Monday, June 7, 2010
Eric Blowtorch
Groping in the Dark (Simmerdown Productions)
The latest vinyl from Milwaukee's white socialist/pacifist reggae
emissary is an electro treat with Chinese dulcimer and pots ’n ’ pans ’n ’
paint buckets programmed among the synths. It finds our man mixing romance and
social conscience in a way only a guy with his particular convictions could.
The other three cuts on the 10-inch single rework the same song various ways,
with two of them featuring the wisdom and party-starting abilities of Blowtorch
heroes and original-school Jamaican DJ toasters U-Roy and Prince Jazzbo. The
“riddim” bounces with enough sprightliness that it would be a treat to hear it
used by other acts. That kind of appropriation is not only common in the genre
Blowtorch enjoys, but would be a credit to his tunefulness.



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