DIAMOND RUGS
''DIAMOND RUGS''
APR 24 2012
PARTISAN
45:37
DOWNLOAD
1/Hightail/2:25
2/Gimme a Beer/3:11
3/Big God/2:35
4/Call Girl Blues/4:36
5/Out on My Own/2:57
6/Country Mile/4:33
7/Totally Lonely/2:24
8/I Took Note/2:41
9/Blue Mountains/2:28
10/Motherland/4:18
11/Tell Me Why/3:42
12/100 Sheets/3:29
13/Hungover and Horny/2:28
14/Christmas in a Chinese Restaurant/3:50
Bucky Baxter/Guest Appearance, Pedal Steel
Steve Berlin/Horn, Keyboards
Robbie Crowell/Bass, Keyboards, Saxophone
Spencer Cullum/Guest Appearance, Pedal Steel
Bryan Dufresne/Drums
John McCauley/Guitar, Vocals
Bryan Minto/Guest Appearance, Harmonica
Hardy Morris/Guitar, Vocals
Ian Saint Pé/Guitar, Vocals
Oscar Utterström/Guest Appearance, Trombone
REVIEW
by Mark Deming/ALLMUSIC
The debut album from Diamond Rugs started out as a solo project from John
McCauley of Deer Tick, but after he recruited a curious but intriguing
lineup of musicians and they started playing together in the studio, he
found out he wasn't the only one on hand with ideas for songs. After
listening to the album, it's not hard to imagine that this revelation was
prompted by a certain amount of liquid refreshment; most of the best and
most enjoyable songs on Diamond Rugs involve getting drunk, and the
playing has the loose and loopy feel of a jam session where the players
were up for just about anything after a few beers. The musicians on
Diamond Rugs are good enough to make these performances sound potent and
emphatic, with Ian Saint Pe of the Black Lips and Hardy Morris of Dead
Confederate on guitars, Steve Berlin of Los Lobos on sax and keys, Robbie
Crowell of Deer Tick on bass, and Bryan Dufresne of Six Finger Satellite
behind the drums. The songs have a ragged swagger that lurks somewhere
between a Stones tribute act and the second-best garage band in town, and
this ad hoc group tears into their makeshift tunes with commendable
vigor, if a sometimes shaky grasp. In the supergroup stakes, Diamond Rugs
most clearly recall Golden Smog in the way the songs reflects the
personalities of the individual members and feel more like a boozy hoot
than an attempt to fashion a new body of "serious" work. If this isn't as
good as Golden Smog's small body of work, one could reasonably argue that
outside of Steve Berlin, no one in Diamond Rugs has made a record as good
as Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Hollywood Town Hall, or Hang Time, all of which
have ties to the Golden Smog brand. Still, Diamond Rugs is a lot more fun
and less self-conscious than what Deer Tick usually delivers, and these
guys might do well to pony up for a couple cases of beer and give this
another try, though no one involved is advised to give up their other
gigs yet.
''DIAMOND RUGS''
APR 24 2012
PARTISAN
45:37
DOWNLOAD
1/Hightail/2:25
2/Gimme a Beer/3:11
3/Big God/2:35
4/Call Girl Blues/4:36
5/Out on My Own/2:57
6/Country Mile/4:33
7/Totally Lonely/2:24
8/I Took Note/2:41
9/Blue Mountains/2:28
10/Motherland/4:18
11/Tell Me Why/3:42
12/100 Sheets/3:29
13/Hungover and Horny/2:28
14/Christmas in a Chinese Restaurant/3:50
Bucky Baxter/Guest Appearance, Pedal Steel
Steve Berlin/Horn, Keyboards
Robbie Crowell/Bass, Keyboards, Saxophone
Spencer Cullum/Guest Appearance, Pedal Steel
Bryan Dufresne/Drums
John McCauley/Guitar, Vocals
Bryan Minto/Guest Appearance, Harmonica
Hardy Morris/Guitar, Vocals
Ian Saint Pé/Guitar, Vocals
Oscar Utterström/Guest Appearance, Trombone
REVIEW
by Mark Deming/ALLMUSIC
The debut album from Diamond Rugs started out as a solo project from John
McCauley of Deer Tick, but after he recruited a curious but intriguing
lineup of musicians and they started playing together in the studio, he
found out he wasn't the only one on hand with ideas for songs. After
listening to the album, it's not hard to imagine that this revelation was
prompted by a certain amount of liquid refreshment; most of the best and
most enjoyable songs on Diamond Rugs involve getting drunk, and the
playing has the loose and loopy feel of a jam session where the players
were up for just about anything after a few beers. The musicians on
Diamond Rugs are good enough to make these performances sound potent and
emphatic, with Ian Saint Pe of the Black Lips and Hardy Morris of Dead
Confederate on guitars, Steve Berlin of Los Lobos on sax and keys, Robbie
Crowell of Deer Tick on bass, and Bryan Dufresne of Six Finger Satellite
behind the drums. The songs have a ragged swagger that lurks somewhere
between a Stones tribute act and the second-best garage band in town, and
this ad hoc group tears into their makeshift tunes with commendable
vigor, if a sometimes shaky grasp. In the supergroup stakes, Diamond Rugs
most clearly recall Golden Smog in the way the songs reflects the
personalities of the individual members and feel more like a boozy hoot
than an attempt to fashion a new body of "serious" work. If this isn't as
good as Golden Smog's small body of work, one could reasonably argue that
outside of Steve Berlin, no one in Diamond Rugs has made a record as good
as Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Hollywood Town Hall, or Hang Time, all of which
have ties to the Golden Smog brand. Still, Diamond Rugs is a lot more fun
and less self-conscious than what Deer Tick usually delivers, and these
guys might do well to pony up for a couple cases of beer and give this
another try, though no one involved is advised to give up their other
gigs yet.
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