This is not to be confused with the John Garcia (KYUSS, UNIDA, HERMANO etc.) most of us here at Peacedogland know and love. This Jon Garcia currently operates from Portland, Oregon. He is originally from Austin, Texas where he had been a member of DIALECT and JARVIS. Yeah, I’ve never heard of these acts either. The guy’s bio says they are well known so… At times this reminds me of JEFF BUCKLEY or JAMES HALL. Garcia definitely has about the same range vocally, even if he shows it off a little less often. This Jon Garcia, I can only imagine, (like BUCKLEY and HALL) has more female fans proportionally than that of our beloved stoner rock icon. Yeah, this is definitely chick music. This good chick music! This is not bad chick music like DEF LEPPARD, BON JOVI or STAIND. Ever go to a JONATHAN RICHMAN show you just might get what I’m saying, Mr. Macho. Women love the guy and if you don’t get it then too bad for you. You lose. You see, I’m nature’s mosquito hangin’ with rock and roll leprechauns.

“Television Blackhole” has got to be one of the most amazing songs ever written. It’s rocks hard and has a really crazy over-the-top symphonic bridge complete with coral vocals. “Ashes Black and Roses All Around” does not fall far behind that standard. Yeah, you could say the more rocking the tunes are the more I dig them. Which is not to say that the lighter stuff is without its charms. Lighter as in mellower sonically. There is absolutely nothing lightweight here. No filler exists. The mostly acoustic closer “One Night stand With Myself” title wise might sound contradictory to what I just said but it is not. I could go on about every great track here but it’s time for a conclusion kiddo. Shall we?

“Some people might pass this kind of music off as easy listening for the folk rock crowd, but that just means that you don’t get it” is a quote from Playback magazine that hits the mark quite well. Although I own a few JONI MITCHELL and SUZANNE VEGA records that I actually enjoy, I can honestly say that if someone tried to describe something as “folk rock” I would be turned off immediately. It would be a big red flag at the very least. By and large the images of the ever-horrendous ANI DIFRANO, the pansy ass puss JON MAYER, the ever-shitty SHERYL CROW or the even more dreadful DAVE MATTHEWS usually pop into my consciousness like Mike Tyson’s deadly knock out punch popping into his opponent’s jaw back in the day. I think Jon Garcia and his much more dynamic ways may remedy that prejudice once and for all. Well, maybe not once and for all but…you get the picture.

- Herring

OFFICIAL SITE: myspace.com/jongarciaportland

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