Brant Bjork & The Low Desert Punk Band - Black Power Flower

Brant Bjork & The Low Desert Punk Band Black Power Flower cover
Brant Bjork
Black Power Flower
Napalm Records
2014
7
What can I say? I’m a Kyuss fan. Well, who isn’t? So I was both excited and afraid of Brant Bjork’s new release. Excited as, let’s face it, he’s one of the people who influenced my life a great deal over the years, so in a way, it’s kinda like catching up with an old friend, since, to be honest I haven’t really been following him after his departure from Fu Manchu. But on the other hand, as I said, I couldn’t help having the fear of that old friend letting me down.
 
But let’s focus on what’s at hand. “Black Power Flower” is a clean cut stoner rock album. I mean what else would you expect from Brant Bjork? But even more importantly, it’s a pretty good clean cut stoner rock album. Once again, what else did you expect from Brant Bjork? You’ll not find any game-changing anthems like “Freedom Run” or “Gardenia” or “Demon Cleaner”, or “Phototropic” or “El Rodeo”, or… Man, I really wanna listen to some Kyuss right now! I’m getting off topic. So, as I was saying, you won’t find any groundbreaking uber-tracks in “Black Power Flower”. Come to think of it, what’s really missing in this record compared to Brant Bjork’s previous work is the dark, gloomy undertone. With the exception of “Boogie Woogie on Your Brain”, which has a vague dark vibe to it, and “Hustler’s Blues”, which (as the title suggests) is a blues infused melancholic tune, “Black Power Flower” is pretty much packed with raw powerful guitar-driven melodies in an overall boisterous atmosphere.
 
Songs like “We Don’t Serve Their Kind”, “Stokely Up Now”, “Buddha Time (Everything Fine)” and (my personal favourite from the album) “Ain’t No Runnin’” are all just fine and dandy. But none of them is what one would call a great f@cking song, the kind that one could listen to over and over softly bobbing their head until their neck is sore.
 
Nevertheless, “Black Power Flower” is a tight album from a bunch of skillful musicians. After all, it’s not just Brant Bjork’s record; he’s gathered some of his finest friends like Tony Tornay (Fatso Jetson) and Bubba DuPree (ex-Void).