Rock and Roll has a long running history of imitation and appropriation. Artist take elements from their influences and mix them together until something new comes steaming out of the pot. Spacin' are a prime example of a new group taking age old rock tricks and applying them to a new frame. Spacin' at it's core is a bare bones garage rock band, but instead of being content they take their power chord riffs and use them as a foundation for drawn out experimentation and psychedelic jam sessions.
Spacin' is a muddy home recording project from Philadelphia, featuring members of the group Birds of Maya. They take the same approach to heavy guitar shredding sessions, but instead keep riding on a riff instead of exploding into a storm of electricity. Spacin' take most of their cues from the Rolling Stones (obvious from the cover art) and the Stooges. However, they take the solid riffage of these bands and use it as a backbone for more Krautrock experiments.
The opener, "Empty Mind", sounds like the stoned boogie of a Stooges riff or possibly even the Velvet Underground, with the rhythm section hanging on the down beat, while the lead guitar spirals in and out. The simplest of chord progressions becomes a droned out repetitious exploration.
Tracks like "Chest of Steel" and "Sunshine, No Shoes" could sit at home on either "Funhouse" or Iggy's "Lust for Life". They both take a bright three to four chord riff and turn it into a gritty stomper with some swelling guitar melodies in between verses.
While tracks like "Oh, Man" and "Ego-Go" truly take after the space rock name. The beauty of all these songs is the bands capacity to take a single progression or idea and stretch it out without it getting dull. All the solos and riffs are in exactly the right place. It is experimental within the confines of a traditional rock and roll frame. It isn't earth shattering or even genre defying, but it is new music made by a group who love rock and roll, and who love riffing into space. If that's all you are looking for in contemporary music, look no further.
