French Manic Blues One Man Band Chicken Diamond has a new album out, the arid sounding Skeleton Coast. He describes himself as ‘Raw Blues’ and it doesn’t get much rawer. Check out what we thought below.
This is Charles ‘Chicken Diamond’s fifth album of God forsaken blues, garage, punk masterpieces and it’s as good if not better than all of the one’s that came before it. If you’ve heard his music before you’ll know what to expect. If not, I’ll have a stab at describing what it’ll feel like when you do.
You know the first time you heard the visceral call of punk, mod, blues or whatever your musical poison is? Well that’s what I felt the first time I got a Chicken Diamond record. It’s a mixture of immense filthy, dirty blues guitar, beats to make the devil dance a bass line to make your hips explode and that voice. Charles Chicken Diamond sings like he’s been gargling glass and gravel washed down with the strongest alcohol he could find, I’m not talking legal here. His voice can croon quietly and drip honeyed sleaze but more often than not it’s the spirits of wasted blues ghosts that he channels with the style and poise of a master.
You know what will blow you away though? You know what you won’t get? It’s just him. Just him and a sampler. There is a credit to Diablo Negro on Storm Tube, but I don’t know what that means.. The vast majority of the music is created by Chicken Diamond piece by piece in the studio. Personally I don’t believe it, I think he has a hotline to the house band of hell who come up and lay down the licks for the base of these infernal tracks. Think about it, listen and I dare you to disagree..
This owes a huge debt to the magical dirt of the Stooges and the slew of bluesy bastard garage bands that have blasted out bloody bruised rock’n’roll over the years. He even covers Down On The Street here. But the music is fresh as a mouthful of concrete, it hits like a fist to the gut and it tastes like day old warm beer. From the count in on 12AX7, an ode to a broken valve, to the frankly terrifying Hyperion and more this music has swagger and soul. It’s brilliant. Check it out.
Chicken Diamond – Skeleton Coast