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YOU MY BROTHER
(Mofofed)
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Spiritual inheritors of their fellow New Orleanians the late Royal Fingerbowl, Morning 40 Federation thrive on stories and sounds plucked from the underbelly of the Crescent City. In their case, that’s the under-beer-belly, since the band’s name (a tip to guzzling a big brown bottle as an eye opener) and songs dwell on an affinity for alcohol over, well, just about everything. The six-piece, who got their start at the notorious 9th Ward dive the Hi-Lo, even play with a certain loud, drunken panache. They’re harder than Royal Fingerbowl. Guitars weave and wheeze, threatening to topple melodies, and the sax farts along to the beat in numbers like "Frenchy Got Bald Head" — perhaps a demented sequel to Professor Longhair’s "Bald Head." Occasionally, glimmers of New Orleans street-parade drumbeats creep through. Pretty much every lyric is a panic. "Itsy Bitsy Brother" is an ode to brotherly hate, or at least contempt. "Stinky" is a clean-up message to a lush. And "That Ain’t Professional" could be a laundry list of the results of plastered irresponsibility, from 13-year-old girlfriends to crash landings in the gutter. The Federation recently made a well-received appearance at Harpers Ferry. Let’s hope they make a speedy return, assuming they can find their way back and they hire a designated driver.
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