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CD
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EZRDR 130CD
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$15.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 4/30/2021
"With a name like Warish, the San Diego noisy punk-metal trio assured listeners they were in for a maniacal bludgeoning from the get-go. But the band has never been as dark and bitingly vicious as the wholly ominous Next To Pay. The band's mix of early AmRep skronk, dark horror rock and budget doom antipathy is taken to a whole new level on this thirteen song invective. 'Next To Pay is about a sense of imminent doom, everyone is going to die,' vocalist/guitarist Riley Hawk says. 'It's not the happiest record, I guess.' To say the least. On the title track opener, Hawk screams through shredded vocal chords with the tuneful rage of Kill 'Em All-era James Hetfield and the seething desperation of Kurt Cobain. 'This album is more of an evolution, it's a little more punk-heavy,' Hawk says of the group quickly founded in 2018. 'We figured out what our sound was.' And with that evolution comes a change in the lineup. Original drummer Nick (Broose) McDonnell plays on about half of the songs, while new drummer Justin de la Vega brings an even tighter urgency to the remaining, more recent tracks. Bassist Alex Bassaj joined after the debut album was recorded and here showcases muscular and melodic low end previously missing. Riley Hawk is also the pro-skater son of Tony Hawk. Inspired by early-Nirvana, The Misfits, The Spits and Master Of Reality-era Black Sabbath, Next To Pay keeps things heavy and pummeling at all times. The guitars are heavy and powerful, though decidedly not straightforward cookie cutter punk; more like Greg Ginn's and Buzz Osbourne's wiry contortions, and occasionally drenched in chorus effects. The rhythms bash right through it all with aggressive force ensuring that nothing gets overly complicated. Warish's cover of '80s Dischord Records punks Gray Matter turns the emotive flail of 'Burn No Bridges' into a Motörhead-style basher."
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EZRDR 130LP
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$23.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 4/30/2021
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EZRDR 125LP
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$23.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 3/19/2021
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EZRDR 125CD
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Four albums in, the convenient and generalized catchphrase for Here Lies Man's erudite sound -- if Black Sabbath played Afrobeat -- might seem a little played out. But Ritual Divination is perhaps the best rendering of the idea so far. Particularly on the Sabbath side of the equation: The guitars are heavier and more blues-based than before, but the ancient rhythmic formula of the clave remains a constant. 'Musically it's an opening up more to traditional rock elements,' says vocalist / guitarist / cofounder Marcos Garcia, who also plays guitar in Antibalas. 'It's always been our intention to explore. And, as we travelled deeper into this musical landscape, new features revealed themselves.' The L.A. based band comprised of Antibalas members have toured relentlessly following their breakout 2017 self-titled debut. Their second album, You Will Know Nothing and an EP, Animal Noises, both followed in 2018. Third album No Ground To Walk Upon emerged in August 2019. All of them were crafted by Garcia and cofounder / drummer Geoff Mann (former Antibalas drummer and son of jazz musician Herbie Mann) in their L.A. studio between tours. Ritual Divination is their first album recorded as the full four-piece band, including bassist JP Maramba and keyboardist Doug Organ. This album continues with an ongoing concept of the band playing the soundtrack to an imaginary movie, with each song being a scene. Musically and sonically, the album is also self-reflexive. 'On this album the feel changes within a song,' Garcia says. 'Whereas before each song was meant to induce a trancelike state, now more of the songs have their own arc built in. We're very conscious of how the rhythms service the riffs,' Garcia continues. 'Tony Iommi's (Black Sabbath) innovation was to make the riff the organizing principle of a song. We are taking that same approach but employing a different organizing principle: For Iommi it was the blues, for us it comes directly from Africa.'"
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EZRDR 127CD
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$15.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 3/5/2021
"'The vastness of everything is something that I think about a lot,' says Spelljammer bassist/vocalist Niklas Olsson. And it certainly shows in both the expansive, sludgy sounds and contemplative lyrics of the Stockholm, Sweden based trio. Following a five-year break between their previous album, Ancient Of Days -- perhaps fittingly spent pondering said vastness -- Spelljammer is back with an album that perfectly bridges the band's earlier desert rock leanings and their later massive, slow-burning riffs. Abyssal Trip (note: carefully re-read that album title) takes its moniker from the perpetually dark, cold, oxygen-free zone at the bottom of the ocean. The six song, forty-four minute album fittingly embodies that bleak realm with rumbling, oozing guitars intercut with dramatic melodic interludes. The songs take their time to unfurl, making them even more hypnotic. Likewise, the lyrics take a poetic approach to establishing the sonic scenery. The recording process for this album differs from previous releases in that the band -- guitarist Robert Sörling, drummer Jonatan Rimsbo and Olsson -- opted to capture the performances while holed up in the mental bathysphere of a house in the countryside near Stockholm. 'The songs benefitted from the relaxed environment of being away from everything,' Olsson explains. Indeed, the album sounds confident and meticulously arranged, afforded by the band's isolation. Sörling mixed the album and it was mastered by Monolord drummer Esben Willems at Berserk Audio. Abyssal Trip is, just like its title suggests, an epic tour through desolate zones which yields much to discover."
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EZRDR 127LP
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$23.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 3/5/2021
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EZRDR 021INST
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"Swedish trio Monolord release a special all-instrumental version of their beloved 2014 debut album Empress Rising. The sleeves are printed on premium chrome jackets limited to 1000 copies each album. Begun as a digital-only release for Empress Rising - Instrumental, the response was so overwhelming the band and RidingEasy Records decided to release both revised albums on vinyl as well. Monolord formed in 2013, quickly recording their 2xLP debut Empress Rising, which RidingEasy Records released on April 1st, 2014. The second album, Vænir, followed April 28th, 2015. " "Without vocals, Empress Rising suddenly becomes a post-metal, stoner epic in the vein of Sleep's Dopesmoker and Monster Magnet's 30-minute opus 'Tab.' Arguably Monolord's most atmospheric work, the instrumental treatment gives the album a new life and listening experience." --Consequence of Sound
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EZRDR 044INST
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"About the release, Esben Willems, Monolord drummer and recording & mixing engineer for the original album and this version, says, 'Listening to the mixes for the instrumental version of Vænir opened an unexpected door. We seriously didn't expect that the album would take such a different shape and feel in an instrumental version. Really stoked to see how our fans will experience this release. Also, getting both instrumental versions (Vænir & Empress Rising) released on LP adds another layer. Hope you like it.' Swedish trio Monolord release a special all-instrumental version of their second album, Vænir originally released in 2015. Begun as a digital-only release for Empress Rising - Instrumental, the response was so overwhelming the band and RidingEasy Records decided to release both revised albums on vinyl as well. The sleeves are printed on premium chrome jackets and limited to 1000 copies each album."
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EZRDR 124CD
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"Riding Easy is now in the double digits of brilliant long-lost, rare, and unreleased hard rock, heavy psych, and proto-metal tracks from the '60s-'70s and clearly this has become a bonafide archaeological movement as each new edition leads to more exciting new discoveries. Like the label has done throughout this series, all of these tracks were painstakingly licensed legitimately and the artists were paid. Here are just a few of the delights herein: This Trip opens with Adam Wind's 'Something Else,' featuring groovy crooning and a very acid-damaged guitar riff that meanders across key signatures like it ain't no thing. This 1969 single by the Tacoma, WA band predates grunge by 20 years, but the band's heavy psych and murky tones are just the stuff Northwest heroes Mudhoney sought so fervently at their peak. Lead singer Leroy Bell's excessive vibrato gives the tune its charm, but the heavy breakdown in the middle is the real payoff. Later, Renaissance Fair take things in a very weird, very fun and undeniably heavy direction with an insanely distorted organ that sounds like a monstrous vacuum cleaner over dirge rhythms and growling vocals on their -- let's reiterate -- weird 1968 track 'In Wyrd.' Think if someone left a copy of The Doors' Strange Parade out to warp in the sun on a blown-out toy record player, and then visiting space creatures attempted to imitate what they'd heard. Finally, Crazy Jerry sends this edition off on a high note with 'Every Girl Gets One,' featuring crunching riffs, rollicking electric piano, stop 'n' start rhythms and a curious telephone call sounding like a creepy answer to the Big Bopper's 'Chantilly Lace.' Crazy Jerry is the alter-ego of guitarist Jerry Ciccone, who can also be heard on a few soul/funk and rock records from the '70s, including The Left Banke's second album. But here, Jerry is... well, simply crazy. Get comfortable and prepare for yet another deep, deep dive into the treasure trove of dank, subterranean, wild-eyed and hairy rock 'n' roll."
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EZRDR 124LP
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LP version. "Riding Easy is now in the double digits of brilliant long-lost, rare, and unreleased hard rock, heavy psych, and proto-metal tracks from the '60s-'70s and clearly this has become a bonafide archaeological movement as each new edition leads to more exciting new discoveries. Like the label has done throughout this series, all of these tracks were painstakingly licensed legitimately and the artists were paid. Here are just a few of the delights herein: This Trip opens with Adam Wind's 'Something Else,' featuring groovy crooning and a very acid-damaged guitar riff that meanders across key signatures like it ain't no thing. This 1969 single by the Tacoma, WA band predates grunge by 20 years, but the band's heavy psych and murky tones are just the stuff Northwest heroes Mudhoney sought so fervently at their peak. Lead singer Leroy Bell's excessive vibrato gives the tune its charm, but the heavy breakdown in the middle is the real payoff. Later, Renaissance Fair take things in a very weird, very fun and undeniably heavy direction with an insanely distorted organ that sounds like a monstrous vacuum cleaner over dirge rhythms and growling vocals on their -- let's reiterate -- weird 1968 track 'In Wyrd.' Think if someone left a copy of The Doors' Strange Parade out to warp in the sun on a blown-out toy record player, and then visiting space creatures attempted to imitate what they'd heard. Finally, Crazy Jerry sends this edition off on a high note with 'Every Girl Gets One,' featuring crunching riffs, rollicking electric piano, stop 'n' start rhythms and a curious telephone call sounding like a creepy answer to the Big Bopper's 'Chantilly Lace.' Crazy Jerry is the alter-ego of guitarist Jerry Ciccone, who can also be heard on a few soul/funk and rock records from the '70s, including The Left Banke's second album. But here, Jerry is... well, simply crazy. Get comfortable and prepare for yet another deep, deep dive into the treasure trove of dank, subterranean, wild-eyed and hairy rock 'n' roll."
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EZRDR 118CD
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"When R.I.P. came crawling out of the sewers of Portland, OR four years ago, their grimy, sleazy street doom was already a fully formed monstrosity that quickly infected the minds of everyone it encountered. At the time, no one expected its depravity to take such fierce hold, and yet, here it is, sheltering in place and/or stealthily creeping through a nightmare dystopia that the '80s sci-fi / horror movies foretold. Dead End is, ironically, a recharge of the band's sound, bearing influences ranging from John Carpenter films, post-apocalyptic grunge, pro-wrestling attitude and salty lo-fi hip-hop aesthetics, to the band's ferocious heavy metal. During the three years since the 2017 release of their sophomore album Street Reaper, R.I.P. has been busy tightening their sound and their line up while loosening their grip on sanity -- touring the west coast with bands like Electric Wizard and Red Fang, and taking street doom overseas for the first time for a monthlong headlining tour of Europe. These years on the road and the addition of a more aggressive rhythm section have allowed the band to fully break free from their influences and deliver on the promise hinted at on their first two releases. For Dead End, R.I.P. worked with legendary producer Billy Anderson, interring onto wax their heaviest and most ambitious album yet. Continuing to move further away from their classic doom influences like Pentagram and Saint Vitus, the band offers a rare blast of originality in a scene rife with formulaic bands. Dead End is a fast and anxious ride where the very idea of doom is put to the test under duress of manic lyrics about death, insanity, and leather, and hook-laden guitar tracks that draw as equally from Nirvana as Black Sabbath."
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LP
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EZRDR 118LP
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LP version. "When R.I.P. came crawling out of the sewers of Portland, OR four years ago, their grimy, sleazy street doom was already a fully formed monstrosity that quickly infected the minds of everyone it encountered. At the time, no one expected its depravity to take such fierce hold, and yet, here it is, sheltering in place and/or stealthily creeping through a nightmare dystopia that the '80s sci-fi / horror movies foretold. Dead End is, ironically, a recharge of the band's sound, bearing influences ranging from John Carpenter films, post-apocalyptic grunge, pro-wrestling attitude and salty lo-fi hip-hop aesthetics, to the band's ferocious heavy metal. During the three years since the 2017 release of their sophomore album Street Reaper, R.I.P. has been busy tightening their sound and their line up while loosening their grip on sanity -- touring the west coast with bands like Electric Wizard and Red Fang, and taking street doom overseas for the first time for a monthlong headlining tour of Europe. These years on the road and the addition of a more aggressive rhythm section have allowed the band to fully break free from their influences and deliver on the promise hinted at on their first two releases. For Dead End, R.I.P. worked with legendary producer Billy Anderson, interring onto wax their heaviest and most ambitious album yet. Continuing to move further away from their classic doom influences like Pentagram and Saint Vitus, the band offers a rare blast of originality in a scene rife with formulaic bands. Dead End is a fast and anxious ride where the very idea of doom is put to the test under duress of manic lyrics about death, insanity, and leather, and hook-laden guitar tracks that draw as equally from Nirvana as Black Sabbath."
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EZRDR 121LP
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LP version. "From beyond the gutter, The Death Wheelers bring you their second album, the soundtrack to the fictional bikesploitation flick that never was: Divine Filth. Drawing inspiration from instrumental rock, proto-metal, punk and funk, the band embalms the listener in their sonic world of decay, groove and debauchery. Surfing the line between Motörhead, The Cramps and Dick Dale, the Canadian quartet uncompromisingly blends rawness and power in their riff-fueled compositions. Recorded entirely in forty-eight hours in a live setting just like in the good old days, this second opus is a testament to what the band stands for: a no BS attitude spiked with a heavy layer of crass. Just like their previous offering, the album is devised to serve as a soundtrack loosely based on a plot synopsis of a B-movie: 'It's 1982. Spurcity is run-down. The crime rate is up and so is drug use. A new kind of kick has hit the streets and it ain't pretty. DTA, a powerful and highly addictive hallucinogenic drug, is transforming its loyal citizens into undead trash. Its users experience an indescribable high, but it leaves them rotting away within days, craving human flesh. No one knows who is dealing this new potent drug, but rumor has it that the motorcycle cult, The Death Wheelers, is behind this concoction. Could this be the end of civilization as we know it? What is motivating this group of psychotic individuals?' The cycle of violence indeed continues with this sordid slab of sounds. So hop on, and enjoy one last ride with The Death Wheelers."
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EZRDR 121CD
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"From beyond the gutter, The Death Wheelers bring you their second album, the soundtrack to the fictional bikesploitation flick that never was: Divine Filth. Drawing inspiration from instrumental rock, proto-metal, punk and funk, the band embalms the listener in their sonic world of decay, groove and debauchery. Surfing the line between Motörhead, The Cramps and Dick Dale, the Canadian quartet uncompromisingly blends rawness and power in their riff-fueled compositions. Recorded entirely in forty-eight hours in a live setting just like in the good old days, this second opus is a testament to what the band stands for: a no BS attitude spiked with a heavy layer of crass. Just like their previous offering, the album is devised to serve as a soundtrack loosely based on a plot synopsis of a B-movie: 'It's 1982. Spurcity is run-down. The crime rate is up and so is drug use. A new kind of kick has hit the streets and it ain't pretty. DTA, a powerful and highly addictive hallucinogenic drug, is transforming its loyal citizens into undead trash. Its users experience an indescribable high, but it leaves them rotting away within days, craving human flesh. No one knows who is dealing this new potent drug, but rumor has it that the motorcycle cult, The Death Wheelers, is behind this concoction. Could this be the end of civilization as we know it? What is motivating this group of psychotic individuals?' The cycle of violence indeed continues with this sordid slab of sounds. So hop on, and enjoy one last ride with The Death Wheelers."
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EZRDR 120CD
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"Thomas V. Jäger is best known as the vocalist/guitarist in Monolord, the hottest, most crushing melodic doom band in the world. So, releasing an intimate, deeply and boldly personal album of acoustic and synth based songs hot on the heels of the band's most successful and powerful album to date, No Comfort, might seem like a risky move. And yet, that's not even the most daring and inspiring thing about A Solitary Plan. Rather, this seven-song album is a cathartic depiction of how some very real and heart-wrenching situations were dealt with by the artist with musical therapy and, hopefully, provides a catharsis for the listener as well. 'This album is me venting all of this emotional energy I've been carrying around,' Jäger says. 'Now I'm feeling more open about it, but at the start I had a hard time talking with friends and family. The record is what came out instead of talking about it.' The album began organically, as Jäger often writes and records at home, sketching out song ideas on acoustic guitar into a computer with no set goal for anyone else to hear them. RidingEasy Records chief and Monolord manager Daniel Hall cajoled the guitarist into sending him some of the home recordings he'd been working on, and he immediately pushed for them to be released in this stripped-down form. 'I could've rearranged them to get a Monolord vibe, but I wanted the basis of just voice, guitar and synths,' Jäger says. 'Really laid back and mellow.' He completed the album between tours, with mixing and mastering by Kalle Lilja at Welfare Sounds. Emil Rolof plays a real Mellotron on the title track, all other instruments and voices are Jäger himself."
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LP
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EZRDR 120LP
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LP version. "Thomas V. Jäger is best known as the vocalist/guitarist in Monolord, the hottest, most crushing melodic doom band in the world. So, releasing an intimate, deeply and boldly personal album of acoustic and synth based songs hot on the heels of the band's most successful and powerful album to date, No Comfort, might seem like a risky move. And yet, that's not even the most daring and inspiring thing about A Solitary Plan. Rather, this seven-song album is a cathartic depiction of how some very real and heart-wrenching situations were dealt with by the artist with musical therapy and, hopefully, provides a catharsis for the listener as well. 'This album is me venting all of this emotional energy I've been carrying around,' Jäger says. 'Now I'm feeling more open about it, but at the start I had a hard time talking with friends and family. The record is what came out instead of talking about it.' The album began organically, as Jäger often writes and records at home, sketching out song ideas on acoustic guitar into a computer with no set goal for anyone else to hear them. RidingEasy Records chief and Monolord manager Daniel Hall cajoled the guitarist into sending him some of the home recordings he'd been working on, and he immediately pushed for them to be released in this stripped-down form. 'I could've rearranged them to get a Monolord vibe, but I wanted the basis of just voice, guitar and synths,' Jäger says. 'Really laid back and mellow.' He completed the album between tours, with mixing and mastering by Kalle Lilja at Welfare Sounds. Emil Rolof plays a real Mellotron on the title track, all other instruments and voices are Jäger himself."
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EZRDR 114CD
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"As Riding Easy Records' highly successful Brown Acid series (now at ten volumes and counting) proves, there is a massive amount of incredible heavy psych and proto-metal music that has been lost to the sands of time. Case in point, the astoundingly great 50-year-old album The Ice Age by Indianapolis quintet ICE was never even released upon its completion. In 1970, the band recorded ten original songs at 8-Track Studios in Chicago, only to break up shortly thereafter. Two of the tracks were eventually released as a 45 in 1972, but confusingly under a different band name, Zukus! The A-side of that single was featured on Brown Acid -- The Ninth Trip, which led Riding Easy Records to discover when licensing the track that an entire album had been languishing in obscurity all of this time. The 2-inch master tapes had been shelved and forgotten until recently when The Ice Age tracks were converted to digital and remixed, preserving the sounds of the original vocals and instruments. Finally, half a century later, this ten-song album of radio-ready rock will finally see light of day. The Ice Age is an exceptional archive of hard-edged rock with serious pop hooks akin to something like Grand Funk Railroad meets The Guess Who and The Move. It rocks hard, but is also interlaced with glorious melodic hooks. Had fate been less fickle, this album would've long been a classic rock radio staple. This album is truly an incredible and unprecedented find, particularly when everyone thought the glorious history of rock'n'roll had long ago been written and sealed as complete."
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EZRDR 114LP
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LP version. "As Riding Easy Records' highly successful Brown Acid series (now at ten volumes and counting) proves, there is a massive amount of incredible heavy psych and proto-metal music that has been lost to the sands of time. Case in point, the astoundingly great 50-year-old album The Ice Age by Indianapolis quintet ICE was never even released upon its completion. In 1970, the band recorded ten original songs at 8-Track Studios in Chicago, only to break up shortly thereafter. Two of the tracks were eventually released as a 45 in 1972, but confusingly under a different band name, Zukus! The A-side of that single was featured on Brown Acid -- The Ninth Trip, which led Riding Easy Records to discover when licensing the track that an entire album had been languishing in obscurity all of this time. The 2-inch master tapes had been shelved and forgotten until recently when The Ice Age tracks were converted to digital and remixed, preserving the sounds of the original vocals and instruments. Finally, half a century later, this ten-song album of radio-ready rock will finally see light of day. The Ice Age is an exceptional archive of hard-edged rock with serious pop hooks akin to something like Grand Funk Railroad meets The Guess Who and The Move. It rocks hard, but is also interlaced with glorious melodic hooks. Had fate been less fickle, this album would've long been a classic rock radio staple. This album is truly an incredible and unprecedented find, particularly when everyone thought the glorious history of rock'n'roll had long ago been written and sealed as complete."
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EZRDR 119CD
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"Here it is, the tenth edition of Brown Acid in just half as many years! As always, Riding Easy has packed in the highest highs of the dankest hard rock, heavy psych, and protometal tracks previously lost to the sands of time. Like throughout this series, all of these tracks were painstakingly licensed legitimately and the artists were paid. It's hard to believe it's up to ten volumes of this lysergic Neanderthal wail, but the long-lost jams just keep-a-coming like Texas crude to fuel the rock 'n' roll engine and melt one's metal mind."
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LP
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EZRDR 119LP
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LP version. "Here it is, the tenth edition of Brown Acid in just half as many years! As always, Riding Easy has packed in the highest highs of the dankest hard rock, heavy psych, and protometal tracks previously lost to the sands of time. Like throughout this series, all of these tracks were painstakingly licensed legitimately and the artists were paid. It's hard to believe it's up to ten volumes of this lysergic Neanderthal wail, but the long-lost jams just keep-a-coming like Texas crude to fuel the rock 'n' roll engine and melt one's metal mind."
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EZRDR 116CD
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"'Godzilla just walked into the room. People just stood there with their eyes and mouths wide open.' To hear Randy Holden describe the audience's reaction in 1969 to his solo debut performing with a teeth-rattling phalanx of 16 (sixteen!) 200 watt Sunn amps is about as close as one will get to truly experience the moment heavy metal music morphed into existence. However, at last Riding Easy have unearthed the proper fossil record. Population II, the now legendary, extremely rare album by guitarist/vocalist Holden and drummer/keyboardist Chris Lockheed is considered to be one of the earliest examples of doom metal. Though its original release was a very limited in number and distribution, like all great records, its impact over time has continued to grow. In 1969, Holden, fresh off his tenure with proto-metal pioneers Blue Cheer (appearing on one side of the New! Improved! Blue Cheer album and touring for the better part of a year in the group), aimed for more control over his band. Thus, Randy Holden - Population II was born, the duo naming itself after the astronomical term for a particular star cluster with heavy metals present. 'I wanted to do something that hadn't been done before,' Holden explains. 'I was interested in discordant sounds that could be melodic but gigantically huge. I rented an Opera house for rehearsal, set up with 16 Sunn amps. That's what I was going for, way over the top.' And over the top it is. The six-song album delves into leaden sludge, lumbering doom and epic soaring riffs that sound free from all constraints of the era. It's incredibly heavy, but infused with a melodic, albeit mechanistic, sensibility. Troubles with the album's release bankrupted Holden, who subsequently left music for over two decades. It was bootlegged several times over the years, but until now hasn't seen a proper remaster and has yet to be available on digital platforms. 'The original mastering just destroyed the dynamics of it,' Holden says. 'They flattened it out. Now we got a really nice remaster that should be the closest thing to the original recording.'"
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EZRDR 116LP
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Restocked; LP version. "'Godzilla just walked into the room. People just stood there with their eyes and mouths wide open.' To hear Randy Holden describe the audience's reaction in 1969 to his solo debut performing with a teeth-rattling phalanx of 16 (sixteen!) 200 watt Sunn amps is about as close as one will get to truly experience the moment heavy metal music morphed into existence. However, at last Riding Easy have unearthed the proper fossil record. Population II, the now legendary, extremely rare album by guitarist/vocalist Holden and drummer/keyboardist Chris Lockheed is considered to be one of the earliest examples of doom metal. Though its original release was a very limited in number and distribution, like all great records, its impact over time has continued to grow. In 1969, Holden, fresh off his tenure with proto-metal pioneers Blue Cheer (appearing on one side of the New! Improved! Blue Cheer album and touring for the better part of a year in the group), aimed for more control over his band. Thus, Randy Holden - Population II was born, the duo naming itself after the astronomical term for a particular star cluster with heavy metals present. 'I wanted to do something that hadn't been done before,' Holden explains. 'I was interested in discordant sounds that could be melodic but gigantically huge. I rented an Opera house for rehearsal, set up with 16 Sunn amps. That's what I was going for, way over the top.' And over the top it is. The six-song album delves into leaden sludge, lumbering doom and epic soaring riffs that sound free from all constraints of the era. It's incredibly heavy, but infused with a melodic, albeit mechanistic, sensibility. Troubles with the album's release bankrupted Holden, who subsequently left music for over two decades. It was bootlegged several times over the years, but until now hasn't seen a proper remaster and has yet to be available on digital platforms. 'The original mastering just destroyed the dynamics of it,' Holden says. 'They flattened it out. Now we got a really nice remaster that should be the closest thing to the original recording.'"
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CD
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EZRDR 117CD
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'Swedish quintet The Goners announce their forthcoming debut album Good Mourning on Riding Easy Records! The Goners feature former Salem's Pot vocalist / guitarist Nate Gone and former members of Swedish rock band Yvonne. Don't make a big deal about it. This is something new: 'Rock bottom. A place you have to throw yourself over the edge and burn all your bridges to reach. A place where the devil is laughing as a constant reminder of everything that went to shit. A place where you owe. As the echoes of the past get louder and the forget-me-now's no longer work, you have to pick up the remaining pieces and try to make them fit. You can only wake up in an unknown bed with aching intestines and a throbbing noise inside your skull, still craving more, so many times until you realize that your life didn't quite turn out to be what you expected it to be. The killing floor is crowded and when the smoke starts to clear you start to notice just how bad you've been letting yourself go. It's Monday. You are on your own now. And even as you start to do the right, start paying your dues and bills, doing the 9 to 5 and saying your sorries, you're still standing there like a sack of dead meat in a stinkin' world of decay where nobody cares. Gone but still aware. Ain't that something? Ain't that grand! There's no remedy, no working cure but at least you got loud guitars, thumping bass and bashing cymbals to ease the pain. And as you stumble into your thirties, scorched earth policy style, you can at least smile at the fact that you finished first. At last you succeeded in something. Now you can just lay back, back where the sun doesn't shine and ask everybody else 'aren't you gone yet?' Don't worry, you soon will see that 'Gone' is just a fourletter word. We're all heading south and again, no one really gives a fuck. It's Sunday. Join us.'"
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LP
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EZRDR 117LP
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LP version. 'Swedish quintet The Goners announce their forthcoming debut album Good Mourning on Riding Easy Records! The Goners feature former Salem's Pot vocalist / guitarist Nate Gone and former members of Swedish rock band Yvonne. Don't make a big deal about it. This is something new: 'Rock bottom. A place you have to throw yourself over the edge and burn all your bridges to reach. A place where the devil is laughing as a constant reminder of everything that went to shit. A place where you owe. As the echoes of the past get louder and the forget-me-now's no longer work, you have to pick up the remaining pieces and try to make them fit. You can only wake up in an unknown bed with aching intestines and a throbbing noise inside your skull, still craving more, so many times until you realize that your life didn't quite turn out to be what you expected it to be. The killing floor is crowded and when the smoke starts to clear you start to notice just how bad you've been letting yourself go. It's Monday. You are on your own now. And even as you start to do the right, start paying your dues and bills, doing the 9 to 5 and saying your sorries, you're still standing there like a sack of dead meat in a stinkin' world of decay where nobody cares. Gone but still aware. Ain't that something? Ain't that grand! There's no remedy, no working cure but at least you got loud guitars, thumping bass and bashing cymbals to ease the pain. And as you stumble into your thirties, scorched earth policy style, you can at least smile at the fact that you finished first. At last you succeeded in something. Now you can just lay back, back where the sun doesn't shine and ask everybody else 'aren't you gone yet?' Don't worry, you soon will see that 'Gone' is just a fourletter word. We're all heading south and again, no one really gives a fuck. It's Sunday. Join us.'"
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EZRDR 111CD
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"The forthcoming ninth edition of the popular compilation series featuring long-lost vintage 60s-70s proto-metal and stoner rock singles, Brown Acid - The Ninth Trip is set for release! Some of the best thrills of the Internet music revolution are the ability to find extremely rare music with great ease. But even with such vast archives to draw from, quite a lot of great songs have gone undiscovered for nearly half a century -- particularly in genres that lacked hifalutin arty pretense. Previously, only the most extremely dedicated and passionate record collectors had the stamina and prowess to hunt down long forgotten wonders in dusty record bins -- often hoarding them in private collections, or selling at ridiculous collector's prices. Legendary compilations like Nuggets, Pebbles, ad nauseum, have exhausted the mines of early garage rock and proto-punk, keeping alive a large cross-section of underground ephemera. However, few have delved into and expertly archived the wealth of proto-metal, pre-stoner rock tracks collected on Brown Acid."
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