Garcia Peoples - Cosmic Cash 2018

On their debut album, Cosmic Cash, New Jersey outfit Garcia Peoples aren't trying to hide their inspirations, but manage to refract them in a way so warm that it feels like a celebration. The influences are obvious: the telepathic boogie rock of Little Feat, the Allman Brothers, or Hot Tuna; the goofy juvenilia of Phish or NRBQ; and signifiers from several different phases of the Grateful Dead's endless oeuvre. Indeed, the raspy vocal harmonies, interlocking guitar leads, and generally blissfully dazzled state of the album all point directly to the Dead's studio work, in particular mellow gallops like "Show Your Troubles Out," which could be an Aoxomoxoa outtake. Rather than jam band mimicry, however, Cosmic Cash reads more like an exciting update to these influences. Garcia Peoples clearly have a healthy appreciation of the '60s and '70s jam band foundations, but take risks with their approach and inject enough of their own spirit into the songs to make them more their own. This comes into full focus on the nearly 14-minute "Suite," a collection of five shorter pieces that charges out of the gates with almost Krautrock-like propulsion. Wild rhythms and burning dual-guitar lead melt into a sunshiny groove for a while before ultimately dissolving completely into a sticky web of harmonies and call-and-response composition that tells a hallucinogenic story as the song shuffles along. It's a long strange trip, to be sure, but feels like a trippy exploration of how far Garcia Peoples can push the known boundaries placed by their influences. When they're not tripping through the stratosphere, they're ripping through boogie rock numbers like "The Sweet Lie," melding barn-burning playing with a lighthearted indie feel (not far from early Real Estate or Bonny Doon) to their '60s-steeped sound. Most of the band members were children when Jerry Garcia died, but this factor somehow adds to the feeling of genuine love and curiosity for what he left behind. While clear in its reference points, Cosmic Cash feels more like a young group of artists carrying the torch passed down from a previous generation of psychedelic searchers than a bar band running through jammy cover songs. The songs are intentional in even their most exploratory moments, tapping into the spirit of mystical wondering and belief in the unexplainable that made the first wave of cosmic rock bands so important to begin with. AMG.

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