There is fucking amazing music being created at the moment, anyone who tells you otherwise has no idea what the hell they’re talking about and you probably shouldn’t hang out with them anymore.
“But where do I find all this cool music Papa Slick?†I hear you ask in desperation. Well, I have my methods but they involve a shit-ton of sifting through music sites and listening to rubbish before I strike gold.
Good news is when that happens, I put all my best finds together into badass playlists like the one that follows below and all you have to do is kick back, click “play†and let the good times roll muthufukkah!
You will find some old favourites with new shit in this list like my buddies The Hives, QOTSA, Nine Inch Nails, Vampire Weekend and Franz Ferdinand but then I’ve thrown some nice fresh stuff in here you’ve never heard before – killer tracks from CHVRCHES, Daughn Gibson, Lord Huron, Howler and a bit of local flavour with PHFAT.
I don’t know what it was that made me fall in love with the desert, or at least the idea of it because the closest I’ve come to experiencing it was staying at Matjiesfontein in the Karoo on road trips from Jozi to CT.
If I think back to my childhood, there’s nothing concrete there either – maybe some half-remembered movie scenes or vague, dusty dreams. The clink of spurs, the rolling tumbleweed, the blood-red sunsets.
Whatever it was, my obsession with desert rock has only made it stronger over the years. It was this shared love of that scene that sparked a connection between myself and Dan Nash who, as I write this, is living the dream.
His story is a pretty cool one. SA band Red Huxley were lucky enough to win a 5FM competition last year and subsequently got to meet the Eagles Of Death Metal backstage when they were in the country last year.
The guys got to talking with the band and were invited to this crazy little recording studio way out in the Californian Desert called Rancho De La Luna which is a legendary place in desert rock folklore.
Everyone from Eagles Of Death Metal themselves to my favourite band of all time, Queens Of The Stone Age to PJ Harvey and the Arctic Monkeys have recorded albums out there. It’s a kind of Mecca for bands that want to escape it all, soak up the solitude and untamed desert energy and just do what bands were born to do.
So Red Huxley created a Kickstarter campaign to raise enough money to fly over to the States and record their first album with the co-owner and founder of Rancho, Dave Catching, who has played in both Eagles Of Death Metal and QOTSA.
It’s not only a dream come true for Red Huxley, but it’s also a South African first (far as I know) so it carries national significance for each and every South African out there! Of course, the guys needed a coupla faithful scribes to make sure the interwebs could follow their exploits which is where Kim from Motion City Films and Dan come into it.
The guys have been gathering content and Dan’s been posting regular updates on the trip which you can check out on his site. So far, they’ve put out 5 videos of their trip which you can watch here.
They’re pretty cool, they give you a great idea of what the place is like, but what’s been really awesome to see are all the pics the guys have been taking, some of my favourites of which follow below:
What crazy place. I’m seriously interested to hear what Red Huxley’s album is going to sound like because holy shit, it looks like it’s been an insane ride.
I’ll get out there one day. It won’t be to live the rock n roll dream though, it will be with my daughter and J-Rab, cruising those dusty roads in a Cadillac like the guys managed to find, surrounded by “those on the fringes of the promised land, cut off from the American dreamâ€.
Woah, woah, woah. Before you come at me brandishing your goddamn pitchforks and blazing torches, let me explain something to those of you who don’t read this site often / have never been here before.
Queens Of The Stone Age is my favourite band of all time. And no, this isn’t some fleeting conclusion I came to last week because I decided to listen to some of their stuff ahead of their new album launch.
If my life were a movie, Queens Of The Stone Age would do the soundtrack. Josh Homme is one of the most talented and underrated musicians currently alive. How obsessed am I with this man? Have a seat, I’ll get you a beer…
I got my hands on Songs For The Deaf in varsity, back in ‘02 and something clicked in my brain that never clicked back, something changed, something came alive.
Within a year I’d tracked down their self-titled first album and Rated R (which, 11 fucking years later I still can’t get enough of). But that wasn’t enough.
When I found out Homme had first cut his teeth in the 90s desert / stoner rock / grunge band Kyuss, I started hunting down every album they did as well.
I followed everything Homme did after that faithfully – the QOTSA albums Lullabies to Paralyse and Era Vulgaris, all three Eagles Of Death Metal albums and of course the fucking amazing album he did with Grohl and John-Paul Jones, Them Crooked Vultures.
So you can imagine how excited I was to hear their new stuff after six years of waiting for a new QOTSA album. That might be the fuck-up right there, I’ve built it up too much in my head already, but regardless, I’ve tried to come at this from as neutral a position as I can considering everything I’ve said above.
If you follow the music press, you will have seen that over the course of last week, QOTSA were releasing these creepy, fucked up animated videos with teasers of some of the tracks that will appear on their new album …Like Clockwork.
After the final teaser video was released, they made the whole 15 minute video available to watch (posted below).
Having watched the video a number of times, I still can’t say whether I actually like it or not, which is weird. You’d think I’d love the shit out of this just based purely on the fact that I’m obsessed with this band.
I think the problem with the video is I find it pretty nasty and brutal, which normally wouldn’t be a problem for me if it at least had some deeper meaning or purpose, but either I’m too dof to figure it out or it just is what it is – siff, violent, disturbing scenes for the sake of them.
As for the music itself, it’s kinda depressing and sorely lacking the ballsy, robot rock riffs that make this band awesome.
Anyway, here’s the video for you to decide for yourself:
All that really resonated with me throughout the entire 15 minute clip above were the words, “The end is really fucking nigh†because if this is what the entire album sounds like then yeah. I can’t argue there.
Having said that though, these tracks have grown on me quite a bit the more I listen to them, so let’s not drop the guillotine just yet.
My album review will be up shortly after …Like Clockwork lands.
It’s Friday bitches and if you’re down here in Cape Town with your Tiger pal it’s a goddamn beautiful day, ain’t no doubt about it.
The first golden rays of summer are finally shining through the shitty winter we’ve been having which is cause enough to celebrate by loading a massive bong when you get home and ripping that mofo for everything it’s worth.
“But wait!†I hear you say, “I need some killer music if I’m going down that road man!†Well, what the fuck dude? Didn’t you read the title of this blog post? I got you covered broheme. Just hit up the 8Tracks playlist I put together below and let the good times roll!
The weekend is just around the corner yo, so I thought I’d throw together a playlist of some of my favourite tracks to get your blood boiling.
It’s a crazy mix of a lot of stuff from the naughties that you might not have heard before. Nine Black Alps anyone? Scars On Broadway? Ida Maria?
If you haven’t heard any of those bands you need to hear this playlist. Of course I threw in a couple of greats like the Pixies and the Pumpkins in there for good measure too 😉
Gonna try make this a more regular thing, it’s like SlickTiger Radio, just put your headphones on and get ready to mop your face up off the floor.
Over the course of his 27 year career, Mark Lanegan has played with everyone from Kurt Cobain and Layne Staley (Alice In Chains) to PJ Harvey and Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age).
He cut his teeth in The Screaming Trees in the late 80s and 90s and then went on to start an on-again, off-again solo career as The Mark Lanegan Band.
Seven solo albums later, the self professed “shadow king†is back with Blues Funeral – a potent mix of 80s synth-laden robot rock and growling whisky-soaked blues laced with a funeral dirge sentiment that haunts and enthrals at every turn.
Sick Tracks:
Blues Funeral swings between rumbling, psychedelic anthems like the pile-driving opener “The Gravedigger’s Songâ€, the relentless, Zepplinesque “Riot In My House†(on which Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme shreds throughout) and my personal favourite, the stoner rock classic “Quiver Syndrome†to quieter, more introspective tracks like “Bleeding Muddy Water†and “Deep Black Vanishing Trainâ€.
The battle-weary resignation of a life spent plunging the shadows of the human experience only to emerge with a handful of shaky half-truths smoulders in the gravel-pit tone of Lanegan’s most powerful asset, his sand-paper baritone.
Without it, Blues Funeral is an interesting melting pot of a number of different influences and genres, but nothing that would warrant a second or third listen.
With it, and the bold synth-pop experimentation Lanegan indulges on tracks like “Gray Goes Black†and “Ode To Sad Discoâ€, there is more than enough to keep you coming back for more.
Should You Give A Shit:
Look, the album’s called Blues Funeral so don’t go anywhere near it expecting an easy-listening, foot-tapping, head-bopping album of accessible radio-friendly rock tunes.
But come with an open mind and a taste for the darker things and I can almost guarantee Blues Funeral will give you something to sink your fangs into.
Give “Quiver Syndrome†a listen and see how it grabs you:
I tell ya, I’ve been putting this fucking post off for a good two weeks now while everyone else’s top 50, 20, 10 and 5 lists have been flooding the Twittersphere.
And no, it’s not because I wanted to suss their lists first to make sure mine’s not crap, it’s because there were so many great albums that landed this year I don’t know where the fuck to start.
In the end, I followed the tried and tested method of sorting my iTunes library by year and scrolling down whilst mentally jogging through all the albums I listened to this year, yielding the following scientifically accurate results…
NUMBER 10 – Deerhoof (Deerhoof Vs Evil)
What quickly becomes apparent when listening to Deerhoof’s 11th album is that for all its chaotic bursts of noise and bizarre musical twists and turns, this band has the kind of musical talent that borders on genius.
This album will confuse the shit out of you the first time you hear it. However, Japanese frontlady Satomi Matsuzaki’s bubblegum-pop perfect vocal delivery and guitarist John Dieterich’s ability to write effortlessly catchy guitar riffs will have you coming back for more.
If you like your music irreverent, unpredictable, catchy as hell and severely tripped out you won’t be able to put this album down. Here’s “Secret Mobilisation†to give you a taste:
NUMBER 9 – Foster The People (Torches)
Yes, yes, I know. How could anyone who considers himself a serious music critic endorse a band that produces such blatantly unapologetic indie pop?
I’ll admit that Foster The People is definitely a guilty pleasure of mine, but y’know what?
Sometimes I just want to listen to catchy singalong tunes that don’t send me spiralling into a vortex of existential angst and introspection, is that a crime?!
Torches is packed full of great hooks, clap-your-hands-and-dance-around carefree summer melodies and chorouses that bounce inside your head for days.
Here’s the video for “Don’t Stop (Colour On The Walls)†– you HAVE to watch this, it’s brilliant!
NUMBER 8 – Cults
Continuing in the indie pop vein (don’t worry, this list grows some big hairy balls later) the Cults’ debut self-titled album also impressed.
This band borrows sounds from traditional 50s teen prom-pop, doo-wop and surf rock, laces them with a heavy dose of reverb and samples of cult leaders speaking to their followers and then wraps it all up in frontlady Madeline Follin’s high-pitched cantopop style vocals.
Which is a very convoluted way of saying this band writes simple melodies, sick hooks and killer songs that are seriously easy to get into and carry just enough weight to not be completely dismissed as indie pop fluff.
Here’s the video for “Abductedâ€, the opening track on Cults. Oddly enough, it also features a lot of driving. Starting to pick up a trend here…
NUMBER 7 – Taxi Violence (Long Way From Home)
The only SA band to make it on the Tiger’s list! Yeah, I need to sink my teeth into more local music…
Long Way From Home features re-written, acoustic versions of old favourites like “The Messâ€, “Devil ‘n Pistol†and “The Turn†which sound like they’ve been taken apart and completely rebuilt from scratch. And of course, Taxi Violence threw in one or two new tracks written specifically for the album.
It’s a refreshing change from your stereotypical acoustic album where most bands just swap electric guitars for acoustic ones and serve up warmed up leftovers thinly disguised as an album actually worth listening to.
Their acoustic rendition of “Heads and Tails†is particularly noteworthy, as is “Long Way From Home†with its upbeat, bluesy / rock flavour played with bright, jangling guitars and tambourines that reminded me of some of the earlier Supergrass albums.
To give you a taste of what I’m banging on about, here’s the SICK video they shot for “Heads Or Tailsâ€, which recently won the Best Video Award at the 2011 Wirral International Film Festival.
NUMBER 6 – Seasick Steve (You Can’t Teach An Old Dog New Tricks)
I met my buddy Seasick Steve when I was down in the dumps earlier this year and we became great buddies.
See, ol’ Seasick knows how bad things can get, before he made it he used to busk in the Paris Metro, only finding fame in his late fifties.
This guy is the real deal, from his frazzled grey soup-catcher to his beaten up John Deere cap and dungarees, he is everything that is badass about old-school blues.
He has a voice like an old grizzly bear and can change it up from the low, lonely, slit-your-wrists ballad I’m about to play you to foot-stompin, redneck country and western tracks that bring words like “yeee-haw!†and “hootenanny!†to mind.
I just think he’s fucking cool. I’ve got a soft spot for old veterans like my pal Seasick. He attributes his recent success to his cheap and weather-beaten guitar “The Trance Wonder†which he bought off a friend of his in Mississippi who later revealed to Seasick that it was haunted.
Check out this video of the ol’ grizzly bear playing “Burnin’ Up†at SXSW earlier this year and dig his outburst at 2:18. What a badass.
NUMBER 5 – Yuck
My favourite debut album of the year and irrefutable proof that, like a gigantic, spindly cockroach surviving a nuclear apocalypse, the 90s will never die.
This band packs all the distorted, wailing guitar fury of bands like Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr and the playful, foot-tapping basslines of the Pixies topped off with a fuzzy vocal tone Pavement would be proud of.
But that’s not what made this album shine for me.
What made it shine lies in this band’s seemingly effortless ability to write melodies that soar with breath-taking dexterity above the tracks that make up this self-titled debut.
One part fuzzy, wah-pedal driven slacker indie rock and one part slow-burning, melody-driven alt rock worthy of old school Smashing Pumpkins / REM, Yuck carries a powerful emotional gravitas that blazes a trail through lesser bands’ attempts at redefining one of the defining decades in rock music history.
Simply put, this album is everything that was great about 90’s garage / grunge low-fi reimagined in the 21st century.
Here’s “Get Away†so you can hear for yourself what makes this band great:
NUMBER 4 – Arctic Monkeys (Suck It And See)
Arctic Monkeys made a name for themselves by perfecting the art of writing gigantic, energetic hooks and hammering them home effortlessly a talent that the band exploited extensively in their first two albums.
Then came Humbug, one of the first albums I ever reviewed on this site and with it, a complete departure from the sound they had carved out for themselves in Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not and Favourite Worst Nightmare.
They enlisted Josh Homme from Queens Of The Stone Age to produce Humbug and with his help their sound changed almost completely from infectious indie to dark, moody desert rock in a move that showed there was so much more to this band than any of us could have guessed.
Suck It And See continues in the desert rock vein this band carved out with Homme, but this time around, the band has moulded that sound instead of copy / pasted it and as a result, sound a lot more comfortable than they did on Humbug, as phenomenal as that album was.
Killer tracks like “All My Own Stunts†with its cowboy twang and insidious bassline and “Don’t Sit Down Cause I’ve Moved Your Chairâ€, the most powerful desert rock anthem on the album, are balanced out by the caustic wit and beautiful melodies of tracks like “Reckless Serenade†and ‘The Hellcat Spangled Shalalalaâ€.
It has a lot of meat to it, plenty to sink your teeth into and it gets better with every listen.
Here’s “Don’t Sit Down Cause I’ve Moved Your Chairâ€, one of the most tripped out videos I’ve seen this year.
NUMBER 3 – Foo Fighters (Wasting Light)
The album that’s been KILLING everyone’s top album lists this year finds a comfortable spot at number three on the Tiger’s list because Dave Grohl is a total fucking badass and Wasting Light has to be one of the best albums the Foos have put out since my personal favourite One By One.
This time around the band threw all the modern new-fandangled methods of recording out the window and went 100% old school.
The band literally set up a studio in Dave Grohl’s garage and did Wasting Light on brown analogue tape that they then cut together by hand using fucking razorblades for god’s sake!
The result is an album of raw, aggressive, skull-fuckingly powerful rock music that pulls no punches and takes no prisoners.
“Bridge Burning†will make you thrash around the room like an idiot savant who just hit a bong and downed a pint of rubbing alcohol, “Rope†has the catchiest, most badass Foos chorous riff since “Low†and “White Limo†is sheer, hedonistic rock music at it’s most awesome.
Just watch this fucking video. It stars Lemmy from Motörhead for god’s sake! How fucking badasss is that?!
NUMBER 2 – The Black Keys (El Camino)
Narrowly missing the top spot on this year’s list are the current reigning champions of the American 70’s blues / rock revivalist movement, The Black Keys with their 7th studio album El Camino.
Unlike it’s predecessor Brothers, El Camino moves at a blistering pace – no slow-burners on this foot-stompingly infectious, monster hook-laden album, no sir. This time around the Keys have dialled things up to a whole other level and the results are nothing short of sublime.
From the rusty guitar riffs and insanely catchy chorous of “Lonely Boy†to the righteous, sleazy grooves of “Sister†and the almost Zepplinesque prog rock ballad that is “Little Black Submarinesâ€, the Keys pull no punches in this noteworthy follow up to Brothers.
And don’t even get me started on “Gold On The Ceilingâ€, which emerges like a mutated Thin Lizzy track bursting at the seams with hand-clap percussion, skuzzy organs and a pre-chorous that sounds like it was written specifically for strip club scenes in Robert Rodriguez films.
So why not list this as my top album of 2011? As I stated in my original review, El Camino’s only downfall is the fat that, at 38 mins, it’s a little on the lean side in comparison to Brothers, which is basically the only thing I can fault on this album.
There just isn’t enough of it.
Still though, it’s a sick, sick, sick record – here’s “Lonely Boy†to prove that fact.
NUMBER 1 – The Kills (Blood Pressures)
Again, I refer to my original review of this, my favourite fucking album of 2011, because it perfectly captures what I think of this album:
When I stumbled on The Kills latest album Blood Pressures, I got one minute into the first track and started grinning from ear to ear.
Some of this had to do with the dark and dangerous sound of guitarist Jamie Hince’s Hofner played in all it’s bone-rattling glory. This man has perfected a grimey, thick-as-tar tone that had me hooked from the get go.
But what really mind-fucked me was how sinister and cool frontwoman Alison Mosshart’s vocals sounded – like butter wouldn’t melt on her tongue, like she was everything sexy and dangerous in this world, like she could kill you with a look or break you with a smile.
The Kills is her band, her little broody-beautiful world that she shares with guitarist Jamie Hince and there’s something about the fuzz and the mud and the malevolence and the majesty of it all that haunted me and continues to haunt me with every listen.
“You Don’t Own The Road†saunters like a drunk cowboy waving his six shooter with the safety off, “DNA†stalks purposefully through the woods at dusk, picking its way through an undergrowth of drumsticks clattering against drumsticks whilst wading through a quagmire of swampy basslines.
“Baby Says†has the melancholy of a Cowboy Junkies track, a lilting melody to keep you company in the hollow hours before sunrise, a song that echoes back to better times.
But “Future Starts Slow†is still my favourite. Stark, defiant, sexy, it has a drum track that plays like a striptease and one of the simplest, most powerful riffs I’ve heard in a good long while.
I got a dark streak a mile wide that this album really speaks to but that doesn’t mean you’ll love it anywhere near as much as I do.
If nothing else, it’s a great example of how simple, stylised riffs (played with truckloads of badass fuzzy effects) layered with amazingly complex drums and sultry, provocative vocals can seduce you to the point of infatuation.
If you want to know what the music playing in the jungles of my Tiger-mind sounds like, get your hands on this album and if you’re anything like me, pretty soon it’ll be playing through the jungles of your mind too.
Here’s “Satellite†to sink your fangs into.
That about wraps it up for my top 10 albums of 2011, a post that’s been THREE DAYS in the making, can you fucking believe it!?
So yeah, any comments would be appreciated – what albums rocked your guys’ world in 2011?
A good friend and fellow blogger, Miss Copasetic, decided to be a total badass last week and do an interview with your Tiger pal, which rates right up there with the MFM interview I did as one of my favourite interviews of all time.
What made it sick was she chose a song that she felt best encapsulated the essence of the Tiger and then posted the interview interspliced with the lyrics.
She fucking hit the nail right on the head by choosing the “Going Out West†cover by Queens Of The Stone Age, a song close to my big ol’ back heart. Hit the link below for the full interview.
Great job for clicking the “Read More†link! Here’s the interview and a picture of boobs as a reward.
It’s no secret that I’m probably the biggest Josh Homme fan in the entire fucking world. As far as I’m concerned, the man is a genius. Every band he’s ever been a part of, right back to his days playing with the stoner rock band Kyuss, has been mind-blowingly badass.
The best way I could put it is that if my life were a movie, the soundtrack would comprise of Kyuss, Queens Of The Stone Age, Eagles Of Death Metal and Them Crooked Vultures.
I’m so obsessed with the man that not only do I have every B-side he ever recorded, but recently I even resorted to getting my hands on his wife’s music and found out that she’s a total badass too!
I present to you, Brody Dalle:
She rose to fame in the band The Distillers and is often compared to Courtney Love and PJ Harvey in terms of her vocal style. She also married Tim Armstrong, frontman of Rancid when she was 18, but divorced him 6 years later and hooked up with Homme shortly after that.
When The Distillers broke up she started working on a new project called Spinnerette and released a self-titled album with the band in 2009.
I got my hands on it recently and dig it. Partly because she has an amazing, sexy voice, but also because it sounds like a female version of Queens Of The Stone Age (the other guitarist in the band, Alain Johannes, has had a long association with Homme and wrote some of the material on Lullabies To Paralyse and Era Vulgaris).
Here’s the song that was blasting in my skull when I woke up this morning. It’s Spinnerette with “All Babes Are Wolvesâ€.
If Marla Singer from the movie Fight Club started a band, it would sound like The Dead Weather. They’re dark, edgy and angry and with their second album they’ve perfected their particular brand of radio-unfriendly blues / tripped-out reggae / 70s rock and infused it with enough wailing feedback, weird synth effects and creepy organs to bring the last acid trip you had flashing back hard and fast.
Their previous effort, 2009’s Horehound did very little to impress. Musically, it sounded like everyone on the album was pulling in different directions, a common short-coming suffered by supergroups. The songs were loose and rushed and whatever inroads they made with regard to originality and style were overshadowed completely by singer Alison Mosshart’s toneless wailing and the disjointed, hookless attempts at songwriting that defined a lot of tracks on the album.
The biggest draw-card that Horehound had was the fact that Jack White (of The White Stripes and The Raconteurs) was in the band, but even that didn’t impress too much. ‘Oh, another Jack White side-project? Meh’ seemed to be the general consensus.
Fast forward to ten months later and The Dead Weather’s second album is already on shelves and who knows what the hell happened in those ten months but the band has come back tighter, meaner and better than ever.
Interestingly, in a recent interview, Jack White explained that the title Sea Of Cowards is a direct reference to the hordes of anonymous trolls on the internet that ‘spit venom and attack people in a cowardly way using fake names.’ Dorky? Yeah, a little, but trust me, the album is anything but.
This time around, Mosshart has found a happy medium between the aforementioned ‘toneless wailing’ and the throaty whispering that she’s prone to and I was pleasantly surprised to find that on Sea Of Cowards I didn’t feel like my ear drums were being scraped with industrial-grade sandpaper every time she belted a chorous out.
Although to be fair, Jack White does sing a lot more on Sea Of Cowards than he did on Horehound, which is definitely what the latter album was sorely lacking. The man has also upped his game considerably in terms of loading the tracks on Sea Of Cowards full of sick, bluesy, distorted guitar riffs and hooks that bite hard and don’t let go.
The first single, “Die By The Drop†is definitely not the finest example of what this album has to offer, the chorous is a mess, but the vocal dynamic between Mosshart and White during the verse works well and the lyrics “Let’s dig a hole in the sand brother / A little grave we can fill together… Some people die just a little / Sometimes you die by the drop / Some people die in the middle / I live just fine at the top†are catchy as TB and guaranteed to get your inner air drummer jamming.
The best track on the album is the instantly likeable “The Difference Between Usâ€. If you’re thinking of buying this album, listen to this track and if it doesn’t grab you, steer clear of Sea Of Cowards and go check out the new Michael Buble album, I hear it’s a huge hit with mindless drones the world over.
“The Difference Between Us†rises like a dark phoenix from a distorted guitar / synth melody that is perfectly accentuated by either White or Jack Lawrence, both of whom are credited as drummers on the album.
Fucking superbands. Swapping instruments like wives at a swinger’s party. You gotta love that shit.
“No Horse†moves with the sexy confidence of a gunslinger in a fist fight and has a bassline that will make you grin from ear to ear it’s so badass, not to mention the grungey, wailing guitar riffs that White bends and grinds out like a maniac.
The last track on the album, “Old Mary†will confirm any suspicions that this band is seriously twisted. The quiet, church-organ chords that haunt this track make a fitting backdrop to White’s lyrics, which are a twisted bastardisation of the Hail Mary: “Old Mary full of grease / Your heart stops within you / Scary are the fruits of your tomb / And harsh are the terms of your sentence…â€
The Dead Weather have done a fine job of carving out a sound that is unlike any band you’ve ever heard, and with Sea Of Cowards they’ve fine-tuned that sound into a far more listenable and coherent whole and proved without a doubt that they aren’t here to fuck around.
Try this album on for size, see where it takes you and who knows, when you get there, you might just thank me 😉
There is fucking amazing music being created at the moment, anyone who tells you otherwise has no idea what the hell they’re talking about and you probably shouldn’t hang out with them anymore.
