Mississippi Witch - Black Gamble

London's Mississippi Witch are another member of the consistently rewarding genre of two-piece blues revivalists. They aren't going in any directions the Black Keys or the White Stripes haven't already been but that's ok; the blues aren't about being original, the blues are about being badass, which these guys unreservedly are. Just For Roosevelt is a Led Zeppelin sized romp that includes one of the favourite themes of bluesmen – travelling around America having sex and killing people. Elsewhere, Albuquerque New Mexico effortlessly combines the bouncy swagger of the Kings of Leon with darkly psychedelic undercurrents reminiscent of the Black Angels, while the slyly funky Starving of the Bee is charmingly dark with its mix of woozy banjo, pounding piano chords, slide guitar, and chant-like vocals. Mississippi Witch haven't yet entirely mastered the art of the killer riff, and there's a minority of tracks on the record that descend into bland blues-punk but this debut is still bursting with raw power. [Tobias Kahn]