Big Thicket

Albert Menduno came up in the mid-90s Bay Area hardcore scene in the noise-flinging punk band Mohinder. After the band's demise he fled hardcore for a more pastoral sound with a series of songwriting projects leading up to his art-pop band A-Set. With the A-Set, Menduno (the band's sole permanent member) matched a fascination with psychedelic retro pop a world away from his punk past with an indie rock sensibility, earning comparisons with David Bowie as he built a fanbase more prone to wearing band t-shirts than facepaint. His new project, Big Thicket (another one man band), still recalls the FM hits of the yore, but sound-wise is nearly as far from the A-Set as that band was from Mohinder. Modern rock music, and indie rock in particular, has been flooded by synthesizers and dance beats, but Big Thicket stands firmly in the tradition of bands with big-ass guitars in the driver's seat. While Menduno still indulges his softer, poppier side, Big Thicket's built on muscular rock grooves. His songs retain the A-Set's finely-honed structure, but are expanded and emboldened by chunky riffage that recalls Led Zep, Grand Funk, and any other band you'd find on a 70s stoner's t-shirt. Big Thicket's songs sound arena-sized while still emitting the intimacy of a home recording. With fuzzed-out guitars, programmed drums, and finely-textured acoustic revelations, the songs fuse boogie rock oomph with an indie rock sensibility. Call him the latest savior of straight-up rock jams, the carrier of the torch for jukebox heroes of the past, or a guitar hero for the Pitchfork generation. The untold mass of listeners waiting for someone to mix heartfelt emotion with lighter-waving jams will only call out for more.