stubbadub

npr.org are streaming the audio from The Melvins and Isis Bonnaroo shows. Check it:

The Melvins

Isis

After 5 studio albums, and 13 years together, ISIS have announced their break up in a heartfelt post on their blog.  This comes not long after the release last year of their final album, Wavering Radiant.  While the tour they are about to commence will go ahead, the band has highlighted that it will, indeed, be their last. For those of you who did catch them at Soundwave in Australia this year, count yourselves lucky. For those who missed out, the band is planning to release a final EP and are compiling live audio for future releases. A decision to go out strong, but not be forgotten by those who appreciated their music…A sentiment we can appreciate.

The farewell, as posted by the band:

“ISIS has reached an end. It’s hard to try to say it in any delicate way, and it is a truth that is best spoken plainly. This end isn’t something that occurred over night and it hasn’t been brought about by a single cataclysmic fracture in the band. Simply put, ISIS has done everything we wanted to do, said everything we wanted to say. In the interest of preserving the love we have of this band, for each other, for the music made and for all the people who have continually supported us, it is time to bring it to a close. We’ve seen too many bands push past the point of a dignified death and we all promised one another early on in the life of the band that we would do our best to ensure ISIS would never fall victim to that syndrome. We’ve had a much longer run than we ever expected we would and accomplished a great deal more than we ever imagined possible. We never set any specific goals when the band was founded other than to make the music we wanted to hear and to play (and to stay true to that ideal), so everything else that has come along the long and winding path has been an absolute gift. As with any momentous life-changing decision (which this certainly is for the 5 of us), we feel a very dynamic range of emotions about this and cannot express all of it within the space of a few sentences, and perhaps it’s best to do what we’ve always done in and let our music speak for us. It is and has been the truest expression of who we are as a collective and in some ways who we are as individuals for the 13 years in which we’ve been together. The last and perhaps most important thing we might say in relation to all this is how grateful we are for the people that have supported us over the years. It is a lengthy list that would include those who put out our records, those that played on them and put them to tape, the many bands with whom we shared the stage, all of our family, friends and companions who supported us in our individual lives and thus made it possible for us to continue on in the band, and most importantly those who truly listened to our music whether in recorded form or by coming to out to our shows (or both). It is quite true that we would never have done what we have without those people, that is many of you who are reading this. Our words can never fully express what we feel, but we hope that our music and the efforts made to bring it into being can serve as a more proper expression of gratitude for this life and for everyone in it. Thank you.

In more immediate and practical terms the tour we are about to embark upon is indeed our last. We are hoping that these final live rituals can help us bring a close to the life of this band in a celebratory and reverent way, and also provide us with a chance to say goodbye to many of those that have supported us over the years. While there is a measure of sadness that comes with the passing of this band, we hope that the final days can be joyous ones during which any and all that wish to come and join us will do so. It seems fitting that the last show of the tour and of our active existence will take place in Montreal, the site of the very first ISIS show in 1997 (though that was an unintentional move when booking the show initially). After the tour we also plan to follow through with other projects set in motion some time ago – pursuing the completion of a final EP, compiling live audio and visual material for future releases, and generally doing whatever we can to make our music available for as long as there are people who wish to hear it.

Thanks again to any and all,

ISIS, May 18, 2010″

http://isistheband.blogspot.com

To celebrate the 1 year anniversary of Wavering Radiant entering the world, Isis have released the albums full lyrics:

01. “hall of the dead”
the great stone walls rise above our heads, cold and sad pale light, a dusty veil
the sun makes its way in destitute, weak you’re at my side again faithful guide unfailing, here we stand among the others the living among the dead
veins still flowing full lungs filled with white light
push forward lifeless bodies swept aside they are on us cast a net of armor over our heads hide our life lest it be lifted from us
we must leave this place of deathly decay
don’t look back, press on

02. “ghost key”
it’s cold snowing blue light dusk settles
a fire burns with failing light against the growing darkness
bending over the dying flames you were with me then as always
through the fluttering veil of frozen blue a hooded figure cuts its path
to cleave the night in two
pull its outer husk from its body and the rest escapes
and there upon the ground the remnants of our struggle
this is the ghost key

03. “hand of the host”
it is here that vice indulged bleeds the living of their trust
hand of the host extended from his fingers dangles scented flesh
bodies offered spun from infant minds perfect in their empty conception
to be devoured by my lustful heart i am commanded “do as thou wilt”
through the halls i am lead following i am lead
‘writhe and gnaw each other’s flesh’
he lies uncovered this ancient man of bristle and bone hoary and unwashed his lonely soul
fills the room
our reverie lays broken on the floor cast him out into the throngs into unholy laughter

04. “wavering radiant”

05. “stone to wake a serpent”
we four, bound by blood standing in the crossroads
on the underside of the world waiting our turn
here we see coiled serpent black and baking in the sun
stone is flung serpent wakens arrow of poison pierces our hearts
teeth sink into tender flesh lightning strikes, too fast to see
we seek succor for the stricken pleas met with spiteful laughs
slow advance, not to stir the poison its course fast and merciless
merciless, merciless
in vast halls, buried in hurried hordes no help found here, only dreadful tears

06. “20 minutes/40 years”
tendrils extend from the cloudy black mass
they slither and slide through the ones and zeroes prophecy of collapse unfolds last grain of sand spirals down the hole
chance has graced me with a gift grasp at gold before the dark descends sun beats down and panic reigns in this time of endings
eyes are shut, feet are bare for this journey i’m unprepared
i walk on sight renewed seek new life i seek new life walk on
seeking her, the one i wish to see she wanders the outer lands from the grasp of wolves i will pluck her
twin arteries flow with the pulse of one mighty heart

07. “threshold of transformation”
i’ve arrived city of lucid dreams
before me a building looms caked in inky grime
the act unknown actor in sleep here i enter, and here i see the circle and bones made in haste
winds to anoint the faithful
amorphous specter turns from old to new rests in faith beside me we wait for the quiet fire to be born and there it is embodied by a boy
his voice small and grey whispers smoke to the chosen
upon our heads he places crowns sewn with hiss and higher tones
the boy presses whispers into her and they bathe in valley’s pale rain

Isis

May 26, 2010 in San Diego, CA at Casbah (with: Jakob, Tombs)
May 29, 2010 in Eugene, OR at Wow Hall (with: Jakob, Tombs)
May 31, 2010 in Vancouver, BC at Rickshaw Theatre (with: Jakob, Tombs)
June 1, 2010 in Seattle, WA at Neumos Crystal Ball Reading (with: Jakob, Tombs)
June 2, 2010 in Portland, OR at Doug Fir Lounge (with: Jakob, Tombs)
June 4, 2010 in San Francisco, CA at Great American Music Hall (with: Jakob, Tombs)
June 5, 2010 in Los Angeles, CA at Troubadour (with: Jakob, Tombs)
June 12, 2010 in Manchester, TN at Bonnaroo Music Festival (with: Melvins, Gwar)
June 14, 2010 in Athens, GA at 40 Watt Club
June 16, 2010 in Washington, DC at 9:30 Club (with: Melvins, Totimoshi)
June 17, 2010 in Philadelphia, PA at Theatre of the Living Arts (TLA) (with: Melvins, Totimoshi)
June 18, 2010 in New York, NY at Webster Hall (with: Melvins)
June 19, 2010 in Brooklyn, NY at Music Hall of Williamsburg (with: Melvins)
June 20, 2010 in Boston, MA at Paradise Rock Club (with: Melvins, Totimoshi)
June 21, 2010 in Boston, MA at Paradise Rock Club (with: Melvins, Totimoshi)
June 22, 2010 in Portland, ME at Port City Music Hall (with: Cave In)
June 23, 2010 in Montreal, QC at Club Soda (with: Cave In)
Continue reading

Thanks to @IpecacRec on twitter we have some exciting news. Not only do we have confirmation that Mondo Cane is landing first week of May, but we also get a release date for the new recently completed Melvins album and also news of a new Isis record! It’s shaping up to be a good year.

“Oh my! Mondo Cane(Patton) record out first week of May, new Melvins record first week of June and more Isis soon too!!!!”

Isis recently released their kick arse tour poster for the upcoming Australia, New Zealand and Japan tour. More info

Feb 15 2010    SFBH    Wellington
Feb 16 2010    Transmission Room    Auckland
Feb 18 2010    The Hi-Fi    Brisbane
Feb 20 2010   R.N.A. Showgrounds – Soundwave Festival w/ Faith No More, Meshuggah, etc.    Brisbane
Feb 21 2010    Eastern Creek Raceway – Soundwave Festival w/ Faith No More, Meshuggah, etc.    Eastern Creek
Feb 23 2010    Manning Bar w/ Baroness    Sydney
Feb 25 2010    Corner Hotel w/ Baroness, Oren Ambarchi    Melbourne
Feb 26 2010    Melbourne Showgrounds – Soundwave Festival w/ Faith No More, Meshuggah, etc.    Melbourne
Feb 27 2010    Bonython Park – Soundwave Festival w/ Faith No More, Meshuggah, etc.    Adelaide
Mar 1 2010      Steel Blue Oval – Soundwave Festival w/ Faith No More, Meshuggah, etc.    Perth
Mar 3 2010     Club Quattro w/ Baroness    Osaka
Mar 4 2010     Club Quattro w/ Baroness    Nagoya
Mar 6 2010     O-East w/ Baroness    Tokyo

The Soundwave Festival recently released the official soundwave timetable. Faith No More are (obviously) headlining and will be hitting the main stage (Stage 1) at 20:40 until 22:00.

Isis have a much less luctrative slot and time length. They will hit stage 4 at 13:40 for a 40 minute slot and will be followed by Clutch.

Recently Isis frontman Aaron Turner was interviewed on the Governors Ball.

The interview is downloadable. Check it out: Part 1 & Part 2.

photo credit: toolfan.hess