All Them Witches - ATW (New West Records) 2018
9
With each track comfortably over four minutes – and indeed, centerpiece “Harvest Feast” clocking over ten minutes – All Them Witches are unabashedly a funk infused Jazz band with delusions of seventies throwback prog that literally soak throughout the album like spilled coffee through a napkin.
At one point during opening Jon Spencer-riffing bluesy funk odyssey “Fishbelly 86 Onions” lead singer Charles Michael Parks, Jr genuinely counts to twenty, unironically and with no real reason other than he can. There then follows a two minute drum and synth duet that sounds like the acid-inspired jaunt through the desert in “Easy Rider”, only soaked in Ketamine and dipped in sticky black heroin. It’s an unrepentant self-indulgent jaunt that deserves a standing ovation form everyone who listens.
The album breezes effortlessly along one minute bluegrass, the next an outlaw cowboy folk act, the next a rockabilly shade that spirals in near-total collapse. This is a record that really wants to be something for everyone… and so nearly delivers on this impossible promise.
A strong contender for album of the year simply for how little it gives a fuck and just wants you to pass the whiskey. Put this on loud and find someone to make love to whilst listening to it. I dare you.