05/01/07
APPLESEED
ERIC ANDERSEN/Blue Rain Live: Andersen checks in with his first live album and he cuts it blues, a long time passion, newly and recently recorded with some like minded new pals at a blues festival in Norway. Pulling songs from all quadrants as long as they interest him, Andersen makes this one for himself and it’s a real valentine for the fans. From Fred Neil covers to recent co-writes with Lou Reed, Andersen covers his lengthy career with his eye cocked on the blues he was first turned on to by Lightnin Hopkins. A tasty, zesty romp that finds him right up there with the best of his fellow blues loving white boys.
1101
HOWLIN WUELF MEDIA
AT DUSK/You Can Know Danger: Middle school pals that didn’t decide to become a band until going off to different colleges, this off kilter trio is now cruising through adult hood with their off kilterness in tact. Not exactly angry young men, not exactly a bunch of spazzes, this trio just has that off the beaten track/go your own way vibe down just right. Not quite misfit rock but certainly left of center all the way.
(Popping Open)
DREADFUL YAWNS/Rest: Hmm, not the easiest set to describe but here goes. Ernest lo fi country that’s been mixmastered through new school sensibilities but draws just as much from Velvet Underground as it does Neil Young. A very smart performance that has no business being on a very indie label when it has so much big time stuff on the ball, this is this generation’s answer to 70’s country rock. Mush has been replaced by subtle edge and the total effect is simply the stunning kind of thing you just want to take on along walk. Hot stuff.
(Exit)
ROCK PAPER SCISSORS
EROL JOSUE/Regleman: Back in 1991, Boukmans Experiens made a voodoo record that was just a knock out and was a high water mark they never repeated. This was before trance and all that stuff, and it put you in a trance, in a good way. It’s been rough on the average gringo looking for another voodoo record that can be taken seriously between now and then. Second generation voodoo man Josue puts the quest to a rest. Coming in with techno voodoo, this is the closest successor to the BE set to come along in almost 20 years. Based in voodoo ritual, this is contemporized and modernized, made palatable for gringo tastes but still full of it’s main essence. A world beat tangent you might not normally take but really should
122 (Mi5)
PHARAOH’S DAUGHTER/Haran: The spiritual kid sister of Ofra Haza checks in with something that’s Jewish but sure ain’t Klezmer. World beat with roots in Aramaic and Kabbalah bases, this is a spirited set that gleefully mixmasters lessons learned as Basya Schechter moved across the world and picked and chose elements she wanted to assemble her identify from. Certainly a spirited set that reflects the youthful, progressive side of world beat, this can be as at home in clubs as anywhere else. Wild stuff that plays with abandon and is sure to grab your ears.
1 (Oy Hoo)
Volume 30/Number 182
May 1, 2007
MIDWEST RECORD
830 W. Route 22 #144
Lake Zurich, IL., 60047
CHRIS SPECTOR, Editor and Publisher
(c)2007 Midwest Record