Album Review: Brant Bjork and the Low Desert Punk Band - "Black Power Flower"

After years of quiet (and some would argue disquiet,) from the collected musicians that made up KYUSS, there’s been a huge burst of productivity in the last eighteen months.  First, Vista Chino, which is essentially the pioneers of desert rock under another name released their ‘debut’ album “Peace,” to rave reviews.  Earlier this year, vocalist John Garcia released his self-titled record and now Brant Bjork returns with another band and has released a record under the banner of “Brant Bjork and the Low Desert Punk Band.”

If you’ve ever gotten together with some buddies and just decided to jam a bunch of songs you like, that’s sort of the general sense of “Black Power Flower.”  The honesty and earnestness with which Bjork and his friends take on these songs is warm and embracing, even in the bitterest of lyrical moments.  While none of the songs on the record is a cover, there’s still a familiarity to these songs that speaks to the comfort of the musicians playing them.

To that end, the Low Desert Punk Band doesn’t sound much like a punk band at all, outside of the characteristically thin guitars that populate not only that historic genre, but is the hallmark of desert rock as well.  Really, the longer that “Black Power Flower” rolls on, the more it starts to sound like a loving Black Sabbath tribute, complete with the deep thrum of blues-laden bass lines and doom-soaked leads that so characterizes that most important of metal bands.

The album begins in what can only be called predictable fashion, with a low vocal growl and the dry, crunchy drone of desert riffing that buzzes throughout “Controllers Destroyed.”  This template gets flexed a few times, repeating with variations in timbre and tempo for “We Don’t Serve Their Kind” and “Stokely Up Now.”  The latter of those is where the ‘punk’ label in the band’s name sticks every slightly, as the cadences are short and the phrasing abrupt.  It’s a nice twist on a genre where the common fan may think they’ve heard all possible permutations.

For all that though, the back half of the record is truly the album’s better half, as it descends an octave into sludgy proto-metal madness, the loving craft of musicians paying homage.  The rumble of “That’s a Fact, Jack” hums with analog power, the kind of song that harkens back to the golden age of classic rock.  It’s immediately followed by “Hustler’s Blues,” a song that could pass as a rough facsimile of “N.I.B,” the spirit of that song channeled through more modern means.

The drawback of “Black Power Flower” is simply that it doesn’t blow the doors off of anything.  The album is versatile and well-crafted, but doesn’t inspire the kind of fanhood that would make you put it on your shield and charge into enemy cavalry.  It’s an understated experience, an album best reserved for lazy days and as a backdrop to playing video games or reading comic books.  That’s not a bad thing by itself, but it does secure the album within a certain frame.  Those looking for a high octane experience may be disappointed.

Brant Bjork and the Low Desert Punk Band may not change anyone’s opinion of the talent of Brant Bjork, but it does see him exhibit a different side of his musical background.  As stated at the top, the strength of this album is its integrity which is beyond reproach.  Spin it for that reason alone, kick back in a comfy chair and enjoy the mellow, rhythmic ride.