Archie Cooper

I'll be honest. Today's post is a little half assed; not on the part of the artist; this effort was meticulously constructed, but the writer. Last night we both were out watching The Wooden Sky and Paper Beat Scissors set the bar extremely high for the rest of the acts at IDOW, and my brain is moving slower than I'd like. Thankfully, I have the ear pleasing sounds of Archie Cooper to distract me as they loop over and over to shake the morning cobwebs.

The young Canadian DJ took the familiar vocals and trademark grit of John Lee Hooker as a starting point for a remix record entitled, If I Had Train Fare. Before you give a huge disappointed face and cry outrage that a young DJ would tamper with the greatness of JLH - like I almost did - it should be noted immediately that Cooper treats the compositions with respect, letting the timeless music drive the project instead of relying on the egotistical premise that he can rework the tracks into something great, in turn making them unpalatable for any fan of the original.

Blues guitar, horns and vocal snippets are fused seamlessly with samples, cuts, and beats into a remarkably understated, but highly enjoyable listen. The instantly recognizable "I'm bad, like Jesse James" is looped and scratched on Drifter Session 8, but for hip hoppers, that classic line is no more familiar than hearing Busta Rhymes drop "as I come back" when Cooper slides it into Everything Burns.

This record is obviously indebted to the past, but certainly not stuck in it. Cooper pays tribute to a great artist, and treads lightly (but confidently) around the songs in an effort to expose a new crowd of music lovers to a legend. Best part, well, you can download it all for free. I highly recommend you do. - Hero Hill