Litany: Music News Covering Skinny Puppy, Download, ohGr and Related Projects

The tour ended a week ago and I am beginning to return to Normal Life. The feeling, now familiar to me, is a bit like being a fallen leaf, settling back down to earth after a brief ride in the turbulent winds of a tornado that just blew through town, leaving only a silent wake. The end of all tours is difficult, but this one especially so, because it was just so much damned fun. Part of the reason for that is the fantastic group of people involved. You all know the band of Justin Bennett, William Morrison, Jeff Smith, and, of course, Ogre himself, but I want to underscore the amazing work of the crew this time around. Without tour manager and engineer Jenn O. Cide, stage tech and occasional guitarist Matthew Setzer, and VIP wrangler extraordinaire, Dre Robinson, the show you enjoyed simply could not have happened. Everyone went above and beyond and I feel privileged to have been a small part of such a team. I also want to thank each and every person who introduced themselves at the merch table and spoke kind words about Litany. It truly meant a lot. And another thank you to all of the friends who came out to see us and helped me stay sane on the road. It is an amazing feeling to pull into a city knowing there will be a friendly face, even if just for a few minutes amidst piles of t-shirts. I think I can be bold enough to speak for everyone involved and say that we all hope to be able to do it again very soon.

Check out the photo gallery I've posted on the Litany.net Facebook for glimpses of a few moments I was able to capture here and there.

As promised before the launch of the recent ohGr tour, the band is now putting out a call for any recordings you might have made of the shows, with an eye towards using them as a component of a tour document. Here is a statement straight from the band:::

We've prepared an email address where material can be sent and suggest the use of the free file transfer service "Wetransfer". If a hypothetical Western Fallout tour documentary were to materialize, all contributors whether we use their offerings or not would be credited, so audio and/or video files should be included in a folder containing a text file with full name and contact information. Offerings should be sent to:

bootleg@thatfucker.tv

Send that stuff in and keep reading here for an announcement of the winner of the Fear Head raffle.

Ogre gets surprised onstage with a birthday cake after the clock strikes midnight.



Bill Morrison leads the crowd in a rendition of Happy Birthday to a grateful Ogre.



Images in Vogue's Joe Vizvary, longtime contributor of massive amounts of information to Litany, and Gary Blair Smith, the man who single-handedly kept me sane on the European tour.

Good mornternoon from the tour bus speeding along through snowy mountains on our travel day like a rocket propelled by coffee, stage grime, and good wishes for Ogre's birthday. As we sit gathered on our respective laptops here, me going over merch numbers, Bill looking at some gorgeous footage he shot of last night's show, I wanted to take a second to post a bit about a new element to the VIP access. In addition to what is listed on the website, Ogre has decided to add an extra raffle. One randomly chosen member of the VIP group for each show will receive a one-of-a-kind prop personalized by Ogre used during that evening's performance. So far the VIP access has been a success all around. Ogre is really glad to get to sit and speak with fans when he is not covered in stage sweat and makeup after a show and VIP-master Dre says everyone has been having a great time. There are only 25 VIP slots available, so get your pass now if you want to get in the running.

Visit here for info.

And visit our forum tour section for meetups, show reviews, photos, videos, and more.

Dre Robinson, Puppy record contributor and airborne ohGr tour crew member extraordinaire, says "stay off the stage!"

Photo courtesy of Impose Magazine, who have a fantastic review and photo set here. We're on our way to Seattle after a great night in Portland. See you there tonight at the merch booth!

A teaser image from the rehearsal studio submitted to rev your your anticipation as the bus pulls into San Francisco for the first show of the ohGr tour. I've had the privilege of hearing the band run through the set in rehearsal and I can say that this is not a tour any fan should ever miss. Hearing Ogre, Bill, Jeff, and Justin together as a band again gave me goosebumps. In a few minutes I'll go and set up the merchandise and hope to squeeze in a few brief reenactments of my favorite San Francisco-set film, So I Married an Axe Murder, before the show gets underway.

Check out our forum for meet ups, etc.

I arrived in LA today and spent most of the afternoon sorting through the merch for the upcoming tour (followed up the necessary stop at In-N-Out burger). The Undeveloped artwork looks mighty fine emblazoned on cotton.

The band wants to put out the word that, where the venues allow, not only are they happy with fans making bootleg audio recordings of the show, but are actively welcoming it. After all is said and done, they plan on providing a place for you to submit your documents of the tour for potential usage in an upcoming, band-produced live DVD of the tour. While they cannot do anything about the cities where the venues themselves will not allow recording, the band themselves are not discouraging any surreptitious recording devices that might find their way into the vicinity taped to someone's nether regions.

In honor of black Friday the store at skinnypuppy.com will be temporarily reducing all merchandise to half price. Yes, you can get t-shirts and hoodies for 50% starting at midnight after your (American) Thanksgiving.

Visit here to browse the items.

Announcing a special offer for the ohGr tour allowing the hardcore fans to upgrade their ticket to a VIP experience package, including:::

-a meet and greet with Ogre

-access to the band's soundcheck

-a VIP laminate

-a signed 18"x24" tour poster, exclusive to this offer

-entry into a drawing to win the one-of-a-kind Tree of No Cares head prop unpainted test pull from the now legendary Last Rights tour

ohGr and Puppy usually have closed soundchecks, so this access allows fans a peak behind the curtain at what they normally do not get to witness. Truth be told, soundchecks remain some of my favorite moments from touring. And as anyone who has seen my Last Rights tour page (designed back decidedly before web 2.0, not to mention before I knew how to write) knows, the chance to own one of these prop casts is something worth the sale of a soul and/or grandma.

Click here for more information or to purchase this ticket upgrade, after all, you could win this:::

Puppy and Download collectors will want to check out Subcon's new Ebay Store, where cEvin is auctioning some of his own collection of vintage t-shirts and vinyl from across the history of the bands. He's even got an Images in Vogue shirt up there!

Browse through the selection here.

What with the arrival of the first new Skinny Puppy album in four years, an ohGr record only a summer old, and an ohGr tour on the way, it would be easy to overlook some of the other great music being released. Collide's new record, Counting to Zero, sees the duo further augmenting their electronic sound with live instrumentation. Rather than any sense of sub-WaxTrax! dancefloor nostalgia, Collide have embraced the snaky grooves of glam and shimmering colors of shoegaze. Live guitar and bass, including guest Dean Garcia of Curve, are woven with Statik's programming, well known from work on albums by Tool, Prince and, of course, Skinny Puppy, for a result not unlike a forgotten sibling of ohGr's most industrial-glam moments. kArin's voice has never sounded fuller and has taken a central place in the mix. "Slow Down" fuses almost-Pink Floydian guitar with shimmering electronics. The seductive "Lucky 13" could be by Siouxsie and the Spiders From Mars. The smoky ballad "Human" evokes Bauhaus as if produced by Brian Eno, while "Tears Like Rain" is reminiscent of the best aspects of Greater Wrong of the Right. Think Cocteau Twins with teeth or a slicker, groovier My Bloody Valentine wrapping itself around an electronic core. Vibrant and current, this record reignites an aspect of dark rock that has lain dormant for far too many years. If you yearn for an era when 120 Minutes was a weekly appointment or had the soundtrack for the Crow on repeat, this is the record you've been waiting for.

Visit their website here.

HanDover has debuted at #168 on this week's Billboard Top 200.

Visit our forum to join in on the discussion about the record right here and vote for your favorite track on the album here (thanks to forumite Alien8 for setting up the poll).

As we collectively bask in the radiant glory that is the rare moment following a new Skinny Puppy album, let us not forget that ohGr is set to hit the west coast in support of Undeveloped in less than a month. Visit our Western Fallout forum section for tour meetup information. I'll be on the tour helping with merch and stage stuff, so I'm looking forward to meeting more Litany people.

ohGr will be doing a limited tour of the west coast of the US and Canada this December in support of Undeveloped. As of now there are no plans for further touring. Get there if you at all can!

Check out the full, final dates below:::

Thu-Dec-01 San Francisco, CA Bottom of the Hill
Fri-Dec-02 Portland, OR Hawthorne Theatre
Sat-Dec-03 Seattle, WA El Corazon
Sun-Dec-04 Vancouver, BC Rickshaw
Tue-Dec-06 Salt Lake City, UT The Complex
Wed-Dec-07 Denver, CO Bluebird Theatre
Fri-Dec-09 Phoenix, AZ Nile
Sat-Dec-10 Santa Ana, CA Constellation Room
Sun-Dec-11 Los Angeles, CA El Rey

AOL Music now has HanDover available for streaming in entirety, right here, in advance of release day tomorrow.

Dead Voices on Air, in addition to the series of collaborative singles I mentioned earlier, is releasing a brand new full-length CD album via Lens Records on November 1st. Entitled Michael and the Angels Fought, this album focuses upon Mark Spybey's spacious side. The term ambient has unfortunately come to carry the stigma of endlessly interminable minutes of hastily assembled pads passing themselves off as sonic depth, boring all involved save the most intoxicated. DVOA avoids the cliché, illustrating the true beauty possible in the genre. The motion of these pieces captures the serenity of floating in water, of inhaling pure winter air, of warm moments of frozen time. On 'Shadow' simple, repeated melodic motions on cello waltz their way through ever evolving textures, the pulses of the body slowed to the rhythm of contemplation, Godspeed You! Black Emperor without the drama. The epic 'Moon' begins with the burbling of a nightmare soundtrack, caustic and chilling, recalling Edward Ka-Spel at his most devious or Coil at their most unsettling, moving through stages of orchestral warmth and vibrating thought. With guest singer Ivana Salipur's chanting hanging suspended in the air, 'Voice' evokes the sacred, while 'Pulse' explores the textural possibilities of Bella Emerson's manipulated cello. 'Sudden' takes us on dark march through hidden memories and ancient evils, evoking Nurse With Wound at their most resonant, the hints of almost-recognizable elements reminiscent of Skinny Puppy's legendary Download. This is not music for traveling through the mental reaches of outer space, but rather, for personal realization and sacred revelation within, dust dancing in the sunlight of an antique store window. For me, it holds a similar place to the works of Arvo Pårt or the concluding tracks of Doubting Thomas's The Infidel. With moments both sinister and uplifting, Michael and the Angels Fought is one of Dead Voices on Air's most compelling records to date.

Visit here for information or to order

The website Peta2 has now featured the new Puppy track Wavy from the forthcoming HanDover available for download.

Get it right here!

Visit Revolver Magazine to hear the song Village from the upcoming album HanDover.

The fine folks at ROIR records are running a limited time sale on their Legendary Pink Dots music and merchandise. Right now you can get yourself CDs for $8 and t-shirts for $15. If you've been putting off nabbing any of their recent albums, now is the time to correct that oversight (hint, hint: my review of Seconds Late for the Brighton Line is right here).

Visit their LPD sale page.

The band has also just kicked off their European tour. Should you be nearby any of the remaining dates below, I urge you to catch the show. The North American tour last year was such a soul-redeeming experience I saw it twice (and would have gone more times had geography allowed).

October 13 - MALMO @ Mosiskan (S)
October 14 - Gothenburg @ Koloni (S)
October 16 - Oslo @ Revolver (N)
October 18 - Helsinki @ Kuudes Linja (FI)
October 20 - GDYNIA @ Ucho (PL)
October 22 - LUBLIN @ Electric Nights Festival (PL)
October 23 - WARSAW @ Progresja (PL)
October 24 - PRESOV @ Christiania (SK)
October 25 - BUDAPEST -venue t.b.a (H)
October 27 - AMSTERDAM @ Wilhelmina Pakhuis (NL)
October 28 - DUISBURG @ Steinbruch (D)
October 29 - KORTRIJK (B) De Kreun
October 30 - LONDON -Corsica Studios (GB)

Ogre is set to appear this Saturday and Sunday at Horror Weekend 2011 in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. In addition to signing autographs and merchandise, he will be hosting the convention's special midnight showing of his scene-stealing turn in Repo! If you're anywhere in the area, make sure you get yourself there for a fun chance to chat with Ogre when he isn't covered in stage blood and mask slime. Sadly I will not be there to assist him at this one, so make sure to tell him you're a Litany reader yourself.

For more info on the con, visit their website here.