It’s human nature to recognize patterns and organize like objects into larger, related groups. In music, this behavior leads us (Both critics and fans) to force acts into genres and micro-genres, for not only do we love to organize, we love to forget the past. How else does one explain the need for dub-step when we already had trip-hop? For the Nashville rock duo, JEFF the Brotherhood, any number of genres could do — Rock, punk, garage, psych — but, with a track like “Shredder,” one which combines the low-end riffage of Queens of The Stone Age with the conciseness of The Ramones, it’s best to just let it rock.
MP3: JEFF the Brotherhood – Shredder
I give up. Young bands, you win. So many of you want to sound like the Jesus and Mary Chain these days that it’s hardly worth noting you sound like The Jesus and Mary Chain anymore. Another one of you will start up tomorrow and try to out fuzz the last one. And yet, here I am, writing about you, XRay Eyeballs and your latest single, “Egyptian Mountain.” You must be doing something right if I start out by complaining and end by saying, “This jam ain’t half bad.”
MP3: XRay Eyeballs – Egyptian Magician
From the esteemable Hozac Records, comes the last track in today’s Threefer — “Sons of Stone” by the Lansing band People’s Temple, a track which takes the pyschedelic leanings of The Stones as channeled through the Brian Jonestown Massacre, and adds the right amount of guitar noise and pop-sense to make things interesting. Granted, without hearing the full-length yet (My copy’s on its way), it’s hard to tell if “Sons of Stone,” is a teaser of jams to come or a lead in for 10 songs we’ve heard before. I’m leaning toward the former, if only because I’ve already mailed in my payment to Hozac Records its grittiness hints they treat their source material with equal measures of respect and abandon. Yes, this one could be interesting.
