Neurot Recordings is proud to unleash the latest full-length from Appalachian masters of dark psychedelia, USX. Titled The Valley Path, the epic follow-up to 2010’s critically-lauded Run Thick In The Night consists of one, near 40-minute mammoth track of esoteric beauty set for release in North America on May 31, 2011.
Commented guitarist/vocalist/wordsmith Nate Hall of the prodigious offering: “When the idea for The Valley Path was imagined, all involved agreed it was true and went forward. Forward in thought, forward in vision, forward in action. We achieved what we wanted to achieve, and whatever is said about The Valley Path, it will stand. USX has played more gigs than I can remember, from Marion to Prague, Detroit, Austria, Memphis and Switzerland. Dirt floors and Masonic temples, churches and ghettos, wilderness and cities. To dozens and hundreds – occasionally thousands. We have recorded our songs, projected our collective visions. We have realized all that we have imagined. At this point, we have nothing to prove. We’ve been under the gun many times, and whatever anyone might think about us, we’ve never flinched. Never compromised. When things are good – and they usually are, being in this band is a dream. But we can’t entirely escape reality. Fuse boxes blow, power fails, instruments break, people leave. We vomit in parking lots and go play inside. We sleep sitting up and wake up sore. Or we sleep in places most people would not willfully enter. We are hungry and miss home. We go on, and we are thankful because we have songs. And when we write our songs become a part of us, our center. Our home. A song does not have to be a part of a collection. It is more important for music to take the path it chooses, and an artist must be willing to let this happen. The Valley Path is one song. And a song is a thing that changes.”
The record was engineered by Travis Kammeyer, mastered by Vince Burke and features the fittingly striking cover art by Adam Pernell Deal.
As a precursor to the release of The Valley Path, USX will be performing several one off shows, including three full acoustic performances in North and South Carolina. Confirmed dates include:
USX Live Actions:
4/16/2011 Earshot Records – Greenville SC [acoustic show]
4/22/2011 Static Age Records – Asheville NC [acoustic show]
4/29/2011 or 4/30/2011 (TBA) Night Light – Chapel Hill, NC [acoustic show]
5/25/2011 Pilot Light – Knoxville, TN w/ Black Skies, Generation of Vipers
5/26/2011 The Get Down – Asheville, NC w/ Black Skies, Generation of Vipers, Caltrop
5/27/2011 King’s – Raleigh, NC w/ Black Skies, Caltrop, Royal Thunder
“Nate Hall is a plain-faced general calling his troops to a doomed battle, but then jerking awake occasionally to find that it was all a moonshine hallucination.” — Decibel
“At times this is heavy, heavy psych that possesses the power to blow yer mind to little bits, but it’s when the band let their psych out to play with a Laurel Canyon acoustic strum that things really take off. Headphones and a bong are mandatory packing items for this trip.” — Montreal Mirror
“U.S. Christmas provide an album that challenges listeners instead of directly handing them emotions.” — Slug Magazine
“USX weave a psychedelic spell as potent as that by any other mystic. Open your third eye and get that nail ready.” — Sleazegrinder
http://www.myspace.com/uschristmas
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http://www.neurotrecordings.com