Wooden Shjips

Details

Wooden Shjips perform on Friday, May 15, at 9 p.m., $6; 252-1330, www.theeparkside.com.

Thee Parkside

Related Content

• Wooden Shjips Give a Free Ride on the Psych-Drone Starship
  August 19, 2011
• The 10 Best Underground Rock Reissues of 2011
  December 30, 2011
• SF's Moon Duo Announce Debut Full-Length LP, Release Title Track
  February 8, 2011
• Wooden Shjips: Show Preview
  August 17, 2011
• Wooden Shjips Make a Visual Drone for "Black Smoke Rise" Video
  August 2, 2011

More About

• Wooden Shjips
• Ripley Johnson
• The Living End
• The Jesus and Mary Chain
• The Velvet Underground

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Music Newsletter: Keep your thumb on the local music scene with music features, additional online music listings and show picks. We'll also send special ticket offers and music promotions available only to our Music Newsletter subscribers.

Privacy Policy Cancel Continue

On their second album, local boys Wooden Shjips have entirely abandoned the primitive psych of their previous work, opting for glossy production, anthemic choruses, and a seemingly shameless bid for the pop charts. Just kidding, stoners. On Dos, the Shjips stay on course, with five songs in 38 minutes that should please the Arthur Magazine/Aquarius Records set and anyone who has ever wished PiL had more of a Creedence thing going on. Leadoff track "Motorbike" sets the tone. A vocal nod to the Jesus and Mary Chain's "The Living End" floats over sparse organ parts, echoey guitar fuzz, and a rhythm section that's light on frills and heavy on repetition. Like, heavy on repetition. This is to be expected, though, as the band has always incorporated the percussive mantras of Krautrock. Wooden Shjips' single-minded attack provides fitting context for guitarist Ripley Johnson's lengthy workouts — the real highlight of Dos. On "Down by the Sea," his playing especially cooks. He eschews the blues tropes of previous tracks and heads out into truly mind-bending territory. The song's peaks sound like the Velvet Underground taking a stab at the Dead's "Viola Lee Blues."

You'll be disappointed if you're looking for unfiltered, Hawkwindian space-blasts on this album. With Dos, the Shjips instead offer a pleasant day trip through earthy, groove-driven psychedelia.