Little Axe
is guitarist and singer
Skip McDonald
, but it's also much more than that. It is, in practice, a virtual reunion of
the Sugarhill Gang
-- the rhythm section responsible for the grooves underlying such paleo-
hip-hop
classics as
"Rapper's Delight"
and
"White Lines"
-- and therefore also a virtual reunion of
Tackhead
, the pioneering
avant
funk
outfit that brought
together with British producer
Adrian Sherwood
and vocalists
Gary Clail
Bernard Fowler
. In the
context, though, the focus is squarely on
McDonald
and on his overriding passion: vintage
blues
. Imagine a
Delta blues
aesthetic (spare, rural, and stark), and then imagine it thickened with additional instrumental layers and twisted with dubwise atmospherics, and you'll have some idea what to expect -- sort of like a posthumous collaboration between
Howlin' Wolf
African Head Charge
. The second
album features mostly
originals, along with some well-chosen covers from the likes of
Allen Toussaint
,
Skip James
, and former
Living Colour
drummer
Will Calhoun
. But even his originals owe a deep debt to the work of his forefathers --
"If I Had My Way,"
for example, takes its whole chorus from the
gospel
classic
"Samson and Delilah."
Stone Cold Ohio
is a real rarity: an album that can't be mistaken for anything other than
, but that sounds nothing like any
album you've ever heard. ~ Rick Anderson