Doo Rag's Got my Soul Caught Between a Megaphone & a Vacuum Cleaner
Written: Jun 14 '02 (Updated Jun 14 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Doo Rag!
Cons: It's only 4 songs.
The Bottom Line: "Sinful Tunes and Spiritual" only leaves you wanting more.
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| JennJoy's Full Review: Sinful Tunes and Spirituals * by Doo Rag/20 Miles |
I picked up this four-song split-EP “Sinful Tunes and Spirituals” for one reason: Doo Rag. The mix that Officer sent me had a track by them that I enjoyed so much, I wanted to suck up anything I could find by the now defunct duo. This EP was the first thing I was able to get my hands on.
20 Miles
20 Miles offers up the first two tracks. The band is a side project of the guitarist from Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Judah Bauer, and his brother Donovan who plays drums. I had never heard of them before purchasing this EP, but I was pleasantly surprised. 20 Miles presents listeners with some solid, stripped down blues-rock.
Johnson's Blues is stripped down blues oriented rock which offers up sludgy guitar coupled with a tinny snare beat keeping time with the tiniest bit of bass drum thrown in for good measure. The languid vocals make me think of an oppressively humid summer night spent prowling the darkest confines of the city. Favorite lyrics: "Whatcha want me to do, go stay. Oh, where should I be? I will go away. She's got my soul."
East St. Louis is a bit more upbeat with a boogie-woogie feel. The guitar jumps and slides across the percussion like a surfboard over water. A short interlude of honky-tonk harmonica dappled throughout really brings the jam together. Favorite lyrics: "We were drinking, I was thinking how far we'll go. But the bottle's nice and empty, that's how it goes."
Doo Rag
Doo Rag was a two-man band from Tucson, Arizona comprised of Bob Log on guitar/vocals and Thermos Malling on percussion of all types. I understand Bob Log has a few solo releases but I have yet to hear one of them. Doo Rag is hard to describe only because they are so many things all at once. Not just lo-fi, they’re no-fi! Bob and Thermos play just about anything they can get their hands on that will create a unique sound. If it can be banged on or sung through, you better bet Doo Rag are using it to make music. The duo’s sound is a form of dirty delta blues created with random objects. How’s that for a genre?
Confidential Booty slams you in the face when compared to the first two tracks on “Sinful Tunes and Spirituals.” The guitar resonates with the dirtiest, crunchiest riffs I’ve ever heard. The percussion, hell, I don't even know what they used to create these sounds. Think of “Stomp,” the Broadway show. It's a shame to compare Doo Rag to that, but the idea is the same. Take random objects and bang on them in whatever way that gets the sound you want. Ever seen two or three guys on a city street corner playing plastic buckets with a their hands and feet? This is Doo Rag, but with a guitar and some other random objects. The vocals are done through a vacuum/megaphone contraption that makes them sound as though they were being listened to on an old fashioned radio. I can't even begin to fathom how two guys can create such a myriad of sounds that somehow gel together. They ignite a fire within and give hope that truly original music can still be found in the dismal pop-dominated music scene. I can't begin to decipher the lyrics, but the words “confidential booty” are in there somewhere.
Elbow Crack starts out with crazy guitar work that sounds like John Lee Hooker on speed with about 10 times more twang. Again, the percussion is random, but perfect. It sounds like Thermos is playing a metal trashcan as a bass drum. The recording is raw, fuzziness and all, and I love that! This track is instrumental, which is fine since the vocals on the other one were nearly unintelligible.
“Sinful Tunes and Spirituals” hasn’t left my CD player for more than a few minutes since I bought it. If you enjoy the most original music you can get your hands on, created by people who are truly artists, you will adore Doo Rag. 20 Miles is a great band as well; they just aren’t as unique as Doo Rag. It’s a shame that Doo Rag is defunct, but I take heart knowing that they’ve left behind more recordings that will be even more of a treat to discover than this EP. Do yourself a favor and check them out too.
Recommended:
Yes
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JennJoy
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