The Ukiah Drag are a twisted fantasy lost in time—if 30,000 people started bands after hearing the first Velvet Underground LP, at least half must have dreamt of sinister, shadowy psychedelia like this. Like last year's debut tape, Jazz Mama Is Cryin, the first track from In the Reaper's Quarters sounds like a peculiar ritual. "Her Royal Grip" drugs the Gun Club's punk twang with a slow-burnt spell, stomping and dirging their white heat into the red. "Has a demon in every pocket/ Wears the devil's crown/ She gets up when the sun goes down," sings Ukiah's frontman, who goes by ZZ Ramirez. The snake-slaughtering protagonist sounds like the subject of a deluded nursery rhyme, one you can't help but follow into the dark.

[from In the Reaper's Quarters out 9/9 on Wharf Cat]