Diamond Rugs is a collaboration between John McCauley, Robbie Crowell, Ian Saint Pe, Steve Berlin, Hardy Morris and Bryan Dufresne. Not too dissimilar from the beginnings of Middle Brother, McCauley decided he wanted to make another record during his downtime in his new home base of Nashville, with producers Adam Landry and Justin Collins. While attending a Los Lobos show, he made his way backstage and met Steve Berlin. McCauley convinced Berlin to come to Nashville to play on the record. Over the course of the next month, he also managed to convince Saint Pe, Morris and his good friend from his hometown of Providence,RI Dufresne. McCauley also recruited Deer Tick keys/sax player Robbie Crowell to play bass on the album. What happened next was entirely unexpected; the musicians McCauley had recruited to play on his record ended up contributing their own songs to the album and a fully-formed band emerged, rather than a group of musicians playing on another artists record.
C**K
Cd skips
Love this band so much if the cd didn't skip i would be giving 5 stars
V**N
Better than expected
I put off buying this album for a few reasons. First, I'd previewed it, and my initial thought was that John Mccauley (my main draw to the record) hadn't really put much into the writing,eg. Hungover and Horny. I'd also heard that it was kind of thrown together rather quickly, so I thought there wasn't any great effort put into it really. But I found myself wanting to hear some of the songs sometimes, and I just went for it. I have not regretted it once. The album has tons of great stuff on it, front to back. The fact that there are three songwriters contributing to it give it a multidimensional feel that you wouldn't get otherwise. If you're tempted, just do it. It's a fun, rolicking album.
J**Z
Five Stars
an diamond in the ruff
L**N
Interesting
Pretty good outing here from a mix of badasses. Worth a shot, but not consistantly solid. Mccauly might be one of the best new songwriters around, but not exactly enthralling here
M**Y
Call it Deer Tick-Lite
I saw them at South by Southwest, and while this is not as raw and exciting as their live show, there are still some nice tunes on here, just what Deer Tick fans would expect.
B**N
great unique record
great record!!! excellent songwriting. understated playing. goofy and fun. deceptively simple songs. 'totally lonely' needs to be in david lynch movie soundtrack.
J**T
Five Stars
Great "supergroup" and great album! Their follow up is even better!
P**Y
Monsters of alt country retro rock
What Monsters of Folk did for the singer/songwriter, southern rock set, Diamond Rugs first album has done- but better- for the indie/retro/country rock scene. Spearheaded by the seemingly restless John McCauley of Deer Tick, Diamond Rugs is a supergroup consisting of members from Deer Tick, Black Lips, Los Lobos, Dead Confederate, and Six Finger Satellite that manages to transcend egos and individual identities and coalesce into a fun, eclectic, rocking album that sounds like the best of all the aforementioned bands. Opening track "Hightail" sounds like rockabilly Elvis. "Gimme A Bear" and every other McCauley led track sounds like a lost Replacements song, cementing McCauley's role as the Paul Westerberg of the new millennium. "Blue Mountains" features a scat intro reminiscent of a song from the Muppets TV show whose name escapes me. "Country Mile" rocks as hard as any Black Lips track at its rawest. "Call Girl Blues" comes complete with horns that sound somewhere between Los Lobos and the Mats "I Don't Know". Each track sounds fresh yet familiar and the album holds up after repeated listens. Personally, the album has yet to leave my Daily Listen Rotation since its release and it does not look like it will get old any time soon. Diamond Rugs is fun and exciting rock 'n' roll that should please fans of the aforementioned bands and any one interested in straight up great music.
M**6
John McCauley
インディロックバンドDeer TickのフロントJohn McCauleyが中心となり発展したプロジェクトバンドDiamond Rugsによるデヴューアルバム。まぁ、次が出るかどうかわからないが、良いロックンロールアルバムになっており聞き応えある。よたったパンク＆ロックンロールなナンバーぞろい、且つストーンズらしかったりスプリングスティーンぽかったり・・・遊び心やユーモアたっぷりで、さすがJohn McCauleyな内容。ホーンや鍵盤も差し込み、ガレッジやブルース等々を滲ませたロックンロールに仕上げている。メンバーはバンドメイトのRobbie、Black LipsのIan、Los LobosのSteve Berlin、Dead ConfederateのHardy、Six Finger SatelliteのBryanと相当個性のある連中が揃っている。おもしろくて格好いいロックアルバムだ。
