The Warlocks: Come save us (2005)

Después del post de ayer, no he podido resistir la tentación de compartir con vosotros este vídeo extraído de su álbum de 2005, Surgery.

The Warlocks: The Mirror Explodes (2009), Tee Pee Records

Lo primero que hemos de decir sobre este ya quinto álbum de la banda californiana The Warlocks es que para tratarse de un disco de Shoegaze más o menos experimental y bastante alternativo es que nos encanta su duración: Justo tres cuartos de hora, que se pasan volando; ningún tipo de desarrollos exagerados ni extenuantes marcan la audición de este The Mirror Explodes (2009). Un trabajo que en su género es sin duda de lo mejor del año; una obra conceptual que hemos de oír de un tirón si queremos tener una idea más o menos exacta de lo que la banda intenta transmitirnos: Un viaje psicodélico a traves de un espacio sonoro conseguido con la experiencia que dan cuatro álbumes precedentes. Una fórmula hábilmente trabajada que consigue, al final, con Static eyes cerrar de manera armónica y magistral ese trip psicodélico del que hablamos y que se inicia con una joya del Space-Rock mezclada con elementos de la Juventud Sónica (uno de sus referentes) y la locura genial de Syd Barret como es Red Camera. El disco lo componen ocho temas y en ellos encontramos todos los elementos del género: Noise (The midnight sun, Frequency meltdown); Experimentación (Slowly dissappearing, You make me wait); aproximaciones al Pop/Shoegaze (Standing between the lovers of hell, There is a formula to your dispair). Un discazo en toda regla que entra a formar parte del cuadro de honor de lo que va de año en el que estamos viviendo un resurgir brutal del Shoegaze, aunque a The Warlocks no se les podrá acusar, en ninguna manera, de ser unos oportunistas.
“Indeed, there is no such thing as a “classic” Warlocks line-up, a factor made more apparent by the consistently high standards set by each of their releases. Although possibly the shortest long player they’ve ever constructed, The Mirror Explodes is no less endearing. Whereas previous albums Surgery and Heavy Deavy Skull Lover both seemed to focus on skullcrushingly loud atmospherics, this feels like more of a comedown, a document to accompany the aftermath of a psychedelic trip to enlightenment, or as some might say, just another average day in the life of The Warlocks.
However, what you and I may consider to be average would be a million miles away from Hecksher and co., as song titles like ‘Standing Between The Lovers Of Hell’ and ‘There Is A Formula To Your Despair’ suggest. With the current shoegaze revival in full swing, they’ve probably chosen the right time to unleash The Mirror Explodes, although one accusation no one could ever level at The Warlocks would be to brand them as calculated mercenaries; far from it in fact, as their refusal to build on the (near) commercial success of album number two Phoenix seven years ago evidently demonstrates.
Despite their being a more mellow aura throughout the record, there’s still a gnawing level of intensity, not to mention the band’s legendary three-guitar assault. New bassist Jana Risher also brings a more dominant, brooding kind of menace to their already cataleptic sound, transforming the aforementioned ‘Standing Between The Lovers Of Hell’ and closing epic ‘Static Eyes’ into orgasmic trance-like epilogues that shift between drone and dirge effortlessly.
Gone are the days when songs like ‘Baby Blue’ or ‘Hurricane Heart Attack’ could be considered radio-friendly in a perverse parallel universe. None of the eight pieces of music here fit into that vein in any way shape or form. ‘Red Camera’ and ‘Slowly Disappearing’ both evoke morbid fantasies (or should that be nightmares?) yet prove richly engaging, while the penultimate surge of ‘Frequency Meltdown’ – the now customary instrumental jam that The Warlocks include on nearly all of their albums – is possibly their most incisive to date, a swirling six-minute opus that mixes Sound Of Confusion-era Spacemen 3 dynamics with a structure reminiscent of the first Doors record.
That this record will probably go largely ignored by many is rather sad. Though no longer flavour of the month in ‘cool’ circles, as far as The Warlocks are concerned it’s business as usual, and The Mirror Explodes is up there with their finest works to date” (drownedinsound.com)

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