ASVA are probably my favourite of the 'Drone/Doom' (whatever) bands out there, SUNN O)) coming a very close second, so I was pretty excited to get my hands on this release. Formed a few years ago by Stuart Dahlquist (Burning Witch, Goatsnake...and I think he was a part of SUNN O)) at one point as well?), and featuring such names as Trey Spruance (Secret Chiefs 3, Mr Bungle) and the oddly named B.R.A.D. (Burning Witch), this is quite the 'super-group'. In their debut album, Futurists Against the Ocean, ASVA took the slow cue from bands like Earth and then added their own, very unique flavour.  In this record that blueprint was dusted off and added to, giving a much more individual feel to each track. At points far more sinister and claustrophobic than it's predecessor, at others faster and more urgent. Spruance's influence on this record feels a lot greater as well, the varied instrumentation, and what sounds like alternate tunings at some points.  The standout track on this record is the incredible 'A Trap for Judges', which lurches slowly like a grim leviathan nearing some awful, unearthly climax (and can be downloaded from the Southern site here). If you're interested in ...

I can't believe i've not encountered this band until now, I love them!  Kylesa play a mixture of Doom-metal and hyper acid-rock that literally grabs your attention the way all good bands should! Some parts of this record remind me of Black Cobra and elements of early Mastodon, to give you a hint of what to expect. The pace of this record is really clever, slow broody noise tracks ala Old Man Gloom set the scene for huge riff-ridden chunks of fast noise. The only real complaint I have about this record is the production, it's begging for 'fatness', and less tinnyness, but it's not bad enough to impare your enjoyment of this great record. The standout track for me is 'Hallow Severer', which lurches into a sonic explosion laced with epic, almost Minor Threat-esque intensity.  I cannot recomend this record enough. It fills the void between the doomy elements of 'Red Sea' era ISIS and 'Houdi' era Melvins perfectly. 4.5/5 Ken Eakins www.kylesa.com www.myspace.com/kylesa

I think this DVD was released on a 'need-to-know' basis; I for one, had totally forgotten it was available! So, imagine my surprise when this arrived in the Sitting Now mailbag!  This was well timed by Ipecac, it's been a while since the last Fantomas record, Suspended Animation  and I think fans of Mike Patton's crazy cut-up metal supremos, used to a pretty much annual release, are starting to get a bit itchy for new material. Ipecac released a CD of a similar show a few years back and for some reason, I think shoddy sound levels, I couldn't get into it. That mistake has been rectified in this release, however, and what you see is pretty much what happened on the day both audibly, and visually (I was at the show).  I wasn't too sure about the animations added into the mix at first, but you soon realise that they compliment, rather than hinder your enjoyment of the show. One of the truly weird elements of this release has to be in the DVD commentary. Buzz and Dale of the Melvins, the promoter of the show, the (I think) filmmaker and Danny Devito (what the hell?) deliever a rather random conversation that includes a quite ...

12 years!...i'll say that again: 12 YEARS! I have waited 12 years to see this, my favourite band. Back in '96 when the Trey Spruance released the mighty 'First Grand Constitution and Bylaws', I was frankly blown away, the crazy mix of Eastern/electro/break-beat/metal was just what the world needed, even though the world barely noticed (a normal symptom of music-fans it seems). Since that first album release (I Know they released some vinyl prior to that, shhh!), we have been treated to an ever evolving slew of epic-genius and crazyness culminating in, to me, one of the greatest releases of all time in 'Book of Horizons'...and now I finaly get to see it live! Cargo is a great venue, I saw Part Chimp and Bullet Union here not so long ago and it was one of the best times i'd seen both bands. Huge sprawling pipes on the walls, a really nice big bar area and a cool garden for us filthy smokers. I grab myself a tonne of merch and head into the main room to witness Zu. Imagine getting Naked City's debut album, mixing it with Morphine's Yes and blending it all down into a slow melting pot with some Old ...

WE ARE BACK! After some hefty technical problems, a brief spell of sickness and some general booking of awesome new guests...and I mean awesome, we finally return! This week me and our returning guest/co-host Raymond Wiley chat about The culture of Conspiracy belief! We decided the subject was so large that we would wax about some of our own experiences, some key theories and funny ones to boot! There is no music this week, mainly because we have been rushing around to much to find anything in time. Expect a total change of format in the coming weeks! We have sorted all the techy glitches and now we are adding a new audio version of the Weird Weekly News into the show. We've done a dummy run with Claire and it sounds cool, so that will start as of episode 15 next week! Also, keep your eyes peeled to this site for a really cool announcement of a new show featuring some of Sitting Now's staff!

Hey, just thought i'd let you, our dutiful readers and listeners, know that we have finally sorted all of our technical gremlins and will be resuming normal service as of Friday this week! Show - The show is back this Friday morning and is an interviewy discussiony type affair with mysef and Raymond Wiley. In this ep we will be discussing the ups and downs of conspiracy belief. After that, Dr. Bob Curran returns to wax undead again, this time however, about Zombies...swwweeeeeet! Reviews - As of this week, we will be reviewing Books, Music, Audiobooks, gigs and Films. We had a bit of a problem sorting how this was going to be done, but that's all sorted now, so expect that! Equipment - This is all looking gooood now (fingers crossed), I invested a bit more of the mighty Sitting Now budget on some nice gadgets to make the show sound better and easier to produce, so we'll hopefully be back to our usual weeklyness as of now! Finally, we are all over Social Networks now like a bunch of cheap ho's! you can find us on Facebook here, Myspace by clicking the link in our menu bar and we'll have a brand ...

Ok, now is it just me or does that fruit look like?.... Imagine my horror when arriving at London's most annoying train station, when I looked up and was faced with the most disturbing food-stuff I have ever seen! "What is it mummy?? BAAAAAAWW!!!" and "I'M NOT EATING THAT, DON'T MAKE ME!!!" seemed to be popular comments spouting from the mouths of horrified children, one literally too scared to look at it.  Now, i'll be the first to throw my hands up and admit i'm no fruit expert, but what in the name of all that's holy is that stuff? The offending picture is part of a collage on display in London's Victoria train station. The collage of different exotic fruits and plants appears to be aimed at getting commuters to consider healthy alternatives to popular foods and remedy's. However it seems to have had the opposite effect. One commuter summarised the visual nightmare by declaring, "now I can't trust fruit....I literally cannot trust fruit!!!", quickly leaving the scene and entering a nearby greasy-spoon (greasy English-breakfast serving cafeteria, to you non brit readers out there), apparantly to gorge on flesh and other trustworthy english stalwarts!  But seriously for a second, is this really going to ...

This week we cosy-up with our new pal, occult author Taylor Ellwood, to discuss the many and varied ways to approach magic/magick/chaos Magick...arrrrgh my head is exploding!! Taylor has authored many books on the subject of new and experimental approaches to magic, as well as being a professional life-coach...though, like us, he has still yet to figure out how to make fireballs come out of his hands! Featured music this week is a cool live recording of the amazing Ma Meeshka Mow Skwoz by Mr Bungle. Taylor Ellwood Biog: Taylor Ellwood lives in Portland with his beautiful mate Lupa, and two cats. He’s a co-author of Creating Magickal Entities (with David Cunninghman and Amanda Wagener), and Kink Magic (with Lupa. He is the author of Pop Culture Magick, Space/Time Magic, Inner Alchemy, Multi-Media Magic and the editor of the Magick on the Edge Anthology, Manifesting Prosperity Anthology, and the Pop Culture Grimoire. When Taylor isn’t editing Non-fiction books for Immanion Press, or working on his latest work, he can be found gaming, reading, and enjoying the company of his lovely wife. For more information about Taylor, please go to The Green Wolf or visit Magical Experiments.

It's only taken them 6 albums, a load of US tours, several Australian tours a Tzadik Masada release and a whole load of really cool 7"'s, but the Secret Chiefs 3 are FINALLY coming to the UK! To add to my excitment, the best band ever are playing at the best venue ever; Cargo in Shoreditch, London; with its bizzare set of pipes and odd outdoor sitting area gardeny thing making a perfect setting for the show. Support for the Chiefs comes in the shape of Italian Avant weirdos Zu and amazing ambient noise masters SkullFlower. So this is shaping up to be quite the night! Now, some of you may remember back in our interview with 'frontman' Trey on the podcast he did mention that the group were planning on doing a whole European tour, so we'll keep you posted on that as we hear about it! Anyway, go get your tickets for the show, which is taking place on the 16th September, here.

Episode 13 - Conspiracy 101 will be released a little later than usual this week due to some technical problems.