Recently Added (from the archives)

 

DEAF COUNTRY

EP: “Ultra Mega Gold”

From the opening drum loop of “Full Spectrum Bulbs,” soaked in reverb and grand enough to move mountains, it’s apparent that this is an immersion-minded album, whether it’s right in your ears or blanketing the dance floor.  Infectious synths slide and cascade down over sawtooth basslines; other production choices range from tinkling piano to chunky, power guitar, and give each song its own character.  There’s even a little spoken word, right out of the 80′s, and the bonus Broken Social Scene cover brings indie rock right into Deaf Country’s bubbling, shimmering world. “Ultra Mega Gold” wants you to dance, but if you must listen sitting, it will settle for a smile.

 

BACCHUS KING

LP: “Bacchus King”

I’ve seen rock bands stir up mosh pits and then stop everything or even leave stage when things get too ugly, but I imagine Bacchus King just rocks harder when the picket tips. “Medicine” stomps with dead-eye tunnel vision as if to challenge rock as we know it to duel. “Snake Oil” is a slinky, glint-eyed loomer.  “God Only Knows (What I Do),” a drawly, bluesy meditation, almost sounds ready to bare its soul in a grandiose chorus until it twists into a discontented, steely scowl staring right into yours. This is the spirit of the lost desperado, here to shake you out of those comfortable, worn-in boots.  Sure, you could run, but the revolution hasn’t sounded this powerful in ages.

THE HIGHWAY

LP: “Forest People”

I’ll confess that I’ve looked forward to this album ever since I first shared the stage with The Highway about three years ago.  Despite the years in between, the LP doesn’t disappoint.  This rock is pure and heartfelt; every unexpected chord means as much musically as do Tortoledo’s lyrics on brotherhood and strife, oneness and differences, despair and optimism. There are expanses of psychedelia that pull you down in the spirals on the backs of your eyelids before snarled-lip riff explosions that less demand than command attention.  There are subtle (and not-so-subtle) tempo and rhythm changes that guide you all over the rock map, and even, briefly, as far away as South America and France.  Most memorable for this listener, though, are the layered vocal melodies and deep chord progressions that, for all the psychedelic spinning and rock attitude, bring something a little less expected to the genre – heart, spirit, and even beauty.

- Cullen Corley