Howlin' Rain, Spanky Wilson and Quantic
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Back from the wilds of Tampa with today's cubicle soundtrack.
Howlin' Rain - Howlin' RainFeaturing the talent from such bands as Comets on Fire and Sun Burned Hand of the Man, Howlin' Rain is refreshing in its familiarity. With most songs clocking in past the 6 minute mark (and two eclipsing 9) and the inclusion of such disparate instruments as banjos and alto-sax it's altogether likely that Howlin' Rain may be lumped into the jam-band genre, and perhaps that's not an unfair assessment. This album has a lot more to do with such forefathers of the neverending-noodle song movement as the Allman Brothers than it does with Phish or Dave Matthews. Nine minutes some tunes may be, but Ethan Miller and company never seem to lose sight of what's really important; the song. Ultimately this is old school rock and roll fun; equal parts Allman Bros and Blue Cheer mixed with just a tad of the Comets overdriven crackle. It smells and rides like an old van with a roach-clip on the rear view and monkey fur on the dash, yet seems just modern enough to avoid cliche. Drive to it.
http://www.howlinrain.com/
Spanky Wilson & the Quantic Soul Orchestra - I'm ThankfulSpanky Wilson's a soul, funk and jazz vocalist who has been performing and recording since the 60's. Quantic is Will Holland, a talented UK multi-instrumentalist/DJ/producer steeped in heavy soul. In other words, a perfect match. Though on par with some of the greatest soul albums of old (see Etta, Ella or even Aretha), I can't help but ponder how albums like this get greenlighted these days, even on indie and vanity labels. Aside from the slim possibility of college radio play there seems to be no market. Most purists regard soul of this caliber as latin; a dead language (see "Blues" for another crop of fans insistent on fawning over a corpse of their own making). They buy (and rebuy, as remasters and technologies like SACD proliferate) and covet the old stuff while considering anything new to be inferior based simply on its, well, newness. Alternately purveyors of what's now considered in the mainstream to be "soul" can't be bothered to wrap their heads around something with this amount of depth.
It's a shame. In an alternate universe Spanky Wilson would be dominating black radio. Somehow, however, it seems fitting that perhaps this music is being dug, purchased, supported and best understood, by the crate diggers who were once considered mere thieves.
Read more about Spanky Wilson on Wikipedia. Read more about Will Holland on Wikipedia.
http://www.quantic.org/
Randomness...
I've ditched the RIYL tags for now. I find them to be alternately too obvious or too tenuous. Besides, it isn't like a person doesn't have an overflowing cup of websites with audio clips to peruse if they're interested in hearing more.
posted by josefek @ 2:38 PM,
