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LP
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VHF 170LP
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"If you've been following the wanderings of prolific psychedelic magicians Elkhorn, you might be surprised that Elkhorn guitarist Drew Garder's solo LP Wave Field is the most out and out 'rock' record on VHF in many years. Working here in a small group with excellent players Tom Malach (guitar), Andy Cush (bass), and Ryan Jewel (drums), Gardner cuts loose on a set of propulsive and swinging material that allows him to greatly expand his sound into unexpected areas. 'Rhizoid' starts with a sneaky groove riding the nimble bass and drums of Cush and Jewel before a leap into the ripping Sonic Youth/NEU! hybrid of 'Space Ray.' 'Shadow Casting Grass' brings things back down to end the side with some Elkhorn-adjacent gentle guitar weave backed again by the sly rhythm section. 'Wave Field' kicks off side 2 with an extended buzzy guitar raga with Cush's melodic and fat bass providing jammy counterpoint. The epic 'Mayan Bees' closes the LP with an extended workout on another extremely fine drum and bass ostinato, a hypnotic minor key riff that slow builds over 10+ minutes."
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LP
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FTR 547LP
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"This is the first LP (following a cassette) released under Drew Gardner's name and it's a doozy. Drew is a guitarist, probably best known as a founding member of Elkhorn (although his musical partnerships with Jesse Shepard go back way further than that), and his recent work with Jeffrey Alexander's Heavy Lidders has also been noteworthy as hell. The band here is a trio with Andy Cush (Garcia Peoples) on bass, and the extremely well documented Ryan Jewell on drums. Drew's guitar playing is jazzy without being jazzoid, and rural without being hick. The four instrumentals the trio lay down are of a piece, and share a brilliant (if understated) flash. The closest comparison I can think of is to the pair of Raccoon label LPs cut by Joe Bauer and Noggins. Both Moonset and Crab Tunes were great shuffling sets of low-key trio improvisation hovering somewhere between the electric jazz of the period (1971) and the country-oriented British West Country progressive bands of the same era. The same can be said of Flowers in Space. The pieces here are all assembled without a lot of flash, but they're steeped in a deep and very stoned-sort of meditative state you might also compare to some of the Dead's more pared-down, low-key distensions of late '69. There's a smoky, frictionless ease to the sound. One that reveals a little bit more of its true nature every time you spin it. Recorded by Jason Meagher at Black Dirt in 2019, released as part of the Drowned Land series, this one's a smoker in a whole lot of ways. So sit down, lean back, and draw deep. You'll be damn happy you did." --Byron Coley, 2023
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