Maverick Californian Richard Swift continues his musical shape-shifting with this double EP of largely bluesy garage jamming, his own name at least appearing to introduce his chosen alias this time. He was last reviewed at TLOBF as a purveyor of ambient electronica, BBC radiophonic workshop style, under the moniker Instruments Of Science Technology. That was actually recorded before his more familiar finely crafted and melodic Dressed Up For The Letdown - widely praised at about this time last year. This perhaps stop-gap offering precedes an expected 'real' follow up to that album. This time he's gone to the other end of the musical spectrum with a dirty grungy sound that has the immediate bite of proper unpolished R&B. None of the twenty tracks is more than 3 minutes long, with an average more around 2 minutes, so they don't outstay their welcome, and the majority are instrumental - those that aren't rarely feature more than a slurrily repeated title lyric, like 'Greaseball Blues'.I was curious about the fact that this was recorded at The Loft - audio Bat Cave for TLOBF favourites Wilco, but I must admit to having some scepticism about possible throw-away studio doodlings at first, despite liking killer stomping opener 'Knee-High Boogie Blues' instinctively. In the developing age of free downloads, who would pay good money for such efforts? In his interview here a while back, Swift indicated time spent listening to Howlin Wolf and Link Wray, and presumably John Lee Hooker too judging from the track 'JLH'. Distorted raunchy guitar bleeds from the speakers most of the way through this. 'SM60' (the microphone?) and 'The German (Something Came Up)' follow the opener in similarly rugged and leery style, the latter being more punk than blues. It's all about capturing the essential visceral spark of music making in one take and to hell with the technicians - and it's pretty successful. A bit of a lull after that searing start, but then the novelty of the first of a couple of early dub sounds with Trojan meeting the Clash's white mans reggae on 'Du(m)d Pt. 1' and 'Du(m)d Pt. 2'. 'Pt. 1' especially has the whining organ musak of a seedy seventies Soho dive. More variation comes with the plink-plonk piano fun of 'More Sign Language' and 'Dutch', and the Ivor Cutler-like dirge of 'Field Painting'.There are indeed a handful of true fillers, but nothing that made me reach for the skip button. The pure vigour of the others carries the day. Some tracks teeter towards parody, but it's all done out of love. The blues did indeed get a hold on me, as it always should from time to time, especially the storming beginning. As they say, play loud, and don't be embarrassed to throw some shapes when no one's watching. 72%mp3:> Richard Swift - Knee-High Boogie Blues mp3:> Richard Swift - Phone Coffins Links Richard Swift [myspace] [label]