Tash And Beth
Album: My Feet Are Made Of Fire
Label: Rebel Band
Tracks: 6
Website: http://www.myspace.com/tashandbeth

Judging by their publicity/cover shot, Tash and Beth look for all the world like twin sisters, and their stamping ground appears to be South and/or East London. Their musical stock-in-trade is ultra-raw country-blues with a touch of gospel. Their debut EP was recorded earlier this summer on a tape recorder, and must hold the record for the lo-est-fi recording I've heard in a while, distorted bordering on painful at times. But the sheer commitment and vital energy of the girls' performances is absolute and seriously tangible. Material covered embraces three traditional numbers (Walking Blues, Don't Let The Devil Ride and Little Sally Walker - the latter no more than a brief a cappella chant) and three compositions in the approved country-gospel-blues style credited to Mallett/Soan, who I'd assume to be Tash & Beth themselves. There's also a pithy little instrumental doodle of a bonus track.

Instrumentation is decidedly basic: rasping electric guitar, slide acoustic on one song, a smidgen of drumkit percussion here and there. But hell, there's soul in them thar voices, a-wailin' and a-moanin' like ones demented! Recording quality is decidedly basic, as I've hinted, with balance between vocals and instruments markedly less than ideal at times too; to be brutally honest the whole affair often sounds so darned primitive it's unlikely to gain much airplay, which would be a pity cos it's musically very convincing. I totally respect its attitude, its no-frills honesty, and actually find it rather endearing, in a very rough kind of way.

Get these gals into a proper studio soon, someone, and I suspect you might have a knockout album on your hands some day.

David Kidman