NEW MISSISSIPPI WITCH LINKS
HOLLYWOOD UP CLOSE
YOUTUBE
VH1
BBC 6 MUSIC
Q MAGAZINE REVIEW
Swamp rocking duo Mississippi Witch inhabit a world where black-hearted men, gap-toothed women, liquor, guns and old time religion collide with combustable results. Oli Walker's fabulously raw vocals and rusty string guitar slashes recall Leadbelly and Tom Waits jamming with The White Stripes: filthy rock'n'roll doesn'tcome much purer than this..
VENUE MAGAZINE*****
On which our two self-confessed bible belt escapees deliver everything you'd want from a duo whose moniker teams up the famous blues delta region with a practitioner of black magic - lurching, whisky-soaked bottleneck blues littered with bleak, malcontent, pistol-toting tales of the dark underbelly of Mississippi. And that's just opener (and undoubted highlight) 'Just For Roosevelt', three minutes of raw-eyed punk-blues that flattens John Spencer's entire back catalogue with a single leaden blow. But that's not to say their debut long-player is heavy handed per se (though tracks like 'Roosevelt' and 'Rot Foot' are armed with bigger hooks than the Mississippi Delta); more that 'Black Gamble' stands head and shoulders above its competition. A debut so weighty in scope that it touches nigh on all of Mississippi's musical traditions, yet so vital that it couldn't have been made at any other time by anyone else. (Tim Bailey) ***** www.myspace.com/mississippiwitch
SUBBA-CULTCHA (PAUL RAVEN)*****
Filthy low-down country-metal twosome in late bid for album of the year
I don't know who it is who picks the tracks that end up on the Guitar Hero games, but I'm going to find out, and I'm going to go to his office and play Mississippi Witch at him until he agrees to put them on the next edition. Black Gamble is one of the best guitar albums I've heard this year, and that's no mean feat.
But let me elaborate – this is not a high-precision technical guitar album, not your Steve Vai twiddly-diddly “look at my obscure new scale I just invented” stuff. Oh no – Black Gamble is a different sort of worship. It's a worship of the instrument's potential and breadth of expression, not a narcissistic glory run celebrating the player's proficiency.
The guitar playing of Oli Walker is about passion and fire, from its lazy twangy chords to its howling distorted stench of feedback and frenzy. It's amazing stuff. The drumming of Dan Danby is pretty damned awesome, too: also very proficient, thumpingly powerful and funky when required, simple and direct when necessary.
What about the rest of the band? Ha - there is no “rest of the band”! Mississippi Witch are a two-piece, though you'd be hard pressed to believe it at a first listen. Comparisons to other two-piece guitar acts are inevitable, so let me jump the gun – while there are similarities to The White Stripes, Mississippi Witch are much more like a lesser-known (but far better) act from the UK. I'm talking about Winnebago Deal, of course.
The main similarity, beyond the number of musicians involved, is that of approach. Where Winnebago Deal took heavy metal and pumped it full of rocket fuel and amphetamines before dragging it around a car-park in a bin-bag full of broken glass, Mississippi Witch have cooked up fresh rocks of blues-rock mixed with a hefty cut of grunge, thrown it into the flat-bed of a pick-up truck and driven it out to the swamplands before cudgelling it into a frenzy with shotgun butts. It's all about taking a sound and testing it to destruction ... and then riding the wreckage into the sunset.
Seriously, this is awesome stuff – the sludgy sullenness of the Deep South amped up, drugged out and driven to destruction in a blaze of border-running glory. If you don't believe me, just listen to the opening track (and recent single) “Just For Roosevelt” - if you have any love for a filthy hook-laden guitar racket, you'll be sold within the first eight bars. Same with “Rot Foot”. Same with “White Eye”. Same with ... ah, same with all of it, damn it.
And there's just two of them! I can't over-emphasise how complete this material sounds. Sure, there's some studio overdubs, but you can hear the essentials of the songs behind them, and you can hear that they work on their own, with Walker muttering and howling over his constantly-mutating guitar work, and the rock-solid rattle and bang of Danby's drumming.
Black Gamble is loud, dirty, raucous, catchy and fun – and it's the sort of record that makes you want to pick up a guitar of your own and exorcise your neighbours from the fresh graves of their beds. If Mississippi Witch sound half as good as this live, they're going to be immense.
MOTOR.DE (Germany) www.motor.de
A big drum roll: here they are, Mississippi Witch! Ollie Walker and Dan Danby from Mississippi and New Mexico respectively, transferred to London some time ago, forming an informal duo and finally released their long postponed debut album onto the market. The single Just for Roosevelt has long been floating around the internet and in exclusive british vinyl shops, and everyone's craving it. Even after listening to it once, it becomes apparent that this is something extraordinary. The dirty lo-fi rock with blues-lesions (spreading/ seeping like a cancer) shocks little children from the first note. The witch has been let loose. Up to track 3, there is still hope while wading through the impenetrable and dangerously hypnotising Mississippi Delta, (in black and white of course!) that somehow you'll be able to escape. Then, however, from Black Gamble on, it starts to dawn on you there will be no way out. Mississippi Witch sends the listener on a rock and roll trip through hell. Pure, sweaty, fantastic. Walker sings of mysterious things. He wants us to follow him down, into the underworld. Wasn't that just the shadow of Tom Waits reflecting in the dirty delta water over there?
A high degree of professionalism is particularly impressive on this debut album. Heart-beating, punky to dizzy, feels like you've been shot, "blues'ed": the song writing range of Ollie walker is impressive. The riffs: uneasily catchy, and, finally, fresh again.
Lampio and Calipah prove that rock music can do more than just cause a rhythmic shaking of the head. Walker and Danby make us dizzy with their playing… they hypnotise us. Just for Roosevelt, Black Gamble and White Eye kick ass. But mainly, the cracking tracks Rude Foot and Van Nuys leave us in awe, and to my mind, rock music cannot get any better than this. Various blogs have been mumbling for some time that Mississippi Witch have got it. However, Black Gamble is such an extraordinary and special debut that it revokes memories of similarly strong impacts as that caused by Death From Above in 1979 and Queens of the Stone Age's Songs for the deaf. A dangerous comparison? Over-hyped, because they're from England? Considering the continuous journalistic hysteria from "the island" (ie Britain) surrounding new acts, you might well be sceptical. This time, however, it is not just a "quick shot." On the contrary, Black Gamble not only sets the standard high for convincing and heavy rock in 2008, but with this debut, from the very start, Walker and Danby are swimming in similar waters as Josh Homme, Trent Reznor or Jack White. With no exception, everyone who loves heavy rock music that has its roots steeped in the blues should listen to this band and help spread the word. Even if it sounds over the top and clichéd; the wake of Mississippi Witch's Black Gamble leaves similar ripples to those left in the days since the 2 nd White Stripes album. They are pioneers and renewers of rock. Go tell it on the mountain!
MOTOR.DE (Germany) www.motor.de
Oh oh: the next big thing alarm. However, what UK Music Search has diagnosed here is quite worth listening to, since what the 3 people from Colony2 label call their own is not the usual exchangeable IK Indie-Retro-Rock rubbish which only small-town girls in secondary school have not had enough of yet.
Better still: raw lo-fi Blues, the label says, I say wonderfully honest blues noise supplement. This works very well for 2-people combos, since they consciously refrain from soft rythmized base. The Black Keys, and once in a while the White Stripes, have brought us closer to the dangerously raw, dead-dry, dirty blues rock with "only" guitar and drums – Missisippi Witch now seem to live it and sweat it out musically with every pore. Weather they really are bible believing people who met up in small town churches in the deeply religious Lousiana chewing tobbacco can be equally taken with a smile as the meeting in the mortuary story by Death From Above back in 1979. Apparently they are a must, these strange tales of weird unperceivable bands, which appear from seemingly nowhere, starting to rock down on us making our hair stand on end.
Meanwhile they made it from the American small town church to London where Colony2, after various months of delay, will give us a taste of the seemingly formidable debut Black Gamble at the beginning of September.
LOOSE RECORD NYC (MEGAN PETTY)
2008: Year of the Witch? Quite possibly.
Continuing on with our love of bands with American transplants, I’d like you to meet Oli Walker and Dan Danby, otherwise known as Mississippi Witch. I’ve already fallen head over heels for them, and now it’s your turn. The duo’s long and winding road brought them from Mississippi (Walker) and New Mexico (Danby) many thousands of miles to London, and thence to Bristol. Mississippi Witch has proven a reasonably apt moniker, as there is something spellbinding in the music. Formed in 2005, there’s a distinct 1970s vintage to their sound; heavy, heady swoons of unadulterated bluesy Southern rock with a dash of desert mysticism filtered through the misty rain and refined antiquity of London Town. Walker’s vocals and guitar bombast wouldn’t sound out of place on the mid-70s albums of many a great Southern rock band, and Danby bangs the drums with such abandon that it could be considered a minor miracle he doesn’t destroy his kit each time he plays.
Black Gamble is a monster of a debut album, and will most certainly get the blood pumping. It begins with the towering inferno otherwise known as “Just for Roosevelt,” all grit and grime resplendent with some of the dirtiest guitar riffage you’re likely to hear all year. “Alligator Mechanics” showcase some nasty banjo playing, with Walker’s voice taking an exaggerated, molasses-like tone. The title track, “Black Gamble,” shows where some English punk has seeped in to the Witch sound, with ferociously fraught guitars and a break-neck pace to oblivion. The dozen tracks are all so glutted and teeming with noise that at times it’s hard to imagine that there are only two people making such a racket.
The bottom line? This album is staggeringly good, and 2008 could be annus mirabilis for these wandering, transplanted souls of Mississippi Witch. After a few listens to Black Gamble, you’ll join me in expecting big things from Misters Walker and Danby. Head over to their website to listen to some album tracks (and then purchase it, naturally).
ROCKBEATSTONE MAGAZINE
If the music-press is to be believed, the release of the much anticipated debut album from London-based duo Mississippi Witch can not adequately be reviewed without using the following words: 'stomping', 'raw', 'gritty', 'bourbon-soaked', or without some kind of cultural reference to the deep south. I, however, have decided to try.
Although appropriate to superficially describe the noise that Oli Walker and Dan Darby make, such a list of words completely fail to convey is the complexity of Black Gamble behind a barn-door of mock-simplicity. It is abundantly clear that these guys are excellent musicians, not only from their playing, but also from the unpredictable and excellent arrangements on tracks like 'Starving of the Bee', which breaks into quasi-psychedelic cacophony halfway through before coming back down to Earth.
It is refreshing to hear an album that contains absolutely no self-indulgent twaddle whatsoever. On the contrary, the fact that almost all of tracks dutifully come in at under 3-and-a-half minutes occasionally gives a sense of abruptness, but mainly serves to maintain the break-neck momentum of the album.
There are some rocking melodies that are immediately infectious, like the brilliant 'Van Nuys' and the debut single 'For Roosevelt', which opens the album. What is not, immediately obvious, however, is just how dark some of the writing is. With Walker's vocals guttural, deep and desperate, often drowning in an ether of fuzzy guitar dissonance and carnal drumming. The lyrics are often as unpolished and disturbing as the music: "clean the blood from the food I've been serving" (Lampio) or "I'm a modern Mussolini // Clean my rotted crown" (Starving of the Bee) but never ever dull.
Other highlights include the fast, fun title track, (which sounds not dissimilar to a certain White Stripes song), and 'Rot Foot' which manages to hint at influences from more avant-garde contemporaries like Clinic. Or maybe that's just the organ. Pinning these guys to any obvious influences is difficult as there is a lot of scope in their sound, and perhaps this is the best compliment of all. In a time where so much new music sounds horribly derived, the hugely talented Mississippi Witch have managed to reference a huge catalogue of sounds while still managing to sound both interesting and relevant.
A classy debut. Big things are expected from these two.
Mughead Review-Black Gamble
California
You may not have heard of this dynamic duo, but there is little doubt in my mind that you will… very soon.
Mississippi Witch is comprised of Oli Walker (guitar/vocals) and Dan Danby (drums). Although there are only two members of this band, the sound that explodes forth may as well been coming from five or six musicians. Their debut record “Black Gamble” will take you on gritty, soulful, ass kicking journey through the under belly of rock and roll.
These guys are both bible belt escapees (as they put it) who apparently met quite randomly at a Snake Church in Baton Rouge. Their story only gets stranger as Oli and Dan ended up in London to record their EP “Just for Roosevelt”. Oli was born in Mississippi and Dan was born in New Mexico, so you might say that these guys just go where life takes them. And thankfully so.
Oli Walker’s vocals have that elusive quality that can only come from deep within a person’s being. He has a style all his own, and he owns it well. Walker’s guitar playing absolutely shreds all over the album, from beginning to middle to end. He has all the talent of Jack White or Kurt Cobain, and when you have something like that, it doesn’t stay a secret for very long. Honestly, I almost couldn’t believe that Oli can sing and play like this at the same time.
Dan Danby is no slouch either. In fact, it would be easy to say that this duo has clear advantages over say, The White Stripes. Dan can drum for one thing. In my opinion a duo like this forms because they realize that they just don’t have the need for another band member.
My favorite tracks on the album have to be “Just for Roosevelt”, “Albuquerque New Mexico” and “Van Nuys”. But “Calipah” and the title track “Black Gamble” are up there too. I think this album should do very well to say the least. The new album is not out yet so like I said, when it does come out on January 21st, I think you will be hearing about it again.
Oli Walker will be sitting down with The Mughead Review for an interview next week too, to talk about all sorts of things, check back for that soon. As always, I recommend you listening for yourself, which you can do by going the Mississippi Witch website, as well as their myspace page.
ASHTON COURT 2007, MISSISSIPPI WITCH @ AMPHITHEATRE STAGE:
Eventually they let people in and in no time a small crowd has gathered in front of the stage. We’ve begun, and the first band on is Mississippi Witch and what a glorious bluesy, crunchy noise they make, I love it. And so do the crowd, who are drawn to the stage by the sound they can hear, so that by the end of the set there’s a much larger crowd than before it.
RICHARD PITT, BBC BRISTOL UNCOVERED
WWW.BBC.CO.UK/BRISTOL
ALBUM PREVIEW
Mississippi Witch Debut Album Coming - Industry Types Shocked!
One of the most exciting releases of early 2007 is the
debut album from the duo known as Mississippi Witch.
The LP will be called 'Black Gamble' and will be
released on Colony2 and Universal. The release date is penciled in as 20th March 2007.
The record label and other
assorted slack-jawed industry types have been left
with a look of shock on their faces upon hearing the
complete album. We here at Rockbeatstone predict that this album will
be awesome.
DANIEL WESTERLUND, ROCKBEATSTONE MAGAZINE
WWW.ROCKBEATSTONE.COM
REVIEWS
Swamp rocking duo Mississippi Witch inhabit a world where black-hearted men, gap-toothed women, liquor, guns and old time religion collide with combustable results. Oli Walker's fabulously raw vocals and rusty string guitar slashes recall Leadbelly and Tom Waits jamming with The White Stripes: filthy rock'n'roll doesn'tcome much purer than this..
PAUL BRANNIGAN
Q MAGAZINE
Favourite band of 2006? "Mississippi Witch as they make amazing energetic music and the song 'Just For Roosevelt' is now in my top 5 rock tunes ever".
GUY GARVEY (ELBOW/XFM MANCHESTER)
WWW.XFMMANCHESTER.CO.UK
Mississippi Witch throw their toys out of the pram with foot-stomping gusto. They make a great garage racket somewhere between White Stripes and The Blues Explosion and they're also the winner of the coveted Press Release Line of the Week for being "founders of the infamous drug wave gypsy guitar solo". Marvellous penmanship, marvellous single.
CHRIS MARLING, REPEAT
WWW.REPEATONLINE.CO.UK
‘Just For Roosevelt' is crazed scuzzy rock'n'roll from wild two piece, Mississippi Witch, with razor sharp demented licks slicing with a nasty bluesy edge. Utterly mad and totally insane, Mississippi Witch are like Captain Beefheart having a ruck with The Sonics, fucking ace. ‘Alligator Mechanics' is very menacing song with the sinister vocals and utterly barmy banjos. Mississippi Witch are one mighty eccentric two piece of weird and wild rock'n'roll.
SOHOSTRUT MAGAZINE
WWW.SOHOSTRUT.CO.UK
Mississippi Witch are a band that will sit proudly alongside the heavyweights in my cherished vinyl collection. Just for Roosevelt is clearly head and shoulders above everything else around. Absolute genius.
FELIX BARKSDALE
THE OUTFIT MAGAZINE
I’ve decided that there are few things I like more than English bands with an affinity for American rock. Mississippi Witch sound like they’ve spent the past couple years in the South, soaking up bourbon and some dirty blues. “Just for Roosevelt” is one of the best songs I’ve heard in a while; every filthy, hard-rocking, tarred-and-feathered second of it. Music is the food of love, and I say play on Mississippi Witch, play on.
MEGAN PETTY, LOOSE RECORD, NYC
WWW.LOOSERECORD.COM
A genuine Delta dweller who somehow washed up on the bands of the grey ol' Thames, Mississippi Witch frontman Oli Walker brings the blues soul of back home in his staggering, drunken guitarlines and a lungful of black river mud in his gruffly intoned lyrical prophecies. New Mexico born drummer Dan Danby completes the grimy guo, and 'Just For Rooservelt's dirgy march with noisy and chaotic neo-blues beats befitting of any Jon Spencer project. Together they take you right down to the muddy roots of this blues beast.
BUBBLEGUMSLUT MAGAZINE
WWW.BUBBLEGUMSLUT.CO.UK
"1976 Seeks its music back" 4/5
SPILL MAGAZINE
WWW.SPILLONLINE.COM
Its The White Stripes comparisons that hit you first, Mississippi Witch, as they are a two piece guitar and drum duo playing ragged and raw lo-fi blues. Its however the Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa influence that permeates this band the strongest here on single JUST FOR ROOSEVELT.
Its in Oli Walker's primal howl and riotous guitar work, riffing and yelling his way through JUST FOR ROOSEVELT like Captain Beefheart re-evigorated and ready for rock action. A dirty delta blues jam by way of Black Flag and AC/DC, this is the kind of thing to make you fall in love with noisy guitars and big riffs all over again, Mississippi Witch a band well worth get extremely passionate about. The snake hipped charm of ALLIGATOR MECHANICS drips with deep south atmosphere and drawling blues character, Oli Walker again delivering the goods superbly.
The kind of debut to have you proclaiming the likes of "new favourite band" and "next big thing" wildly; Mississippi Witch are a band who leave you hungry and desperate for more.
Further listening: The White Stripes
Frank Zappa
Captain Beefheart
KEITH DAVIS, UKM
WWW.UKMUSICSEARCH.CO.UK
‘Just For Roosevelt’ will fair blast yer brains out. It rocks ‘n’ rolls like the swamp blues monster it is and slices it’s way into your hearts and minds courtesy of great big clipped, controlled guitars. Like so many great tunes it ebbs and flows leaving you disoriented, but then there’s a torrent of guitar and drums leading into an unexpected Elvis-y bit. It’s amazing the noise a two piece can make, but Mississippi Witch create a grand racket in much the way that Two Gallants do, playing above themselves to make up for their lack of numbers. The dirty blues rock spirit lives on in bands like these.
RUSSELL BARKER, RUSSELLS REVIEWS
WWW.RUSSELLSREVIEWS.CO.UK
Mississippi Witch are a 2-piece from London whose deepest roots are from Mississippi and New Mexico. The duo are Oli Walker (guitar & vocals) and Dan Danby (drums) and I was thrilled to be approached by Oli with a chance to review their single Just For Roosevelt which is released on October 2nd and is taken from their forthcoming album (which I..d love a copy of when it..s ready guys) Black Gamble.
It just so happens that at the time of writing I..m watching O Brother, Where Art Thou? on the telly (muted) and listening to Mississippi Witch at the same time. Having just listened to the part of the film where the Soggy Bottom Boys record Man of Constant Sorrow I..m struck by how the underlying soul of Just For Roosevelt seems to be the same. It..s got the same blues backdrop and harmonics of the bible belt music but with a hell of a lot more backbone. It might not be easy to hear at first. It..s sunk in a whole lotta whiskey and drug fuelled rock power, but the influence is there.
Just For Roosevelt, no matter what it..s roots or influences, is a down and dirty, filthy rock song, the like of which I..ve only heard hinted at by The Doors. It..s sexily aggressive, a touch of distortion on the vocal and gruesome, twisted, gnarled energy fuelling the guitar and drums. If ever there was music to dance/mosh/leap around like a thing possessed to, then this is it.
Alligator Mechanics bubbles out of the swamps of the deep south like a preacher possessed with demons. The beat might as well be tapped out by pointy toed cowboy boots on a veranda in the early morning mists whilst creaking back and forth in a rocking chair, the guitar played with the neck of a beer bottle. The addition of a banjo to this track purely emphasises the southern vibe. I..ve not heard anything else like this to come out of London.
4/5
VIKKI ROBERTS, JUKEBOX
WWW.JUKEBO.CX
MISSISSIPPI WITCH - JUST FOR ROOSEVELT - COLONY 2:
Glorious rock n roll in a similar vein to the wondrous tricky woo with a swamp like stomp thrown in for good measure…
JEREMY CHICK, SUBBA-CULTCHA
WWW.SUBBA-CULTCHA.COM
Just for Roosevelt is a dark and heavy track with a real underground club feel about it. The guitars have a similar rhythm as Kashmir by Led Zeppelin maybe rougher, louder and a few octaves higher. The vocals are excitedly shouted down the mic. An exciting debut from this group.
CRAIG EVANS, COMFORT COMES
WWW.COMFORTCOMES.COM
Mississippi Witch are two ex-pat ‘bible-belt escapees’ who met at a ‘snake church’ in Baton Rouge, decided to form a group, & promptly moved to London where they were duly ‘discovered’ by Colony 2 & shoved into a recording studio. “Just For Roosvelt” is gravel chewing, ‘bacy spitting rawkus Blues on nodding terms with Uncle John & Whitelock.
GUY DEBORED, TRAKMARX
WWW.TRAKMARX.COM
Arguably owing more to recent acts such as the Eagles of Death Metal than their self-proclaimed icons (Zappa and Captain Beefheart), this two-track single demonstrates a bizarre, unique example of what can perhaps best be described as bluegrass psychedelia. Think dark, soulful (occasionally screaming) vocals combined with wailing guitars, grinding basslines, bouncing piano and (at times downright sinister) percussive beats. Certainly less challenging than the more obscure elements of acid rock and firmly rooted in traditional blues, in less capable hands this combination of elements could emerge as a tuneless racket, but Mississippi Witch create a loud, surreal yet surprisingly addictive sound.
LUCY WEIR, THE SKINNY
WWW.SKINNYMAG.CO.UK
The moniker Mississippi Witch really tells you everything you need to know about the band.. and their startling debut single. Dark, gnarled, treacle-thick and twisted, with ominous lyrics full of gunpowder - Roosevelt is a fascinating first glimpse into the heavy blues-rock soul of two-some Mississippi Witch. A three-minute head-spin underpinned by a brooding guitar riff, stuttering drums and Olli Walker..s tobacco-stained screeched and mumbled vocals.
B-side Alligator Mechanics is worth a crack too. A well-constructed, menacing ditty, laden with lazy bass and off-kilter banjo - but probably not the sort of thing to listen to whilst eating cheese before bedtime.
Mississippi Witch sound like they..ve been dragged up in the Deep South but unless Bristol counts, (which it doesn..t), then what we..re witnessing is a band creating their own sound from nothing more than musical hand-me-downs and the dark meanderings of the mind..s eye. Impressive stuff.
4/5
SARAH HOLT, MUSIC TOWERS
WWW.MUSICTOWERS.COM
Formed in 2005, Mississippi Witch are a two-piece from London. They describe themselves as ..bible-belt escapees.. and one of them (vocalist Oli) is even actually from actual Mississippi. Fancy that. Drummer Dan is from New Mexico. The band began after a chance meeting in a ..snake church.. in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Which means they have Deep South credentials coming out of their ears. Handy.
New single ..Just For Roosevelt.. has already received heavy support from Guy Garvey on his XFM Manchester show and it..s not difficult to see why. It..s a dirty, bottleneck blues screamer of a track.
Oli Walker delivers like a more brutal Tom Waits and by the time the track screeches to a close you can..t help but think that spending the rest of the night chewing tobacco and drinking bourbon seems like a bloody good idea. 4/5
CHRIS HORNER, HIGH VOLTAGE
WWW.HIGHVOLTAGE.ORG.UK
Mississippi Witch Just for Roosevelt (Colony2). Oh mama. Fuck me what a row. This brute is so fucking raw it oozes puss and pain in equal measures, those much in need of injection of scathing up and at you n your face and smiling menacingly beatified rock n roll then look no further than this wholesomely pure two faced bastard of a release.
Duo Mississippi Witch sound like theyve been distilled and bottled in a cask of Tom Waits favoured bourbon and this their debut single is a death rattling hotrod meets gnarled coffin blues nugget that blisters across the hi-fi like an evil preacher collecting souls for the eternal funeral pyre.
&;nbsp;
Ripped from their forthcoming full length Black Gamble Just for Roosevelt is a scorched swamp infested and snarled take no prisoners rout thats been meatily bludgeoned by an underpin that aside sounding like a mutant cousin of Zeps Kashmir could easily have been hoodwinked straight from beneath the noses of Killing Joke and then had several shades of the brown stuff kicked out of it by a seriously agitated gathering of John Spencer Blues Explosion, the Ministry (though here Oding on valium) and Monkeywrench and then near drowned in an acutely hip grinding and ear gouging thickly set throbbing groove that even lovers of classic era Queens of the Stone Age may well decide to swap loyalties for. Absolute brutal stuff.
Flip over for the equally restless railroad blues of Alligator Mechanics which replete with banjos, squawking riffs and a hugely dust ball like lolloping vibe, arches and creaks ominously parched as though a younger bad boy Johnny Cash had met Beefheart at rocks infamous crossroads. A killer debut and not surprisingly joint single of the missive. Now for that album then!?
MARK BARTON, UK EDITOR LOSING TODAY MAGAZINE
WWW.LOSINGTODAY.COM
Like many people, I have tried hard to listen to the most challenging Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa at length, with little success. It all gets too much after the first 6 minutes, and I have to press stop and have a lie down. Mississippi Witch make music which sounds like it come from the loins of Beefheart and Zappa, but with a crucial difference: more soul. Or rather, more blues.
Mississippi Witch manage to marry all that is good about dark, acid-soaked psychedelia, with a garage rock aesthetic á la MC5. Just for Roosevelt is a filthy, dirty, dark badass rock song, with a real blues backbone propping it up. This is even more surprising, considering these blokes are plying their trade in places like Bristol and Kingston-upon-Thames rather than the House 'o Blues. Be that as it may, if this track is anything to go by, these chaps are definitely something a bit special.
DANIEL WESTERLUND, ROCKBEATSTONE MAGAZINE
WWW.ROCKBEATSTONE.COM
|
