Dali’s Llama
Raw is real
daliasllamarecords.com
The title is as much a call to arms as anything these days. Dali’s Llama keep doing what they do because it’s the right thing to do. This rough cut definitely non-glossy hard rock is the base material from whence lotsa crap has sprung the past thirty years or so. Thing is the basic set up and focus these guys hone in on is the big bang in the 50’s that ALL HISTORY lead up to and has informed all useful activity since. Meaning the guitar, bass, drums, singer thing throbbed up through a little distortion and good amps. Stomping R&B from Bo Diddley to the Kinks/Whos creation of hard rock to the Stooges, Gun and Roses, etc., on up. Dali’s Llama select a couple chords construct a riff and grab it like a terrier gets a rat and shakes that sumbitch til its nothin’ but meat and fur. This sits on top of a subtle back bone from the rhythm team continually supporting what ever weight; (some heavy, some fluidly pretty, a buncha boot stomp), the song demands.
Yes the songs. They got’m which is no mean feat when you have a stripped down-nowhere to go, no where to hide formula. The first cut, “ raw is real”, comes off like
Like pre-grunge grunge. Absolutely primal hard rock. Perfectly placed riff ridden by an ominous loud muttering vocal giving you the news. The next one, “theocracy”, has layered guitars working like the liquid roll Alice In Chains, (and Snail!), took more towards a arena rock direction but still music to music this fits and I wish the rock hoards that dug that stuff would pull a shovel and dig this. There’s a couple more that stroll down this path, "blackout", "syphilization" as well as "always" which has a dreamy beauty to it that coulda landed it on a Kings X disc. Hell this oughta make anyone who ever dug Sabbaths rock and roll stuff happy. They shift into a quicker tempo and place snot rocker gump in the mix as well as the brash eve’s navel to get your heart rate up. All through out the lyrics are giving the hairy eyeball to liars, feebs and snivelers. Hey if they were gonna knock off an oldie how about the Flamin Groovies, "slow death"? Jeesh eight records in and as good as ever. Maybe better.
Pack it in the bong with AC DC, Kyuss, Nebula, Snail, Cream, Howlin’ Wolf, The Wipers.
www.dalisllamarecords.com