Before I get into Back Down To Earth, there is one qualification I have to make: I’ve got a serious bone to pick with rock musicians who ignore modern trends and derive all the musical inspiration they need from past masters. I find it not only pretentious to think that it’s possible to make a great modern album without any respect for the modern greats, but also an unfortunately provincial and ultimately detrimental modus operandi. As you probably guessed, Photon Band is one of these bands, citing Jimi Hendrix, Sun Ra, The Beatles, and Buddy Holly as some of their biggest influences. This refusal to entertain any modern insight brought this album down a rung on my ladder of musical enlightenment.
That qualification taken into account, Photon Band’s latest album, while far from tearing rock a new asshole, takes a pretty entertaining survey of what classic rock and pop have done. These nine tracks are satiating for any rock appetite, weaving their way through the stylistic repertoires of the aforementioned legends. The lyrics are fitting and unobtrusive, certainly nothing you haven’t heard before. “Where Did The Love Go” falls into a predictable “Everybody wants to know/ Where did the love go?” in the same general manner as the rest of the tracks. The spacey Clientele-esque vocal reverb is a nice touch, but surprisingly the most interesting track is the instrumental finale; “Last Call, Bad Night” treads (inadvertently, I’m guessing) between a drunken Stereolab instrumental and a Madlib jazz-rock vamp.
My favorite part of Back Down To Earth is the image it puts in my brain. Like any shameless guitar rock album, this record allows you to picture the look on DiFuria’s face simply by hearing the tone of his guitar. I can see his lips curl in and brow furrow as he ejects blues lick after blues lick into the audiosphere. This is a look somewhere between a post-defecation expression of relief and a pre-orgasm forehead wrinkle of anticipation. Like either feeling, it’s best experienced sparingly, and for that, I heartily tip my cap to Photon Band. Back Down To Earth assumes old-school long-player form, clocking in at just over 33 minutes, being careful not to wear out its welcome.
So, as I’ve said, this is a pretty shameless reincarnation of what rock ’n’ roll used to be. But hey, if Andrew W.K. can get a record deal, why shouldn’t Photon Band be allowed to rock their Hendrix-laced hearts out? If you allow yourself to indulge in this generally self-aware derivation, you’ve got yourself a dandy LP.
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