Right, I haven't used this thing in quite some time. So, in an effort to recapture a vague corner of a blank page somewhere in the endless book that is the internet, here goes.
Lately one album I can't get enough of is Endless Boogie's new record "Full House Head". You can - and should - buy it here.
I first stumbled across the Endless Boogie last year, whilst arbitrarily surfing music sites. I took a punt on Focus Level and loved it. Over-indulgent epic Southern blues-rock jams in abundance. And not, as their name might suggest, even the slightest hint of disco.
These guys came pretty much from leftfield as far as I was concerned, hell at the time of writing they didn't even have a Wikipedia entry (insert sarcastic OMG). And they've got a few genuine quirks - most notably singer/guitarist Top Dollar's extremely idiosyncratic vocal style (mostly random-ish throat noises interspersed with occasional actual singing), but also the fact they've all given themselves silly names (the last band of reasonable quality with that gimmick was probably the Lo Fidelity Allstars), and the fact that they're unafraid of the Dream Theater-esque tendency to put out an album where the songs have an average length of over 7 minutes. I dunno, I just like long songs.
But those quirks are just a side show to their real talent, which is writing kick-ass blues-rock jams. Which gets me back to my original point, which is that "Full House Head" is really, really good.
And what set me on that train of thought was the opening 10 seconds of "Empty Eye", where the rhythm section locks instantly into a tight groove, over the top of which the next 9 minutes sees, variously, gibberish Top Dollar vocals ("riverbed dry.... empty eye"), guitar noodling, but mostly epic guitar solos of varying styles.
And yes, the rest of the album has a lot of great stuff too. God forbid, "Mighty Fine Pie" is the closest thing the Boogie have ever done to a single, with its tight rock and roll vibe. But then elsewhere they deviate into discordant garage ("Top Dollar Speaks His Mind") and full-on psychedelic ramblings ("A Life Worth Leaving").
But it's that opening 10 seconds that just had me. Just from that (and, admittedly, my prior experience with the band), I just knew that this was going to be a kick-ass record. And it is.
