Thanks to Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein’s hit show Portlandia, even non-Pacific Northwesterners now have an understanding of the inherent strangeness of the scene in Portland, Oregon. That said, Kyle MacLachlan playing bass for a roots reggae band doesn’t hold a candle to the weirdness of the doomy, grungy, garage-rock cacaphony that is duo Sam Ford and Max Dameron of Wizard Rifle. With influences as varied as Judas Priest, Sonic Youth and Queens of the Stone Age, you aren’t really sure what you are going to get from these two until you buckle up and listen.
Wizard Rifle’s debut LP will be released via Seventh Rule Recordings on March 13, but IO has managed to snag you an early listen. Click the mp3 link below to hear Speak Loud Say Nothing in its entirety!
Wizard Rifle – “Speak Loud Say Nothing”
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I really like this. Reminds me of Orphan in the vaguest but best way.
The octave guitar reminds me a lot of the octave bass in Lightning Bolt. Add in big stoner riffs, and you’ve got a winner.
The AmRep /Touch & Go comparison gets thrown around a lot. Having grown up on that stuff though, I haven’t heard too many new bands who seem to fit into that sound. Wizard Rifle comes close. With some scuzzier production from Tim Mac, this could have been on a Dope, Guns, and Fucking 7#. I like it.
Er, 7″. I’m tired today
Sound cool! My band is supposed to play a show with these guys in May….sounds like it’d be killer live!
they hold it down live, too
The dream of the 90’s is alive in Portland.
wizard. rifle. really? is there any kind of parody element to this?
Cool shit, not so original, sounds identical to Karp.
This is damn good. Thanks!
It only sounds identical to Karp if you listened to about 20 seconds of some random part that happed to sound a little like Karp. In other words, this sounds nothing like Karp.