These days, stoner rock has become almost synonymous with doom metal, a million bands aping Black Sabbath and Blue Cheer ad nauseum and all sounding the same in the process. Unfortunately, these bands ignore the other stoner rock, i.e., The Stooges, MC5, David Peel and the Lower East Side, early Grand Funk and the like. Portland, OR’s White Fang have come to fix that.
High Expectations is about as lo-fi as you can get, sounding like it was recorded on a cassette 4-track in a living room. Not that it’s a bad thing, mind you. In fact, it adds to the immediacy of the songs, most of which are under-two-minute paeans to simple things: the “Coffee Table,” getting “Wrecked,” “Pissing In the Driveway,” a bandmate’s penis (“Christopher’s Dick”). The result is somewhere between Digital Leather and Butthole Surfers, with some similarities to early Black Lips, The Trashies and Paint Fumes. the closing “Far Out Journey” sums up their philosophy with a throbbing rhythm that could be Hawkwind attempting Berlin.
Not exactly a diamond in the rough, High Expectations is more a rough diamond – imperfect, but still a valuable gem that should be recognized for all its glory. Turn it up and enjoy your vice of choice, because you deserve to relax once in a while, too.
