Benjamin Booker’s music is a weird combination between early Kings of Leon, a distorted James Brown, hints of The Gun Club and a masculine Alabama Shakes. It’s melodic, explosive garage rock at its best.
I’ve been listening to his self-titled debut album for the past month now – and every single track is poescool. Coincidently Andrija Tokic – who produced Alabama Shakes’ break-through album, Boys and Girls – also produced Booker’s debut. That’s probably why the drums and the guitars are so beautifully saturated and distorted.
So far Booker’s played Letterman, Conan and Late Night With Jools Holland and Jack White also took the 25-year old on tour with him. What a great start.
His album’s got some pretty energetic songs to boogie to [“Violent Shiver”, “Chippewa”, “Wicked Waters”] – but the real magic happens when Booker gets introspective on the sweaty, slow-ooze burners like “Slow Coming” and “By The Evening”. Listen:
Buy his album, it’s a great investment.