The Resonars "The Greatest Songs of The Resonars" Review

In some ways it's a little distressing that we live in a world where this sort of collection is necessary. In an ideal world an "introduction" to the Resonars would be as redundant as a hits collections by the Beatles or the Byrds - a fantastic distillation of awesomeness certainly, but not nearly enough of a good thing that deserves to be sampled in a much larger context (i.e the entire, filler-free back catalogue).
We don't live in that world yet though, so this collection, chronicling all of the very best bits of the Resonars back catalogue (barring their most recent release "Crummy Desert Sound", reviewed here) has it's role to play and it's hard to imagine anyone hearing this and not wanting to investigate further.
If the Resonars are new to you, you have great things to discover, and this collection contains more than it's fair share of them.
For the last sixteen years or so, the Resonars have been the outlet for Matt Rendon's songs, which distill the glory-days of mid to late sixties rock n roll into concise melodic nuggets which the terms psychedelic, garage, pop and punk all apply equally to. If you want a ballpark, think the Who circa 1967, backing 1966 Hollies, often at breakneck speed - even more impressive when you realize that the comradely, live-in-studio sounding band interplay you're listening to is actually all the work of Rendon playing everything himself. Tricky bugger.
In some ways this collection also represents the end of chapter one for the Resonars, with a live version of the band naturally falling together earlier this year for a bunch of shows which have been quite exceptional by all accounts. It'll be exciting to hear what happens when they're crammed in a studio together, but in the meantime let's appreciate the legacy Matt has built up by himself - glorious, ornate harmonies, flawless choruses, chiming, vintage guitar sounds with feet equally in the folk-rock and vintage garage camps - there's little to fault here, and anyone who owns a copy of "A Quick One" or "Nuggets" owes it to themselves to investigate this immediately. You will not be disappointed.

Vinyl released soon by Trouble in Mind - check here to order.

Buffalo Killers - Dig, Sow, Love, Grow Review

Cincinatti's Buffalo Killer's career is following a similar trajectory to former Alive Naturalsounds labelmates, the Black Keys ( who's Dan Auerbach produced their second album ).
Like the Black Keys, the Buffalo Killers sounded very sure of themselves on their debut, and had a fully developed sense of their own identity, which they've honed steadily with each subsequent release.
Dig, Sow, Love, Grow is a solid piece of work no mistake, and while the appealing  flower-power cover art and title may suggest a change in sound from their previous efforts, they're both a little misleading. The Buffalo Killers are certainly influenced by the era of peace and love, but continue to eschew overt psychedelia in favor of a choogling hard rock sound that draws inevitable but unavoidable comparisons to the likes of the James Gang, Canned Heat, Mountain and the likes - a fine pedigree to be sure, especially now that they've honed their sound to the point where they're releasing albums which are more consistently solid than those of their primary influences.
I mean it as a compliment when I say that any track on here ( or indeed from their entire back catalogue ) would have made a worthy addition to the Dazed and Confused soundtrack, without appearing remotely anachronistic.
They know how to dress their songs in their finest colors too, and have an uncanny ability to place a CSN harmony vocal or a prime piece of Allman Brothers dual lead guitar at the exact point that provides most impact, but is often not expected.
It's this attention to detail and these subtle nuances that make Dig, Sow, Love, Grow an ideal starting point for newcomers to the band, although those that pick up an earlier album first certainly aren't setting themselves up for disappointment either.
There's hope that this will be the album that makes the music buying public pay attention to the critics - who knows, this could be their "Brothers" or at the very least their "Rubber Factory"?

Available on CD here. Or on vinyl here.