Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme and his loose confederation of mutant soul-mates could care less whether or not you like this record. They're just out to have a good time, hang out with their fellow freaks and party all night long - I apologize if I'm missing the mark here, but one listen into these new volumes should convince anyone that I'm more or less correct in my assessment of this project.

PJ Harvey, Ween's Dean Ween, Marilyn Manson's Twiggy Ramirez, Eleven's Alain Johannes, and Queens of the Stone Age contributors Troy Van Leeuwen and Joey Castillo (also of A Perfect Circle and Danzig, respectively), make up the various players and layabouts on Vol. 9&10.
I wouldn't want to be the one accused of bogarting the joint among this rangle gangle crew - "arrr yid be naild twatree byer eers an leffer ded y'pissant." That's pirate lingo for I don't know what I'm talking about. In spite of all the strange words I've organized above, let me now point out that I like Vol 9&10 quite a bit.

PJ Harvey, free of any shackles and label expectations, is turned loose like the very banshee she truly is and many of these songs find her excorcizing her witchy warblings and wonderful haunted hysteria - she hasn't sounded this liberated since 1995's To Bring You My Love. Despite the fact that Johannes sings on the opening track, "Dead in Love," the song's searing guitars and insistent grind make it a potential QOTSA track. Likewise, the driving "In My Head...or Something" bears that Queeny trademark.

The nature of this sort of off-the-cuff stuff, means that the tracks vary greatly in terms of their production quality and there are a few tunes that are more or less improvised excursions in drunken lunacy, "Shepherd's Pie," being the prime example of this. Nevertheless, it's a fun listen, as these characters known for their high voltage noise, bring it down a notch and create a creep Blair Woods vibe that brings to mind Sparklehorse and Eels terrain. I think these Desert Sessions are for the most part a successful experiment.