Coke Weed

Coke Weed were one of our favourite discoveries of 2011 – we described their free-to-download album Volume One as some of the most brilliantly off-kilter indie rock we had heard for a long, long time. From Velvets style chug to Johnny Cash rumble it was stuffed to the gills with more tunes and ideas than many bands manage in a career.

Building on the deserved buzz their debut created, the band will release sophomore effort Nice Dreams on April 17th. We’ve been lucky enough to have had it for a while and have been eagerly waiting to offer something up from the record and here it is, the gently haunting and woozy-at-the-edges folk psychedelia of Magpie. - The Mad Mackerel

Infused with slow churning psychedelic guitars and armed with hushed and calmed female vocals, Coke Weed escape the realm of today’s overly produced song. Hailing from Maine, this 5 piece takes us back to a classic era and has absolutely no qualms about it.

I love the simple guitar lines and forthright questions in their first single “Magpie,” off their upcoming release, Nice Dreams. If you can’t wait til that fine album drops then be sure to head over to their main site and grab COKE WEED VOLUME ONE. Hi-fi loving it. - What's Protocol?

The famous saying slow and steady wins the race surely can be applied to Magpie. The track moves at an easy pace, however it’s pounding VU style drums and hypnotic guitar just make you like the track.

But that’s not all.

Once the lead singer’s voice kicks in you’ll not just love the song, you’ll adore it. This voice is crystal clear and so sensual, and adds a ton of warmth. This is a voice that will charm a thousand people and lead them to their deaths if not careful. When a song sounds like this I wouldn’t mind being transfixed. - Stagedive Malta

This weeks review is of Bar Harbor, Maine’s Coke Weed. Their new single “Magpie“ is a delicately sparse, laid back, rush of audio warmth. When listening to this single, I imagine this to be the soundtrack of a party in Andy Warhol’s Factory. Young, mod, artsy types, smoking and drinking, whilst grainy 16mm projections are displayed across walls and screens. The vibe of Coke Weed doesn’t necessarily portray the rainbow tye dye’d counter-culture swirl of peace, love, and understanding, from the late ’60's. The band’s sound has more of a Velvet Underground, “Sunday Morning” kind of tone.
Although, the sound that Coke Weed creates may be retrofitted, (its where the members of the band obviously find resonance), there is a feeling of modern-ness under the veil of jangly pop guitar hooks, reverbed tube amps, and minimalist, driving drums. Coke Weed’s single, “Magpie” has the ability to connect in a contemporary way. Coke Weed’s portrait of yearning for lost, or missed connections, illustrates the reminiscent longing for people we once knew so well. Which I believe, is an accessible feeling and concept regardless of generational gaps.

In an age of infinite post-production “sleight of hand” its a comforting feeling to be able to listen to music that is for lack of a better term, honest. Music that reminds you that it’s OK if the tempo ebbs and flows or if the high E string on a guitar might be ever-so slightly out of tune.
- Harnessing Viruses To Build Machines

In our technological modern age, contemporary music commonly uses some form of electronic instrumentation to enhance the quality of and/or express music in an interesting way. Coke Weed does the near opposite. This Maine-based band, featuring songwriter Milan McAlevey and the creakily serene Nina D, distills dark psychedelia down to the essentials.
by Basement DJ: Andrew Leider
Coke Weed echoes 60's counterculture, as it has been said multiple times, but with fresh, profound lyrics accompanied with the classic styles of rock and roll. Nice Dreams channels the Velvet Underground's relaxed vocal delivery and shadowy tempos; the same can be said of Coke Weed's debut: Volume One. "Magpie" is the lead single from the album, beginning with a deep tone similar in spirit to "Heroin" by the Velvet Underground and evolves into a hymn that is both commanding and warm. Other tracks like "Sister Springs," "Kid," and "Golden Apples" are bouncy, reverb-filled, classic-rock-and-roll style songs with quick, vibrant breaks. Songs like "Pure Pattern," "No Poem," and "Gangland" can give the listener a chance to relax and hear the crooning of Milan and Nina as they pitter-patter a slow and droning melody. Coke Week's Nice Dreams is an album for that music pioneer looking for a modern revival of gradual and wearied rock and roll with psychedelic twists. - KUMD Duluth Public Radio

This song is a bit of a shift from the last, but no less worthwhile. It's a spare, vintage-yet-modern psych-blues cut called "Magpie" from the band Coke Weed and their forthcoming second album Nice Dreams, out April 17th. This song uses space really well. It may not be as busy or as big, but it is an easy world to let your ears get lost in. I feel like it's one of the better examples of what the Velvet Underground's self-titled third album may have sounded like if Nico stuck around - and it's about as awesome as you might imagine that to be. They have some spring dates coming up and will be touring with the Walkmen in the fall, which is a really great double bill as there's some definite connections between the two bands musically. - Those Who Dig

Bar Harbor, Maine's Coke Weed—who are apparently good buddies with The Walkmen— recently released their first full-length, the aptly titled Coke Weed Volume 1. While Coke Weed takes much of its musical inspiration from 1960s counterculture and rock & roll, it comes across as a sincere and authentic sound thanks in large part to the rawness of the production and recordings. Takes here are loose, jangly, and even unpredictable. The vocals in particular sound like they were all recorded in long single takes—no overdubs or cut and pasting—and that lends a certain imperfect charm to each track. The band describes their sound as psychedelic art garage, and that's not a bad fit, as along with the rawness there's an experimental almost free-form construction to songs. While "Not My Old Man" sounds like a Chan Marshall-led Velvet Underground roaring through soundcheck, "The Frizz" plays like the acid-tongued duet Johnny and June never recorded. - Everybody Taste