Natural Child
1971
Infinity Cat Records

This debut album from Nashville trio Natural Child comes as advertised, a rusty, country-fried rock n’ roll record no doubt spurred on by the magic that went down at Villa Nellcote in the south of France during the druggy, exiled summer of its namesake. Bolstered by an abundance of Caucasian funk and half-baked whimsy, Natural Child freely saunter through eleven songs of bare-boned garage fuzz (“Easy Street,” “Hard Workin’ Man,” “Makin’ It,” “Natural Blues”), acoustic blues (“Woman C’mon,” “White People,” “Yer Birthday”), hazy jams (“Yoko,” “Let it Bleed,” “Beer”), and some punk-infused pop (“Chris’ Blues”), and ought to remind you of the Rolling Stones (natch), Lions in the Street, The White Stripes, and The Flaming Sideburns. You know, forty years removed and 1971 does a helluva job harnessing the kind of weird, organic rock that once served millionaires, dope fiends, and outlaws extremely well.

Listen to “Easy Street” from 1971!

The Brought Low
Third Record
Small Stone

It’s a rare and celebratory day when a new Brought Low album drops, so stop whatever it is you’re doing, dust off the ol’ beard, summon the buzzards, and grab a pint of glory. The obviously named Third Record is just that, and only in the last ten years, too. Christ, it’s like these fuckers live looser than a goose the day after Thanksgiving, only stumbling out of their Dudeist rock haze once every four or five years to lay a big, bad-ass, bloozy rock record on us. You’ve got to have a whole heap of respect for a band who rocks on THEIR terms, the same way you envy a fat cat sleeping in the sun on a dusty Sunday afternoon. Fuck, you say, I wish I could live/rock like that.

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