Chooglin’ “Take Your Sweet Time”
Minneapolis-based band Chooglin’ are back; this time with a collection of their loose rock and roll songs on their newest disc Sweet Time. The songs, which are “classic” in the sense that you can intuitively relate to them, are straightforward bar rockers that make no attempt to re-invent the wheel. The tunes on Sweet Time are the kind of songs that really strike a nerve after tossing back a few (or ten) beers. As they showed at their rollicking CD release show last month at the 7th St. Entry (with a killer opening set by the Dexateens), the band is a charging, soulful machine. The band’s first release on Fat Possum Records uses every one of its 38 minutes to really highlight their vintage and free wheeling sound. A good representation of this is the album’s opener, a frantic rocker titled “Take Your Sweet Time.” The song rips right out of the gate with driving guitars before the horns add in a funky southern drawl. The band’s early 1970′s Rolling Stones-sounding backdrop is augmented by Brian Vanderwerf’s throat shredding vocals. The album is a soulful, funky and rocking turn that—when mixed with the bigger distribution with Fat Possum—will likely find the band reaching many more fans to relish in their retro sound.