review - Fistful Of Crows' Cabezas Fritas

It's at this point in the project that I must admit to being woefully behind the curve pertaining to the two-fifths mysterious, three-fifths just-plain-drunken phenomenon that is WHISK-HUTZEL, a collective/record label presided over by the Honorable Senator Will Fist and a merry band of the area's finest ne'er-do-wells. I'm doing my best to catch up, though, and banner act FISTFUL OF CROWS' newest LP Cabezas Fritas (Whisk-Hutzel's, if the spine number is to be believed, 133rd release) is as ingratiating an introduction to their world as I could imagine. Equal parts stagger and swagger, the Crows stomp with sloppy presence of mind through eleven rollicking tracks, all occupying a curiously boorish middle ground between lo-fi and early American punk rock. Singer/guitarist Dirty Old Crow is the primary force here, shouting, strumming and picking with an endearing imprecision that occasionally turns corners into disarming lucidity; he is backed by the necessarily able rhythm section of The Hussla and Our Man Fist, who keep things tight even through the five-plus minutes of album climax "Song Of Frustration", as DOC meanders purposefully through all the sonic territory visible between his six strings and whatever eight-track they recorded to. Indeed, the fidelity is decidedly Lo, but these circumstances more than serve the band's rowdy, seemingly careless aesthetic, and even draw some surprising pop sensibilities out of some of the songs, particularly on standouts "I Forgot A Good Idea" and "I Need A Stretcher".

RIYL: Fear, Kyuss, and Sebadoh locked in a brewery

MP3: "I Forgot A Good Idea" (2:34)