Ruth Theodore - Worm Food
When I first heard Ruth Theodore I had the same reaction of hearing something innovative and new that I heard with Tom Waits and Jolie Holland. It’s not that she sounds like Waits or Holland. In fact, she doesn’t really sound like anyone else which is sort of the point. Her music has elements of cabaret and folk and there is even a bit of a Brecht and Weill sense of wit on the opening “Overexpanding” and other tunes. However she easily shifts to a jazz/rock influenced “Rash” in which her voice and guitar zooms jaggedly around each other in a way that threatens to fall apart at the seams but never does. Actually her guitar playing can be pretty amazing as is her voice. She is equally impressive on slower tunes like the wistful “Nothing On” and the gorgeous “Kathy’s Song”. No matter what the tempo or mood, Ms. Theodore puts her own unique perspective on these 13 original tracks. Now that 2008 has hit the halfway mark, I can easily say Worm Food is the best free album, and one of the best overall albums, in the first part of the year. Grab this before a major label sweeps her up.
Worm Food is available from Jamendo in VBR MP3 at about 197kbps. If you enjoy the music, support the artist by buying the CD at River Rat Records.
..just wanted to say you’re doing a great job man!
thanks for all the unknown musicians i discovered through your blog…keep on spreding the music!
Comment by giannis — July 3, 2008 @ 9:51 am
Great review!
Comment by soilworker — July 3, 2008 @ 11:03 am
100% ACK.
The guitar reminded me of Ani DiFranco, especially that staccato-slap-style and some of the singing. The way in which she nearly raps parts of “Rash” is the most unique, imo,…
If you do want to buy the CD, but don’t own a credit card, you could do as I did: drop them a mail and pay via PayPal.
Oh and the best argument for buying a CD of a free album is of course, that you can (being audiophile) rip it to (lossless) FLAC, and the artwork is nice :)
Comment by pascal — July 3, 2008 @ 2:00 pm
I agree with pascal, this is VERY reminiscent of Ani DiFranco. Which is a good thing. Nice work.
Comment by Sven — July 9, 2008 @ 3:48 pm
Very cool - I think I also hear a little Kate Bush in here.
Comment by jenjen — July 14, 2008 @ 12:21 am