Tia Carrera Reviewed
The November Session (Perverted Son)
Reviewed by Raoul Hernandez, Fri., Oct. 31, 2003
Tia Carrera
The November Session (Perverted Son) The next best thing to "Layla" is "The Jams" disc on the 3-CD Layla Sessions box set from 1990. On it, five unreleased jams from Eric Clapton & the Dominos and the Allman Brothers -- all over 10 minutes, two nearing 20. Have tape, will roll -- a shredder's delight. On their 70-minute debut, Austin's heaviest psych rock trio, Tia Carrera, pulls out its own five jams, only this improvisational summit meters out more like Hendrix firing up his axe while the Melvins pour kerosene on it. As ripe as his Electric Ladyland reverb is Jason Morales' deep down Sabbath tones, which aren't nearly as plodding as Tony Iommi's. Erik Conn's Bonzo bash, meanwhile, waits coiled at every turn, bassist Andrew Duplantis in a bottom-end funk to land them all in the spank factory. The between-jam studio chatter only adds to the miasmic stew that is The November Session. And this isn't even half of what the three-man conflagration is capable of live. Nearly 14 minutes of "Doom" shudders like iron spasms, while 34 minutes of closer "J. Bankston Manor" is like the Allman's "Mountain Jam" on Mount Fuji during an eruption. Tia Carrera will have you on your knees, begging darling please.