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Tijuana
Hercules: Self-Titled
So, here I sit on a bus, returning from Denver at 1 a.m., and what should I decide to do but attempt to scrawl onto my pad of paper a review. Its been a fitting night and a fitting ride for this venture. Honestly, I wish I could be traveling home from experiencing a show resembling the music of this album or something of similar caliber. Instead, Im catching a midnight bus back from a mellow night bar venture. Fun, of course, but man, I would love to steal into a bar right now and happen upon a show with the energy embodied in this recording. Maybe Im just a late night drunk romantic, but something about the blistering boogie on this album just calls to me. On first listen, theres a definite Tom Waits Bone Machine era deep scratch to John Forbes vocals. Hes a throaty preacher with a mad trashcan orchestra backing up his howls. These three individuals hail from Chicago, Illinois, where it seems based on their press sheet that theyve been causing quite a stir. Written up in what seems like more papers than all of Colorado has, they garner nothing but good praise and curious awe. Forbes pushes out his vocals like the devils in him, and he wails selfishly on his guitar with a slide while a drum kit and percussionist fill up the room around him. Sounding as if it was recorded in a basement with a four-track among empty cardboard boxes and bottles, this album is perfectly sloppy and drunk. It embodies what Im sure the live show experience would be, at least comes close, and thats just hard to do with an album. To give you a glimpse of the racket that rattles through this album, heres a list of the arsenal utilized by these guys scuzzed vocals, dirty guitar, tin cans, tambourines, cowbell, shakers, trumpet, trombone and a sit-down drum kit all pushed to their limits. The percussionist has a homemade setup of cans, buckets, rattles and more, which he bangs on to fill in where the drummer might leave off. Tijuana Hercules creates a foot-tappin boogie album that has the feel of steppin into a speakeasy and tastin sin for the first sweet time as it hits your nose and lips. Its sweet, sweet swamp stomp revival worth checking out. Go see the live show; I dont see it as being any kind of a disappointment.
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