NATHANIEL MAYER - Hipcrank

Nathaniel sounds like he's on his last breath ... and it's a knockout, skanky moonshine stench to boot. All rasp and soul, Mayer is another dusted off geriatric corpse resurrected by young hipsters, and presented as an obscure missing link between rival garage punk, racy blues and Motown factions back in the day. Not so far fetched that last dog bone actually, as Mayer was indeed a bit of a shaker and a mover if not nationally then certainly regionally. Thankfully he still has enough chutzpa to demonstrate some stage skills the whipper snappers would do well to emulate. With solid backing from Detroit's finest garage pranksters, he proves to be a capable frontman with enough moxie to deliver the goods, and then some. This really is one surprisingly fetching album. Move over Rudy Rae Moore and Andre Williams, the crazy, filthy old man soul revue tent is getting mighty crowded. - Hipcrank