It helps to think of Three Wolf Moon as something like an old Native legend and not, as you might be immediately tempted to do, an homage to Three Dog Night or the ironic, cult-folk t-shirt design (which I’m afraid it is). That way, when you drink in its hazy, star-filled, electric splendor, you can stare at the sky for hours with nothing but an affinity for wandering spirits in your mind. Indeed, W is a three-song brain-tickler, a delicate odyssey of garage-psych obsessed with alphabetical stress, and its trio of doubled-yous (“Water/Wine,” “Wetbrain,” “The Worst”) are indelible gifts of indie-freak you won’t soon forget. You know, there’s no reason this Canadian band, which features members of Black Wizard, If We Are Machines, and The Best Revenge, can’t run with the likes of Black Mountain and Weird Owl to whatever cosmic finish line awaits ‘em. And I’ll be on the sidelines doing my part by handing out the Kool-Aid when they pass by…and wearing that t-shirt, no doubt.
Listen to W (and download it for free) right here!
Not long ago, teenage dirtbag Johnny de Courcy parted ways with his brothers in the Canadian stoner/doom band Black Wizard, citing a dissociation with the band and its music. You see, Johnny, underneath all that greasy hair and through all that pot smoke, is a bit of dandy, and while the follies of indiscriminate youth were best experienced through heavy electric noise, it’s now his inner Ziggy Stardust that yearns to be free. Johnny’s heart, no doubt saturated with chemical fumes inhaled at his print shop hideaway, bursts with foppish psych-pop, and the five songs on this acoustic EP move about as though Syd Barrett is dancing a jewelry box ballerina all the way to Mars. It’s an incredible turnabout, but one that suits Johnny like a fresh string of pearls, and the sweet sounding truth of his weird and whimsical ways are beautifully inspirational.
Bad Teeth has been released on cassette, but if that’s too strange a format for you to get back into, go listen to it and download it for free right here!
Spiders are a neat little rock n’ roll outfit hailing from Gothenburg, Sweden, featuring John Hoyles of Witchcraft and Axel Sjöberg of Graveyard (although at the time of this review he’s no longer in the band), but starring the foxy Ann-Sofie Hoyles as lead scream Queen, and I’ve waited on writing about them because it seems every time I sit down to do so they put out another single. Indeed, it all started back in January when Spiders released this here four-song EP on regular vinyl and picture disc, and given the aforementioned members penchant for the retro sound, this one definitely stinks of drugs and fuzz, but it also takes on much more of a sonic sexiness, no doubt due to Ann-Sofie’s tempting wiles. You might think a band like Spiders would come off sounding like Blood Ceremony or The Devil’s Blood given the dynamics, but they’re more dirty denim and sweaty leather than black robes and incense, and fall in line with the likes of the American electric dealers of the 60s and 70s, like Fred “Sonic” Smith jamming with Grace Slick. Spiders are a don’t-drink-what’s-in-the-red-cup kind of party, a backseat education for dark minds and idle hands. Anyway, Spiders then took this four-song EP and cut it in half, releasing two separate 7″ singles in the US in March, High Society b/w Gracious Man (Kemado Records) and Nothing Like You b/w Long Gone (Valley King Records). If that wasn’t enough, they then released another 7″ single in August on De:Nihil Records, featuring the brand new song “Fraction” and a cover of Alice Cooper’s “Under My Wheels.” We can now only hope a full-length is on its way. In the meantime, I’m gonna go drink what’s in the red cup and rock the fuck out.
I know this song isn’t on the self-titled EP, but videos are fun, so check out the video for “Fraction”!
Three Wolf Moon
Johnny de Courcy
Spiders