West Australian boogie masters Datura4 return with their highly anticipated fifth album, Neanderthal Jam. Fronted by Dom Mariani of legendary Oz garage rockers The Stems, Neanderthal Jam is eleven new tracks of psychedelicised blues and full-tilt heavy rock that were jammed out and recorded at their favourite south-west farmhouse studio during the early months of 2021. Having already released four acclaimed albums on AliveNatural Records Demon Blues (2015), Hairy Mountain (2016), Blessed is the Boogie (2019) and West Coast Highway Cosmic (2020), Neanderthal Jam sees them building upon and going beyond on another diverse collection of songs.
Album opener ‘Going Back to Hoonsville’ gets things started with a relentless and pounding swing to get your hot wheels on. The jam is well and truly underway, and so the boogie gets heavy pursuing love in an inner sanctum on ‘Secret Society’ until the joyous organ groove of ‘Open the Line’ invites us to dance to the music.
‘Bad Times’ digs in on their OZ rock roots with a groove that the ‘Tatts’ (Rose Tattoo) would be proud of. ‘Black Speakers’ and title track ‘Neanderthal Jam’ keep the jams cooking with Bob Patient’s keyboard playing prowess on display proving what a welcome addition he has been to the band. An acoustic prelude that is ‘Hold My Life’ that leads into a pummelling boogie riff on ‘Worried Man’s Boogie’ sets the scene for personal concerns about a world and the times we find ourselves in.
Full-throttle rocker ‘Digging My Own Grave’ turns the lights to ‘black and purple’ and the Witchdoctor takes us for a ride on ‘Fish Fry’ until we get to the epic sun-kissed west coast highway closer ‘Dry-By Island.’ Neanderthal Jam,……to be continued.
Datura4’s new album Neanderthal Jam comes out this August via Alive Naturalsound Records.