01.18.2012 // Press // ddukes
Music blog Hear, Hear! featured us today and reviewed Thugs and China Dolls. Those nice people say:
“Dukes knows how to craft a song from the ground up,and he’s ready to show what can be accomplished when being an eccentric is considered a badge of honor. This one’s a definite keeper.”
01.18.2012 // Press // ddukes
Surviving the Golden Age has a review up for Thugs and China Dolls, and, um, well, they kind of gush about it.
“[Folk has] grown up, it’s sophisticated, and nothing defines the medium better than Dare Dukes’ Thugs and China Dolls.”
01.17.2012 // Press // ddukes
Smart music blog Listen, Damnit reviewed Thugs and China Dolls today and said some very, very nice things. Extra points for the use of “adenoidal”!
…”a baroque-folk album built around acoustic instruments: banjo, mandolin, strings, horns, accordion and rich, beautiful vocal harmonies. Dukes sings in a distinctive voice at once tuneful and adenoidal, and his lyrics are smart and vivid.
With twin horn lines, a stop-start rhythm and male-female vocal interplay on the chorus, free song “Meet You At the Bus” feels like a gentler answer to the Replacements “Kiss Me On the Bus,” but don’t mistake gentle for naive: Dukes is as savvy as he is empathic.”
