Old Time Relijun

Old Time Relijun subscribes to three basic tenets of life: Eat, drink, fuck. Bred in Olympia, Washington, the band carries a sound that is both primal and urgent — as if barnyard animals were rioting through an uppity art college. The three-piece, fronted by the enigmatic vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Arrington de Dionyso, makes music like it makes love, and what is birthed is the bastard child of garage-folk rock. Old Time Relijun does it raw and naked, with instruments stripped to basics and tones that are derived organically without excessive guitar-pedal masturbation or full-stack tech wizardry. Upright-bassist Aaron Hartman jams free jazz into drummer Jamie Peterson’s basic beats, while de Dionyso barks and trumps his voice with the reverence of a punk kid humbled by omniscient mountain spirits. Released late last year on K Records, 2012 is the act’s most sparse and experimentally beaten album — just like the good Mother Earth intended.