Showing posts with label Harlem Lake. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Harlem Lake. Show all posts

Thursday, February 23, 2023

Harlem Lake - Volition Live

Size: 177.9 MB
Time: 76:09
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2023
Styles: Blues, Rock, Soul
Art: Front

01. The River (Live At Culemborg Blues, 27.08.22) (4:29)
02. Beware (Live At Culemborg Blues, 27.08.22) (3:53)
03. Whiskey Drinking Woman (Live At Better Get Hit Festival, 10.09.22) (6:24)
04. Deaf & Blind (Live At Culemborg Blues, 27.08.22) (7:04)
05. Guide Me Home (Live At Culemborg Blues, 27.08.22) (6:07)
06. I Wish I Could Go Running (Live At Culemborg Blues, 27.08.22) (4:27)
07. Please Watch My Bag (Live At Culemborg Blues, 27.08.22) (8:19)
08. Got To Get Better In A Little While (Live At Better Get Hit Festival, 10.09.22) (5:22)
09. That's How Strong My Love Is (Live At Better Get Hit Festival, 10.09.22) (8:49)
10. The Letter (Live At Culemborg Blues, 27.08.22) (4:01)
11. I Won't Complain (Live At Better Get Hit Festival, 10.09.22) (8:15)
12. Don't Change Horses (Live At Culemborg Blues, 27.08.22) (5:49)
13. Jack In The Box (Live At Culemborg Blues, 27.08.22) (3:05)

A nearly full Volition Live CD includes the best of Harlem Lake songs, recorded at the Culemborg Blues Festival on August 27, 2022 and Better Get Hit Festival on September 10, 2022. Six tracks are from the album "A Fool's Paradise Vol. 1 " from 2021.
Harlem Lake performs in different line-ups. So we hear the band on the present album, among other things, in a ten-piece line-up. Also included among the six cover songs is Barrelhouse's number "Beware" . Other foreign compositions include The Box Tops ' "The Letter" . Joe Cocker was particularly successful with his version of the classic.
Whether original compositions or cover songs, the mix is great fun.

The listening fun begins after the first notes of the opener "The River".
This piece sorts itself into the Blues Rock department. The number comes across with a great sound and already here one of the trademarks of the band becomes clear. A voluminous sound characterizes this song and Sonny Ray van den Berg refines his contribution with a great use of a bottleneck.

In the following "Beware" we experience the combo in full cast with the brass section, so to speak. Hammer! The line-up without the horns is already highly convincing, but what the group with the horns calls up is stunning. What's more, "Beware" is one of the funk numbers on the album. Excellent! Harlem Lake pulls on the handbrake on "Whiskey Drinking Woman." What is definitely preserved is the intensity. This song puts his stamp on Sonny Ray van den Berg with a beautifully relaxed solo. The rocking "Deaf & Blind" feels like the track is over, but we're only halfway there at this point.Jon Lord comes to mind. At just over seven minutes, this song is one of the longest on "Volition Live".

In relation to the length of the songs, we also dedicate to "Please Watch My Bag". This piece impresses with dynamic fluctuations that reach into the balladesque area and once again guitarist Sonny Ray van den Berg shows himself to be downright inventive in his solo fantasies. It's a pleasure to listen to him on his own, subtly framed by drums, bass and keyboards.
In this context the singer Janne Timmer has to be mentioned. Brilliant, how the blues flows through her veins and shapes her vocal cords. Excellent! The rhythm section with bassist Kjelt Ostendorf and Benjamin Torbijn on drums is also great. Both thumps up!

"That's How Strong My Love Is" scratches the nine-minute mark. Only with a little organ accompaniment is Janne Timmer's singing, embedded by a two-piece choir, in the foreground. Goosebumps are the order of the day when the front woman gives in to her emotions and gives everything between a rough voice and gospel. You almost know where the song title comes from. Highlights!

You only have to listen to "The Letter" with its rousing horns and it becomes clear how competently Harlem Lake oscillates between closeness to the original and their own handwriting. The wind solos alone are reason enough to listen to this piece more often. In general, every new run of the album is worthwhile.

"Volition Live" shows Harlem Lake's blues/blues rock at a very high level.

Volition Live MP3
Volition Live FLAC

Monday, July 25, 2022

Dave Warmerdam Band - Play

Album: Play
Size: 180,5 MB
Time: 78:27
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2019
Styles: Blues
Art: Full

1. Where The F*ck Is My Truck (2:22)
2. Daddy Why Don't You Teach Me How To Play The Blues (8:50)
3. Tears Ain't Fun (5:08)
4. Tennessee Whiskey (8:56)
5. Sweet Lover (4:50)
6. Our Fire Still Burns On (8:57)
7. The Mirrored Mask (4:33)
8. Mean Man (4:14)
9. Strange Fruit (7:12)
10. Proud Mary (6:51)
11. I Won't Complain (10:17)
12. Play (6:12)

The Dave Warmerdam Band is a group of young musicians, who in their relatively short existence – the band was founded in 2017 – have already made quite a splash. At the end of 2017 their first CD 'A Tribute To The Masters Of The Blues' was released, which has now been followed by 'Play'. The band consists of new singer Janne Timmer, guitarist Sonny Ray van den Berg, bassist Lars Hoogland, drummer Rick van de Voort and namesake Dave Warmerdam on piano and Hammond. Last year the band won the Dutch Blues Challenge and recently they represented our country at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis.

On November 24, 2019, the band was at JJ Music House in Zoetermeer where recordings were made, twelve of which have appeared on this CD. It starts with the fun 'Where The F*ck Is My Truck' with only Janne's vocals and Dave's piano. A song in which she sings that she can no longer find her truck because of the many glasses of whiskey. This is followed by 'Daddy Why Don't You Teach Me How To Play The Blues', a beautiful blues ballad. The rest of the CD takes the listener through a mixture of blues, rock, soul and country.

(Note: The band recently changed their name to Harlem Lake.)

Play mc
Play zippy

Thursday, July 21, 2022

Harlem Lake - A Fool's Paradise Vol. 1

Album: A Fool's Paradise Vol. 1
Size: 89,1 MB
Time: 38:16
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2021
Styles: Rock, blues-rock
Art: Full

1. Deaf & Blind (3:14)
2. A Fool's Paradise (6:40)
3. The River (4:27)
4. Guide Me Home (5:06)
5. Please Watch My Bag (5:45)
6. My Turn To Learn (3:01)
7. I Won't Complain (5:27)
8. I Wish I Could Go Running (4:33)

On September 3, 2021, the Southern rock band Harlem Lake made their debut with the single The River during their support show for Walter Trout in 013, Tilburg. With their roots in blues music, the band effortlessly explores the boundaries of the time-honored genre and released a refreshing first single in preparation for their debut album.

Inspired by the Mississippi River, singer and songwriter Janne Timmer reclaims her strength in an unhealthy relationship. "I'm not gonna teach you if you never learn" she sings after her other half loses her for the umpteenth time. The song was written in Memphis, TN - where the band represented the Netherlands at the International Blues Challenge 2020 - after an evening stroll along the Ol' Man River. The female fronted blues rock band reached the semifinals and went home with many new American fans. As the band name suggests, Harlem Lake hails from the Haarlemmermeerpolder. Under the band name Dave Warmerdam Band , the members met during their teenage years in the shared love of blues music in 2017.

Four years later they changed the band name to Harlem Lake when they reinvented themselves while writing their debut album "A Fool's Paradise Vol. 1". The eight songs on it tell about how we constantly try to balance between our internal and external world. Love, longing and loss always teach us new things about ourselves and Harlem Lake manages to capture this effortlessly in recognizable, self-critical songs. While still paying tribute to the blues, they come with a fresh Southern sound inspired by artists like Joe Bonamassa, Mark Knopfler, Little Feat and Beth Hart.

(For personnel details, see artwork included.)

A Fool's Paradise Vol. 1 mc
A Fool's Paradise Vol. 1 zippy

Monday, November 15, 2021

Harlem Lake - A Fools Paradise

Size: 88,1 MB - 240,6 MB
Time: 38:12
File: MP3 @ 320K/s - Flac
Released: 2021
Styles: blues, rock, southern rock, Americana
Art: Front

1. Deaf & Blind (3:13)
2. A Fool's Paradise (6:41)
3. The River (4:26)
4. Guide Me Home (5:05)
5. Please Watch My Bag (5:44)
6. My Turn To Learn (2:59)
7. I Won't Complain (5:26)
8. I Wish I Could Go Running (4:35)

"Undutch good," program maker Johan Derksen typifies the band Harlem Lake around keyboardist Dave Warmerdam, guitarist Sonny Ray and singer Janne Timmer. You can find anything from the Oracle from Grolloo, but the mustache does have a point here. By the way, never judge a book by it's cover, Derksen has encyclopedic knowledge about blues. Plus, Harlem Lake was Walter Trout's support act, which is possibly an even better recommendation. Well, what can you add to the blues? The genre was at the cradle of rock 'n roll, R&B and our contemporary pop music. So it doesn't have to sound different or innovative at all. Authentic, that's what we want. And that fits perfectly with the band from the Haarlemmer Meer. Voila, hence the name. The trio is assured of a solid backbone in the person of bassist Kjelt Ostendof and drummer Benjamin Torbijn. The quintet opens full throttle with the beecher Deaf & Blind, on which singer Timmer can immediately pull out all the stops. It is followed by the ballad A Fool's Paradise that calmly moves towards seven minutes without getting bored for a moment. The River comes in extra hard. The hearty track is an instant classic that will stand the test of time with ease. It's a well-executed showcase of how well blues, southern rock and americana do in the mix. With Guide Me Home we find the second ballad of the album. On this Timmer sounds more subdued and more fragile. If this were an audition for the Best Singers program, she would have passed immediately. With Please Watch My Bag, the pattern is broken hard-soft-hard. It is not a ballad, but a relatively quiet song that clocks in at almost six minutes, partly due to a number of typical blues solos that are reminiscent of the late Rory Gallagher. Via My Turn, which is again a successful cross-pollination of southern rock and blues, we arrive at the bluesy americana of I Won't Complain. And that also applies to me, because it is absolutely no punishment to listen to this album several times for this review. Finalist I Wish I Could Go Running is unadulterated blues rock. The fact that the band prefers to act as a 12-piece band with horns, backing singers and extra guitars and percussion makes you long for a live performance. I am also already looking forward to the sequel to this rock-solid debut, because the addition is full. 1 naturally suggests that there is more to this young blues band.

A Fool's Paradise MP3
A Fool's Paradise FLAC