What we’ gonna do right here is go back…Way back…Back into time…..When the only people that existed were troglodytes….Cavemen… Cavewomen………….. NnnneeEEEANdrethaaalllll……… TROGLODYTE!!!

When I’m talkin’ the caveman (or cavewomen for that matter) vibe, I mean simplified, amplified, and repeated. Not “easy,” mind you, but more……”Uncomplicated.” The way I see it, you got two choices, Jethro, smooth and simple or the hard way, man.

I’m guilty of being a caveman, myself. Black Sabbath were cavemen,. Bloodrock were cavemen. Alice Cooper were cavemen (in drag of course), The Stooges and The Motor City Five were cavemen, and now a whole new generation of doom crazed, noise mongering, cavemanning sludgernauts are crawling the earth once more. Where the bat has become the new bird of paradise and the moon is their night sun. But sometimes a slanderous name like “stoner rock” enters the ring. A “term of the week.” It’s become a “dumbo” term that’s just simply gotten out of hand. Don’t think that these masters of reality “get it?” Oh, brothers and sisters, how they so very DO get it. They just prefer to get theirs right off of the bone. It’s a dirty job but somebody has to do it. I don’t take offense to the catch phrase “stoner rock”, myself. The term was probably originally meant to fondly categorize bands like Fu Manchu, Kyuss, Melvins, and early Monster Magnet. Add a garagy uppercut, cook the tempo over an open flame, wrestle it to the ground, and slap an over the top noise pocket to the back of the head and you create a vehicle for a special kind of sound….Your sound……That sound. The kind that blankets the room and washes over your entire being like hot molten lead. And if your job happens to be volume knob monitor. you can make the right choices, Your world is endless, baby!. You become the Chief Fuzz Doctor and it’s YOU that administers the medication. You can do no wrong. For instance, if you’re in the band, and you’re rockin’ the joint, you ARE the party!You dose the masses.

The Blind Shake is no exception to the rule. They can transfer that sound very well when it comes to puttin’ it down on tape. That’s not easy to do, especially if you’re only a trio and have to maintain this fuckin’ wall of sound reputation as well as in your live surroundings. Very commendable, boys.

Their record is called “Cold Town/Soft Zodiak”. A collaborative effort with Twin Cities legend Michael Yonkers. In fact, since the reissue of his lost classic Microminiature Love”, Michael has once again poured into the scene as both a hipster and ground breaker as well as being a local legend.

The Blind Shake end of the band is the combined efforts of Dave Roper and Jim and Mike Blaha. The album is split into two parts. The first eight songs feature the combined efforts of Michael Yonkers with the band, while the remaining five are exclusively in “The Blind Shake vibe.”

The record starts with a tall Yonkers tale, titled “Don’t ever say that I didn’t try to help you.” which he belts out in his familiar Biafra Attapowow flavour. Very straight and to the point. No misuse of unnecessary syllables. Most of the Yonkers songs hover in that groove. It almost sounds like a tribal cry for a change of season. A couple of the songs stray from that formula and become a little ballady It seems to jumble the mixture a liitle head of time to get you prepared for the BIG BANG. My two favorite songs in this big bang theory (as there are many of these favorite songs on this short but sweet album) would be “Wise Mr. Owl” that sounds frighteningly similar to Alice Cooper’s band cira 1971 and Mudhoney playing simultaneously the same song in a high school gymnasium. Now imagine, the high school band performing in the background in full band costumes and props (of course they would be playing electric guitars and drum kits sans the tubas and trumpets). I’m telling you, I’d a school spirit bigger’n Paul Bunyans axe (or ox). Perhaps my number one with a bullet pick on this record would have to be “Radon Detector” with a warm under belly and using some great G.N.G.T. (guitar noise generated tones). Just enough to puff it past the 420 digit.

I just like it, man. It’s fuckin’ cool.

I’m puttin’ the headphones on and gettin’ my dose up close. I feel better already.

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