Night Horse
Perdition Hymns
Tee Pee

Even though they hail from the City of Angels, Night Horse carry themselves with that Americana swagger befitting East Coast brawlers, chucking big, dopey, boogie-fried riffs at you like ham-sized fists that leave deep, lasting bruises. Picking up where their 2008 debut, The Dark Won’t Hide You, left off, Perdition Hymns lays the Southern stoner rock on nice n’ thick, incorporating plenty of organ, slide, and 70s-infused boxcar blues to send you on a weed-eating nostalgia trip to Altamont and back. Sure, it’s got all the dusty charm of Skynyrd or the Allmans, and sounds like a nasty mix of Cracktorch and the ‘Crowes, but ultimately (and maybe it’s because of the way singer Sam James Velde howls at the blood red moon) the songs on Perdition Hymns come off as bastard inventions from an alternate universe where Danzig grows up a wayward cowboy and not Lucifer’s brawny spawn.

Listen to “Shake Your Blues” from Perdition Hymns!

Crimson Roots
Callous
Self-released

Barefoot and bearded, Vancouver’s Crimson Roots freak their way through a tapestry of organic riffs and day-glo grooves, spinning a psychedelic jam of deep weirdness with kraut and funk rock leanings. Imagine if the Merry Pranksters hassled squares in a tank instead of a school bus and you’ve got the kind of trip Crimson Roots is taking on their debut, Callous. What I mean is, it’s acid rock with an iron belly, with songs like “Carion,” “Sweet Refrain” and “Cheer” laying down the heaviest moments, and it makes me think the band should really only exist in a universe where Jerry Garcia has asteroids named after him, not ice cream. The rest of it, especially the songs “Border Kid,” “14 & Under” and “Rimson Coots,” riff n’ roll with a damned but upbeat southern twist, and sound like the kind of thing Gideon Smith would be doing if he was a Canadian hippie full of maple syrup and weed instead of an American junkyard dog full of moonshine and barbecue. Heady stuff, for sure.

Listen to “Cheer” from Callous!