Here's a band that has been together for years and whose name still hasn't really made it out of Los Angeles County. Well, that's just plain wrong. Their very good first CD from about five years ago was on SST Records, which would actually explain why no one's heard of them, as that once-great label now only puts out Greg Ginn side projects, and even those don't get promoted or distributed. This cd has been self-released by the band. Every time I listen to these guys, I have the same reaction: at first, I think Drew's vocals are going to be too indie-pop (or even grunge) for me, but then the band's trio playing just nullifies that, and pretty soon the vocals sound damn good, more like timeless crooning than genre-coattailing, with interesting, pretty melodies, and best of all, a very nice sense of sparsity. (i.e. the record seems about 60% instrumental.) The band plays a lot of styles, all tied together by the no-frills rock trio. The music can dbe described as accomplished jazz trio instrumentals, tranced-out krautrock, unpredictable odd-pop songwriting, reflective Frisellian volume-swelled interludes, and quite a bit of a Noise influence, used sparingly and effectively.
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