Andy and Zach Gabbard are in a hard rocking, jammy band from Cincinnati called Buffalo Killers. As a band, Buffalo Killers delivered a string of five notable albums and both brothers wrote the songs. This year, Andy decided to try something on his own.
As a solo artist, Andy could expand his interests beyond the hard rock of Buffalo Killers. From love songs to a girl to a love song to his record collection, Fluff is a much more relaxing listen than any of the five he did with the band (and that’s not to say that Buffalo Killers records are a bore, au contraire).
Musically, there’s a lot of wonderful guitar solos on Fluff (Super National), great melodies (LYSM, Side B) and even an occasional Syd Barrett knockoff Octoman.
And while More sounds like the best song J Mascis never wrote, guitar riffing from the first minute of the record to the last minute record pays a wonderfully crafted homage to Nirvana. You might say, lots of bands pay an homage to Nirvana, but Andy Gabbard does it in a subtle, understated but loving fashion. I can only think of one band that did it so well: remember Monstrous from Rochester NY and their Mother Nature’s Slaves from 2006? Fluff is that good.
In contrast to its unpretentious title, Fluff stands out as the most well rounded and most thoughtful album of 2015.