Music

Some things never date –  Red Tab 501s, Buster Keaton’s slapstick, the dry martini and super-slow, heavy-riffing, psych/ drone rock with subsonic bass. Of course, it helps that Earth – the band formed in Olympia in 1990 by guitarist Dylan Carlson (who famously provided Kurt Cobain with that shotgun) – have not only seen their career sustained by their own personal tribute band in the form of Sunn O))), but also revivified by the popularity of the genre’s second wave (Dead Meadow, Black Mountain et al). Earth disbanded in 1996, but regrouped in 2002 and released their last LP in 2005. Now, ‘The Bees…’ marks another point in their renewed continuum.

A check of the running times – the shortest track clocks in at almost six minutes – suggests that it’s business as usual for Earth but their trademark, monolithic riffs have been considerably chiselled and refined. Their torpor is less of a Vicodin downer, more a series of lush, light-strafed, hypno-stoner grooves. Fuzz-guitar freak Bill Frisell’s playing, along with Steve Moore’s jazz-toned washes of Hammond help make this Earth’s most impressive mood piece in many years.