The War On Drugs Baby Missiles

The War on Drugs sounds like a band that hangs out in a basement with low-slung couches and psychedelic posters abound. In fact, they sound like a band you'd want to hang out with in a basement, drinking beer and telling stories, listening to them jam for hours on end. Their music is cozy without being precious; it's jam-infused without sounding like a jam band. They dabble in the mumbling of shoegaze while paying evident homage to the psychedelic masters of the 60s.

Future Weather is their fourth EP since 2005, and is a short but sweet collection of eight seriously great tracks. The EP flows easily as a whole, but individual songs are distinct and interesting alone.

"Baby Missiles" starts out slowly with a build up of ambient sound, picking up with killer guitar riffs (courtesy of Kurt Vile, one of my faves) and a most excellent harmonica."Brothers" makes use of the same guitar and harmonica, but in a more layered, lilting way --  it wraps around you entirely. The sound is folk with a hint of psychedelic blues. Even "Comin' Round," a 45-second transition tune, could be an outtake from a Jimi Hendrix recording session.

The track that sticks with me is "A Pile of Tires," a parred-down number featuring a hazy guitar and a smokey voice. The arrangement is simple but the sound is complex -- it seamlessly manages to be beautiful and badass without a hint of contradiction.