Remuda Dust – The Speedball Years 99-01

 

 

Remuda Dust – The Speedball Years 99-01
Ozium Records – 2023
Rock, Stoner, Grunge, Alternative
Rated: ****

Around three to four months ago we wrote about how a true Indiana Jones leads Ozium Records when it comes to finding lost stonerrock treasures. It was when the label released the Are We Ape? & Ridge Split: "Magick Tongue" / "The Hidden Entities: The Cayuga Session". And guess what, the man has done it again! This time for the amazing Remuda Dust! Eight tracks recorded in the legendary Speedball Studio during the years of 1999 to 2001. It opens with all three tracks from their 2000 Superhighway EP and features three of the four Remuda Dust EP from 2000. And then there are two tracks which were only featured on compilation albums around the same time, namely Bleed and 18-Wheeler. And not only is this a deep dive into everything Remuda Dust had to offer back then; it’s also a promise of new work in the future. For thanks to this project, the guys got back together in 2022 and quickly stomped out a new single called Endless Line and another one called Moon followed suit. But those are new and meant for something that might see the light of day in 2024. The Speedball Years 99-01 is a glance back at the glorious Remuda Dust history. The four-piece delivered those tracks in atavistic stonerrock fashion, extremely so, because it was before QOTSA truly blew up and enchanted the entire world with their version of stonerrock. Cause around this time, Kyuss was only known to the lucky few. And where there is definite Kyuss influence to be heard on The Speedball Years 99-01, it also sounds like they wanted to tune down their grunge and make their alternative rock less melodic and more grinding. Which is exactly what they did out there in the desert as well. Remuda Dust sounds like they took their rock cues from the late sixties, early seventies rock bands. You know, bands like Blue Cheer, Iron Butterfly, and then used grunge to brush it in a shade of green and garage to turn up the grittiness. In fact, there’s so much energy and grit, it moves distinctly in a punk direction. And so does that vocalized spirit! Spitting in the eyes of all that might look wrongly in Remuda Dust’s direction. Especially on that Superhighway EP and those two lose tracks. The Remuda Dust EP is slower, more bluesy, less intense. Which might be the reason that the final track of said, Right On Time, which was probably the bluesiest and slowest on that EP, was left off on this compilation vinyl release. Resulting in a spirited ride through the Speedball years, speedy, energetic and high addictive! Now, let’s hope that Remuda Dust rediscovers that eneryg and will be back to sprinkle some more sand into all our eyes!

(Written by JK)

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Remuda Dust anno 2022!