WHEN SKIPJACK TRIPPED - Is This World Still Mine?
Five releases in sixteen years band existence? No wonder When Skipjack Tripped's new album Is This World Still Mine? sounds so relaxed. Released on Micropal Records, you can only expect quality, but don't expect anything you will like instantly. Like other releases from that label, WST needs some time getting used to. That's because these guys are old enough not to have to care about trends and fashions anymore. Deeply rooted in alternative country and mellow blues, WST start their album with the weird Stop Fuckin' About, and I was thinking just that when I heard this five minute introduction to the album. Let's just say that it's not one of the better indie instrumentals I have ever heard. But the following Anxious Heart shows WST from a side where they are much more at ease. Slightly bluesy guitars and a recording technique that might have come from the very early Seventies, the band gives a crap about conventions and plays Americana sounding music like you never heard from Germans before.
WST are something like the European answer to Calexico, minus the TexMex parts. The whole album sounds so laid back you wonder how this is still possible in our hectic Western world. Is This World Still Mine? may not be for those among you who prefer their music loud and rocking, but it is an ideal album to have a good time with Summer getting closer every day. I am looking forward already to their next album which should be out sometime in 2010 or 2011.