Craig Erickson – Modern Blues (CD)

Craig Erickson is a true groove master. He’s been true to the heavy, groovy blues rock since his debut “Roadhouse Stomp!” in 1992. It’s been a few years since his last physical album "Sky Train Galaxy", which was released in 2015. “Modern Blues” is really an example of what you read is what you get. Of course, “modern” can mean a lot of things. In this case it’s not about samples, machine generated grooves or auto tune abominations. It more the vibe. It’s blues and it’s rock and it doesn’t sound dated, which would qualify as “modern” in my book. The guitar is definitely in the forefront, and it’s Craig handling both guitar, bass, keyboards and vocals, only taking some help from drummer Jeff Sipe. I’ve always felt Craig has a pretty strong Robin Trower vibe to his vocals and playing, and it’s no different this time around. The vocals are pretty relaxed, yet rough, but no high pitch screaming, rather the missing link between James Dewar and Billy Gibbons. The guitar playing shines throughout the album and some songs that kinda stick out to me is the incredibly cool fuzzed out “Bring Love Back Again” with its funky vibe and brutal guitar licks and also the heavy, yet dynamic “Brokedown World” with its subtle but really beautiful Uni-Vibe Strat tone. I also can help to mention another song that sticks out a bit, which is “Wildfire”, which starts out a bit reminding of vintage southern rockers The Outlaws, but goes into a more funky direction. A really cool number with some intense and outstanding guitar solos with a cool fusion oriented vibe to them. Highly recommended!

Label: Fervor Records 

Country: USA

Year: 2023

Pontus Snibb’s Wreck Of Blues – Too Late To Die Young (CD)

First of all, I’m a huge fan of Pontus’ raspy blues infused vocals and his fiery guitar work, also heard in AC/CD style hard rockers Bonafide. Wreck of Blues is however a totally different creature. The band features Pontus on guitar and vocals, his father Håkan Nyberg on drums and bass player Kalle Johansson. The music is rootsy, energy loaded electric blues. Even though I love Bonafide, I must say Pontus’ voice really hits home 100 % in this musical environment. The album is a cool meeting between Stevie Ray Vaughn/Robin Trower style guitar based heavy blues and classic rhythm ‘n blues. This trio sure has the power of groove flowing through their veins. Just check out tracks like “You Had A Friend” and “Light Me Up” with Håkan shuffling away like steady old tractor, with Kalle providing the low frequency steering wheel and Pontus harvesting the sweet tonal fruits. I really love the earthy, analogue mix which sometimes, like in “Brothers And Friends” sounds like it was recorded live there and then. Having had the pleasure of seeing the band live, I can say this is not far away from what they do sound like on stage. I also have to say, with the blues sometimes having the problem of repeating itself over and over, Pontus has managed to put some nice twists to the old well-oiled blues machine. Truly a kick-ass album!

Janne Stark

Label: Off Yer Rocka

Year: 2018

Country: Sweden