Alt-Country has been fairly negligible on this site, and not for any overriding reasons of personal taste. I've toyed with the idea of discussing "paisley pop" groups like The Long Ryders, or True West, or Jason Ringenberg and the Scorchers, or even the band that spawned the name of a whole movement (and a magazine, you know "No Depression"), Uncle Tupelo, to name a few. I did a post on the Waco Brothers quite a while back. But a post like this is long overdue.
Probably about 2 or 3 months ago, I saw a nice review of an album by a New Zealand band on the site Elsewhere, by NZ journalist Graham Reid. He has a lot of interviews and album reviews, and not exclusively New Zealand acts. His concise intelligent reviews remind me a little of Robert Christgau's old reviews in the Village Voice. Well worth seeking out.
As is Sand on Chrome. Based on the review I picked up a copy, and it is pretty great. A sleeper that you should not ignore, and for me I grow fonder of the album with each listen.
Devil's Elbow is a two piece outfit from Hawkes Bay. Alec Withers on guitars and vocals, Andrew Gladstone on drums and backing vocals.
Sand on Chrome, their first album on Hit Your Head music, is full of ballsy Replacements/Stonesy barroom swagger, but in all honesty they remind me of Social Distortion at their rootsiest. Withers has that raspy voice like Mike Ness. I think they would fit right in on the insurgent country roster of BloodShot Records. Like Chicago's Waco Brothers.
Chock full of choice songs, of particular note is the first song Brainstorm. In a more traditional vein, When You're On Top is a nifty duet with Sarah Wiig. Also impressive is the kick ass These Days, and the country punk KO. Great stuff!
The release of their second album, Absolute Domain, is immanent. All of their music is available at Bandcamp, and I know Sand on Chrome is on I-Tunes. This is a pretty excellent album that any fan of the Alt-Country genre would enjoy. I'm interested to see how they do on their follow-up.
No comments:
Post a Comment