New & Noteworthy
March 25, 2007
I’m not a huge fan of funk, but I am a fan of Dr. Ketchup. Sure, Jim Lint the keyboardist and band leader is a friend, and yes that does make me biased, but I know pure talent and raw power when I hear it. Dr.Ketchup captures the funk and the punk and the jazz of the urban, underground world that is the Philadelphia music scene. Their latest release, Modern Savages is over 60 minutes of the cleanest, tightest, most organic band sound I’ve heard yet from these guys. The opener, “Chunky” jumps into your landscape immediatetly with a Barney Miller vibe, but then levels out into a well controlled seminar between extremely talented musicians. The bass is prominent and fret defying, the keys always keep the herd in place while playing circles around them, an occassional sax and flute strut in and croon while drums hang on to it all for dear life. If it weren’t for bands like this, all we’d have these days to talk about on music blogs are emo-crazed boys and the girls that enable them. Thanks Dr. Ketchup for keeping the funk real and alive. You can listen and buy the entire album here.
Dr. Ketchup : Stoops
Dr. Ketchup : Jawbreaker
Thunderegg, aka Will Georgantas, has come into his own. There’s a real songwriter awakening here. Past recordings were heavily driven by quirky, catchy lyrics, but now we not only get good literature, but also well crafted tunes of the solo artist variety ala Bill Callahan, Warren Zevon, and even a bit of Leonard Cohen. A back- up band makes all the difference in sculpting and defining a song, and Will seems to have found his mates. Oh, and I should mention the addition of producer Al Weatherhead in the collective bargaining of this new CD entitled, This Week. Will has got to be one of the most prolific songwriters around (perhaps may even give Robert Pollard a run for his four-track collection). He challenges himself to write a song a week and makes most of his work available for download.
