Headfirst Editor's Pick
"Ritual psych-folk, heavy on the widescreen fantasy and mystical doom. Smote are capable of opening new pagan pathways in the minds of devoted listeners. FFO: Sunburned Hand Of The Man, Natural Snow Buildings, Six Organs of Admittance, Amon Düül, The Wicker Man, G!YBE."
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A gig held at Exchange on Monday 10th April. The event starts at 19:00.
Join us, fellow members of the occult, for 003. On this night we shall celebrate the release of northern outfit Smote’s second album - Genog. Joining the festivities are thunderous three-pieces Under Bliss & Lamears.
ENTER THE EXCHANGE.
Smote.
Transcendence through repetition beamed via an aesthetic vision steeped in mystery: welcome to the world of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne’s Smote, an entity opening up uncanny new psychic pathways. ‘Genog’ - the outfit’s second release on Rocket Recordings following 2021’s eerie transmission ‘Drommon’, shows that Smote’s elliptical casting of bleak magick is only growing more powerful as it gathers momentum. The five vivid extrapolations on Genog conjure differing spiritual realms, yet the verdant flute-and-drum-driven ‘Fenhop’, the resonant, cryptic ‘Hlaf’ and the overwhelming noise-driven intensity of the closing freakout ‘Banhus’ combine and coalesce to offer one unified vision, building furious momentum in a manner that unites the pastoral with the arcane and otherworldy.
Inhabiting a landscape where pursuit of the psychedelic is so often hampered by cliche, mannerism and the canonical rulebook, it can be rare to witness a visionary doggedly pursuing their own crooked and idiosyncratic path into the mystic with few co-ordinates apparent. This is where Smote come in. Earthy, ritualistic and richly cinematic.
“Evocative sound worlds of mystery &
imagination where influences both
ancient & modern create a mesmeric &
trancelike listen.” (Terrascope)
“A mystically-aligned voyage into abandon
& epiphany.” (Psychedelic Baby Mag)
“Wow this album is quite a trip.”
(Fragmented Flaneur)
“A deliriously absorbing psych odyssey
with an immense totemic potency.”
(Backseat Mafia)
https://smote.bandcamp.com/
Under Bliss.
Imagine if Sonic Youth had sex with a David Lynch movie, here’s Underbliss. They are a three-piece gunk (grunge-punk) band based in the city of Bristol. Breaching the mundane insanity of everyday life, Underbliss screams become a personal chant to their thick groovy baselines, thundering drums and hell frequency guitar riffs demanding their audience to stop saying sorry.
Lamears.
We are Lamears, a three-piece made up of stragglers and dropouts of their respective music scenes around the southwest, who have joined forces with the singular goal of finally getting a free bar tab for the night. After many decades of rambunctious strobe-flooded basement gigs and a punishing catalogue of blinding after-show benders, Kevin Edwards realised that the Scientologist 90s Alien Goth Electronic Indie scene was no longer his calling. He got on the phone to his long-time party buddy and relationship councillor Ben Edwards (no relation), who by night and day would shred his way through two packs of strings a week despite only having 9 working fingers, to try to convince him to help create something a bit rougher around the edges where there were no rules, and where he didn’t necessarily have to play to a click track or even really stay in time. Ben was all for this new and untested approach, and together with their new bud Rob on bass and vocal duties, a long-haired lothario whom they occasionally found daydreaming in the park, high and drunk in the fields, and generally moping about looking like a tortured artist, they formed Lamears. Expect to be bombarded with hefty riffs, shrieking vocals, high-impact hi-hats and whatever else you may or may not expect… These guys are here to ruffle some feathers in the Mid-70s Psychedelic Desert Surf Rock Scorpion Pterodactyl Hardcore scene… don’t you forget it… Influences include the Doors, Allah Las, Fugazi, Rage Against The Machine, Beastie Boys and Kate Bush.
Please note the basement is not wheelchair accessible. For more accessibility info, please email [email protected]
Entry requirements:
ENTER THE EXCHANGE.
Smote.
Transcendence through repetition beamed via an aesthetic vision steeped in mystery: welcome to the world of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne’s Smote, an entity opening up uncanny new psychic pathways. ‘Genog’ - the outfit’s second release on Rocket Recordings following 2021’s eerie transmission ‘Drommon’, shows that Smote’s elliptical casting of bleak magick is only growing more powerful as it gathers momentum. The five vivid extrapolations on Genog conjure differing spiritual realms, yet the verdant flute-and-drum-driven ‘Fenhop’, the resonant, cryptic ‘Hlaf’ and the overwhelming noise-driven intensity of the closing freakout ‘Banhus’ combine and coalesce to offer one unified vision, building furious momentum in a manner that unites the pastoral with the arcane and otherworldy.
Inhabiting a landscape where pursuit of the psychedelic is so often hampered by cliche, mannerism and the canonical rulebook, it can be rare to witness a visionary doggedly pursuing their own crooked and idiosyncratic path into the mystic with few co-ordinates apparent. This is where Smote come in. Earthy, ritualistic and richly cinematic.
“Evocative sound worlds of mystery &
imagination where influences both
ancient & modern create a mesmeric &
trancelike listen.” (Terrascope)
“A mystically-aligned voyage into abandon
& epiphany.” (Psychedelic Baby Mag)
“Wow this album is quite a trip.”
(Fragmented Flaneur)
“A deliriously absorbing psych odyssey
with an immense totemic potency.”
(Backseat Mafia)
https://smote.bandcamp.com/
Under Bliss.
Imagine if Sonic Youth had sex with a David Lynch movie, here’s Underbliss. They are a three-piece gunk (grunge-punk) band based in the city of Bristol. Breaching the mundane insanity of everyday life, Underbliss screams become a personal chant to their thick groovy baselines, thundering drums and hell frequency guitar riffs demanding their audience to stop saying sorry.
Lamears.
We are Lamears, a three-piece made up of stragglers and dropouts of their respective music scenes around the southwest, who have joined forces with the singular goal of finally getting a free bar tab for the night. After many decades of rambunctious strobe-flooded basement gigs and a punishing catalogue of blinding after-show benders, Kevin Edwards realised that the Scientologist 90s Alien Goth Electronic Indie scene was no longer his calling. He got on the phone to his long-time party buddy and relationship councillor Ben Edwards (no relation), who by night and day would shred his way through two packs of strings a week despite only having 9 working fingers, to try to convince him to help create something a bit rougher around the edges where there were no rules, and where he didn’t necessarily have to play to a click track or even really stay in time. Ben was all for this new and untested approach, and together with their new bud Rob on bass and vocal duties, a long-haired lothario whom they occasionally found daydreaming in the park, high and drunk in the fields, and generally moping about looking like a tortured artist, they formed Lamears. Expect to be bombarded with hefty riffs, shrieking vocals, high-impact hi-hats and whatever else you may or may not expect… These guys are here to ruffle some feathers in the Mid-70s Psychedelic Desert Surf Rock Scorpion Pterodactyl Hardcore scene… don’t you forget it… Influences include the Doors, Allah Las, Fugazi, Rage Against The Machine, Beastie Boys and Kate Bush.
Please note the basement is not wheelchair accessible. For more accessibility info, please email [email protected]
Entry requirements:
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