Now this is very specialL: CVLT Nation is premiering the video by SUM OF R for their song “Alarming.” Their new album is entitled Ride Out The Waves will be out in October via Storm AHe Walks and you can pre-order it HERE! All of the artwork for this ritualistic composition was created by one of our favorite artists, Krist Mort, and is a perfect extension of the band’s sound. Now back to this amazing video: once you press play, you will be transfixed…So after the jump, allow SUM OF R to lead you into another universe, where the animals speak!

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Text and Photos by Jan Zeleny

If you’re keeping up with Neurot releases and/or CVLT Nation’s very own and consistently amazing Sonic Cathedrals mix series, you should already be familiar with the truly epic Ides of Gemini. If you’re not, kill yourself. Seriously. I’m not joking. Kill yourself right now. Or wait, maybe you could still make up for your unfathomable ignorance by going out to see them play in your city! Which you should actually do in any case, because Sera, J. and Kelly are not only an incredible live band, but also extremely nice folks. Check out the tour dates & a couple of photos I got to take recently after the jump!

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Not saying there weren’t isms in punk rock in the beginning, but as a youngster I always had respect for all of the women who were there from day one. From the the United Kingdom to the United States of America, women were making their creative spirit heard. Today I want to focus on The Slits and X-Ray Spex – both bands shared a sense of musical freedom that other bands from their era didn’t have. When you hear Ari UP and crew explain it, they never wanted to make “male-sounding” music. When I play The Slits today, you still can’t hear a band that has come close to manifesting such original songs. As performers, this band was confrontational in their own right. Then there were the X-Ray Spex, fronted by Poly Styrene (her braces bugged me out), who knew how to write perfectly subversive pop songs. When I watched this band on television during the late 70′s, I always felt that it was okay to be different. X-Ray Spex’s use of the sax in their tunes elevated them to another universe of radness. Both of these bands are still influencing new generations of females and males to this very day. I could talk about how they changed the face of fashion, but that is a whole other feature unto itself. Today, CVLT Nation would like to celebrate The Slits & X-Ray Spex with a giant video photo essay…We are all Germfree Adolescents, so after the jump, peep the typical girls!

The Slits & X-Ray Spex after the jump!
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A couple of weeks ago, I took it back to 1982 with some of my Santa Monica homies and jumped on the bus on our way to Hollyweird. The point of this heavy smoke-filled journey was to witness the mayhem of EYEHATEGOD at Los Globos. Damn, these warriors of debauchery did not fucking disappoint at all! The room was thick with angst and the heavy baselines bounced off the walls into our eardrums. Mike stalked the stage like an outlaw, with menace from deep below hell. EYEHATEGOD straight tore the roof off of the motherfucker. What made the night even more killer was that our comrade in photography, Adam Murray, was on hand to capture this whole sick and twisted reality on film. I saw him sacrifice his body and skull for these photos you are about to see. So after the jump, fuck getting dopesick, check out this night of monolithic dirge!

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On August 31st, some of our favorite Vancouver bands rocked it at the Rickshaw Theatre, and the talented photographer Ted Reckoning was there to capture sets from Baptists, Burning Ghats, Cathar, Dig Your Graves and Hoopsnake. We’ve never featured Ted Reckoning’s photos before on CVLT Nation, but the photos you’ll see after the jump will take you right into this place and time! It looks like it was an amazing show, and you’ll definitely see his photos on CVLT Nation in the future! Check out the gallery after the jump…

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This past Saturday, I felt like I had power! My childhood homie Jordan Schwartz, along with his long time creative partner Dave Markey, held the opening reception for the We Got Power book (out now via Bazillion Points publishing) at the Track 16 Gallery in Santa Monica. The event was jam-fucking-packed with mad generations of punks, which was a blast to see. The exhibit was an extension of the book itself, so the walls were covered with rare punk photos dating back to the early 80′s. If you were around in the 80′s, you would recognize many of these photos from the pages of the We Got Power fanzine. I can’t put into words on how proud I am of Jordan and Dave for keeping up the good fight! To add to the atmosphere, there were awesome live performances by the ADOLESCENTS, SACCHARINE TRUST, DEAD ISSUE and WHITE FLAG. Check out an in-depth review of the book HERE. In the meantime, peep the CVLT Nation photo gallery full of the things that got us hyped after the jump!

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Get ready for even more astounding images from the Power of the Riff East 2-day heavy extravaganza!! Our photographer Astrid Tonella really outdid herself with these photos – looking at them, I can feel smell the fog and feel it’s damp cold on my skin as I watch the ritual of SUNN O))) take place. The wrath and sweat and deafening bass leaves me breathless and deafened as I look at the photos of all the bands that Astrid captured as they rocked Day Two – Coffinworm, Dead in the Dirt, Double Negative, Repulsion, Salvation, Sunn O))) and Winter! After the jump check out our full gallery of POTRE Day Two images…

All photos by Astrid Tonella
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Today was bittersweet. We received these epic photos of OLD MAN GLOOM taken by Alan Hunter from their most recent Seattle show along with THRONES, only to find out that their musical home, Hydra Head, would be closing. So here is the other part of our send off to a record label that was way more than just a label. Alan has done it again, these OLD MAN GLOOM pictures will melt your braincells. So after the jump, take a look at some black and white fuzzed out madness!

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The Power of the Riff East kicked off last weekend for the first time back east, but I’m sure not the last! CVLT Nation had our photographer Astrid Tonella on the scene capturing epic photos of Agnostic Front, Alpha and Omega, Hoax, Negative Approach and Pentagram on Day One. There isn’t much I can say because her photos really speak for themselves, but it looks like the bands all killed it, and after checking out this gallery, your ears will be ringing and you’ll need a few showers to wash away the NYC grime! Stay tuned for Day Two coverage!

All photos by Astrid Tonella
Full gallery after the jump!
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There’s something about looking at an awesome photo that will never get boring to me. I will always be fascinated by images that have the force to draw you into the moment they were taken. Tanner Douglas is just this kind of photographer; his live shots of his friends’ bands – Masakari, Heartless, Full of Hell and many more – are truly works of art. When I stare at his photos, I can hear the riffs blazing and smell the sweat dripping off of the wall. Then there are his pictures that are non musical, they are just as magical. This is why we have chosen Tanner Douglas Photography as our favorite tumblr of the week. Peep some beyond awesome flicks after the jump, and make sure to blast some epic tunes to enhance your viewing pleasure. Oh yeah, and he will be on the upcoming European HEARTLESS tour!

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