“Nasty Crime” From Bluesman Alex Lopez

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From the acoustic-born harmonies of “The First Time” to dirtier grooves ala “Holy Woman” or “World on Fire,” the new album Nasty Crime from bluesman Alex Lopez lives up to its title within the context of classic blues grit; there’s simply never a dull moment to behold. Although there’s a disciplined attitude to his approach in “Just Wait” and the title track, even when Lopez is being meticulous he’s still got a mad desire to go above and beyond what’s required of him as a singer, songwriter, and guitarist in this record, alluding to virtuosity based more in tone than in execution.

WEBSITE: https://www.alexlopezmusic.com/

Don’t get me wrong – while the arrangements in this record, specifically in tracks like “No Way,” “When the Sun Goes Down,” and “That’s Alright,” are on par with some of his best work ever, there’s something more brilliant about the framing of this material than the actual substance of the lyrical content at hand. This is a player who is determined to express things from a place of great complexity, which is not the case with the vast majority of his peers in both the underground and the mainstream alike.

Though there’s a lot of complicated melodicism at work in the tracklist of Nasty Crime, there’s never an overstated instrumental component in the mix – including the guitar parts. You’re not going to get the indulgence of a smart harmony confused for over-the-top fretwork sophistication in “See the Light” or “I Don’t Care,” but this isn’t a knock on the guitar element in this record at all. Truth be told, I think Lopez is aiming higher than what the traditional guitar-based LP is meant to encompass from an artistic standpoint, and the mere appearance of bravado in his lyrical delivery backs this up 100%.

His lyrics, while being only one-third of the communicative force driving these songs, are much more integrated with the music in this setting than they have been in previous efforts bearing his name in the byline, and I don’t think there’s going to be any debating the credibility of the concept in Nasty Crime when looking at how thin and flimsy some of the other so-called ambitious blues projects have been releasing in the better part of the last three years.

HEAR NOW: https://alexlopez.hearnow.com/nasty-crime


Whether you’re a lifelong blues lover like myself or just get into good grooves and solid jams when you happen to stumble upon them, Nasty Crime is an LP that is bound to get your attention if you check it out this July. Alex Lopez, while flying under the radar for a lot of outsiders to his scene, is performing like one of the more vital forces to be reckoned with in the underground half of this genre at the moment, and with the right exposure to fans of a more diverse market, I think he’s going to have a good shot at taking this sound onto the international circuit with this album. No matter how you dice it, the groundwork for an amazing live show is here, and it’s beckoning anyone with serious music tastes this summer.

Trace Whittaker