Far more immaculate than illicit. As charged with ritual significance and promise as the basic art form may be, it’s actually hard to find good modern blues records. Cheap production values with too many horns and rote shuffles clutter the landscape, and original voices are disappointingly scarce. But every now and then an album like Otis Taylor’s latest comes along in a gust of inspiration. Across these 14 tracks, Taylor shows a stunning range while studiously avoiding clichés. Like Taj Mahal, he’s able to bring kinetic spirit and smooth musicality to Delta-based acoustic/banjo work (even stray Mumford fans will...
- 2/16/2012
- Pastemagazine.com
The complaints about how I never watch TV have begun again so I'll address them. The truth is, I probably watch Way More TV than most of you because I'm currently unemployed, but that doesn't mean I watch a lot of different shows. I'm opposed to the reality genre mostly on principle and secretly because every time I've tried to watch one of those shows either my eyes glaze over and I lose three hours or they make me want to kill people. Not euphemistically either, like I start planning ways to get on a plane and fly to whatever location those individuals live at and kill them and that's just not mentally healthy. Also, it takes something special to get me hooked on a show and I can't ever really say what that is. Not quality, because I won't even begin to pretend that all the shows I watch...
- 7/13/2011
- by Intern Rusty
Bluesmith preaches with more than his words Otis Taylor is one of our most vital bluesmen, but his best stuff doesn’t pack an immediate wallop so much as it sidles up and gets you tapping your foot. With Clovis People Vol. 3 (don’t look for 1 or 2), he mostly scraps the lighter flourishes of 2009’s Pentatonic Wars and Love Songs and returns to his day job of using grimy blues to catalog the skeletons in society’s closet. With subjects like school shootings and pointed tracks like “Babies Don’t Lie,” Taylor gives special attention here to the innocence of children,...
- 5/27/2010
- Pastemagazine.com
There are movies in this world that for whatever reason hit all the right buttons, and when a flick finds that perfect mixture of actor, story, tone, and style, it doesn't matter what anyone says to sway you: you are convinced that this is the movie for you. For me, Public Enemies is that movie. For today's Songs We Love, I went with Otis Taylor's 10 Million Slaves, a song that wouldn't normally have made it into regular rotation, but, thanks to my love of Mann's period crime tale, has become a permanent fixture on my movie music playlist. The song originally appeared on Taylor's 2002 album, Truth is Not Fiction, made its first appearance in the trailer for the film and eventually became a recurring theme in the film.
Mann's 2009 film was based on Bryan Burrough's non-fiction book Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI,...
Mann's 2009 film was based on Bryan Burrough's non-fiction book Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI,...
- 3/31/2010
- by Jessica Barnes
- Cinematical
The Public Enemies soundtrack. …Before you ask, hip-hop legends Public Enemy do not feature.
So the soundtrack is half blues/jazz, half Elliot Goldenthal’s score, and opens with contemporary bluesman Otis Taylor’s fantastic cover of “Ten Million Slaves” (as heard in the trailer). Also of note are the new version of classic jazz track “Bye, Bye, Blackbird” sung by Diana Krall and a good bit of Baptist music at track 12.
Elliot Goldenthal scored Heat for Michael Mann, the only other time they’ve worked together. It’s fitting as this is another great crime saga. Here Goldenthal uses a large scale orchestral approach to capture the high style of 30s Chicago and the sense of gloom that came out of the Great Depression. To be honest, his work is a bit too downbeat for me but overall the Public Enemies soundtrack feels fresh by nature of the era...
So the soundtrack is half blues/jazz, half Elliot Goldenthal’s score, and opens with contemporary bluesman Otis Taylor’s fantastic cover of “Ten Million Slaves” (as heard in the trailer). Also of note are the new version of classic jazz track “Bye, Bye, Blackbird” sung by Diana Krall and a good bit of Baptist music at track 12.
Elliot Goldenthal scored Heat for Michael Mann, the only other time they’ve worked together. It’s fitting as this is another great crime saga. Here Goldenthal uses a large scale orchestral approach to capture the high style of 30s Chicago and the sense of gloom that came out of the Great Depression. To be honest, his work is a bit too downbeat for me but overall the Public Enemies soundtrack feels fresh by nature of the era...
- 7/2/2009
- by Sheridan Passell
- Movie-moron.com
Modern bluesman sidesteps nostalgia
Otis Taylor’s challenge as a bluesman in 2009 is avoiding the treacherous pitfalls of archaism, a feat he usually performs gracefully. His answer on Pentatonic Wars and Love Songs is the same it’s always been: layers. On this new album, the master craftsman melds syncopated rhythms and haunting minor-key sax scales on “Talking About it Blues,” and blends his signature “trance” style—rapid fingerpicking overlaid by simple vocals—with shouts, groans and yells on “Walk on Water.” Sure, there are a few moments of eye-roll inducing sap (the piano solos, dripping with emotive syrup at either end of “I’m not mysterious”) but, overall, this collection of love songs keeps the touchy-feely at arm’s length and sparkles with emotional honesty.
Listen to Otis Taylor on MySpace.
Otis Taylor’s challenge as a bluesman in 2009 is avoiding the treacherous pitfalls of archaism, a feat he usually performs gracefully. His answer on Pentatonic Wars and Love Songs is the same it’s always been: layers. On this new album, the master craftsman melds syncopated rhythms and haunting minor-key sax scales on “Talking About it Blues,” and blends his signature “trance” style—rapid fingerpicking overlaid by simple vocals—with shouts, groans and yells on “Walk on Water.” Sure, there are a few moments of eye-roll inducing sap (the piano solos, dripping with emotive syrup at either end of “I’m not mysterious”) but, overall, this collection of love songs keeps the touchy-feely at arm’s length and sparkles with emotional honesty.
Listen to Otis Taylor on MySpace.
- 6/26/2009
- Pastemagazine.com
The July 1st release date for Channing Tatum's upcoming Depression-era crime drama ' Public Enemies' is quickly approaching, and Empire Magazine just released a huge expose on the film in their July 2009 issue.
Based on the New York Times Best Selling author Bryan Burrough’s true crime book, ' Public Enemies' follows the FBI hunt for 1930’s gangster John Dillinger.
The Universal Studios film is directed by Michael Mann and boasts a stunning cast that includes Channing Tatum, Johnny Depp, Marion Cotillard, Christian Bale, Branka Katic, Billy Crudup, Giovanni Ribisi, Emilie de Ravin, John Michael Bolger, Stephen Dorff, Christian Stolte and Leelee Sobieski.
Here's what Empire Magazine had to say about the film that's at the top of their summer movie watching list...
Public Enemies: Johnny Depp. Michael Mann. Christian Bale. The question is why you’re still here reading this instead of booking tickets for Public Enemies,...
Based on the New York Times Best Selling author Bryan Burrough’s true crime book, ' Public Enemies' follows the FBI hunt for 1930’s gangster John Dillinger.
The Universal Studios film is directed by Michael Mann and boasts a stunning cast that includes Channing Tatum, Johnny Depp, Marion Cotillard, Christian Bale, Branka Katic, Billy Crudup, Giovanni Ribisi, Emilie de Ravin, John Michael Bolger, Stephen Dorff, Christian Stolte and Leelee Sobieski.
Here's what Empire Magazine had to say about the film that's at the top of their summer movie watching list...
Public Enemies: Johnny Depp. Michael Mann. Christian Bale. The question is why you’re still here reading this instead of booking tickets for Public Enemies,...
- 5/31/2009
- by Blog Expert
- Channing Tatum Unwrapped
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