Axis of Evol in Bloomington, MN

Lo-fi
indie rock
is alive and well in 2006, as evidenced by the arrival of the sophomore effort by
Pink Mountaintops
,
Axis of Evol
.
Stephen McBean
returns once more with a set of tracks that sound akin to an amalgamation of
John Frusciante
's early solo work and the great
Skip Spence
McBean
certainly has a thing for
psychedelic
sounds -- it's hard not to listen to
"Slaves"
and not feel like you're about to start hallucinating yourself, while
"Cold Criminals"
brings to mind
the Velvet Underground
. But it's not a retro sound that
specialize in entirely, as evidenced by the
electro
beats on
"Lord Let Us Shine,"
and the
Sonic Youth
-like guitar strumming on
"New Drug Queens."
And you can't get more minimalist and melancholy than on both the album opening and closing tracks,
"Comas"
and
"How We Can Get Free,"
respectively. It's good to see that there are still artists out there who march to the beat of their own drummer, and could care less about penning songs in hopes of landing a beer commercial. And for that, you are certainly applauded,
Mr. McBean
. ~ Greg Prato