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1997, Josh Homme founds the circle The Desert Sessions, recreational activities for old stoned foxes, based in Joshua Tree, California.
The purpose of this project is very simple. To have fun. Josh, in this first melting pot, includes trusted people: his buddy John McBain, Fred Drake, Ben Shepherd (who had nothing to do at that time), Dave Catching, the desert parsley Pete Stahl, and the two drummers, sons of Kyuss, Brant Bjork and Alfredo Hernandez. What comes out of it is a record that encapsulates the essence of desert music, a bit like "Above" by Mad Season for grunge, with the difference that instead of closing a cycle, it opens another one, without an end, open to everyone...
The work is opened and closed by two desert-prayers, the last one dedicated to the historic label Man's Ruin, in between, you can fully understand what it means to have a jam session in the desert, first with "Girl Boy Tom", a track with a beautiful bass riff repeated for four minutes accompanied by various guitars and organs that create an almost unsettling atmosphere, in fact, given the fade-out, and after "Monkey In The Middle" coming in, I would say truly unsettling. "Cowards Way Out" feels like the desert version of any Sabbath jam, while in "Johnny The Boy" you can feel all of Brant Bjork's influence standing without drums. "Screamin' Eagle" is magnificent, imagine watching a documentary about the golden eagle, now imagine it flying through a canyon, now remove the chants of the Native Americans and add a killer guitar riff accompanied by a song that expresses freedom, fantastic open spaces, the horizon, there you go, "Screamin' Eagle" is all of this. The highest and lowest points of the record remain, "Robotic Lunch" wasn't needed, it doesn't belong to the genre, it doesn't fit, it seems forced, yes, this is the lowest point, definitely. The highest, however, is "Cake (Who Shit On The?)", a very low-key riff (Kyuss tuning) and extremely aggressive singing for about two minutes and then eight of total delirium, a bass riff introduces the mother desert session, the first, the impactful one, which leaves an indelible mark over time, the first one you think of after you hear the word desert.
Oh yes, the redhead from Palm Desert knows his stuff, he must be considered a sacred monster, he has created two musical genres, we must have the courage to beatify those who contribute so much to the evolution of music right away, okay in twenty years he will be, but it's not scandalous to consider him already, indeed, since '92...
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