Blackloud
6th 6th 6th / Mysterious Waves
self-released

Blackloud is the sound of a bearded man with a cowboy hat called James Burton. He sings with a strong American accent over a prickly psychedelic bed of bulbous bass, tinny drum machine beats and strange synth drones, all passed through the FX grinder. It's a disconcerting din, and occasionally inspired.

The nearest precedent I can muster is Ween, who can take the so-fucked-up-it's-funny blueprint to even more delirious extremes. But where Ween is more daft and whimsical, Blackloud is grounded by the bedrock of fat, fat bass and a darker, sweatier atmosphere.

The real star for me over course of these two discs, and particularly on the more spacious Mysterious Waves, is the keyboard. James manages to muster some stunningly weird washes of sound that threaten to transport the songs in much more droney, ecstatic directions, only to have the bass undertow and incessant tittering of the drum machines bring the gorgeous sound surge back to earth.

There's some truly brilliant stuff going on here, so hats off to you James. I'd be interested to hear where your sonic adventures take you next.

Copyright © 2005 Tim Clarke