CD Reviews
September 15th 2011
Crooked Brothers
CROOKED BROTHERS
Lawrence, Where’s Your Knife?
- Transistor 66
Winnipeg’s Crooked Brothers’ second album opens solidly, with what sounds like a suped-up version of the Breaking Bad theme in the historical 17 Horses. When the gravelly, whiskey-soaked voices and chain-gang beats break in, you know this ain’t your granddaddy’s folk music. Things slow down for Kansas, a beautiful slow-dance of a song, and continue on for the majority of the disc. Cold As You would play perfectly over a late-summer morning on the dock at the lake, lamenting the loss of the season. This blend of instruments and voice makes for an engaging listen and a good time. Plus, the album art is great, from the two-headed peacock on the back to the collage of deer that look like they’ve been cut from the pages of Manitoba tourism guides from the ‘70s. As the lyrics say in Another Sun, they’ve got everything: they’ve got funk, they’ve got country, they’ve got rhythm and booze. See Crooked Brothers release the disc at the West End Cultural Centre on Friday, Sept. 23.
This review appeared in Volume 66, Number 03 of The Uniter, published September 15th 2011.
