New Rituals

Sometimes you find yourself on tour and you realize that the booker in whatever backwater town your in doesn't really give a fuck about what you do, he has just offered a show to any band that happens to be rolling through Chump Junction that night. He might round out the bill with a couple of local loser bands that he assures you "have a killer draw" which means their fat girlfriends will show up, drink the few beers backstage, snap some photos of their boyfriend's stupid porno grind band, and leave. Such was the case on Ludicra's recent stop in Little Rock, Arkansas. The first band was a group of knuckle-dragging jocks whose name evades me, I do however remember they had a song called "Six Dicks In One Chick," yeah, this night was looking bad. The second band wasn't much better. The pleasant surprise of the evening (outside of the gunfight in front of the venue) was Davenport, Iowa's own Mondo Drag. Mondo Drag were more out of place on this bill then us, they seemed miserable and confused and this is when we bonded. Mondo Drag follow the same retro course made popular by Witchcraft, their attention to detail is reflected in their gear, their clothes, and the cover of this album titled (oddly enough) New Rituals. Needless to say, Mondo Drag's set was quite a welcome surprise, especially after almost two hours of fat, pimply kids screaming about bukakke over gravity blasts. So at this point I'd like to thank the guys in Mondo Drag for making an otherwise unbearable night somewhat bearable, and I'd also like to thank them for giving me this CD, I have been loving it. New Rituals is a thoroughly enjoyable record of delicious atavist psych-rock from start to finish. The songs and production are authentic and the vibe is completely kitschy witchy cool. Usually this kind of revivalist nostalgia falls short of the mark, but Mondo Drag have put in the work and it shows.

Here