333

In music, as in life, its a good idea to have a plan B when life derails you. Chad Ubovich of Meatbodies had a good one in place when the groups third album was delayed due to the 2020 lockdown. With unexpected time on his hands, he delved back into the bands archives and found a demo recording he and drummer Dylan Fujioka had worked on a few years earlier. He figured with a little bit of at-home mixing the songs would work just fine as a stopgap release until the real album was ready. He was more than right, and 333 not only fills the gap, it takes the group to uncharted territory. Some of the tracks hit the same sweet spot between garage rock swagger and almost-metallic heaviness where their work has set up shop in the past. The grinding, slow-motion jam Reach for the Sunn and the rippling rocker Cancer are examples of classic Meatbodies-style songs, played with a loose and rambling vigor thats refreshingly unstudied. Knocking those pins down was easy enough; elsewhere, Ubovich takes some stylistic chances and gets all strikes. The instrumental Eye Eraser brilliantly drops some classic shoegaze guitar work on top of plinky drums, The Hero is a psychedelic ballad worthy of pre-freakout Syd Barrett, and Night Time Hidden Faces is a stunning departure. The first half of the track comes across like Stereolab if they were members of a biker gang, juxtaposing hypnotic guitars and organs with a motorik groove and some blithely sneering vocals. Once the groove really starts to pick up steam, the song abruptly switches to low-slung blues-rock, the likes of which one might hear on a Royal Trux album. Its experimental, its fun, and as with the rest of the record, it works like a charm. 333 might be a side trip for Meatbodies, but its a fascinating one. Not only does it show how versatile they can be, it also cements their place as one of the great underrated rock bands of their era. ~ Tim Sendra