Labels: No Quarter
Review by: Tom Abram
Ladies and Gentleman, shave your beards, cut your hair, and throw out your Skynyrd records in disgust at the fact you haven’t heard this band before. Taking their name from the 1971 John Lee Hooker album, Introducing, Endless Boogie. Hailing from New York, a city and scene that is undoubtably one that’s hard to crack, this band have been hidden away for over a decade. Maybe they’ve been hiding behind the front mans questionable haircut, I don’t know, but going by their latest release Full House Head I feel I’ve missed out on something.
A CLOSE PAL pointed this band out to me after seeing them at the Pavement curated All Tomorrows Parties festival in Mineshead. Stephen Malkmus is a fan and so am I. The album starts with a certainly laid back, “Empty Eye” which pretty much sets the platform for the rest of this tarrying yet felicitous album. Followed by a catchy filthy blues rock track with an equally catchy/disgusting title, “Tarmac City”.
This album is clearly very well produced, but don’t let that put you off, singer Paul Major manages to keep it dirty with his rough, liquor-soaked woodbine vocals, varnished by a landscaping display of mini Hendrix licks. The album ends as good as it starts with “A Life Worth Leaving”, which to be honest they may as well have just been titled Endless Boogie, because that’s exactly what it is. Sounding more lo-fi than the rest of the album, this 22 minute jam is certainly the highlight of the 8 tracks. Upset that I’ll never own previous releases, due to them being out of print, I can only eagerly await future releases and tours!