Country Ways

Everyone’s favorite local noise-psyche outfit dumps a CD on us after a few lovely slabs of vinyl, vinyl splits. And lo and behold: the last track was recorded on KZSU’s Weds Night Live last December (with liner credits to Smurf and Big Chief). This stuff balances dreamy atmospherics (see track 5) with full on noise rock and noodley psyche. The embodiment of such qualifiers as “narco-“ and “hypno-“ and “walls of-“ and “dream-“ and “space-“ and “stone-“ and “exploding-“. All instrumental, guitar bass drums noise-loops, all scratches that itch that a biotech coworker of mine were surmising is somehow genetic (are some people predisposed to liking this kind of stuff? Why does it feel so good inside our heads, total body experience?). If you like this check out early Bowery Electric, Bardo Pond, Nadja, Sujo, and the fathers of them all, F/i. Go straight to #7.

1) 20 min track: spacey swirl of tones intro, when the drums come in it’s a slow free flowing stoney meander, then after 7 minutes it trips out a bit and drums come back and slowly provide a plod to the slow to build cacophony
2) a big wash of guitars and space, with subdued drums, plodding nead nodding
3) quiet fade-in, with legible guitar over a quiet sound bed, sounds like Jimmy Page nodding off with his other amps left on
4) noodly guitar and big ominous soundbeds, sorta chill
5) ambience, no drums, no “guitar”, a lovely drone of space, beyond Eno
6) good spacey jam, noodling soaring guitars, heavy soundbeds
7) their epic piece as recorded on WNL, a lovely drone with a slow plod beat, dreamy and heavy at once, long slow fade-out