Mother Yeti

It's getting harder these days to find an honest to goodness great rock record. God knows when you look at the charts, that the genre as a whole is in decline and everything else seems to get so sub-genre specific that they shed the elements that can cross over and bridge the gap of fandom. There have been times in rock's history where psychedelia, funk and solid storytelling could all merge together under one banner.

Pacific Northwest outfit Mother Yeti have found that secret sauce recipe that manages to bind their eclectic proclivities together into one tight but loose juggernaut. The groovy vibe of Wilco, the brash tripped-out fuzz rock of Ty Segall and the levity of Ween are all represented on this gorgeously crunchy composition. My Best Please seems poised to solidify Mother Yeti's place in the indie garage rock pantheon.

The band is featuring songs like 'Someone's Happy' and 'Get Off On Mondays' for the masses as the standout tracks and though they are solid alt-rock ditties, it's in the deeper cuts where the Yeti really roars. 'Graceful Space' starts out fairly unassuming but by the end finds its way to a spaced-out bliss. 'Wanted It Funny' has a grungy new wave momentum to it, layering on the fuzz in creamy dollops. The funky stop-start of Roller Blade Shades has Prince written all over it. Punchy chords, a sarcastic beat and phasing falsetto give the album a so fresh and so clean tangent mid-album.

The single 'Push the Weather' does stand out as a gem. The ebbing and flowing vibrato guitar shimmers like so many summer days. The lazy groove picks up with hot, frenzied energy like a bag caught in an updraft, only to find the ground again miles down the road. Throw this track on your July playlists. This is the mantra of the warmer days ahead.

'Over My Head's verse percolates with bubbling anticipation just beneath the plodding half-time groove. The chorus then turns its focus upward as the riff scales like a climber tackling a steep cliff. The Yeti become their mountaineering namesake. A verbed-out psychy solo sews the whole thing together into a crossover classic. The closer 'Fim' offers the most ominous intrusion of synths on the album, setting the scene for the album's smashing summation.

My Best Please has all the momentum of a truly great rock n roll record. The songs flow with an effortless looseness, like a school of fish darting back and forth through the currents, stopping and starting and morphing as one. Mother Yeti manages to make a modern rock record that embraces the ethos of those days when you could throw it all in the pot and if you had the right nose for it, you could whip up a recipe much greater than the sum of its parts.