”
In their prime, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band successfully mixed together R&B
with the instrumentation of a New Orleans brass band. Featuring Kirk Joseph on
sousaphone playing with the agility of an electric bassist, the group
revitalized the brass band tradition, opening up the repertoire and inspiring
some younger groups to imitate its boldness. Generally featuring five horns
(two trumpets, one trombone, and two saxes) along with the sousaphone, a snare
drummer, and a bass drummer, the DDBB were innovative in their own way, making
fine recordings for Rounder, Columbia, and the George Wein Collection (the
latter released through Concord). Guest artists have included Dr. John, Dizzy
Gillespie, and Danny Barker. the DDBB re-emerged in 1999 with John Medeski as
their producer, and many called the group's Buck Jump release a return to classic
form. The group then returned in 2002 with yet another surprising album,
Medicated Magic. Two years later, the band made its Artemis label debut with
Funeral for a Friend. In 2006, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the DDBB
issued their most ambitious album to date, What's Going On, a wide-ranging
musical tour de force that was a track-for-track remake of Marvin Gaye's
classic 1971 album. In addition to the DDBB, it also featured the talents of
many musicians from the Crescent City. The album was not so much a response to
Hurricane Katrina itself, but to the subsequent treatment of New Orleanians by
the city government and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). In
2011, the group issued My Feet Can't Fail Me Now, a further extrapolation on
Crescent City traditions wedded to hip-hop, modern R&B, funk, and rock. In
the spring of 2012, DDBB issued the more traditional Twenty Dozen, their debut
offering for Savoy Jazz.”
~ Scott Yanow, allmusic.com
”The
Cubical's gritty, growly swamp blues has already earned some attention in
circles where people place a premium on gritty, growly swamp blues. It really
is quite a striking sound, and certainly if you're a fan of gruff, grumbling
vocals a la Tom Waits and Captain Beefheart, and you like your rock'n'roll
primal and pounding, then you will definitely go a bundle on this lot. They're
vaguely in that blues-rock ballpark occupied by fellow Scousers the Coral and
the Zutons, only straighter and less psychedelic, like the original punks on
the legendary Nuggets compilation. Dan Wilson, the son of an army sergeant and
a performer prone to "stalking the stage like a malevolent tramp begging
for the crowd's attention as if asking for change and a spare ciggy"
according to one innocent bystander, has a voice that fits perfectly in this
setting, and its only drawback is its distinctiveness – the low, menacing way
in which he chooses to grumble and roar is so obviously reminiscent of
Waits/Don Van Vliet it can often sound as much like an affectionate homage as a
straight pastiche.”
~ read the full review by Paul Lester, The Guardian
Artist: The Cubical
Album: It Ain’t Human
Released: 2011
Quality: mp3 CBR 320
Size: 133 MB
”The Cubical's gritty, growly swamp blues has already earned some attention in circles where people place a premium on gritty, growly swamp blues. It really is quite a striking sound, and certainly if you're a fan of gruff, grumbling vocals a la Tom Waits and Captain Beefheart, and you like your rock'n'roll primal and pounding, then you will definitely go a bundle on this lot. They're vaguely in that blues-rock ballpark occupied by fellow Scousers the Coral and the Zutons, only straighter and less psychedelic, like the original punks on the legendary Nuggets compilation. Dan Wilson, the son of an army sergeant and a performer prone to "stalking the stage like a malevolent tramp begging for the crowd's attention as if asking for change and a spare ciggy" according to one innocent bystander, has a voice that fits perfectly in this setting, and its only drawback is its distinctiveness – the low, menacing way in which he chooses to grumble and roar is so obviously reminiscent of Waits/Don Van Vliet it can often sound as much like an affectionate homage as a straight pastiche.” ~ read the full review by Paul Lester, The Guardian
