Or post to:
SoundsXP,
30 Somerville Road,
London, SE20 7NA, UK
UK releases only.
Please note: If submitting demos or self financed releases - we currently
have a backlog of such material. It could be some time before your item
is reviewed.
Dead Meadow are now Matador artists, with two albums under their belt but Xemu are now reissuing the earlier three albums by this Washington DC band, starting with 1999’s eponymous debut. From their psychedelic/ heavy rock sound, you’d assume that Jason Simon (vocals, guitar), Steve Kille (bass, vocals), Stephen McCarty (drums, vocals) wear heavy beards and greasy leather but a glimpse at the video on the enhanced CD reveals them to be dressed in nothing more than generic indie kit.
The band have played with the Brian Jonestown Massacre, Super Furry Animals, Dinosaur Jr and Black Mountain and they’re a good fit for all those groups. Their first album is mainly heavy rock and repetitive blues riffs, with long songs (the wah-wah guitar wig out of ‘Beyond the Fields We Know’ elongates the song to over nine minutes), loud songs (check the Zeppelin-like blast at the start of ‘Lady’) and punctuated by slower moments (the super-rhythmic tones of ‘Greensky Greenlake’). Yet there’s something almost shoegazey about the record too in the drones of ‘Sleepy Silver Door’, while lyrically there’s a strong fantasy element (HP Lovecraft and Lord Dunsany). The only thing that lets it down are weak, trebly vocals. You’re left with a need to explore more of Dead Meadow, and not just in a retro way; like Super Furry Animals, they convey their love of psychedelic music and 70s rock in a fresh, new way.