Freeman

Audio Mixer: Paul Q. Kolderie.Recording information: Applehead Recording, Woodstock, NY.If ever a band seemed bound by blood it was Ween, the alt-rock refugees from New Hope, Pennsylvania. Aaron Freeman and Mickey Melchiondo went so far as to present themselves as brothers, calling themselves Gene and Dean Ween and, like so many siblings, they shared a vernacular, an iconography, and a sense of humor. So strong did this bond seem that when Freeman decided to walk away from the band in 2012, just as the duo approached its 25th anniversary, it came as a heavy blow. In interviews, Freeman made it plain that he chose to leave Ween so he could preserve his newly found sobriety, a sentiment that's underscored by 2014's Freeman, his first collection of original material since the band's breakup (which also happens to be his first record of new tunes since 2007's La Cucaracha). The album opens up with "Covert Discretion," an unveiled recounting of his well-documented on-stage breakdown in Vanc