Shooting Guns – Born To Deal In Magic: 1952 – 1976
Back in 2011, Saskatchewan longhairs Shooting Guns crawled out from underneath a particularly heavy rock. Perhaps more aptly, considering the unstoppable momentum of their fuzz riffing, they simply blew the cover clean off with one concentrated blast of guitar. Their instrumental call to arms, Born To Deal In Magic: 1952 – 1976, would later go on to be nominated for Canada’s coveted Polaris Music Prize, but due to its relative obscurity remained largely unknown further afield. Attempting to right that wrong, ever-dependable imprints Captcha and Cardinal Fuzz have now teamed up for its re-release.
The five-piece peddle in crushing riffs and coruscating pedals, veering between grinding stoner-rock and warp-drive psychedelics. They’re quick on the draw too, rarely taking more than a few bars to lock on and engage. Ear-filling standout “Public Taser” has the gravitational pull of a black hole, Keith Doepker’s riffs rippling outwards like the warping of space and time. Side B opener, “Black Hand”, delivers more of the same, a sweet solo riding out of the murk like some war-clad Valkyrie. “Dope Strings” is another at the crossroads of bong and space rock, momentarily dialling back the intensity only to crunch back into wailing form like a glacier hitting terminal velocity.
Varying the drug of choice, speed-freak anthem, “Stay Awake Forever”, is a supercharged smasher while “The Last Great Depression” rumbles its engines in pure doom, as if trying to gather enough inertia to slingshot back into orbit. “Liberator”, on the other hand, gets freaky with wah wah and organ on top of Shooting Guns’ juggernaut groove. And the fuzz is so heavy on massive closer, “Cheater’s Justice”, that the track is practically rendered sticky, the super-viscous head-banger zoning in on white hot guitar and analogue synth parts that get ripped apart by its afterburners. With Born To Deal In Magic: 1952 – 1976 you never quite know the stardate, but when time travel is part of the ticket why quibble?
~Born To Deal In Magic: 1952 – 1976 will be re-released March 11th 2016 on heavyweight, oxblood/black swirl vinyl via the collaborative efforts of Captcha and Cardinal Fuzz.~