New Release Tuesday: Blitzen Trapper & Queens of the Stone Age

Blitzen Trapper Wild Mountain Nation (Lidkercow Ltd.)

Folksy but freakish Portlanders Blitzen Trapper have yet to be scooped up by Zach Braff, but that's probably only because they're still on the fringes of too weird. Yet, between soothing and familiar odes to old Grateful Dead tunes and powerful plays towards anti-genre adorableness, the odd sextet manage to capture the listener's attention while totally defying their own. Eccentric, playful and genuine songs fuse 70's goofball spasms with classic rock guitar riffs and layers of alt-country flair featuring slides, steels and subtle touches of honkey tonk. While the band's previous releases showcase the group's potential (we still go back to "Summer Twin" when we need a pick-me-up), Wild Mountain brings the talent to the forefront without any of the pretense or predictability of heavily influenced groups that might earn similar praise. Blitzen Trapper was just here last week, touring with the Hold Steady, and if you didn't catch them, be sure to grab the album and keep tabs on them in coming months: we hardly imagine they'd know how to disappoint.

Blitzen Trapper Official
Blitzen Trapper MySpace
Blitzen Trapper @ PDX Pop Now (YouTube)

Queens of the Stone Age Era Vulgaris (Inerscope)

Julian Casblancas, ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons, and Mark Lanegan guest on QOTSA's latest album, but don't let that fool you: they're still hard. "Sick Sick Sick" is an almost NIN-ish creepfest (the video, linked below, is terrible but a trainwreck of the best kind) that mixes heavily processed guitars with roaring vocals that sound like they're coming from the end of Hannibal Lector's stone hallway in Silence of the Lambs. Josh Homme has probably earned that kind of tongue in cheek darkness, seeing as how he's the hardest working rocker in the metal game as well as the most prolific metal guy in the rock game. We usually prefer Eagles of Death Metal, but from what we can tell, the vulgar era is pretty addictive. Check out the QOTSA official site to stream the album in its entirety.

Queens of the Stone Age Official
Queens of the Stone Age MySpace
Queens of the Stone Age "Sick Sick Sick" (YouTube)