Record Review: Vamos "Spiderbait" (Maximum Pelt)

[$12 // Edition of 500 // http://maximumpelt.bigcartel.com/product/pre-order-mp-64-vamos-spiderbait-package]

Anyone who knows me knows that my record collection is very intentional in each and every record which is in it.    I've never tried to go out and collect a thousand records just to be cool and unlike my cassettes and CDs if I happen to get a record for review or somehow otherwise and don't like it I'll be quick to sell it off because, as Urban Outfitters would say, "Vinyl is so hot right now".     Needless to say that this record by Vamos called "Spiderbait" is going to be in my record collection forever because to me this is the essential sound of rock n roll.    This is the music which was meant to be experienced on vinyl (Some music is great but just doesn't belong on vinyl-- admit it) and not only that but it feels like the type of rock n roll sound my parents would have listened to when records first became a thing.   Actually, to be more accurate, it sounds like the type of music my parents would hide the records of under their beds from their parents.

Vamos has this great combination of combining past rock n roll influences with modern day ones but they never get too modern which is good because a lot of modern rock n roll really isn't what it claims to be.    By the last song on "Spiderbait" you'll be hearing some Zeppelin but there is also some Black Sabbath type portions to this sound.   It's got that skate rock n roll vibe in that way but also it has the psychedelic quality to it just as well.   Somewhere between Stone Temple Pilots, Them Crooked Vultures and a number of different artists off of the "No Alternative" compilation I can also hear some of that older Soundgarden coming through which pleases me as well.

At the same time there is this lively sense to the songs.   It's something like The Vines "Get Free" or Tora! Tora! Torrance or The (International) Noise Conspiracy as it can be fun at times but just goes to remind you that rock n roll doesn't have to be about long guitar riffs and musical breakdowns which never seem to end.    That's one of my biggest problem with a lot of modern bands who try to channel the classic rock: they do so in just such a boring way.    Vamos is breathing life back into a genre which will never die but certainly needed that life breathed back into it.

I don't know if I've ever recommended this before but I don't believe I have.   Of all of the ways which you can listen to "Spiderbait", your best way to experience it is on vinyl.  If you do not have a record player don't think "Oh, digital will have to do".   Go out and buy yourself a record player.    Even if this is the only record you ever play on that record player your time and money will be well worth it.    You know how they make specific video game consules for new game releases?   "Spiderbait" by Vamos should have a record player that is designed around it and sold with the record so that way if you don't have a record player you will now.   I realize that is likely too expensive for anyone at this level to do, though I would expect a Flaming Lips record player with exclusive record if it doesn't already exist, but in any case, yes, "Spiderbait" is just that damn good.