The Wolf That House Built

Guitarist Skip McDonald built a career playing funk and hip hop with Tackhead and the Sugarhill Gang, and avant-garde reggae as part of the On-U Sound collective with producer Adrian Sherwood. But as a solo artist billing himself as Little Axe, he has put all of those influences to work creating a sort of modernistic industrial blues. The opening track of this album is centered on a Howlin’ Wolf sample and the kind of heavyweight dub-funk groove that has long been Sherwood’s specialty. The rest of the program is like a funky kaleidoscope of American and Jamaican music both ancient and modern.