Jack Rabid of The Big Takeover on Leopold and His Fiction

The Big Takeover's infamous scribe Jack Rabid gave us a sneak peak at his glowing review of Leopold and His Fiction's Golden Friends EP before the next issue of The Big Takeover hits stands.

"This six-song EP is really a two-song teaser for a forthcoming third LP, with two songs each from last year’s Ain’t No Surprise and 2006’s self-titled debut added. Having reviewed Ain’t in issue 63, the new approach foreshadowed by “Golden Friends” and “Throne” is interesting torment. It’s hard to tell from such limited sample if the San Francisco trio are fully modifying their dirty-roots rock, gut-bucket shake ‘n’ shimmy that had me reaching for Gun Club, Tex & the Horseheads, Flesheaters, and Pontiac Brothers references. But with Thom Monahan (Pernice Brothers) producing, the lighter swamp blues soul of “Golden” is something I could hear Tom Waits howling in a graveyard—although Daniel James’ molasses voice is plenty sexy. “Throne” is just his voice and mostly just a quiet electric guitar playing a line like The Beatles’ “Something.” Bring on the LP."