RANDY HOLDEN - 'POPULATION II'

Formats

• EZRDR116 - LP

  603111735719

• EZRDR116CD - CD

  603111735726

Details

“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 many of us will get to truly experience the moment heavy metal music morphed into existence. However, at last we 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 6-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. “At the time, I was hearing these crazy melodies everywhere I went,” Holden says. “I thought I was going crazy.” For example, one day he slowly rooted out a powerful sound that had been nagging him and discovered it coming from a ceiling fan. “Machinery all around us doesn’t turn in a perfect rhythm. That’s what I was tuning into, I heard the music and the discordant sounds coming from the machinery. It was perfect for rendering the machine we built.” 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.” 

Tracks

01. Guitar Song
02. Fruit & Iceburgs
03. Between Time
04. Fruit & Iceburgs (Conclusion)
05. Blue My Mind
06. Keeper of My Flame

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Audio & Video

ICE - 'THE ICE AGE'

Formats

• EZRDR114 - LP

  603111735610

• EZRDR114CD - CD

  603111735627

Details

As RidingEasy Records’ highly successful Brown Acid series (now at 10 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 10 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 RidingEasy 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 & instruments. Finally, half a century later, this 10-song album of radioready 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. Album opener “Gypsy” is a chiming Byrds-like rocker, with glistening 12-string guitar, organ and somewhat over-zealous vibra-slap. “Satisfy” and “3 O’Clock In The Morning” nicely pair up as the most pop friendly tunes, but with very clever melodies and structures sounding ahead of their time, the latter with an extended entrancing and droning refrain led by shimmering organ run through a Leslie speaker. “Running High” and “Catch You” were the two tracks released in ’72 under a different band name, which received considerable local radio airplay. And, for good reason: Their nice balance of wayward psychedelic pop and troglodyte thunder is exactly what makes The Ice Age so captivating. Album closer “Song of The East” shares the growling glissando and orchestral style that made Vanilla Fudge and The Moody Blues household names. In the late 1960’s five young men formed a rock & roll band on the west side of Indianapolis, Indiana. They chose the coolest name possible: ICE. The group consisted of vocalist/keyboardist Barry Crawford, lead vocalist/ bassist Jim Lee, drummer Mike Saligoe, lead guitarist John Schaffer and rhythm guitarist/vocalist Richard Strange. They was among the first bands to perform an all original set throughout the Midwest at high schools, colleges & concert venues. They opened for national acts like Three Dog Night, SRC, Kenny Rogers & the First Edition, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and others in arenas and theaters. The Ice Age is truly an incredible and unprecedented find, particularly when we’d all thought the glorious history of rock’n’roll had long ago been written and sealed as complete. 

Tracks

01. Gypsy
02. Satisfy
03. 3 O'Clock In The
Morning
04. Copper Penny
05. Catch You
06. Running High
07. I Can See Her Flying
08. Run To Me
09. He Rides Among
Clouds
10. Song of The East

Press

Audio & Video

THE FIERY FURNACES - 'DOWN AT THE SO AND SO ON SOMEWHERE'

Formats

• TMR684 - 7"

  N/A

Details

Eleanor and Matthew Friedberger formed The Fiery Furnaces in New York City in 2000. Their debut album Gallowsbird’s Bark (Rough Trade Records) was released to critical acclaim in 2003. In the following seven years, they released eight more albums and toured extensively throughout North America, Europe, Australia and Japan. The band’s last performance was nearly a decade ago at the Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona.In the meantime, Eleanor and Matthew have released eight solo albums, collectively. They are very pleased to return to the stage in their hometown Chicago, at Pitchfork Music Festival. Eleanor: Someone comes up to me at every show and asks: “How’s Matt? What’s happening with The Fiery Furnaces?” And I say, “He’s fine” and “Nothing at the moment.” I’m so happy to finally have some news: “He’s fine” and “We’re playing in July at the Pitchfork Festival.” We didn’t break up; this isn’t a reunion. We’re just playing the next show. Matthew: For the last three and a quarter years I’ve been listening to Fiery Furnaces records every day. I think I finally get it.

Tracks

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