{"id":41431,"date":"2009-03-31T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-03-31T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/cosmisutra\/"},"modified":"2009-03-31T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-03-31T00:00:00","slug":"cosmisutra","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/cosmisutra\/","title":{"rendered":"Cosmisutra"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you herded Mellow Down Easy\u2019s influences into a trailer, it\u2019d wind up popping a few rivets. You\u2019d have the Allman Brothers and early-era Zep…Aerosmith and Cream…hell, maybe even The Replacements, assuming they weren\u2019t too hungover.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

You\u2019d think that many influences would be chaotic, discordant \u2013 or at least liable to wind up whacking one another upside the head with tambourines. What holds it all together, ironically enough, is The Looseness. A potent new strain of pot? Nope, although the results are similar. Cosmisutra<\/i> is laid-back, chilled-out, cool as a cucumber, relaxed as Frankie Goes To Hollywood. Mellow Down Easy\u2019s musicianship is solid, their production slick. Their spirit, however, is pure backyard barbecue. While Cosmisutra<\/i>\u2019s chill-with-chops vibe is an occasional liability, it\u2019s also breezily refreshing. Remember the Fourth of July parties of yore, when one\u2019s \u201ccool\u201d uncle would pick up a Strat and fumble through an off-key rendition of \u201cFreebird\u201d? Imagine everyone\u2019s surprise if that uncle was actually pretty damned good…and happened to bring along a few similarly-gifted drinking buddies. That\u2019s Mellow Down Easy, and this album is their post-peach pie opus.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The majority of tracks are laid-back, gussied-up blues-rock. “I Am the Universe” is a relaxed hip-shaker with blissed-out, squawling guitars. \u201cLove Money\u201d is a grittier, less-geeky Rush, an ass-shaker no less intense for its leisurely pace and psychedelic organs. \u201cCrazy & Wicked\u201d melds a snappy snare beat with a slow, slinky blues tango. In evoking Cream\u2019s \u201cStrange Brew,\u201d it also reminds us of the disc\u2019s primary weakness: mellow is well and good, but rock\u2019s got a harder edge as well. Next time, hopefully, MDE will employ a little more thrust and a little less sway. If \u201cPure Gold\u201d and its zippy, gritty guitars and cat-in-heat caterwauling are any indicator, the results would absolutely kill.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Cosmisutra<\/i> isn\u2019t averse to darkness, either. \u201cA Thousand Pages of Ugly Letters\u201d is a softer, more somber version of Aerosmith\u2019s \u201cWhat It Takes\u201d (were it sung by Mother Love Bone\u2019s late, lamented Andy Wood). \u201cUndergoing Resurrection\u201d is a mournful little regrets-\u2019n-Fender number spliced with a campfire jam sessions (sorrow! Sorrow! Maracas!). And \u201cThe Great Big Melancholy\u201d is amorphous blues-country by way of Steely Dan. Sounds odd, but the results are smoky and haunting.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The Looseness is a powerful force, and Cosmisutra<\/i> is a summery, mesquite-scented pleasure. If the boys can back up their melodies with some yowls and power chords, the Great Big Trailer O\u2019 Killer Southern Rock Bands may need to accommodate a few more partiers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":29816,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[8373],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-41431","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-mellow-down-easy","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/71"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41431\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41431"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}