DrugMoney
Mtn Cty Junk

(Hybrid)

First Appeared at The Music Box, April 2004, Volume 11, #4

Written by John Metzger

Over the past few years, many bands have made attempts to capture the magic of Wilco’s summerteeth, but none have come quite as close as DrugMoney at stylistically recreating it. Its debut Mtn Cty Junk is stoked with sugary melodies wrapped inside fuzzy alt-rock grooves that bounce through influences far too numerous to name. The problem, however, is that the album is merely a superficial regurgitation of ideas, each of which seems plucked straight from the ambitious musings of Wilco and, to a lesser extent, Beck. DrugMoney’s frontman Fisher Meehan fails to extend the musical conversation by inserting any piece of himself into the mish-mash of styles he creates, leaving something that is entirely devoid of the type of cohesion that made his idols’ efforts so notable. That’s not to say that Mtn Cty Junk doesn’t have its moments. The Foo Fighters-meets-roots-rock thunder of I Know; the dreamy ELO-driven, Beatle-esque overtones to Small Thinking; and the pensive Beach Boys-via-R.E.M. solitude that graces Anyway all show that Meehan has a vision that is too grand to be contained or derailed. Yet, the album never seems to find its stride, and at 14 songs, it wears out its welcome a little too soon, which is inexcusable given it’s only 38 minutes in length.

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Ratings

1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!

Copyright © 2004 The Music Box