Band: The Bakerton Group
Album title: El  Rojo
Label: AFM Records
Distributor: Rock Inc. – Bertus
Release date: 02/03/2009
Release: CD

Stoner Rock act Clutch is no unknown entity in the music business. Its members Neil Fallon (vocals, guitar), Tim Sult (guitar), Dan Maines (bass), and Jean-Paul Gaster (drums) have been around since 1991 and have since brightened up many music lovers’ lives with their now 8 studio albums (plus initial single and eventual DVD). In 2005 ensued the only line-up change since the early ’90, when organist Mich Schauer joined the original quartet. Talk about consistency!

During their career, the band has nevertheless evolved musically from a Heavy Metal & Hardcore based style to a more Hard Rock geared direction, but even as far back as the late ’90, the original Fallon, Sult, Maines, and Gaster felt the need to occasionally mellow out a bit and jam out in a Bluesier ‘70s Rock style…ass they became more and more aware that Blues is really the mother of Rock ‘n’ Roll. Eventually they started The Bakerton Group, an instrumental outfit for which they also erected their own private (no other bands get signed) label River Road Records. The first release came in 2000 with the 3-track EP Space Guitars, which has since become free for download from Clutch’s website (Pro-rock.com). Enthoused fans of the mellower style had to wait until October 2007, when the band released their J. Robbins (of Jawbox repute) produced self-titled album, recorded at The Magpie Cage studio in Baltimore (Maryland). As their main band is already rather successful, The Bakerton Group has already played in support of Clutch, but TBG has also done gigs and short tours on their own!

During 2008 the quartet, supported by Opeth keyboard/ organ/ synth player Per Wiberg re-entered The Magpie Cage to record another 10 tracks with Robbins as producer, and eventually decided to release it through the Weathermaker Music imprint, to give it a broader distribution. As you’ve already gathered, the album was picked up by German label AFM for the European territory, and I’m sure the album will be (or already has been) picked up by other labels in orderto spread the album globally!

Obviously, the casual listener will remark that there àre some “Stoner” remeniscences in TBG’s music…as if that could be helped, Stoner itself being Blues based as it is, right? Tracks on the new album which distinguish themselves by being somewhat different from the others, are “Time Horizon” (which only is different in its length, being just over 100 seconds long and serving mainly as album opening track), “Bien Clásico” and “Bill Proger’s Galaxy” (which both have New York City based alto saxophone player Raven giving the tracks an even more outspoken Psychedelic atmosphere than the band brings on other tracks), and “Worm’Em” (which could be construed as being a song, even if the vocal part – of which I barely understood three words, and not even in sequence – with a total length of a mere 18 seconds is only for a couple of sentences in the 7-minute track). Again, there’s some of the humour which is so typical for Clutch, present in track  titles such as “Life On Lars” and “The Gigantomakhia”…and I’ve actually been wondering what “M.(f).H.S.” stands for, or whom the protagonist of album closing “Bill Proger’s Galaxy” might be (given time and occasion, I sure gotta try and find out!). Now, although we’re talking “Jam Blues” here, half of the songs on the album have a quite normal track length between 3 and 4 minutes on the album…whould be friggin’ nice to find out what the guys make of that on stage…because part of the fun of jamming, is to take a basic musical idea and spin it out through temporary freak-out, right?

To help you get acquainted with the new album, the band posted the tracks “Peruvian Airspace”, “Bien Clásico” and “Last Orbit” at myspace.com/thebakertongroup. Quite enough for you to fall in love with, and wanting for more! Personally having grown up in the ‘70s, ánd today even having a rather broad Blues music collection (talking classic Blues here, baby…the réal thing from the ‘60s, ‘50s, and even earlier!), I cannot help but being somewhat enthousiastic about this album…which, along with the fact that the music is brought so darn well (who needs drugs when you can evade everyday life’s boredom with music…othing everyday about my life, you know, because it is simply filled chuckful with music!!!)…has prompted me to nominate El Rojo into that “Best Albums Of 2009”-list of mine.

98/100

Tony.