Album Review: "Blue Funk" by Labors

Blue Funk

What is music?

It's basically the same question as to what is art?

Art is an interesting thing, because we find the need to compartmetalize everything. This band is death metal. That one is in country.

That's a Western band, but it ends up getting all crazy and silly when it becomes entirely too specific.

In the introduction email I received from Labors, they told me that they're a band that plays Midwestern Americana. Now, I'm not making fun of the label they chose.

Like many bands in our modern world, what's old has become new and what's new has become old, and what's brand new is what happens if when you combine the old and the new and get this new kind of pudding....with Snickers in it.

Labors

Well, as they referenced Hank Williams in their influences, I became rather interested.

This album was mixed in part by Bill Alletzhauzer of The Hiders, so yeah I was quit interested.

There's a growing movement in music that's eschewing the need for over stimulation. Think back to the olden days, when rock musicians were more than just singers, or guitarists, but poets.

They had a message and didn't require 15 tracks of guitars, or drum solos, or even full musical accompaniment during the whole songs. They crafted these airy, melodramatic, and moving musical pieces, and we've kind of gotten away from that.

But Labors hasn't.

This music takes me back to a different time, but probably not one anyone else is taken to. I see a bar, in the not too distant past. Glasses of whiskey and cigarettes. The music is smoky and intoxicating.

Smooth acoustics and crunchy electrics mesh with the ease of the music. It never insists or pounds. The musicians never step on the vocals' toes. They coexist in different spaces as the album weaves its way through your ears....

Beautiful. Modern. Vintage. This album is that and far more.

Release: Feb 2014
Genre: Americana
Label: DIY
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