Gideon Smith & the Dixie Damned - 30 Weight

Through the mist . . . hiding at the end of the alley.  Moonlight reflecting off the rain-soaked streets, illuminating dark corners of the gothic southern night.  Haze swirls around the erected crucifixes topping the tombstones.  Stone angels look on, hiding from the penetrating eyes of the gargoyles.

A pulse vibrates.  Heavy.  Intensifying.   Terrifying.

Something stirs in the netherlands.  The mist parts and Gideon Smith steps forward, six-string slung over his shoulders like a shotgun.  The Dixie Damned join in his wake like a sheriff's posse.  Guns are drawn.  Violence is due.

30 Weight may only be Gideon's third official full length release, but the man is already a legend, worthy of his own tribute album that showcased the exquisiteness of his songwriting.  An outlaw martial artist riding his iron horse into the horizon, the North Carolina native mixes Cult psychedelia, Sabbath occult riffery, and southern rock into his entirely unique blend of netherworld gothic heaviness.  Dust explodes under the weight of his boots.  Skeleton's run and hide as he rides into town.  God-fearing folk start praying . . . to no effect.  The legend has arrived. 

Still, knowing the man's music as well as I do, I wasn't prepared for the full glory of 30 Weight.  All dispassionate music writing goes out the window here.   This is a fucking amazing album.  Without a doubt the monster in Gideon's catalog, and a true triumph of sludgy Gothic rock.   30 Weight is a testament of crushingly heavy riffs, monstrous bone-shattering groove, eerie bluesy boogie, and unearthly tone.  And by tone I mean mood, imagery, tenor.  Feel the cold, blood-sucking breath of your master bearing down on your neck, cause Gideon is the resurrected spirit of every southern outlaw ever hung at the crack of dawn, crawling back out of the swampy delta cemetery ready to rock havoc upon your town. 

And it's all there from the very first second of the first track, "Black Fire."  A haunted moment of slide guitar echoes in the first second before the mother of all slinky guitar riffs explodes into the night sky.  Aided by the incredible guitar work of Phill Durr and the rhythm of Eric Hoegemyer, The Dixie Damned rise from the mud-caked underworld.  Gideon's voice occupies some emotional place that Danzig could only wish to reach, deep and husky, full of nuance and impossible menace.   The song is an epic to lost love, full of mournful reflection and cryptic pain.  It's real and it fucking grooves.   I honestly can't stop listening to it.

But I do, because "Ride With Me" comes next, swaggering out of the speakers like a demonic motorcycle pack on the open highway.  Without ever having met Gideon, I already know that this is his theme song.  His reason for being.   The song to one day be played at his funeral as his leather-clad and tattooed pall bearers carry his mahogany and chrome casket to it's final resting place.  This is his essence, his being, his outlaw philosophy spit out into the wind behind him without a touch of remorse.  You either accept it or get the outta the way.  Against a crushing riff, Gideon sings:

Hands on the wheel
Picking up speed
I do what I feel
Do I look like I give a fuck if you like it?

Ride with me, Baby

And I'm hooked.  I'm there, the engine growling between my legs.  I'm tattooing parts of my body I didn't even know I had.  I'm in the pack.  I'm a member of the damned.  Fuck the world, I'm riding with him.

"South" is pure southern sludge and ethereal mysticism.  A song of sweaty, sultry intensity.  The outlaw lays bare his heart.  His passion is palpable as he takes his woman into the "wilderness of our love."  Layers of guitar swoon and mingle like fluids mixing in the midst of lovemaking.  It's heavy, it's intense, it's dark.  Just the way you'd imagine Gideon to be.

"Love of the Vampire" rips through a quasi-Monster Magnet/Fu Manchu riff before launching off into a blackened voodoo rocker.  Fuzz guitar shreds through the bluesy tone while the darkness of Gideon's vocals weighs down. 

There's more, there's so much more.  A plain intensely evil, stripped down cover of St. Vitus's "I Bleed Black,"  the out-and-out riff-rock of "Do Me Wrong," a twisted acoustic version of G.G. Allin's "When I Die," and the kicking groovy haunted blues workout that is "Come and Howl."  But these treasures I'll leave for you to discover on your own.  And discover you must.  If you love rock, if you love mood, if you love blues, sludge, southern gothic, heavy guitars, texture, motorcycles, zombies and undead outlaws, you owe it to yourself to hear this album.  Buy three copies.  Give one to your preacher. Nail one above your door to let the rampaging motorcycle gangs know your allegiance and your bowing to the master.  Let them motor by your house in peace.

30 Weight is epic.  Simple as that.

--Racer

Ripple Music Update! Lots of Killer Stuff Coming!

Lots of great stuff to tell you about.

Heavy Ripples, the double 7" gatefold release with Stone Axe, Sun Gods in Exile, Grifter, and Mighty High is out and getting killer reviews.  We're in the planning stages for Heavy Ripples vol. 2, so you may expect Mos Generator and Gideon Smith and the Dixie Damned, and a couple more to be named.  Any suggestions?

The new Iron Claw album, first major release by the 70's underground doom/raw blues legends, is in the final mixing/mastering stages by none other than Tony Reed, as is the brand spanking new Grifter full-length.  Expect both those out this summer!

Mighty High is rounding up their stuff also for a summer release of frenzied stoner punk.

Songs are coming in for Stone Axe III and we're planning a Deluxe Collectors Edition of Stone Axe II just like we did with Stone Axe I, which (hopefully) will feature an entire live disc recorded on their most recent tour.   That Stone Axe I reissue is buzzing out the doors, so if you're interested, you may want to stop by Ripple and pick one up.

10 year anniversary issue of the first Mos Generator coming out on vinyl soon and hopefully some new stuff to follow.

And we got a total redesign, remaster, with new songs of the latest Poobah album, Peace Farmers in the works.  Our vinyl/CD reissue of Poobah's second album, US Rock is slated for 2012, which will be another 2xLP freakout of Poobah rock.  First pressing of Poobah's Let Me In already sold out so we've gone back to press to keep up with the demand.

Finally, for prog fans, Fen is opening up for Blackfield at the end of this month, and we're planning on following that up with a vinyl edition of their critically acclaimed, "rails out of Gloom.


Working overtime here at Ripple Central to bring you guys some killer music.  And folks, we really appreciate all your support.

Peace

F.T.W. – A Tribute to Gideon Smith

It’s a testament to a man when bands come racing out of the wood-work, begging to be a part of a tribute album, and I’m sure that’s what happened when the news broke that this project was being born.   Culling bands from across the US, Canada, and Europe, F.T.W. is an imaginative reworking of 17 classic tracks from the underground rock ‘n’ roll outlaw, Gideon Smith and the Dixie Damned.

For those who don’t know the name, Gideon Smith is a neo-legend of swaggering, tomb-bound, voodoo rock.  Described as a rock star, a philosopher, a poet, a sage, and a writer, Gideon Smith is known to have some of the heaviest mojo outside of the Delta.  And let me tell you, each of these bands attacks their assignment with ferocity and reverence.  Cover albums can be played in one of two ways, either straight or re-imagined.  I’m a big fan of the second style, and listening to these gothic southern rockers remade as punk, rock, southern rock, Doom, Black Metal, Death, Country, Techno Pop, and Stoner Rock odes is simply a blast.

Way too many songs to point out all the highlights, but it starts right off the bat with HK Family’s crunchy “Whiskey Devil” with one helluva fine mid-song reggae breakdown before jumping in the hearse for Barnburner’s death dirge of “Wishing Well.”   Honky Tonk Hustlas bust out a Gothic Country rampage to “Breaking Hearts and Horses,” that just kicks serious denim and leather ass, while Red All Over surprise with a bouncy techno bop remaking of “Draggin’ the River,” that is just too good to believe.

But the greatest testament to the mad talents of this gruff genius is how his music translates so seamlessly to which ever style the bands want to play.  Through it all, the real songcraft shines through, and that’s the real story here, just how strong a songwriter Mr. Smith is.  Perhaps this is never as plain as on Dear Druid’s version of “Lay Me Down in Ecstasy.”  With it’s hushed vocal, disembodied harmonies, and shockingly evocative melody, this may just be one of the most haunting songs I’ve heard all year.  So beautiful, the first time I heard it it actually took my breath away.

I know Gideon enough to know how humbled he must’ve been by this outpouring of love for his music.  Forget those descriptors I used to describe him in the second paragraph, at his essence Gideon is an artist of vision and essence, but he’s also a man of the earth, a man of humility and honor.   I’m sure he looked at this project as an unnecessary praise for his work, but I’m hearing it as a necessary addition to his legend.

Good on ya, Gideon.


--Racer