Record Review // Upper Wilds "Jupiter" (Thrill Jockey Records)

https://upperwilds.bandcamp.com/album/jupiter

The way that "Jupiter" begins with the song "Permanent Storm" should just set your tone right there.  If you can hear those big, distorted guitar riffs that are basically providing a melody enough for the song that we don't need vocals, but then the vocals come in still-- if you're hearing all of this and not completely captivated by it then you just aren't going to get it.  

Upper Wilds creates this fast paced, chaotic rock and I love it.  I think this sound can resemble artists such as Dinosaur Jr, but in that sense you think of it as being slower.   It's almost as if Upper Wilds took that slower, stoner type of rock sound and just sped it up.   Musically, this is just everything you could want from a rock album and so much more.

"Jupiter" just feels like there's this constant stream of distortion going on throughout the album, but it differs from song to song.  Even the song "Short Centuries" is a bit slower, but the energy is still there.  And in making this incredible rock album, Upper Wilds has also found a way to add elements of pop into it because these songs have been stuck in my head since I first heard them.