Rise Up!

This album rocks and so does the state of Minnesota. Play "Cornbread" over and over again. Matt M.

The Black-Eyed Snakes "Rise Up!" - A little side project of Low (including members of Red Red Meat and Haley Bonar) on their second release. This is some seriously rough, raw, and ragged punk-blues. Imagine the Black Keys, but with more distortion and more instruments. At the heart these guys take some solid blues riffs and throw it through heavy dirty distortion and then add in some garage, swamp, and psyche to it. Vocals are so heavily distorted that they are sometimes impossible to understand. Lots of layered percussion and layered guitars that range from acoustic to slide to screaming electric sounds. This album is tough and raw and nasty. Highly recommended. Play it!
My Picks: 1, 3, 5, 9
Katie P. 12/11/03

1) Sharp pulsating guitar starts it off. Goes into a solid midtempo song. Dirty raw guitar and very distorted vocals. Nice groove to this with the occasional screaming/screeching break.
2) Quiet groove to start. Definite swampy feel to it. Kind of drags every so slightly, but it's a nice solid midtempo. Vocals are so distorted that you can barely understand them. Lots of weird stereo effects on the guitar solos.
3) Sounds like a low fuzzed out guitar with some acoustic too. Quiet distorted vocals. Driving beat that keeps building. This is pretty menacing and a little hypnotic. Drops off abruptly and then comes back in.
4) Rough raw rockin' blues. Screamin' and moanin' vocals still very distorted. Ooo, some female vocals in there too. This feels trippy and psychedelic as well.
5) Very quiet at the beginning with some meandering guitar. Slowly builds in with more instruments. Finally hits in with a dragging midtempo slide. This is tough and ragged. Ooo, nice handclaps with the odd lyric "devil's in the cornbread." Ends very quiet.
6) Pounding and screaming. Death metal voice screaming "red sheet" over and over. This is a Swans cover. Very short.
7) Uptempo and kind of a party song. Definite blues feel to it. This is fun. Has some serious stripped down parts. Gets less bluesy and more noisy as the song goes on until the very end when it reprises the chorus.
8) Starts with fast pounding drums. Ah yes, inspired by Bo Diddley (notice the title). Unfortunately this makes you want to sing "I want candy." Nice slide guitar in there.
9) Slower with some nice percussion layers and some blues guitar. Oooo, this is a nice groove. Has some nice builds and falls.
10) Droning fuzzed out guitar. Then some kind of solo (perhaps in the key of A). Ends abruptly and then rewinds itself (as if on tape).
11) Ooo, fun bouncing blues romp. There's even a little harmonica in here. Unless they are doing weird things with the guitars. Vocals are so distorted they are not understandable.
12) Fades in with a solid groove (same as track 9). It's a bit more stripped down sounding and disjoint.