For the past few years, dropouts all over the world have been nodding out to the amped-up riffing of Purling Hiss and the economical chug-a-lug zen of Spacin'. But only the most committed seekers have been privy to the roaring big bang that started it all: Birds of Maya, the finest meat 'n' potatoes neanderthal hard rock group operating in the world today. At the strike of the first note, their locked-in dynamo gets real, real gone. It must be seen to be believed-though since the Birds rarely (very, very rarely) perform outside of their North Philadelphia neighborhood, Ready to Howl will have to suffice. Ready to Howl is the soundtrack to an upcoming feature-length film of the same name about one dude's struggles inside (and outside) of polite society. According to the producer, the plotline roughly follows "getting off of work, partying, a parking lot bottle fight with a marine, driving drunk, the purchase of a deadly snake for purposes of revenge, hitchhiking, off-road driving, car accident, the folly of vindictiveness, and finally a physical and metaphorical ascent to the highest point of the mountain." the soundtrack's three songs cover Friday, Saturday and Sunday. While astute listeners might notice nods to Split-era Groundhogs power rock and the relentless garage mayhem of High Rise under a claustrophobic sub-Funhouse decadence, anyone with ears will pick up on the fried Hendrixisms all over this thing. The double-disc vinyl version of Ready to Howl has been out of print for a while, and this CD reissue features all three tracks presented for the first time with no splits mid-song and no need to get up to flip the record over-plus two bonus tracks from the band's 2010 Regulation 7-inch with Harmonica Dan!

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