Artist: Red Earth & Rust
Album: Dark Mercy + Wrestling The Angel

The internet has proved to be a wonderful thing. I discovered this band by accident one day whilst searching for something that was in any way similar to one of my all time favourite musical acts (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds). This band (who I was thrilled to discover were actually local, as in hailing from Cape Town!) released an independent debut album called ‘Look For Me’ and all I can say about it now is that two years has seemed like a long time to wait for a follow up. Making the wait worthwhile, Red Earth & Rust has made their long-awaited second album a mammoth package containing 28 brand new songs, each one more accomplished than the last. Which is saying a lot, in this day of one-hit wonder, all-filler no killer musical output from bands. Once again blind singer Jacques Coetzee and writing partner Barbara Fairhead have hand-picked an accomplished group of local musos to give their rich compositions musical depth and feeling. Dave Ferguson (harmonica), Jonny Blundell (guitar), Brydon Bolton (double bass and electric guitar), Ross Campbell (drums & percussion) and Aron Turest-Swartz (he of Freshlyground fame, in his newfound role of producer) all add their own bits of magic to make this album one of the best things to have come out of 2010 thus far. Highlight tracks include the melancholic ‘Dark Mercy; the almost biographical ‘A Man Who Longs To Dance’, the visually captivating ‘Tattoo Jesus’, the locally spicy ‘Three Fever Trees’, the exuberant ‘The Naked Flame’ song and a song that makes you long for the open road called ‘The Road Past The View’. Find this band and discover something you might have only once dreamed about. They are that good!

Jon Monsoon – your LMG