(This review first appeared in issue #79 of Shindig! magazine.)
Mascot CD / LP
Though only in their mid-twenties, Utrecht-based trio DeWolff have ten years of hard touring and five studio albums under their belt. Thrust, their sixth, keeps them firmly in the vintage rock camp but comes flecked with inspired touches and a growing confidence and lyrical maturity. Whether taking barbed swipes at Geert Wilders ('Big Talk') or Donald Trump ('Deceit & Woo'), DeWolff are as adept at moving feet as they are minds, with Thrust drawing as much from the southern soul of Otis and co. as it does the southern rock of The Allman Brothers.
'Once In a Blue Moon' is a gospel-like ballad, complete with heavens-reaching organ and guitar solos, 'Sometimes' echoes The Black Keys' sparse brooding blues, whereas 'Tombstone Child' is a heavy-hitting funk-rock monster. Thrust is proof that there's still much to explore and enjoy using rock's primary colours. Fellow Utrechtian Dick Bruna would be proud.
It's been a busy time
recently at HDHQ, which means I haven't been able to post as often as
I would have liked. With Christmas, work and family commitments, a
couple of bouts of man-flu my little music blog has been a little
neglected of late. But with a new year comes a new start, and a firm
promise to myself that I'll make more time for writing. There's so
much great music around at the moment. If I can help in some small
way bring it just a little more recognition then it's well worth it.
Which brings me to this fine record that came out in November last
year. It's been a favourite on my listening pile for the last couple
of months.
Not an album that you
could easily pigeonhole into a recognisable genre (but hey, ain't
they often the best?!), this sonically beautiful set of songs has
elements of pop, shoegaze, indie, dream-pop and acid-rock yet is not
restricted by any of these labels. The album opens with 'Juniper
Pearl', sadness tempered with melody and marked out by the vocals
which bear an uncanny likeness to those of a young Bobby Gillespie.
'The Curse Of Kukaku' features Dave Gilmour-esque gilded guitar which
takes of into the space-rock stratosphere and into the track's
hypnotic coda. Tasty!
'Make It Her, Forever'
begins with a portentous eastern drone. Its use of quiet/loud
dynamics and guitar tremolo. 'Julia Dream' is like a lost Lennon
White Album out-take, with a slightly sinister nursery rhyme
vibe to it. Simple but enhanced by trippy studio effects. That's it
till the end of side one but there's plenty more sonic joys to be had
– the dubby beats on 'Substance B', the funky bass and fuzz guitar
of 'Hey Man' and the more garage-rock stylings on 'If You Feel It'.
Fans of Spiritualized, Heron Oblivion, Ultra Vivid Scene and their
ilk are well advised to seek this LP out.
The band are from
Philadelphia. There seems to be a happening neo-psych scene there at
the moment. You should also check out Shadow Band, who have more of
an acid-folk bent rather than the new psych-rock sound of The Orange
Drop. But it's interesting to note both bands are mining yesterday's
sounds and making something new, vibrant, and very enjoyable. Go
check 'em out!
Available on limited
edition orange vinyl (250 copies) and CD.
Luv
'n' Haight! Rock 'n' Roll! Second album of heavy acid-rock from
Janiece and the boys.
San
Francisco is already a city with a reputation for brain-bending,
female-fronted, acid-rock. Think of Janis Joplin fronting Big Brother
And The Holding Company back in the late '60s. That reputation is
further renewed by the release of Above
Becomes Below,
the second album by SF-based rockers Wild Eyes, featuring vocals by
Janiece Gonzalez, surely the inheritor of Joplin's untamed queen of
rock crown.
This
is no Luv'n'Haight hippy trip though, it's something altogether
wilder, trashier and rockier, much more 21st
century rock and roll, yet informed by the heavy '70s, trash-punk
'80s, funk-rock '90s and the back-to-basics new rock revolution of
the noughties. There's a road-hardened edge to all the psychedelic
rock riffage and unhinged guitar solos, one that evokes wild
nights, fast-living and outsider status.
Like
any power trio worth their salt, the dudes in the band make rock with
a groove, and allow plenty of space for Janiece to do her wild woman
vocals over the top. After the initial bluster and bombast of opening
track Stiff Nites, the album settles into its groove. With no weak
links in the chain Wild Eyes are equally at ease with the slinky,
slithering, shape shifting funkiness deployed on seven minute opus
The Freak, as they are with the Led Zeppelin style riffs of Alabaster
Dream and mystic dreaminess of Hewn Runes. Another artistically
successful release for Italy's Heavy Psych Sounds Records, and one
which raises the freak flag high. To paraphrase Davis Crosby – you
might even grow your hair!
