Welcome to a new Department of Tangents Minicast with Georg Altziebler, singer/songwriter behind Son of the Velvet Rat. In February, Son of the Velvet Rat released Dorado, a spare but shimmering album produced by Joe Henry. In 2013, Altziebler moved the band from Austria where they had already established themselves with five albums to Joshua Tree. Dorado reflects that arid atmosphere, with noir-like touches. His desperate and desolate characters inhabit the same spaces as the ones Bob Dylan and Tom Waits write about, and, as I mention to Altziebler in the video, the lyrics often have a visceral impact.

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Video for “Blood Red Shoes”