If There’s Hell Below
NUMERO GROUP
8/10
THE hype-sticker adorning this mind/ass-freeing anthology promises “Thirteen wah-drenched, acid-fried, Hendrix-worshipping, blown-out, free-love-fuelled black rock jams that’ll change your life,” and, while it downplays things somewhat, that’s what it delivers. End of story.
To offer a little more, an instant underground classic CD compilation throwing down some of the nastiest and most obscure funk-infected black American psych rock recorded across the late-1960s and early-70s, its enigma only sweetened by the complete absence of any credits or tracklist. Behind the mix was Dante Carfagna, a revered name among crate-diggers (often collaborating on his record-hunting escapades with Josh Davis, aka DJ Shadow, in search of the perfect breakbeat), who crafted the set from his years-in-the-finding collection of crackling flea-market 45s: forgotten singles pressed on local labels by mostly unheard-of groups who spent their nights playing in motorcycle gang hangouts, barely recorded anything else, and all worshipped at the eternal altar of Jimi, Parliament-Funkadelic, the Isley Brothers and Curtis Mayfield.
