Product Description

Heat Leisure is a collective centered around the Carney brothers of Pontiak, Greg Fox and Alexandra Drewchin of Guardian Alien, Steve Strohmeier of Beach House, and Robert J. Otten III. Their music takes a freewheeling approach to psychedelia with obvious nods to Amon Duul II, Can and the Grateful Dead. For this, their second gathering and recording at the Carney's farm in Virginia, the group recruited the legendary Merry Prankster and Grateful Dead associate Ken Babbs, who emceed the Deads mythical Veneta, OR gig in 1972 that became Sunshine Daydream, to contribute a shamanistic monologue to "III, " which occupies the first side of this, their first full- length vinyl release. The Carney's approached Babbs about collaborating with Heat Leisure after staying at his Oregon farm on the last Pontiak tour. Heat Leisure's core principles are spontaneity, serendipity, and collaboration. The band employs frying amp distortion, a signature of Pontiak, as well as an array of drums, synthesizers, samplers, organs and a heavy dose of explorative improvisation by the musicians to create a highly lyrical album. Heat Leisure was conceived as a multi-media pursuit. While this release, III & IV, is an audio record, Heat Leisure I & II was released in the form of a short film/DVD with an accompanying 7". The Carney's have said that future incarnations could take any form from performance and paintings, to sculptures or even digital mediums. Very much like the collaborative approach of the musicians to each session, they are keeping it open. III & IV was recorded late at night during a three day period during the first week of 2014 in Pontiak's Studio a also on their farm, with Lain Carney doing most of the engineering. The session was recorded late at night during a three day period during the first week of 2014 in Pontiak's Studio A, also on their farm, with Lain Carney doing most of the engineering. The session was recorded live to 1" tape, the reel old and decaying, which lead the tape to subtly speed up and slow down as the tape broke down and left residue on the tape heads This organic effect adds to the woozy, surreal vibe of the music, and could not be replicated in a digital recording.

Review

Recalling the power and the glory of the Stooges and MC5, the cathartic and succinct anthem about getting twisted on South American hooch paves the way for Innocence. --Rolling Stone (Pontiak)
Not only is Fox s subversive drumming more unhinged and exploratory than ever before, but the dynamic and structure of the band s fluid music have been meticulously warped so that, rather than tokenistically gesturing toward them, it fully embodies the album s central themes of environmental dissolution, self-annihilation, and transformation. --Tiny Mix Tapes (Guardian Alien)
It's been almost half a century since Babbs, Kesey, and the Pranksters painted technicolor murals across their 1939 Harvester school bus, stocked it full of acid, and drove from LA to New York's 1964 World Fair a trip that later inspired the Beatles to write The Magical Mystery Tour. The Pranksters and their driver, Neal Cassady, who was immortalized as Dean Moriarty in Jack Kerouac s On the Road, went on to party with the Hell's Angels, live side-by-side with the Grateful Dead, and host psychedelic sensory orgies called Acid Tests. Their exploits were captured in Tom Wolfe's 1968 book, Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. --Vice (Ken Babbs)