Lefty's Live Music

Telekinetic Yeti/ Stinking Lizaveta/ Somnuri

July 5 ~ 7pm ~ 21+ $20 ~ https://tickets.midwestix.com/event/telekinetic-yeti-stinking-lizaveta-somnuri?fbclid=IwAR0lGENhnqUKh9aYieyr4X0cvIAGZ9eYrHrEaXbfJli9Gi12Hgwc_rEiXqg
Lefty’s Live Music w/ Metro Concerts Live Presents:
Telekinetic Yeti ~ Based out of Iowa, Telekinetic Yeti is a two-man band that delivers sonic brutality melded with psychedelic doom wizardry, forged by the worship of the almighty riff and honed by relentless touring and dedication to their craft.
Creating music as cryptically enchanting as it is heavy, you wouldn’t guess that the impressive cacophony pouring out of the speakers like molten, metal syrup is being produced by only two people. Founder and guitarist Alex Baumann explains, “Originally I decided not to have a bass player purely for logistical reasons, it was just another schedule to work around, another person who’s boss could tell us we can’t tour, but then I started seeing it as a challenge, like let’s see how heavy we can make it with just two people.”
That started grabbing peoples’ attention. Relentless touring and playing pretty much any club that would have them, the band set sail on their epic voyage, selling their debut album Abominable out of their van and cutting their teeth in the underground playing hundreds of shows. All the while receiving rave reviews of their live performance as well as their first release, which landed at #2 on the doom charts and stayed right there for months. The Sludgelord called the eight-song album “a f***ing monster from start to finish,” and The Obelisk, including the album in their year-end, best of list, dubbed it the “debut of the year,” and said “it could have been another band’s second or third record for the level of cohesion on display.” The video for “Stoned and Feathered” quickly racked up a few hundred thousand views and counting. It was at this time that Telekinetic Yeti caught the attention of Ozzy Osbourne bass player, Blasko, who named Abominable on his “5 favorites” list. People were starting to catch on, and soon thereafter Telekinetic Yeti would be invited to tour extensively with some of the best heavy rock bands in the business, including Clutch, Black Label Society, Red Fang and Weedeater.�
Now the band finds itself in a much different, auspicious position, and with the help of famed producer Phillip Cope (Baroness, Kylesa, Damad, Black Tusk et al), Telekinetic Yeti returns with their eagerly-anticipated, second full-length album, Primordial.
With this release, the band takes their game to a whole new level. Primordial explores themes as diverse as evolution, sorcery, black magic and the contradictions of the gloriously uplifting yet simultaneously melancholic human condition. “I wanted to write something that was an appropriate intro to the album, that brought to mind an early earth setting and featured atmospheric elements as well as some droning, sparse simplicity and lyrically, simple imagery regarding the dawn of humankind and creation of the first tools.” explains Baumann of the title track.
As it unfolds, the album evolves into a cathartic exploration turning themes into tangible sounds and haunting fugues. Says Baumann regarding the inspiration behind “Beast”: “This song is about wanting to escape the societal constraints that keep us on the wheel, toiling away, indefinitely. It’s also about questioning authority figures, or really�anyone that claims to have all the answers.”
Matured songwriting, creatively brutal riffs and an exercise in monstrous tones make this listen an immersive experience taking you back to explore and appreciate the primordial ooze that we all came from. Telekinetic Yeti has partnered with stalwart Indie label, Tee Pee Records. ���Telekinetic Yeti is:��Alex Baumann – Guitar/Vocals�Rockwel Heim – Drums
https://telekineticyeti.com
https://www.instagram.com/telekinetic_yeti
https://www.facebook.com/telekineticyetiband
Telekinetic Yeti | Spotify
Stinking Lizaveta ~ If you want to know how hard Stinking Lizaveta rocks, ask people who rock.
“When people ask who my greatest musical in?luences are, they typically expect me to say Black Sabbath or Slayer. The real answer includes the mighty Stinking Lizaveta,” said guitarist Kyle Schutt of the Sword. “A truly masterful set of musicians.”
Born in West Philadelphia basements, raised in a blue Chevy van, Stinking Lizaveta has spent almost three decades building an unmatched catalog of instrumental rock, starting with its self-titled 1995 EP released on Joe Lally’s (of Fugazi) Tolotta Records.
“They blew us all away,” recalled Gary Mader, bass guitarist with Eyehategod. “Heavy in a whole different way – dynamic riffs with fractal perfection, a rhythm section with the ?luidity and warmth of old school jazz, and guitar leads that made vocals unnecessary.”
Today, the band is preparing its ninth release, as yet untitled, which ?inds Stinking Lizaveta as challenging and vital as ever.
“Their latest work ?inds them inspired and in full stride,” says Lamb of God guitarist Mark Morton. “Heavy, hypnotic grooves. Soaring lead guitar. Swaggering riffs that peel away into lurching, angular blasts. Driving ?lows that feel balanced and cohesive.”
“Stinking Lizaveta has always brought the raw, un?iltered truth,” said Damon Locks, vocalist with Black Monument Ensemble. “Every Stink release is worth your time and this one is no exception.”
None of it happens by accident. Named for a doomed Dostoyevsky character, known as “the Stinkies” to friends, Stinking Liz’s trademark is meticulously arranged, carefully rehearsed, furiously deployed rock compositions that feature generous strains of jazz, classical, punk and even Greek music.
“How do we tell stories without preaching, with just an upright electric bass, guitar and drums? Compelling melody. Hypnotizing rhythm. Passion and detail,” explains drummer Cheshire Agusta.
And where many bands crumble under the weight of their own ambitions, Stinking Lizaveta stands up strong, wielding its spiky, elaborate tunes like a gladiator’s mace. Live or on record, the band delivers its material with fury, precision, swing and – rarest of all among heavy bands – an unmistakable sense of joy.
“More than anything, their performances sound like the band is having fun,” said Lamb of God’s Morton. “That makes them fun to listen to.”
Thirty years of that savage delight has earned the band a reputation as one of the nation’s heaviest, most original, and most challenging power trios.
“Both polished and unruly,” wrote the LA Weekly in 2001. “Uncompromising in the best sense,” wrote the New Yorker Magazine in 2009. “The word is ‘unfuckwithable,’” wrote reviewer JJ Cozan in 2022 after the band’s appearance at New York City’s Desertfest. “Not a single second was misspent. By the time they were done I wasn’t even tired anymore.”
Stinking Lizaveta features Yanni Papadopoulos on guitar, brother Alexi Papadopoulos on upright electric bass, and Agusta on drums. All three came to the band with various backgrounds in rock, jazz, punk rock and classical music. The trio found its collective voice in West Philadelphia’s early-90s underground scene. They’ve toured and recorded steadily ever since, sharing stages in America and Europe with such bands as Clutch, Mastodon, Beehoover, the Sword, Torche, Weedeater, Fugazi, Don Vito, Dÿse, Rollins Band, Lamb of God, Orange Goblin, Zeni Geva, Hidden Hand, Corrosion of Conformity, and Today’s the Day.
Over the years they’ve worked with such producers as Steve Albini, Sanford Parker and Steve Berrigan . They’ve been featured on compilations alongside such acts as Kylesa, Pentagram and Jarboe. They’ve appeared at festivals in America and Europe including Desertfests in London, New York and Berlin; SXSW in Austin, England’s All Tomorrow’s Parties, and in 2022, Psycho Las Vegas.
The band’s upcoming release, recorded at Steve Roche’s Permanent Hearing Damage Studios in Philadelphia, features all of the band’s trademarks: Cheshire’s grace and power on drums, Alexi’s relentless drive on upright electric bass, and Yanni’s singular mix of melody and howl, wrung from the same battered black Les Paul he’s played for decades.
“I learned more from watching Yanni play guitar than I ever learned from a lesson,” said the
Sword’s Schutt. “Bass, drums, guitar – their unrelenting dedication to sonic thunder cannot be understated,” said Black Monument Ensemble’s Locks.
The only question about Stinking Liz’s music is what to call it. It’s more than metal; it’s bigger than blues; it’s heavier than rock. One metal historian, Garry Sharp-Young, dubbed it “doom jazz;” Lamb of God’s Morton calls it “avant-jazz punk.” Yanni calls it, “psycho-toxic- punk-rock-jazz.”
Cheshire doesn’t call it anything: “I let other people describe my music. I play it,” she says.
Whatever it is, Stinking Lizaveta will keep making it, says Alexi. “I can’t imagine not doing it,” he said. “Why does anybody keep doing what they love?”
And it can’t be stopped, says Yanni: “It’s genetic destiny. It’s the culmination of millennia of history, coming through my guitar, coming through this band,” he says. “So powerful. So juicy. So bloody. So meaty. So timeless. There’s nothing better. Nothing at all. And we have the full power of the modern world to back us up.”
stinkinglizavetaofficial.bandcamp.com
facebook.com/people/Stinking-Lizaveta
instagram.com/stinking_lizaveta
spotify.com
wikipedia.org/wiki/Stinking_Lizaveta
Somnuri ~
Among other hustles, hitting the pavement and providing a cannabis delivery service was one of the main catalysts in
SOMNURI’s infant stages and a DIY ethos
was adopted early on. The grind it takes just to survive in New York City seeps into their music and it’s hard not to hear elements of the city throughout: sludge, atmosphere, and at times brutal dissonance, layered with pounding and entrancing rhythms and low end frequencies that make your guts rattle.
SOMNURI’s sound weaves in and out of hauntingly infectious melodies and bludgeoning riffs and grooves that shift time and tempo often.
SOMNURI started when two multi instrumentalists joined forces after sharing the stage and practice spaces in previous Brooklyn
based bands. Justin Sherrell (Guitar/Vocals) had guitar ideas he wanted to develop further and soon linked up
with drummer and producer Phil SanGiacomo. The ability
for both founding members to explore ideas on guitar, bass, drums and vocals continues to be the band’s lifeblood.
The band’s first and second LPs were very well received with BrooklynVegan championing, “a familiar, nostalgic sound,” that, “
genuinely breathe new life into.” With a willingness to venture into new sonic spaces of heavy music,
SOMNURI’s upcoming full length is in the works and due out in 2023.
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