Dr. John- Locked Down (2012)

I do not know much about Dr. John; I have been listening to his latest album, Locked Down, for the last few days, and I am just now skimming his wikipedia, checking out his long career and quickly discovering that he was the man responsible for the song In The Right Place from 1973. Before listening to that track again now, I really only remembered it by his deep, gnarly vocals. It is a great track; its got a decent sized band on it to play some nice James Brown style r&b/ pop, with horns and a tight rhythm section, and some surprisingly interesting arrangements.

I have missed the majority of this mans catalog, and with Locked Down forming my impression of what kind of music he plays, I am quite interested to look deeper into his work. Locked Down is a very solid release from this funky man; a keyboardist/ singer/ songwriter in trade, he recently got together with singer/ guitarist Dan Auerbach from the Black Keys to play on and produce the album, and Dan brought in some of the Dubtown records crew to flesh out the arrangements. I am especially digging the middle of the album, where the r&b/ pop style starts including some sick afrobeat action. Check track 5, Getaway:



locked down

Pulseve - Magnet EP

Had ran into these guys awhile back and perhaps did not give them a fair chance. Thankfully an email from them allowed me to dive back in.  Hailing from Italy, Pulseve weave a pretty unique blend of Post-rock, progressive tones, math rock attack and a surprising amount of atmosphere. I've said this before and I will say it again, there is a serious lack of darker tinged math rock in today's musical landscape. Hearing those dark ambient progressions is simply music to my ears not to mention that bass guitar tone is flipping sensational. Another item of note is the fact that this is a two piece which is even more impressive considering the mood they can strike with limited personnel.

From their site:

"Torino based duo (drum+bass) blends silence and rage, nightmares and daydreaming, feet digging the ground / hands air floating. 2011 debut EP “Magnet” belches out cannibal affairs, earthly desires and blackmailed toreros. Gravity is dancing on tightropes.

pulseve is:
Diego Franchino, drums
Maurizio Veglio, bass"

Magnet EP