Stoner rock is a fun genre of music, for more than just the drug references. It seems to occupy a peculiar harmonic space that toes the line of many other genres, all the while maintaining its unique identity. Weedpecker is one of the best at this—they can sound like Soundgarden, Pink Floyd, Tool, and King Crimson, sometimes all in the same song. Unfortunately, I think that many people ironically treat stoner rock they way they do Christian rock, with a stubborn derision owing more to a dislike of the underlying principles than to the music itself. Those people are missing out, though, on an epic musical ride, contained here in five monumental songs of equal merit.
On top of all of the rock influences you can list here, there are also distinctive folk elements. Where does this come from? Modes! “Liquid Sky” and “From Mercury to Mars” contain the Dorian mode, which is sort of a minor-major mix, and “Molecule” is in Mixolydian, more of major-minor mix. Both of these modes are common in rock music, and offer a soft reprieve to the hard blues scale seen in more traditional rock music.
Mike Frasier Music 