The Duke of modern country

It has been a hefty long time since any last update, hopefully now I can start getting back into writing consistent reviews for you all to ignore.

I'm starting off the new year with a reasonably new musical discovery. A chap I met sometime last year in fact, Mr. Duke.

I first met him at the Le Pub, he was sat at a table with his laptop rigged up to the PA pumping out some delicious northern soul and funk. It was at this juncture that I'd mistaken him for the sound guy. Later I was to discover that Duke will DJ at any given chance and DJ well he does too.

That particular night he was playing with his backing band 'The Hoodlum Circus' comprised of my friend 'Dude' on screechy, painful lead guitar, Duke on rhythmn guitar and vocals, some bloke on bass and an Argintinian (spelling) chappy on drums.
Thus commenced their first gig (and first time they'd all seen each other) in over a year, which for the short while was noticable. But as they played on, they got tighter. To be honest I was more completely overwhelmed by The Dude's insane guitar playing. His Fender Jaguar spewing out distorted, broken chunks of ear piercing mess as The Dude spun around in circles, headbutted frets and threw himself around like a madman. It was truly beautiful and can probably never be replicated by anyone else.

I should also point out that Mr. Duke was playing wearing only his batman pants and a pair of socks, but that seems so normal these days.

Since that fateful night I've not only seen the Duke play acoustic sets (sporting a slightly Bob Dylan meets Flaming Lips sort of formula) I've also drummed for him on two occasions.
As previously mentioned also, Duke is a very keen (and talented) DJ who will unfold his MAC and hit the virtual decks at every given moment. This includes venues such as: Le Pub, Newport Chartists (a thrift shop), my kitchen and the bus from Newport to Cardiff. Constantly perfecting mixes between tracks that you haven't heard for years and you will be constantly thanking him for each one he plays (I've seen it happen)


Now onto the new stuff that he's been producing. As some people are aware the Duke has re-located himself out of Cardiff and retreated to the wonderful nowhere of Snowdonia... with nothing more than a couple of shirts and a guitar.
In a very short space of time, he has written, recorded and produced a number of new tracks include some new versions of previous tracks. He has wonderfully blended a traditional acoustic country guitar style to at times melancolie lyrics which can really play on your emotions. By all means, avoid tracks such as 'Dirty Blonde Hair' if you're feeling depressed. However, if you are down... I suggest Great Gatsby, an entertain ditty that comes in both delicious acoustic and nutritious electric guitar depending on your preference.

Once you get through the entire Duke catalogue of songs you'll discover that he enjoys singing about meaningful subjects such as cheese quite frequently, however the lighthearted lyrics of tracks such as Great Gatsby and Peter Beardsley (Duke's ukelele tribute to his favourite footballer) is contrasted beautifully with tracks such as 'Upon a Hill' (about unrequited love, a common country subject) Dirty Blonde Hair (a murder story comprised into a beautifully composed song, available with and without his backing band) and Lonesome.

Some of his tracks feature a variety of female vocalist duo's which is well harmonised and generally very lovely.
Duke seems somehow to capture many influences of artists and bands who I like such as Half Man Half Biscuit (who are arguably at times a country band), Ween (their first country album), Flaming Lips, Filthy Pedro and some other stuff that he paid me to say that I can't remember...

Duke is due to go on tour in March of this year to perform the tracks of his new album. I shan't lie I will be going along with him to a majority of it as not only do I enjoy his shows very much, but I can drive and he can't.

I strongly suggest that you go along to all of the shows, or failing that as many as you can attend. You know that I don't write about stuff I don't like on here (although I do have a hundred cannons review coming up) so you can take my word at the fact that Duke is bloody awesome.

Don't believe me, you can check him out here:

http://www.dukeofcardiff.com/ - for the new stuff and here:

www.myspace.com/mrdukeandthehoodlums - for the older stuff

Compare, contrast, listen and enjoy.