Presented by Dazed and Confused Shows.

Viper Room, Vienna, Austria 20241122-23

The end of fall is the time when one can realize festivals are gone and there is a long wait to be able to attend one. Luckily, our friends of Dazed & Confused Shows (DCS) had our backs and offered us an opportunity to let ourselves be Dragged Into Bliss.

On November 22nd and 23rd, a true experience was prepared for those who dare. Viper room was dressed in vines and mushrooms (by @glowing_garage) to ambient what would turn out to be an excursion into a trippy jungle. At the last part of the stairs, there were some warning signs, –Don’t try to resist. Let it happen. Surrender.-, and they weren’t in bane.

With a finely curated lineup and schedule, 12 bands spread evenly along the duration of the festival, and what I consider a great balance between noise, psychedelic, and doom/space rock (and whatever is in-between or even orbiting those genres.

Friday ~~~

Presenting what would become her latest EP “Hommage” (Released on November 30th), Rio Obskur from Vienna, opened the festival with hypnotic rhythms as a baseline in the background, while in trance, she dances and sings to start a hypnotic ritual, a presentation where post-punk meets surrealness and turns into cold wave, an interesting discovery to follow closely. Have a glimpse of her presentation here.

Next, one of the projects that excited me the most was Liquid Earth from Vienna too, their intense hypnotic riffs and powerful drums evoke the atavistic instinct to follow them through the jungle and submerge oneself into their liquid earthy sound. Their set would be described as a whole experience in itself, and still, that would fall short when considering that it was set together with the liquid visuals of UfOnAuTeN, which would be accompanying most of the bands from that moment on. Look at one of their songs played here.

Then, what was a mind-blowing experience in every sense of the word, Psychedelic Trips To Death with no more than a guitar, a bass, and a synth, could trap us not only in a psychedelic trip but a post-punk journey through the coasts of Greece. Like an Odyssey to Death. An amazing performance that you can peek, here.

Halfway through the first day, from Vienna but with an out-of-this-world sound, Lillie Creatures and her mesmerizing voice above looped sounds reproduced through her electro-acoustic guitar, sometimes used as a resonance box, others as mystic string instrument that painted a “Blackhole Smiling Baby Milky Way” in the room. Her set was so beyond the stars that left me floating in an ethereal wave of music. I cannot wait for her to materialize this in a new EP/LP.

After that, to go back to earth to the most kraut doom rock imaginable, from Vienna, Der Blutharsch and The Infinite Church of the Leading Hand took us into a rite to the deepest nook of the planet by the hand (or better said, by the voice) of their lead singer and priestess Marthynna together with the liquid visuals of UfOnAuTeN. It was an absorbing performance like if Patti Smith had met psychedelic rock, poetry, and emotion with a strong background music. Luckily my vague description can be described better visually, here.

Finally, to close the first day another band I was already looking forward to seeing, from Prague, Acid Row summarized all the madness and psychedelic trance of the day in one set. Stoner riffs to headbang along to leave all your brain cells dazed and confused, and still craving for more. Luckily, we had a second day ahead of us. And to witness a short window of that acidic hallway, another video taken by Nick from DCS, here.

Saturday ~~~

Another day, another sound journey and exploration of every corner of our minds. Not only as openers but as a sort of spoiler of what was ahead of us on this second and last day of Dragged Into Bliss, the locals Telebrains presented a heterogeneous mix of Rock n’ Roll, Punk, and Psychedelia that works perfectly. Here, a view of how it was.

Then, what I experienced as Progressive-Psychedelic Rock, where the string of each tune is pulled until a blast, from Austin, Texas, and now based in Vienna, Primordial Undermind displayed an intense experimentation of powerful rhythms and distortion. I wish I could refer you to a live performance of them so you could understand what I mean by that jumble of adjectives. You can listen to “An Imaginal Abydos” and build an idea of what an experience it was.

Suddenly, like part of a Ryte to the gods of rock, a stoner rock monolith on the stage. Everyone was part of it headbanging and dancing. The gods might end up more than pleased with their performance as they managed to involve every single soul in the venue. Currently, the band is still working on what would be their new album, but have a listen at their homonym maiden album, Ryte.

To enter the second and last half of the festival, the punk band from Linz, Leber. I’ve said it before and will reiterate, –Punk is not dead is the women in music-. How to describe, Leber’s set? Simple, energy to the top, having everyone jumping while delivering their message. Punk in its purest form. Listen to my personal favorite, “Gladis”.

Now, for the next band, I would like you to picture the whole concept of outer space exploration. Start with the launching, zero gravity, and the reach of deep space. Without noticing, we are heading to a supermassive black hole, we are being pulled by its gravity to finally experience a Cosmic Dead. The Scottish fuzz rock band not only dragged us into bliss, but they also rocketed us with the engine power of everyone’s minds blown. Listen to their latest album “Infinite Peaks” while visualizing an intercosmic trip.

Last, and what I meant with –finely curated lineup and schedule– was exactly this. To close the night and what was a whole trip where everyone had been dragged into bliss. From Linz, a blended madness of the noisiest most rotten Garage Psych Punk, Johnny and the Rotten.

So, in a nutshell, one could notice the passion for music from each of the members of the Dazed & Confused Shows team. I’ve said it twice already, but the lineup was exceptionally curated. If you, who are reading this, resonate with these genres, be alert for the next edition of Dragged into Bliss as without a doubt, making a reference to the festival moto, “This is going to be a true experience”.