RSSCarolina Chocolate Drops [extended]
- Genuine Negro Jig [Nonesuch, 2010] ***
- Carolina Chocolate Drops/Luminiscent Orchestrii [Nonesuch EP, 2011] A
- Leaving Eden [Nonesuch, 2012] **
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Consumer Guide Reviews:
Genuine Negro Jig [Nonesuch, 2010]
Three actual "Negroes" reconstitute "genuine" African-American fiddle band--sprightly and lyrical and a trifle polite, as perforce such bands must be ("Your Baby Ain't Sweet Like Mine," "Trouble in Your Mind"). ***
Carolina Chocolate Drops/Luminiscent Orchestrii: Carolina Chocolate Drops/Luminiscent Orchestrii [Nonesuch EP, 2011]
The Chocolate Drops are an African-American string band from Durham whose first Nonesuch album avoided intimations of minstrelsy but not slavery times, which is when fiddle-banjo-harmonica-bones-kazoo ensembles first entertained both masters and comrades. As was both historically accurate and the thing to do on the folk circuit where they plied their trade, their first Nonesuch album was arresting but contained--soulful and rather slow, America having speeded up considerable since the 19th century. But on this EP they hook up with an NYC Gypsy band whose big moment up to now was one about puttin' the puddin' in the punum, and whoosh, they're off to the camptown races. All four songs are quick, sexy, and a trifle nasty. The first and last celebrate a "short dress gal" who walks "like a queen in the Amazon" from male and female perspectives, both of which focus on the same end. In between comes a fiddle-fed cover of the gold-digging Blu Cantrell hit "Hit 'Em Up Style" and one subtitled "Diga Diga Diga" that I say is about speed. Can't parse it further because it's in Roma. That's the 21st-century America I want to live in. A
Leaving Eden [Nonesuch, 2012]
Novelty revivals yes, theme statements no--please, I'm begging, no-o-o-o ("Boodle-De-Bum-Bum," "Ruby, Are You Mad at Your Man?") **