Every once and a while an album comes around that just stops you in your tracks. That was my reaction the first time I heard the new Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside album, "Untamed Beast," a few weeks ago. Lead singer Sallie Ford brings energy and unbridled brashness that isn't seen very often. In the wrong hands, those two things could go off the tracks and lead to a chaotic mess. But Ford knows exactly what she's doing and oh boy does she do it well. The band's website quotes her as saying "It's time for a girl to infiltrate the boys world of rock 'n roll and grab it by the balls. To me rock 'n roll isn't a genre, it's an energy." Whether it's a genre or an energy, it should consider itself infiltrated and consider its bar raised. Everyone else, the standard has been set.
Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside is coming to Iowa City at the beginning of April, and I cannot wait for that show. In the meantime I'll just continue to listen to Untamed Beast over and over and over and over again.
You can stream the entire album here. But if you want a taste first, here's a track from the album:
Interested in checking out Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside?
Artist website
Another thing I failed to mention is that this album has finally convinced me that Partisan Records is a label to be reckoned with. In 2011, Partisan released Middle Brother's debut, which was my favorite album of the year. In 2012 they followed that up by releasing Field Report's debut and Heartless Bastards newest album, which were my third and ninth ranked albums of the year. I expect to see Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside very high on this year's list. Plus, now with this revelation, I've got a lot of Partisan Records' back catalog to comb through for gems I've missed.
Have you listened to this band's Dirty Radio album? It's available on Spotify.
ReplyDeleteI've listened to it once so far. If I hadn't heard Untamed Beast first I probably would have liked it more, but I'll have to give it a few more spins if I can tear myself away from Untamed Beast long enough.
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