Goat

More than a decade on it should feel like business as usual for Goat, but the Swedish collective is still finding ways to let their psych scorch leave new scars. The latest album for Rocket Recordings finds the band absorbing new influences while still keeping the mix of pollyrhythms, amp-fried guitars, and ominous aesthetics in tact. While the band has been no stranger to a percussive pound, there’s a particular presence on the eponymous new album, augmenting the usual patter with breakbeat accents and a sweaty, smokey dose of funk. The band feels like they’re reverse engineering classic-era hip-hop, setting themselves up as a deep well of samples for intrepid crate diggers of the future.

“Goatbrain” shakes the Magic 8 membranes, turning their psychedelics towards the dirtiest funk grottoes they’ve ever stumbled upon, before a psych-folk comedown lets the flute flourish on “Fool’s Journey.” The band’s always been able to leave a nice sear on the listener with guitars but “Dollar Bill” might be one of the heaviest they’ve let seep through the speakers in a long time. Then the second half of the album gets into new rhythmic territories, introducing spaced disco on “Zombie” and sliding head-long into Big Beat for closer “Oruborous.” The latter really lets that title sting, feeling like the band devouring their own sound and re-contextualizing it into sample and source all in one. Throw in a high plains strummer (“The All Is One”) and the band are proving that they can be Goat without having to rest under the thumb of genre expectations.

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