Druganaut

Album review

This CD version of Jagjaguwar's original 12" single for "Druganaut/Buffalo Swan" adds two bonus tracks, "Bicycle Man" and what Black Mountain terms a "campfire version" of "No Satisfaction." Anyone who heard the Druganaut LP could tell the title track was crimped. Three-minutes-and-forty-seven-seconds? Come on. Stretched over eight minutes and twining through guitar solo fuzz, backmasking, and keys that swelter like low-lying humidity, the version here is much truer. But "Druganaut" is also still measured. It's easy for groups like the Warlocks or Spiritualized to lengthen and louder things to face-warping levels, and it's often awesome when they do. But "Druganaut"'s best qualities are its steady pace and gently threatening nature -- you sense it could detonate into a Comets on Fire squall at any second. "Buffalo Swan" is even longer, a lingering rock jam that layers Stephen McBean and Amber Webber's mournfully melodic vocals over a sub-Zeppelin bass line and synthesizer dust bunnies. The longer format of these songs suits Black Mountain perfectly. It lets McBean stretch his notes, twining them until he grows hair on his throat. And the steady instrumental builds simmer with enough power that they don't need an explosive payoff. (Though sometimes, as in "Buffalo," they have one anyway.) The version of "No Satisfaction" here isn't extended from the album length. But it really is a "campfire version," recorded live with McBean acting as leader for the gang-vocal call-and-response. It's a smiling thrill, like an outtake from some vintage Monkees episode where the Seekers stopped by for a hang. Don't assume the Druganaut EP's four tracks are measly. There's enough music here for a summer's worth of parties.
© Johnny Loftus /TiVo