Band of Rascals

Sometimes I forget how much I love NOISETRADE. Even though I get regular emails from them. I usually just do a quick scroll through, then delete the message. But every once in awhile something catches my eye for one reason or another, and I click on the link to listen to some samples. This morning, even though I was battling hangover induced vertigo and not really in the mood for music, I clicked on Band of Rascals. I listened to the 7 sample songs. Reminded me a little of The Black Keys. That's a heavy compliment in my ears. I listened to them again. Then I did the Trade Your Information For Free Tracks and had a real listen to the whole Tempest album. And to quote Aquaman, "Dressed like a bat. I dig it."

And then I wanted some more. NOISETRADE had another 4 track ep . . . which included a cover of Queen's "Fat Bottom Girls." So I got that, too. The Queen cover was okay-ish. "Fat Bottom Girls" is one of my all-time favorite songs (despite the abominable lyrics), so it would have been hard to please me on that. Unless they had done a country version. I would love to have heard a fiddle and banjo on that track. (Note to self . . . . )  The other three tracks were cool, though.

And then I wanted some more. And fortunately / /bandcamp was there for me with an ep which had the three not-Queen-cover songs from that second ep plus four other songs. This time out it would cost some $, though--7 of them for a digital download, 10 of them for a real cd. At this point I felt like I owed the boys a little somethingsomething, though. And I have to say that at this juncture, this (eponymous) ep is my favorite so far. It has a kind of propulsive energy that makes me want to holler, but the joint's too small. Oh, and by the way, you can check this out en toto for free if you go to the bandcamp website. They're cool like that at bandcamp--give you a full meal sample before you buy. Which mos def inclines me to buy more than I otherwise would, because I end up checking out a lot of bands that I wouldn't have looked at otherwise.