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BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB
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You might be thinking that Howl is likely some sort of hometown homage
to Ginsberg and the rest of them crazy beatniks, and it is, kind of, in
terms of the album’s thematic structure – you know…darkness, despair,
struggle, and emotional obscenity. Musically though, half the album is
full of delicious delta blues, this bayou-style slide and organ that’s
reminiscent of something Dege Legg or the ghost of some blind New Orleans
journeyman might conjure up. Songs like “Shuffle Your Feet,” “Devil’s Waitin’,” “Ain’t No Easy Way,” and “Fault Line” are rich, deep veined,
tear stained pages of some forgotten book. Beautiful stuff, really, and I
can only imagine how much better it would sound comin’ out of a giant
gramophone speaker. The rest of the album eases right along in the same
sombre tones, but songs like “Howl,” “Promise,” “Weight of the World,” and
“Complicated Situation” rely more on the introspective, rainy day rock stylings of Coldplay, U2, Elliot Smith, or The Beatles even, which kind of
loses me, but might be right up your alley, depending on how you swoon.
Still though, the poignant pleasures and sultry shuffles of this unusual
departure will echo long after the music has faded away, and you’ll feel
totally at ease in the lifted needle’s static clicks. |
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-Jeff Warren |
I’m not really a fan of
Beck, but I’ll be damned if I don’t fall under some sort of spell when I
hear any of the soft, haunting songs of Sea Changes. Not that Beck has
anything to do with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, mind you, but I’m
thinking Howl is gonna affect me the same way after I hear it a few more
times. Now, I don’t know whether or not you think the three fellas in San
Fran’s BRMC actually deserve to be wearing their leather jackets or not,
but it’s really a non-issue here, seeing as how they’ve shed the pseudo
punk rock and retro garage fuzz for something a little more comfortable,
like soulful, excavating, gospel n’ blues.