Track listing: Black Eyed Susan, Henry, Kate, B.A. Man, Somebody Beat the Wiz, Can’t Sleep, Whitecaps On the Hudson, Sam Patch, I’ll Keep It With Mine, Show You Mine, 1993, My Head, Far Away

Jamie Block needs no sentimental, ceremonial introduction. The gent has seen it all, from opening for indie star Bob Mould (among others) to being dropped by a major label—taking a Wall Street job to being called-out on the air by an NYC disc jockey. It has been a long and precarious journey but surely Block wouldn’t change it for the world.

The flight is what helped shape the unhinged spoken-word style and poppy melodies that pervade Block’s latest release, Whitecaps On The Hudson. Block spans all class and genre on this album with his upbeat sound on tracks like “Henry” to the purely haunting and awkwardly mundane vocals on “My Head.” The listener may even get a bit of bluesy feel from the title track with some smartly woven guitar licks.

So call it what you will, however classifying this work would do it no justice—purely original, purely real. Block has grit. Block has balls. And he tells distressing but real tales of life, love and the callousness of what our minds can sometimes create.

Bravo!