#1957 Blitzen Trapper - VII

There were hints of this sound in Black River Killer, and now its everywhere, licks of soul, funk, and big boombaps alongside wobbling trumpets, slide guitars, and wailing harmonicas. There's no avoiding comparisons to Odelay, what with those hiphop beats, country flourishes, psychedelic imagery and crackling experimentalism. In fact, these guys have a lot in common with Beck: those swings between downhome simplicity and bigcity shitstorms.

But what made Odelay so great was the way it kept you guessing, right to the end. VII just happens to run out of steam right at track 7, settling down to a lazy simmer over those last 5 tracks. I like where the band's pointed, and the first half throws some sparks, but this feels like an understuffed course correction after American Goldwing's too-simple sound 3.5/5