Torche Harmonicraft

I don't own it yet. It hasn't been released yet. But I will own it. I heard some of the songs when they played live, and you can stream the record (yuck, I had to link to Spin magazine) so I am ready to give a preliminary thought on it. It's even more Pop than Meanderthal, but it's exactly up my alley. It reminds me of an unsung (except by me, I think) band- Workers. It's got that same melodic blasting- like U2 meets early Jane's Addiction meets 1st album BRMC meets Kyuss- see how that goes from Pop to less pop to post punk to rock? Well, that's how the songs are with Torche-at first, you're assaulted by the Pop sheen, then you start to notice the subversion, then, you notice that really that guitar is mighty loud, and before the short track ends, you realize that it's monstrously heavy, but performed so tightly, that it seems more pop than it is. So, if you like Stoner/Grunge/Alternative loud rock, give it at least two listens. The first just to get the initial impression, and the second to realize what you actually heard. In that spirit- this will be the first word on the new LP from me. The second will come when the record is released, and I get a chance to listen to the CD/LP ( whichever I get first). I think it's the only way to be fair to this band.