Ever wondered what it would sound like if Iggy and the Stooges played soul music? Probably not. Such musings are reserved for idiots. Enter Mick Collins, frontman and songwriter for the Dirtbombs--one of the best kept secrets in hard rock. When a friend turned me onto the album "Ultraglide in Black"(In the Red records), my first reaction was "How the F*&^ have i not heard these guys before?!".
With guitars fuzzy enough to make speakers grow beards, the Dirtbombs infuse their music with catchy pop melodies and a garage rock edge that makes you want to throw on a leather jacket and grow an afro at the same time.
One thing that can be said for the 'Bombs is that they do not like to be pigeonholed--As agile covering The Gun Club and The Romantics as they are Covering Sly and the Family stone and Brian Eno, the Dirtbombs bring their signature blend of Soul and Fuzz to everything they touch.
Hailing from Detroit, the home of Motown records, it is not surprising that they hammer soul into every single over-driven note. 'Ultraglide in black' is a prime example of this...they blast out the door with a cover of J.J Barnes' "Chains of Love", drenching the listener in a spray of funky bass, fuzzy guitars and vocals that are reminiscent of Sly Stone...and it dosent stop there. Every cut on UGB is a winner, from their cover of Funkadelic's "Ill Stay" to the one original song on the album,*(lets see if you can guess which one) which blends in so perfectly, youd think it was a cover.
Im not sure if Afro-Fuzz is a genre, but if it is, the Dirtbombs are the best Afro-Fuzz band ive heard, and provide the perfect soundtrack to any type of ass kickery. Listening to them is like being trapped in a time machine...the type of time machine that combines the past present and future into one sticky batter of time and shoots you into it....and the experience is feels like a deja vu that you havnt had yet.
*Your love belongs under a rock
http://www.myspace.com/dirtbombs
The Dirtbombs original song "Your love belongs under a rock"
Shit is ILL.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE it