Kinky Pop
By Cedar Lewinsohn
Album Cover for The Detroit Cobras’ new release Bab
The Detroit Cobras’ new long player, Baby, has all the hallmarks of a 1975 classic you never knew existed. Rasping, soulful vocals that ooze trashy bohemian sexiness are set to classic old school Rock and Roll riffs and rhythms and revamped into a blue grass barn dance. There’s a simplicity to this record which is at once refreshing and deceptive. The songs speak of holding on to your man and small town angst, and at times the album plays like a sound track to some road movie about truckers and their women. There are some great lyrics on the album, but the best lines are supplied on the sublimely sleazy "Hotdog". Mixing junk food, sexual innuendo and a block-rocking beat, the DC’s hit a home run on this one. In the tradition of America’s great poets, the song captures one woman’s longing for hot meat, "I could eat one, or I could eat three, it takes a whole lot of Dog, to satisfy me………..", screams lead singer Rachel Nagy. Most of the love songs have some kind of sting in the tale, be it loss or wanting. If these tunes weren’t so deeply seated in Rock and Roll reverie, they could easy moonlight as Country and Western ballads. The band members are masters of the art of re-invention, with 99% of the tracks being cover versions from way back when. The grand finale, "Cha-Cha Twist" is a perfect example of this, ending the record on a euphoric rush of retro good times.
Where the Detroit Cobras’ songs are short and punchy, the Fiery Furnaces’ new LP, Blueberry Boat, is best described as a minor epic. Coming hot of the heels of their excellent debut, Gallowbirds Bark, the New York based art rockers deliver a weirdly complex, but also highly addictive listen. There’s a staccato tone to the record, with songs inside songs and tunes that end then remerge a couple of tracks down the line. The tracks mix together with the continuous flow of a post rock DJ mix tape. The Fiery Furnaces are lead by brother and sister duo Mathew and Eleanor Friedberger, and you get the feeling this album is a vague reflection of the sibling’s relationship. He’s the dark and brooding boundary-pushing perfectionist. She’s the sultry suburban beatnik with the voice of Jefferson Aeroplane’s Grace Slick. This odd coupling leads to a highly schizophrenic form of musical collaboration. Manic, warped piano tunes whirl into calmer sections of harmoniums melodies. The stories follow a mobile phone salesman and the adventures derived from captaining a Blueberry Boat across the pirate-laden high seas. Musically, inspirations include "the jagged, angular blues of Captain Beefheart" as well as keyboard genius Stevie Wonder. Some of the tracks sound like they were played on children’s toy instruments and the song "Wolf Notes" comments on this particular form of musical production. If this album was a book, it would be Alice Through the Looking Glass in the Heart of Darkness, if it was a pizza, it would be ham and pineapple.
