MP3: The Warlocks – “Red Camera” from The Mirror Explodes, out May 19 on Tee Pee Records.
This is a slow-burning bum trip of a jam. I’ve always respected Bobby Hecksher, but I prefer the Warlocks when they’re making feel-good dance music like “Shake the Dope Out” or “The Dope Feels Good.” Why do bands have to get all serious and stop writing catchy pop songs?
The Warlocks: iTunes, Amazon, Insound, wiki.
Tee Pee Records releases a ton of this sludgy, Sabbath-esque psych, some of it better than others. Check out some recent and upcoming stuff:
• Naam – “Skyling Slip” from the Kingdom EP, out now.
• Quest for Fire – “Bison Eyes” from Quest For Fire, out June 9.
• Spindrift – “The Legend Of God’s Gun” from The Legend Of God’s Gun, out July 21.
• Night Horse- “Good Bye Gone” from a 7″ due July 7.
• The Atomic Bitchwax – “Revival” from Tab 4, out now.
• Black Math Horseman – “Origin Of Savagery” from Wyllt, out now.
• Witch (ft. J Mascis) – “Sweet Sue” from Paralyzed, out now.
I don’t think the Warlocks were ever really a pop band, and the two “Dope” songs (maybe along with “Baby Blue”) are more departures for them than their standard sound, which is dirgy-droney-death jam Sabbath stuff. I think Phoenix may have been their play for a larger audience/major label deal. It earned them a contract with Mute, which put out Surgery – and apparently the label had a pretty heavy hand in its production, because the album sounds almost nothing like Phoenix or Rise and Fall. Even on Phoenix though, the poppy songs are balanced out by sludgy tracks like “Hurricane Heart Attack” and “Cosmic Letdown”.
One thing I am kind of sad about with them, although it hasn’t really affected their music or my appreciation of it, is that they’ve shrunk down to normal band size, instead of essentially having two full rock bands on stage at the same time, which was always fun to see live.