Top Ten Stoner Rock Albums of 2017

Here are my top ten Stoner Rock albums of 2017, in video form.  I picked one tune from each (made sure none are tunes I've posted here in the past), starting with #10 and finishing with #1.  The result is not for the faint of heart, but classic stoner rock through and through.  Playing time is just shy of 64 minutes.  Hope you will have the time to put it on and give it a chance.  If you are short for time or impatient, you can see my #10 through #1 picks below.  In the video, track info is given for the first 20 seconds of each tune.  

#10: "(((I'm Heroin)))" by Mephistofeles            #9: "New Beginnings" by Radio Moscow

Retro and raunchy; great album                             Radio Moscow never disappoints 

   

#8: "Emperor of Sand" by Mastodon              #7: "Reflections of a Floating World" 

Tons going on here, but eventually these                  by Elder.  Elder is one of the all-time 

tunes will be stuck permanently in your head           greats of the genre                                 

#6: "Time Travel Dilemma" by Spaceslug.        #5: "Villains" by Queens of the Stone Age

This, along with "Mountains & Reminiscence",         Josh Homme never does anything 

make two classics in the same year.                            half-assed.  More aggressive than 
                                                              "..Like Clockwork"      

#4: "Force Field" by                          #3: "Spacelord" by Spacelord

                    The Atomic Bitchwax.                              This, along with the 3 tracks on "New

       Stoner rock royalty does it again                        Horrible Menace", are must-haves

#2: "Electric Mountain" by Electric      #1: "Doubleblind"  by Skunk      

Mountain.  Instantly became one                 I swear these guys loved exactly

of my all-time favorites.  Can't                the same bands from the 70's as  

say enough about this one.                   me.  I knew this would be my 

                                                                   number one of the year the first  

                                                                night I heard it.

These Deserve To Be On The List Too:  

"Blackbird" by The Riven: only 23 minutes, but every one of those minutes is classic.  Can't wait for a full-length release

"The Naked High EP" by The Naked High.  Again, can't wait for the first full-length album.  (although their "EP" is as about long as each of the last two Atomic Bitchwax albums)

"Planetary Space Child" by Ruby The Hatchet:  Quality, cover to cover

"About Time" by Horisont:  It's kind of like early eighties hard rock songwriting with a late seventies sound.  Truly unique in today's world and truly great album cover to cover

"Jake Leg Boogie" by Five Horse Johnson:  This band is back in a big way, giving us one of their best releases

"Revolution on Repeat" by Troubled Horse: their second release establishes them as masters of throwback rock

"The Tower" by Motorpsycho: truly mind-blowing material that can't be fully grasped in just a few listens 

Stay safe tonight, and make sure rock music is played really loud as you send 2017 on its way.

Happy New Year, Over and Out 

-ULTRA

...AND THESE

Some Jewels From 2017 I Never Got Around To Posting

DEVIL ELECTRIC: Devil Electric

This band from Melbourne released a four track EP in June of 2016, and then this gem in August 2017.  Top-notch songwriting, musicianship, vocals and production.  I finally purchased this after a couple of months of listening in on Bandcamp, and don't know what I was waiting for.  Pretty different from other female-fronted stoner rock bands like Blood Ceremony, Electric Citizen or Ruby The Hatchet.  Willing to bet these folks are fans of  The Graviators.  "Lady Velvet" is the hit, but I'm posting "Acidic Fire".   Give this one a chance to develop.  Drum player is subtly awesome here.

RADIO MOSCOW: New Beginnings

Few things in life are as sure as a high-quality release from Radio Moscow.  They are right up there with Clutch in terms of consistency of quality and sincerity, while maintaining a sound that anyone unfamiliar with the band would swear is from the early 1970's.  Timeless, very Hendrix-inspired guitar rock.  Here is the title track, "New Beginnings":

UFOMAMMUT: 8

New Ufomammut is all that needs to be said if you like this band.  They are one of the very best in their category of sludgy, doomy, super heavy and slow developing rock.  Flip a coin on whether to call them stoner rock or heavy metal;  Ufomammut releases nothing but quality.  Here is "Warsheep":

MASTODON: Emperor Of Sand

Once again, new release is all you need to hear when it comes to this band.  Mastodon is on a level with Rush in terms of technical proficiency and uniqueness, and is perpetually aggressive and sophisticated at the same time.   Here is "Steambreather", set to easily the strangest music video I've ever seen:   (you thought the Warsheep video was weird?  Get a load of this...)

Guy that gets hit in the face with hot dogs: a young Al Bundy?  Also, 0:50 the most hilarious thing I've ever seen in a music video.

Going to post my top ten albums playlist ASAP; Will anything here be on it?  

Stay tuned!!!    -ULTRA

Radio Moscow: Magical Dirt

Rock Is Alive And Well

“Trends come and go, but the idea of guys getting together in a garage and playing the kind of music that makes the neighbors call the cops – that’s forever.”  (from the radiomoscow.net “about” page).  Parker Griggs clearly listened to a whole lot of Hendrix, and he is talented enough to capitalize on it.  Radio Moscow is honest, guitar-driven high energy rock.  The opening track, “So Alone”, really deserves consideration for best tune of 2014.  No drop-off from there, as tunes two through ten continue to kick major ass.  Radio Moscow is old-school, one guitar, one bass, one drummer straight-up hard rock.  Radio stations that play rock seem to play only “classic rock”, but here is a band playing brand new rock in that classic style.  Radio Moscow has a truly authentic late 60’s/early 70’s sound with truly inspired songwriting.  I am going to stop gushing about this album so you can click on the video below and check out “So Alone”, the opening track from Magical Dirt, Radio Moscow’s new album.  I hope some of you will go out and buy the album and spread the word about this kick-ass band.                     -Ultra

Radio Moscow is:

·         Parker Griggs – vocals, guitar, drums, percussion

·         Anthony Meier – bass

·         Paul Marrone – drums