Canadian Audiophile’s Reviews and News

February 25, 2010

Jim Campilongo – Orange

Filed under: 2010, alternative rock, blues, experimental, folk, jazz, music, pop, rock — Tags: , — Jordan Richardson @ 9:50 am

Jim Campilongo’s ninth album, Orange, is a record that dazzles, as expected, with the guitarist’s raw fearlessness and inventiveness. His neat meshing of rock, blues, jazz, and whatever-the-hell-works is invigorating and his ability to pattern his playing with bits and pieces of devastating light and idiosyncratic darkness is astonishing.

Orange, out now on Blue Hen Records, is a collection of borderless music. Nomadic and adventurous, Campilongo’s playing belongs everywhere and nowhere all at once. Trying to peg him in a genre is a little like trying to catch a wild rabbit with your bare hands – if you do actually pull it off, you kinda feel bad about it and just let the little fucker go.

When Campilongo first started releasing records, he was playing with his band the Ten Gallon Cats. Solo records inevitably followed, with 2007’s Heaven is Creepy touching on a host of styles from rock to folk to jazz.

With Orange, new ground is forged yet again and Campilongo’s forward momentum is unstoppable.

The record was produced by New York City legend Anton Fier and was recorded in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Campilongo is joined by acoustic bassist Stephan Crump and drummer Tony Mason. The stunning Leah Siegel provides vocals and guitar on two tracks.

Orange opens with what can probably best be described as a tight, coarse little bit of roadhouse music. One can imagine Campilongo stringing this groovy piece together on stage behind one of those chain link fences. With beer bottles crashing and drunks fighting it out, “Backburner” lets the guitarist scale the heights of rock with freedom and grit.

Other tracks take subtler approaches, like the bluesy homage to Roy Buchanan called, of course, “Blues for Roy.”

Siegel’s vocals breathe their way into “No Expectations” perfectly. She joins Campilongo’s guitar to deliver one hell of a haunting, gorgeous, sensual rendition of the Rolling Stones tune. Leah’s also along for the ride on the Stooges’ “No Fun.”

A record like Orange just doesn’t come around everyday. It is a graceful, sharp set of soft touches and hard swings. It both dominates and caresses the senses, adding striking taps of mood in all the right places thanks to Campilongo’s remarkable control and patience as a guitarist.

September 13, 2009

Imelda May – Love Tattoo

Filed under: 2008, blues, jazz, music, pop, rockabilly, soul — Tags: , — Jordan Richardson @ 12:47 am

Imelda May

Imelda May has been carefully stacking up accolades and word-of-mouth advertising all over the U.K. Ever since appearing on Jools Holland’s show and wowing the audience, including Jeff Beck, she’s been in a bit of a whirlwind. With the release of her sophomore album, Love Tattoo, on U.S. shores, the “wow factor” is primed to explode.

A delicious and devilish mix of rockabilly, jazz, and good old-fashioned beach-blanket rock, Love Tattoo is an energetic record that makes great use out of May’s pipes and her ability to conduct energy. It’s a banger of a record, uneven in places as it should be, and it sparkles with the brilliance of an artist having a hell of a good time doing her thing.

The beauty in what dear Imelda pulls off lies in the effortlessness of the whole fusion deal. Many artists try to twist some sort of stew of jazz, punk, and rock together and come across looking like a dog that just peed on the carpet. There’s no confusion or regret here, though, as May’s approach is couched in her life experience.

She grew up listening to rockabilly and blues when everyone else in the ‘hood was listening to Wet Wet Wet and groups like A-Ha. As the youngest of five kids, Imelda May was often caught in a hailstorm of various musical styles but still managed to maintain her own groove while respecting the boundaries of her siblings and parents.

Love Tattoo is the result of all that lovely chaos, standing as a bouncy collection of influences piped through May’s natural charm and brilliant vocals.

Along with singing, May plays the bodhrán and gets a little assistance from her array of backing musicians. Featuring Dave Priseman on trumpet/flugelhorn/percussion, Darrel Higham on guitar, Al Gare on double bass, and Steve Rushton on guitars, her band is more than competent in supporting her big voice and bigger energy level.

Beginning with the bluesy “Johnny Got a Boom Boom,” May introduces us to the rips and tears in her vocals with glee. Punchy and raw, she belts it out without a second of restraint as the band peppers the backdrop with steady rhythm and vigorous guitar.

Other cuts show a different side of May, such as the sensual “Meet You At the Moon” invoking a candlelit piano lounge experience and “Smotherin’ Me” offering the singer a change to burst at the seams with a Joplinesque strut and a wee bit of sexy panting.

Love Tattoo, now out in North America, showcases this young and frighteningly talented Irish vocalist in style. It is an energetic and entertaining album, highlighting her blues and rockabilly influences while keeping things totally modern and entirely fresh. It’s a fun record, to be sure, and deserves to be rocked at high volumes.

August 27, 2009

Cable – The Failed Convict

Filed under: 2009, alternative rock, blues, hard rock, heavy metal, music, noise rock, progressive metal, rock, southern rock, stoner metal — Tags: , — Jordan Richardson @ 6:46 am

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In telling a parched, blood-curdling tale, Cable’s The Failed Convict winds up being a record that reveals more with each subsequent listen. It’s a concept album, telling the story of convict Jim and his escape from a mountain jail. Heading to California, Jim begins a quest to get things back to normal – what “normal” means for a bugger like Jim is hard to say, of course.

The Connecticut rockers have gone through line-up changes and life changes over the past while, almost seeing the dream die more than once. With their first disc since 2004’s Pigs Never Fly, it seems that Cable’s back in a big way.

The Failed Convict works because it dares to be expansive. Cable tells a story that stretches itself out over 13 crusty, dusty, bloody tracks, never relenting in unfurling its ultimate purpose until Jim gets to where he needs to be. It’s the band’s ability to tell the tale that keeps the project engaging.

Vocalist Peter Farris is absolutely enthralling as Cable’s frontman. His vocals are tremendous, infused with rich anger and angst. He embodies the character of Jim, ripping notes off like shotgun blasts infused with a blend of sharp noise, a carton of cigarettes and strong whiskey.

“Jim’s Dream” starts the album up with one hell of a driving, menacing tone. There’s an eerie quality to the way the band pulls the song into existence and the opening crash of guitar and sound is as violent as it is beautiful. When Farris introduces his anger to the song, it’s mind-blowingly sick. Listening to him snarl “I’m heading out West” is fucking frightening.

Much of The Failed Convict matches the subject, brimming with burly drunken ramblings and shots of nefarious, off-kilter music from guitarists Bernie Romanowski and Chris Fischkelta. Bassist Randy Larsen and drummer Vic Szalaj inhabit the lower end, thickening things up with some nice tasty sludge.

Like a desperate chase through a mountain pass, “Gulf of Texaco” throbs with relentless fury and leads right off the ditch into the slow and desolate “Welcome to Dickson” without pausing for a breath.

Cable keeps things moving throughout all 13 tracks because they know how this shit’s supposed to work. There are no shallow diatribes, no wasted movements and no keyed-up pretentious passages. The Failed Convict is a storytelling album, standing apart as a bold, bluesy and fucking LOUD entry in the catalogue of a band that really ought to stick around this time.

July 15, 2009

Clutch – Strange Cousins from the West

Filed under: 2009, alternative rock, blues, boogie-woogie, funk, groove metal, hard rock, music, rock, southern rock, stoner metal — Tags: , — Jordan Richardson @ 5:16 am

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Drenched in whiskey and cheap cigarette smoke, Clutch’s ninth studio album is a scorcher of Southern-fried rock worthy of countless summertime porch-sittin’ spins.

Strange Cousins from the West comes infused with a heavy blues-rock elixir that fans of bands like The Black Keys will certainly dig. There’s a deep, awesomely soggy sense of funk working its way through this record too, sweetly coating every single note with thickness and importance.

Produced by J. Robbins, the cat behind the band’s 2005 Robot Hive/Exodus, Strange Cousins feels outrageously slick and funky. The songs are built on the backs of solid, stunning grooves and piled sky-high with Tim Sult’s exacting guitar riffs and vocalist Neil Fallon’s pressing concerns. Bassist Dan Maines and drummer Jean-Paul Gaster proceed with astonishing precision, filling the lower registry with killer fills and sly bass grooves.

“Motherless Child” kicks things off with tremendous slide guitar and blasts through breathtaking tempo shifts and chunky riffs. “Sometimes I feel just like a wandering dog,” Fallon sings just before Sult kicks it up for a lethal solo.

Fallon plays with vocal pacing on the terrific “50,000 Unstoppable Watts.” Built on a constantly-shifting backdrop, he belts with the fervor of a drunken preacher and sharply adds afterthoughts as though the sermon isn’t quite finished yet.

Strange Cousins from the West unpacks track after track of glorious blues-rock. The record flows like a sludgy backwoods stream and Fallon is the bearded crazy shrieking while he brews up some moonshine. There’s something ultimately natural to this brand of straightforward funky rock, but there’s also a sinister edge to it that makes the whole album deliciously evil.

“Freakonomics” fires up with little ankle-biting guitar riffs and quickly introduces Fallon as our shouting-and-stamping hero from behind the Pulpit of Rock. He works into a frenzy and the band is only too happy to match his pace. Sult pilots the chaotic boogie-woogie through the storm.

Whether it’s cavernous rumbles that gulp down luckless victims like the sea (“Abraham Lincoln”) or wild funky grooves that set listeners to dancing (“The Amazing Kresken”), Clutch’s Strange Cousins from the West sure do make for damn fine company.

May 21, 2009

The Devil Makes Three – Do Wrong Right

Filed under: 2009, alternative country, bluegrass, blues, country blues, folk, music, rockabilly — Tags: , — Jordan Richardson @ 8:05 am

devil makes 3

Listenin’ to Santa Cruz’s The Devil Makes Three is a little like wanderin’ in the got-damn desert and coming across a got-damn rattlesnake: there’s only whiskey to drink and your six-shooter’s only got one got-damn bullet left. You been savin’ it, too, considerin’ your partner’s been givin’ you the stink-eye.

The Devil Makes Three would in nature be a trio, with guitarist and frontman Pete Bernhard leadin’ the way. He’s joined by upright bassist Lucia Turino and guitarist Cooper McBean. Their punkish loom to American blues, bluegrass, country, and folk music is couched in a concrete rhythmic sense even with the lack of a drummer.

Their latest record, Do Wrong Right, unearths riches of moonshine-drinkin’, tobacco-spittin’ songs worth humming along to on your way to stake your claim. These are songs for the workin’ man (or woman, ‘course). The tunes rumble with yarns of drinkin’, fightin’, lovin’, and losin’. Bolstered by a simple style and honest playing, The Devil Makes Three most likely knocked that got-damn mashed-tater eatin’ motherfucker Billy Bob off’n his horse a ways back.

Stacks of comparisons ain’t gonna do this trio any fair dealin’, though it is easy to see where some get the thought that The Devil Makes Three takes a few influences from The Violent Femmes or Steve Earle or other such bandits. Still, there’s a sound all their own here and you’ll be pressed to find a band playin’ with more honesty right now.

Sweet pluck-and-strum rhythm forms the surroundings for “All Hail,” Do Wrong Right’s fun opening track. Bernhard rocks the frontman position, joined with vocal harmonies from his accomplices.

“If you’re gonna do wrong, buddy, do wrong right,” Bernhard gleefully suggests on the record’s title track. When you’re in it up to your elbows, you might as well make the most of it and The Devil Makes Three sure as hell knows this philosophy well. Throwin’ caution to the wind, the band knocks out a helluva hoedown song and “makes a little mess” in the course of it.

The working man gets his due with the gritty, haunting “Working Man’s Blues.” “I want what’s mine and not what’s his,” Bernhard sings over a faint campfire. “When it comes to tobacco it’s each man’s own,” he concludes before spittin’ a black gob into the darkened dirt. Harmonica punctuates the track like wolves howlin’ in the night for their next meal.

The Devil Makes Three ain’t tryin’ to change the got-damn world and they ain’t tryin’ to change your got-damn mind, neither. This is easy, hard-workin’ music for easy, hard-workin’ folk. For those days when you’re dead beat from the dust getting’ in your eyes and your partner lookin’ at you sidelong, save your one bullet and mind the rattlesnake. If you got to got-damn do it, Do Wrong Right.

February 15, 2009

The Randy Bandits – Golden Arrow

Filed under: 2009, alternative rock, blues, folk, funk, music, pop, rock — Tags: , — Jordan Richardson @ 9:53 pm

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Formed in New York in 2002, The Randy Bandits began their adventures with a casual collection of gigs at folk clubs and parties. They would leave the crowd bowled over with their liveliness and audacity, often ducking out the back door with jackets full of fine china after the show.

Fast forward to 2009 and The Randy Bandits have gone through a few line-up changes to become a succinct little six-piece outfit. And along with a bold new year comes a bold new record to follow up 2006’s Redbeard.

Bouncy and brave, Golden Arrow finds the Bandits in all their awesome glory.

With songs written by vocalist/guitarist/saxophonist Jim Knable and arranged by the rest of the crew, this is a record that is boundlessly fun to listen to and impossible not to clap along with. The arrangements are a stew of genres, cooking up mouth-watering folk along with blues, gospel, funk, Americana, musical theatre, and country. Every now and then there’s even a dash of jazz for good measure.

In approaching Golden Arrow, The Randy Bandits decided to create a sort of “live” vibe and called upon engineer and mixer Bryce Goggin to help them create something unique. The whole record was recorded over the course of Memorial Day weekend in Brooklyn and used live recordings with the whole band present (for the most part) instead of the typical layering of performance tracks.

As a result, the record sounds and feels as natural as an enchanting gust through a small town.

Amusingly, “Modern Man,” the album’s first track, sounds like the music of a feisty gospel revival just after an elderly lady has experienced “healing” from a toothless preacher. Hand-claps, piano, and guitar accompany the vocals in full Hallelujah mode.

Other tracks dig deep with soul and blues influences, like the old-fashioned “Loraine.” Bassist Jay Buchanan handles the singing duties here, pouring his guts out over a horn section, trickling guitar, and Russ Kaplan’s keys. “The world is made of gold,” Buchanan tells us urgently. Listen to his shade on the notes, too, as he walks the line between tacky and affecting with courage.

“Romeo” is funky and the background vocals swell to create a spiritual experience. And “5 Women Masked” sounds like perfect music for a Wild West train robbery.

Golden Arrow is a terrifically enjoyable record. The Randy Bandits have created something special here and have explored various genres with marvelous triumph. This is cool, spirited music that never pulls punches, never backs down, and never ceases to thrill.

Just keep an eye on your fine china…

7.4/10

December 17, 2008

Karl Blau – Nature’s Got Away

Filed under: 2008, blues, experimental, folk, music, pop, rock — Tags: , — Jordan Richardson @ 12:27 am

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When it comes to Karl Blau, it’s all about listening.

Based out of Anacortes in Washington State, one finds a real sense of the magnificence of the Pacific Northwest in his work. Equal parts shade and splendour, Blau’s DIY pieces have a quiet sensibility about them that belies a musician gifted as much in the art of listening to noise as he is in making it.

Blau’s latest, Nature’s Got Away, finds the performer pulling in on the stick a little bit. While previous records have featured a meandering exploration of sound, including the soft electronica of 2007’s Dance Positive and the raw experimentalism of 2006’s Beneath Waves, this record is cohesive and tenderly balanced.

As Blau effectively listens his way through the album, something special occurs. Melodies are flawed, guitar and keyboard dissolve together with a tone of deficiency, and his vocals drive in and out of dark tunnels with no headlights. This is music that Karl Blau allows to exist and he lets the arrangements go where they must instead of forcing them into a corner. At times, it almost seems as though the songs get away from him. At other times, Blau is working overtime at taming the beast within.

There is sweet exactness in the flaws, gentleness in the failed experiments, and loveliness in the unsightly paths he takes.

Take “Carry and Rob,” for instance. Piano plunks arbitrarily below a funky basin, filling Blau’s forest floor up with sounds that are simultaneously unpleasant and dazzling. His use of distortion is elegant and abrupt, bursting forward from what appears to be a straightforward grind and changing into a monster mid-phrase.

“Before Telling Dragons” finds Blau reaching a gorgeous zenith. Unfolding simply and good-naturedly, the track is gentle folk at its best. And “Make Love That Lasts” uses rhythmic guitar and the cracks in his vocals to generate a delicately heartbreaking, graceful tune.

“2 Becomes 1” may well be the finest folk rock tune of the year, bouncing with a wonderfully heart-warming gait as Blau’s lower registry and half-spoken vocals channel a touch of Eddie Vedder meshed with Dylan. The awkward guitar accents are the perfect touch over the glowing tune and the solo cuts to the heart.

Nature’s Got Away is a beautiful album. This collection of songs is exquisite, resonating from deep within the forests of the Pacific Northwest with all of the mesmeric splendour that only nature can bring. Karl Blau is a unique talent and this elegant record is as close to flawed perfection as one can get. It is truly wonderful stuff.

9.5/10

December 16, 2008

Delta Spirit – Ode to Sunshine

Filed under: 2008, alternative rock, blues, folk, music, pop, rock — Tags: , — Jordan Richardson @ 5:55 am

delta-spirit

Part of the magnificence of having the luck to do this work is having the fortune of discovering something extraordinary. I have had a few such experiences this year, with the most recent coming in the form of a small, modest San Diego quintet.

Featuring some of the most contagious melodies of the year, Delta Spirit’s Ode to Sunshine is one of those albums that deserves multiple spins and conjures visions of pure enchantment. With enough sandy waltzes and beautiful rockers to bring a smile to even the most weather-beaten mug, this is one of the best albums of 2008.

Based out of San Diego, Delta Spirit has an unsophisticated worth that goes beyond most youthful indie upstarts and ventures into the territory of tested performers.

Ode to Sunshine is a spirit-quenching force of folk, soul, Southern rock, and indie greatness. It is everything music should be. With cheering balladry and continuous soulfulness, this debut springs with character and sparkle.

Led by singer Matt Vasquez, Delta Spirit’s plan of attack is one entrenched in history and independent thinking. “Louis Armstrong, Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Nick Cave, Talking Heads. They’re characters, almost folkloresque, because they did exactly what they wanted to do,” he told The Boston Globe. Citing Alan Lomax and Jelly Roll Morton, Vasquez is a musical personality without a trace of insincerity or ingratitude.

Instead, Vasquez’s Delta Spirit is completely engaged in the hope of music-making. Ode to Sunshine swells with that hope, invoking a spiritual experience through its eleven exquisite tracks. The album was recorded in a cabin in the woods in Southern California in one week. It feels clean, tight, and altogether unique.

Ode to Sunshine opens with a quick little ditty, “Tomorrow Goes Away,” that feels like a front porch jam between the best of friends. And as the album courses warmly forward, that’s really what every track sounds like. Free of posturing, incongruity, and unnecessary glitz, this is extraordinary stuff.

Take, for instance, the achingly elegant piano as it leads through “Trashcan.” Vasquez’s vocals radiantly dispense into the song, stretching out with a hoarse but exclusively converted step. The rest of the band plays abundantly alongside him, popping through a stunningly-textured refrain. The swirling guitar accents towards the close of the song ice the cake.

“House Built for Two” is a soft meditation set to a waltz rhythm, while “Streetwalker” unfolds superbly to splashing cymbals and an unimpeachable guitar solo.

Along with the beautiful moments, there’s a good amount of foot-stomping testifying going on too. “People C’mon” is a surefire hit, bounding with forceful roots guitar and Vasquez’s insistence on firing up his people and driving forward with no wavering. “If you’re feeling what I’m feeling, c’mon, all you soul-searching people, c’mon,” he shouts, rallying the troops.

Astonishingly, every moment on Ode to Sunshine is compelling and infused with an irony-free modesty. Whether they’re working with harmonicas, trashcan lids, slide guitars, pianos, strings, or trumpets, Delta Spirit pours it all into the stew. There is limitless heart to this music and Ode to Sunshine provides yet another example that all is positively not lost in contemporary music.

9.6/10

December 8, 2008

Lions – No Generation

Filed under: 2008, alternative rock, blues, music, rock — Tags: , — Jordan Richardson @ 5:49 pm

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Based out of Austin, Lions snarl to life amidst a squall of furious guitars and thumping drums. With a sound that calls upon late-’80s Soundgarden, a touch of Fu Manchu, and a good ol’ dose of Kyuss, the quartet from Texas have come up with a heavy, bluesy, ultimately rewarding record with No Generation.

Formed in the late summer of 2005, Lions have toured ceaselessly with the likes of Burning Brides, Blue Cheer, Local H, and the Toadies. And, as a true sign of having arrived, their track “Metal Heavy Lady” appears on Guitar Hero 3.

Led by lead singer and guitarist Matt Drenik, these Lions pace the jungle with a slow, stoned swagger. Infused with the ’60s, ’70s, and early ’90s, No Generation finds this band ripping through an amalgamation of different sounds and discovering their own in the midst of shadowy guitar riffs and some seriously solid grooves.

No Generation is short, clocking in at less than 40 minutes, but it manages to coax many a thick jam out of the time. Austin Kalman’s guitar adds a sense of coating to the tracks, while Trevor Sutcliffe’s bass and Jake Perlman’s rolling drums drive the music from the bottom up. As a band, they are a crisp entity with a firm sense of timing and accuracy. At the same time, the music has a liberal and almost languorous feel about it.

Perfect for a smoke-filled van with shag carpeting, the record kicks off with the sludgy breadth of “Start Moving.” Drenik shouts the vocals over a swirling riff, calling to mind the Eddie Glass-led Nebula. The song has a pull to it, unremittingly driving through the mill with an easy lean.

As the album unfolds, the diversity of Lions starts to show. They play with grunge, pre-grunge, and ’70s jams but keep the solid riffs and hard-working stance throughout it all. This is a band that never loses the beat when experimenting and always maintains a semblance of order, even in the most ostensibly untidy moments.

That’s not to say that Lions don’t embrace the chaos every now and then. Check out the misshapen fuzz and AC/DC riffs that greet the middle of “Can You Hear Me?” The track drives with an almost industrial music grind, but snakes off through classic rock patterns with reckless abandon. And “Evil Eye” toys with the industrial pound again before rolling through a thrust that Lemmy would be proud of.

No Generation closes out with the record’s most enterprising cut, a nearly seven-minute jam called “Get Out Alive.” Guitar sprinkles the track as Sutcliffe drives it with his bass. Perlman’s kick drum provides rhythm in the psychedelic haze. Slowly-paced and progressive to the core, this beautiful cut is a brilliant way to slow things down and redeploy after the driving rock of the previous cuts.

Lions’ No Generation is a tight rock album packed with smoking jams and teases of industrial, punk, thrash, and progressive. With enough riffs to satisfy the most judicious air guitar player and plenty of stoner rock greatness, this is a record that these Lions can take pride in. 

8/10

November 30, 2008

Eagles of Death Metal – Heart On

Filed under: 2008, blues, music, rock — Tags: , , , — Jordan Richardson @ 7:00 am

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Eagles of Death Metal are from a different time and possibly a different place. Joshua “Baby Duck” Homme and Jesse “Boots Electric” Hughes, the two musical warlords behind EoDM, more than likely pulled themselves up off of the shag carpeting in a maroon-colored van and pushed aside six ashtrays to get the day started. And sure as the light of day is obscene on the face of a hung-over garage rocker, EoDM will own your face.

As flamboyant as the lights at Studio 54 and as irreverent as a former child-star turning tricks for glowsticks, Eagles of Death Metal actually don’t play the style of music more associated with growling vocals and grimy hair. But, so the story goes, the name came about when a friend of Boots Electric’s was trying to get Baby Duck into death metal using the band Vader. Baby Duck noted, perhaps precisely, that Vader sounded like “The Eagles of death metal.” And the rest is history…

The band Axl Rose dumbly dubbed “the Pigeons of Shit Metal” to a swarm of mulleted cowboys is now on to their third album. Heart On finds EoDM pushing a little harder and experimenting a little more, adding a drop of low-fi righteousness to the mix of blues, 70s rock, and exceptionally great mustaches.

Starting shit off with “Anything ‘Cept the Truth,” Heart On is one of those truly kickass rock records that hits all the right notes and delivers the goodies in hard-nosed style. Witness the sweltering riffs, dig the hand claps, marvel at the swagger of it all. “I only smile when I tell a lie,” Hughes tells us on the opening cut over a sea of scuzz rock.

It would be easy to dismiss these badass Eagles of Death Metal as some sort of two-bit comedy act or a spoof band like The Darkness or Metallica, but there is much more going on here than meets the eye. In between the ear-splitting, feverish guitars,Heart On seamlessly integrates a core of golden wisdom and introspection.

The album’s central ballad is one such moment. “Now I’m a Fool” could be about lost love or sturdiness or bluster or Hollywood. One thing’s for sure, though, it’s a damn fine rock tune. Coated with self-awareness and given a startlingly gentle dose of backing vocals from Baby Duck’s “subtle lines, oohs, aahs,” the song works every way it should.

Heart On is really about fun, of course, despite some delicate moments. “(I Used to Couldn’t Dance) Tight Pants” has big brass balls and swells with killer riffage, howling-mad vocals, and a yummy keystone of disco charm. “There ain’t no parking on this dance floor, now step aside….tight pants!”

“How Can A Man With So Many Friends Feel So Alone” finds EoDM wearing the Rolling Stones influences on their sleeveless shirts, punching out a riff Richards would be proud of over a track that aptly tinkles with piano and boogie-woogie tone. And “Cheap Thrills” gives us another lethal riff that is sure to make you want to make babies and backing vocals from the Eagle’ettes (Brody Dalle, Kim Martinelli, Erin Smith, and Kat Von D).

Packed with basement bass lines, riffs that Satan will be giving kids for Christmas, impenetrable vocals worthy of only the finest gods of rock, and enough adroit pageantry to make Axl pray for Japanese Socialism, Heart On is a rock and roll glam/garage record designed to make it hot and sticky all night long.

8.3/10

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