Friday, April 29, 2016

Artist: White Denim

Track: “Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)”

This will certainly be the last time I post a song that is usually associated with legendary saxophonist and noted punchline Kenny Rogers (who didn’t write it – that would be country-pop songwriter/trivia question Mickey Newbury), but “Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)” is such a late ’60s anachronism – a sexy, dirty acid-rock ditty that failed miserably in its anti-drug warning by making it sound too damn cool – that I couldn’t ignore its most recent incarnation. Austin blues-rock group White Denim funk up the proceedings here considerably, lathering on a thick coat of sleaze to go with that irresistibly bouncy melody and swooning lyrics. Recorded for the season two soundtrack of FX’s superb Fargo, which was released just last month, it fits that show’s (and the scene it’s expertly placed in) aesthetic smoothly, capturing the cracking facade of a country hollowed out by the toll of the Vietnam War and painted over with a mindless groove and lyrics that convey control starting to slip inexorably away.

It’s well within the wheelhouse for White Denim, who have graduated from their origins as a ramshackle garage rock group with a penchant for face melting live performances to psychedelic rock veterans with a penchant for face melting live performances. Stiff, their seventh, heavily soul-influenced LP, was released earlier this year. It’s certainly more produced than anything they’ve done before, but if you enjoy Southern-style throwback rock, you could do a helluva lot worse.