Around these parts, Ripley Johnson doesn’t need an introduction. The psychedelic classic-rock of Wooden Shjips persistently blow our minds. Jeff has gone on record to say Johnson is his favorite guitarist. If his hypnotic guitar lines and follicle growth is reminiscent of that of a cult leader, it’s safe to say we’ve been drinking the […]

Wooden Shijps – Lazy Bones from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo. Directed by Brooklyn noise-rockers Black Dice who decide to edit an epilepsy into the video for Wooden Ships’ “Lazy Bones.” Kind of lazy but kind of fitting. My advice to you is purchase West, smoke a blunt, and drive off the nearest pier. You […]

If you squint, you can spot Douglas Martin on the speedboat adjacent to the Golden Gate Bridge. What separates Wooden Shjips is their ability to take the template of classic-rock and push it far, far, far past its logical conclusion. While bands many of their fellow San Francisco bands  have gotten by on well-played revivalism […]

Turn it up loud and get your wig pushed back. Then read the Wooden Ships interview on Agit Reader and pick up a couple Parson Sounds and Trad Gras records. They too are similarly woolly, ragged, gaffling psychedelic rock. Download: MP3: Wooden Shjips-“Lazy Bones”

Wooden Shjips’ decision to remix “Dreaming of Another World,” is either attributable to a late April Fool’s gag, or someone at Rough Trade got slipped some orange sunshine and hallucinated the commercial potential of a pulverizing remix from the current kings of psychedelic drone. Either way, I’ve long suspected that Wooden Shjips occasionally smirk behind […]

As a fan of good/bad puns, I can’t help but be enthralled by a video for a song called “Outta My Head,” depicting a man crawling out of a skull, wandering the earth, and encountering zebras. Also, the 7th Voyage of Sinbad-esque stop-motion Claymation is worthy of lavish praise. As are Wooden Shjips, who raise […]

Continuing “Excellent Contemporary Bands Covering Canonized Songwriters Week,” I present psychedelic drone deities, Wooden Shjips, rendering Neil Young’s “Vampire Blues” in druggy, dirt-splattered fashion. Fans of On the Beach will scarcely recognize the original within the distorted, hallucinatory coffin Wooden Shjips construct for Old Shakey’s ode to eco-conservation (no “Drill Baby Drill”). Now if they’ll […]

  While inferior but fine noise + noun outfits like Wavves, Women and White Snake, elicit the brunt of blogger bombast, Wooden Shjips stay buoyed if not blotted. Other than Dusted (who consistently get it right), judging from the relative critical and public apathy Wooden Shjips have received, the San Francisco four-piece seem fated for […]

Douglas Martin's Dirty Shoes column returns to deliver 5 chapters diving into the lore and mythology of the Japanese rockstars Les Rallizes Dénudés.

What a long strange trip it's been.