4 out of 5

Label: Touch and Go

Producer: Brian Deck

I get the Jon Spencer comparison, of course, with the blues-influenced scuzz and stripped down sound.  But Cash Money feels legit, with the blues being an unavoidable effect of the duo’s writing being so down and dirty, vs. the Blues Explosion rather purposeful presentation.  Like some other two-piece bands – namely Swearing at Motorists – CM prove the power a single aspect of music can have, where a tune and groove, used to proper effect, can sub in for just as much noise and feeling as a million piece band.  Deck’s production is also spot-on here.  I feel like Brian does his best work when he’s dealing with a group who want to enhance the disparate elements.  That’s why his Califone stuff is so awesome, and it helps Cash Money sound so much more raw and yet organic at the same time.  But of course, the selling point here is the music.  Almost every track rattles across with immense depth and feeling, from the opening brawler of ‘Short Change,’ track three’s reticent ‘Lazy,’ which slows down the pace but burns into some powerful songwriting, and on through the moody story-telling of ‘Damn Damn Damn,’ one of the best uses of simple profanity committed to tape.  Closer ‘Nightwind’ is a sad and gorgeous way to close out the album, but admittedly ‘Black Hearts’ loses a bit of steam on the tracks before that, the album just stuffed with a bit too much music and the final three or so songs each seeming to want to be the final word.

Still, take your White Stripes simplicity and go back to Hipster Heaven; take your Jon Spencer and get yor sideburns on.  I’ll take the oil-stained sludgey punk blues of Cash Money any time, anywhere – an effortless recording that can be relied upon to always put you in a certain mood.