Kylesa: Low Tide – new video & Ultraviolet – full album stream

I wouldn’t go as far as to claim KYLESA and Brodie Rush share the same vegetable supplier (mushrooms falling into that category), but they seem to work wonders together. ‘Low Tide’, director and producer's second cooperation with the band this year, comes off KYLESA's sixth album ‘Ultraviolet’, issued in  May 2013 on Season Of Mist. The album was recorded at The Jam Room in Columbia, South Carolina with the band's guitarist, songwriter and sought-after producer Phillip Cope. Generating quite an excitement among the listeners and reviewers and entering the U.S. Billboard Top 200 at number 173, listen to ‘Ultraviolet’ in its colourful entirety below and then buy your own copy of the album here (Season Of Mist e-shop), on iTunes or via Amazon/Amazon MP3:

“With a sound that’s not only spacy but spacious, KYLESA continue to push their sound into the stratosphere, opting for atmosphere where they once would have erected a monumental wall of murky guitars. … With such a layered and melodic sound, ‘Ultraviolet’ represents a further refinement of the new direction they’ve been heading in, making it not only the bands most accessible work to date, but also their most purposefully written and solidly constructed, putting it in the running for the best album of their career,” [wrote Gregory Heaney, AllMusic – more here:]

Mixing elements of hardcore punk, psychedelic stoner rock, technical speed metal and old-fashioned BLACK SABBATH sludge to create their music, KYLESA come from Savannah, Georgia. The band is comprised of guitarists and vocalists Phillip Cope and Laura Pleasants, drummers Carl McGinley and Eric Hernandez and bassist Chase Rudeseal. The band formed in 2001, deriving their name from the Buddhist concept of “kilesa mara”, meaning delusionary states of the mind. During the recording of KYLESA's first album in 2001, the band's founder, bassist and vocalist Brian Duke tragically died from an epileptic seizure. KYLESA decided to honour their close friend by finishing the self-titled record which they released in 2002 via Prank Records (available on iTunes and Amazon). With bassist Corey Barhorst joining the group, KYLESA have “turned the road into their second home”. Through Prosthetic Records, the band delivered their second LP in 2005; ‘To Walk A Middle Course’, featuring drummer Brandon Baltzley who replaced Christian Depken, was described as “intriguing, if uneven, effort” by Alex Henderson, AllMusic (more here):

Guitarists and singers Phillip Cope and Laura Pleasants, bassist and vocalist Corey Barhorst and, for the first time, double drum attack of Carl McGinely and Jeff Porter, next recorded 2006's ‘Time Will Fuse Its Worth’, with it finally convincing the U.S. public as well as gaining international recognition:

2009's fourth full-length, ‘Static Tensions’, featured yet another new bassist and and new drummer, Javier Villegas (bass and vocals) and Eric Hernandez (drums):

“The band's refreshingly uncommon two-drummer, three-singer lineup continues to offer expanded possibilities for distinguishing their technically busy brand of post-progressive metal from contemporary competitors. Along with the severely downtuned guitars of last-standing founding members Philip Cope and Laura Pleasants, those alternately shouted, crooned, or croaked “singing” styles provide all of the multiple personalities needed to flesh out the instrumental diversity,” [wrote Eduardo Rivadavia, AllMusic – more here:]

And then, in 2010, KYLESA recorded the ‘Spiral Shadow’ with old/new bassist and keyboardist Corey Barhorst and, yes, new drummer Tyler Newberry. The album, hailed as a “masterpiece” by AllMusic's Phil Freeman (more here), had entered many a “Best Album of the Year” list in 2010 (Metacritic's, Pitchfork's, Stereogum's and so forth…), and has peaked on the Billboard's Heatseekers Albums chart at number 11: 

Following the release, KYLESA embarked on yet another grueling tour, somehow finding time to compile a collection of previously unreleased tracks. The presentation of KYLESA's different styles from early on to present day was issued in 2012 through Season Of Mist as ‘From The Vaults Vol. I’: 

KYLESA features: Laura Pleasants – vocals and guitar, Phillip Cope - vocals, guitar and theremin, Carl McGinley - drums, Eric Hernandez – drums and Chase Rudeseal – bass