Artist: Mikaela’s Friend
Album: We Can Driving Machine
Label: SAF Records
Tracks: 11
Review By: Jacob Gehman

Artwork, while it should not hinder a listening experience, can definitely enhance it. And with the rich artwork on “We Can Driving Machine,” you can see why I prefer not to download music, even legally. Even more interesting is finding out that oil painting of the lady that graces the front cover is the band’s great grandmother. Similarly, the back cover features an oil painting of their great grandfather.

Family must be important to Donnie and Chris, the cousins who make up Mikaela’s Friend. The first track (the tracks have no names) is a song sung by their grandmother. It is crackly as if from an old vinyl record, though the liner notes say it was recorded on their computer. Normally it might just be a novel introduction to an album, but coupled with the family theme it really works out nicely.

Track two leaves behind all of Mikaela’s cap-tipping and launches into a blistering romp through Lightning Bolt-esque instrumental rock. This is the sort of thing that would be quite at home on Load Records, who has a vice-like grip on the market of that for a reason. It’s really good to see another label put out a quality product like this. In addition to the Load Records sound, Mikaela’s Friend also mixes in elements that would be more at home on a Buckethead album.

The one thing, perhaps, that Mikaela’s Friend really doesn’t do is bring anything new to the genre. But what they do write is executed really well, so any innovative failures on there are excusable. If you are into the whole Load thing do yourself a favor and check this out.