Album de la Semaine : Beans & Fatback - With Skin Attached

Beans & Fatback

With Skin attached

Lefties Soul Connection-lid Onno Smit begon 3 jaar geleden de band Beans & Fatback. Een band met een voorliefde voor rauwe rootsmuziek uit de zuidelijke Amerikaanse staten. Wat begon als een studio project groeide binnen de kortste keren uit tot een van de meest energieke acts in het Nederlandse live circuit.

Op hun nieuwe album With Skin Attached klinkt Beans & Fatback vuiger, rauwer en intenser dan ooit. Echo’s van Howlin’ Wolf, Earl King en Link Wray, gemixt met hedendaagse invloeden als Dan Auerbach, Dr John en Jack White zetten de toon.

With Skin Attached is een lyrisch manifest van een verguisd genre. De rhythm & blues. Voorloper van soul, rock ‘n roll en popmuziek. Alle grote artiesten die bij een ieder in kast of laptop staan (The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Amy Winehouse, The Black Keys) vinden hun oorsprong in de rhythm & blues. Maar het moedergenre is bij het grote publiek niet zo bekend als haar kinderen. Beans & Fatback wijzen de weg op hun nieuwe plaat. With Skin Attached is geenszins een herhalingsoefening. Ook niet retro. Het geheim hierachter is gelegen in de productie. Het album is live opgenomen in de analoge Electric Monkey studio te Amsterdam. Veel galm, veel natuurlijke oversturing én in mono.Geheel naar voorbeeld van de artiesten die dit album geïnspireerd hebben. Maar nummers als What’s A Man To Do of Use Me klinken ondanks alle eerbied voor het verleden opvallend vers. Meer bas. Meer met de borst vooruit. In de geest van de artiesten die rhythm & blues een nieuw millennium binnen smokkelden. Jack White en Dan Auerbach aan de ene kant. Wu-Tang Clan en Menahan Street Band aan de andere. Luister naar de prachtige cover van Little Ann’s Deep Shadows of de drums in Beggin en je krijgt gelijk zin om een sampler eraan te hangen.

De keuze voor mono is opvallend relevant in een tijd waarin de meeste mensen muziek tot zich nemen via luisterpalen, blogs of telefoons. Allemaal niet in stereo. Make the old days new zingt Onno in het meest poppy nummer van de plaat. Die zinsnede kan in hoofdletters op de huid van deze plaat gegraveerd worden. With Skin Attached is een trots achterkleinkind van de rhythm & blues dat luidkeels zingt met veel zin in de dag van morgen. De plaat ontstijgt bovendien de gezelligheden van recepten, wasborden of theaters en maakt van Beans & Fatback in één klap geen ‘project’ meer, maar een band. Met een geluid, een oeuvre, een toekomst en een plek in het alfabet. Ergens tussen Homer Banks en The Black Keys.

Line Up :

Onno Smit – zang, gitaar
Paul Willemsen – gitaar
Toon Oomen – drums/percussie, zang
Jet Stevens – bas
Cody Vogel – drums
Jeroen Tenty – Orgel
Gerhardt – piano, percussie, zang

Label :

Excelsior

Tracklist :

1. Beggin
2. Use Me
3. Hooks in Me
4. Devil's Son Blues
5. Come and Get It
6. Old Days New
7. Same Old Thing
8. What's a Man to Do
9. Deep Shadows
10. Hips
11. Precious Jewel

Album de la Semaine : Forget Cassettes - O Cursa

Forget Cassettes

O Cursa

Interview de Beth Cameron, par Mackenzie de Randomville

Randomville: What influences do you draw from for your music?

Beth Cameron: This will sound really vague, but it really depends on what we’re into at the time. Like right now there’s a lot of Depeche Mode, Dave Brubeck and Sade around. It’s funny, because for me, my vocals are never really influenced or disturbed by what I’ve been pumping through my brain, but my guitar playing changes. I just find that to be interesting – I don’t know if it’s a good or bad thing.

RV: Who or what inspires you and your music?

BC: PJ Harvey is my all time favorite as far as music goes. Everything she does is amazing. I am definitely inspired mostly by my environment. Whether it’s the season, what my friends (in bands) are playing, what’s going on at work, what book I’m reading, if my dog is depressed or not. You know, things like that.

RV: Has it always been your dream/goal/desire to be a musician?

BC: My desire, yes. I keep my goals very attainable when it comes to music. Music is too three-dimensional for me to have any idea what’s going to be going on in a couple months, let alone a year. It works for me to focus more on my ability and satisfaction as a musician rather than if this is going to turn out to be a career.

RV: What, if any, obstacles have you encountered as a woman in the music business? Do you feel like you are treated as an equal peer or the “girl who plays guitar” stereotype?

BC: That certainly depends on whom I’m around. I have male musician friends who tell me that I’m their “guitar hero (heroine)” and that I am doing something “different”(whatever that means – again, good or bad?). I definitely feel equal to them. Some men and women feel really threatened by me as a guitar player and especially being in a two-piece where I carry at least 50% of the band. I would say that I am separate but equal. I am probably put into this middle category because of my gender. You know that whole “she’s a really great musician, but she’s a girl” label. Anyway, being female and being in a good band is a privilege. I do get really pissed about the myth that men have better hand-eye coordination than women. I get really excited when I see a really good female drummer.

RV: Have you always been a part of the Nashville scene? What is the Nashville scene like right now?

BC: I’ve been in bands in Nashville since I was 14. I’m really trying to get into the art scene now. My boyfriend is a photographer so I’m trying to learn about art and how to see it and the history. It’s pretty interesting. It’s all intertwined, music and pictures, music and paintings. But the music scene here is good. Some really great bands here: Apollo Up, the Whole Fantastic World, and De Novo Dahl – to name a few.

RV: What’s your opinion on the state of music today? What do you love? What do you hate?

BC: I love what my friends are doing. There are very few bands out right now that I like. I’m pretty much still listening to what I was listening to two years ago except that now I’ve deferred to older records. I think it’s funny that a few years ago we were like, “Why can’t an indie band get on a major and play stadiums?” and now they are everywhere. Popping up on commercials on TV? I mean for some of the bands I think it’s great (like Modest Mouse or The Walkmen), but some of these other bands: Yikes. And there are so many of them. I get scared sometimes that they might be planning a take over. I don’t know – maybe they’ve already won. I really love Justin Timberlake, though. I think he’s so talented.

RV: Have you accomplished what you wanted to with Forget Cassettes and your sound? What more do you hope to accomplish?

BC: I think, sonically, we are where we want to be, but it will change. We will have to for you to stay interested. I think the more we challenge ourselves to stretch as far as we can, being two people, instrumentally than the more satisfied we will be. The more mature our sound will be.

Line Up :

Beth Cameron 

Doni Schroader 

Aaron Ford 

Jay Leo Phillips

Label :

Auto-production

Tracklist :

01. Catecholamines
02. Sometimes You're the Bad Guy
03. Double Life
04. Lady Lazarus
05. Scripture
06. Tearin' Up A House
07. Catie, Age 10
08. Catie, Age 20
09. Catie, Age 30
10. DNA
11. The Bunker
12. All of Creation