VOODELIC

Voodelic will send shivers up and down your spine,
and that means a whole lot more than trying to figure out how to label their music on your iPod. And with their new album Conjure about to drop,maybe it would be better if you listened for yourself, anyway. Like that soup that’s still tingling your tongue, Conjure is a curious monster, one with a backstory nearly as convoluted as that of the band itself.It begins with Lundy, who goes by “little earl” when in Voodelic mode. Growing up in Mississippi, Earl made his way to Manhattan in his early twenties, but not before laying waste to the Deep South with his band, Bonnington Truce. “Punk was already dead, but we didn’t know that, we didn’t care, we still got in trouble for looking and sounding like we did, and being in a band from Mississippi, I still sounded like a blues singer doing punk.”
Those elements are still in Little Earl’s voice, a powerful enough instrument that the hairs on the back of your neck aren’t just standing, they’re dancing, threatening to pull themselves directly from the root.
Your favorite band has that indefinable mojo,
and whether you know it or not, it all comes back to the rhythm section. If the bass and drums are working as one through some primal connection, you might not even know it’s happening. But with Almquist and Cartwright,
it’s happening all right, in a big way.
While the band was quick to find their rhythm, it took the arrival of another vagabond southerner to give Little Earl the inspiration to bring his own gospel and R&B influences fully to the fore. Though Ross Rice technically grew up in New Hampshire, it was a move to Memphis during his high school days that saw the keyboardist come into his own. “I was originally a drummer,” Rice said. “I pretty much am still a drummer, I just beat on the keyboard instead of the drum.”With a full Memphis music experience that included a house gig at the Peabody Hotel with Stax Records legend Donald “Duck” Dunn, Rice found himself working with everyone from Albert King to Steve Cropper, Rufus Thomas to Peter Frampton. Like Little Earl, Rice eventually found his way to the Hudson Valley, settling in Rosendale and becoming something of a musical hired gun. Somewhere along the way, he became part of the Voodelic scene.
With zero rehearsal, Rice filled in on a gig, and a missing piece clicked into place.
“Ross, because of his experience in Memphis and Nashville- his chops have developed around gospel and R&B, and it’s a really natural combination for me,” Little Earl said. “I can kinda go someplace, and he follows me, or vice-versa.”
Rice agreed, noting that the differences in heritage and age provide Voodelic with some indefinable mix that makes the whole far greater than its parts might be under different circumstances. “I think it comes down to a Mason/Dixon deal, and an old and young thing as well,” Rice said. “It’s two more grizzled southerners coming together with two young Northerners. There’s a bit of a collision, but it’s harmonious, too. We’re stunningly harmonious when we get things going.”
Little Earl describes the collective Voodelic experience thusly:“It’s kind of like putting the pedal down in a car,” he said. “You accelerate and everybody knows you’re accelerating, and they either know something wonderful or terrible is about to happen.
Let it flow, and let whatever happens happen.” - ROLL MAGAZINE

Voodelic, whose very name is a head-on collision, would be easy to describe as a collision of South and North and, in exactly the same proportion, of older and younger. The older contingent, gutsy singer and lyricist Little Earl Lundy and master keyboardist Ross Rice, came here from the South, carrying all the authentic grit, soul sophistication, blues and grease that implies. The younger rhythm section – bassist Colin Almquist and brothers Dan and Eric Cartwright on drums and guitar, respectively – are northern Ulster County kids raised on alt/rock and metal. They bring the huge hard-rock low end and hypertight riffage to Voodelic’s multi-genre gumbo.

The only problem with that description is that the older guys are looking and sounding mighty spry these days, the younger cats aren’t all that young anymore and Voodelic’s sound has evolved into a fully coherent and organic take on high-drama funk/rock, not a stylistic fusion that “looks good on paper.” When Eric Cartwright rips a squealing solo right out of an ‘80s glam/metal tune over a groove that sounds like Little Feat or the Meters played by Helmet or Candiria, nobody’s apologizing for anything. It’s all in there, and they mean every bit of it.

This is one high-impact live band. Rice and Lundy, the group’s naturally uninhibited and extroverted performers, connect with each other in a way that can only be described as rousing and brimstone-spiritual. Lundy’s words chase contemporary targets with Biblical methods, politicized and gospelized in equal measure. The rapport between Rice and Lundy seems straight out of a big tent revival, and Rice – as I assume everyone in the Hudson Valley knows by now – is a stone-cold major talent. Meanwhile, snappy, syncopated, big-bottom grooves anchor the soaring drama of the harmonies and Rice’s organ, a blend of sternum-punishing precision, ethereal grace and Lundy’s articulate, righteous-soul rage. It’s not the formula that makes it badass; it’s the dudes.

Voodelic has became a must-see regional act, so go must-see them at the Bearsville Theater on Friday, March 22. The show starts at 9 p.m. and admission costs $10. For more information, call (845) 679-4406 or visit http://bearsvilletheater.com. The Bearsville Theater is located at 291 Tinker Street in Woodstock. For more on Voodelic, check out http://voodelic.bandcamp.com. - Ulster Publishing

Palenville-based and proud, Voodelic has been a staple of the local scene since 2004, and recently raised the bar with the addition of local light Ross Rice, a keyboard veteran who has put in his time
in Memphis, playing with the greats and having hits with the band Human Radio. Other members include Colin Almquist (bass), Dan Cartwright (drums), Eric Cartwright (guitar), and Mississippi native “Little” Earl Lundy on vocals.
You can be sure a dead chicken was swung over these tracks, as Voodelic surely lives up to its name with this dark and delicious fare. This North-meets-South scenario simply cooks on high heat, and a spicy funk/gospel/soul stew emerges, all played with an underlying rock stance. On the funky, clavinet-and-organ-powered “Dark Times,” Lundy sings, “I won’t rely on a rich man’s justice.” There’s palpable pathos in his tone with the anxious “Voices,” in which he wails, “There’s voices in my head I can’t control”—and you believe him. “Suppose” has an urgent urban vibe, while a bubbling bass prods “Blasphemers” and its false prophets. All the elements come together in the big closer, “Tha Voo.”
The musicianship and tunes here are top-notch, the arrangements are razor-sharp, and the production is vibrant and alive, as Voodelic finally comes into its own and heads skyward.
by David Malachowski,
January 26, 2010 Chronogram - Chronogram

Voodelic— Conjure
(Topisaw Dawg Records)

Given the long and winding path Conjure traveled from inception to completion, it’s not unrealistic to wonder if Voodelic’s natural chemistry seen on stages across the Hudson Valley and beyond would have been diluted through studio switches into something less than what it should be. But on the album’s first track, “Dark Times,” those fears are forgotten almost instantly, as Voodelic is alive and well, and no studio walls are built strong enough to keep their fury from escaping.
There’s something to be said for seeing a fantastic live band in the close confines of a club, or out in the open at a festival where it feels like their power might knock a satellite out of orbit. But no matter how perfect the sound might be wherever you’ve seen Voodelic before, it’s likely some of the little things they do so well have been lost somewhere as the band and its fans push and pull as one. On Conjure, those little things become more apparent — the vocal harmonies on “Dark Times” and “Lookin’ Up”, for example — and it’s probable that fans of the band will somehow appreciate even more what Voodelic is capable of.
If you’re unfamiliar with Voodelic, just try to picture a Frankenstein’s monster created from disparate parts. Only this particular monster doesn’t stumble around a la Boris Karloff, but rightly spins and throbs and shakes some serious ass. The aforementioned chemistry of Voodelic flows through Little Earl, not just the band’s frontman, but also its spirit and its soul. Bass guitarist Colin Almquist and drummer Dan Cartwright are Voodelic’s heart, and multi-instrumentalist Ross Rice its nerve center. Together, with or without their many co-conspirators, the core of Voodelic is a killer, and it all comes through on Conjure, as relentless a collection of pure funk and soul as you’re likely to hear in this year or any other. —Crispin Kott - ROLL MAGAZINE