Graveyard - Hisingen Blues - Not many people know this, but a few years back, a time rift opened up over Sweden, and now the temporally afflicted country is a hotbed of 70's retro-rock revivalism. The Gothenburg based band Graveyard have emerged as one of the more artistically successful bands of the scene. Everything you'd expect is here, heavy blues-based rock, touches of metallic riffing, vintage recording techniques... but the way they put it all together is something special. The guitars have the kind of crunch that comes from high-gain amps instead of boutique guitar effects, and Joakim Nilsson's voice, with its slight Swedish accent on the English lyrics, is expressive and forceful. Revivalism is an odd thing, as it short-circuits any debate about originality. It sounds like it does because they want it to, so don't try to place it in any sort of context. Just put it on and let the music speak for itself, because inasmuch as this album does exactly what it sets out to do, it is very nearly perfect.
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Blood Lust - It strikes me that "dark side of the psychedelic era" is a very narrow space, historically speaking, to draw inspiration from. I mean, you're really just pulling from the vibe of the last half 1969, when the drugs have gone sideways on everyone, the Hell's Angels are stabbing people at Altamont, and the Manson family is stalking the streets of Los Angeles. But Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats have crafted two albums with this very concept at the heart of the music, and it seems to be working out well for them. The stronger of the two releases is 2011's Blood Lust, where a garage rock blast carries with it the tattered, sickly shreds of psychedelia. This record has a druggy nihilism woven into it that mashes LSD-exploitation film and Hammer horror film imagery together, making it sound like a party where the guests are all just trying to make it through the night alive.
Lightnin' Hopkins - Lightnin' and the Blues - When you think of slow, smoky electric blues, chances are you're channeling the sound of Lightnin' Hopkins, and this collection is one of his best. Unlike many early electric blues collections, the sound quality is impeccable on this disc, allowing the listener to hear every little bend and vibrato on Hopkins' guitar, and his worn-leather voice settles right over top of the mix. Hopkins was a master of blues economy, and could do more with three or four notes than most players can do with an entire scale. He was a major figure in the definition of the vocabulary of electric blues, and these songs are the bricks that later rock and rollers would build their empires from. It's gratifying to hear that they've lost none of their charm in the intervening years.
Dust - Dust - In the early Seventies, heavy metal (or what would classify as such at the time) was dominated by British bands: Black Sabbbath, Led Zeppelin, etc., but there were a few American groups beginning to throw their hat into the ring. One of the more interesting, if not the most well-remembered, was Dust. Their self-titled debut is chock full of heavy, riff-laden blues rock, and it's played with authority. The guitar work rivals the heavy-hitters of the time, and there's some pretty agile drumming by Marc Bell, who would later in the Seventies take on the name Marky Ramone, and be known for much simpler drumming. It's fascinating to hear him putting so much more detail into his music here, especially the busy cymbal work.
Free - Fire and Water - I really enjoy that even though Free's sound is undoubtedly of a piece with other Seventies hard rock staples, their focus is not the electric guitar. It may be present in their songs, but it's not necessarily what's in the spotlight. Most of the time, that honor belongs to Paul Rodger's soulful vocals, and with good reason. The songs seem built on a framework of drums and vocals, with the other instruments adding color and texture to the sound. Because the guitars aren't cranked, Fire and Water has a more mellow groove to it than many of their contemporaries. Great for driving around aimlessly on a sunny day, or at least imagining you live in a parallel world where that activity didn't become prohibitively expensive.
Tinariwen - Tassili - It seems like every Shakedown has a general theme, but there's always one outlier record that I've been listening to lately for whatever reason. This time out, it's Tinariwen, a band with an unmatchable biography (it's too long to do it justice here, but to read their bizarre and incredible story, check here). Tinariwen are a group of nomadic Tuareg musicians from the Saharan desert who play a wholly unique kind of music. The sounds of their native North Africa are certainly present, as well as certain American rock sensibilities, but most fascinatingly, you can hear the influence of the blues, or more accurately, the African music that serves as an ancestor to the blues. Whatever specific sounds inspire them, the quality and passion of the music is indisputable. So carefully are their lives woven into their music that you can hear the sand and heat in their songs even without being told where they hail from, especially on this album, where they switch from their usual electric guitars to acoustic, providing a sound that's as dry as Saharan dust. Considering the struggles and tragedies they've had to endure in their career as a band, it's all but certain that you don't know anyone who loves music as much as Tinariwen.
