Dead Meadow preview

Dead Meadow
Subterranean, Chicago
Saturday, July 22, 2006

Mixing doom-oriented Sabbath riffs with swirling psychedelia and Tolkien imagery is nothing new — unless you sprang from the indier-than-thou D.C. hardcore scene.

True to form, Dead Meadow were originally nurtured on the independent label Tolatta, fostered by Fugazi’s Joe Lally and sculpted out of area post punkers. But the decision to marry dinosaur rock riffage to soapbox elocutions was an idea all their own. After a wah-wah-filled EP and two albums, they jumped to indie flagship Matador Records, who released Shivering King And Others, an album that seemed to explode and implode simultaneously, carefully plotting points (muscular rock, hazy downtempo, even acoustic fare). Roundly applauded even if it didn’t quite make Dead Meadow a dorm-floor revolution, Shivering had them poised for sleeper-Top-10dom.

The shift on last year’s Feathers, however, isn’t quite as digestible. Rampaging through a new pop realm, they don’t seem nearly ready to make their new shoes the main pair. Lingering psychedelic effects and meaty mojo contrast sharply with the tight production, and the sludge overload at the end tries a little too intensely to reclaim former holdings. The boost for their live show, of course, is too see how much they’ve let go.

Indian and Sterling open.

— Steve Forstneger

Click here to download “At Her Open Door.”

Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly