Releases

Perpetual Stew, by Junegrass11 track album

Junegrass is once again stirring up the pot with their latest creation, 'Perpetual Stew' – a never-ending, ongoing musical experience infused with a blend of spicy guitars, blazing bass, delectable drums, savory synths, and mouth-watering melodies. This deep, full-bodied, and complex listen invites you to savor each musician's contribution, as Engstrom's guitars add sharp and flavorful notes, Brazil's bass and synth work create a rich and luscious foundation, Schemenauer's drums are deeply caramelized, Bolling's riffs are hot and savory, Radcliffe's sax and synths are succulent and tasty, Johnson's keys add a delicate touch, and Ford's sax is smooth and tender. Get in line for a serving of this musical feast, where the entire spice rack has been thrown into the boiling hot stock, resulting in a truly unique and enjoyable experience.

"The band is again stirring the pot with their latest creation, Perpetual Stew, a musical experience infused with spicy guitars, blazing bass, delectable drums, savory synths, and mouth-watering melodies. Damn, this is making me hungry … “Get in line for a serving of this musical feast, where the entire spice rack has been thrown into the boiling hot stock, resulting in a truly unique and enjoyable experience,” the band says.

Perpetual Stew by Junegrass includes contributions from eight musicians, adding the sounds of guitars, synth, bass, tenor and alto saxophone, keys, and tingsha. Judging by the sounds of “Percolator,” it proves to be a fun listen.

“Percolator” grooves hard over its nearly three-minute runtime, the perfect soundtrack to a Saturday night dance party. Junegrass cooks up a jam band sound that’s funky, refreshing, and oh-so-delicious." - Third Eye Psych Rock

Jug Bug, by Free Times4 track album

Chicago’s Free Times is further proof that rock is evolving into a boundless, chimeric beast.

Free Times is made up of Garrett Luczak (guitar and vocals) and Eric Scholin (guitar and synthesizer), Mark Jacob (bass), Bill Myers (keys), Steve Howe (drums) and Adam Szmelter (sax). Get to know these names, as I’m sure they’ll soon become regulars here and on other similar platforms. You might even remember the band’s previous incarnation, Free Moontime Band, from a RCU review we posted a few years back. While the name might have shrunken down some, the band’s strength certainly hasn’t.

Released in time for 4/20, naturally, Jug Bug is an expansive four-track EP that covers everything from refried cosmic boogies to charging hallucinatory jams and juggernaut space rock.

The pure electricity of excitement flows throughout every song on this tape. You can just hear the band’s confidence and joy as they explore their way between the boundaries of rock, jazz and kosmische musik. Within this short EP, you’ll be treated to hypnotic motorik beats, flaming Hendrixian wah-wah guitars and fierce acidic solos that rip through foggy astral mists.

With the progressive and hard-driving psychedelic approach to jamming, it’s difficult not to be reminded of the genre-bending choogle of Garcia Peoples. The way Szmelter’s sax races off in the jams might even recall GP’s trippy epic, “One Step Behind”. Yet, this similarity is just notable when it comes to approach. Now, stylistically, the Chicago-based group has their own unique thing going on. They take the stoned improv looseness of bands like Pacific Range, but then uniquely applies it to the heavy modern acid garage sound of artists like Night Beats or Ty Segall. - Record Craters United

Keen On, by Junegrass3 track album

Junegrass is back and bending with a summer breeze.

They’re back with Keen On the follow up to their cassette-tape Electric Grass (Eye Vybe, 2018). Keen On is developed, sharp but supplely groovin’, full, fun, struttin’ and psyched-out. It’s three tunes that clock in at around 5 minutes each. Plenty to sit with, chew on, and rock to.

Junegrass opens here with an appetizer, “Farm to Table,” some uncanned heat served fresh. A staple in yer diet, that good, good cud. Penultimately, track number two, they give us, “Thunder Guise.” Some slow, dark clouds rolling in the distance. Really rolling, folding, a slow burn, electric, but it ain’t the same as the last time. Last, for a little dessert, is “Very Cherry”— candy so sweet it gets stuck in your teeth and turns ‘em red.

These fellas sound better than ever. Another shape, but still locked in, another day, any place. Experience the -grass anew again and again. Without further ado—Keen On.