Take me to your Dealer! This Oakland trio was formerly known as Sexless, are good bros of The Shrine, and totally take the piss outta the Bay Area tech scene with the title of their debut LP. Musically, they range from later Kyuss to Black Flag to Unsane, knocking out 10 tracks in 36 minutes.
The show starts with “AM Gold,” a four-minute, up-tempo riff rocker with some high-pitched wails that would make John Garcia proud. “Odious Charm” takes on a more sinister tone, a downtuned, breakdown-laded, noise-rock number under the influence of Unsane. “Slur” is almost a mashup of the previous two tracks, Garcia meets Chris Spencer in three minutes and a cloud of smoke. We’re certainly off to a killer start!
“Total Horse” goes off the tracks in a minute in a half, with all the vitriol of Black Flag and a couple riffs outta The Shrine’s playbook. “She’s as Beautiful as a Foot” might be the least-romantic love song of 2017, but it’s got a pretty funky baseline along with its AmRep riffage, ending with nearly a full minute of feedback. The back half is just as potent, with the punk ‘n roll, stop-start strut of “Stone Freak,” the discordantly groovy riff throwdown “Fester,” Kyuss riffage redux “Solar Dominion” and the super-sludgy “In the Flesh.”
“Duuuuude, Dealer is starting off 2017 on a HIGH note!”
