Tuesday 27 July 2010

DE KEEFMEN - MIRROR OF TIME LP


There were some close calls, 2 10"s (The No-Goods & De Keefmen) and a CD (The Miracle Men), but finally it has happened, a real 12" piece of vinyl coming from the Drenthe Beat Scene (if we don´t take in account the private release “Back to the Wenaker” from Mark ten Hoor). Up and running now for 2 years these boys DE KEEFMEN don´t seem to waste any time, this being their third release already. Last year saw the release of a 10" on Kuriosa Records and a 7" on Vinyl Junkie Rekkids and both had some great songs intentionally recorded very crude and raw to capture their spirit, a spirit that was very visible during their 2 short trips to Spain where they convinced the crowd with their energetic, hectic and fast shows. Their debut full length released by Dirty Water Records seems in comparison very mature, with a great sound arranged by bassplayer Peter Kroes and nicely balanced. And in that sense it is a great leap forward.
In the short time they managed to come up with some great new material. The record starts off with the perfect example, “Searchin”, a great song in 60´s vain with some nice hooks, great drum rolls, an hectic organ and the desperate vocals of the singer on duty. Actually the organ is a nice touch on several songs like the heartfelt “Miss you”, an amazing little song. And let´s not forget the melodic and thus more poppy “Doreen”, no, once again there´s plenty to enjoy.
If you buy it after one of their shows though you are in for a surprise because on first appearance it runs a bit long because there is much more room for actual songs instead of the fury found in their concerts, for instance the great balladry of "The Hurtin´ Kind" and "Not the Same”, 2 great songs written by singer Henri Sulmann and songs that sometimes unjustly might be skipped during one of their performances to keep up the pace. Fortunately to compensate there are of course the savage "I need help!" or the Outsideresque "I wanna tell her" and crowd pleaser "Stop Pushin´ Me", sort of a cover from De Miracle Men. And talking about covers, their essential version of De Avengers´"Be a Keefman" is here and the wild instro "Sickels and Hammers" originally from De Minutemen, so there´s no room for complaining.
It´s a great album with a touch of timelessness, containing songs with their roots in soul, beat and rock´n´roll, from Otis to Reigning Sound and from The Outsiders to the Minutemen, showing Henri skills as singer and songwriter, fronting the killer backbeat delivered by the dynamite duo Dennis de Lange & Peter Kroes. Completed with some great hilarious liner notes by Dandy Dave and housed in a classic sleeve makes this a perfect debut.

To get a taste watch their excellent first official video "I Need Help!. Filmed on 4/5 June 2010 for Dirty Water Films on a hunebedden (megalithic tomb) near Klazienaveen by Spanish filmmaker Rafael Perez

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