Guantanamo Baywatch are excited to share their new song “Blame Myself” premiering over at NPR Music “Songs We Love.” Take a listen and listen to two more tracks from Desert Center, “Area 69″ and “Video”
From NPR: “With “Blame Myself,” Guantanamo Baywatch pays homage to the tapestry of luminaries, and then promptly sets it right on fire…Powell’s guitar screams and his voice rumbles at the back of his throat, itself a scream barely caged. As soon as they set up a perfect house of cards — a hazy, delicate melody — they knock it down with glee.”
Guantanamo Baywatch’s new album Desert Center opens with “Conquistador,” an instrumental track displaying enough fretboard savvy and fiery twang to make The Challengers proud. But any notion that Guantanamo Baywatch is strictly adhering to one facet of rock n’ roll’s classic era is dispelled by the soulful swagger and unabashed pop of “Neglect.” It’s an inadvertent juxtaposition maintained through the entirety of Desert Center, with blazing instrumental nuggets like “The Scavenger” alternating with the proto-grunge and golden oldies mash-up of a track like “Blame Myself.“
Like their 2015 album Darling… It’s Too Late, Desert Center was primarily tracked in Atlanta at Living Room Recording with Justin McNeight and Ed Rawls, with Jason Powell doing the bulk of the guitar tracks on his own at Jungle Muscle Studios. While Guantanamo Baywatch initially made a name for themselves with their early blown-out recordings, Desert Center retains the raw aesthetics of a Hasil Adkins single, but has the added heft and thump afforded by a modern studio. This balance is perhaps best captured on their lead single “Video,” where bassist Chevelle Wiseman drives the tune with a thick, throbbing riff while drummer Chris Scott ruthlessly pounds his kit with a crashing clarity guaranteed to please even the most snobby analog audiophile.
The album is available on CD, digital formats, and a limited pressing of 2000 copies on amber-colored vinyl with a printed insert and download code. T-shirt is a Gildan brand 100% cotton pocket T. Guantanamo Baywatch logo is printed on the pocket and back in yellow ink.
