Brant Bjork > Regular Bjork

No competition. One wears a swan as an outfit. One lives in the desert and kicks out jams of epic proportions daily and effortlessly. This dude has the resume of all resumes: Kyuss, Fu Manchu, The Bros, The Operators and a little known project called Che. He recorded this 7-track gem with ...And The Circus Leaves Town-era Kyuss drummer Alfredo Hernandez, who also played the kit on the Queens of the Stone Age self-titled debut, one of my favorite LP's ever.

Their one and only album, Sounds of Liberation, is a groove fest...A bad-ass motherfucker of an album. You almost feel your handlebar mustache growing as the album plays on. "Hydrulicks" kicks things off with one of the best riffs ever laid to tape. It's worth the admission price for this cut alone. "Pray For Rock" is a sweet jam as well, a track full of slow-burning powerchorded bliss. They're all amazing. If you like the first QOTSA LP, this is the perfect companion.

Bottom line here: Brant Bjork kills it with any project he's involved in. If you're feeling fancy, check out Somera Sol, his solo acoustic disc from 2007. The guy can do no wrong. Check out his new album, Punk Rock Guilt too.

Che Promo Interview Video:
Brant Bjork & The Operators: "My Ghettoblaster"

and for some old-school fun, Kyuss' "Demon Cleaner". This is awesomeness of epic proportions. As QOTSA says on the sticker of their "R" LP: "If you don't know, you're stupid". Amen.

Sometimes You Just Get It Right The First Time

Look, I'm not going to talk about all the Queens of the Stone Age records today. Not even a few. Even though I know more about all their side projects, past projects, future projects and other mindless info...Enough to even bore me sometimes, I'm only going to speak on why the QOTSA self-titled debut is perhaps one of the most flawless records in rock n' roll history and that Josh Homme is a goddamn genius. A riff machine, who chose to simplify it all down to the basic elements of drums, vocals, bass and guitars. Little multi-layering and some of the sweetest grooves since "Cheap Sunglasses". There's a reason Billy Gibbons loves Queens (and not much of one for liking Nickelback).

The album is fucking perfect. "Regular John", "You Would Know", "I Was A Teenage Hand Model", and "Avon" just hit so hard and they groove like a motherfucker...Scratch that. 10 motherfuckers.

A lot of people don't know that this record (which has been out of print for about five years) does not feature Nick Oliveri at all. He's in the pictures on the sleeve and back cover but only began his time in Queens after recording was finished. It's all Josh and Alfredo Hernandez, who also plays drums on one of my favorite stoner records ever, Che (with Brant Bjork).
QOTSA have become one of my favorite bands and have employed some of my favorite musicians. They keep putting out amazing music and don't ever show signs of staleness. I just tip my hat to Stone Gossard and his Loosegroove Records imprint for signing Gamma Ray (the previous name of QOTSA) and putting out this fancy record.

"You Would Know" 1999
"Mexicola" 1999