Gary Clark Jr.

Alright Moist Melodies readers. We have done you a disservice through our recent lack of posting. But for the sake of continuity, I'm just going to ignore the lengthy gap between posts and continue as if nothing had ever changed.

Gary Clark Jr. is the truth. He's a blues-rock guitarist in the vein of the Black Keys who is just straight up great. The music is driven in large part by his electric guitar playing which is bluesy and technically skillful. His guitar playing has been given awards by people who should know about guitar playing, so he's got that to fall back on too. But the main gist of it is that Clark takes the blues rock sound of groups like the Black Keys and puts his own spin on it. At times he delves into the realms of hip-hop with his smooth voice rapping over traditional rock instrumentals, and others, he sticks to a more straightforward blues rock song with a sick nasty Hendrix-esque guitar solo stuck somewhere in the middle. His album, Blak and Blu (2012), was the spark I needed to get Moist Melodies started back up, so I take that as a true testament to this album. Seriously, the whole reason we started this blog was to share music that we're excited about. This is music to get excited about. It's been a really long time since I've been so amped about an artist I just learned about. The fire has been rekindled and Moist Melodies has returned. Listen to some jams after the break.

The first song, "Numb" showcases the traditional fuzzy guitar sound that Gary Clark Jr. is so well known for. He's rocking hard and making you feel like a badass. If you like this song/style, I cannot stress to you enough how much you'll like the rest of his music.




The second song is a live version of "Things Are Changin." It's a slower number, and it almost has a Xavier Rudd feel to it, which is not a bad thing. It showcases his softer side and serves as not so bad love-makin music, which is something we can all get behind. heh.