It seems everytime I bemoan the twee-valanche that Canadian music has become, along comes a band that blows my brain up. I think I’ve included Vancouver, BC’s Weed in a top 10 a long time ago, but came across this full length LP while crate digging and took a chance that it would rule. It does. Boy does it ever.
There is a resurgence in thick, screamy guitar music a la early ‘90s these days and I’m pretty stoked about it (I was there!). Band like Solids, Telegraphe Jungle and Shahman are hearkening back to the glory days of gorgeous melodies barely discernable under thick fuzz, while keeping an eye on the contemporary sound of the oughts and teens.
Weed just bursts out the gate with a joyous noise, appropriately buried vocals sandwiched in a thick wedge of Big Muff fuzz, opener “Heal” sets the pace and doesn’t let up, through the catchy riffs of “Set Me Back” and “Gun Shy” there is an obvious homage to the My Bloody Valentine gene, but you can also hear some of the raw rock of Mudhoney at work while mining the psych sensibility of more obscure bands of today like Uranium Orchard.
Though I think the ears could use a slight break from the timbral effect of non stop fuzz assault and psychedelicized vocals by the time we hit songs like “Options” and “Your Right”, it’s a small detail that does little to detract from the overall vastness of this album. There must be something about the hugeness and emptiness of British Columbia that inspires their sound. They are very set apart from the Vancouver hardcore sound and neo-garage of Dead Ghosts and Transmitorz in that they carry a hint of the more bush-y and wild feelings of that immense province.
The music of Weed gives the mind and soul wings, as if you were soaring high above the glaciers and mountains.. a real triumph and excellent addition to the renaissance of Canadian DIY music.
