i say not crap.

only heard them once, when they played the mainstage at the black cat here in DC a few months back. i was left thinking "wow, i bet this guy is playing the hell outta his guitar! too bad his sound is so whack i can't really hear it well enough to tell!". i really don't think they're total crap, not by a long shot... but after a few songs, i was wondering when their set would end or they would start doing something interesting (lost interest after about 3 or 4 of what seemed like roughly the same song), for that reason i kinda hafta go with crap. because for all the hype i've heard about them, they didn't strike me as anything at all exceptional. maybe it's that they're awesome people? hell if i know. they were definitely not horrible. but it was just like what happened when i saw the black eyes though, after *so much* hype, they had such little chance to blow me away. these guys kinda started putting me to sleep.

**editing this now** just remembered another thing they had going against them at this show... they were the last of three bands, the first two being french toast and consonant. french toast delivering some solid-ass drumming, and consonant delivering a very engaging show, courtesy of one very interesting guitarist in mr clint conley. if senor brokaw woulda been there, too, i can only imagine. but i think this might also be part of what made dead meadow come across as so 'meh'. very high waffle factor, but they still left me voting 'crap'.

the guitar/bass interplay on "Sleepy Silver Door" alone makes them not crap. 'shivering king..' is great too.

I have the shivering king LP and its pretty unoutstanding, but pretty decent all the same. Not crap.

Saw them in Austin a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, they followed the amazingly energetic Tia Carrera (no relation to the actress) causing many a yawning hipster to head out early. While they do have a tendency to kind of drone along, they played a good set. Their bassist was amazing, though they could all stand to loosen up a little. As far as their records go, the muffled drumming on Shivering King and Others is a bit frustrating. Still, NOT CRAP.

this band is ganj-tastic

vocals kind of annoying

they have some pretty good riffs here and there

not crap

CRAP CRAP CRAP

saw these guys open for Dinosaur Jr earlier this week...i dunno, i never got what was so "psychedelic" about psychedelic music...distorted blues with lots of guitar solos...i hate Cream i hate Dead Meadow...

Howls From The Hills is a really great album. Perfect. The guy from Frodus recorded it, and boy did he do a good job.


The S/T is pretty good. Haven't heard it in a long time, though.


I was really disappointed with Shivering King. The songs may have been good, but the mix totally ruined for me. Those are some bad sounding drums. Good work, Brendan Canty!


Never bothered with Feathers.


Not crap for Howls From The Hills. I love this album.

EDIT: Double Post.

robert thefamilyghost wrote:CRAP CRAP CRAP

saw these guys open for Dinosaur Jr earlier this week...i dunno, i never got what was so "psychedelic" about psychedelic music...distorted blues with lots of guitar solos...i hate Cream i hate Dead Meadow...

Robert,

I think they are best represented on record where certain studio effects can't be duplicated in a performance context. I recommend all of the albums and disagree with the bellow poster about Shivering King & Others. While the drumming is merely passable the sound has opened up and lyrically contains some of Dead Meadows best material. Likewise Feathers. Of course as you said, if you don't like this "genre" of music on principle I guess you should pass. I think what makes them stand apart though instead of being simply "retro" is the purity of the guitar playing and the attempt to create their own style on record instead of just copying.