Stoner rock? yeah, its all fuzzed out Sabbath riffs, relaxing cosmic baloney and, umm, shit, what was the question again? hahaha, I’m sooo hungry dude. (gentle snoring).
I love stoner rock and no it ain’t all like that, Nebula Charged is electric proof of this. The band’s second LP hailing from 2001, happily takes their sound for a fast spin across the sky to great affect.
I don’t know but I’ve been told everything will turn to dust
And man you got no friends and there’s no-one you can trust
Nebula built their sound on a slightly different chassis to most of the scene they sound more like an early 70’s power trio crossed with the dead bone machinegun rattle of the Stooges*. On Charged they throw in some extra flourishes just for our greater entertainment, none of it harshes the vibe, man.
Nebula accelerate straight out of the blocks with ‘Do It Now’ a track as front-footed as its title, Ruben Romano’s drums just driving us hard, harder, hardest! I love the thick wedge of punk fury tearing through this cut, everything concise and streamlined, the attitude just dripping off the line ‘the train kept rolling all night long’ and the guitar scything through the solo. Phew!
Second track ‘Beyond’ invents a stoneder** Black Keys sound from its first notes. This cut swaggers and grooves, which is great but not what I’m after tonight, no matter how lyrical Eddie Glass’ guitar playing is. The strutting, spasming ‘Giant’ is a huge treat; ‘well I’m up here and you’re down there’, I suspect Alice In Wonderland style magic potions may be involved. This is absolute primo stoner rock vegetarian main course material as the guitar breaks free at the end.
Charged gets even better with the next track ‘Travelin’ Man’s Blues’, which adds a sneery country rock apocalypse travelogue into the cake mix. I absolutely fucking love this track, ‘You don’t need advice, travelin’ man on the road tonight’. This little menacing piece of 2001 is forever, trust me.
Skipping one, ‘This One’ continues the ‘Travelin’ Man’s Blues’ sound, albeit with some really lyrical guitar flickering around the edges of the verses and some numb vocals; properly stoned monolithic if I’m any judge. Charged hits the gas again with ‘Ignition’, it kind of has to with that title and we’re rocking it hard and murky once again, some great churning bass on this one from Mark Abshire.
The hip-strutting ‘Shaker’ is basically a blues with stoner cladding and surely I can’t be the only chap envisaging a groovy hippy chick shaking a fringed top to this one. It’s bloody great, just imagine a less cuddly ZZ Cactus Foghat and you’ll be halfway home. I am very susceptible to its thuggish charms^ and the minute-long Eastern-sounding coda to it.
Skipping another we get to Charged‘s grand finale and go ‘All The Way’. This is the 9 minute wobbly space odyssey you didn’t know you needed in your life quite so badly. The great intro section gets burned away by a monumental riff and we are off and spinning through great distances. The section where Nebula pick up the pace, before lowering it again to sub-basement level is as masterful as the numbed out outro, the ship sliding past you too massive to fully grok as you float, alone in the cosmos.
Maybe I should get off the fence a bit more in my review of Charged? it is a really good rock LP, nothing faddish or too fancy, but built to last. The band’s performance is absolutely excellent throughout, as is the production jointly by the band and John Agnello – clear and beefy sounding.
(insert lame pun here about LP being worth the charge) Buy it, its great.
My copy of Charged isn’t an original Sub Pop one, sadly I was too busy childrenifying myself to be all over the stoner rock scene at the time, but it is a 2019 reissue on Heavy Psych Sounds. It sounds absolutely great too and you have to love a record label named for exactly what they do.
1266 Down.
*covering ‘I Need Somebody’ with Mark Arm on vocals on their debut.
**pronounced ston-ed-er, I just invented it out of my head; like Shakespeare probably would have in 1537. Yes, I know he wasn’t born until 1564, but still, my world, my word – my rules.
^story of my life.
Zounds! Fuzzin’, riffin’, flangin’, hard chargin’ and not payin’ for the car park, that was a zap of very leaded petrol to the vitals!! The coyotes are groovin’ on the lawn in their fringed jackets and NOT putting their empties in the recycling. I fear for the drummer’s heart rate on some of those fills. This is the soundtrack to the monster truck rally in my head.
Zounds? you really are upping your exclamation game here Tim.
Nebula are great, a much more rawk take on the stoner rock genre. I love ’em. I am a bit upset with them if they aren’t recycling properly though, I mean drug fuelled cosmic ranting and rolling is great, but recycling is for ever!
Indeed. I am also very concerned for the wellbeing of Mr. J. Badger, being attached to Nebula’s no doubt gazillion kilovolt transformers up there. As it appears is he…
Ha, my family tell me I resemble the patrician badger from Wind In The Willows in my attitudes/character, so my wife knitted him for me. I’m much less likely to vote Tory, but otherwise its a fair cop.
I’ll second that.
I kinda like Stoner rock. I need to check more of this stuff out. It seems the more I hear, the more I like.
Stoners have all the best riffs. That’s like a scientific fact, maaaan.
Good to see Nana Clanger getting down wid da boyze. Solid rocking all round.
It made for great listening on a rainy January day.
Great stuff.
That is some good stoner rock.
Isn’t it just? Just good rock period.