photo by Dave Lichterman
The road west as ventured by San Francisco-based group Wooden Shjips drifts and turns through a dark corridor of hazy psychedelia of crunchy guitar riffs amid pulsing keys amid a steady drone. At the wheel, guitarist/vocalist Ripley Johnson (also of Moon Duo) accelerates through decades and genres of trance, psych and garage rock, co-piloted by bassist and co-producer Dusty Jermier, drummer Omar Ahsanuddin, and organ player Nash Whalen. While their latest album, West, is their first to be fully produced in a studio, the band remains unswerving from the raw energy and appeal of their early primitive sound, as they proved to KEXP listeners with their first in-studio appearance this past summer. Check out the videos here:
