Black Cat Biscuit – The Way It Is (2022)

 No well-trodden paths or worn out covers with Black Cat Biscuit, but a surprising, sometimes foxy cocktail of fresh songs marinated in a special gumbo hot sauce, brought by five driven musicians!

Yasser (Six-Pack, Wood & Roses) is your host with a gin soaked blues voice who yet leads his swinging guitar and the rest of the band with a steady hand.

Patrick ‘P. Daddy Alley’ Indestege (Big Mama's Kitchen, Rhythm Bombs, Elmore D, Ale & Alley) on double bass makes together with

Jeffrey Gijbels (Belgium's Got Talent, Festeyn) on drums a brilliant rhythm section team that swings like a tit!

Stanley Patty (Doctor Rhythm, Phil Bee and the Buzztones, Rhythm Bombs, The Loveveins) is one of the most respected blues guitarists of the Benelux, his sound is a mix of his role models Magic Sam, Albert Collins and Johnny Guitar Watson, complemented by his own typical feeling and technique.

Mr Mark Sepanski (the Monday Lovers, six-pack) blows the top of his lungs and converts the last doubters to the Bluesdom.

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The Black Keys - Dropout Boogie (2022)

There’s no harm in sticking to a formula when it’s served you well. For two decades, Ohio duo The Black Keys‘ amped-up blues sound has taken them from drummer Patrick Carney’s basement to the world’s biggest stages, making them a safe bet to pack any arena. Even after 2010’s breakthrough ‘Brothers’ put them in the limelight, they’ve stayed faithful to those roots, just last year paying homage to heroes of the game with covers album ‘Delta Kream’, which saw their love for the genre burning brighter than ever.

This sentiment is alive and kicking throughout their 11th studio record ‘Dropout Boogie’, a listen loaded with enough thrills and spills to soundtrack a wild ride down Route 66. The rollicking back-room riff of ‘For The Love Of The Money’, for example, could be a salvaged relic from rock‘n’roll’s heydey. Elsewhere they cut loose with the soulful and jittery jam of ‘Burn The Damn Thing Down’, which invites a gritty and raw early Angus Young blues solo. It’s of course, nothing new, but this pair are masters in capturing that timeless flair and spirit.

It doesn’t sound like the band who were forced into a five-year hiatus between 2014’s ‘Turn Blue’ and 2019’s ‘Let’s Rock’ due to simmering tensions and tour-induced PTSD. Those albums might not have hit the heights of their early days, but here they’re the embodiment of a band set for good times. Here, the jaunty riffs of ‘Wild Child’ are fresh as ever as Dan Auerbach’s coarse, soulful vocal bursts onto the scene: “I’m just a stranger / With a twisted smile and a wandering eye / Your heart is in danger / Come close now let me tell you a lie.”

It’s a testament to their status that the band have drafted in their own hero in ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons for highlight ‘Good Love’, a brooding jam that evokes a prickly heat by way of swaggering fuzz and meandering organs as the band broach matters of the heart: “Good lovin’ is so hard to find / everybody wanna waste your time.” It’s brilliantly reclined, down-the-line rock, something that prevails in other areas of the record, just take the swampy strut behind slow burner ‘Happiness’ or the bubbling and understated angst in ‘Didn’t I Love You’.

‘Dropout Boogie’ is an apt title for this record and a good marker of where The Black Keys find themselves in 2022. Where previous albums have effortlessly gunned for their arena-punching heights, these days the band are thriving by making music more fit to shake down the walls of their local Nashville dive bars. The blues kings show no signs of turning off their well-beaten path here, but they’re still capable of conjuring enough magic on the journey.

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Ghost Hounds - You Broke Me (2022)

 Today, blues-rock band Ghost Hounds announce their new blues album, You Broke Me, out May 13th via Maple House Records. Written and produced by guitarist Thomas Tull and songwriter/producer Kevin Bowe (Etta James, Paul Westerberg and the Replacements), the 9-track album is raw yet polished with a live-off-the-floor feel. The group uses driving guitars, sparkling piano, dirty harp, and the overwhelming presence of singer Tre’ Nation to define their own blues sound and send it out into the world.

Ghost Hounds deliver a righteous and inspired take on Howlin’ Wolf’s signature song that feels current but doesn’t tamper with the vibe of the original. “Smokestack Lightning” is an eerie, atmospheric cut made from a handful of guitar notes and the contents of a human soul and Ghost Hounds do an excellent job of tapping into that energy. Tre’ Nation sings to beat the Devil, putting down a deep blue performance that’s haunting and hypnotic while the guitars of Johnny Baab and Thomas Tull grind and wail behind him. He reminds us all why we love this music in the first place while still staking a claim to today’s version of it. This is a seriously powerful show of influence and respect to one of the Old Masters who has yet to be equaled. Get it in your headphones just once and you’ll be back for more.

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Jonathan Fritzén - Piano Tales (2022)

 This recording is one of the most exciting new Smooth Jazz releases I ve heard all year, maybe even last year, and I m thrilled to tell you that this incredible talent grew up listening to SmoothJazz.com Radio in Sweden and now is in fact, one of our brightest stars. VIP is filled with 10 sizzling hot tunes that will fill your world with groove and joy! It is a Very Important Project!

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Big Gilson - Peace in Our Time (2022)

 When the average fan thinks of hotbeds of the blues, he or she thinks of cities like Chicago, Austin, and Memphis, and even such far-flung outposts as London and Paris. That’s all set to change, however, as this red-hot Brazilian, guitarist Big Gilson a TopCat Records USA artist, is poised to put Rio de Janeiro on the blues map.

Gilson, have released fourteen CDs, and honed his chops the last thirty years gigging on his own (in South & North America, and also in Europe) and as the opening act for Steve Winwood on his Brazilian tour, Johnny Rivers (70.000 people audience), and twice to the master B.B. King. While touring America, and gigging at such clubs as Florida’s Bamboo Room, New York’s Blue Note, and all over Chi-town, the band knocked out such blues gods as Canned Heat, Mick Taylor, Tab Benoit, Corey Harries, Duke Robillard, Lonnie Brooks, Magic Slim, Saffire, Walter “Wolfman” Washington, Johnny Winter and Buddy Guy, who extended the Boy from Brazil an open invitation to play his Legends Club anytime.

As well as performing in blues festivals all over the world, he also had played gigs in such great venues as the Blue Note, NY (five times), the Bamboo Room, FL (three times) voted four years in the row the best blues club in America, the Tobacco Road (one of the oldest clubs in America, for the fifth time, the best Dallas club, the Deep Ellum Blues among others.

Among other companies from the music industry, this guy has the support from Marshall Amps.

Now, he’s touring all over, releasing his new album LOUD’N PROUD.

Brave Rival - Life's Machine (2022)

 Life’s Machine is the stunning debut album from Portsmouth-based five-piece rock, blues, and soul band Brave Rival featuring the hypnotic lead vocals of Lindsey Bonnick and Chloe Josephine.

“Heart Attack” is an absolutely popping blues/rock boogie done in the most high-octane style possible. The riff is big, the beat slams and percolates at once, and dual lead singers Lindsey Bonnick and Chloe Josephine take the tune to a new, impossibly high level. Just when you think it couldn’t get any cooler, the Floydian breakdown in the middle demonstrates that Brave Rival knows as much about art as they know about power. Guitarist Ed Clarke is tight and mighty on lead and rhythm and gives “Heart Attack” its musical muscle. The video, shot in an underground pedway covered in graffiti, does a lot with one location and is nothing but good, dirty, rock and roll fun. Brave Rival does everything right on this one and you’d best not miss it.

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The Hogtown Allstars - Hog Wild (2022)

 Bien qu’il s’agisse en l’occurrence de leur premier album sous cette appellation commune, les sept membres de la configuration actuelle des Hogtown Allstars ne sont pas exactement des débutants. Pas moins de cinq d’entre eux sont en effet issus de la légendaire formation canadienne Downchild Blues Band: ainsi du chanteur et harmoniciste Chuck Jackson, du bassiste Gary Kendall, du saxophoniste Pat Carey, du batteur Jim Casson et du claviériste Tyler Yarema, tandis que le trompettiste Howard Moore et le guitariste Teddy Leonard (pour leur part venus du Maple Blues Band) en complètent le line-up. Pour qui l’ignorerait encore, le Downchild Blues Band est une institution au Canada: fondée à Toronto en 1969, c’est en effet autour de cette formation que s’est largement agrégée la scène blues nationale. Avec une bonne trentaine d’albums en cinq décennies (et selon certaines sources, près de 120 musiciens impliqués), leur influence s’étendit jusqu’aux Blues Brothers (natif d’Ottawa, Dan Aykroyd en demeure un fan déclaré), et outre les frères co-fondateurs Donnie et Hock Walsh, ils comptèrent longtemps dans leurs rangs le regretté claviériste de renom Michael Fonfara (Electric Flag, Rhinoceros), qui accompagna notamment Lou Reed durant les seventies. L’album s’ouvre sur le louisianais “Mr. Lucky” (signé Chuck Jackson, comme sept de ses dix titres), où le second-line beat accorde la part belle au piano alerte de Yarema (entre Dr. John et Professor Longhair), ainsi qu’aux cuivres et à des chœurs féminins enjoués. La plage titulaire emprunte à Tom Waits son phrasé éructant, tandis que Yarema passe à l’orgue pour accentuer le heavy-riff sur lequel les six cordes de Leonard prennent leur envol. Gary Kendall prodigue ensuite l’enlevé shuffle cuivré “Real Good Night”, dont le good time feeling enthousiasme sans doute maints danseurs, lors de leurs concerts. Le rhythm n’blues millésimé dont les frères Blues étaient si férus fait son entrée avec “I Just Think Of You”, entre Staples Singers chez Stax et Al Green sur Hi, tandis que Jackson gratifie cette plage d’un savoureux solo d’harmonica à la manière de Little Stevie Wonder. La ballade countrysante en three-steps “Angel in My Bed” n’en bénéficie pas moins des mêmes chœurs et cuivres, avant que “Subway Casanova” n’emprunte la southern swamp claudication caractéristique des antiques classiques de Little Feat, slide fumante à l’appui. Le jump-shuffle de Roy Brown, Hank Ballard et Clarence ‘Frogman’ Henry prend ensuite le relais avec “The Sad One”, et Carey s’y autorise un juteux chorus de baryton, auquel l’orgue de Yarema emboîte le pas. Le Mississippi country blues n’est pas en reste, puisque “Biscuits & Beans” s’inscrit dans la veine de Rice Miller et Muddy Waters, quand ces derniers œuvraient encore aux travaux des champs. En remontant vers Chicago, notre joyeuse bande croise le fantôme de Howlin’ Wolf, et lui suggère l’idée pas si saugrenue de reprendre du Don McLean. Il en résulte une version roborative de “She’s Got The Stuff”, où la guitare de Leonard rend un hommage appuyé à celle du grand Hubert Sumlin, tandis que Jackson imite les râles gutturaux de Chester Burnett. Ce good time record se referme sur le “I Ain’t Lying” du bluesman canadien Johnny V Mills (que reprit également Amos Garrett), dans une veine vintage rock n’ roll que n’auraient pas dédaigné les Nighthawks. Un disque idéal pour se donner la pêche le matin, ou se remonter le moral le soir!

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