Exit 13 featuring Bliss Blood

Smoking Songs (Relapse)
by Scott Hefflon

Thirteen (plus bonus) tunes from the 1920s, ’30s, and ’40s, all dedicated to the pleasures of smoking marijuana. Ranging from peppy ragtime to smooth blues to sexy jazz, this all-star line-up stumbles grinningly through song after song of good, high times. The “normal” grindcore team of Steve O’Donnell and Bill Yurkiewicz is joined by fellow fatty afficionados and bong blast buddies Dan Lilker and Richard Hoak, of Brutal Truth, and Miss Bliss Blood, of Pain Teens. Stoned out of their gourds, some of the singing slides a bit flat, and some of the tempos lurch forgetfully behind the beat, but the soothing vibe of Smoking Songs is unavoidable. “Loading Dock,” the bonus track hidden way after the end of track 13 (just long enough to go cook up some munchies and get comfy again), is not recommended for those with inklings of paranoia or a low freak-out threshold. The chaotic shambles and nightmare crooning of “I Get No Kicks From Champagne” might just kill the blissful buzz.