Buffalo Killers

Artist: Buffalo Killers
Title: Buffalo Killers
Genre: Psychedelic rock
2006
LP/Album
Sounds Like: Blue Cheer, Pearlene
Favorite Track: Something Real
Available as: Download, CD, vinyl (Alive)

Buffalo Killers is my favorite album to show to classic rock devotees who say "I hate modern music!" The wah-wah heavy psychedelic guitar blues featured here is retro, yes, but also very fresh and appealing: there's enough guitar soloing to keep classic rockers, well, rockin', but there's also a melodic sensibility and writing tight enough to entertain indie fanatics equally as much.

Buffalo Killers' unique brand of rock is very much an Ohio sound - I can only think of three bands that do this sort of thing, and they're all from Ohio, two (Buffalo Killers and Pearlene) from Cincinnati. It's based in Chicago blues of the 1950s, famously personified by Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf, but also integrates a fair amount of late 60s psych as well. Vocals from the Gabbard brothers, Zachary and Andrew, remind me strongly of the bluesy yowl of Dan Auerbach's early work with the Black Keys, except an octave or so higher.

The writing on their songs is almost pure blues, using classic chord progressions and riffs accented and updated with wah-wah, distortion, and psychedelic lyrics. Unlike the current wave of neo-psychedelic pop spearheaded by bands like Temples, Buffalo Killers' music is distinctly heavy and rough, drawing well-founded comparisons to 1960s California stoners Blue Cheer, who recorded one of the best (and heaviest) versions of Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues."

Although the band has tended away from their blues roots and towards more conspicuous psychedelica and stoner rock in their more recent releases, I much prefer this, their first album, over their more recent, trippier output. The writing is fresh and unadorned, and the energy seeps through even on the slow tracks. Surprisingly enough for an album from 2006, copies of the album aren't hard to track down, even on vinyl, which I highly recommend (it's a great pressing).