I'm A Stranger And I Love The Night

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allmusic.com:
Considering that Scrapomatic had been in existence for 14 years as of 2012, the fact that I'm a Stranger is only the collective's fourth album is surprising. However, it says less about founding members Mike Mattison and guitarist Paul Olsen not taking the group seriously, than how busy they've been on other projects. Mattison in particular had a pretty grueling schedule as singer for Derek Trucks' various bands. Regardless, their previous albums have been rootsy, diverse explorations of gospel, rock, punk, funk, and country stitched together with a strong blues thread. This one is no different except that the duo adds a third official member, guitarist Dave Yoke, who helps them run through a dozen eclectic originals that traverse territory from the swampy, straight blues shuffle of the opening "Alligator Love Cry" to the twisted music hall Tom Waits-styled waltz (with horns) of "How Unfortunate for Me." The group is at their best when letting their oddest impulses shine, as when Mattison goes falsetto on the unusual and ominous blues stomp "Crime Fighter." They shift to easygoing country-pop on "Don't Fall Apart On Me Baby" and turn into rollicking garage rockers on "The Mother of My Wolf." As you can tell from the titles, Mattison and Olsen revel in bizarre lyrical twists that add vinegar to these songs. Even though printed words are included, they don't make a lot of sense, at least on the surface. But that enhances the mystique and a sense that there is more here than meets the ears. The band is also effective when they open up and rock as on "Rat Trap," but it's Mattison's natural, soulful growl that will keep you coming back for additional helpings. The title track is the most commercial entry, with a singalong chorus you'll be humming after the first spin, and showing that when pressed, these guys can swim in the mainstream. Thankfully, though, they prefer to hover on the edge, making this another terrific addition to a small but quality catalog of offbeat roots music that never panders to its audience or takes it for granted.

indiemusicreviewer.com, Rating: 5/5 Stars!:
Scrapomatic may not be a band that is known by many, but that isn’t the fault of founders Mike Mattison and Paul Olsen. The two met at a P-Funk concert in 1994 and immediately connected as a songwriting team. Their blend of styles creates music that pays homage to the masters of the past, while also putting their own signature stamp on it. Part dirty blues, part soul, part roots rock, these boys know how to create a jam for the sweltering heat of the deep south or the cold nights of the mid-west.

Mattison (who is a Harvard graduate and past vice-president of the Harvard Lampoon) is also the lead singer of the Derek Trucks Band and part of the Tedeschi Trucks Band that is currently blowing up stages all over the country. He’s a two-time Grammy Award winner from working with these bands and his vocal style is like fine sandpaper. Raspy and gritty, but with very little effort, he takes the top layer off and provides a smooth finish. He has a knack for surrounding himself with amazing guitar players and his partner fits that bill.

Olsen is a two-time ASCAP award-winning songwriter who also sings a note or two. The crooner to Mattison’s rough edges, he brings a nice balance to the overall sound as noticed in songs like “I’m A Stranger And I Love The Night” and “Don’t Fall Apart On Me, Baby.” More folksy in nature, it is a bit of a diversion from previous releases, but done extremely well.

For I’m A Stranger And I Love The Night, their fourth release to date, Scrapomatic has become a trio as Dave Yoke, a guitarist out of Atlanta and former member of Susan Tedeschi’s band has joined the band. He and Olsen form a powerful duo and build quite the sound when “weaving” their finger work together.

You can hear the two guitarists bring the raw dirt in the album opener “Alligator Love Cry.” One lays down the raunchy rhythm while the other plays over it with signature blues riffs. Mattison is in his element and the trio is completely in sync.

“Rat Trap” and “The Mother of My Wolf” are two bar room rockers that also bring the best out of this band. With the help of Ted Pecchio on bass and Tyler Greenwell on drums (both make up the rhythm section for the entire album), the trio are firing on all cylinders and deliver what Scrapomatic fans have fallen in love with over and over.

Possibly the under-rated highlight of the entire album is “Night Trains, Distant Whistles.” This funk-filled track highlights what Yoke can bring to the table as he literally molds himself around the original duo while they are in their element.
by Victor Alfieri


hittinthenote.com:
Scrapomatic has been remarkably consistent through four albums, writing songs that range from tales of sleazy people on the margins to confessions of earnest, if strange, feelings of love. They set these tableaus to blends of urban blues, rock and country. Mike Mattison and Paul Olsen are very much at home writing about oddballs, and Olsen is a polished songwriter who can always take the music for a walk on the wild side while making the result feel completely natural.

Some of Scrapomatic’s best characters have been people you probably wouldn’t want to know unless they were in a song: a woman called “Sexy Chocolate” who, when she’s supposed to be saved, asks “Was that a baptism or a bath?” (“Louisianna Anna”) and a grouchy, half-deaf woman who works in a dingy Chinese restaurant (“Lotus”). The devil in their songs is always in the details, and their albums stand apart from each other because every song is crafted just a bit differently. There’s a little more sweetness and twang on I’m a Stranger (And I Love the Night) and a little bit less of the Tom Waits influence that marks the band’s first two albums, but there are still heaping helpings of grit and grime.

In “Mother of My Wolf,” Mattison recounts his first meeting with a woman who upended his entire life and spins this says-it-all couplet: “I said ‘I just come out from high school’/She said ‘I read Camus in jail.’” After she turned him on to the seamy side of life, she left him without a warning. Now she’s back to surprise him with their child. The first track on the album, “Alligator Love Cry,” is about a serial killer, although the chorus begins with a poetic down-home image: “You’ll find me in a shotgun shack/Beneath the moonlight and magnolia trees.”

But “Crime Fighter” has a sexy, languorous grind, and Mattison turns the unusual metaphor into a showcase for his remarkable falsetto. Olson’s “How Unfortunate for Me” is a brilliant, candlelit piece of romantic irony that feels like it came straight from some perfect Paris café: “With you I am enchanted/How unfortunate for me,” Mattison sings. The title track is a look back at one romance that’s ended and another that still burns bright: the narrator’s love for New York. It’s a far cry from the complaints about the city in “The Long Way Home” from the band’s second album (that album, coincidentally, was named Alligator Love Cry.) “I’m a Stranger (And I Love the Night)” and “Gentrification Blues” might remind fans of Mattison’s “Midnight in Harlem,” a gem now performed by Mattison in his other gig, the Tedeschi Trucks Band: they’re songs about loving cities – even the parts that shouldn’t be lovable.

That’s not to say everybody’s happy in the Scrapomatic universe. Elsewhere Mattison complains, or just observes, “A satisfied man wouldn’t choose what you put me through.” The narrator in “I Surrender” says he’s leaving because he’s tired of big battles and little games. But there is a little more peace in the world, at least if you know where to look and you’re lucky enough to find it.

I’m a Stranger (And I Love the Night) is Scrapomatic’s second album with lead guitarist Dave Yoke, and while this is a songwriters’ band, Yoke gets some moments to really shine. On “Alligator Love Cry,” his guitar mutters and uh-uhs against Olson’s rhythm pattern and a marching military drum part. On “The Party’s Over,” Yoke’s guitar surfs on top of the groove and seems to break free of it at the same time, blending with Mattison and Olson’s voices to create many of the emotional high points of the album. Another moving moment comes during the chorus of “Malibu (That’s Where It Starts),” when, as narrator, Mattison takes his voice back into falsetto range while hiding his feelings behind a dissatisfied travelogue and asking if he can just have a smoke. I'm a Stranger also features contributions from Ted Pecchio on bass and drummer Tyler Greenwell, which gives the album a real sense of depth.

Lest all this talk about lyrics and songcraft leave the wrong impression, Scrapomatic isn’t shy about rocking out when they want to. “Night Trains, Distant Whistles” bears more than a passing resemblance to songs like Taj Mahal’s “Leavin’ Trunk,” and the band absolutely blows through “Mother of My Wolf.” If you love a good, twisted lyric, and especially if you love tales of the city and have a soft spot for noir stories, you need to hear Scrapomatic.
LDCD1041

Opis

Wydawca
Landslide Records (USA)
Artysta
Scrapomatic
Nazwa
I'm A Stranger And I Love The Night
Instrument
guitar
Zawiera
CD
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