A little bit of experiment here. King Buffalo is the spark that brought to light several of the other reviews through the use of Music Map. Weedpecker, Gomer Pyle,
Best of the Week
King Buffalo - Orion
2016 9 tracks (47:38)
King Buffalo invades your ears with heavy driving riffs and a familiar groove. Psychedelic, blues and stoner overtones combine with thunderous bass and drums, reminiscent of heavy 70’s rock. A wall of sound, a trio of soaring sounds, and an unrelenting pace merge to form their own musical styling. The pounding surging guitars and laid back singing produces a sound inviting for long trips. A-
Interesting Finds
The Gaslight Anthem - History Books
2023 10 tracks (40:24)
The Gaslight Anthem plays an authentic style of rock that other New Jersey artists, like Spreensteen, excel at. In fact, the Boss man himself is part of the title track, “History Books”. This album represents the first since the band reunited from seven year hiatus. The songs are heartfelt and well put together, sometimes raw and wooly, other times sentimental and vulnerable. There is nothing bad here, but I found myself struggling to tag a song for my playlist. Still, I want to keep it around and listen later, maybe at a time I need a melancholy moment. C
All Them Witches - Nothing As An Ideal
2020 8 tracks (43:38)
ATW (as they are sometimes known by) play a brand of psychedelic stoner music with a Nashville twang. How many of those can there be? As it turns out, they align pretty well with King Buffalo. The mix of songs are a little strange in that there are several three to four minute quickies intermixed with nine minute specials. Really, the longer ones are the stars which makes the others look like fillers. There isn’t much for finesse, just good hard driving metal edged rock. B
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizards - The Silver Chord
2023 14 tracks (1:57:03)
The more I listen to KG&LW, the less I know what makes them tick and the less sense it makes in having any preconceived notions. That may be a good thing. The cover art showing the six members surrounded by keyboards and wearing rose-colored glasses offers a clue, but no more. It is a keyboard, synthesizer, and drum machine centric album as they store the usual assortment of guitars, bass, and drum kits in temporary storage. And for added fun, the album is divided into two volumes, seven songs for each volume - the same song set in each! Volume 1 has each song clocking in for a tidy three minutes each; Volume 2 has the song expanded into double digits. The first cut, “Theia” is three minutes and change in Vol 1, and it’s over twenty minutes in Vol 2. Overall, it’s a little of a mixed bag with “Theia” and “The Silver Chord” the better cuts. I doubt if listening to the short version is worth the time, just go with the long expanded versions. Good, interesting, but spotty. B+
Weedpecker - III
2018 5 tracks (42:03)
Another stoner psychedelic rock band from Poland (is that the main form of rock there???). A little more jam rock oriented than most, but they have good riffs and grooves. The recording is a little on the lo-fi side, but it doesn’t detract too much. B-
Gomer Pyle - Before I Die I…
2020 9 tracks (1:02:39)
So, you’re a stoner band from the Netherlands that takes the name of a 50’s TV show character, should we be surprised you only have two albums to show for 15 years of artist production? No, but we should be surprised they sound as well thought out and terrific as they do. Intermixing doom riffs with catchy hooks will get a band a long ways.
Quaker City Night Hawks - QCNH
2019 10 tracks (38:14)
QCNH hales from Texas and play a version of Southern roots based rock. How it got mixed in with the stoner rock consortium is a mystery but it turns out to be a nice find. The songs are well recorded, the music has a little ZZTop, Fabulous Thunderbirds, and mysticism of Grateful Dead all thrown together.
Maybeshewill - No Feeling is Final
2021 10 tracks (50:51)
Enjoyable, but it sounds like it could be one whole song with changes to separate it into tracks. The synthesizer wallscape is similar throughout.
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