The Gris Gris
http://www.birdmanrecords.com/grisgris.html
styles: classic psychedelic revivalism
others: The Rolling Stones, Make Up, Clinic, The Velvet Underground
 For
The Season
Birdman, 2005
rating: 4/5
reviewer: jay
The Gris Gris' second album, For The Season, confirms that they are here
to do one thing, and do it well. Moment-to-moment, it's nearly indistinguishable
from their debut; swap any song from one album to the next and you'd never know
the difference. But, taken as a whole, their newest is decidedly stronger. They
continue with their dark, shambling, lo-fi, black-magic psychedelia, but whereas
much of their previous work had either sounded like direct covers or noisy
filler, they've gained a great deal of control over their sound for this one.
The result is much more confident, cohesive, and even broader in scope: the
doo-wop number "Medication #4" and the clarinet- and mandolin-tinged,
French-folk "Mademoiselle of the Morning" come as wonderful surprises; "Cuerpos
Haran Amor Extrano" and "Big Engine Nazi Kid Daydream" are two of their best
songs; the freakout of "Year Zero" demonstrates their skill in merging noise and
melody; and the epic closer "For The Season," string section and all, inspires
faith in the true talent these guys possess. This stuff is not to be missed. Now
if I could only figure out why they keep talking about rayguns.
1. Ecks Em Eye
2. Peregrine Downstream
3. Cuerpos Haran Amor Extrano
4. Down with Jesus
5. Big Engine Nazi Kid Daydream
6. Year Zero
7. The Non-Stop Tape
8. Medication #4
9. Skin Mass Cat
10. Pick Up Your Raygun
11. Mademoiselle of the Morning
12. For the Season
 The
Gris Gris
Birdman, 2004
rating: 4/5
reviewer: jonathan p
Let me get this straight: I'm not a drug user; never have been, never will be. I
don't look down on those who choose to live their lives this way, but I
certainly don't promote or condone the use of illicit substances. But every now
and then... I suppose exceptions can be made to any rule. On this note, I must
say that the debut by Oakland "organic psychedelic bliss" quartet The Gris Gris
is without a single shred of a doubt in my mind, the drug album of 2004.
Masterminded by Oakland-by-way-of-Texas songwriter Greg Ashley, the Gris Gris
play an incredibly dense, indescribable amalgam of late '60s psychedelia,
musique concrete, straight-ahead indie rock, and what might be described as
'freak-folk.' Think Roky Erickson fronting a Mississippi blues band compromised
of some Oxford University students featuring John Cage sitting in for a song or
two and you might be somewhere close.
Infusing his relatively simple and straightforward songs with warm washes of
noise, church organ, and feedback experiments. (On a side note, when I saw the
group, one member wielded a microphone in front of three different amps stacked
one on top of the other. Each amplifier was set differently so that when he
wriggled the microphone in front of the speaker, a different tone would ring
out. The effect was mind-blowing.) Opener "Raygun" suggests Modest Mouse's
small-town lilt in its opening section but changes its mind about halfway and
becomes an up-tempo rave-up. "Best Regards" and "Everytime" -- particularly
Ashley's banshee wail around the second verse -- suggest a heavy 13th Floor
Elevators influence (though my friend insists that keyboard line on "Everytime"
is reminiscent of Lightning Bolt). "Necessary Separation" could be a genre unto
itself: indie delta blues; "Me Queda Um Bejou" might pass for a Radiohead B-Side
circa 1995 if the tape started to degenerate; while "Plain Vanilla" is a tone
poem of pure mind-bending ecstasy.
The undertow behind the Gris Gris's music is far too strong to sustain haphazard
listens -- the tones and shades are so rich you find yourself drowning in the
current simply listening to the thing. The Gris Gris might be an exhausting
debut, but it's well worth the effort.
1. Raygun
2. Everytime
3. Mary #38
4. Me Queda Um Bejou
5. Plain Vanilla
6. Necessary Separation
7. Best Regards
8. Medication #3
9. Winter Weather
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