Category: Blues
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Surprise Chef: Education and Recreation
Surprise Chef are from Melbourne and play funky soul with some nods to jazz. It’s the kind of music you might find in a Tarantino movie, quirky but sharp, and with a real groove. But it usually makes us think of reggae dub plates, those sparse tracks made for other people to add sounds. Surprise…
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Motörhead: The Löst Tapes
We don’t know what’s worse: the fact that the members of the classic line-up of Lemmy, Philthy and Fast Eddy are all dead, or that Lemmy’s death killed Motörhead. But Motörhead recordings are far from dead and on Motörhead Day, 8th May, (say the eighth of May and Ace Of Spades quickly to see why)…
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Millicent B James: Moyo, Vol.1 EP
Releases by local bands always make us nervous; if they’re no good, what do we say? Sadly for everyone else, this new EP from Biddolphian Millicent sets a new benchmark: it’s wonderful. She’s is not a novice: a composer, cellist and vocalist, she regularly sings with the RBC Afro Cuban Jazz Orchestra and RBC Jazz…
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Larkin Poe: Self Made Man
Larkin Poe’s last album was, to put it kindly, a little unmemorable so we were totally not expecting the opening track on this new one: a huge, bluesy Led Zep meets Black Keys riff that needs to be played loud, from the opening high hats onward. Remarkably, they keep the standard up, more impressive because…
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Andrew Hawkey: Long Story Short
We liked Hawkey before we heard a note: he was born in 1942 (yes, really) in Wadebridge, Cornwall, a favourite Review Corner haunt (and home to Andrew Ridgeley) and also lived in Cheshire. He left school at 15 to work on poultry farms, but became an estate agent. He was in London for the swinging…
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Littlemen: It’s a Beautiful Thing
If ever an album hid its delights in its opening bars, it’s this. The start of opener The Girl With The Red Blouse sounds something like a country take on Wet Wet Wet’s Something In The Air, a gentle, slow pop tune with soft vocals, no indication of what’s coming. Then it builds in power…
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Sam Lewis: Solo
Lewis is a grizzled looking American dude and sings the songs you might expect; modern life and its many facets, just him and guitar. He’s good because he has a soft voice, lyrics that can be thoughtful, amusing or silly, and makes honest, simple music. This is just him and an audience in what sounds…
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Natacha Atlas: Strange Days
Atlas is from Egypt and this album sees her meld her roots with jazz. It’s a beautifully recorded selection of tracks that drifts into easy listening — the gentlest it goes is a bit late night, with an interesting fusion of sounds and instrumentation. Atlas began her career as part of the world fusion group…
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Charlie Parr: Charlie Parr
At first play, Charlie Parr’s self-titled new album sounds like a worthy but basically routine album: man sings while skilfully finger-picking a 12-string. (He plays a Mule resonator, National resonator guitar, a fretless open-back banjo, and a 12-string guitar, often in the Piedmont blues style). The album is a mix of old and new songs,…
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Georgie: Live!
Georgie is new to us; we guess she has a devoted fanbase who love her bluesy vocals. This is an acoustic set, recorded live at Trinity Church, Nottingham — she’s from Mansfield so it’s practically a home-coming gig. It’s all about the music. Georgie delivers minimal and deadpan chat between the songs. “This is a…
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