"Deep in the Woods" - Tiny Mixed Tapes

June 11, 2008

Dragged By Horses mimic the power and depth of ragers like Shellac, undercut by a current of the drumnastics of bands like Don Caballero and The Ladies. That’s a good thing.

"Deep in the Woods" - Pitchfork

May 15, 2008

Dragged by Horses are a three-piece out of Humboldt County, Calif., far to the north of the state. At the county's southernmost point, it's still 225 miles from San Francisco, and much of the area could safely be called rural-- not much to speak of but a couple of colleges, strong weed, and a bunch of giant redwoods. The band's heaviness is just as elemental and matter-of-fact as their forest surroundings, but their sound is a little more nervous, and nods further south: to San Diego, home of Drive Like Jehu, who are clearly a compass point for this young band. They don't share the complex riffs and odd time signatures of DLJ, but they have the tone down, and are heavy without resorting to any raucous distortion, double bass-drum attacks, or quiet-to-loud; theirs is a much more subtle style of bludgeoning. More than that, without the use of laid-back surfer signifiers or sweetened Beach Boy-styled harmonies, they still manage to represent their zip code.

If only the whole of Deep in the Woods lived up to the promise of its first track. "Queen of the Nile" has an ominous drum patter that unwinds as slow as its circular guitar riff and creeping bass line, while singer Pablo Midence and some barely audible piano chords are drops in a bottomless bucket of open space. The guitars up the attack and the drums hit harder, but there's no explosion, just a swell in volume that recedes as quickly and unceremoniously as it started. "Mas Por Dinero" is earthy and oppressive like the best stoner-rock, but nervier and more prone to full band stop-starts, and with a mix of Spanish and English in the Midence's barked lyrics.

"One Way Ticket to Rome" has a similar kind of tension between its elastic riff and the jerks and heaves of the rhythm section, but as the record progresses, the sharp dynamics alone can't overcome the uniform sound of the record as a whole. "The Need to Fight" sustains tension with build-ups and fake-outs, but tracks like "Snailshine" or "Depth Charge" don't have much resonance beyond the initial stun of their tricky rhythm (not to mention limber drumming throughout). "1,000,000" sneaks in a memorable hook near the record's end, and if they could take advantage of open space as they did at the album's start, and were Midence to grow as a guitarist and incorporate more melody, the band could easily grow beyond their influences and their surroundings. As is, Deep in the Woods has an enticing sound with a few great tracks.

"Deep in the Woods" - Treblezine

April 30, 2008

Even before I had listened to Dragged By Horses' new album Deep In The Woods, I was more than prepared to give them serious kudos for sending an LP copy of the album for review. Maybe I should be thanking High Wheel records for the packaging, or the group's publicist for putting it in the mail, but seeing the band's name in giant letters on the 12-inch sleeve puts me in a good mindset before preparing to write about the album. So when I happen to hear the crazy, spastic noise-rock sounds emanating from the stereo speakers, I'm all the more happy to give props to this Humboldt County, Calif. trio.

Dragged By Horses, composed of vocalist/guitarist Pablo Midence, bassist Jody Goldman and drummer Chris Jaster, rocks with an old-school post-hardcore grind. Their closest sonic relative would likely be Shellac, whose ear-splitting, treble-laden skronk finds an enthusiastic and similarly abrasive heir here. Where they differ is in Dragged By Horses' tendency to let some occasionally gorgeous tones seep into their aggressive assault. Just about everything pummels and pounds, but sometimes, as in leadoff track "Queen of the Nile," there's an abstract, jazzy sensibility, similar to the underrated Karate.

Then again, pummeling is more or less what Dragged By Horses came to do, so one should expect to take a sonic beating while Deep In the Woods spins on the turntable. "Mas Por Dinero" chugs and scrapes while Midence howls lyrics in Spanish. "One Way Ticket to Rome" opens with jangly strums and beats that speed up and slow down in a fashion that's disorienting to say the least, though ultimately, the song takes shape for more of a conventional rock raveup. A personal favorite is "The Need To Fight," which begins with an ominous bass grumble, yet eases into a bluesy progression before exploding into a heavy rock `n' roll punch.

There is ample reason to commend Dragged By Horses, as their music bursts with intensity and brawn, yet does so without piling layers upon the group's simple, yet effective approach. That they were kind enough to let me experience this brutality on vinyl is just icing on the cake.