Review: Huffin' Rag Blues by Nurse With Wound is a highly unique the Steven Stapleton discography, and that really is saying something since it really can be quite hard to stand out if you're an album shaped by his hand. Originally released as a three-sided LP, this expanded edition now features all four audio sides for the first time; a chaotic fusion of exotica, lounge, blues, jazz, and more, created by Stapleton with collaborator Andrew Liles, this one verges on the lighter side of eerie, confusing elements of Dadaism and narrative waltz, and echoing variety entertainments of the 40s and 50s. Longtime friends Colin Potter and Matt Waldron add to the surreality, resulting in a delightful mess of surreal, dynamic tension full of humorous asides and suggestive epithets. Setting itself apart with more live instrumentation and vocals than typical NWW releases, Huffin' Rag Blues is a world of comparative eccentricity; it might happily alienate those avant-garde purists who prefer things dimmed a little more dark ambient.
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