Taking the blues to the dancefloor is hardly new and, indeed, reversing the direction and taking the dance floor to the blues is far from uncommon in Europe and it is usually the blues that dominates in either of these hybrids yet, in a very welcome change, Beat Fatigue takes the terpsichorean influences and puts them way at the top of his “Algorhythm & Blues” EP.
While the beats may be from the past, Beat Fatigue keeps it fresh by slamming his tunes hard against the wall while in pursuit of the perfect plastic renditions of yesterday’s sledgehammer funk rhythms. Yes, I here you say, this has been done before but there is a difference here. Unlike your average dancefloor pied piper, Beat Fatigue has created songs that you can remember long after the glitter ball has been switched off and, just for old time’s sake, there is even a conventional blues song – “Rocky Roads” – featuring the vocal talents of Joe Newton for those who find themselves too old to shake their thing. It’s a good song but if I were to pick a song to play forever and ever more from this EP then it would be a toss the coin moment to decide between the hardcore haunting of “Don’t Mind It” and the rather more four to the floor charms of “Dragonfruit Max”.
You don’t often get much of the way in the imagination in any modern day take on the blues yet that’s just what Beat Fatigue has added to the mix. Those influences may well be antique but the end result is a whole lot fresher than a Tesco muffin.