Category: blues

23 Jul

Vermillion Sands: Garage Done the Italo Way

Vermillion Sands may be from Treviso, Italy, but that doesn’t stop the quartet from churning out solid American-styled garage meets country-rock’n’roll. Fronted by the Italian version of Holly Golightly, Vermellion Sands’ single “Mary” is a catchy as hell garage-pop number with a killer hook, swinging bassline, weird electronic manipulations, and a tough fuzzed-out guitar [...]

02 Jul

Skip James: 1931 Sessions (Mississippi Records)

Listening to the eighteen surviving tracks from Skip James’ 1931 recording sessions in Grafton, Wisconsin give a sense of nostalgia. Clicks, hisses, and pops of muffled seventy-year old vinyl along with James’ frail falsetto create an evocative, otherworldly atmosphere highlighted by his unique self-invented three-finger picking style. A mixture of delta and piedmont [...]