Saturday Night Tunes: 8-1 Version

Welcome, my peeps, to another version of Saturday Night Tunes. Occasionally, I'll do a post highlighting the bands I've been listening to recently, and this is that post! So grab a chair, lay back, and listen.

First up is Gary Clark Jr. and his latest release, Blak and Blu. This isn't an album on which every single is a must listen song. Alas, a couple are kind of dogs. But when it's strong, it's excellent.

Clark is an heir apparent of the classic Austin blues sound, one including the likes of Stevie Ray Vaughan. But Clark drifts around music genres much more freely than did SRV, so the comparison is almost immediately invalid. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but when he goes for more of a pop feel, it's just not a good sound. Take a couple songs off the playlist (looking at you, "The Life") while focusing on the good cuts, and you'll be a happy panda.

Listen to the opening riffs from "Numb" and tell me it doesn't sound like it comes from the love child of SRV and Jimi Hendrix:

What happens when you take a punk band with a personality disorder complex and thinks it's occasionally a mariachi band? Why, you get Mariachi El Bronx. Being of South Texas German descent, I grew up listening to a lot of polka music, dancing my way across many an SPJST halls across the state. Some Mexican music, such as conjunto, is heavily influenced by this German sound. If I like one, I'm bound to like another. On DisplacedTexan's recommendation, I've been listening to Mariachi El Bronx, subsidizing my already heavy playlist focus on norteno, and, especially lately, nortec music.

Revolution Girls:

Finally, while I've never much hid my love of big horn sounds, here's a new band a friend of mine just joined here in the ATX. Horns? Check. Funk? Check. Soul? Check and check. Try my love, my peeps, and take a listen to Roxy Roca:

Now that I've enlightened you, it's time to share what you've been listening to. Unless it's Taylor Swift. You can keep that ish to yourself.