Half
Man - "The Complete Field Guide for Cynics" CD
Tectonic Break - "Promo CD-R"
What a pleasant surprise to pop up in my mailbox! Sweden's Half-Man is joy
in soundwaves, a soundtrack for a long drive or hanging out reading the paper
on a Sunday morning. It combines all the best things that came out of the
70's with a little of 2000's know how and a truckload of musical talent.
Half-Man could be the bastard child of an illicit love-triangle between Canned
Heat, Foghat, and The Minutemen. "The Complete Field Guide for Cynics" brews
a magic potion whose ingredients contain pure white-boy blues, 70's boogie
rock, a little prog and punk/folk sensibilities. The concoction makes for
an eclectic listening experience. Oh yeah, and they rock.
"Blues ain't nothing (but a botheration of your mind)", "Nowhere Leading Road
Pts. 1&2" and "Searching for a Woman" all carry a heavy Foghat-ish boogie-shuffle
vibe, while "When the train comes back" and "Two drinks of wine" could have
been lifted from an old NOLA blues man doing his thing at the Blues Society.
The only instrumental track here carries the title "Two Perverted Men in a
Swamp (Part 1 & 2) which could have been on any Camel trip-prog number and
despite the odd title, is a showcase for guitarist/vocalist/harmonica player
Janne Bengtsson. "Hardly Wait" is a majestic acoustic/electric number with
a dash of dramatic bombast. "Rodney's Song" is a funkified jazz-chord number
number that HAS GOT to be a favorite live...I can see the crowds bobbin' to
this one. "Shake that thing" is hard to classify...it's bluesboogieguitarriffrawk
with slight psychedelic undertones. It a mofo of a song though. This is got
to be a crowd pleaser as well.
Tectonic Break is a side project featuring Half-Man bassist Patric Carlsson
and vocalist Janne Bengstsson. Tectonic Break has more to do with Captains
Beyond and Beefheart than Blind Man Willie. The two tunes on here, "Stigmata"
and "maria" are reflective of a band that refuses to be pigeonholed into any
one sort of style. There is a middle eastern vibe here, especially in "Stigmata"
that can only be compared to Canned Heat on acid in Kashmir. The two songs
are incredibly hypnotic. The only thing that took away from the songs was
the voice effects on Mr. Bengtsson. With a voice like that, any distortion
is a crime. Otherwise this is an extraordinary outing exploring the tripper
side of music.
In both bands, Vocalist/Harmonica Player/guitarist Janne Bengtsson sounds
eerily like the late great D. Boone the vocalist of the early 80's punk/folk
legends The Minutemen. The characteristic "big voice with a bluesy wallop"
thing fits this type of music perfectly. And the man can wring notes out of
a harmonica. Not ultra-fast flash John Popper stuff, but more of a reflective
laid back kind of feel. One gets the feeling he's not there to showcase the
thing, but adds the harmonica as a sort of spice on top of what already is
some great music.
Chris Barnes, Custom Heavy