ninehertz

This is an 8-track split EP of two Austrian bands with the unlikely names of Parasol Caravan and Cachimbo de Paz.

Parasol Caravan are the more traditional sounding of the two. Retro rock is a big thing at the moment and Parasol Caravan are at the decent end of it. Crunching riffs and a bassline that get its groove on in Barber’s Snake means they start with a bang. Once your ear gets used to an Austrian vocalist’s attempt at an American stoner vocals then you forget their origins and start to get down with our European friends.

They clearly love the 70s and their music wouldn't sound out of place on some obscure compilation album from that period. The final track Chinese Eyes whilst less immediate is arguably the best on here.

It manages to create some real atmosphere building slowly in both tempo and volume. With this type of music it is important to sound like you are enjoying yourselves and taking it seriously, but not too seriously. They manage to do just that and stay definitely on the right side of derivative and cheesy. Give them some time and a full length album should definitely be worth listening to.

Cachimbo de Paz have more of a psychedelic, garage band feel going on. Again it wouldn’t sound out of place on some Californian, late 60s album that your hippy Dad had in his vinyl collection.

Coyotes on Peyote (where do they get these names?!) kicks us off with upfront bass and semi spoken vocals that remind me of an outtake from The Doors at their most trippy.

The rest of their tracks demonstrate a bit more variety than Parasol Caravan. Stare into the Sun uses melodic death metal-esque vocals, albeit a more straightforward sounding stoner number. They finish on a more uptempo note on the largely instrumental Cachimbo. Interesting stuff overall but harder to love than the first half of the ep. Overall though well worth a listen.