Cincinnati's Buffalo Killers are being a little disingenuous throughout their career. Start with their name first of all. How many buffalo are you actually slaughtering on the streets of Cincinnati, really? They also paint themselves up as a psychedelic rock band. Hippy-dippy body paint and all. But they are really early '70s throwbacks. The time when psychedelic prints were traded for all-denim and the Rolling Stones sang "honky tonk".The Black Crowes are an apt-ish comparison. We get a brothers outfit from both outfits. But BK are far less refined than that. But take the Crowes at their mellowist and simplist. But that doesn't have to be a dig. This kind of music could benefit from a garagier atmosphere.
But keeping in the Crowes analogy, you have to bring up the vocals. And while Chris Robinson is a fairly fantastic singer of the soul tradition- the Gabbard's come from a different tradition. Joe Walsh is the most obvious vocal neighbor. But the band also sights Neil Young as an influence. Both of these would be fine in their vocal limitation if you were carrying the funky riffage of Joe or the storytelling prowess of Young. But no such luck here.
No matter how many songs you title "Moon Daisy" or "Graffiti Eggplant" you're still doing very little more than telling girls how pretty they are. You need to dig a little deeper. (2 of 5 stars)
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