Wooden Shjips — Vol. 1
Wooden Shjips self-titled debut was a strange, yet cohesive album which was preceded by couple of hard to come by 7"'s and a 10", which were gobbled up very quickly. Vol. 1 performs the laudable service of collecting those releases for those who missed out the first time around. Last years' album, (also on the superb Holy Mountain label) included a lot of the elements hinted at in the grooves of the singles, yet in a more refined, somewhat more laid back form.
What separates Wooden Shjips from other so-called psych bands are the fact that they pull from more than just the standard Haight-Ashbury expectations. Like label mates Blues Control, their sound is somewhat indebted to New York pre-punks Suicide. The locked grooves, though performed on guitar and keyboards, recall Martin Rev's synths. And like Suicide's Alan Vega, the vocals are almost unintelligible as a result of prodigious use of reverb effects. Certainly, Suicide's music doesn't coincide with Psychedelic rock, and that's what makes Wooden Shjips' music so intriguing.
Other influences that could be written into their sound are krautrock, along the lines of Harmonia or Neu!, again because of the locked grooves, and also because, (though Wooden Shjips' music isn't always brilliantly produced) there is a warm quality to the recordings. As with any good band, their influences are just a jumping off point. These early releases evoke the sound of a group in discovery mode. There are a couple of experiments that work on a lesser level, but the tracks that hit on all cylinders are stellar, perhaps even surpassing the intensity of anything on their full length.
The album is bookended by Shrinking Moon for you and SOL '07, both representing perhaps the best material by the band to date. Dance, California is damn near close to as good as the latter two. These tracks bring fuzz guitar to a new level. Tons of artists have tried to figure a way to wring primal shock feedback out of old tube amps, and it seems that from their very first release, this band had already nearly reached the pinnacle.