Descending out of the purple and green sky that the south cast on rock 'n' roll and blues from the '20s to the '70s, comes the Gen-X, fourth infantry division ready to enter the cyber age. Wielding a myriad of hip-thrustin, booty-slappin attitudes, Throw Rag's latest release, Tee-tot, is the next skirmish in the rock-blues battle. The only problem is that, to my knowledge, electric rockabilly had lost the battle quite a while ago.
Throw Rag doesn't make bad music, but I do think it's playing it safe. The music is suffused with a very strong will and forward movement, but the context and style is established to the point of dogma. As nice as these sort of old time aesthetic revivals are, their structures and styles are antiquated and not developed with the same creativeness of the performances. And a lot of times I walk away immediately forgetting the music.
Throw Rag is obviously not completely without other influence. In fact, there are times when the band takes on a sort of blues, rock Slayer-esque tone that is refreshing, such as on the cut "Beast In Me." However, it is clear who is in the driver's seat - Dick Dale, Elvis and about 400 blues/country and western artists who came before them. These guys certainly have the muscle and balls to do something great, but somehow I get the feeling that they just won't.
I would recommend Tee-tot if you are going to have a party and need to keep things going, or for any event which requires a lot of sustained energy.
It is one thing to have a fast car with a big engine, but it is a completely different thing to have a fast car with someone behind the wheel who can get the checkered flag. Throw Rag definitely finishes, but somewhere amid the mass of indistinguishable screeches and roars.
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