Queens of the Stone Age
... Like Clockwork
Matador Records
Josh Homme and company are back from the dead. During the band’s six-year hiatus, Homme clinically died on an operating table during knee surgery. Rising from the ashes of personal turmoil and creative stagnation, the dark, cohesive psychedelia of … Like Clockwork is unmatched by any of QOTSA’s five previous recordings.
Alice in Chains
The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here
Virgin/EMI
Leroy Justice
Above the Weather
Elm City Music
Leroy Justice
treads carefully
into jam-band
territory, owing
to a musicianship
and tightness
that can turn out
8-minute listening
experiences and 34-second guitar solos
that are complex and fast-traveling without
flying away to Noodleville.
The band self-describes as “guitar-driven,” which is accurate if not too simply put. Collectively, the dual guitars are the “frontman,” with singer Jason Gallagher holding down rhythm while vocally channeling Shannon Hoon. Meanwhile, the revolving tones (delays, country twang, esoteric reverb, jangly Jazzmaster, psychedelic ’70s riffs, crunchy blues) of lead guitarist Justin Mazer (who also plays with MiZ) are controlled and pronounced, leading the rest of the band to pockets and bounties of grooves. “Before I Die” goes from subtle to sprawling, each pick stroke working for position, no laurels to rest on in a song layered with at least 10 (I lost count) different 6-string parts of varying technique.
This is a band on the move, and while the slower ballads build and break out nicely, the players shine during blues rompin’ and longer, instrumental-on-steroid arrangements. Through earbuds, Above the Weather is a collective of heartfelt, seriously rockin’ tunes. The more promising thought, however, is imagining it live, vis-á-vis.
Must-hear tracks: “Watch Him Fall,” “Two Trees”