BIO:
Over the past ten years, Hypnos 69 acquired a loyal following wherever they appeared live and one of the band's greatest thrills to date has been the number of venues which immediately request their return and the new fans who instantly fall in love with the band. Their subsequent releases gave them a lot of attention from specialized radio stations and magazines all around the world. Hypnos 69 played hundreds of gigs in Belgium and around, visited some of Europe's finest rock clubs and outdoor & indoor rock festivals including Burg Herzberg Festival (Breitenbach), Roadburn 10th Anniversary (013, Tilburg), Swamp Room Mania (Hannover), Symforce II (013, Tilburg), Crescendo Festival (St Palais sur Mêr), Psychedelic Avengers Festival (Berlin), Stoned from the underground (Erfurt), Sauzipf rocks (Austria). They shared the bill with bands like Motorpsycho, Focus, Hawkwind, Opeth, Brant Bjork and The Bros, Space Ritual, 35007, Dozer, Five Horse Johnson amongst others.The band and musicians were asked to perform with respected musicians as Ed Mundell (Monster Magnet), Alfredo Hernandez (QOTSA, Kyuss, Yawning Man) and Sergio Chotsourian (Los Natas). Guitarist/vocalist Steve Houtmeyers was recently asked to join California jam band Ten East, which includes Gary Arce (Yawning Man, Sort of Quartet) and Greg Ginn (Black Flag).
Hypnos 69 covers a broad territory from Space Jazz, over Prog influenced hard Psych Rock, to more laid back tunes with a spaced out Pink Floyd edge. They are often linked to the stoner-scene, but these four Belgian guys evade that label by embracing so many different forms of music and taking the best aspects of rock over the past 30 years and refine them into a sound of their own, which just never gets boring. "They sound so damn retro, unbelievably melodic and timelessly beautiful". However, Hypnos 69 has not forgotten how to rock. They are extremely gifted musicians with a passion for playing music, who put their soul, their whole being into their performance on stage. When you've visited one of their shows, you'll know they're capable of conjuring up a massive wall of sound whilst keeping a high level of clarity. They manage to appeal to music lovers from different genres, and they always deliver top class rock'n roll.
MEMBERS:
Steve Houtmeyers: vocals, guitars, theremin
Tom Vanlaer: bass, bariton guitar, Moog Taurus
Steven Marx: saxophone, mellotron, Rhodes, Hammond
Dave Houtmeyers: drums, percussion, glockenspiel
I and You and Me (I) The Eclectic Measure Forgotten Souls My Ambiguity of Reality The Antagonist Halfway to the Stars I and You and Me (II) Ominous (but fooled before) The Point of no return Deus Ex Machina
10" SPLIT EP with Monkey3
(November 2006 on Rock n' Roll Radio)
Contains 2 tracks:
Hide Behind the Sun
Vendetta
"Timeline Traveller"CD
(RE RELEASE 2006 on Elektrohasch with different cover!)
contains 5 studio tracks:
Timeline Traveller N.O. Mustang
Voodoo Dancer
A Neverending Enigma (pt I & II)
Waves on the Wind - LP will be out soon -
"The Intrigue of Perception" CD/LP
(November 2004 on Elektrohash)
The Endless Void
Good Sinner - Bad Saint
Third Nature
Twisting the Knife:
The Intrigue of Perception:
I Islands on the Sun
II The Next Level
III A Castle in the Sky
IV Islands (reprise)
Absent Friends
"The Forest of Illusion"
10" SPLIT EP with Colour Haze (November 2004 on Elektrohash) contains 2 studio tracks: Skating on Thin Ice When Fire makes you dance
"Promise of a new Moon" CD
(2003 on Rock n' Roll Radio)
Vertigo
Paralyse
The Devil knows my Name
Burning Ambition
Cradle Rock
These are Dreams
Kaleidoscope Voyager
Dragondance
Married to the Sea
"Timeline Traveller"CD
(2002 on Rock n' Roll Radio)
Contains 5 studio tracks: Timeline Traveller N.O. Mustang Voodoo Dancer A Neverending Enigma (pt I & II)
Aluk Todolo, is an instrumental power trio formed in 2004, and performs Occult Rock,
a methodical exploration of the powers of musical trance.
Part occult black metal fiend and part snide kraut menace, the band conjures rabid obsessive rhythms and abyssal disharmonic guitars, subliminal spiritualist vibrations and bizarre, magick summo-nings. Aluk Todolo reduces psychedelic improvisation to a bare, telluric instrumentation, in which dry, spare percussion grievously mines the scrapes, shrieks and shimmer of mutated guitar and bass.The band’s sound is monolithic and stabbing, hypnotic but unpredictable, minimalist yet teeming: A dangerous, noxious coil of all things black.
This album is a part of a fine art serie illustrated by
the painter Stephen Kasner (worked for Sunn o))),
Khlyst, Darsombra...) Other bands of the URSK serie:
Skullflower, Heavensore, Runhild Gammelsaeter, The
Stargazer’s Assistant , Klangmutationen , RST, Final
Finsternis
LP byPublic Guilt.
Descension
CD-LP 2007
released by Public Guilt records - USA on CD
(The Psychic Paramount, Dalek, Zu, Darsombra...)
and Riot Season records - UK on LP
(Acid Mothers Temple, The Skull Defekts, Shit and Shine...)
Aluk todolo
7ep vinyl 2006
released by Implied Sound records - USA
LIVE SHOWS:
2004-04-03 Grenoble, France –Crocoleus : w/Into The Yaya, Breaker of Civilisation & Michell Sardou
2004-05-05 Grenoble, France – Ecole d’architecture
2004-05-28 Grenoble, France – Crocoleus : w/ Zool Arben & Moon Sheep
2004-06-21 Grenoble, France – Rue des Clercs
2005-07-10 Grenoble, France – La Boum w/ Lucio Fulci films
2007-08-03 Paris, France – La Miroiterie, live collaboration w/Andy Bolus (Evil Moisture)
2007-09-21 Paris, France – Point Ephémère w/ Träd Gräs Och Stenar & Psychic Ills
2008-05-08 Utrecht, The Netherlands – Impakt festival w/ Magic Markers
2008-05-17 Barreiro, Portugal – Out.Fest w/ David Maranha, Chris Corsano, Mike Flower...
2008-09-19 Bruxelles, Belgium – Le Bunker w/ Silvester Anfang
2009-05-23 Le Mans, France – Péniche Excelsior with Monno
2009-05-30 Rotterdam, The Netherlands – Worm w/ The Psychic Paramount
2009-09-04 Paris, France – le Pixi (Bagnolet) w/ Habsyll
2009-09-05 Nancy, France – L’alhambra w/ Givdøl & Habsyll
2009-09-20 Tilburg, The Netherlands – Little Devil - Incubate ZXZW festival
2009-09-27 Brooklyn, USA – Secret Project Robot Basement w/ Baron von Wüste & White Hills
2009-09-28 Philadelphia, USA – Danger Danger Gallery w/ Lussuria
2009-09-29 Richmond, USA – God’s House w/ Lussuria
2009-09-30 Baltimore, USA – The Golden West Café w/ Lussuria & Darsombra
2009-10-01 Brooklyn, USA – Music Hall of Williamsburg (WFMU Festival) w/ Cold Cave & Faust
2009-10-02 New York, USA – Fortune Cookie Cabaret with Lussuria, Sentient & Radiation Blackbody
2009-10-03 New York, USA – Lit Lounge w/ The Psychic Paramount
2009-10-04 Brooklyn, USA – Union Pool w/ Castevet, Woe & Malkuth
2009-10-22 Paris, France – Point Ephémère w/ Lawrence Wasser & Sister Iodine
2010-05-12 Genève, Switzerland - La Cave 12
2010-05-13 Grenoble, France - Le Champollion
2010-05-14 Lyon, France - Grand Guignol
2010-05-15 Marseille, France - L’embobineuse w/ Mein Sohn William & Kill The Thrill
2010-05-16 Barcelona, Spain - La Fonteta Civic Center (Sant Feliu de Codines) w/ QA’A
2010-05-17 Alicante, Spain - Bar Coyote
2010-05-18 Madrid, Spain - La Boite Live w/ Scumearth vs Dorje & Under Vultures
2010-05-19 Porto, Portugal - Fábrica de Som w/ Eugène Robinson
2010-05-20 Braga, Portugal - Insólito w/ Altodêpega
2010-05-21 Gijon, Spain - Savoy Club
2010-05-22 San Sebastian, Spain - Mogambo w/ Las Sfintters, Los Sfinters & Los Taikonauts
2010-05-23 Bordeaux, France - Hold’em Saloon w/ Tormenta
2010-05-24 Le Mans, France - La Péniche Excelsior (Allonnes) w/Saunterer, Vegemite & Carnalisme
PRESS REVIEWS:
Aluk Todolo : Finsternis “[...]considering they're a three piece, a power trio, drums, guitar, bass. Nothing else, no synths, no strings,just the basic rock band instruments. It's testament to the power these three wield, that they can do so much with so little. Or more accurately, so little with so little. As the music of Aluk Todolo, is disarmingly simple,subtle and minimal, but in its minimalism, lies its power. The power of rhythm, of texture, of mood, these five long pieces are so evocative, so expressive and strangely emotional. Even at its most spare and skeletal, the sound is palpable, almost a physical presence, which is surprising again considering just how stripped down Finsternis actually is. […] like Descension, Finsternis is an intense and emotional journey through sound, a haunting and hard to describe exploration of rhythm, mood and texture, a slow shifting otherworld defined by This Heat, Geronimo, Laddio Bolocko, Can, Faust, accessible only via the three shadowy figures that make up Aluk Todolo, whose magic and mystery has been rendered in these glorious black rhythms. Housed in a multi panel jacket with super striking original artwork by Stephen Kasner, on the always impressive Utech label. [...]”-Aquarius Records (Record of the Week: June 5th, 2009) “Somehow managing to simultaneously cover krautrock, black metal, noise, and post-rock, this trio's second full length album is somewhat of a departure from the largely drone oriented URSK series on Utech, yet keeps enough of that ethos and ambience to not seem out of place, but stands out as a more metallic shard amidst the warm murkiness. […] While the black metal scene is thought of as being entrenched in its preference for flat percussion and simple musical structures that always take a backseat to an illegible logo or incantations to various demons and deities, here the best elements of it (dissonant, yet somewhat musical noise) are married to a sharp rhythm section that feels so much more than just frustrated Norwegian teenagers with a four track. It’s a complex combination that can be studied as well as headbanged to. ”-Brainwashed
Aluk Todolo : Descension “On Descension, the principal ideas behind Black Metal are unbalanced and virtually reinvented. The usual Burzum-style guitar buzz crumples and implodes, the monolithic drumming becomes a grinding Krautrock churn, and the snarled vocals are ditched completely in favour of a treated tape loop. Ignoring the rigid stereotype that still taints the genre, Aluk Todolo walk a crooked creative path where composition and improvisation become rituals."-The Wire “For their playing unites Krautrock with Zeuhl via classic No Wave, and rocks mightily. This power trio’s time-honoured guitar/bass/drums line-up is outstandingly meditative and un-clichéd. Very Cleveland, very Can, very This Heat, very Magma, but very much its own original thing, and definitely another necessary part of the puzzle that leads us to the Rue d’Awakening."-Julian Cope/Head Heritage “ Having Aluk Todolo's Descension in your CD collection is like having to choose between the proverbial red pill and a load of blue pills. Take the blue pill (or: any other CD) and you're back in safe territory. But, let the damned curiosity prevail, go on, choose the red one that's been beckoning you and tickling your imagination — and face the consequences. You'll need strong constitution and considerable mental stability, but even then, who knows where or in what state you'll end up. There'll be some damage to your system; but the stronger you are, the smaller the amount of it will be."-Maelstrom
“ Descension is Aluk Todolo debut full length after a highly praised 7 inch and what a debut this is. For 37 minutes you tumbled through, get hypnotised and brutalised by this nightmarish, lo-fi , head-ripping and psychedelic black mind fuck. Taking in elements of black metal, krautrock, locked grooves, noise and black/ ritual psychedelics to summon up something that is truly of their own diabolic making- this feels like it could have been made by blood thirsty satanic hippies that have just crawled from a suffocating dark forest to play in front of you & scary the hell out of you. The music engulfs you in it's looped, smogy and sometimes seething presence, as the drums pound on and on as if played of human skin drums, bass and guitar get
smudged, melted and smeared into each other. Like dark tripped out globules of sound that fall like strange enchanted entrails slipping from a vast black structure that stretches off over a blood red and black horizon as far as your eyes can see. This Apocalyptic ritual music for the end times, screw-up, nasty and bitter yet
inviting and hypnotic. One hell of a musical death-trip into the beating black heart of this three piece. Truly music that threatens to swallow you all up leaving you in a limbo of Lovecafts around just your drums, bass and guitar sounding this strange, different and hellish. "-Music Machine
Aluk Todolo : first 7"ep
“ Holy fuck, this record is amazing! Ominous krautrock rhythms over Einsterzende style industrial clatter, some lost seventies psych rock holy grail channeled through modern post rock. Dreamy and dark and mesmerizing. Hypnotic guitar lines and simple shuffling rhythms that build into clattery propulsive jams, all clanging angular riffs and dense tangled drumming. VERY This Heat like, and reminiscent of the late great Laddio Bolocko. Some sort of dangerous and mysterious postrock / krautrock hybrid, lo-fi but thick and dense and amazingly heavy."-Aquarius Records
"...two raging strung-out dark untitled instrumentals come across like a Wodenist ‘Komakino’-period Joy Division." -Julian Cope/Head Heritage
"This is one of the best advances in rock rock rock to come along in years, and it's in keeping with philosopher Anton LaVey's advice to not offer advice until someone asks for it."–Signal to Noise
"What they conjure up on their debut single is neither generic nor even easy to place inside known space/time continuums."–The Wire
"This is brilliant stuff, and the only flaw here is that there's not anywhere near enough of it."–Dead Angel
"If all of those proggy jam bands with occult themes from the '70's were actually listenable and good, you would get Aluk Todolo."-The Ajna Offensive
DATES/TOUR:
On tour April 2011 with Menace Ruine (Canada)
Northern Europe : France, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden,
Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Switzerland, UK...
In Zaire is a psychedelic tribal quartet involving the memers of the italian duo
G.I. Joe, Claudio Rocchetti and Stefano Pilia.
Their performance is able to bring the audience into a psychedelic trip. But
their music is not only psychedelic. They mix dub-funk drum rythms, tribal and
african percussions, electrical-indian bassguitar melodies, arabic and
psychedelic voices, and minimal-introspective electronic sounds.