{"id":1286,"date":"2016-11-21T04:00:58","date_gmt":"2016-11-21T09:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/?p=1286"},"modified":"2016-11-20T16:16:58","modified_gmt":"2016-11-20T21:16:58","slug":"new-release-roundup-offbeat-blues-from-churchwood-gentle-folk-from-cory-hanson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/2016\/11\/21\/new-release-roundup-offbeat-blues-from-churchwood-gentle-folk-from-cory-hanson\/","title":{"rendered":"New Release Roundup: Offbeat blues from Churchwood, gentle folk from Cory Hanson"},"content":{"rendered":"

1. Churchwood<\/a> \u2013 Hex City<\/em>
\nChurchwood\u2019s fourth full-length album Hex City is the soundtrack for the best road house horror movie no one has made yet. Not sure if this is a consciously a concept album, but all hell breaks loose on the title track, \u201cYou Let the Dead In,\u201d and the images of a world on fire continue through \u201cOne Big White Nightmare,\u201d \u201cHainted\u201d \u201cMetanoia,\u201d the title track \u2013 really through the whole album. (You can hear the whole thing streaming on the Glide album premiere<\/a>). Things ain\u2019t right. Blues and old school rock and roll definitely form the spine of the sound, but Churchwood would give any reviewer fits trying to make easy comparisons to other music. Let\u2019s map out \u201cOne Big White Nightmare\u201d for starters. It kicks off with a stilted blues riff you\u2019d expect to hear blasting from a hopping juke joint in the middle of nowhere, and then the verses start with a rapping cadence that sounds like a gritty Red Hot Chili Peppers from some dark alternative universe. \u201cTah-phoon! There\u2019s a hurricane comin\u2019\/Gonna run it all aground\/Gonna wrap them runners up!\u201d sings Joe Doerr with a menacing enthusiasm. The bridge shifts the rhythm from something funky to freight-train rock with a hot harmonica solo. Then it\u2019s back to the funky verses and a gospel choir outro that sounds like The Who\u2019s \u201cJoin Together.\u201d That flows into the next track, \u201cDogs,\u201d the most Tom-Waits-like of the tunes hear, a relative of \u201cSingapore.\u201d The closing song, \u201cChickasaw Fire,\u201d sounds like Beefheart fronting Primus, and then, what\u2019s that? A flute solo? Why the hell not. We left logic at the door with our cover charge. The swirls into a fire of wailing, mournful background vocals, pounding drums, and big, fat distorted guitar, marches for a few bars, and then everything drops out but those haunting vocals. Like a good horror movie, Hex City keeps you guessing. To quote Carol from this season\u2019s \u201cThe Walking Dead\u201d when presented with King Ezekiel and his tiger, I don\u2019t know what the hell is going on in the most wonderful way. <\/p>\n