Vintage Review: Jet Black Factory’s House Blessing (1990)

Nobody was watching, even though it should have come as no surprise. While everyone was involved with, and enthralled by, a dozen and one other bands, Nashville’s Jet Black Factory quietly became one of the more creative forces to be found in the city. On the heels of two successful and widely acclaimed EPs, House Blessing is Jet Black Factory’s first full-length album and their most mature and engaging creative effort to date.

Dave Willie’s voice has grown into a magnificent instrument; dark, haunting vocals caressing the somber, oblique poetry that is the band’s lyrical forte. Bob German’s six string work perfectly compliments the material while the remainder of the band skillfully manipulates the texture and tone of the material. Treading a stylistic ground which owes as much to the Velvet Underground as it does Joy Division or R.E.M., Jet Black Factory has delivered a debut LP, of sorts, which is sure to make the coastal trend-setters sit up and take notice. (391 Records, released 1990)

Review originally published by The Metro, April 1990  

Vintage Review: Jet Black Factory’s duality (1988)

Don’t ask me why I like this band. I can’t figure it out. I hate this kind of stuff: the dark vocals of those suicidal Goth-rockers, the jangly guitars of every band south of the Mason-Dixon line who bought their local R.E.M. franchise. It’s all too bloody serious. Just give me some Chuck Berry riffs and a couple of “na-na’s” and I’ll go home, thank you.

But these guys are different. Dave Willie’s hoarse, brooding vocals have an energy that keeps them from getting mired in Goth-muck. Bob German’s guitar vocabulary isn’t limited to wimpoid jingle-jangles. He is perfectly capable of snarling, and knows when nothing short of a wall of sound will do. Jim Dye and Dave Jones form a taut and understated rhythm section. Though there’s nothing here with the driving force of “Water’s Edge,” from JBF’s last effort, songs like “Interstate and Speed” present dreamlike images in a swirling vortex of guitars and urgent vocals.

Producer Mike Poole deserves mention, for this six-song EP is as well-crafted as anything the big boys put out. Somebody ought to give him a zillion dollars so he can get about the business of saving rock & roll from itself. So roll over, Chuck Berry, and tell NRBQ the news, ‘cause this one’s going to be on my turntable for a while. (391 Records, released 1988)

Review originally published by The Metro, 1988

Vintage Ads: Jet Black Factory's Duality EP

Ad for Jet Black Factory's second EP, Duality, circa 1988, from the Fireplace Whiskey Journal

Jet Black Factory