Big news! Mark yr calendars for May 7th at the Abbey Pub in Chicago IL. for a little mini-fest in celebration of Robert Johnson's birthday (yes, his birthday is probably the 8th, but it'll be the 8th by the time we're done with the show, so settle down). The event is co-sponsored by yours truly, The Big Rock Candy Mountain, in conjunction with main man Tony of The Black Oil Brothers. Full lineup will be announced shortly, but if you're a fan of this here site, you're gonna be jealous if you don't make it. Just sayin'.
We're gonna have some actual record reviews and whatnot shortly, including a review of the nifty new Exene Cervenka record, and an interview with one of our favorite record labels. Just in case y'all thought we forgot.
But today, we'd like to welcome back our world famous Six Pack series. Six nifty little tunes plucked from our lovely vinyl collection, unadulterated by filtering systems or whatnot. If it pops and crackles, well, that's just a bonus. And, hey, these are meant to be teasers. We always encourage folks to check out the bands and their rekkids.
So whatta we got today? Oh man, we got some tasty shit. Let's start off with Australia's The Ooga Boogas (featuring members of Eddy Current Suppression) and a slightly Pavement-esque ramble of a tune, keeningly lovely, sad, and funny (from the 7" single of the same name). "Party Life" by King Hannibal starts off with the line "...You know there was a pimp by my house the other day...". And it slow-soul burns from there (from his record "Truth"). Then we've got Rob K. (of the Workdogs) and one-man trash king exraordinaire Uncle Butcher with a nasty bit of garbage blues stripper sleaze, "Cat Walk" (taken from their collaboration, "Dictionary of Cool").
Breathe for a moment, and then dive into the campfire country sounds of Texas Tea, and their tear-in-my-beer hoedown, "Whiskey and Wine", off their rarities collection "Fire Sides/Last Drinks". Then, a little Hank Snow never hurt anybody, and his record "Tales Of The Yukon" is a fine example of his Western-via-Canada storytelling, particularly his cautionary tale, "The Face On The Barroom Floor". We've all been there, I'm sure.
Finally, a bit of Franco-style pop-psych, courtesy of The Liminanas. More to say on this band, and their new record shortly. But it's a fucking great song and record, so there's that.
As ever, the following tunes are in no order as far as quality goes. Check 'em all out!
Six Pack by Six West
Ooga Boogas: Sentimental Stranger (mp3)
King Hannibal: Party Life (mp3)
Rob K. and Uncle Butcher: Cat Butcher (mp3)
Texas Tea: Whiskey and Wine (mp3)
Hank Snow: The Face On The Barroom Floor (mp3)
The Liminanas: Chocolate In My Milk (mp3)
Please support yr local independent retailers. Please consider buying record...they're pretty nifty, sound great, and encourage bands to take a chance that corporately-funded cd's just can't match.
