:hammer of the mods
Now that I’m only hipping you L7’s to the hip stuff once a month, I didn’t even get to wish you bong-bubblers a happy 4/20. Truthfully though, wishing you beautiful freaks a happy belated 4/20 two weeks after the fact is probably the most stoner thing I could possibly do. As a gift for your patience and grace, I will turn you on to one of the greatest touchstones of stoner rock that you have never heard of: Population II by Randy Holden. Celebrating a brand spanking new reissue and remastering from the buds-with-buds label Riding Easy Records, Population II is truly Randy Holden’s magnum opus.
Originally distributed in 1970 on micro indie label Hobbit Records, Population II would’ve completely devastated and crushed but was stillborn upon release as you couldn’t find this slab o’ wax anywhere. Over the years, the record was bootlegged numerous times with compromised fidelity. It was regularly hyped by bearded, bespectacled and bald collectors of heavy psych (uh, basically people like me) who routinely spent a heap o’ bandwidth on this “great one that got away” on psych forums read by their bearded, bespectacled and bald brethren. admit that Holden’s contribution on their third jammer New Improved is pretty beige.
After one tour with the mighty Cheer, Holden unfortunately felt hemmed in with the creatively bankrupt band, earning no money and as he told Perfect Sound Forever’s resident psych uber nerd Richie Unterberger in 2000: “I was trying to accommodate everyone else, at the expense of my own soul and happiness.” And by “soul and happiness” he really meant a shit-ton of searing guitar leads that were loud enough to melt the fillings in your teeth.
That’s where we hit upon the mighty 1970 riff-stompin’ monster Population II. While the Cheer may have been louder than God, with his solo record Holden would succumb to a true Spinal-Tap-ism and proudly boast “but this one goes to 11.” With the intention of being the loudest band ever, Holden rented an opera house for his pre-production to house his (ahem) 16,200-watt Sunn amplifiers (Geesuz fucking Christ!!!). During the two weeks before wheeling his ridiculous wall of ampage into the studio, he remained inspired, even letting the rhythms of a ceiling fan pen one of his leaden monsters.
In the lead-off track “Guitar Song” (Zimmerman dis ain’t), he proclaimed over the din of a doom-laden groove: “I love the sound of a guitar playing.” Humble drummer and keyboardist Chris Lockhead can be heard thumping away in the background but is a mere murmur behind Holden’s unrelenting roar. Often cited as the first doom record (it’s not even close to being the first doom record, and you can take it from me as I am bald, bespectacled and bearded), this is definitely a leaden iron (man?) beast crushing cities in its wake with discordant tri-tones that routinely get knuckle-dragging Iommi and Saint Vitus fans nodding along. The beats lumber along as Holden’s riffs and searing leads crush craniums with dark oozing goodness.
If superfluous guitar leads and excessive sections that seem to have no real musical purpose or clear destination make you break out in hives, may I suggest the recent work from wet blankets like Animal Collective. For those of us from the Make a Riff Foundation, this molten slab of proto-metal and heavy psych will put the bacon on your burger.
For the official Riding Easy Records stream, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MUOPUlXuVM