Heading into Other Music recently, I realized that I wasn’t able to recall the last cd purchase I’d made by a Matador artist-seemed to me that the proclaimed “indie label of the 90’s” had lost it’s choke-hold on “the sound of now” in the 00’s. Then I happened upon this new disc by Dead Meadow, and… well, Cosloy’s Angels are doin’ just fine, whether they’re considered to be a hip label these days or not. Shivering King and Others, the DC power trio’s 3rd disc (and first on Matador) is a throbbing psych rock-inspired, fuzz bass-laden sex-dirge-ear candy-romp of a record to be sure (when I, er… ‘got some’ a couple nights ago, I had it spinning, and man, did she dig it-so much so, that she went to OM and got it the next day… the cd that is).
The album’s 12 tracks channel an unholy mélange of heavy R&R influences, from the MBV-esque “I Love You Too”, to fleeting moments that recall Monster Magnet, The James Gang, Josh Homme’s Desert Sessions, Swervedriver (“the Whirling”), The Bevis Frond, Spaceman 3 (“Everything’s Going On”), Led Zeppelin and 70’s Porno flick soundtracks (the dreamy “She’s Mine”). At their best, however, these guys still manage to maintian their own novel take on the indie rock/psych genre. Though guitarist/vocalist Jason Simon’s effects-drenched lyrics do seem rather silly when listened to closely (“from deep beneath a disturbing dream awoke the shivering king”), the overall trance-like (almost-live sounding) atmosphere this cd evokes continuously satisfies… hell, in fact it ruptures man. I only wonder if, when they play live, they incorporate some of that psychedelic petri-dish dripping background stuff on a screen or something, because I could see that working for them.
I’ll definitely (make the) trip and see them sometime.
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