Buffalo Nichols breathes new life into the blues on "The Fatalist" and confirms Roadburn

The Fatalist, Buffalo Nichols latest record, is a vehicle for the artist’s unique experimentation within the blues. Nichols, hailing from Milwaukee, WI, has managed to blend traditional blues elements with contemporary influences with the album, resulting in a somewhat experimental outing that still sounds reverent. 

Drum machines, samples, synths and blues? Is that a thing? Should it be? The answer, at least to bluesman Buffalo Nichols, is an unqualified “yes.” “I tried to reimagine the blues as if it were allowed to grow and progress uninterrupted, uncolonized and ungentrified,” says Nichols in this album’s notes. Fair enough, and one spin of his second release is all it takes to hear how organically he incorporates various electronics successfully into some deep, often dark, Delta-styled blues. By mixing synth ambience and hip-hop production with rattling acoustic guitar and his tectonic rumble of a voice, Nichols forgets about fitting in. Rather, he made a blues record for the world he lives in. If that world has white garage-blues uncles in it, they’re not gatekeepers.

While it’s tempting to call The Fatalist an experimental record, that’s not accurate. Nichols knows how these elements work and how they fit together. Sometimes experiments fall flat, and everything on The Fatalist lands.

With "The Fatalist" Buffalo Nichols will be touring Europe in January and February:

09/01: Cushendun, IRL - Cushendun Old Church
10/01: Derry, IRL - Newgate Arts Theatre
11/01: Dublin, IRL - Whelan's
12/01: Clonakilty, IRL - De Barras
15/01: Tralee, IRL - Non Faction
22/01: Barcelona, ESP - Heliogàbal
23/01: Valencia, ESP - Loco Club
24/01: Madrid, ESP - Hotel Canopy
25/01: Zaragoza, ESP - La Lata de Bombillas
26/01: San Sebastián, ESP - Dabadaba
28/01: Marseille, FR - Théâtre de l'Oeuvre
29/01: Grenoble, FR - La Belle Electrique
30/01: Annecy, FR - Le Brise-Glace
31/01: Orléans, FR - L'Astrolabe
01/02: Paris, FR - La Maroquinerie
04/18: Tilburg, NL - Roadburn