TK Webb & the Visions
(Kemado Records)
Guitarist-vocalist TK (Thomas Kelly) Webb began to turn heads a couple years ago in Brooklyn with his gritty acoustic Delta blues solo work. He's the complete package; with the voice, the fret work and the look, but now he's plugged in and shit is getting crazy. Growing bored with what he calls "half-baked folk acts," Webb put together his four-piece rock band The Visions. Now he's created Ancestor, far and a way his best work.
Full of spaced-out feedback jams and heavy riffs, Webb still pulls from the past, but with this accomplished cast of characters behind him it all sounds somehow fresh, urgent and flat-out mean. The eight-minute "God Bless the Little Angels" mutates Middle Eastern scales with heavy distortion and crashing drums while "Shame" is all fuzzed-out cock-rock that should be played on a Flying V guitar. "Dreen Drone Death" sounds just like the name indicates, grinding slow sludge rock and "Hope You All Are Gone" sounds like a younger Jerry Joseph.
While it's all dark, that doesn't mean there's not tempo shifts, slower songs and adequate space. The music is heavy in mentality as much as delivery. We're damn glad Webb has found The Visions; this is one of the sleeper albums of the year.
Standout Tracks: "Hope You All Are Gone," "Closed Caption Slang" AARON KAYCE
