“Shank Williams” vs. “Shank Trilliams,” j-card vs. tape, we know who
wins: Trilliams. It’s just cooler.
Brandon Eckes straps on his six-shooters, dons his ten-gallon hat, and
shines up his spurs for a jaunty plunderphonic adventure, and I have no idea
where the western references come from. Maybe because “Shank Trilliams” sounds
like an outlaw from an old film, maybe because the samples sound like outlaws
from an old film, I don’t know! What I do know is that Eckes is able to have a
lot of fun with whatever sources he’s tapping, and they all sound like they’re
incidental music from old films from the Golden Age of Hollywood, if ever such
a thing existed.
Eckes knows it did, and so he’s brought the vibe to the masses.
Scratchy like old 45s, the source material flits by in both nostalgic and
newfangled aesthetics, scratching both the oddly familiar and the sneakily
experimental itch. Eckes regards the music of others (ahem) as his own personal
playground, and we should thank him for it. “Shank Trilliams” is an
invigorating blast of weird sonics, lovingly curated and expressed with an ear
for sheer wit. Excellent work.
--Ryan
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