Quiet for a while.

A while back, I got stabbed. In the hand. Yes, I actually did. Nerve damage. Could only move pinkie and ring finger of left hand.

Took a lot of pills. Slept a lot.

Tired of that now. Looking for a way back to the surface. Not there yet. But I'm ready to hunt...

More soon.

~ J.

Sensation...  Isn't it an incredible thing to be human?  To have all of
these emotions that can be pulled out by so many things, and at the
same time, have the consciousness and the awareness to know what we're
feeling, even if from a source outside our realm of knowledge?  The
world has its famous and most respected droners, people like Oren
Ambarchi, Adrian Baker, Troum, and endless more, but rarely do we see
outside of very few Drone Records artists just how profoundly some
albums in the genre can affect a person's senses.  The Crowned Heads of
Europe are a means of obliterating a stereotype long held by a genre,
and they've come to evoke more out of every human that readily touches
Witnesseth than perhaps any drone album has done before.  This is a
masterpiece and a journey that, unfortunately, only a few will get to
take due to the limitation of the pressing.

At the same time, Witnesseth is a dark, psychedelic collage of sound, a
twisting whirlwind of 70's / 80's horror.  This is the soundtrack to an
acid trip gone wrong, if a drug could drag you down into your worst
nightmare and obliterate your sanity.  There are moments in this album
that are spine-chilling to the point of nausea.  Broken Belfry, in
particular, with its droning, malicious, bombastic low end swell,
always excruciatingly beating against the edge of your consciousness is
a track worthy of playing upon your descent into hell.  Witnesseth is
ritual without the spiritual.  With all of its emotion, its still a
macabre march into unknown realms.  It pulls you down, drags you deep
into the tar until the blackness is darker than the black you'd
experience in death.

Melodramatic – though absolutely necessary – descriptions aside, The
Crowned Heads of Europe is a project whom exceed their artistic and
emotional value only in their ability to make fierce, intelligent music
out of perhaps the most laid back and minimally-inclined genre on earth
(with the exception of obvious genres like ambient and minimal noise). 
Every note, every sample, every flutter of feedback on Witnesseth is a
necessary part of the puzzle.  Much like the Native American spiritual
visions of my own ancestory and their view of animals, not a single
second on this album is wasted.  Not one.  Even for those of you who
normally can't get into drone, this may be the album to take you by the
hand and lead you, convincingly, into the sickle.  This is music to
reap by.  Torturous, unstable perfection.  Excellence.

http://www.heathenharvest.com/article.php?story=20090321203323411

It seems that once again We were too generous: We lent a friend a favorite pedal and it has--while in their stead--become non-functional.

Has anyone any information on the Dynastar distortion pedal? Schematic or the like?

Does anyone else even own one of these strange birds?

We miss it so...

Do you record your own music? Or, perhaps you record others, maybe even professionally?

While We certainly don't fall into the latter category, We do record much of Our music, as well as that of some others from time to time. And here is what We've been wondering lately: aren't there just too many tools out there today? It just seems to Us that the level of sophistication of entry- and mid-level software and hardware tools is staggering when you think of the Tascam 4-tracks some of us were using just a few short years ago. And that leads to the second observation: if there are so many great tools out there, why are so many of them still overly expensive? Especially when many software tools can be found online for free? Wouldn't software/hardware manufacturers realize the market glut and seek an advantage by dropping their prices?

Now, We recognize that someone can't simply purchase a piece of software, for instance, and become Mr. Spector. That's not the root of our confusion. What We're getting at is this: aren't there too many options these days? And how can companies still make money in such a saturated market?

Hmm...perhaps We're not perceiving something here, but the current system isn't making sense. And We haven't even brought up the idea that maybe more people were encouraged to run the race when there was only one (or two or three) path(s) instead of one hundred from which to choose...

I'll guess We'll get back to calibrating the A800 MKIII and think about this some more...

~ TCHOE

A simple question, a difficult question. Feel free to define 'heavy' any way that you would like.

For Us, well, We vacillate continually on this issue. Presently, We would say...1999. Why? It seemed there way a certain energy in heavy music then that We liked. And We were in San Francisco then; a fine place and time for heaviness.

Your thoughts?

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Crowned-Heads-of-Europe/61547298544

From the folks behind Gog and Servile Sect, both big time faves around here, comes another curious bit of abstract heaviness, the curiously monickered Crowned Heads Of Europe. A CRAZY limited lp, only 100 copies, and for a quick idea of what you're in for, have a look at the legend on the back of the sleeve: "dROne. aRT/dOOM. experiMENTAL. sataniC/celestial." Indeed. We're sold already. Helps too that the packaging is pretty elaborate and trippy too, a thick gold metallic fold over sleeve, printed in black ink, the back side is only a half sleeve, revealing the black vinyl lp within, but also revealing a layer of textured prismatic holographic plastic.

So what exactly are The Crowned Heads Of Europe all about. Is it art doom drone satanic celestial experimental? Yeah, pretty much. Deep drones, recorded so hot and in the red, that the sound crumbles, wrapped in hiss and distortion, wreathed in soft edged feedback, the melodies abstract, a reverb drenched chiming blur, that gives way to a thick caustic downtuned crumbling sonic churn, a black ambience equal parts MZ412 and Wolf Eyes, a subtle industrial vibe, and plenty of shimmer surrounding the heavy grinding core. As the record progresses, no matter how heavy and corrosive the sound, it also manages to be weirdly pretty, a little psychedelic too. The record offers up brief squalls of squiggly distorted high end, only to follow with a lurching slow motion bass dirge, trudging through a creepscape rife with ghostly voices and melodies, processed vocals drown beneath slabs of FX drenched crush, super minimal doomic drones a la Trollmann, blossom into shimmery stretches of soft swirl and dreamy ambience, finishing off with a longform blast of crumbling in-the-red dronedirgedoom, the sounds so blown out, the overtones seem to add a whole layer of accidental melody, and the tones beating against one another create strange stuttering rhythms, everything buried beneath layers of filthy distorted murk and buzz, before slipping into something soft and hauntingly pretty, fading out in a blur of minimal cinematic creep.

--- http://www.aquariusrecords.org/

The kings of dark drone at SOBASC have gone out of their way to offer some truly swank packaging for this release (see for yourself at their site) -- the first 150 copies come with copper metallic cardstock paper, most of them swaddled in psychedelic foil, and the next 150 copies are almost as swank. (All versions also come with a free digital download of the album.) The band, actually a duo from Portland, OR, make the vinyl-only release worth owning regardless of the packaging with seven songs of intense, atmospheric drone leavened with gritty noise texturing and other psychedelic elements. In fact, this is as much a psych release as a drone album; the sound is droning, sure, but it's also swirling, pulsating, filled with tonal color that radiates in all directions, and mind-altering in its otherworldly audio properties. Better yet, the drones are not just drifting, floating exercises in minimalism, but actual songs with a readily discernible structure and plenty of attention to detail, especially in the layering of sounds; the sonic strata in these songs is rarely constant, and the density and texture of the tones 'n drones tends to ebb and flow in a subtle but dynamic fashion. The mood is alien and austere, sometimes even foreboding, but mostly concerned with harnessing a cryptic and uneasy mood. The tracks on the b-side are somewhat heavier and more unsettling, with a darker vibe permeating the rising and falling drones, but still not far removed from the aesthetic and theme of the a-side. This is the sound of tripping cosmonauts probing their psyches on the dark side of the moon. As good as this sounds, I'll bet it sounds even better when under the influence of powerful psychotropic drugs. All hail the mighty and forbidding death drone!

--- http://theonetruedeadangel.blogspot.com/


Another drone ambient recording, this time small scale and indie to the extreme, releasing only on a super limited vinyl and mp3 combo and cutting out CD altogether (which for the size of the operation and the style of the music is hardly detrimental).

Aside from the aesthetic confidence 'Witnesseth' demonstrates that the compositions aren't too shabby either, doing away with titles and merely numbering from one to seven.

'Track Two' provides the first real meaty repetitions with eight minutes of hypnotic and astral guitar based ambience, a hybrid of both drone and ambience, and a little space rock for good measure.

'Track Four' opens forebodingly with the sound of a [???] played repeatedly, slowly in the distance, a disquieting but altogether rewarding sound that is built on subtly and without bravado, merely allowing the repetition to settle in the mind as with 'Track Five' that replaces the hard hitting and didactic noisy drone of Sunn0))) for something altogether more self-reflective.

With its combination of truly beautiful and stark compositions and its low key and limited release 'Witnesseth' is not destined to become the next big thing in the world of music, but instead the limitations of this new release and the sheer obscurity of finding such an item will bestow a sense of sole ownership for any listener, making The Crowned Heads of Europe their band and theirs alone, and this fact, in a day and age where mass market success and global familiarity is the norm, is rare thing indeed and not one to be ignored. Buy, beg or borrow a vinyl copy where you can and cherish its isolation.

--- Michael Byrne, http://www.lefthip.com/albums/1132


Like a scooped EQ, the market for CD's is dropping, while markets for vinyl and MP3's are holding steady or increasing. Steve Austin's SuperNova label isn't the only one going the "just vinyl and MP3's" route. For at least one release, drone/doom/noise imprint Sounds of Battle and Souvenir Collecting has gone all-vinyl, with free MP3's included. (alien8 is also bundling free MP3's with physical media.) And it's a doozy. "Drone/doom/etc." - tune in, zone out, right? Wrong. I've heard The Crowned Heads of Europe's Witnesseth many times as background, and it's pleasant as such. But hearing a record is different from listening to what it has to say. After closer inspection, I was amazed at how much I'd missed. Each track is distinct. "Vena Amoris" is a subtly pulsing feedback sculpture. "Broken Belfry" circles vultures around a distant timpani. "Sifting Sleep" builds to a big electric climax. "The Baker's Sorrow" is fuzzy, warbling, and devastatingly plaintive. These aren't just drones that were jammed on for a while, then commodified onto wax. They're proper constructions, with layers and directions. They reward close listening. And they come with proper presentation. First pressing of 100, 50 with a "psychedelic foil insert." (Click above to enlarge.) Vinyl isn't cheap to press, so this is a labor of love from a small label with good product: in their own words, "Your Favorite Twisted Sound Boutique."

--- Cosmo Lee, http://invisibleoranges.com/2008/11/crowned-heads-of-europe-witnesseth.html

...about our music comes lately from Dan Seagrave. An artist whose work We much enjoy (please visit www.danseagrave.com to view his amazing work), Mr. Seagrave had this to say:

"...[it] makes me envision and have the sensation of, bleeding to the point of
hallucination amongst the rusting machinery left in a remote and
mountainous 19th century mining town, late fall. Which as far as I'm
concerned is a good thing."

Thank you, sir. And thanks for the many tremendous album covers you've produced over the years.

The first five (5) orders for the Special Deal will receive a 12" limited edition vinyl copy of WITNESSETH, a cdr of the WITNESSETH tracks for ease and portability, and a copy of BE36 featuring two (2) previously unreleased tracks from Us, and a crushingly beautiful song from Robe.

All for $21 (North America) or $27 (International). This price includes shipping.

BE36 is usually 6 euro and only available via Burning Emptiness, Inc. (France), so this is, indeed, a special deal.

Place your order on Our page...where you see the special deal mentioned.

After five (5) special deals are made, the offer is over.