Elevate Your Mood With the Cool Ghouls

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The next few months are make-or-break for Mother Jones’ fundraising. We need to raise $300,000 quickly, and we need more online readers to pitch in than have been. Please learn more in "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," where we go into the brutal economics of journalism, and what makes Mother Jones unique and worth supporting if you can right now.

Cool Ghouls
A Swirling Fire Burning Through the Rye
Empty Cellar

Psychedelic in the sense of “anything goes,” as opposed to tired DayGlo nostalgia, San Francisco’s Cool Ghouls project a sloppy party-going-overboard vibe that belies their considerable assets. This vibrant sophomore album was recorded by Sonny Smith, leader of Sonny and the Sunsets, and like that lovably slackerish crew, this snappy quartet uses a studied casualness to mask major pop smarts. Guitars veer abruptly from snarling fuzztones to folk-rock chimes and back, while the cascading three-part vocal harmonies are sunny exuberance exemplified, but never fussy or precise, and the songs are downright catchy. Recommended to fans of the Beau Brummels or Robyn Hitchcock—and anybody else needing a quick mood elevator.