$20 //
Black/Green Edition of 100 //
https://bleedinggoldrecords.bigcartel.com/product/dream-joints-just-like-medicine //
"Just Like Medicine" begins with an intro of a first song and then "Everyday Obstacle" takes us into this trippy, desert type of feel which really reminds me of The Doors. There is a little bit of Bob Dylan in the vocals, but there is also this element of Stone Temple Pilots to these first few songs as well. Though I realize that might not be the best comparison since there are similarities between The Doors and STP, and I specifically remember that VH1 special where Scott Weiland was singing with The Doors. On "Heat So Heavy" there is a line "I'll be the one that gets you high" and this just furthers my belief this has the beginnings of a drug-fueled desert trip.
But it's not just the lyrics. It's that mellow, organ tone type of rock that just makes you feel like you're wearing the weather around you. There are likely other bands this could be compared with along the same lines ("Turn Me On", for example, feels like old school Marilyn Manson) but they could also all be traced back to The Doors and I suppose if you were going to get high with your friends this would be a great soundtrack to that party. By "Contrast", though, the mood changes. It's a slower ballad with synth lasers and drum machines at only the right times.
We've drifted from that psych rock ala The Doors into something out of The Breakfast Club, which I feel like I'm referencing more than not lately but on record it sounds so good. I got this record of Roxy Music somehow (I forget how) and I had my dad hold onto it when I was moving and so I just only recently was reconnected with it. This blissed out dreamy rock does sound great on vinyl. It's got a bit of The Consolation Project in it, a bit of ETTD as well. And as we reach the end of Side A I can hear some Nine Inch Nails in here as well, which is funny because I'd put NIN and Marilyn Manson on tour together, sure, but I'm not sure it'd be the same crowd as might like Dream Joints.
On the flip side we open with a song which could be thought of as somewhere between The Doors and shoegaze but it has this great driving sound to it. This continues into more of that straight up -gaze sound, which is something I fell in love with when I first started Raised by Gypsies thanks to When The Sun Hits, so to think of Dream Joints as being an artist I might have heard on one of their compilations isn't too far of a stretch for me (and it may have happened, but I won't look into it because I'm not that type of musical journalist today)
"Just Like You" is a somewhat dark song- which could be under the label of darkwave- and it is followed by the more pop version of NIN influenced "Just Like Home". Now all we need is "Just Like Heaven" or at least "Just Like Medicine" sung to that tune. Bits of Ed Schraeder, but Dream Joints just takes on a style all its own, especially as synth tomes come through in patterns unlike heard before in this type of dreamy rock with the upbeat lyrics of "It's looking all right now" with a downbeat tempo like something from the "Empire Records" soundtrack.
In that way, I suppose Dream Joints spans several decades worth of music to create what is a sound that really cannot be defined by year. From The Doors to those 1980's Breakfast Club sounds to 1990's modern rock to the present, it just has a lot of influences combined and I definitely feel like as much as artists can pull from various genres they should also never be afraid to mix different eras and Dream Joints is a shining example of that as these songs are perfect for any era of music.
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