Pontiak Sheds Some More Innocence

After their first year off from producing an album, the Carney brothers are looking to ease back into the music with an 11-track set of heavy Southern-laced rock, with just enough squall and sludge to keep things interesting. As an album, Innocence is anything but innocent as the trio tears down neo psych-rock in great big thunderous slabs.

The title track tells much of the story, twisting along with tightly written commands of wandering the streets wasted. It churns along like a slogging head-spin, capturing the mood of having drunk too much. They do it effortlessly without wasting a single chord.

Innocence slugs along with monsters and psychedelic imaginations.

Perhaps the best thing about the album is how it balances up a back and forth between big frenzied guitar tantrums and those mellower, more relaxed moments that stretch out longer than the time stamp suggests. Tracks like Lack Lustre Rush will take some people back with big arrangements and understated, inviting vocals while Ghosts will convince the greatest skeptics with an arrhythmic guitar and beautifully played bass line.

There isn't any question that Van (guitar-vocals), Jennings (bass), and Lain (drums) have a great time in the studio. One even gets the impression that the three of them just stand around and until one of them breaks the silence to ask what does anybody want to play next.

Before you know it, somebody settles into something like It's The Greatest because it feels like a break after all of the aggression and tension released with Ghosts. Or maybe it just feels like the right progression, much like anybody might decide with a bunch of friends on a Friday.

No, there is no certainty if it happens that way at all. It just sounds like it. And for the most part, it works. Even if Noble Heads, for all its melody, doesn't do much to move the mood forward and Wildfires packs an unexpectedly relaxed brother track that hints of indie pop (but cast in their familiar heaviness).


Surrounded by Diamonds attempts to rouse the stoner-fuzz back into wakefulness but doesn't necessarily have the energy to succeed. It comes close with the wail of a guitar but Van pulls the punch of vocals, leaving you a little lost before Being Of The Rarest regains some traction.

That leaves the Shining, which is a dizzy, head-spinning gem and probably the most unrated track on the album. Darkness Is Coming presents itself as the closest thing to a ballad these brothers have got (and that ain't saying much). And the album wraps up with some badly need fury and flurry in We've Got It Wrong.

It's in listening to that last song where much of Innocence makes sense. Or maybe, more exactly, that knowing this music is made by three brothers who grew up on a farm in Virginia makes sense. It's clear that even when their music doesn't challenge your senses, it's still a joy to listen to because they have this unyielding connection to each other that comes across so well in their music.

This is the real deal in that they don't need computers to lay down great studio tracks. It's not the only DIY portion of their production. They design their own artwork. They film their own videos. They make their own documentaries.

Innocence By Pontiak Skids Along At 6.1 On The Liquid Hip Richter Scale.

All in all, its organic approach from start to finish makes for some magnificent noise, even if the brothers seem too comfortable in their collusion to make great music. In short, the album isn't their best even if it has some of their best tracks. But it isn't really bad either, making it your call to cherry pick three or chill to the whole thing.

You can find Innocence by Pontiak on Amazon. You can also find the album at Barnes & Noble or download it from iTunes. For tour information, check them out on Facebook.

Wooden Shjips Race Back To Land

Psychedelic space rock aficionados Wooden Shjips continue their inward slide on their fourth full-length with Back To Land, delivering nine dizzying drifts into a perpetual state of fuzz-encrusted lushness. Even more so than previous albums, the band has minimized the sound even further.

It's also the first album that the band has conceived outside of the Bay area, with Ripley Johnson and Omar Ahsanuddin soaking up Oregon for inspiration. They've both said location played a major influence, with the music taking on a more earthy and grounded sound than anything created in San Francisco.

For most, the change up will best be summed up as subtle. They haven't abandoned their psych-rock core as much as they've changed up some of the instruments, with an acoustic guitar being the most obvious. The results are slightly less brooding tracks that feel brighter to the point of psych pop.

Back To Land builds upon the confidence of Wooden Shjips. 

The title track, Back To Land, sets down something to expect from Wooden Shjips. They skip song structure by sticking with a single groove, something that floats along as Johnson's intelligent lyrics and haunting vocals take hold. The video that accompanies it underscores the spookiness.


Without the clowns, Back To Land has a warmer glow. But even with their teeth gleaming, it's easy enough to hear that this album was meant to be more immersive than previous outings. The decision to lay it down to tape with Kendra Lynn and Larry Crane only adds warmth to the mystique.

The second track to give a listen to is Ruins. The weight of its interlocking organ and guitar groove plods and pulsates along over a spaciously repetitive percussion and bass. The solos tucked inside are especially adept at creating a hazy rhythm-induced sway.

Arguably the best track on the album is These Shadows, a richly sedative and relaxed number that contemplates the day that preceded dusk. It feels like an ending, even it's a brief respite before the complete and total transition to night. The only track better is an acoustic version that Wooden Shjips includes on the deluxe album. The strum becomes more pronounced. The vocals have more reverb.

Other standouts include the effortlessly compelling guitar solos of Servants, the energy of the offbeat and upbeat Ghouls, and the wooziness induced by Everybody Knows. Like all of the tracks on Back To Land, the tone is textural with distorted riffs, modal keys and that steady, ever-present percussion.

Most of the tracks don't even reach crescendos as the band just lets them fade out into space, without much of an end. It's very much like the environment where they composed most of it — with old forests, winding streams, and the unchanging and near timeless coastlines. They roll on too.

You can hear it in the music so readily because Back To Land is the most laid back album of the band's career. And in some ways, it's almost as if the band has become more reflective, taking cues from the music they listened to before they ever conceived this would be their band.

Back To Land By Wooden Shjips Sails 7.9 On The Liquid Hip Richter Scale. 

Back to Land was recorded over an 11-day session and their label describes it as some of the most detailed and spacious recordings of their career. It's nuanced, varied, and easy enough to be sucked into for a spell as opposed to a casual listen.

You can find Back To Land by Wooden Shjips on Amazon. The album is also available at Barnes & Noble or can be downloaded from iTunes. The deluxe album is the one to look for as it includes the acoustic version of These Shadows. The band will be touring in the United States and Europe through February 2014. December is especially heavy with shows throughout Europe before they head to the United Kingdom.

Luke Roberts Opens The Iron Gates

Luke Roberts has done some moving and traveling over the last year. He moved from Brooklyn to Montana and then to his hometown of Nashville. In listening to his second album, The Iron Gates At Throop and Newport, it sounds as though the troubador has come full circle. He’s home again.

In August 2011, he released his debut album, Big Bells and Dime Songs, which featured what can best be described as country blues. It was very much a man and his guitar — stark, singular and sparse.

This time out, Roberts enlisted the help of Mark Nevers (Lambchop) as producer and recorded the songs in Nashville. Then he turned them over to the capable hands of Kyle Spence (Harvey Milk) for mixing. The Iron Gates At Throop And Newport was released on Thrill Jockey in March 2012.

As much as Big Bells And Dime Songs worked, Iron Gates works harder. 

The newly completed album is a stronger, more rounded album that includes fuller arrangements and seriously improved songwriting (not that Roberts’s songs were ever weak). He is also joined by a host of guest players adding drums, harmonica, mandolin, and fiddle, which only serves to enhance his lyrics and plainspoken delivery.

The songs sound like he wrote them on the road, but he didn't. This batch of songs was written while Roberts was still holed up in Brooklyn. You might never know it unless someone told you because heartbreak doesn't have boundaries.

"The first record I made has a very homeless or Wild West feel to it and this new one is filled with addresses and luxuries,” explains Roberts. “It's a rags to riches story about family and love and faith, where the first one was about not having that stuff. This album is about how hard that stuff is."

The restless Roberts shows that he may have been burned in the past, but he’s still hopeful. He has always been someone to look for the good. The next best thing could be just around the corner.

His Song is easily the strongest cut on the album. It carries a true band sound with lyrics that explore religion and the pain that sometimes comes with it. There’s a great guitar solo and a catchy chorus.

Second Place Blues is different. Emily Sundblad comes in later in the track to accompany his plain lyrics, making it an easy favorite. But Roberts can pull it off on his own too, with nothing more than himself and a guitar in the driveway.


It doesn’t get much more real and organic than that. It's who Roberts really is and how he feels most comfortable. Even Spree Wheels, which shows a much more confident Roberts accompanied by Sundblad, can be described as sparse and gritty. What makes the song pop all the more is the nice acoustic guitar and added ace fiddle work by the talented (and in demand) Billy Contreras, who has recorded and/or toured with the likes of Hank Williams III and George Jones.

Another track at the top of the play list is I Don’t Want You Anymore, which presents as if it were written and played as a confessional. Meanwhile, Old Fashioned Woman keeps pace with its solid bass work.

It also alludes to something else. If anything, support always gives Roberts an added boost. And I think that's why The Iron Gates has a more pleasing sound than his first album. Last year, plenty of people noticed the same thing when he performed All American with Harvey Milk at the Union Pool in Brooklyn.


It's pretty certain Roberts grew up listening to bluegrass, and those early influences have stayed with him to this day. His songs are uncomplicated. And he manages to draw his audience and listeners in as if you're watching his struggles unfold, right there. You nod your head in understanding.

The Iron Gates At Throop And Newport Rings 5.8 On The Liquid Hip Richter Scale. 

Roberts is unpretentious and laid back, always content to ramble and travel. He is happy to sing his songs for people who can appreciate and relate to personal struggles.

The Iron Gates At Throop And Newport is on iTunes. You can also find Iron Gates at Barnes & Noble. You can download or order The Iron Gates at Throop and Newport from Amazon.

Interestingly enough, The Iron Gates At Throop and Newport is named after actual streets in Brooklyn. I can't help but wonder if Roberts left a piece of his heart there before moving on. The singer heads out to Europe in mid April for a series of shows in Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, France and the UK. He will be back in Brooklyn on May 4.