If there is an algorithm to calculate artistic merit versus commercial clout, Ike Reilly would score somewhere between a nonillion and a vigintillion. Reilly has been making gritty, spastic, hook-laden classics for a decade now in relative anonymity, except for a fanatical few... there are no casual Ike Reilly fans. I just can't figure out why there are not more of them.
Earlier this year we got the latest cd, Hard Luck Stories, and it's easily one of the year's best. Today brings an honest-to-goodness music video for "Good Work (If You Can Get It)", a greasy, slow burning vamp that levels the high school caste system.
Tomorrow - tell a friend about Ike Reilly. Or better yet, buy them a copy of Hard Luck Stories.
