Music / blues

Last days of Oakland


Reviews (4)


AllMusic

2016

By

By

Stephen Thomas Erlewine

2016

"Blues in the 21st century usually falls into two camps: hip revivalists raised on rock who are ready to shred and traditionalists content to confine the music on a narrow path. Fantastic Negrito (...) disregards this playbook by offering a fresh take on blues with his 2016 album, The Last Days of Oakland ... What separates Fantastic Negrito from these 21st century peers is that he doubles down on funk and digitally erased cultural boundaries without losing a specific sense of self or place".


The guardian

d. 16. July 2016

By

By

Michael Hann

d. 16. July 2016

"The Last Days of Oakland is blues, but reconfigured as a scream of rage rather than sadness ... But it's never an overbearing or miserable album; Fantastic Negrito wants answers, but he wants you to ask the questions, too".


npr music

d. 26. May 2016

By

By

Jason Heller

d. 26. May 2016

""Blues with a punk attitude" is the tagline on Fantastic Negrito's website, and it's not an empty slogan ... Last Days Of Oakland is among the rawest pieces of music - sonically and emotionally - you'll hear all year. But it's also the work of a craftsman, full of subtlety and sophistication, along with the kind of scars that only a survivor can flaunt".


Living blues

2017 February

By

By

Robert H. Cataliotti

2017 February

" ... a challenging and seductive post-modern mash-up of blues, gospel, work songs, R&B, funk, spoken word and hip-hop. The soundscape connects the past to the present as Negrito surveys black urban life in the 21st century ... The Last Days of Oakland is very much a new beginning, a rebirth of the blues and black roots music for these post-modern times".