Archive for the Blues category
Blitzen Trapper “Whiskey Kisser”
by teabog on March 13th, 2007
Blitzen Trapper “Whiskey Kisser”
“Whiskey Kisser” (From the albumBlitzen Trapper)
If you’re judging bands only by the quality of their recorded output, Blitzen Trapper is easily the most unfairly ignored American group of this decade. I liken their releases to early Beck in that they manage to blend and bend dozens of different genres while producing distinctly American rocks that’s both easily accessible and completely unique sounding. It’s not only good music; it’s appealing music, the kind of music that hepsters would initially attach themselves to and then all sorts of college kids would pick up on. This is like Modest Mouse or Spoon, only better than the recent releases of either group. Simply put, it’s very good music that everyone can enjoy.
Why, then, does no one listen to it? As far as I can tell, it’s only because they’re self-released, and the band’s meager budget doesn’t buy them much press coverage. Their self-titled first album, from which the tobacco-soaked, sun-stained “Whiskey Kisser” was taken, wasn’t reviewed anywhere. Their second album, Field Rexx got a fair amount of overwhelmingly positive press coverage, but received little support otherwise. Yeah, a good review in Music for Robots might encourage a few people to check for the group at Amazon, but few are going put forth the kind of effort that tracking down a reasonably priced copy of a self-released album requires.
Anyhow, here’s Blitzen Trapper. They’re really, really good, and you should do what it takes to find and buy their albums.
Blitzen Trapper’s official website
Jimmy Witherspoon “Endless Sleep”
by teabog on February 6th, 2007
Jimmy Witherspoon
“Endless Sleep”
Writing these short blog posts have really made me aware of what a limited vocabulary I have for describing music. This is strange, because I listen to more music than anyone I know, and I listen to more different types of music than anyone I know. All this means, though, is that I can toss out the names of obscure genres and make band-to-band comparisons in order to describe what I’m posting. Aside from that, I can just talk about how songs make me feel.
I’m not gonna lie on this one: I can’t make any allusions to other artists. Not only is my blues vocabulary far too limited, but Witherspoon was the kind of artist who went through enough stylistic phases that he really defies pigeonholing.
This is one of his earlier songs, from his “Blues Crooner” phase. I know just by listening to it that it rises well above its generic norm, but I can’t quite put my finger on why. Its simple chord structure is a lot more original that what I’m used to from the genre. Its low-grade recording quality helps convey its desperation. Also, its jaunty, stumbly pace does a wonderful job of presenting the subject manner of the song: a desperate man stumbling along the beach after the apparent suicide of his “baby.” The guitar is the man’s footsteps, and Witherspoon’s howls are his thoughts.