Ever since The White Stripes hit the scene, there has been no shortage of two man (or woman) bands out there releasing cds. Hell, there’s been no shortage of coverage for them on this here web site, either. And while there are more two man bands out there than you can shake a stick at, I promise you there are none, and by none I mean ZERO, that are quite like the Black Diamond Heavies. The Black Diamond Heavies are not for the uninitiated…Nay, the Black Diamond Heavies are for people who are ready to feel sin and salvation through the low end of a B3, with a tumbler full of whiskey and Van Cambell’s growl as a drinking partner. I’d been kicking around various ways to describe BDH’s sound and then I saw it spelled out perfectly on a CMJ review of Someone Else’s Class as such, “humid tone over heated tunes.” A perfect description for a gutturally raw and fantastic band.
A Touch of Someone Else’s Class is the follow up to last year’s fantastic Every Damn Time. It features production work by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys and a guest horn appearance by Ralph Carney. As with any proper blues album, punk-ass or not, it features several covers, including a version of Tina Turner’s “Nutbush City Limit” that may be the best version of the song I’ve ever heard. The disc even offers a surprising change up for the band in “Bidin’ My Time”, a somber ballad that seems as if it was written by Campbell near last call in a smoky piano bar five states away from his girl. While I wouldn’t want an album full of songs like “Bidin’ My Time”, this particular track has become one of my favorite songs on the album.
A Touch Of Someone Else’s Class isn’t only Essential Listening, it’s another slam dunk for both the band and Alive Records…a label that just continues to drop monster album after monster album out of their catalog. If you haven’t already, check them out. And speaking of checking them out, The Black Diamond Heavies are another band that will be playing the Deep Blues Festival next month. They are one of the bands I am most looking forward to getting to check out. I’m telling you, if you are anywhere near Minnesota or in a position to get on a plane and be near it, you need to get to Lake Elmo July 18 thru 20. It’s gonna be an event fans of this sound will be talking about for years to come.
Hayes Carll has gotten a lot of run on a lot of blogs. Thank god too. Had it not been for me continually seeing his name on blogs I read on a regular basis I may not have ever gotten around to checking out his latest (and first I’ve ever heard) release, Trouble in Mind.
Really, everything that needs to be said about this album has already been said and it’s all been said better than I could have done. A particularly good review of the album which pretty much sums up how I feel about the cd was posted on The 9513 a couple of months ago. I especially like one of their closing paragraphs:
All and all, the good on this record far, far, far outweighs the bad. In fact, the only reason that I’m giving this one such an analytical look is because it warrants it. Work of serious artistic substance deserves serious listening and serious reflection, and this record is full of very worthy artistic substance.
This record is the very definition of Essential Listening…especially for fans of intelligent quirkiness ala Todd Snider.
When I first wrote about The Weight I described them as equal parts Drag The River and Lucero, but this time around that description no longer applies. While the band maintains the line-up of Joseph Plunket, Uncle Will Noland, Jay Ellis, Fletcher “Poor Boy” Johnson, and Johnny Carpenter, the ‘punk kids making Americana music’ framework has been dropped for a more classic ‘country meets a good time’ sound. Funny what a stable lineup of a couple of years will do to a band.
Are Men is honest, pure and exactly what I was wanting from Shooter Jenning’s mega-disappointment, The Wolf. Thank you, The Weight. It’s been awhile since I was able to type this but, Are Men is most definitely Essential Listening. Check it out.
Oh shit! Two days. Two Swedish bands. If it weren’t the fact that over the two years of ninebullets existence this might be the fifth Swedish band I’ve written about you could mistake me for Swedesplease. Well, there’s that and the little things like the fact that they wrote about Lancaster Orchestra’s cd, Never Cried Once When I Could Have, back in 2006 when it was new. New or not, ninebullets.net’s goal is to write about good music not just good new music…and to say Never Cried Once When I Could Have is good is an understatement.
Swedesplease called it “(a) blend of Neil Young inspired Americana music married to American Music Club’s lyrical moroseness”. Jason Molina and his Magnolia Electric Company was the first thing to jump to my mind while I was listening to it…but then, everyone compares Magnolia Electric Company to Neil Young so I guess it’s six in one hand, half dozen in the other. Essential Listening in both. Check it out.
I really don’t know too much about these fellas except that they are from somewhere in California and they look like they walked right out of the 70’s Southern Rock scene. They appear to be a four piece, and if I were a betting man I’d put my money on them smoking large quantities of pot. I have no reason for for it, mind you, just call it a hunch and trust me, I know about the things the kids are doing these days.
Speaking of large quantities of pot…
I remember when I first read about Luther Dickinson of the N. Mississippi Allstars joining up with The Black Crowes for their latest effort and all the excitement I immediately felt for that release. Personally, I’ve always been lukewarm towards TBC but never warm enough to actually buy a cd or bother with the contact high to see them live, but the addition of one of the Dickinson brothers was a sign that the lukewarm would get warmer for the Crowes. Then “Goodbye Daughters of the Revolution” broke and I was convinced that the alloy of The Black Crowes and the North Mississippi Allstars was gonna be so awesome, even I would smoke a bowl! And soon after that I got the cd and reality came crashing back. There was no TBC/NMA alloy. There was TBC with a Dickinson brother playing guitar. No weed for me, just whiskey.
Flash forward a fistful of months and there is this Honey Tongue Devils cd sitting on my dining room table. I pop it in the laptop, throw on my headphones and prepare to give it a once-over while I do a little porn browsing, shopping and blog reading. What greets me is exactly what I wanted from that Black Crowes/NMA alloy that wasn’t. The alloy that should have been never made this album, instead some kids from somewhere in Cali with hardly any internet presence, no online bio, and less press gave it to us.
Personally, I don’t give two shits what the name of the band is…Essential Listening is essential listening.
There has been no shortage of press for the new Black Keys album, Attack and Release, but I wanted to bang out a few words on it anyway. I’ve been a fan of The Black Keys since Thickfreakness dropped and, outside of the 2006’s Magic Potion, I’ve never been disappointed in anything the duo has ever done. Over time, I have even found much love for Magic Potion. Basically, everything Dan Auerbach has worked as a producer on has found it’s way into the ninebullets.net essential listening list. All that said, I really wanted to drop some praise on this album.
Attack and Release started out to be a Black Keys, Danger Mouse, and Ike Turner collaboration. However, when Ike took the deep sleep, the Keys found themselves with a wealth of material and no outlet for it. So, they decided to take the ideas they had been playing with into the studio with Danger Mouse and see what they could come out with. Those sessions resulted in the the most sonically mature album the Keys have ever released.
Attack and Release still has the signature big beats, fat riffs and heavily distorted guitars sound Keys fans are used to, and in the rocking songs you’ll know the album wasn’t (like all the others) recorded in Patrick’s basement. Still, it’s in the album’s more gentle moments that Danger Mouse and a recording studio’s presence are truly felt. I was telling my brother the other day that the new album is just a lot sexier than their previous material. That probably has something to do with the material originally being geared towards Turner. I, for one, hope the Black Keys continue to explore this side of themselves, as it’s made for one of the best albums to date this year, not to mention also having made the ninebullets Essential Listening list.
Now comes the real question…where does it rank amongst their other releases? I’m gonna have to listen to the entire catalog straight through one day before I can say for sure, but for now I can say it’s in the top 3 for sure…possibly the top 2.
I’m not sure what I was expecting from Justin’s Bloodshot debut, The Good Life, but it wasn’t much. I don’t know why, either. I had never heard anything from his debut EP, Yuma, but when it came down to it I was only giving The Good Life a courtesy listen. Regardless of what I was expecting, what I got was one of the best albums so far this year.
Son of Steve Earle…Townes Van Zandt…blah blah…the names and shadows have been welldocumentedonotherblogs, so I’m just gonna talk about the music.
From the more Hank at the Opry hobo song and title track “The Good Life” to the standout Civil War story song “Lone Pine Hill”, Earle shows a songwriting command and reverence of the past far beyond his mere 25 years. The album isn’t a mere case of mimicry, though. Justin manages to play off the influences of country greats and still sound fresh.
While this might be the worst case of blasphemy in the history of Americana music bloggery, it’s the truth: In my opinion, The Good Life is better than anything his daddy has ever put together. Allow me to preface that, though. I’ve never really been fanatical about Steve Earle. I like some of his songs well enough, but I’ve never liked enough of them enough to bother very much. On the other hand, another effort like this from Justin and I’ll be nearing the fanatical stage.
The Good Life; it’s essential listening and bound for many a year end top 10 list.
Slim Cessna’s Auto Club comes from the amazingly incestuous Denver country music scene. The only real constant in the band has been Slim Cessna himself, but Jay Munly has served as a pretty key member over time. SCAC writes big songs, I don’t really know how else to describe it. They aren’t heavy, they aren’t loud, and they’re rarely disposable. They are often labeled as “gothic country” due to the intermingling of Old Testament and apocalyptic religion with bad relationships, alcohol, and murder. If nothing else, SCAC is, IMO, one of the best bands in America that hardly any one’s heard of, and they just released what might be the best album of the year in Cipher.
Cipher is woven together by four hymnal refrains entitled “An Introduction to the Power of Braces”, with each focusing on a different part of the person, Arms, Legs, Teeth and Faith respectively. They seem to loosely divide the album into four themed sections, but I have not been able to get a clear grip on that yet. Between that and the hidden messages in the album’s artwork, one can see how appropriate the title is. The album, thematically, is a lot darker than their previous efforts, but still features their signature harmonies, Cessna/Munly vocal push-pulls, as well as an unrivaled level of musicianship.
Do yourself a favor and check out this album, it’s the most essential listening album of the year thus far.
Back in November I mention that Kansas’ Moreland & Arbuckle had recently signed with Fred Litwin’s Northern Blues label and were preparing their label debut, 1861. At the time, I was looking forward to hearing it but I wasn’t sure what to expect. I mean, another Floyd’s Market would have been great and I would have happily written about it on here. What I got certainly wasn’t what I expected…no, it’s oh so much better…hell, I can’t even write about it without a huge smile coming across my face. They turned their juke joint/back porch/hill county boogie up to 11, threw in a little 1960’s garage rock, and added more soul than a bowl of Louisiana gumbo.
Saying this album is Essential Listening is like saying Angelina Jolie is a’ight. This album is a party in the form of 12 tracks and it gets my highest endorsement. Northern Blues, a label that prides it self on bringing fresh talent to the blues world, has brought you guys a winner. Check it out!
A while back I wrote that as a whole I do not listen to female singers. I managed to follow that up with 5 of my next 6 pieces being about how awesome some female singer was. Therefore, I would like to officially recant that earlier statement.
Within 3 songs of Eilen’s sophomore effort, Letters from Sinners and Strangers, I knew I had to do it. The cd is perfect for damned near every mood. Early mornings, late nights, sober, buzzed, half-drunk, fully-drunk, God’s own drunk…it does not matter. The cd broods, bounces and shuffles it’s way through 12 tracks of no-skip excellence. Whether she’s providing a fresh take on an old song like Charlie Rich’s “Thanks Alot” or Dylan’s “Walking Down The Line” or fleshing out impressive originals such as “High Shelf Booze” (which sounds like it could have been played in a Prohibition era speakeasy), you get the sense that Eilen Jewell is for real and here to stay. She’s Essential Listening for sure.
