This is the third of six blog posts in a series of female artists or female-fronted bands that will be published under 2024. This blog post deals with Elouise. The band name has nothing to do with the irrepressible Eloise who lives in the penthouse at the top of the Plaza Hotel in New York City. The band Elousie is led by Elouise Walker on vocals, bandoneon and accordion. This is blackgrass, the antithesis to bluegrass. To be honest, it’s more of "included but not limited to" blackgrass. Elouise's music is varied. The common denominator is the darker side of folk, bluegrass and country. Over time, I have developed an ability to distinguish the wheat from the chaff. Contrary to popular belief, music doesn't start to grow on you. At least, not if you are a connoisseur as myself. In some cases, I find inspiration from a renowned writer and/or website. This is the case here. A review in American Roots UK caught my attention: "This incredible album takes deep dark old time hillbilly, gospel and blues (race music) to a depth of sinister unearthliness that has not been heard or even imagined for many decades and yet running counter to that it is also a recording of dark beauty." The debut album "Deep Water" was released in 2015. I's a creepy album with both covers and originals. The take on the covers are so different that they could be mistaken for originals. The best songs are "I'll Fly Away, "Amazing Grace", "Oh Lord", "I'll Be Good To You", "Black Horses", "East Jesus" and, last but not least, a cover of Link Wray's "Fire And Brimstone. The arrangements are spooky, hanted and haunting. This is so much better, than all the copiers, fakers, imitators, impersonaters and imposters out there. A cd copy can be bought from their website (opens in a new window). 

This website is dedicated to gothic country, southern gothic, gothic americana, american gothic and dark americana and ...whatever. It doesn't concern itself with blues in any shape or form. However, there’s nothing in the statutes which prohibits a detour now and them. Like now. During my university studies, a friend introduced me to blues guitarist and singer Son Seals. I was cautiously negative. I don't dislike blues per se, but I'm not overly exaggerated about it either. Maybe, I have been listening to the wrong kind of blues: tedious twelve-bar blues with generic lyrics like "woke up this morning and my woman was gone". The album The Son Seals Blues Band was placed on the turntable. Track four "Your love is like a cancer" made sound waves through the loudspeakers. I was hit in solar plexus. This was something different. Pounding drums, rolling bass lines and an organ(!), and last but not least, a tormented guitar. "Your love is just like a cancer, woman / Lord, eating away my life". I was blown away by the gritty Chicago blues (although Son Seals was born in Arkansas). Later, I listened to another song from the second album Midnight Son from 1976. The song was "Going Back Home". "Sometimes I wonder, why'd I ever leave home? / Sometimes I wonder, why'd I ever leave home? / I had a few dollars in my pocket / Oh, now that little change is gone". The rest of the lyrics is filled with pain and suffering. The city is a mean place and going back home isn't an option. The train has left the station, literally and figuratively. "Mmm, hmm, what in the world am I gonna do?". The vocals and the guitar playing are exquisite. This is music with an authentic nerve and it still hit as hard as it did when I first heard the artist in the mid 1980s. Son Seals passed away in 2004. In 2009, Seals was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame, in the category Performer. Rightly so. 

Some waiting is anxiety-filled, like the unnerving and excruciating wait for a follow-up album. Antic Clay released "Hilarious Death Blues" (HDB) in 2007. A true masterpiece in the one-album-only category. Much to everyone's surprise a second album "Broom of Fire" was announced to be released in 2018. The album was originally scheduled in 2017 as a 10 year anniversary of the release of HDB. But no album followed, only updates: songs written and ready to record (2019), "Center of the Night" and "Brother Wolf Sister Moon" released on Bandcamp (2020), "Elijah" released on Youtube (2022) and on Bandcamp (2024). "Broom of Fire" missed the 10 and 15 year anniversary, but could still make the 20 year anniversary. I mention this as a matter of fact, not as a criticism or any reprehension. My frustration comes from not knowing, if and, when a new album will be released. But, maybe I should lower my expectations. "Hilarious Death Blues" was an album that blew your mind. "A slow dark ride across the scorched hide of America. Think Johnny Cash riding a skeletal mule to Hell. Not without moments of beauty and hope, however". Recreating something close to this album should be impossible. Does Antic Clay still got the powers in him after all these years? I don't sense any HDB-vibe in the three above-mentioned songs. But I would like to be proven wrong. 

 

I was mindlessly watching the Olympic Games on TV recently (32 sports and 329 events). I was stunned by an event. However, it wasn't Rachael "Raygun" Gunn's breakdance performance. It was velodrome cycling with fixed gear, no brakes and waylaying on each other. The detail that stunned me was an electric moped. The moped (half bike and half scooter) set the pace for the cyclists competing in the keirin race. The moped went around and around, gradually increasing the speed with each lap, and then it made a sudden exit and the race was on. This triggered a childhood memory. Rollerball is a 1975 dystopian science fiction film. The setting: society is governed by large corporations who controls all information. Not completely unlike today's digital landscape. Rollerball is a tough game with motorcycles, rollerskates and a steel ball. You score by placing the ball in the ball home. The teams are sponsored by the corporations. "Ladies and gentlemen, will you stand please for the playing of our Corporate Hymn." The main character is Jonathan E. He is urged and pressured to retire. His popularity and longevity as a player threaten the underlying idea of the game. Of course, he refuses to step down and retire. This creates a problem for the corporations. "In my opinion, we are confronted here with something of a situation. Otherwise, I would not have presumed to take up your time. Once again, it concerns the case of Jonathan E. We know we don't want anything extraordinary to happen to Jonathan. We've already agreeed on that. No accidents, nothing unnatural. The game was created to demonstrate the futility of individual effort. And the game must do its work. The Energy Corporation has done all it can, and if a champion defeats the meaning for which the game was designed, then he must lose. I hope you agree with my reasoning." [video conference with other corporate executives]. The corporations try different ways to push him out including changing the rules. The game degrades into ultraviolence. In the semi-final, the brutality of the match kills several players and leaves his best friend and teammate in a coma. The final becomes even more savage. There are no penalties, no substitutions, and no time limit in the hope that Jonathan E. will be killed during the game. Jonathan E. scores the only point and is the last man standing. The film ends with Jonathan E. taking a victory lap as the crowd chants his name, first softly, then slowly rising to a roar. The system has been beaten by an individual. And what triggered the memory? A noiseless electric moped is quite different from a roaring motorcycle. But, it's all the same to me.   

This is the second of six blog posts in a series of female artists or female-fronted bands that will be published under 2024. Metalheads can be vesatile and turn into full-blown goths. One good example is Dorthia Cottrell, best known as lead singer for the doom metal band Windhand. Dorthia Cottrell also has an acoustic solo career showcasing her sensitive and delicate side. The step from metal to dark country isn't far. In fact, there's only a thin line that separates them. In my line of work with this website I'm forced to wade through a quagmire of pretentious made up statements and labels to make the music seem more interesting. However, a review in Echoes and Dust caught my attention: "On her self-titled debut, Dorthia Cottrell is not merely another doomed soul moonlighting in morose country, but a fully fledged songwriter whose outstanding solo work has genuine crossover potential, and, if nurtured, may even eclipse her main band." She has made two albums. Her debut album was released in 2015. It's a dark album with a set of moody, low-key songs accompanied by acoustic and steel guitars. The best songs are "Cemetery Song", "Gold", "Orphan Bird", "Vessel", "Moth" and, last but not least, a cover of Townes Van Zandt's "Rake". The arrangements are spooky, atmospheric and semi-acoustic. This is so much better, than all the copiers, fakers, imitators, impersonaters and imposters out there. The cd copy is hard to find, but you can listen to the album on Bandcamp.