Black Blues (Soft Version) cover

Black Blues (Soft Version)

Released

In 2004, Haino released a pair of albums, both called Black Blues and both containing the same six songs — all blues covers (translated into Japanese), climaxing with two versions of Blind Lemon Jefferson’s “See That My Grave Is Kept Clean.” This acoustic version is, surprisingly, about six minutes longer than the electric version, but a lot of that is long moments of meditative silence, particularly on the songs that pass the 10-minute mark. His acoustic guitar sounds slightly detuned, almost like an autoharp, and is treated with just a little bit of reverb, while his vocals are sometimes whispered into the microphone with incredible intimacy. This is one of the few Haino albums that really must be experienced on headphones.

Phil Freeman

Recommended by

Suggestions
Moving Cities cover

Moving Cities

Makaya McCraven, Antoine Berjeaut
War Prayers cover

War Prayers

Young People
Live at the East cover

Live at the East

Pharoah Sanders
Dead Hills cover

Dead Hills

Wolf Eyes
Kannon cover

Kannon

Sunn O)))
Surrendered cover

Surrendered

David S. Ware
Live at Firehouse 12 cover

Live at Firehouse 12

Gerald Cleaver, Violet Hour
Way of the Cairns cover

Way of the Cairns

Patrick Cornelius