WHO ARE THEY? A hirsute, hard-hitting southern-fried blues-rock duo from the north — of France, believe it or not.
WHAT IS THIS? Their sophomore set of needlepoint guitar licks, grinding riffs, walloping drums, hoodoo-voodoo grooves, bare-chested vocals and off-kilter lyrics about badgers, jelly rolls and bad peppercorns. Maybe it’s a translation issue.
WHAT DOES IT SOUND LIKE? Sometimes Captain Beefheart. Sometimes Danko Jones. Sometimes Z.Z. Top. Sometimes R.L. Burnside. Sometimes Jon Spencer. But almost never like two guys from freaking France.
HOW SHOULD I LISTEN TO IT? Loud enough to make you forget where they’re from.
WHAT 10 WORDS DESCRIBE IT? Greasy, gritty, gravelly, invigorating, dense, swampy, potent, idiosyncratic, spiky, rural.
WHAT ARE THE BEST SONGS? Amazingly, the entire disc is remarkably consistent — but Support The Badger, Checking the Levels and Jelly Roll are knockouts.
WHAT WILL MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY THINK? ‘Are you sure these guys aren’t really from Louisiana or somewhere like that?’
HOW OFTEN WILL I LISTEN TO THIS? It could very well end up in your regular rotation.
IF THIS ALBUM WERE A CHEESE, WHAT KIND OF CHEESE WOULD IT BE? Camembert infused with BBQ sauce.
SHOULD I BUY, STREAM OR STEAL? Support the Badger!
