Psych duo Telekinetic Yeti brings heavy tour to Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO -- One of the leading lights of heavy psychedelia brings their current tour with Philly power trio and Brooklyn band Somnuri to the Bay Area when Telekinetic Yeti headlines the Bottom of the Hill and Winters Tavern.
Formed in 2015 in Dubuque, Iowa, by guitarist Alex Baumann and drummer Anthony Dreyer, Telekinetic Yeti combined elements of sludge metal, doom and the more extreme end of psychedelic rock with Baumann's heavily processed, seven-string guitar covering lower frequencies. Within two years, the pair had made their mark with the release of their well-reviewed debut effort Abominable and tours supporting like-minded acts Weedeater and Truckfighters, earning legions of new fans with their ferocious stage show.
Despite the success of the album, tension between Baumann and Dreyer over touring commitments would disrupt the band the following year, leading the Baumann to fire drummer and enlist a fill-in player for a tour with Red Fang. In October of 2019, Baumann announced that he had begun writing and recording songs for the band's second album with drummer Oscar Johansson (formerly with Truckfighters and Witchcraft). While the sophomore effort was completed in 2020, the pandemic and accompanying uncertainty about touring led Telekinetic Yeti to hold off releasing it until 2022 when Primordial became the duo's first release with noted heavy-music imprint Tee Pee Records. With new drummer Rockwell Heim behind the kit, the duo is garnering high praise for the tuneful, exploratory doom anthems featured on the album produced by Philip Cope (Kylesa, Baroness, Black Tusk).
Partnering with Telekinetic Yeti on this tour are Philadelphia-based instrumental prog-metal power trio Stinking Lizavetta. With a history dating back nearly three decades since issuing their first demo recording in 1994, the band explores a heady mix of metallic bombast, complex math rock and jazzy interplay. The brothers Papadopoulos -- Yanni on guitar and Alexi on stand-up electric bass -- have teamed with volcanic drummer Cheshire Agusta to craft a unique style of instrumental music that touches on Sabbath, post-rock pioneers Slint, and Hot Rats-era Frank Zappa.
Despite the trio's eclectic inspirations and experimental bent, Stinking Lizavetta still rock hard and heavy enough to comfortably tour with the likes of Clutch and Corrosion of Conformity. The group has put out a total of nine well-received albums, working with notable engineers Steve Albini and Sanford Parker. But as enjoyable as the band's recorded efforts might be, they only hinted at the kinetic ferocity of Stinking Lizaveta's live show. With Yanni leaping wildly about like Rasputin turned six-string metal shaman and Agusta whipping up a vortex of complicated rhythms, the threesome conjures up an intense maelstrom of sound.
While their touring and recorded output have slowed in the past decade due to family and work commitments -- their brand new album Anthems and Phantoms released last month on SRA Records is only their second since 2012 -- the passage of time has not diminished Stinking Lizavetta's onstage ferocity singular, uncompromising artistic vision. The two bands are joined by Brooklyn-based band Somnuri, who play a like-minded style of progressive metal that has echoes of Mastodon and Isis while also touching on the early '90s riffage of fellow NYC bands Helmet and Quicksand. The band is set to release its third album Desiderium on July 23. In addition to Tuesday's show at the Bottom of the Hill and Wednesday night's performance at Winters Tavern, the tour also stops at Cafe Colonial in Sacramento on Monday.
Telekinetic Yeti with Stinking Lizavetta and Somnuri
Tuesday, July 18, 7:30 p.m. $18-$23
The Bottom of the Hill
Wednesday, July 19, 7 p.m. $20
Winters Tavern