The Muckers | It's Better Without You

Family Average: 3.5/7

Well Iron my lapels and bell my bottoms, we are in for some glam-tastic rock musics. What else could we expect from this troop? The Muckers come on to the scene swinging their very special blend of middle eastern influenced psychedelic rock. On this latest venture (an EP) they blast our brains with a nine minute long epic chock full of lightning fast guitar, and sweet sultry voices. From there they dial it back a little and punch up a little funk. I wonder what the family makes of all of this. I wonder if people still use that spray on hair stuff?

Look below and see what the family had to say.

Dang ole dang. Love it when an EP comes together like this. Muckers, you mother Muckers what have you done here? It’s fast, it’s loose, it’s in your face, and all these other words that I would say if I had the mental capacity. The Muckers play pepped up psych rock which may just translate to “Rock” for some people. Still, I feel there is a kaleidoscope in the mix somewhere.

Kicking into the scene with a beefed up nine-minute track, this EP hardly gave my poor lungs space to breathe. Closest I could come to describing the track would be riding inside of a laundry machine with a disco ball. In other words, a real wet and wild ride. At the tail end of the track, the listener is treated to a well-earned respite. The band then takes the remainder of the track to pepper in some lovely Middle Eastern Psych Rock sounds. The notes are carefully chosen and pop out of the guitar in the loveliest way.

Further down into the depths of the EP the band takes us on a tour of their other sounds. On these tracks, they seem to flex a little more funk and disco. These did not hit as hard for me. While I did enjoy bopping my head around, I felt a serious craving for the juice I was getting from the first track. Still, this is an EP, and I do appreciate when a band shows that they’ve got a lot of tricks in their candy bags. Does that sound gross? I thought it did. I am just going to leave it there though. “Candy Bags”? Uh, why is that word so off-putting?

4/7

Wow there is an awful lot going on with this bunch, walls of sounds, that, to my untrained ear, reflect the City. For me the first track was most enjoyable, although I did feel that there was a disconnect between the vocals and blistering guitar solos. I was also distracted by the muddy production, it did not appear to be a live recording, but it did not sound studio either. Hopefully this was done on purpose and it was the effect they were going for, again like a city complete with all the sounds.  

I must admit that I did have some preconceived notions. They say that you should not judge a book by it’s cover, but i am guilty of just that. The album cover had bell-bottoms, platform shoes and a rose on it. Based upon my MTV memories, I thought that I was going to hear some “glam rock”, think “Poison”, “VanHalen”, or “Motley Crew”. I must admit that I was a little disappointed, so maybe this misconception carries through for the entire piece, but the last two tracks did not impress me. Based upon what i did hear and like, I would be open to seeing them live, or hearing more tracks, i believe that the Muckers are onto something, it may just need to be refined or polished up a bit. 

3/7  

I feel like this is some solid Dad Rock -- no offense to Dads though because I grew up listening to and loving a lot of this kind of music.

A Rock ‘n’ Roll band through and through, The Muckers come in swinging with an opus of a 9-minute opening track, shredding through it with some heavy and ripping ‘70s-influenced guitar. It’s long and repetitive, but it stakes their claim as a “rock band.” And though it does get a bit monotonous, I appreciate what they’re doing and the sheer energy that spews through the explosive opener. The other tracks fell a bit flat for me, however: the second song skewed way more psych rock, and I picked up on some Strokes’ influence, but the third really failed to hold my attention.

They have an excessive, almost indulgent sound in which they happily flex their guitar prowess and sheer adoration of the genre. Their sound snarls and builds upon texture and noise and pure energy. Nothing about their music rests -- it’s meant to get you moving and bash around, to the point that listening to it sat in your living room becomes exhausting. All in all, these guys know what they’re about and what they’re doing, and I always appreciate that self-awareness and confidence.

4/7