Maker

Slow psych head bob stoner jams with some sludge influence from the backwoods of Virginia. Messy, risk-taking, and inconsistent, but when they get it right, it’s transcendent. I keep thinking of The Big Lebowski when I listen to this. It’s muddled, sticky, kind of a blur, structurally familiar enough, but with enough twists to create a hell of a ride. Moments of indulgence, guitar heroisms, and self-consciousness, but it’s all part of the charm. For fans of drugs, barnstorming, tribal drum circles, Sleepy Sun, Black Mountain, and Wooden Shjips. Great stuff. No FCCs detected.

1. Distorted stoner guitar psych, slow head bob with some way-reverbed-out knocking percussion. (2:54)
2. Bass-driven guitar-based instrumental, a little bit mysterious, but catchy enough. (1:47)
*3. Noisy distorted guitar intro drones along for about a minute, and then this fantastic, complex kraut-rhythm comes in, slows down to a drugged out blues-psyche glaze of pot brownies and IHOP at 3am. (5:40)
4. Urgent, fast-tempoed guitar stabs and drum kit abuse that would make your eight year old with no attention span blush. (1:14)
*5. Nice backing vocals, pounding bass, what a groove. (2:01)
6. Another great noise interlude with chaotic undercurrents of tribal rhythms. (1:34)
7. Almost a normal structure with normal textures, way ‘cool’ with delayed riffs, locked rhythm section, and moody vocals. (3:35)
8. Starts off sounding a little like a lo-fi “Cherub Rock”; a repetitive jam that later incorporates riffs, acid stoner soloing, various movements, maybe justifies the length. It just seems a little out of place. I’d prefer an album of this wandering indulgent stuff, rather than 1/3 of an album of it plopped in the middle of the rest of one, but whatever; part of the charm I guess. (13:33)
9. Vocal-centric, acoustic guitar, brushed drums, mellow. (1:58)
*10. Slow-mo blues psych, fuzzy textures, distorted, delayed feedback. (4:31)
11. A concise pop version of the rest of this, nice backing vocals, low masculine vocals. (2:32)