition will be available from aquarius records in the us.


new full length cd will be out on archive records on sep.14th, limited to 600 copies. james plotkin did a verrrrry nice job with the mastering on this project, as did chase middaugh with the artwork.



best news ever alert: we are extremely happy to announce that we will be sharing a record with the incredible windy & carl, as part of the music fellowship's new series entitled "monolith," where two bands share one side of a 12" record. but that's not at all, as the two bands music will be played at the same time, split between two channels. oh, and the record also plays from the inside out, ending with a locked groove. yeah, kind of insane to say the least. i believe there will also be a cd of the songs included with the lp, for people to hear how the songs sound on their own. i'm not sure of an exact release date, but both bands music is in the labels hands, so hopefully expect a release before the end of the year.

"blacc lust" is down to just 35 copies left at the label hq. we've got a bunch for sale direct from us, so get in touch if you're interested in a copy.
"we grow" is now officially sold out from notnotfun. we still have some copies for sale, so... you know, give us money for those and stuff.

we still need help with tour! our northeast dates are still looking pretty empty as of now, so pleeeaaaase get in touch if you can help with any new england area shows!

there's probably more to say, but that'll do for now. get in touch for more specifics on anything, if needed.
thanks.

as of today, the first "real" cd by heavy winged is available for purchase. entitled BLACC LUST, it is a re-release of our first two cdrs from 2005, both long sold out. here's what the beautiful people at three lobed recordings had to say about this release:
this gang of power-driving rock really have their flavor of overdriven high rise-style proto-metal-psych noise down flat. blacc lust reissues two long out-of-print parts of the band's discography that were originally released in tiny CD-R micro editions (a serpent's lust from an edition of 100 on digitalis, and blacc stork from an edition of 50 on students of decay). a little over an hour of good, heavy times. from a one-time pressing of 500 hand-numbered copies housed within arigato! paks bearing original artwork by beverly shana palmer.
copies are flying out of the labels door, but we have a bunch for sale direct from us, for $10/$11, for the us/world. get in touch if you're interested in buying a copy!
the following releases should all be out very soon, if everything goes as planned:
lathe cut 7"/dvdr on trensmat records limited to between 60-100 copies, not sure yet (7" is edits of two songs from the "hunting the moon" cdr, while the dvdr has live footage of us jamming in our rehearsal space in brooklyn from last december, as well as a new 24 minute song. out end of this month)
feel inside - cd on archive records limited to 600 copies (the final recordings from april/may 2006 before we split up around the country. out next month)
split lp with taiga remains on notnotfun limited to 350 copies or so (re-release of our sold out split cdr, with a new taiga remains track. out in september or october, hopefully)

of course, there's lots of other things planned, but specifics on those will be divulged closer to their respective release dates. just know that even though we're now based in three different states, heavy winged is alive and well, and that recordings and releases will continue to made for a long time to come.

TOUR! in celebration of the split lp with taiga remains, we're joining forces to tour the east coast in early november. we've been having some trouble finding shows so far, so any help would be high appreciated! here are the dates we've been having some trouble with:
friday 11/2 - brooklyn/manhattan
saturday 11/3 - brooklyn/manhattan
sunday 11/4 - new haven/providence/northhampton/boston/anywhere around there
monday 11/5 - new haven/providence/northhampton/boston/anywhere around there
thursday 11/8 - philly?
friday 11/9 - philly or surrounding areas
saturday 11/10 - baltimore
if you can help out in ANY way, please let us know!

okay everyone, thanks again for everything. more soon as it develops.
<3,
hw