Download: Nebula “Pulse”

(from Heavy Psych out now on Tee Pee)

Just like you can point to Nirvana’s Bleach and say “THAT was what Sub Pop sounded like,” someday I’ll point to Nebula’s Heavy Psych and tell an inquisitive great-niece that “THIS was Tee Pee Records!” Songs such as “Dream Submarine” shoot for the star-struck wizardry of Hawkwind and Amon Duul II, yet deceptively Satanic sounding songs like “Crown of Thorns” emulate the bombastic bluesy-ness of early Foghat and ZZ Top. And then Nebula pauses ever so slowly over some low power chords a la Sabbath and Pentagram before ripping into some blistering stoner-rock Deep Purple guitar licks. It’s not pure metal because there is that heavy wah-wah usage and Subway Sect’s bubbling synth sound. But it’s not merely the Dazed and Confused soundtrack either—there’s some “No More Tears”-era Ozzy on the vocals, and even a little bit of Jackyl, yet also some Mark Arm Mudhoney aggression in the delivery of lyrics like “I was swimmin’….. on the other side of my mind!” Like all post-Mojo meta-metal, there’s a bit of an ironic wink over the whole thing, something like the Stone Roses’ approach to raw rock a la “Love Spreads.” But you have to love a band that can play together for twelve years and still come out with an album that takes music from before you were born and makes it into something fresh.

—Dan Collins

NEBULA WITH CROOKED COWBOY ON SUN., SEPT. 6, AT SPACELAND, 1717 SILVERLAKE BLVD., SILVERLAKE.