Ending on a Hi Note – DRUGDEALER: Raw Honey (Mexican Summer, 2019)

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El segundo trabajo de DRUGDEALER tiene algo que ver en su concepto con el de Hollow Hand que comentamos el lunes, si bien Raw Honey (Mexican Summer, 2019) es un disco algo fallido, demasiado deudor con un determinado tipo de sonido. Sus constantes guiños y homenajes al Pop de los setenta, y lo que es peor, a cierta tendencia demasiado sosa del Pop de los setenta, hacen de este disco un trabajo no demasiado a tener en cuenta, con algunos momentos brillantes (Fools, Lonely, London nightmare o las cinemáticas You´ve got to be kidding o Ending on a hi note), pero con otros que verdaderamente lastran el conjunto. 

“The first Drugdealer album, The End of Comedy, was a bit of a stylistic shift for the band’s main instigator, Michael Collins, that saw him moving away from trippy and weird psych towards something far more relaxed and Laurel Canyon-y. There were a few kinks to be ironed out, like meandering songs and a few too many cooks, but it was a promising and enjoyable record. The second Drugdealeralbum, Raw Honey, has zero kinks left to work out and fulfills all the promise of the debut and more. This time around, Collins and a wide range of collaborators absolutely nail the lush and lovely singer/songwriter sound of the mid-’70s, while adding some healthy bits of warm weirdness and subtle grandeur to the mix along the way. The album is a cool mix of shaggy-dog pastiche and real feeling moments of emotion, all wrapped up in an organic sound that’s as familiar as a favorite old blanket. The songs that dig a little deeper into emotional territory — like “Honey,” which is sung with perfect tenderness by Natalie Mering (aka Weyes Blood), or “Lost in My Dream,” which combines emotional weight with a liltingly sweet melody and very lush arrangements — are the songs that linger the longest. And the late-night soft rock ballads like the very Steely Dan-ish “Fools” are the ones that go down the smoothest, but the fun songs stick around, too. The Harley Hill-Richmond-sung “Lonely” is a peppy little pop trifle that Harry Nilsson would have been happy to call his, “Wild Motion” features the languorous vocal stylings of Douglas Poole and answers the question of what 10cc would have sounded like if Roy Orbison had joined the band, and “London Nightmare” strums and hums along in happily rambling fashion. Michael Collins oversees all the players like a chilled-out Brian Wilson, the band fits together like blocks of hashish, and if the listener isn’t completely relaxed by the time the record is over, they should likely seek medical attention” (AllMusic)

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Tour Dates

12 April – Los Angeles, CA – Teragram Ballroom (Release Show)
19 April – Brooklyn, NY – Market Hotel (Release Show)
12 May – Manchester, United Kingdom – YES
15 May – London, United Kingdom – The Dome Tufnell Park
16 May – Paris, France – Point Ephemere
17 May – Cologne, Germany – Gewölbe GmbH
19 May – Copenhagen, Denmark – Vega (Small Hall)
20 May – Hamburg, Germany – Aalhaus
21 May – Berlin, Germany – Berghain Kantine
23 May – Brussels, Belgium – Witloof Bar
25 May – Amsterdam, Netherlands – De Nieuwe Anita
10 July – Santa Fe, NM – Meow Wolf
12 July – Austin, TX – Barracuda Inside
13 July – Houston, TX – Satellite Bar
14 July – New Orleans, LA – Gasa Gasa
15 July – Atlanta, GA – The Earl
16 July – Washington DC – Union Stage
17 July – Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda’s
21 July – Pittsburgh, PA –Club Café
22 July –Detroit, MI – El Club
23 July – Chicago, IL – Sleeping Village
24 July – Minneapolis, MN –7th Street Entry
27 July – Calgary, AB – Palomino Social Club
29 July – Seattle, WA – Sunset Tavern
30 July – Vancouver, BC – The Fox Cabaret
31 July – Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios
2 August – San Francisco, CA – The Independent
4 August – Pioneertown, CA – Pappy and Harriets

Elegancia – DRUGDEALER: Fools (Single, Mexican Summer, 2019)

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“After becoming enmeshed in the Los Angeles underground scene after 2013’s The End of Comedy, Raw Honey (Michael Collins second album as Drugdealer) sees Collins once again leading an ace crew of collaborators to coalesce the spirit of Drugdealer’s classically modern pop with lush arrangements, memetic melodies, and a vulnerable tunefulness that tries to make sense of self-doubt and connected loneliness in our shared simulacra.
Raw Honey features contributions of Josh Da Costa (drums), Jackson MacIntosh (guitar), Danny Garcia (guitar), Michael Long (lead guitar), and Benjamin Schwab (backing vocals, guitar, organ, piano, wurlitzer), as well as guest vocalists like country balladeer Dougie Poole (“Wild Motion”), Harley Hill-Richmond (“Lonely”), and frequent collaborator Natalie Mering (Weyes Blood) whose dulcet tones sing low before soaring on “Honey,” a track as silky as the nectar itself” (Press)”

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