Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

Once in a while you stumble across a CD that just demands your attention the first time through and then keeps finding its way back into your CD player. I didn't think HYDRAULIC GROOVE by Rick Holmstrom was gonna be one of those discs. The guy is not exactly a household name --- not yet, anyway --- and my collection really didn't need any more white boy blues on the shelf. Well, surprise, surprise. HYDRAULIC GROOVE manages to mix a number of disparate elements into an improbable mix to produce one of the first surprises of 2003.

HYDRAULIC GROOVE, for the most part, sticks to your basic guitar/keyboard/bass/drum lineup, with some very tasty sax lines on a couple of tracks (Hamp's Hump," "Back It Up," "Roll Tape"). Holmstrom and his sidemen demonstrate throughout HYDRAULIC GROOVE how versatile this lineup can be as well as how diverse the blues genre truly is The first two tracks on HYDRAULIC GROOVE, while not the standouts here, give a hint of what is to come. "These Roads" contains a bit of dancetrack sampling, ala some of R.L. Burnside's Fat Possum sides; it's a trick that Holmstrom uses to great effect on a number of occasions alter in the CD. "Bobo the Hobo" is a competent enough instrumental that gets the band limbered up, but things don't really take off until the disc's third track, "Last To Know." Holmstrom's vocal delivery is smooth, not forced, reminiscent of Kim Wilson and Paul Butterfield, and "Last To Know" is straight out of the Chicago blues soundbook. Holmstrom is not a pyrotechnic guitarist, but he knows his way around the blues notes, and demonstrates it quite well both here and on "PeeWee's Nightmare," which sounds like it could have been recorded at a Horton Heat soundcheck. Holstrom is having fun here, and it shows. There are a lot of changeups, too. "My Maria" (NOT the Brooks & Dunn/B.W. Stevenson tune) starts off with a drum intro that, I swear, sounds like the beginning of The Miracles' "Goin' To A' Go-Go" but which quickly turns into a swampy groove, with Holmstrom's smooth but murky vocals contrasting nicely with Genome's keyboards. And speaking of keyboards, did I neglect to mention that John Medeski does a couple of star turns on HYDRAULIC GROOVE, on the extended jams of "Roll Tape" and "Hamp's Hump?" DJ Logic improbably but wonderfully also does a remix of "Shake It, Part 2". In fact, the only tune that doesn't quite measure up here is "Gravy," a slow blues that almost gets lost in its own mix, but even that track eventually finds its way; it's just in such good company here that it's shortcomings are the more glaring.

I'd be willing to bet that whenever Holmstrom plays out there are bodies all over the place. There's an energy here that is missing on lots of discs that have gotten much more attention. Hopefully Holmstrom's major label deal with get him the props he deserves. If you thought you had more than enough blues CDs in your collection, make room for just one more. This one.