by osmosis

I’ve never been to Sacramento. I’ve driven by it on my way to and from the Bay. Arnold lives there. And it’s hot. That’s all that I know. Bands like Mayyors, who are gaining a bit of attention for unknown reasons, call that city home. And Cake too, not that that matters. But Ganglians are completely detached from what one might guess would come from an inland city in California. And while the band hasn’t been around for all that long, its first full length Monster Head Room, which has already sold out its initially vinyl pressing on Weird Forest, sounds as if it was recorded by a well traveled troupe of adept professionals. Seriously.

Having previously pressed a split single with Eat Skull, one might expect something akin to that Portland band’s sloppy punk come rock style. But on Monster Head Room, it’s all sunshine, gel caps and sun drenched cookouts with the Beach Boys as the house band. With the surge in Animal Collective’s popularity, the B Boys’ name check has been getting tossed around a lot lately, but here, Ganglians come by that sound rather organically as opposed to those Baltimore bred media darlings.

“To June,” coming a bit past the half way marker here, could just as easily be about a memorable month as a single individual. The tune’s made up mostly of odd production noises and pulsing notes squeezed from improbably reverb’d guitars. Its languid vocal, floating just atop of the occasional, but inviting slide guitar, should serve to make this everyone’s campout-come-down track after a night of visions either brought about from chemical help or just the good vibes of this music’s antecedents.

Even considering the heights of that track, most everything else represented on this long player is able to get into pretty close proximity. The one expectation comes in the form of “100 Years” – which, for whatever reason, seems to be the track most disseminated throughout the internets. But it’s a bit of a bummer in the summer. The false setto that works to such good affect else where really becomes burdensome here amidst the most aggressive track from this disc. It could be deemed a throw away, but that’d be harsh. It’s just an also-ran.

Apart from that five minutes from Ganglians, though, everything here is basically California gold. And seeing as the band’s already set to work on a few tracks to follow-up this friendly monster, Ganglians’ work ethic can only be hoped to match its ability at adroit recreations of aural relaxation.