Heavy Window [LP]

by Apache Dropout

Overview

The Midwest has long been a home for musicians who have found their own path for getting into the good groove -- spin some Parliament/Funkadelic, Ohio Players, or Curtis Mayfield if you need pertinent examples -- and Apache Dropout show that the boogie can manifest itself in strange yet remarkable ways when you take it to Indiana and feed it a certain amount of hallucinogens. On their third album, Heavy Window, Apache Dropout seem less interested in giving up the funk than in finding the great pulse that governs us all, and drummer Seth Mahern sure does his best to re-create it in the studio. Mahern's primal beat-keeping recalls the unyielding rhythmic heartbeat Maureen Tucker brought to the Velvet Underground, and it's an ideal foundation for Nathan Warrick's throbbing, subsonic bass and the noisy report of Sonny Blood (aka Sonny Alexander) and his guitar. Thanks to Mahern and Warrick, you can dance to Heavy Window 'til the cows come home, but Blood makes sure to keep this party as trippy as he can, with blankets of fuzztone, aggressive panning, and bursts of atonal noise, not to mention tossing in non-sequiturs from aged spoken-word albums. Blood's version of psychedelic boogie rock is inarguably warped, but this reverb-laden, low-budget trip into the unknown is also a lot of fun; Heavy Window is as frantic and trippy as anything from Thee Oh Sees or Ty Segall, but it's a good bit less self-conscious, and has an admirable sense of oddball humor. (And "Detective" is also one of the more unusual Chuck Berry rip-offs/homages you're likely to hear.) Apache Dropout may be acid-fried boogie men, but there is some real semblance of boogie to be found on Heavy Window; just let it take hold and you'll be shaking 'til sunup. ~ Mark Deming

Product Details

Release Date:	08/19/2014
Label:	Ada / Magnetic South Recordings
UPC:	0656605767314
Rank:	101915

Tracks

1. Sittin' Around
2. Heavy Window
3. Trash Is Treasure
4. Movie Magic
5. Little Georgia
6. Tired Old Story
7. Crystal Ball
8. Left the Nest
9. Detective
10. Radio Double Agent
11. After the Space Age

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Apache Dropout   Primary Artist
The Mad Monk   Percussion

Technical Credits

Paul Mahern   Mastering
Seth Mahern   Group Member
John Dawson   Engineer
Nathan Warrick   Group Member
Sonny Blood   Group Member
The Impeccable Plastic Shaman   Design,Artwork
Xerox the Kidd   Design,Artwork