This mysterious trio of London brothers Liam and Luke May (founders of electro outfit Medicine 8) and New York’s Craig Louis Higgins Jr have been touring with Kasabian, fellow travellers of the electro-rock highway. But, rather than learning from Tom Meighan and his arena-inhabiting, cravat-wearing pals, it’s Kasabian who might have seen the light by watching Black Daniel. Chances are you will have seen Kasabian live by now and been a little disappointed by the lack of a sinister presence, which, after all, is what they aspire to, like their heroes Primal Scream.
Black Daniel on the other hand make dangerous electro-rock sound easy – on record at least. Stomping, sexily glam, anthemic and infectious, these Anglo-Americans have some clever pop-smarts, informed by T Rex, rockabilly, baggy and perhaps Delakota, but they temper anything too friendly with a nasty, been-there-took-that roughness which makes them exotic. They muddy things up with a bass so fuzzed it might have been found on a tip and the styled-on-Lou Reed drawl of Craig Louis Higgins Jr. Much of ‘Hard Times…’ actually sounds like Pop Levi if, instead of witchcraft and mushrooms, he was clad in leather, guzzling JD and listening to Suicide, PiL, Primal Scream and, of course, the Velvets. It’s healthy, immune-strengthening dirt.
