Megan's Top 18 of 2008 - #5 - Mississippi Witch

Black Gamble is the dirtiest record I've heard all year.

Dirty in the way that it sounds like the morning after the night before. Dirty as in tarred, feathered, sweaty, painfully hungover. Dirty as in sleaze. Dirty, friends, in an excruciatingly glorious way.

Mississippi Witch (i.e. Oli and Dan) first caught my ear a couple years back, via Myspace. I've written about them a few times since then, and was delighted that their debut was the first album I heard in 2008.

11 months after listening to it for the first time, I love it even more. It's all so simple, really, this band. One drummer. One guitarist who also happens to sing. Put these two pieces together, and let 'er rip. And lemme tell you, the racket these two make together is nothing sort of sensational.

Definitely akin to the Black Keys, these US ex-pats (they now live in the UK) have my eternal love and devotion. It's impossible not to be entranced by their sexy as all get out noise. It's cocky, explosive, and intense. Pay extra close attention to "Black Gamble", "Van Nuys", and "Rot Foot", though the entire album is not to be missed (after all, it wouldn't be so high on my list otherwise).

Below is a not-really video clip, but an audio track taken from a Mississippi Witch gig. It'll give you an idea of just how fucking incredible they are.



mp3: Van Nuys (link expired)