It can be tough business when you hear about a new band and that band has yet to release a full album. You’re left with that one song you heard that was the one song that peaked your interest and unfortunately, not much more. All you can do is wait patiently for that album to come out. Of course you can scour the Internet for more from that band, but if they haven’t released an actual album yet, you will most likely only find a handful of live cuts and demos on Soundcloud. It’s not the best, but at least it’s something- like when you’re hungry and waiting for dinner and you know dinner is coming, you know dinner is going to banging because you’ve smelt it, you know it. But dinner isn’t for another hour or so. You didn’t eat lunch. You skipped that shit because Nana is cooking and Nana doesn’t eff around. But what do you you do…eat a little something- just to tied you over. Well, you scavenge a bit- assume a any port in the storm stance to sustenance and hope for the best because remember, it’s just to get you to dinner.
That’s what it’s all about.
And that has been the case for me for about a week now, since I first heard “Off the Ground” by the Record Company.
Game Break: Who are the Record Company?
Three dudes, all with beards.
Resume Action.
“Off the Ground” sounds like a dirty AM radio combination of Morphine, Muddy Waters, New Orleans-style funky blues and a dash of Gary Clark Jr. with the blues-driven guitar licks. It has a muddy ass groove to it, right off the jump with a smooth, rolling bass line and no frills back beat. I love it when all the parts of band make sense and when vocalist Chris Vos’ voice comes in, you couldn’t imagine another voice accompanying the music. The slide guitar is straight gravy, a total bonus.
Game Break: So what’s up with an album?
Their first full length, “Give It Back To You” is set to be released on February 12th. They may lose some attention to the new Kanye West album but at least their album has a title already. So at least they have that going for them….which is nice.
Resume Action.
So the bummer was that there’s not much out there currently from the Record Company. In addition to “Off the Ground,” they have two other songs on Spotify. Certainly not enough to get you through one sweep of your over-crowded, junked up email inbox. Their Soundcloud spot is worth checking out- it features some live recordings and early studio work.
This all leads us back to the waiting for dinner analogy because thank heavens for the album coming out.
The Soundcloud stuff is good to get you through, to fight off those hunger pangs but none of it matches the polish and reaches the heights of “Off the Ground.” And that’s fine. That’s why bands release debut albums- to get that shit they’ve been hammering away at dank ass clubs down on tape. You get more of an idea who the Record Company are by checking out some of that stuff, and that’s helpful, especially with only a few newer things out there and available. And no matter how you slice it, their debut album should be swampy, bluesy funk glory.
Categories: Music
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