Another export from the fertile Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) scene, the four piece Little Big Horn got together in 2006 and have been rocking Kyuss-meets-Sabbath stoner doom ever since. Vocalist/guitarist Neff affects a decent and somewhat more Texan John Garcia, and though the production of the three songs on their MySpace is somewhat less than ideal, it’s still pretty easy to get a handle on what they’re doing. For heads who’ve been around for a while, there probably won’t be much in the way of surprises, but sometimes you want a band you can just pop on and groove out to without worrying about how much they’re changing the world. I do, anyway.

And to that end, Little Big Horn do just fine. The double guitar of Neff and lead six-stringer Kulmacz (which I’ve been pronouncing as “Cool-Mac-Z,” as though he was a one-man ’90s hip-hop act) riff like the pros do it, while bassist Stu gets down with some Geezerisms — see “Mountain of Pills” — and drummer Landon ups the groove of any given part. There badly needs to be a label picking up these bands. Brainticket can’t do it all on their own, people.

Here’s how easy life is: I said to myself this morning (afternoon) when I woke up, “Hmm, I haven’t done an On the Radar in a while, I think I’ll put one up.” Less than 15 minutes later, I found Little Big Horn via Orthodox Fuzz’s profile and was good to go. Like Kin of Ettins, they’re a genuine resource when it comes to DFW curiosities. But what an age we live in where at any given moment a hard rocking act like Little Big Horn is only a few clicks away, waiting for anyone who wants to come looking. Astounding.

They’ve apparently got an EP in the works (don’t we all?), or maybe the tracks posted are from it, I don’t really know, but either way, they’re bound to pop up again sooner or later, and in the meantime, radar: they’re on it. Score another one for Dallas.

Bellowing viscous slabs of meaty stoner riffs and psychedelic itineraries, Dallas trio Wo Fat have little in common with the sly Hawaii 5-0 villain from whom they take their name. Nonetheless, the Brainticketed brainchild of songwriter, guitarist, vocalist and engineer Kent Stump sees the countdown through to zero and blasts strings first into ’70s space like something out of a Monster Magnet video on their second full-length, the aptly journeying Psychedelonaut, turning cuts like “Analog Man” and “Two the Hard Way” into bloozy (we all know which words combine to make that one) anthems of nonconformity and defiance. Floating helpless into the depths of “The Spheres Beyond,” no one can hear you scream for more.

They began their waltz down the riff-hand path with The Gathering Dark, but Psychedelonaut is a next-level effort the dynamism of which is slow to reveal itself and willingly reverential of the lords of both classic guitar muscle-building and any and all waves of stoner rock. You got your Fus all Manchued and your Goblins are all Orange. Amps too on that last one.

Stump’s adjoining rhythm section, bassist Tim Wilson and drummer Michael Walter, propel the huge side B jam of “Not of this Earth,” making their presence fully known among the blues-becued licks, but it was the guitarist himself who was kind enough to answer some questions via email about the inspirations behind Wo Fat’s psych turn, whether or not they’re stoner rock and what can be expected from them in the future (hint: it involves vinyl). Interview and some listening music are after the jump.

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If you can?t tell what kind of chicanery Dallas fuzz worshippers Wo Fat are getting up to by the art above and track names like ?The Spheres Beyond? and ?El Culto de la Avaricia,? please check your Kyuss CDs at the door. The Orange amped, moss-covered stoner jams start and don?t stop on their Brainticket debut (second LP overall), Psychedelonaut, a record that begs for the warmth of vinyl like a neglected dog needs water.

The trio make haste with the Captain Beyondisms on the opening title track and offer no let up when it comes to blues riffs and lard-ass grooves. The tones will ring familiar to anyone who?s been around the genre for a while, but growing ever rarer are the American bands playing tried and true stoner music with little pretense of being anything else. It?s hard to hold the simplicity of their sound against them when they perform with such earnestness and dedication to what they do. From ?Enter the Riffian? and the drive down Fu Manchu?s highway on ?Analog Man? — which is literally an ? la Grand Funk proclamation of guitarist/vocalist/principle songwriter/recording engineer Kent Stump?s love of 2? tape — to the us vs. them, Hammond on rye last stand of ?Two the Hard Way,? Wo Fat are crystalline in their drive to make classic, thickly cut, riff-driven rock.

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