THE ATOMIC BITCHWAX

You know those little pocket-sized toy guitars with buttons on them that unleash a Bill-and-Ted-worthy volley of riffing when pushed? Stick one of those in your back pocket and sit on it for forty minutes. If the nonstop riffalanche that ensues leaves you fatigued, bored, or pissed off, then your ATOMIC BITCHWAX needs may be better met with more song-oriented albums like 2005's excellent "3".

Because "The Local Fuzz" is on the very outer fringes of jammy self-indulgence, and THE ATOMIC BITCHWAX don't seem to much care whether you come along for the journey or not. It's one song (take that, downloaders),a 42-minute mashup of over fifty riffs and exactly zero vocals. It's a diverse, layered and dynamic song, sure, with lots of different textures and moods. But it's one... damn... song! You could argue that the little hiccup and left turn into quiet psychedelia at the 23-minute mark is really kind of another song, or that a few of the transitions from part to part are jarring (there's one at 31:30, and another one earlier on that I'm damned if I'm gonna rewind for twenty minutes to try and find). But such quibbling kinda misses the point, granola-crunchy though it may be — you just gotta let it flow, maaaaaan.

And flow it does — it's a testament to these aging vets' savvy and prowess that they make this whole thing come across as pretty organic, from start to finish. Ironically, for a piece of music that's probably gonna become background jams for long drives and/or marathon bong sessions, "The Local Fuzz" probably required a lot more planning and forethought than a collection of three minute "hit singles" would have. There's scads of shaggy '70s rock groove, plenty of trippy liquid soloing, impressive funk elements in the low end, some pretty head-scratchin' noodly proto-prog bits, and it's all slathered with this denim patina and fuzzed out stoner tones, and an indfinable exuberance that keeps it exciting and fun.

Again, though, "The Local Fuzz" seems destined to become something you put on and then go do something else. Maybe that's best -- while there's a lot of subtlety and shading piled into the various sections of the song that hardly anyone's even going to notice, the overall hubris and hilarity of the whole overblown mess comes across with even a casual listen. You'll get your kicks, even if you miss all the details, and I suspect THE ATOMIC BITCHWAX is just fine with that. They already proved that they can write a record of short, catchy tunes (see the aforementioned "3", well worth your time). If they wanna spend this year indulging in their own Jazz Odyssey, and the results are this good, I'm not gonna be the one to tell them it's a ridiculous idea. I dunno how many times I'm actually gonna spin it... but I like it.