ORQUESTA DEL DESIERTO (Dos) CD
I remember when Steve Dandy Brown, guitarist of OdD and Hermano had sent me last year a preview-release CD-R that contains the rough mixes from five of the here included songs. This CD-R stucked in my player for months and was an exciting appetizer for the upcoming album. Now here it is and OdD are giving us the second dose of relaxed semi-acoustic mexican-flavored rock stuff. Their compelling fusion of Latin stylings and psychedelic-tinged blues is a real alternative in this days. Pete Stahl's emotional depth-charge and soulful singing is charismatic as ever, and he always adds something special to the sound, like he did in his previous bands (Goatsnake/Wool/Scream). The album is very atmospheric and reminds me more to the desert than any Kyuss record does. OdD have recorded "Dos" at the legendary Rancho de la Luna studio and this place must be huge influence for the eight musicians.
"Summer" is a perfect bitter-sweat anthem to the end of this season, and one of my highlights of the album. The opener "Life Without Color" with its trumpets reminds me to the land of sombreros and tequila, while "Someday" sounds like unplugged The Who in 1971. "Above The Big Wide" is a sentimental up-tempo song about lost love and the rememberance to it and another highlight on "Dos" while "What In The World" is a like a mixture between Latin and Country. The dreamy "Sleeping The Dream" enchanted the lister with its mellow and dark flow and is a perfect track to close this wonderful album. I appreciate the courage to create their very own thing, instead of forming the next heavy rock band OdD are an amazing band and I really hope that "Dos" won't be last chapter of their magic trip through the desert. Do yourself a favour and buy it!
(KK)