The Songs That Never End
It's that time of the year when we media folk start thinking about the best, the most, the worst, and the least. And if San Diego instrumental trio Earthless aren't likely to make many lists in the aforementioned categories, there is one area where the band stands out: Live At Roadburn (out tomorrow on Tee Pee), comprises four tracks on two discs and is 82 minutes long. Take your silly little seven-minute songs and go home, Metallica.
The thing is, I'm more fascinated by Earthless's endeavor than I am interested in its quality. In the age of ringtone hits and iTunes cherry-picking, these riff rockers (ex-Rocket from the Crypt drummer Mario Rubalcaba, Isaiah Mitchell on guitar, Mike Eginton on bass) are rocking like it's 1972--and Jethro Tull's two-track, 43-minute Thick as a Brick is still the No. 1 album in the country.
But even if the days of long-form rock's chart popularity have passed, Earthless's marathon approach does have some recent precedents. Legendary Northern California stoners Sleep put a 63-minute song on their 2003 Dopesmoker album. Sleep offshoot Om's 2006 Conference Of The Birds lumbered in at two tracks and 33 minutes. But there are key differences between Earthless and the others. Sleep and Om moved through highly structured compositions, like snails ascending the steps of a pyramid. Earthless, though, plow away at mega-amplified boogie with seemingly little regard for structure or change. The band slows down now and again, but the tempo shifts register as rest stops rather than arrangements.
The last time I tried listening to Roadburn, I started laughing about 17 minutes into the opening track, "Blue." I stopped a few minutes later. The album's just too goofy. In a weird way, it reminds me of the World's Strongest Man competition. See a musclebound Icelander pull a fire truck! Listen to hairy Californians boogie forever! Why? Why not?
But even if Earthless's appeal is somewhat freakish, I've spent time thinking about them, which isn't something I can say for the most of the bands I've heard this year. So my advice to Earthless: keep chasing the horizon.
Would you follow? Share you favorite (or least favorite) extended-play rock artists/albums in the comments section.
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>Flower Travelin' Band - Earthless
