Ohio Grass

Cincinnati's Buffalo Killers are an intriguing band. They sound like everyone at once, from the Rolling Stones, Black Crowes, and Mountain to White Album-era Beatles by turns, with tons of tasty electric guitars and three-part harmonies galore. Ohio Grass is a case in point. Originally released on green vinyl as a six-song EP in the spring of 2013 and then expanded with an additional studio track and three live tracks for release on black vinyl and CD at the end of the summer, it shows a band whose members seem to be able to do anything they choose. It's tempting to call them a power trio, and they are, a bit like Cream or the James Gang sometimes, but they're also capable of a Beatlesque power pop sound, too, and track after track here surprises, each sounding somehow old and familiar while also sounding fresh and new. The opener, "Baptized," sounds like Alice in Chains channeling Black Sabbath, while "Nothing Can Bring Me Down" sounds like a great lost Big Star track, and the original EP's closer, "Some Other Kind," actually sounds like a Beatles White Album outtake. The bonus studio cut, "Good Feeling," is pure power pop, and everything here has a wonderfully loose crunch to it, rough and ragged and yet tight as a drum, too. This is a band to watch. ~ Steve Leggett