By Jim Fahy

Dirty Lungs
Somebody Here’s Going Crazy
Sleep Tofu Corporation

Somebody Here’s Going Crazy is the long-awaited debut album from Birmingham’s The Dirty Lungs. Chock-full of wiggling delights and mind-expanding shreds recalling psyche greats like The Blue Cheer and Big Brother and the Holding Company, The Dirty Lungs wrap it up with a hip-shaking swagger clearly rooted in The Dirty South.

What sets The Dirty Lungs apart from the other psychedelia is their sense of soul, and Crazy has plenty of rhythm and blooze. “Tired Of This Company,” “Runnin’,” and the track “Sit Tight” best exemplify The Dirty Lungs’ rowdy, acid-drenched boogie while brooding numbers like “1000 Suns” and “Tiger and Its Prey” ably maintain malice and groove. “Sit Tight,” a strangely cathartic ode to white-knuckled restlessness, manages to blend Galaxie 500 and Black Sabbath— no small feat.

And there we find the The Dirty Lungs greatest strength: Reassembling the history of psychedelic rock while sidestepping both pastiche and artifice in order to make way for a great time. Think of them as revisionist cartographers, charting the most pleasurable routes between rock-and-roll delights. That sense of economy is pervasive throughout Somebody Here’s Going Crazy, affecting everything from the lean running time, its colorful use of recording studio razzle dazzle, and the cover art: Crazy is packaged as a blank canvas that literally comes sealed with a miniature pack of crayons. Aspiring designers can color to their heart’s content or embrace its Duchampian glory. Either way, you win.

Vulture Whale
Vulture Whale
Skybucket Records

Vulture Whale’s self-titled sophomore album (released nationally through Birmingham’s Skybucket Records) impresses mightily with a crock-pot musical approach and tongue-in-cheek self-awareness.

Thematically, Vulture Whale seems to be hung up on a certain amount of mid-life crisis…or maybe it has to with begrudgingly managing adulthood. The characters here—some Raymond Carver, some Barry Hannah, all somehow slouchy, drunk, and glorious—are trying to get a few things straight…all while having some fun along the way. There’s some navel gazing, sure, but there’s also songs that nimbly satirize adulthood (“What Do”), give the finger to eternity (“Sum Yung Scientist”), and celebrate the love of an older woman (“Head Turner”)—all of which is performed with hooks and charisma galore. Frontman Wes McDonald has been writing songs under his own name and with bands like The Ohms since the ‘90s and so knows his way around a narrative—and Vulture Whale’s funhouse mirror approach makes for some of his best work.

Musically, Vulture Whale creates a sprawling twang that allows McDonald’s narratives to expertly shuck and jive. Sure there’s a Southerner’s love of Hank Williams and bluesy licks, but The Replacements gassed glory, and the woozy, whammy bar attack of My Bloody Valentine are as vitally important—and Vulture Whale let them lovingly stew. Other songs, like the lovely first single, “Sugar,” glide with irresistible grace.

And another thing: Wes McDonald doesn’t sing as much as he channels voices—and, often, several of them will appear over the course of one song. A little Jagger here, a little redneck drag there, a fat dash of Iggy Pop…it’s a glossolalia so ebullient that you’ll be hard pressed to hear it without envisioning a big ol’ grin—one you’ll be wearing in solidarity.

Vetiver
Tight Knit
Sub Pop

Legendary Seattle label Sub Pop has been releasing visionary records for most of its 20 years of existence. You can chalk much of this up to Geography. After all, Seattle was the birthplace of Grunge.

Good taste does count for something. Like their flannel-clad forbearers, turn-of-the- century Sub Pop success stories like The Shins and The Postal Service have inspired dozens of respective imitators. Similarly, groups like Band Of Horses and Fleet Foxes seem to be ushering a host of acts rooted more in the dulcet tones of seventies California than the WTO riots a decade prior. San Francisco’s Vetiver, and their latest album, Tight Knit, are further proof of Sub Pop’s faith in its vanguard.

Though Vetiver is really singer/ songwriter Andy Cabic and a revolving group of musicians, the number of cooks don’t spoil the soup. Tight Knit is an album that is all about flow, and its sumptuous and mellow journey feels like it was designed with a turntable in mind.

All in all, Tight Knit is a pleasant trip. The shimmering folk of “Rolling Sea” sets a lovely pace, but “Through The Front Door” and “Down From Above” feature the band at their absolute best—conjuring rolling gusts of humid psychedelia. “Strictly Rule” might be the album’s best (and most seductive) track, while the reggae abomination of “Another Reason To Go” should have heeded it’s own advice.

Tight Knit could be a perfect soundtrack for the humid nights to come. Their show at Bottletree will be a good indication, but I just hope there’s vinyl at the merch table.

Vetiver plays Bottletree on March 15th. For more information, visit www.thebottletree.com.