I recently heard about Chris Duarte on the internet, and was almost immediately interested. Though I’ve never really heard him play, he is supposed to be an excellent blues guitarist, and I’m quite excited to take a listen. Duarte calls his own style “rockin’ blues” and “punk blues” according to Wikipedia, and I’m very excited to take a listen. This is his second album released 7 years after his first. With that, I’m going to jump on into the music.
“My Way Down” immediately starts out with a super bright bluesy guitar, and kind of reminds me of “Who Did You Think I Was” by John Mayer. Oh wow, this playing is super tasty. The vocals are almost soft in comparison to that electric grit in the guitar playing – this is awesome. Oh wow, that guitar solo really wails. I really want to get up and jam along. The bass guitar has such a loose clean tone really keeping things together while Duarte really goes in. That tone of the drums is so raw too. Awesome intro.
“Letter to My Girlfriend” is almost a rollicking blues song, it almost reminds me of Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead covering a Chuck Berry song in a roundabout way. The guitar playing is absolutely amazing. This song really does have a really nice rock and roll blues feel with the way it’s rollicking around a bit. Oh wow, the bass and drums really serve up this absolutely gnarly guitar on a silver platter. Oh Wow, these jams just keep piling up, and the song really never lets down any momentum at any point. Really sweet. Oh wow, this outro is really slick too.
“C-Butt Rock” starts out slow with some high hats, but wow those effects on the electric guitar really have a loose swishy, almost wah-wah effect that really takes a complete 180 as the guitar changes to the bright bluesy I’m getting accustomed to. Oh wow, this is one heck of a blues jam. If you’re looking for some blues rock, this is definitely the album for you. This guitar is a-howlin’ in a way that you don’t really hear too often. Oh wow, this song really keeps a lot of the same tropes laid out early in the song, but moves them around so much they feel so new and fresh each time.
“Just Kissed My Baby” has a bit more of a rock blues feel, and is slowly evolving as the drums and bass come in. I didn’t even realize the previous track didn’t have lyrics because I was so deep into that jam. Oh wow, the vocals are so deep and laid back in this one, it’s absolutely delicious with the way the song progresses down the line with this jam. The lyrics are so simple too, but the instrumentation is doing a whole lot of talking. Oh wow, this guitar is absolutely awesome. The playing gets almost milky at the latter part of the song. This song is an absolutely delicious blues rock jam – I didn’t want it to end.
“Shiloh” sort of starts out with a really slow, smooth and clean blues guitar that sort of feels out the song, while the drums hit some high hats to create an airiness to the song while hitting the kick drum once in a while to get things grooving a bit. Oh wow, this one is awesome. It really reminds me a lot of John Mayer’s playing, but there’s definitely a difference. Oh wow, the bass guitar comes in, and when that happens the electric guitar gets a whole lot grittier. Absolutely awesome playing. Wow, at one point when the notes are almost cascading down like a waterfall, you can hear someone shout in the studio like they’re really feeling what’s being played. Oh wow, this song is absolutely awesome. It sounds like everything mic’d up in the song was turned all the way to 11, and then broke the knob off, because this song is running on all cylinders right now. Right now all I want to do is sit back and let this absolutely face-melting jam play out around. I can’t keep turning my speakers up too much louder, my neighbors might not be too happy about that. Wow, things slow back down again as the bass drops to the background and the clean, smooth melty sound from the electric guitar, though retaining some grit, really just goes at it as the drums sort of square up the soundscape. The way this song crescendos at the outro really reminds me of Stevie Ray Vaughan a bit at times; you can hear Duarte really fighting to get some of those sounds out of his guitar.
“Scrawl” has more of that SRV feel to it, as the electric guitar really plays the blues and fights to get the tone the way Duarte wants. The bass guitar is absolutely huge in this one, and pretty bright too. Oh wow, this electric guitar solo is absolutely awesome; it’s really wailing and hitting some delicious notes. Oh wow, it drops right back into the groove so smoothly – awesome. The drums are super awesome in this one too; they’re played with such force that they feel like they’re meteors crashing around the soundscape.
“What Can I Do?” has a really awesome blues feel, and really feels like an early blues rock song sort of like Muddy Waters in a certain way. This one definitely has a slower tempo than some of the previous songs, but that guitars got a whole lot of feeling in it. I really got lost in this song, really awesome blues jam.
“Big-Legged Woman” has a really interesting groove to it, and Duarte wastes no time going into it as soon as the feel is established with the drums and bass. I can’t believe that the album is almost on the last track – I’ve really been lost in a bright gritty blues jam of an album. This song has some really great tasting bluesy licks. I can’t help but tap my hands along with this song – I’m even breaking on the air guitar on this one. Wow. Absolutely huge jams in this one. This album has been awesome so far. Wow, the outro ties the song up so well while making some new fresh licks too.
“Borrowed Love” drops right into place from the previous track, and almost has an optimistic blues feeling to it; it might be in a major blues scale, but I have no clue for sure. Oh wow, these licks are absolutely sweet. It sort of feels like the train that is this album is pulling into the station as the drums and bass play with a looser groove, though it’s not necessarily slowing down a whole lot. Duarte really eases this song out as it comes to a close with some super tasty blues licks. Great song.
Wow. I’m certainly glad I checked out Duarte tonight. If you’re a guitar player, and/or enjoy blues rock at all, I think you’ll really enjoy this album. Or if you just want to get lost in some really tasty jams, this might be one for you to check out. Either way, if you do check it out, I sincerely hope you enjoy the album at least as much as I did.
-A