Money & The Man: Dynamic Dutch Duo's Bluesy Debut

Money & The Man consist of just two members but they can make enough noise to keep any party dancing. Henk Wesselink is the frontman responsible for growly guitar riffs and the surprisingly smooth voice with Ymte Koekkoek on a striped back drum kit providing hollower backing vocals.
The duo come from Zwolle in the Netherlands about 100km from Amsterdam. It's a peaceful city and the capital of the Overijssel province. Its inhabitants carry the nickname of blauwvingers or to us, bluefingers. The history lesson behind it involves broken church bells and fingers turned blue from counting a ridiculous amount of copper coins. It's apparent that the nickname has rubbed off on the playing styles of this duo.
The six tracks on their debut EP The World Is Burning are a powerhouse of old fashioned garage blues with a gritty hard rock edge. The fast and hard drum beat of 'She Ain't So Sweet' fades in to open the record with a simultaneously rising, shallow synth. From there the catchy guitar hook grabs the ear and doesn't let go. The chorus kicks in with intense descending power chords and a burst of symbols. Immediately Koekkoek and Wesselink demonstrate the intricacy of their performing. In terms of drumming the former does a superb job at playing appropriately for their own style. Each groove he produces sits perfectly in each track. A short and sweet opening number to keep you listening.
Second up comes the slower, melancholic track 'Teen Dreams'. Here the guitar turns the grit up to '11' for the chorus. The verses consist of one part drums and elastic vocals and other part clean guitar lines with sizzling open hi hats. Judging by the title of the song coupled with the dominating coarse guitar solo, the memories of some teenage angst went in to the writing of it.
'Shuffle' is a tidy little number that perfectly suits its name. The drums shuffle along sweetly in the verses before the fast and loud, Black Keys-style chorus envelopes it. The bridge before the last chorus allows for a short call and answer section between both instruments, each taking their turn controlling four beats of alternate fills and guitar licks.
The EP cools down just a little for 'Into Your Arms'. The swampy texture of the instrumentation and syllabically stunted vocals in the verses tone the intensity of the previous tracks back a few notches. The echoed chorus adds to the sense of longing throughout the entire song. If the last track was about a girl then it's possible its follow up, 'Devil's Girl' is about happier times with the same lady. Here the guitar tone turns a bit lighter.
'Devil's Girl' strikes the perfect compromise between clean and more heavy. Growly and aggressive to kick off with perfectly placed punctation from combined bass drum and hi hat hits. The chorus kicks in with the perfect intimacy of the duo's playing as evident as anywhere else on the EP. Massive crashes and a walloping bass drum along with the vocal lines couple together and give a hint of early Arctic Monkeys. The contrast comes at the very end of the track where it finishes out on crisp descending guitar licks and a lightly played ride cymbal beat.
One other thing to note is that Keokkoek creates some top drawer quality grooves without the use of a single tom tom. His kit's set up consists of just kick and snare with hi hats and a ride cymbal. Who needs a big kit when you know how to play the way you want with the basics? Closing out the record is the title-track, 'World Is Burning'.
A panning guitar line drowned in reverb starts the track before a short and intense build up on the snare kicks it up in to the main riff. The energy levels stay high in the verse with the open hi hats giving the whole thing a trashier edge. The chorus hits harder than any other on the record before. This is grunge tune of the record and it shows. Again the drummer's backing vocals come in to play, here adding an extra layer. The song structure throughout the EP is nothing groundbreaking maintaining the traditional verse, chorus, verse chorus, bridge and chorus to finish format of most music. Explosive cymbals, cracking snare fills along with even heavier guitar riffs bring the curtain smashing down on the record.
This is an act on the brink of breaking out in a big way. Blues rock has been going through a resurgence in the last few years with the success of acts such as Benjamin Booker and Alabama Shakes. With a rock solid debut under their belts Men & The Money feel like the next natural progression in this renaissance of good old fashioned rock and roll.

Rating: 7/10