Uncle Acid and The Deadbeats – Shapes of Midnight

 

 

Uncle Acid and The Deadbeats – Shapes of Midnight
Killer Candy Records – 2026
Rock, Garage, Psych, Occult, Doom
Rated: ***

I remember when they came out with Vol 1. in 2010 and Blood Lust a year later. Both stunning releases that felt like they were recorded in a crypt, lit by candles, while hooded figures were drawing pentagrams on the floor with blood. Mesmerizing and hallucinatory and they made you envision pure lust for the sinful properties of man. You know, that vintage spilling of blood…

And then three albums followed that all extrapolated that sound, all losing a bit of that early grit and grime but retaining that touch of the occult and blasphemous. Night Creeper got some of that back and did everything else a bit better. And then we arrived at the year 2024 and the Nell' Ora Blu project was released. One some level we could appreciate their ode to the seventies horror movies tradition of the seventies. Especially live. On record, the vinyl barely returned to the player.

And now Uncle Acid and The Deadbeats are back! And in true Uncle Acid fashion, wearing masks and draping themselves in all the blood they could find. Turning another corner though, and taking their occult sounding garage, psych and doom into a very catchy and hook abundant territory. The heavy drawn chords, the insidious riffs and melodic vocals make Shapes Of Midnight a party that will last till dawn. Blood Lust as a delicious cocktail… 

(Written by JK)

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Number 12 on the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2011

Number 15 on the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2013

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats – The Night Creeper

Number 2 on the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2015

Number 9 on the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2018

 

Kurtys Kidd – This Dirty Machine

 

 

Kurtys Kidd – This Dirty Machine
Self-released / From The Strait PR – 2026
Rock, Alternative, Grunge
Rated: ***

This Dirty Machine, it rode in on a promo email sent by From The Strait PR, a straight shooting PR firm if ever there was one. The man behind it, Canadian artist/actor, Kurtys Kidd and part of the opening from that email stated:  “This Dirty Machine comes from a time when I was in an emotionally tough place,” Kurtys says of the album. “I drove out to the desert one night and just stared up at the stars and contemplated my life, my place on this earth, and even the place of our existence in the universe. The album tells a story of the night and the process to get through it.” That all meant, we had to check it out!
 
And that quote resonates throughout the album, cause This Dirty Machine sounds exactly like that, like a lone rider crossing a midnight desert, guitars blazing behind him, dust in his wake, and nothing but an endless horizon waiting ahead. Kidd marries the grit and muscle of nineties alternative with a widescreen, cinematic atmosphere, swooping and big. Heavy riffs meet melancholic melodies and rough-edged vocals head on. Working man’s heavy, dirt on the boot. 

Yet, that restless, road-worm quality is more pervasive. These songs feel part outlaw, part drifter and part stargazer, searching for something beyond the horizon and probably something his heart cannot name. Maybe its just the endless search for a place to call home, and if This Dirty Machine is anything, it is that, a home or a soundtrack for that search… 

(Written by JK)

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A Perfect Circle - To Whom It May Concern

 

 

A Perfect Circle - To Whom It May Concern

I loved those early A Perfect Circle albums and by sheer coincidence talked to Troy van Leeuwen for a short bit about this a week ago. Forward to September 29th and suddenly there’s a new A Perfect Circle single, a tour announced, and yes, even though the word is not official yet… There might be more new music in the near future… But for now, after Starless earlier this year, we now have To Whom It May Concern… The track takes a restrained, atmospheric approach, gradually building tension around themes of social polarization. Mourning a time when people could disagree without becoming enemies, as algorithms amplify outrage and erode empathy between us all. Maynard James Keenan remains unusually subdued, while the band creates an ominous mood with surprisingly few musical elements… 

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