The Michigan-to-Brooklyn-based power trio Awesome Color plays thick, bluesy, guitar-led psych-rock, tilting towards Hendrix, MC5, and the like. Thurston Moore, the album’s co-producer, and Ecstatic Peace! label owner, calls the music “a mother of a scorched groover,” which I think means the same thing as my description, but just sounds cooler. It’s aggressive, energetic music, but also rather one-dimensional, nowhere near as colorful as the name implies. On most songs they find a similar space to work in, and it’s one we’ve all heard before. In the press materials, Thurston also refers to the group’s “boss-boss lyrix,” but the lyrics sound dull at best, and corny at worst (like the song about “hat energy”). Towards the album’s end, Awesome Color backs off from the rolling-thunder shtick enough to let open space and hints towards free-jazz into their music. That makes it more interesting, but not that much more.

• "Free Man" Stream