The name sounded familiar. Turns out I reviewed an album by an earlier version of this band (New American Farmers), and back then I was similarly struck by the psychedelic americana spun. For me, the touchstone act along these lines is the Jayhawks, and this band tracks along the same lines. Spectacular (and often understated) guitar work, keyboards when they fit and vocals when there's time.

New Earth Farmers The Good Ones Got Away (self-released)

These songs have that "I know I've heard this somewhere before" feel to them, and between the Jayhawks and the Byrds, there's definitely something to that. But just when I think a song is winding a familiar path, along comes a distortion-laden guitar bridge that launches the piece into a whole new trajectory. It's a strange construction, and it might seem like after a while that trick wouldn't surprise. But, somehow, I always found myself transported.

The sound is incredibly dense. It's often difficult to find any distance between any of the instruments. And while the vocals aren't sung in unison, they too sound compressed into a single unit. This is clearly what the band wants (Knowles is listed as a producer), and it lends an almost punk feel. Not in an Uncle Tupelo way; that was stripped down. Imagine a lo-fi sound on a latter-day Bad Religion album--just the sound, not the songs. Something like that.

Now that I think of it, the Brian Jonestown Massacre found a similar sound on its Bomp! Albums, but I'm pretty sure that was drug-induced incompetence. New Earth Farmers has refined its sound (and name), and clearly this is how it wants to be. I like it. Almost no one is trying to make music that sounds like this, and I haven't heard anyone do it this well in ages. Like an unaged single malt, this one contains multitudes. And it's gonna shred as you swallow. Most excellent.

Jon Worley