Hydraulic Groove

Rick Holmstrom

Tone-Cool Records

review by Clancy Dunigan

RELAX and do not search the well worn synapse, he’s not a well worn name, or recovering has been...Rick Holmstrom’s #3 release, Hydraulic Groove, starts with a drum roll and a reverbed announcer’s intro into what sounds like another medium first song shuffle to be listened to...what follows is a heck of a collection of song styles, a wonderfully tasteful assortment of contemporary bluesed up edgy offerings by a guy who is willing to take not a few chances. Tone-Cool gets kudos for backing the project certainly. Purist may give Hydraulic Groove] an askance glance only. It has funk, chopped-up beats, and samples mixed with pure vintage guitar. I liked it immensely. Thought I was listening to RLBurnside, Sean Costello, the old T-’Birds, a touch of Los Lobos, and Mike Morgan & The Crawl...enuf of name dropping.

If you like an eclectic sound that moves from the Chicago electric guitar sound (#3/Last To Know) to a more guitar/rhythm section driven sound #4Pee Wee’s Nightmare) reminiscent of the PeeWee Crayton’s Blues After Midnight sound. Hold on and the disc now turns to an RL Burnside-ish sound (#s 5,6,8) The rub is the feel of #6 - “My Maria” has Los Lobos inflections and #8 “Gravy” has a distinct Sean Costello interplay of lyrics and musicianship. Holmstrom is a clever artist, vocally, with his guitar, and the band’s chemistry is right and tight to the task of making it’s muse and music sound clean and edgy but not glitzy and overly produced.

If you enjoyed “Got To Be A Love” by Billy Stapleton, this disc is of that richly textured, “you don’t know what coming next,” recipe. So if you are interested in good musicianship, rhythms with varied musical flavors, and something very different yet blues still, this may be a disc you want to listen to, with the volume way up. I think it appeals to a wide slice of listeners who may want spice, variety, and a good sound, something edgy but not over the top... Enjoy. Have an pleasurable listening summer.