“In short, you need this one.” Raven Sings the Blues

Posted Wednesday, February 10th, 2010 at 2:26 pm

White Mystery

By Raven Sings the Blues

The real nasty, hardcore grit of garage from the better part of the past 50 odd years has been marked by the kind of sweat and intensity that you can taste pouring out of tattered speaker cones; the kind of visceral, guttural, writhing rock that contorts you, contorts itself and then sneers maddeningly into the eyes of challengers and admirers with the same flame of fuck-all intent. Though Miss Alex White has been a fixture in garage for some years, it’s just here and now that she’s completely and totally immersed herself in this self-same grit. The guitars growl and strangle, choked with enough gravel to kill lesser beats; her vocals ring full of the soul that only age, defeat and perseverance can concoct and with few exceptions the songs themselves seem poised to break. White Mystery have stripped bare to the skeleton of rock, flaying the skin and leaving only the essentials of movement and of course sweat to remain howling on the floor. It’s been a while since the Raven turntable has met a release that bears such repeated listens. In short, you need this one.