Frank Black Francis' Bluefinger
Bluefinger
Just because he's calling himself Black Francis on this one (which I find to be more of a stick it to the rest of the band comment on the Pixies and their lack of ballage regarding a new album,) it doesn't mean that it's Pixies Pretend in the New Century.
Frank Black Francis (FBF) can still scream with the best of them; I knew that for certain when I went to see him live last year. The force of that scream is still enough to demolish entire cities. Holy fucking moly.
His current voice isn't the same as it was in something like "Caribou," which has an ease of high-pitched singing mixed with a melting scream. ("Caribou" transitioning to "repent.") He still goes falsetto and revs it up (and has as FBF previously--see "Massif Central" for the high-melt) but this FBF is in his 40s, not his 20s.
Though I still adore the Pixies, they're very much of my youth. A band discovered twenty years ago as I plodded through adolescence. I'd be a bit disappointed if FBF hadn't stretched beyond Pixiedom.
But man, the energy. Bluefinger's got that. "Threshold Apprehension" makes me quake. "You Can't Break a Heart and Have It" (the one cover, originally by Herman Brood, the subject of the album) fucking rattles my teeth. "Tight Black Rubber" reeks of the Velvets musically, lyrically, and with spoken-word-faux-Lou merging into raw-FBF singing that threatens to erupt. I'm still going through the cuts, but these are my three faves early in the game.
The whole album seems to congeal, as it should since it's about Brood. The only negative is that this isn't one I can crank at work with the subject material and lyrics.
The only other vaguely Pixie-ish thing on the item are FBF's wife's backing vocals, which definitely remind me of Kim Deal at times. Otherwise, this is natural progression FBF, from the Orange Album through Fast Man/Raider Man. The man's always had a dark edge, has never abdicated the Throne of Scream, has always written about interesting subject matter whether it be historical, literary, or cultural, and has always stuck to quirky musical dynamics. Sucks that he has to be dogged by the Pixies and by random Kurt Cobain questions because the man's fucking genius within the Pixies or without. And prolific.
Frank Black. Black Francis. Who cares? FBF rocks it out on Bluefinger and introduces an interesting, tragic Dutch rock star and artist at the same time.
*
Oh. Drive-By Truckers. Definitely digging them and would do so for "Gravity's Gone" alone. Can't wait to delve deeper into their catalog, but that'll have to wait until after I de-Bluefinger.
Just because he's calling himself Black Francis on this one (which I find to be more of a stick it to the rest of the band comment on the Pixies and their lack of ballage regarding a new album,) it doesn't mean that it's Pixies Pretend in the New Century.
Frank Black Francis (FBF) can still scream with the best of them; I knew that for certain when I went to see him live last year. The force of that scream is still enough to demolish entire cities. Holy fucking moly.
His current voice isn't the same as it was in something like "Caribou," which has an ease of high-pitched singing mixed with a melting scream. ("Caribou" transitioning to "repent.") He still goes falsetto and revs it up (and has as FBF previously--see "Massif Central" for the high-melt) but this FBF is in his 40s, not his 20s.
Though I still adore the Pixies, they're very much of my youth. A band discovered twenty years ago as I plodded through adolescence. I'd be a bit disappointed if FBF hadn't stretched beyond Pixiedom.
But man, the energy. Bluefinger's got that. "Threshold Apprehension" makes me quake. "You Can't Break a Heart and Have It" (the one cover, originally by Herman Brood, the subject of the album) fucking rattles my teeth. "Tight Black Rubber" reeks of the Velvets musically, lyrically, and with spoken-word-faux-Lou merging into raw-FBF singing that threatens to erupt. I'm still going through the cuts, but these are my three faves early in the game.
The whole album seems to congeal, as it should since it's about Brood. The only negative is that this isn't one I can crank at work with the subject material and lyrics.
The only other vaguely Pixie-ish thing on the item are FBF's wife's backing vocals, which definitely remind me of Kim Deal at times. Otherwise, this is natural progression FBF, from the Orange Album through Fast Man/Raider Man. The man's always had a dark edge, has never abdicated the Throne of Scream, has always written about interesting subject matter whether it be historical, literary, or cultural, and has always stuck to quirky musical dynamics. Sucks that he has to be dogged by the Pixies and by random Kurt Cobain questions because the man's fucking genius within the Pixies or without. And prolific.
Frank Black. Black Francis. Who cares? FBF rocks it out on Bluefinger and introduces an interesting, tragic Dutch rock star and artist at the same time.
*
Oh. Drive-By Truckers. Definitely digging them and would do so for "Gravity's Gone" alone. Can't wait to delve deeper into their catalog, but that'll have to wait until after I de-Bluefinger.