The Ax - The Queen Of Our Dirt

Label: Whoa! Boat
Year: 2009

Did you happen to miss this record when it was released five years ago? I did.
But, in all fairness...there's like, a billion records that have come out in the last five years that I've also missed. Being a hermit means I don't get out much.
Since then, The Ax has released a couple more records, and they seem to be getting increasing less jarring, and veering into a more sinister Krautrock (but loud) direction. I'm still digesting the newer stuff.
This, their first full length, is super easy for me to digest. It's the proverbial "right up my alley" type shit. Loud, loose, swinging, full of distortion and big riffs. What's not to like? If you're a child of the Midwestern school of noise rock (Class of '90) you shall definitely feel at home. If you tooled around in Los Angeles at the Jabberjaw (not on rave nights), or maybe later on at The Smell, then you will appreciated the dark dirt of The Ax. You can hear a band like Slug (from your nights at Jabberjaw) meeting up with a band like Wires On Fire (from your time at The Smell) meeting up with a band like Lustre King (from your classes at the Illinois Institute of Math Rock). It's dirty and heavy like Slug, catchy and noisy like Wires On Fire, and cyclical and angular like Lustre King. Chances are you can connect the dots as to what makes this record so good.
You like?

DL