Having enjoyed Free Ride for quite a few years there was not a chance I was going to pass up the opportunity to review it for Clean Sheets!
Formed in 2016, Madrid, Spain's Free Ride comprise of Borja Fresno Benítez – Vocals/Guitars/Synths/Percussion/Sitar, Victor Bedmar Lam - Bass and Carlos Bedmar Lam on Drums. Acido Y Puto (Acid and Fucking) marks the band's sophomore release following 2018's S/T demo EP, 2019's S/T full-length debut, the 2020 Nazaré single and 2024's Live at The Stone Giant. The band's latest is their first for Small Stone Records a label who've put out superb works by Sundrifter, Greenleaf, Wo Fat and more. Suffice to say the Free Ride boys are in esteemed company.
'Space Nomad' starts slowly with blissful tripped out Psych packed with plenty of Funk flourishes, wah wah heavy Guitar and Bongos ala Brant Bjork. The vibe on here oozes cool and this along with the Desert Valley style sound makes it a sublime opener. 'Outsider' by comparison takes you on no such dreamy flights of fancy, it absolutely kicks ass from the moment it starts, if you have a love for early Nebula from around the time of To The Centre then you are going to love this. There are also moments which are a little Grungy sounding to my ears, think Mudhoney and I for one ain't complaining. 'Kosmic Swell' an instrumental and the longest track on the album (by about four seconds), is as the name would imply, a Space-Rock Hawkwind inspired jam, albeit one informed by organic tasty sounding Jazz and Jimi Hendrix Guitar heroics, in some ways recalling the work of much missed Germans Samsara Blues Experiment. The musicianship displayed here is sublime and makes the playing on Free Ride's previous recordings seem like mere warm-ups by comparison.
After the expansiveness of the previous track, 'Vice' take us down a Fu Manchu orientated route and there's also a Heavier, Metallic sheen that has one thinking High On Fire as well as Proto-Metal/Doom outfits such as Pentagram and Sir Lord Baltimore. Another musical triumph. 'Nazaré' refers to the Portuguese coastal town best known for surfing due to what the Visit Portugal website refers to as “the 'Nazaré Canyon', a submarine geomorphological phenomenon that allows the formation of perfect giant waves.” As a fan of Surf-Rock this track was always going to be a favourite, in fact the music would prove the ideal soundtrack for that activity or any number of related Youtube videos. So good it surpasses the aforementioned single version. 'Steamroller' definitely has Ozzy era Sabbath influences and as with the Brummie legends positively swings, parts of which resemble 'War Pigs' but handled far more subtlety and creatively than your average Stoner/Doom band. 'Joy' has a sound almost ubiquitous within the present day Stoner/Fuzz etc scene but one which still manages to bring so much joy, pun intended. This proves wrong that old adage of familiarity (always) breeding contempt.
'Blackout' is a glorious no-nonsense Hard-Rocker in the spirit of Bon Scott's AC/DC, the track in fact similar to 'Let There Be Rock', while for some reason The Hives immediately came to mind on 'Living For Today', though I'd prefer to think its actually The Stooges. The track concluding the album on a Garage-Rock/Proto-Punk note.
I was never really in any doubt that Acido Y Puto would be at the very least decent, that it managed to surpass this and by quite some distance is a testament to the band's talent. A superb record and one you shouldn't hesitate in checking out.
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