Our friend C.D. Di Guardia over at Boston Band Crush has been a supporter of mine for years, here he reviews our new song Virtual Booty Machine Blues in his column C.D. on Songs, and gives away a free download too! (Click here to go to the full article and the download.) Here's the review:
Erin Harpe & The Delta Swingers have been all over Memphis lately, but they are now safe and sound back in good old 1955 Jamaica Plain. Well, maybe they're just back. They will prove they are back by bringing the blues explosion to the Midway Cafe on Friday night. They will be joined by Rick Berlin, Jonny Woodard & The Handsome Homeless, and Pariah Beat. You don't have to sing the blues to get in or get out – there's going to be enough of that onstage.
I have been writing about Erin Harpe for a while. Like years and years. I consider her one of the best vocalists in town. Sorry, Kay Hanley. One thing that struck me today is that I have never seized the irony of the woman’s last name being a musical instrument. Duh. It makes perfect sense – Harpe herself is a musical instrument. How else would she be able to straddle the worlds of psycho-electric dance music and down-low dirty delta blues and come out smelling like a rose every time?
“Virtual Booty Machine Blues” is a great moment in Harpe’s personal catalog. Just last night, I saw the episode of House M.D. where the guy from The Hurt Locker is a punk/noise musician, but writes melodic sensible stuff under a different identity. Harpe is da bomb, but she smashes down the walls between Electric Empress and Black-Veiled Blues-Woman with “Virtual Booty Machine Blues.” This track doesn’t act as if Lovewhip doesn’t exist; it simply reworks the original piece.
A honking harmonica and set of razzle-dazzle guitar chords jangle this track on its way down the line, with Harpe hanging off a rail on the side of the trolley and letting her voice fly. Harpe’s performance sparkles with what the French might call "a certain I don’t know what,” even when she’s not pushing the vocal envelope. Harpe lives in her own vocal wheelhouse, making each blue note beeeeennd to her will and then thank her for bending it. And we thank her also.
Erin Harpe & The Delta Swingers have been all over Memphis lately, but they are now safe and sound back in good old 1955 Jamaica Plain. Well, maybe they're just back. They will prove they are back by bringing the blues explosion to the Midway Cafe on Friday night. They will be joined by Rick Berlin, Jonny Woodard & The Handsome Homeless, and Pariah Beat. You don't have to sing the blues to get in or get out – there's going to be enough of that onstage.
I have been writing about Erin Harpe for a while. Like years and years. I consider her one of the best vocalists in town. Sorry, Kay Hanley. One thing that struck me today is that I have never seized the irony of the woman’s last name being a musical instrument. Duh. It makes perfect sense – Harpe herself is a musical instrument. How else would she be able to straddle the worlds of psycho-electric dance music and down-low dirty delta blues and come out smelling like a rose every time?
“Virtual Booty Machine Blues” is a great moment in Harpe’s personal catalog. Just last night, I saw the episode of House M.D. where the guy from The Hurt Locker is a punk/noise musician, but writes melodic sensible stuff under a different identity. Harpe is da bomb, but she smashes down the walls between Electric Empress and Black-Veiled Blues-Woman with “Virtual Booty Machine Blues.” This track doesn’t act as if Lovewhip doesn’t exist; it simply reworks the original piece.
A honking harmonica and set of razzle-dazzle guitar chords jangle this track on its way down the line, with Harpe hanging off a rail on the side of the trolley and letting her voice fly. Harpe’s performance sparkles with what the French might call "a certain I don’t know what,” even when she’s not pushing the vocal envelope. Harpe lives in her own vocal wheelhouse, making each blue note beeeeennd to her will and then thank her for bending it. And we thank her also.