The Witzard

"Dani's Blues (It Was Beyond Our Control)" is a fun introduction, with the chiming piano riff recalling early 70's AM Pop - think Paul McCartney 's initial solo releases, those early Elton John albums, or even ELO at their most creative," Clash Music poetically likened White Denim frontman James Petralli aka Bop English 's recent premier single to its predecessors/possible influences. After four tedious years-worth of studio tinkery, Petralli's "solo" debut, Constant Bop , is finally ready for a world-wide release on Blood and Biscuits /Downtown Records this upcoming April 13-14th; " Constant Bop is a widely collaborative project that features production from Jim Vollentine , 5th Street Studio's Ryan Joseph and Nick Joswick, as well as Matt Oliver of Big Orange Studios and the band TV Torso... White Denim 's drummer Josh Block , guitarist Austin Jenkins, and bass player Steve Terebecki , as well as former Shearwater...

It's probably just some sort of weird subconscious coincidence, but the track I'm about to review is titled "At Night In Dreams" and man, did I have a colorful dream last night: I was attending some sort of St. Patty's -themed little people marathon race in my hometown, where all the runners were either dressed like leprechauns, nuns, or priests... But they could party harder than any binge-drinking testosterone-filled frat dudes! Anyways, White Denim is currently one of my favorite bands, but my first exposure to their music wasn't even a proper White Denim album; frontman James Petralli released an unofficial "solo album" a few years ago, which featured Portastudio -recorded covers of Elvis Costello , Ween, Neil Young , Stevie Wonder, King Crimson , and White Stripes album deep cuts. Needless to say, White Denim 's most recent record, Corsicana Lemonade quickly became one of my favorite Rock "N" Roll albums of 2013-14! It's...

Purchased on a whim and the sheer strength of two Southern -fried rockin' Blues-Funk teaser singles, White Denim 's recently released sixth album, Corsicana Lemonade is without a doubt one of this past year's late-blooming sleeper hits; While I've always seen White Denim 's name strewn across various Indie Rock -leaning blogs (especially Gorilla vs. Bear ), I'd never really given the Austin -based band a legitimate shot. It's just a solid, no frills 10-track Rock "N" Roll album that's equal parts Black Keys and Creedence (with some added Psych-Rock flavor). But in true Southern Rock fashion, White Denim recruited The Bottom Dollar String Band for "Pretty Green Mash," a reduced version of their lead Corsicana Lemonade single. From what I understand, the track's included on a "Pretty Green" online/tour-exclusive 10" EP, along with B-sides "Under mi Pretty Green" and rough album closer "...

It turns out that "At Night In Dreams" is the absolute Fuzz-Rock romper of a track that White Denim briefly teased along with Corsicana Lemonade 's initial release announcement (uploaded back in August). Sans lyrics at that point, "At Night In Dreams" was chopped up throughout Michael Hammett, James Petralli & Aaron Weiss' behind-the-scenes Corsicana Lemonade mini-film. Anchored by a looping Space-Funk guitar line, frontman James Petralli (son of 1980-90's baseball player Geno Petralli ) kinda has a wonderfully tortured-sounding, whiskey-soaked growl that could be likened to their "Modern-Rock" peers The Black Keys or Kings of Leon . White Denim previously unleashed a slightly deranged Frank Zappa & The Mothers -reminiscent music video for the album's quasi-lead single "Pretty Green" and quite honestly, on the sheer strength of the 2 aforementioned tracks... I'll definitely be picking up a copy of the C...

Once you get past the inherent trippiness and utter nonsense that comes along with White Denim 's latest "Pretty Green" video, it's a pretty damn great Rock "N" Roll number. Austin 's finest recently teamed up with director(s) The Modern Plow Collective to create what The Line of Best Fit (who premiered the video) describes as "a particularly hungry acid trip." It features both quick glimpses and extended scenes of White Denim dressed in all sorts of fucked up food masks, face-encompassing beards, empty-looking gold masks, green screened giant lips, and a bunch of 90's-reminiscent cheesy CGI video trickery. Forget about anything vaguely weird that Michael Jackson ever released, White Denim have easily produced the most tripped out performance video I've ever seen! ha Sonically, I think "Pretty Green" sounds a lot like The Black Keys and I'm sure we could sit here and argue ALL DAY about who came first... Wilco ...

Rock "N" Roll is an expressive art form: Whether it makes you want to passionately sing, dance, play, or even write. Blak & Blu is such a BIG, comprehensive album that'll undoubtedly get a lot of coverage. Sometimes I tend to stray away from potential "big ticket" pieces of that level. But fuck it - Blak & Blu is such a great collection that it honesty deserves every damn ounce of coverage it's getting! While a handful of critics have already started raggin' on Gary Clark Jr. for supposedly "selling out," abandoning his Austin Blues Rock roots, and making an eclectic [slightly "commercial"] album ... I feel like it's a pretty smart move right outta the gates; This way Clark won't get labelled a one-trick, guitar-playing pony. Plus, if he played grandiose guitar solos on nearly every track, people would call him a dick anyways. "Bright Lights" is a guitar feedback-soaked middle finger aimed @ Clark...