AGED LIKE A FINE WINE: KOWLOON WALLED CITY RETURNS

If you've been following heavy music over the past couple of years, odds are you've probably heard of Kowloon Walled City. Since their inception in 2007, these San Francisco-based sludge stalwarts have come out of left field and have made quite an impression upon the world of long-haired, neck-tattooed, flannel-wearers among us and the clean-cut, desk-jobbing rest of us. From their debut EP Turk Street, to the recent second album, Container Ships, they've come a long way from their early days of AmRep and Pacific Northwest inspired melding of sludge and noise rock. While their recent album delves further into some familiar low-end wandering it is rather stripped down, incorporating occasional melody and a sense of introspective quietness that sort of takes over the whole thing. It's thinking man's sludge/rock/post-hardcore. Like a fine wine aged over time. Or something like that.

Since they last played Missoula at Total Fest X, on one ridiculous sweaty-ass night at the Palace, they've kept busy through the release of a couple records and have toured a bit here and there (including a run of shows last year opening for friggin' Sleep). Total Fest is proud to welcome back Kowloon Walled City to the Total Fest stage this August and we hope that you're as excited as we are about their return to Missoula.

Be sure to check out their Bandcamp page and their site to stream/download their recent and past recordings.


Photo by Bowen Anderson

KOWLOON WALLED CITY TO BRING THEIR WALL OF NOISE TO OUR FINE CITY.

So far, with the exception of a few, this year's Total Fest line-up has been somewhat lacking in the heavy department, but we're proud to announce that San Francisco powerhouse Kowloon Walled City will be joining us this August in Missoula. This Bay Area group has been around for a couple of years now, melting minds one head at a time with their unique blend of low-end, crushing sludge metal and AmRep-inspired, mathy noise-rock. Their self-released 2008 debut EP Turk Street quickly caught the eyes and ears of many (including rave reviews from San Fran mainstay Aquarius Records and others) and interest in the band has since exploded with the subsequent release of their Gambling on the Richter Scale LP, a split 12" with Fight Amp, occasional touring (when they're not juggling family and work lives) and non-stop local shows supporting the likes of Unsane, Kylesa, Saviours, Helms Alee and many others. Their visit to Missoula this August will be a rare out of town performance for the band and our collective inner-metalhead is eagerly looking forward to it (and hope you are too).

We've posted a live video from a past show below, but their penchant for gratuity and accessibility certainly shows through as they've made all of their releases available for free digital download on their website here.