Jeff the Brotherhood--Heavy Days (2009)

In this recent lo-fi garage rock phenomenon, there has been an absence of originality. The surge of garage bands following in the wake of surf-rock acts like Wavves and Black Lips have essentially yelled into a microphone with the reverb cranked and called it lo-fi. To a careful listener (anyone who listens to anything beyond the sea of reverb), this is recognizable crap. Few of these bands are doing anything good. But Jeff the Brotherhood is. Their record Heavy Days carries in a new flavor to a decidedly stale palette of garage rock.

Consisting of two brothers, Jake and Jamin, a “3 string guitar” played through an 8x10 bass cab, defined and heavy drums, and some stylish keyboard work, Jeff the Brotherhood’s Heavy Days cuts and flows with racing precision and intervening melody from Side A to B, resulting in true garage rock.

The balance between hard and soft on Heavy Days is quite tasteful. The first two tracks, “Heavy Days” and “U Got the Look,” set the foundations of the album: hard rock with teenage working-class angst. This angst continues throughout the album even when the landscape changes from energetic, lashing rock to a slow calm as it does in “The Tropics.” The first track on Side B, “Heavy Krishna,” is the epitome of this careful balance in Jeff the Brotherhood. Beginning with driving rock, the track quickly delves into a slowed rocking beat before picking back up again.

Perhaps the most memorable track on the album is “Bone Jam.” With just the right amount of melodic “Ooos” on top of a surf beat, and with the perfect amount of turns and flangey guitar leads, the song identifies itself as a well-picked single on this record of beach-surf numbers.

At times this record begs the comparison to the likes of Wavves because it’s hard to ignore the lo-fi nature. At other times it sounds like Josh Homme-stoner rock and Black Sabbath. Yet it sounds like all of this while defining its own sound. This record works well because it calls upon notions of 70s stoner-rock and 21st century low fidelity while identifying itself as distinct. After all, that is what this lo-fi garage rock is supposed to be about: channeling your rock and roll heroes. You just have to do it well and in your own way.

—M. Alan Stripes, 17 February 2010