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Calling all jaded music-lovers. The Ragtime Rumours have
come to prick up your ears. In an era when the
dead-eyedmusicindustryclings to tired formulas, these time-travelling
Dutch visionariestear up the rulebook – and that rebel attitude is all
overRag ’N Roll. Anything goes on this revolutionary debut album, as the
ghosts of Robert Johnson and Django Reinhardt meet the influence of Tom
Waits and Pokey LaFarge, driving eleven self-penned originals and one
traditional that could have been written in 1920 or 2018.“We combine our
inspiration for ragtime music with the styles of blues, gypsy jazz and
rock ‘n’ roll,” explain the band.“We call it rag ‘n’ roll…”
It’s been a rocket-fuelled rise for the lineup of Tom
Janssen (lead vocals, acoustic guitar, banjo, Niki Van Der Schuren
(upright bass, vocals, flute, baritone sax), Thimo Gijezen (electric
guitar, accordion, piano, vocals) and Sjaak Korsten (drums, kazoo,
washboard, vocals).Rewind just a few short years, and The Ragtime Rumours
set out like any other young band: busking, grafting, playing any
dive-bar and hell-hole that would have them. But this talentedquartet
quickly rose above the pack, announcing their pedigree with a run of
high-profile competition victories:they took first place at 2015’s BRUL
contest, stormed the finals of the 2017 Dutch Blues Challenge,
represented the Netherlands at the International Blues Challenge in
Memphis, Tennessee, and – perhapsmost impressively – won this year’s
European Blues Challenge in Hell, Norway.
All that silverware – plus triumphantinternational tours
across Norway, Italy, Portugal, Switzerland and the UK ()– have left no
doubt thatThe Ragtime Rumours can shake a live stage. We’ve had early
hints, too, of their alchemy in the studio, with acclaimed EP Ain’t
Nobody and standout single Love & Lust rarely leaving the radio
playlists on their Netherlands home-turf. Now, Rag ’N Roll bottles the
exuberance and megawatt energy of watching this livewire band from the
front row. “Making this album,” they remember, “was a lot of nonsense,
fun and music, as usual. We wanted this album to sound sincere and
organic. It’ll give people the live feel, just like it does onstage.”
The other thing thatRag ’N Roll gives us, of course, is
a fistful of new songs that confirm The Ragtime Rumours as one of the
most creative forces in modern music.Way Too Smart kicks off the
tracklisting in style with its high-velocity groove and hard-luck lyric,
and the gems keep coming, from the bluesy harmonica-driven stylings of
Hookman to the quicksilver Django-worthy guitar licks ofThe Cigar.
There’s a change of pace with the honky-tonk intro of Stop That
Train,while the broken-down jazz of Holly Woedend, sung withheart-rending
poignancy by Van Der Schuren, will move you to shivers.
The album’s other ace card, of course, is the lyric-sheet.Anything
but the usual boy-meets-girl, these words areoften funny, occasionally
dark, sometimes surreal (or a combination of all three).There’s the topic
of money, represented on both the flat-broke Way Too Smart and
tight-fisted Turn Every Dollar (“I’m a cheap, cheap, cheap fucker”).
There are failed relationships, addressed by Everywhere I Go, as Janssen
tries to outrun an old girlfriend (“Drove planes, boats, trains, cars,
rode on a camel’s back, oh, in my head I knew you would be back”). Then
there are the classic story-songs like Hookman and Stop That Train, with
their mad cast of characters.“The songs are about everyday life very
exaggerated,” reflect the band. “And the remarkable and unfortunate
people we’ve met.”
In a world where you think you’ve heard it all before,
The Ragtime Rumours’ talents add up to the freshest debut album you’ll
hear this year. This band might roll back the years with their
irresistible vintage/modern music – but their time is now.
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