Night Beats

Night Beats are back, steadily threading the needle of psych and garage with a strand of soul that's just fine enough to get lost in the clamor while still tying things up nicely. The band's climbed up to a larger label and a bigger sound, though still genuinely on the same general path they've been weaving along all these many years. The record opens on a cryptic note before exploding into the ravaged psych of "Power Child," one of the standouts of the set. As is typical of Night Beats, while there's a certain amount of sweat (see "No Cops"), there's plenty more instances where the band lays back into groove, letting a dark, smokey veneer overlay the record like a pervading ethos. The band knows how to keep their garage dipped and dripped in the low hang of stage fog, swaddled in sunglasses and baking in leathers in the 90 degree heat without so much as a break in stride to acknowledge there might be any cause for discomfort. They're longstanding dues payers to the cult of composed cool and for the most part they know how to wield that cool like a weapon throughout Who Sold My Generation. Most garage long players are best when taken to task on the hi-fi speakers but the grotto nuance here actually finds this album best seton headphones or confined to the car; its a loner's record and it's best to keep it contained. Let the outside world wonder what's moving your head.

Listen:


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