Radio Moscow: The Great Escape Of Leslie Magnafuzz

Black Keys-endorsed psych-blues duo kick out the jams again.

By
( )
published

You can trust Louder Our experienced team has worked for some of the biggest brands in music. From testing headphones to reviewing albums, our experts aim to create reviews you can trust. Find out more about how we review.

Radio Moscow are in a bit of a spot. Since their eponymous 2007 debut they have continually been tarred with the ‘I can’t believe it’s not Blue Cheer’ brush, proving how difficult it is for a band with retro ideals to be heard subjectively.

The point is that RM don’t exist to break new ground, and the artists they reference – Hendrix, Cream, Groundhogs, Iron Butterfly, Jeff Beck Group – are actually done justice by the duo’s talent and passion.

So here we are with album number three, another wild ride. The band’s vintage partiality makes opener Little Eye and follow-up No Time a frantic, fuzz-flanged one-two; later, Creepin’ tips its hat to former producer/mentor Dan Auerbach’s Black Keys project and solo output. The sparse, tribal groove of Densaflorativa leads the final charge to a punchy outro with I Don’t Need Nobody and Misleading Me.

If fellow period-plunderers Graveyard, White Denim and Rival Sons can catch a break and be deemed relevant in their own right, Radio Moscow may deserve one too.

Jo Kendall
Jo Kendall

Jo is a journalist, podcaster, event host and music industry lecturer with 23 years in music magazines since joining Kerrang! as office manager in 1999. But before that Jo had 10 years as a London-based gig promoter and DJ, also working in various vintage record shops and for the UK arm of the Sub Pop label as a warehouse and press assistant. Jo's had tea with Robert Fripp, touched Ian Anderson's favourite flute (!), asked Suzi Quatro what one wears under a leather catsuit, and invented several ridiculous editorial ideas such as the regular celebrity cooking column for Prog, Supper's Ready. After being Deputy Editor for Prog for five years and Managing Editor of Classic Rock for three, Jo is now Associate Editor of Prog, where she's been since its inception in 2009, and a regular contributor to Classic Rock. She continues to spread the experimental and psychedelic music-based word amid unsuspecting students at BIMM Institute London, hoping to inspire the next gen of rock, metal, prog and indie creators and appreciators.