DENIZ TEK
MEAN OLD TWISTER
Citadel Records
Alt.rock
Mixed in Sydney by his old compadre, Radio Birdman frontman Rob Younger, and Wayne Connolly, singer, songwriter and guitarist Deniz Tek unashamedly continues to mine the power trio format inspired by the grungy Detroit bands of his youth – MC5, The Stooges – that, in these anodised post-rock, American hip-hop/R&B-soaked days, has as much right to be called Americana as the real Americana. Not that in Tek’s hands this is “museum-piece” music; he’s just staying true to his original muse, as committed and authentic to the genre as, say, the Chicago bluesmen that played their electrified Delta-inspired blues, forged in the 1940s, well into the late 1990s, before they all joined the heavenly choirs. So Tek’s Crossroads is Birdman/Stooges, not Robert Johnson, all chugging downstrokes splattered with Chuck Berry licks. That said, there’s a touch of Rod Stewart country rock in Table for One, while Comanche is pure instrumental surf (or Shadows) guitar heaven and Free At Last recalls America with a sax solo. Set lips for sneer and crank it up!
By Michael Smith