Slift - a thread for the awesome French heavy psych/space rock band

Decided to risk starting a thread for these guys, since I know there was a ton of love for their debut, UMMON, around these parts. I was happy to see that the single they put out on Sub Pop wasn't a one-off, they have a new album coming out through them as well - ILION is due out January 19, 2024 and the 11-minute lead single (and opening track) has me suitably excited.

https://slift.bandcamp.com/album/ilion

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0712164230_10.jpg

1. Ilion
2. Nimh
3. The Words That Have Never Been Heard
4. Confluence
5. Weavers' Weft
6. Uruk
7. The Story That Has Never Been Told
8. Enter The Loop

listening to it now and yeah this rules

Yup, unperson tipped me off on this with a recommendation a while back and I have very much preordered this sucker; love the earlier work too.

Oh yeah. These guys are amazing. Ummon is still one of my favorite albums by anybody, and their Sub Pop single was awesome. Pre-ordered this as soon as I saw the announcement.

Love this, the lead track has touches of The God Machine.

Love everything I've heard by this lot. They fill that empty space where. with the right mix of drugs, Jesus and space travel, I imagine Lift to Experience *might* have gone.

This rules:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knzsyZWbN7g

giving Ummon a spin now, god damn that last track is insane

yes!!

the preview track for this new one is incredible, wonder if this can be even better than Ummon tbh

the KEXP performance getting onto ppl's Youtube recs was a big part of how they got discovered, it's how I found them

Thanks ILX as ever - heavily into Ummon right now.

UK dates in February - will be going to the London show.

New song!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VObrrXmI06g

One more new song — and again, it's 10 minutes long.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eTkcdBTL-k

Actually haven't listened to either "NIMH" or "Weaver's Weft" yet, holding out for the full thing at this point, can't wait.

Yeah, same here -- want to take in the madness in full.

This goddamn song/video, fucking hell

listening to this band right now (UMMON) this shit is JAMMMIN wow

Darn right!

"one of us, one of us"

hell yeah. love this band so much. this is great news, totally missed this thread until now

Was excited when I saw my Sub Pop shipping notification of it shipping early, though deflated a bit when I saw the note inside that said it was just a label notification and it still wouldn't be actually shipping until the 19th. Still, really stoked to hear this.

My CD copy just arrived, can't wait to dig in later. Still get a kick out of packages coming to me with Mark Arm's name on 'em.

Awesome stuff.

It's live!

So good. The addition of sax is really the final touch to get them to space-rock glory.

Do your EOY ballot imago. NO I HAVE TO GO TO SPACE

"Confluence" is sooooo cool

So good. The addition of sax is really the final touch to get them to space-rock glory.

It makes them sound even more like Ecstatic Vision now (a good thing)

Impressive how it manages to not be exhausting despite the length. You can kind of tune in and out wherever.

digging into the new one, this has been a real great discovery for me, they got that dawg in em

This is so goddamn good. Just an absolute level up in every way, which is impressive given how high the bar was set by Ummon.

I wrote about the new record, along with two other records by French-speaking bands, Dissimulator and Proton Burst.

Nice write-up. Played the new Slift again this weekend and I'm starting to think it is even better than Ummon.

(As an aside, I'm super excited about that Dissumlator, waiting for that to get here soon)

ooh thank god this thread finally reached me across the multiverses.

US tour in October:

https://sliftrock.com/en/shows/

Just got a ticket for Chicago, really excited to see them live!

Thrilled for the tour, very bummed I'll be out of town that week on a family vacation. Ah well!

Well, now I know which one of you I'll be pestering to buy me a T-shirt.

Thanks, ilx, this band is terrific.

Thirteen minutes from a Paris gig a month back

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9-9RfZevrM

Saw that pop up in my inbox and I think I want to wait and watch it on a larger screen tonight (though, also, a small part of me kind of wants to wait until I see them this Fall!).

finally giving the new one a spin and uhh yeah this is crazy. feels like one 80 minute song actually

god damn they were amazing tonight in pdx

wonderfully assaultive… very dynamic. not in volume, they were consistently quite loud... dynamic in the way they would let the songs breathe and in integrating new or different elements effortlessly. in particular they’d do this thing i liked very much where the band, in the middle of a tune or before a monster riff, would basically collectively impersonate a delay feeding back into itself and clipping. that coupled with the very trippy visuals... i kinda floated out of my head a couple times cold sober

the drummer is also fucking amazing. rhythm section was so tight it felt like listening to electronic music at times

do not miss this tour. top of their game

So bummed I couldn’t see them due to being out of town! Next time hopefully.

ah, lame! i am sure they will be back, i didn’t have a sense of what their draw would be but there was a big, enthusiastic crowd

that KEXP video definitely helped break these guys, as mentioned above

god I'd love to see them feels like it would be a thorough rinsing of the soul

"Lions, Tigers, and Bears" is really all I've ever wanted from this kind of music

I was already stoked for Friday night, but now I'm even more so. Appreciate the report! Cannot fucking wait.

My pal dropped the ball on getting tix, so no Slift for me!

Plot twist: now I am going.

Pretty dope!

Definitely, I was impressed even more than I expected to be. They are so killer live, there were a few points where I was reminded a little of Earthless with the extended guitar squalls. So glad I saw them.

Meatbodies were great too. Had a nice conversation with the bass player after the show when he complimented my Blood Incantation shirt.

My only complaint is how Reggie’s has two shows going at the same time and, during the rare quiet moments, you could hear the band playing next door and it kinda took me out a bit.

Yeah, that was pretty annoying. At first I thought they forgot to turn off the PA.

I found this album to be one of those "too much of a good thing" sorta deals until I listened to it mostly focusing on the bass parts, lotta real cool shit happening there, I love how he keeps getting into these Neu! grooves but spinning off little funky bits, you'd probably notice it more if the music was slower

Live, I was trying to figure out what guitars were making. what noises! I think they must be splitting them, the signals, and distorting one signal, say, and changing the octave of another? Lots of octave changing effects, plus the guitars are tuned pretty low to begin with. It's pretty dense with information.

Listening to Levitation Sessions, an Ummon-era live performance, this morning. Fuck, what a jam.

New album announced!

https://slift.bandcamp.com/album/fantasia

And here's the single as such:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEt-m8ccRuA

We got tour dates:

https://bnds.us/prchc5

US dates are in October.

omg this owns

the fact that it's only about 50 minutes is promising. I thought their last album ruled but it's just so long, with a sound like that it becomes sort of an endurance test.

this is amazing so far

I like the new album, but I don't love it the way I loved the last two. It's a lot heavier, and a lot less rocket-sled-to-the-heart-of-the-sun. And I miss the saxophone. But I'm gonna listen to it a couple more times this weekend, probably.

it turns out this is frontloaded, but the front owns

A little new something:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQmrIqjQl4o

Last June, we played a show in our hometown Toulouse, Place du Ravelin, in front of the bar of the same name. We played countless time in that place, and saw so many great acts there. It was for us an absolute joy to bring the fuzz on the street, just as every show should be.
Guthio was behind the camera, Sam behind the mixing desk.

Hah, thanks Ned, was just coming here to post that myself. Great video and has me hyped to see them again next month.

The new album doesn't quite reach the heights of the previous two for me, but it's still good and I know they put on a hell of a live show.

Do NOT pass up the chance to see them on the current tour if you are able. Phenomenal and even better than the last tour - louder, woozier, more solos, intense visuals… just great.

I wasn’t as sold on Fantasia as the last two albums but the material translates so well to their live set.

Great to hear! My show's tonight!

You'll have a great time. They are also very loud, so ear protection probably worth it.

I've been wearing earplugs since the late eighties, believe me.

I assumed you of all people would Ned, but there was more than one person around me at the show wishing they'd had them for Slift.

I’d never heard of this band until i saw Ned mention them on Bluesky yesterday. Listened to the new album and *love* the music tho the vocals will take some getting used to.
Any other current bands in this genre I should check out? I started getting back into metal again a couple years ago after 30+ years ignoring the genre. This style is what I gravitate to the most—heavy stoner/psych. But I figure if I’m missing this band I’m probably missing a bunch of others too.

you might like elder?

So yes, last night was a fierce trip.

Yeah, you should definitely check out Elder, but you should also go back and dig into the two Slift albums before the new one, Ummon and Ilion.

I listened to Ummon today and it f’ing rips from front to back. Will go back to Fantasia later. (Also the vox didn’t bother me at all on Ummon so maybe I just wasn’t in the right earspace when I played the first couple Fantasia tracks last night)

Yeah, you should definitely check out Elder, but you should also go back and dig into the two Slift albums before the new one, _Ummon_ and _Ilion_.

I know Elder. They can be a little up and down for me but the stuff I like I really like.

Ummon is one of my favorite highway driving albums, but on Ilion they added a saxophonist, the better to go full Hawkwind.

9 times out of 10 I am not a fan of saxophone in my rock music so I am approaching that one with trepidation, but I will give it a shot.

Yeah I’m not a huge fan of they handled vocals on Fantasia but wasn’t a problem live at all.

There really isn’t a direct line to Slift from many bands, but I’d suggest trying King Buffalo, Weedpecker (much better than the name suggests), Earthless (for extra epic face melting guitar), Delving (Elder side project with a little Krautrock mixed in) or Colour Haze. If you can dig the saxophone, Exstatic Vision slays too.

Ecstatic Vision and Mythic Sunship both kind of occupy similar territory, but EV goes a little harder.

Mythic Sunship a good call, some Causa Sui too when they aren’t emphasizing the jazz influence as much.

Love all these recs, thank you!

I have seen Earthless recommended around here before but never tried them out but man I love that band name. Kinda afraid to try them in case I don’t dig it.

Imagine a 45-minute instrumental version of the Jimi Hendrix song "Freedom." That's Earthless.