punkottawa

Ottawametal.com, punkottawa.com and Revolution Rock present Monday March 19 @ Barrymores Music Hall Isis (Boston, Ipecap/Hydrahead recs) Jesu (ex-Godflesh/Swans/Head of David/Prong/Foetus/Final/Techno Animal, Birmingham UK, Hydra Head recs) Zozobra (New Mexico, Hydra Head recs) licensed 19+ - 8pm doors - $16 advance tickets available at: End Hits, Vertigo Records, ticketweb.ca In The Absence of Truth Nothing is true. Everything is permissible. - Hassan-i-Sabbah (attributed) With a musical trajectory that spans nearly a decade, ISIS has emerged from the frozen recesses of New England to become an internationally renowned force in underground music. Critically revered as the vanguard of "art metal," the band has consistently exploded the idiomatic strictures that have traditionally defined heavy music, with each new release expanding and improving upon the innovations of its predecessor. On the band's fourth full-length, In The Absence of Truth, the members of ISIS (vocalist/guitarist Aaron Turner, guitarist/keyboardist Clifford Meyer, bassist Jeff Caxide, drummer Aaron Harris and guitarist Mike Gallagher) have wed the post-psychedelic crush of 2000's Celestial to the extended instrumental passages and tension-escalating dynamics that have since become the band's sonic signature. Produced and recorded with the utmost clarity and fidelity by longtime ISIS co-conspirator Matt Bayles at the Bomb Shelter in downtown Los Angeles, In The Absence of Truth is a living, breathing panorama of soaring melodies, dizzying rhythmic ziggurats and seismic heaviness. Cyclical slow-motion bursts of kaleidoscopic notes ring out across orchestral guitar squalls as Meyer erects a wall of electronically-enhanced power-atmospherics and Caxide's mesmerizing sub-aquatic bass volleys spiral endlessly under the sweeping dirge and drone of the band's devastating triple-guitar ensemble. Throughout the album, Turner's vocals have assumed a decidedly cleaner, clearer quality than on previous releases, and Harris' drum work has become even more profoundly expansive and nuanced. Conceptually, the album exists in a nebulous purgatory where elaborately constructed falsehoods pass for fact, where verity is relative to the purposes of those who invoke it, and where traditional notions of time and space are manipulated for purposes of psychic control. Harnessing influences that span nearly a thousand years' worth of literary and esoteric history, In The Absence of Truth merges the ancient with the modern in a non-linear conjuration of colluding elements. All told, In The Absence of Truth is not only the latest zenith in ISIS' already impressive musical catalogue, but also a triumphant sonic apex unto itself. Further Propaganda: In addition to many high-profile live demonstrations at numerous international music festivals such as All Tomorrow's Parties (2004, curated by Mogwai) and Japan's Fuji Fest (2006), ISIS recently performed at the Museum Of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. Earlier this year, they were commissioned to play their 2002 album, Oceanic, in its entirety as part of All Tomorrow's Parties' "Don't Look Back" series, in which such indie heavyweights as the Melvins, Low and Tortoise also participated. After three previous full-lengths (including 2004's groundbreaking Panopticon), three EPs and an Oceanic remix collection, ISIS recently released their first DVD, Clearing The Eye, and have issued four highly sought-after limited-edition live LPs. Earlier this year, the band collaborated with Scottish dream rock avatars Aerogramme for a forthcoming installment of In The Fishtank, an ongoing recording project sponsored by Dutch music distributor Konkurrent in which two musical entities are paired up and given two days of studio time. ISIS have previously collaborated (either live or in the studio) with Tim Hecker, Justin Broadrick (Godflesh, Jesu), Justin Chancellor (Tool), 27, Dälek and Lustmord. Beyond their primary artistic focus in ISIS, the band's members also participate in many other distinguished musical endeavors, including Old Man Gloom (Turner), Red Sparowes (Meyer), House Of Low Culture (Turner), MGR (Gallagher), The Gersch (Meyer), Windmills By the Ocean (Meyer) Los Angeles Digital Noise Academy (Harris) and Drawing Voices (Turner). The band recently finished a run with Tool, who handpicked ISIS as direct support on their national tour. For more information: http://www.ipecac.com http://www.revolutionrock.ca http://www.ottawametal.com http://www.punkottawa.com

The Ottawa International Jazz Festival and Revolution Rock present Vandermark 5 (Chicago free-jazz) Saturday Feb 20 Zaphod Beeblebrox (27 York St.) Licensed 19+ EARLY SHOW - 8pm doors, two sets at 9pm and 10pm Tickets are $15 advance and available from End Hits (407 Dalhousie), Ottawa Jazz Festival Office (61A York), Vertigo Records (193 Rideau), Zaphod Beeblebrox (27 York) and www.ticketweb.com The Vandermark 5 was formed during the spring of 1996. Since that time it has been a major outlet for the compositional and improvisational ideas of Ken Vandermark, whose thinking has been developed through years of work with groups like the NRG Ensemble, AALY, the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet, the Free Music Ensemble, School Days, Free Fall, and the Territory Band. Trying to organize a small unit with the capabilities of a large ensemble, he needed and chose four exceptional musicians to join him on the project: Jeb Bishop: trombone/guitar, Kent Kessler: bass, Tim Mulvenna: drums, and Mars Williams: saxophone. During the past decade the quintet’s line-up has evolved and now, in addition to original members Vandermark and Kessler, it includes the extraordinary saxophonist Dave Rempis; Tim Daisy and his powerful work on percussion; and the cello/improvisation master Fred Lonberg-Holm. Each of the current members has years of performance experience working with a wide variety of music. This, coupled with the range of instrumentation and stylistic potential held by the ensemble, allows Vandermark to compose material that runs the gamut of musical possibilities; he incorporates elements of jazz history, contemporary composition, funk and rock into the group’s music. Even so, the band’s focus remains on improvisation. Each piece is arranged to allow ample room for the members to interpret and reinterpret the writing; this creates an environment where they are constantly interacting and utilizing their unique ideas in a spontaneous way. In the spirit of the great bands scattered throughout the history of jazz, the Vandermark 5 has concentrated on live performance as the means to hone its skills and develop its concepts. For several years the quintet played on a weekly basis at the Empty Bottle in Chicago. Now the ensemble has shifted their concert schedule to focus on the road, and they tour in North America and Europe on a regular basis. Their most recent work included a trip to Europe in November of 2006 to support the release of its newest album, A Discontinuous Line. After this, the band recorded a new set of material that will be released by Atavistic in the coming year. In February of 2007 the quintet will tour in the United States and Canada, performing music developed in the year and a half since Lonberg-Holm joined the group in the summer of 2005. Despite its longevity this musical unit continues to develop, while creating new methods for the investigation of composition and improvisation. With their history together and the current possibilities at their disposal, the Vandermark 5 will clearly remain “a modern-day band for the jazz ages.â€â€”Penguin Guide To Jazz on CD. For more information: http://www.kenvandermark.com http://www.revolutionrock.ca http://www.ottawajazzfestival.com