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April 28, 2015 7:52 AM   Subscribe

Alabama Shakes - Don't Wanna Fight [YouTube] From the new album "Sound & Color", live on Saturday Night Live. Previously.
posted by Fizz (19 comments total) 12 users marked this as a favorite
 
We saw them a few weeks ago at the Greek in Berkeley. We went because Neko Case was opening, and we didn't know much about the Shakes so we spent the afternoon youtubing them and we were like, okay, they're cool, sure.

Well, if the Greek had a roof, Brittany would have blown the damn thing off and clear across the bay. Holy shit what a performance.
posted by rtha at 8:13 AM on April 28, 2015 [2 favorites]


...and their sound immediately conjures memories of a different woman with strong vocals singing she don't wanna fight.
posted by Nanukthedog at 8:30 AM on April 28, 2015 [2 favorites]


Yeah - this album is in heavy rotation at our house right now. I'd love to catch a live show.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 8:53 AM on April 28, 2015


Brittany reminds me a lot of Sister Rosetta Tharpe
posted by bigstace at 8:54 AM on April 28, 2015 [2 favorites]


Saw them last year at First Ave in Minneapolis--they are incomparable.

After hearing the new album I have decided that they could very well replace Aretha Franklin for "songs sung into a hairbrush by girls going through a bad breakup" (or by anyone--I imagine singing power songs into a hairbrush is somewhat universal during times of great hardship, no?).
posted by padraigin at 9:03 AM on April 28, 2015 [2 favorites]


Yeah I watched this with my daughters when it was on last month and I remember saying that she fucking nailed it.
So hot.
Also I remember chuckling at the guitarist's self-deprecating grimace about his little flub at 2:17.
Great song.
posted by chococat at 9:09 AM on April 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


If anything, their second number from their SNL gig, Gimme All Your Love, is even better. Just an awesome band - the best hope to rescue the Blues from being beer music for frat boys and old white people and make it relevant again.
posted by Naberius at 9:19 AM on April 28, 2015 [3 favorites]


rescue the Blues from being beer music for frat boys and old white people and make it relevant again

You can take my blues when you can pry it from my old white hand. Not my beer-holding hand, the irrelevant one.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 9:36 AM on April 28, 2015 [8 favorites]


Well yeah, I say that as an aging white guy so I confess to the irony. But I went to a Buddy Guy show a few months ago and there was hardly a black face in the audience. Or one under 50. It was kind of depressing.
posted by Naberius at 9:45 AM on April 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


Totally get it. Relevance and authenticity are tricky qualities to admire, especially from the outside. Makes me feel like Schrodinger's Music Lover, sometimes. Although I can appreciate those qualities when I see them, the very act of me admiring an act outside of my designated oeuvre simultaneously supports the music and kills the relevance and authenticity just a little. And of course it's always better to support good music than not, but the risk of opening hearts and minds and broadening tastes is that we all become just a little more homogeneous as a result. It's a Catch-33 1/3.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 10:20 AM on April 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


For the curious, Alabama Shakes have been taper friendly in the past; archive.org has a nice collection.
posted by Bryant at 10:29 AM on April 28, 2015


Authenticity is a trap.

(Also, Alabama Shakes are staggering in small venues. I normally hate live music, but they utterly dominated.)
posted by aramaic at 11:31 AM on April 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


This old white man really likes the Alabama Shakes. They're a new, begging-for-more, 7th chord in the tradition of appreciating the past while pushing the blues into the future.
posted by CincyBlues at 11:35 AM on April 28, 2015


The Gruaniad had a terrific interview with Brittany recently.
posted by Gin and Broadband at 12:21 PM on April 28, 2015


They did a set and interview on Morning Becomes Eclectic yesterday (well, taped last week, aired yesterday).
posted by pjenks at 1:27 PM on April 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


There's an interview with Brittany where the interviewer gushes about her voice and compares her to everyone from Aretha Franklin to Nina Simone and she cuts him dead by shrugging and saying, "Really? I always thought I sounded like Bon Scott."

Rock and fucking roll.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 2:31 PM on April 28, 2015 [6 favorites]


Blake Mills, a very interesting young guitarist and songwriter in his own right (love his last album), who has toured with Lucinda Williams and has Jim Keltner and Don Was on his last record, produced this last Alabama Shakes record.

Great set of ears on the kid.
posted by C.A.S. at 4:32 PM on April 28, 2015 [2 favorites]


Saw them last year in a fairly small venue and they definitely kicked ass. Listening to the new album and liking it a lot, glad that they're getting a little more experimental for this album.
posted by octothorpe at 1:42 PM on April 29, 2015


Profile on CBS Sunday Morning today, video [autostarts] and text/photos
posted by maggieb at 3:42 PM on May 3, 2015 [1 favorite]


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