You have to give a guy credit for trying. In an age when most of the old
blues
players are either dead or too old to play,
R.L. Burnside
, the 71-year-old Mississippi native, can still rip dirty juke-joint
in convincing fashion.
Come On In
attempts, with some success, to bring one of America's oldest musical forms into the 21st century by adding sampling and looping techniques to
Delta blues
.
is a collaboration with
Beck
mixmaster
Tom Rothrock
and
Alec Empire
of
Digital Hardcore
. Seldom does one see the words "dub," "remix" and "programming" on a
album, but
is no ordinary bluesman.
is a risky move to say the least, and unfortunately, it doesn't always pay off. The best tracks in the album are the least
techno
-fied.
"Come On In,"
a solo shot, and the down-and-dirty
"Just Like a Woman"
has a non-trip-hopped
Burnside
mining tough riffs for all their emotion.
"Let My Baby Ride"
with a stomping, looped beat, is still recognizable as
and works well. On the other hand,
"Don't Stop Honey"
"It's Bad You Know"
take the
tampering too far, and the results are feckless shells of what were once gritty
. Next time out, if
gets his ass pocket o' whiskey, turns down the
a bit and cranks those amps up, he could be onto something. ~ Matthew Hilburn