DE FLUFF

A few months ago I was watching this Swedish two-piece band with fellow Dutchman and acclaimed Prog Archives member Angelo during their gig on the first Dutch Symforce Festival in 2007. We were delighted about their performance and dynamic, Hammond drenched sound and concluded very soon that Bootcut deserved to be on Prog Archives and now they are, welcome and we hope that more progheads will discover Beardfish member Rikard Sjöblom (who also plays guitar and sings) his pleasant side-project. After the show I had a chat with him on the Beardfish/Bootcut merchandise stand, he was pleasantly surprised that I started to talk about legendary famous jazzrock duo Hansson & Karlsson, of course a main source of inspiration for them. Bootcut has released two albums, this is their second effort entitled De Fluff, released in 2006. The band is a duo featuring Rikard Sjöblom (Hammond B3 organ, Nord Electro2 and ARP Pro Solist synthesizer) and Petter Diamant (drums and percussion) with additional musicians on woodwind - and brass instruments, guitar and contrabass.

In general the 12 melodic and accessible compositions sound fluent and swinging with strong echoes from jazz (Bootcut often played in jazz clubs) but also rock and blues. Their music often brings late Sixties and early Seventies bands to my mind like The Spencer Davis Group (after Eddie Hardin had replaced Stevie Windwood who had just founded Traffic), Hardin & York (also a Hammond/drums duo), Brian Auger and Trace. And of course late Sixties fellow Swedish band Hansson & Karlson but less complex, less focussed on solo-ing and more keyboard variation like the synthesizer in Quintus Quest, the clavinet in Funck The Living Dead and the Fender Rhodes electric piano in the bluesy Istället För Att Jag Kom Till Skogen Kom Skogen Till Mig. Although Rikard plays less self-indulgent, we can enjoy some swirling and propulsive work like in Fresh Free Fruit (funky sound), Funck the Living Dead, Hang Em High and especially in Crazy Cookie where he freaks out, goose bumps! The interplay between Rikard and Petter is strong and often dynamic. In some songs we can welcome guest musicians on guitar, flute, trombone and saxophone, it give the music a pleasant extra dimension. A funny track is the final song Mutta, a swinging blend of organ, guitar and Turntables (by D-Cuts), that sound of playing LP's with the hand (scratching), quite original in prog!

This is a very tasteful CD that will please the Hammond organ freaks.

I WISH YOU A HAPPY 2008 WITH LOTS OF HAMMOND ORGAN RUNS, MINIMOOG SYNTHESIZER FLIGHTS AND MELLOTRON ERUPTIONS!!