Thursday 4 April 2024

LUGGY TON ~ HOLEY TROLLER ... review

Once again Desert Psychlist has been seduced into checking something out simply due to its artwork, its an old habit formed in our youth when perusing the shelves of record stores that did not allow buyers to check out a release before purchase, a time when the only way to discover new music was to take a gamble based solely on an albums cover art. The album in question is Luggy Ton's "Holey Troller", the artwork of which depicts a partially buried skeletal head with glowing eyes staring skywards against a monochrome rural backdrop. Quite why we were drawn to this albums artwork remains uncertain but what we found when hitting play literally blew our minds.

There are a LOT of tracks to be found on "Holey Troller" so do not expect us to analyse every single one of those tracks, instead we will endeavour to give you a general feel of what to expect when pushing play on this little gem of an album. To be fair opening song "I Can Smell The Future", a hazy somewhat dreamy instrumental, is not truly representative of Luggy Ton's overall musical attack, a truer representation comes in the shape of its follow up "Cruised On Down" a deliciously retro flavoured rocker that melds the early psych of Randy California's Spirit with the accessible proto-metal of early 70's pioneers Bang and boasts a clean vocal that's part early stoner, part 90's pop punk. Next track "Leave It Blank" is probably the one many will leave this album remembering the most, its infectious blues meets country rock groove supports a vocal rant that comes over like a lyrical cross between The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again" and Joe Walsh's "Life's Been Good". And that's about the way it goes for the rest of the album, short but effective groove heavy tunes inspired and influenced by the pioneers of psychedelic rock and proto-metal and spliced with elements of country rock, the blues and hard rock, you can call it retro or you can call it vintage we prefer to just call it brilliant!


Luggy Ton could be the best proto-metal band not to have been formed in the 70's, an outfit with the DNA of bands like Spirit, Bang, Poobah and Jo Jo Gunne running through their grooves combined with an essence of the fuzzy drive of early stoner bands like Fu Manchu and Nebula
Check 'em out ... 

© 2024 Frazer Jones

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