The Ribeye Brothers - "If I Had A Horse..."
(Meteor City 2002, MCY-021)
The Ribeye Brothers - "If I Had A Horse..."
(Meteor City 2002, MCY-021)
From Aural Innovations #20 (July 2002)
Now here's something a wee bit different. Not quite what you'd expect from either Meteor City or the Monster Magnet folks. The Ribeye Brothers are a new side project of Jon Kleiman (Monster Magnet) and Tim Cronin (ex-Monster Magnet) who take this opportunity to explore a passion for hot rockin' Country and Rockabilly with frequent forays into psychedelia. I remember when I lived in Atlanta in the early-mid 80's I'd go see Jason and the Nashville Scorchers (they later dropped the Nashville when they got a record deal) in clubs and these guys played some seriously ass kickin' heavy down ‘n dirty Rockabilly. And that's what the Ribeye's remind me of. This shit'll make you want to dance on a tumbleweed while swiggin' moonshine. But it rocks HARD and has a nasty garage feel and sometimes an acidic edge. Just dig that raucous toe-tappin' cover of the Beatles' "Don't Pass Me By".
But there's variety here too. "Drinkin' And Stinkin'" gets my vote for most fun song on the album. With lyrics like "I'm tired of lyin' face down, in my own puke", and speaking of the horrors of being out of cigarettes and beer, you just can't go wrong. "Bootfull Of Piss" is a totally cool garage-psych tune with a crazy 60's organ. "Mr. Ray Charles" includes trippy looped guitar and more organ. And "Swatter Turns To Stagger" highlights the Ribeye's during one of their lighter moments of acoustic folk-psych. The songs are all in the 2-3 minute range but the Ribeye Brothers make clear concise statements that need little in the way of extensive development. A good fun rockin' and swingin' set.
For more information you can visit the Meteor City web sit at: http://www.meteorcity.com/.
Contact via snail mail c/o Meteor City; PO Box 40322; Albuquerque, NM 87196.
Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz