Slipped Discs

Discs You May Have Missed
by John Noyd

Reviews From: Blues
Jim White - Transnormal Skiperoo

Jim White - Transnormal Skiperoo

Jim White
Transnormal Skiperoo
Label: Luaka Bop

Country toasted gumbo stirred and spiced with subtle touches. White wiles his way into common dreams and universal visions painting language in earthy tones, suspicious shadows and radiant hope. Whether slithering or celebrating, the backwoods boogie creeps sleepily under the skin. Lazy beats wake to take to the streets as Transnormal trolls tradition.

Jim White WebsiteJim White Wiki

Wilders - Someone’s Got to Pay

Wilders - Someone’s Got to Pay

Wilders
Someone’s Got to Pay
Label: Free Dirt

From hoedowns to honky-tonks, the Wilders’ commando jams swing through toe-tapping tempests and last call melancholy. Somber, fuel-injected traditions and snazzy, twang-filled philosophy highlight “Pay” with big returns on the listener’s investment as real-life murder ballads meet slammin’ solos of fiddle and dobro. The Wilders hit Madison’s High Noon April 16th.

The Wilders Website

Greta Gaines - Whiskey Thoughts

Greta Gaines - Whiskey Thoughts

Greta Gaines
Whiskey Thoughts
Label: Justice Records

Velvet-lined heartache and subtle twists on country chic empower, Whiskey,” as 4x4 fantasies and down home dramas unfurl dark, tantalizing roots. Swaggering and galloping between temptations and addiction, Gaines’ rootsy revisionism seduces like tight jeans and steel-tipped boots - a little danger stirred into an inviting stew of solid chops and shiny, baited hooks.

Greta Gaines Website

Andre Williams & the New Orleans Hellhounds - Can You Deal With It?

Andre Williams & the New Orleans Hellhounds - Can You Deal With It?

Andre Williams & the New Orleans Hellhounds
Can You Deal With It?
Label: Bloodshot Records

The real deal – Williams teams with a randy band of crackerjack misfits for some cocky hootchie-coo and rocket-fueled R&B. Raucous street corner confessions run from arrogant boasts to desperate requests as the downright electrifying Hellhounds back Williams’ barks in stinging, slinking, sledgehammer brass, bass and guitar.

Andre Williams & the New Orleans Hellhounds Website

Jim Boggia - Misadventures in Stereo

Jim Boggia - Misadventures in Stereo

Jim Boggia
Misadventures in Stereo
Label: Bluhammock Music

Eight-tracks becomes epitaphs and schoolyard bullies topple when harmony meets hindsight in Boggia’s deceptively cheery, wonderfully crafted, “Misadventures.” Sweet geek nostalgia gets set to charming chameleon pop as turnabout and loss figure in the boppy potshots and fond farewells. Clever as they are accurate, Boggia’s tarnished trophies massage fresh perspectives from age-old obstacles.

Jim Boggia WebsiteJim Boggia Wiki

Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue

Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue

Jenny Lewis
Acid Tongue
Label: Warner Bros

Dishing out an inspired buffet of bent Americana, modern songbird Lewis’ song-writing skills turn classic formats into formidable platforms, launching alt-country gospels, weepy folk ballad blues and raging rockabilly toe-tappers. Couched in cameos and chameleon changes, “Acid,” waxes and wanes, openly hopeful then wickedly sinful. Powerful pipes aid adventurous exercises in Lewis’ adept adaptations.

Jenny Lewis WebsiteJenny Lewis Wiki

Joao Orecchia - Hands and Feet

Joao Orecchia - Hands and Feet

Joao Orecchia
Hands and Feet
Label: Other Electricities Records

Processed layers welded into seamless streams of jittery digital fidgeting, Joao’s overstocked toy box simmers alongside bantering banjos, wheezing concertinas and listing violins. Blue Man boogie for beats, blips and purring whirligigs, “Hands,” juggles cuckoo clock rock, cyber-fried lullabies and pump ‘n crunch electro-funk for effusive musical Sudoku and groovy, geo-synchronized synergy.

Joao Orecchia Website

Los Cenzontles with David Hidalgo & Taj Mahal - American Horizon

Los Cenzontles with David Hidalgo & Taj Mahal - American Horizon

Los Cenzontles with David Hidalgo & Taj Mahal
American Horizon
Label: Los Cenzontles Records

A bump and grind banquet of sumptuous Tex-Mex, spooky barrio blues, joyful party tunes and soul-searching serenades, this hearty collaboration proudly parades squeeze-box cumbias, spicy folk-rock and intimate audio scenarios. Detailing the migrant worker’s plight, “Horizon,” is anchored by tradition but flowers through invigorating rock-blues fusions.

Los Cenzontles with David Hidalgo & Taj Mahal WebsiteLos Cenzontles with David Hidalgo & Taj Mahal Wiki

Lower Dens - Twin Hand Movement

Lower Dens - Twin Hand Movement

Lower Dens
Twin Hand Movement
Label: Gnomonsong

Clanging basement blues artfully dissolve in understated waves of corrosive compulsions, fevered dreams and ragdoll ballets. LD’s cooing stews of murky psychedelia paint lazy, strung-out lullabies whose ferocious persistence rocks, cradling dank heartaches, creeping bleached half-asleep doldrums. Navigating deliberately drowsy diplomacy, murky melodies ooze and entangle, “Twin,” in earth-shattering shadows and abrasive haze. Jana Hunter and friends play Madison’s Project Lodge August 17th

Lower Dens WebsiteLower Dens Facebook

The City Champs - The Set-Up

The City Champs - The Set-Up

The City Champs
The Set-Up
Label: Electraphonic

Getting up and under the brash, downbeat sound of a cresting, cooking Hammond organ with side-swiping, chicken-pickin’ electric guitar and kickass trap kit drumming, Memphis’ TCC shoulders ferocious restraint, buttery souls and sizzling swing. Augmented with occasional bass, horns and Latin percussion, “Set-up” remains powered by three equal talents trading interplay tucked inside velvet waves, cool nuance and rooted grooves.

The City Champs WebsiteThe City Champs Facebook

Southeast Engine - Canary

Southeast Engine - Canary

Southeast Engine
Canary
Label: Misra

Penitent and persevering, rowdy and reverent, SEE’s gurgling Wurlitzers and Delta-bound brass rile rustic ruckus for relapsed travails, electrified revivalists fronting frontier racketeers, recasting tragic burdens into grizzled, gratifying honky-tonk. A ragged tabernacle, “Canary,” canvasses unflappable affirmations etched in mournful cornfields, barnyard brimstone and boardwalk morality; rousing rust belt ballads conjuring coal mines and cold spells, bad luck and love-sickness.

Southeast Engine WebsiteSoutheast Engine FacebookSoutheast Engine Wiki

Heidi Spencer and the Rare Birds - Under Streetlight Glow

Heidi Spencer and the Rare Birds - Under Streetlight Glow

Heidi Spencer and the Rare Birds
Under Streetlight Glow
Label: Bella Union

Lingering fiddling and tidewater drums filter drifting harmonicas and blue-sky slide; sweet molasses melodies dally about weary wishes as halting, unholstered Spencer and her Cold Mountain minstrels wrap dilapidated desires over tattered sighs littering forlorn sojourns ravaged from fog-bound farewells. Cradling Appalachian patience, “Glow,” exposes windswept ragdoll blues wallowing in unspoken truth playfully wavering between pregnant pauses and uncertain resolve.

Heidi Spencer and the Rare Birds WebsiteHeidi Spencer and the Rare Birds Facebook

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