Alfreda – Ain’t My Name (You’ve Been Callin’)
Frankly, people don’t know what they want, and few of them are willing to admit it. That’s the reason why subpar services of all kinds seem and those who offer them seem to thrive, provided that they have the support of just enough marketing.
You must have heard, even by accident, singers on glorified karaoke television shows. If you have, it’s likely that you’ve noticed a pattern. The singers who really want to impress try their hand at blues, soul or gospel. A few of them have the qualities of Alfreda.
Nearly all of them get a standing ovation. Almost all of them butcher the music that they’re trying to sing. That’s because it’s not the ambitus, volume, or pitch control that allows singers to perform that kind of music. It’s the genuine soulfulness.
And, most of the time, that quality comes from hurt and from honesty. That’s what Alfreda brings to “Ain’t My Name (You’ve Been Callin’).” That howl of despair and the pure blues could have come from the guitar of B.B. King. This isn’t just a matter of singing the notes right, but about singing the right notes in the right way. Alfreda certainly does that!
Lukas Hayden – Animal
The blues still ring out on every lonesome American highway, and each time someone packs up their bags and decides to search for adventure. The blues have, once again, transformed themselves. It is no longer just a symbol of hardship, oppression and the inevitable sadness that those create. For better or for worse, it has become a symbol of rebellion. For Lukas Hayden, it certainly has
And in an era in which many so-called artists rely on AI and algorithms to improve their music, these things matter. That old-blues scale means “freedom” to a lot of people, and the ones who have grown up on its sound can recognise traces of it in everything coming out of a radio. Those sounds point toward endless possibilities.
Lukas Hayden presents himself as a wanderer, a traveller who’s just stopped for a while in booming music town Austin, Texas, to take on the blues. Hayden’s wrestling with angels here and delivers a promise on “Animal.” The song, very directly, questions the wisdom of letting oneself be tamed. Is there any dreaming left once that happens? With a sound that quotes classics and courts new adventures, Hayden’s “Animal” should appeal to retro blues-rock fans still looking for a bit of freedom.
