Located in Izmir, Turkey; since 2016, The Old Ramblers cover pre-war rural blues classics, and post-war urban blues standarts besides gospels, spirituals, work songs, edgy ragtime and bluegrass tunes with a bravado.
The album is available on all the download and streaming platforms.
The musicians are
Sarp Keskiner: Vocal, electric guitars, bass, maracas
ElectroBluesSociety are an ‘experimental electro blues’ duo from The Netherlands, comprising Black & Tan label boss Jan Mittendorp on guitar and various electronics, and bass player/drummer Jasper Mortier. The label has worked frequently with Drew, Mississippi-born bluesman James ‘Boo Boo’ Davis since releasing his debut album in 1999, and during a European tour in 2018, Boo Boo, now in his seventies, Jan and Jasper laid down seven songs during three hours in the studio. They went back to basics for these performances and added the electronics afterwards. The tracks were originally released as singles (ie.digital releases of single tracks) during 2018 and 2019, and were generally well-received; this new release, styled as an ‘EP’, gathers them together. As the label name reveals, these tracks are cover versions, of course, from Howlin’ Wolf – Boo Boo would frequently perform his songs with his brothers in Saint Louis in the ’60s – and Elmore James, who was a friend of his father’s. Oh, and don’t worry about those ‘electronic additions’ – they may sound a little peculiar on the intro to ‘Back Door Man’, and that track is perhaps the most experimental here, but they are not really that obtrusive overall, and might help with attracting younger audiences. Boo Boo’s rural-sounding, Wolf-ish vocals and raw, wailing harmonica work are good enough to make up for it throughout anyhow. A little surprisingly, ‘Tell Me’ is an unexpected personal favourite, a very, very fine performance with a wonderful vocal.This is a digital only release from Black & Tan subsidiary KuvVer and it is available on all the usual download and streaming platforms. Boo Boo’s scheduled European tour was cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak, a serious loss of income for him – buythis and support a genuine bluesman.
The single is an appetizer from the upcoming album of The Old Ramblers. The album will be titled “Find Me On The Road Somewhere” and is scheduled for release early September 2020.
Located in Izmir, Turkey; since 2016, The Old Ramblers cover pre-war rural blues classics, and post-war urban blues standarts besides gospels, spirituals, work songs, edgy ragtime and bluegrass tunes with a bravado.
The musicians are: Sarp Keskiner: Vocal, electric guitars, bass, maracas Orhun Keskinbıçak: Harmonica Türker Özer: Acoustic guitar
The track is released digital and available on all the download and streaming platforms.
A couple of months ago I told y’all about this EP that vintage bluesman Boo Boo Davis put out with ElectroBluesSociety sensibly titled Chicago Blues Covers. This makeshift trio (Davis, guitarist Jan Mittendorp and drummer Jasper Mortier) made a mess of covers of electric blues standards charged by the retro-modern studio finagling of the ElectroBluesSociety and the sheer aura of one Boo Boo Davis. And they laid down the tracks for these songs all in one afternoon in 2018. Now we learn that their label KuvVer Records has dropped another track from apparently that same session, Howlin’ Wolf’s “Killing Floor.” Boo Boo’s rendition carries the same machismo as Wolf’s but aside from that, it sounds almost like a wholly different song. If anything, the analog-y, reverb-drenched sonics of this two year-old recording sounds even more ancient than the fifty-six year-old original and Mortier keeps the song lively with a booming backbeat. Davis voice echoes from the bottom his soul but his blues harp shouts louder and authoritatively. Even if you’ve heard this song a thousand times before, your experience with it isn’t complete without hearing ElectroBluesSociety and Boo Boo Davis tackle it. They give old blues back its youthful vitality because they know how to make it brash and raw.
We started a new collaboration. Together with Sarp Keskiner from Izmir (Turkey) we founded BONE UNION RECORDS in June 2020. In order to create a ground for mutual cultural exchange, this new label aims to document a neglected musical scene in Turkey not just by releasing archival material from mid-90’s to this date; but also keen on releasing brand new material from Turkish artists. Though the scope mainly consist rare recordings of local traditional blues, urban blues and gospel acts, the material varies wildly by inclusion of folk, funk, dub, noise and experimental releases, that goes way beyond the borders of conventional blues. Thus, the label supports any musical efforts to improve the chances of exchange of blues and neighboring genres between Netherlands and Turkey.
The first two releases will be on Sarp’s own band The Old Ramblers. This week we start of with a single from the upcoming album.
today we released a new single on KuvVer Records, one of our sub labels.
In 2018 ElectroBluesSociety did a recording session with Mississippi blues man Boo Boo Davis. During one of the European tours of Boo Boo they went in the studio and in 3 hours they recorded 8 songs. Together they went back to the classic Chicago blues and afterwards added a little electro blues. Here is another Howlin Wolf cover from that session. This track is released digital only and available on all the download and streaming platforms.
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