The Warlocks: The Mirror Explodes

Label: Tee Pee

The Warlocks’ ten-year space-rock odyssey continues. Though I’m often a sucker for a band riffing on the Velvets’ blueprint, this group’s L.A. style didn’t mesh with it, and they became relevant only after they more fully embraced their druggy, syrupy side. On The Mirror Explodes, their fifth full-length, the Warlocks daywalk through stately spires of arcing guitars, never in a hurry, letting the vibe dictate the slow, steady pace, and vice versa. Bobby Hecksher’s vocals emerge from the guitar haze as if egged on by some distant breath of fire on the Spacemen-y mellow “There Is a Formula to Your Despair,” while “Frequency Meltdown” recalls the Telescopes a bit. Once in a while it’d be nice to hear this band try and take me to the other side, like those Spacemen 3, or head purposely in the other direction and go full-on psych-zombie like Religious Knives, but the Warlocks seem happy to meander through a dense guitar forest, destination unknown and likely uncared about. And that’s just fine too. (M.L. Thrope)