Brant Bjork

Mankind Woman HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS

Feel-woozy hit of the summer.

Former Kyuss/ Fu Manchu drummer Brant Bjork is one of the chief architects in the desert/stoner rock movement, but with his solo excursions he has always pursued loftier goals. As the music he helped create devolves over the years into lumbering, faux-Satanic Sabbath retreads ad nauseum, Bjork’s vision continues to expand further and farther, including elements of jazz and funk that simply could not exist in the faraway land of Godzilla EP’s Eatin’ Dust.

Mankind Woman is his most soulful outing to date, an intricate collection of shimmering, sun-soaked rockers that sound like something José Feliciano might’ve come up with if you tossed him in a room with Steppenwolf in 1973. It’s retro, sure – hell, the best song on the album is called Brand New Old Times – but lovingly and gently retro, and the overall effect is the California we’ve always dreamed of, a hazy neverland of ocean breezes and revving motorcycles tearing down endless highways.