There are times — not many, but a few — when I sit down to write about an album and know I’m not going to need to pull out my gonzo rock n’ roll thesaurus in order to spin my praise. This is one of those times. As one friend recently stated, “Mark Lanegan has no peers,” and, really, what more needs to be said? The musician’s work with The Screaming Trees, Gutter Twins, Isobel Campbell, Soulsavers, and others is well documented, but the landscape he’s laid out with his solo work is incredibly gorgeous and virtually untouchable. The majority of his recorded solo material is deep, dark, and gracefully tortured, but where the albums he’s released as just Mark Lanegan present it in a softer form, the Mark Lanegan Band turns it up and wraps it in a whole bunch of grit, fuzz, and noise. It’s been eight years since their only other album, 2004′s Bubblegum, but Blues Funeral picks right up where that one left off, turning drum machine chaos, savory sequencing, bluesy rhythms, and a malady of melody into something emotionally gripping and powerfully rock n’ roll. Of course, as with anything Lanegan does, it’s his voice that is the star, and Blues Funeral is no exception. His voice could sell me my own death and I’d buy it. And at least I’d be at peace knowing I’ve got an amazing soundtrack for the long, slow walk down. No one does it better.
Check out the video for “The Gravedigger’s Song” from Blues Funeral!
The Saint James Society The Saint James Society
Tee Pee
The Saint James Society are an Austin, Texas collective, all droopy hats and opulent jewelry, raven clad and ultra rad, who are just as likely to be selling fragrances at a desert bazaar as they are pushing garage psych in a dimly lit back room full of stony, armless idols. Thankfully, we get the latter (although it won’t hurt if you want to envision the former too), and despite the fact that their self-titled debut is but a four-song EP, it oozes with enough mystic mojo to melt the moon. Like a switchblade hypnotist with an Edgar Allen Poe mind, The Saint James Society taunt you with their BEAT, a tell-tale rhythm that drives the entire EP so that the acid drone and dark fuzz of its pulsing quartet (“Reflections,” “Of Silver and Gold,” “The Ballad of the White Horse,” “The Devil, An Angel, and a Broken Window”) fills up the very marrow of your bones. It’s a moving (dare I say sexy?) trip, equal parts style and sound, and will surely find favour with fans of Black Mountain, Quest for Fire, The Black Angels, and The Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, as well as restless sinners and the terminally cool.
Check out the video for “Reflections” from The Saint James Society!
Baby Woodrose Mindblowing Seeds and Disconnected Flowers
Bad Afro
Lorenzo Woodrose celebrates 10 years of acid rock and his love affair with the Hawaiian baby woodrose seed with Mindblowing Seeds and Disconnected Flowers, a 15-song collection of original four-track demos, two songs that were released on 7″ under the alias Disconnected Flowers, and two other previously unreleased tunes. The swirling psychedelia of Baby Woodrose’s early garage fuzz is on full display here, and despite the fact he’s been pushing this weird beard Danish delicacy over six full-length albums, it feels as much like a brand new trip as it does sitting down and getting high with on old, talented friend. In fact, the eleven demos here that eventually made it on to the Baby Woodrose debut Blows Your Mind! come off sounding better on this spin, like being fed an extra spoonful of druggy distortion. Mindblowing Seeds and Disconnected Flowers is a real freaky treat for Woodrose fans and an excellent way to relive (and perhaps try to remember) the last 10 years through the amp of The Man.
Listen to “Baby Blows” from Mindblowing Seeds and Disconnected Flowers!
Mark Lanegan Band
The Saint James Society
Baby Woodrose