It's been a long time coming but the new Birds of Maya album is finally here. This one from Mike Polizze (Purling Hiss), Ben Leaphart, and Jason Killinger is a beast. Valdez, out on Friday via Drag City, is expansive, bold, and a joy to listen to.
The album opens with "High Fly", a cut that recalls The Stooges in their primordial guise, while "Busted Room", a highlight here, is longer still. With Polizze's vocals faintly echoing Dylan's, there's real throwback appeal here, even as the cut careens into the heart of the sun in a miasma of warped noise, feedback, and rudimentary druming. "Recessinater" is even longer, and a good deal more unhinged.
Wisely, all this material feels wreckless, even as the riffs keep going, the hits on the skins keep pounding. What's here, even on the oddly catchy closing stomper "Please Come In" is really what grunge promised all along. I'd never slap that label on this, of course, as it comes with a lot of baggage; but when you think back to what that term was supposed to mean in 1988 or so, this is what you heard in your head. And the roar is deafening and delicious too.
Valdez is out on Friday via Drag City.
[Photo: Birds of Maya Bandcamp]