There are a couple lessons to be learned from Electric Nomads, the first arrival in Mos Generator‘s “Heavy Home Grown” series of DIY releases. First, swirl wax is pretty. This is something we already knew, but it comes into relief even more with Electric Nomads since, but for a sticker on the front, liner notes sheet inside (click here to see it) and a handwritten tracklist on back with the numbering — I got #14 out of the 100 pressed — autographs from Tony Reed (guitar/vocals), Scooter Haslip (bass) and Shawn Johnson (drums) and a handwritten ‘A’ on the label of the vinyl itself to show which is the first side, there’s no cover to stare at. Second, even Mos Generator‘s demos are impeccably produced. Hell, Reed even double-tracks his vocals on some of these songs. For a demo! I guess it’s handy when your guitar player is also an accomplished engineer, but still, if you’re thinking the long-running Port Orchard, Washington, heavy rock trio were going to just cobble together a bunch of rehearsal tapes recorded on somebody’s iPhone, that’s not what Electric Nomads is all about. Culling together songs from Mos Generator‘s last two albums, this year’s Listenable Records debut, Electric Mountain Majesty (review here) and 2012’s return from hiatus, Nomads (review here) — you can see where the title comes from — Electric Nomads presents followers of the band with a look at their material in progress, but still basically brings finished versions of the songs. “Enter the Fire” from the latest record isn’t as elaborate melodically as the album track, and “Beyond the Whip,” which appears here at the end of side A, is one of several songs that feels faster than its album counterpart. They cap side B with a raucous jam, and there are some flourishes of psychedelia in the soloing that got stripped down by the time Reed recorded them for real, but structurally and in the clarity of their sound, a lot of what you get on Electric Nomads is finished work.

I suspect that has to do with the band’s writing process, and that by the time they’re ready to do pre-production for a studio offering, they’ve already worked out the kinks in a song like “Cosmic Ark.” That track opened Nomads, essentially announcing Mos Generator‘s resurgence from several years away while Reed worked with his Stone Axe and HeavyPink projects (the latter released on The Maple Forum), and it opens Electric Nomads as well — some psychedelic keyboard accompanying the guitar solo — starting a mirror version of the salvo that began Nomads itself: “Cosmic Ark” into “Lonely One Kenobi” into “Torches.” Three immediate, irresistible hooks put next to each other for maximum immersion. It worked well on Nomads and works well here. The break into sides isn’t clean in terms of Nomads on one side Electric Mountain Majesty on the other, but after the first three and “For Your Blood” from the earlier record, “Enter the Fire” and “Beyond the Whip” move into the later album material, which continues on side B with “Breaker,” “Spectres” and “Early Mourning,” which feeds directly into the concluding jam, aptly titled “Jam.” Reed harmonizes on the chorus of “For Your Blood” much like the finished version, and the classic metal boogie was apparently there early on as well, and I could be wrong, but the demo seems a little more uptempo even than the final was. Mos Gen are no strangers thrashing out when they want to, and they show that here, but the point is there are subtle differences on Electric Nomads in these songs, and for fans of the band — a category in which I’m glad to count myself — it’s an interesting piece to get a sense of how these tracks were built. They must have been tempted to keep Haslip‘s bass recording on “Enter the Fire” from this demo, and I wouldn’t argue with them if they had. Kind of funny to think that without this release, these recordings, into which clear effort was put and which sound crisp and clean and professional, would just be sitting around, probably on some hard drive in a closet at Reed‘s Heavy Head studio. Wild.

“Beyond the Whip” digs into speed-boogie and over on side B, “Breaker” picks up the theme and runs with it. Mos Generator‘s propensity for catchy songwriting is certainly on display, but perhaps the most closest look at that comes with “Jam,” which hints at the process of creation from which cuts like “Breaker” and “Torches” emerge, the three players all locked in and moving through different parts, seeing what works, what doesn’t, what to keep, what not. I would not at all doubt Reed has an archive of such excursions, but “Jam” represents its ilk well, his own solo a ripper coming off of “Early Mourning” as Johnson and Haslip hold the rhythm. Particularly after “Breaker” and “Early Mourning” — some of Electric Mountain Majesty‘s moodier lyrics — the rawer glimpse at Mos Generator‘s process is welcome, though “Spectres” might be my pick for highlight of the release. The Electric Mountain Majesty cut slowed down some of the rush on that record, and on Electric Nomads, it sits well between “Breaker” and “Early Mourning,” Reed announcing “solo” where one isn’t written yet and dropping out to let Haslip‘s bass cover that spot for a few measures. Many of these songs start out with an off-mic “we’re rolling,” or some other announcement that the recording has started — “Enter the Fire” has a few electronic beeps — but they’ve also been mixed, additional vocals layered in during their making, and mastered for this vinyl release — “Early Mourning” is an “oof” of a fuzz punch to the gut but it’s especially interesting to have “Jam” take off from it and close out. That’s about as raw as Mos Generator get on Electric Nomads, and it seems to be speaking to more nascent material, whereas by the time they recorded these versions of much of the rest of these songs, they were already solidified. I’d be interested to hear the missing link between the two — what comes in the middle with the trio screwing around on one side and a finished song on the other — but it might just be parts hammered out, and while an interesting academic piece, that rarely makes for fun listening. Electric Nomads, on the other hand, doesn’t need me to sell it to Mos Generator fans. The band’s reputation for delivering quality product is well established by now, and as they continue down the road with the “Heavy Home Grown” series, I’ll look forward to seeing just how deep into the vaults they go.

Mos Generator, “Cosmic Ark” official video

Mos Generator on Thee Facebooks

HeavyHead Superstore