Brain Glaze

Comments (0) By Dan Strachota Wednesday, Jul 29 2009

The Brian Jonestown Massacre was like the Yardbirds or Bluesbreakers of the late '90s. Not only did all three bands play burly psychedelic rock, but they also served as a kind of training ground for future talents. Ex-members of BJM eventually started such hot-shit groups as Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, the Raveonettes, and the Warlocks, but the best local example of greatness may be Brian Glaze, who served as the group's drummer for a spell in the mid-'90s. His three post-BJM solo albums (the latest of which, Green Living, came out July 28 on World Famous in SF Records) are chockfull of sooty little nuggets of gold — pop gems that have been coated in layers of grit and grime. Green Living is a collection of home recordings in which Glaze played all the parts, offering up disco-y falsetto vocals, soft-rock synths, garage-psych riffery, indie-rock jangle, and goofy lyrical whimsy ("Everybody gets loose sometimes/You want to ride a caboose sometimes"). Imagine a combination of '70s bedroom-freak Gary Wilson and '80s pop screwball Lawrence Hayward of Felt, recorded at the epicenter of the current hipster underground (which would probably be the Knockout or Greg Ashley's bedroom).