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Various — My Human Digs Me Blues - Cats from Now to the 23rd Century
(Bandcamp no#, 2026, 2CD / DL)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2026-10-12

My Human Digs Me Blues - Cats from Now to the 23rd Century Cover art

Taking its title from an oblique reference to a Captain Beefheart track (“My Human Gets Me Blues” from Trout Mask Replica), its subtitle is Blues Cats from Now to the 23rd Century. It’s a project masterminded by Jerry King, and much like the earlier project Zzaj – Jazz from the 23rd Century, it attempts to open a window of possibilities with ideas and interpretations by musicians who are mostly not so well versed in the blues idiom — but then again that doesn’t really matter to an open-minded listener. Strictly speaking, in the words of the late, great Harry Chapin "To play the blues, boy, you got to live 'em, Got your dues, boy, you know you got to give 'em, Got to start sweet like a slow blues rhythm, Like a heartbeat you'll always be with 'em, When you're married to the blues, boy, Your guitar is your wife, like that fine old woman you’re faithful to for life" ("Bluesman" from Dance Band on the Titanic, 1977). I doubt that very many of the musicians who participated in this project have really lived the blues and felt the pain, mostly taking some element of what they’ve heard second hand and reprocessing it, adding new ideas that may or may not have anything to do with the classic blues sound. The same could probably be said of most  of the blues and blues-rock many of us listened to in the late 60s and early 70s. So here we are, taking blues forward into future centuries. While commenting on every one of the 46 tracks on this 2CD compilation would be informative, it would also be exhausting, and most readers would give up long before the last word was said, so instead I’ll tap a few of (what were for me) the standout tracks and if these sound interesting, then the reader can go forward and discover more. I can say unequivocally there really isn’t a bad song on here anywhere, even if some of them land pretty far away from what one would consider classic blues. Let’s start with “Deep Blue Sea,” a beautiful instrumental song played mostly on slide dobro contributed by Aaron Lee Kaplan; yeah there’s some strange sounds and electronics mixed in, but overall quite effective at blending the past state of the idiom with a possible future interpretation. “23rd Century Etude - Reds, Yellows, Blues” by Shawn Persiger appears here in two different versions, taking what would be a standard blues progression and turning it inside out and upside down, at just under forty seconds. Taking the cue from blues cats, “The Blues Is the Cat's Meow” by Mike Watt with Dave Newhouse, Jerry King, and Michele King is probably a little closer to jazz than blues, though the loud meows (on guitar) are clear and add a bit of understated humor to the proceedings. Way, way out there is “Thinking About Post-History Blues” by Greg Segal, using the standard blues instrument, slide guitar, mixed with a number of other curious instruments and studio processing and tape effects to open the door wide to future possibilities. Jimmy Ågren contributes a very authentic Beefheartian “Keep an Eye on That Dog,” definitely one of my favorite tracks here — the Captain would be proud. An brilliant exercize for electronics, echo effects and harmonica, Martin Archer’s “Dead End Blues” goes boldly where no blues have g one before, and what could be more bluesy than two or three harmonicas dueling, which is exactly what you get with “Blue Moons” by Dave Newhouse, a truly beautiful piece that makes me want to hop a freight train and take off into the wilds of east Tennessee. There’s plenty more gems to be found herein, exploration begins at the link below.

Filed under: New releases, 2026 releases

Related artist(s): Forrest Fang, Erik Hinds (Killick), Greg Segal, Vacuum Tree Head / Nubdug Ensemble, Martin Archer, Jimmy Ågren, Elliott Sharp, Henry Kaiser, Various Artists, Dave Newhouse (Manna / Mirage), Shawn Persinger (Prester John), Nick Didkovsky, Jerry King / Cloud over Jupiter, Moon Men, Bret Hart, Amanda Chaudhary, Cho-Zen Few

More info
http://cloudoverjupiter.bandcamp.com/album/my-human-digs-me-blues

 

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