No People, No Problems

It’s a bit of a cliché, the whole “yeah guys we’re really really baked woooo” thing that every 2nd stoner/doom band has going. Sure, the two greatest albums of this genre both have dope in their name, but you’re not going to sound like Electric Wizard or Sleep no matter how hard you try. There bands should take hints off those guys, fo’ realz- stop talking about how much you love weed already, smoke an ounce or two every day for a few years and get to making albums with some originality; the classic album will come along if you don’t force it.

Matsudo, I think, understand this approach. It’s all really laid back and loose, the bass probably louder then the guitars. Closer to the harrowing bad trips of Dopethrone then anything else, it’s not terribly original but for such a short EP it’s pretty damn good and many a stoner fan would like it.

It’s pretty noisy and all over the place, a welcome anecdote to the typical bands of this genre that add some pentatonics to some modern rock and call it “doom”. This is groovy, but it’s also slow, full of feedback and effects (the “flanger over the whole mix” thing is a cliché that will hopefully never get old) and the vocals aren’t sung, more slurred in a jap accent. It’s not friendly or particularly accessible which is a pretty good thing. The production’s huge, too, giving off a real sort of “this was recorded at an extremely loud volume” vibe.

In short: two short but quality stoner tunes, a short but quality EP. Worth finding.