Things That I Would Like To See Disappear Forever in 2010: Any band listing Animal Collective as an influence. Genre With The Least Staying Power: Chillwave, Glo-fi, et al. What I Have High Hopes For in 2010: 1) Bands who remember that the guitar is indeed an instrument. 2) LIARS LIARS LIARS!!!
Artist:Woods Album: Songs of Shame File Under: Lo-Fi, Psych Rock/Jam Band Recommended if You Like: Mount Eerie, Dungen, Wavves, Crystal Stilts Featured Track: “Rain On”
I’m pretty much a sucker for anything filed under the murky category of ‘lo-fi’ but I particularly like the genre-bending twist the Brooklyn-based group calling themselves, Woods, puts on it – which is a combination of lo-fi, psych rock, jam band and Neil Young-tinged folk.
It sounds ridiculous but it works in a delightfully quirky and unpredictable way. For just when you think you’ve got their sound figured out – fuzzed out guitars, off-kilter vocals – they’ll throw in a nine minute guitar jam (“September With Pete”), a great cover (Graham Nash’s “Military Madness”), a melancholy ditty (“Rain On”) or an experimental instrumental (“Echo Lake”). Wrap all that together with the hazy ambience of cassette tape recording and you’ve got yourself an album worth listening to. Trust me.
For those in the Bay Area, Woods is part of a stellar bill of music planned August 30 at Bottom of the Hill also featuring Kurt Vile and Dungen.