Tilts’ self-titled debut full-length is one of those pledge jobs — you know, where a band raises a certain amount of money directly from fans and uses that money to make an album. The amount of money a person pledges determines the package they receive, be it a digital download, a record, a record and a t-shirt, etc., and only those people who pledge get the tunes. It’s the print-on-demand model applied to music (a model also recently successfully employed by Ginger Wildheart for his triple album project), and it is thanks to about 117 backers that this here attack of supercharged indie power pop is gonna meet an invested audience. Tilts is a remixed and remastered collection of the St. Louis band’s first three EPs (Cassingle, Sidepipin’, Contractors to Her Majesty’s Forces) and sizzles like a schoolgirl on an electric fence, and if there were such a thing as dance halls anymore, this album would sweep ‘em in a big way. Tilts (who feature Torche’s newest member Andrew Elstner in their ranks) are simply addictive, and do all sorts of dirty, wonderful things with this album by turning it into a sonic smorgasbord; you’ll taste all kinds of rock here, like Southern (“Mexiqo”), garage (“It Helps”), alt (“Whatever Happened”), fuzz (“Palm Reader”), desert (“Sidepipin’”), and even a nod to Van Halen (“Hot for Pizza”). Hell, wait until you hear the heavy they lay down on “Contractors to Her Majesty’s Forces” and “Strongbow”. Simply put, Tilts is overloaded with catchy, hip shock n’ roll that’s been put on a pedestal made of gumdrops and nails. Everything great in a spin, really, and record store geeks and smarmy critics are gonna go ga-ga for this. Assuming they pledged, that is.
Bad-ass name, bad-ass cover art, and bad-ass Bristol stoner sleaze that ought to make Turbowolf the new underground “it” band. Their self-titled full-length debut follows a 4-song EP released last year (three quarters of which appears on this one), and it’s a madcap attack of pure rock fury that’s damn near impossible to pin down. Turbowolf is at once exceptionally heavy and catchy, which is a deadly combination when the majority of it is delivered in two-and-a-half minute spurts, but the crux of this crushing crusade lies in its nasty energy, a sweat bomb of ultra-hip, greasy electricity. Because of songs like “Ancient Snake,” “Bag O’ Bones,” and “A Rose for the Crows,” and the fact that singer Chris Georgiadis’ acerbic snarl will remind you of Chad Cherry, Turbowolf has a tendency to present itself as The Last Vegas leading Kyuss on a midnight run through burnt down planetariums, but then you hear “Seven Severed Heads,” “Son (Sun),” and “All the Trees” and you don’t know what the hell to think. But that’s the beauty of Turbowolf, such as it is, and at the end of the day they’re the kind of living thing Motörhead has been known to take on tour in order to expose (and feed off of) their rag n’ roll attitude.
Check out the video for “A Rose for the Crows” from Turbowolf!
Jeremy Irons & The Ratgang Malibus Bloom
Transubstans Records
It might be a little tough to get by the name, but once you accept the fact that Jeremy Irons & The Ratgang Malibus isn’t the title of a long lost Hardy Boys mystery novel in which sleuthing teenage brothers Frank and Joe Hardy spoil an international spy ring led by an award-winning British actor and his band of no-good, rich, white skaters from the coast, and that they are indeed a loose n’ groovy psych-rock band from Stockholm, Sweden, then things suddenly become mystically boss. Bloom, their second album and first on label Transubstans after self-releasing their 2007 debut Elefanta, is an incredibly soulful jam that focuses the majority of its attention on delivering its hazy, swirling melodies in a clear and present manner instead of burying them behind layers of fuzz and mud like most acid trippers are apt to do; songs like the organ-fried clock-melters “Skin Deep” and “IAOA” are propelled by an earthy, bluesy force, “Tales of the Future” and “Cosmo Tropic” require some serious hip shakes before that third eye of yours will open, and the Zeppelin-esque “Fernando” might one day replace “Stairway to Heaven” as the last song at Swedish proms. But where JI&TRM really excel is, believe it or not, in their ability to channel the amplified love of Jeff Buckley, as “Elefanta,” “Golden Hours,” and the title track each swell with an unnervingly delicate beauty reminiscent of the late musician’s sound, elevating Bloom beyond a trippy rock n’ roll record into something much more magical. Highly recommended.
Tilts
Turbowolf
Jeremy Irons & The Ratgang Malibus