Originally written by Chris Redar
The term “stoner rock” bothers the shit out of me. It brings to mind two very limiting and very disconcerting scenarios that almost immediately throw off the listening experience. The first is that I, as the listener, need to be baked to enjoy what is about to be presented, sloppily and with little to no attention to structure, as music. All that should be asked of a listener is to listen. One shouldn’t have to throw down on a quarter to ‘get’ what an artist is going for. The second is that the artists themselves require a solid steamroller to get motivated to create. What’s driving you, hypothetical artist: the desire to create, or your crippling THC addiction? In either case, preconception is a potential buzzkill (heh) for what might otherwise be an excellent trip (heh) down listening lane.
Los Angeles, CA’s Vista Chino, the band formerly known as Kyuss Lives! (before Josh Homme, the man currently known as plaintiff, forced a slight shift in moniker), definitely play stoner rock. This is the kind of album that will make you look up to that blank spot on your wall and think, “You know what would really make that wall pop? A blacklight poster of two lizards crawling on a skull. Righteous, man.” Peace sounds like it might have been recorded in 1977 and just now rediscovered for reissue.
The positives of this observation? The songs are pretty damn good. The way the guitar tracks lay just above the fuzzed-out bass gives the string section a certain depth, not unlike a perfect-temperature swimming pool on a 90-degree day. And Bruno Fevery drops some incredibly peppery solos that call back the leads he lays down, ensuring most of the album stays fluid and coherent. Lead single “Dargona Dragona” is a decent primer on what to expect: the aforementioned guitar/bass interplay, a more than competent vocal performance from John Garcia (draw your own conclusions, but I’m going with the illegitimate child of the non-existent hookup of Janis Joplin and Robert Plant), and…
…some of the worst drum production ever committed to reels. And before you point it out in the comments, dear reader, I know. I talk about production every time I write about an album. Why can’t you just focus on the music, man?? I’ll tell you why: a shoddy job in this particular department can be a deal-breaker for these ears. It’s not in this particular case, but it’s damn close. There is more than one occasion where the percussion sounds like whatever the vocal microphone picked up during a rehearsal is what Vista Chino decided to keep as a final take. It’s unfortunate, because there are tons of apexes here where a better capture would have taken things so over the top that this thing could be beastly. “As You Wish” springs to mind: as the guitar part soars to dizzying new heights, the drums just kind of wait at the bottom of the mountain for things to get quiet again so they sound like they fit. The real head-scratcher here is that they fit the overall vibe (and by vibe, I mean the sound is exactly what you think of when you think ‘stoner rock’), and yet they subtract from the album as a cohesive piece. Wait… did I just blow my own mind? Drugs, maaaaan.
Moving past the drum sound is no small feat, but it’s far from impossible. And it’s the opinion of the court that it would be wise to do so, as there is nary a jam on here that is lacking in sweetness, nor tastiness. Even the stereotypical 13-minute song that just HAS to be somewhere on every stoner rock album (the supremely titled “Acidize-The Gambling Moose”) props itself up without bookends and refuses to bore. How you choose to listen is entirely up to you, of course; if a lefty sends this thing into the stratosphere, toke away. But if employment is your thing (Colorado readers may skip this portion), chemical enhancement is unnecessary.
