The Warlocks - The Mirror Explodes
Lately I have been listening to a lot of ‘60’s shit; Velvet Underground, MC5 and even The Grateful Dead (fuck you for judging me). For years I kept that nonsense at arms length because I am a product of hippie parents and, frankly, I got tired of the freedom rock, maahhhn. But there’s a lot that’s pretty cool from that time. I picked up L.A. based “neo-psychedelic” The Warlocks’ new album “The Mirror Explodes” to see what their deal was.
First off, The Warlocks is a great name for a band. It just is. The Grateful Dead were first called The Warlocks. Did you know that? Check me, I’m serious. These Warlocks I’m talking about at the moment though are basically a revolving group of musicians built around the singer and guitarist Bobby Hecksher. Hecksher’s grandfather owned a radio station and it is obvious this guy got a heavy dose of rock and roll growing up because the influences on this band are easily read.
The Warlocks are guitar fucking heavy. There are 3 guitarists and then a bass, played by a girl (remember back in the day when every band had a girl bassist?) and they feedback and fuzz the hell out of this album. They are pegged “neo-psychedelic” all over the place, whatever that might mean, and it is true that you hear a lot of those types of elements. The drummer pulls a pretty fair imitation of Moe Tucker pretty often and they make a droning wail that would make John Cale proud. Or angry maybe. But really this band borrows a lot more from 90’s style British shoegaze than psychedelia.. I can hear way more My Bloody Valentine and Jesus and Mary Chain in their biz then anything else.
That may sound like a diss, but I don’t mean it as one. The Warlocks have in this album a nice collection of head-nodding droney stuff. It is pretty in places, most notably in There is a Formula To Your Despair, and goes off on long fuzzy tangents in places like in Frequency Meltdown. None of it is unexpected or shocking, but none of it is bad either, and some of it is really quite well done, their wall of noise ain’t new but it is compelling.
So basically I’m giving this album my blessing, for whatever that’s worth. Slap it on and stare out into the middle distance. Maahhhn
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