Slidin' Slim: One Man Riot (2007/2011)

SLIDIN' SLIM is the artist moniker of Swedish composer, vocalist and musician Anders Landelius. He's been an active musician since the late 1980's, and has dedicated this part of his life to the blues since 1994, with a number of CD releases to his name and a number of live performances in Europe and the US. "One Man Riot" is a production that dates back to 2007, which was reissued for the European market by Swedish label Transubstans Records in the late spring of 2011.

Ever since the blues evolved 100 or so years ago it has been a vital engine in the music business, at first in it's own right and later as the foundation for rock music. It's role as the origin of the species, so to speak, has meant that blues as a style has been kept alive and vital while other styles have come and gone by the truckloads over the years. It's a type of music relatively easy to perform, challenging to master and difficult to excel in. Not due to technical or compositional reasons, as the blues in most aspects is simplicity itself, but because the style has been so extensively explored. And, one might add, there's a rather limited framework to work with too.

But among a plethora of dime a dozen blues artists, Slidin' Slim manage to make an impression. His approach is a challenging one too, as the main premise for his excursions is the simplest one: Lead vocals and acoustic guitar. As extensively explored as the blues genre is, the tradition utilizing these base elements as dominating features is the one most thoroughly explored, where masters such as Robert Johnson are the revered idols one has to compete with. And I'll have to admit that Slidin' Slim isn't at that level yet, at least not for the half or so of this disc that features cuts consisting solely of these elements.

As a vocalist, Landelius has a voice very well suited to this type of music. Dark-toned, subtly nasal and with that slight complaining edge so often found in blues, country and southern rock. And with the faintest shades of what I think is most commonly described as a southern drawl, which adds a great deal of authenticity to the vocal performance. His delivery is to my ears, pitch perfect, and appears to be a true master of when to utilize the various aspects of his intensity and range within this style of music. A voice able to carry a tune all by itself, emotionally laden and expressive. The acoustic guitar, apart from featuring slide guitar (as might be expected), is mainly used for circulating, repeated motifs of a simplistic nature. Generally light-toned, and an effective contrast to the vocals. And with clever use of resonating notes and brief pacier runs in the instrumental passages that adds a life and vitality to the performance.

But it's in the cases where Landelius opts to expand his arrangements that he truly shines. Clever and effective use of textured guitars in what to my ears sounds like a post rock approach suits this material great, as exemplified by Somebody Wish That I Was Dead. When bass and drums is added to the proceedings they add a further level of energy and vitality to the compositions, and at best the end results of these excursions deserves a briulliant description. Opening track Brand New Face is perhaps the best of these, and the mesmerizing Call Me Mr. Misfit another instance of this artist at his, in my opinion at least, very best.

I'm not a blues expert by far, and dedicated genre aficionados may regard my sentiments with a fair bit of scepticism. But for me, One Man Riot appears to be a good quality production that should interest most people with an interest in blues as a stylistic expression, and one well worth seeking out if you'd like to try out an artist that attempts to explore this style without employing clichéd effects, honing in on the core values of the blues and limiting the use of additional effects as subservient enriching traits only.

My rating: 76/100


Track list:
1. Brand New Face 3:22
2. Devil in Disguise 4:18
3. God Knows I Tried 3:06
4.. Call Me Mr. Misfit 3:22
5. Rescue Me 3:20
6. It Ain't Right 3:14
7. Lead to My Grave 5:07
8. You Called Me Up 2:37
9. Please Tell Me 3:36
10. You've Been a Waste of Time 2:48
11. Somebody Wish That I Was Dead 4:19
12. Screwed 4:19
13. In the Darkness 2:55
14. This Ain't Drinkin' 4:31