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The Warlocks have always seemed like a band that should be better than they are. They've got the right kind of pedigree (leader/singer Bobby Hecksher has played in The Brian Jonestown Massacre and with Beck), a good mix of influences (The Velvet Underground, Jesus and Mary Chain, Spacemen 3...etc.) and an interesting set-up (the band has been as large as eight members and has included multiple drummers) - yet outside of a few songs their albums have never lived up to their potential, and their concerts have been exercises in boredom and frustration. The exception was 2007's Heavy Deavy Skull Lover, which featured a scaled back line-up and songs that had an interesting, almost post-rock level of composition and sonic brain-scrambling, which struck a chord with me that they had been unable to do up until that point. I was hoping that their latest, The Mirror Explodes, would build on what this leaner and meaner line-up of the band had laid a foundation for, but if anything they've regressed back and offered up their least interesting album in almost a decade. The problem with this what this newly reconfigured five-piece version of the band has to offer is quite simple: pacing. Too many of the songs operate within the same droney mid-tempo that lacks any groove or forward movement. This is OK for a track or two, but it gets pretty tired after a while. I like "Kid's Garden" by The Brian Jonestown Massacre as much as anyone, but I don't necessarily need and album with eight variations of that song on it (and with less interesting vocals, at that). Also, whereas other Warlocks albums have had some kind of elements of light and melody (and even a distant sense of humor) within their songs, The Mirror Explodes plods aimlessly without anything there to latch on to. Try as you might, there's absolutely no way to get tracks like "Slowly Disappearing", "There Is Formula To Your Despair", "You Make Me Wait" stuck in your head.
DAVID MANSDORF
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