Doo Rag

May 23 - 30, 1 9 9 6

*** Doo Rag

WHAT WE DO

(Dependability)

Anyone who's heard Mississippi Fred McDowell's early recordings knows how loose, unfettered, and downright noisy the hard Delta blues could be. It's astounding to hear such raw, fast, rhythmically insistent (not to mention occasionally out-of-tune) playing on material that predates not only rock and roll but also the no-wave-era slop of the likes of Sonic Youth and Pussy Galore. What's even more surprising is hearing two young, white, indie-rock guys playing early Delta-style slide inspired by the incendiary energy and scratchy, haunting low fidelity of those early live blues recordings. McDowell protégé R.L. Burnside may be recording with Jon Spencer, but this is the real blues explosion.

Reeling, groaning licks skitter from the dobro of guitarist Bob Log III. Partner Thermos Malling rattles rickety back-porch percussion off pieces of shopping cart, a cardboard box, and a washtub. What Log lacks in technical prowess he makes up for in crooked ruckus; he's not afraid to take the song straight to hell in a hail of splintered, gouging distortion. When they hit that creepy, crossroads groove, with Log's grainy white-trash howl straining to follow a single-string lead, they conjure up long-dormant voodoo with a musical conversation effortlessly spanning half a century.

-- Carly Carioli

(Write to Dependability Records at Box 207, Tucson, Arizona 85702.)