Heavy Blues Rock/Psych Rock recommendations?

Cafe Society
1

So I’ve been diving lately into heavy blues rock and psych rock and I feel like I’ve missed a lot of good stuff but there’s a lot of noise and it’s hard to find the vein of rock I really like…

First, blues. I love slow, heavy, Sabbath-esque riffs with tons of fuzz. The band Kadavar does these kind of guitar lines almost perfectly (Kadavar- forgotten past - YouTube). Moreover, I love the almost exclusively bullhorn sounding vocals that comes with territory (seen also in that Kadavar video). So yea, I just love some super sweet, thick, heavy chords just blasting away. Gary Clark Jr. can do this amazingly when he wants to but it doesn’t always happen (Gary Clark Jr. - Numb [Official Music Video] - YouTube)

For psych rock, it seems like I can never get a handle on bands who do it just like I enjoy it. There’s an indescribable X factor that just conjures images of a 70s living room filled with smoke and everyone in the room lighting up like no tomorrow. I heard this really random cover and it’s about the most perfect example I could find of that sound: The Dutch Rhythm Steel & Show Band-Down by the river - YouTube
I also really dig this Hendrix track but it doesn’t really get good for me until about a minute in: - YouTube

Hopefully this halfway makes sense to you rock guys. I’d love to share some music around and if you guys have some suggestions, I’m more than willing to do some exploration.

2

The Black Angels

Sleep - Dragonaut

3

Sample a few tracks from this for the psych part of the equation:

Morgen

4

I second The Black Angels. Also I recommend Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Also, maybe look at people who have played at Austin Psych Fest. This past year The Black Angels and Kadavar both played, and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club played last year. Some of the other bands definitely fit your criteria.

5

For psychedelic hard rock it’s hard to beat the band Earthless. The first track on this album (20 min long) just blows my mind every time I hear it: - YouTube

6

Oh boy does that ever bring back good memories!

Not sure if it’s what you’re looking for or if you already know of it, but I’ll mention Robin Trower, especially the album Bridge of Sighs:

7

I think you might be looking for Fever Tree.

8

Not sure if you’re looking back in time, but for historical wildness, one must include Hawkwind’s Space Ritual.

9

Perhaps Danzig’s She Rides?

(Not posting link due to not particularly SFW vid. It’s on Youtube)

10

“South Sugar” by Witch Mountain. Heavy, kind of bluesy, with awesome vocals.

“Nod Scene” by Monster Magnet. Much heavier and trippier than their later stuff.

“Warrior Woman” by Jex Thoth.

“Funeralopolis” by Electric Wizard. Might be a little heavier than you want, but riffs don’t get much more monstrous…

“Demon Cleaner” by Kyuss.

11

No one’s mentioned Cream?

12

This. Cream and Hendrix pretty much defined that. Get off my lawn.

13

I think we all kind of assumed we didn’t have to.

14

Earlier** Black Keys**. I’ve only heard* Thickfreakness* and* Magic Potion*. Maybe their newer stuff is still like those.

15

This may be too extreme for your tastes, but Sunn O))) has lately become a major favorite of mine.

16

I wonder if Conrad knows they’re using his logo?

17

Led Zeppelin.

18

Someone already mentioned them, but I also recommend Kyuss (along with the rest of the Josh Homme bands…mainly QOTSA). Here is the intro from one of their albums:

They are heavy but have some great riffs.

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Clutch:

Land of Pleasant Living

Worm Drink

Big Fat Pig

Red Horse Rainbow

20

I just wanted to say that I’m at work and on my iPad, which makes it extremely difficult to do links to youtube vids and that, along with my natural tendency to let others chime in before I post a wall of text with 10,000 links and stuff, has kept me from fully participating in this thread.

That said, there’s already been a handful of bands mentioned that I would have listed, so that’s good.

BUT, there’s a lot of bands that fit the bill that have not yet been mentioned, so I promise that I’ll be back to this thread soon, prolly Thursday afternoon or evening.

I’ll leave you with one reco: The Machine is a three-piece band from Holland that plays an awesome kind of desert stoner rock, very like Kyuss but fuzzier, somehow. Give a listen to Sphere (… or kneiter) from their last album, 2012’s Calmer Than You Are.