Danny Lee Blackwell from Night Beats and His Latest Release, "Rajan"

The Sharp Notes with Evan Toth

We grapple a lot with genre here on Radar, and this week’s episode is no different. Genre is a funny thing when it’s applied to nearly any field. On one hand, there’s nothing wrong with an artist being aligned with - or, being seen as representative of a certain genre - even if it’s a point of frustration for the artist. On the other hand, music listeners should allow artists the latitude to adjust their compass to explore other styles of music without untoward rebuke, but sometimes it’s not easy to persuade an audience to follow an artist's whims and dalliances. It is what it is.

While much of Danny Lee Blackwell’s output can be tidily summarized as living in the psychedelic world, there’s a lot more to him, and to his numerous musical projects. Today, we’re here to talk about Danny’s group Night Beats and his new album, Rajan (Suicide Squeeze / Fuzz Club), but he’s got other irons in the fire, as well. This year, Danny also released an album with another project he’s working with, the name of that group is Abraxas and the album was titled, Monte Carlo. Danny’s involved in many other musical productions as well.

On Rajan, Danny explores garage rock, soul, and R&B. Of course, one can also find some funk, jazz and elements of hip-hop in his work as well. We discuss all of that, plus more: the familial ties that are connected to this album and life on the road. No matter what genre Danny is exploring, he’s got one simple rule for determining if what he’s created makes it to the final cut: whatever it is, it’s got to give him goosebumps. Hopefully, you get the same feeling listening to our chat.