The Desert Sessions Volume 9 & 10

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The Desert Sessions Volume 9 & 10 album cover
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EDITOR'S PICK

Total Tracks: 14   Total Length: 48:53

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Richard Jones (Sterophonics)

eMusic Contributor

04.22.11
Josh Homme and friends (PJ Harvey included) convene in the desert
2004 | Label: Ipecac Recordings / The Orchard

I don't know what it is about me and music, but every time I get into a band I have to go out and buy the whole back catalogue. It ends up costing me a lot of money if I go for somebody like Queen! I started getting into Queens of the Stone Age a few years ago, and then gradually started finding out about all the other projects Josh Homme had been involved in, like the Eagles of Death Metal and The Desert Sessions. On this album it sounds like they just went into the studio and recorded these songs in one take. PJ Harvey sings on this record, and her voice goes really well with this type of music. She works well with rawer, edgier material like this.

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The Emperor has No Clothes

ztuanhcs

Gotta agree with hanz_ofbyotch: so much ado about this that I'm left wondering if I missed something. Subcutaneous Fat is super-funky and Dead In Love and Make it Wit Chu are tolerable. The rest is self-indulgent silliness. And to think there are other volumes of this. Oh well, win some, lose some ... only ventured 12 downloads.

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Someone has to say it.

hanz_ofbyotch

I'm having such a hard time with this Josh Homme. Everyone talks about how great everything is that he touches and you've all been sold a lemoney used car. You go on and on like he's the visionary of our generation, but there's nothing that even touches, like, Van Halen's "Eruption", Nomeansno, Minor Threat, Slayer, Cocteau Twins, or anything that actually does set the bar. Tune that damn guitar and get some damn drum & singing lessons. You're killing me here.

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Great Discovery

zoshi

Start with "in my head" then move on to "crawl home". Then check out the back catalogue.

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mish mash of strange

KKDM77

This is cool, but hardly compares to QOTSA. But, I gotta say, PJ Harvey really shines on this stuff (I prefer listening to these recordings of her than half the stuff she's done on her own).

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all that's inspired about indie

getspaidtodropshit

not 5 stars only because it is so all over the map and because this is about exploring the hard end of indie, And to be honest I couldn't get myself to download Shephards Pie.It took a number of listens to to appreciate many of the other songs. I got this because Amy is into P.J Harvey, and those songs are great, esp. "A Girl Like me ' and "Powered Wig Machine" But "In My Head" is a powerfully emotional song masquerading as a run of the mill pop song. So many songs surprise, not with extraneous novelty but by dragging you into other directions that you realize add something important.

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In My Head!

Hazy-D

Josh Homme is some kind of crazy facilitator of rawk. The collaborations on this record are wide-ranging, maybe, but they bring out the best in everyone involved, and the something-for-everybody spirit strengthens rather than dilutes, which can't be easy. These songs hit the pleasure center in my brain every time!

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By Richard Jones (Sterophonics), eMusic Contributor

I grew up in quite a large family. I'm one of six kids, so there were always different styles of music coming into the house. Well, when you're a kid, you want to try to find your own identity, so I started just listening to the music I knew my brothers and sisters wouldn't listen to. At the time, that was mainly hard rock — bands like AC/DC and ZZ Top and Deep Purple. Whatever… more »

They Say All Music Guide

Josh Homme returns with The Desert Sessions, Vol. 9-10, two more installments of his ongoing collaborations with likeminded friends and musicians. This time PJ Harvey, Ween’s Dean Ween, Marilyn Manson’s Twiggy Ramirez, Eleven’s Alain Johannes, and Queens of the Stone Age contributors Troy Van Leeuwen and Joey Castillo (also of A Perfect Circle and Danzig, respectively), among others, join the festivities. Unlike some of the other Desert Sessions volumes, 9 (aka “I See You Hearin Me”) and 10 (“I Heart Disco”) stay more or less grounded in the kind of creative stoner rock that Homme purveys with Queens of the Stone Age. Despite the fact that Johannes sings on the opening track, “Dead in Love,” the song’s searing guitars and insistent grind make it a potential QOTSA track. Likewise, the driving “In My Head…or Something” could easily fit on their next album if it was given a little more punch, as could the dark, parched desert rock of “Holey Dime” and “Bring It Back Gentle.” Out of all of Homme’s collaborators, Harvey makes the biggest impression, sounding the best she has since 1995′s To Bring You My Love. Whether it’s because the pressure’s off because it’s not her own project, or she’s just ready to rock again, she sounds freer and more ferocious than she has in a long time on “There Will Never Be a Better Time,” a spooky, vaguely Spanish-tinged acoustic number, and slinky-yet-menacing songs like “Crawl Home,” “Powdered Wig Machine,” and “A Girl Like Me,” all of which play her witchy diva image to the hilt. The collection’s more experimental moments vary in quality, ranging from the loose, fun faux soul of “I Wanna Make It Wit Chu” and the thrashy workout of “Covered in Punks Blood” to “I’m Here for Your Daughter” and “Shepherd’s Pie,” both of which were probably more fun to make than they are to hear. Still, The Desert Sessions are intended as a sort of musical notepad, so it’s not surprising that some of the ideas here are less sketched out than others. Bearing the project’s off the cuff nature in mind, The Desert Sessions, Vol. 9-10 is another success. – Heather Phares

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