Usually, the thing with heavy records is how much better they sound on headphones; how much more deeply an album can be experienced by kind of sequestering yourself with it. That’s not the case with Movements, the 2011 album from youngin’ Memphis trio The Dirty Streets. In fact, I’ve found that the 10-song outing actually loses something when taken on that way, and that with tones so open and such a sense of space in the recording, it’s more boombox than desktop – made to be heard outside. More than anything I’ve heard in a while, Movements makes me long for summer. Its energy is born of both the band’s youth and their beginning the process of sorting out their sound, but its energy is infectious most of all, and as guitarist/vocalist Justin Toland, bassist Thomas Storz and drummer Andrew Denham lay down classic-styled boogie and heavy rock – Grand Funk, Humble Pie, but most of all, Blue Cheer – they present their homage with an air of freshness that can’t be faked. The tracks included here are varied in mood, consistent in tone, and each serves a purpose as part of the whole, which divides itself into vinyl sides even for the gatefold digi-sleeve CD version of the record, released by Good for Nothing Records.

Newer school semi-psych hipster jangle à la The Black Keys is given a much-needed injection of soul, and though Toland’s vocals are so reminiscent at times of OutsideInside-era Dickie Peterson it’s distracting, the preaching he’s able to put into “Felt,” “Tryin’ too Hard” and opener “Broke as a Man Can Be” does a lot of work in making those songs as memorable as they are. The Blue Cheer comparison will be obvious though to anyone who’s heard the legendary heavy rock forebears’ most essential works, and it comes out particularly on second cut “Cloud of Strange,” on which Denham’s bass drum punctuates the start-stop verse riff and the groove of the chorus is full-on summer of ’68. The Dirty Streets make it an element of their own, though, and Toland doesn’t sound like he’s posturing as he matches his own guitar pulls in the “Cloud of Strange” chorus or rides Storz’s excellent bassline on “Felt.” Each of Movements’ two sides has its highlight cuts and its album tracks – another instance of rock traditionalism on the part of The Dirty Streets; this is clearly an LP of songs in the vein of the formative records of proto-heaviness – and “Felt” is one a born deep cut, but Denham’s mini-solo and the airy guitar leads it introduces enhance the blues-style sense of flow and the overall casual nature of the album. More than anything else, that would seem to be what makes Movements a Southern heavy rock album – it sounds hot and humid, and that continues through the single-worthy groove of “Fight You,” with more high-grade call and response between Toland and his instrument amid the strong rhythmic foundation provided by Storz and Denham.

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