Desert Psychlist once described Portland, Oregon's LàGoon's musical attack, to a friend, as sounding something akin to The Stooges being fronted by a sneerier, snottier Alice Cooper , a unique blend of punk and garage rock salted with a large pinch of stoner fuzz. We are pleased announce that with the release of the duo's second full length album " Maa Kali Trip" ( Forbidden Place Records [US], Interstellar Smoke Records [EU] ) that description still holds water, in fact the band may sound even sneerier, snottier and fuzzier than ever before!
It has to be stated that it is Anthony Gaglia's heavily distorted fuzz drenched guitar and unique vocal tones that dominates much of "Maa Kali Trip" but those riffs, solos and vocal tones would not have the same sonic impact if it were not for Brad Maurer's array of beats, fills and cymbal crashes ,the percussionist does not only drive LàGoon's grooves with an unrelenting barrage of percussive might he fills all the spaces in-between too. Duo's can often sound a little lightweight without the help of a bassist locking in with the drummer to add a bit of boom to the overall sound, LàGoon however throw so much into any one song that the lack of any bottom end is hardly, if at all, noticeable. "Maa Kali Trip" also finds the band adding a much more lysergic edge to their grooves than on previous outings, the raucous garage rock, that has always been a staple ingredient of their sound, is still evident on songs like "Addiction", Smoke & Flesh" and "Criminal" but on tunes like "Warning", with it's weird slowed down vocals, and "The Peak", with its off-kilter circular guitar motif and sermonised narrative, it seems the band have opted for a slightly more experimental approach and its one that works.
Garage style rock has gone down somewhat of a rabbit hole over recent years with bands trying to recreate the vintage sounds of bands like The Stooges and The MC5 rather than taking the music forward. LàGoon have thankfully not allowed themselves to fall into that trap and with "Maa Kali Trip" they have pushed the genre further than it's been pushed for decades.
Check it out ....
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