Review of Hillstomp's CD "One Word"

Hillstomp: One Word

Hillstomp claim to play a brand of North Mississippi trance blues... yep that's what I thought. But surprisingly this is a real musical gem. The band bring to the shores of Leeds the sound of deep southern American. Think old wooden shacks, groups of hillbillys at a barn dance, brothers dancing with their sisters, dogs called Skeeter and people screaming yeee hawwww. The only things that are missing are Ku Klux Klan references and mentions of UFO abductions. If Jon Gomm had been raised in Alabama then this is probably what he would sound like.

Inbreeding aside the south comes across as a great place to visit. "Grave robbers" with its husky vocals regaling us with tails of love, "got me these two women, live on the same road, one pays my room the other she pays my board" the quirky guitars, throw in a couple of tin cans, a washboard and you have the sound of Hillstomp. Of course a whole album of Beverly Hill Billy's styled music can sometimes grate. "John Henry" seems to drag on for ever yet only clocks in at three and a half minutes. This isn't the kind of album you can listen to again and again. It's an album that you listen to now and then and it never fails to bring a smile to your face. Of course if you are holding any barn dances soon then this is the record for you.

"Lucy's Lament" is another upbeat Jack Daniels fuelled anthem with a group of locals probably called Bobby-Joe or Cletus providing backing vocals that make them sound like some red-neck choir.

Standout track is "Landlord blues" which has a twist of punk with Henry Kammerer's vocals sound scratched and torn in a similar vein to Tom Waits. He screams "I asked for whisky, she brought me gasoline that is the meanest old woman that I ever seen" painfully while the guitar twangs away and the drums are as upbeat as ever.

If you're looking for something different to get your teeth into then check these guys out. You won't be disappointed.

• www.hillstomp.com

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